June 21, 2007

Summer has arrived!  Today, the sun hovers directly over the Tropic of Cancer in the northern hemisphere and on this longest day of the year, summer officially begins.  But while the temperature outside is just now starting to heat up, Santa Monica's art scene is always hot.  This weekend has Zydeco, 3-D dance videos, theatre for the teen set, music for the tween set and great art for everyone!

You’ll be dreaming of bayous and gumbo for weeks after you get a taste of C.J. Chenier’s authentic Cajun music on Saturday.  The son of the great King of Zydeco, Clifton Chenier, will perform classic Zydeco dance tunes and blues numbers along with heartfelt songs he wrote in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. 

Where else but at 18^th Street would you be able to don red and green glasses to view a four channel stereoscopic video installation displaying a 3-D virtual dance in consisting of four male dancers projected onto four screens?  British artists Liz Aggiss and Billie Cowie  created this work which will run on a continuous 25- minute loop in the Center's gallery through June 30.  

The works of Santa Monica College ceramics students, faculty and alumni will be exhibited June 23-July 21 at the Schomburg Gallery in Santa Monica's Bergamot Station.  Franklyn Phillips, head SMC's ceramics program, and his students explore a variety of sculptural approaches to ceramics with freestanding works, wall hangings, mixed media and digital prints related to ceramics.

The Playhouse gives us stateside audiences a preview of the 2007 England/Ireland Summer Tour with a production that asks, in the game of life, is the last one standing really the winner?  It’s an interactive musical about loving and losing, searching and surviving, and what it really means to win. Five young travelers, portrayed by members of the Young Professionals Company, tumble through a serio-comic kaleidoscope of theatrical styles and genres, encountering clowns and colloquists, poets and princes, as they make a desperate play for survival in the musical chairs of life. Due to the interactive nature of the production there will be only thirty-five seats available for each performance so reservations are necessary.

TOM CHAPIN
10:00 & 11:30 AM
Sunday, June 24
McCabes
3101 Pico Blvd
310/828-4497

On Sunday it’s back to McCabe’s for one of the best children’s concerts ever!  Grammy Award winner Tom Chapin is known far and wide for creating music for kids a bit too old for Sesame Street but not quite old enough for Justin Timberlake.   The New York Times calls Chapin “one of the great personalities in contemporary folk music.”  And I would definitely agree!

Twilight Dance Series Returns Next Thursday!

From the many phone calls I've been getting, the question on everyone's mind is "When does the Twilight Dance Series start?”  Well, you’ll have to hold your horses for one more week.   The concerts begin next Thursday, June 28 at 7:30 with the big Kahunas themselves, The Ventures.  Check out the website for the full summer schedule: www.twilightdance.org

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