Focus on Bavaria

Give Your Regards to Broadway!

Adventurous Chickens and Obnoxious Cats

Cruising Pico

A Night Filled with Art

Honoring the Sea

Wild Chicks in Love plays Sunday at 4:00 pm and despite its title, it really is a family film!

German Currents:
New Films from Germany
Times vary - see online schedule
Aero Theatre
1328 Montana Avenue
Ticket information here

American Cinematheque's annual German Currents film series is awakening audience interest in the wide range of films being made in that country. This year the series consists of 10 Los Angeles premieres including new films by one of Germany's foremost filmmakers, Doris Dörrie (Cherry Blossoms), a new film by Caroline Link (A Year in Winter) and two hugely successful comedies - an animated spoof Lissi and the Wild Emperor and Til Schweiger‘s live action Rabbit without Ears- plus many more films including a family matinee.

AMERICAN REFLECTIONS: BROADWAY IN CONCERT
8:00 pm Fridays and Saturdays
Continues through October 5
Main Stage
Santa Monica College
1900 Pico Boulevard
310/434.4319
Purchase tickets on-line here

Santa Monica College is about to embark on a unique cultural exchange with China's Shandong University of the Arts in Jinan, a modern city south of Beijing. SMC Students have been invited to perform a uniquely American show as part of the University's 50th anniversary celebration in October. And what is more uniquely American than Broadway? No, baseball doesn't count.  The show features numbers from a wide cross-section of hit musicals over the past few decades, including Westside Story, A Chorus Line, Into the Woods, Young Frankenstein, City of Angels, and Sweet Charity - all my favorites! Well, except for Young Frankenstein but we'll let that one pass.
 

Louise, a chicken for all time!

Sharon Creech and Kate DiCamillo
4:00 - 5:00 pm
Friday, September 26
Crossroads Elementary School
1715 Olympic Boulevard
310/559.2665

Newbery Award winning authors Sharon Creech and Kate DiCamillo have been entertaining children in printed form with their imaginative and truly fun books for years. On Friday, they'll give them a treat in person when the two of them read their latest works, Hate That Cat and Louise, The Adventures of a Chicken. Kids can meet these celebrated authors in person while you can collect autographed copies of their books to treasure and pass down to the next generation of readers.

We drive down Pico all the time but in our frantic rush to get to where we're going, we rarely see what an incredibly interesting street it really is. There are terrific art galleries, a wondrous park, restaurants filled with scrumptious treats, auto repair centers (not so glamorous but absolutely essential), and a great array of artist studios. This Saturday, you can discover all the hidden treasures that Pico has to offer while cruising atop a Double Decker Bus.

The Grammy Foundation will be sponsoring live music Virginia Avenue Park where you'll also find booths showcasing the work of many local artists, businesses and galleries - it's not too early to start your holiday shopping! The College will be giving glass blowing demonstrations and student work will be on sale - again, a great holiday gift idea! La Photo will be on hand at the park taking free portraits - you can dress up in costume and show the world a new you!

On the west end of Pico you'll find the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium which will be hosting the Alt Car Expo and for those who are sentimental about their automobiles, you can check out the classic cars in the SGI parking lot at 2601 Pico. And if you happen to be the owner of an alt vehicle, be sure to join the e-tailgate breakfast event at 8:30 am that morning and meet other folks driving NEV's and EV's and all those other V's that are going to help us save the planet!

Catherine Opie, Immigration Rally (taken from the Demonstration series), 2008

Art Night
6:00 - 9:00 pm
Saturday, September 27
18th Street Arts Center
1629 18th Street
310/453.3711

18th Street's long standing and popular Art Nights opens the art center to the public with gallery receptions, concerts and open studios by their current artists in residence. Supported by a grant from the Santa Monica Cultural Affairs Division, these free events happen every three months and treat us all to one big art party.  You'll see work by the brightest and best of SoCal's visual arts scene, hear hot Latin Jazz or progressive rock, watch a Butoh dancer, even rub shoulders with visiting artists from Australia, Taiwan, Poland, Mexico and around the world! I'll be there working the Cultural Affairs Division table alongside many other community arts and cultural organizations so stop by and say hello!

Gallery Exhibition: War as a Way of Life
The conclusion of a four part series, The Future of Nations, this exhibition presents a stellar group of international and Californian visual artists. Using photography, video, mixed media, and painting, the artists look at how exposure to the long-term effects of war or conflict transforms people - whether that war might be abroad, in our own neighborhoods, or even in our families. Artists include: Susan Crile, Hometown Baghdad, Marty Horowitz, Ronald Lopez, Christina McPhee, Catherine Opie, Sinan Leong Revell, Larry Scarpa and Mark Spence.

Aztlan Underground

On Stage: AZTLAN UNDERGROUND
Formed in Los Angeles in 1990, Aztlan Underground (AUG) has been true to their name and beliefs by playing political rallies and underground venues and anywhere that the doors are not closed. Creating a new sound that is still evolving, AUG captures the psyche and transcends to all ethnic groups, capturing a universal rhythm to convey their message of "self-determination and decolonization.

Project Room: Threshold of the Innocent and Martyred
An Installation by Amitis Motevalli, 2008 Artist Fellow

1653 Gallery: Poli Marichal's Codices Workshop
For the last 3 months Poli, (the Center's 2008 Santa Monica Cultural Affairs Latino Co-Arts Grant Recipient) has been working with youth at Virginia Avenue Park helping them to create their own codices.  The project culminates on this night with a reception and viewing of the kids' work.

Open Studios
International Artists: Sue Ching (Taiwan), James Newitt (Australia), and Vedran Pekrov (Croatia)

You won't be able to miss the 100+ Hawaiian dancers led by Keali’i Ceballos performing on the sands in reverence of Kanaloa, the Hawaiian deity of the ocean.  Nearby you’ll see (and hear) Swing Brazil along with Viver Brasil, Capoeira Batuque, Seara de Caridade do Cabolo Tupinamba and the Elders of the Diaspora who will lead everyone in celebration of Yemanja, the Afro-Brazilian sea goddess and drummers and dancers from Burkina Faso who will pay homage to the West African deities known as the Yuroba Orisha. Everyone will come together around an authentic Ti’at, the traditional canoe of the Tongva, which will be paddled beyond the breakwaters, carrying offerings to the sea and sacred blessings to the four corners of the Earth. The ceremony is sponsored by the Santa Monica Cultural Affairs Division and the 18^th Street Arts Center.