IN this dismal economy, with the state unemployment rate still around 12 and 1/2 percent, any opening is worth applauding. So it's high time for The Misread City to note the recent opening of Schodorf's Luncheonette, a small but proud sandwich place run by the couple behind Cafe de Leche. (I'm especially fond of their Italian: Reviews here.)The 'hood has sharpened up a bit from these daysIt's part … [Read more...]
New Arts Hall on Westside
BEVERLY Hills has long had a connection to the movies, as well as a reputation for shameless excess. The city is taking a step in a different direction with a new arts center: Ground will be broken in April, with plans to open the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in 2013.HERE is my LA Times piece about the center, which will, in the words of executive director Lou Moore, … [Read more...]
Philip K. Dick at the Movies
Tomorrow a new film based on a Philip K. Dick story, The Adjustment Bureau, opens. I’ve not yet seen the Matt Damon/Emily Blunt film yet, but the PKD fans I know are not impressed with it and don’t think it’s true to the author’s vision and thinks it's been skewed too much in a conventional-romantic direction. (Here is a mostly approving review by the NYT's Manohla Dargis.)The film is based on a … [Read more...]
Trouble in Portlandia
ONE of our favorite places, here at The Misread City, is Portland, Ore., and as much as we love the walkable neighborhoods, the groovy coffee shops, and the excellent local cuisine and Oregon Pinots, we find ourselves trapped helplessly in Powell’s bookstore every time we’re up there. (You may also have heard about the show Portlandia starring a member of one or favorite bands.)So the troubles at … [Read more...]
Steve Erickson Novel Coming
LONGTIME Los Angeles writer Steve Erickson will have a new novel next year, These Dreams of You, his publisher, Europa Editions, just announced. Erickson is the writer I point to first when I'm arguing about a difference in East Coast and West Coast literary sensibility. He grew up in a Granada Hills neighborhood wiped out for the freeway, and that sense of spatial dislocation and a disappearing … [Read more...]
Return of the Found Footage Festival
ALL I can say is, it's one of the funniest things I have ever seen. The Found Footage Festival, a collection of oddball training videos, celebrity promotions and home movies, rolls though Los Angeles every year or so, curated and presented by two Letterman-like dudes who scour thrift stores and garage sales.One of host Nick Prueher's favorite videos from this year's festival, on Tuesday (March 1) … [Read more...]
Versus Tours the West Coast
I MUST admit, I'd forgotten how good a live band the New York trio Versus could be. Last night's show at the Echo -- part of their first full-scale tour in a decade -- was devastating, reminding me both how strong their playing is and how bogus the notion that indie rock is wimpy.In some ways Versus were typical of '90s indie bands in their use of jangly guitars, strong melodies and distortion. … [Read more...]
Martha Graham vs. Isamu Noguchi
TWO very different artists -- with equally contrasting temperaments -- enjoyed one of the richest collaborations of the 20th century. They were also shaped in some ways by their time in California.Graham with Bertram RossDance pioneer Martha Graham and sculptor/ designer Isamu Noguchi worked together for more than two decades on about two dozen sets; three of them, including Pulitzer-winning … [Read more...]
Creativity and Depression
LAST year I saw a recital of Robert Schumann's music by the great pianist Andras Schiff. The pieces he played were lyrical, full of feeling, and almost consistently uncomfortable -- it was like hearing the mood swings of a rich but unsettled mind. (The composer is sometimes called "the most romantic of the romantics.")The relationship between that unsettled mind and the often transcendent melodies … [Read more...]
Indie Rock God Ted Leo
ONE of my favorite indie rockers is Ted Leo, a man of great integrity who channels The Jam, the Clash, King Tubby and Thin Lizzy. He usually records and tours with backup band the Pharmacists, but this weekend he makes a rare West Coast solo appearanceHERE is my interview with Leo; the piece runs in Friday's LA Times.We talked about his interest in Celtic music, the way he approaches melodies, how … [Read more...]