[contextly_auto_sidebar id="nc1kP0QNXqToOtKKMBYEWF1PA492NXRw"] WELL, the Bowl's 2014 season ends with a show a lot of us had looked forward to for a long time. The Pixies are a band from the George H.W. Bush administration -- from before the indie-rock boom inaugurated by Nirvana's Nevermind -- and they've been tighter and more taught since their reunion. Their Bowl debut, then, did not take … [Read more...]
Neutral Milk Hotel at the Hollywood Bowl
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="hoQprz2ypgmwVraWLQKLkTyU9PmJUJUE"] WHAT would the world look like if a bomb wiped out everyone who wasn't a Gen Xer? A lot like the crowd that filed into the Hollywood Bowl last night. I kept telling myself that we were a very small generation as I saw the rows of empty seats for a show by the Breeders and Neutral Milk Hotel -- both cult bands who only released two … [Read more...]
Elvis Costello at the Hollywood Bowl
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="yoxDRYe0pvcibitrbAUITNZnhe94ChmB"] OVER the weekend, the former Angry Young Man played the Bowl, alongside indie piano man Ben Folds, both accompanied by the LA Philharmonic. I'm split on the show. Because both artists had equal billing, Costello had to squeeze a career that goes back to the 1970s into an hourlong set. It was too short, and his syncing up with the … [Read more...]
Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="hHJ8eiJnuFjsqO6u5KIkazfFviuefQB1"] BY now it's pretty well know that the comedian best know for "King Tut" and the arrow through the head is not just another show-business dilettante: This dude is a real and committed musician. But even with high expectations, I was pleasantly surprised by the strength and seriousness of Martin's banjo playing and the bluegrass group … [Read more...]
Is Art Therapy? And, the Madness of Eddie Izzard
[contextly_auto_sidebar id="vfSOI90RO2KEYpq5eSwBZ2d7FDDUHrCx"] IT may be an unanswerable question, but it's one I've been brooding on a lot lately: To what extent is art a disinterested inquiry -- the search for some kind of human truth -- and to what extent does it offer some kind of extra benefit that soothes artist or audience? That issue, which I'll get into more fully in an upcoming … [Read more...]
Willie Nelson at the Hollywood Bowl
SOME years, concerts at the Hollywood Bowl become the highlight of the summer. I know I'll miss a lot of things about Los Angeles whenever we end up departing, but these night with the sun setting and the scent of eucalyptus from the canyon will be very near the top of the list. This year, we've only been twice so far. We saw the fireworks on the 4th of July, a show at which I learned that Josh … [Read more...]
Classical Music on the Radio
NOT long ago I got to hang out at the Hollywood Bowl in the middle of the day -- which was a decadent pleasure in itself -- while talking to Brian Lauritzen, the KUSC deejay who has come to dominate classical broadcasting in town.Brian is still young yet, but he has several decades of commitment to both music and public radio, and he has a deep feeling for the sometimes complex role that music can … [Read more...]
The Roots of a Film Composer
THIS week, British film composer George Fenton -- he wrote the scores to Gandhi, Groundhog Day, The History Boys, lots of Ken Loach films, and dozens more -- comes to the Hollywood Bowl to conduct Frozen Planet, a documentary that's shown on the BBC to much acclaim.I corresponded with him for my Influences column and he came up with some expected choices -- playwright Alan Bennett, who he's worked … [Read more...]
Glen Campbell’s Farewell
LAST night, several thousand of us said so long to Glen Campbell. His Hollywood Bowl concert was a kind of cross between a straightforward farewell concert and a posthumous tribute, since the entire first program was made up of other musicians paying homage to various aspects of his work. And the farewell part is not entirely conventional: Campbell is saying goodbye because of an Alzheimer's … [Read more...]
Playboy Jazz Festival
ONE of the best things about Los Angeles -- hands down -- is the Hollywood Bowl, and it's become a sign of the coming of summer for a lot of us.Today I wrote an advance on the 2012 Playboy Jazz Festival, including interviews with several of the musicians who'll play there.There's a range of good and bad here, as there always are at big jazz festivals. One thing that continues to confuse me, … [Read more...]