Hollywood BMAs

By There’s no better way to spend an evening than at a cocktail party in the Roosevelt Hotel ballroom in Hollywood. Oh wait, yes ere is: a cocktail party in the Roosevelt Hotel ballroom in Hollywood – with models. The Third Annual Hollywood BeautyMaker Awards were held Feb. 16 in the Blossom Room at the […]

Voodoo and Sandoval Found at Alex

By Isiah REYES The sounds of sweet music could be heard the last two weekends at the historic Alex Theatre in Glendale. On Feb. 15, Arturo Sandoval and his Big Band played at the Alex Theatre for a one night only performance. Save the Music 2 was a benefit concert for Arturo Sandoval Institute, a […]

Organized Crime Basis of ‘Betrayal’

By Michael YEGHIAYAN American audiences have long shared a passionate love affair with the gangster film. We overlook the crimes and misdeeds of the many anti-heroes and sociopaths and have grown to love the Michael Corleones and Tony Sopranos as classic American characters. The connection between unchecked ambition, unpredictable family dynamics, and romanticized violence has […]

Richard Valitutto on Why Morton Feldman’s Music Matters

By Ted AYALA On the face of it, pianist Richard Valitutto’s forthcoming recital at the Neighborhood Unitarian Universalist Church in Pasadena on Feb. 26 may not seem like anything unusual. Recitals devoted to a single composer – Beethoven, Schumann, Chopin, Rachmaninoff, even the relatively obscure Charles Valentin Alkan, to name but a few – are […]

‘The Hunted’ Launches at Flintridge Books

By Marissa GOULD, intern It was an energetic crowd that greeted author Sarah Louise Kras at the Flintridge Bookstore and Coffee House on Sunday afternoon. Kras was at the bookstore debuting her new book, “The Hunted Polar Prey.” Kras typically writes non-fiction but decided to try her hand at a children’s story after doing research […]

Costume Design Oscar Nominees On Display at FIDM

By Susan JAMES Running through April 26, the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (FIDM) in Los Angeles is presenting the 22nd annual exhibition of Oscar-nominated costumes featuring all five Oscar nominees. In addition, costumes from 17 other hit movies will be on display, over 100 costumes in all. As with previous Oscar races, the […]

‘Expanding Tonality’ Explored

By Ted AYALA The triumph of modernism in music is usually designated to Arnold Schoenberg, to the post-tonal world he and the followers of the Second Viennese School embarked upon and mapped out beginning in the early 20th century. Yet as the 20th century recedes into the mists of memory, a path is seen that […]

Unsung Heroes Shine in ‘The Monuments Men’

By Susan JAMES Billed as ‘the greatest art heist in history’, ‘The Monuments Men’ is the story of the five million works of art looted by the Nazis in World War II and a small unit of historians and scholars drafted into the army and sent to Europe for the purpose of getting them back.  […]

Márquez, Dvoák, and Tchaikovsky Found on SCO Slate

By Ted AYALA “Nationalist music,” writes José Antonio Alcaraz in his “Reflexiones sobre el nacionalismo musical mexicano” (Reflections on Mexican Musical Nationalism), “[carries] with it echoes of the sectarian, the limiting, the ensnaring. National music, however, consists of the most essential traits that make up the identity of a person.” “To describe Tchaikovsky as a […]

‘The Sandcastle Girls’ Author at Glendale Library

By Jason KUROSU “The Sandcastle Girls,” the 2012 novel authored by Chris Bohjalian, is the subject of Glendale’s One Book/One Glendale event. On Feb. 27, Bohjalian will speak about the novel at the Glendale Central Library. The event is free, open to the public (though seating may be limited) and Bohjalian will also be joined […]