Los Angeles CityBeat Vol 06 Issue 20 by Diana James

CITYBEAT

MAY 15~21, 2008

EDITORIAL Acting Editor Rebecca Schoenkopf rebeccas@lacitybeat.com News Editor Alan Mittelstaedt alanm@lacitybeat.com Film Editor Andy Klein andyk@lacitybeat.com Calendar Editor Alfred Lee alfredl@lacitybeat.com Editorial Contributors Donnell Alexander, Paul Birchall, Michael Collins, André Coleman, Cole Coonce, Mark Cromer, Perry Crowe, Mick Farren, Richard Foss, Ron Garmon, Andrew Gumbel, Tom Hayden, Bill Holdship, Jessica Hundley, Chip Jacobs, Mark Keizer, Carl Kozlowski, Wade Major, Allison Milionis, Anthony Miller, Chris Morris, Amy Nicholson, Arrissia Owen Turner, Donna Perlmutter, Joe Piasecki, Neal Pollack, Ted Rall, Erika Schickel, Don Shirley, Kirk Silsbee, Brent Simon, Joshua Sindell, Don Waller, Jim Washburn Calendar Assistant Ayse Arf Editorial Interns Ashley Archibald, Ed Carrasco, Emma Gallegos, Daryl Paranada, Amanda Price ART Art Director Matt Ansoorian artdirector@lacitybeat.com Web & Print Production Manager Meghan Quinn Advertising Art Director Sandy Wachs Classified Production Artist Tac Phun

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Remember 2 Live Crew? “Some call it Amtrak, but we call it the train”? Our supersexy summer travel issue does just that, but without the groupie gang-rape. Instead, what delights we have for you all! Andy Klein remembers his hobo days. Rebecca Schoenkopf sends you to hell (or OC), and up and down the California coast. Ron Garmon lights your way to the hills of Santa Barbara. Alan Mittelstaedt lays out what’s really wrong with Amtrak, Alfred Lee helps you pinch your pennies on the bus, and Anthony Miller writes about people who write about trains. Agatha Christie is not among them.

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Retail Sales Manager Diana James

L.A. Sniper. Alan Mittelstaedt wonders which supervisor candidate will take on King/Harbor, and lets an intern get dissed by Mayor V.

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Eat. Where to dine après-theater? Richard Foss lets you in on the secret, plus things you need to know in Bites!

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Film. Andy Klein falls all over himself proclaiming his love for Frenchy flick Roman de Gare.

CALENDAR 34 7 Days and Listings. Alfred Lee runs through your week, while Emma Gallegos gets vexed with “Female Voices from East L.A. Punk.”

Live. Ron Garmon goes to bitchen party, bitches about the heat.

Co-op Advertising Director Spencer Cooper

Account Executives Norma Azucena, Daphne Marina, John Metzner Susan Uhrlass, and Carl Wolf

A Rough Ride. Ashley Archibald puts the pedal to the metal on L.A.’s bike Master Plan.

Classified Account Executives Sarah Fink, Jason Rinka BUSINESS VP of Operations David Comden

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Music & Entertainment Sales Manager Jon Bookatz

Classified Supervisor Michael Defilippo

Obamista!

Letters & Letter from the Editrix. It’s the end of the world as we know it. Plus Ted Rall.

Oh, the Places You’ll Go!

Contributing Artists and Photographers Jordan Crane, Scott Gandell, Max S. Gerber, Alexx Henry, Maura Lanahan, Gary Leonard, Melodie McDaniel, Nathan Ota, Ethan Pines, Gregg Segal, Elliott Shaffner, Bill Smith, Ted Soqui

Director of Business Development Joe Cloninger

9 Third Degree. Then she talks to new school board member Tamar Galatzan. LAUSD dysfunctional? Noooooo!

Mick’s Media. Mick Farren on Che, the man who’ll never go away.

Free Will Astrology. So what’s your sign?

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Classifieds

Stage. Don Shirley gets his politic on in reviews of Hillary Agonistes and A House Without Walls. I think someone’s an

47 Backbeat

Controller Michael Nagami Human Resources Manager Andrea Baker andreab@southlandweeklies.com

TA K E M Y P I C T U R E , GARY LE ONARD

Accounting Ginger Wang, Archie Iskaq, Tracy Lowe, Christie Lee, Angela Wang (Supervisor) Circulation Supervisor Andrew Jackson Front Office Managers Sheila Mendes Coleman, Candon Murry Executive Publisher Charles N. Gerencser charlesg@lacitybeat.com Los Angeles CityBeat newspaper is published every Thursday and is available free at locations throughout Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley. Circulation: 100,000. One copy per reader, additional copies are $10 each. Copyright: No articles, illustrations, photographs, or other editorial matter or advertisements herein may be reproduced without written permission of copyright owner. All rights reserved, 2008.

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MAY 15~21, 2008

CITYBEAT

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And I Feel Fine .......................................

he end of the world has come four years early. And I thought the Mayans were so awesome at math. People have been waiting for the world to end since the world began – Jesus’s apostles were cool with giving their shit away, because they were just gonna sit on a hill and wait to be assumed bodily into heaven. It seemed like the end of the world last fall, didn’t it, with those apocalyptic asbestos skies? But the refugees got massages and gourmet treats at Qualcomm Stadium, and things went back to peachy right quick. And now here we are, with enough death in one week to bring to mind the Black Plague or the Influenza Epidemic of 1918. The only greater shockwaves of death were man-made and intentional. Harry S Truman, I’m looking at you. I feel like I’m crazy when I think it must be the oil extraction causing these worldending earthquakes – and I look forward to all my new geologist friends setting me straight. I know I’m not crazy that the Burmese cyclone was as massive as it was because I can’t be bothered to commute via train. Al Gore said so, and Al Gore I believe. And because these things happened so far off, and for once they weren’t George Bush’s fault, well, we look at the headlines and tsk to ourselves, and then we move on to our more pressing concerns. And some of them are pressing, truly: the future, present, and past of our country rolled up in one. This week, R.K. Horton, a West Virginia retiree, told Salon why his neighbors wouldn’t be voting Barack: “I don’t think it’s being racist necessarily, they just don’t like black people that well.” Nor, really, does he. “The arrogance and all that bothers me more than black, but black is a close second,” he said. Horton is a Democrat. Four years ago, when the tsunami hit, I sent a hundred clams to Doctors Without Borders, and felt very good about me. That weekend, I spent four times that on a sweet little cabin for New Year’s Eve. I’ll send them another hundred this week, I guess, and a hundred to Jesus Obama. And then I’ll go sit on a mountaintop, and I’ll wait. ✶

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PREFERRED NEWS SOURCE! What used to set you apart from the L.A. Weekly was your publication of actual news. While L.A. Weekly filled its pages and pages with opinion, you actually broke stories and published in-depth reports. Since the installment of your new Acting Editor, however, you have published hardly any news. In fact, the April 24 issue had no news at all (L.A. Sniper’s aimless drivel isn’t news). And your Letters from the Editrix don’t even make sense. CityBeat has become just another useless publication of rants and A&E listings. There is no longer any reason to pick up your paper. You used to be my preferred news source. I used to read you every Thursday and recommend you every chance I got. Now I’m only a couple issues away from abandoning you entirely. Please change back.

SAMUEL KRUEGER HOLLYWOOD

IT’S BRILLIANT! I have totally discovered the secret of Rebecca Schoenkopf’s writing. It’s like Plan 9 From Outer Space: If you just read it, it’s really bad, but if you drop a tab of acid and read it – or have someone read it to you – it’s brilliant.

--DANIEL MCVEY VIA E-MAIL

PROVOCATIVE AND ENTERTAINING! Woweeee! I love it. I got slammed by two different readers [Letters, May 1]. At least someone is reading my missives. Eat your heart out, Chris Rock. Any dime-a-dozen

L E T T E R S

celebrity can have a fan club. I’ve got a slam club. However, I must ask both Mr. Eisenberg and Mr. Dawson one question. Have either of you read The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger? I taught it to my Honors 10th graders for years. It is to be sure “provocative, and entertaining.” Holden Caulfield’s “colorful language” definitely had a “nice edge,” and Holden himself was one “hilariously rude-and-crude,” “smart*ss” kid. However, The Catcher in the Rye was published in 1946. That was six decades ago. The challenge posed to a wannabe critic is to be witty, entertaining, thought-provoking – and original. Rebecca Schoenkopf’s attempt to style herself as a 62-year-old Holden with a post-feminist edge is about as “bloodless, predictable, dull-as-NPR liberal” as the X-rated slanguage in last year’s gangsta rap.

--WILLIAM JOSEPH MILLER VIA E-MAIL

PAYING THE SNIPER [Re: “L.A. Sniper: Dirty Democracy,” May 1] Mark Ridley-Thomas advocated for the temporary closure of the trauma center, a place that many believed was dysfunctional and was endangering the lives of the residents of South Los Angeles. Ridley-Thomas admitted to wanting the trauma center closed, fixed and reopened. You missed the other half of the debate; Bernard Parks did not answer or address the issue of the LAPD consent decree. Parks blamed the City Council, the City Attorney and the police officers. Maybe Parks needs to take responsibility and admit he was to blame as the chief. Typical Parks blamed all his failures on others and took credit for the items he knows nothing about, namely Neighborhood Councils and community CITYBEAT

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empowerment.

--“MAZUSC” VIA LACITYBEAT.COM

HABITAT INHUMANITY Thank you to CityBeat for following this sad story [Daryl Paranada’s “Paved Paradise,” May 1]. I would like to clarify one item that was mentioned in the article. Howard Kaplan, Wilshire Boulevard Temple’s executive director, is correct in his statement that the temple paid the evicted tenants in excess of statutory requirements. What he doesn’t make clear, however, is that the temple rushed to initiate eviction proceedings by the end of January 2007, just before the city raised the fees; they were poised to only pay $3,500 to tenants, with qualified tenants to receive only $8,500. All along, CES, my family, and the tenants merely wanted the temple to pay relocation fees in line with the new statutor y amounts. It took several months and a mediation to get the temple to “see the light” and pay in excess of the old statutory requirements. Also, not all of the tenants were paid extra; out of the approximately 20 households who were evicted, only those few who chose to stay and fight received the higher relocation amount! As a postscript, despite not having the funds to give the evicted tenants an appropriate safety net, the temple found an additional $10 million to purchase the three lots next to the apartment building. They won’t be getting my dues anymore.

--TERESA FELDMAN VIA LACITYBEAT.COM The Wilshire Boulevard Temple is a nonprofit religious institution whose mission is social justice. The humane, “social justice” approach to their expansion needs would

MAY 15~21, 2008

have been to include tenants in their “exciting” new development, to have allowed us to stay until they were ready to build, and to have asked their members to help create a win/win situation for both tenants and the temple. Can’t existing neighbors too be part of the Koreatown neighborhood renaissance? A religious institution, of all things, should be setting an example of socially responsible development for our whole city to follow. If Rabbi Leader had responded to one of the many e-mails tenants sent him while we were unexpectedly and aggressively being evicted, he would have found many of us would qualify to use this phantom, someday “social services facility, which will feed, clothe and provide basic medical services for hundreds of people.” Regarding the temple’s recent collaboration with Habitat for Humanity, evicted tenants qualified for their programs too. Assisting Habitat one day a year does not begin to replace the 22 units of housing the temple demolished.

--“CARFREE” VIA LACITYBEAT.COM

SEND LETTERS! Letters to the editor should include a return address and telephone number. All correspondence becomes property of Los Angeles CityBeat and may be edited for space. Send to LETTERS, CityBeat, 5209 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90036. Or by fax (323) 938-1661 or e-mail: editor@lacitybeat.com.

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ALL IT TAKES IS AN OBAMA GETout-the-vote rally to frame the issues in a race a little closer to home. Los Angeles faces its own human disaster of the magnitude of the war in Iraq, and it’s called One Million People Without a Hospital. And, no, Obama didn’t show up on Jefferson Boulevard in Los Angeles on Saturday. Instead, Hollywood surrogates like Jasmine Guy, Tatyana Ali and Hill Harper roused the several hundred believers gathered on the asphalt for a parking lot rally. The crowd also heard from the two leading candidates to replace Yvonne “I killed King/Drew Hospital” Burke in the ever-powerful Second Empire seat on the despotic county board of supervisors. I mean no disrespect to Bernard Parks, but I don’t remember anything about his speech. It’s not that he’s unable to speak a memorable line. But his reserved, ponderous tone couldn’t command my attention on a chaotic morning with people milling around offering many distractions. I was surrounded by volunteers who promised to sign up 1,000 voters by October and I couldn’t fathom how they would ever do it. Parks’s inability to amp it up and excite a crowd may well be part of his appeal in this era of overly rehearsed, phony politicians. Here’s a guy, after all, who spent a week leading city budget meetings that went late into the evening, instead of delegating his duties and heading off to campaign for the job of his life. Mark Ridley-Thomas, on the other hand, was impossible to ignore. He had the crowd chanting slogans by the end of his five-minute shout. He’s got the voice of a $4 million union mouthpiece, which, thanks to the generosity of the County Federation of Labor and its supporters, he owns – with or without strings attached. And, I mean no disrespect to Ridley-Thomas, but his words didn’t mean much either. With Angelenos who once were within a short drive of King/Drew now dying before they arrive at the nearest ER, it’s hard to be moved by anything he might say about the evil war in Iraq – even if this is an Obama rally. These two guys should be talking about nothing but resur recting King/Harbor and fully opening county government to the public. But they are the choice facing voters in the Second Empire, which stretches from Mar Vista and Culver City to the inner city and Compton and Watts. The winner June 3 likely will serve for the maximum 12 years allowed under term limits, given the power of incumbency that runs especially strong among these despots. Given such long tenure, it should not be too much to ask the candidates to show how they would restore the pillars of democracy crumbling and corroding at the Hall of Administration. The top priority must be pulling back the curtain to show the public the inner workings of these five empires. The super visors now hold only one weekly meeting and rely on more than 100 commissions, composed of regular people and others, but without a su-

★ PHOTOGRAPH BY ALAN MITTELSTAEDT

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THE STUFFED ANIMAL SALUTE: TWINS ELLA AND JORDANNE, WITH THEIR PARENTS KADJAH AND JOSEPH GUIDRY, AT OBAMA RALLY ~

Obama for Supervisor You’d better believe that Barack would convene weekly sessions at King/Harbor and add an extra meeting until the hospital reopened ~ BY ALAN MITTELSTAEDT ~

pervisor as a member. There should be more meetings, say, another weekly session. And the county should organize subcommittees on the top issues facing the county – from King/Harbor to the sheriff – and include two supervisors as members. Parks, in an interview at the Obama rally, said the rules established when Chief Administrative Of ficer Bill Fujioka took over actually hinder the work of the five supervisors. “There’s one more layer between supervisors and department heads. They’re asking elected officials not to go directly to department heads. For me, that is an impediment to the way business is done.” As for the need for subcommittees or more meetings, Parks said he needs to get inside the building first: “I have to get there. I know it from afar. But I don’t have a sense where I can say, ‘Start moving boxes on a chart.’ I have to get there and work in the system first.” Ridley-Thomas, as he stood at the foot of the stage, said he’ll start a neighborhood council. “It would extend from Culver City to Lynwood and there are elected officials ready to engage. It will become a significant point of reference for the work that I do.” The ex-councilman sounded like he CITYBEAT

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would favor adding a regular meeting to the supervisors’ calendar. “I believe in maximizing input in the democratic process. I’ve never been in a legislative environment where I had only one meeting. This will be an instance where I represent more people and have less meetings.” County supervisors used to have one extra meeting at the end of every month to yammer exclusively about proposed developments and planning issues. But budget cuts did away with that meeting in the early ’90s. It would be unwieldy to usher in a city-style subcommittee system, given the fact that there are only five fiefdoms compared to 15 members of the City Council. But to anyone who ever sits through the rushed supervisors meetings, where more time seems devoted to awards and plaque presentations at the start of the meeting and remembering dead constituents before adjourning than to real issues, too many decisions appear to be hammered out without the public present. Sometimes you can’t help but wonder how close key deputies to the supervisors came to taking straw votes before the meeting. More meetings would reduce any temptations to pick up the phone and do the public’s work in private. MAY 15~21, 2008

From all that the candidates are saying – and not saying – on the campaign trail, it’s hard to know which one can best overcome the momentum of secrecy eroding county government. But look no further than King/Harbor to see the consequences of a private government run outside the glare of a demanding public.

MAYOR V’S LAUGH LINES What will it take to get Mayor V to address the serious issues raised by his terminal case of Overdeveloped Political Ambitions? It seemed like a perfect assignment for new CityBeat intern Alex Comisar, a sophomore majoring in journalism at USC, to explore on his first day on the job this week. Alex headed to Northridge, where the mayor would be appearing at the 40th anniversary ceremony of the Child and Family Guidance Center. He got there early and found 150 people in their nice clothes mingling in a small room, wine and cheese in hand, waiting for someone official-looking to jog to the podium at the front of the room and announce the arrival of the city’s Top Dog. Around 7:30, a full hour later than scheduled, a man called for the attention of the chatty crowd. “The mayor is here. The mayor is in the building. He’ll be in the room in a few minutes,” he said. “I’m sorry for the long delay, but the mayor’s schedule – we can’t do anything about that.” LET’S FORCE THE WINNER OF THE The rejuvenated the crowd 3 RACE TO LIVE HERE UNTIL IT afJUNEnews minutes later, ter theREOPENS long wait. Ten HOSPITAL AS A REAL ~ the room, his suit the mayor walked into perfectly ironed, his hair magnificently slicked. Even someone who had never seen the mayor’s face before would have recognized him as a politician – exceptions, as always, for Rush Limbaugh. As he made his way to the front of the room, admirers launched hands and names in his direction. Antonio happily stopped to exchange pleasantries with many of them, especially the ones with whom he could speak Spanish. The mayor rounded the corner of the room, where fewer people stood. With the mayor headed his way, Alex saw a rare opportunity to jump in front of him and get his attention without the hindrance of his accompanying muscle. “Mr. Mayor, what would you say to those voters worried about re-electing you in 2009 only to see you run for governor a few short months later?” he asked. The mayor stared at Alex, not giving him the warmest look as the political downsides of an honest response sunk in. Finally, after seconds that stretched on and on, the mayor laughed off the question. He didn’t use words until he had walked away. As he neared the stage, he looked back and said: “I gotta work, man.” Three seconds later, a tall man in a grey suit approached with the obvious news that the mayor would not be answering the question. Maybe it’s just me, but I think the mayor did answer the question. ✶ With reporting by Alex Comisar. Send insults and ammo to BigAl@lasniper.com.

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Bicyclists complain that City Hall shoves them off the road ~ BY ASHLEY ARCHIBALD ~

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WHEN I FIRST E-MAILED HIM, THE reply came back from Too Tall Jahmal, and he signed his name as “Don,” but said his preferred nomenclature was actually Roadblock. When we met up at a Starbucks over on Vermont and Prospect, he gave the barista the name “Johnny.” I immediately wondered if this self-professed cyclist and graphics designer was in fact a superhero. Too Tall/Don/Roadblock/Johnny, or Roadblock for short, is one of the organizers for Midnight Ridazz, the Angeleno cyclists who meet once every couple of months for a mass ride, usually with a theme, some costumes and some inebriation. Since fun occasionally leads to rule breaking, Roadblock didn’t want to give CityBeat his real name, which even he says he gets confused about every once in a while. It’s wild party animals and superheroes in disguise that make up the vibrant L.A. bike scene, people who bike for fun, for utility, community and maybe even a touch of civic duty. It’s this same group that has to fight for the basic right to the road that California law guarantees them. They just hope Los Angeles is on their side. It’s policy update season in L.A., this time focusing on the document that embodies the city’s promises to its biking population. Called the Bike Master Plan, it lays out the city’s intentions to create bike facilities and road designations. If you were to ask the average citizen of Los Angeles how they felt about the city’s bicycle master plan, it’s more than likely they’d give you a rather blank-eyed stare and climb back into their car. After all, it’s not exactly an oftensought-after piece of the city’s transportation element. In fact, if you open to the Bicycle Master Plan page of the city’s transportation code, all you’ll see is a page indicating where the plan would be, were it included in the book. That very fact makes some bicyclists question if it really is there or just some nice dream they had once where they thought they lived in Portland. But Los Angeles, the holy land of gasguzzling, smog-belching (single passenger) SUVs in fact (and by law) wants to defy its reputation and make it something worthwhile and applicable. Bicyclists are skeptical that any meaningful changes will take place when the plan is submitted for approval in February 2009. The Doubting Thomases of the L.A. bike scene saw the bike plan update process as flawed from the get-go. Stephen Box and other bike activists’ biggest point of contention with the new document is that it exists purely to secure federal funding for the city. Indeed, the master plan is a required element of the transportation portion of the city’s general plan and is required for the city to receive transportation funds, and specifically access to the state’s Bicycle Transportation Account. Over the past seven years, Los Angeles has received funding for two bikeway projects: the Fletcher Bridge widening

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and the L.A. River Bikeway project, totaling $1.75 million. The Fletcher Bridge project, meant to widen the bridge and add a bike lane, came under attack by bike activists because the bike lane was on the right and next to the on-ramp to the 5 Freeway. Since cyclists prefer not to argue with one-and-a-half-ton vehicles, the Fletcher Bridge “improvement” struck them as more of an invitation to get splattered on a windshield. The city also sought Metro funds for the same bridge, totaling $7 million for a quarter-mile improvement, funded “on the backs of cyclists,” Box said. All the while, the city is putting up new bike lanes to the tune of only five miles per year. “My wife knits socks faster than that,” Box said. Another point of contention is the relatively minimal community outreach. There were four meetings over the course of two weeks. “Included in there are the people who went two, three, four times like myself” Box said. “So I don’t think it’s an open and participatory process.” Michelle Mowery, bicycle coordinator for Los Angeles’s Department of Transportation, is too used to this criticism to be fazed by it anymore: “The bottom line is budget. The consultant does not come cheap, and about 18 percent of the complete budget is about public input.” Much of the public outreach funds went to the web site, she said, which has attracted over 600 comments and surveys that help with the update. Those comments, which include suggestions as well as mapped-out bike routes, will be looked at by Alta Planning, said Jordann Turner of the Policy and Planning Department, but only to the tune of about 10 miles of suggested routes. “We expect there to be a lot of overlap between what the community suggests and what we’re already doing.” According to the agreement between the policy department and Alta Planning, Alta needs only to look at 10 miles worth of suggestions – if none of those 10 miles is feasible, the community input will be ignored. This is one of the reasons that even if the Master Plan meetings had been flooded with cyclists, Box said, it wouldn’t have made much of a difference in the long run. “It’s very easy for us to assemble a Master Plan, but without political will it has no soul, it has no mojo, no opportunity for enforcement,” Box said. The updated plan will focus on smaller roads that would allow bikes to bypass the more dangerous streets. “This came out of my own experience,” Mowery said. “I used to be a bicycle racer, and I’m comfortable on every street there is.” The new bike plan will be entering Phase Two soon, and should be submitted by February 2009. Will it be included in the transportation element? “That’s a little embarrassing,” Turner said. “I’m going to work to get it included.” ✶

Tamar Galatzan The school board member talks about the sex scandals, the mysterious Admiral Brewer and the downtown bureaucracy that will never work THE LOS ANGELES UNIFIED SCHOOL District, possibly the only institution with a bigger bureaucracy than City Hall, has always had its problems. This year has just been a bit worse than most. The teacher payroll crisis has only recently been resolved, the rampant overbuilding coupled with student flight is still in full swing, and now sex scandals between school administrators – and their buddies in the district who help cover them up – have been hitting the papers one after another. In the midst of this, freshman school board member and prosecuting attorney Tamar Galatzan has been wading through the muck, trying to get the board to focus on the big picture: the education of students. --Ashley Archibald CityBeat: Has your work in law affected the way you approach your job on the school board? Tamar Galatzan: My job at the City Attorney’s office is a little bit off the beat. I’m a neighborhood prosecutor and I work out of the police station here in Van Nuys. I’ve gotten to work on some communications breakdowns between school police and LAPD. Sounds like your two positions manage to inform each other back and forth. Unfortunately, since I’ve been on the board we’ve had to deal with several situations where … like this whole mess with the assistant principal, news of sexual misconduct with a student and a few other types of criminal activity, so with my background as a criminal prosecutor I’ve been able to explain some things or explain how things work. How has that been going? First of all, it’s horrifying and it never should occur. That being said, the district had a policy in place of what to do if there are any sort of allegations of sexual misconduct between one of the adults

DEGREE

on campus and a student. What we’ve discovered is that most of the time, the policy worked very effectively: The person was taken out of the classroom, there was an investigation done, the appropriate action was taken. The situation with this assistant principal that has made the news is one where the policy was not followed, really, with horrible results. One of the things I realized is that up until now, the L.A. Unified did not get a copy of the police report that the sheriff’s department or an outside agency took even if it involved a student or a teacher at our school. The district was not working with the best information. When this whole situation came to light, I introduced a resolution to make several changes to the district’s policy and that was one of them – to develop a memorandum of understanding between the LAPD and sheriff’s department and other law enforcement agencies so we can get copies of the reports. I also made other changes to the policy, so that now whenever there’s an allegation like this, before the district chooses to return any of these people into a setting with students, the superintendent has to sign off on that. You mentioned that the decision to return a person to the classroom is going to go to the superintendent. In reality, is it going to go to Superintendent David Brewer or to his assistant, Ramon Cortines? It says “superintendent.” Apparently Cortines is taking care of the dayto-day stuff and Brewer … well, I don’t know what he’s doing, focusing on “higher things.” I don’t think there are many things higher than a decision to put someone accused of sexual abuse of a student back

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into a classroom. That’s a pretty important undertaking that I think should be left to the superintendent. So, for the layman, how does the board work? The board doesn’t exist the way I think other legislative bodies do, in that everyone’s hanging out in the Beaudry headquarters doing business in the hallways. It seems like there are a lot of things in L.A. Unified that don’t work quite like they do in other systems. Did that surprise you when you first joined the board? That’s an understatement. The governance structure of L.A. Unified is dysfunctional and I think a symptom of that is the runaway bureaucracy that’s in charge of everything. Is it harder to make change happen in that environment? It makes it harder. Basically, the board relies on the district staff for pretty much everything, but none of those people report to us. I’ve also found that some people flat-out lie to you because they’re worried about their job or their budget. Unless the superintendent chooses to fire them, there’s nothing really the board can do. It’s sometimes a bizarre situation. I’ll ask someone a question about numbers X, Y, and Z and they’ll come back and say that those numbers don’t exist, even if I know they do. The thing is that they know that if I get those numbers, then I would be arguing to eliminate their department, so why give them to me? It’s a “fox guarding the chicken coop” situation, and that’s how the district is structured. The board needs to hold the superintendent responsible for his staff. It’s an interesting structure.

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You sound pretty frustrated with this “interesting structure.” Oh, I’m very frustrated with the board. One of the things when I first started was that at the board meetings we’d get contracts to sign-off on. The board has to approve any contract over $250,000. So we got a bunch of contracts to approve that had already been executed the year before. So I was like, wait a second, “Aren’t we supposed to approve these?” and they said, “Yeah.” And I said, “This one is already completed!” They said, “Oh, don’t worry, just vote for it, it’s a good thing.” Eventually I got enough of my colleagues to agree that if we’re going to take our responsibilities seriously, we’re going to approve contracts before they’re signed! In your bio it mentions that you have two children. I have a preschooler who is not yet in L.A. Unified and I have a kindergartner who is in L.A. Unified in our neighborhood school. Did that give you some incentive to run for office? Of course! My boys are the reason that I ran. But it’s been neat, because I am the only person with a kid in L.A. Unified on the board. That’s been really interesting. Sometimes it’s come up in bizarre little ways. Early on, one day, Superintendent Brewer said, “Don’t worry, a letter has been sent out to all the parents.” And I said, “I didn’t receive a letter, I’m a parent!” It turned out that it was never sent, but nobody ever knew. Would you say that accountability is one of the bigger deficiencies in L.A. Unified? It’s a huge one. L.A. Unified really seems to have a “kill the messenger” culture. Sometimes people don’t want to be the person who says that something’s not working. If you had a magic wand, and you could fix one area in particular, what would be the most strategic area? The district has to find a way to give schools more control over their own budget, their spending decisions, and really give schools, especially those that are working well, some more freedoms. All decisions shouldn’t be made by bureaucrats downtown. Do you think the current administration, with the amount of entrenched people like Cortines, are the right people to lead the district out of its old mindset? That’s the million-dollar question. Hopefully. Superintendent Brewer has assembled a team to address a lot of these issues. Whether he can make it happen or not, I’m keeping my fingers crossed. It has to do with things beyond our control. ✶

✹ Take the Train

OH, THE PLACES YOU’LL

GO! >> Did you know that Hitler managed to give every German man, woman and child a yearly vacation at either the mountains or the sea? Give a man two weeks’ R&R, and you can get away with just about anything. Did you know in Norway, even the welfare mothers get paid vacations? And that if you are a farmer, the gubmint (except in Norway, I think it’s pronounced gahoovhhamarnaheht) will send someone out to milk your cows? Yeah, that’s what happens when you’re sitting on a lovely pool of beautiful crude but make your own wind power instead so you can sell your oil to assholes like us. Also? I don’t think Norway spends $493 billion a year on defense (not counting veterans’ benefits; nuclear weapons research, maintenance and production; and Iraq) – and in fact, I know they don’t, because we are spending as much as the rest of the world combined.

least it’s like you’re on a permanent vacation! r

But perhaps you are one of the precious few who do have jobs, and who do get two weeks off, and you would like to spend the last of your cute American money while it still has something akin to a monetary value and before it takes a wheelbarrow of greenbacks to buy an egg. So whatcha gonna do? Road trip? You’re as adorable as the American dollar. Didn’t you know oil’s gonna go to $200 a barrel? And that we’re not even at what any college Naderite can tell you is Peak? That means each gallon of gas in the tank of your GMC Yukon (you stud!) is gonna run you a cool $7.50. Guess what? It should. Are you going to fly? Sure, if there’s an airline left.

So what does that have to do with your vacation? Quite a bit, actually, because thanks to the flabbergasting sleight-of-hand that’s been perpetrated by el Prez, you can’t go anywhere this year. Why? Because we done spent all our money and are having a depression, that’s why, and all the $150 billion stimulus bills in the world are only going to make the Wal-Mart heirs $150 billion richer. Also? You don’t have a job. So at

So what should you really (really) do? Take the train, baby. Take the train. Now, the train’s not cheap either, unless you get Amtrak’s North America Rail Pass, which is 30 consecutive days of unlimited travel for under a thousand bucks (hitch: to get that fare, you must at some point go to Canada, where they will hold their sides in laughter at your hilarious money;

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payback, indeed is a bitch). Or you could get seven days in California for $159, now that I look it up on the Internet, which actually is completely awesome. I take it back. The train IS cheap! The only thing cheaper is your mom or the bus, and anybody who’s ever seen a movie or Six Feet Under knows that buses are the modern metaphorical equivalent of the boat on the River Styx, i.e., buses = death, what with the way the camera always watches you from across the road while you’re sitting at the bus bench, and after the bus pulls away you are gone (sorry, but Luke Wilson totally died in The Royal Tenenbaums, just like Jim Carrey did in The Truman Show, which you probably didn’t know either, except his version of the boat on the River Styx was actually a boat, but whatever, he’s still dead and also schizophrenic); yes, the bus is death, while everyone who’s ever seen a movie knows too that the train is sex, what with all the tunnels and stuff, and we are not to do as the French do and conflate the two, so which do you pick, sex or death? Take it easy, Michael Hutchence: not both. Take the train, is all we’re saying. And we’ll see you in two weeks. 8

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Human Cargo A Rube’s Rules for Riding the Rails A N D Y

K L E I N PHOTO BY JAKE FRATKIN

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4. You shouldn’t trust anything the local railway guys tell you about anything outside of their own yard. “Sure,” a sincerely helpful yard assistant had said, “That’s the one you want. They call it the Ghost! It whizzes by at top speed and makes almost no stops and should be pulling into Chicago in 48 hours, maybe 50 if you run into any problems.” It felt to us more like Marley’s Ghost, dragged down by chains, lumbering across the California-Nevada line in the blisteringly hot August sun. (Of course, it picked up speed again at night, so I wouldn’t miss another chance to be blastfrozen.) Why would you expect the railroad guys to have a clue what happens after the train leaves the yard? Luckily, we only suffered this sweat/freeze cycle for one day, because we ignored warnings to ...

~ THROUGH THE MISTS OF MEMORY: OUR INTREPID ITINERANT, FLANKED BY COUNTERCULTURE COHORTS, CIRCA 1970 ~

IN THE WEE EARLY HOURS of Monday, August 31, 1970, I hopped on a freight train in Oakland, California, together with two acquaintances, looking forward to a speedy 48-hour ride to Chicago. Four and a half days later, shabbier but wiser, I found myself wandering through the Galesburg, Illinois, rail yards, trying to figure out how to traverse the remaining 200 or so miles to my destination, so I could catch a flight from O’Hare to Logan and wallow in the bourgeois amenities – bathing, for instance – I had so rashly forsaken. It was a grand adventure, and, like most grand adventures, not nearly as much fun in real life as in the movies (my basic source of information about everything). Plus – you will be shocked to hear – I am not by nature an adventurer. If somewhere in Switzerland there exists a Standard Inter-

national Lee-Marvin-to-WoodyAllen Scale, I would fall very, very much closer to the Woodman, in culture, appearance, neuroses, and damned near any other way you could imagine. Still, back then, I was prone to choosing experiences that I thought might look good on a book flap some day; and I had already gone cross- (or semicross-) country by hitching, driving, flying, and bus, so it seemed mandatory to dip my moronic big toe in the romantic effluvium of the hobo life. The result was a festival of comic humiliations way too long to catalog here, but it might be worthwhile to impart the few precious gems of wisdom this goofball exploit contributed to the hollow, echoing chambers of my Wisdom Vault. Of course, it’s possible that the passage of nearly 38 years has obsoleted all my tips, much as it’s done to

by gondola cars and those piggyback flatbeds that carry truck trailers. Guess which type we ended up with? You might be able to get some shelter between the trucks’ gigantic tires, but basically you’re out in the open, going a mile a minute on a flat surface with nothing between you and the punishing air but your rapidly diminishing pluck. At least it would only last two days ... or so we thought: Our train, we had been assured, was a speed demon that could make it from Oakland to Chicago in two days. Unfortunately, at the end of 24 hours, we realized we had only covered about 35% of the distance. Real hoboes would have known that ... .

such carefully preserved skills as changing typewriter ribbons and centering 45s on a turntable when you don’t have an adapter. (I’m a very versatile fellow.) 1. Bring a jug of water. Food is nice, too, but water is essential. I didn’t fuck that one up, but I did fuck up ... 2. Bring a sleeping bag. In all my hitching days, I fared very nicely, thank you, snuggling in my sheepskin coat and using my knapsack as a pillow. Besides, we’re riding through the desert in August. How cold could it get? Pretty damned cold actually, particularly if it’s the middle of the night, and you’re going 60+ miles an hour, and you failed to ... 3. Find an empty boxcar to ride in. Boxcars are the Presidential Suites of freight trains, followed CITYBEAT

5. Avoid Ogden, Utah, at all costs. Remember eleventh grade history, when they taught you about the Central Pacific laying track from the West Coast and the Union Pacific from the Midwest, until the twain met near Ogden and joined the tracks with a ceremonial golden spike? Sure you do. As a result of that historic day, the Central Pacific (now morphed into the Southern Pacific) owns the line as far as Ogden, at which point the trains come under the jurisdiction of the Union Pacific. In 1970, at least, Southern P. had a nonchalant attitude toward hoboes; you could get onto the train more or less out in the open. Union P., on the other hand, was a tad stricter, maybe more than a tad, well – let’s face it, those guys were Nazis. We had been warned by a few hoboes we met during one of the many stops the “Ghost” (yeah, right) wasn’t supposed to have made that day. “Don’t go into the Ogden yard,” they said. “You’ve got to get off right before the yard, then figure out a way to get to the other side and get back on the train,” they said. “You really don’t want to get busted there,” they said. “Sure,” we replied, each of us thinking to himself, “I’ll just hide real real good ... on this 817

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DAY ★★

TRIP! O

h, I know exactly what you think of Orange County – it’s there in the tender curl of your lip, the flaring of your elegant nostril, the cadence of your whining as you bitch about the yokels who reside in its limits. You, my dear, are better than it, and I can’t say as I blame you. However! You may also want to shut the fuck up and just enjoy something for once in your superior life, because if you get on the train, have a bloody Mary, and exit in San Juan Capistrano, you will have a fabulous, delicious, sun-soaked (and liquor-soaked) day to remember or not. From the moment you step off the Surfliner in San Juan, you’re surrounded by the oldest neighborhood in the state, the Los Rios Historic District with three original adobes among its 40 homes on its lush little roads. There’s a petting zoo, and a little adobe museum that looks like a prison cell, and a teahouse where you can sip elegantly on tea from pretty china and nibble delicately on a scone, all while having perfectly dreadful conversations about ass, if you, like my old boss, are someone you can’t take anywhere. You could do that. Especially the petting zoo. And the ass. But the real place to be is at the Ramos House Café, for a fairly pricy but exquisite breakfast or lunch under a tin roof on the patio abutting a working garden where they grow the herbs for their cocktails and fine American cooking. (There is no inside seating, because the owner, John Q. Humphries – who is a little bit delicious himself – lives in it.) I once had toast there that I would have paid $9 for, while floating through the air were the tolling of the mission’s bells, the clang of an oncoming train, the chimes from the house itself, and a sound system out of which wafted Fishbone and the Pogues. After you’ve got a foundation on which to lay your booze, you can walk a block or two to the Swallow’s Inn. There, felons, Marines, rednecks and Apaches take turns smacking their girlfriends while you are doing the Boot Scoot Boogie (or else standing in the middle of the floor doing your hippie dance instead; I for one don’t believe dancing should have rules). Afternoons are good and drunk at the Swallow’s, but nights are better, because that is when old men with wooden legs (for serious) will ask you to dance from all the way across the room just by looking at you and cocking an eyebrow, and you will answer just with a widening of your eyes, and then meet them wordlessly in the middle of the floor. But this is a daytrip, and the last Surfliner returning northward is at 10:40 p.m. on weekends and 9:40 on weeknights, and you will probably be having so much fun that you miss your train, and we can’t be having that. Or can we? If you remembered to do something cultural before you ran off for your slumming, the Mission San Juan Capistrano would have been a good choice. You have to pay to get in, and the exhibits are sorta eh – lots of Orange County’s beloved plein air – but you can also take a few moments in the Serra Chapel, which dates from 1783 and is absolutely lousy with fancy gilding applied by Junipero’s Juaneno slaves. Also? Their ghosts! —Rebecca Schoenkopf

Explore the Channel Islands National Park

California Coming Home

HIKE... with a naturalist or on your own! SNORKEL • KAYAK • CAMP

Take your time along the California coast B Y

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THERE’S PRECIOUS LITTLE IN THIS world to wholeheartedly endorse – In-NOut Burgers, rainbows, Luke and Owen Wilson, spending the weekend in bed, and Cool Hand Luke are really the only things I can think of about which there are no niggling doubts, no critical exceptions, no It’s-almost-perfect-but … . But when it comes to our precious vacation days, we do have a wonder of the world right here, one we can vouch for with full faith and credit: The California coast is everything it should be and nothing it shouldn’t, unless you count the poo off Aliso Creek in Orange County or the mean old rich people in Carmel. Carmel, or as I like to call it, “Palm Springs by the Sea,” is a sight too precious and a lot too persnickety, and I will never forgive it for the one old mean rich lady who informed me, when asked if there were rooms to let, that my well-behaved, then-toddler son might not enjoy himself in her twee little hotel, and please to be careful of the door and our ass.

The beach cities are filled with Brazilians, Surfing editors, and good-looking young folk who all probably have weed The California coast is one of the finest driving routes in the world, with Pacific Coast Highway bending in gentle curves just to add to your performance. There are fine little areas like Point Reyes, just north of San Simeon, to pull off the road by the gray sea and stop and smell the elephant seals. But seeing the ocean out the window of the train is a fine way to do it too – and if you don’t get Hearst Castle, you at least get a bar car. And with Amtrak’s seven days of travel for $159, you can stop and take as much time as you like, as long as “as much time as you like” is equal to or less than 21 days. From San Luis Obispo northward, Amtrak cuts inland – you can’t take it through the peaceful glories of Big Sur, for instance, although it does light down again in Salinas – and so we shall ignore it. SLO has its very pretty little downtown that somehow still feels rustic despite its boutiques, and you will stay at the Madonna despite the datedness, general shabbiness, and awful expense. South of San Luis, you’re cutting through places like Solvang (the Disneyfied and delightfully kitschy village where you will stop for a night or two and buy expensive cheeses to enjoy in your windmillshaped room) before you get to Santa Barbara. Stand on your principles: Get the fucking merlot. Santa Barbara is its own delight, of course, though State Street lately is as chichi as Rodeo Drive – there are no more homeless with signs inviting you to con-

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tribute to their party fund, just taut old blondes with boob jobs and a whole lot of duck lips. Santa Barbara has become a small bit disturbing. Actually, I no longer recommend Santa Barbara, but if you do go and you do have the scratch, the Villa Rosa downtown is exquisite, all snobby and tiny (just 18 rooms) and just like you like it. Plus? Free wine nightly. With snacks! As for the rest of Santa Barbara, just pick up an Independent. They’ll tell you what to do. Let’s skip right over L.A. and O.C., yes? If it’s after July 16, stop at Del Mar and join the douche parade at the race track. Get hammered, get groped, and then get back on the train to a quieter, groovier scene. The beach cities of northern San Diego County remind me of Topanga in the ’70s – before the yuppies put up their gross mansions. There’s that giant transcendental meditation temple, a gourmet Peruvian slow-food restaurant (Q’ero), and lobster tacos for like seven bucks at El Callejon in Encinitas. (To get to Encinitas, you’ll get off the train in Solana Beach, where you will grab a cab.) The beach cities are filled with Brazilians (the people, not the grooming style) (but probably the grooming style too), and Surfing editors, and good-looking young folk who all probably have weed. If you can finagle an invitation to a party there, especially in the sweet bliss that’s Leucadia, for the love of Sweet Mary, go. You have choices once you’re off the train in San Diego proper. If you’re a trust-funder and a moron, you’ll want to stay at the W, both for its boutique décor and the South Beach-style party that elbows you in the face when you’re trying to cross the lobby at night. If you’re not a trust-funder (but still a moron), you can stay at the second-worst Motel 6 I’ve ever had the misfortune to meet (the worst was in Waco, for sure). It’s yards from the train tracks and right under the flight path, and every 20 minutes all night long, you will wake up and cry. Settle in, have a drink, and grab a cab to North Park (with a little jaunt to South Park) before you retire to the bikini models frugging in the lobby – or to the whistle of the train all night long. There are a few boutiques with ugly, ’spensive shoes and odd housewares; a terrific, woman-owned sex shoppe; fancy delicious restaurants that are daring and transformative like you might see from an ambitious Top Chef contestant; and the delightful Pink Elephant, property of one of S.D.’s best-loved musicians, John Reis of Rocket From the Crypt. In neighboring South Park is Hamilton’s Tavern: The ultimate neighborhood bar, where regulars bring their well-behaved dogs inside to loll at everyone’s feet, Hamilton’s is a beer bar with excellent draughts and a jukebox that moves from the Pogues/Rocket From the Crypt/Roky Erickson and New York Dolls to Howlin’ Wolf/Faces/Son House and John Hurt. And all of it, all of it, is rock. Play a game of pool, slurp down some of the world’s finest ales, and don’t step on anyone’s hound dog. Fuckin’ tourist. ✶

Day Trips with 2-6 hrs ashore Departing from Ventura & Oxnard SPECIAL TRIPS: ISLAND WILDLIFE CRUISE WHALE WATCHING

g Celebratin f 40 Years o Island s Adventure since 1968

Photo by Tim Hauf

ISLAND PACKERS For Schedules and Information (805) 642-1393 www.islandpackers.com

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the new la citybeat L

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coming 6.12.08

Weekend Getaway Bohemian Grove B Y

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PHOTO BY JOSH REISS

Share your vision at metro.net/imagine.

MetroBriefs Imagine The Possibilities Imagine a faster commute, synchronized signals, more left turn lanes and more rail lines to more places. Metro is now planning LA’s transportation future for the next 25 years. See what’s achievable today and possible tomorrow with more investments in tra;c solutions. Check metro.net/imagine.

Don’t Spend Memorial Day At The Pump. Go Metro. What are you waiting for, $5 a gallon? With 73 miles of tra;c-free Metro Rail, 2,500 clean-burning Metro buses on more than 200 routes and a growing number of fast and frequent Metro Rapid routes, you can Go Metro for your Memorial Day holiday and enjoy yourself without emptying your wallet.

~ LIGHTNING IN LAST YEAR’S BOTTLE ~

LIKE THE LOCATION-CRAZED AUTEURS of the silent-movie 1920s, moguls of the underground party set are beginning to find L.A. a bit cramped for their ambitions. Despite vast tracts of hidden urban space, cops with better things to do, and a nearNietzschean will-to-party, it was inevitable the scene would take in surrounding hill and dale. Most of the party elite consist of Burners, who assemble a scratch utopia every year out in the Nevada desert just for fun, so Lightning in a Bottle, held May 23-26, is a pleasant, pastoral As You Like It romp by comparison. This happening, staged annually at Live Oak Campground in the wooded hills above Santa Barbara, has grown from a preliminary gathering of the Burner clans into a sprawling festival in its own right, with attendance last year springing, magic mushroom-like, from a little over one thousand to well past four. The whole is the creation of downtown arts collective the Do LaB, whose magic misting gardencum-disco is a perennial hit at Coachella. I spoke to Dee Dee, who along with twin older brothers Josh and Jesse oversees much of the LaB’s far-flung party interests from a warehouse space on Bay Street. “It started about eight years ago as a one-night mountain birthday party for Jesse and Josh, always on their birthday weekend,” says Dee Dee. “The first year, we had a hundred people, the next year 300. By the fifth year, it was a 24-hour party on a ranch outside Los Angeles, then we wanted to make it grow. We took a year off to find the proper location, found it and we built what became Lightning in a Bottle Music and Arts Festival out of that. “If you’ve never been to this festival or never been part of this community at large, you’re gonna see some things you’ve never seen before,” Dee Dee continued,

Save Oil, Save The Environment – Invest In Metro Metro buses and trains save 56 million gallons of fuel a year that would otherwise have been used for individual trips in a car. That reduction in oil use means 300,000 fewer tons of pollutants being released into the air. Every dollar invested in public transit is estimated to generate two dollars in environmental benefits.

Live Internet Chat With Metro Board Chair May 21 Metro Board Chair Pam O’Connor wants all of you to imagine LA’s transportation future during her live Internet chat beginning on noon Wednesday, May 21. Share your vision of a tra;c-free future and opinions on Metro’s Draft Long Range Transportation Plan. Log on to metro.net/chat.

Metro Has Nation’s Fastest-Growing Vanpool Network

If you’d like to know more, please call us at 1.800.464.2111, or visit metro.net.

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MAY 15~21, 2008

running down a Burning Man 101 primer for civilians: “Clothing you’ve never seen before and a lack of clothing in a public event. Your eyes will be opened and hopefully you’ll come with an open mind to accept all that. This is a group of people who are more friendly than you’re used to – people who’ll go up and give you a hug just because. People have conversations with you without having an ulterior motive. Different sounds, an eclectic mix of producers, musicians and bands. I think the thing that makes this different, apart from the art we provide, it’s the people that bring the magic. We just provide the canvas for the art they bring with them, whether it’s their personality or their physical art or the music or clothes they share with us.” Besides the weird dada and bric-abrac hauled to the site by volunteers (which in 2006 included a nightclub shaped like a 1960s-era Boeing jetliner, complete with stripper pole and “cabin club”), expect performances by West Indian Girl, Bassnectar, the Lucent Dossier Vaudeville Cirque and many more, including DJ sets by the cream of the art-party underground. The campsite is literally miles from any civilization and so petty customs like curfews, social inhibitions and expectations of hired flunkies to direct you to the party are best left behind. In this remote and sylvan locale, you are the party. Of course, that does worry some. “The more the county is aware of what’s going on,” Dee Dee grins, “and they are aware, as I go through the steps with the sheriff’s office and the Highway Patrol, but the more we grow, the more their eyes twinkle, as in ‘What can I get out of this?’ But Santa Barbara county has been a great host so far and it’s absolutely worth it.” ✶ www.lightninginabottle.com

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IN 1999, AMTRAK THREW A GIANT PARty near the Las Vegas Strip to announce the imminent return of train service from Los Angeles to the city of lost personal investment. The usual turnout of train buffs, still bitter about the demise two years earlier of the romantic Desert Wind line from L.A. to Salt Lake City, with stops in Vegas, joined Nevada Governor Kenny Guinn and Senator Harry Reid at the affair. With coffee in hand, they toasted the custom-designed, European-style Talgo train that they were all promised would soon make several daily trips. When will people learn not to count their train cars until they’re lined up on the track? Nine years later, passengers are still clamoring for what would be a popular, filled-to-capacity line for thousands who would gladly board the train for the fivehour ride to Las Vegas and forsake the hellish traffic on Interstate 15 or being stuffed in one of Southwest’s bulging commuter planes. Today, the line is officially in limbo. The press release advancing the December 14, 1999, party has since been removed from Amtrak’s website, but the crime against the rail-riding public cannot be so easily erased. To make matters worse, the money that could go to needed track improvements for the Casino Special is being squandered on studies for the unrealistic Maglev train, which levitates in an electromagnetic field at laboratory speeds up to 600 mph. Some $45 million has already been gobbled up by Reid and other fanatics who swear by the fantasy of slightly slower 300 mph trains that would make the L.A.-Vegas jaunt in 90 minutes. They’ve been staring at their cards too long if they believe it. The one huge problem: None of the realists think it will ever happen. “Maglevs are not working in China or Germany,” says Richard Silver, executive director of the Rail Passenger Association of California. “It’s just a bureaucrat’s dream. They’re wasting tons and tons of money looking into it. It’s a failed system both in terms of technology and interconnectivity. That time and money would be better spent on expanding already existing systems. It might be the wave of the future, but it will take generations to develop.” Silver was referring to the Southern California Association of Governments, the region’s No. 1 cheerleader of the Maglev system, which is studying a hub of local routes that would eventually connect to Las Vegas, say, by the time you figure out how to beat the house at blackjack. A leading proponent over the years of Maglev has been L.A. Councilman Greig Smith, who rides Metrolink from his home in the Valley to City Hall once a week and is sincere about his faith in the technology. “The Maglev train would really bring Southern California into the 21st century. It would allow us to move a great number of people at ultra-high speeds, outside of our congested freeways and with zero emissions.” Aside from this little problem of getting the Las Vegas service back on track, Amtrak’s achieving a level of success not seen since the second heyday of train travel came to an end in the 1950s and ’60s. Some 26 million passengers boarded trains last year, with 20 percent gains in traffic in California’s three heavily traveled corridors. “The

biggest challenge is ridership is going through the roof and not having enough money to put cars in need of repairs back into service. It’s pretty much a national thing,” says Ross Capon, executive director of the National Association of Railroad Passengers. “In the summer months, because of the size of the fleet it might not be possible to keep up with demand.” The train analyst cites the prediction by Goldman Sachs energy strategist Argun Murti that oil could reach $200 a barrel within six months. If that happens, and motorists must face $8 gas, the demand for train travel will be even greater. “Trains are such an obvious answer as the price of gasoline is expected to double,” says Capon. “Put it this way: The higher the price goes, the madder the public will become that politicians are basically doing nothing.” Now’s the time to prepare for the onslaught of passengers. The Bush administration is doing the exact opposite. For the second year in a row, Bush proposed cutting Amtrak’s budget by more than 40 percent, to $800 million. It’s not like Amtrak is seeking special treatment. The federal government subsidizes all forms of transportation, and rail gets the short end of the deal. Last year, the feds dumped $40 billion into the national highway system, $15 billion into aviation. The idea that the private sector can successfully develop and operate any transportation system, including Maglev, is far-fetched. Says Capon: “The biggest subsidy in transportation goes from the airline shareholder to the airline passenger.” But politicians have failed Amtrak, forcing the system to live “day to day, year to year,” with little long-range planning, says 75-yearold Ed Von Nordeck, a train buff who used to hang out at railroad stations instead of dating when he was growing up. He got his first job as a Southern Pacific reservations clerk in Colton and is now a railroad historian enjoying his retirement in Riverside. He remembers his first day on the job in the ’50s. “It was a highly competitive business. From here to Chicago, you had three railroads and they all had their signature trains on that route, vying for customers.” Train travel was most popular in the ’20s before the advent of the automobile. Then the Great Depression hit, wiping out many of the railroads. More boom years came immediately after World War II through the 1950s, the decade when jet travel lured many off the tracks. But it wasn’t until the late ’60s that doomsday arrived. “The crowning blow was in 1967. A lot of trains existed to haul the U.S. Mail and that saved many a train,” recalls Von Nordeck. “But by 1967, truckers and airplanes got all of the business. Overnight, trains were just chopped, chopped and chopped because they were no longer needed.” By the time Amtrak rolled around in 1972, many major cities in the U.S. were served by only a fraction of the lines. You could still get to most big cities, but on greatly reduced schedules. “It was just a steady decline,” says Von Nordeck. “Now it’s starting to come back.” And, the Desert Wind to Las Vegas would face better odds of making a comeback if Sen. Reid would return the $45 million blown on the Maglev pipe dream. ✶

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THE LAST TIME I WENT TO SAN FRANcisco, I took the bus. I was waiting for one to pick me up at Union Station when an old man leaned over to me, eyes-a-glitterin’, all but ready to launch into a rendition of “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.” Instead, he asked, toothily: “Did you pay one dollar?” I hadn’t. He turned to the girl sitting next to me. “Did you pay one dollar?” She had. He nodded conspiratorially, as if they were fellow members of La Résistance. The Megabus that I boarded with them that day couldn’t have been carrying many more than a dozen people, and so the discount bus service may still seem something of a relative secret, passed on mostly via wordof-mouth: At Union Station, for instance, a couple blink-and-you-miss-them signs discreetly nudge you out and around the back to the pickup point. Hailing from the discount-travelin’ ways of Europe – Scotland, to be exact – Megabus began running intercity routes to and from L.A. last August, with seats as low as, yes, $1, and then going up depending on how late one books or how popular the route may be (which is how I ended up paying a still-low $25 for said seat). Currently, they’ll also take you to Las Vegas, Millbrae, Oakland, and San Jose. They may have hit onto something, however. In March, Greyhound started a competing service, BoltBus, to go head-on in the $1 seat game with Megabus in northeastern cities such as New York, D.C., Boston, and Philadelphia. “We basically saw a different consumer segment that we thought would really enjoy this service,” says BoltBus spokesperson Dustin Clark. “The majority of Greyhound’s costs are tied up in terminal maintenance and employee overhead. Fuel costs are only a small percentage of our overall costs, and so by doing all our booking online we’re able to pass on our cost savings to our customers.” He thinks the company could look at expanding out to California after monitoring its success in the northeast first. According to Clark, BoltBus sees the airline industry as a competitor, and not rail. George Hobica, who runs low-fare listing site Airfarewatchdog.com, agrees that the discount bus model could be a legit alternative to rising airfare costs: “It definitely has an im-

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pact in the markets that they offer it – Minneapolis, Chicago, Los Angeles is one – the same way that in Europe the shuttle train had an impact on airline travel from Paris to London.” Meanwhile, ultra-low-cost airlines similarly derived from European models (think Ryanair) have found mixed results. Skybus, which cut domestic fares to as low as $10, ceased operations on April 5, leaving the

“HE TURNED TO THE GIRL SITTING NEXT TO ME ‘DID YOU PAY ONE DOLLAR?’ SHE HAD. HE NODDED CONSPIRATORIALLY, AS IF THEY WERE FELLOW MEMBERS OF LA RÉSISTANCE.” ★ likes of Spirit Airlines (currently offering seats from LAX to Detroit at $39) to carry on the ultra-low flame. “I wouldn’t hold my breath,” Hobica says. “It would appear that only Southwest has been able to make this low-fare business model work. “We’ve definitely seen fares go up, but airlines are still having unadvertised sales,” Hobica explains. “I suggest that people sign up for the widgets that American Airlines and Southwest have to offer. You can get discounts up to 25% on popular routes. We’re finding that airlines are doing a lot more private marketing to people who are loyal customers or who sign up for their programs.” As for where this leaves the likes of Amtrak, senior marketing officer John Stierwalt points to the popularity of the California Rail Pass plan, which for $159 allows for seven days of travel in California over a 21-day period. But mostly: Take the train if you, um, like the train. “We don’t really go directly head to head with those,” Stierwalt says. “We feel like we have a fairly unique product that offers a different travel experience.” ✶

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MAY 15~21, 2008

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open air flatbed ... totally invisible between the giant truck tires. No one will see me, because I won’t move a hair. And I’ll be as quiet as a little church mouse. I will be ... Mr. Invisible!” In Ogden that night, our faith wasn’t shaken a bit, despite the flashlights shining right in our eyes ... despite the voices saying, “Hey, look what we got! Three hippie hoboes!” ... despite the yard bulls banging on the truck axles and yelling, “Hey! Come on out of there!” They can’t see me. They’re bluffing. Because I am ... Mr. Invisible! Our faith did take quite a substantial hit, however, when they said, “Okay, if you don’t come out, we’ll just fire a few shots in there and let ’em ricochet around a little.” Hello! I tossed off my apparently faulty Cloak of Invisibility and basically teleported off the train. “Jeez, Earl, that li’l hippie sure moves fast, don’t he?” “He?” Earl said, pointing at my hair. “Heck, I thought that was a hippie girl, but you’re right: It’s another hippie boy.” “No, maybe you’re right. All that nice hair, sure looks like a hippie girl to me. Well, except for the moustache. Maybe hippie girls have moustaches.” Oh, shit, I thought, if they think hippies are so damned funny, what happens if they figure out we’re all Jewish? Earl and Jesse checked our IDs, packed us into a Jeep, and started arguing, sotto voce, what to do with us. “It’s a slow night,” Earl said. “I think we should take ’em out in the desert and have some fun with them.” “Come on, Earl,” Jesse whispered. “I thought we weren’t gonna do that stuff any more. Remember how messy it got last time? Let’s just take ’em downtown and turn them over to the police.” “Ohpleasepleaseplease, Lord!” we were all thinking. “Please let us

When That Train Rumbles Through But I still look for you/When that train rumbles through/That’s a sound I know you’d understand. –The Knitters, “Someone Like You” A short schedule of readings for embarking upon a search for the railroad sound. • Prose of the Trans-Siberian and of the Little Jehanne of France, Blaise Cendrars. This is where the literature of train travel begins. This mad, swirling, decadesahead-of-its-time tapestry of words penned in 1913 by an inveterate adventurer and writer — and hero of Henry Miller — hurtles across all kinds of geographical and metaphysical boundaries. As Cendrars writes in his unremittingly intense ode to restless and relentless motion: “I deciphered all the scrambled texts of the wheels and rearranged the scattered elements into a violent beauty/That I master/and that drives me.” • The Great Railway Bazaar, Paul Theroux. “Ever since childhood, when I lived within earshot of the Boston and Maine, I have seldom heard a train go by and not wished I was on it,” writes Theroux, the poet laureate of transcontinental train travel.

be arrested and booked and thrown in jail!” For a brief moment it looked like the fun-hungry Earl was going to insist, but he relented. “Thankyouthankyouthankyou, Lord,” we thought. “Hot dog! We’re goin’ to JAIL!” The Jeep eased into Ogden. Earl pulled the car up to the curb of a downtown street and told us to get out. We looked around, baffled: There was no police station in sight. What were these guys pulling now? “See that building halfway down the block?” Jesse told us wearily. “That’s the passenger rail station. You go in there, and you stay in there until the next train comes in, and you buy a ticket, and you get on that train. But” – voice getting scary again – “don’t even think about sneaking back to the yard and hopping another freight. We catch you again and you really will be doing 30 days in the county jail.” I sure wasn’t going to argue. Oops. Time’s up, and Unca Andy’s only made it through one day and five rules. I really wish I could tell you about our adventures in Ogden. About how we were treated to breakfast at an all-night diner by a guy who claimed (rather convincingly) to be the nephew of America’s most prominent racist, Gov. George Wallace. About sitting in the terminal at 4 a.m., when an unannounced train stopped, and a guy in makeup and paisley bell-bottoms got off to walk his chihuahua, while a dwarf and the buffest woman I had ever seen shared a cigarette. (Only when the train was pulling away did we see the legend “Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus” on its flank.) And about finally getting up the nerve to take a bus to Salt Lake City, where Union Pacific held no sway, and boarding another freight for three more days of Semi-Thrilling Adventures. ✶

“Those whistles sing bewitchment: railways are irresistible bazaars, snaking along perfectly level no matter what the landscape, improving your mood with speed, and never upsetting your drink.” Some Theroux fans prefer The Old Patagonian Express or Riding the Iron Rooster, but Great Railway Bazaar was the author’s first classic railroad travelogue. • Riding Toward Everywhere, William T. Vollmann. In 2007, Vollmann describes taking up jumping railroad cars at age 47, defying not only the constraints of legal authority but also, after having broken his pelvis and suffered a few small strokes, his own doctor’s orders. In his ecstatic search for freedom, the author distinguishes himself from the hobos and the citizens (whom he places in italics) who might not comprehend the personal and political nature of his actions.

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“I ride freight trains in the belief that I can trust myself, that I deserve to be trusted even to be a reckless fool if circumstances so turn out – and, after all, if I am dead as a result of my own folly, I am no worse off than if I died safely and soberly. The most cogent thing to be said about trainhopping is that it is the unauthorized borrowing property of others – corporations, to be sure, not fellow citizens who would be inconvenienced; I am a microbe hitching a ride upon an elephant’s trunk! – Besides so many of my proudest deeds have been unauthorized by somebody that I know subscribe to an aphorism of Lukács’s: Breaking a law is approximately as weighty a matter as missing a train.” –Anthony Miller

MAY 15~21, 2008

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L.A. Underground vs. the Cops LAPD shuts down Phoenix Projekt’s pyrokinetic party ~ BY RON GARMON ~

F YOU CAN IMAGINE AN INFINITE VARIETY of Kubla Khan pleasure-domes tucked within the rotting walls of the old Warehouse District, then you are already partially down with the L.A. underground. The rest of the way one finds by the ghost light of insider information, as was the case with the Lantern Festival put on by the sexy firebugs at Phoenix Projekt last Saturday night. Somewhere on an obscure street corner in Little Tokyo, waves of garishly dressed goddesses, freaks and party animalia were squeezing fur and feathers into minivans hired to haul them to the secret location of yet another private debauch. The shuttle is fine fun, and a colorable chance to strike acquaintance with a G-stringed stranger – I tend to manage first impressions well with the subject sitting on my lap – but totally unnecessary if you have the address. Which I did, but it proved necessary, as I could feel the telltale subsonic oontz-oontz of DJ vibrations thumping against my inner ear as I loped across the Sixth Street bridge to the party. Pausing at Mateo Street, I noted the festive lights of the LAPD flashing in the distance and trusted J.Q. Law had his usual better things to do. The subsonic beat grew stronger as I headed north on Imperial Street, past rows of battered buildings of elderly brick and dirty stucco. Tonight’s jollification was at the noble Beaux-Arts firehouse on South Santa Fe Boulevard, and this onetime home of Engine Company No. 17 was already rocking as I legged down the dim alley to the gate. The countercultural art party “L.A. vs. the War” made clever use of the courtyard and cavernous interior last month, but Phoenix Projekt had done the place up in a startling panAsian Burner Nouveau, with two DJ stations, bars, massage tables and art exhibits scattered throughout. Even by the design-snobbish standards of the underground, the décor was first-rate and the rooms functional and comfortable. Outside, the Phoenix troupe was putting on the first of three combustible dance performances, with the winsome cast spinning, juggling, caressing, eating and spitting flame to whoops and applause. The event was a fundraiser for Burners Without Borders, an organization aiming to harness the protean energies of the Burning Man sub-

culture to humanitarian uses. The festival, legal, fully permitted and sealed at every aperture by events staff, was beginning to surge with the downtown party elite. A vast, close-knit karass peopled with sexy ladies and eccentric gentlemen living full tilt boogie in a private D.I.Y. Jazz Age, this is a cadre I’ve seen in many combinations in warehouses, office blocks, nightclubs, deserts and forests spread across two states. Some danced, others lounged and smoked peppermint from big hookahs, still others moved in meditative frenzy though a proggy barrage on the dance floor. The heavy brick of the firehouse effectively muffled the noise from inside and the van arrived every few minutes with a dozen or so cheery friends and appetizing strangers, so we all socialized between gouts of fire from the stage. The art rooms got heavy play, Cristina McAllister’s leafy and tumescent female images being perfectly in synch with the incipient goatishness going on around me. Denizens of this particular subculture survive all manner of party-related accidents, overindulgence

LIVE and police encounters in jaunty style. Even so, I was surprised and pleased to see dainty blonde imp Lynnsane up and dancing after her celebrated fall last New Year’s Eve. 2008 was scarcely a few minutes old when this heedless beauty casually hula-hooped off the roof of an abandoned building, plunging 35 feet through a skylight onto a concrete dance floor. She looked like a broken Barbie as I peered down through the smashed glass, convinced the scene had paid for our fun with some of its dearest blood. Her warmth as I held her close convinced the empiricist in me she was very alive. So was the party, which was beginning to veer further off the hook with each load of revelers. It was already just past the midnight hour and voices from the crowd were calling for DJ Oscure, 1990s breakbeat pioneer and the evening’s star attraction for the danceMAY 15~21, 2008

CITYBEAT

dance set. It was just at that psychic moment when I wandered out to Santa Fe for a smoke and found the LAPD there. Four friendly, grinning cops stood at the gate, peering at the paper-lantern hullabaloo deep inside the alley and dropping hints about a noise beef made by some disgruntled citizen or other. They took their time going in, but soon afterward the plug was pulled on the outside DJ stand, sending a first wave of deserters piling into the shuttle back to the rendezvous point. The hardcore refused to be routed, and we all packed inside, our bodies providing an extra layer of insulation against Breakbeat Buddha’s set. He upped the tempo, mugging and capering, cranking the party to life. Veterans congratulated themselves on Burner-ly sticktoitiveness, and the goodtime arc rose to another giddy parabola before the inside DJ was abruptly shut off as well. Bratton’s boys have been leaning on the downtown party scene hard this year, with several recent events raided on unknown or specious pretexts. Indeed, one semi-permanent scene playhouse was cleared out one cold midwinter’s night even as a line of ticket-holders wound down an unlit street, and the only neighbors for blocks around were the species of rat unable to use a cell phone. It would be a lamentable night in the underground when the odds of seeing a cop draw even with those of kissing an ex-lover. Whether the shutdown better illustrates the power of Artist District gentrification or the futility of getting a police permit is still an open question at press time. Well, on the eighth day, God created the after-party, and officers didn’t stay to hustle us out after the music ended. There was talk of action over on Washington Boulevard somewhere in the teens, and Cre8tivity, a Westside party-space hidden inside a vacant office building, was hosting another of its infrequent all-night romps. Home and keyboard were nearer than either, so I squeezed friends goodbye and made for Whittier Boulevard, where the only sounds troubling the early-morning air traditionally come from sirens and helicopters. ✶

Che Won’t Go Away ~ BY MICK FARREN ~

HE KID WAITS FOR A bus outside Fairfax High School. A bearded face, a red star on a black beret, stares from the boy’s oversized T-shirt. The proudly worn image is neither musician nor movie star. It’s the legendary photograph by Aberto Korda of Argentinean-born guerrilla fighter and Marxist visionary Ernesto Guevara de la Serna – commonly known as Che. The same image of Che has appeared across the entire world on the shirts of antiwar activists, WTO and G8 protesters, punks, rock & rollers, and striking agricultural workers. How much the kid on his way home from school really knows about the man on his shirt is anyone’s guess. Maybe he’s read the books, watched the TV documentaries, downloaded The Motorcycle Diaries, and is wholly up to speed on his icon, or maybe the screen print is just a romantic symbol of non-specific revolt. (“What are you rebelling against, kid?” “What have you got?”) In the case of Che Guevara, the level of perception hardly matters. In the 40 years since his murder by the CIA and elite Bolivian Rangers, Che has been fashioned into a unique bridge between radical politics and popular culture. In a paradox that would baffle Leon Trotsky, Che is simultaneously a universal symbol of resistance and an object of commercial merchandise. As the trademark of revolution, his face appears on belt buckles and lip balm. Tourists from everywhere except the USA flock to Cuba for low-cost Havana vacations, and few go home without a Che souvenir. Parodies/copies of the classic black on red Che emblem have featured Osama bin Laden, Jesus Christ, Alfred E. Neuman, Manuel from Fawlty Towers, and Peter Griffin on Family Guy. A newly released documentary, Che Guevara – Hasta La Victoria Siempre, directed by Clark Green, although earnest in intent, clearly bends in the direction of moving the merch with promotion that makes it clear it contains “rare and previously unseen” photographs and film footage. The pitch is very close to selling newly discovered live footage of Jimi Hendrix or the Ramones, or a lost

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section of The Godfather, and the effect on the viewer is not dissimilar. Hasta La Victoria Siempre is little more than a mundane retelling of the basic Guevara biography, from his bohemian upbringing in Buenos Aires, his experiences during the CIA coup in Guatemala, his meeting and subsequent devotion to Fidel Castro and the Cuban revolution all the way to his death while attempting to ignite insurrection in Bolivia. And yet the visuals are mesmerizing, as one watches the wealth of newsreel footage and amateur clips of this infinitely charismatic young man going about the business of actually creating a revolution – Che in combat, Che the orator, Che bringing in the sugar harvest, stripped to the waist, and finally Che the corpse, displayed like a trophy. Clearly much of the material is staged for the camera, but a knowing twinkle and semicynical grin makes clear that Che himself is well aware that he’s being exploited. His product is revolution and he’s selling it. Che, like (say) James Dean, had the advantage of dying while still young and glorious. He never aged, he never compromised, and he never disappointed. Four decades after his death, his screen presence is still vibrant and vital, and that has surely to be why we still embrace him as a graphic affront to the raw greed of a ruthless status quo. Guevara is not an actor or a spot-lit rock star, but he generates the same energy and fascination. He was the real thing; he fought in the Sierra Maestra, he rode from Santa Clara to Havana in ecstatic triumph, and he died for a cause that was both lost and betrayed almost before it started. In the West, we may never see the like of Che Guevara again. Perhaps this is instinctively understood by the kid from Fairfax High, and his Che T-shirt really celebrates that such a time, and such men, did exist, not all that long ago. Maybe he also wonders, with a youthful romance, if those times might come again. ✶ Che Guevara – Hasta La Victoria Siempre is released on DVD by Kultur.

Mick Farren blogs at Doc40.blogspot.com.

The â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Peculiar Institutionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; and a white womanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s burden

ED KRIEGER

A More Perfect Union

~ ORIGINAL SIN ~

~ BY DON SHIRLEY ~ Tâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S NO WONDER THAT Barack Obama delivered his now-famous speech about race in America at Philadelphiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Constitution Center. Not only was the Pennsylvania primary campaign raging, but the cradle of the Constitution conjures dramatic resonance for anyone who wants to mark the discrepancy between the documentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s goals and the fact that, in Obamaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s words, â&#x20AC;&#x153;it was stained by this nationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s original sin of slavery.â&#x20AC;? Obama â&#x20AC;&#x201C; son of a black father and a white mother â&#x20AC;&#x201C; discussed how black and white Americans could help â&#x20AC;&#x153;form a more perfect union.â&#x20AC;? For blacks, he said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;that path means embracing the burdens of our past without becoming victims of our past.â&#x20AC;? Not far from the site of Obamaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s speech is the office of Thomas Gibbons, whose A House With No Walls opened last weekend at LATC. Set in Philadelphia, the play perceptively dramatizes the struggle among African Americans between â&#x20AC;&#x153;embracing the burdensâ&#x20AC;? and â&#x20AC;&#x153;becoming victimsâ&#x20AC;? of the past. Gibbons probes so relentlessly into the themes of Obamaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s speech that it wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be surprising to hear that the speech inspired the play. Actually, however, the play was first produced before anyone had heard the speech. The narrative occurs on two parallel lines. In the present day, a controversy erupts over the construction of a historical museum at the location of George Washingtonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s presidential home in Philadelphia. A 60ish African American activist, Salif (Hugh Dane), wants Washingtonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s slave quarters to be reconstructed on their original site. But the museum officials resist that idea, abetted by the conservative black historian Cadence Lane (Kellie Roberts), who contends that it would enshrine the slavesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; status as victims.

Meanwhile, Gibbons also brings two of Washingtonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s slaves on stage, in passages set in 1796-97. Oney (Toyin Moses) and Austin (Maurice McRae) are sister and brother. Oney hopes that theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll be freed when Washingtonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s presidency ends. Sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s approached by two abolitionists who tell her that sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll never be free unless she takes the initiative to flee. Theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re drooling over the public relations value of a slave running away from the iconic Washingtonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s household. Both eras are occasionally represented onstage simultaneously, but usually the characters arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t aware of their cross-era cohorts â&#x20AC;&#x201C; with one exception. Before Cadence became a famous conservative, she literally wrote the book about Oney, and she sometimes swears that she can hear the slaveâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s voice. The periods are also linked in the casting of minor roles. Darin Dahms plays a white abolitionist in the 18th century and a white liberal in the 21st. The latter character is torn between his fellow historian Cadence, with whom he has a romantic history, and the activist Salif. Perhaps heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the alter ego of the playwright, who is white. The play is a remarkably nuanced examination of slaveryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s contemporary reverberations. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s operating on a much deeper level than Daniel Beatyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s similarly themed Emergency, at the Geffen. Ben Guilloryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s staging for the Robey Theatre Company delivers about 90 percent of the play very well, but its sense of immediacy isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t helped by the extremely raked audience seating in LATCâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Theater 2, which leaves much of the audience too far above the action. Still, the productionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s evocation of Obamaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s themes without mentioning Obama makes it appear both timely and timeless. The same canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be said for Nick Salamoneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Hillary Agonistes, which describes how President Hillary Clinton â&#x20AC;&#x201C; whose

daughter Chelsea is now a Muslim by marriage â&#x20AC;&#x201C; would be stumped by the sudden, inexplicable disappearance of 65 million people (including Bill). Alas, Jon Lawrence Riveraâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s L.A. premiere, for Playwrightsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Arena, took place a week after Clintonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s presidential hopes also seemed to disappear, somewhat more explicably. Barring a miraculous reversal, this 2006 playâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s shelf life has expired. â&#x153;ś

A House With No Walls, LATC Theater 2, 514 S. Spring St., downtown L.A. (213) 489-7402. robeytheatrecompany.com. Closes June 15. Hillary Agonistes, studio/stage, 520 N. Western Ave., L.A. (213) 627-4473. playwrightsarena.org. Closes June 1.

For more reviews by Don Shirley, see Stage listings, page 36.

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THE BEST MUSICAL. EVER. May 21 to July 6, 2008

NEW CAST RECORDING AVAILABLE ON MASTERWORKS BROADWAY

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MAY 15~21, 2008

CITYBEAT

Photo: Walter Iooss.

Y3 FOR GH MA 14115. THROU E: D O C

EAT RICHARD FOSS

Bites Dancing in the Dark … Opaque, the experience where you dine in a pitch-dark room with blind servers (as seen on, yes, Rock of Love), is moving. After two years at the Hyatt on Sunset, they’re heading to the Sheraton Delfina in Santa Monica. I’m fairly sure it isn’t because the view of the beach is better … . For reservations, check darkdining.com. Brunch Ahoy! ... Redwood, the pirate-themed grill in downtown L.A., is now open for brunch – even scurvy sea dogs need to start the day with a good meal. The menu covers conventional Belgian waffles and eggy things, with a few interesting items like the Spanish omelet known as tortilla Espanola. Perhaps instead of champagne brunch they could offer rum and gunpowder … . Hope Floats … I haven’t yet made it to Cisco Burger, which claims to be the world’s first solar-powered burger joint. When I go I’ll have some questions, like, what do they do when it’s raining or foggy? (The restaurant is in Long Beach, and I have been informed that there are indeed days in which the sun shines only fitfully.) It’s the brainchild of eccentric savant Jesse James, whose improbable career includes stints as a TV producer, custom motorcycle artist, retail mogul, and publisher. Making a good burger is a bit less difficult than some of his other achievements – namely, getting Sandra Bullock to marry him – but he gets an A for doing it responsibly … . Taste Comes (Almost) of Age ... Taste of the Nation, the culinary benefit that helps fight childhood hunger, turns 20 this year. On June 1, over 40 chefs from L.A.’s top restaurants will cook their best while prestige wineries pour tastes and KCRW’s Tom Schnabel spins some music (they don’t say what kind, but my guess is “eclectic”). It’s a great day in support of a great cause – tickets are $110 each. If you appreciate fine food and want to help others, call (877) 26-TASTE … . Singapore Swing … Why, I wondered, would a hotel restaurant with a perfectly good name like Table One change its name to Table Jaan? I asked and was told that “jaan” is Sanskrit for “bowl.” This makes more sense than is immediately apparent, given that the hotel is Raffles in Beverly Hills, and Jaan is the name of the restaurant at the original Raffles in Singapore. There is no fixed menu; instead, the chef asks your likes and dislikes, then creates something to suit your preferences. Five courses are $150, or $215 with wine pairings. Sounds eminently civilized, doesn’t it? (310) 385-5302 … . Prison Break! ... Celebrating a prison break sounds like an odd thing to do unless you’re one of the people breaking out. If you’re French, though, the storming of the Bastille is a red letter day, one to be celebrated with wine, food, and accordion music. All three will be on display at La Cachette on July 14, when the cottage-like restaurant on Santa Monica Boulevard will be a scene of revelry. Three courses of Chef Mettinger’s fine French food will served for $85 – brush the dust from your liberty cap and get ready for the party. As Rouget de Lisle did not say, “Aux La Cachette, citoyens!” Do call ahead for reservations: (310) 470-2510. --Richard Foss

~ CALORIES WELL SPENT ~

Casa Convenient Eagle Rock’s treasure is a night owl’s delight ~ BY RICHARD FOSS ~ E LEAVE THE show in the Valley at 10:30 p.m., and it’s out of the parking lot, onto the streets, and time to make up for the fact that we skipped dinner so we could make the curtain. Our options dwindle in the afterglow of neon signs being shut off, kitchens closing and music blaring as restaurants become nightclubs. There are sidelong glances at fast food joints, wondering if we’re really that desperate. Someone mentions Casa Bianca. Spin this car around, we’re on the way – and at this time of night, there won’t even be much of a line. There will be one, of course; the only time I saw Casa Bianca without a line was at 3 a.m., when even they were closed. But at almost eleven on a Saturday night, there are only five people ahead of us, not half bad. Jennie Martorama, who opened the restaurant in 1955, stands behind the counter bantering with locals and keeping an eagle eye on the staff. I’m not a regular and don’t rate the effusive greeting that she gives the ones who have been coming here for half a century, but she cheerfully calls “Two or three minutes!” to me as I eye the clock. No more than that and we’re led to the old-fashioned back room and handed menus, ready for the best Italian food L.A. has to offer in the small hours. And, as I am quickly reminded when my salad comes, food that’s pretty darn decent even when the sun is still in the sky. My table had decided to split a house special – a quarter head of lettuce with anchovies, olives, pepperoncini, and tomatoes ($5.25). After we had ordered it, our waitress sorrowfully told us they were out of iceberg – would we mind romaine? Assuredly we would not! Sharp flavors of pickled pepper and fish, cool crispness of lettuce, and a robust homemade Italian dressing, and we are radiating happiness. The starter of fried zucchini ($3.75) hits the spot too – it has been rolled in herbed breadcrumbs rather than dipped in batter, which leaves a bit more oil behind but makes

We accept tips: RichardFoss@earthlink.net.

CITYBEAT

MAY 15~21, 2008

for a better flavor. I graze on salad and zucchini and sip a $4 glass of pretty tolerable Chianti and all is well with the world. The last shreds of salad are just being sniped when dinner shows up – the service here is usually fast, which is why that line outside moves the way it does. I order pizza every time I come here, so this time I rebelled and ordered spaghetti carbonara with pancetta ($9.45). It’s surprisingly good, given that 90 percent of the people who eat here order pizza. The flavor is good, the pasta is al dente, and it’s a simple dish done well. My companions select a meatball sandwich ($6), and a large sausage and mushroom pizza ($16.05). The meatball sandwich hits the right notes – the herbed sauce is excellent, the meatballs are big and have the right consistency, moist but firm. The bread is a crust around clouds – I prefer chewier bread, but I’m outvoted. As for the pizza, the famous homemade sausage is as good as ever, the strong aftertaste of anise seed a sign of a real Italian recipe, and there’s just the right amount of that spicy sauce topped by a mound of stringy cheese. The crust at Casa Bianca is variable, sometimes light with the holes from the dough rising, sometimes crisp and dense; whichever, the quality of the toppings makes it calories well spent. Someday I’m going to try dessert here, I promise myself – but I say that every time. I always eat too much pizza and salad to consider dessert, and stumble into the moonlight for the drive home with that comfortable feeling you get after a carbohydrate binge. To all of you who left that concert and ate something out of Styrofoam from a drive-up, you don’t know what you missed. ✶

Casa Bianca, 1650 Colorado Blvd., Eagle Rock, (323) 256-9617. Open Tues.-Thurs., 4 p.m.-midnight; Fri.-Sun., 4 p.m.-1 a.m. CASH ONLY, street parking only. Wheelchair access OK to main room.

PET PARTNER PROGRAM ISSUE #3 - SPRING 2008 LOCAL.INDEPENDENT.COMMITTED

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT

Spring is here and our thoughts turn to vacations and getting outdoors. Don’t forget your animals have special needs during this time as well. Celebrate spring with your pets!

P E T PA R T N E R P R O G R A M S U P P O R T E R S 911 VETS HOME PET MEDICAL (866) 4911-VET (866) 491-1838 911vets.com Not afraid to jump into any situation, the professionals at 911 VETS Home Pet Medical are much like a cross between the Crocodile Hunter and pet paramedics, but they also make routine house calls. These are animal care providers who come to you. In case of emergency, or if you simply have a hard time getting your pet out of the house for normal check-ups, please don’t hesitate to call this number. “The kindest and most gentle approach to pets is in their own familiar environment,” says Dr. Steven Weinberg, 911 VETS’ founder. They plan to continue to pioneer comprehensive out-of hospital pet medical services well into the future.

BARK AVENUE 3016 S. Hill Street, Los Angeles (213) 748-7485 Barkavela.com Bark Avenue L.A. has everything for your pets all under one woof. This four-legged heaven is conveniently located in a spacious spot just south of downtown. Your pets get the room they need to have fun and play while being supervised by a professional, courteous and caring staff. Essentially, it's party central for your pets. In addition, Bark Avenue even provides free local transportation to and from your home, making it even easier for customers. It's not all play, though: pups can participate in a training and behavior program, or enjoy a doggy spa with grooming. Going on a trip? Bark Avenue has 24/7 overnight care available that keeps pets happy.

BEST FRIENDS ANIMAL HOSPITAL 5425 Laurel Canyon Blvd., Valley Village (818) 766-2140 Bestfriendsanimalhospital.com Lila Teigh, 81 (r.), taking her new Best Friend, Ricki, 9, recently adopted from East Valley Shelter for a checkup LILA TEIGH at Best Friends' Animal Hospital on Laurel Canyon at Chandler, Valley Village. Best Friends Animal Hospital counts many recently adopted shelter animals among their patients.

CAL PET CREMATORY Honoring 60 Years of Farewells to Man’s Best Friends. 9595 Glenoaks Boulevard, Sun Valley (818) 983-2313 (323) 875-0633 CalPet.com When you lose a beloved pet, you know. You know the exquisite, agonizing loss of unconditional love, barely experienced elsewhere in this life, coupled with the incomprehensibility of its passing at what the human mind perceives to be merely a child’s age.

When Al Carveth returned from WWII to find that his expected job as a mortician had vanished, he and wife Lela started Cal Pet Crematory out of love for their “children;” their

many four-legged companions. Back in 1947, they had but a small glimmer of how large the pet cremation business would become. Today, nephew Mark Stine, joined by partner Paul Goretski, brother Jim and sister Linda Herkins, continues the same tradition of dignity, quality, respect and service that Al envisioned for our beloved four-legged, feathered and other precious creatures we count as “family.” The Carveth’s family tradition continues as well; Linda’s two sons, Craig and Brian Colby have also joined the team, along with her husband, John Herkins. Brothers Fred and Paul Caines, their brother-in-law Will Hemphill, Gelsa Paladino and Shane Crone complete the team.

20 Years Experience • Full Service Grooming Available • All Breeds, Dog & Cat Grooming • Accessories • Gourmet Doggie Bakery • Handmade Collars, Jewelry, Clothing

• Unusual, One of a Kind Items

(818) 760-2110 10538 Magnolia Blvd. (West of Pass Ave.) North Hollywood, 91601 Hours Tuesday – Saturday 9-6 Thursday 7am-7pm

MAY 15~21, 2008

CITYBEAT

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT

GERMAN SHEPHERD RESCUE

Pet cremation services are offered for all sizes of dogs and cats, and for rabbits, birds, and any other small pets. Only private, single cremations are offered so you are assured the ashes you receive are your beloved pet’s. You may bring your pet’s remains in person but, if that is too painful, home pick-up is available for a nominal charge. Pick-up and delivery are also offered as a complimentary service by most vet facilities in the area, and the Cal Pet staff wishes to extend their thanks for all the cooperation and assistance they have received from our local veterinarians.

417 N. Moss Street, Burbank (661) 822-7260 (818) 558-7560 GSRescue.org These beautiful dogs are available for adoption into loving homes: ROLEX: Rolex has been waiting a LONG time for a home. We can't understand why he is still at the rescue. He is very playful and his personality just shines! It's no wonder that he has captured our

CATTS & DOGGS 2833 Hyperion Avenue, Silver Lake (323) 953-8383 In business for more than a decade, Catts and Doggs is not your ordinary pet store! Beyond the retail store, C&D offers a full array of grooming options in the salon. Make your animals look and feel great for spring. Take care of your pets internally with a full range of holistic remedies and all-natural pet foods and treats. Need that special gift? Allow our staff to make that perfect suggestion. Delivery service is available for more convenience.

TP EOT P RAENS OGRAT

ROLEX

hearts and has easily become a favorite among the volunteers. How can you look at this guy and not smile? Doesn't he resemble a teddy bear? He acts just like one too! Rolex, is a handsome, gentle 6 year old black and red male with a beautiful, thick coat. He is great on the leash and has nice walking manners! He is AKC registered and loves to show off his good looks. He would LOVE older children who are willing to play ball with him,

Catts & Doggs Pet Supplies & Grooming Not your ordinary Pet Store • • • • •

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Full Grooming Salon All Natural Pet Foods with a Full Range of Holistic Remedies Wonderful Gift Items Knowledgeable Staff with Excellent Service We Deliver!

$5 OFF grooming with this ad. exp. 6/18/08

2833 Hyperion Ave. Silver Lake • 323.953.8383

A Country Camp for Dogs “BEST DOGGIE DAYCARE”

• On 6 acres • Up to 5 Hours Exercise & Socialization in Outside Play Yards • 19’ X 6’ Indoor/Outdoor Runs • CA Lic. Guide Dog Instructor

-Los Angeles Magazine

1776 Old Topanga Canyon Rd. TOPANGA www.topangapetresort.com CITYBEAT

www.urbandog.com

L.A.’s FINEST DOGGIE DAYCARE • TRAINING • BOARDING • 310.445.1447 24

MAY 15~21, 2008

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT

and would prefer being the only dog in the home. He rides very well in the car, and enjoys going places. He's quiet, but definitely barks when necessary. GINA: Gina was brought to the rescue because she was abandoned by her owner. She had to learn to trust the volunteers and learn some basic manners. With a little patience and love she

GINA

has turned the corner and is now a wiggling bundle of white fur and a favorite with the volunteers. She loves giving kisses and will wrap her body around you to be as close as possible. Belly rubs are high on her list of "treats." She is still a little enthusiastic with her affection so she should be placed in a home with no small children. She also would like to be the solo canine princess in the home. She is quite confident that her love and attention is all you need and would rather not share her people with another dog.

LA DOGGIE STYLE 1639 Silver Lake Blvd. Silver Lake (323) 664-DOGS(3647) Ladoggiestyle.com The next time you need your pooch pampered, come see LA Doggie Style. The store is located in the heart of Silver Lake behind RESCUE, right down the street from the dog park. LA Doggie Style offers fantastic grooming services, as well as custom-made collars, leashes and beds. They take pride in using organic and holistic shampoos and products. The environment is conducive to the well-being of you and your pet. For clients who need help bringing in their pets for grooming we offer a pick-up and drop-off service, as well as delivery. They offer a large array of unique and hard-to-find products from food to beds. Please see our online product page to see what we have in store.

NATURAL TOUCH 4 PAWS 21789 Ventura Blvd. Woodland Hills (818) 594-7297 Every member of your family deserves

the same healthy touch, naturally. Natural Touch 4 Paws in Woodland Hills specializes in raw, organic and holistic foods for pets, as well as herbal and homeopathic remedies and supplements for specific ailments or preventative care. Those who prefer pure, natural treatments and healthy dietary choices themselves ought to provide the same consideration for those they feed. Of course, eating raw is really a whole different beast for dogs and cats. Natural Touch 4 Paws now also carries hip and joint treatment for pets too, for strengthening the structure of those slower little companions who seem like they just need a good, clean, hinge oiling.

EUPHURIA PET SALON 10538 Magnolia Blvd., North Hollywood (818) 760-2110 Euphuria.com Eclectic is the word that best describes Euphuria Pet Salon. Lisa Bodhaine, the owner is a friendly, knowledgeable small business owner that makes every customer feel at home (that goes for the people too). She and her staff take the utmost care while shampooing and styling your best friend. The work stations are open air and welcoming. They're famous for their hydro bath massages, pedicures and hairstyling. Shop until

For the Best Friend You Ever Had

you drop: besides the great care your pet is given you can shop for clothing and other cool toys while you wait. And if your furry friend is hungry you can choose from a countertop of gourmet treats that will spoil them rotten. Euphuria is an enchanted place that your best buddy will love. You and your pet will leave with a smile on both your faces.

ROYAL PET MORTUARY 2554 Lincoln Blvd. Venice, #325 (310) 313-2108 petmortuary.com Royal Pet Mortuary, highly recommended by many large and small veterinary practices. Complete services include: home or hospital pick up, private cremation of your pet, ashes delivered back to your home by appointment, beautiful tapestry covered wood box, handwritten certificate in memory of your pet (done by a professional calligrapher), and a clay imprint of your pets paw print wrapped in a cellophane bag and tied with a purple ribbon. The most compassionate service that can be found in pet aftercare is provided by Royal Pet Mortuary and Richard J. Schatz, the owner of the company, who speaks to each person about the care their pet is going to receive. His phone is answered 7 days a week and well into the evenings.

A Peaceful Passing for Your Pet Cal Pet provides caring for you and your pet when it matters most with friendly, professional, and personal service.

Cal Pet Crematory, Inc. Serving Southern California Since 1947 We Understand

For more information, please visit our website at www.calpet.com or call us at (310) 278-0633, (323) 875-0633 or (818)983-2313. MAY 15~21, 2008

CITYBEAT

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT

TOPANGA PET RESORT 1776 Old Topanga Canyon Road, Topanga (310) 455-WOOF(9663) Topangapetresort.com They say the best dog training for the Los Angeles area can be found in beautiful Topanga Canyon. While in the past it was only open to guide dogs, the Topanga Pet Resort is a sight to see. Known as “the country camp for dogs,” it stretches over six acres of land.

The resort’s programs are the design of master trainer Keith Tomlinson, a licensed guide dog instructor for over 28 years. Drop off your dog for boarding or day care. We hear the schedule includes five hours of playtime a day, so pay attention afterwards or your dog may try to guide you back over there. Open Mon-Sat. 8:30 am to 5 pm plus Sun. and holidays 10 am to 4 pm.

URBAN DOG 1909 Pontius Ave., West Los Angeles (310) 445-1447

urbandog.com A home away from home, Urban Dog is a caring, stimulating and clean environment for your dog. Like all beings, Urban Dog believes they deserve respect and recognize that each canine is a unique individual. As such, they receive individualized care and attention and the opportunity to play, relax or get special training. Kimberly Garsed is the owner and founder of Urban Dog Playcare and for her, it isn’t a job. It’s the fulfillment of a lifelong dream to help further understanding between dogs and their people. And lucky for all of us, she has turned that

• Grooming • Dog Walking • Overnight Stays • Pick-up and Delivery • Pet Food/Treats • Custom Collars & Leashes, and More!

•Raw & Organic Foods •Extensive Hours •Aromatherapy •Downtown Burbank/Silverlake Echo Park/Hollywood •WEB CAM!

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We cater a wide array of services to our clients. Here's a quick list of some of the things offer:

THE BEST CARE FOR YOUR BEST FRIENDS! •13,000 sq. ft. Day Care & Boarding Facility •Grooming •Doggie Supplies •Shuttle Service •Holistic Massage •Training

passion into a successful business. Offered: playcare-full day & half day, workouts, field trips, sleepovers (boarding), “Day of Beauty” (grooming) and dog adoptions.

www.ladoggiestyle.com

(Near Griffith Park)

323 222 4442 www.wagville.com

Best Friends ANIMAL HOSPITAL

A Commitment to Caring

Medicine Oncology Surgery Dentistry Sindy Habib, DVM • Allison Massenzio, BVSc, MRCVS Robin Holmes, DVM • Robert Rizzitano, DVM

• Available 7 Days • Home Pick-Up • Individual Cremation • Caring Veterinary Home Euthanasia

5425 Laurel Canyon Blvd. • N. Hollywood, CA 91607 (Between Chandler & Burbank)

818-766-2140 • 818-984-2698 FAX: 818-766-8833 Non-Anesthetic Dentals Available

Royal Pet Mortuary

OPEN SEVEN DAYS Mon-Thurs 8am to 8pm • Fri 8am to 7pm Sat 8am to 3pm • Sun 9am to 5pm

(310) 313-2108 • www.petmortuary.com

Limited House Calls

THE HEALTHY ALTERNATIVE STORE FOR YOUR FURRY FRIENDS

GERMAN SHEPHERD RESCUE of Los

Frankie

Angeles, Burbank and Tehachapi

Frankie is a stunning young shepherd with a plush coat. He has the classic black saddle perfectly balanced with gorgeous tan markings. He needs a little exercise to get back into top shape, he loves his treats a little too much, so he would be an ideal walking or jogging companion (once he works up to that). Frankie will steal your heart and make you smile. He absolutely loves to roll in the fresh grass. He can be quite an entertainer too, as he will paw at his water bucket to get your attention. Frankie is incredibly smart and loving and instinctively protective. He will thrive in an adult only home. Frankie was rescued from a local animal shelter on his last day.

The Perfect Blend of Health, Fun and Beauty Holistic Health Food Store for Dogs and Cats Natural Touch 4 Paws Offers The Discriminating Pet Owner Alternatives • • • •

Organic, Natural Foods, Raw Meat Diets, Natural Treats Pet Formulated Supplements, Flower Essences, Chinese Remedies and Detoxifiers Non-Toxic Cancer, Arthritis, Cardio, Liver, Intestinal and Kidney Products Pet Accessories, Books and More • Reiki Healing

Natural Pet Care Will Provide Your Pet with the Best of What Nature Can Offer in Order to Health Body and Achieve Optimum Health

21789 Ventura Blvd. Woodland Hills 91364

Please visit the GERMAN SHEPHERD RESCUE website at www.gsrescue.org or

818-594-7297 Pets Welcome

call (818) 558-7560 or (661) 822-7260. The Rescue is located at 417 N. Moss St. in Burbank and is open every Saturday and Sunday from 1:00-5:00pm. CITYBEAT

Hours: M-Th: 10-6 / Fri: 10-6:30 / Sat: 10-6 / Closed Sun

MAY 15~21, 2008

HUGUETTE (AUDREY DANA) WONDERS ABOUT THE MYSTERIOUS MAN WHO SEEMS SO EAGER TO HELP HER IN ROMAN DE GARE ~

Storytelling Sleight-of-Hand ‘Roman de Gare’ makes far better use of narrative trickery than ‘Reprise’ ~ BY ANDY KLEIN ~

VER SINCE HIS BREAKthrough with the international success of A Man and a Woman (1966) stamped him as a “commercial” filmmaker, director Claude Lelouch has (ironically enough) received American distribution no more reliably than Godard, Resnais, and other more “difficult” French contemporaries. His last release, And Now ... Ladies & Gentlemen, was not only delightful; it was one of the most intriguing films of 2003. Still, it caused barely a ripple in its brief arthouse run. Now he’s back with Roman de Gare, which is even more delightful and intriguing; one can only hope it finds a receptive audience. The title is apparently a term for the sort of novel one might buy at a train station right before a long trip – what we might call “airport fiction.” While it can be easily seen as a description of the story elements the film is built from, it also refers to the bestsellers one of its main characters writes. Part of the mystery is: Which character? The opening sequence shows mystery author Judith Ralitzer (Fanny Ardant) being booked for murder. “Is it my fault my ghostwriter never learned to swim?” she asks. We quickly flash back to images of a Strange-Looking Man (Dominique Pinon) speeding down a country road. He seems distracted ... perhaps worried? The radio news announces that notorious pedophile/killer George Maury is on the loose. He’s been dubbed the Magician because he uses card tricks to lure

potential victims. Meanwhile, we meet Huguette (Audrey Dana), who is taking her new fiancé, Paul (Cyrille Eldin), to meet her parents at their farm. But the two get into a fight, and Huguette finds herself stranded at a rest stop. Luckily, there is this kindly, if Strange-Looking, man who tries to cheer her up by doing card tricks. He introduces himself as Pierre and insists on giving her a lift. At this point, Roman de Gare seems like a straight-out thriller. Lelouch has built up a good deal of suspense about “Pierre.” Is he or isn’t he? Will he or won’t he? In a daring move, the film suddenly swer ves into classic farce territor y. Huguette has told her parents that she’s bringing Paul to the farm, so she recruits her benefactor to impersonate him for 24 hours. (Just another case of grabbing Peter to play Paul.) Soon we have a dinner table scene with Pierre making up the character of Paul as he goes along, digging himself in deeper each time he says something that contradicts what Huguette’s parents have been told. But, even as we laugh, we’re still worried sick when he goes off on a hike with Huguette’s adolescent daughter. How does Ralitzer fit in? Huguette is a huge fan, and Pierre, hearing that, tells her that he’s Ralitzer’s ghostwriter ... then tells her he’s just making a joke at her expense. Intercut with these threads is yet another major subplot about a woman trying to get the police to find her missing husband. Lelouch is, of course, playing us like MAY 15~21, 2008

a magician plays his audience, using cinematic misdirection and our assumptions about narrative grammar to manipulate us into suspicion ... relief ... suspicion ... relief. Is Pierre the Magician? Is he Ralitzer’s ghostwriter? Is he the runaway husband? Is he even named Pierre? We may further wonder if parts of what we’re seeing are “really” happening or if they’re visualizations of a story imagined by a writer within the story. (Remember: The body of the film is introduced as though it’s Ralitzer’s confession or a flashback.) In some ways, Lelouch is doing one of the things that usually infuriates me – he’s manipulating us by withholding information in an arbitrary, directorial manner. And yet ... I wasn’t bothered a bit here. He never quite lies to us. He balances the different possibilities so neatly that we know we’re being played. In fact, since there’s a storytelling convention about surprising us by deliberately breaking storytelling conventions, we have counter-suspicions about Pierre from the start: That is, so heavily does Lelouch suggest he is the killer that we immediately suspect he couldn’t be. It would be too easy. Casting is as important an element as writing and directing, and Pinon’s face automatically triggers long-conditioned assumptions. For those who don’t recognize the name, he made his debut as the punk thug in Diva; it seemed as though his odd face would forever limit him to similar roles. Jean-Pierre Jeunet turned him into a leading man within the comic-book universe of Deli27

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catessen and has used him brilliantly since, notably in City of Lost Children, where he did a variation of the character he was born to play – Popeye. But here Lelouch turns him into a viable romantic figure in a non-comic-book context. It helps, of course, that he’s a terrific actor. He’s matched by Dana; it’s no shock that she was nominated for a César in the Most Promising Newcomer category. On the festival circuit, Roman de Gare was known as Crossed Tracks, a loose but metaphorically apt translation. The movie is a tightly woven braid of characters, storylines, and levels of reality. It’s also sheer entertainment. Reprise, a new Nor wegian film, is likewise about writers and likewise plays narrative tricks on us – indeed, some of the very same ones. This debut feature from Danish-born Joachim Trier (reported by some sources to be a cousin or nephew of Lars von), begins with two friends in their early twenties – Erik (Espen Klouman Høiner) and Phillip (Anders Danielsen Lie) – mailing the manuscripts of their first novels. A narrator then gives us a speedy summary of what will happen ... or, more accurately, what would happen. The voiceover’s use of the subjunctive mood is significant, since the rest of the film doesn’t match up with this initial version. Flash forward: Erik’s book has been rejected; Phillip’s book has been published and become an instant cult phenomenon. But the winner isn’t always the winner: Erik is still plugging away, while Phillip has a psychotic breakdown, triggered (the doctors say) by his obsessive love for Kari (Viktoria Winge). Since Kari has been instructed to stay away from him, Erik becomes Phillip’s main emotional support. (The rest of their friends are thoroughly irritating louts, though it’s not clear that Trier regards them as such.) Their fortunes rise and fall and almost rise and almost fall, and frankly, by the end, I didn’t much care. There is something both showy and precious about Reprise. Rather than constituting an overall aesthetic strategy, the opening’s narrative trickery is largely abandoned a third of the way through. On top of that, it feels like self-consciously warmed over Godard, with traces of Run, Lola, Run tossed in. Another Dane, Christoffer Boe, used similar devices much more interestingly in 2003’s Reconstruction. None of this would matter if we were given some reason to identify with Erik and Phillip. But they’re neither very interesting nor sympathetic. I was left with no desire to encounter them again. ✶ Roman de Gare. Directed by Claude Lelouch. Written by Claude Lelouch and Pierre Uytterhoeven. With Dominique Pinon, Audrey Dana, Fanny Ardant, Michéle Bernier, Zinedine Soualem, and Boris Ventura. Opens Friday at the Landmark West Los Angeles, Laemmle’s Playhouse 7, and Laemmle’s Town Center 5. Reprise. Directed by Joachim Trier. Written by Eskil Vogt and Joachim Trier. With Anders Danielsen Lie, Espen Klouman Høiner, Viktoria Winge, Henrik Elvestad, Christian Rubeck, and Odd-Magnus Williamson. Opens Friday at Laemmle’s Sunset 5.

LATEST REVIEWS THE BABYSITTERS Writer David Ross (The Woods) makes his directing debut with this Heathers-like story of Shirley (Katherine Waterston, daughter of Sam), a college-bound, cash-strapped high school senior, who segues from innocent babysitting to full-blown prostitution after word gets around that she’s had an affair with one of her employers (John Leguizamo). Pretty soon, his buddies come a-runnin’, begging Shirley’s help in hooking them up with their own “babysitters.” Conceptually, this really isn’t all that far removed from a ’60s-era sexploitation flick though Ross refuses to cave to the obvious. It would have been easy to spin it all like some kind of facile morality play – titillation with a conscience, as such films are typically constructed. Here, however, it’s the psychological rather than the physiological that takes center stage, at times striking some very salient and provocative points. It’s far from perfect – Leguizamo and Cynthia Nixon have absolutely no chemistry whatsoever as a couple, even an unhappy one, and the pacing often lags, but Waterston is so exceptionally good and the film’s better moments sufficiently strong that the shortcomings don’t overly detract. (Wade Major) (Laemmle’s Regency South Coast)

BLOODLINE Dan Brown’s bestselling The Da Vinci Code popularized, in discussion if not belief, the theory that Jesus Christ escaped his crucifixion, married Mary Magdalene, and had a child, and that the Catholic Church and others have engaged in a conspiracy to suppress this fact. The ample, worldwide commercial shadow of that book and its subsequent film adaptation provide the necessary cover for

mushroom cinema like this documentary, which includes interviews with a mysterious, finger-tenting, alleged Priory of Sion member and investigates archaeological proof of said theory in southwest France via amateur English adventurer Ben Hammott. Directed by Bruce Burgess – whose other credits, it turns out, include movies about Bigfoot, the Ark of the Covenant, and the Bermuda Triangle – Bloodline is unfor tunately the type of film that confuses investment of time with insight and evidence. Burgess’s refusal to put Hammott and his many discoveries through the wringer (despite, say, the mostly empty bottle of vodka lingering in the corner of a frame during one morning interview) at first comes across as curious and then just increasingly negligent, finally culminating in a passage which confirms a piece of Hammott’s evidence using ... other pieces of Hammott’s own evidence. It’s shoddy filmmaking like this that makes Bloodline ridiculous, no matter how much one may want to believe what it’s peddling. (Brent Simon) (Culver Plaza, Laemmle’s Sunset 5)

THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: PRINCE CASPIAN A year after their first remarkable adventure in Narnia, the four Pevensie siblings (William Moseley, Anna Popplewell, Skandar Keynes, Georgie Henley) are suddenly recalled to that magical world only to find that several hundred years have transpired in Narnia time. The Narnia they once knew is now in ruins and a mortal race known as Telmarines – who dress like Conquistadors and speak with Italian accents – rules the land. But there is royal treacher y afoot among the Telmarines; fleeing an assassination attempt by his evil Uncle Miraz (Sergio Castillitto), the rightful Telmarine heir, Prince Caspian (Ben Barnes), is rescued by some leftover Narnians just as a toot into an ancient horn summons the Pevensies – the “Kings and Queens of old” – in fulfillment of yet another prophecy. At this point the film switches

into battle mode, steadily working its way up to the climactic confrontation between the Telmarines and a resurgent Narnian army, once again presaging yet another return for that messianic talking lion, Aslan. Despite essentially repeating the same story as the previous film, albeit with a different villain, in most respects this is a superior sequel. A more subtle religious subtext, brisker pacing, improved special effects, and more confident direction from Andrew Adamson combine to make for a surprisingly fleet-footed fantasy epic that breezes through its nearly two-and-a-half hour running time with scarcely a lull or a letup. (Wade Major) (Citywide)

NOISE Outspoken leftie Tim Robbins has carved a career out of balancing politics and entertainment – he filmed his staged indictment of the Iraq War, Embedded, for DVD release the same year he appeared in Zathura: A Space Adventure. Last seen in the Tenacious D movie, Robbins gets serious again and skewers the critical issue of ... noise pollution? Aurally assaulted by traffic, sirens, and construction, white-collar Manhattanite David Owens (Robbins) decides to take matters into his own hands and goes vigilante on the city’s worst offenders – the car alarms that don’t even stave off vehicle theft. Dubbing himself “The Rectifier,” he starts small – letting air out of tires and stealing windshield wipers – but graduates to dismantling alarms in cars and eventually buildings. His one-man movement consumes his life, costing him his job and his wife (Bridget Moynahan). Even David admits his pet issue is “not as important as global warming,” and Henry Bean, directing his first film since the controversial The Believer, doesn’t do the film any favors by playing it straight or, worse, veering off-topic into weird sexual politics. The only one laughing seems to be William Hurt as a hilariously smarmy mayor. Plug your ears. (Annlee Ellingson) (Laemmle’s Sunset 5)

TURN THE RIVER A thuggish Famke Janssen stars in writerdirector Chris Eigeman’s grey-toned, overcast

“Famke Janssen delivers yet another terrific, muscular, beguiling performance. She’s not only beautiful, she’s beautiful to watch.”

debut drama about a gambling tough named Kailey determined to rescue her sixth-grader son Gulley (a strong Jaymie Dornan) from the pious jerk (Matt Ross) she boned and briefly married 11 years ago. We’re encouraged to root for their Canada-or-bust escape, though Gulley’s tortured life smiling through church and cotillions seems a hell of a lot better for him than sleeping on pool tables with his mom. Janssen tries to play tomboy, because the story hinges on the fact that no one but the audience ever seems to notice she’s smokin’ hot; in every scene, fellow drunks (like Rip Torn) insist she looks like shit. But no matter how brutishly she smokes a cigarette, this still reads as pure Hollywood nonsense – a great-looking dame who’s earned every cent of her income from the poker or billiards table, despite showing little love for either game. Eigeman’s made a film about pool and motherhood that feels bored by both. Dornan’s optimistic child is the only character with a notion of emotional complexity, as he aches to run away with his mom, but gives his flatly cruel father and snide Christian grandma (Lois Smith) more empathy than the script does. As all the grownups are boneheads – except Marin Hinkle as Gulley’s naive stepmom and Torn’s poolhall owner – we’re left after this terse and anxious film having learned only that Janssen looks cool bending over and glaring at the eight ball. (Amy Nicholson) (Laemmle’s Regent Showcase)

UNSETTLED “In what country does the army uproot its own people?” the aggrieved Jew asks. The answer, of course, is Israel, who withdrew from the West Bank and Gaza in 2005 – requiring the Israeli army to remove (sometimes forcibly) 8,500 countrymen from their homes. Director Adam Hootnick documents the heartbreak as only a former MTV News producer can: by profiling a group of attractive twentysomethings, including Ye’ela, whose sister was killed in a mall bombing, and Lior, a shaggy-haired lifeguard. But Hootnick’s powerfully simple documentary ain’t Real World: Gaza. Unlike Joel Blasberg and Oreet Rees’s anger-inducing Withdrawal from Gaza, Un-

settled is a quietly observant film with no political agenda. When the army marches down the street as grief-stricken Gazans yell “Heil, Hitler” and accuse the soldiers of betrayal, Hootnick smartly lets events unfold in long takes that crystallize Israel’s troubled identity. Less effective are the unfocused personal stories, but that flaw becomes irrelevant. Hootnick knows he’s capturing historic footage of Jew against Jew for what then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon sold as a major step toward peace with the Palestinians. (Mark Keizer) (Laemmle’s Music Hall 3)

UP THE YANGTZE Director Yang Chang’s documentar y is a “reality TV”-like story of two Chinese youngsters, working on one of the fancy tourist cruise ships that sail up and down the Yangtze River. Teenage girl Yu Shui comes from an almost unbearably poor farm family, living in a fetid shack with no electricity or heat. She dreams of going to school, but is instead forced by her parents to work as a dishwasher and menial servant aboard the cruise ship, where none of the bloated and smug white “foreign devil” tourist passengers notice her barely repressed rage and resentment. By contrast, cocky young Chen Bo Yu, the only male child of middle class parents, almost instantly takes to the entitled life of a tip-hungry capitalist bellboy. Both kids loathe their customers – you can bet they want to shove that steam-fried dumpling up your Yangtze – and they resent the hoops they’re forced to jump through for the money. Still, Chang’s film is unusually effective at depicting the almost terrifying cultural divide between the folks on the cruise and their servants. It’s also striking in its depiction of the equally jarring gulf separating the “Ancient” China of those who live on the Yangtze, from the “New” China, with its technology and tourist trade. The result is a power ful meditation on the nature of the Chinese personality – and of the looming might of their hunger for modernization and power. (Paul Birchall) (Laemmle’s Royal, Laemmle’s Playhouse 7, Laemmle’s Town Center 5)

CRITICS AND AUDIENCES ARE BLOWN AWAY BY THE

1 MOVIE IN THE WORLD!

-Thelma Adams, US WEEKLY

“DOWNEY GIVES A BLAZING PERFORMANCE!” Richard Roeper

“AN UNUSUALLY GOOD SUPERHERO PICTURE.”

“THE PERFECT START TO THE SUMMER!”

A.O. Scott

Christy Lemire

“ the directorial debut of the actor Chris Eigeman, has a mixture of edginess and melancholy that’s beautifully sustained...” -David Edelstein, NEW YORK MAGAZINE

www.turntheriver.com

EXCLUSIVE ENGAGEMENT STARTS FRIDAY, MAY 16TH!

HOLLYWOOD Regent Showcase Theatre (323) 934-1770 Daily: 5:30 • 7:30 • 9:30 Sat. & Sun.: 3:30 • 5:30 • 7:30 • 9:30

Presented in

#####

“

(HIGHEST RATING)

BRILLIANT…THE SMARTEST AND BEST SUSPENSE MOVIE YOU’RE LIKELY TO SEE FOR A WHILE.” Mick LaSalle, SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

FROM ACADEMY AWARD WINNING DIRECTOR CLAUDE LELOUCH

ROMAN DE GARE DOMINIQUE PINON

FANNY ARDANT

AUDREY DANA

www.romandegarethefilm.com

STARTS FRIDAY, MAY 16TH! L WEST HOLLYWOOD Laemmle’s Sunset 5 (323) 848-3500 Tickets available @ laemmle.com Daily: 1:30 • 4:30 • 7:15 • 9:55 L WEST LOS ANGELES The LANDMARK at W. Pico & Westwood (310) 281-8233 Free Parking. www.landmarktheatres.com Daily: 12:00 • 2:30 • 5:00 • 7:30 • 9:55 SORRY, NO PASSES ACCEPTED FOR THIS ENGAGEMENT

G ENCINO Laemmle's Town Center 5 (818) 981-9811 F IRVINE Edwards University Town Center 6 (800) FANDANGO #143 FPresented in

L PASADENA Laemmle’s Playhouse 7 Cinemas (626) 844-6500 Tickets available @ laemmle.com F SANTA BARBARA Riviera (805) 963-9503

GPresented in

LPresented in

NOW PLAYING AT THEATRES EVERYWHERE FOR GROUP TICKET SALES INFORMATION CALL: 1-877-PAR-GRP5

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Text Iron to 33287 for showtimes and mobile content. Standard messaging rates apply.

l MAY 15~21, 2008

SPECIAL ENGAGEMENT - NO PASSES OR DISCOUNT TICKETS ACCEPTED

WATER LILIES It’s summertime in a suburb of Paris, and the local girls are hanging out at the pool. Immediately, one thinks of nubile bodies barely clothed, and there are some – particularly Floriane (Adele Haenel), who is hated by her synchronized-swimming teammates but adored by the water polo-playing boys for her curves and saucy reputation. Through Floriane, first-time writer-director Céline Sciamma laments the tragedy of being a beautiful girl. But there’s also Anne (Louise Blachère), a chubby girl who waits for her fellow swimmers to leave the locker room before changing out of her suit. And at the center is Marie (Pauline Acquart), long-limbed and awkward even in street clothes, drawn to the beauty and strength of Floriane and her spor t. With François (Warren Jacquin), the girls form a love quadrangle that tests Marie and Anne’s friendship. This poetic snapshot of adolescent love and angst relies on images – Marie practicing choreography in the bathtub as her pet turtle swims nearby – and actions – in a fit of desire, she rummages through Floriane’s trash – rather than dialogue to express what Harper Lee observed in To Kill a Mockingbird: “... by watching her I began to think there was some skill involved in being a girl.” (Annlee Ellingson) (Landmark’s Nuart)

ALSO OPENING THIS WEEK: How the Garcia Girls Spent Their Summer. Elizabeth Peña, America Ferrera, and Lucy Gallardo represent three generations of a Mexican-American family, in Georgina Garcia Riedel’s comedy about a hot, dusty summer of play and passion. (AK) (Citywide) Indestructible. First-time filmmaker Ben Byer documents his life on video, after being diagnosed with the neurodegenerative ailment ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease). (AK) (Laemmle’s Grande 4)

SHOWTIMES May 16-22 Note: Times are p.m., and daily, unless otherwise indicated. All times are subject to c hange without notice.

BURBANK AMC Burbank 16, 140 E Palm Av, (818) 953-9800. Baby Mama Fri 11:30 a.m., 2, 4:30, 7, 9:30; Sat 2, 4:30, 7, 9:30; Sun 11:30 a.m., 2, 4:30, 7, 9:30; Mon-Tue 1:50, 4:30, 7, 9:25. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian Fri 10 a.m., 10:45 a.m., 12:15, 1:20, 2:05, 3:35, 4:40, 5:25, 6:55, 8, 8:45, 10:15, 11:25, 12:10 a.m.; Sat 1:20, 2:05, 3:35, 4:40, 5:25, 6:55, 8, 8:45, 10:15, 11:25, 12:10 a.m.; Sun 10 a.m., 10:45 a.m., 12:15, 1:20, 2:05, 3:35, 4:40, 5:25, 6:55, 8, 8:45, 10:15, 11; Mon-Tue noon, 12:30, 1:30, 3:10, 3:40, 4:40, 6:20, 6:55, 7:55, 9:30, 10:05, 11:05. Death Note Tue-Wed 7:30. The Forbidden Kingdom Fri 10:50 a.m., 1:40, 4:35, 7:25, 10:20; Sat 1:40, 4:35, 7:25, 10:20; Sun 10:50 a.m., 1:40, 4:35, 7:25, 10:20; Mon-Tue 1:55, 4:45, 7:25, 10:10. Forgetting Sarah Marshall Fri 11:55 a.m., 3, 5:40, 8:30, 11:20; Sat 3, 5:40, 8:30, 11:20; Sun 11:55 a.m., 3, 5:40, 8:30; Mon-Tue 12:35, 3:15, 5:50, 8:35. Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay Fri 11:40 a.m., 2:20, 4:55, 7:35, 10:25; Sat 2:20, 4:55, 7:35, 10:25; Sun 11:40 a.m., 2:20, 4:55, 7:35, 10:25; Mon-Tue 1:35, 4:15, 6:50, 9:40. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Wed 12:01 a.m.; Thur 9:45 a.m., 10:45 a.m., 12:45, 1:45, 3:45, 4:45, 6:45, 7:45, 9:45, 10:45. Iron Man Fri 9:50 a.m., 11:10 a.m., 11:50 a.m., 12:55, 2:15, 2:55, 4, 5:20, 6, 7:05, 8:25, 9:05, 10:10, 11:35, 12:05 a.m.; Sat 12:55, 2:15, 2:55, 4, 5:20, 6, 7:05, 8:25, 9:05, 10:10, 11:35, 12:05 a.m.; Sun 9:50 a.m., 11:10 a.m., 11:50 a.m., 12:55, 2:15, 2:55, 4, 5:20, 6, 7:05, 8:25, 9:05, 10:10; Mon-Tue noon, 1, 2:20, 3, 4:05, 5:20, 6, 7:05, 8:25, 9, 10. Made of Honor Fri 10:20 a.m., 1:05, 3:40, 6:20, 9, 11:40; Sat 1:05, 3:40, 6:20, 9, 11:40; Sun 10:20 a.m., 1:05, 3:40, 6:20, 9; Mon-Tue 1:25, 3:50, 6:25, 9:10. Speed Racer Fri 9:45 a.m., 10:35 a.m., 1, 1:45, 4:15, 5, 7:30, 8:20, 10:45, 11:30; Sat 1, 1:45, 4:15, 5, 7:30, 8:20, 10:45, 11:30; Sun 9:45 a.m., 10:35 a.m., 1, 1:45, 4:15, 5, 7:30, 8:20, 10:45; Mon-Tue 12:05, 1:20, 3:05, 4:25, 6:05, 7:30, 9:05, 10:30. What Happens in Vegas Fri 10:15 a.m., 12:10, 12:50, 2:50, 3:30, 5:35, 6:15, 8:15, 9:10, 10:55, 11:45; Sat 12:50, 2:50, 3:30, 5:35, 6:15, 8:15, 9:10, 10:55, 11:45; Sun 10:15 a.m., 12:10, 12:50, 2:50, 3:30, 5:35, 6:15, 8:15, 9:10, 10:55; Mon-Tue 1:05, 2:55, 3:30, 5:25, 5:55, 7:50, 8:30, 10:20. AMC Burbank Town Center 8, 210 E Magnolia Bl, (818) 953-9800. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Thur only, 10:15 a.m., 1:15, 4:15, 7:15, 10:15. AMC Burbank Town Center 6, 770 N First St, (818) 953-9800. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian Fri-Sun 12:50, 4:10, 7:30, 10:50; Mon-Wed 1, 4:10, 7:25, 10:35. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Thur only, 11:15 a.m., 2:15, 5:15, 8:15, 11:15. Iron Man Fri-Sun 12:25, 3:30, 6:35, 9:40; MonWed 12:30, 3:35, 6:35, 9:30. Redbelt Fri 12:15, 2:45, 5:15, 7:45, 10:20; Sat 11:55

a.m., 2:45, 5:15, 7:45, 10:20; Sun 11:55 a.m., 2:45, 5:15, 7:45, 10:10; Mon-Wed 1:45, 4:20, 7, 9:45. Speed Racer Fri-Sun noon, 3:15, 6:30, 9:45; MonWed 12:35, 3:35, 6:40, 9:50. The Visitor Fri 12:05, 2:35, 5:10, 7:50, 10:30; SatSun 11:50 a.m., 2:35, 5:10, 7:50, 10:30; Mon-Wed 1:35, 4:25, 7:05, 9:40. What Happens in Vegas Fri 2:15, 4:55, 7:35, 10:15; Sat-Sun 11:35 a.m., 2:15, 4:55, 7:35, 10:15; MonWed 1:40, 4:05, 6:30, 9.

CULVER CITY, MARINA DEL REY The Bridge: Cinema De Lux & IMAX Theater, The Promenade at Howard Hughes Center, 6081 Center Dr, Westchester, (310) 568-3375. Baby Mama FriSat 11:45 a.m., 2:15, 4:45, 7:15, 9:45, 12:15 a.m.; Sun-Wed 11:45 a.m., 2:15, 4:45, 7:15, 9:45. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian Fri 11:30 a.m., noon, 12:30, 1:30, 2:45, 3:15, 3:45, 4:45, 6:05, 6:30, 7, 8, 9:15, 9:45, 10:15, 11:15, 12:30 a.m.; Sat 10:15 a.m., 11:30 a.m., noon, 12:30, 1:30, 2:45, 3:15, 3:45, 4:45, 6:05, 6:30, 7, 8, 9:15, 9:45, 10:15, 11:15, 12:30 a.m.; Sun 10:15 a.m., 11:30 a.m., noon, 12:30, 1:30, 2:45, 3:15, 3:45, 4:45, 6:05, 6:30, 7, 8, 9:15, 9:45, 10:15; Mon-Tue 11:30 a.m., noon, 12:30, 1:30, 2:45, 3:15, 3:45, 4:45, 6:05, 6:30, 7, 8, 9:15, 9:45, 10:15; Wed 11:30 a.m., noon, 12:30, 1:30, 2:45, 3:15, 3:45, 4:45, 6:05, 6:30, 7, 8, 9, 9:30, 10:15, 11:55. Forgetting Sarah Marshall Fri-Wed 2:25, 5:05, 7:45. Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay FriSat noon, 10:10, 12:25 a.m.; Sun-Wed noon, 10:10. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Wed only, 12:01 a.m., 12:05 a.m., 12:25 a.m., 12:30 a.m., 12:40 a.m., 12:50 a.m. Iron Man Fri 12:20, 1:50, 2:20, 3:15, 4:15, 4:45, 5:15, 6:15, 7:10, 7:40, 8:10, 9:05, 10:05, 10:35, 11:05, 11:55; Sat 10:55 a.m., 11:25 a.m., 12:20, 1:50, 2:20, 3:15, 4:15, 4:45, 5:15, 6:15, 7:10, 7:40, 8:10, 9:05, 10:05, 10:35, 11:05, 11:55; Sun 10:55 a.m., 11:25 a.m., 12:20, 1:50, 2:20, 3:15, 4:15, 4:45, 5:15, 6:15, 7:10, 7:40, 8:10, 9:05, 10:05, 10:35; Mon 12:20, 1:50, 3:15, 4:15, 4:45, 5:15, 6:15, 7:10, 7:40, 8:10, 9:05, 10:05, 10:35; Tue 12:20, 1:50, 2:20, 3:15, 4:15, 4:45, 5:15, 6:15, 7:10, 7:40, 8:10, 9:05, 10:05, 10:35; Wed 12:20, 1:50, 2:20, 3:15, 4:15, 4:45, 5:15, 6:15, 7:10, 7:40, 8:10, 9:05, 10:35. Made of Honor Fri-Sat 11:45 a.m., 2:15, 4:45, 7:15, 9:45, 12:15 a.m.; Sun-Wed 11:45 a.m., 2:15, 4:45, 7:15, 9:45. Redbelt Fri 1:30; Sat-Sun 11 a.m., 1:30; Mon-Wed 1:30. Sesame Street: Dinosaurs Sat-Sun 10 a.m. Speed Racer Fri 1:15, 2:15, 4:15, 5:15, 7:15, 8:15, 10:15, 11:15; Sat 10:15 a.m., 11:15 a.m., 1:15, 2:15, 4:15, 5:15, 7:15, 8:15, 10:15, 11:15; Sun 10:15 a.m., 11:15 a.m., 1:15, 2:15, 4:15, 5:15, 7:15, 8:15, 10:15; Mon-Wed 1:15, 2:15, 4:15, 5:15, 7:15, 8:15, 10:15. What Happens in Vegas Fri-Sat 12:40, 3, 5:20, 7:40, 10:10, 12:30 a.m.; Sun-Wed 12:40, 3, 5:20, 7:40, 10:10. Culver Plaza Theatre, 9919 Washington Blvd, (310) 836-5516. 21 Fri 11:45 a.m., 4:35; Sat 11:25 a.m., 5:10; Sun 11:45 a.m., 4:35; Mon-Thur 12:30, 5:25. Annan Thampi Sat only, 2. Bloodline Fri-Sun 12:15, 2:45, 5:15, 7:30, 9:40; MonThur 1, 3:15, 5:30, 8. The Counterfeiters Fri-Sun 12:30, 5:05; Mon-Thur 12:55, 5:55. Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who! Fri-Sun 11:30 a.m., 1:25, 3:25; Mon-Thur 1:20, 3:25. The Forbidden Kingdom Fri-Sun 2:30, 7:20, 9:50; MonThur 3, 8. Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay FriSun 2:45, 7:25, 9:40; Mon-Thur 3:30, 8:05. Nim’s Island Fri-Sun 5:25, 7:30, 9:35; Mon-Thur 5:45, 8:15. Redbelt Fri 2:20, 7:05, 9:20; Sat 7:45, 10; Sun 2:20, 7:05, 9:20; Mon-Thur 3:10, 8:10.

Smart People Fri noon, 5; Sat-Sun noon, 5:05; MonThur 12:40, 5:35. Standard Operating Procedure Fri-Sun 2:10, 7:10, 9:45; Mon-Thur 2:55, 7:50. Under the Same Moon Fri-Sun 12:15, 5:10; Mon-Thur 12:40, 5:40. Loews Cineplex Marina Marketplace, 13455 Maxella Av, (310) 827-9588. Forgetting Sarah Marshall Fri 2, 4:50, 7:30, 10:05; Sat-Sun 11:15 a.m., 2, 4:50, 7:30, 10:05; Mon 1:30, 4:20, 6:50, 9:20; Tue-Wed 4:20, 6:50, 9:20; Thur 1:30, 4:20, 6:50, 9:20. Iron Man Fri 1, 1:45, 3:15, 4, 4:45, 6:15, 7, 7:45, 9:15, 10, 10:35; Sat 11:30 a.m., 1, 1:45, 3:15, 4, 4:45, 6:15, 7, 7:45, 9:15, 10, 10:35; Sun 11:30 a.m., 1, 1:45, 3:15, 4, 4:45, 6:15, 7, 7:45, 9:15, 10; Mon 1, 1:45, 2:30, 4, 4:45, 5:30, 7, 7:45, 8:30, 9:45; Tue-Wed 4, 4:45, 5:30, 7, 7:45, 8:30, 9:45; Thur 1, 1:45, 2:30, 4, 4:45, 5:30, 7, 7:45, 8:30, 9:45. Made of Honor Fri 1:25, 4:15, 7:20, 10:15; Sat-Sun

11:05 a.m., 1:25, 4:15, 7:20, 10:15; Mon 1:25, 4:15, 7:05, 9:25; Tue-Wed 4:15, 7:05, 9:25; Thur 1:25, 4:15, 7:05, 9:25. What Happens in Vegas Fri 1:30, 4:25, 7:15, 10:10; Sat-Sun 11 a.m., 1:30, 4:25, 7:15, 10:10; Mon 1:15, 4:25, 7:15, 9:35; Tue-Wed 4:25, 7:15, 9:35; Thur 1:15, 4:25, 7:15, 9:35. Pacific Culver Stadium 12, 9500 Culver Bl, (310) 855-7519. Baby Mama Fri-Sun 11:40 a.m., 2:20, 5, 7:25, 9:50; Mon-Wed 12:35, 3, 5:25, 7:55, 10:15. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian Fri-Sat 11 a.m., 11:45 a.m., 12:30, 2:10, 4, 4:45, 5:30, 7:30, 8:15, 9, 11, 11:25; Sun 11 a.m., 11:45 a.m., 12:30, 2:10, 4, 4:45, 5:30, 7:30, 8:15, 9, 10:40; Mon-Wed noon, 12:45, 1:30, 3:10, 4, 5, 7, 7:45, 8:30, 10:05. Forgetting Sarah Marshall Fri-Sun 11:05 a.m., 1:45, 4:25, 7:05, 9:45; Mon-Wed 1:20, 4:05, 7:10, 9:45. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Wed only, 12:01 a.m.

Iron Man Fri-Sat 11:55 a.m., 12:55, 1:40, 2:55, 4:20, 5:05, 5:50, 7:15, 8, 8:45, 10:10, 10:55; Sun 11:55 a.m., 12:55, 1:40, 2:55, 4:20, 5:05, 5:50, 7:15, 8, 8:45, 10:10; Mon-Wed 12:30, 1:15, 2, 3:30, 4:10, 5:10, 7:05, 7:50, 8:35, 9:55. Made of Honor Fri-Sun 12:15, 2:40, 5:10, 7:35, 10:05; Mon-Wed 1:10, 4:20, 7:35, 10. Speed Racer Fri-Sat 11:15 a.m., 12:15, 2:15, 4:20, 5:20, 7:20, 8:20, 10:20, 11:20; Sun 11:15 a.m., 12:15, 2:15, 4:20, 5:20, 7:20, 8:20, 10:20; MonWed 12:05, 1:05, 3:05, 4:15, 7:15, 8:10, 10:10. What Happens in Vegas Fri-Sun 12:35, 3, 5:25, 7:50, 10:15; Mon-Wed 12:10, 2:35, 5:05, 7:30, 9:50. UA Marina, 4335 Glencoe Av, (310) 823-1721. Baby Mama Fri-Sun 9:30 a.m., noon, 2:30, 4:50, 7:20, 10; Mon-Wed 11:30 a.m., 2:10, 4:30, 7:20, 9:50. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian Fri-Sun 9:20 a.m., 9:50 a.m., 12:30, 1, 3:40, 4:10, 7, 7:30, 10:10, 10:40; Mon-Wed noon, 12:30, 3:10, 3:40, 6:30, 7, 9:40, 10:10; Thur 9:20 a.m., 12:30,

OFFICIAL SELECTION

WINNER

OFFICIAL SELECTION

SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL

SANSPECIAL SEBASTIAN MENTION

PARIS

MOSCOW BEST PICTURE

ROTTERDAM FILM FESTIVAL

CRITIC’S PRIZE

“ A

TALE OF FEMALE SEXUAL DESIRE... ⁄ ” A EUPHORIC JOURNEY #### 1

-Prairie Miller, ROTTEN TOMATOES

~ ELIZABETH PENA

AMERICA FERRERA LUCY GALLARDO

“AN INSPIRED PIECE OF SILLINESS.” John Powers, VOGUE

“SLYLY SUBVERSIVE AND VERY FUNNY.” Elisabeth Vincentelli, TIME OUT NEW YORK

“AN ABSOLUTE RIOT.” Mark Rahner, SEATTLE TIMES

“UPROARIOUS!” Scott Foundas, LA WEEKLY

THE PRIDE OF FRENCH INTELLIGENCE

OSS

WWW.GARCIAGIRLSMOVIE.COM

117

www.oss117movie.com

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3:40, 7, 10:10. The Forbidden Kingdom Fri-Sun 9:40 a.m., 2:40, 7:50; Mon-Wed 2:20, 7:30. Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay FriWed 7:40, 10:30. Redbelt Fri-Sun 12:20, 5:20, 10:50; Mon-Wed 11:50 a.m., 5, 10:20. Speed Racer Fri-Sun 10 a.m., 11:50 a.m., 1:10, 3:30, 4:20, 7:10, 10:20; Mon-Wed 11:40 a.m., 1:10, 3:30, 4:20, 7:10, 10.

DOWNTOWN & SOUTH L.A. Laemmle’s Grande 4-Plex, 345 S Figueroa St, (213) 617-0268. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian Fri 5, 8:10; Sat-Sun 1:30, 5, 8:10; Mon-Thur 5, 8:10. Indestructible Fri 5:45, 8:15; Sat-Sun 12:45, 3:15, 5:45, 8:15; Mon-Thur 5:45, 8:15. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Thur only, 3, 5:45, 8:30. Iron Man Fri 5:10, 8; Sat-Sun 1:50, 5:10, 8; Mon-Thur 5:10, 8. What Happens in Vegas Fri 5, 7:20, 9:30; Sat-Sun 1:40, 5, 7:20, 9:30; Mon-Thur 5, 7:20. Magic Johnson Theaters, Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza, 4020 Marlton Av, (323) 290-5900. Baby Mama Fri-Sun 11:50 a.m., 2:20, 4:45, 7:05, 9:45; Mon-Wed 2:20, 4:45, 7:05, 9:45. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian Fri-Sat 10 a.m., 11:45 a.m., 12:30, 1:10, 3, 3:40, 4:20, 6:45, 7:15, 7:45, 10:10, 10:40; Sun 10 a.m., 11:45 a.m., 12:30, 1:10, 3, 3:40, 4:20, 6:45, 7:15, 7:45, 10:10; Mon-Tue 12:30, 1:10, 3, 3:40, 4:20, 6:45, 7:15, 7:45, 9:55; Wed 12:30, 1:10, 3, 3:40, 4:20, 6:45, 7:15, 9:55. The Forbidden Kingdom Fri-Sat 1:45, 10:45; Sun 1:45, 10:35; Mon-Tue 1:45, 10:30; Wed 1:45. Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay Fri-Tue 12:40, 5:35, 10:20; Wed 12:40, 5:35. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Wed 12:01 a.m.; Thur 1:30, 4:30, 7:30, 10:30.

Iron Man Fri-Sat 10:30 a.m., 11 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 1:30, 2, 2:30, 4:30, 5, 5:30, 7:30, 8, 8:30, 10:30, 11; Sun 10:30 a.m., 11 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 1:30, 2, 2:30, 4:30, 5, 5:30, 7:30, 8, 8:30, 10:15; Mon-Tue 1:30, 2, 2:30, 4:30, 5, 5:30, 7:30, 8, 8:30, 10:15; Wed 1:30, 2, 2:30, 4:30, 5, 5:30, 7:30, 8, 10:15. Made of Honor Fri-Sun 11:55 a.m., 2:25, 4:55, 7:25, 10:05; Mon-Wed 2:25, 4:55, 7:25, 10:05. Meet the Browns Fri-Sun 10:15 a.m., 3:10, 7:55; MonTue 3:10, 7:55; Wed 3:10. Prom Night Fri-Sat 10:05 a.m., 12:25, 2:45, 5:05, 7:35, 10; Sun 10:05 a.m., 12:25, 2:45, 5:05, 7:35, 9:50; Mon-Tue 12:25, 2:45, 5:05, 7:35, 9:50; Wed 12:25, 2:45, 5:05. Speed Racer Fri-Sat 9:45 a.m., 10:20 a.m., 10:50 a.m., 12:50, 2:10, 3:55, 4:35, 5:15, 7, 7:40, 8:20, 10:15; Sun 9:45 a.m., 10:20 a.m., 10:50 a.m., 12:50, 2:10, 3:55, 4:35, 5:15, 7, 7:40, 8:20, 10; Mon-Wed 12:50, 2:10, 3:55, 4:35, 5:15, 7, 7:40, 8:20, 10. Street Kings Fri-Sat 12:10, 2:40, 5:20, 7:50, 10:35; Sun-Tue 12:10, 2:40, 5:20, 7:50, 10:25; Wed 12:10, 2:40, 5:20. What Happens in Vegas Fri-Sat 9:50 a.m., 12:20, 2:50, 5:25, 8:10, 10:50; Sun 9:50 a.m., 12:20, 2:50, 5:25, 8:10, 10:30; Mon-Wed 12:20, 2:50, 5:25, 8:10, 10:30. University Village 3, 3323 S Hoover St, (213) 7486321. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian FriSat noon, 3:10, 6:20, 9:30, 12:30 a.m.; Sun-Wed noon, 3:10, 6:20, 9:30; Thur noon, 3:10, 6:20, 9:30, 12:30 a.m. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Midnight Wed; Thur 11 a.m., 1:50, 4:40, 7:30, 10:20, 12:45 a.m. Iron Man Fri-Sat 1:20, 4:10, 7, 9:50, 12:30 a.m.; SunWed 1:20, 4:10, 7, 9:50; Thur 1:20, 4:10, 7, 9:50, 12:30 a.m. Speed Racer Fri-Tue 11:30 a.m., 2:15, 5, 7:45, 10:30; Wed 11:30 a.m., 2:15, 5, 7:45.

7:15, 10:25; Wed 11:25 a.m., 1:45, 4:35, 7:45, 10:15. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid Wed only, 8. The Fall Fri 11:15 a.m., 1:20, 2:05, 4:10, 7, 8:05, 9:50, 10:55; Sat-Mon 11:15 a.m., 1:20, 2:05, 4:10, 5:15, 7, 8:05, 9:50, 10:55; Tue 11:15 a.m., 1:20, 1:51, 2:05, 4:10, 5:15, 7, 8:05, 9:50, 10:55; Wed 11:15 a.m., 1:20, 2:05, 4:45, 5:10, 8:05, 8:10, 11. Forgetting Sarah Marshall Fri-Tue 11:50 a.m., 1:25, 2:20, 4:25, 5:20, 7:25, 8:10, 9:55, 10:40; Wed 11:50 a.m., 2:20, 2:25, 5:05, 5:20, 7:35, 8:20, 10:05, 10:50. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Wed only, midnight. Iron Man Fri 11:30 a.m., 12:45, 1:30, 2, 2:30, 4:05, 4:30, 5, 5:30, 7:05, 7:30, 8, 8:30, 10:05, 10:30, 11, 11:30; Sat-Mon 11 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 12:45, 1:30, 2, 2:30, 4:05, 4:30, 5, 5:30, 7:05, 7:30, 8, 8:30, 10:05, 10:30, 11, 11:30; Tue 11 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 12:45, 1:30, 2, 2:30, 4:05, 5, 5:30, 7:05, 8, 8:30, 10:05, 10:30, 11, 11:30; Wed 11 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 12:45, 1:30, 2, 2:30, 4:05, 4:20, 5, 5:30, 7:10, 7:50, 8:30. Made of Honor Fri-Tue 11:05 a.m., 1:35, 5:05, 7:55, 10:35; Wed 11:05 a.m., 1:35, 4:15, 7:25, 9:55. Redbelt Fri-Tue 11:40 a.m., 2:10, 4:50, 7:40, 10; Wed 11:40 a.m., 2:10, 4:40, 7:20, 9:40. Son of Rambow Fri-Tue 11:20 a.m., 1:50, 4:40, 7:20, 10:10; Wed 11:20 a.m., 1:50, 4:50, 7:30, 10:20. What Happens in Vegas Fri-Tue 11:10 a.m., 11:55 a.m., 1:05, 1:40, 2:15, 4:20, 4:45, 5:25, 7:10, 7:45, 8:15, 9:30, 10:15, 10:45; Wed 11:10 a.m., 11:55 a.m., 1:05, 1:40, 2:15, 4:10, 4:55, 5:25, 7:15, 7:40, 7:55, 9:35, 10:25. Grauman’s Chinese, 6925 Hollywood Bl, (323) 4648111. Speed Racer noon, 3:30, 7, 10:30. Los Feliz 3, 1822 N Vermont Av, (323) 664-2169. Forgetting Sarah Marshall 2, 4:30, 7, 9:30. What Happens in Vegas 2, 4:30, 7, 9:30. Young at Heart 2, 4:30, 7, 9:30. Mann Chinese 6, 6801 Hollywood Bl, (323) 461-3331. 21 Fri-Mon 2, 7:20; Tue 2; Wed-Thur 2, 7:20. 88 Minutes Fri-Mon 11:20 a.m., 4:50, 10:20; Tue 11:20 a.m.; Wed-Thur 11:20 a.m., 4:50, 10:20. The Forbidden Kingdom 12:50, 3:50, 6:50, 9:50. Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay 11:50 a.m., 2:20, 5, 7:30, 10. How the Garcia Girls Spent Their Summer 1:10, 4:10, 7:10, 10:10. Speed Racer 11 a.m., 1:30, 2:30, 4:40, 6, 8, 9:20. Pacific’s El Capitan, 6838 Hollywood Bl, (323) 4677674. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian Fri 12:01 a.m., 10 a.m., 1:20, 4:40, 7:55, 11:15; SatThur 10 a.m., 1:20, 4:40, 7:55, 11:15. Pacific’s The Grove Stadium 14, 189 The Grove Dr, Third St & Fairfax Av, (323) 692-0829. Baby Mama Fri-Tue 10:25 a.m., 1:25, 4:25, 7:25, 10:15; Wed 10:25 a.m., 1:25, 4:25, 7:25, 9:55.

HOLLYWOOD ArcLight Cinemas Hollywood, 6360 Sunset Bl, (323) 464-4226. Baby Mama Fri-Tue 11:25 a.m., 1:45, 4:15,

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian Fri-Sun 9:30 a.m., 10 a.m., 10:30 a.m., 12:45, 1:15, 1:45, 4, 4:30, 5, 7:15, 7:45, 8:15, 10:30, 11, 11:30; Mon 9:30 a.m., 10 a.m., 11 a.m., 12:25, 1:15, 2:10, 3:30, 4:30, 5:15, 7, 7:45, 8:25, 10:45, 11, 11:35; TueWed 9:30 a.m., 10 a.m., 10:30 a.m., 12:45, 1:15, 1:45, 4, 4:30, 5, 7:15, 7:45, 8:15, 10:30, 11, 11:30. Forgetting Sarah Marshall Fri-Wed 11:05 a.m., 1:50, 4:40, 7:40, 10:40. Iron Man Fri-Mon 10:05 a.m., 10:55 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 1:05, 1:55, 2:30, 4:10, 4:55, 5:30, 7:05, 7:55, 8:30, 10:05, 10:50, 11:25; Tue 9:40 a.m., 10:55 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 12:40, 1:55, 2:30, 3:35, 4:55, 5:30, 7:55, 8:30, 10:05, 10:50, 11:25; Wed 10:05 a.m., 10:55 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 1:05, 1:55, 2:30, 4:10, 4:55, 5:30, 7:05, 7:55, 8:30, 10:05, 10:50, 11:25. Made of Honor Fri-Wed 10:45 a.m., 1:35, 4:35, 7:30, 10:25. Speed Racer Fri-Wed 9:45 a.m., 10:35 a.m., 12:50, 1:40, 4:05, 4:50, 7:10, 8, 10:20, 11:05. What Happens in Vegas Fri-Tue 10:20 a.m., 11:20 a.m., 1:20, 2:15, 4:20, 5:20, 7:20, 8:20, 10:10, 11:10; Wed 10:20 a.m., 11:20 a.m., 1:20, 2:15, 4:20, 5:20, 7:20, 8:20, 9:45, 11:10. Regent Showcase, 614 N La Brea Av, (323) 9342944. Turn the River Fri 5:30, 7:30, 9:30; Sat-Sun 3:30, 5:30, 7:30, 9:30; Mon-Thur 5:30, 7:30, 9:30. Vine, 6321 Hollywood Bl, (323) 463-6819. Call theater for titles and showtimes. Vista, 4473 Sunset, (323) 660-6639. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Wed midnight; Thur 3:45, 6:45, 9:45. Iron Man Fri 3:45, 6:45, 9:45; Sat-Sun 12:45, 3:45, 6:45, 9:45; Mon-Wed 3:45, 6:45, 9:45.

NORTH HOLLYWOOD, UNIVERSAL CITY Century 8, 12827 Victory Bl, (818) 508-6004. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian Fri-Wed 10:45 a.m., 12:30, 2, 3:45, 5:15, 7, 8:40, 10:15; Thur 12:30, 3:45, 7, 10:15. Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay FriWed 7:40, 10:10. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Thur only, 10:30 a.m., 1:30, 4:30, 7:30, 10:30. Iron Man 10:25 a.m., 11:55 a.m., 1:25, 2:55, 4:25, 5:55, 7:25, 8:55, 10:25. Made of Honor Fri-Wed 11:40 a.m., 2:20, 5:05, 7:35, 10:05. Speed Racer Fri-Wed 10:20 a.m., 11:50 a.m., 1:20, 2:50, 4:20, 7:20, 10:20; Thur 10:20 a.m., 1:20, 4:20, 7:20, 10:20. What Happens in Vegas Fri-Wed 11:30 a.m., 2:15, 4:40, 7:15, 9:55. Loews CityWalk Stadium 19 with IMAX, 100 Universal City Dr at Universal CityWalk, (818) 508-0588; IMAX Theater (818) 760-8100. Baby Mama Fri-Sat

“GRADE A!” —Lisa Schwarzbaum, ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY

“BRILLIANT! [A] LUCID, BEAUTIFULLY OBSERVED PORTRAIT.” —Scott Foundas, LA WEEKLY

“ASTONISHING!” —Stephen Holden, THE NEW YORK TIMES “LOVELY! EXTRACTS SOME TIMELESS TRUTHS FROM CHINA’S LATEST GREAT LEAP FORWARD!” —THE NEW YORK SUN

UP THE

YANG TZE A

YUNG CHANG

FILM

SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL

watch the trailer at www.zeitgeistfilms.com/uptheyangtze

MAY 16!

Pasadena

Laemmle’s Playhouse 7 673. E Colorado Blvd. • (626) 844-6500 Daily: 12:00 2:20 4:50 7:20 & 9:55

Encino

Laemmle’s Town Center (818) 981-9811

W. Los Angeles

Laemmle’s Royal Theatre (310) 477-5581 2 WEEKS ONLY!

Q&A w/director Yung Chang after the 4:50pm show at the Playhouse on Sat 5/17 & after the 7:20pm show at The Royal on Fri-Sat 5/16-5/17

CITYBEAT

l MAY 15~21, 2008

SANTA MONICA AMC Santa Monica 7, 1310 Third Street Promenade, (310) 395-3030. Baby Mama Fri-Sun 10:30 a.m., 12:55, 3:20, 5:45, 8:10, 10:40; Mon-Thur 1, 3:20, 5:45, 8:10, 10:40. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian Fri-Sun 10 a.m., 11 a.m., 12:20, 1:10, 2, 3:30, 4:20, 5:15, 6:45, 7:35, 8:30, 9:55, 10:45; Mon-Wed 12:20, 1:10, 2, 3:30, 4:20, 5:15, 6:45, 7:35, 8:30, 9:55, 10:45; Thur 1:10, 4:20, 7:35, 10:45. Forgetting Sarah Marshall Fri-Sun 11:30 a.m., 2:10, 5, 7:45, 10:30; Mon-Tue 2:10, 5, 7:45, 10:30; Wed 1:20, 3:55, 6:35, 9:10. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Wed 12:01 a.m.; Thur 10:45 a.m., 1:45, 4:45, 7:45, 10:45. Speed Racer Fri-Sun 10:15 a.m., 1, 1:30, 3:55, 4:45, 7:10, 8, 10:10, 11; Mon-Wed 1:05, 1:30, 4, 4:45, 7, 8, 10; Thur 1:05, 4, 7, 10. Laemmle’s Monica 4-Plex, 1332 Second St, (310) 394-9741. Jellyfish 12:45, 5:10, 9:45. Priceless 2:45, 7:15. Redbelt 1:20, 4:10, 7, 9:30. Smart People 1:55, 4:40, 7:35, 10. The Visitor 1:30, 4:20, 7:25, 10. Loews Cineplex Broadway, 1441 Third Street Promenade, (310) 458-1506. 21 Fri-Sun 1:35, 4:20; Mon-Wed 1:15, 4:05. The Fall Fri 2, 4:45, 7:30, 10:15; Sat-Sun 11:10 a.m., 2, 4:45, 7:30, 10:15; Mon-Wed 1, 3:55, 6:35, 9:15. The Forbidden Kingdom Fri 7:15, 10; Sat-Sun 11 a.m., 7:15, 10; Mon-Wed 6:55, 9:35. Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay Fri 1:45, 4:30, 7, 9:30; Sat-Sun 11:20 a.m., 1:45, 4:30, 7, 9:30; Mon-Wed 1:45, 4:30, 7, 9:25. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Thur only, 10 a.m., 1, 4, 7, 10. Speed Racer Fri 12:45, 3:45, 6:45, 9:50; Sat-Sun 12:10, 3:20, 6:30, 9:45; Mon-Wed 12:45, 3:45, 6:45, 9:45. Mann Criterion, 1313 Third Street Promenade, (310) 395-1599. Iron Man Fri-Sat 11 a.m., noon, 1, 2, 3, 4:05, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11; Sun-Thur 11 a.m., noon, 1, 2, 3, 4:05, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. Made of Honor 11:50 a.m., 2:20, 4:50, 7:30, 10:10. What Happens in Vegas 11:10 a.m., 12:10, 1:40, 2:40, 4:15, 5:10, 6:40, 7:40, 9:20, 10:20.

SHERMAN OAKS, ENCINO

OFFICIAL SELECTION

STARTS FRIDAY

11:20 a.m., 1:50, 4:30, 7, 9:20, midnight; Sun 11:20 a.m., 1:50, 4:30, 7, 9:20; Mon-Tue 1:50, 4:30, 7, 9:20; Wed 1:50, 4:30, 7. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian Fri-Sat 10:30 a.m., 11 a.m., noon, 12:40, 1:40, 2:10, 3:15, 4, 4:50, 5:20, 6:30, 7:15, 8:05, 8:35, 9:45, 10:30, 11:15, 11:50; Sun 10:30 a.m., 11 a.m., noon, 12:40, 1:40, 2:10, 3:15, 4, 4:50, 5:20, 6:30, 7:15, 8:05, 8:35, 9:45, 10:30; Mon-Wed noon, 12:40, 1:40, 2:10, 3:15, 4, 4:50, 5:20, 6:30, 7:15, 8:05, 8:35, 9:45, 10:30. The Forbidden Kingdom Fri-Sat 11:35 a.m., 2:20, 4:55, 7:55, 10:50; Sun 11:35 a.m., 2:20, 4:55, 7:55, 10:35; Mon-Tue 2:20, 4:55, 7:55, 10:35; Wed 12:05, 7:55. Forgetting Sarah Marshall Fri 3:45, 6:45, 9:30, 12:10 a.m.; Sat 12:20, 3:30, 6:45, 9:30, 12:10 a.m.; Sun-Wed 12:20, 3:30, 6:45, 9:30. Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay FriWed 12:25, 3, 5:30, 8:10, 10:40. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Wed 12:01 a.m.; Thur 10:30 a.m., 12:15, 1:30, 3:15, 4:30, 6:15, 7:30, 9:15, 10:30, 12:15 a.m. Iron Man Fri-Sat 10:30 a.m., 11:10 a.m., 11:40 a.m., 12:10, 1, 1:25, 2, 2:40, 3:10, 4, 4:25, 5, 5:40, 6:10, 6:50, 7:20, 8, 8:40, 9:10, 9:55, 10:25, 11, 11:40, 12:15 a.m.; Sun 10:30 a.m., 11:10 a.m., 11:40 a.m., 12:10, 1, 1:25, 2, 2:40, 3:10, 4, 4:25, 5, 5:40, 6:10, 6:50, 7:20, 8, 8:40, 9:10, 9:55, 10:25; Mon 12:10, 1, 1:25, 2, 3:10, 4, 4:25, 5, 6:10, 6:50, 7:20, 8, 8:40, 9:10, 9:55, 10:25; Tue 12:10, 1, 1:25, 2, 2:40, 3:10, 4, 4:25, 5, 5:40, 6:10, 6:50, 7:20, 8, 8:40, 9:10, 9:55, 10:25; Wed 12:10, 1, 1:25, 2:40, 3:10, 4, 4:25, 5:40, 6:10, 6:50, 7:20, 8:40, 9:10, 10:25. Made of Honor Fri-Sun 11:55 a.m., 2:30, 5:10, 7:40, 10:10; Mon-Wed 12:05, 2:30, 5:10, 7:40, 10:10. Speed Racer Fri-Sat 11:15 a.m., 12:30, 2:15, 3:40, 5:15, 6:40, 8:20, 9:40, 11:20; Sun 11:15 a.m., 12:30, 2:15, 3:40, 5:15, 6:40, 8:20, 9:40; Mon-Wed 12:30, 2:15, 3:40, 5:15, 6:40, 8:20, 9:40. Speed Racer: The IMAX Experience Fri-Sun 10:50 a.m., 1:30, 4:20, 7:30, 10:20; Mon-Wed 1:30, 4:20, 7:30, 10:20. What Happens in Vegas Fri-Sat 10:55 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 1:20, 2:05, 3:50, 4:40, 6:20, 7:10, 9, 10, 11:30; Sun 10:55 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 1:20, 2:05, 3:50, 4:40, 6:20, 7:10, 9, 10; Mon-Tue 1:20, 2:05, 3:50, 4:40, 6:20, 7:10, 9, 10; Wed 1:20, 2:05, 3:50, 4:40, 6:20, 7:10, 9.

ArcLight Sherman Oaks, 15301 Ventura Bl, Sherman Oaks, (818) 501-0753. Baby Mama Fri 11:10 a.m., 1:55, 5:15, 7:50, 10:20; Sat-Sun 12:25, 2:50, 5:15, 7:50, 10:20; Mon-Wed 11:10 a.m., 1:55, 5:15, 7:50, 10:20. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian Fri noon, 12:45, 1:35, 3:10, 4:05, 4:45, 7, 7:30, 8, 10:10, 10:45, 11:15; Sat-Sun 10:30 a.m., 11 a.m., noon, 1:35, 2:15, 3:10, 4:45, 5:25, 7, 8, 8:30, 10:10, 11:15, 11:40; Mon-Wed noon, 12:45, 1:35, 3:10, 4:05, 4:45, 7, 7:30, 8, 10:10, 10:45, 11:15. Forgetting Sarah Marshall Fri 11:40 a.m., 2:45, 5:25, 8:05, 10:50; Sat-Sun 11:25 a.m., 2:10, 4:50, 7:35, 10:30; Mon-Wed 11:40 a.m., 2:45, 5:25, 8:05, 10:50. Iron Man Fri 11:30 a.m., 1, 1:30, 2, 3:05, 4, 4:30, 5, 7:05, 7:45, 8:15, 8:45, 10:05, 10:40, 11:05, 11:30; Sat 11:05 a.m., 12:10, 1, 1:30, 2, 3:05, 4, 4:30, 5, 7:05, 7:45, 8:15, 8:45, 10:05, 10:45, 11:05, 11:30; Sun 11:05 a.m., 12:10, 1, 1:30, 2, 3:05, 4, 4:30, 5, 7:05, 7:45, 8:15, 8:45, 10:05,

10:45, 11:20; Mon-Tue 11:30 a.m., 12:10, 1, 1:30, 2, 3:05, 4, 4:30, 5, 7:05, 7:45, 8:15, 8:45, 10:05, 10:40, 11:20; Wed 11:30 a.m., 1, 1:30, 2, 3:05, 4, 4:30, 5, 7:05, 7:45, 8:15, 8:45, 10:05, 10:40, 11:20. Jaws Mon only, 7:30. Made of Honor Fri-Wed 11:20 a.m., 1:50, 4:20, 7:20, 9:50. Son of Rambow Fri 1:15, 4:25, 7:25, 9:55; Sat-Sun 1:10, 4:25, 7:25, 9:55; Mon-Wed 1:15, 4:25, 7:25, 9:55. Speed Racer Fri 11:15 a.m., 1:05, 1:45, 4:15, 4:55, 5:30, 7:55, 8:35, 11, 11:35; Sat 11:15 a.m., 12:05, 1:05, 2:20, 4:15, 4:55, 5:30, 7:55, 8:35, 11, 11:35; Sun 11:15 a.m., 12:05, 1:05, 2:20, 4:15, 4:55, 5:30, 7:55, 8:35, 11; Mon 11:15 a.m., 1:05, 1:45, 4:15, 4:55, 5:30, 7:55, 8:35, 11; Tue 11:15 a.m., 12:15, 1:05, 1:45, 4:15, 4:55, 5:30, 7:55, 8:35, 11; Wed 11:15 a.m., 1:05, 1:45, 4:15, 4:55, 5:30, 7:55, 8:35, 11. What Happens in Vegas Fri 11:05 a.m., 1:20, 1:40, 4:10, 5:10, 7:10, 7:40, 8:20, 9:35, 10:15, 10:55; Sat-Sun 11:10 a.m., 12:20, 1:45, 4:10, 5:10, 7:10, 7:40, 8:20, 9:35, 10:15, 10:55; Mon 11:05 a.m., 1:20, 1:40, 4:10, 7:10, 7:40, 9:35, 10:15, 10:55; Tue-Wed 11:05 a.m., 1:20, 1:40, 4:10, 5:10, 7:10, 7:40, 8:20, 9:35, 10:15, 10:55. Laemmle’s Town Center 5, 17200 Ventura Bl, Encino, (818) 981-9811. Before the Rains 1:50, 4:40, 7:30, 10. Roman de Gare 1:20, 4:10, 7, 9:30. Then She Found Me 1:30, 4:20, 7:10, 9:40. Up the Yangtze 1, 3:20, 5:40, 8, 10:15. The Visitor 1:40, 4:30, 7:20, 9:55. Mann Plant 16, 7876 Van Nuys Bl, Panorama City, (818) 779-0323. Baby Mama Fri-Wed 11:45 a.m., 2:15, 4:45, 7:15, 9:45. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian Fri-Wed 11 a.m., 11:40 a.m., 12:20, 2:10, 2:50, 3:40, 5:20, 6, 7, 8:30, 9:30, 10:20. The Forbidden Kingdom Fri-Wed 12:30, 3:30, 6:30, 9:10. Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay FriWed 5:15, 7:45, 10:15. How the Garcia Girls Spent Their Summer Fri-Wed 1, 4:05, 7, 10. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Wed only, 12:01 a.m. Iron Man Fri-Wed 11:50 a.m., 12:40, 1:30, 2:50, 3:40, 4:30, 5:50, 6:40, 7:30, 8:50, 9:40, 10:30. Made of Honor Fri-Wed 11:20 a.m., 1:50, 4:20, 6:50, 9:20. Speed Racer Fri-Wed 11:15 a.m., 12:10, 1:20, 2:15, 3:20, 4:20, 5:15, 6:20, 7:20, 8:15, 9:20, 10:20. Under the Same Moon Fri-Wed 12:15, 2:45. What Happens in Vegas Fri-Wed 11:40 a.m., 12:30, 2:10, 3, 4:40, 5:30, 7:10, 8, 9:40, 10:30. Pacific’s Sherman Oaks 5, 14424 Millbank St, Sherman Oaks, (818) 501-5121. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian 1, 4:05, 7:15, 10:20. Iron Man 1:15, 4:20, 7:20, 10:15.

Redbelt 1:30, 4:30, 7:30, 9:55. Speed Racer 1:05, 4:10, 7:10, 10:10. Young at Heart 1:10, 4:15, 7, 9:45.

WEST HOLLYWOOD, BEVERLY HILLS, CENTURY CITY AMC Century City 15, 10250 Santa Monica Bl, (310) 277-2011. 21 Fri-Sun 1:50, 7:55; Mon-Wed 1:05, 7:05. Baby Mama Fri-Sun 9:40 a.m., 12:05, 2:25, 5, 7:25, 10; Mon-Tue 2:10, 4:45, 7:20, 10; Wed 2:10, 4:45, 7:20, 9:35. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian Fri-Sat 9:25 a.m., 9:50 a.m., 10:20 a.m., 11:20 a.m., 12:35, 1:15, 1:45, 2:45, 4, 4:35, 5:05, 6:20, 7:35, 8:05, 8:40, 9:55, 10:55, 11:30, midnight; Sun 9:25 a.m., 9:50 a.m., 10:20 a.m., 11:20 a.m., 12:35, 1:15, 1:45, 2:45, 4, 4:35, 5:05, 6:20, 7:35, 8:05, 8:40, 9:40, 10:50; Mon-Tue 1, 1:40, 2:40, 3:40, 4:15, 5, 6:05, 7, 7:35, 8:20, 9:25, 10:15, 10:45; Wed 1, 1:40, 2:40, 3:40, 4:15, 5, 6:05, 7, 7:35, 8:20, 9:40, 10:15, 10:45; Thur 1, 4:15, 7:35, 10:45. Death Note Tue-Wed 7:30. Forgetting Sarah Marshall Fri-Sun 9:55 a.m., 12:25, 2:55, 5:25, 8:10, 10:40; Mon-Wed 2:05, 4:50, 7:40, 10:25. Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay FriSat 9:50 a.m., 12:20, 2:50, 5:30, 8:15, 11; Sun 9:50 a.m., 12:20, 2:50, 5:30, 8:10, 10:45; Mon-Wed 2:30, 5:15, 7:55, 10:35. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Wed 12:01 a.m.; Thur 9:45 a.m., 12:45, 4, 7:05, 10:20. Iron Man Fri-Sat 9:35 a.m., 10:10 a.m., 10:40 a.m., 11:10 a.m., 12:30, 1:10, 2:05, 3:50, 4:20, 4:50, 5:20, 7:05, 7:40, 8:30, 10:05, 10:50, 11:20, 11:50, 12:35 a.m.; Sun 9:35 a.m., 10:10 a.m., 10:40 a.m., 11:10 a.m., 12:30, 1:10, 2:05, 3:50, 4:20, 4:50, 5:20, 7:05, 7:40, 8:30, 10:05, 10:40; Mon 1:15, 1:50, 2:55, 3:55, 4:25, 4:55, 6:15, 7:15, 7:50, 9:15, 9:55, 10:20, 10:45; Tue 1:15, 1:50, 2:55, 3:55, 4:25, 4:55, 6:15, 7:50, 9:15, 9:55, 10:45; Wed 1:15, 1:50, 2:55, 3:55, 4:25, 4:55, 6:15, 7:50, 9:15, 10:20. Speed Racer Fri-Sat 9:45 a.m., 10:25 a.m., 12:45, 1:25, 4:05, 4:40, 7:10, 7:50, 10:30, 11:10; Sun 9:45 a.m., 10:15 a.m., 12:45, 1:25, 4:05, 4:40, 7:10, 7:50, 10:20, 10:50; Mon-Tue 1:10, 3, 4:20, 6:25, 7:30, 9:35, 10:30; Wed 1, 1:20, 4:20, 7:30, 10:30. What Happens in Vegas Fri-Sat 9:30 a.m., 10:35 a.m., noon, 1:20, 2:30, 4:10, 5:10, 7, 8, 9:50, 10:45, 12:30 a.m.; Sun 9:30 a.m., noon, 1:20, 2:30, 4:10, 5:10, 7, 8, 9:45, 10:35; Mon 1:45, 2:35, 4:30, 5:20, 7:10, 8, 9:50, 10:40; Tue 1:20, 2:35, 4, 5:20, 8, 10:05, 10:40; Wed 1:20, 2:35, 4, 5:20, 8, 10:40. Laemmle’s Music Hall 3, 9036 Wilshire Bl, (310) 2746869. Fugitive Pieces Fri 5, 7:30, 10; Sat-Sun noon, 2:30, 5, 7:30, 10; Mon-Thur 5, 7:30, 10. Standard Operating Procedure Fri 5:30, 8:15; SatSun noon, 2:45, 5:30, 8:15; Mon-Thur 5:30, 8:15.

Unsettled Fri 5:15, 7:30, 9:45; Sat-Sun 12:45, 3, 5:15, 7:30, 9:45; Mon-Thur 5:15, 7:30, 9:45. Laemmle’s Sunset 5 Theatre, 8000 Sunset Bl, (323) 848-3500. Bloodline 1:10, 4:20, 7, 9:55. Mister Lonely 1:30, 4:15, 7, 9:45. Noise 1, 3:15, 5:30, 7:50, 10:10. Roman de Gare 1:30, 4:30, 7:15, 9:55. The Visitor 1:40, 4:20, 7, 9:40. Beverly Center 13 Cinemas, 8522 Beverly Blvd., Suite 835, (310) 652-7760. 21 Fri-Wed 1, 4:10, 7, 9:40. The Bank Job Fri-Wed 12:40, 3:20, 5:40, 8, 10:20. Bra Boys Fri-Wed 12:30, 2:30, 4:40, 7:10, 9:10. Deception Fri-Wed noon, 2:40, 5:10, 7:30, 10. Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who! Fri-Wed 12:50, 3, 5, 6:50, 8:50. Expelled: No Intellaigence Allowed Fri-Wed 12:40, 2:40, 5, 7:10, 9:20. The Forbidden Kingdom Fri-Wed 12:20, 3, 5:30, 7:50, 10:20. Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay FriWed 12:30, 2:50, 5:10, 7:30, 9:50. Nim’s Island Fri-Wed 12:10, 2:20, 4:40, 6:50, 9:10. Prom Night Fri-Wed 12:10, 2:20, 4:30, 7, 9:20. Redbelt Fri-Wed 12:50, 3:10, 5:30, 7:40, 10. Stop-Loss Fri-Wed 12:20, 2:50, 5:20, 7:50, 10:10. Street Kings Fri-Wed noon, 2:30, 5:20, 7:40, 10:10.

6:15, 8, 10:25; Sun 11:20 a.m., 1:30, 5:30, 6:15, 8, 10:25; Mon-Wed 12:20, 1:30, 2:50, 5:30, 6:15, 8, 10:25; Thur 12:20, 1:30, 2:50, 5:30, 8, 10:25. OSS 117: Cairo: Nest of Spies 12:35, 3, 5:25, 7:50, 10:15. Placido Domingo 40th Anniversary Gala Concert Sun only, 2. Redbelt 11:30 a.m., 2, 4:30, 7:15, 9:45. Reprise 12:20, 2:50, 5:20, 7:50, 10:20. Roman de Gare noon, 2:30, 5, 7:30, 9:55. Smart People Fri-Wed 11:10 a.m., 4, 8:35; Thur 11:10 a.m., 4, 9:15. Son of Rambow 12:30, 3, 5:20, 7:45, 10. Then She Found Me 11:40 a.m., 2:10, 4:40, 7:10, 9:35. The Visitor 11:45 a.m., 2:15, 4:45, 7:30, 9:55. Majestic Crest Theater, 1262 Westwood Bl, (310) 474-7866. Redbelt 3, 5:15, 7:30, 9:45. Mann Bruin, 948 Broxton Av, (310) 208-8998. Made of Honor Fri-Wed noon, 2:30, 5, 7:30, 10:10.

Mann Festival 1, 10887 Lindbrook Av, (310) 2084575. Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay Fri-Wed 12:10, 2:40, 5:10, 7:40, 10:20. Mann Village, 961 Broxton Av, (310) 208-5576. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Wed 12:01 a.m.; Thur 10 a.m., 1, 4, 7:15, 10:30. Speed Racer Fri-Tue 1, 4, 7, 10; Wed 1, 4, 7.

WOODLAND HILLS, WEST HILLS, TARZANA AMC Promenade 16, 21801 Oxnard St, Woodland Hills, (818) 883-2262. Baby Mama Fri-Sun 10:20 a.m., 12:50, 3:20, 5:45, 8:10, 10:35; Mon-Tue 2:10, 4:35, 7, 9:25; Wed 1:55, 7. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian Fri 10 a.m., 10:30 a.m., 11 a.m., noon, 12:45, 1:45, 2:15, 3:15, 4:05, 5, 5:30, 6:30, 7:25, 8:15, 8:45, 9:45, 10:45, 11:25, 11:55; Sat 10 a.m., 10:30 a.m., 11 a.m., noon, 12:45, 1:45, 2:15, 3:15, 4:05, 5, 5:30, 6:30, 7:25, 8:15, 8:45, 9:45, 10:45, 11:25;

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WESTWOOD, WEST L.A. AMC Avco Center, 10840 Wilshire Bl, (310) 4750711. Baby Mama Fri 12:20, 2:40, 5, 7:15, 9:35; Sat-Sun 10 a.m., 12:20, 2:40, 5, 7:15, 9:35; MonThur 2:40, 5, 7:15, 9:35. Forgetting Sarah Marshall Fri 2, 4:35, 7:10, 9:45; Sat-Sun 11:25 a.m., 2, 4:35, 7:10, 9:45; Mon-Thur 2, 4:35, 7:10, 9:45. Iron Man Fri 1:20, 4:10, 7, 9:45; Sat-Sun 10:30 a.m., 1:20, 4:10, 7, 9:45; Mon-Thur 1:20, 4:10, 7, 9:45. What Happens in Vegas Fri 12:15, 2:35, 4:55, 7:20, 9:40; Sat-Sun 10 a.m., 12:15, 2:35, 4:55, 7:20, 9:40; Mon-Thur 2:35, 4:55, 7:20, 9:40. Laemmle’s Royal Theatre, 11523 Santa Monica Bl, (310) 477-5581. Up the Yangtze 12:40, 3, 5:20, 7:40, 10. Landmark’s Nuart Theater, 11272 Santa Monica Bl, (310) 281-8223. Planet of the Apes Fri only, midnight. The Rocky Horror Picture Show Sat only, midnight. Water Lilies Sub-Titled Fri-Sun 12:30, 2:50, 5:10, 7:30, 9:50; Sub-Titled Mon-Thur 5:10, 7:30, 9:50. Landmark’s Regent, 1045 Broxton Av, (310) 2818223. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian 12:30, 3:45, 7, 10:15. The Landmark West Los Angeles, 10850 W Pico Bl, (310) 281-8223. Before the Rains 11:30 a.m., 2:10, 4:50, 7:20, 9:45. The Fall 11:40 a.m., 2:20, 5, 7:40, 10:20. Made of Honor Fri-Sat 12:20, 1:30, 2:50, 5:30,

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Sun 10 a.m., 10:30 a.m., 11 a.m., noon, 12:45, 1:45, 2:15, 3:15, 4:05, 5, 5:30, 6:30, 7:25, 8:15, 8:45, 9:45, 10:30; Mon-Wed 1, 1:45, 2:15, 3:15, 4:05, 5, 5:30, 6:30, 7:25, 8:15, 8:45, 9:40, 10:30. Death Note Tue-Wed 7:30. The Forbidden Kingdom Fri-Sun 10:35 a.m., 1:30, 4:15, 7:05, 10:05; Mon 1:30, 4:15, 7, 9:45; Tue-Wed 1:30, 4:15. Forgetting Sarah Marshall Fri-Sat 11:20 a.m., 2:10, 4:45, 8, 10:50; Sun 11:20 a.m., 2:10, 4:45, 8, 10:35; Mon-Tue 1:25, 4:10, 7:05, 9:50; Wed 4:10, 9:50. Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay Fri-Sun 12:05, 2:30, 4:55, 7:30, 10; Mon-Wed 2:30, 4:55, 7:30, 9:55. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Wed 12:01 a.m.; Thur 10:30 a.m., 1:30, 4:35, 7:45, 10:50. Iron Man Fri-Sat 10:15 a.m., 10:55 a.m., 12:30, 1:15, 2, 3:35, 4:20, 5:05, 6:45, 7:30, 8:10, 9:55, 10:40, 11:20; Sun 10:15 a.m., 10:55 a.m., 12:30, 1:15, 2, 3:35, 4:20, 5:05, 6:45, 7:30, 8:10, 9:55; Mon-Tue 1:15, 2, 3:35, 4:20, 5:05, 6:45, 7:20, 8:10, 9:35, 10:20; Wed 1:15, 2, 3:35, 4:20, 5:05, 6:45, 7:20, 8:10, 9:35. Made of Honor Fri-Sat 10:10 a.m., 12:40, 3:05, 5:35, 8:05, 10:30; Sun 10:10 a.m., 12:40, 3:05, 5:35, 8:05, 10:25; MonWed 2:20, 4:45, 7:15, 9:50. Speed Racer Fri-Sat 10:05 a.m., 12:10, 1:10, 3:10, 4:25, 6:25, 7:40, 9:30, 10:40; Sun 10:05 a.m., 12:10, 1:10, 3:10, 4:25, 6:25, 7:40, 9:30; Mon 1:10, 3:10, 4:25, 7:40, 10:25; Tue-Wed 1:10, 3:10, 4:25, 6:25, 7:40, 9:30. What Happens in Vegas Fri-Sun 11:15 a.m., 1:20, 2:05, 3:50, 4:40, 6:35, 7:35, 9:15, 10:15; Mon-Tue 1:20, 2:05, 3:50, 4:40, 6:35, 7:35, 9:15, 10; Wed 1:20, 2:05, 3:50, 4:40, 6:35, 7:35, 9:15. Laemmle’s Fallbrook 7 Cinemas, Fallbrook Mall, 6731 Fallbrook Av, West Hills, (818) 340-8710. Annan Thampi Fri only, 10. Bhootnath Fri-Sat 12:30, 3:30, 6:30, 9:30; Sun-Tue 2, 4, 8. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian 1:30, 4:50, 8:10. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Thur only, 1, 4, 7, 10. Iron Man Fri-Sun 1:10, 4:10, 7:10, 10:10; Mon-Tue 2:10, 5:10, 8:10; Wed 11:20 a.m., 2:10, 5:10, 8:10; Thur 2:10, 5:10, 8:10. Made of Honor Fri-Sun 1:20, 4, 7, 9:25; Mon-Thur noon, 2:20, 5, 8. Redbelt Fri-Sun 12:10, 2:50, 5:20, 7:50, 10:15; Mon-Tue 1:10,

3:50, 6:20, 8:50; Wed 11 a.m., 1:10, 3:50, 6:20, 8:50; Thur 1:10, 3:50, 6:20, 8:50. Taare Zameen Par Wed-Thur 1, 4:30, 8. The Visitor Fri-Sun 1:50, 4:40, 7:30, 10; Mon-Thur 12:20, 2:50, 5:40, 8:30. Young at Heart Fri 1:30, 4:20, 7; Sat-Sun 1:30, 4:20, 7, 9:40; MonThur noon, 2:30, 5:20, 8.

SPECIAL SCREENINGS

N Central Av, Little Tokyo, (213) 830-1880. Ncdemocracy.org. Bringing the Circle Together: A Native American Film Series – The Buffalo War, 7; followed by discussion with Dr. Troy R. Johnson, Chair of the American Indian Studies program at Cal State Long Beach. Hosted by Lorin Morgan-Richards. Info: Myspace.com/nafilmseries. New Beverly Cinema, 7165 Beverly Bl, L.A., (323) 938-4038. Newbevcinema.com. Bananas, 7:30; Sleeper, 9:15. Los Angeles Jewish Film Festival Closing Night. Info: (323) 938-2531 or Lajfilmfest.org.

FRIDAY, MAY 16

THURSDAY, MAY 15 American Cinematheque at the Aero Theatre, 1328 Montana Av, Santa Monica, (323) 466-3456. Aerotheatre.com. These Mad Places: The Epic Cinema of David Lean – Summertime, 7:30; followed by This Happy Breed. American Cinematheque at the Egyptian Theatre, 6712 Hollywood Bl, Hollywood, (323) 466-3456. Egyptiantheatre.com. Seeing the Big Picture: 70mm – Playtime, 7:30. CineFamily at the Silent Movie Theatre, 611 N Fairfax Av, Hollywood, (323) 655-2520. Silentmovietheatre.com. Music Thursdays: Folk Americana – The Old Weird America, 8. Echo Park Film Center, 1200 N Alvarado St, Echo Park, (213) 484-8846. Echoparkfilmcenter.org. Potter-Belmar Labs – Fortune, 8; live cinema performance with audience participation by PBL founders Leslie Raymond and Jason Jay Stevens. L.A. County Museum of Art, Leo S. Bing Theatre, 5905 Wilshire Bl, L.A., (323) 857-6010. Lacma.org. A Tribute to Leonard Schrader – Tribute, 7:30; Kiss of the Spider Woman, 9. National Center for the Preservation of Democracy, 111

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American Cinematheque at the Aero Theatre Croatian Film Today – The Living and the Dead (Zivi I Mrtvi), 7:30; followed by discussion with director Kristijian Milic and actor Filip Sovagovic. With Croatian wine-tasting reception. American Cinematheque at the Egyptian Theatre Seeing the Big Picture: 70mm – Apocalypse Now, 7:30. CineFamily at the Silent Movie Theatre Solid Gould – Little Murders, 7:30. Psychedelia Italiano – Death Laid an Egg, 10:15. Cinespace Dinner & a Movie – Everyone Says I Love You, 7:30. Film in a restaurant/bar setting; call for reservations. Hammer Museum, UCLA Film & Television Archive at the Billy Wilder Theatre, 10899 Wilshire Bl, L.A. Info: (310) 206-3456 or Hammer.ucla.edu. An Evening With Walter Mirisch – West Side Story, 7:30; with producer Walter Mirisch, in person. New 70mm print. L.A. County Museum of Art, Leo S. Bing Theatre A Tribute to Leonard Schrader – Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters, 7:30. Landmark’s Nuart Theatre, 11272 Santa Monica Bl, West L.A., (310) 281-8223. Landmarktheatres.com. Planet of the Apes, midnight. New Beverly Cinema Performance, 7:30; O Lucky Man! 9:35; Reservoir Dogs, midnight. New Center for Psychoanalysis, 2014 Sawtelle Bl, L.A., (310) 478-6541, ext 10. Newcenterforpsychoanalysis.org. Friday Night at the Movies – Secretary, 7:30; followed by discussion with Elena Balashova-Shamis, Psy.D. Old Town Music Hall, 140 Richmond St, El Segundo, (310) 322-2592. Otmh.org. A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1935), 8:15; with shorts.

Show, midnight; with live performance by Sins O’ the Flesh. New Beverly Cinema Performance, 3:05, 8:30; O Lucky Man! 5:10. Amoeba Midnights – Midnight Grind – From the Attic, midnight. Old Town Music Hall A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1935), 2:30, 8:15; with shorts.

SUNDAY, MAY 18 American Cinematheque at the Aero Theatre Croatian Film Today – Armin, 7:30; followed by The Melon Route. American Cinematheque at the Egyptian Theatre Seeing the Big Picture: 70mm – Charlton Heston Tribute – Khartoum, 7:30. CineFamily at the Silent Movie Theatre Noisy People, 8; followed by Q&A and live performance with “sound artists” Phillip Greenlief and Tim Perkis. Co-presented by LA FilmForum. Echo Park Film Center at Farmlab, 1745 N Spring St, L.A., (323) 226-1158. Farmlab.org. EPFC Youth Film Festival, 2. Info: (213) 484-8846 or Echoparkfilmcenter.org. Hammer Museum, UCLA Film & Television Archive at the Billy Wilder Theatre Unburied Treasures: Classic Films Preserved by UCLA Film & Television Archive – The Royal Family of Broadway, 7; followed by Murder at the Vanities. Preceeded by period musical short You Try Somebody Else. New Beverly Cinema Chinatown, 2:45, 8; Day of the Locust, 5:15. Old Town Music Hall A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1935), 2:30; with shorts.

MONDAY, MAY 19 AFI at ArcLight Cinemas Sherman Oaks, 15301 Venutra Bl, Sherman Oaks, (818) 501-7033. Arclightcinemas.com. Summer Drive-In – Jaws, 7:30. New Beverly Cinema Chinatown, 7:30; Day of the Locust, 10. Wadsworth Theatre, Veterans Administration grounds, 11301 Wilshire Bl, bldg 226, Westwood, (310) 479-3636. Wadsworththeatre.com. Reel Talk with Stephen Farber – The Children of Huang Shi, 7; followed by discussion with director Roger Spottiswoode and actress Radha Mitchell.

SATURDAY, MAY 17

TUESDAY, MAY 20

American Cinematheque at the Aero Theatre Croatian Film Today – Tressette: A Story of an Island (Treseta), 7:30; followed by What Is a Man Without a Moustache? (Sto Je Muskarac Bez Brkova). Followed by discussion with Moustache director Hrvoje Hribar. American Cinematheque at the Egyptian Seeing the Big Picture: 70mm – Vertigo, 7:30. Cinespace Dinner & a Movie – Everyone Says I Love You, 7:30. Film in a restaurant/bar setting; call for reservations. CineFamily at the Silent Movie Theatre Noir Matinees: Femme Fatale Hall of Fame – Out of the Past, 1. Maysles: Direct Cinema – Shorts, Program One, 7. HolyFuckingShit: The Straight Dope – The Boost, 10:15. Fine Arts Theatre, 8556 Wilshire Bl, Beverly Hills, (310) 360-0455. Studioscreenings.com/FAT. Spent. Call for showtimes. Hammer Museum, UCLA Film & Telivision Archive at the Billy Wilder Theatre Visualizing Visualizing the Sacred: Islam on Film – Islam on Film Roundtable, 5; panel discussion on representations of Islam in various media. Le Grand Voyage, 7:30. L.A. County Museum of Art, Leo S. Bing Theatre Fasten Your Seat Belts: The Essential Bette Davis – The Little Foxes, 7:30; Payment on Demand, 9:40. Landmark’s Nuart Theatre The Rocky Horror Picture

L.A. County Museum of Art, Leo S. Bing Theatre Tuesday Matinees – Dangerous, 1. New Beverly Cinema Chinatown, 7:30; Day of the Locust, 10.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 21 AFI at ArcLight Cinemas Hollywood, 6360 Sunset Bl, Hollywood, (323) 464-1478. Arclightcinemas.com. The Wild West – Butch Cassidy and the Sundance, 8. American Cinematheque at the Egyptian Theatre Outfest Wednesdays – The Edge of Heaven, 7:30. CineFamily at the Silent Movie Theatre Silent Wednesdays: Bob Mitchell’s Favorite Westerns – The Vanishing American, 8. New Beverly Cinema Psycho, 7:30; Frenzy, 9:40. Pacific Design Center, Silver Screen Theatre, 8687 Melrose Av, Green Building, second floor, West Hollywood, (310) 652-3472. PBS’ Independent Lens – New Year Baby, 7:30. 7 Dudley Cinema at Sponto Gallery, 7 Dudley Av, Venice, (310) 306-7330. 81x.com/7dudley/cinema. Bruce Bickford – Prometheus’ Garden, 8; with Bickford documentarian Brett Ingram’s short Luck of Foghorn and a new Ingram work-in-progress. Comedy preshow, 7.

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MAY 15~21, 2008

CITYBEAT

The Punk Umbrella rtyup

“In all of the histories of the punk movement I read, only a page would be dedicated to Chicana punk,” says Pilar Tompkins. “It’s under-historicized, under-investigated – we wanted to bring that to life.” The co-curator of Claremont Museum’s “Vexing: Female Voices from East L.A. Punk” has two main intentions: To preserve the legacy of the late ’70s/early ’80s East L.A. punk scene radiating from all-ages club The Vex and its bands – the Bags, Las Tres, Odd Squad, Castration Squad and the Brat – and to show how said legacy lives on in the work of contemporary artists. Most of the exhibition is retrospective, casting a wide multimedia net to capture the sights, the sounds, and the hairstyles of a singular moment in L.A. history through photos, journal entries, poetr y, lyrics, posters, album covers, streaming concert footage, and even listening stations with vintage headphones and vinyl put out by Fatima Records. For the gallery opening, many of the scene’s figures, including Alice Bag and Teresa Covarrubias, will be making a return to the stage. But the exhibit will also feature contemporary films, plays and, of course, music – including performances by contemporary groups the Sirens, Go Betty Go, and Lysa Flores, who cut her teeth on the Riot Grrrl scene. As the exhibition goes on, there will be screenings of new films by Jimmy Mendiola and a performance by ensemble Butchlalis de Panochtitlan of a new play, The Barber of East L.A., which looks at the only place a woman could get a men’s haircut in East L.A. To boot, part of the exhibit will display new sculptures by Maya Schindler, and Zoe Crosher’s manipulation of archival photographs from the 1970s and 1980s. Tompkins defends the large umbrella of material in her exhibition, which spans three decades and isn’t limited to women or Chicanas, as in tune with the DIY aesthetic of the era. “Not everyone was a woman or Chicana – it was a very fluid scene,” says Tompkins. “Art was mixing with performance and with music and with fashion.” And, though she claims the space for the exhibit is “incredibly small,” she says there is still room under the umbrella – any additional footage and archives that this exhibit attracts will become part of the Chicano Studies Research Center at UCLA. “We’re still finding people who have footage. We’ve been conducting research for 10 months, and, as word spread, people started coming out of the woodwork,” says Tompkins. “And there’s a space for that, rather than just presenting material didactically.” –Emma Gallegos “Vexing: Female Voices from East LA Punk.” Opening reception featuring live performances Sat., 7-10 p.m. Closes Aug. 31. $3 museum admission. Claremont Museum of Art, 536 W. First St., Claremont, (909) 621-3200. Claremontmuseum.org.

DAYS INL.A.

Written and edited by Alfred Lee ON THE AUCTION BLOCK: GLEN WEXLER’S BALANCE: LIQUIDMIND (SEE SUNDAY) ~

THURSDAY 15 FREY’S BACK One needn’t look further than James Frey for the latest proof that there are – despite how much we all may love F. Scott – second acts in American lives. The author of famously debunked memoir A Million Little Pieces is back with a first(?) novel, Bright Shiny Morning, which he’ll be presenting at the Whisky along with author Josh Kilmer-Purcell and metal youths Black Tide. OK, so a signing at the Whisky ain’t exactly Oprah’s Book Club (at least not anymore?), but the guy’s still working. Co-presented by Vroman’s and Book Soup. 7:30 p.m. Free. Whisky A Go-Go, 8901 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, (310) 652-4202. Booksoup.com or Vromansbookstore.com.

HOW TO LIST WITH US Listings in “7 Days” and our world-famous calendar are accepted for arts and community events in the greater Los Angeles area. The deadline to be considered for “7 Days” is at least two weeks in advance of the event. Send all information to: “7 Days,” Los Angeles CityBeat, 5209 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90036. Fax to (323) 938-1661, or e-mail calendar@lacitybeat.com. No phone calls, please.

FRIDAY 16 MORE THAN WORDS If a picture’s worth a thousand words, then how to measure the worth of performance poetry? Highways Performance Space’s “4th Annual Poetry/Performance FestiCITYBEAT

val” is a three-day event where poets incorporate theatrics, music, film, and costumes (Thurs.-Sat.; $5-$40; 1651 18th St, Santa Monica, 310-315-1459; Highwaysperformancespace.org). L.A.’s American Russian Theatre Ensemble Laboratory did a trial run at Highways not six months ago of ongoing project The Legendary Times of Bulgakov, a nonlinear performance piece based on the Russian novelist that unveils its latest installment at Art/Works Theatre tonight and runs through June 14 (Fri.-Sat. at 8 p.m.; $15$25; 6569 Santa Monica Blvd., L.A.; info: 800-838-3006 or Theartel.blogspot.com).

SATURDAY 17 H U N T E R - G AT H E R E R S There’s no shortage of L.A. city nerds in this town – with apologies to the anonymous blogger who takes that self-deprecating term as a moniker – and it seems Race/LA was made especially for them. The Amazing Race-style scavenger hunt takes players around the city as they solve clues and challenges. There’s even a secret starting lo-

MAY 15~21, 2008

cation, given upon registration (9:30 a.m.4:30 p.m.; $85; Racela.com). For those in the mood for something a little more settled down, L.A. Opera opens its production of Giacomo Puccini’s Tosca tonight (7:30 p.m.; $20-$238; Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, 135 N. Grand Ave., downtown L.A., 213-9728001; Laopera.com).

SUNDAY 18 WA L K I N ’ T H E WA L K The Venice Art Walk & Auction is a good deal fancier than the art walks of other neighborhoods, but then it only comes once a year. Saturday features two separately sold tours, “Newly Hatched Homes in Venice” and “Private Homes & Art Collections in Malibu,” while today’s more inclusive events feature ar tists’ studio tours, special exhibits, a silent art auction, and live music – with proceeds benefiting the Venice Family Clinic and its free services. 11 a.m.-6 p.m. $50. Begin at Westminster Elementary School, 1010 Abbot Kinney Blvd., Venice. Info: (310) 392-9255 or Veniceartwalk.info.

ALAN SHAFFER

MONDAY 19 HIPSTER RUNOFF The first of two consecutive hipster clusterfucks at the Echoplex jumps off tonight, with ’80s-cribbing indie dance outfit Cut Copy making their first appearance in L.A. since the release of heavily – and rightfully – buzzed In Ghost Colours. Do you need stage presence if the audience is pre-determined to get its party on? (9 p.m.; $18, $15 advance; Echoplex, 1154 Glendale Blvd., Echo Park, 213-413-8200; Attheecho.com.) Fellow “Best New Music” darling M83 plays electronic music of a shoegazier sort there on Tuesday.

TUESDAY 20 TA L K I N ’ T H E TA L K It’s that time of year for Venice’s cultural ringmaster, Gerry Fialka, to return with his Media Ecology Soul Salon series. For MESS, Fialka interviews modern thinkers and artists, attempting to engage them on a rather intellectual and high-minded level. Tonight’s guest is Rip Rense, a music

journalist who’s also authored several books and written liner notes for the likes of Frank Zappa and the Grateful Dead. Watch for the next installment on June 17, when none other than Van Dyke Parks is scheduled to sit down. 8 p.m. Free. Canal Club, 2025 Pacific Ave., Venice, (310) 823-3878. Jamesbeach.com/james_events.php.

WEDNESDAY 21 BEHIND THE SCREENS “How could we possibly appreciate the Mona Lisa if Leonardo had written at the bottom of the canvas: ‘The lady is smiling because she is hiding a secret from her lover,’” the Academy quotes Kubrick in its notes for tonight’s “2001 in 2008: A Cinematic Odyssey.” Tom Hanks and effects supervisor Douglas Trumbull nevertheless try to unpack 2001 with clips and artifacts from its making. Doors at 7 p.m. $5. Samuel Goldwyn Theater, 8949 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, (310) 247-3600. Oscars.org. MAY 15~21, 2008

CITYBEAT

JAZZ CRITIC’S CHOICE

Soothe Me, Baby

Times are p.m. unless otherwise indicated. Listing order does not necessarily indicate billing order. All events subject to sudden (hopefully not violent) changes.

STAGE OPENING THIS WEEK Beauty Queen of Leenane. Comedy about a possessive mother and her spinster daughter, set in the small Irish town of Leenane. Written by Mar tin McDonagh. Directed by Carmen Milito. Malibu Stage Company, 29243 Pacific Coast Hwy, Malibu, (310) 589-1998. Malibustagecompany.org. Opens Fri at 8. Fris-Sats at 8; Suns at 6. Closes June 8. Boise, USA. Salem K Theatre presents the play about three Boise teenage boys who set off a witch hunt in 1955 to purge the city of suspected homosexuals, after the shocking arrests of three men for lewd conduct. Written by Gene Franklin Smith. Directed by Arturo Castillo. Matrix Theatre, 7657 Melrose Av, L.A., (323) 960-4420. Info: Salemktheatreco.com. Opens Fri at 8. Thurs-Sats at 8; Suns at 3. Closes June 29. A Chorus Line. The musical about 17 dancers auditioning for an upcoming Broadway production. Book by James Kirkwood and Nicholas Dante; music by Mar vin Hamlisch; lyrics by Ed Kleban. Directed by Bob Avian. Ahmanson Theatre, 35 N Grand Av, downtown L.A., (213) 628-2772. Ahmansontheatre.org. Opens Wed at 8. Tues-Fris at 8; Sats at 2 & 8; Suns at 1 & 6:30. Closes July 6. I’m Just Wild About Harry. An old-fashioned musical featuring songs from the early 1900s. Crown City Theatre, 11031 Camarillo St, Nor th Hollywood, (818) 377-4055. Plays411.com/harr y. Opens Sat at 8. Fris-Sats at 8; Suns at 2. Closes June 15. Kingdom Come. Unknown Theater Company presents the stor y of Atau Wallpa, the Incan king who was killed by the Spaniards and Francisco Pizarro. Translated and directed by Dan Oliverio. Unknown Theater, 1110 N Seward St, Hollywood, (323) 466-7781. Unknowntheater.com. Opens Fri at 8. Thurs-Sats at 8; Suns at 6. Closes June 28. Much Ado About Nothing. William Shakespeare’s comedy of lovers in Messina. Directed by Charles Pasternak. Whitmore-Lindley Theatre Center, 11006 Magnolia Bl, North Hollywood, (310) 497-2884. Opens Fri at 8. Fris-Sats at 8; Suns at 3. Closes June 8. Nymphony in 12-D. An aspiring gay singer moves into a famous New York hotel, where the apar tment’s resident nymph offers him stardom in return for some fleshly re-

lief. Meta Theatre, 7801 Melrose Av, L.A., (323) 8606625. Playwrights6.org. Opens Sat at 8; Sats at 8; Suns at 7. Closes June 21. Proof. Production of David Auburn’s play about a famous mathematician’s daughter. Directed by John Barker. West Valley Playhouse, 7242 Owensmouth Av, Canoga Park, (818) 884-1907. Wvplayhouse.com. Opens Fri at 8. ThursSats at 8; Suns at 2:30. Closes June 8. Red Dog Howls. Play set in present day New York deals with the legacy of the Armenian genocide. Written by Alexander Dinelaris. Directed by Michael Peretzian. El Portal Theatre, 5269 Lankershim Bl, Nor th Hollywood, (818) 508-2400. Elpor taltheatre.com. Opens Mon at 8. WedsFris at 8; Sats at 3 and 8; Suns at 3. Closes June 15. Teen Girl. Susan gets a crash course in sex and drugs when her backyard suddenly becomes par ty central. Written by Justin Tanner. Directed by Matt Roth. Zephyr Theatre, 7456 Melrose Av, L.A., (323) 960-7789. Plays411.com/teengirl. Opens Thur at 8. Thurs-Sats at 8. Closes June 21. Tomahawk. San Fernando Valley Musical Theater and Ear th Productions present a musical play about relationships in suburban Los Angeles. Written and directed by James Domine. Actors Forum Theatre, 10655 Magnolia Bl, Nor th Hollywood, (818) 347-4807. Screamingclams.com. Opens Fri at 8. Fris-Sats at 8; Suns at 2. Closes June 14. Tooth & Nail. A dysfunctional New Jersey family is put to the test when the family patriarch suddenly begins living as Peter O’Toole’s King Henr y II from The Lion in Winter. Written by Gene Acosta. Directed by Lindsay Allbaugh. Lillian Theatre, 1078 Lillian Wy Hollywood. Info: (323) 9604410. Plays411.com/tooth. Opens Thur at 8. Thurs-Sats at 8; Suns at 7. Closes June 14. Two Unrelated Plays by David Mamet. Center Theatre Group presents Mamet plays Keep Your Pantheon and The Duck Variations as a double bill. Directed by Neil Pepe. Kirk Douglas Theatre, 9820 Washington Bl, Culver City. Info: (213) 628-2772 or Center theatregroup.org. Opens Sun at 4. Tues-Fris at 8; Sats at 2 & 8; Suns at 1 & 6:30. Closes June 8. –Ed Carrasco and Alfred Lee

Tasty understatement is what guitarist Thom Rotella’s all about – saying more with less. He’s a jazz player whose blues contain all the tang of the form without the histrionics you hear elsewhere. He’s at LACMA (5905 Wilshire Blvd., L.A., 323-857-6000; free) Friday and Hal’s Bar & Grill (1349 Abbott Kinney Blvd., Venice, 310-396-3105) Monday. Long time, no hear for New York tenor saxophonist Craig Handy, who sneaks into Vibrato for a one-nighter, Friday. We’re used to hearing him in allstar (Tenor Conclave) or tribute units (Mingus Big Band) so Handy will be a reed ronin with a house rhythm section. Susan Sinner, a vocalist ~ CHUCK MANNING ~ of uncommon grace, sings Saturday at the Metropol. Like Rotella, she gets to the nub of the song without unnecessary ornamentation. In so doing, she respects the song. Tenor saxophonist Chuck Manning has one of the best albums by a local jazz artist – Notes From the Real; he’s at Spazio Sunday. He delivers effortless swing on a well-chosen program (Monk, Alec Wilder, Coltrane, Kenny Barron among others) in the album we knew Chuck had in him. The same night at the Silent Movie Theatre (611 N. Fairfax Ave., 323-655-2510; 7 p.m.), the Tim Perkis film, Noisy People premieres. It’s a documentary about unorthodox musicians (trumpeter Tom Dill, saxophonist Phillip Greenlief, electronics maven Perkis, and percussionist Gino Robair) with a live jam. Bay area singer Karen Blixt drops into Catalina’s Wednesday. She takes a fluid approach to vocal form and sings largely new material. Don’t expect to be soothed. –Kirk Silsbee

THEATER CRITIC’S CHOICE MICHAEL LAMONT

For additional listings, visit WWW.LACITYBEAT.COM

‘Flora the Red Menace’ If the title weren’t taken, this likable little show might be called Commie Girl. In Depression-era New York, ambitious fashion illustrator Flora (Eden Espinosa) falls for a stammering member of the Party (Manoel Felciano) and decides to join it herself, more or less as a romantic gesture, leading to complications galore. Based on a novel by Lester Atwell, this 1965 musical was the Broadway calling card for the music/lyrics team of John Kander and Fred Ebb. David Thompson refreshed the book in 1987, imagining it as a Federal Theatre Project show with a cast of nine. Susan Dietz produced it at the Pasadena Playhouse in 1990; now she’s producing it again in her new job at Reprise. Philip Himberg’s staging manages to transcend the creakier elements and achieves a winsome blend of social commentary and light comedy. The score is most famous for the gorgeous cabaret standard “A Quiet Thing,” which feels oddly ~ EDEN ESPINOSA AS FLORA ~ misplaced in the show’s context, but no matter – this is the kind of revival that justifies Reprise.

★★★ CONTINUING ★★★ Black & Bluestein. In 1963, a black doctor offers to buy a house in a white, mostly Jewish St. Louis suburb. The house is owned by the developer and his liberal wife, who face opposition from neighbors and relatives. Jerr y Mayer’s meatier-than-usual autobiographical tale achieves considerable pungency, despite a few clunky components.

–Don Shirley Freud Playhouse, MacGowan Hall, UCLA, Westwood, (310) 825-2101. Reprise.org. Thur.-Fri. at 8 p.m.; Sat. at 2 p.m. & 8 p.m.; Sun. at 2 p.m. & 7 p.m. Closes May 18.

The Other Space, Santa Monica Playhouse, 1211 Fourth St, Santa Monica. Info: (800) 838-3006 or Santamonicaplayhouse.com. Sats at 8. No per fs May 24. Closes May 31. (Don Shirley) Britannicus. John Rafter Lee’s modern adaptation of Jean Racine’s 1669 tragedy, about the Roman emperor Nero (a Cagneyesque Josh Nathan), his domineering mother (Maria Mayenzet), his stepbrother (Kyle Hall), and the woman (Anna Steers) pursued by both men. Bar t DeLorenzo’s staging overcomes acoustical challenges and ignites in Act 2. National Guard Armor y, 854 E Seventh St, Long Beach. Info: (562) 985-5526 or Calrep.org. Thurs at 7; Fris-Sats at 8. Closes May 17. (DS) Chico’s Angels: Chicas Are Forever. This Charlie’s Angels spoof features men (Oscar Quintero, Ray Garcia, Danny Casillas) in skimpy dresses, garish makeup, and outlandish wigs. James Quinn’s new episode has original music (Dan Ring) and lyrics (Mr. Dan) instead of song parodies. Director Kurt Koehler maintains a gleefully raunchy ambience. Cavern Club Theater, 1920 Hyperion Av, Silverlake, (323) 662-4255. Cavernclubtheater.com/chico.html. Thurs at 8; Fris-Sats at 9; Suns at 8. Closes May 18. (DS) Coffee Will Make You Black. A black Chicago girl (irresistible Diona Reasonover) wanders precariously through the racial and sexual revelations and revolutions of the ’60s in Michael Shepperd’s adaptation of April Sinclair’s novel, directed by Nataki Garrett. Although the male roles are cast too old, the play’s many awakenings feel fresh and vital. Celebration Theatre, 7051-B Santa Monica Bl, Hollywood. Info: (323) 957-1884 or Celebrationtheatre.com. Thurs-Sats at 8; Suns at 3. Closes May 25. (DS) Comic Potential. In a near future, TV soap operas are cast with “actoids” – computer-programmed robots. One of them (Oona Mekas and Katie Kocis alternate) has more human aspirations and runs off with a young writer (William Joseph Hill). Stan Mazin’s staging of Alan Ayckbourn’s intriguing comedy is a bit ragged around the edges. The Lonny Chapman Group Repertory Theatre, 10900 Burbank Bl, North Hollywood, (818) 700-4878. Lcgrt.com. Fris-Sats at 8; Suns at 2. Closes May 18. (DS) Compleat Female Stage Beauty. The new Rogue Machine company rearranged this venue for Jeffrey Hatcher’s account of the 1660s rise of actresses on the London stage and the fall of an actor (Michael Traynor) who previously played women’s roles. John Perrin Flynn’s staging seldom flags, but the mix of modern and period design falls flat. Rogue Machine in Theatre Theater, 5041 Pico Bl, L.A., (323) 960-7726. Roguemachinetheatre.com. Thurs-Sats at 8; Suns at 3. Closes June 1. (DS) The Concept of Remainders. A middle-aged couple (Dan Gilvezan, Suzanne Ford) agrees to permit infidelity for 10

CITYBEAT

MAY 15~21, 2008

days, not suspecting that they might try out the same partner – or emerge with no one. One key coupling is announced, not seen, in Richard Mar tin Hirsch’s script, which lowers the plausibility of Mark L. Taylor’s likable staging. The Chandler Studio Theatre Center, 12443 Chandler Bl, Nor th Hollywood, (800) 838-3006. Theprodco.com. Fris-Sats at 8; Suns at 3. Closes May 30. (DS) Don Juan. Molière’s version of the legendar y rake’s stor y is boldly admiring, and it seems fairly up-to-date in Michael Michetti’s quasi-modernist staging of Richard Nelson’s translation. Elijah Alexander and JD Cullum, perfectly cast as Don Juan and his skeptical valet, and the entire cast deliver savvy timing and perceptive per formances. A Noise Within, 234 S Brand Bl, Glendale, (818) 240-0910 x1. Anoisewithin.org. Call for per formance schedule. Closes May 24. (DS) Emergency. Within 80 minutes, Daniel Beaty plays 43 characters who react to the sudden emergence of an old slave ship from the river next to the Statue of Liberty. Beaty’s a convincing chameleon, but his script is awfully shallow, largely neglecting the character who should be the protagonist so that Beaty can show off his actor’s versatility. Geffen Playhouse, 10886 Le Conte Av, Westwood, (310) 208-5454. Geffenplayhouse.com. Tues-Thurs at 7:30; Fris at 8; Sats at 4 & 8:30; Suns at 2 & 7. Closes June 1. (DS) Henry IV Part One. Shakespeare’s histor y play receives a sturdy, intelligent staging by Geoff Elliott – who doubles as Falstaff – and Julia Rodriguez-Elliott, but it never quite surprises with unexpected insight. Freddy Douglas is an amused Prince Hal, perhaps a bit too centered from the get-go, while J. Todd Adams is a blisteringly hot Hotspur. A Noise Within, 234 S Brand Bl, Glendale, (818) 240-0910 x1. Anoisewithin.org. Call for per formance schedule. Closes May 18. (DS) Hillary Agonistes. See Stage feature review. A House With No Walls. See Stage feature review. Lady. Craig Wright depicts three longtime friends, now bitter and armed, hunting in Illinois. Dyson (Shawn Michael Patrick) resents Graham (Mark Doerr), whom he helped elect to Congress, for inspiring Dyson’s son to join the Marines. Kenny (Matt Kirkwood) escapes a sick wife via weed and TV. Scott Alan Smith achieves the requisite tension. The Road Theatre Company, 5108 Lankershim Bl, Nor th Hollywood, (866) 811-4111. Roadtheatre.org. Fris-Sats at 8; Suns at 2. Closes June 14. (DS) The Lost Plays of Tennessee Williams. In Jack Heller’s staging of the writer’s most explicitly gay-themed script, And Tell Sad Stories of the Deaths of Queens, a ’50s French Quar ter designer (Brian Foyster) tries to seduce a rugged-

ly straight sailor (Chris Rydell). The brief cur tain raisers are Mister Paradise and The Palooka. All are well done. Davidson/Valentini Theatre, L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center, 1125 McCadden Pl, Hollywood, (323) 860-7300. Lagaycenter.org. Thurs-Sats at 8; Suns at 7. No per fs May 30-June 1. Closes June 8. (DS) The Mission (Accomplished). Charles Duncombe injects material about the American “mission” in Iraq into Heiner Müller’s play about three French revolutionaries whose mission was to instigate a slave rebellion in 1798 Jamaica. Frederíque Michel’s staging is more ar tfully coordinated than the wandering narratives, which lack a cumulative power. City Garage, 1340 1/2 4th St, Santa Monica, (310) 3199939. Fris-Sats at 8; Suns at 5:30. Closes June 1. (DS) Nevis Mountain Dew. A lethargic family drama, set in 1954 New York, about how a debilitated man’s confinement to an iron lung affects his family. They’re Caribbean immigrants, but that doesn’t count for much in steve carter’s 1978 script, which Nancy Cheryll Davis directs dutifully, without surprises, for Towne Street Theatre. Stella Adler Theatre, 6773 Hollywood Bl, Hollywood. Info: (213) 624-4796 or Townestreet.org. Fris-Sats at 8; Suns at 3. Closes May 18. (DS) The Night of the Iguana. An ex-minister turned tour guide (Geoff Elliott), a newly widowed hotel proprietor (Deborah Strang), and a genteel pair of entrepreneurial wanderers (Jill Hill and Tom Fitzpatrick) enliven a Mexican outpost in Michael Murray’s impeccable staging of the Tennessee Williams play, complete with German tourists. A Noise Within, 234 S Brand Bl, Glendale, (818) 240-0910 x1. Anoisewithin.org. Call for per formance schedule. Closes May 25. (DS) Of Mice and Men. Paul Lazarus turns John Steinbeck’s California farm workers into Mexican migrants in 1942, as the bracero treaty draws Mexicans nor thward. But why do the Mexicans have Anglo names and speak only a few Spanish phrases? George (David Noroña) and Lennie (Al Espinosa) jerk a tear or two, but the concept is half-hear ted. Pasadena Playhouse, 39 S El Molino Av, Pasadena, (626) 356-7529. Pasadenaplayhouse.org. Tues-Fris at 8; Sats at 4 & 8; Suns at 2 & 7. Closes June 8. (DS) 1001. Jason Grote’s dreamscape morphs a contemporary Manhattan couple – Palestinian woman and Jewish man – into Scheherazade and her king, supplemented by a parade of minor characters and images. Like most dreams, it’s vivid in the moment but easy to forget in the absence of more coherent real-world connections. Michael Michetti directs. Boston Cour t Per forming Ar ts Center, 70 N Mentor Av, Pasadena, (626) 683-6883. Bostoncour t.org. Thurs-Sats at 8; Suns at 2. Closes June 8. (DS) Park Your Car in Harvard Yard. A dying, retired teacher (Joseph Ruskin) unwittingly hires an ex-student he flunked (Jacqueline Schultz) as his housekeeper in Hope Alexander’s revival of Israel Horovitz’s two-hander. Horovitz recorded a deejay’s amusing voiceovers. Ruskin replicates the old man’s halting speech a little too closely. International City Theatre at Long Beach Performing Arts Center, 300 E Ocean Bl, Long Beach, (562) 436-4610. Ictlongbeach.org. Thurs-Sats at 8; Suns at 2. Closes May 25. (DS) Pest Control. An exterminator (Darren Ritchie) in 1979 New York is mistaken for a hit man in this strained, pointless musical. Three composers added too many pop and rap songs (lyrics by Scott DeTurk) to John Jay Moores’s cluttered book (lyrics by Scott DeTurk). James Mellon’s cast includes top talent (Cleavant Derricks, Beth Malone). NoHo Ar ts Center, 11136 Magnolia Bl, Nor th Hollywood, (818) 508-7101. Thenohoar tscenter.com. Thurs-Sats at 8; Suns at 3. Closes June 15. (DS) Prelude and Liebestod. A conductor (Larr y Eisenberg, resembling Leonard Bernstein) tackles Wagner, with the audience in the position of the wind players. We hear his unspoken thoughts and those of his wife, a lascivious young fan, the concer tmaster, and a singer, cour tesy of Terrence McNally. It’s droll but over-extended and melodramatic. Lonny Chapman Group Reper tor y Theatre, 10900 Burbank Bl, North Hollywood, (818) 700-4878. Lcgrt.com. Sats at 5; Suns at 7. Closes May 18. (DS) Saturday Night at the Palace. In apartheid-afflicted South Africa, two young white guys (Shawn Lee, Eric Pargac) invade a burger joint just as the Zulu owner (Sean Blakemore) is tr ying to close. Be patient as you decipher the accented English, Zulu, and Afrikaans in Paul Slabolepszy’s play. The ending is combustible, as staged by Dámaso Rodriguez. Carrie Hamilton Theatre, Pasadena Playhouse, 39 S El Molino Av, Pasadena, (626) 792-7116. Furioustheatre.org. Thurs-Sats at 8; Suns at 7:30. Closes May 31. (DS) The Sunshine Boys. Jeffrey Hayden’s intimate revival brings out the best in Neil Simon’s comedy about two estranged ex-comedy partners (Hal Linden, Allan Miller) who are encouraged to re-unite for a TV special by the grumpier geezer’s agent and nephew (Eddie Kehler). Linden’s impeccable timing is a thing of beauty. Odyssey Theatre Ensemble, 2055 S Sepulveda Bl, L.A., (310) 477-2055. Odysseytheatre.com. Thurs-Sats at 8; Suns at 2. May 25 at 7 only. Closes June 1. (DS) The Sweetest Swing in Baseball. A suicidal ar tist (CB Spencer) enjoys her time in a mental hospital so much, she pretends to believe she’s Darr yl Strawberr y so her insurance will extend her stay. Yeah, right. Credibility aside, Ross Kramer’s staging of Rebecca Gilman’s script is a lively housewarming for West Coast Ensemble’s latest home. El Centro Theater, 804 N El Centro Av, Hollywood, (323) 906-2500. Wcensemble.org. Thurs-Sats at 8; Suns at 3. Closes June 8. (DS) The Time of Your Life. Matt McKenzie’s revival of William Saroyan’s panoramic look at a seedy barroom in 1939 San Francisco has some fine per formances and moments but loses steam in some of the logier scenes, at least when compared to last year’s Open Fist production. Robb Derringer is gruffly authoritative as the free-spending protagonist. Pacific Resident Theatre, 703 Venice Blvd., Venice, (310) 822-8392. Pacificresidenttheatre.com. Thurs-Sats at 8; Suns at 3. Closes June 1. (DS) Trying. Alan Mandell is unforgettable as former bigwig Francis Biddle, approaching death in 1967-68 in his Georgetown office. Rebecca Mozo is wonder ful as his new, 25year-old secretar y, tr ying to get along with her querulous boss while sorting out her own life. Cameron Watson’s staging of Joanna McClelland Glass’s play is utterly engaging. Colony Theatre, 555 N Third St, Burbank, (818) 5587000. Colonytheatre.org. Thurs-Sats at 8; Suns at 2 and 7. Closes May 25. (DS)

NIGHTBEAT ~ CHILDREN OF BODOM ~

UPCOMING IN-STORES at AMOEBA! All shows are FREE and ALL AGES! For full calendar of events visit: AMOEBA.COM

‘Gigantour’ Dave Mustaine started this annual event, now in its third go-round, as an attempt to reinvent an ossifying Ozzfest for his own purposes, but credit him with choosing metal bands that have always given his own Megadeth a run for their money as headliners. This year, In Flames, Children of Bodom, Job for a Cowboy, and High on Fire are all on the bill, and should provide a formidable challenge. It’s also a fine mix of high-decibel sounds, with HoF bringing huge, Motörhead/stoner-rock volume, and CoB providing the always crowd-pleasing lead-guitar wizardry. –Joshua Sindell “Gigantour,” Wed. at Long Beach Arena, 300 E. Ocean Blvd., Long Beach, (562)436-3661.

★★★ THIS WEEK’S HIGHLIGHTS ★★★

AMOEBA MUSIC PRESENTS:

Friday, May 16 at the Roxy

KATE WALSH BRANDI SHEARER QUINCY COLEMAN with special guest Joe Purdy. A benefit for The National Multiple Sclerosis Society — this show will be hosted by Teri Garr and Ed Begley Jr. www.nationalMSsociety.org/cal

THURSDAY, MAY 15 Brant Bjork & The Bros: Brant Bjork (formerly of Kyuss and Fu Manchu) leads his jamming, cool-cat combo, which just released an album called Punk Rock Guilt. Viper Room. Also Sat. at Alex’s Bar, Long Beach. Black Tide: Fr ee, early show at the Whisky fr om young, Miami-based Metallica types. Whisky. Celtic Woman: Ethereal, faux-Gaelic fantasy music/dance showcase. Big with PBS watchers and Enya fans. Terrace Theatre, Long Beach. Also Sat. at the Greek Theatre. The Little Ones, Ra Ra Riot: L.A.’s answer to the south’s pure-pop-lovin’ Elephant 6 collective; plus Syracuse-based Flaming Lips-alikes Ra Ra Riot. The Troubadour.

FRIDAY, MAY 16 American Music Club, Gordon Gano & The Ryan Brothers: A daze of whine and neuroses … AMC’s Mark Eitzel brings the pain; Violent Femmes frontman Gano – playing with ex-Bogmen – supplies nervous tics. The Echo. Crowded House: The beloved pop group from down under re-formed last year to widespread acclaim … and they’re back again. Orpheum Theatre. Also Sat. Year Long Disaster, Totimoshi: Daniel Davies’s lightning-hot power-trio celebrates its promo-video release with some Very Special Guests. Plus Melvins/Helmet-inspired Bay Area-based Totimoshi. Viper Room.

Tuesday • May 20 • 7pm

ELI “PAPERBOY” REED &THE TRUE LOVES Their new CD Roll With You is out now on Q Division Records! “Mr. Reed invokes the stylish and muscular R&B of Otis Redding and Sam Cooke with convincing suavity.” — New York Times “A whole-hearted son of soul ... Amy Winehouse better watch her back.” — Village Voice Catch their full set at Spaceland, May 19th!

Thursday • May 22 • 6pm NEW DATE!

SATURDAY, MAY 17 The Dirtbombs: The raw rock ’n’ soul gang from the Motor City just released We Have You Surrounded. The Troubadour. Earlimart: Gentle, West Coast sounds from gentle, West Coast-based indie darlings. With Vauxhall Broadcast. The Echo. Robyn: The Swedish pop tart is making a big noise with the release of her new, self-titled disc. But is she really nothing less than the new Andrew W.K.? The Wiltern. The Smithereens: These guys and Crowded House in the same week? You guitar-pop fans must be in heaven! Crash Mansion.

ADAM GREEN

Adam Green’s fifth solo album, Sixes & Sevens is out now on Rough Trade. His music is reminiscent of Bacharach and Brel, and he’s created his own brand of playful pop while refining it with each release. “A queasy mix of super-sharp realism, clammy surrealism, and elegant melody.” — Mojo Playing live at the Troubadour May 21st!

Wednesday • May 28 • 7pm

ISEE HAWKS IN LA

SUNDAY, MAY 18 Depswa, The Unheard Of: See! Nü-metal still exists! You owe me five bucks. Whisky. Murder by Death: Cello-augmented roots-punk band; recommended for fans of Nick Cave, Johnny Cash, and maybe even Tom Waits. The Troubadour. Tally Hall, De Nova Dahl, Low vs. Diamond: Headliner Tally Hall ingeniously blends Beastie Boys-style hip-hop with classic rock and classical music. De Novo Dahl brings more colorful psyche-rock to the table; openers Low vs. Diamond mostly remind one of the Strokes. El Rey Theatre.

Returning to Amoeba to celebrate their new CD Hallowed Ground — out May 20th! “Their songs are rife with mournful social commentary, environmental tragedy, wily humor, outsider guile, and political undercurrent.” — No Depression

Saturday • May 31 • 2pm

LENI STERN

MONDAY, MAY 19 The Adicts, The Dickies: Get kicked in the head by the punk, old-school-stylee! House of Blues, Sunset Strip. Destroyer: Dan Bejar’s long-running indie-rock group showcases his gift for off-kilter lyrics and intricate melodies. The Troubadour. The Kooks: You liked them when they were called the Kaiser Chiefs and the Arctic Monkeys … yet another Brit rock gang attempts to scale the Hollywood hills … . The Wiltern. Leatherface, Paint it Black: Leatherface is a great Northern English punk rock group that’s hard as nails, melodic, and loud. Opener Paint it Black is a much younger hardcore band from Philly. Knitting Factory.

Jazz guitarist and musical explorer Leni Stern visits Amoeba to perform songs from her latest release Africa.

TWO WEEKLY DJ SETS!

TUESDAY, MAY 20

MANDALA • WEDNESDAYS • 7-10PM RESONANCE • FRIDAYS • 8-9:30PM

Clinic, Shearwater: Liverpudlian eclectic crew Clinic returns with its quirky keyboard rock; Texans Shearwater plays mellow indie-rock with a sharp bite. The Troubadour. M83: Main man Anthony Gonzalez blends electronica and shoegazer ambience into a pleasing whole on latest disc, Saturdays = Youth. The Echoplex.

AMOEBA MUSIC

WEDNESDAY, MAY 21 The Dresden Dolls, Lavender Diamond, Smoosh: Life is a cabaret, my friend! The Dresden Dolls simply smell Weill; Lavender is full of starlight and love; and Smoosh are two Seattle girls who weren’t old enough to drive, last I checked. The Wiltern. The Fall of Troy, Foxy Shazam: Zany prog metal (Troy) meets the “Evel Knievels of Rock ’n’ Roll.” Wear protective headgear. Knitting Factory. Adam Green: Green tours while the Juno iron is still warm, and the former Moldy Peach has just released a solo album, Sixes & Sevens. The Troubadour. The Kills: Deep, dark rock from the acclaimed, somber duo. Openers Childballads mine Lou Reed’s past for their musical fix. El Rey Theatre. –Joshua Sindell

MAY 15~21, 2008

CITYBEAT

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Week of May 15 ARIES

FREE WILL ASTROLOGY

By Rob Brezsny

(March 21-April 19)

I hope you've been trying to bolster your stick-toit-iveness, Aries. I trust you've been pumping up your follow-through and supercharging your determination. If you haven't been attending to this unglamorous yet heroic work, play catch-up. Your final exam will be administered no later than May 24. Here's a sneak preview of some of the material you'll be tested on. If a teammate drops the ball, do you: a. quit the game; b. throw the ball in your teammate's face; c. pick up the ball and start running in the direction your teammate was supposed to?

TAURUS

(April 20-May 20)

The daytime TV soap opera The Young and the Restless has been the most highly-rated show in its time slot for more than a thousand consecutive weeks. First appearing in 1973, the show ascended to the top slot in 1988 and has never slipped since. I'm happy to announce that in 2008 you have the potential to begin a comparable run of success, Taurus. Whether you're able to cash in on that potential may depend on the preparations you make in the coming weeks.

GEMINI

(May 21-June 20)

"Pain is weakness leaving the body," says fitness trainer Mark Duval. If that's true, you have gotten a lot stronger in recent weeks. By my astrological reckoning, you've shed a few months' worth of emotional distress, you've purged a few years' worth of frustration, and you've exorcised a couple of lifetimes' worth of confused dreams. Congratulations on all the new vitality you've earned through your constructive losses.

CANCER

(June 21-July 22)

As part of the arrangement your soul entered into before you were born, you were given the mission to accomplish five specific miracles. Three of these you have not yet even guessed the nature of. Why? For one thing, none of your elders or teachers ever named them for you while you were growing up. Secondly, you have been overly timid about imagining what you're capable of. That's the bad news, Cancerian. The good news is that you're very close to the mystery spot where one of those undiscovered dreams has been moldering.

LEO

(July 23-Aug. 22) "The maxim for any love affair," wrote Charles Williams, "is 'Play and pray, but do not pray when you are playing and do not play when you are praying.' We cannot yet manage such simultaneities." But I strongly disagree with Williams, espe-

cially in regards to your destiny in the coming weeks. According to my analysis of the astrological omens, you can and should play while you pray, and pray while you play. In fact, I recommend that you blend reverence and irreverence in every way you can imagine. Explore the revolutionary concept of sacred fun.

VIRGO

(Aug. 23-Sept. 22)

Seems you're pushing to learn all you can from places and ideas you barely even know existed a few months ago. Your experiments continue to provide such valuable lessons that you'd rather not wrap them up yet. That's fine. No rush. Take your time. We here at the Grind will welcome you back anytime you're ready. We completely understand if you want to stay out there on a limb until you're absolutely sure that the butterfly won't have any reason to try changing back into a caterpillar.

LIBRA

(Sept. 23-Oct. 22)

"Dear Rob: I've been a Libra all my life, and I'm always puzzled by those who say that Librans have trouble making decisions. My experience of the Libra approach to life is that we are connoisseurs of completeness. We work hard to be considerate of other people's viewpoints. We strive to include all the applicable information in our deliberations, even if it's at odds with our personal perspective. Now it's true that urgency and speed are the cultural norms. 'If it can't happen immediately, I'm not interested in it' is an approach that has infected the majority. In that light, Librans may seem wishy-washy and hesitant. But in fact, we're actually thoughtful and judicious. Please help correct the bad stereotype about us. - Discerning Libra." Dear Discerning: You make excellent points. I will pass them on to my Libra readers because it's crucial that in the days ahead they avoid being misinterpreted in the way you described.

SCORPIO

(Oct. 23-Nov. 21)

A journalist visiting the home of Nobel Prize-winning physicist Niels Bohr was surprised to see a horseshoe nailed to the wall. "Can it be that you, of all people, believe a horseshoe will bring you good luck?" he asked. "Of course not," Bohr replied, "but I understand it brings you luck whether you believe it or not." I suggest you adopt the physicist's mindset in the coming week, Scorpio. Without dumbing down your powers of logic, be open to the possibility that you will benefit from forces that are beyond your imagining or unaccounted for by your belief system. [Source: Living Biographies of Great Scientists, by Henry & Dana Lee Thomas.]

CITYBEAT

SAGITTARIUS

(Nov. 22-Dec. 21)

In his folk song "Farewell to the Gold," Nic Jones tells the story of a failed gold prospector. After two years of finding no more than a few flecks of the precious metal, the unlucky man is giving up his search. "Farewell to the gold / that never I found," he sings. "Goodbye to the nuggets / that somewhere abound. / For it's only when dreaming / that I see them gleaming / down in the dark deep underground." If I'm reading the omens correctly, Sagittarius, it's time for you, too, to say goodbye to a quest that hasn't panned out. Yes, it'll be sad. But here's the happy ending: Within a month of the time you surrender, you'll be led to a better quest with more chance of success.

CAPRICORN

(Dec. 22-Jan. 19)

During your entire life, you have maybe never been as free as you are now from the need to be rescued by some savior. You don't need anyone to rescue you from your own dark fantasies because, at least for the moment, your bright fantasies have rendered them obsolete. You don't need anyone to liberate you from oppression or enslavement, because you are fully empowered to do the job yourself. You don't even need anyone to deliver you from evil, since your recent hard work has made evil allergic to you.

AQUARIUS

(Jan. 20-Feb. 18)

happened: I decided to goof off. Fleeing my office, I wandered down to the beach, where I strolled aimlessly and emptied my mind. At one point I spied a fortune cookie perched absurdly on top of a fence post. The moment I broke it open and read the fortune inside, I knew I'd found the perfect message for you. It said, "If you have a difficult task, give it to a lazy man. He will find an easier way to do it."

PISCES

(Feb. 19-March 20)

In their lust to prove there's no God, atheists often invoke the existence of suffering. "What kind of deity," one asked me, "allows a child in Darfur to starve to death after seeing soldiers kill his mommy?" While I don't claim to have the authoritative answer to that accusation, I think it's worthwhile to consider the possibility that suffering is a gift God gives us in order to prod our evolution. On a personal level, your longing to escape your suffering is a primal force in making you smarter. On a collective level, nothing refines and ennobles us more than our passion to keep others from suffering. For every dead child in Darfur, 100 people in other places on the planet have responded with a radical commitment to create a world in which future Darfurs won't happen. These are worthy ideas for you to meditate on in the coming weeks. You will have a tremendous capacity to convert your old wounds, as well as the old wounds of others, into brilliant opportunities.

The complexity of your current astrological aspects almost overwhelmed me. I couldn't see how to compose a meaningful oracle in the face of such rich and confounding prospects. I was stumped. Then, as my deadline approached, the unthinkable

In addition to the horoscopes you're reading here, Rob Brezsny offers EXPANDED WEEKLY AUDIO HOROSCOPES and Daily Text Message Horoscopes. To access them online, go to RealAstrology.com. The Expanded Audio Horoscopes are also available by phone at 1-877-873-4888 or 1-900-950-7700. Rob's main website is at FreeWillAstrology.com. Check out his book, "Pronoia Is the Antidote for Paranoia: How the Whole World Is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings" "I've seen the future of American literature, and its name is Rob Brezsny." - Tom Robbins, author of "Jitterbug Perfume" and "Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates"

MAY 15~21, 2008

C M Y K

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• Acupuncture • Acupressure • Swedish Oil Massage • Shower Available • Clean room very cozy

$50/hr. $35 1/2 hr. w/Ad

7 Days 10am - 9pm 178 W. Live Oak Ave, Arcadia 91007 Cross streets – El Monte between Baldwin & Sta Anita

626-294-2930 • Welcome Walk-in (non-sexual)

Hot Chocolate Incredible sensual rubdown

GIVES US A CALL

Kara is Back by Request

1-900-486-6300 1-800-669-6421

11am-7pm

818.903.5903 San Fernando Valley

ONLY$1.99 PER MIN. MUST BE 18+ ALL ALL MAJOR MAJOR CREDIT CREDIT CARDS CARDS EXCEPTED EXCEPTED

DISCRETE DISCRETE DISCRETE: $70 I’m a very lovely girl, gracious and kind. My home is a tropical, peaceful place to relax and enjoy a nude massage. 818-753-2970 EROTIC MAID SERVICE: Attractive young male buff, will clean your house thoroughly in the NUDE! Anytime, call for an appointment Call SEXY Paul @ 818-406-4471 Women ONLY!!!

TIFFANY: Tranquility, peace & healing!! Just you and me. A Genuine magical massage. Swedish full body/sport, reflex-

34C-23-34 • 5’ 6” • 115 lbs.

• • • • •

SERVICE Deep Tissue Swedish Massage Shiatsu Massage Acupressure Hot Oil Relax Massage

Amy@AmyTaylor.com MAY 15~21, 2008

C M Y K

CITYBEAT

• • • • •

BENEFIT Neck & Shoulder Stress Reduce Upper & Lower Back Pain Headache Reduce Increase Blood Circulation

BEST PLACE OF MASSAGE • Free Steam Sauna • Certified Massage Technician • Gift Certificates Available

WE TAKE WALK-IN & SAME DAY APPTS • OPEN 7 DAYS 10AM TO 10PM (ALWAYS OPEN)

10 E. California Blvd.,

187 N. Hill Ave.,

2044 E. Colorado Bl.,#3

(corner of Fair Oaks)

(corner of Walnut)

(corner of San Marino)

(626) 795-6670

(626) 795-9710

(626) 795-9896

210 Freeway

Colorado

Walnut

parking parking

www.AmyTaylor.com

Sensual Massage

(Men & Women) BODY HEALING CENTER

UNFORGETTABLE

Call 310-226-2964

MEN!!! GET PAID TODAY!!! Need to make money NOW? Sierra Blue Internet is seeking young, attractive men for adult web, print, and video work. Flexible schedules. Make up to $500 - $1000. For more information or to set up an interview, please call us at (619) 295-5729, email models@sdtalent.com or visit our website at http://www.sdtalent.com.

HOT CHOCOLATE: Incredible sensual rubdown. Call 310226-2964

MASSAGE

Amy Taylor Well-educated and well-bred beauty will provide you with the perfect companion whether traveling or simply relaxing for the evening.

Adult Employment

Colorado

210 Freeway

San Marino

Chinese Sunflowers Healing Hands, Warm Heart

Enjoy the Royal Treatment Lovely, Classy, Mature, Private. I Love Seniors

!!SEXY...EXOTIC...HOTTIE 4 PLAY!! Hi!, I’m a sexy latina hawaiian beauty with a SMOKIN Hot body. I love to play, but even more, I loove to tease and i promise to never rush you. Escape today to my discreet Marina del Rey Oasis. 34c-24-34, 125 pds @ 5’7”

Lake

796-

Betue 0703 lla

Relax at Rita’s

RAVISHING REDHEAD Relax and enjoy an exhilarating Rub Down in beautiful, comfortable surroundings. CALL ME 818799-7575

ology, Beautiful New Zealand. 27 No disappointments. Ask about our 2 person special! Myself and Sophia. Hollywood/Melrose area. 323-661-1057

Adult Entertainment

Lake

Blonde BEST SERVICE 44 D Hot-sex D 5 6” 125 lb s. y-carin g-open m Multip inded & Playfu le hour l p • Massa amperings A vail. g • Prost e • Fantasies ate Stim ulation 626-

FOR THE MOST BEAUTIFUL AND HORNY GIRLS IN TOWN!

Fair Oaks

Danish Daddy’s Lil Girl

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Colorado parking

*NEW* 310 N. Citrus Ave, Suite J, Azusa 626-815-1580

AdultEntertainment

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PARTY

Anna

ENTERTAINMENT AND

FEEL THE ENERGY!

Beautiful, Canadian Touch

Caring, Nurturing, Sensual/ Therapeutic Ecstacy

Swedish & Sports Massage

You’ll feel like a Million!!!

Nice, Safe, Upscale

323-661-1093 Hollywood/Los Feliz/ Melrose Area

HOTLINE

323.960.2000

“If you don’t like these parties, you’re crazy.”

www.partyhotline.net

SEX SELLS! MAKE BIG $$$ ONLINE WITH AN ADULT WEB SITE

& The Men That Adore Them! e Browse & Record Ads FREE! e Put the fun back into dating! e Meet REAL people in your local area! (213) 316-0336 (310) 873-0573 (323) 451-1043

Close Encounters! Browse ads FREE! Record ads FREE! Talk 1-On-1 in our Live Chatroom! MEN CALL! (213) 316-0780 (310) 873-0533 (323) 648-1149 (562) 304-1016 (626) 940-0845 (661) 361-1313 (818) 861-0018 (909) 380-8691 (951) 436-3496 LADIES CALL! (213) 316-0331 (310) 873-0532 (323) 648-1148 (562) 304-1015 "GENTLEMEN!! Receive FREE (626) 722-1160 O N E - H O U R c a l l i n g t i m e w i t h e a c h (661) 361-1312 p u r c h a s e ! L e a v e c u s t o m e r s e r v i c e (818) 861-1030 message from Main Menu." (909) 663-0233 (951) 436-3495 We do not pre-screen callers and assumes no responsibility for personal meetings Automated People Connection Incorporated

CITYBEAT

MAY 15~21, 2008

C M Y K

(562) 304-1018 (818) 942-1103 (626) 940-0671

1-888-626-3888 www.BigHitters.com

AdultEntertainment

lacitylist.com

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Care free Haircuts

TELEPHONE ACTRESS

Private

Make money working from your own home!! Well established Entertainment Co. is in search of reliable, upbeat, open-minded individuals with great phone voice quality, for 1-on-1 phone conversations. Hourly pay plus bonus! FT/PT shifts available.

Precision Personalized For a fabulous Blow & Go haircut call…

(626) 220-0621 Find What You Are Looking For?

HOOK UP NOW! Girls Girls Ready Ready to to Meet Meet You! You!

1 HR MASSAGE $35.00

1-900-486-9700 4.99/min 4.99/min

1-800-998-9293 1.99 1.99 to to 3.99/min 3.99/min

Call

(818) 558-7522

WOW! 1043 E.Green St. Pasadena (between Catalina & Wilson)

(626)396-1848 82 N. Hill Pasadena (between Colorado & Walnut)

(626)395-9787 Open 7 Days • 10am - 9pm GIFT CERTIFICATES AVAILABLE

Visa/MC/Amex

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lacitylist.com

Call Kristy Aged to perfection Great and caring massage

NORTH HOLLYWOOD Studio Masseuse

$1.98/Min. 18+

gives fabulous therapy to all!

$60 FLAT RATE

310-202-6638 In/Out Westside

818-508-6773

1-800-410-6749

MAY 15~21, 2008

C M Y K

CITYBEAT

SEXY ASIAN MISTRESS * EROTIC MASSAGE * FOOT+BODY WORSHIP * SENSUAL2STRICT DOMINATION * FETISH/FANTASY * GSPOT MASSAGE/TOYPLAY

Brandy *82 310-497-3636

CITYBEAT

l MAY 15~21, 2008

ClassifiedMarketplace CONTACT US

323.938.1001 Fax: 323.456.0229

Ads may be submitted via email to classifieds@lacitybeat.com Deadline: Mondays 5pm Office hours: Monday-Friday, 9a.m. - 5p.m. Address: 5209 Wilshire Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90036

CLASSIFIED ADS • JobSmart • Apartment Rentals • Mind, Body, Spirit • Adult Entertainment • BACKBEAT

Post Your Free Online Ad at www.lacitylist.com TERMS AND CONDITIONS Refunds cannot be granted for any reason. Adjustments will be credited to the advertiser’s account toward future classifieds placement only. We proof carefully, but even so, mistakes can occur. Report errors at once, as the CityBeat will not be responsible for errors continuing beyond the first printing. Adjustment for error is limited to re-publication. In any event, liability for errors (or omissions) shall not exceed the cost of space occupied by such an error (or omission). All advertising is taken subject to review by the Publisher in accordance with the CityBeats Standard of Acceptance. The CityBeat reserves the right to edit, properly categorize or decline any ad without comment or appeal.

Prepayment required for placement.

JobSmart

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To Advertise Call 323-938-1001

post your ad free online Employment

Start a PartyLite business in May and get a Starter Kit worth $350 – PLUS an extra $100 in retail credit!

DRIVERS: Drivers: owner Ops. Sign-On Bonus! No touch/ Drop&Hook. Pay on ALL Miles! Fuel Surcharge. CDL-A 800-2801677x222

DRIVERS: Drivers-Teams: Your Hazmat End. Gets you TOP Industry PAY PLUS monthly mileage BONUS! Call Werner Enterprise TODAY! 800-346-2818 x153 TELEMARKETING: Setting Appointments from home or office. Experience Necessary. Salary + Commission 310-273-2221

HELP WANTED: Earn Extra income assembling CD cases from Home. Start Immediately. No Experience Necessary. 1-800-405-

You can get started with NO CASH INVESTMENT and begin building your income today! *Call me today for the qualifying details.

7619 ext. 150 http://www.easywork-greatpay.com (AAN CAN)

Business Services

MEET PEOPLE AND NETWORK FOR BUSINESS BRAND NEW: Private Members-Only Social Network is the place to be seen. If your business targets people online in any way, then you will love it here! We are a “Who’s Who” Professional Social Network. Go pull up: www.wealth-matrix. com or dial 323.843.4295.

FURNITURE 4 LESS: GRAND OPENNING. Why pay for more, when you can pay for less. The finest furnitures in town. We also deliver. OPEN 7 days a week. 11142 Whittier Blvd. Whittier, CA 90606. Call Now! 562.695.4977

Babe Knuuttila

310-801-2488 En Espanol 310-951-1216

ApartmentRentals

Five-HIgh.com custom web sites for businesses, entertainment industry personal. Call 323-2725997

PRODUCTION BY AUSTIN Graphics - Video & Photos Business Cards to Billboards, Advertisements, Stills, Video & Editing, Publications, CD & DVD’s start 2 finish, Comp & Zed Cards, Digital Press Kits by Austin 323491-8873

MAKE YOUR OWN DOCKERS commercial!! WANTED: IRREVERENT, TALENTED, STYLISH, FUNNY PEOPLE WHO HAVE A A TASTE FOR LATE NIGHT TV. Create your own Dockers commercial for the chance to see it aired during THE Tonight Show on NBC! For more info and official rules, go to www.nbc.com/dock ers. No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited. Must be legal US resident 18 yrs & older. Submissions must be received no later than May 29th.

Private Members-Only Social Network is the place to be seen. If your business targets people online in any way, then you will love it here! We are a “Who’s Who” Professional Social Network. Go pull up:www.wealth-matrix.com or dial 323.843.4295.

Health

CAREGIVERS SENT TO YOU! MooreCare in-home support for homebound patients and seniors. Keeping your loved one INDEPENDENT. (310) 590-6441

Mind, Body, Spirit

MEET PEOPLE AND NETWORK FOR BUSINESS BRAND NEW:

AAA AFFORDABLE HYPNOTHERAPY— Stop Smoking, Lose Weight, Increase Earning Power, Confidence, Memory, Stress, Anxiety, New Method Produces Incredible Success. CALL NOW! 951-461-1244 or 800-47-HYPNO Board Certified Master Hypnotist Kevin Stone. WWW.HYPNO TIST.COM ORIGINAL LIMU: The first and original Ficoidan-Rih Product of its kind, worldwide market leader . Would you like to add an additional six figures to you monthly income? Call Bridget for more info @ 323-837-8270 or visit my web site @ www.discoverlimu. com/Bridget

RELAXING THERAPEUTIC MASSAGE & calming pedicure. Relief for tired feet, goddess style! ReEnergizing treatment for men & women, (323) 353-9756, 8 a.m. - 8 p.m., discount w/ad on 1st visit.

lacitylist.com

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see yourself living here

1, 2 and 3 bedroom apartments and townhomes available BEVERLY the Grove

FAIRFAX

O WILSHIRE

LA BREA

3RD ST.

GARDNER

Farmers Market

866.466.5426

Apartment Homes & Spa directly across from the Grove

w w w. p a l a z z o - p l b . c o m w w w. p a l a z z o s p a . c o m

Short term and Furnished Apartments avaliable. We Cooperate with Real Estate Agents.

MAY 15~21, 2008

C M Y K

CITYBEAT

6220 WEST 3RD STREET LOS ANGELES, CA 90036

ApartmentRentals

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Artiste Apartments are artsy and charming. A hip place to live, we cater to the entertainment and art industry. Children and pets are welcomed in all locations: Hollywood, West Hollywood, Beachwood Canyon, Silverlake, Mid-Wilshire & Koreatown.

k Bachelors $600-$900 k Singles $775-$1300 k 1 Bedrooms $1050-$1800 k 2 Bedrooms $1500 and up

TIMELESS BEAUTY MEETS MODERN HEARTHROB

MAIN MERCANTILE LOFTS Built in 1907 in the Historic District of Downtown LA, The Main Mercantile Lofts are 35 newly modernized live/work lofts. Floor-to-ceiling windows, 13’ foot ceilings, open layouts, central air/heat, stainless steel refrigerator & dishwasher, gas stove and washer/dryer combo furnished in all lofts.

One & Two Bedroom Flats & Two-story Lofts

Loft spaces range 1162 to 1789 Sq. Ft.

• Swimming Pool & Spa • Cozy Fireplaces (2-story homes)

Pets are welcome. Underground parking included.

• Stainless Steel Appliances Main Mercantile Lofts put you within walking distance to the Metro, Pershing Square, The Fashion District, Art Galleries, Museums, Theatres & Grocery Markets. Close to Nightlife, Eclectic Bars, Restaurants & Dance Clubs.

• Granite Countertops • Free Reserved Parking • Controlled Access • Pets welcome

RETAIL SPACE AVAILABLE 21,450 Sq. Ft with storefronts on Main Street & a wrap around Mezzanine on the Second Level.

OPEN HOUSE Wednesday 6pm-8pm Saturday12pm-4pm Sunday 1pm-3pm

MAIN MERCANTILE LOFTS 620 S. Main Street, Los Angeles, CA 90014

Contact: Josh 323.605.3225

mainmerc@gmail.com www.mainmerc.com www.artisteapartments.com

CITYBEAT

Extra Spacious BRAND NEW Apartment Homes in Downtown LA's vibrant Arts District. Near to Little Tokyo, The Music Center, MOCA, Disney Concert Hall, Union Square, Fine dining, Shopping & Nightlife.

MAY 15~21, 2008

C M Y K

866-632-3615 artisanonsecond.com View us daily 10am to 6pm 601 East 2nd Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012

MedicalResearch

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Apartment/ Condos/Lofts

KOREATOWN: 213-384-7047. $905+up Large single, ALL UTILITIES INCLUDED, Totally remodeled. A/C, Fridge, stove, refrigerator, ceramic tiles. Gated Entry, Gated Parking Available. Elevator, Laundry room. 509 S Manhattan Pl. 213-384-7047 KOREATOWN: 213-389-6631. Bachelors $800 & up. ALL UTILITIES INCLUDED. Remodeled, refrigerator, Pool, Gated Entry. Laundry Room, Gated Parking Available. 245 S Reno St. MISSION HILLS: 818-920-3753. Single $860+up. 1BD $1155. Newer building, totally remodeled, gated entry & parking, A/C, Dishwasher, Stove, Fridge, Laundry room, Balconies. 9929 Sepulveda Blvd.

N HOLLYWOOD: 818-980-1277. 1 BD $1150. Newer Bldg. Totally Remodeled. Gated entry & parking, AC, fridge, stove, dw, Pool, Laundry Room, BBQ Area. 6253 Lankershim

NO HO ARTS DISTRICT LOVE WHERE YOU LIVE: Single $945, Jr 1 BD $985+up. ALL UTILITIES PAID, Totally remodeled. A/C, Fridge, stove. Laundry, Balcony, Ceramic tile, Gated Entry. & Parking. 5751 Camellia Ave 818761-6620. 2 WEEKS FREE WITH ONE YEAR LEASE

TARZANA: 818-708-9554. $895 Large Jr One Bedrooms, Totally Remodeled, Air Cond, Fridge. Pool, Gated Parking & Entry, Laundry Room, No Pets. ASK ABOUT MOVE IN SPECIALS 18552 Collins St

THE PLACE TO STAY IS PALMS/WEST LA! Single $1150+up. 1BD $1350+up. Newer Building, Gated Entry & Subterranean Parking, 2 Elevators, Air Cond. Fridge, Stove, D/W, Laundry Room, 3848 Overland 310-839-3647

WEST LA: Singles $1185+up, 1BD $1595+up. Parking, Gated Entry, Balconies, Laundry Room, Fridge and Stove, Some totally remodeled. ASK ABOUT MOVE IN SPECIALS. 1755 Purdue Ave 310-479-1079 REASONABLE PRICE, COME ON IN AND SEE FOR YOURSELF. FURNITURE 4 LESS: Why pay for more, when you can pay for less. The finest furnitures in town. We also Deliver. OPEN 7 days a week. 11142 Whittier Blvd. Whittier, CA 90606. We deliver. 562.695.4977

CANVAS L.A. BEAUTIFUL FLATS: Ultimate living downtown NOW LEASING starting @ $1810 Screening room, indoor social lounge, Luxurious Residents club with billiards,fireplaces Studio, 1,2 and 3 bdr. flats. CALL 1-888552-6119. www.canvaslaapts.com

TIMELESS BEAUTY MEETS MODERN HEARTHROB! Main Mercantile lofts built in 1907 in the historic core of Downtown, Los Angeles offer a phenomenal and creative living space to the discerning renter. Thirty five remarkable units make up the community ranging in size from 1,162 to 1,789 square feet. A pet friendly community with secure underground parking, Main Merc is one of Downtown L.A.’s hottest new Lifestyle properties. Close to Fashion District, Nightlife, Art & Theatres, Grocery Markets & the Metro. www.mainmerc.com. Email: mainmerc@gmail.com. Call Josh for a Tour: (323) 6053225.

post your ad free online

Colon Hydrotherapy is a hygienic procedure that assists the colon to transport waste out of the body.

Why is this IDEAL?

Why is this TYPICAL

GOOD Elimination

Irregular Bowels

Good Sex Drive Clean Complexion Slim Body Happiness Clear Head Sleeping Well High Energy Good Posture Calmness Stamina*

Lower Sex Drive Acne and Oily Skin Corpulence Gloominess Foggy Head Difficult Sleep Lower Energy Back Tightness Stressed Tired*

$88

*Results vary from person to person

“DON’T IGNORE YOUR GUT FEELING!” CALL NOW for a FREE CONSULTATION Chiropractor, Herbalist, M.D., Nutritionist, Iridology, Acupressure and Acupuncture

The Total Health Connection, Inc 6200 Wilshire Blvd. #1410 Los Angeles, CA 90048

323-934-0011 thetotalhealthconnection.com

Are you suffering from Heartburn? Do you meet the following criteria? • Age 18 to 75 years • History of Acid reflux symptoms (such as acid regurgitation, chest or abdominal pain) for at least 3 months. • Heartburn at least 2 days a week for 1 month. If so, you may be eligible to participate in a Clinical research study. Study examinations, procedures, and investigational medication will be provided to you at no cost. If you or someone you know would like to participate in this study please contact:

Dr. Timothy Simmons at 310-674-0144 West Gastroenterology Medical Group 8110 Airport Blvd. (At La Tijera) Los Angeles, CA 90045

MAY 15~21, 2008

C M Y K

CITYBEAT

MedicalResearch

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For those who are over the age of 60 and who are feeling stressed or depressed, hopeless, sad, loss of interest or pleasure in activities, anxiety, or insomnia. UCLA is conducting a 4-month research study using a study drug and placebo (an inactive substance) in conjunction with Tai Chi Chih (a set of slow-paced movements) or health education. If you are not currently receiving any psychiatric treatment with effective medications, you may qualify. Medical and psychiatric evaluations and limited physical exams are provided as part of the study. Evaluations and study drug are provided at no charge.

For more information, call UCLA at

(310) 794-4619

PARTICIPATE IN AN ADDICTION RESEARCH STUDY AT NO COST Experimental medications compared with placebos (sugar pills) with outpatient counseling available in research treatment studies for:

METHamphetamine Users For Information, Call 818-654-2577 You will be compensated for your participation. Research Investigators: Michael McCann, M.A. and Daniel Dickerson, D.O.

Matrix Institute, Tarzana This Research Project is sponsored by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) Approved by UCLA and Biomed IRB UCLA/Matrix Site Preparation date: 9-21-07 UCLA IRB#: 07-05-072-01 Biomed IRB#:NIDA-CSP-1026

For more information, please contact us at: 1-866-952-2270 Long Beach Center for Clinical Research www.lbccr.com

CITYBEAT

C M Y K

MAY 15~21, 2008

lacitylist.com

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Be on the BACKBEAT 323.938.1001

Read Sigmond Twayne's Mental Cookbook Visit sigmondtwayne.mysite.com or amazon.com THERE IS SOMETHING YOU DONâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;T KNOW ABOUT LIFE...

HAVE YOU BEEN FIRED? SEXUALLY HARASSED? DISCRIMINATED AT WORK? UNPAID WAGES & OVERTIME? Law Offices of Frank Hakim FREE CONSULTATION: (310) 789-2240

SAVE $2.00 PER GALLON OF GAS New Coupon book save you $1000â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s on gas, send a self addressed envelope + $29.00 (money order only) to John Hinton,

PO BOX 82382, LA, CA 90082

RELAXING THERAPEUTIC MASSAGE & CALMING PEDICURE Relief for tired feet, goddess style! ReEnergizing treatment for men & women, 8 a.m. - 8 p.m., discount w/ad on 1st visit.

(323) 353-9756

The knowing of which will dramatically change your life.

MONEYLOVEANDHAPPINESS.COM th th

Nothing over $55/8 High Quality Meds

7 F O U V S B #M W E 6O J U 4U V E J P $J U Z $"

UCLA ADOLESCENT QUIT SMOKING STUDY Do you smoke? Do you want to quit?

Are you 14-21 years of age?

For more information, please call 310-794-4962

0( ,64 ) 1631& 0( ."4 5 & 3 ,64 ) #655 & 3 ,64 ) &5 $

01&/ %": 4 " 8&&, /00/ 1.

ELEGANT CANVAS LA LOFTS NOW LEASING BRAND NEW Ultimate living downtown NOW LEASING starting @$1810 Screening room, indoor social lounge, Luxurious Residents club with billiards,fireplaces Studio, 1,2 and 3 bdr. flats.

CALL 1-888-552-6119 www.canvasla-apts.com

â&#x20AC;˘ Need a Warrant Recalled? â&#x20AC;˘ Want to Smoke Pot on Probation? â&#x20AC;˘ All Criminal Defense, from Drugs to Murder.

Harvard Law, Affordable Office: 323-653-1850 (Ok to call from custody, 24-hours services)

MAY 15~21, 2008

C M Y K

CITYBEAT