Our Top 25 picks for the best arts events of the season (Trust us, it’s just easier if you take our advice this year)

By Miles Clements, Ellen Griley, Dave Wielenga and Chris Ziegler

Travel back with us to a time before America entertained itself into the media equivalent of a diabetic coma, before diversion was linked to mass communication. It’s September, and the rich have shed their summer whites, and begun their annual return—like swallows to Capistrano—from the Berkshires and Hamptons to New York City. And like the swallows, they’re hungry, the rich are, desperate for sophistication, for dance and theater, opera and orchestra, and hungry not merely for the art itself—which, well, they might have said, whatever—but for the chance to see and be seen, to display power and authority through the consumption of spectacle.

Fall still marks the beginning of the arts season, the time when big-name dancers and actors and artists come to town, and you simply must go see them, less to display your good taste—because, well, as regards taste, whatever—than because you actually enjoy art. We’ve compiled this guide to some of the best events in visual arts, music, theater and books from now until about New Year’s—when you’ll be too drunk to care about art anyway. Until then, enjoy the Fall arts season while you can. There’s plenty to go around.

JESSADA KONGSOMMART’S “WEDDING” AT “FIVE FEELINGS”

[VIZ ARTS]
THIS IS LONG BEACH
Getting to know your city one picture at a time

Long Beach is a lot of things to a lot of people, but to Cheryl Bennett, founder of the 2nd City Council Gallery, it’s a city of artists—a population that, as Bennett notes, often goes unrecognized. So it’s no surprise that Bennett’s civic pride has inspired the gallery’s upcoming 10-month project “Urban Portrait of Long Beach.” The concept is simple: sign-up for a disposable camera, take a single picture of the person, place or thing that most inspires you, and then pass it on. When the camera’s full, it’ll be sent back—every photo developed and, eventually, hung up in the gallery. Bennett hopes that this kind of project will inspire residents and, more importantly, force them to rethink Long Beach. “A lot of people have certain perceptions of what this city is—even from one community to another,” she says. “We want to use this as an opportunity for people from all across the city to participate and speak up.” And though the exhibition of “Urban Portrait of Long Beach” won’t take place until next year, you can sign-up and start planning now—you only get one shot, after all. 2nd City Council Gallery | 2ndcitycouncil.org | to sign-up, e-mail urbanportrait [at] earthlink [dot] net

BLACK PANTHER: THE REVOLUTIONARY ART OF EMORY DOUGLAS A series of propaganda posters that gave style to the oppressed and hope for the struggle—a means of survival through words and images. All from a time when that still meant something, too. Museum of Contemporary Art | moca.org | 10.21.07-1.20.08

FIVE FEELINGS Angels Gate Visual Arts Director Marshall Astor traveled to Thailand about six months ago and was astounded with what he found—tons of young artists, all filled with a certain vibrancy that captured their sense of place. “Five Feelings” brings their work—and some of the artists themselves—to the United States for the first time. Angels Gate Cultural Center | angelsgateart.org | 9.2.07-10.4.07

SANDOW BIRK: THE DEPRAVITIES OF WAR A lot of critics seem to think that Sandow Birk is an iconoclast, intent on tearing down everything in the classic art canon. That’s because most of Birk’s work involves repurposing famous scenes of violence, swapping images of, say, the French Revolution for those of the 1992 riots. But Birk’s work does more than just retool a few well-known paintings—it actually reinvigorates them, giving them new life to open entirely new wounds. So it’s with that that Birk takes on Iraq—an exhibit that will probably be just about as painful as it is beautiful. CSULB University Art Museum | 562.985.5761 | csulb.edu/org/uam | 11.8.07-12.16.07

ORNETTE COLEMAN AT UCLA’S ROYCE HALL

[MUSIC]
HAIL ROKY, KING OF THE BEASTS
Monthly Must-Not-Miss Memos for Music

FOO FIGHTERS Radio-rock at its most credible—Maroon 5 will be buried alive but the Foo Fighters will graduate on to become the Steppenwolves of 2027, which is a fate worthy and honorable for a band that knows how to write, how to play, and how to perform. LA Invasion | Home Depot Center | homedepotcenter.com | 9.15.07

SILVER APPLES Spaceman synthesizer pioneers Silver Apples globbed together a custom rock oscillator that they named after singer Simeon and locked into the robotic beat years and even decades before Kraftwerk or acid-house or disco or anybody. First tour in eight years since the death of co-founder Danny Taylor, aided by the wise girls of Penny Ante. Rare show of strange things. Spaceland | clubspaceland.com | 9.22.07

ORNETTE COLEMAN Focus on sanity, he said as he was reinventing jazz—after an onstage collapse this summer at Bonnaroo, saxophonist Coleman is rested and recovered for a set on the stage that’s held Alice Coltrane, the Arkestra and the MC5, which is almost tamer than Coleman’s own discography with the Plastic Ono Band, Lou Reed and David Cronenberg. UCLA Royce Hall | uclalive.org | 9.27.07

PLUS:
MELVINS @ THE HENRY FONDA THEATRE SEPT. 15 | SPECTRUM @ THE ECHOPLEX SEPT. 16 | JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE @ STAPLES CENTER SEPT. 16 | WHITE STRIPES AND COLD WAR KIDS @ THE FORUM SEPT. 19 | LCD SOUNDSYSTEM AND ARCADE FIRE @ HOLLYWOOD BOWL SEPT. 20 | DAVE ALVIN AND THE GUILTY MEN @ THE QUEEN MARY SEPT. 22.

JOHN PRINE The man who wrote his country songs 40 years before we’d really need them—your flag decal still won’t get you into heaven, and don’t ask your baby boy no questions about the medals on his chest. Prine’s carbuncled voice and prickly humor and politics squared him between Fogerty, Ochs, Dylan and Wainwright, with songs that flip between sad and funny and funny and sad over every complete listen. Cerritos Center | cerritoscenter.com | 10.08.07

ROKY ERICKSON First full LA set since who knows if ever from Roky Erickson, leader of the 13th Floor Elevators, unflagging rock & roll believer and my personal favorite human being, who said once that his favorite songs to write are “love songs,” and didn’t Buddy Holly say the same thing? Hail Roky, king of the beasts—he was a sweet little kid who learned to scream like James Brown and liked monster movies and true romance. It’s Dylan to me and the Beach Boys, too. The El Rey | theelrey.com | 10.28.07

GHOSTFACE KILLAH Mind-boggling Wu Tang process reprogrammer Ghostface leads obvious first-gen inspiration Rakim (“Scientific rhymin’ invented a new sound,” as Nas put it) to the Vault for a Halloween show that could be topped only if Roky Erickson was there with them. Support from Rhymesayers’ Brother Ali makes this three consecutive moments of hip-hop in perfect alignment. Vault 350 | vault350.com | 10.31.07

PLUS:
MORRISEY @ THE PALLADIUM BEGINNING OCT. 1 | CHARLIE LOUVIN @ THE MINT OCT. 4 | LOW END THEORY ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY @ THE AIRLINER OCT. 17 | JESUS AND MARY CHAIN @ THE WILTERN OCT. 23

TINARIWEN First LA if not first West Coast or American show from the hardest rock band in the western Sahara—Telecaster-toting Tuareg nomads who came booming out of the desert like nothing anyone ever heard. Psychedelic guitar-rock fired and fried inside and out—this is a monumental show from a band truly from the other half of the planet. Temple Bar | templebarlive.com | 11.03.07

CAETANO VELOSO Brazilian tropicalismo whose career got decapitated when he was jailed and exiled after a last show shared with Os Mutantes, but whose music found even further depth and resonance abroad. He’s as at home with an orchestra as with an acoustic guitar, and untethered to government appointment like one-time fellow traveler Gilberto Gil. Mutantes fans come out for Thanksgiving at this one. Pasadena Civic Auditorium | pasadenacivic.com | 11.14.07

PLUS:
JOANNA NEWSOM @ DISNEY CONCERT HALL NOV. 9 | MITCH RYDER @ CERRITOS CENTER NOV. 10 | NEKO CASE @ DISNEY CONCERT HALL NOV. 16 | VAN HALEN @ STAPLES CENTER NOV. 20

“CALLING APHRODITE” AT THE INTERNATIONAL CITY THEATRE

[STAGE]
OF PAJAMAS, FALCONS AND NAKED PUPPETS
Stage fright is for losers!

In the eight years since Kamran Assadi co-founded Utopia with Amir Zee, the little jewel box of a restaurant in the East Village Arts District has become something of a base camp for explorers of Long Beach’s scattered dramatic arts scene. Provisions are exquisite—try the Himalayan Treat—and put you within walking distance of three venues: the Performing Arts Center, the Found Theater and the Garage Theater. Assadi and Zee support the theaters in ways that aren’t always obvious—they have actors on their wait staff, for example. “I am especially looking forward to four productions this fall,” says Assadi, noting that the first has already opened. “Calling Aphrodite, at the International City Theatre, tells the story of how a Japanese woman disfigured in the atomic bombing of Hiroshima reconstructs her belief in humanity. It is by Velina Hasu Houston, who is just a wonderful young playwright.” Assadi will also be at the Garage Theatre’s production of Don DeLillo’s Valparaiso (opens Oct. 5) and at the Found Theatre’s third annual Triple Slam Spoken-Word Festival on Oct. 13, where audience vote will determine the best of a selection of uncensored 15-minute verbal pieces. Also, The Pajama Game at Musical Theatre West (Nov. 2). “That place,” he says, “is a gem.” CALLING APHRODITE International City Theatre | ictlongbeach.org | 8.28.07-9.23.07 VALPARAISO Garage Theatre | thegaragetheatre.org | 10.5.07-11.3.07 TRIPLE SLAM SPOKEN WORD FESTIVAL Found Theatre | foundtheatre.org | 8.13.07 THE PAJAMA GAME Musical Theatre West | musical.org | 11.2.07-11.18.07

AVENUE Q The reception for Avenue Q at the Ahmanson may very well be just as chilly it was at the Wynn Las Vegas, but let’s hope for the best: critics, at least, looooove this Tony Award-winning story about a gang of Sesame Street-esque puppets (and their human friends), recently out of college and living in an “outer borough of New York.” In between having naked puppet sex, they search for a purpose to their lives (and sing songs like “What Do You Do With a B.A. in English” and “I’m Not Wearing Underwear Today” and “If You Were Gay” and “Everyone’s a Little Bit Racist”). And you? You laugh. The Ahmanson Theatre | centertheatregroup.org | 9.6.07-10.14.07

PAUL TAYLOR DANCE COMPANY/GEORGIAN STATE DANCE COMPANY Whether there’s a tutu hanging in your closet or ‘dance’ is just another word for ‘lullaby,’ you don’t want to miss the Paul Taylor Dance Company’s appearance at the Carpenter Center. This 16-member company (Twyla Tharp was once a member) can get down to everything from Tin Pan Alley and tango to reggae and Ragtime—not to mention Bach and Handel. Need something that’ll wow the kids? Take ‘em to the Orange County Performing Arts Center for the Georgian State Dance Company—from the nation-state, not the Peach State—who execute airborne kicks and fast spins with military precision. Just wait till the kids try the moves at home. The Carpenter Center | carpenterarts.org | 10.5.07-10.6.07 | Orange County Performing Arts Center | ocpac.org | 9.20.07

THE MALTESE FALCON/THE CHILDREN’S HOUR Wonder if the Long Beach Shakespeare Company and Golden West College Theater are in cahoots: First, LBSC presents The Maltese Falcon, Dashiell Hammett’s famous detective novel (turned play) about private eye Sam Spade, a suspicious broad named Brigid O’Shaughnessy, and a pricey figurine of a black bird wanted by two other men, Joel Cairo and Casper Gutman. If the fantastic names don’t intrigue you, the storytelling will: Sam Spade was an inspiration to Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe. Next, GWC presents Lillian Hellman’s The Children’s Hour, about two boarding school headmistresses and one angry student who ruins their careers and relationships with allegations of a lesbian love affair. Saucy stuff (and really, really, great) but here’s why you should care: in real life Hammett and Hellman were lovers, he was a Communist and they both were ultimately blacklisted! True story. These concurrent performances are the stuff college professors dream of. Long Beach Shakespeare Company | lbshakespeare.org | 9.21.07-11.3.07 | Golden West College Mainstage Theater | gwctheater.com | 10.26.07-11.04.07

JANE FONDA AT THE CARPENTER CENTER

[WRITING]
ALL ABOUT THE PROCESS
{open} reveals how writers . . . write

Listening to writers talk about their work is usually a dull affair—self-congratulatory, pompous, and, barring a flask or two, boring. But {open} is trying to change that. Instead of the usual lecture or roundtable, the bookstore is offering a new take on things with their “Writers-in-Residence” series. The events will highlight four authors: Glen Golightly, Lori Kozlowski, Rachel Levin, and Jethro Nededog. Each writer will take up a day-long residence at the store, where they’ll work on their current pieces and discuss their styles and their processes throughout the day. For the bookish set, this is a great opportunity and a chance to gain some surprisingly useful insight into the writing process—and maybe even spoil it, too. {open} | accessopen.com | 10.13.07 & 10.27.07

JANE FONDA Forget the workout videos and that whole “Hanoi Jane” thing—Jane Fonda is coming to the Carpenter Center as a best-selling author. The event is billed as an “evening of commentary, questions, and insight”—all of which will surely be engaging and entertaining, but none of which will help explain Monster-in-Law. Carpenter Center | carpenterarts.org | 9.29.07

JENNIFER “JLOVE” CALDERON It’s hard to trust anything put out by an author who calls herself JLove, but Jennifer Calderon’s The White Girl, a story about a young girl who grows up blurring racial and cultural lines, has garnered enough high hip-hop praise to put at least most of those fears to rest. Shore Books | shorebookslb.com | 9.12.07

ALICE SEBOLD Most of Alice Sebold’s work deals with her own history of violence, which was punctuated decades ago by a brutal rape during her years at Syracuse University. But in channeling that past, Sebold delivered two best-selling books—Lucky and The Lovely Bones—that both possess that ever-popular strain of quiet strength. UCLA Hammer Museum | hammer.ucla.edu | 10.24.07

Tags: 2nd city council gallery, angels gate, avenue q, black panther, cal state long beach, fall arts guide, orenette coleman, roky erickson, valparaiso