Okay okay we know we’re supposed to be out there volunteering for MLK Day or prepping for Barack’s big day tomorrow, but if you just want to sit back and watch, here’s what’s going on around town:
TALK*
The Zócalo lecture series presents “Martin Luther King's Legacy in the Age of Obama” tonight at 7 pm at the Hammer Museum. The discussion - led by Louis Chude-Sokei, author of The Last "Darky": Bert Williams, Black-on-Black Minstrelsy, and the African Diaspora, and Robin D.G. Kelley, author of Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination, -- will address the meaning of “King's legacy after the election of Barack Obama, and after a campaign that raised the old demons of overt racism and assassination fears?”
THEATRE
Tonight Emmy-nominated writer-performer Jeffrey Solomon brings his play "Mother/SON" to the Celebration Theatre tonight and tomorrow at 8 pm. The work is a tribute to his mother, “whose struggle to accept and understand her gay son - from first terrified visit to a support group for parents of gay children, to marching with him in a pride parade - is chronicled in this poignant and hilarious one-person play.” There will be post-show discussions with Jeffrey Solomon after each performance.
FILM MUSICAL
Guys and Dolls screens at the ArcLight Sherman Oaks tonight at 7:30 pm as part of AFI’s “100 Years…100 Movies” series. If you’re not familiar with this musical, imagine gambler Frank Sinatra playing wingman to even bigger gambler Marlon Brando. Both men sing in the movie, which isn’t a stretch for Sinatra, but a B-I-G stretch for Brando. Familiar tunes include “The Sit Down, You're Rocking the Boat” and “Luck Be a Lady.”
GEEK DINNER
Because of Inauguration Day, the monthly LA Geek Dinner has been moved to tonight at 8 pm at uWink. It’s a gathering of Internet and technology lovers in Los Angeles. Anyone with an interest in tech is invited to join in the festivities.
*Pencil pick of the day
