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Pencil This In: Musical Lecture on Louis Armstrong, Book Launch at SMMoA, John Lennon Tribute Benefit

Pops by Terry Teachout
BOOKS
Tonight at 6 pm, the Santa Monica Museum of Art hosts "Not Your Typical Political Animal Book Launch, Signing, & Holiday Party" to celebrate the launch of Robbie Conal's new book Not Your Typical Political Animal. The book includes a combination of paintings and drawings that illustrate Conal's sharp, satirical takes on past and current events with subtle and often acutely personal portraits of his own pet cats, dogs, exotic frogs, fish and birds. Conal will be on-site and available for signing. Enjoy a shopping with themed refreshments and music by DJ BBRAVE - hosted by GRACIE, SMMoA's retail shop.
JAZZ+BEATS
Tonight as part of the West Coast, Left Coast Series at Walt Disney Concert Hall, there's an evening of seminal Beat poetry and jazz--with a twist. Featured performers include: Charles Lloyd New Quartet; Exene Cervenka, poet performer; Michael McClure, poet performer
David Meltzer, poet performer; Alan Broadbent, piano; Kurt Elling, poet performer; Peter Erskine, drums; John Handy, alto saxophone; Christian McBride, bass; and Joshua Redman, saxophone. 8 pm.
READING*
Journalist, author and musician Terry Teachout is conducting a musical lecture at the [ALOUD] at Central Library series tonight at 7 pm to discuss his new book POPS: A Life of Louis Armstrong. "Drawing on a cache of important new sources unavailable to previous biographers, The Wall Street Journal’s drama critic and arts columnist paints a gripping portrait of Louis Armstrong’s world and his music." The event is free, but reservations are required.
BENEFIT
Today is the 29th anniversary of the death of John Lennon. Tonight, proceeds from the performance of Just Imagine at the NoHo Arts Center will be donated to the VH-1 Save The Music Foundation. In the production, Tim Piper performs as Lennon returning for one more concert, in a show that also depicts Lennon’s life and career. Supporting Piper is the band Working Class Hero, under the musical direction of Greg Piper, and archival projections evoking the times before Lennon’s success, the Beatle years, and his solo career. The show starts at 8 pm and tickets are $35, $45, $55.
CHRISTMAS
Ghettogloss continues its celebration of the Twelve Days of Christmas with a group exhibition tonight that features hand-crafted stockings stuffed with art by works by Cole Gerst, Jessica Lee Garrison, Vanessa Praeger, Hiro Murai, Mark Blackwell, Amanda Milius, Kristen Stegemoeller, Merry Sottili, Johnny Coleman, Chenoa Solis and Cupcake Watson. They’ll be serving up spiked eggnogg and cocktails tonight, too.
*Pencil pick of the day
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