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Broncho plays the Echo on Thursday night.
Here are 22 of our favorite events happening in Los Angeles this week. We’ll be back on Thursday with our Weekend Planner column to help you plan—what else?— the weekend ahead. And don’t check out the March Guide for other events.
MONDAY, MARCH 23
COMEDY: Super Secret Comedy Show presents The Goddamn Comedy Jam on Monday night at 9 pm. Hosted by Josh Adam Meyers and Elemenopy, the evening features comics talking about a special song—then launching into the song with the help of backing band Elemenopy. Monday’s guests include Adam Devine, Adam Ray, Matteo Lane and Owen Smith. Doors at 8 pm. Tickets: $12.
PING-PONG: On Monday night at 8 p.m., SPiN at The Standard DTLA hosts an epic, one-night Ping-Pong Tournament. The tournament—for teams for four—is free to enter and SPiN has a a lot of giveaways and a special trophy for the winning team. Specials at the bar from Deschutes Brewery and Fireball, and DJ Short Shorts rocks the vinyl all night long.
AWKWARD COMEDY: Seven Minutes in Purgatory is at UCB Sunset on Monday night at 7 p.m. The show challenges comedians to perform without the benefit of audience feedback—and instead do their standup directly into a camera in a soundproof room, with the audience watching a live feed in another room. It could be hilarious, awkward or a combination of both. Host and co-creator Ian Abramson taps comedians Andy Kindler, Rory Scovel, Josh Androsky, Megan Koester and Tommy McNamara. Tickets: $5.
COMEDY: The Los Angeles Scripted Comedy Festival continues this week at iO West, and on Monday at 7:30 p.m., Sarah Ann Masse and Nick Afka Thomas bring their cheeky British/American sketch show We Are Thomasse to the festival. The show features a “dizzyingly funny and fresh series of sketches full of sharp wit and expert costume changes, covering everything from empathetic muggers to the Proper Way to Have Sex.” If you miss Monday’s show, there’s a second performance on Thursday at 9 pm at iO West. Tickets: $10.
ALOUD LA presents 'Unveiling North Korea with Fact and Fiction' on Monday night with authors Adam Johnson and Blaine Harden. (Image: Courtesy of the Library Foundation of Los Angeles.)
LIT TALK: ALOUD at the Central Library presents the program Unveiling North Korea with Fact and Fiction on Monday at 7:15 p.m. Blaine Harden discusses his new nonfiction book The Great Leader and the Fighter Pilot: The True Story of the Tyrant Who Created North Korea and the Young Lieutenant Who Stole His Way to Freedom with Pulitzer Prize-winner Adam Johnson, author of The Orphan Master’s Son, and both will discuss how different avenues of storytelling led them to similar “truths” about the secretive country. Standby only.
TUESDAY, MARCH 24
ART: The art exhibition Rock & Roll Billboards of the Sunset Strip opens on Tuesday and runs through Aug. 16 at the Skirball Cultural Center. The show features 20 of Robert Landau's photos of hand-painted billboards that graced the Sunset Strip during its heyday. Landau’s photos document the billboard phenomenon from the “breakthrough promotion for the debut album by the Doors in 1967 to the advent of MTV in the 1980s, which signaled the end of an era.” General admission to the Skirball is $10; free on Thursdays.
HAPPY HOUR: The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel holds special evenings for the next few months to prep for the arrival of summer. Summer for Winter at the Tropicana Pool & Bar features different, signature drinks each night and, best of all, there’s no cover charge. Monday through Friday, between 3 and 7 p.m. (But we’re partial to the Old-Fashioneds on Tuesdays and the Palomas and spiced popcorn on Thursdays.
WESTWEEK: On Wednesday and Thursday, WESTWEEK 2015 takes over the Pacific Design Center (PDC) The “definitive showcase for global design” and includes talks with more than 100+ programs including celebrated design thought-leaders, product introductions, art events and showroom open houses. Many of the programs are free with RSVP. There’s an opening reception with designLAB on Tuesday night from 5-9:30 p.m. in PDC’s galleries, which celebrate WESTWEEK with a site-specific commissioned installation by 2J that “considers the history of Cesar Pelli/Gruen Associates’ groundbreaking vision for the PDC.”
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 25
MINI CINEMA Screening Trailer (Mar 2015) from Mini Cinema on Vimeo.
FILM: Mini Cinema screens short films on the big screen, and the next screening is on Wednesday at 8 pm at Regal Cinemas at L.A. Live. The program features: “Grape,” “Comic Book Heaven,” “Beneath Water” and “The Serpent.” The screening is free, or $7 for the VIP experience (front of line and reserved seating).
CIVIC CONVERSATION: The Third Los Angeles Project is a series of public conversations that examine various aspects of the city as its moves into a “dramatically new phase in its civic development.” L.A. is trying—in steps—to shed its car-culture image and create its post-suburban identity. On Wednesday at 7:30 p.m., the project presents A Debate over the New LACMA at Thorne Hall at Occidental College. The evening will consider architect Peter Zumthor’s controversial design plan to redesign LACMA. The program and conversation is moderated by Christopher Hawthorne, L.A. Times’ architecture critic and Oxy professor. All events are open to the public and free with RSVP.
LADIES’ NIGHT: Downtown's The Lash plays host to Siren, an LGBTQ dance party for the ladies, on Wednesday at 9 p.m. This month, organizers are teaming with the queer happy hour Pantsuit, which begins at 7 p.m. next door at The Must for a little dinner before the dancing starts. DJs for the night are Savannah, Lyt, Krza and LMK spinning old-school and contemporary dance and hip hop. It's $5 to get in, but free before 10:30 p.m. with RSVP. 21+.
THEATER: We’re a little late in the game on this series, but March has been Polish Theatre Month, courtesy of Culture.pl and the Consulate of Poland in LA. Through performances, readings and exchanges, theaters have been showcasing vibrant works and performers from Poland. A few performances remain this month, including Slawomir Mrożek’s dark comedy The Emigrants, which runs at The Odyssey Theatre on March 25-27 at 8 pm; and Dorota Masłowska’s A Couple of Poor, Polish-Speaking Romanians, produced by The Ghost Road Company. The last performance is on March 28 at The Lillian Theatre.
WRITING CONFERENCE: CalArts hosts the &NOW 2015—A Festival of New Writing—from March 25-28 on the Valencia campus. The biennial literary festival brings new and innovative forms of writing to a larger audience through panels, readings and performances. &NOW 2015‘s theme is Blast Radius: Writing and the Other Arts, and the conference opens on Wednesday with “Rules of the Cosmos” (an interactive reading organized by the Red Rover series) at 8 pm. Full registration for the conference is $100; a day rate of $35 is also available.
MUSIC: Red Bull Sound Select continues on Wednesday with its latest installment at the Sayers Club with headliner Niia and rising local band Phantoms. KCRW DJ Aaron Byrd serves as host and spins tunes through the night. The series helps highlight local bands and connect them directly to the public. The show is 21+ and tickets are $3 for those who RSVP by 6 pm on the day of the show (up to capacity), and $12 at the door without an RSVP, with all proceeds going back to support the opening local band.
THURSDAY, MARCH 26
ART: The California African American Museum (CAAM) presents the exhibition FlashTag, on view from Thursday (March 26) to Aug. 2. The exhibit is a creative engagement project that gives CAAM visitors the opportunity to experience the process of graffiti/street artists and break down some of the “the common misperceptions concerning street artists and the aerosol culture.” Four crews will each tag a gallery at the museum for public viewing during museum hours between March 26 through March 29. Additionally, DJ A Ski provides music for the artists to work on March 28. Free and open to the public.
COMEDY: In 2010, comedians Kristen Bartlett and Jason Gore both lost their dads within months of each other. Together, they formedThe Dead Dads Club—”an unstoppable grief-fighting force that is often tough, but occasionally falls apart when Big Fish is on HBO.” The sketch show is at UCB Franklin at 9:30 pm on Thursday, with the cast riffing on our own mortality and what it’s like losing a parent. (They swear that it’s still funny...so we’ll see.) Tickets: $5.
STORYTELLING: The storytelling show Don't Tell My Mother celebrates tales that mom should never hear at Busby's East on Thursday at 8 p.m. Featuring naughty stories by Orange is the New Black star Alysia Reiner, comic/actor Jen Kober, Angela V. Shelton, Hannah Friedman and DTTM founder Nikki Levy. Bar, food menu and party begins at 7 pm and the storytelling begins at 8 pm. Live music by Abby And The Myth through the night. Tickets: $12-$20.
MULTIMEDIA: There's a an art, video and music event at Substrate Gallery on Thursday night. Factory of Lightshowcases Jean Balest's latest music video for the Berlin/Australian based post-punk band House of Light, who performs an intimate set at the screening. There's also pop art photography, live projections and more music by experimental electronic group L.A.Drones and more. Complimentary beer and wine with a purchase of a pop art print at the door for $10. RSVP requested.
MUSIC: We’re hearing a lot of good buzz about UK recording artist Jack Garratt who plays the Hotel Cafe on Thursday at 8 pm, fresh (or maybe not so) from SXSW. Pre-sale tickets are already sold out, but the venue may have a few tix at the door. Ages 21+. Garratt’s Synesthesiac EP is due out on April 13.
COMEDY: Westside Comedy presents Let Me Explain on Thursday at 8 pm. The show features comics going under the microscope: after each set, the comic in question will react on the spot to pictures, Tweets and stories about them posted on a projection screen. Tickets: $10.
MUSIC: Broncho headlines the Echo on Thursday night with Wyatt Blair, Girl Band and The Morons opening. Broncho have been touring nonstop to support their sophomore release Just Enough Hip To Be Woman. The song “NC-17” (video posted at the top of this column) is a commentary on the corruption of society’s youth (which is what rock’n’roll is supposed to do, right?) Tickets: $8-$10. 8:30 p.m.
COMEDY: Highly Recommended is a comedy night hosted by Kyle Martin at the Ye Olde King’s Head British Pub in Santa Monica with comedians Al Jackson, Kiran Deol, Jake Weisman, Jenny Zigrino, Trevor Smith and Zach Noe Towers. 8:30 pm. Free.
Related: March Events Guide: 20 of Our Favorite Events in L.A.
Want the 411 on additional events and happenings in LA? Follow @LAist or me (@christineziemba) on Twitter.
