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Top Online Events This Week To Ease You Into 2021: Jan. 4 - 7
The 'Ghost Adventures' team gear up for an eerie investigation inside Los Angeles' Cecil Hotel. (Courtesy of discovery+)
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Coronavirus is wreaking havoc on schools, stores, businesses and events. With in-person concerts, talks, comedy shows, food festivals and other gatherings cancelled, we have turned our events column into a "nonevents" column. It will remain this way as long as social distancing and stay-at-home orders are in effect.
During this difficult time, please consider contributing to your local arts organizations or to individual artists and performers.
Ease into 2021 with a couch concert from Lord Huron. Catch the Marx Brothers on the big screen. Go deep into the bat cave(s). Hop into a hot tub (not literally!) with comedians Kristen Schaal and Kurt Braunohler.
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Monday, Jan. 4
Ghost Adventures: Cecil Hotel
Ghost hunters take on the purportedly haunted downtown L.A. hotel, which has been home to suicides, murders, devil worshipers and serial killers. For the first time, The Cecil will allow cameras inside to investigate its potential apparitions as part of a two-hour special. The show launches on the new discovery+ streaming service, beginning Monday.
COST: Subscription; MORE INFO
Monday, Jan. 4; 5 p.m. PST
Lapkus and Tompkins: 2021 So Far
Lauren Lapkus and Paul F. Tompkins perform a two-person improv set, assessing how things are going four days into the new year.
COST: $5 - $10; MORE INFO
Kristen Schaal performs onstage for Dr. Katz: The Audio Files at The CineFamily on June 6, 2017. (Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images for Audible, Inc.)
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Monday, Jan. 4; 5 p.m. PST
Hot Tub with Kurt and Kristen
Since they can't hold the show at The Virgil for now, Kurt Braunohler and Kristen Schaal moved their alt comedy night and variety show to Hold the Phone Comedy's Twitch channel.
COST: FREE; MORE INFO
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Catch the Marx Brothers in 'Duck Soup' and 'Animal Crackers' at a drive-in event at The Hollywood Legion Theater at Post 43. (Courtesy of American Cinematheque)
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Tuesday, Jan. 5; 7:30 p.m. PST
American Cinematheque Celebration: The Marx Brothers: A Night at the Drive-In
Hollywood Legion Theatre Drive-In
2035 North Highland Ave., Hollywood
Watch a Marx Brothers double bill of Duck Soup (1933), directed by Leo McCarey, followed by Horse Feathers (1932), directed by Norman Z. McLeod. Each ticket includes unlimited popcorn, one soda and one candy for each passenger. Prices are based on vehicle size, so choose the car you'll be driving on the night.
COST: From $65 per car; MORE INFO
Wednesday, Jan. 6; 7 p.m. PST
Person in the Basement
Theatre 40 presents a reading of a new play by company member David Datz via Zoom. In the production, a family ponders what to do when they discover an unknown person living in their basement. Datz directs a cast that includes Harry Herman, Gail Johnston, Charlotte Williams, David Westbay and Meghan Lloyd.
COST: FREE but donations accepted; MORE INFO
Wednesday, Jan. 6; 6 p.m. PST
Palm Springs + Live Q&A
Max Barbakow's film stars Andy Samberg as a dude stuck in a time loop at a Palm Springs wedding. He's living through Groundhog's Day until Sarah (Cristin Milioti), the sister of the bride, gets stuck as well. She helps him realize that getting trapped with another person might not be so bad. The film is available to watch on Hulu now, and free screeners are available to those who RSVP to the Q&A with Samberg, Milioti and J.K. Simmons.
COST: FREE with RSVP; MORE INFO
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A fruit bat hangs from a rope at the Oakland Zoo on April 16, 2020. (Justin Sullivan/)
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Wednesday, Jan. 6; 4 p.m.
A Bat's Life w/ Dr. Laura Kloepper
Dr. Laura Kloepper, founder of the Kloepper Laboratory of Bioacoustics and Animal Behavior, leads participants into an hour-long Atlas Obscura journey into the bat cave(s). Through presentations, pictures, jokes and research materials, the event sheds light on a mammal that spends most of its time in darkness. The event takes place on Zoom.
COST: $15; MORE INFO
Wednesday, Jan. 6; 2 p.m. PST
On The Couch with William Fitzsimmons
Listen to the music of singer-songwriter Fitzsimmons and just chill. The show streams on Facebook and Twitch.
COST: MORE INFO
Actresses Betty White, Rue McClanahan and Bea Arthur arrive for the DVD release party for "The Golden Girls" the first season November 18, 2004. (Carlo Allegri/Getty Images)
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Wednesday, Jan. 6
Golden Girls LIVE: On Stage! The "Lost" Christmas Episode
Because of the pandemic, audiences outside of New York finally get to watch this loving drag parody of the Golden Girls, created by Peter Mac and John Mac. The show features actors portraying the silver-haired heroines as if they'd never left Miami. "The Lost Christmas Episode" pays homage to the girls' Christmas recollections. Thank you for being a friend.
COST: $25 - $40; MORE INFO
Wednesday, Jan. 6; 12 p.m. PST
New Plaza Cinema Lecture Series: New York on Film
The nonprofit cinema based in Manhattan presents historian and lecturer Max Alvarez discussing New York on film, from West Side Story and Midnight Cowboy to Annie Hall and You've Got Mail.
COST: $12; MORE INFO
Thursday, Jan 8; 4 p.m. PST
PetSpace Pals - Live Puppet Show
Annenberg PetSpace's 15-20 minute online puppet show offers funny and engaging content for kids. The session is led by cute dog and cat puppets along with their PetSpace pals, who act out a variety of stories about adoptable pets.
COST: FREE with RSVP; MORE INFO
Thursday, Jan. 7; 6 p.m. PST
Leonard Cohen, Untold Stories: The Early Years, Volume 1
Book Soup presents author Michael Posner who discusses his new book on musician and writer Leonard Cohen. The book, which is the first of three volumes, covers Cohen's public and private life, from his Montreal boyhood to his first international tour in 1970. The event will be held on Crowdcast.
COST: FREE with RSVP; MORE INFO
Thursday, Jan. 7; 8 p.m. PST
Alive from the Whispering Pines
The L.A.-based indie folk group Lord Huron announces a new streaming show. The series features intimate performances of old favorites and new spins on deep cuts and classics. Until the band can play before live audiences again, the monthly show will music and a few laughs. The video will be available for 72 hours.
COST: Tickets start at $18; MORE INFO
Chelsea Clinton's book 'She Persisted,' is a title that plays off the now infamous words of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. (ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images)
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Thursday, Jan. 7; 3 p.m. PST
She Persisted Panel
The bestseller She Persisted by Chelsea Clinton and Alexandra Boiger has inspired a new She Persisted biography series about women who stood up, spoke up and fought the odds. The D.C.-based bookstore Politics and Prose presents a panel discussion and Q&A with Clinton and authors Andrea Davis Pinkney, Lesa Cline-Ransome and Atia Abawi discussing the new chapter books featuring Harriet Tubman, Claudette Colvin and Sally Ride.
COST: FREE - $6; MORE INFO
Thursday, Jan. 7; 2 p.m.
Question 27, Question 28
The Japanese American National Museum continues its celebration of the Year of the Ox with a virtual performance of Question 27, Question 28, a play by Chay Yew and directed by Jully Lee. An abridged and edited work -- about struggle, courage and resilience during World War II -- is presented by Artists at Play LA with a kid audience in mind.
COST: FREE with RSVP; MORE INFO
Santa Monica Brew Works uses bread from Bay Cities Italian Deli & Bakery for its latest beer release. (Courtesy Santa Monica Brew Works)
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Dine & Drink Deals
Who doesn't miss going out to eat or stopping by a bar for a drink? Here are a few options from restaurants and bars as we work our way back toward normal.
- Santa Monica Brew Works recently released The Godmother Hazy IPA and The Works West Coast-style IPA. Each beer is brewed with fresh filone bread from Bay Cities Italian Deli & Bakery. The brews are in limited release in 16-oz. cans, which are available in combo four-packs to-go.
- If you're doing dry January (taking the month off from booze), Prank in downtown L.A. has terpene non-alcoholic beverages such as the Anti-Inflammatory (pineapple, lemon, ginger, agave, limonene terpene, cayenne, bitters, sparkling water) and Super Immunity (apple cider vinegar, garlic, turmeric, ginger, horseradish, habanero).
- Salazar in Frogtown also has great agua frescas for dry January options including horchata, La Fruta del Dragon (dragon fruit) and El Tamarindo (tamarind).
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