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LAist gets a lot of event announcements, and we comb through them all to bring you a curated list of what’s happening in LA this weekend, including these 23 events. Now, no more excuses...get out there and play. Don’t forget to check out other picks in our monthly column, too. Read on for all the details.
FRIDAY, MAY 9
BATMAN : The American Cinematheque presents the program From Caped Crusader to Dark Knight: 75 Years of Batman. The superhero first gained wide popularity thanks to the TV show and accompanying Batman (1966) feature, which screens at the Egyptian on Friday at 7:30 pm, followed by the animated feature Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993), a spinoff of the animated TV show. Tickets: $11. (On Saturday, the program screens Batman and Batman Returns.)
MUSIC: The Ace Hotel presents The Times, a new evening of music and fun developed by Origami Vinyl founder, Neil Schield. LA artists, musicians, writers, and DJs share their favorite music at The Ace Hotel. This weekly event’s rotating players include: Schield, producer/DJ/Low End Theory resident The Gaslamp Killer; LA Record founder Chris Zielger; psychedelic graphic artist/designer Steve Harrington, DJ/musician Clifton aka DJ Soft Touch, among others. 9 pm. Free.
MUSIC: The L.A.-based Real Vocal String Quartet plays Genghis Cohen on Friday, leaving the hard-core classical repertoire behind and playing and singing pop tunes like Regina Spektor's "Machine,” Brazilian music or other surprises. Show at 8 pm. Tickets: $15.
MUSIC: Killbrand presents Death to Good Vibes featuring performances by Bad Things (Shaun White’s band), U.G.L.Y, Scotty The Kid and a late performance by Dive (Tribute to Nirvana). Doors at 8:30 pm. 21+. Tickets: $10.
ART HISTORY: On Friday, The Grammy Museum opens the exhibition California Dreamin': The Sounds of Laurel Canyon 1965-1977, which explores the L.A. rock scene and culture. Artifacts, photographs, handbills, posters, interactive experiences and handwritten lyrics, among other items will be on view through Nov. 30. Adult admission: $12.95.
MUSIC: The Old 97's play their first L.A. gig for the first time in nearly two years at the El Rey. The band is celebrating its 20th anniversary and the April 29 release of Most Messed up. 9 pm. Nikki Lane opens. Tickets: $25.
ART: The Slow Culture Gallery presents Graves Of Craving, the first solo exhibition by artist Ben Sanders. The exhibition’s food-related works are inspired by bowls of pho, chronicling Sanders' “growing interest into the processes of gastronomy and their overlapping connection to artistic production.” The opening reception on Friday is from 7-10 pm. The works remain on view through June 6.
FILM:UCLA’s Celebration of Iranian Cinema presents the L.A. premiere of Parviz (2013), directed by Majid Barzegar. Levon Haftvan plays a 50-year-old still living at home, who’s shocked when his dad kicks him out to make way for his new wife. From UCLA: “Emotionally stunted and deeply wounded, Parviz lashes out in vicious, petty ways until he sees a chance to reclaim his rightful place. Barzegar builds a mounting sense of tension and dread that doesn’t break until film’s final seconds.” 7:30 pm in the Billy Wilder Theater. $10.
LIT: Nathan Deuel reads from his new memoir / collection of essays Friday Was the Bomb at 7:30 pm. His story is one of fatherhood and family in the middle of the tumult in the Middle East. Deuel, a former editor at Rolling Stone and The Village Voice, moved with his NPR correspondent wife to Saudi Arabia to see first-hand what was happening, from the Arab Spring, the end of the Iraq War and the Syrian unrest.
FOOD TRUCK STOP: Starting Friday, food trucks from around L.A. will be rolling up next to the new iPic Theater in Westwood from 5 pm to midnight. They’re parking at Wilshire/Glendon at the Westwood Presbyterian Church. The opening night lineup features: Kogi BBQ, Cousins Maine Lobster, Coolhaus, Canvas Foods, B Sweet Desserts, DogTown Dogs, Yalla Falafel, My Tornado Potato and Let's Roll It.
SATURDAY, MAY 10
FOOD TALK: The Culinary Historians of Southern California present Rabbi Jeff Marx discussing The Whole Schmear: The Creation of Cream Cheese in America on Saturday at 10:30 am at the L.A. Public Library’s Mark Taper Auditorium. The myth is that the Jews introduced cream cheese to America, but it really was the American Yankees who developed it first. The talk is free and open to the public with a themed reception to follow.
***Bummer, but we found out that this event has been cancelled***SPIRITS: The Los Angeles Spirits Expo, which celebrates craft spirits by bringing together distillers, bartenders, bottlers, label makers for workshops, panels, and tastings, is open to the public on Saturday. Held at LA Center Studios in DTLA, the expo also features book signings, music and food trucks. Admission: $60-$70.
DESIGN: TypeEd, the L.A. based typography program for graphic designers, welcomes illustrator and lettering artist Ana Gómez Bernaus as the guest instructor for the Head Over Heels workshop on Saturday. The workshop explores the “development process used to create the mystery and symmetry of ambigrams and lead students through the lettering experience…” Fee: $130-150.
PUPPETS: At 2 pm on Saturday, NerdMelt presents Puppet Town—a sketch comedy puppet show for kids of all ages. The show, directed by Megan Grano, is hosted by Nyima Funk (Whose Line is it Anyway?, Key & Peele, MTV’s Wild 'N Out). $10 in advance, $12 at the door. Kids under 12 get in free.
MUSIC: The Nashville-based guitarist William Tyler plays a free show at the Getty. Impossible Truth, his latest release, was inspired by two books: Barney Hoskyns's Hotel California, about the Laurel Canyon music scene of the early 1970s, and Mike Davis's The Ecology of Fear, “a sociologist's take on the history of the destruction of Los Angeles via real and imagined disasters.” Both works helped Tyler build his instrumental narrative. 7:30 pm in the Harold Williams Auditorium. RSVPs required, with a limit of four seats per reservation.
TOUR: deLaB (aka design east of La Brea) presents its second annual Eastside home tour, Architects at Home, on Saturday from noon to 4 pm. The tour traverses homes in Solano Canyon, Montecito Heights and Silver Lake, designed and built by architects for their own families. Houses on the tour include ones designed by Tom Marble, Project M Plus and Bunch Design. Tickets: $45.
MOVIES : Eat I See I Hear kicks off its summer season at Santa Monica High School's Memorial Greek Amphitheatre with (500) Days of Summer, starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel. Doors are at 5:30 pm, the live music begins at 7 pm and the screening begins at 8:30 pm. Food trucks on site, too. The screening is dog friendly, so bring Fido along. Tickets: $8-$20.
FILM : Also later at Nerdmelt, it’s another edition of Horrible Movie Night at 9 pm. They’re screening Zombie Lake and welcome audience commentary through the film. Best zingers get prizes. Tickets: $8.
ART: The Cypress Village Underground Art Tunnel, now a community space, celebrates its one-year anniversary on Saturday at Antigua Coffeehouse. There’s an art show, One Year Underground: Reclaiming the EastSide, as well as music and spoken word performances, local crafts and other booths in and around the tunnel beginning at 5:30 pm.
LECTURE : The Velaslavasay Panorama presents Before Nanook: The Frozen Zone in Early Silent Film, an illustrated lecture with Arctic specialist Dr. Russell A. Potter (Rhode Island College, Professor of English and Media Studies). He’ll screen clips and stills from early silent cinema, in conjunction with The Panorama's debut exhibition of the Nova Tuskhut, an early 20th-Century Arctic trading post. The exhibition features polar ephemera and other historical objects. The lecture begins at 8:30 pm. Tickets: $13.
SUNDAY, MAY 11
BIKING: Celebrate Mother’s Day with a bike ride with Cyclofemme LA. Men, women and children of all skill levels are encouraged to join, ride and celebrate and honor women around the world. The bike ride is a slow-paced social ride in DTLA. The ride meets at 9 am at Grand Park and finishes at noon, followed by brunch at Angel City Brewery, which also includes a women's focused bike expo.
FOOD / WALK : Six Taste offers a special Mother’s Day food and wine walking tour of the Arts District. Why pick just one restaurant when Six Taste’s tour stops at five—Bread Lounge, Urban Radish, Daily Dose, Pour Haus and Church and State—with wine and food pairings at each one? A Six Taste guide also talks about art and history along the way, too. The tour begins at 2:30 pm and lasts four hours with 4-5 blocks of walking. 21+. Price: $80 per person or $300 for a family of four.
MUSICALS: On Sunday at 5 pm, the American Cinematheque screens The Sound of Music at the Egyptian. Take Mom to the movies to hear some of the timeless classics like “Edelweiss,” “Climb Every Mountain, “My Favorite Things” and others. Tickets: $11. [The Aero screens The Wizard of Oz at 4 pm. Tickets: $13.]
MUSIC: Monogem kicks off a month-long residency at the Bootleg Bar. Special guests. 8 pm. 21+. Free.
Related:
Your Ultimate Guide To May: 20 Cool Events Happening In Los Angeles
Your Guide to Outdoor Movie Screenings in Los Angeles
Want the 411 on additional events and happenings in LA? Follow @LAist or me (@christineziemba) on Twitter.
