Got any ideas to boost turnout so the 2017 L.A. city election isn't a snooze? We celebrate Shotgun Tom Kelly, who isn't shy but is retiring. Saving Salvation Mountain.
MOCA curator on artist Noah Davis: 'A little window is closed'
The late Noah Davis' brother Kahlil Joseph told the L.A. Times Davis had his own studio when he was a teenager. "By the time he was 17, he was a full-on artist. He was making paintings by then." Later, he opened The Underground Museum.
Davis died Saturday of a rare cancer, at just 32, and MOCA's chief curator fought back tears as she talked with me about him.
Helen Molesworth says, "In losing Noah Davis at this juncture, we lose a possibility, and I think we all know that, and that's what's so devastating about the loss. We know Noah made impossible things possible, and when you lose someone like that, you know a little window has closed somewhere, a light flickers. You've lost a potential." It's much different, she says, than when an old artist with a full life and career goes gently.
But although Davis died too young, he had already accomplished more than many artists who live and work much longer. "When I look at the output of paintings," says Molesworth, "I always forget that he's 32. That's on par with someone in their mid-50's. and by that I mean both the quantity and also the complexity. Noah had a preternatural talent and sensibility."
Davis opened The Underground Museum in L.A.'s Arlington Heights neighborhood to bring the arts to a sort of arts desert, and Molesworth says when he couldn't get major institutions to lend him art, he made his own imitations of famous works, including Marcel Duchamp, On Kawara, and Jeff Koons.
This became his "Imitation of Wealth" exhibit at the Underground Museum, now recreated on MOCA's plaza. "This is a show about desire and what you can't have," she says. "And 'Imitation of Wealth' is of course an allusion to Douglas Sirk's movie 'Imitation of Life,' in which the protagonist is a young woman who leaves her African-American family to go into the white world."
Police commission President Steve Soboroff on rollout of LAPD body cams
Monday, LAPD officers in San Fernando Valley cities - the department's Mission Division - will start wearing body cams. Other divisions will follow, first from 860 cameras paid for with private donations, then from the 7,000 cameras authorized in the city budget over the next two years.
L.A. will become the biggest city to adopt the cameras, but how the video they collect will be used has been part of a contentious debate. I spoke at length about the issue with the President of the Police Commission, Steve Soboroff.
Click the blue player to hear what he had to say about the historic rollout.
Heino impersonator Marc Hickox highlights our SoCal Oktoberfest roundup
Friends, raise a glass to King Ludwig I, who in 1810 married Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen and started the public festival that became known as Oktoberfest. Here's the king in his traditional Oktoberfest outfit and haircut:
Despite its name, Oktoberfest starts in September. I don't know why, but does it really matter? In any case, here's just a sample of the many Oktoberfests in Southern California. If you know of another, please add it in the comments section.
Alpine Village
I have no reason to dispute Alpine Village's claim to the largest and oldest Oktoberfest in SoCal, generally running weekends from Sept. 11 to Oct. 31 in Torrance.
(Marc Hickox as Heino at Alpine Village Oktoberfest 2011. Credit: John Rabe/KPCC)
And surely the most bizarrely wonderful attraction at Alpine Village is Marc Hickox's tribute to the German phenomenon Heino, who has sold more than 50 million records, more than Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, or even David Hasselhoff. With more added reverb than an 80-year-old Frank Sinatra, Heino sings Schlager und Volksmusik, sentimental tunes about German things... like Mom.
And the Mutters sure do love him:
What is Heino, I asked my German colleague Alex Schaffert. She replied, "I can't explain it." But again, does it matter? Hickox — who is actually a brunette Canadian actor — says he plays Heino as the "international sensation that happens halfway through the night."
To be clear, Hickox calls himself Heino!, not Heino. But he says the real Heino seems to not take himself too seriously and has not tried to stop him or the other Heino impersonators.
To hear our entire conversation, click on the blue audio player that magically turns orange.
(Credit: Alpen Vagabunden)
Old World
Alpen Vagabunden is one of the featured bands at Old World in Huntington Beach, which throws its 39th annual Oktoberfest Sunday, Sept. 13 through Sunday, Nov. 1, with dachshund races, Oktoberfest babes and a $5 Kinderfest. VIP tickets (which let you skip the line), are $40 most days, but admission is only $10 at the door. Admission is free on Wednesday and Thursday, 6:30-10:30 p.m.
More celebrations
Big Bear Lake throws an Oktoberfest celebration weekends from Sept. 19 to Oct. 31. It's their 45th annual. Dana Point's runs Oct. 17 & 18, and supposedly has more German handcraft beers than any other Oktoberfest in the region.
If meat sausage isn't your thing...
...there's the Vegan Oktoberfest in downtown Los Angeles Oct. 3 & 4 at L.A. Center Studios, 450 S. Bixel Street 90017. You can dance like a chicken with a clear conscience.
For something more laid back:
The German-American League, which has its clubhouse at 1843 Lincoln Boulevard in Santa Monica, was founded in 1905 and lays claim to being "one of the oldest German-American organizations in California." Their Oktoberfest is Sunday, Sept. 6, starting at 1 p.m. The menu includes Riesenbratwurst, Gegrillte Haehnchen, Geraeucherte Forellen, Leberkaese, Sauerkraut, Kartoffelsalat mit Speck, Gulasch Suppe a la Ursel and frisches deutsches Brot. There will also be dancing.
Salvation Mountain's history in photos in 'Where The Heaven Flowers Grow'
National Geographic photographer Aaron Huey has traveled the world to do his work: Pakistan, Afghanistan, Georgia, the Himalayas. But one of his most interesting projects focuses on a place less than 200 miles outside Los Angeles: Salvation Mountain.
Salvation Mountain is one of California's most unique and enduring landmarks. It's a work of folk art in the California desert near the Salton Sea, the quiet town of Niland and Slab City, the free-spirited art community.
The mountain's creator, Leonard Knight, worked on the project for 28 years, sleeping in a converted fire truck.
Knight died in February 2014. Salvation Mountain is now maintained by a board of locals who watch over and repaint the site. Aaron Huey visited the mountain several times towards the end of Knight's life and got to know the creator. He recently published his work in the book "Where the Heaven Flowers Grow." It includes photos of Knight and Salvation Mountain, a timeline of the landmark and a variety of writings Knight produced.
Here's what Huey had to say about what he learned:
On Leonard Knight's story
Knight showed up there because he was trying to inflate this giant balloon — that was the predecessor to the mountain. He had a vision that he needed to put the words "God is love" on a hot-air balloon. That it would travel around and people would see those words everywhere and crowd around. So he made a homemade balloon over like seven years – it never really flew because he sewed it together on a sewing machine out of balloon scraps from a hot-air balloon factory.
But the final kind of collapse of his balloon was out near the Salton Sea in California. And when it finally failed, he kind of made another prayer and said "what do I do now?" He got a vision that he was supposed to put this same message on a little memorial. And so the first mountain — and even the mountain as it is today — kind of looks like the shape of his balloon.
People started stopping on the side of the road and saying "this is amazing! I'll bring you some paint!" And they would leave paint, they'd come and bring a sack of cement. So he just kept pushing it up the side of the hill and building the hill bigger and bigger and bigger.
On Salvation Mountain's legacy after Leonard Knight's death:
Salvation Mountain now has a board of directors and is an official 501 (c) (3). One of the things that they do is they make sure that there is always a caretaker for the site. They they live on site to make sure that nothing is looted, or cut out, or torn out. They also make sure people don't spray paint over things, which is always a concern. And the hardest job — and what Leonard did for much of that 28 years — is just patching cracks and repainting them. So the caretakers are trying to keep the colors as similar as they can and just paint over the same areas. But at this point, I would say probably in just a few years since Leonard left the site, most of his own brush strokes have been covered in the exterior of these structures. But the mountain is preserved, there's great care put into the preservation of it.
Regardie: 2017 election turnout shaping up to be worst ever in Los Angeles
Jon Regardie is the executive editor of the Los Angeles Downtown News, where this commentary appeared in different form.
Two years ago Los Angeles was a ballot box laughingstock when only slightly more than 20 percent of eligible voters turned up for the two elections for the open mayor’s seat. But unless something incredibly unlikely occurs, 2013 is going to look like a high point on the civic roller coaster.
The 2017 citywide election could give new meaning to the phrase “civic embarrassment.” How bad? We’re talking "The Godfather III" or McCourt-era Dodgers, and the reason is Mayor Eric Garcetti.
It’s not because the L.A. Times recently gave Garcetti a C for his performance as mayor, in part because of his tendency on important matters to be quieter than a mouse wearing slippers walking on a floor made of marshmallows.
No, the election problems will come because Garcetti gets an A+ for fundraising. In just the first six months of this year, Garcetti raised $2.2 million for re-election, shattering Villaraigosa’s record.
He got money from Broad and Caruso; Spielberg, Katzenberg, and Kimmel; and Kohan and Abrams. In that trip he took to Washington right before the you-know-what, Garcetti brought in almost $22,000.
I’m not blaming Garcetti here. A big part of being a first-term mayor is raising cash so you can also be a second-term mayor. But Garcetti’s fundraising prowess decreases the chances a reputable challenger will run – someone like Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, Rick Caruso, Council President Herb Wesson, or former Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky. They would force the mayor to defend his record. But with only token candidates, he can skate. That war chest is the political equivalent of The Wall on “Game of Thrones.”
The net result is that Angelenos will likely have little that compels them to the polls. If only 21 percent of those eligible came out in the 2013 primary when their vote actually mattered, how many can be expected to show up in 2017, when Garcetti’s re-election may be preordained?
Other factors could conspire to make 2017 the perfect storm of voter apathy.
While the 2009 mayor’s race was a snoozer, that year the race for city attorney was exciting, with a newbie named Carmen Trutanich running against Councilman Jack Weiss. Until he actually started doing the job, Trutanich was a breath of fresh air, and people felt their vote mattered. The current city attorney, Mike Feuer, might also depress voting numbers in 2017 because people like his performance ... and he’s raised $400,000.
There is the race for City Controller, but that won’t help turnout because most Angelenos have no idea what a controller is. I know I don’t. I think it’s something to do with moving sidewalks.
It’s early, but the eight city council races also look to be uninspiring. The incumbents are all men comfortably positioned for re-election, each likely to get big money from the usual suspects. Unless one of them is in a scandal involving cash, a donkey, a bathtub of Jell-O or – please, God! — all three, they will likely face only minor challengers. And minor challengers, as we have learned in class today, don’t bring out the voters.
So why am I here 18 months before the election talking with you about this? Because we have 18 months to do something to break the machine that keeps giving us insubstantial races.
One idea might be to go citywide with the voting lottery they held for an L.A. school board seat in May. Another might be putting a few hundred thousand dollars into a serious get-out-the-vote effort. Another idea: maybe Mayor Garcetti could agree to stop raising money now, allowing a second viable candidate to enter the race, giving the voters a legitimate choice in 2017. I know this sounds hopelessly stupid and naïve, but you got any better ideas?
Leave them for us on the KPCCofframp Facebook page.
K-Earth 101's Shotgun Tom Kelly retiring, but not shy
UPDATE 8/26/2015: After almost twenty years on the job, Shotgun Tom Kelly is retiring from afternoon drive on K-Earth 101 to become a community ambassador. He'll reportedly be moving back home to El Cajon and is working on a TV pilot. In the latest Arbitron ratings book, Kelly was #4 in the LA market in afternoon drive with a 4.7 share and about 1.3m weekly listeners.
As most on-air radio veterans will tell you, it's better than working for a living. Our job is to talk into a microphone. It may be all we know how to do, it may be all we ever dreamed of doing. In any case, it's all that Shotgun Tom Kelly has done since he was a teenager, and today he received his reward.
At the corner of LaBrea and Hollywood, with hundreds of his fans watching - many from San Diego, where he got his start - K-Earth 101's afternoon drive DJ got his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Kelly started working in radio as a teenager when his mom urged him to go see a DJ broadcasting live from a shopping center. After stints at several stations in San Diego, plus Oxnard, Bakersfield, Phoenix, and San Francisco, he moved to LA in 1997 to take over for "The Real" Don Steele, who had died of lung cancer. He's been at K-Earth ever since,and sounds like he's been there forever.
His nickname comes from his dad, who dubbed him "Shotgun" because he always wanted to ride in the front seat. His trademark hat goes back to those days as well. His family went camping, and he loved the park rangers and their hats. It stuck as a visual trademark that, he says, worked especially well when he hosted kids shows on TV.
Standing over his star today, I asked if he'd ever thought this could happen. "No," he said. "You know I never did. It was distant dream, but I didn't know if it would be realized or not."
It's easy to dismiss the importance of a radio DJ. But you have to remember that people who like music aren't tricked into liking that music. For the Boomers, Oldies are an integral part of their lives, connecting them to old schools, old friends, and old loves, and - given all the technological changes that have happened in the last couple decades, it's a miracle that the Oldies, which so many of us first heard on a radio, are still being played on the radio.
Shotgun Tom Kelly knew this when he told me, "The most important thing to me are the people that love this music, and I want to keep them entertained; I want to keep them happy."
When it comes to sports uniforms, Los Angeles has room for improvement
This week, ESPN released a definitive list of the best dressed cities, based on their sports teams' uniforms.
It scores the uniforms of every team in the every city with more than two teams, and averages them out. Rounding out the top three this year is Boston, then Pittsburgh, then Chicago… you have to scroll all the way down to 11 before you’ll find Los Angeles.
The list and research is the work of
, he runs ESPN’s Uni-Watch and has one of the most unique jobs in the world: sports uniform design critic. He blames the Clippers, and their often panned uniform redesign:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMxC-c6sV8M
Song of the week: “One Second of Love” by Nite Jewel
This week’s Off-Ramp song of the week is “One Second of Love” by the LA singer songwriter Nite Jewel.
Nite Jewel is the project of California native Ramona Gonzalez and “One Second of Love” is off her 2012 album of the same name. Nite Jewel is performing Saturday, September 5 at the Teragram Ballroom in Downtown LA, opening for another California native and Off-Ramp favorite: Pasadena’s own Dam Funk.
Here's the weird, infectious music video for "One Second of Love."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YMmX1f5sQI
How do you teach medical students bedside manner? Hire an actor
In the world of academia, is there anything tougher than medical school? Years of math, science, anatomy, pharmacology and dissections committed to memory; tests, labs, residencies… but how do you teach what might be the most sensitive and human part of being a doctor: bedside manner?
And who do you hire to do it?
There’s a lesson plan for that, too. And when I started looking, I found out it started here in Los Angeles.
When Esther Mercado found out she had cancer, she was 66. She was an accountant and she acted in her spare time.
She'd had trouble sleeping and she didn't know why. She drove herself to the emergency room thinking she acid reflux, but they kept her.
"The doctor came in after performing some tests, and said to me, ‘we see something, and it could either be a cyst, a tumor or some kind of growth.'"
It was a surreal moment for anybody, and even stranger for Mercado. For 17 years, she'd been working as a standardized patient. About six times a year, Esther, the part-time actor, goes to USC’s Keck School of Medicine and pretends to be a cancer patient.
Like the nude model in art class, or the customer at the beauty school salon, Esther is a human learning tool. She stands in front of classes while medical students practice interviewing her. In exam rooms, she goes one-on-one in a mock patient visit, and then she'd grade the students: Was she asked about all the relevant parts of her medical history? Did they listen to her heart? Was the student compassionate?
The program she participates in at USC is one of the first in the country, founded in 1963. She’s one of a couple dozen other actors who are trained to play any number of symptoms: liver disease, terminal cancer, diabetes.
Sound familiar to you? Maybe you graduated medical school recently. Or, you've watched "Seinfeld":
www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvCVg4MrhUE
Dozens of schools all over the country have standardized patient programs. The U.S. Medical Licensing Examination, a mandatory test for practicing medicine in the US, includes 12 visits with standardized patients. Los Angeles is ably equipped to staff programs like this, with over 70,000 actors — like Bob Rumnock.
Rumnock has been a standardized patient since 1999. It nets him about $15,000 a year. He says the money is good, sure, but it goes beyond that.
"It really isn’t just acting a case and improvising. It’s acting a case, improvising, remembering what went right, remember what went wrong," he says. "Remembering to phrase feedback in a way that will be positive."
Rumnock's patient characters run the gamut — at different times he’s been homeless, he’s been a businessman, he's been a cancer patient who’s run out of options.
For students, the visits are staged like real doctor visits: the student enters the room, talks briefly with the patients about their medical history and examines them. Is the patient's heart rate normal? Are they coughing?
The visits are short, and before they can be seen by another student, the standardized patients review the visit they just had. These notes will form the basis for the students' grades.
Emma Montelongo, a fourth year medical student and a veteran of standardized patient exams, says the exams can be a double edged sword — she's had real moments of connection with patients where she's found herself caught in the moment. Working with a standardized patient can become very, very real sometimes, and she finds value in that.
But how do you grade for something like compassion?
"It’s pretty subjective, how you’re being graded. And you can feel, as a student, like 'I asked all these questions, and I felt as though I was being sympathetic, or as though I was being really thorough,'" she says. "But, on the other hand, how patients assess you in the real world isn't necessarily a fair assessment, either."
In peer-reviewed journals, papers have found programs like these can be effective in certain areas. Esther Mercado, the actor with real-life cancer, insists it makes a difference. She's seen real doctors working the field who examined her as med students at USC.
"I feel I’m doing something for the community at large. These are future doctors," she says.
Esther's in remission now. When she found out she had cancer, she didn’t let it stop her from being a patient actor. It made her more present and available as a standardized patient, because sometimes she isn't acting.
How to picnic like a regular at the Hollywood Bowl
There’s nothing like a summer night at the Hollywood Bowl. It’s the seasonal home to the L.A. Phil, and big names this summer range from Heart to Erykah Badu.
And then there's the food. If you've been to the Bowl, you've seen it in action: These people have been picnicking for decades. It's a sport. There's even a
to it.
We stopped by a Jamie Cullum jazz concert to learn the tricks of the trade.
1. The early bird gets the worm
Or the best picnic spot. If you want to eat your food overlooking the Hollywood hills, you better get a move on it. Gates open at 6 p.m.
"When we open up our gates at the beginning of the day, we'll see people run up the hills to try to get some of the more primo areas," said Tom Waldron, the Hollywood Bowl's house manager.
Picnic areas inside the park are first come, first serve. (You can reserve group tables across the street.) Wear comfortable walking shoes. The Bowl is the largest outdoor amphitheater in the U.S., and the picnic grounds are just as impressive. Prepare yourself for one very serious incline.
Pro tip: Check out this map before you go. Picnic area No. 7, also known as the "tree house," has great views and is perfect for a date night.
2. It's chilled. Not cold.
Think about how your food will travel. Thermal bags. Insulated picnic baskets. Coffee coolers. Anything is game when you're picnicking at the Hollywood Bowl.
Tina Dahl has been picnicking at the Bowl for 20 years. She explains how she keeps her salade niçoise perfectly chilled.
"We want to keep it chilled, not cold.... We just took an ice pack — one of those flexible ones that you put on your muscles when you’re achy — set the container on top of it and wrapped it all up in a towel," she said.
3. Presentation is everything
I saw fabric table clothes tailored to fit the box seat table tops. There were lavish napkins, candles and plates. Longtime picnicker Antonio Anderson is so hardcore that he was featured in the Hollywood Bowl brochure. He’s got 25 years under his belt.
Here's his setup:
How have his picnics evolved? "From plastic to fine china and better sparkling wine," Anderson told me.
Off-Ramp host John Rabe has box seats at the Bowl. He prefers bamboo plates and silverware. They're cheap, lightweight and they look good. Pro tip: If you forget the plates or utensils, don't panic. Stop by one of the restaurants and ask; they'll likely give you some for free.
Hollywood Bowl regular Rafael Gonzalez had freshly picked flowers in a cute little vase on his table. He and his wife also theme their picnics.
"Especially if there’s Latin music, we’ll have Latin food. If there’s country music, we’ll do a little country-fried chicken," he said.
4. You need wheels
Orange County resident Taylor Debevec has a picnic basket for every occasion. She found this gem in an antique shop outside of Charleston, South Carolina.
But if you don't pack lightly, you'll need at least one cooler on wheels. Wheels make it way easier to swiftly walk the grounds (especially after a couple drinks).
This is Naome Leibov. She was wheeling around warm chicken, cold sushi and pillows to sit on. Her advice? Don't bring as much as she did. Pro tip: You can get a seat cushion from the Bowl for $1.
5. Don't forget the organic honey
Teamwork makes the picnic dream work. Case in point: I found a table with a designated bartender. Deirdre Delrey explains how to perfect the drinks:
"Start light. Think about the heat of the early evening. Something with citrus or cucumber — like a Pimm's cup or Moscow mule," she said. "A nice wine with the meal and then something flavorful at the end to wrap it all up."
Her friend and fellow picnicker is responsible for the cheese, crackers and organic honey. The latter is a must-have item, according to Delrey.
"She brings organic honey that she dribbles on the goat cheese, and with the fig-encrusted crackers, it’s magical; it’s beautiful. And then with nectarines and peaches," she said with a huge smile on her face.
Are you drooling yet? Pro tip: You can purchase the Fig & Olive Crisps from Trader Joe's.
Too hot to prepare a picnic? Order food at the show. Refer to the 2015 Hollywood Bowl dining guide from Patina Restaurant Group for options. One woman I spoke with raved about the Berkshire pork chop, which you can see half-eaten on the right in the photo below. 
6. And the boxed wine
You can never, ever bring too much wine to the Hollywood Bowl. Mainly because it's pretty expensive to buy a bottle at the venue. (The cheapest red was around $70 when I was there last month for the John Fogerty concert.)
That's why Briana Madden suggests boxed wine from Bevmo. A 3-liter Bota Box will cost you under $20. Or you can purchase 1.5 liters for $10, which is probably a more appropriate option for a school night.
7. Forget parking. Take the shuttle
Don't picnic and drive. Take a Hollywood Bowl bus or shuttle. From Chatsworth to Torrance, the Bowl makes it pretty easy to commute back and forth. Find everything you need to know here.
How hardcore is your picnic? What are your picnic must-haves? Let us know on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram using the hashtag #myLApicnic.