Tim Robbins with Off-Ramp host John Rabe, in-depth
The Actors Gang brings back "1984." Tim Robbins: "still needed in 2012."
To mark its 30th anniversary, The Actors Gang is bringing back its production of George Orwell's "1984," which has been touring the world and is soon to open in South America. Here in SoCal, the play is in previews in Culver City this weekend, with opening night Saturday, February 25. Off-Ramp host John Rabe talks with Actors Gang founder Tim Robbins, the actor and director.
The play is adapted from Orwell’s dystopian novel, which centers on a society submissive to a “Big Brother” persona that condemns all individuality. Orwell presents political issues in the book with stark clarity, and Robbins said the commentary is relevant today.
“On New Year’s Eve, our president signed into legislation an authorization act that allows the military to hold and arrest without charge, American citizens, and that’s the first time in American history that’s happened,” Robbins said. “I have a lot more faith in this administration than in previous administrations to not abuse the law, but at the same time, this administration won’t be in office forever, and if the law is in place, it’s potentially a dangerous thing.”
Aside from politics, Robbins said the play’s narrative encompasses other issues more strongly, like love.
“It’s about the rebellion of love, the idea that the biggest defiance that Winston Smith is guilty of has to do with his love for another woman, and his insistence in living a free life within that romance,” he explained. “For me, that’s always what’s been the driving force behind the play and behind the novel, this idea that in the midst of dystopia, you can be free, if you choose to live your life in a certain way and service the urges and impulses that are within you that are true.”
According to Robbins, his acting troupe approached the play without trying to assign the stereotypical grey-walled, dull aesthetics many attribute to dystopias, instead looking past what’s tangible.
“What if a dystopia was bright and cheerful, and full of nice LED lights and pop songs?” he suggested. “Dystopia is about philosophy, and more importantly, the public’s acceptance of that philosophy.”
Robbins recalled a passage where everyone stands around a television-like screen for a “three-minute hate” session, and the characters literally hate something for three minutes.
“I realized that I was doing that, but not three minutes — I was doing that two hours a day, and it was even with people that I agreed with. I was coming out of those two hours watching television so angry, and so I had a sudden revelation a couple years ago. You know what? I haven’t listened to an album from beginning to end for about three years? What the hell is going on?” he continued. “I don’t need to check in everyday, I need to feel something every day. I need some art every day.”
(Next week in the Off-Ramp e-newsletter, we'll be giving away tickets to the production, so sign up right now!)
Now that it's law, how will the adult film industry respond to the condom ordinance?
Last month, L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa signed a new law that requires porn performers to use condoms during film shoots in Los Angeles. Industry leaders have warned the new ordinance could force them out of the area. Off-Ramp producer Kevin Ferguson asks how will they enforce the law? And what will the consequences be on one of the region's big entertainment sectors?
The law doesn't affect all adult film shoots here in Los Angeles – only those shot outside of a licensed sound stage. So it isn't an issue for most of the major adult film studios. When the city council voted on the measure, San Fernando Valley councilman Mitch Englander was the only no vote. Many of the studios are in his district. He said he didn't have enough information.
"What's it going to cost us for enforcement? What's it going to cost us if they leave Los Angeles?" Englander asked.
"We've driven out every other type of business, out of L.A., and industries as a whole. What's the cost? And the answer fell on deaf ears. Nobody knew. It was crickets in the room. And they said they've done no analysis."
There's a new committee that'll determine how they'll enforce the ordinance and who will be in charge. Once that starts, the industry says it expects the new regulation to be more of a nuisance than anything else. Diane Duke heads the Free Speech Coalition – an adult entertainment trade group.
"When it comes to how we make our productions, government should not be involved in artistic expression," she said.
"I don't know if people really want a whole entity, a whole bureaucracy to check if people are wearing condoms. Especially since this is a real non-issue. We haven't had a case of case HIV transmitted within the industry since 2004."
Two actors were found to be HIV positive, but Duke says they got it off-set, not during filming.
Those who support mandatory condom usage in adult films, like the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, are working on another law that would take things to L.A. County. That law would let the county health department inspect adult film shoots the same way it does restaurants – and regulations may get even stricter.
But L.A. economist David Bergman thinks it would take an awful lot to run the industry out of town. "For something like the adult film industry, the labor force is really important. People who have the technical skills to shoot film and video and then distribute it and package and market it," he said.
"Plus, unfortunately, with this industry, right, you have the glamor factor of Southern California, which means there are presumably lots of young people who want to come here and be in show business. I mean, all of the technical inputs that you need for putting a story of any kind on film can be found here in Southern California and in Los Angeles in a much more well articulated, price-competitive environment."
Porn star Ron Jeremy says this isn't a fight about condoms, but an attempt to get rid of the entire industry. Mark Kernes, an editor for Adult Video News (Warning: Link contains explicit images), agrees: "People are scared of sex. People don't want to deal with sex. And they'll do pretty much anything they can to avoid it," he said.
Regardless of the motives: what would happen if the industry made good on its promise to leave the city or county of L.A.? That's much harder to answer. There are no studies on the local industry, and when I called around, most economists shrugged their shoulders.
"It's frankly a little bit difficult to track," said Mark Kernes. "Especially since the recession. For instance, what we do know is video sales are off about 50 percent in retail stores."
Adult Video News – along with XBIZ (Warning: link contains explicit images), another adult industry trade publication – both estimated that the industry employs somewhere between 3,000 to 5,000 people full time.
"We're talking everything from company producers to directors to warehouse people to secretaries, that sort of thing," said Kernes.
But performers work more sporadically. They number between 800 and 1000 at any given time. Again, these numbers are rough, but by comparison, a company like American Apparel employs about 5,000 people here. What else could Los Angeles stand to lose?
Mark Kernes warnes the area would lose taxes paid by employees.
"It'll be a loss of the money that comes into the studios as profit for selling the movies, there's also a large number of distributors in the LA area. If they move out, the money that they make distributing the movies, the taxes that would paid on that would be lost. Property taxes would be lost," Kernes said.
In total, Kernes and XBIZ estimate the adult entertainment industry nationwide brings in between $5 and $6 billion each year – 90 percent of that is based in Los Angeles. So we know the industry is a significant part of our economy, but what other profession has roving support groups?
Crissy Moran worked in the industry for six years. At first, she liked it.
"We were doing our scene on the marble floor, and it was beautiful," she said. "But then when I opened my eyes and I looked around me, and I see cameras everywhere and I see other guys with no clothes on watching me, it quickly changed my attitude. It was really, really uncomfortable."
Today, Moran works for an organization called Treasures, which sends gifts to women in the industry and helps them get out of porn if they want to. If L.A. lost the adult film industry, it would lose a couple thousand jobs, some expensive tenants, and tax revenue. But it would also lose the need for groups like Treasures.
Hot caterer HeirloomLA opens new tasting room - The Salon - featuring Autumn de Wilde's pig slaughter photos on the wall
They might switch them out when the bride-to-be's family and friends come in to sample wedding food, but otherwise, the pig slaughter photos are front and center at HeirloomLA's new venue, The Salon.
It helps that they're not too graphic, and that they're by Autumn de Wilde, who's done album covers for The White Stripes, Wilco, Beck, and Monsters of Folk, and who documents couture designers Kate and Laura Mulleavy of Rodarte.
It also helps that they fit with Heirloom's ethos: you ought to know where your food comes from, and that it was raised humanely, and harvested right. Potatoes don't look like Pringles, and pigs don't look like chili dogs.
De Wilde's photo shoot started as a simple trip with her Heirloom friends, including co-owner Matthew Poley, to a farm in Napa. She decided to shoot some photos and didn't find out that there was going to be a pig slaughter until a couple days in. Poley says he did tell her, but he said "harvest" and she didn't quite understand. But, de Wilde knew that as a photographer, she should document what she saw.
What strikes you about her photos of the dead pig is not so much the reality of its death, but the similarities it shares with her other photos, ones of plants at the farm. The way, for example, the deep red of a beet green's veins matches the pig's blood, or how plant roots resemble to intestines.
De Wilde says, "Everything is beautiful and everything is disgusting ... and I like to look at my city that way, the ugly parts and the beautiful parts, and see beauty in the disgusting. It's part of what I do as a photographer.
The Salon is at 4126 Verdugo Road LA CA 90065.
Is LA finally serious about cracking down on handicap parking placard abuse? Zine says so.
Will the third time be the charm?
First in an interview with the L.A. Times' Ralph Vartabedian about five years ago, then in 2010 with KNBC's Joel Grover, Off-Ramp has long championed a crackdown on the thoughtless, selfish, so-called people who fraudulently use handicap parking placards, which allow them free, all-day parking at city meters.
It's a big problem. Walk down streets near L.A.'s City Hall, or in the Garment District, and you'll see whole blocks of cars with handicap placards, cars that stay there all day. It means less money in city coffers, of course, but it also hurts local businesses when potential customers can't find parking, and it hurts you when you want to go downtown and can't find parking.
The L.A. Times' Steve Lopez recently got involved, and finally the city of Los Angeles seems to be paying attention. Steve prodded and kvetched about the injustice of the able-bodied blocking parking meters, and the LAPD and DOT staged a sting that netted several drivers tickets that could lead to $1,000+ in fines, and even jail time.
L.A. City Councilman Dennis Zine sat in on the sting, and in an Off-Ramp interview this week, promised to keep the pressure on. "We need to enforce these rules. There's so much abuse. They'll park, won't put money in the meter. They're not disabled. It's outrageous how many people illegally use the placard."
Zine promises action both on the city level, to continue the enforcement stings, and on the state level to make it harder for people to get – and keep – placards.
Zine would not, however, endorse Off-Ramp's proposal to banish these offenders from L.A., but he did admit, "there are a lot of selfish people out there." And he encouraged KPCC listeners to report any abuses they see. You can call Zine's office at (213) 473-7003 or email using the link below.
Pasadena Conservatory of Music is Pasadena's best kept secret
The Pasadena Conservatory of Music could be the city's next iconic landmark. Hidden behind shady trees a block north of Pasadena City College, most locals have never heard the robust music inside the building's closed doors. But in the past month the Conservatory has raked in a cool million in just two grants alone and hopes to raise much more.
Students start studying early at the conservatory, sometimes as young as four years old. After putting in hours of after school lessons, they learn to turn the creaks and cranks of their violins into sweet, soothing music.
A few of these kids will study vigorously throughout their adolescence and leave the conservatory on a path to become classically trained musicians.
Like twelve year old Veronica Mansour, a student at Cleveland Middle School who started playing the cello since at just four years old.
Although she already sounds like a pro, Veronica is modest and sincere about her love for the cello. She says the sound of the cello is what initially drew her to the instrument.
"Well when I was four years old I heard it on a recording that my mom was playing in the house and I really loved the sound and I told my parents that I wanted to play it," said Mansour.
One could call that fate, I suppose. How many four year olds are there who are inextricably drawn to classical music? Very few, by my estimate.
The conservatory has called its present location home since the 1990s. It's a converted mortuary, full of floors that give way slightly as you walk down various hallways.
And as you walk up the creaky staircase near the entrance, you hear a bizarre, dark medley of noises. But despite the strange sound, the conservatory's vibe is fun. Younger siblings run around playing while parents smile in admiration and the older kids' cello ensemble practices.
Veronica's Mom, Laurie Mansour, says the conservatory plays a huge role in her kids lives.
"My kids started here when Alex was three and my daughter was a year and half so. I don't remember our lives before the conservatory and what it's done for them for their brain development, for their socialization, their musicality, the way they view the world I think has been completely influenced by the music and the teachers they've had here."
And all the students are pleased to be studying. And that's something I didn't get when I was 6, 12, 15, or really, ever! But where do these kids come from, and how do they get to study at the conservatory?
Beverly La Fontaine is the marketing director for the conservatory. She says that they don't use an applicant's talent as a gauge for admission but rather focus on the student's desire and commitment to studying music.
According to La Fontaine, the conservatory aims to raise 7 and a half million dollars. Even though that sounds like nearly impossible, the conservatory has already raised over five and a half million. The Conservatory serves about 1200 students right now, La Fontaine says that'll change, too.
"Quite frankly we're aiming for an enrollment of 1500 to 1600 students over the next, I'd say three to five years."
That means the conservatory will have to expand, because where are they going to put all those cellos, tubas and bassoons?
"Last May we bought the property next door to us which was formerly a church, and we're now in that property. And when we finish the entire project, we'll have a second story on our back building and that will give us additional classroom space and studio space. Much of the building is not going to begin until next fall, probably it will take another year and a half," said La Fontaine.
La Fontaine says that all parents see the value of music education for their kids and that studying classical music just plain adds value to student's lives.
And Laurie Mansour can vouch for that.
"It was just an amazing blessing that we found the conservatory and ten years later, thirteen years later, we're here three times a week four times a week, my kids study multiple instruments, I can't have any understanding of what it would be like if they hadn't been here."
So with all of this new cash raised, the Pasadena Conservatory of Music might go from Pasadena's best kept secret to its newest cultural epicenter by as early as this Fall.