On the day after the Trump Inauguration, we go live to Washington DC and downtown LA to talk with participants in the two planned marches ... We’ll watch "Hidden Figures" with a woman and her mom … who happens to have been a NASA contractor. ... We get another Do It Yourself film festival from critic Tim Cogshell. This one includes "Live Nude Girls," "Living Out Loud," and "The Quick and the Dead."
She did work for NASA, but didn't know about the 'Hidden Figures'
The biopic 'Hidden Figures' nabbed the top spot at the box office two week in a row, making a solid mark on an American history moviegoers thought they knew-- even if those moviegoers used to do work for NASA.
When Janice Hicks worked for 24 years as an executive assistant with a space and defense company contracted with NASA, she had no clue about Katherine G. Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan or Mary Jackson -- the three black women whose lives inspired the biopic 'Hidden Figures.' Still, she says, "I have to give NASA credit in the highest because they hired black women."
Chivon Parks, Janice's daughter agrees. Chivon accompanied her Mom on one of the shuttle launches. "Back then you didn't read about any of this in school. It's amazing to learn this now, but it's frustrating to not have known back then."
Janice worked through the space and defense company TRW (later Northrop Grumman), who worked directly with NASA. "Not everyone [who worked for TRW] got to that," she remembers. She was responsible, among other things, for looking at data real time to help coordinate successful satellite launches on all of the shuttle missions. "We worked with the engineers," recalls Janice. "During the first launch, the satellite spun out of orbit and we had to get the satellite to use its thrusters to get back on track."
Other missions were not successful. Janice recalls the Challenger explosion in vivid detail, sharing with Offramp producer Taylor Orci her private collection of memorabilia. "Here they are wearing our borrowed lab coats," she says, bittersweetly, pointing to a group photo of some of the Challenger crew standing in front of a giant satellite covered in dark gold mylar. Sorting through a collection of time-lapsed photos of the Challenger launch, she points as the clouds surrounding the shuttle before take off. "I told my boss, 'Something's wrong. Those clouds look dark." She shrugs, "He said it was normal."
"I kept looking at the movie and then looking at my Mom to see what her reaction was," Chivon says of watching 'Hidden Figures' with her Mom. "I knew what they were talking about because my Mom had told me about it." Janice adds, "I'm proud my children understand what I did. Yes it was exhausting, but it was fun, and I loved it."
Janice received a 'Members Only' jacket during her time at NASA, and got a patch for every shuttle mission she was a part of. Her daughter Chivon, now a fashion designer for a big-name label, says she's tried to get her hands on the one-of-a-kind piece forever. "I could wear in starting in high school. Before then, I couldn't even breathe on it."
Chivon's not the only one who wants her Mom's jacket. Janice reflects, "I wore that jacket when I went to see Hidden Figures in honor of those ladies," she said. When people approached her and asked where they could buy her jacket, she responded, "You can't buy this jacket. I worked this jacket."
Dear President-elect Trump: SoCal's hopes for the new administration
Off-Ramp Recommends: The Arcadia Cat Show
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Expect wet weather in Southern California all weekend. And keep warm (and fuzzy) in the company of cats and kittens at the Arcadia Cat Show.
This is your chance to see some rare cat breeds in person, many of which look more like exotic jungle cats than domestic ones. These cats aren’t as massive like the wild beasts from the animal kingdom; so, expect the stripes of a tiger, or the spots of a leopard on domestic-sized cats. Some of the uncommon breeds present at this show include: Bengals, Toygers, Lykois, Chausies, and Savannahs.
If you already have a cat of your own this is the perfect place to shop for your furry friend. Plenty of vendors will be supplying the best treats and cat nip.
Don’t have a kitty at the moment, but always wanted one? Well, if you end up falling in love with the kitten, you’re covered: Hope to Home Rescue will be present at this Cat Show with cats available for adoption. The event is a 15-minute walk from the Arcadia Station on the Metro Gold Line. And there is free event parking available.
The Arcadia Cat Show runs Jan. 21 and 22, from 10 am – 4 pm each day at the Masonic Lodge in Arcadia. Admission is $4 for adults, and $3 for students with valid ID. For more information, visit the events website.
Tim Cogshell's DIY Film Fest: Women I love, in 4 films I love, that need a little more love
Tim Cogshell, film critic for KPCC's Filmweek and Alt Film Guide, and who blogs at CinemaInMind, has another film festival you can put on in the comfort of your own home.
I’m a sucker for girl talk movies, true love stories, and movies where a lady rides into the sunset after she shoots the bastard who killed her daddy - in the head. This DIY Film Festival is for films that I love, about women that I love, in movies that should have got a lot more love.
1. "Live Nude Girls" (1995)
"Live Nude Girls" was directed by Julianna Lavin, who directed this film, one episode of Party of Five in 1998, and nothing else. This happens in Hollywood more often than you’d think, but it happens to female filmmakers even more often than that. It stars Dana Delany, Laila Robins, Lora Zane, Cynthia Stevenson and, ironically, Kim Cattrall as the over or under sexed member of the foursome - depending on your point of view.
"Live Nude Girls" is a wonderfully funny and intimate movie about four lifelong friends at an all night bachelorette party for one of them who is getting married for the 3rd time. This film is practically a blueprint for "Sex and the City" which started three years later. It's frank and funny and sexy and filled with a female energy that reminded me of my very cool big sister and her amazing girlfriends, lounging in conversation, as I loitered near, always at the ready to fetch cigarettes and Fresca. It was the 70s.
2. "Living Out Loud" (1998)
"Living Out Loud," directed by Richard LaGravenese, stars Holly Hunter, Danny DeVito, Queen Latifah and ecstasy - both the emotion and the drug. In the movie, Holly Hunter’s husband abandons her for a younger woman.
Sure, it’s a well worn premise, but it's considered thru a wide range of emotions, spoken out loud, sung out loud, and even fantasized out loud. Hunter confronts her circumstances with philosophical introspection about the choices she’s made; with direct confrontation of those who’ve done her wrong ... and with the occasional hit of ecstasy.
The highlight is this amazing dance sequence that I still find myself fantasizing about from time to time. Occasionally, I’m even in it.
3. "Besieged" (1998)
"Besieged" is a Bernardo Bertolucci film starring Thandie Newton and David Thewlis. This is a love story about truest love. Although, at first glance it might seem like a movie about stalker who plays the piano really well, David Thewlis portrays a man - a passionate composer and pianist - who falls in love with his African housekeeper on first sight. And why the hell wouldn’t he - she’s Thandie Newton - but his adoration is about much more than her beauty.
In her he sees pure intention, resilience, and a strength that his privileged existence could never know. Out of that comes a kind of love that leads him to sell everything he owns, including his beloved grand piano, to give her the one thing she truly wants.
4. "The Quick and The Dead" (1995)
Last in my DIY film festival about women that I love, in films that I love, that need a little more love is "The Quick and The Dead." This is Sam Raimi post-"Evil Dead" and pre-"Spiderman" directing a wicked Cowgirl movie. It stars Sharon Stone, Gene Hackman and Russell Crowe star alongside a young Leonardo DiCaprio, with Gary Sinise, Keith David, Lance Henriksen, Olivia Burnette, the great Pat Hingle, and the late Tobin Bell of the Saw films.
If you missed this wicked gunslinger revenge flick because you believed the middlin' reviews from back in the day - you got suckered. It was accused of being too campy. Like that’s a thing.
In "The Quick and the Dead," the Lady slaps leather with a bunch dastardly bastards, including the one that killed her daddy. Like I said - I’m a sucker for girl talk movies, true love stories and movies where a lady rides into the sunset after she shoots the bastard who killed her daddy - in the head.
Garrison Keillor calls impressionist Jim Meskimen and forgets the question
The words "incautiously," "rhubarb," and "behind" figure prominently in the latest celebrity interview by Off-Ramp's favorite impressionist, Jim Meskimen:
By the way, Garrison's successor, Chris Thile, brings A Prairie Home Companion to the Pasadena Civic this Saturday. If you were wondering about this new fellow, now's your chance to see what the fuss is about. And if you weren't that into Garrison, Thile has freshened up the show without losing its essence. Here's my Off-Ramp interview with Thile.
Review: The Stussys — an LA art power couple — blurred the line between human and animal
Off-Ramp culture critic Marc Haefele reviews "The Human Beast: Art of Maxine Kim Stussy & Jan Stussy," at WUHO through February 19.
The art of Maxine Kim Stussy (b. 1923) and Jan Stussy (1921-1990) sits on a mysterious median—figurative, but not at all representational—at least of anything or anybody in the real world. Its figures cry in the language of humanity, but its embodiments are far from human.
For 42 years — from 1948 to Jan’s death — the couple formed a creative partnership: he as painter, she predominately as a sculptor. Their work, which they often exhibited together, displays a kinship, a co-equality, perhaps, in envisioning the animal in humanity and vice versa. Mid-century, they were a power couple on the LA art scene.
You can catch both their clashes and kinships at a show at the Woodbury University School of Architecture’s little WUHO (Woodbury University Hollywood Outpost) gallery, set smack among the tacky lingerie shops on the Walk of Fame in mid-Hollywood.
The bland, red-gauze draped show window dummies nearby provide a striking contrast to the twenty creations that compose “The Human Beast: Art of Maxine Kim Stussy & Jan Stussy.’’ These are presided over by M. K. Stussy’s looming female “The Watcher,” (below) all of 7-1/2 feet tall, and intricately composed of linked warmly-finished wooden forms: she resembles a powerful but nurturing pagan forest-goddess as she towers over the rest of the show with a received, sinister patience.
The bronze “Waiting Dancer,” on the other hand, offers both grace and pure menace, with an inhumanly triangular head. The figure is seemingly composed of desiccated vegetable shapes and more limbs than any human dancer would require.
M. K.’s animal sculptures are somewhat more reassuring, particularly 3 horse-works on hand here. “My Patio (Man Horse),” another wood assemblage, but less composed than “The Watcher;” the bronze “Junk Horse,” and “Sitting Horse” (above). Like “Patio,” “Sitting Horse” puts a quadruped in a human pose, japing at mankind’s animal nature. The animal is revealed in human silliness. The bronze "Yard Bird” is one of her smallest works, but also one of the most effective. Shaped much like some Cretaceous-period feathered dinosaur, its beaked face is lined with contempt for all it sees.
Jan Stussy’s pictures often invoke sculptural aspects within the two-dimensional frame. Aggressive perspectives often shove precisely detailed but hard-to-place objects in the face of the viewer. But in contrast to his wife’s work, Jan Stussy’s work can also be straightforwardly representative. Like his charcoal-rendered 1957 “Sebastian,” (below) a portrait of the martyred saint, who is here not just transfixed by arrows, but partially flayed, in a view from below that is also an anatomical tour-de-force.
27 years later, Stussy’s ‘’Self-Portrait in an Anatomical Sweatshirt’’ (in the slideshow) recalls "Sebastian,’’ but the painter’s flayed chest is now worn like a fashion statement as he turns his face away, as though he were modeling his weird garment.
Both artists were obsessed with the concept of “beast.” M.K.’s tend to stand or sit like humans, but Jan Stussy’s are largely quadrupeds. King of them all is his 24-foot long “Untitled (large beast, six panels),’’ (below) a sprawling charcoal-on-canvas bull full of farcically overstated masculinity, pawing invisible turf. He plays a sexual omega to “The Watcher’s” wary femininity.
A series of 1988 untitled, amped-up lithographs is labeled, parenthetically, (birds). None of the figures is particularly bird-like, but each of them seems to occupy the same eldritch “Human Beast” territory between the human and the animal that is the habitat of so much of his wife’s work. Yet tiny flecks of intelligence hide here and there throughout both of their works in this distinctly unusual and worthwhile show.
If you decide to go, note that the WUHO Gallery’s hours are unconventional for a gallery. On Thursday, it's open from 1p - 8p. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, it's open from 1p - 6p. WUHO is at 6518 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles 90028.
Giving new life to clothes and the community
A huge painting of Michael Jordan takes up a corner of the store. There are typewriters tucked into the tall bookcases, vintage shoes lining the windows, and every color you can imagine is on the rack and on the walls. But this isn't an ordinary thrift store.
The Berda Paradise Thrift Store in Silverlake sells all sorts of clothing and wares to raise money for the Hollywood Sunset Free Clinic, one of the oldest clinics in the city. Store manager Sharion Taylor explained how they have had a symbiotic relationship with the clinic for twenty years.
The store has been donating proceeds to the clinic since its opening in 1997. Sharion says, "There is a woman who is actually Berda and she had a shop in the community for years. She wanted to do some fundraising for the clinic so she reached out to them and instituted the store."
Sharion is the manager of Berda Paradise and says she stumbled upon her job two decades ago. She says, "I was a shopper here. The girl who was working here went on maternity leave and they asked if I could step in for her. Well... it's been twenty years now."
Browsing the store, the eccentricity of the Silverlake/Echo Park neighborhood is definitely reflected.
Grabbing a pair of white linen pants she says, "Armani pants. Aren't they beautiful for the right person? And the right person always finds them. It's like the clothing vibrates and they come in and find it."
Everything here-- even the designer labels, is remarkably affordable (be sure to check out their famous $1 rack). True, the thrift store could charge more for the quality of goods that make their way to the store, but Sharion is happy the used items do double duty as affordable finds and clinic donations. She says the work is worthwhile because its all for a good cause, "Free healthcare for all!" she exclaims through big smile.
The store is at 3506 Sunset Blvd in Silverlake, right next to Trois Familia and Millie's Cafe. Drop offs are welcome everyday.
Off-Ramp's Song of the Week salutes songwriter Mac Davis on his 75th birthday
Usually, Off-Ramp's Song of the Week features a local act, or a national act playing a cool local gig. But this time, we want to help blow out the 75 candles on the cake of a musician whose outsized personality overshadows the quality of his songwriting.
Mac Davis was born on January 21, 1942 in Lubbock, Texas. His fame began as a songwriter, and when he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame at the Grammy Museum at LA Live, he played three songs he wrote for Elvis: "Memories," his first hit, "A Little Less Conversation," and "In the Ghetto."
Listen to the audio player to hear him sing those songs, and to hear another great songwriter, Paul Williams, talk with Davis about writing "In the Ghetto," which was deemed "too political" for Elvis to sing. Thankfully, Elvis didn't listen. The conversation was recorded in 2010 when the SHOF opened at LA Live.
Davis went on to become a recording artist himself, with songs like "Baby Don't Get Hooked on Me," "One Hell of a Woman," and my personal favorite: "It's Hard To Be Humble." He also did a lot of acting, hosted his own TV variety show, and played at one of Reagan's inaugural galas.
So, Happy 75th Birthday, Mac Davis, and thanks for all the music!
New host Chris Thile brings 'A Prairie Home Companion' to Pasadena, talks about the transition
UPDATE 1/17/17: Now you can decide for yourself if Thile has saved the show! He's bringing A Prairie Home Companion to the Pasadena Civic Center Saturday, with guests Ryan Adams, Kacey Musgraves, and Kevin Nealon. The Chicago Trib sure loves the change:
Maybe you wandered away from the show in the later years of founding host Garrison Keillor, who handed his headset to Thile in October. Maybe you never much visited in the first place. But while you weren't listening, this enduring homage to old-time music-comedy radio variety programs, which still draws more than 2 million listeners a week, Thile said, has become must-hear radio for any music fan whose tastes haven't ossified, whose pleasures come from surprise rather than repetition. -- Chicago Tribune 1/5/2017
Chris Thile, singer, mandolin virtuoso, and frequent guest on A Prairie Home Companion, becomes the host of the show October 15, taking over from its creator, Garrison Keillor. His first guests are Jack White, Lake Street Dive, and Maeve Higgins. Thile talked about the creative challenges of his new job with Off-Ramp host John Rabe.
Here you stand on the precipice. I can’t imagine what’s going through your head right now.
The nice thing is that I don’t have to become the next Garrison Keillor – no one can do that. Garrison is such a titan, such a brilliant creative man. And the ways in which he is brilliant and creative are inimitable. There is no one that can be like that. Now he created a show that is every bit as brilliant and creative as he is. The show, I think can live beyond his direct involvement. I think it’s like a piece of music that can live through all kinds of development and all manner of various interpretations.
What is your job as a host?
My job is presenting people with the most compelling two hours of entertainment and art that I am capable of presenting. For me this is a two hour trading post, on air trading post for people who make beautiful things for other people.
What’s your job? What’s your role in it?
Just saying, “Hey, look over here this person made a beautiful thing. Hey, would you share your beautiful thing with us. Excellent!” Then I’m going to sit back and listen to them deliver that beautiful thing. I’m going to try to make some beautiful things myself.
And how much should you be doing of that in an ideal show?
Chances are I’ll be responsible for about the same amount of music that Garrison was responsible for –maybe a tiny bit more. He came up with most of the ideas as far as what the house band and he delivered. He did a lot of that, and I’ll be doing that too. Certainly a lot more hands-on in the development of that music. That’s right in my wheelhouse.
What were the consultations with Garrison like? How often did you meet him? Where did you meet him?
I was on tour with the bassist Edgar Meyer, when Garrison called me first to say, “Hey, I’m thinking about getting out of radio.” He presented the idea as out of the blue as it came, also struck me as somehow exactly what I want to do. That sounds perfect. I called him the next morning to make sure I hadn’t hallucinated the whole thing. We have been in fairly regular touch ever since. I’m going to call him tomorrow; I have some questions that have built up in the last month or so.
Like what?
I want to pick his brain about how he would structure the week in terms of content generation and traffic directing. You know to what extent he has his ear to the ground for time or place specific material. So, one of the things I’m most excited about is this deadline. I have to come up with a certain amount of material – including roughly four or five minutes of brand new music every week, no matter what! And it’s so fun to sit there on Sunday or Monday, and go “Okay, what’s it going to be?” But I want to pick his brain about how he approached it.
Like when he started to worry?
I’ve never seen him worry. I don’t think. I have never seen him visibly concerned by anything. I’ll try to learn from that as well. He has this thing, and I feel like I have this as well – at a certain point you know a show is going to happen, you have to do it. There is not another option. Which is the wonderful thing about live performance. Something is going to happen, it has to. Here we are, here we all are… Putting on a show is what I love to do more than anything in the world. I have been doing it since I was seven. I love it.
A more sensitive question: were you worried at all that he was going to interfere in the production and did you have a conversation about him about that?
Whenever you collaborate when any strong artist you are going to have to establish a give and take kind of relationship. You need to have wide-open ears, and conversely you need to feel like you are being heard. Sure, I worried about that. Garrison is the formidable creator of things, but Garrison has said from the very beginning, “You have to make this yours, you have to make it the way you hear it.”
And he has told me, “Look I’ll weigh in when I feel like you might be going astray – but if you think I’m wrong about that give it a try, and we’ll talk.”
I did an interview with Bill Kling and Garrison Keillor, and I asked Garrison what his involvement was going to be, and he said “I’m going to be a grey eminence, and just interject every once in a while.” And I asked Bill about that and he said, “Yeah, right!”
Any critique of his so far has been him worrying that I’m doing my best Garrison Keillor imitation.
How aware are you thinking about the audience question? You’re the new host of his show. You don’t want to tick off the people who absolutely loved Garrison, but you want to do your own thing. Also the numbers for Prairie Home have not been as strong as they used to be. We want new listeners. We want you to be bringing in people with new music.
It’s going to be tricky, of course, people want their cake and they want to eat their cake. They want things that are comfortable and familiar. The show has had a steadying influence on people’s lives – I know it has on mine. Almost a church-like experience for people – I want to make people don’t lose that aspect of the show.
I adore public radio. It’s been such a huge part of my life, and I feel like a lot of people my age don’t feel spoken to almost as if they feel that’s just not their life that is being discussed. Having a 35-year-old host of Prairie Home Companion, will certainly be a step toward them being spoken to, but by no means do I want to stop speaking to someone born and raised in Minnesota who is 65.
Can he do it? Listen for A Prairie Home Companion with new host Chris Thile Saturdays at 6p and Sundays at noon on 89.3-KPCC