We’ll take you to the devastating Sand Fire to meet a woman who lost her house, a man who almost did, and people who rescued horses evacuated from the fire’s path ... Genndy Tartakovsky brings back 'Samurai Jack' after a long hiatus. Will he ever get home? ... The Getty scores two firsts with its new exhibit, “London Calling.” ... We’ll have the next piece in Priska Neely’s series on teenage artists. This time, we’ll meet a skinny gay Jewish teenage rapper who tells us why hip hop helps him feel more like himself.
Hey! You can take photos at the Getty's new 'London Calling' exhibit. They want you to!
"London Calling: Bacon, Freud, Kossoff, Andrews, Auerbach, and Kitaj" is at the Getty Museum through Nov. 13, 2016.
I was at the opening of "London Calling" at the Getty on Monday night, and the excitement was palpable. People weren't just milling through, chatting with their friends — they were turning to strangers and talking about the works.
Co-curator Julian Brooks laughs and says, "I think it's just amazing visceral work. Paintings, drawings and etchings that, when you see them, they really move and affect you."
They're 74 paintings and drawings of the so-called London School, men who were developing a sort of radical conservatism in the 1940s to 1980s.
"They were working in a figurative style at a time when that was deeply unfashionable. Everything around them was abstract and conceptual. And what they were doing at the time seemed to be old hat," Brooks says. But what Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud, Leon Kossoff, Michael Andrews, Frank Auerbach and R. B. Kitaj did was to use some of the new methods of the new school to take the old school one step further. They liked and respected the work of Turner, Constable, Degas and others, "but they took that to the next level," Brooks says.
Brooks says 85 percent of the works came from the Tate Museum in London, and happened because of their previous collaboration, the massive and massively popular exhibit of J.M.W. Turner's works, "And that was a great success for all of us, and so the Tate did an exhibition (just) on Frank Auerbach, and they said 'Would you like to take that?' And we said we're very interested, but we thought it would actually be better to show him in context with some of the other people working in the city at the same time." The Tate agreed, and Brooks says, "amazingly enough," this is the first major exhibition of these artists together in the U.S.
But there are two more firsts.
Getty director Timothy Potts, who also co-curated "London Calling," said in the news release, “The majority of paintings and drawings in the Getty Museum’s collection are fundamentally
concerned with the rendition of the human figure and landscape up to 1900. This shows ... what happened next.”
And, big news for Instagrammers and Snapchatters: the Getty is not only letting you take photos of the artworks, but encouraging you to do so (#LondonCalling). Brooks says, "Increasingly, everyone realizes that actually there's no harm done" by people taking and sharing photographs. And of course, it speaks to the younger audience the Getty hopes to bring in along with its other patrons. When they do, they'll be moved, too.
Sand Fire: Humans and horses evacuated
Off-Ramp host John Rabe spent Monday morning on the periphery of the Sand Fire. He talked with a man who had been sheltering at William S. Hart High School in Santa Clarita, then with two women at the Hansen Dam Equestrian Center, which has been sheltering horses and other animals.
When Mark Kellum moved to California from Texas two years ago, he thought it would be paradise. “I didn’t realized that paradise came with these risks,” Kellum laughs, as we talked Monday at a Red Cross emergency shelter set up at William S. Hart High School in Santa Clarita.
On Friday, as he was driving back from work to his home on San Canyon Road, he saw a huge plume of smoke.
“[The fire] was about two canyons behind in the Tujunga Canyon direction. I did not think it would climb over the small mountains and threaten our group of homes,” Lellum says. “There is a family that lives three-quarters of a mile up on an elevated plateau, and it was right in their backyard. That family enjoys having parties on the weekend and I felt really saddened.”
Kellum, his family and his pets evacuated as soon as they could that evening, then waited in a queue of cars for about an hour to leave. Kellum really appreciates the generosity of his new community — like the tandoori chicken brought over by a restaurant called An Indian Affaire in Valencia, one of a hundred meals it provided for evacuees.
And it’s not just people that have had to evacuate from the Sand Fire. Heather Harris and Kiley Lampier received a group message about evacuating the horses at Hamilton Equestrian Group from Tricia Hamilton. Quickly, members of the group coordinated this evacuation of dressage horses, bringing them to the stalls at the Hansen Dam Equestrian Center, where Lampier says some 200 horses are being sheltered.
The animals behaved well, under the circumstances. “[Horses] are not used to being moved off the ranch a lot,” Lampier says. “Some go off more often than others, but generally none of them are moved at midnight."
“We are really unhappy about it. It is a very scary situation, but this is the fourth time we have done it,” Lampier says. Recently, “we did it three times in one year. It’s because we live at the edge of the Angeles Crest National Forest. When there is a fire under these conditions, they are often hard to control because there is so much open land.”
For the most recent information on the Sand Fire and other fires in Southern California, make sure to visit the KPCC Fire Tracker.
Click on the audio players (above) to listen to John's full interviews with Mark Kellum and Heather Harris & Kiley Lampier.
An unlikely rapper picks up the mic, finds his true voice
'Samurai Jack's' creator brings Jack swinging his animated sword back into your TV
"Samurai Jack" is coming back after a long time away. The series ran for 52 episodes over four seasons between 2001 and 2004, but never reached a conclusion. Now, creator Genndy Tartakovsky is getting the chance to bring it back later this year to Adult Swim's Toonami programming block.
The show tells the story of a handsome, stoic samurai who is thrown into the future and tries to get back home. He fails of course, but along the way fights many enemies and makes many friends. The character left an imprint — Tartakovsky says that, no matter where he goes, he's never been able to escape "Samurai Jack."
"I think we kind of built a mythology, and people really loved it. They respected it. And I think the art of it all really inspired people," Tartakovsky told us last week at Comic-Con.
He started to realize that there could be an audience out there for the finale that Jack never got.
"People make me draw Samurai Jack. As soon as I started to go into movie theaters, and when I give my credit card, people would recognize my name, and they'd go, 'Oh, my god, 'Samurai Jack's' my favorite when I was a kid.' I realized it's still in the ether, it's still somewhat popular," Tartakovsky says.
Samurai Jack behind the scenes
This isn't Sir Arthur Conan Doyle being forced to bring back Sherlock Holmes after killing him off — Tartakovsky says he loves this show like he's loved all his shows.
"I think all the shows that I've ever done are like babies, you know? You love them all, you let them grow up. Sometimes they move away to college and didn't talk to you anymore," Tartakovsky says.
There's also a piece of Tartakovsky in Jack.
"I've loved everything that we've done, and 'Samurai' especially. That show was from the 10-year-old in me, and the 30-year-old in me. And so it's everything that I've wanted to do in a TV show, and luckily Cartoon Network and Adult Swim is letting me do it," Tartakovsky says. "It's out of pure love, and respect."
Tartakovsky has had great success, with other iconic shows including "Dexter's Laboratory" and the original "Star Wars: Clone Wars." He also worked on the "Hotel Transylvania" movies. The key, he says: "sincerity."
"Don't try to make something just to sell it. I mean, if you have to, you have to — we all have to do... it's a job, it's a business. But when it really works, it always comes from the heart, you know? And I didn't do 'Samurai Jack' because I thought a martial arts thing is going to work, I did it because I've been dreaming and doing samurai stuff since I was 10, and it was in me, even though I'm not Japanese. So that's I think the number one rule, is just be sincere, and be honest. Because then it always comes out truthful," Tartakovsky says.
While Tartakovsky likes to think there's a soulful, soft-spoken, "Samurai Jack"-style Clint Eastwood warrior inside of himself, he says he's actually closer to annoying sister Dee Dee from "Dexter's Laboratory." But he still aspires to be like Jack.
"It was kind of the hero inside all of us that we wanted to do, and we wanted just to make it cool," Tartakovsky says.
He says that his style, particularly on "Samurai Jack," has a big spaghetti western influence.
"I remember sitting actually in Italy, watching a Sergio Leone/Clint Eastwood movie, and not understanding it. You know, I was a little kid, but I was like, 'Wow, look at that.' You really felt it. And I think it's more about the storytelling — like I have a very specific style that I want to do — and make it special. And so you're watching it, and it's an experience, it's not just a TV show where you're just talking the whole time," Tartakovsky says.
He's created a distinct visual style, perhaps best embodied in "Samurai Jack." What made the series stand out was the design, especially its use of color and shape — think David Weidman's mid-century modern prints. Here's how he describes his approach and how it's meant to be enjoyed:
"Cinematic. I think it's theatrical, I think you want to just turn down the lights in the house, turn up the volume, turn off your phones, and just disappear into this world. And I think if you give it that kind of a chance, it'll be a whole different experience."
While he's had the chance to put a lot of gorgeous animation in front of our eyes, Tartakovsky still has his great white whales of projects that either never happened or didn't get the chance he thought they deserved.
"I mean, 'Sym-Bionic Titan' was tough to do just 20 — we had 10 more scripts that we wrote. That was hard," Tartakovsky says.
He also worked on a "Popeye" animated film that, even after test footage was released, was ultimately scrapped.
"The 'Popeye' thing that we did was amazing, and I think it had so much potential. But, you know, I don't dwell in the past. I kind of move on, and even though I'm resurrecting a show I did 15 years ago, it was the right timing. And yeah, you want to see everything to its fullest potential. And you never want to have regrets looking back, like, 'Oh, if only we had 10 more episodes, then it would have really been successful,'" Tartakovsky says.
Now that Jack is returning, Tartakovsky says he's excited to explore the idea that he's just been continuing his journey ever since he was last seen, with the new season taking place 50 years later.
"So now, what happens? How do you feel inside? And he's really lost. And I think that's kind of the key — that right away we come in on it, and we see the darkness of his soul. We see the issues that he's having, and now we just want to cheer for him to repair himself," Tartakovsky says.
Tartakovsky says he tries to avoid looking too much at what other people do so that he doesn't get overly influenced.
"It's hard to be original in this day and age, when there's so much at your fingertips. But actually, when I saw 'Mad Max: Fury Road,' I was like, wow, for a 70-year-old director to have something that fresh, and that to me felt like the best 'Samurai Jack' episode that we could ever possibly make. Because it was all action: little story, great characters, great visuals," Tartakovsky says.
So if you start seeing some "Fury Road" influence on the completely original Tartakovsky, now you know why. But maybe he'll save it for when he's 70. There's no official release date yet for "Samurai Jack's" return, but look for him to come swinging sometime before the end of the year.
From 'invisible' to 'important': A teen finds beauty in her story through poetry
Song of the week: "They Came for Us" by Zig Zags
This week's Off-Ramp song of the week comes from a hard hitting local trio: Zig Zags. Made up of singer and guitarist Jed Maheu, bassist Caleb Miller and Drummer Dane Arnold, Zig Zags are heavy and dark with a production style that channels the best of hard rock the 70's and 80's had to offer.
https://soundcloud.com/castle-face-1/zig-zags-they-came-for-us
In the band's 7 years of existence, they've recorded two albums, dozens of singles and even collaborated with Iggy Pop to record a Betty Davis cover. Their latest record, "Running out of Red," was released this past May on Castle Face Records.
You can see Zig Zags live on Sunday, July 31 at the Smell.