What happens to comics and crosswords if newspapers die? Plus, billboard art, Eric Garcetti's first career, Norwegian datarock, the new waltzmeister, and a woodworking icon remembered. Enjoy!
Billboard Art
John checks out an exhibit of glorious Kodachrome photos of LA billboards from the 1950s and 1960s, assembled by LA's preeminent photojournalist Gary Leonard. The photos (and billboards) are like time capsules of another era.
Crafting a Beautiful Marriage
Sam Maloof was a giant in American Arts and Crafts and he died recently. Queena Kim met Maloof and says the story of Sam Maloof begins with Freda.
When Garcetti Scored Libretti...
You've heard of Rogers and Hammerstein and Lennon and McCartney. But what about Yorkey and Garcetti?
Yorkey is lyricist Brian Yorkey, whose Broadway musical “Next to Normal” is up for 11 Tony Awards this weekend. Yorkey’s first songwriting partner is LA City councilman Eric Garcetti. Molly Peterson brings us this report on the songwriting duo that could have been.
What about the Funnies?!
John wonders what will happen to his beloved Candorville, Frazz, Peanuts, and Zits if newspapers die. He posed the question to artists and publishers at a cartoonists' convention in LA.
John: Every morning, I go to the front porch, pick up my LA Times and my New York Times, and head straight for the comics and the crossword. Then I read the serious stuff.
Queena: Comic strips date back to the 1890s and The Yellow Kid, a bald street urchin who laid the groundwork for other famous bald kids in the comics, like Charlie Brown and Henry.
John: Let's head to the annual convention of The National Cartoonists Society, which was held in LA a couple weekends ago. That's where I talked with comic artists, an expert, and a syndicate executive. Darrin Bell draws Candorville, Jerry Scott works on Baby Blues and Zits, Jim Borgman works on Zits, Lisa Wilson is vice-president of United Feature Syndicate, and Charles Solomon is an expert on animation and the comics.
Cheese-Wiz Andre Rieu
Mix Yanni with Celtic Women, Arthur Fiedler, and Lawrence Welk. What do you get? André Rieu. Off-Ramp's classical music critic Craig Curtis previews the waltz-meister's Nokia show.
Craig Curtis: Andre Rieu -- that's R-I-E-U -- is a platinum selling violinist and conductor who’s playing at the Nokia Theater June 19th. And the place’ll be packed. Trust me.
If you don't, just Google 'Andre Rieu tickets.' You’ll get more hits than a search for 'Laker playoff tickets.'
Fifty-something, long hair, a wan smile, Stradivarius violin … you've probably seen Rieu on public TV, where his fundraising specials are money in the bank. His orchestra basically plays nothing but encores: waltzes, popular arias, show tunes and movie themes, all served up in exotic locations with impossibly pretty girls and first class TV production.
Rieu fell in love with the waltz while a conservatory student in his native Holland. He put together a salon orchestra and began playing Strauss and Lehar waltzes for beer money.
By the 80s he'd formed the Johann Strauss Orchestra and Choir, and was being credited—at least by his publicists—with reviving interest in the Viennese waltz … which probably surprised all those Viennese orchestras that make a living playing in three-quarter-time.
It’s easy to criticize Rieu. In Germany and Austria he’s dismissed as a purveyor of Schlagermusik. Schlagermusik is a kind of Euro-pop familiar to anybody who’s seen the Eurovision Song Contest, which has been around since the 50s and is like American Idol on steroids.
And there is a cheese factor with Rieu, but it's high quality Euro cheese. A lot of the music is great, and the playing...well, it's a touring show orchestra – they play it every night and are really good at it. But Rieu’s group is not full of virtuosos like the Vienna Philharmonic. That said, Rieu's orchestra will never turn in a dull, stuffy performance of music that’s meant to be fun. It’s dance music, for crying out loud.
It's show biz. I mean, the guy sometimes travels with his own ice rink. Nobody sleeps through a Rieu performance, which is more than I can say about some classical performances I've been to.
So, go to LA Live to see him on the 19th. Get yourself a couple glasses of cheap Riesling and a cheese tray, settle back, and sway-n-smile with Andre. It won’t hurt.
For Off-Ramp, I’m Craig Curtis.
Dinner Party Download
Norway's Datarock toot their own horn... we're knocked out by a drink served beaten, not stirred... and Brendan eats BBQ with a side of vinyl.
Datarock make for swell listening, and sweller viewing. Evidence: the "Beat It"-esque video for their new single "Give It Up," complete with gang wars, synchronized breakdancing and yards of red fabric.
As mentioned in DPD's interview: Check out what happens when Datarock's Ket-Ill removes the track suit and becomes world-renowned jazz superhero Kjetil Moester.
For more tasty tips and links, head over to sister site dinnerpartydownload.com.
Crosswords at a Crossroad?
If newspapers continue folding, how will we satisfy our Crossword cravings? John poses the question to puzzle wiz Will Shortz, the editor of the NY Times Crossword.
It Takes a Character
...to voice a character. "Mary Tyler Moore Show" alum Ed Asner tells John about the challenges of voicing cartoons. Asner plays the curmudgeon Carl Frederickson in Up.
Listen to the show in full to hear Asner pitching for Off-Ramp.
Bob Baker's HISTORIC Marionnette Theater
This week, LA city council named the Bob Baker Marionnette Theater a Historic-Cultural Monument. Listen to a few Off-Ramp features - old and new - that visit the storied cultural center.
LOS ANGELES (CNS) - A marionette theater near downtown Los Angeles was designated an historic-cultural monument today by the Los Angeles City Council.
The Bob Baker Marionette Theater on West First Street was built in 1953 and originally served as a workshop for Academy Award-winning special effects artist M. B. Paul. In 1961, the building was sold to Bob Baker and Alton Wood, who turned it into a live puppet theater.
The theater is believed to be the longest-running puppet theater in the country, according to the city Planning Department. Baker eventually started his own company, Bob Baker Productions, and worked on "Bedknobs and Broomsticks," "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," "A Star is Born" and "Escape to Witch Mountain."
"It is one of the rare occasions for a young person to learn about the classics, great stories, and actually feel and see and touch what stories can do for the imagination. It is because of human contact -- real life -- moving right before them. In today's day of Rock Band and videos and all of these
technologies that isolate our kids, this is one where they have to get together with people," said Councilman Ed Reyes, chair of the Planning and Land Use Management Committee.