Today on AirTalk, we'll discuss the merger between LACMA and MOCA and what it could mean for the L.A. art scene. We'll also consider how the Southern California International Gateway could affect South Bay pollution. Later, Mike Tyson joins us to discuss his upcoming show at the Pantages theater, and on FilmWeek, Larry and the critics review this week's releases.
What would a LACMA takeover of MOCA mean to art in Los Angeles?
Whether your taste in art runs contemporary or classical, whimsical or dark, a shake-up in the L.A. art scene could change what you see. Yesterday, the venerable Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) proposed acquiring the troubled Museum of Contemporary Art.
MOCA has enjoyed success with pop and popular exhibitions that Angelenos couldn't find elsewhere in the city - such as last year's Transmission LA. Nevertheless, the museum's leadership has been in tumult. Its board hired New York art dealer Jeffrey Deitch. Ever since, MOCA lost most of curators and board-member artists including L.A.'s beloved John Baldessari and Ed Ruscha. Those losses coupled with continued financial shortfalls make it ripe for LACMA's picking. One potential stopper is powerful philanthropist Eli Broad - a recent $30-million gift he bestowed to MOCA had strings attached.
Would such a merger excite the city's art offerings or could a single vision become boring? Why has MOCA failed to find financiers? What designs does Eli Broad have on the visual-art institutions of L.A.?
Guests:
Christopher Knight, art critic for the Los Angeles Times
Lynn Zelevansky, curator for The Henry J. Heinz II Director of Carnegie Museum of Art, former curator for LACMA, where she organized numerous exhibitions, including Your Bright Future: 12 Contemporary Artists from Korea, the award-winning Beyond Geometry: Experiments in Form, 1940s to 1970s, and Love Forever: Yayoi Kusama.
Los Angeles Harbor Commission approve SCIG rail yard project
The Los Angeles Harbor Commission yesterday approved the Southern California International Gateway (SCIG), a $500 million rail yard project. This project still needs to be approved by the Los Angeles City Council, but the SCIG has been the center of a big debate.
This project will bring a large new rail yard and trucking depot to the area near the Port of Long Beach. Supporters include numerous politicos and those who advocate for the reported 1,500 new jobs the SCIG would bring to the area. Also, by transferring cargo at the port instead of downtown L.A., there should be less truck traffic on the 710 freeway. But Long Beach residents don’t want fleets of freight trains and trucks constantly rolling in and out of the new site. They say this project will cause health and respiratory illnesses, and environmental groups question if these trucks will really end up being zero- or near-zero-emission.
Can this project by the Port of Long Beach mean less truck traffic and diesel fumes? Will it raise health issues to nearby residents? Do more job opportunities outweigh these concerns?
Guests:
David Pettit, Senior Attorney, Natural Resources Defense Council and director of NRDC's Southern California Air Program
Roger Nober, Executive Vice President of BNSF, the sponsor of the SCIG project
Mike Tyson on his one-man show, his recovery and his violent past
Boxing legend Mike Tyson is no longer driven by violence and need to hurt others, at least that’s been the theme of his public life since his last professional match in June 2005, after which he humbly said, “I'm sorry I let everybody down, I'm fighting just to pay my bills. I don't have the stomach for this anymore...I don't have the desire for it. I feel bad for the people...I wish they could get their money back.”
After a career punctuated by pulverizing opponents in the ring and serving time in prison for rape, Tyson’s life after boxing has resembled a never-ending confessional, and no topics (whether it’s sex, addiction, rage, or bankruptcy) are off limits.
So, when Tyson took to the stage in April 2012 on the Las Vegas strip to perform a one-man show about his life, “Mike Tyson: Undisputed Truth,” few were shocked but thousands flocked to see him bare all yet again in his own trademarked blend of soft-spokenness and raw honesty.
Tyson has taken his show on the road, and he starts a three-night stand at the Pantages Theater in Hollywood at 8:00 p.m. tonight, when Angelinos will get to decide if Tyson really is a man transformed or simply a great entertainer.
Interview Highlights:
On why he decided to so a biographical stage show:
"I never thought I wanted to tell my story, but I watched Chazz Palminteri's "A Bronx Tale" on stage, and he was so magnificent you couldn't believe that he had grasped our attention. The place was packed and you could hear him breathe, and that's how quiet we were. He had us captivated and I wanted to have something to do with that, I wanted to have some of that magic that he had…I wanted to have that kind of performance on people, because when you go see this guy perform, you got your money's worth and then some."
On how recovery programs changed his life:
"The best thing to ever happen to me was I got involved with recovery programs. Even though I go through my relapses and stuff, this is the best thing that I can push myself to become a better person. I don't have to be Iron Mike Tyson. I could be Michael Gerard Tyson, I can raise a family and respect my wife and not give her a venereal disease and cheat on her. Iron Mike Tyson can't do that."
On why heavyweight boxing isn't as popular as it used to be:
"That happens in time, they don't have anymore heavyweights they have to go with someone else. There's no American heavyweights that are exciting to that plateau that makes people want to see them. they're not fighting like they really want to hurt people, that's not nice to say in the society that we live is pretty much hyper violent. but that's what makes good fights when people want to hurt each other."
On his violent reputation:
"My whole life was dictated by violence, extreme violence…Regardless of that, I got work for that violence, so it became a narcotic. I really despised that person and tried to erase that person from my memory bank. But that person that I despised was the person that everybody loves and comes to see. Isn't that really weird? I have a really dynamic I have a problem with that, they don't understand as soon as I'm on the stage, they start screaming, but they're not listening to my words...The best audience I've had is when they listen to all my words."
On being sober for 4.5 years:
"It's not really about the drugs, it's about me developing my life, because I would never have been able to develop these life skills — that my father didn't possess that my mother didn't possess — that's why they died the way they died if I never got involved with these recovery problems. They gave me skills that just, once the situation happens they go into affect."
Guest:
Mike Tyson, former undisputed world champion heavyweight boxer who retired with 44 KOs in 58 fights
FilmWeek: Oz the Great and Powerful, Beyond the Hills, War Witch, and more
Larry is joined by KPCC film critics Andy Klein, Henry Sheehan, and Charles Soloman to review the week’s new film releases including Oz the Great and Powerful, Beyond the Hills, War Witch, and more. TGI-FilmWeek!
Oz the Great and Powerful
Beyond the Hills
War Witch
Dead Man Down
Guests:
Andy Klein, film critic for KPCC and the L.A. Times Community Papers chain
Henry Sheehan, film critic for KPCC and dearhenrysheehan.com
Charles Solomon, film critic and animation historian for KPCC, author for amazon.com