Free Music Concerts in Pasadena: 15-19 July

More free concerts! For another week of cool music, head down to Levitt Pavilion in Pasadena. It’s a great family evening, a romantic and inexpensive evening or a date with your favorite canine.

15 July 2009 (Wednesday) 7 p.m.

Children’s Night
Sarah Hickman is a opt children’s singer-songwriter from Texas.

16 July 2009 (Thursday) 8 p.m.

America Music

Spring Standards

A dynamic indie-folk trio with great harmony from Brooklyn, NY.

17 July 2009 (Friday) 8 p.m.

World Music

West African Highlife Band

Tribute to the highlife dance classics with rich African melodies

18 July 2009 (Saturday) 8 p.m.

Latin Music

Louie Beltran Cruz

Latin jazz and Afro-Cuban rhythms.

Do we really know about Cinco de Mayo? Their Web site will tell you and give you some cool tunes.

19 July 2009 (Sunday) 7 p.m.

Jazz

Harper Evans Project

Combining R & B vocals and stylish jazz standards.

For more info: Go to the Levitt Pavilion Pasadena Web site.

Free Music Concerts in Pasadena: 8-12 July

More free concerts! For another week of cool music, head down to Levitt Pavilion in Pasadena. It’s a great family evening, a romantic and inexpensive evening or a date with your favorite canine.

8 July 2009 (Wednesday) 7 p.m.

Children’s Night
Vagabond Puppets Presents: Ferdinand the Bull

The classic tale told with life-size puppets about the bull from Spain, based on the classic tale by Munro Leaf and illustrations by Robert Lawson. The story of the bull who wouldn’t fight will be told in a narrated ballet with a larger-than-life bull, masked dancers, and specialized mechanical figures. Each scene brings to life one of the pages of the book, and the puppets and scenery are based as closely as possible on the illustrations in the book. After the program, students will get involved in an on-stage demonstration of conflict resolution techniques without violence. This is the year of the Ox with a Year of the Ox-born president.

9 July 2009 (Thursday) 8 p.m.

America Music

Lovell Sisters
Georgia based mix of country, bluegrass and contemporary acoustics.

10 July 2009 (Friday) 8 p.m.

World Music

Viver Brasil
Bringing the music and dance of Brazil to life. If this music doesn’t make you’re hips move, you need to see a doctor!

11 July 2009 (Saturday) 8 p.m.

Latin Music

Boogaloo Assassins

Bringing the boogaloo sounds of Spanish Harlem to the West Coast. From what I’ve heard on their Web site, this will make you want to dance and I have to admit…I just love saying their name.

12 July 2009 (Sunday) 7 p.m.

Jazz

Pan African Peoples Arkestra

Veteran and rising musicians representing all forms of jazz.

For more info: Go to the Levitt Pavilion Pasadena Web site.

Levitt Pavilion Pasadena: Free Concerts 28 June-5 July

Levitt Pavilion Pasadena free summer concerts continue. The pavilion will be dark (no concert) on Independence Day (Saturday, July 4).

28 June 2009 (Sunday) 7 p.m.

Cross Hart Jazz Experience

Jazz standards with high-energy swing arrangements and hybrid grooves. This group is lead by bassist composter Ryan Cross and drummer Lorca Hart (son of Billy Hart). This group performs every Monday at the Bel Age Hotel in West Hollywood. They were featured in an episode of “West Wing” and ER.
standards with high-energy swing arrangements and hybrid grooves.

1 July 2009 (Wednesday) 7 p.m.

Children’s Night

Aaron Nigel Smith and the FUNdamentals Band

An uptempo and exciting approach to music and movement. How cool is Aaron Nigel Smith? He’s been asked to join PBS’ “Between the Lions.” I’ve never seen this program, but if you a parent who’s in the know on that one, then that should tell you how good this guy is.

2 July 2009 (Thursday) 8 p.m.

America Music

Delgado Brothers- Monrovia based

Latin blues band with plenty of soul and funk. Sponsored by Darrell G. Brooke, Attorney at Law. Isn’t it cool that a some local boys can hang together and make music? Ian and I weren’t invited to their new album release party in June, but you can sample some tracks on their Web site. The new album is called “Let’s Learn to Fly.”

3 July 2009 (Friday) 8 p.m.

World Music

Emilie Simon

Artful music from French artist, mixing acoustic and electronic.

4 July 2009 DARK! No Performance.

Musica Latina. OK this might be bad, but remember, the Delgado Brothers play on 2 July. Some Latino music is so American.

Dark

5 July 2009 (Sunday) 7 p.m.

Jazz Night

Barbara Morrison

Jazz and blues classics. I heard her sing at the Lindygroove. Go! This lady was born and raised in Michigan and her vocal talent has been on the “Tonight Show” with Jay Leno and was featured on the soundtrack of Denzel Washington’s “The Hurricane.” Need I say more?
For more info: Go to the Levitt Pavilion Pasadena Web site.

Juneteenth: Pasadena and Pomona

You can celebrate Juneteenth and African American women and their style by seeing Regina Taylor’s “Crowns” which is currently playing in Los Angeles at the Nate Holden Performing Arts Center and will later open up in Pasadena at the Pasadena Playhouse. Pasadena will also be having a free Juneteenth celebration at the Jackie Robinson Center and a free lecture at the Pasadena Playhouse. For jazz fans, there’s a free festival in Pomona.

CROWNS
By Regina Taylor
Directed by Israel Hicks
Adapted from the book by Michael Cunningham and Craig Marberry

A co-production with Ebony Repertory Theatre in Association with Regina Taylor.

Winner of four Washington D.C. Helen Hayes awards including Best Regional Musical, Crowns explores the lives of the “hat queens,” six women in the South whose stories of love, loss, identity and sisterhood are woven into the hats that crown their heads and the songs that speak their truth. Based on the acclaimed coffee table book, Crowns captures the thrill of self expression with a series of intimate musical portraits.

This production has been extended and run until July 5 at the Nate Holden Performing Arts Center and then opens at the Pasadena Playhouse on July 10 and ends its run there on August 16.

For more information on “Crowns” go to the Nate Holden Performing Arts Center Web site or call 323.964.9766. For information about its run at the Pasadena Playhouse, go to their official Web site or call (626) 356-7529.

As part of this special co-production, playwright Regina Taylor will be giving a talk at the Pasadena Playhouse’s Carrie Hamilton Theatre at 6 p.m. on Saturday, 20 June 2009. The talk is free, but RSVP is required. RSVP to mktgintern@pasadenaplayhouse.org.

Latin music owes a great debt to Africa, the rhythms deeply influenced salsa, tango and fados. The sensual moving of the hips in Latin dance is also part of the debt. So why not celebrate the day that brought African Americans in the U.S. freedom: Juneteenth. Free community activities in Pasadena and Pomona celebrate this event on Saturday. A play in the downtown area celebrates African American women and hats.

Although President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, 1862, not all slaves were freed. Texas was under the Confederacy and it wasn’t until Union General Gordon Granger and his troops entered Galveston on June 19, 1865 that the slaves were freed. Juneteenth is a portmanteau derived from combining June and 19.

Jackie Robinson Center, a community center celebrating 35 years of service at 1020 N. Fair Oaks Ave. in Pasadena, will host a traditional African American Juneteenth festival Saturday, June 20.

This year’s focus is on health. From noon to 3 p.m. the public can enjoy barbecue, refreshments from the Lemonade Brigade teenagers, games, performances and children’s activities in the center that provides assistance to a culturally, economically and socially diverse population.

Dedicated in 1974, the center was named for one of the nation’s great African American leaders.

“Given the name of this community center, we strive to address every problem, concern and situation with knowledge, compassion, dignity and respect,” said Jarvis Emerson, center director.

Health seminars on cancer, nutrition, cooking, diabetes and heart disease will run from 10 a.m. to noon. Blood pressure screenings, exercise routines and information will be available from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

For more info: call (626) 744-7300 on the Pasadena event.

Go to Ganesha Park on Saturday for the 20th annual Pomona Valley Juneteenth Family Jazz Festival.

The free event will be from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m at the park on White and McKinley avenues.

It will include a car show, plenty of food, information booths and other activities. The event is organized by the Ontario-based Juneteenth America

Juneteenth, or June 19, 1865, is considered the date when the last slaves in the U.S. were freed, two and a half years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.

“Crowns” runs until July 5 at the Nate Holden Performing Arts Center, 4718 West Washington Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90016. Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Saturday 2 p.m., Sundays 3 p.m. $40. “Crowns” opens at the Pasadena Playhouse on July 10 and ends August 16.

For more info: call (626) 744-7300 on the Pasadena event.
For the Pomona event, go to the Web site for Juneteenth America.

For more information on “Crowns” go to the Nate Holden Performing Arts Center Web site or call 323.964.9766. For information about its run at the Pasadena Playhouse, go to their official Web site or call (626) 356-7529.

Free Concerts at Levitt Pavilion: 21-27 June 2009

Levitt Pavilion Pasadena: Free Summer Concerts

21 June 2009 (Sunday) Make Music Pasadena

1:00 PM
Asheba
Caribbean Music for Children.

2:30 PM
Chase Allen
R&B, Soul and Experimental.

3:30 PM
Eric John Kaiser (presented by the French Cultural Services)
French Troubadour who plays folk rock, classic rock and acoustic. He’s based in Portland, Oregon.

4:15 PM
Tete (presented by the French Cultural Services)
Is a folk, blues and soul musician from Paris, Ile de France.

5:15 PM
Red Molly
Is not one, but three women singing about love and other tragedies.

6:30 PM
Quetzal
From our own backyard of East Los Angeles, Quetzal play Latin, Rock and Alternative.

24 June 2009 (Wednesday)

Bob Baker Marionettes. Before dolls and puppets become the stuff of adolescent and adult nightmares thanks to the likes of Stephen King, kids like puppets. Bob Baker Marionette Theater is a happy place and was Los Angeles Magazines “Best Puppet Show in 2007 and “Best Place for a Kids’ Party” in 2003. He and his friends are on-stage free from 7 p.m.

25 June 2009

Amanda Shaw is a 17-year-old Cajun fiddler who produces traditional and pop sounds. Based in New Orleans, she’s playing at the Long Beach Convention Center on 24 June, but in Pasadena, the show is free. Show starts at 8 p.m.

26 June 2009
Element Band

If you like flamenco, how about with an Armenian twist? Element Band is described as Armenian folk with Mediterranean and flamenco fusion. I could imagine dancing a tango to “Hars em Genoom” and “Arabian Nights.” Starts at 8 p.m.

27 June 2009

Del Castillo

Pasadena loves flamenco! Del Castillo incorporates flamenco, Latin rock and blues. From their MySpace page, the “Anybody Wanna” (Dance with Me) , “Borcua del Cielo” and “Everlasting.” After Levitt, they will be going to Phoenix and Austin (the band is based in Austin, TX).

Ben and Jerry’s Free Cone Day: Arcadia

Ben & Jerry’s Santa Anita, Arcadia
400 South Baldwin Avenue
Space FC-7
Arcadia, CA 91007
626-447-5940

Today only! 21 April 2009.

“The Birds” Worth the Flight to Downtown

You have to wonder about dusting off old, rarely produced classics in theater, opera or music. Sometimes, the presentation serves as nothing more than a historical footnote or curiosity. Not so in the case of Walter Braunfels’ 1920 “The Birds.”

Braunfels witnessed critical and popular acclaim for his work, but that was cut short by the intervention of the Third Reich. Although he had converted to Catholicism in 1917, Braunfels was half Jewish. By 1933, he was forced off of his positoin as the director of the Cologne conservatory and he soon fled to Switzerland for the duration of Hitler’s regime. Returning in 1945, he was unable to regain public attention. Much later, after his death in 1954, he word would be revived, produced in 1971 in Karlsruhe and in 1994 in Berlin.

The LA Opera’s production is the West Coast premiere and the opera sparkles with charm. The music is delightful and the staging winning. As for the costumes, I wondered what happens to them afterward. What dancer wouldn’t want those jewel-toned togs?

For a longer review, go to Examiner.com.

Synthia Saint James Gives Free Talk

When you talk to Synthia Saint James, you want to do better–in your life. Without formal training, Saint James has become an artist and a highly successful one. You’ve all seen her work; she designed the first Kwanzaa postage stamp. Saint James will be giving a free talk on Saturday, 11 April, as part of the Pasadena Playhouse’s “Stamp Collectors Day” event.

What kind of advice does she have for artists, male or female? “Two simple words: Do it. Don’t be so concerned with what other people say about your work. Don’t be so concerned about what critics say about your work. Honestly, it’s tough. As successful as people see me today, every day I walk the beach at dawn and I do my affirmations and prayer and I release all the tension and fear so I can come back home and work.”

Yet when Saint James says work, she doesn’t just mean painting. She works hard to get her work out there, commenting, “I don’t expect things to happen out of the clear blue. Every day, I make an effort. I do research. I submit my work. You can’t just lay back. You’ve got to pursue it. That’s the real reason, I’ve been successful. Research is real important. You have to be looking, finding different avenues.

“On a spiritual level, listen to your inner hear, your inner voice and what it’s saying to you. It can be so discouraging if you don’t. You’re inner heart and voice will be your strength.”

Saint James has followed her inner heart and the path has included solo shows in New York, Salt Lake City, and Los Angeles, group shows in Canada, Paris and South Korea and she won award, including the Prix de Paris in 1980, the Gentlemen Concerned Service Award in 1995, the UNICEF Greeting Card Artist Award in 1995, the Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor in 1996 for “Neeny Coming, Neeny Going” and the YWCA Silver Achievement.

One of the local projects she’s working on now is for Regina Taylor’s play, “Crowns.” This musical about the lives of six “hat queens” in the South will run for six weeks at the Nate Holden Performing Arts Center (NHPAC) with previews beginning on May 5, and opening May 8, 2009 through June 14, 2009. The Pasadena Playhouse engagement will run from July 10 through August 23, 2009, with the opening date on July 12, 2009.

The Saturday talk is one of the Pasadena Playhouse’s free events around its current production, “Mauritius.”

For the full article, go to Examiner.com.

Free Advice on Stamps and Even Free Stamps!

If you have even the slightest interest in stamps, you will want to meet Don Schilling when he gives his talk about stamp collecting at the Pasadena Playhouse’s “Stamp Collectors Day.” This retired U.S. Army officer (lieutenant colonel) traveled to Europe while stationed at the NATO headquarters and has been collecting stamps for over half a century and currently writes a popular blog about stamps.

In a recent telephone interview, the 63-year-old Glendale resident said, “I’ve been collecting stamps over 50 years. I got started when I was 10….Most people get started when they are eight or nine or ten years old, then they get into school, discover girls and sports and the stamps get put away, if not tossed out by mom or dad. A lot of times ,they come back to the hobby at about 40, after they’ve raised a family, got a job or a career underway and are looking for a hobby. That never happened to me; I always was interested.”

On Saturday, Schilling will be talking about stamps and women as part of the Pasadena Playhouse’s season theme of “Women: The Heart and Soul of Theater.” He explained that the very first stamp issued in 1840 had a woman on it–a very young Queen Victoria on the Penny Black. “That is a fairly expensive stamp, not rare, but worth several hundred dollars a piece. The design is very similar to the blue Mauritius stamp issued seven years later.”

For a newer generation that emails, texts and tweets, a stamp on a letter might be a novelty item. Will stamps become a thing of the past? Schilling, who currently works as a public relations consultant for non-profits, is optimistic, saying, “the post office is in trouble because of email, but the hobby will always be around and there will always be stamp collectors.”

In Pasadena, you can jump start your collection. Schilling points out that there is a monthly stamp collectors show in Glendale and the Pasadena Coin Company has stamps and collecting supplies. And on Saturday, Schilling will be giving out free stamps from Australia donated by the American Philatelic Society.

For the full article, go to: Examiner.com.

For more info: Call (626) 356-7529 or go to www.PasadenaPlayhouse.org. To learn more about stamps, go to Don Schilling’s Stamp Collecting Round-Up.

Free Philatelic Event at the Pasadena Playhouse

Yes….Free!. But you’ll need to buy a first-class stamp and stand in line for the postmark. This Saturday, 12 noon until 3 p.m. at the Pasadena Playhouse. Live music (free!) by Instrumental Women Project.

Free talk by Don Schilling and Synthia Saint James.