SoCal Minds

Hot stuff around town to cut the chill and gloom

From Art Center College of Design, Japanese American National Museum, the Autry, Skirball & UCLA

With the gloom and a bit of a chill descending on the metropolis just before the weekend, it may be hard to get some gas in the old tank to get up and go partake of activites. But there's plenty, including the annual Car Classic in Pasadena, a celebration not only of the automobile but also its underlying technology and especially the care, craft, thinking and design that goes into a great vehicle. Of course education itself can take some curious twists, as a scholar will explore in a converation about the ignominious history of American Indian boarding schools, which will be part of a busy Saturday in Griffith Park, where there also will be a big show and sale of vintage American Indian baskets. In Little Tokyo, they'll be rockin', jammin' and takin' in lots of jazzy sounds as the Asian American Music Festival blows into town today and Saturday, when docents will launch a two-day class on the comrehensive history of Japanese Americans. And by the way, Caldecott-winning author Allen Say (aka James Allen Koichi Moriwaki Seii) will be launching, selling and signing 'Boy in the Garden,' his latest, beautiful looking book for kids on Sunday in Little Tokyo. This might be a good weekend to scoot over to the Westside to catch up and maybe even contribute to the global 1000 Journals project and exhibition, a unique opportunity to enjoy and share outstanding examples of quality writing, art, poety and other stuff shared in a special, personal medium. And for thos who insist they can best rest when they're dead, here's a different look at how Korean shamans once escorted, danced and conducted ceremonies to get folks out of here.

Cool stuff to take in on a sizzling autumn weekend

From Art Center College of Design, UCLA, the Huntington, Getty, Japanese American National Museum, CalArts

Phew, it's Harvest Moon festival time and officially autumn but suddenly a blast of summer-like heat sweeps the area. Must be a signal to get out and about to take in all the cool stuff going on. Like a green business conference, co-sponsored by the art-design folks from Pasadena. Or how about an indoor viewing on the Westside of performances that, heretofore, have been staged by 'Superclogger' for L.A. commuters stuck in traffic jams. Or perhaps it's the weekend to get to San Marino to go deep on the history of science  as part of the robust season of public lectures and conferences. The freedom to move around and to enjoy life isn't something to be taken for granted, after all, as a gathering in Little Tokyo will remind, as folks there will discuss, analyze and recall the Japanese American internment, particularly the Heart Mountain, Wyo., camp in a weekend conference. They'll also recall the bizarre events that overtook a hapa (mixed race) flyer during World War II, when he was busted in rank and sent off to be with Nisei fighters in the famed 442d. And, by the way, the venue downtown also will host a 'Frame by Frame' animation showcase by alums from Valencia. And, lastly, for a cool contemporary thought or two about scoring an ancient classic, here's composer Bonfire Madigan talking about her work on 'Elektra.'  

Friday light, looking toward a weekend with lots to offer

From Pacific Asia Museum, the Japanese American National Museum, the Getty & the Autry

Whoa, this remarkable cool, comfortable SoCal summer can't last forever, can it? While SoCal Minds will enjoy the clime with a Friday lite posting, take it, too, as a sign for one and all to get out and keep moving around town to take in an array of mind-extending stuff, including:

• In Pasadena, the highly cultivated eye of curator Kalim Winata turns from books on what's made in India and China to how popular culture emerged in 'China Modern,' an exploration and exhibit that opens Friday. Traveling from the late Qing through Shanghai and all about the People's Republic, the show offers a graphic look at how the historic figures like Mao and modern southern beauties get mashed-up to popularize everything from politics to pomades.

How popular culture gets designed in 'China Modern'

• In Little Tokyo, it will be a busy weekend as the museum moves nearer to marking its 25th anniversary, partly by inviting some key players on Saturday to recall how an iconic exhibit got put together. The remembrances of the volunteers who recovered the intern barracks from the desolation and decay of their Heart Mountain, Wyo., site, then will be followed on Sunday by a paid-event that celebrates a century of good eating in the neighborhood, with a tour and tasting of noteworthy eateries.

Click here and scroll down, through for this weekend's events

• It may be aptly provocative in titular fashion. And certainly with the esteemed scholar involved it won't be a case of headline silliness. But the audience for the free Sunday talk up on the hill simply will have to decide if this question gets answered: Why did Italian artists draw? Go explore how the simple presence paper propelled the profound Renaissance revolution in art in the hands of titans such as Michaelangelo, Mantegna, DaVinci and Titian; space is limited, reservations are required. That's a 1518 Pontormo study shown on the right, by the way.

Click here to learn more about, rsvp for talk on 'Why Italian Artists Drew'

• In Griffith Park, courtesy of the folks at Bank of America, this will be a free museum weekend and a perfect chance finally to catch up Sunday afternoon with Laura Skandera Trombley, who not only serves as president of Pitzer College but also is one of the preeminent scholars on the legendary Mark Twain. She has appeared all across the region talking about her new book and its revelations about Samuel Clements' 'Other Woman.' Lots of attention to the famed western storyteller on this, the centennial of his death, including the much anticipated, upcoming release of the autobiography whose publication he barred until long after he was gone.

Click here for more info on Mark Twain lecture

Scribbles on a few notable matters for the weekend

From Loyola Marymount, the Japanese American National Museum, Zocalo & the Huntington

Because some domestic chores look as if they'll take more effort than expected, an abbreviated spin through the intellectual ferment around the Southland for today and into the weekend doings. But some stuff worth taking a look at:

• In Westchester, the disccussions of the university's 20-year master plan draws a crowd estimated at 350; how will the school burgeon at the same time it acts as a good neighbor, of course, is a key concern, as parties look to the future and worry about growth, traffic, pollution, digital signage, buffer zones and other important matters. 

• In Little Tokyo on Saturday afternoon, documentary film makers will show off their bio-pic that should prove greatly enlightening about a familar, comedic face from television and movies. The sardonic humor of veteran star Jack Soo, appreciated for his work in everything from 'Flower Drum Song' to 'Barney Miller' and 'Monk,' may have kept wider audiences from learning his fascinating life story, including his Japanese -- not Chinese -- ancestry. There's more, of course, on this path-breaking actor and his refusal to play to harmful ethnic stereotypes at the 'You Don't Know Jack' documentary site.   

• And if other diversions still are called for, there is, of course, a premiere of 'Countdown to Zero,' a powerful new film tracking the history and potential harm of nuclear weapons; the Zocalo-KCRW sponsored screening is free but reservations are required. And, of course, the folks in San Marino show off from their collections starting Sunday 'British Landscape Prints.'

For the weekend, 3 turns at matters Japanese, sort of

From the Japanese American National Museum, Pacific Asia Museum & CSULB

Let's take a Japanese turn for things to do to get out in a promised warming break from the persistent July gray. In Little Tokyo, there will be a Saturday afternoon screening of a Sansei son's discoveries about what exactly his daddy and some other unsung Japanese Americans did during the Great War, a film about how, while their own families were incarcerated and under suspicion by authorities, a group of skilled linguists and soon-to-be broadcasters beamed U.S. propaganda, 'Calling on Tokyo' to undermine the morale of the then-Japanese enemy. In Pasadena, this could be a perfect weekend to catch up on a just-opened photographic exhibit, 'One Hundred Not so Famous Views of LA,'  artist Barbara Thomason's take on Hiroshige's famed woodblock collection, 'One Hundred Famous Views of Edo' (now Tokyo, of course). And on Sunday, especially if the weather turns fine, how about a day in the Earl Miller Long Beach Japanese gardens, where 40 local experts will demonstrate the art of origami (paper folding) and there will be calligraphy lessons as part of the weekend celebration of Tanabata, the 'Star Festival.' 

Photo: 'Broadway Train Tracks' by Barbara Thomason, on exhibit in Pasadena

A slice of an LA weekend: from Hapas to Lemony Snicket

From the Japanese American National Museum, LACMA, Pepperdine, the Skirball & UCLA

Never a shortage of smart stuff to take in, in what promises to be a seasonably sunny Southern California weekend: In Little Tokyo, it will be a free Saturday, for example, as two hip and happening folks headline a day highlighting the experiences of Hapa or mixed race Americans; the session with scholar-artist Kip Fulbeck and educator Dr. Maya Soetero-Ng (President Obama's sis) is on a wait-list basis. For those concerned about families, religion and faith, there's a big conference going on in Malibu, though a call will be required to see if the now full sessions can accommodate. Meantime, get those feet and the mind moving with all the day-long events as museums on the Miracle Mile join in for their annual Artwalk, which this year will include World Cup soccer-related activities; there are some fees for the events at the county museum, where there will be displays of art (of course!), music, performance, workshops, activities, food, and more. The participating institutions include LACMA, Peterson Automotive, Page, Craft and Folk. If the feet still gotta move, there is, of course, a weekend festival of avant-garde dance films by Pina Bausch and others, in Westwood by Dance Camera West. And for parents and kids who are fans of Lemony Snicket, author Daniel Handler and his illustrator and wife, Lisa Brown, will be over on the Westside on Sunday for a chat and reading.  

Stinks in Bucharest, San Marino; a whiff of Little Tokyo fun

From CalArts, the Japanese American National Museum & the Huntington

It's supposed to be a balmy, sunny holiday weekend in Southern California and if the weather alone doesn't provide the pleasure of living in this spot on the planet, well, you could be in Bucharest...

That's where an artist-scholar who splits her time between LA and Vienna discovered that a few influential Bulgarians may be a tad behind modern thinking, as they banned her work at the Bucharest Bienale. Maybe that could become its own bizarre badge of honor?  And, no, as can be seen from the image at left, Kaucyila Brooke's art, though provocatively titled, wouldn't raise the fussiest of eyebrows in Los Angeles where saucier views assault the senses on any street at any moment. Hah! 

As long as we're on the topics of making a stink, the folks in San Marino are stirring the pot yet again as the son of the son of ol' smelly, they say, soon will bloom. Say what? Though it's a little inexplicable the popularity of the supposedly rare phenomenon, yet another amorphophallus titanum, aka corpse flowers, is shooting up and ready to make its odiferous opening in the next bit. For those smitten by this botantical bounty, well, there's an online spot to follow the stinky plant and its flowering, blow by blow. Phew.

So we leave you with a more pleasant thought and smelling like a rose, the folks over in Little Tokyo will be celebrating their Asian Pacific Islander and Native American Heritage Festival starting at 11 on Saturday. There will be movies, lectures, exhibits and the museum says it will admit one and all on a 'pay what you can' basis. Donate lots, eh?

Getting even more hip to faces, lives of hapa kids

From the Japanese American National Museum

With Barack Obama in the White House and Tiger Woods commanding the headlines (sigh), it's tough to be unaware of the presence and impact of so-called 'mixed race' people. But, whoa, who really wants to focus on 'racial purity' and what the heck is it and why should it matter in the 21st Century any way? Well, for all the supposed contemporary advancements in the modern social clime, hapas -- as the Japanese call multiracial individuals or people of mixed ancestry -- still face challenges, particularly in matters of personal identity. And writer-artist Kip Fulbeck continues his exploration of these in a new book (in which pop star Cher contributes) and with his latest exhibition opening this weekend in Little Tokyo. For Americans of Japanese ancestry, of course, the 20th Century posed particular, peculiar issues and hardships regarding race and national origin. They not only endured a wrongful, national incarceration based on these aspects but also juggled a cultural tradition and history that emphasized the alleged uniqueness of the Japanese, even as they assimilated and 'out-married' at unprecedented rates, such that hapa kids are not just common but prevalent in the community. 

In Little Tokyo, a second glimpse of growing cultural phenomena of multiracial young people

Of pow wows, antiquities, Mesoamerica, Hawaii

From CSULB, CSULA, the Huntington & the Japanese American National Museum

With the promise of a dry, sunny and increasingly warm weekend, there's lots to get out to see and learn about, including:

• In Long Beach, Native Americans will gather Saturday and Sunday for the 40th annual Pow Wow, which also will help commemorate 41 years of American Indian studies at the school, which asserts it has the oldest such scholarly program west of the Mississippi. There will be feasting, art and craft sales, dancing and competitions at the free, public event.

40th annual Long Beach Pow Wow also marks 41 years of Native American studies

Click here for more Pow Wow information

• In San Marino, scholars from across the country will gather to examine 19th Century Americans' fascination with ruins -- from Native American cultures, Egypt and Cyprus, among other spots. Why and how did the fledgling nation need its real and imagined ties with long lost civilizations and how did those earlier experiences shape contemporary U.S. life? There is a fee and registration required for the program that begins this (fri) morning and runs through Saturday. Click on the link contained in the brief blurb describing the program for the registration form and speaker list.

Session scrutinizes 19th Century Americans' fascination with ruins, antiquities 

• In East LA, experts on Mesoamerica will gather Sunday for their free, public conference at which they will take up such topics as the Maya, caves and ancient warfare, new views on Aztec human sacrifice and the ancient peoples' religious practices and gender ideologies. Refreshments will be provided and reservations are recommended.

A springtime exploration of all things Mesoamerican

• In Little Tokyo, it's worth catching up with 'Textured Lives,' an exhibit of painstakingly collected textiles that illuminate the unique connections between Japanese immigrants and their new lives in their new world -- the plantations of Hawaii. Some of the newcomers made use of their knowledge of fabric, sewing and design to create clothes to protect them in the fields, garments that melded Japanese, Portuguese and Chinese styles; others carried to their new American lives treasures of their Japanese heritage in fine kimono and other stylish clothing or textiles.

'Textured Lives' tells tale in fabric of ties between Japanese immigrants, life in Hawaii  

At book event, history walks through the door

From the Japanese American National Museum

History walked in the door this weekend. During an enlightening and entertaining presentation to promote their new book, author Lane Ryo Hirabayashi and photographer Hikaru Carl Iwasaki got a pleasant surprise when an audience member raised her hand during the question-and-answer period. She just wanted to let them know that she was the woman from six decades earlier depicted on the cover of their glossy book, which describes the work of Iwasaki and other photographers involved in documenting the relocation of Japanese Americans after their unjust mass incarceration in World War II. Lots of good stuff offered by Iwasaki and Hirabayashi, of the UCLA Asian Studies Center, including links to thousands of government photographs of the internment and relocation, works that now are going online.

Mitzi Fujino and Shig Sakamoto at YMCA dance in Denver, June, 1945, Hikaru Iwasaki, National Archives; cover of 'Japanese American Resettlement Through the Lens,' Chas. Mace (l) and Carl Iwasaki pack WRA photos for a display to encourage resettlement / WRA-UC Berkeley Bancroft Library; six decades later, Iwasaki, l, Fujino, and Hirabayashi