Saturday, January 19, 2019

Love Is Another Country


Coin & Ghost in Association with Vs. Theatre Company Present 
The World Premiere of Lisa Marie Rollins’
Love Is Another Country
Sophocles’ Classic Antigone, Black Women's Bodies & Incarceration
At Vs. Theatre in Los Angeles
February 1 – March 2, 2019

Coin & Ghost in association with Vs. Theatre Company present the World premiere of Love Is Another Country, a radical reimagining of Sophocles’s Antigone at Vs. Theatre in Los Angeles from Friday, February 1 through Saturday, March 2, 2019. The third production of Coin & Ghost’s inaugural season, Love Is Another Country is a new play written by the prolific Bay Area theatre artist Lisa Marie Rollinsand her first full-length work to be produced in Los Angeles. Directed by Kendall Johnson, the production brings together the ancient tale of Antigone Vswith the deaths of innumerable black men and women at the hands of police. Part ritual, part rage, part collective ask to the audience, the play follows three women of the Chapman family as they navigate living as black women in a country that claims to love them. For more information, please visit https://coinandghost.org/liac.
Dee Dee Stephens
Photo:
Zachary Reeve Davidson 
Love Is Another Country opens on Friday, February 1st and runs throughout Black History Month for five weekends with the last performance on Saturday, March 2, 2019. There will usually* be three or four performances depending on the weekend. For the first three weekends (2/1 – 2/17), shows will run most Fridays* and all three Saturdays at 8:00pm and Sundays at 2:30pm. For the last two weekends (2/21 – 3/2), performances will also happen on Thursday nights at 8:00pm. For the final weekend (2/28 – 3/2) there is no Sunday matinee. Vs. Theatre is located at 5453 Pico Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90019 (323-739-4411). There are three tiers of ticket prices: VIP tickets at $30 (first three rows; includes a drink), $25 for general admission and Pay-What-You-Can (PWYC) for the back row. As with all Coin & Ghost (C&G) productions, opening weekend will be entirely PWYC.

* The theater will be dark on Friday 2/15 due to two of the producers getting married! Everyone involved will be attending :-).

The play, written in collaboration with Coin & Ghost, emerged as a radical re-imagining of Sophocles’ Antigone, in response to two cultural stimuli: the systemic deaths of black people as a result of police terror, and the generational impact of incarceration on black women. In Love Is Another Country, a cast of four explores these themes unflinchingly and without apology. Crafted through devised theatre techniques drawn from the lived experiences of the cast, as well as those of Rollins herself, it features an ensemble cast of diasporic black women who bring to life this vital storytelling and hold the space for collective healing for the community. The cast includes Amaka Izuchi (Jordan), Celia Mandela (Nene), Tyree Marshall (Ethel May), and Dee Dee Stephens (Gonee)

Love Is Another Country https://coinandghost.org/liac

Friday, January 18, 2019

Film Buff Friday: Band vs Brand



The state of the union address for the music industry -

BAND VS BRAND
 coming to DVD and Digital Formats on February 12th


A documentary examining the current state of the music business and on how "the brand" of a rock group has more power than the band members


World premiere on Wednesday, January 23rd at the Marriott Delta Garden Grove just prior to the the annual The Hall of Heavy Metal History Gala


BAND VS BRAND, a feature-length documentary film directed by Bob Nalbandian (Director of the Inside Metal series), focuses on the current state of the music business and on how "the brand" of a rock group these days has more power than the band members themselves. It features interviews from several top industry executives and musicians of today, including David Ellefson of the Grammy Award-winning band Megadeth, Jack Russell from Jack Russell's Great White, Nik Turner and Nicky Garrett from Nik Turner's Hawkwind, Dave Lombardo from Suicidal Tendencies and formerly with Slayer, Marc Ferrari from Keel, Frank DiMino from Angel, Mike Varney from Shrapnel Records, Pat Gesualdo from The Hall of Heavy Metal History, manager Adam Parsons (Uriah Heep, Saxon, Europe, Thin Lizzy/BSR), guitarist/songwriter Jean Beauvoir (Plasmatics, Little Steven) and many others. 

The film will make its screening premiere on Wednesday, January 23rd at the Marriott Delta Garden Grove just prior to the the annual The Hall of Heavy Metal History Gala. Tickets for the awards gala are $30 each with the movie premiere open to the general public, free of charge.  For advance tickets or information on the Awards Gala, please visit: www.thehallofheavymetalhistory.org 

Thursday, January 17, 2019

Michael's Musings

#TBT: I Wanna Be A Cowboy
Michael Shinafelt
That time I had a fantasy about being a member of the Village People. Want me to ride you like a cowboy? After all isn't the Wild, Wild, West the state of the union???

Buckle up it's going to be a humpy ride!

When your special guy says he has Beyonce's booty, what do you do???.

I do what my Bluetooth tells me

This is my life, this is my jam

Had a delightful time with Quinn Robinson @ Akbar last night. What happens there, is like a unicorn

Andy Samberg reacts to being called a sex symbol - well here's mine: Someone actually said that?! If that person is you, seek help!

FYI - I was on Brooklyn 99 once

Total Bellas = Total Entertain Me 

R.I.P. Carol Channing aka "Dolly"

Someday I'm gonna wish your ass into the corn field



A Haiku - I'll leave you empty/Spent, and aching. All your glorious evidence/Held safely behind/The vault of my lips/And aren't you happy 

Suddenly I have an uncontrollable urge to - "Yes" it's time to play Name That Urge 

Name it after me, I'm sure you already have. If not let's talk

Royal Baby Buggy Bumpers

Blah, Blah, Blah

Things that are best raw 

On that provocative note, you know where to find me at:

Tuesday, January 15, 2019

I Can't Stand The Rain

Let's Get Soaken Wet! Not!
Anne Hathaway
"I feel it, It's coming, Rain" - Madonna

Well the rainy season in Los Angeles is here and frankly as my byline states - "I can't stand the rain"

As a Washington State native it rained quite a lot, but that was common and it was manageable. Not so much when you live in Los Angeles. Even the littlest amount of the wet stuff can wreak havoc. People slip and slide in their cars, mudslides occur from the fires of the summer and boy do the drainage systems suck here. Thus the water gets quite saturated and streets and sidewalks are freakishly populated with mini lakes and rivers.

Bear witness to Anne Hathaway keeping it dry and real out and about in LA, yet somehow, unlike most individuals I know, she manages to look quite chic. I guess that's why she's a star and we aren't, or something like that.

The moral of today's post? Never make fun of Angelenos when they complain about the rain. Honestly it's the equivalent of a snow storm here. 

I can't wait for this sh!t to end!

Got rain? Oh yes you do, here it is on Wikipedia -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rain  

Monday, January 14, 2019

Monday Motivation

Just Be
Jon Hamm
Yesterday I did something that I haven't in a long time,meditate. With a little bit of a cough and the sniffles I decided it was OK to take some down time and do the minimal things that I needed to without being anxious. "Yes" I cleared my head of all thoughts of what I "should be" doing and just was.

It was one of the best days ever! When you feel anxious, stuck in a rut or just plain over things, take a mental vacation. It takes strong discipline to do it, but if everyday could be like, not to mention feel like yesterday I would be on cloud nine, ten, eleven...

Thus meditation is Monday Motivation - I leave you with this now iconic image of Jon Hamm doing just that in the series finale of one of my favorite shows ever Mad Men. If you recall Hamm's character, Don Draper came up with the iconic Coke jingle during this zen moment....I'd like to teach the world to sing, indeed....

Now get to it, meditate peeps, Namaste!

Meditation on Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meditation  

Sunday, January 13, 2019

Sunday Sinema: Waterworld

I actually went to the premiere of this at The Chinese Theater in Hollywood...
The most expensive film ever made at the time of its release, Waterworld has thrilled audiences through the years with its awe-inspiring action scenes, gargantuan maritime sets and ground-breaking special effects. A definitive post-apocalypse blockbuster, Waterworld stars Kevin Costner (The Untouchables) as The Mariner - a mutant trader, adrift in a dystopian future where Earth is submerged under water and humankind struggles to survive on boats and in ramshackle floating cities. The Mariner becomes embroiled with the Smokers, a gang of pirates who, led by villainous leader Deacon (Dennis Hopper, Blue Velvet), are seeking Enola (Tina Majorino, Napoleon Dynamite), a girl with a map to the mythical realm of "Dryland" tattooed on her back. Famous for both its epic scale and the controversy that swirled around its production, Waterworld is a key cult film of the 1990s, and an essential entry into the subgenre of ecologically-minded blockbusters. Presented here in an exclusive new restoration, in three different cuts, and with a wealth of extra material, this high-water mark of high-concept Hollywood can now be enjoyed as never before.

Bonus Materials

  • New restoration from a 4K scan of the original negative by Arrow Films, presenting the film in three cuts
  • Original 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio and 2.0 stereo audio options
  • Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • Six collector's postcards
  • Double-sided fold-out poster
  • Limited edition 60-page perfect-bound book featuring new writing on the film by David J. Moore and Daniel Griffith, archival articles and original reviews
  • Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Paul Shipper
  • High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation of the original theatrical cut
  • Maelstrom: The Odyssey of Waterworld, an all-new, feature-length making-of documentary including extensive cast and crew interviews and behind the scenes footage
  • Original archival featurette capturing the film's production
  • Global Warnings, film critic Glenn Kenny explores the subgenre of ecologically aware Hollywood blockbusters
  • Production and promotional stills gallery
  • Visual effects stills gallery
  • Original trailers and TV spots
  • High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation of the extended US TV cut, which runs over 40 minutes longer than the theatrical cut
  • High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation of the extended European 'Ulysses' cut, which includes censored shots and dialogue

Press Quotes

To say that this is a massive Blu-ray release, one that will surely give long-time fans reason to celebrate, is an understatement if ever there was one. Arrow Video's presentation exceeds all of my expectations and blows any home video release of the film completely out of the water. Highly recommended!
     —The Digital Bits

Order Here - https://mvdb2b.com/b2b/s/AV181