LA and OC Weirdo Music and Art Forum

Photos from last year: [https://www.meetup.com/la-oc-weirdo-music-and-art-group/photos/34583738/)](https://www.meetup.com/la-oc-weirdo-music-and-art-group/photos/34583738/))

Festival Info:
PASADENA CHALK FESTIVAL takes place on June 14 & 15, 2025
Open and free to the public 10:00am – 7:00pm
200 chalk murals and over 500 artists • Art Gallery & Silent Auction • Live DeeJay • Concessions • Beer Garden
Location: The Plaza at the Pasadena Convention Center, 300 E. Green Street. Pasadena, CA 91101

Website:
https://pasadenachalkfestival.org/

Artist entry form and guidelines here:
https://pasadenachalkfestival.org/artists/

Have you watched our film?
https://youtu.be/V3mztSwQK1M

For centuries artists (known in Italy as “Madonnari” or street painters) have painted beautiful images on the boulevards and squares of great cities, using the pavements as the street surfaces as their canvas. After World War II, scores of itinerant artists made their living from the unique art of street painting. Currently prestigious cultural festivals in Europe, North and South America celebrate this traditional art form and have become popular attractions for artists, art lovers and people from all walks of life.

LightBringerProject/The Pasadena Chalk Festival began in 1993 after a summer intern at the Light Bringer Project attended a street painting festival in Paris and brought back her amazing pictures and observations. The first “Chalk on the Walk” took place at Centennial Square at Pasadena City Hall with over 150 visual artists participating in the first Los Angeles-area event. All proceeds went toward community arts programs and HIV/AIDS resources.

In 2010, The Pasadena Chalk Festival was officially named the largest street painting festival by the Guinness World Record, welcoming more than 600 artists using over 25,000 sticks of chalk and drawing a crowd of more than 100,000 visitors in one weekend. In fact, previous festivals have attracted artists and design teams from many regions of the country, across Southern California, and virtually every Los Angeles-area community. Leading art schools, museums and cultural centers are also represented at the festival.

The Pasadena Chalk Festival is produced by Light Bringer Project (LBP), with proceeds benefitting LBP, a nonprofit arts and education organization that creates and supports vital arts and learning programs in the LA County and Pasadena public schools for students of all ages. Each artist volunteers to 20 hours of his or her talent and energies to make this possible.

Parking: Parking at the Pasadena Convention Center is easy. You will find the center’s parking entrances on Euclid and Marengo (between Cordova St. and Green St.), shared with Hotel Dena. If you are using a Mobile GPS, enter this address for the most direct route: 175 South Euclid Avenue, Pasadena, CA 91101. There are 8 EV charging stations available for electric cars. The stations can be used for the duration of your visit. The Convention Center parking structure has ADA parking and elevators.

Parking Cost: Daily flat parking rate of $15. Parking tickets are for one entry only and are not valid for in and out parking. Credit card and contactless payment only.

Venue: REDCAT (Roy & Edna Disney Cal-Arts Theater)
631 W 2ND ST,
LOS ANGELES, CA 90012
+1 (213) 237 2800
redcat@calarts.edu

Tickets: $25.00
https://www.redcat.org/events/2025/partch-ensemble

I suggest you buy tickets ahead of time.

Parking at the Disney Hall Parking structure (entrance on 2nd Street) is $10.

REDCAT has a nice bar and usually features an art exhibit in the lobby, so check those out too!

PARTCH Ensemble—the Grammy Award-winning ensemble specializing in the music of the iconoclastic composer Harry Partch—presents a triple bill of premieres performed on Partch’s extraordinary instruments. This year’s program includes the LA debut of Partch’s five-part Summer 1955, a setting of texts ranging from Psalm 137 and Shakespeare’s “Potion Scene” to Alice in Wonderland’s Adventures, and culminating in the composer’s clarinet arrangement of Ulysses written for jazz great Chet Baker. Composer Evan Ziporyn, described as “intoxicating” (The New York Times), presents the world premiere of Earth Studies, inspired by the visionary work of the DesignEarth architecture team whose texts and images intersect with Partch’s unique soundscape. Stephen James Taylor, known for his film scores, premieres HEAVE HO, bringing together hip hop, minimalism, microtonal, and pop music with Afro-futurism.

The program includes an instrument “petting zoo”: audiences are encouraged to interact with the instruments on stage after the show.
Funny, moving, inventive and insanely theatrical…an unforgettable performance.
San Francisco Chronicle

This performance is supported, in part, by the LA County Department of Arts and Culture as part of Creative Recovery LA, an initiative funded by the American Rescue Plan.

Partch Ensemble plays the music of composer Harry Partch using instruments invented by him. Harry Partch was an American composer, music theorist, and creator of musical instruments. He composed using scales of unequal intervals in just intonation, and was one of the first 20th-century composers in the West to work systematically with microtonal scales. He built custom-made instruments in these tunings on which to play his compositions, and described his theory and practice in his book Genesis of a Music (1947).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Partch

PARTCH Ensemble - 2019 Sonata Dementia Album Release Party Documentary: https://youtu.be/4wRJUm3ookU

Partch Ensemble - "Daphne of the Dunes"
https://youtu.be/6c7utyMPqT4

Join us Sunday 6/15 @scribble.community doors at 8PM

The Present Quartet +1
plays the music of Anthony Braxton

Ellen Burr - Flutes / Jeff Schwartz - Double Bass / Charles Sharpe - Winds / Anne LeBaron - Harp / Alicia Byer - Bassoon

Dan Rosenboom Quartet

Dan Rosenboom - Trumpet / Joshua White - Keyboard / Tim Lefebvre - Bass / Anthony Fung - Drums

You, Me, + the Whales Sextet

David Otis - Saxophone / Zac Burgenbauch - Guitar / MA Harms - Vibraphone / Elif Dinçer - Harp / Luscas Lenny - Drums / Devin Bergenbauch - Bass

Tickets: $13.00 to $199.00
https://www.hollywoodbowl.com/events/performances/3583/2025-06-18/rhiannon-giddens-american-tunes

Directions here

Park & Ride info here - much cheaper and fewer hassles than parking at the Bowl. We will take the Park & Ride from Lakewood.

Artists

• Rhiannon Giddens & The Old-Time Revue
• Justin Robinson (from Carolina Chocolate Drops)
• Dirk Powell
• Jason Sypher
• Amelia Powell
• Demeanor
• Steve Martinspecial guest
• Ed Helmsspecial guest
• Our Native Daughters
  Leyla McCalla special guest
  Amythyst Kiah special guest
• Alison Brown special guest
• More guests to be announced

About this Performance
Rhiannon Giddens takes audiences on a journey through the evolution of folk in this one-night-only celebration. From the old-time and string band traditions that laid its foundation, to the rise of bluegrass, the folk revival, and beyond, the evening showcases how these genres have shaped and continue to shape the heart of American musical identity. Featuring a rich tapestry of voices and instruments, the concert honors folk music's deep cultural roots, highlighting both its historical significance and modern-day relevance.

Led by Giddens and her own Old-Time Revue (Dirk Powell, Jason Sypher, Demeanor, Amelia Powell, and Justin Robinson of the Carolina Chocolate Drops) alongside Our Native Daughters (Leyla McCalla, Amythyst Kiah), Steve Martin, Alison Brown, Ed Helms, and more, American Tunes emphasizes folk’s ongoing impact on the American soundscape, drawing attention to its stories of struggle, resilience, and the beauty of shared heritage.

Singer, fiddler, banjo player, and composer Rhiannon Giddens has won two Grammys, a MacArthur “Genius” grant, and a Pulitzer Prize. She’s the Artistic Director of the Grammy-winning Silkroad Ensemble, composer of opera and ballet, has hosted TV shows and podcasts and recorded with everyone from Beyoncé to Iron & Wine to Yo-Yo Ma to Ben Harper. With her group Carolina Chocolate Drops, she helped to make the Black roots of American folk music better known to generations of music fans and expanded that through her solo work and her work with Our Native Daughters. She’s been called one of the 25 Most Influential Women Musicians of the 21st Century by NPR and “one of the most important musical minds currently walking the planet” by American Songwriter. All of that and she’s never lost touch with the simple idea that folk music is meant to connect everyday people to one another.