About us
This group is for people who appreciate music and other forms of art beyond the mainstream, with a particular focus on the avant-garde or otherwise odd. Free Jazz, Musique Concrete, Atonality, Noise Music, Outsider Art, Surrealism, Dada, Junk Art, ...you name it! Not all events will necessarily be "weird", but simply off the beaten mainstream path.
This is intended to be an oasis from crass commercial banalities.
I'll post events that interest me, but I am also interested in hearing from artists, musicians, and other creative types about their events that I can share with members. Post your events and ideas in the "Discussions" section. I want this group to also be a vehicle that helps support artists and organizations that are doing interesting creative work.
The only requests are that we keep things friendly and civilized. MAGA not welcome.
Upcoming events
4
Billy Childs at The World Stage
The World Stage, 4321 Degnan (Leimert Park), (Entrance in the back), Los Angeles, CA, USDate: Tueday, August 18, 8:30
Venue: The World Stage
4321 Degnan Blvd, Los Angeles, CA, United States, California 90008Tickets: $20 at the door
Billy Childs has emerged as one of the foremost American composers of his era, perhaps the most distinctly American composer since Aaron Copland – for like Copland, he has successfully married the musical products of his heritage with the Western neoclassical traditions of the twentieth century in a powerful symbiosis of style, range, and dynamism.
Childs has received orchestral and chamber commissions from, among others: Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Leonard Slatkin, the Los Angeles Master Chorale, the National Symphony, the Minnesota Orchestra, the Orpheus Orchestra, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Kronos Quartet, the Dorian Wind Quintet, the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, the Isidore Quartet, the American Brass Quintet, the Ying Quartet, the Lyris Quartet, Anne Akiko Meyers, Rachel Barton Pine, and Inna Faliks. His works have been performed at Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, and Disney Concert Hall.He has also garnered seventeen GRAMMY nominations and six awards: two for Best Instrumental Composition (Into the Light from Lyric and The Path Among The Trees from Autumn: In Moving Pictures), two for Best Arrangement Accompanying a Vocalist (including New York Tendaberry from Map to the Treasure: Reimagining Laura Nyro, featuring Renee Fleming and Yo-Yo Ma), and two for Best Instrumental Jazz Album: Rebirth (2018) and The Winds of Change (2024). In 2006, Chamber Music America awarded Childs a New Jazz Works Award and in 2019 a Classical Commissioning Award – making him the first artist to receive awards in both genres. In 2009 Childs was the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, and in 2013 was awarded the Doris Duke Performing Artist Award. He has also been awarded a Composers Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters (2015). In 2018, Childs was named Outstanding Alumnus of the Thornton School of Music (sharing that honor with, among others: Morton Lauridsen, Michael Tilson Thomas, and Marilyn Horne). Childs has also served as president of Chamber Music America (2016-2022).
Childs’ jazz career began in 1977, when he joined the band of trombonist J.J. Johnson. Soon thereafter trumpet legend Freddie Hubbard recognized the 21-year-old’s prodigious talents, and invited Childs to join his star-studded ensemble. Over a six-year internship that followed, Hubbard became Childs’ mentor in mastering the art of small ensemble improvisation. Childs launched his recording career as a jazz solo artist in 1988, when he released four critically acclaimed albums on the Windham Hill Jazz label. He has also recorded two volumes of “jazz/chamber music” (an amalgam of jazz and classical music) – Lyric, Vol. 1 (2006) and Autumn: In Moving Pictures, Vol. 2 (2010); both recordings have collectively been nominated for five GRAMMY awards (winning twice). In 2014, Childs recorded a collection of re-imagined Laura Nyro compositions for Sony Masterworks. Map to the Treasure: Reimagining Laura Nyro was produced by Larry Klein, and features guest artists Renee Fleming, Yo-Yo Ma, Wayne Shorter, Alison Kraus, Dianne Reeves, Chris Botti, Esperanza Spalding, and Lisa Fischer. In 2017, Childs released the first of his Mack Avenue recordings, Rebirth, which won the 2018 GRAMMY award for Best Instrumental Jazz Album. The second, Acceptance, was released in 2020, and the third, The Winds of Change, was released in March, 2023, winning the 2024 GRAMMY Award for Best Instrumental Jazz Album.
As a pianist Childs has performed with Yo-Yo Ma, Sting, Renee Fleming, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, The Los Angeles Master Chorale, the Detroit Symphony, Rachel Barton Pine, Anne Akiko Meyers, Chick Corea, the Kronos Quartet, Wynton Marsalis, Jack DeJohnette, the Dorian Wind Quintet, Ying Quartet, the American Brass Quintet, and Dave Holland.
2 attendees
The Butthole Surfers Movie
Alamo Drafthouse DTLA, 700 West 7th Street, 90017, Los Angles, CA, USThe Hole Truth and Nothing Butt is a documentary feature about the legendary chaotic punk band Butthole Surfers. The film tells the story of how two accounting students in San Antonio found solidarity in their weirdness, recruited like-minded misfits, queers, weirdos, and nonconformists to embark on a radical rock journey. At The Alamo Drafthouse an intimate (almost boutique) Cinema with food $23 link
Come early to get food and settle in.
2 attendees
PAGE TO SCREEN - MOVIE: THE SWIMMER
The Frida Cinema, 305 E 4th St, Santa Ana, CA, USPart of the Page to Screen series
Date & Time: Sunday, August 30, 4:30
Possible dinner after the movie
Venue**: Frida Cinema**
305 E 4th St #100, Santa Ana, CA 92701
Phone: (714) 285-9422Tickets**: $13.00**
https://thefridacinema.org/purchase/1844279/Trailer**:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zY0tmQCa_Os
Read John Cheever's short story before the movie:
https://www.scribd.com/document/496491201/Cheever-the-SwimmerDirector: Frank Perry Run Time: 95 min. Release Year: 1968
Starring: Burt Lancaster, Janet Landgard, Janice Rule, Marge Champion, Tony BickleyBefore it became one of the most haunting and enigmatic films of the late 1960s, The Swimmer began life as a legendary short story by acclaimed American author John Cheever, making it a perfect pick for August’s Page To Screen series.
Burt Lancaster stars as Ned Merrill, a charismatic suburbanite who decides to “swim home” by traversing the swimming pools of his affluent Connecticut neighbors on a beautiful summer afternoon. What begins as a whimsical journey slowly transforms into something far more mysterious as Ned’s odyssey becomes a devastating exploration of the American Dream.The Swimmer is unlike any other film of its era. Anchored by one of Burt Lancaster’s greatest performances, it captures the melancholy and disillusionment lurking beneath suburban prosperity with remarkable elegance and emotional power. More than fifty years later, this singular adaptation of John Cheever’s timeless story remains one of cinema’s most fascinating literary translations.
2 attendees
CONCERT: ROOMFUL OF TEETH
Nimoy Theater, 1262 Westwood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA, USDate: Sat, Mar 20, 2027 at 8 pm
Venue: The Nimoy
1262 Westwood Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90024
Runtime: 70 minutes 15 minute intermissionRoomful of Teeth, a Grammy-winning vocal group, explores the limits of the human voice.
“It's hard to imagine an ensemble, vocal or instrumental, whose performances exhibit greater cohesion, unity of intent, and kaleidoscopic variety of expression.” – GramophoneRoomful of Teeth is a Grammy-winning, genre-defying vocal group dedicated to exploring the expressive potential of the human voice. Bringing their adventurous artistry to The Nimoy, the ensemble invites audiences into a sonic world that uplifts and amplifies all voices while expanding the possibilities of a traditional vocal performance.
Founded in 2009 by Brad Wells and incubated at MASS MoCA in North Adams, Massachusetts, Roomful of Teeth has built its practice through experimentation, exploration and a willingness to bend the rules of singing. Working with some of the world’s most extraordinary vocalists and teachers, the group discovered that the boundaries of the human voice are far more fluid than they seem.
Today, Roomful of Teeth continues to build a significant and ever-growing repertoire with many of the most compelling musical creators of our time. As the world changes, the ensemble is deepening its relationship with technology and developing new collaborative projects rooted in stories of place, home and community.
1 attendee
Past events
679
Group links
Members
1,405
