LA and OC Weirdo Music and Art Forum

Lorenzo Frank is one of the artists who participated in "Gil Scott-Heron Bluesology", which we've gone to see twice. He periodically runs poetry, art and music sessions called SWAAM. I've been trying to schedule a visit and it finally worked out!

Date: Dec 19 from 8pm to 11pm PST

Venue: THE BARBARA MORRISON PERFORMING ARTS CENTER
4305 Degnan Boulevard
#101 Los Angeles, CA 90008
(near the World Stage in Leimert Park

Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/swaam-spoken-word-art-music-tickets-1977695957848
General Admission
At the Door: $10 before 8:30, $15 after that
Online $17.85 incl. $2.85 Fee

Website: https://www.depoet.info/swaam

Welcome to The New Renaissance and another edition of SWAAM Spoken Word Art & Music

Open Mic, Live band, Wine Bar, Catered Food and another Incredible feature artist for your listening pleasure. Cory Besskepp Cofer is father, husband, educator, poet and storyteller who blends his distinct voice and deep rooted origins into his sought-after writings and performances. His debut collection of poetry — Dreaming Under Polka-Dot Stars — was published in January 2023 by World Stage Press. He is the co-founder and curator of A Mic & Dim Lights, one of the nation's longest running open mic poetry readings, based in Southern California.

Show starts promptly at 8pm, early arrival suggested. Still only $10 before 8:30, $15 after. So come on thru and help us Po-et On!

I haven't seen it but it is a highly rated film from one of my favorite directors. We have seen several of his films. Frida is doing a series of his films over the coming months.

Cross-posted with So Cal Explorers

Date: Monday, December 22, 7:30

Venue: Frida Cinema
305 E 4th St #100, Santa Ana, CA 92701
Phone: (714) 285-9422

Dinner 6:00 TBD

Tickets: $13.00 https://thefridacinema.org/movies/ikiru/

Rotten Tomatoes gives it a 98% positive rating
Trailer: https://youtu.be/geKhyNerWM8?si=6h73K8j_W-OLZIMv

Director: Akira Kurosawa Run Time: 143 min. Release Year: 1952 Language: Japanese

Starring: Bokuzen Hidari, Haruo Tanaka, Miki Odagiri, Nobuo Kaneko, Takashi Shimura

One of the greatest achievements by Akira Kurosawa, Ikiru shows the director at his most compassionate—affirming life through an explora­tion of death. We are are closing out the December portion of our retrospective on the legendary director’sw work with a brand 4K restoration of it thanks to our friends at Janus Films!

Takashi Shimura beautifully portrays Kanji Watanabe, an aging bureaucrat with stomach cancer who is impelled to find meaning in his final days. Presented in a radically conceived two­part structure and shot with a perceptive, humanistic clarity of vision, Ikiru is a multifaceted look at what it means to be alive.

Date: Saturday, December 27 @ 5:00 pm

Free and open to the public. This one lives up to its name. Earplugs might be a good idea. I'll bring some.

Venue: Orange County Center for Contemporary Art
117 N Sycamore St, Santa Ana, CA 92701
https://occca.org/

Santa Ana Noise Fest (SANF) was established in 2009 as a space to showcase local experimental musicians. Over the course of 15 years the reach and popularity of the event has increased, and bands come far and wide to perform.

Some of the artists who participate in SoundPedro also perform here.

Hosted By: Phog masheeen, purveyors of sonic experiments and retina-burning visuals.

Performance schedule has been posted. See photos section.

George Sarah, who led the ensemble that performed the live score for "The Passion of Joan of Arc" at the Long Beach Art Theatre, is one of the performers.

Santa Ana Noise Fest (SANF) was established in 2009 as a space to showcase local experimental musicians. Over the course of 12 years the reach and popularity of the event has increased, and bands come far and wide to perform.

Website Link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/SantaAnaNoiseFest

From 2023 SANF - George Sarah, who led the music ensemble for "The Passion of Joan of Arc" at the Art Theatre in Long Beach"
https://www.facebook.com/groups/SantaAnaNoiseFest/permalink/1850021845457411/

Photos from last year: https://www.meetup.com/la-oc-weirdo-music-and-art-group/photos/35041682/

I was very impressed with the 3 other films by Andrei Tarkovsky that I have seen, and am eager to see this one. He made films that were visually stunning, unwind slowly and don't tie everything up in a neat bow at the end.

Date: SUN JAN 4, 2026 1:00 PM
Possible lunch before, TBD.

Venue: Egyptian Theatre
6712 Hollywood Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90028

Tickets: [$12.00 (member) ; $17.00 (general admission)
https://www.americancinematheque.com/now-showing/mirror-1-4-26/

Rotten Tomatoes gives it a 100% POSITIVE RATING

Trailer: https://youtu.be/S2U9TXmYJ94

ABOUT THE FILM:
RELEASED IN: 1975 106 MINUTES DIRECTED BY: Andrei Tarkovsky

Introduction by filmmaker Lav Diaz

In Russian and Spanish with English subtitles.
A senses-ravishing odyssey through the halls of time and memory, Andrei Tarkovsky’s sublime reflection on 20th century Russian history is as much a film as it is a poem composed in images, as much a work of cinema as it is a hypnagogic hallucination. In a richly textured collage of varying film stocks and newsreel footage, the recollections of a dying poet flash before our eyes, dreams mingling with scenes of childhood, wartime, and marriage, all imbued with the mystic power of a trance. Largely dismissed by Soviet critics upon its release due to its elusive narrative structure, MIRROR has since taken its place as one of the titan director’s most renowned and influential works, a stunning personal statement from an artist transmitting his innermost thoughts and feelings directly from psyche to screen.

FORMAT: DCP
DISTRIBUTOR: Janus Films
COUNTRY: Soviet Union