From Adele to Death Cab: Musical mixes at the Hollywood Bowl
June 20, 2009 | 2:06
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The venue calls it 'creative packaging,' pairing acts like Death Cab for Cutie and the L.A. Phil; Adele and Etta James; and Grace Jones, Of Montreal and Dengue Fever.
Adele can't contain herself. Nothing new there. The hot young British soul singer is, by her own account, "pretty mouthy." But learning that she will share the bill with her idol, Etta James, at the Hollywood Bowl next Sunday has sent her over the moon.
"It blew my mind," she gushes on the phone from London. "She's the reason I started. The first time I heard her voice, it sucked me in. Made me believe, and made me cry."
James will join Adele thanks to the Bowl's one-up, one-off style of "creative packaging" -- an ambitious, arduous, occasionally nerve-racking attempt to put on shows that go beyond the usual summer fare.
"It's a constant balancing act," says Arvind Manocha, chief operating officer of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Assn., which oversees the Bowl's programming. "Can we find the right pairings? Can we help an artist do something differently? We want concerts that only exist at the Bowl."
That can mean uniting two performers who otherwise might not work together. "Here's a new British artist who loves a legend that we've got a long history with," says Manocha. "We can make it happen for them."
It also means embracing what senior programming manager Johanna Rees calls "our synergistic philosophy -- you know, one plus one equals five," in which genres and generations cross over in hopes of sparking some creative combustion, and big names help new or niche acts fill the 17,000 seats.
Rees already had booked flamboyant, frenetic indie popsters Of Montreal when she heard that eternally flamboyant, chic Grace Jones (who's been emerging from a decades-long hiatus) might be coming to America. To complement this July 26 double bill, she's added Dengue Fever, an L.A.-based hybrid band fronted by Cambodian pop singer Chhom Nimol. "What we always hope for when we put these shows together is a special moment," says Rees. "Artists inspiring each other. Or maybe an artist inspired to do what they don't usually do."
Photo credit: Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times
