Viva Yiddish! Project is a glimpse at vintage L.A. music

The Viva Yiddish! Project is a look backward and forward into L.A.'s polyglot musical heritage. In decades past, neighborhoods such as Boyle Heights had significant populations of Yiddish speakers whose uptempo klezmer tunes made unlikely but easy bedfellows with the pachuco and mambo of their Latino neighbors. Though L.A.'s neighborhoods are more broken up today, this dozens-strong ensemble -- founded by Frank London of the Klezmatics, Yiddish music scholar Michael Alpert and USC professor and music writer Josh Kun -- is a fond remembrance of the era, a thoroughly contemporary example of the possibilities of localized world music, and most important, a giant, giddy dance party. They play at 8 p.m. on Saturday at California Plaza.

-August Brown

Photo: Courtesy of Yiddishkayt Los Angeles

After two postponements due to “technical demands,” the curtain finally rose Tuesday night on previews for “9 to 5: The Musical,” where audience members received an unexpected treat — a mini-concert by Dolly Parton.

Parton, of course, penned the music and lyrics for the original 1980 hit film as well as the new musical, now in its pre-Broadway run at the Ahmanson Theatre. The country singer made a surprise appearance, talking up the show beforehand and warning that the performance might stop a few times, as is typical during previews for complicated productions.

“9 to 5” went on as planned until nearly the end of Act 1, when, sure enough, things suddenly ground to a halt. Parton, who was seated in the orchestra section, immediately leaped into action, according to those in attendance. Standing in front of the stage, she chatted up the audience and took questions. She then led them in a rousing sing-along to the show’s theme song, “9 to 5.”

With technical issues still being worked out, Parton went on to sing another of her famous compositions, “I Will Always Love You,” quipping that “Whitney Houston may have sung the song better, but I made more money on it.” The crowd went wild.

The world premiere musical, which features Allison Janney (in the role originated by Lily Tomlin), Megan Hilty (Dolly Parton), Stephanie J. Block (Jane Fonda) and Marc Kudisch (Dabney Coleman), officially opens Sept. 20.

— Lisa Fung

Photo: Dolly Parton at a news conference in New York this summer. Credit: Stephen Lovekin / Getty Images

After two postponements due to “technical demands,” the curtain finally rose Tuesday night on previews for “9 to 5: The Musical,” where audience members received an unexpected treat — a mini-concert by Dolly Parton.

Parton, of course, penned the music and lyrics for the original 1980 hit film as well as the new musical, now in its pre-Broadway run at the Ahmanson Theatre. The country singer made a surprise appearance, talking up the show beforehand and warning that the performance might stop a few times, as is typical during previews for complicated productions.

“9 to 5” went on as planned until nearly the end of Act 1, when, sure enough, things suddenly ground to a halt. Parton, who was seated in the orchestra section, immediately leaped into action, according to those in attendance. Standing in front of the stage, she chatted up the audience and took questions. She then led them in a rousing sing-along to the show’s theme song, “9 to 5.”

With technical issues still being worked out, Parton went on to sing another of her famous compositions, “I Will Always Love You,” quipping that “Whitney Houston may have sung the song better, but I made more money on it.” The crowd went wild.

The world premiere musical, which features Allison Janney (in the role originated by Lily Tomlin), Megan Hilty (Dolly Parton), Stephanie J. Block (Jane Fonda) and Marc Kudisch (Dabney Coleman), officially opens Sept. 20.

— Lisa Fung

Photo: Dolly Parton at a news conference in New York this summer. Credit: Stephen Lovekin / Getty Images

Nike's Human Race event drew well over 12,000 red-shirt clad runners to the L.A. Coliseum last Saturday, even a running Elvis. It was the last leg of Nike's ambitious fund-raising event, which made the most of new technologies in running (participants were given a computer chip that logged their miles, contributing to a global mileage meter for the event) and music (certain Nike running shoes, for instance, can sync to an iPod or other devices).

The 6.2-mile race had already hit several countries around the globe, including Germany and Japan, with proceeds going to environmental organizations and the Lance Armstrong Foundation.  Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa gave some opening comments, as did Councilman Bernard Parks, as runners stretched and warmed up.

The runners were there to compete, but there was no doubt that the closing performance by Kanye West, Mr. Nike Air Yeezy himself, was on everyone's mind. It was one of the benefits of finishing the race, which went up Figueroa Street with turns at Adams Boulevard and Exposition Boulevard, as fast as possible, though many participants played their own personal soundtracks on earbuds or enjoyed the entertainment provided en route -- dance and music, including Chinese lion dances, Brazilian capoeira dancers, Japanese taiko drummers and Mexican mariachis.

So, I'm in the elevator at Southern California's food porn capitol -- the two-story Whole Foods on Arroyo Parkway in Pasadena -- when my eye strays to one of those earth-toned signs advertising a cooking class/singles event. Imagine my surprise when the name Maynard James Keenan jumps out at me! Along with the phrase "wine tasting"!

Actually, the surprise was minimal. The multi-tasking prog rock master from Tool/A Perfect Circle/Puscifer has been doing the grocery-store circuit for a while, offering autographs and sips from the bins of his Arizona vineyards. He hit his first Whole Foods back in April. (Idolator blogger Dan Gibson spotted that event while shopping for overpriced lettuce in Arizona; Keenan can keep his PR budget down for these events, since music scribes apparently love to shop Earthbound Farm-fancy.)

The current wine tour has Keenan and his partner, Eric Glomski, sampling from the first vintages of Arizona Stronghold Vineyards, a new business uniting the two winemakers on the refreshed ground of an old vineyard near Willcox, Ariz.

If you haven't yet seen "Hamlet 2," the joyfully ridiculous comedy centered on Dana Marschz, a high-school drama teacher short on talent but overstocked with ambitions, the time is nigh. With the summer season officially over and "real life" back in full swing, we need a humbling reminder that our most precious of pursuits -- for Steve Coogan's Marschz, it's acting! in the most James Lipton sense of the word -- can often be undone by what we lack (talent, good sense) and elevated by the teamwork of several wastoid Tucson teens (or whatever strange details apply to your own life). The overarching life lesson is to enjoy it all, though life lessons are exactly the kind of earnest fluff that gets torn to pieces in "Hamlet 2," but in a giddy, sly John Waters way.

At the center of "Hamlet 2," the movie and the musical inside the movie, is "Rock Me Sexy Jesus," a middle finger of sorts to the high-school board that canceled drama. It involves Jesus in a tank top and jeans, strutting his "swimmer's bod" to the squealing admiration of a coterie of girls and bi-curious guys. You can watch a little bit of it above.

We talked with music supervisor Ralph Sall, who wrote the music for "Rock Me Sexy Jesus" and other songs from "Hamlet 2," such as the inimitable "You're as Gay as the Day Is Long." His background includes producing for Paul McCartney, Jane's Addiction and the Ramones; and writing tracks for musicians as diverse as Liz Phair and George Clinton.

So, writing "Rock Me Sexy Jesus" was just another day in the life -- almost. If you don't count that gospel choir that was hanging around...

Las Vegas' MAGIC Marketplace, a long-running fashion trade show, features every style and brand of clothing you could imagine, but the real fun is in the streetwear area. You get live music and the chance to snap shots of rappers who are either pushing their own clothing brands or helping a friend. Also, this being Vegas, MAGIC remains the place to see and be seen.

 

Brooklyn rapper Sean Price (pictured, left), a favorite of rap-loving internet heads, was on hand pushing clothing brand Society Original.

Tommy Chong, counterculture hero and champion to medicinal marijuana advocates, made a stop for his tell-all  "Cheech & Chong: The Unauthorized Autobiography" at the Barnes & Noble Santa Monica Promenade Wednesday night. The septuagenarian is, obviously, one-half of Grammy-winning team Cheech & Chong, whose 1978 film "Up in Smoke," stands as the seminal pothead comedy. (Sorry, Judd Apatow and friends.)

Lean, tan and seemingly fit for a dude his age, Chong, who once played a protective convict called Squirrel Master in a 1998 Dave Chappelle flick -- a role he referred to as “scary” and “sorta prophetic” -- gave a half-hour routine mixed with family talk, tales of the good ol' days and jokes about his nearly nine-month stint in prison. (He was released in 2004).

GLEN CAMPBELL singing the music of Green Day and the Velvet Underground may not top the list of Great Moments in Pop Weirdness -- that'd go to Pat Boone's heavy metal phase a decade ago when he got hip to Metallica and Alice Cooper. But it's close.

"Meet Glen Campbell," arriving Tuesday, also lets the veteran singer and guitarist apply his signature soaring tenor and deeply twanging electric guitar to U2's "All I Want is You," the Replacements' "Sadly, Beautiful" and a pair of Tom Petty songs.

The first vocal lines of the young composer Nico Muhly’s new album, “Mothertongue,” are seemingly arbitrary lists of numbers and addresses. Sung by ethereal mezzo-soprano Abigail Fischer over aching strings and a distorted sub-bass synthesizer, the arrangement feels like a Stockhausen gag; a misdirection that subverts your expectations about how the work might move you. For Muhly, however, there’s poetry in all that data.

“If you ask someone to name all the phone numbers you can off the top of your head, it’s going to be pretty interesting,” Muhly said. “When I asked the singer to name all of the phone numbers she knew, it was fascinating. It was her dad’s office from 20 years ago, or a friend’s number in Florence. You can tease narrative out of anything. You know how on Wikipedia there are these lists of things like ‘List of Horrible Ethnic Slurs’ or ‘List of Famous Canadian Homosexuals’? That’s such a poignant way to organize the world.”

Ulises Bella of Ozomatli sounded happy but worried: "It's going to be hard to get up in the morning. I mean I'm excited; this is good news. But being on the radio at 6 a.m.? That's hard for me. I mean, 6 a.m. is when I'm usually going to bed. But coffee and afternoon naps work miracles."

The miracle is that the morning show at KYSR-FM (98.7) here in L.A. (once a place you could listen to, augh, Danny Bonaduce and the shrill Jamie White) will soon be deeply eclectic — and especially crowded. The Grammy-winning L.A. band Ozomatli is taking over the rock station’s morning shift as of 6 a.m. on Aug. 20. Expect a seriously diverse playlist, considering the act made a name for itself with a singular Southern California hybrid of rock, salsa, hip-hop, cumbia, funk, dub, Middle Eastern sounds and soul.

The polyglot orchestra is also famous for filling the stage: There are six principle members at the moment, but the lineup has hit 10 before.

Dolly Parton gives us a sneak peek at '9 to 5: The Musical'

After two postponements due to “technical demands,” the curtain finally rose Tuesday night on previews for “9 to 5: The Musical,” where audience members received an unexpected treat — a mini-concert by Dolly Parton.

Parton, of course, penned the music and lyrics for the original 1980 hit film as well as the new musical, now in its pre-Broadway run at the Ahmanson Theatre. The country singer made a surprise appearance, talking up the show beforehand and warning that the performance might stop a few times, as is typical during previews for complicated productions.

“9 to 5” went on as planned until nearly the end of Act 1, when, sure enough, things suddenly ground to a halt. Parton, who was seated in the orchestra section, immediately leaped into action, according to those in attendance. Standing in front of the stage, she chatted up the audience and took questions. She then led them in a rousing sing-along to the show’s theme song, “9 to 5.”

With technical issues still being worked out, Parton went on to sing another of her famous compositions, “I Will Always Love You,” quipping that “Whitney Houston may have sung the song better, but I made more money on it.” The crowd went wild.

The world premiere musical, which features Allison Janney (in the role originated by Lily Tomlin), Megan Hilty (Dolly Parton), Stephanie J. Block (Jane Fonda) and Marc Kudisch (Dabney Coleman), officially opens Sept. 20.

— Lisa Fung

Photo: Dolly Parton at a news conference in New York this summer. Credit: Stephen Lovekin / Getty Images

After two postponements due to “technical demands,” the curtain finally rose Tuesday night on previews for “9 to 5: The Musical,” where audience members received an unexpected treat — a mini-concert by Dolly Parton.

Parton, of course, penned the music and lyrics for the original 1980 hit film as well as the new musical, now in its pre-Broadway run at the Ahmanson Theatre. The country singer made a surprise appearance, talking up the show beforehand and warning that the performance might stop a few times, as is typical during previews for complicated productions.

“9 to 5” went on as planned until nearly the end of Act 1, when, sure enough, things suddenly ground to a halt. Parton, who was seated in the orchestra section, immediately leaped into action, according to those in attendance. Standing in front of the stage, she chatted up the audience and took questions. She then led them in a rousing sing-along to the show’s theme song, “9 to 5.”

With technical issues still being worked out, Parton went on to sing another of her famous compositions, “I Will Always Love You,” quipping that “Whitney Houston may have sung the song better, but I made more money on it.” The crowd went wild.

The world premiere musical, which features Allison Janney (in the role originated by Lily Tomlin), Megan Hilty (Dolly Parton), Stephanie J. Block (Jane Fonda) and Marc Kudisch (Dabney Coleman), officially opens Sept. 20.

— Lisa Fung

Photo: Dolly Parton at a news conference in New York this summer. Credit: Stephen Lovekin / Getty Images

Nike's Human Race event drew well over 12,000 red-shirt clad runners to the L.A. Coliseum last Saturday, even a running Elvis. It was the last leg of Nike's ambitious fund-raising event, which made the most of new technologies in running (participants were given a computer chip that logged their miles, contributing to a global mileage meter for the event) and music (certain Nike running shoes, for instance, can sync to an iPod or other devices).

The 6.2-mile race had already hit several countries around the globe, including Germany and Japan, with proceeds going to environmental organizations and the Lance Armstrong Foundation.  Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa gave some opening comments, as did Councilman Bernard Parks, as runners stretched and warmed up.

The runners were there to compete, but there was no doubt that the closing performance by Kanye West, Mr. Nike Air Yeezy himself, was on everyone's mind. It was one of the benefits of finishing the race, which went up Figueroa Street with turns at Adams Boulevard and Exposition Boulevard, as fast as possible, though many participants played their own personal soundtracks on earbuds or enjoyed the entertainment provided en route -- dance and music, including Chinese lion dances, Brazilian capoeira dancers, Japanese taiko drummers and Mexican mariachis.

So, I'm in the elevator at Southern California's food porn capitol -- the two-story Whole Foods on Arroyo Parkway in Pasadena -- when my eye strays to one of those earth-toned signs advertising a cooking class/singles event. Imagine my surprise when the name Maynard James Keenan jumps out at me! Along with the phrase "wine tasting"!

Actually, the surprise was minimal. The multi-tasking prog rock master from Tool/A Perfect Circle/Puscifer has been doing the grocery-store circuit for a while, offering autographs and sips from the bins of his Arizona vineyards. He hit his first Whole Foods back in April. (Idolator blogger Dan Gibson spotted that event while shopping for overpriced lettuce in Arizona; Keenan can keep his PR budget down for these events, since music scribes apparently love to shop Earthbound Farm-fancy.)

The current wine tour has Keenan and his partner, Eric Glomski, sampling from the first vintages of Arizona Stronghold Vineyards, a new business uniting the two winemakers on the refreshed ground of an old vineyard near Willcox, Ariz.

If you haven't yet seen "Hamlet 2," the joyfully ridiculous comedy centered on Dana Marschz, a high-school drama teacher short on talent but overstocked with ambitions, the time is nigh. With the summer season officially over and "real life" back in full swing, we need a humbling reminder that our most precious of pursuits -- for Steve Coogan's Marschz, it's acting! in the most James Lipton sense of the word -- can often be undone by what we lack (talent, good sense) and elevated by the teamwork of several wastoid Tucson teens (or whatever strange details apply to your own life). The overarching life lesson is to enjoy it all, though life lessons are exactly the kind of earnest fluff that gets torn to pieces in "Hamlet 2," but in a giddy, sly John Waters way.

At the center of "Hamlet 2," the movie and the musical inside the movie, is "Rock Me Sexy Jesus," a middle finger of sorts to the high-school board that canceled drama. It involves Jesus in a tank top and jeans, strutting his "swimmer's bod" to the squealing admiration of a coterie of girls and bi-curious guys. You can watch a little bit of it above.

We talked with music supervisor Ralph Sall, who wrote the music for "Rock Me Sexy Jesus" and other songs from "Hamlet 2," such as the inimitable "You're as Gay as the Day Is Long." His background includes producing for Paul McCartney, Jane's Addiction and the Ramones; and writing tracks for musicians as diverse as Liz Phair and George Clinton.

So, writing "Rock Me Sexy Jesus" was just another day in the life -- almost. If you don't count that gospel choir that was hanging around...

Las Vegas' MAGIC Marketplace, a long-running fashion trade show, features every style and brand of clothing you could imagine, but the real fun is in the streetwear area. You get live music and the chance to snap shots of rappers who are either pushing their own clothing brands or helping a friend. Also, this being Vegas, MAGIC remains the place to see and be seen.

 

Brooklyn rapper Sean Price (pictured, left), a favorite of rap-loving internet heads, was on hand pushing clothing brand Society Original.

Tommy Chong, counterculture hero and champion to medicinal marijuana advocates, made a stop for his tell-all  "Cheech & Chong: The Unauthorized Autobiography" at the Barnes & Noble Santa Monica Promenade Wednesday night. The septuagenarian is, obviously, one-half of Grammy-winning team Cheech & Chong, whose 1978 film "Up in Smoke," stands as the seminal pothead comedy. (Sorry, Judd Apatow and friends.)

Lean, tan and seemingly fit for a dude his age, Chong, who once played a protective convict called Squirrel Master in a 1998 Dave Chappelle flick -- a role he referred to as “scary” and “sorta prophetic” -- gave a half-hour routine mixed with family talk, tales of the good ol' days and jokes about his nearly nine-month stint in prison. (He was released in 2004).

GLEN CAMPBELL singing the music of Green Day and the Velvet Underground may not top the list of Great Moments in Pop Weirdness -- that'd go to Pat Boone's heavy metal phase a decade ago when he got hip to Metallica and Alice Cooper. But it's close.

"Meet Glen Campbell," arriving Tuesday, also lets the veteran singer and guitarist apply his signature soaring tenor and deeply twanging electric guitar to U2's "All I Want is You," the Replacements' "Sadly, Beautiful" and a pair of Tom Petty songs.

The first vocal lines of the young composer Nico Muhly’s new album, “Mothertongue,” are seemingly arbitrary lists of numbers and addresses. Sung by ethereal mezzo-soprano Abigail Fischer over aching strings and a distorted sub-bass synthesizer, the arrangement feels like a Stockhausen gag; a misdirection that subverts your expectations about how the work might move you. For Muhly, however, there’s poetry in all that data.

“If you ask someone to name all the phone numbers you can off the top of your head, it’s going to be pretty interesting,” Muhly said. “When I asked the singer to name all of the phone numbers she knew, it was fascinating. It was her dad’s office from 20 years ago, or a friend’s number in Florence. You can tease narrative out of anything. You know how on Wikipedia there are these lists of things like ‘List of Horrible Ethnic Slurs’ or ‘List of Famous Canadian Homosexuals’? That’s such a poignant way to organize the world.”

Ulises Bella of Ozomatli sounded happy but worried: "It's going to be hard to get up in the morning. I mean I'm excited; this is good news. But being on the radio at 6 a.m.? That's hard for me. I mean, 6 a.m. is when I'm usually going to bed. But coffee and afternoon naps work miracles."

The miracle is that the morning show at KYSR-FM (98.7) here in L.A. (once a place you could listen to, augh, Danny Bonaduce and the shrill Jamie White) will soon be deeply eclectic — and especially crowded. The Grammy-winning L.A. band Ozomatli is taking over the rock station’s morning shift as of 6 a.m. on Aug. 20. Expect a seriously diverse playlist, considering the act made a name for itself with a singular Southern California hybrid of rock, salsa, hip-hop, cumbia, funk, dub, Middle Eastern sounds and soul.

The polyglot orchestra is also famous for filling the stage: There are six principle members at the moment, but the lineup has hit 10 before.

Watching Kanye and chatting with Common at the Nike Human Race

Nike's Human Race event drew well over 12,000 red-shirt clad runners to the L.A. Coliseum last Saturday, even a running Elvis. It was the last leg of Nike's ambitious fund-raising event, which made the most of new technologies in running (participants were given a computer chip that logged their miles, contributing to a global mileage meter for the event) and music (certain Nike running shoes, for instance, can sync to an iPod or other devices).

The 6.2-mile race had already hit several countries around the globe, including Germany and Japan, with proceeds going to environmental organizations and the Lance Armstrong Foundation.  Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa gave some opening comments, as did Councilman Bernard Parks, as runners stretched and warmed up.

The runners were there to compete, but there was no doubt that the closing performance by Kanye West, Mr. Nike Air Yeezy himself, was on everyone's mind. It was one of the benefits of finishing the race, which went up Figueroa Street with turns at Adams Boulevard and Exposition Boulevard, as fast as possible, though many participants played their own personal soundtracks on earbuds or enjoyed the entertainment provided en route -- dance and music, including Chinese lion dances, Brazilian capoeira dancers, Japanese taiko drummers and Mexican mariachis.

So, I'm in the elevator at Southern California's food porn capitol -- the two-story Whole Foods on Arroyo Parkway in Pasadena -- when my eye strays to one of those earth-toned signs advertising a cooking class/singles event. Imagine my surprise when the name Maynard James Keenan jumps out at me! Along with the phrase "wine tasting"!

Actually, the surprise was minimal. The multi-tasking prog rock master from Tool/A Perfect Circle/Puscifer has been doing the grocery-store circuit for a while, offering autographs and sips from the bins of his Arizona vineyards. He hit his first Whole Foods back in April. (Idolator blogger Dan Gibson spotted that event while shopping for overpriced lettuce in Arizona; Keenan can keep his PR budget down for these events, since music scribes apparently love to shop Earthbound Farm-fancy.)

The current wine tour has Keenan and his partner, Eric Glomski, sampling from the first vintages of Arizona Stronghold Vineyards, a new business uniting the two winemakers on the refreshed ground of an old vineyard near Willcox, Ariz.

If you haven't yet seen "Hamlet 2," the joyfully ridiculous comedy centered on Dana Marschz, a high-school drama teacher short on talent but overstocked with ambitions, the time is nigh. With the summer season officially over and "real life" back in full swing, we need a humbling reminder that our most precious of pursuits -- for Steve Coogan's Marschz, it's acting! in the most James Lipton sense of the word -- can often be undone by what we lack (talent, good sense) and elevated by the teamwork of several wastoid Tucson teens (or whatever strange details apply to your own life). The overarching life lesson is to enjoy it all, though life lessons are exactly the kind of earnest fluff that gets torn to pieces in "Hamlet 2," but in a giddy, sly John Waters way.

At the center of "Hamlet 2," the movie and the musical inside the movie, is "Rock Me Sexy Jesus," a middle finger of sorts to the high-school board that canceled drama. It involves Jesus in a tank top and jeans, strutting his "swimmer's bod" to the squealing admiration of a coterie of girls and bi-curious guys. You can watch a little bit of it above.

We talked with music supervisor Ralph Sall, who wrote the music for "Rock Me Sexy Jesus" and other songs from "Hamlet 2," such as the inimitable "You're as Gay as the Day Is Long." His background includes producing for Paul McCartney, Jane's Addiction and the Ramones; and writing tracks for musicians as diverse as Liz Phair and George Clinton.

So, writing "Rock Me Sexy Jesus" was just another day in the life -- almost. If you don't count that gospel choir that was hanging around...

Las Vegas' MAGIC Marketplace, a long-running fashion trade show, features every style and brand of clothing you could imagine, but the real fun is in the streetwear area. You get live music and the chance to snap shots of rappers who are either pushing their own clothing brands or helping a friend. Also, this being Vegas, MAGIC remains the place to see and be seen.

 

Brooklyn rapper Sean Price (pictured, left), a favorite of rap-loving internet heads, was on hand pushing clothing brand Society Original.

Tommy Chong, counterculture hero and champion to medicinal marijuana advocates, made a stop for his tell-all  "Cheech & Chong: The Unauthorized Autobiography" at the Barnes & Noble Santa Monica Promenade Wednesday night. The septuagenarian is, obviously, one-half of Grammy-winning team Cheech & Chong, whose 1978 film "Up in Smoke," stands as the seminal pothead comedy. (Sorry, Judd Apatow and friends.)

Lean, tan and seemingly fit for a dude his age, Chong, who once played a protective convict called Squirrel Master in a 1998 Dave Chappelle flick -- a role he referred to as “scary” and “sorta prophetic” -- gave a half-hour routine mixed with family talk, tales of the good ol' days and jokes about his nearly nine-month stint in prison. (He was released in 2004).

GLEN CAMPBELL singing the music of Green Day and the Velvet Underground may not top the list of Great Moments in Pop Weirdness -- that'd go to Pat Boone's heavy metal phase a decade ago when he got hip to Metallica and Alice Cooper. But it's close.

"Meet Glen Campbell," arriving Tuesday, also lets the veteran singer and guitarist apply his signature soaring tenor and deeply twanging electric guitar to U2's "All I Want is You," the Replacements' "Sadly, Beautiful" and a pair of Tom Petty songs.

The first vocal lines of the young composer Nico Muhly’s new album, “Mothertongue,” are seemingly arbitrary lists of numbers and addresses. Sung by ethereal mezzo-soprano Abigail Fischer over aching strings and a distorted sub-bass synthesizer, the arrangement feels like a Stockhausen gag; a misdirection that subverts your expectations about how the work might move you. For Muhly, however, there’s poetry in all that data.

“If you ask someone to name all the phone numbers you can off the top of your head, it’s going to be pretty interesting,” Muhly said. “When I asked the singer to name all of the phone numbers she knew, it was fascinating. It was her dad’s office from 20 years ago, or a friend’s number in Florence. You can tease narrative out of anything. You know how on Wikipedia there are these lists of things like ‘List of Horrible Ethnic Slurs’ or ‘List of Famous Canadian Homosexuals’? That’s such a poignant way to organize the world.”

Ulises Bella of Ozomatli sounded happy but worried: "It's going to be hard to get up in the morning. I mean I'm excited; this is good news. But being on the radio at 6 a.m.? That's hard for me. I mean, 6 a.m. is when I'm usually going to bed. But coffee and afternoon naps work miracles."

The miracle is that the morning show at KYSR-FM (98.7) here in L.A. (once a place you could listen to, augh, Danny Bonaduce and the shrill Jamie White) will soon be deeply eclectic — and especially crowded. The Grammy-winning L.A. band Ozomatli is taking over the rock station’s morning shift as of 6 a.m. on Aug. 20. Expect a seriously diverse playlist, considering the act made a name for itself with a singular Southern California hybrid of rock, salsa, hip-hop, cumbia, funk, dub, Middle Eastern sounds and soul.

The polyglot orchestra is also famous for filling the stage: There are six principle members at the moment, but the lineup has hit 10 before.

Maynard James Keenan tours local Whole Foods stores

So, I'm in the elevator at Southern California's food porn capitol -- the two-story Whole Foods on Arroyo Parkway in Pasadena -- when my eye strays to one of those earth-toned signs advertising a cooking class/singles event. Imagine my surprise when the name Maynard James Keenan jumps out at me! Along with the phrase "wine tasting"!

Actually, the surprise was minimal. The multi-tasking prog rock master from Tool/A Perfect Circle/Puscifer has been doing the grocery-store circuit for a while, offering autographs and sips from the bins of his Arizona vineyards. He hit his first Whole Foods back in April. (Idolator blogger Dan Gibson spotted that event while shopping for overpriced lettuce in Arizona; Keenan can keep his PR budget down for these events, since music scribes apparently love to shop Earthbound Farm-fancy.)

The current wine tour has Keenan and his partner, Eric Glomski, sampling from the first vintages of Arizona Stronghold Vineyards, a new business uniting the two winemakers on the refreshed ground of an old vineyard near Willcox, Ariz.

If you haven't yet seen "Hamlet 2," the joyfully ridiculous comedy centered on Dana Marschz, a high-school drama teacher short on talent but overstocked with ambitions, the time is nigh. With the summer season officially over and "real life" back in full swing, we need a humbling reminder that our most precious of pursuits -- for Steve Coogan's Marschz, it's acting! in the most James Lipton sense of the word -- can often be undone by what we lack (talent, good sense) and elevated by the teamwork of several wastoid Tucson teens (or whatever strange details apply to your own life). The overarching life lesson is to enjoy it all, though life lessons are exactly the kind of earnest fluff that gets torn to pieces in "Hamlet 2," but in a giddy, sly John Waters way.

At the center of "Hamlet 2," the movie and the musical inside the movie, is "Rock Me Sexy Jesus," a middle finger of sorts to the high-school board that canceled drama. It involves Jesus in a tank top and jeans, strutting his "swimmer's bod" to the squealing admiration of a coterie of girls and bi-curious guys. You can watch a little bit of it above.

We talked with music supervisor Ralph Sall, who wrote the music for "Rock Me Sexy Jesus" and other songs from "Hamlet 2," such as the inimitable "You're as Gay as the Day Is Long." His background includes producing for Paul McCartney, Jane's Addiction and the Ramones; and writing tracks for musicians as diverse as Liz Phair and George Clinton.

So, writing "Rock Me Sexy Jesus" was just another day in the life -- almost. If you don't count that gospel choir that was hanging around...

Las Vegas' MAGIC Marketplace, a long-running fashion trade show, features every style and brand of clothing you could imagine, but the real fun is in the streetwear area. You get live music and the chance to snap shots of rappers who are either pushing their own clothing brands or helping a friend. Also, this being Vegas, MAGIC remains the place to see and be seen.

 

Brooklyn rapper Sean Price (pictured, left), a favorite of rap-loving internet heads, was on hand pushing clothing brand Society Original.

Tommy Chong, counterculture hero and champion to medicinal marijuana advocates, made a stop for his tell-all  "Cheech & Chong: The Unauthorized Autobiography" at the Barnes & Noble Santa Monica Promenade Wednesday night. The septuagenarian is, obviously, one-half of Grammy-winning team Cheech & Chong, whose 1978 film "Up in Smoke," stands as the seminal pothead comedy. (Sorry, Judd Apatow and friends.)

Lean, tan and seemingly fit for a dude his age, Chong, who once played a protective convict called Squirrel Master in a 1998 Dave Chappelle flick -- a role he referred to as “scary” and “sorta prophetic” -- gave a half-hour routine mixed with family talk, tales of the good ol' days and jokes about his nearly nine-month stint in prison. (He was released in 2004).

GLEN CAMPBELL singing the music of Green Day and the Velvet Underground may not top the list of Great Moments in Pop Weirdness -- that'd go to Pat Boone's heavy metal phase a decade ago when he got hip to Metallica and Alice Cooper. But it's close.

"Meet Glen Campbell," arriving Tuesday, also lets the veteran singer and guitarist apply his signature soaring tenor and deeply twanging electric guitar to U2's "All I Want is You," the Replacements' "Sadly, Beautiful" and a pair of Tom Petty songs.

The first vocal lines of the young composer Nico Muhly’s new album, “Mothertongue,” are seemingly arbitrary lists of numbers and addresses. Sung by ethereal mezzo-soprano Abigail Fischer over aching strings and a distorted sub-bass synthesizer, the arrangement feels like a Stockhausen gag; a misdirection that subverts your expectations about how the work might move you. For Muhly, however, there’s poetry in all that data.

“If you ask someone to name all the phone numbers you can off the top of your head, it’s going to be pretty interesting,” Muhly said. “When I asked the singer to name all of the phone numbers she knew, it was fascinating. It was her dad’s office from 20 years ago, or a friend’s number in Florence. You can tease narrative out of anything. You know how on Wikipedia there are these lists of things like ‘List of Horrible Ethnic Slurs’ or ‘List of Famous Canadian Homosexuals’? That’s such a poignant way to organize the world.”

Ulises Bella of Ozomatli sounded happy but worried: "It's going to be hard to get up in the morning. I mean I'm excited; this is good news. But being on the radio at 6 a.m.? That's hard for me. I mean, 6 a.m. is when I'm usually going to bed. But coffee and afternoon naps work miracles."

The miracle is that the morning show at KYSR-FM (98.7) here in L.A. (once a place you could listen to, augh, Danny Bonaduce and the shrill Jamie White) will soon be deeply eclectic — and especially crowded. The Grammy-winning L.A. band Ozomatli is taking over the rock station’s morning shift as of 6 a.m. on Aug. 20. Expect a seriously diverse playlist, considering the act made a name for itself with a singular Southern California hybrid of rock, salsa, hip-hop, cumbia, funk, dub, Middle Eastern sounds and soul.

The polyglot orchestra is also famous for filling the stage: There are six principle members at the moment, but the lineup has hit 10 before.

'Rock Me Sexy Jesus' channels John Waters' outrageous spirit

If you haven't yet seen "Hamlet 2," the joyfully ridiculous comedy centered on Dana Marschz, a high-school drama teacher short on talent but overstocked with ambitions, the time is nigh. With the summer season officially over and "real life" back in full swing, we need a humbling reminder that our most precious of pursuits -- for Steve Coogan's Marschz, it's acting! in the most James Lipton sense of the word -- can often be undone by what we lack (talent, good sense) and elevated by the teamwork of several wastoid Tucson teens (or whatever strange details apply to your own life). The overarching life lesson is to enjoy it all, though life lessons are exactly the kind of earnest fluff that gets torn to pieces in "Hamlet 2," but in a giddy, sly John Waters way.

At the center of "Hamlet 2," the movie and the musical inside the movie, is "Rock Me Sexy Jesus," a middle finger of sorts to the high-school board that canceled drama. It involves Jesus in a tank top and jeans, strutting his "swimmer's bod" to the squealing admiration of a coterie of girls and bi-curious guys. You can watch a little bit of it above.

We talked with music supervisor Ralph Sall, who wrote the music for "Rock Me Sexy Jesus" and other songs from "Hamlet 2," such as the inimitable "You're as Gay as the Day Is Long." His background includes producing for Paul McCartney, Jane's Addiction and the Ramones; and writing tracks for musicians as diverse as Liz Phair and George Clinton.

So, writing "Rock Me Sexy Jesus" was just another day in the life -- almost. If you don't count that gospel choir that was hanging around...

Las Vegas' MAGIC Marketplace, a long-running fashion trade show, features every style and brand of clothing you could imagine, but the real fun is in the streetwear area. You get live music and the chance to snap shots of rappers who are either pushing their own clothing brands or helping a friend. Also, this being Vegas, MAGIC remains the place to see and be seen.

 

Brooklyn rapper Sean Price (pictured, left), a favorite of rap-loving internet heads, was on hand pushing clothing brand Society Original.

Tommy Chong, counterculture hero and champion to medicinal marijuana advocates, made a stop for his tell-all  "Cheech & Chong: The Unauthorized Autobiography" at the Barnes & Noble Santa Monica Promenade Wednesday night. The septuagenarian is, obviously, one-half of Grammy-winning team Cheech & Chong, whose 1978 film "Up in Smoke," stands as the seminal pothead comedy. (Sorry, Judd Apatow and friends.)

Lean, tan and seemingly fit for a dude his age, Chong, who once played a protective convict called Squirrel Master in a 1998 Dave Chappelle flick -- a role he referred to as “scary” and “sorta prophetic” -- gave a half-hour routine mixed with family talk, tales of the good ol' days and jokes about his nearly nine-month stint in prison. (He was released in 2004).

GLEN CAMPBELL singing the music of Green Day and the Velvet Underground may not top the list of Great Moments in Pop Weirdness -- that'd go to Pat Boone's heavy metal phase a decade ago when he got hip to Metallica and Alice Cooper. But it's close.

"Meet Glen Campbell," arriving Tuesday, also lets the veteran singer and guitarist apply his signature soaring tenor and deeply twanging electric guitar to U2's "All I Want is You," the Replacements' "Sadly, Beautiful" and a pair of Tom Petty songs.

The first vocal lines of the young composer Nico Muhly’s new album, “Mothertongue,” are seemingly arbitrary lists of numbers and addresses. Sung by ethereal mezzo-soprano Abigail Fischer over aching strings and a distorted sub-bass synthesizer, the arrangement feels like a Stockhausen gag; a misdirection that subverts your expectations about how the work might move you. For Muhly, however, there’s poetry in all that data.

“If you ask someone to name all the phone numbers you can off the top of your head, it’s going to be pretty interesting,” Muhly said. “When I asked the singer to name all of the phone numbers she knew, it was fascinating. It was her dad’s office from 20 years ago, or a friend’s number in Florence. You can tease narrative out of anything. You know how on Wikipedia there are these lists of things like ‘List of Horrible Ethnic Slurs’ or ‘List of Famous Canadian Homosexuals’? That’s such a poignant way to organize the world.”

Ulises Bella of Ozomatli sounded happy but worried: "It's going to be hard to get up in the morning. I mean I'm excited; this is good news. But being on the radio at 6 a.m.? That's hard for me. I mean, 6 a.m. is when I'm usually going to bed. But coffee and afternoon naps work miracles."

The miracle is that the morning show at KYSR-FM (98.7) here in L.A. (once a place you could listen to, augh, Danny Bonaduce and the shrill Jamie White) will soon be deeply eclectic — and especially crowded. The Grammy-winning L.A. band Ozomatli is taking over the rock station’s morning shift as of 6 a.m. on Aug. 20. Expect a seriously diverse playlist, considering the act made a name for itself with a singular Southern California hybrid of rock, salsa, hip-hop, cumbia, funk, dub, Middle Eastern sounds and soul.

The polyglot orchestra is also famous for filling the stage: There are six principle members at the moment, but the lineup has hit 10 before.

Dispatches from MAGIC Trade Show in Las Vegas

Las Vegas' MAGIC Marketplace, a long-running fashion trade show, features every style and brand of clothing you could imagine, but the real fun is in the streetwear area. You get live music and the chance to snap shots of rappers who are either pushing their own clothing brands or helping a friend. Also, this being Vegas, MAGIC remains the place to see and be seen.

 

Brooklyn rapper Sean Price (pictured, left), a favorite of rap-loving internet heads, was on hand pushing clothing brand Society Original.

Tommy Chong, counterculture hero and champion to medicinal marijuana advocates, made a stop for his tell-all  "Cheech & Chong: The Unauthorized Autobiography" at the Barnes & Noble Santa Monica Promenade Wednesday night. The septuagenarian is, obviously, one-half of Grammy-winning team Cheech & Chong, whose 1978 film "Up in Smoke," stands as the seminal pothead comedy. (Sorry, Judd Apatow and friends.)

Lean, tan and seemingly fit for a dude his age, Chong, who once played a protective convict called Squirrel Master in a 1998 Dave Chappelle flick -- a role he referred to as “scary” and “sorta prophetic” -- gave a half-hour routine mixed with family talk, tales of the good ol' days and jokes about his nearly nine-month stint in prison. (He was released in 2004).

GLEN CAMPBELL singing the music of Green Day and the Velvet Underground may not top the list of Great Moments in Pop Weirdness -- that'd go to Pat Boone's heavy metal phase a decade ago when he got hip to Metallica and Alice Cooper. But it's close.

"Meet Glen Campbell," arriving Tuesday, also lets the veteran singer and guitarist apply his signature soaring tenor and deeply twanging electric guitar to U2's "All I Want is You," the Replacements' "Sadly, Beautiful" and a pair of Tom Petty songs.

The first vocal lines of the young composer Nico Muhly’s new album, “Mothertongue,” are seemingly arbitrary lists of numbers and addresses. Sung by ethereal mezzo-soprano Abigail Fischer over aching strings and a distorted sub-bass synthesizer, the arrangement feels like a Stockhausen gag; a misdirection that subverts your expectations about how the work might move you. For Muhly, however, there’s poetry in all that data.

“If you ask someone to name all the phone numbers you can off the top of your head, it’s going to be pretty interesting,” Muhly said. “When I asked the singer to name all of the phone numbers she knew, it was fascinating. It was her dad’s office from 20 years ago, or a friend’s number in Florence. You can tease narrative out of anything. You know how on Wikipedia there are these lists of things like ‘List of Horrible Ethnic Slurs’ or ‘List of Famous Canadian Homosexuals’? That’s such a poignant way to organize the world.”

Ulises Bella of Ozomatli sounded happy but worried: "It's going to be hard to get up in the morning. I mean I'm excited; this is good news. But being on the radio at 6 a.m.? That's hard for me. I mean, 6 a.m. is when I'm usually going to bed. But coffee and afternoon naps work miracles."

The miracle is that the morning show at KYSR-FM (98.7) here in L.A. (once a place you could listen to, augh, Danny Bonaduce and the shrill Jamie White) will soon be deeply eclectic — and especially crowded. The Grammy-winning L.A. band Ozomatli is taking over the rock station’s morning shift as of 6 a.m. on Aug. 20. Expect a seriously diverse playlist, considering the act made a name for itself with a singular Southern California hybrid of rock, salsa, hip-hop, cumbia, funk, dub, Middle Eastern sounds and soul.

The polyglot orchestra is also famous for filling the stage: There are six principle members at the moment, but the lineup has hit 10 before.

Tommy Chong promotes new book and hip-hop street cred

Tommy Chong, counterculture hero and champion to medicinal marijuana advocates, made a stop for his tell-all  "Cheech & Chong: The Unauthorized Autobiography" at the Barnes & Noble Santa Monica Promenade Wednesday night. The septuagenarian is, obviously, one-half of Grammy-winning team Cheech & Chong, whose 1978 film "Up in Smoke," stands as the seminal pothead comedy. (Sorry, Judd Apatow and friends.)

Lean, tan and seemingly fit for a dude his age, Chong, who once played a protective convict called Squirrel Master in a 1998 Dave Chappelle flick -- a role he referred to as “scary” and “sorta prophetic” -- gave a half-hour routine mixed with family talk, tales of the good ol' days and jokes about his nearly nine-month stint in prison. (He was released in 2004).

GLEN CAMPBELL singing the music of Green Day and the Velvet Underground may not top the list of Great Moments in Pop Weirdness -- that'd go to Pat Boone's heavy metal phase a decade ago when he got hip to Metallica and Alice Cooper. But it's close.

"Meet Glen Campbell," arriving Tuesday, also lets the veteran singer and guitarist apply his signature soaring tenor and deeply twanging electric guitar to U2's "All I Want is You," the Replacements' "Sadly, Beautiful" and a pair of Tom Petty songs.

The first vocal lines of the young composer Nico Muhly’s new album, “Mothertongue,” are seemingly arbitrary lists of numbers and addresses. Sung by ethereal mezzo-soprano Abigail Fischer over aching strings and a distorted sub-bass synthesizer, the arrangement feels like a Stockhausen gag; a misdirection that subverts your expectations about how the work might move you. For Muhly, however, there’s poetry in all that data.

“If you ask someone to name all the phone numbers you can off the top of your head, it’s going to be pretty interesting,” Muhly said. “When I asked the singer to name all of the phone numbers she knew, it was fascinating. It was her dad’s office from 20 years ago, or a friend’s number in Florence. You can tease narrative out of anything. You know how on Wikipedia there are these lists of things like ‘List of Horrible Ethnic Slurs’ or ‘List of Famous Canadian Homosexuals’? That’s such a poignant way to organize the world.”

Ulises Bella of Ozomatli sounded happy but worried: "It's going to be hard to get up in the morning. I mean I'm excited; this is good news. But being on the radio at 6 a.m.? That's hard for me. I mean, 6 a.m. is when I'm usually going to bed. But coffee and afternoon naps work miracles."

The miracle is that the morning show at KYSR-FM (98.7) here in L.A. (once a place you could listen to, augh, Danny Bonaduce and the shrill Jamie White) will soon be deeply eclectic — and especially crowded. The Grammy-winning L.A. band Ozomatli is taking over the rock station’s morning shift as of 6 a.m. on Aug. 20. Expect a seriously diverse playlist, considering the act made a name for itself with a singular Southern California hybrid of rock, salsa, hip-hop, cumbia, funk, dub, Middle Eastern sounds and soul.

The polyglot orchestra is also famous for filling the stage: There are six principle members at the moment, but the lineup has hit 10 before.

Glen Campbell gives the Velvet Underground a go

GLEN CAMPBELL singing the music of Green Day and the Velvet Underground may not top the list of Great Moments in Pop Weirdness -- that'd go to Pat Boone's heavy metal phase a decade ago when he got hip to Metallica and Alice Cooper. But it's close.

"Meet Glen Campbell," arriving Tuesday, also lets the veteran singer and guitarist apply his signature soaring tenor and deeply twanging electric guitar to U2's "All I Want is You," the Replacements' "Sadly, Beautiful" and a pair of Tom Petty songs.

The first vocal lines of the young composer Nico Muhly’s new album, “Mothertongue,” are seemingly arbitrary lists of numbers and addresses. Sung by ethereal mezzo-soprano Abigail Fischer over aching strings and a distorted sub-bass synthesizer, the arrangement feels like a Stockhausen gag; a misdirection that subverts your expectations about how the work might move you. For Muhly, however, there’s poetry in all that data.

“If you ask someone to name all the phone numbers you can off the top of your head, it’s going to be pretty interesting,” Muhly said. “When I asked the singer to name all of the phone numbers she knew, it was fascinating. It was her dad’s office from 20 years ago, or a friend’s number in Florence. You can tease narrative out of anything. You know how on Wikipedia there are these lists of things like ‘List of Horrible Ethnic Slurs’ or ‘List of Famous Canadian Homosexuals’? That’s such a poignant way to organize the world.”

Ulises Bella of Ozomatli sounded happy but worried: "It's going to be hard to get up in the morning. I mean I'm excited; this is good news. But being on the radio at 6 a.m.? That's hard for me. I mean, 6 a.m. is when I'm usually going to bed. But coffee and afternoon naps work miracles."

The miracle is that the morning show at KYSR-FM (98.7) here in L.A. (once a place you could listen to, augh, Danny Bonaduce and the shrill Jamie White) will soon be deeply eclectic — and especially crowded. The Grammy-winning L.A. band Ozomatli is taking over the rock station’s morning shift as of 6 a.m. on Aug. 20. Expect a seriously diverse playlist, considering the act made a name for itself with a singular Southern California hybrid of rock, salsa, hip-hop, cumbia, funk, dub, Middle Eastern sounds and soul.

The polyglot orchestra is also famous for filling the stage: There are six principle members at the moment, but the lineup has hit 10 before.

Nico Muhly's many 'Tongues'

The first vocal lines of the young composer Nico Muhly’s new album, “Mothertongue,” are seemingly arbitrary lists of numbers and addresses. Sung by ethereal mezzo-soprano Abigail Fischer over aching strings and a distorted sub-bass synthesizer, the arrangement feels like a Stockhausen gag; a misdirection that subverts your expectations about how the work might move you. For Muhly, however, there’s poetry in all that data.

“If you ask someone to name all the phone numbers you can off the top of your head, it’s going to be pretty interesting,” Muhly said. “When I asked the singer to name all of the phone numbers she knew, it was fascinating. It was her dad’s office from 20 years ago, or a friend’s number in Florence. You can tease narrative out of anything. You know how on Wikipedia there are these lists of things like ‘List of Horrible Ethnic Slurs’ or ‘List of Famous Canadian Homosexuals’? That’s such a poignant way to organize the world.”

Ulises Bella of Ozomatli sounded happy but worried: "It's going to be hard to get up in the morning. I mean I'm excited; this is good news. But being on the radio at 6 a.m.? That's hard for me. I mean, 6 a.m. is when I'm usually going to bed. But coffee and afternoon naps work miracles."

The miracle is that the morning show at KYSR-FM (98.7) here in L.A. (once a place you could listen to, augh, Danny Bonaduce and the shrill Jamie White) will soon be deeply eclectic — and especially crowded. The Grammy-winning L.A. band Ozomatli is taking over the rock station’s morning shift as of 6 a.m. on Aug. 20. Expect a seriously diverse playlist, considering the act made a name for itself with a singular Southern California hybrid of rock, salsa, hip-hop, cumbia, funk, dub, Middle Eastern sounds and soul.

The polyglot orchestra is also famous for filling the stage: There are six principle members at the moment, but the lineup has hit 10 before.

Ozomatli on the air: Band gets their own radio morning show

Ulises Bella of Ozomatli sounded happy but worried: "It's going to be hard to get up in the morning. I mean I'm excited; this is good news. But being on the radio at 6 a.m.? That's hard for me. I mean, 6 a.m. is when I'm usually going to bed. But coffee and afternoon naps work miracles."

The miracle is that the morning show at KYSR-FM (98.7) here in L.A. (once a place you could listen to, augh, Danny Bonaduce and the shrill Jamie White) will soon be deeply eclectic — and especially crowded. The Grammy-winning L.A. band Ozomatli is taking over the rock station’s morning shift as of 6 a.m. on Aug. 20. Expect a seriously diverse playlist, considering the act made a name for itself with a singular Southern California hybrid of rock, salsa, hip-hop, cumbia, funk, dub, Middle Eastern sounds and soul.

The polyglot orchestra is also famous for filling the stage: There are six principle members at the moment, but the lineup has hit 10 before.