Royal/T piano painted by Kenny Scharf (photo credit: Amanda Brooks)

Royal/T, the playful art space, shop and café, is expanding its nighttime offerings with live entertainment, a new art cabaret space, tapas and other culinary treats, and extravagant special events — fusing popular culture, music, film, and contemporary art into a creative Westside lounge environment.  Set in Royal/T’s back gallery space, Nighttime at Royal/T‘s mission is to provide high quality eclectic programming in art-full, high-style surroundings filled with owner Susan Hancock‘s world-class contemporary art collection.  The space will be open every Wednesday, Thursday as well as selected additional nights, featuring cabaret acts and eclectic music performances. Cabaret nights are free and run from 6:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. Cover charge for most other events range from $5 to $20.  Royal/T will also continue to offer special evening events featuring films, DJ sets, art performances, and theme parties.  Nighttime at Royal/T events will feature French-Japanese fusion tapas except when a guest chef reigns in the kitchen.

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Nonlife Zoo Photo Courtesy Royal/T

Angelenos are invited to dress like their favorite zoo animals and explore their wild sides at Royal/T‘s A Night in the Jungle on Friday, August 6, 2010 from 8:00pm to 1:00am in celebration of The Nonlife Zoo‘s pop-up space residency – an imaginary visual of animal existence on earth. A Night in the Jungle will feature international music maestro DJ Daedelus spinning in the back space as partygoers dance the night away and enjoy Royal/T’s signature soju cocktails, beer, wine, and new vegetarian tapas. If any guest needs a break from dancing, owner Susan Hancock will provide animal card energy readings and rides throughout the space will be available courtesy of artist Kenny Scharf‘s Cartz Royale. The Nonlife Zoo residency, presented by Royal/T in conjunction with MollaSpace, raises awareness and funds for animal preservation.

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Photo credit: Benn Glazier

The renowned Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles (GMCLA) – a leading artistic force, staunch advocate of civil and human rights and first gay men’s choir to perform for a sitting president (Bill Clinton) – presents the world premiere of “The End of It All” by noted electronic artist and DJ John Tejada, on Saturday, August 21, 2010, at Walt Disney Concert Hall.  Commissioned by GMCLA and written for choir and electronica, it will feature the composer on electronica.  Also on the program are a selection of great opera choruses, a range of classic contemporary choral works and the GMCLA’s poignant and critically acclaimed Harvey Milk Schools Project, a mix of music and spoken word spotlighting the life of civil rights icon Harvey Milk to promote equality and acceptance and raise awareness about anti-gay bullying in schools.  This marks the choir’s third performance in Disney Hall. Read the rest of this entry »

“Untitled” Roscoe Wilson

Following a successful launch in Beijing, the A&I Gallery in Hollywood will host the North American premiere of Common Ground 2010, an exhibition of fine art digital prints from across the globe, all with an environmental theme. The exhibition of new media work, at the intersection of art, technology, and eco-activism, opens on July 8, 2010 and runs through August 13, 2010. Over 1,000 artists from 40 countries submitted their digital art for consideration. The resulting curated collection contains work from 85 artists. A portion of all proceeds generated from the touring exhibition will benefit non-profit organizations including the World Wildlife Fund, Global Giving, and The Global Environmental Institute. Read the rest of this entry »

"War Machine" photo credit: Michael Tullberg

After seven years in development, non-profit organization Overtone Industries is set to launch their site-specific theatricale, Songs and Dances of Imaginary Lands, with three weekends of performances opening Thursday, July 8, 2010.  Billed as a contemporary opera, the large-scale, genre-bending production integrates an astounding array of innovative art installation, dance, voice, live and recorded music, projected video, costuming, community participation, and theater. Songs and Dances of Imaginary Lands was developed and cultivated by Director O-Lan Jones in an extensive guided collaboration that involves twenty one librettists, eleven composers, Costume and Scenic Designer Snezana Petrovic, Musical Director David O, Instrument Inventor Bart Hopkin, Choreographer Nina Winthrop, twenty performers, a nine-piece live orchestra, dozens of crew members, scores of community volunteers, and many others.

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Overtone Industries is engaged in a massive community arts project, currently underway, to create props and costumes from recycled materials for their July site-specific contemporary opera, Songs and Dances of Imaginary Lands directed by O-Lan Jones. In May and June, creative volunteers are invited to Overtone’s “Songs & Dances Craftacular Weekend Workshops,” a series of free public art workshops where donated recyclables are being transformed into sets and costumes for the innovative music theater production. Overtone Industries is looking for crafters, artists, knitters, and the general public of all ages to collaborate on the project by participating in the art-making process via the community workshops. Workshops are being held Saturdays and Sundays, 12:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., through June 20, 2010 at the Songs & Dances Warehouse, 8840 Washington Street, Culver City, CA 90232.

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image from "North Horizon" by Thomas Freundlich and Valterri Raekallio

Dance Camera West (DCW), recognized internationally for its month-long presentation and celebration of dance on screen, announces the programming for its ninth annual Dance Media Film Festival screening at venues throughout Southern California in June 2010.  Dance on screen, or “screendance,” is a unique cinematic experience that focuses on the intersection of cinematography and choreography.  The festival includes this as well as all forms of dance media.  “The hybrid screendance medium is diverse, encompassing a broad range of cinematic styles, exhibition formats, and subject matters traversing global perspectives,” says Dance Camera West founder and director, Lynette Kessler… Read the rest of this entry »

Photo by Jesse Freidin

Inspired by Polaroid’s newest spokesperson, Lady Gaga, award-winning Bay Area dog photographer Jesse Freidin – with the help of The Impossible Project (TIP) – created The Doggie Gaga Project, which has become a viral sensation.  Freidin dressed his canine models in five of Lady Gaga’s most celebrated outfits, and photographed them using two packs of Polaroid film from the last remaining supply in the world.  Read the rest of this entry »

Award winning filmmaker Jon Reiss is set to release his new book Think Outside the Box Office: The Ultimate Guide to Film Distribution and Marketing for the Digital Era on March 15, 2010. The book is a primer for filmmaking in the digital era covering distribution of all types of media content – feature films, shorts, webisodes, transmedia, vblogs, etc., and is the first to address the new distribution and marketing landscape facing filmmakers today.
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Photo Credit: Helena Ruffin

Legendary interdisciplinary artist Rachel Rosenthal is set to introduce the world to her new improvisational theater group, TOHUBOHU! Extreme Theater Ensemble, with monthly performances starting the weekend of February 19, 2010. The name, loosely translated, means “collision or chaos” which Rosenthal describes as not what the Company does, but the process they go through to do what they do. Each monthly performance will span three nights during one weekend. All performance begin at 8:30pm. Tickets cost $20. Reservations are necessary to insure seats… Read the rest of this entry »