William Shatner once said, “I love living in Los Angeles,” and so do we. While there’s so much going on, it can be hard to keep track of it all. Fortunately, Flavorpill invites the entire community to make suggestions with its gorgeous city-based culture guide — an open platform where our very own editors and curators meet and mingle with artists, gadabouts, and other tipsters for a limitless variety of both ongoing and one-off recommendations. With this in mind, please enjoy our weekly list of hand-picked event suggestions here on Flavorwire, and in the meantime, be sure to check out the new Flavorpill. We hope to see you there!
Monday, April 22
COMEDY: Drunken Tales of Glory and Shame Gifted comic Mike O’Connell is no stranger to adversity. His brilliant feature-length sleeper The Living Wake (2007) tanked at the box office — twice. And despite his charmingly offbeat stand-up style and his smooth storytelling skills, O’Connell still struggles to get the recognition he deserves, though he’s already got the admiration of his peers. Given his remarkable tenacity to succeed in the brutal world of comedy, it seems appropriate that he should be behind a lineup called “Drunken Tales of Glory and Shame,” featuring booze-fueled anecdotes from comics who make us see how the most palatable pleasure is often rooted in pain. — Tanja M. Laden
Tuesday, April 23
MUSIC: Guy Blakeslee and Paz Lenchantin The Entrance Band make a peculiar racket indeed — a molten, slightly off-kilter gob of scratchy blues, folk rock, swirling psychedelia, and twangy country. Founder Guy Blakeslee studied at the Hendrix school of guitar-slinging, waxing shamanic with six-string voodoo galore. Tonight, he goes solo with a timeless, unapologetic heaviness. Catch the Entrance Band’s frontman at the Last Bookstore Downtown, along with violinist and bassist Paz Lenchantin and other surprise guests. — Mikelle Schwartz
FILM: Wayne’s World Reunion With Mike Meyers and Lorne Michaels
Wednesday, April 24
MUSIC: The 88 With The Three O’Clock Venerable Paisley Underground godfathers The Three O’Clock are in circulation again, which is good news, especially for nostalgia-philes — and The Three O’Clock were kind of a nostalgia act even when they were young. But the freshest sweet spot on this bill is The 88, one of those bands that makes you realize how great it is to live in Los Angeles and have the high-quality homegrown music that we do. The blissful power pop outfit has songwriting that’s smart but never snarky, romantic but never syrupy, with that sweet little extra boost that piano gives to pop, lending it a timeless quality. If there were any justice in this world, The 88 would be a megaband playing gigantic venues, but then again, if that were to happen, we wouldn’t be complaining about the lack of justice in the world — we’d be complaining about how we can no longer see them in intimate venues like the Troubadour. If you’re a fan of smart, rich power pop, see this band now. — L.J. Williamson
FOOD/WINE: Dishcrawl: Cambodia Town in Long Beach
Thursday, April 25
PARTY: Gary Baseman’s House Party Whether as a commercial or fine artist, Gary Baseman always seeks to erase boundaries. The products of his subversively sweet eye have appeared in numerous publications such as The New York Times, while his commercial design appears on the packaging of the brainy board game Cranium. Baseman also served as creator and executive producer on ABC/Disney’s Teacher’s Pet, which won the artist three Emmy awards. Yet the prolific renaissance man is still best known for his colorful, substantive, illustration-based fine art. While Baseman’s unique brand of creativity is based in toy culture and commercial design, it reveals more profound elements that tend to perplex, confound, and inadvertently delight the viewer. Baseman’s wide-ranging body of work contains crossover appeal while remaining decidedly individualistic. In The Door is Always Open , his ambitious solo show at the Skirball Cultural Center, Baseman continues to reinterpret his own definition of a “pervasive artist,” extending his creative influence into as many media as possible. — Tanja M. Laden
FILM: Cinespia Salon: Trances (1981)
Friday, April 26
CONFERENCE: Mindshare LA Mindshare is a group of smart, subversive types that meets for curated micro-lectures, reminiscent of the TED talks. Its monthly series features impressively informed and inspiring presentations by über-achievers, and the combination of lectures and booze mixes well with an open and social crowd. Mindshare continues its clubbing-meets-geek lecture series with a discussion about the neuroscience of play, featuring talks by four distinguished speakers. Along with the requisite food-and-drink specials, expect mind-bending art and science installations guaranteed to whisk you away to another dimension. — Kenneth Hughes
Saturday, April 27
MUSIC: Church From his hometown of New Zealand to his adopted towns of West London and Los Angeles, Mark de Clive Lowe’s remixes and rhythmic cinematic soundscapes hypnotize everyone from veteran dancers to vividly painted wallflowers just waiting to sway to his much-buzzed-about live sets. It’s a religious experience — almost as cathartic as going to Mass, which makes the weighty name of MdCL’s regular club night no accident. — Tanja M. Laden
Sunday, April 28
FILM: Triple Fisher Screening and Q&A With Director Dan Kapelovitz Back in the early 1990s, 17-year-old Amy Fisher found herself in a bizarre love triangle with her lover Joey Buttafuoco and his wife, Mary Jo, in a case that would redefine post-Reagan-Era tabloid culture. Fisher found infamy after she shot poor Mary Jo in the face, catapulting her to a dubious form of stardom when the media quickly dubbed her the “Long Island Lolita.” Long before her stint on Celebrity Rehab With Dr. Drew (along with a few adult films), Amy Fisher was the inspiration behind three network specials; Beyond Control: The Amy Fisher Story on ABC starred Drew Barrymore, while Alyssa Milano took the reins in Casualty of Love on CBS. Meanwhile, NBC adapted Fisher’s own account for the small screen with Treachery in the Suburbs: The Amy Fisher Story. More than 20 years later, director Dan Kapelovitz ( Threee Geniuses ) tackles another triad when he mashes up all three of the crazy made-for-TV movies in Triple Fisher. Join the director for a Q&A following the world-premiere screening of the director’s cut of Triple Fisher at the Downtown Independent. — Tanja M. Laden