March 27-30, American Ballet Theatre, based in New York City, presents the classic, "Swan Lake" at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.

“Color It Orange” is an Annual Juried Youth Art Exhibition of Orange County Public and Private School students from Kindergarten through Grade 12, including CHEP and individual entries.

“Color It Orange” encourages and celebrates youth art and creativity. Over 4,500 juried entries are expected from many different genres: drawings, paintings, sculpture, prints, and photography by hundreds of students.

Reception Sunday, March 16, 2008
LCAD Campus
2222 Laguna Canyon Road
Laguna Beach, CA 92651

All of the above was lifted from the LCAD website.

What I have to add is that my son is one of the artists selected to exhibit his work in this show. I am beaming with pride.

The only way you really know the Stone Bar is an Asian bar is it's a) in the middle of Thai Town, and b) there's a very large Buddha on the counter). So no pics of me with Gaysian Cowboys (but can someone arrange that?!), but I did have a great time. And I learned that I don't like duck. We went to eat at a Thai restaurant afterward, and in my drunken stupor, all I could remember was that my friend Britta (who is much more cosmopolitan than I am) loves duck. So I thought I'd order it. About half-way through, I realized I was eating duck, and couldn't eat any more. And when I got home, and was still thinking about having eaten duck, I threw up. Not from drinking. From duck.

But at least now I know.

What else needs to be said?

End of 07, beginning of 08, LACMA hosted a show of Salvador Dali's work. It was extensive from early art, to set designs for the movie Alfred Hitchcock's Spellbound to the co-collaboration with Walt Disney called Destino, which was truly amazing.

For some reason the project was scraped, either from budget issues or personality issues or a bit of both. In 2003, Disney opened the archives and finally completed the animation.
I was suprised how small the painting The Persistence of Memory was. When you see it in books or in photos, it seems so larger than life but it's only 8x10, if that.
Dali loved Hollywood. He is quoted by saying . . ."I’m in Hollywood, where I’ve made contact with the three American Surrealists, Harpo Marx, Disney and Cecil B. DeMille."

I like how LACMA used large screens and video to capture Dali's work and yet traditional display of his work. One room had one end of the room screening Dali's screen test that he did for Andy Warhol and then at the other end was the same screening but upside down. There was no sound and it didn't show much. In fact it didn't make sense but I guess that was the point. There was a lot of work to view. To much in fact that it became overwelming and that they were letting in a lot of people at one time, so things were bottlenecked at certain points.

February 22nd and 23rd at Freud Playhouse, UCLA
March 1st at Alex Theatre in Glendale
March 15th at Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center

Los Angeles Ballet presents a mixed-bill, including three ballets choreographed by the late George Balanchine ("The Four Temperaments," "Tarantella," and "Who Cares?") and a new work by LAB's Melissa Barak.

I watch Balanchine's ballets now and am completely blown away by the movements he's created. I can not imagine what it would have been like to have seen them fifty years ago when they were first presented to audiences.

I manage to make it into the venue without further incident, but now I have to figure out an escape plan - because if he's still out there when I leave, he's going to ask me for my number. Now, I can already tell there's no future with this guy, because a) he's clearly not very smart, b0 as a security guard, he more than likely does not meet the criteria established in the Fully Employed M-A-N program Wanda has enrolled me in, and c) he does not seem like the kind of guy who would want to go to a lot of country shows. He seems more like the type to want to see Snoop Dog or Kanye West. Clearly not a match made in heaven. So my options are:

a) Be a grown-up and upon leaving, gently tell him I'm flattered but not interested.

b) Meet someone else inside and have him walk me out at the end of the evening.

c) Give him KROQ's Loser Line.

d) Give him my ex-boyfriend's home phone number and use the name of said ex's female sometimes-roommate.

If you guessed "A", you should know I'm not that mature. Puh-lease. I actually lucked out and went with option "B" - and that way I didn't have to lie. But man, I'm so glad I had options "C" and "D" in my pocket. You should always have a back-up plan.

Angelus Rosedale Cemetary Walking Tour
Brought to you by the Studio for Southern California History

Time: 10 am - 12 pm
Date: February 2, 2008
Location: 1831 W. Washington Blvd, Los Angeles CA 90007
Cost: This event is free but reservations are required by calling 213-229-8890.
Meeting Place: to the right of the front gates.

Led by Resident Storytellers Steve Goldstein and Joe Walker, this Walking Tour explores Angelus Rosedale, one of Los Angeles' oldest resting places, built in 1884. In addition to many of the city's mayors, this cemetery is important to Los Angeles' African American communities as well as many others.

Joe Walker is a Crime Analyst with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and has been with the department since 1986. In that capacity, he has worked numerous patrol stations and special unit assignments, including Robbery and Homicide. In 1995-1996, he assisted best selling author James Ellroy, (L.A. Confidential, Black Dahlia). His most recent work was as a contributing writer to the five volume series, "Famous American Crimes and Trials" published in December, 2004 by Greenwood Publishers. Walker wrote about the 1942 "Sleepy Lagoon" murders in Los Angeles and the subsequent "Zoot Suit." Most recently, he is assisting the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in the 1957 case of Tommy Bowman.