GROOVES

email: groovesmirror@hotmail.com

Center Stage: Patti Smith

Highlights

Rock, Pop

The Queers, Eyeliners, The Independents at Roxy, 6/2. Well, no, they’re not…but the Queers are an amazing amalgam of Beach Boys harmonies sweetness and Ramones tough leather pop.
Los Lobos on Santa Monica College Radio KCRW (89.9FM), 6/5, 11:15am. Live full band special.
Elvis Costello & The Imposters at The Kodak Theatre, 5/30
Calexico at Spaceland, 5/30
Neptunas at The Bigfoot Lodge, 5/30
Velvet Hammer, New Wave Hustlers, Ron Athey & Vaginal Davis at The Parlour Club, 5/30
Moroccon, Stiff, Dios, Kennedy at The Silverlake Lounge, 5/30
Anticon Collective with Soul, Restiform Bodies, Kevin Blechdom at The Knitting Factory, 5/30
The Boneshakers at Harvelle’s, 6/1
Coach Whips, Numbers at The Smell, 5/30
Me’shell N’degeocello at The Roxy, 6/4 & 6/5
Kevin Blechdom, Trans Am at The Knitting Factory, 5/3
Double Naught Spy Car, Listing Ship at the Alterknit Lounge (Knitting Factory), 5/30
I See Hawks In LA, David Markowitz, Paul Marshall at Taix, 6/1, FREE. (213) 484 1265
Kennedy, Dios, Stiff, Moroccan at The Silverlake Lounge, 5/30
Mates of State, Appleseed Cast, Infinite X’s at The Derby, 5/31
Umbayale, Arkestra Clandestina at The Temple Bar, 5/30
John Gold, Mike Stinson at The Derby, 6/2
Dora Flood, Moon Upstairs, Frank Jordan at The Silverlake Lounge, 6/4
Goldenboy, Gravity at The Silverlake Lounge, 6/5
Laura Dern, Katey Sagel, Lucy Webb, Senator Debra Bowen, Lily Tomlin, Carolyn Gracie, many others at the Women at Risk Gospel Brunch Fundraiser (The House of Blues) 6/2

Jazz, Classical

Ahmad Jamal, James Cammack, James Johnson at The Jazz Bakery, 5/30
Angelo Metz’s Brazilian Jazz Combo at The Skirball Cultural Center, 6/1
Santa Monica College (SMC) Concert Chorale Spring Concert at The First United Methodist Church, 6/2, 7:30pm, 1008 11th St.
SMC Student Composition Concert at the Santa Monica College Concert Hall, 6/4, 11:15am. FREE!

Readings,
Performances

What’s Black and White and Red all Over? at The El Rey Theatre, 5/30, 6pm. “Is it real or is it a bad joke? The media, race relations, the left, War, Peace, a dress code, art! Is the answer progress, progressive, radical, coalition or anarchy?” This year’s Cemter for the Study of Political Graphics’ annual awards ceremony and auction features Paul Conrad (Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist) who will receive the “Culture of Liberation” award, and Wendell Collins (political silkscreen artist & activist) gets “Art is a Hammer” award, while Nora Hamilton and Norma Chinchilla will take home the “Historian of the Lions” award. For reservatons, call 323 653 4662.
The Flypoet Spoken Word & Music Showcase at LUSH, 6/5, 8pm. 2020 Wilshire Blvd, Santa Monica. Flypoet John Hensley hosts this monthly event, featuring poets, musicians, and performance artists.
Charles Fleming at Village Books, Pacific Palisades, 5/30.
William Eisner (Done In By Innocent Things) at The Venice-Abbot Kinney Branch Library, 6/4, 6:30pm.
Sharon Boorstin (Let Us Eat Cake) at The Santa Monica Public Library, 6/2, 2pm

The Week Ahead

Thursday, May 30

Elvis Costello at The Kodak Theatre
Curtis Taylor at BB King’s
Anticon Collective, Sole, Passage, Restform Bodies, Keven Blechdon at The Knitting Factory
Jollyon, Harrigan, Leclair at Derby
Trans Am, Pines of Nowhere at The Glass House
Birthday Suit, Burning Star, Fatslice at The House of Blues
Rurik, Luncar Click, erace, The Anix, Coma Red at The Key Club
Carmen Electra with the Pussycat Dolls Live at The Roxy
Up Syndrome, American Made, 2/3 Sober, Sixth n’ Step at The Whisky
Patty Griffin at The Troubadour
The Brothers Thick at The Warehouse (Marina Del Rey)

Friday, May 31

Eddie Palmieri at The Conga Room
Andrew WK, Icarus Line at The House of Blues
Badly Drawn Boy at Amoeba Music, 7pm. FREE!
The Cuts, The Snakes at Spaceland
Mates of State, Appleseed Cast, Rachael Cantu, Infinite X’s at The Derby
Trans Am at The Knitting Factory
Signal Hill Transmission at The Mint
The Letter Red, The Like, Brewster’s Millions, Anthem at The Roxy
Pretty Girls Make Graves, Your Enemies Friends at The Troubadour

Saturday, June 1

David Crosby & CPR, Joe Henry at The Walden School Benefit (Sexson Auditorium - Pasadena City College)
FCS North, Stratford 4 at Spaceland
Junior Brown, Jim Lauderdale at The Roxy
Eleni Mandell at Amoeba Music, 2pm, FREE!
King Cotton at BB King’s
The Bonedaddy’s, Dave Wakeling (English Beat) at 14 Below
White Stripes at The Glass House
Pinback, Crooked Finger, Maquiladora at Knitting Factory
Present Tense at The Martini Lounge
Trip Adagio, Twin Six, Slydell at The Mint
Junior Brown, Jim Lauderdale, Hawkeye at The Roxy
Topanga Blues Festival at The Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum

Sunday, June 2

The Queers, Eyeliners, The Independents at Roxy.
Playboy Jazz Festival at Santa Monica College (Corsair Field)
Club Dread, Mr. Vegas at The Key Club
Deviates, 1208, Lunacy, Western Waste at The Troubadour

Monday, June 3

Rhyme Junkies at The Dragon Fly
Nek Romantix, Dragstrip Demons, Graveyard Shift at The Troubadour

Tuesday, June 4

KMFDM, Sturm & Drang at The Palace
Dale Watson at The Knitting Factory
The Get Up Kids, Hot Rod Circuit at The House of Blues
Me’shell N’degecellom, DJ Garth Trinidad at The Roxy
The Crash Poets, Genitallica at The Troubadour

Wednesday, June 5

Coolio at The Key Club
Motor Ace at The Knitting Factory
Peter Himmelman Band at The Mint
Elf Power at Spaceland
Six Foot Under, Skinless, Sworn Enemy at The Troubadour

Clubs

14 Below – 1348 14th St., Santa Monica (310)451-5040
Club Sugar - 814 Broadway Ave., Santa Monica. (310)899.1989 www.clubsugar.com
Harvelle’s Blues Club – Downhome westside spot since 1931. Tuesdays: Bad Boy Jones. 1432 Fourth St., Santa Monica (310)395-1676
Liquid Lounge - Gotham Hall presents. (800) 384-8865 ext. 0 or go to www.gothamhall.com or www.salsasundays.com
Lush - 2020 Wilshire Blvd., Santa Monica. (310)829-1933
McCabes – (see above). Sunday of every month at 7pm: Free Talent Night. 3101 Pico Blvd., Santa Monica, CA 310 828-4403 www.mccabes.com.
Rusty’s Surf Ranch- Every other Thursday: Women Who Cook. 256 Santa Monica Pier (310)393-PIER
Temple Bar –1026 Wilshire Blvd., Santa Monica (310)393-6611
The Friendship - 112 W. Channel, Santa Monica.
The Joint – 8771 W. Pico Blvd. (310)275-2619
The West End - 5th & Arizona in Santa Monica. (310)313-3292 www.westendclubs.com

Coffeehouses
and Other Spaces

Anastasia’s Asylum – Live music nightly, no cover. 1028 Wilshire, Santa Monica. (310)394-7113
Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center - Critically acclaimed events, and FREE Workshops & Readings. Events this week: Sat, 6/1, 2pm: Writing Students of VENICE HIGH Come for the annual reading with creative writing students from Lyn Sabin’s class. FREE. Sat, 6/1, 7:30pm: New York Times Book Review cover poet MARIE PONSOT. “Ponsot published her first book of poems, True Minds in 1956). Her recent books include Admit Impediment (1981) and The Green Dark (1988). She is a native New Yorker and teaches at Queens College, Beijing United University, the Poetry Center of the YMHA, NYU, and Columbia. Her awards include an NEA Creative Writing grant, the Delmore Schwartz Memorial Prize, and the Shaughnessy Medal of the Modern Language Association. Ponsot’s last collection, The Bird Catcher, won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry in 1998.” Sun, 6/2, 5pm: OPEN READING with ALICIA VOGL SEANZ and AIDA SALAZAR ALICIA VOGL SAENZ. Alicia Vogl Saenz is “a native Angelino of Ecuadorian and Czechoslovakian descent and has had poems in Blue Mesa Review, Drum Voices Revue and Grand Street. Her chapbook is The Day I Wore the Red Coat. AIDA SALAZAR is a poet and a performance / installation artist; her work has appeared in Women and Performance and Frontera. She is co-founder of activist-based Regeneracion. Hosted IMANI TOLLIVER. FREE, sign-up at 4:45pm. LIFE STORIES Performance Workshop, 10 week session, classes Sat 10-1 or Sun 11-2. $250. Call 310.281.3175. “A writing workshop utilizing spontaneous writing, music, movement, and drawing to mine autobiographical stories for memoir or performance.” 1ST SUNDAY OPEN READING - 5 PM, sign-up 4:45 (except August, September, and January) MONDAY NIGHT FICTION - 8 PM Led by TOM BURKETT, the workshop will focus on short shorts, stories, and novels. TUESDAY NIGHT CREATIVE NON-FICTION - 8 PM Bring works of creative non-fiction, memoir, and prose. Led by CINDY BAILEY and WAYMAN BARNES. WEDNESDAY NIGHT POETRY - 8 PM The West Coast’s longest running, free workshop, this month, led by JOHN HARRIS. THURSDAY NIGHT POETRY - 8 PM 1st and last Thursdays of the month. Bring poems you’re thinking about (yours or other poets’), with ELIZABTH KNAPP and JESSICA GOODHEART. MONDAY POETRY READING CIRCLE - 8 pm Led by BETZI RICHARDSON, 1st & 3rd Mondays, 2nd & 4th Mondays, critiques and exercises, bring your own work. FREE. (310)822-3006. 681 Venice Blvd., Venice.
Duttons Books Brentwood – Critically acclaimed readings and events. Call for this week’s scheduleThis Week’s Events: Thu, 5/30, 7pm: Scott Wannberg will introduce Mark Edward Rhodes and his new book of poems — largely devoted to Ireland. Recommended. Sat, 6/1, 11am: Jessica Harper’s third children’s book LIZZY DO’S AND DON’TS promotes the values of positive reinforcement. Sun, 6/2, 2pm: COLLEEN DUNN BATES & SUSAN LATEMPA’s Storybook Travels. Mon, 6/3, 7pm: CHRISTOPHER PHILLIPS. Tues, 6/4, 7pm: DAVID ROSENFELT reads and signs OPEN AND SHUT. Wed., 6/5, 7pm: VALERIE STEIKER reads and signs LEOPARD HAT. Thu, 6/6, 7pm: June Book Group with DAVID UNGER, featuring: LIFE IN THE DAMN TROPICS, A political novel about a Jewish family in 1980’s Guatemala. Book Group meets at 5 pm (prior sign up required). Reading/Sighing at 7 pm (no sign up required). 11975 San Vicente Blvd.
Metro Rags & Java – Tuesdays: Philosopher’s Café. 1630 Ocean Park Blvd., Santa Monica, 90405. (310)396-8356
Midnight Special Bookstore - Open and featured readings, political discussions & groups, renowned authors and reading circles, computer and technology groups, science fiction book club and much more. Events: Thu, 5/30, 7:30pm: Marcelo Gleiser will read & discuss The Prophet and the Astronomer: A Scientific Journey to the End of Time, which “unveils the meeting ground between catastrophic fears and catastrophic science. In this unusual survey of cosmological knowledge,” Gleiser “allows entry to religious and spiritual imaginings alongside empirical investigations.” Fri, 5/31, 8pm (7:30 sign ups). Sun, 6/2, 2pm: Antonia Darder will read & discuss REINVENTING PAULO FREIRE: A Pedagogy of, an homage to him by protégé Antonia Darder. Here, she explores the legacy of Freire, interviews eight former students (now teachers) who studied him - and reflects on the teaching practice as demonstrated by Freire. The interviews take the form of first person narratives; the epilogue consists simply of a letter and a poem. Sun, 6/2, 5pm: Steve Lopez will read & discuss IN THE CLEAR, which introduces us to the fragile world of Harbor Light. “A smart, funny character study disguised as a murder mystery.”–Publisher’s Weekly. Mon, 6/3, 7:30pm: Robin Kelly will read & discuss FREEDOM DREAMS: The Black Radical Imagination. A “major new voice on the intellectual left” (Frances Fox Piven), Kelley shows us that “any serious movement toward freedom must begin in the mind.” Wed, 6/5, 7:30pm: Joel Kovel will read & discuss ENEMY OF NATURE, a book “written in the spirit of the great radical motto, ‘be realistic - demand the impossible!’ Its author dares to think the unthinkable - we have a choice: capitalist barbarism and ecocatastrophe, or the building of a society worthy of humanity and nature.” 1318 3rd Street Promenade Santa Monica, CA 90401, v310.393-2923 f:310.394.6123 | books@msbooks.com | www.msbooks.com.