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Flora and Son

• By Ken Werther

Flora (Eve Hewson), a single mother living in Dublin, is having trouble with her estranged son Max (Orén Kinlan), a rebellious teenaged petty thief who is also navigating his first crush. On a quest to find Max a hobby, Flora rescues an old guitar from a skip bin (what Ireland calls a dumpster) and, with the help of Jeff, a Los Angeles-based online guitar teacher (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), discovers that one person’s rubbish can be another person’s salvation. Flora and Son is directed by John Carney (Modern Love, Once, Begin Again) and features original songs by Carney and Scottish musician and songwriter Gary Clark, with Clark also writing the score. The two men previously collaborated on music for film, stage, and television.

Flora and Son had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January and had a limited theatrical release in September. It is now streaming on Apple TV+ worldwide. The cast also includes Jack Reynor, Don Wycherley, Sophie Vavasseur, and Kelly Thornton. Of the movie, the Rotten Tomatoes website’s consensus says, “Another music-fueled crowd pleaser from writer-director John Carney, Flora and Son proves almost impossible to resist.” The music really brings this tale of family, love of music, and artistic ability together. I loved the story. It’s heartwarming and funny!  I am a big fan of John Carney films, and his latest does not disappoint!

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My Name is Barbra

• By Ken Werther

My dad used to tell me of the day in 1962 he saw I Can Get It for You Wholesale in Boston, prior to Broadway. “It wasn’t very good,” he’d say, “but there was this girl …” She was only 20 years old, and her name was Barbra Streisand! Barbra is now 81 (81!) and on November 7, her long-awaited memoir, My Name is Barbra, by the superstar of stage, screen, recordings, and television finally arrives. With a career spanning six decades, she is among the handful of EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony) winners and has one of the greatest and most recognizable voices in the history of popular music. Early buzz is that the book is frank, funny, and opinionated … no surprise there! She recounts her early struggles to become an actress, her legendary singing and stage career, the making of Funny Girl, Yentl, The Mirror Has Two Faces and The Prince of Tides, her friendships with Marlon Brando, Madeleine Albright, and much, much more. You’ll want to grab a cup of coffee or a glass of wine when you sit down with the book — it’s over 1000 pages! Nominated 43 times for a Grammy Award, winning eight. Two special non-competitive awards — the 1992 Grammy Legend Award and the 1994 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame four times. And now, we’re finally going to hear all about it from the lady herself. Get ready!

To purchase, click here.

Ms. Tucker Will See You Now

• By Arlene Winnick

Bette Midler, Joan Rivers, Belle Barthe and Phyllis Diller were some of the most talented female entertainers of our time with their own very personal style. The inspiration for all these funny ladies was the incredible Sophie Tucker, affectionately nicknamed “the last of the red-hot mamas.” A one-woman tribute to her, Ms. Tucker Will See You Now is coming to the Gardenia Supper Club for two performances. 

Writer and performer Laurel Meade serves up an evening of dirty jokes, risqué stories, clever anecdotes and raucous songs as she channels her inner Tucker. Tucker was the most sought after nightclub performer of her day and was a frequent guest on the nation’s popular radio (Radio Hall of Fame, The Andrews Sisters) and TV variety shows (Ed Sullivan Show, The Tonight Show). The show features also thirteen of Tucker’s signature songs including “Some of These Days,”  “Yiddishe Mama,” and “The Man I Love.”  She was a very “large well-endowed” woman and many of her jokes targeted her size including the titillating, “”Nobody Loves a Fat Girl, But Oh How a Fat Girl Can Love.” The evening also features stories and tales from other female entertainers.

Established in Hollywood in 1981 by Broadway performer Tom Rolla, The Gardenia located in West Hollywood is the oldest continuously-running supperclub in the United States. Enjoy drinks and dinner with this wonderful in their living-room-like setting.

For tickets, click here.

Exhibition 009: Under Pressure

• By Cynthia Lum

BEYOND THE STREETS & CONTROL Gallery will showcase a group exploration of contemporary airbrush art, EXHIBITION 009: UNDER PRESSURE, curated by Mister CARTOON — a master of airbrush in a multitude of applications —and featuring a roster of eclectic artists renowned for expanding on the medium’s past applications in a refreshing and conceptual way.

Airbrushing was one of the most popular forms of art during the early to mid-20th century. First pioneered during the late 1890s, airbrushing took off in the 1940s after the ingenious Walt Disney began to implement the technique into his animated creations. 

UNDER PRESSURE takes into account the historic significance and evolution of airbrush, bringing to life a show that highlights 16 artists from a wide range of backgrounds, ages, and career positionings, each of which have contributed to the resurgence of the technique in entirely new and unique languages.  

Mister CARTOON shares, “When I started airbrushing there was this huge wave in Southern California with custom vans where people started theming their cars with all these different kinds of murals. There was a Battlestar Galactica van, an E.T. van., and many others with Mexican Aztec type of artwork. It was mind-blowing to me. That same feeling is something I wanted to evoke for Under Pressure, to excite a new generation in a similar way I was all those years ago, while appreciating the evolution of this artform that has been so important to my career.”

November 3, 2023 to December 23, 2023 at 434 N La Brea Avenue. Click here.