One wouldn't really expect to go to the LACMA to go see great classical music, but during the season every Sunday at 6 there is a free concert of some great mid-career musicians or student virtuosos, broadcasted on 88.5 KCSN. Today we have violinist Hahn-Bin and pianist John Blacklow performing the Mozart and Franck violin sonatas. Next week on Friday we have jazz singer/songwriter/pianist Bill Cantos takes the stage, and on Sunday we have cellist......

We just really liked this photo of a Manhattan Beach sunset. / Photo by karthikkito via LAist's photo pool. FILM: What We Do Is Secret, The Germs’ biopic finally hits LA. Watch the rise and fall of the punk scene embodied by lead singer Darby Crash—and true to rock legend form—played hard and died too young. The Nuart has multiple screenings tonight with Q&A and introductions from original Germs Lorna Doom, Pat Smear and......

Photo by atomicshakespeares via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr LACMA's photography collection just got a major influx of new images. The collection, ammassed by Marjorie and Leonard Vernon, includes works by Ansel Adams, Julie Morgan Cameron, Imogen Cunningham, Gustav le Gray, Edward Steichen, W. H. Fox Talbot, and Edward Weston. "Annenberg funds paid for a large portion of the photographs; Carol Vernon, the collectors' daughter, and her husband, Robert Turbin, donated the rest," According......

After the Flood - Building on Higher Ground, a part of the International symposium series Sustainable Dialogues, is the first in a series of exhibitions held at theA+D Museum that showcases eco-friendly and innovative international architectural proposals for replacement housing and the redevelopment of New Orleans, Louisiana in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, which drew from an international competition organized by Architectural Record and Tulane University's School of Architecture. The exhibition is made up of......

There's a fashion lecture and cocktail reception at LACMA tonight with Sex and the City's costumer. / Chinatown photo by ~db~ via LAist's flickr pool. FASHION* You can’t escape Sex and the City. It just happens – even at LACMA. The museum's “Costume Council” is hosting and lecture and reception with SATC’s costume designer Patricia Field. Her other big and small screen work can be seen in The Devil Wears Prada and Ugly Betty.......

Tonight The worlds of science and sci-fi collide tonight in Santa Monica at the Michel Mew exhibit Robotanicals. Four of Mew’s robots are currently on display as part of the Robots: Evolution of a Cultural Icon exhibit at San Jose’s Museum of Art, & he will soon be featured in the upcoming book Art Revolution. - thru July 12th Opening reception 6-9pm Deborah Page Gallery 1028 Montana Ave. Santa Monica 310.458.4400 www.deborahpagegallery.com......

LACMA is free today with live music and art workshops. / Photo by pink_fish13 via LAist's flickr pool. There are plenty of non-grilling-related events going on about town, so if you’re not firing up a BBQ today, might want to check a few out. FILM The ArcLight in Sherman Oaks is hosting a “Summer at the Drive In” series – and tonight the summer lovin’ begins with Grease. See pre-Pulp Fiction John Travolta dance......

Yes, it's Monday and with an event like LACMA's upcoming Art Book Swap there is yet another reason to look forward to the weekend. Working in conjunction with Regency Arts Press Ltd. and the New Art Dealers Alliance, the museum has arranged for art books to be donated by stores, libraries, publishing houses, galleries and many others. The fun thing is you bring your old books in and trade for the gifted items or swap......

Yesterday at four different locations around the Los Angeles area, teams built ice structures, a re-creation of performance and installation artist Allan Kaprow's "Fluids." Yesterday, Kaprow's son helped build one of the structures in Pasadena's Memorial Park. LAist Featured Photos contributor Tom Andrews was there to catch it. From Beverly Hills to San Pedro, "Fluids" structures are still being put up today and tomorrow. Below the photo gallery is a map of locations and dates.......

Fluids in Trousdale Estates, Beverly Hills - 1967 © Dennis Hopper [Yes, the actor] Since late March, performance art happenings have taken place all around Los Angeles. From students at USC dragging cement blocks in public right-of-ways to women licking jam off cars, the Allan Kaprow exhibit has extended beyond the gallery walls of the MOCA Geffen Contemporary gallery exhibit. Through the end of June, recreations from the pioneer of performance art will continue.......

"Who Watches The Watchers", by ~db~ via LAist Featured Photos Pool on Flickr. A year after the LAPD launched an offensive to rid Downtown of drugs and crime, the results are mixed. Violent crime is down and shoplifting is up, but some opponents of this broken windows campaign are deriding the heavy handed tactics they say police have used. But officials said, look at the results and, hey, it worked for Giuliani in NYC......

A Zen Day at LACMA, Flipped | Photo by pink_fish13 from LAist Featured Photos Pool on Flickr Monday Markus Flanagan presents One Less Bitter Actor 7pm @ Book Soup Dee Dee Myers presents Why Women Should Rule the World 7pm @ Vroman's John Richardson signs A Life of Picasso: The Triumphant Years 7pm @ LACMA Tuesday Tony D'Souza presents The Konkans 7pm @ Book Soup Tom Cathcart & Daniel Klein present Aristotle & an......

Since the recent opening of LACMA's Broad Contemporary (BCAM) a flurry of international eyes have been on Los Angeles, and an ensuing flurry of words have issued forth in review. It seems irresistible to review the Broad without also reviewing the city that houses it, which was precisely the tact taken by Chris Haslam in London's Sunday Times today. It takes Haslam seven paragraphs into his article to even mention the precise reason he......

Today's holiday is a Federal one, so that means government offices, from city to county to state and beyond, are closed. Same goes for banks and public schools. No mail being delivered either. However, trash and public transportation in Los Angeles will be running as usual says the Daily News in their Presidents Day schedule. If you're one of the blessed and have the day off, there are many fun things to do. Here are......

FILM* Charlie Chaplin's legendary Modern Times is on the big screen this afternoon at the Silent Movie Theatre. The film "marks the final screen appearance of his beloved and iconic Tramp. It’s also one of Chaplin’s most thematically and stylistically audacious films." 4:00 p.m. // The Silent Movie Theatre // 611 N Fairfax Ave // $12 WIN AN OSCAR! Oh, okay, fine, you probably aren't nominated for one this year (don't worry, your time will......

FREE DAYS @ LACMA Don't forget that today, tomorrow, and Monday admission to LACMA is free. There will be lots of extra entertainment on the grounds, and access to all the galleries, except the new Broad Contemporary, which has already sold out (of course!). But that means less people crowding the European paintings you love so much. Tickets need to be reserved in advanced online or by calling the box office. Sat, Sun, & Mon......

Photo from inside LACMA's new Broad Contemporary by Sundogg via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr In honor of the opening of the brand new Broad Contemporary modern galleries, LACMA is hosting a free community weekend, opening their doors to the public at no charge for the next three days. In addition to full access to the current galleries of the museum, the weekend's festivities are set to include live music; workshops; roving......

Photo by puck90 via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr An update to this week's tragic Oxnard junior high school shooting: The 15-year-old victim was taken off life support after his organs were donated today. 49-year-old transient Steven Emory Butcher was found guilty of starting one of the largest wildfires in state history. The Day Fire began on Labor Day in 2006, burned over 162,000 acres and took a month to put out.......

Love is in the air tonight. / Photo by lush.i.ous via flickr. Ahhh luuuurve is in the air. Need some last-minute ideas for the Hallmark-inspired holiday? Yes, tonight’s Valentine’s Day and here are a few different ideas that will beat flowers and candy any day. ART To coincide with the opening of the Broad Contemporary Art Museum (BCAM) at LACMA this weekend, “Women in the City” selected to exhibit four prominent contemporary artists (Cindy......

'Santa Monica Subway: Alternative 4' is one of the 17 routes presented by Metro Last night, a packed room of community members at LACMA listened attentively to Metro present nineteen options to serve the Westside. This first in a series of three public input meetings (two more meetings next week) was exciting -- wheels are in motion to get Los Angeles moving, even if that reality be around ten years from now. One of......

A few months ago I noticed a nekkid lady’s torso perched on a plinth in the middle of the Windward Traffic Circle in Venice. Considering the calle vida thereabouts, this shouldn’t have raised an eyebrow. Yet, the utter incongruousness of a slick, black, metal, larger-than-life sculpture in the midst of "don’t harsh my mellow" Bohemia, made me stop and gawk. Regardless of yellow caution tape, I sprinted across to the island, which is roomy enough......

Get your green drink on tonight. WORDS Author and USC professor Gina Nahai and actress Bahar Soomekh (Crash) read from Nahai’s latest book Caspian Rain – about a family falling apart just before the Islamic revolution in Iran. Immediately following, there’s a discussion of the changing lives of women of the Middle East, and relationships between Iran’s Jewish and Muslim communities, as well as how these communities interact in Los Angeles, “home to the largest......

Photo by Fire Monkey Fish via flickr. Forget medical marijuana storefronts, the feds have found a new kind of place to storm into -- museums. Today, four Southern California museums, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Bowers Museum of Cultural Art in Santa Ana, the Pacific Asia Museum in Pasadena and the Mingei International Museum in San Diego, were raided in an attempt to bust an "alleged illegal smuggling of Southeast Asian......

FILM A Bloody Aria, a film from Korea about a professor, his pretty student and a possible murder, opens tonight for a one-week engagement in Little Tokyo. It’s been compared to Deliverance, but with a dark sense of humor. (We wonder if there’s any pig squealing in this one?) Times vary // ImaginAsian Center // 251 S. Main St., Los Angeles // $7-$10. MUSIC / SPOKEN WORD Tonight the CalArts Creative Music Festival features......

Given its proximity to the LA County Museum of Art, this army of decorative lamps easily seems like an art installation...but actually in this case a lamp is just a lamp, and these lovely ones are gathered here awaiting a more practical installation. Still, they look pretty damn cool! and as an adept reader points out, it is an art installation! From LACMA's website:Transformation plans have grown to include a number of large-scale outdoor......

Los Angeles philanthropist, Eli Broad (rhymes with road), has decided not to give his massively large and impressive private collection of art to museums, rather, keeping the collection in house under control of a private foundation according to the New York Times. One of the assumed recipients of the art was LACMA, where the new $56 million Broad Contemporary Art Museum is scheduled to open next month. However, even with Broad's name on the......

Who is brave or foolish enough to go out tonight? No, seriously. Why do you want to leave the house? There are some things to do if you are so inclined (queue writer's raised eyebrow). JAZZ The renowned Alan Broadbent Trio plays two sets tonight at the Jazz Bakery. 8 & 9:30 p.m. // The Jazz Bakery // 3233 Helms Ave. // (310) 271-9039 // $25 FILM Quentin Tarantino hosts a LACMA screening of South......

Here's the good news of the day: It's almost Friday! Go out and celebrate tonight with these happenings about town: FILM The 2000 film Peppermint Candy opens with the suicide of its protagonist: a middle-aged, South Korean businessman. The film then flashes back 20 years — from student uprisings of the early '80s to the Asian financial crisis of the late '90s. "Lee's breakthrough debut unfolds a stirring story of regret, first love and letdowns."......

Picasso. Giacometti. Kandinsky. Klee. Brancusi. So begins a list of 20th century artists whose works are part of the largest single donation to LACMA in over 40 years. Private LA art collectors Henri Lazarof, a composer, and his wife Janice, a daughter of the late S. Mark Taper, gave 130 paintings, sculptures, and other modernist works to LACMA this week. The gift is valued at an estimated $100 million plus according to the LA Times.......

Did you know LACMA has a research library? Well, they do. It is open to the public by appointment, and materials don't circulate. They do what museum libraries do best -- serve the curatorial staff, provide information about items in the museum's collections, and help collectors research the art market. This Thursday and Friday, December 13th and 14th from 12-4 p.m., the LACMA Research Library will be holding its first annual holiday book sale.......