10 Ways To Stay Cool in Style this August
Author:Abigail StoneAs summer gallops to a close, with only a few weeks left before Labor Day signals the end of vacation and barbecue season and a leap into the chaos of fall and the landslide to the holiday season, here are some ideas for upping on the cool quotient on your mind, body and spirit!
The American Craft Show kicks off tomorrow, Friday August 2nd at San Francisco’s Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture and runs through the weekend. The Bay Area’s longest running craft show, it will feature 250 of the most exciting contemporary craft artists from around the country and showcase products from handmade ceramics and fine jewelry to furniture and textiles. Consider it an excuse to get a jump on your holiday shopping list.
Summer’s the time to get outside and off your devices. Consider taking to the streets of Beverly Hills as BOLD Summer returns to the city for its third year on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays evenings from tonight through August 24th. The celebration kicks off on on Rodeo Drive with live DJ sets, a dueling piano performance and an eclectic concert by Spanish opera and rock singer, Cristina Ramos, winner of Spain’s Got Talent and ends with a spectacular fireworks display. Tonight will mark the debut of a floating art installation by Janet Echelman as well as work by contemporary street artist Mr. Brainwash, a protégée of the famed Banksy. Click here for a full calendar of events.
Summer’s a great time to hear music. Why not also combine it with a good cause? On Sunday afternoon, The High School Summer Chamber Festival Orchestra and Festival Choir of Idyllwild Arts, featuring more than 100 students, performs at Walt Disney Concert Hall. The fundraiser provides scholarships to hundreds of students. Talk about making beautiful music together! Tickets start at $25. For more information, click here.
As we wait for Bill & Ted Face The Music, the third installment of the Bill & Ted series, to head into theaters, why not school yourself on their favorite recreational past time outside music? The 30,000-square-foot Museum of Weed has popped up at 720 North Cahuenga Boulevard, wafting guests through the history of cannabis and featuring interactive exhibitions, art installations and historical artifacts highlighting the tie between cannabis prohibition and racially disparate policies. Through September 29th (caveat: The museum is 18+)
Food and travel writer Anthony Bourdain characterized his first visit to Vietnam as life-changing. The Mistake Room’s current exhibition, Where the Sea Remembers, an interdisciplinary project that explores Vietnamese contemporary art and encompasses the exhibition, a program series, and a website, proffers the same promise. The title, inspired by a song of the same name that was sung to those who were discharged from the refugee camps at the end of the war in 1975 and relocated, as a reminder of all that they were leaving behind, is a theme that finds contemporary relevance as we struggle with our own definition of nationhood, inclusion and immigration. Through October 12.
For those east coast transplants pining for NY and Central Park’s summer Shakespeare in the Park series, Los Angeles has got something to wash away the nostalgia — The Independent Shakespeare Festival in Griffith Park, with revolving performances of Pericles and Twelfth Night. Bring a blanket and take a seat on the grass at the historic Old Zoo in the midst of the park’s 4,210 acres. Pack a picnic or grab snacks, including homemade kettle corn and treats from Village Bakery & Cafe, at the concession tent. For full schedule and more information, click here.
“Summer’s here and the time is right for dancing in the streets,” sang Martha and The Vandellas and, later, David Bowie and Mick Jagger. KCRW takes their directive seriously with the radio station’s annual summer nights concerts and dj performances. The August line-up includes Black Pumas (August 3), Y La Bamba (August 10) and Andrew Bird (August 17th) at their Santa Monica headquarters, two dance parties (tonight at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Santa Barbara and August 10th at Chinatown’s Central Plaza) and concerts on the Santa Monica pier. For more info, click here
There’s no question that, when it comes to food, LA’s an exciting place to eat. For Offal, opening August 15th at LAMAG, 4800 Hollywood Boulevard and running through September 28th, 44 LA-based contemporary artists have contributed works that engage with the intersections of culture, taboo, heritage, labor, waste, and food represented by the consumption of the animal organs and innards referred to as offal. Including work by Jim Shaw, Victoria Reynolds, Danial Nord and Elisa Ortega Montilla (above, Viscera 2017), this show whets the appetite for the October unveiling of CURRENT: LA Food, a public art initiative spanning across the city featuring temporary public art installations and events that generate conversation around food issues.
Summer’s the time to catch up on your beach reading. Our list so far has included: Taffy Brodesser-Akner’s Fleischman Is In Trouble; The Chain by Adrian McGinty; The Gone Dead by Chanelle Menz; Ask Again, Yes by Mary Beth Keane; The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides; Whisper Network by Chandler Baker; and, Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reed.
August is the last month to see Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power at The Broad. The exhibit shines a bright light on the vital contribution Black artists have made over two decades, beginning in 1963 at the height of the civil rights movement, and includes era-defining artworks that changed the face of art in America including vibrant paintings, powerful sculptures, street photography, murals and more. Three of the galleries, which highlight Southern California artists, underline the significant role Los Angeles played in the art and history of the civil rights movement and the subsequent activist era, and the critical influence and sustained originality of the city’s artists, many of whom have lacked wider recognition.
Starting Friday, August 30th through Labor Day Weekend, the 53 year old Music Center Plaza in Los Angeles open the doors on its 20-month, $41 million facelift, whose exterior design was spearheaded by Rios Clementi Hale Studios, creating a welcoming outdoor urban space that provides a fifth venue for the campus and will showcase free and low-cost activities. Tranquil gardens encourage dining al fresco; a raised plaza multiplies open space; and the visual connection and physical connection between the Music Center Plaza and Grand Park has been enhanced. Coffee shop Go Get ‘em, Tiger and Mullin Wine bar will host their grand openings; there will be a dance party and a parade, and splashing in the updated fountain. For more information, click here.
