December 2017 – Observations Along the Road

Changes to the California Highways Website: September – December 2017

Posted onWednesday, December 27, 2017Authorcahwyguy

We’ve come to the end of another year, with many promises broken (where is that Infrastructure bill again?), some kept (SB1 seems to be working), and some satisfied only as an illusion. But, if you want politics, you go to my blog. If you want highway stuff with more facts and less opinion, you come to the main pages. Speaking of the main pages, a thought has begun to crop into my head: I need to do a bit of remodeling. I’m “old school”, working off hard-coded HTML, minimal style sheets, and information generated through perl scripts. I’d like to bring the page frameworks into something more responsive, and something that will work better for mobile devices. I’d also like to move any internal site references to HTTPS if possible (and if Westhost gets the certificate stuff straightened out). I don’t really need HTTPS, but being a cybersecurity professional, my site should probably use it even though there is no real risk to mitigate. Not to mention that I don’t want browsers flagging my site as insecure or dangerous, because they can’t understand the context or the purpose of a site. In any case, if readers have pointers to sites I should peruse to learn how to do this, please let me know.

Moving on to the updates: Updates were made to the following highways, based on my reading of the papers (which are posted to the roadgeeking category at the “Observations Along The Road” and to the California Highways Facebook group) as well as any backed up email changes. I also reviewed the the AAroads forum. This resulted in changes on the following routes, with credit as indicated [my research⁽¹⁾, contributions of information or leads (via direct mail) from andy3175_/AARoads⁽²⁾, Tom Fearer/Max Rockatansky_/AARoads⁽³⁾, Kniwt_/AARoads⁽⁴⁾, Sparker_/AARoads⁽⁵⁾: Route 1^(1,3), US 6⁽⁵⁾, I-10⁽¹⁾, Route 14⁽¹⁾, I-15⁽¹⁾, Route 26⁽¹⁾, Route 27⁽¹⁾, Route 29⁽¹⁾, Route 33⁽³⁾, Route 37⁽¹⁾, Route 39⁽¹⁾, Route 41^(1,3), Route 46⁽¹⁾, Route 49⁽¹⁾, US 50⁽⁵⁾, Route 51/Business Route 80⁽²⁾, Route 58⁽³⁾, Route 63^(1,3), Route 64⁽¹⁾, Route 66⁽³⁾, Route 67⁽¹⁾, Route 68⁽³⁾, Route 70⁽¹⁾, Route 74⁽¹⁾, Route 75⁽³⁾, Route 79⁽¹⁾, I-80^(1,2), Route 91⁽¹⁾, Route 99^(1,3), US-101^(1,3), LRN 117⁽³⁾, Route 120⁽¹⁾, Route 121⁽¹⁾, Route 123⁽¹⁾,LRN 134⁽³⁾, Route 137^(1,3), Route 152^(1,3), Route 156⁽³⁾, Route 168^(4,5), Route 180⁽³⁾, I-205⁽³⁾, I-210⁽¹⁾, Route 216⁽³⁾, Route 233⁽³⁾, Route 241⁽¹⁾, I-280⁽¹⁾, Southern Crossing / I-380⁽¹⁾; I-580⁽³⁾, I-680⁽¹⁾, I-710⁽¹⁾, County Route J1⁽³⁾, and Los Angeles County Route N1⁽¹⁾.

Added links from Challenger66’s posts on the “Sure, Why Not?” blog to the appropriate pages: Route 1, Route 24, Route 25, Route 41, Route 43, Route 58, Route 63, Route 65, Route 66, Route 68, Route 75, Route 99, US 101, Route 137, Route 140, Route 152, Route 156, Route 180, Route 183, Route 201, Route 204, I-205, Route 216, Route 218, Route 233, I-580, County Route G16, County Route G17, County Route G20, County Route J1, County Route J21. Thanks to Challenger (cough) Max (cough) Tom (cough) Whatever your name is today for putting these up.

Moved all the historic route designations to the proper sections.

Fixed the links to the various resolution archives in the chronology. A tip of the hat to James White, Senior Transportation Surveyor, in Caltrans District 7 for catching that the websites had moved.

Added a question to the FAQ to provide links to sites to see how highway money is being spent.

Reviewed the Pending Legislation page, based on the new California Legislature site. As usual, I recommend to every Californian that they visit the legislative website regularly and see what their legis-critters are doing. I noted the passage/veto of the following bills and resolutions (for some of these, I’ve highlighted key phrases in red):

Headlines about California Highways: December 2017

Posted onMonday, December 25, 2017Monday, January 1, 2018Authorcahwyguy

It’s the last week of the last month of the year, so guess how that means I’m spending my Christmas? That’s right, doing highway updates before I go out for Chinese Food and a movie. I’ve already processed the October and November headlines, which means I now need to post the December headlines so I can process them. I should have the updates completed, and ready for upload and posting, by the end of the year. Here are your headlines:

Hemet City Council attempts to go over Caltrans’ head in median strip protest. A letter written in the strongest terms with supporting data objecting to Caltrans plans to erect a median strip on Florida Avenue is being sent to the state transportation department by the Hemet City Council, following a contentious council discussion Tuesday, Nov. 14. The issue with Caltrans plans to build the median strips in the middle of Florida Avenue from West Acacia through the downtown area and to the eastern city limits has been the subject of controversy between Caltrans District 8 project manager and engineers and the city for months.
Westside Parkway and the Centennial Corridor; Future California State Route 58. After completing California State Route 43 I doubled back north to Stockdale Highway to check out a major highway construction project which will eventually reroute CA 58; the Westside Parkway and Centennial Corridor.
California State Route 204; Former US 99 in Bakersfield. After finishing the Westside Parkway I swung onto California State Route 58 eastbound. I pulled off on California State Route 204 to take north through the city of Bakersfield.
California State Route 65; South Segment. After leaving Bakersfield I decided to take a mountain side way back to Fresno and turned off CA 99 onto the southern portion of California State Route 65.

2017: In Which “The Me Generation” Earns Its Name

Posted onSaturday, December 23, 2017Authorcahwyguy

userpic=trump As I look back at 2017, not surprisingly, I’m dismayed by … Donald Trump. That’s probably not a surprise. Trump is a salesman in every sense of the word — and a great one at that — promising a lot of stuff to a lot of people. They buy the car and drive off the lot, satisfied in the deal they received. Only a few months after buying the car they discover it was held together by spit and duct tape, and that the promises weren’t quite what they seemed. This tax bill will be a great example of that. A large number of people — primarily those in areas that didn’t support Trump — get hurt immediately. Others benefit, but only for a few short years because their benefits expire after Trump leaves office. Why do they expire? Because without the expiration, they will balloon the deficit to unacceptable levels (this being done by the party that supposedly was against deficit spending). Other benefits — significant cuts for businesses, and especially for businesses where Trump is doing business — will be permanent.

Trump’s approach on what to do in office appears to boil down to the following:

Do anything he can do to undo Obama’s legacy. If Obama did it, he wants to undo it, whatever “it” is.
Do anything he can to please his most rabid and strongest base, the people that adore him unquestionably. That means acting in ways that reinforce what they do and what they believe, and constantly dog-whistling messages to them.
Do anything he can to please his Republican-party donors and benefit himself personally, as his biggest donor.
Do anything he can — in the short term — to make it appear as if promises were fulfilled. If those go away later, that’s someone else’s problem — someone else to blame.

Although he touts “Make America Great Again” (a slogan he trademarked), his actions do not fulfill those words except in the eyes of “America First” Americans. In the eyes of the rest of the world, he is a laughingstock, and he is reducing America’s stature. He is permitting non-democratic countries to become the world leaders, especially China. He is playing to the hands of thugs and dictators, and arguably increasing the risk of war. But within America, America is great if you say it is and act like it is, and downplay any attempts to tell a different story. That’s a propaganda win.

It has also been a win for selfishness. Our society has become increasingly selfish. From the growth of the selfie and the focus on MEEEE in the picture (and away from the others in the world we love), to a tax plan that people only look at from how it benefits or hurts them personally, we no longer think of the others in the world. We no longer seem to care how others are affected. We no longer think long term and think about hidden implications and impacts. If it benefits me personally now, it’s good, and that’s good enough. That’s a dangerous, self-serving attitude.

I do think this is a great country, and I hope we can survive Trump’s administration — however long it is — and we can recover afterwards. We’ve had populist demagogues before — witness Andrew Jackson. We’ve had idiots in the office. We’ve had corrupt Presidents. Somehow, we’ve survived. But during their terms, was the ride ever bumpy; further, the office was less international and there was less risk of instigating global catastrophe.

If I had a wish for 2018, it would be for sanity to return to politics. Legislation should not be passed on strict party lines. That’s what doomed the ACA because of the seeming single-sidedness. That’s what increases the hatred of the 2017 tax reform. Politicians must work to find a middle ground that can create broader acceptance. Give on some areas, gain on others, for the sake of the Nation as a whole.

In other words, America can only regain its greatness when what is put first is not Trump’s personal interests, not the personal interests of the Republican (or Democratic) leadership, and not what benefits the political party and its donors. Even putting the “notion” of America first — that is, the flag, the symbols — isn’t the answer. It is not putting first the ideas of the 1700s and 1800s of Christianity first, of White Men first, of women and people of color as chattel, of those different from us as bad and the source of all evil.

What will help America regain its greatness is to put the American people first — and that’s ALL the American people and all future Americans — the full range of skin colors, genders, orientations, and religion. It is the full ranges of birth places: those born here and those born abroad who want to work hard and tie their destiny to this nation.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t how our leaders of 2017 acted, and come 2018, they are going to be so fired.

Rolling Stock

Posted onSaturday, December 23, 2017Saturday, December 23, 2017Authorcahwyguy

Subaru Userpic The user pics (those icons on posts at the top, to the right) have traced the evolution of how I have traveled since I joined LiveJournal back in 2004. From personal vehicles to vanpools, through Hondas, Toyotas, and now Subaru, they’ve shown how I’ve gotten from there to here:

From my wife’s 2002 Honda CRV, to my recent 2006 Toyota Matrix (which replaced a 1999 Honda Civic that got cow-tipped), and to the Matrix’s replacement, a 2016 Subaru Impreza; from all the various vanpool vehicles I’ve driven. All have been portrayed in userpic.

For the last few days, I’ve been teasing a different picture on my Facebook:

For those unfamiliar, this is a picture of a Outback towing an Outback, parked in the outback of an Outback. There was a reason: we were in the process of replacing my wife’s car. ALthough she picked out the car last Saturday, it took a week because the car dealer’s server was down. Mind you, this didn’t shut down just one dealership, but an entire family of dealerships, the week before Christmas. The server came back on Thursday. Friday we were out in Santa Clarita, and I posted another picture:

We are now a two-Subaru family, having added a 2018 Outback to the family for my wife. Guess it is time to make a new userpic…

News Chum: Of Local Interest

Posted onSaturday, December 23, 2017Authorcahwyguy

As I continue to clear out some news chum before starting work on the highway pages, here are some chum items of local-ish interest;

“This Land” Becomes Real – Gentrification in Watts. In the play “This Land” which we saw recently, a key aspect of the plot was the gentrification of the community of Watts. Turns out — they were right. As one real estate developer said, “There is cheap housing in L.A. … The American dream is still affordable in Watts, Compton and all the forgotten ghettos.” Ralph McLaughlin, chief economist at the online real estate site Trulia, took a quick look at the numbers and said home values in Watts and Compton are at post-recession highs, indicating “increased demand to live or invest” in these areas. And who gets pushed out, and where do they go to live….
Get Your Tacos Now – Music Center Renovation. Well, there goes Tito’s Tacos as a reliable low-cost dinner option before the Ahmanson. The Music Center will be renovating their plaza creating a stronger outdoor performance venue and redoing the restaurants in the process. Note to self: Remember to get dinner in NoHo before you get on the Red Line to go to the Ahmanson or Taper for a while. Still, they need to do this — in particular, the escalators up to the plaza, because finding the elevators from the street is always a pain.
As if By Magic – Proposed Hilton Universal Expansion. The Hilton Universal City has announced a proposal to expand the hotel. Thank you, Harry Potter. There are still many hurdles to overcome, including the site plan for the studio itself (the hotel is not on studio land). What I’m trying to figure out is precisely where they plan to build this addition, given the layout of the space and the hotel towers. I’m guessing it is going over the meeting space, but I’ve only seen a drawing, not a map. Not many more details here.
Cutting the Cord — AT&T Removing Undersea Cable. Moving a bit further northwest, AT&T is planning to remove an undersea cable that runs from San Luis Obispo to China. The cable, part of the China-U.S. Cable Network, was retired from service in December 2016. In total, the 18,600-mile, $1.1 billion cable paid for by an international coalition of telecom companies connects the United States with China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Guam in a loop and had a capacity of 80 Gigabits, or 100 million phone calls at a time, according to a website that tracks submarine cable networks. The cables connect into a greater system at an AT&T terminal building about 10 miles inland on Los Osos Valley Road. Now it’s obsolete, and as Yoda says, pulled up it will be.
Why Mother, You’re Growing – Mothers Market Expansion. Lastly, in the expansion of yet another natural food chain, Mother’s Markets are expanding into Los Angeles. Founded in Orange County in 1978 by a group of yoga enthusiasts, the pioneering organic grocery store said it is adding stores next year in Signal Hill and Manhattan Beach. The Signal Hill store, at 2475 Cherry Ave., is an anchor at a new development called Heritage Square. The store is slated to open in early 2018. The Manhattan Beach store, at 1700 Rosecrans Ave., is slated to open in the summer of 2018.

News Chum: Myths and Legends

Posted onFriday, December 22, 2017Authorcahwyguy

Before I get started on the year-end highway page updates, I wanted to clear out some accumulated news chum. This collection all are connected by the theme: Myths and Legends.

The First Jet. What was the first commercial jetliner? You probably are thinking the Boeing 707. But that would be incorrect. The first commercial jet was the DeHavilland Comet. This was unveiled to grand acclaim in 1952, and all were grounded by 1954 by a simple design flaw. What lessons can be learned here, beyond the classic one: that the first to the market isn’t always the one who wins with a given product. Just ask Xerox PARC.
Crowdsourcing. If you were one of the few who watched “Wisdom of the Crowd”, beyond the myth of Jeremy Piven, you were exposed to the myth that crowdsourcing is often the answer to make anything better. But guess what? Crowdsourcing doesn’t always give the right answer. The problem? The crowd is easy to sabotage. Don’t believe me? Look no further than the current occupant of the White House, elected through targeted sabotaging of the crowd.
New Media is Always Better. We have grown up on the myth that newer is better. But is it? We were told CDs are better than Cassettes and Vinyl. DIgital music is better than anything. But digital music is much harder to keep forever, especially as one moves from machine to machine, and format to format, recorded CDs degrade … while vinyl from around 100 years ago is still playable. Will your digital book be around in 100 years? Probably not readable, but that printed one is just fine. Now we are moving to streaming video — and guess what — that’s really bad news for our classic film and video history.
Art vs. the Artist. The continually unfurling world of sexual abuse claims is rapidly destroying the mythos of many artists. The great stand-up Bill Cosby has been felled, the director Woody Allen is tainted, the song and dance man Kevin Spacey is destroyed, the producer Harvey Weinstein… well, you get the idea. Just recently I learned about another one. Marion Zimmer Bradley. This article talks about the reconciling of the art of “The MIsts of Avalon” with the sins of the author. I wasn’t into that book, but I was a big Darkover fan, and now am curious whether it seeped into that mythos.
There’s a Sucker Born Every Minute. One of the holiday movies I wanted to see was The Greatest Showman, primarily for the Pasek and Paul music. But it has been savaged in the reviews (LA Times, Vox). The sin? Not bad performances, but not telling the reality of the story — about how Barnum himself was a sham and not the story he purported to be. Now, the musical Barnum whitewashed his story in the same way, and in many ways the story told of Barnum is clearly as much Humbug as the Humbug Barnum sold. But oh, we must destroy the myths these days.

You’ll Put Your Eye Out | “A Christmas Story Live!” on Fox 12/17

Posted onMonday, December 18, 2017Monday, December 18, 2017Authorcahwyguy

A Christmas Story Live! (Fox) This was a weekend where our only truly live performance — that is, a performance were (if we wanted to, and security allowed, we could touch the performers) — was Saturday for the Klezmatics. But we did see another performance that was labeled “Live!” (but was tape delayed for our timezone): A Christmas Story Live! on Fox (KTTV 11) Sunday night. This is part of the trend of bringing back “live” musicals on television that was restarted with A Sound of Music on NBC, and has continued there with Peter Pan, The Wiz, Hairspray Live!, and which Fox picked up to bring us Grease Live!. NBC didn’t have a holiday musical this year (Bye Bye Birdie, which was planned for this month, but indefinitely postponed), but Fox brought us their incarnation of A Christmas Story – The Musical (which, I should note, that if you want to see really live you can at the Canyon Theatre Guild (FB), or numerous other venues around this country). Don’t worry, there are even more “live theatricals” (Jesus Christ Superstar, Rent) in the pipelines.

This was my first time seeing A Christmas Story — and that means either the original movie or the musical production. I had heard the music from the cast album of the show before, however, so I had a vague familiarity with the story. I won’t recap the story here, as I’m sure you can find it or you’ve seen it. Instead, I just want to share some observations on the live TV production that need to get out so my brain can be productive again:

NBC’s attempts have attempted to preserve the form have kept that “stage” feel: static sets, no special television tricks or techniques. Fox, on the other hand, has gone for this odd hybrid between stage and screen: expansive sets designed to keep the steadicam operator busy, some elements of realism in the set design and execution, significantly larger ensembles, and often camera and cinematography tricks. The “risk” of live performance is still there, however, as they still have to navigate set movement, costume changes, and the cinematography tricks in real time. I’m not 100% sure I like Fox’s approach, but I understand why they did it.
Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (FB) appear to have written two new songs for this show: the opening number which was “eh?”, and a number on Chanukah. That number, while good, felt shoehorned in for inclusivity, especially with the overkill of the Magen David-themed wall paper and getting the number of nights right. Two problems, however. The song sang of Matzah Balls, which most assuredly are not Chanukah food; and the Jewish family was later in line for Santa (highly unlikely, even in the 40s).
Inclusivity was a big theme in this, especially with the mixed nature of the ensemble. Now I’m all for inclusivity and diversity, but in this production it felt too politically correct, too forced, too … wrong. Perhaps that was because they were going for the realism aspect, and it didn’t fit the real world of the 1940s. On stage, you can get away with the diversity because the realism isn’t there.
Matthew Broderick did pretty good, but there seemed to be a few points where he had line hesitations. For such a seasoned stage actor, that seemed wrong.
There appeared to be only one line gaffe, when the father (Chris Diamantopoulos) was stealing a taste of the turkey and cracked up the mother. They covered it well.
Having now seen the story, it seems a bit inconsequential and forced to be a musical; but I can also see why it, just like Elf – The Musical created around the same time, will be perennial holiday favorites at small companies throughout the world. Why they can’t just do A Mulholland Christmas Carol is beyond me.
The actor playing Ralphie (Andy Walken (FB)) did a great job — he handled the music and the cuteness well, although he was a bit fast talking on the commercial breaks.
… and they’re dancing on snow, too!
One of the kids in the kids ensemble (Artyon Celeste) looked like Gary Coleman, and got me thinking of a remake of Different Strokes (although that wouldn’t work these days — these days the diversity comedy is Superior Donuts). Overall, the kids ensemble was very strong in the show.
For all their attempts to be “period” — from the Cars to the Kelvinator — there were some significant slipups, such as the electrically lighted hand-held candles in one song to the lighted candy canes in the other. The directors (Scott Ellis and Alex Rudzinski) really must decide if they are going for realism or not.
During the “Ralphie to the Rescue”, the use of TV tricks (black and white, graininess) was gratuitous and unnecessary, especially as this was supposedly a live production of a stage show, not a movie.
The odd breaks into production numbers were odd given the realistic nature of this — they need to pick one form or the other. Such production numbers are something that will work much much better on stage, and do make me want to see the stage version of this in the future.
Viewers slammed this remake. The ratings were worse than any of the recent live musicals broadcast to date.

***

Ob. Disclaimer: I am not a trained theatre (or music) critic; I am, however, a regular theatre and music audience member. I’ve been attending live theatre and concerts in Los Angeles since 1972; I’ve been writing up my thoughts on theatre (and the shows I see) since 2004. I do not have theatre training (I’m a computer security specialist), but have learned a lot about theatre over my many years of attending theatre and talking to talented professionals. I pay for all my tickets unless otherwise noted. I am not compensated by anyone for doing these writeups in any way, shape, or form. I currently subscribe at 5 Star Theatricals (FB) [the company formerly known as Cabrillo Music Theatre (FB)], the Hollywood Pantages (FB), Actors Co-op (FB), the Chromolume Theatre (FB) in the West Adams district, and a mini-subscription at the Saroya [the venue formerly known as the Valley Performing Arts Center (VPAC)] (FB). Through my theatre attendance I have made friends with cast, crew, and producers, but I do strive to not let those relationships color my writing (with one exception: when writing up children’s production, I focus on the positive — one gains nothing except bad karma by raking a child over the coals). I believe in telling you about the shows I see to help you form your opinion; it is up to you to determine the weight you give my writeups.

Upcoming Shows:

We may be going to the 58th Annual L.A. County Holiday Celebration, as they are featuring Klezmer Music from 3-6pm on Dec 24, and we can take advantage of Metro to avoid the traffic. Of course there will also be the obligatory Christmas Day movie — who knows — perhaps it’ll be the upcoming The Greatest Showman. Afterward: The obligatory Chinese Food.

If I can get tickets, January will start out with the Jason Graae/Faith Prince concert at the Rubicon Theatre (FB) in Ventura [tix]. The next weekend brings Aladdin at the Hollywood Pantages (FB). The rest of January is currently open, as January tends to be a quiet theatre month. We’ll see what fills up.

February is busier. It starts with the Cantor’s Concert at Temple Ahavat Shalom (FB). The following weekend brings our first Actors Co-op (FB) production of 2018: A Walk in the Woods. Mid-week brings opera: specifically, Candide at LA Opera (FB). That is followed the next weekend by the first production of the Chromolume Theatre (FB) 2018 season, Dessa Rose. The month concludes with a hold for James and the Giant Peach at the Chance Theatre (FB) in the Anaheim Hills, and tickets for Dublin Irish Dance Stepping Out at the Saroya (the venue formerly known as the Valley Performing Arts Center (VPAC)) (FB).

March was supposed to start with the MRJ Man of the Year dinner, but that shifted back a week, so we’ll go to it after our first show in March, the LA Premiere of the musical Allegiance at the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center (FB). This is followed by a HOLD for Steel Pier at the UCLA School of Television, Film, and Theatre (FB). The penultimate Friday of March brings Billy Porter singing Richard Rodgers at the Saroya (the venue formerly known as the Valley Performing Arts Center (VPAC)) (FB). The last weekend of March is open for theatre, but there will be the Men of TAS Seder. Currently, we’re booking all the way out in mid to late 2018! We may also be adding a CTG subscription, given their recent announcements regarding the next season.

As always, I’m keeping my eyes open for interesting productions mentioned on sites such as Better-Lemons, Musicals in LA, @ This Stage, Footlights, as well as productions I see on Goldstar, LA Stage Tix, Plays411 or that are sent to me by publicists or the venues themselves. Note: Lastly, want to know how to attend lots of live stuff affordably? Take a look at my post on How to attend Live Theatre on a Budget.

Happy and Joyous | “The Klezmatics” @ VPAC/Saroya

Posted onSunday, December 17, 2017Sunday, December 17, 2017Authorcahwyguy

Can you think of a better way to celebrate Chanukah Hump Day (the 5^th night) than to go to a concert of Chanukah Klezmer music by one of the best Klezmer bands around? I can’t.

So you can guess where we were last night. Why weren’t YOU there?

The Happy Joyous Hanukah concert by The Klezmatics (FB) at the Saroya (the venue formerly known as the Valley Performing Arts Center (VPAC)) (FB) was VPAC/Saroya’s last concert of 2017; it was also our last currently ticketed live performance event of 2017 (it is looking less likely that we’ll see A Christmas Story at CTG as they aren’t putting tickets up on Goldstar, and the Music Center celebration isn’t a ticketed event). It was the perfect way to send out the year, with toe-tapping klezmer music.

The show consisted of a number of songs from the Klezmatic’s album Happy Joyous Hanukkah, a few songs from their latest album Apikorsim, and a few other songs from other albums. Almost the entire band was there; Frank London wasn’t as he was out recuperating from surgery.

During the show, I was struck by the connection between some of my favorite styles of music: folk, bluegrass, celtic, and klezmer. They really are elements along a continuum, often united by the fiddle or other stringed instruments. The Klezmatics happily channel Woody Guthrie; Celtic musicians play Bluegrass. Of course, there are even broader connections. I know of Jewish Bluegrass musicians (Nefesh Mountain), and of course, we all know that the Talking Blues is the spiritual parent of Hip-Hop (and I’m even familiar with Bluegrass Rap music (Gangstagrass). I think it goes to show that musical “styles” are just labels, and don’t distinguish good from bad. Good music is what you like; bad is what you don’t.

I liked the music last night. Toe-tapping, energetic music. Great to get one out of a funk, if you had wandered into one. Great to bring out the joy of the holiday. If you get the chance to see the Klezmatics, do so.

I only have one question: They mentioned they have a staff Yiddishist. How do I find my daughter a job like that 🙂 ?

By the way: If you don’t know about the venue (the Saroya (the venue formerly known as the Valley Performing Arts Center (VPAC)) (FB)), you really should. This is a gem of a concert hall on the campus of Cal State Northridge, in the center of the West Valley, the square formed by US 101, I-405, CA 118, and CA 27 (Topanga). Take a look at their upcoming schedule on their website, and I’m sure you’ll find something you’ll enjoy.

Note: The show we saw last weekend, Pacific Overtures, has extended for one week, until December 23. Go get tickets now, before they sell out. Tickets are available through the Chromolume Website, discount tickets may be available through Goldstar.

***

Upcoming Shows:

There is still the possibility that we’ll squeeze in a performance of A Christmas Story at the Canyon Theatre Guild (FB). More likely is going to the 58th Annual L.A. County Holiday Celebration, as they are featuring Klezmer Music from 3-6pm on Dec 24, and we can take advantage of Metro to avoid the traffic. Of course there will also be the obligatory Christmas Day movie — who knows — perhaps it’ll be the upcoming The Greatest Showman. Afterward: The obligatory Chinese Food.

March was supposed to start with the MRJ Man of the Year dinner, but I’ll miss that because they pushed back from their advertised date right on top of my non-refundable tickets to the LA Premiere of the musical Allegiance at the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center (FB). This is followed by a HOLD for Steel Pier at the UCLA School of Television, Film, and Theatre (FB). The penultimate Friday of March brings Billy Porter singing Richard Rodgers at the Saroya (the venue formerly known as the Valley Performing Arts Center (VPAC)) (FB). The last weekend of March is open for theatre, but there will be the Men of TAS Seder. Currently, we’re booking all the way out in mid to late 2018! We may also be adding a CTG subscription, given their recent announcements regarding the next season.