Last November, we complained that many roads in and out of L.A. International Airport had been closed now and then so that the latest Die Hard movie could film around there. We — and of course, by "we," I mean only myself — feel those are inconvenienced by such matters are way too forgiving of them. And yes, I know it's good for the economy and local businesses if filmmaking stays in Los Angeles and doesn't migrate elsewhere...but there's also the downside of people having their lives disrupted or even of some businesses being hurt. I don't think the pros and cons always measure out in favor of the movie guys.
Travelers heading to Los Angeles International Airport this weekend and next should allow extra time because a section of the 105 Freeway near the airport will be closed for filming.
All eastbound lanes between Sepulveda and La Cienega boulevards will be closed from 3 a.m. to midnight the two Saturdays and Sundays to allow shooting of the action film "John Hancock," according to LAX officials. In addition, the westbound portion of the freeway between Sepulveda and the 405 Freeway will be closed intermittently between 6 a.m. and 8 p.m. both days of the weekends.
The airport will close the exit ramps from the passenger terminal areas leading to southbound Sepulveda. Departing traffic will be directed to eastbound Century Boulevard.
I assume that LAX gets some sort of use fee that makes it worth the hassle — for them, not for travellers — to allow this. But LAX doesn't own the 105 Freeway. Your tax dollars and mine paid for it and not so it could be closed to us because someone wanted to shoot a movie there.
And I'm going to assume that's a typo about closing the freeway from 3 a.m. until midnight, right? Because that's kinda like most of the day.
I should add one other note to my report on last night's Lewis Black concert. As I said, it was at the Disney Concert Hall, which is across the boulevard from the Music Center here in downtown Ell Lay. The last few years, I've refrained from attending anything at the Music Center for reasons you'd understand if you ever experienced the traffic and parking problems I endured my last few outings there. Something had to be really, really special to get me to subject myself to that again.
But getting to and from the Disney Concert Hall was rather easy. A number of downtown restaurants are now serviced by shuttle buses that will truck you to and from the Disney Concert Hall, the Music Center and other nearby venues like the Staples Center. You park for the restaurant, leave your auto there and take the shuttle. My friends and I dined at the Daily Grill and valet parking there is five bucks with a validation from the restaurant. Even adding in what I tipped the valet and the shuttle driver, that's not a bad price to pay these days to park for dinner and a show. And it was fairly simple to get to the show and back again. Just something to keep in mind if you are, as I was, reticent to brave some of those parking structures.
If you're thinking Rudy Giuliani has any credentials for dealing with international relations, read this essay that he recently wrote. And if that doesn't convince you you're wrong, read this takedown of it by Fred Kaplan.
I just discovered a channel on my satellite dish that I guess has been there for a while...It's BETJ, which apparently is a sister channel to Black Entertainment Television. BETJ used to be called BET Jazz and it's a music channel.
And what I really discovered is that early Wednesday mornings, they run two episodes of The Nat King Cole Show from 1957. The show is just Mr. Cole singing, often with a guest star, backed by Nelson Riddle and his orchestra...but it's wonderfully entertaining. I don't know precisely who I'd put on a list of Great American Male Pop Vocalists but Nat King Cole would not be absent. If you get BETJ, check it out.
Two of the best evenings I've spent in comedy clubs have been spent listening to Lewis Black. The first one was at the Improv in Brea, California. The second one was at the Comedy and Magic Club in Hermosa Beach in the same state. Both were decent-sized venues, big enough to accommodate a top comic but small enough that the comedian didn't get overpowered by the stage he was on.
Last night, I took some friends to see Mr. Black at the new (opened in 2003) Walt Disney Concert Hall in Downtown Los Angeles. It was the wrong place to see the guy. The Disney Hall is a beautiful structure — I have to go back and just walk around and marvel at the building — and the acoustics are said to be among the finest of any auditorium in the world. Well, maybe they would have been if Lewis Black had been playing the cello. But this was apparently the first time the sound crew there had to deal with stand-up comedy and we all know how difficult it is to set up one microphone.
In fairness, the man does tend to shout a little...but he shouted at the Improv and the Comedy and Magic Club, and I had no trouble understanding him there. I only got about 85% of what he said last night, which is way too low to make for a satisfying evening, especially since a lot of the 15% rendered punch lines unintelligible. And of course, it's also frustrating because so much of what I could hear was hilarious and perceptive and memorable, which made it agony to miss any of the words. (It was also, with the exception of one short discourse on Christmas carols, all material I'd never heard before. Black probably writes more routines in a year than most stand-ups go through in their entire careers. That's another thing I like about him.)
Plus, there was the matter of the stage just being too big for him. It's a beautiful hall and a beautiful stage of unique design. (My friend Carolyn said it looks like someone turned a giant violin inside-out. If and when you'll see it, you'll see she's right.) Put a stand-up in the middle of it all and he looks small and trivial, no matter how great his personality. The building, by the way, seats 2,265 and I think whoever picked out those seats assumed that the Disney Hall would cater mostly to dwarfs.
The whole evening put me in mind of that other great screaming stand-up, Sam Kinison. I used to see Sam at the Comedy Store and other clubs of modest size and he was magnificient. Even with a few hundred folks present, he made contact of a sort with everyone in the room and there was an immediacy to his performances. Later, I saw him on the stage at Bally's in Las Vegas and he was like a magician standing on the 50-yard-line at half-time in the Super Bowl, trying to do a card trick. It wasn't so much the physical distance from Lewis Black last night — we weren't that far away from him — as the fact that he seemed lost on that huge stage.
And it wasn't just him. Another comic, John Bowman, opened for Black and suffered from all the same problems.
I still love Lewis Black as a performer but I think my only hope now is that his career hits the skids and he has to go back to playing smaller rooms. So please don't go see him if he comes to your neck of the woods. He's wonderful but he's more wonderful in a real comedy club instead of an indoor Hollywood Bowl. No matter how beautiful the building may be.
August 18, 2007
