The Agape Children's Choir want their voices heard!

The election, this November 4th, will probably be the most watched in the world and the one most Americans will have voted on in the history of our nation.  Even young children have taken an interest in the politics of our country.

My daughter, who’s in third grade, has asked me who I’m going to vote for in this presidential race. She’s often spoken with distaste about our current president. I don’t know if it’s from my influence or from either of her grandmothers but she’s savvy enough to know George W. has ruined America.

Her friend, asked me the same question as well. However, as I know her parents to be staunch Republicans, her mother has a picture of George W. up in her home office,  I turned it around and asked her, who her parents were voting for instead. As we were in a bookstore at the time and a book on Obama was in front of us, I wasn’t surprised when she pointed at it and said, “Well, not him!”. Being a Democrat, I just smiled and walked away. No use debating with an 8 year-old, with possible repercussions from her parents.

However, 8 year-olds do want to be heard, even if they are influenced by their parents. Therefore, The Agape International Children’s Choir and Little Engine Productions have created a video called Change My World, with a non-partisan view, at encouraging voters to take an interest in our children’s future and taking their voices to the polls.

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Willy Russel's Blood Brothers at the Whitefire Theater

This is a review by guest critic, Jeremy Lake.

Willy Russell’s BLOOD BROTHERS, continues to live on despite the 25 year span from its London debut. Bryan Rasmussen, directs this version of the Olivier Award-winning and Tony-nominated musical, at the Whitefire Theater in Sherman Oaks.

Rasmussen, successfully integrates a complicated testimony of the battle between British social hierarchies while using a talented, multi-ethnic cast of Los Angelenos . It’s an eerie correlation between the economic clash in the play to our country’s current financial crisis with this American cast.

This is the story of a struggling lower class mother, Mrs. Johnstone (Pamela Taylor) who burdened by financial strains gives up her newborn twin boys, Mickey and Eddie, to her barren upper class employer, Mrs. Lyons (Judy Norton). The twins, played by Eduardo Enrikez and Ryan Nealy, are raised in separate social classes despite growing up in the same neigborhood but through fate, become best of friends. Over the years, their bond is tested by economic stresses and the rivalry over the love of a woman named Linda (Sita Young).

The era of the play is noticeable in dialogue and musical style. However, it’s a bit like drinking a fine wine with new grapes from an old vine. One must note its history to appreciate the flavor.

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For fathers who fool themselves, violence is the only truth.

Deano’s crime-free life comes with a frustrating price: A wife who doesn’t excite him and a son whose softness is embarrassing. What’s an ex-heavy to do? With ill-health advancing, our patriarch is forced to take stock of his swapped life sooner than he thinks when the elder son bursts onto the scene with some demons of his own.

There is perhaps no relationship more complex and combustible than that between father and son.

It’s a life bond based on honor and tradition, as much as it’s steeped in envy and competition. But let’s not diminish the ‘dames.’ This is a domesticated gangster yarn where women quietly take control by falling apart at the calculated time.

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“Arpsnarpflarpbarpgarpnarpdarpmarp means, ‘I love you.’” If you’re an alien in Jonas Oppenheim’s debut musical Earth Sucks.

This latest stage play, from the award winning playwright, is a fun trip back to teenage love and an adventure with people from “a galaxy far, far away”.

“The story was inspired by The Carpenter’s song ‘Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft’ and David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust concert”, said Oppenheim, during an interview after Sunday night’s show.

A large cast, of over a dozen characters, are squeezed onto the cozy Art|Works theatre stage. Echo Bell, played by Emily Stern, is an all American teenage girl. She’s tired of her loser boyfriend, sick of home life and thinks everything on Earth basically sucks. With her head in the stars, she’s visited by a runaway rock band from space, the Citizens of Earth.

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The Nightmare Before Christmas cast enjoying their 3-D premiere!

Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas, is playing in Hollywood this weekend at Disney’s El Capitan Theater. To make this Halloween entertainment even more exciting, they’ll be showing this version in 3-D!

I’ve never been to this venue but its reputation has me intrigued. I’ve heard it’s quite an experience. I’ve also been told it’s worth it to pay the extra price for a VIP ticket, so I bought one. The price was $22 dollars, along with a $2 dollar processing fee.  Included in the cost will be a drink, popcorn and a reserved seat I chose myself on the El Capitan website.

After seeing the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland decked out in Nightmare style, I wanted to see this movie again, especially with the added effects. You can enjoy them too, as the film will be playing there from the 16th to the 22nd. You’ll have another opportunity on the 30th and on Halloween night. Wouldn’t that be an ideal way to get your tricks and treat!

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Entering Knott's Halloween Haunt.

For young children or for those of you who are young at heart, Disneyland during Halloween is ideal. However, for those of you that prefer a little more terror in your All Hallow’s Eve, then perhaps Knott’s Scary Farm is the “it” place to be.

Knott’s Berry Farm is celebrating the 36th year of its annual Halloween Haunt. It’s an autumn celebration of all things horror. The Haunt, with its realistic ghouls and nightmarish apparitions, is definitely not for children under thirteen or for those of you that are feint of heart. But it’s definitely for die-hard fans of fear.

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Halloween at Disneyland!

It’s my favorite time of year, Halloween! Ghosts, witches, skeletons and best of all candy. What better place for the child in you than to spend it at Disneyland?

On Friday, September 26th, the happiest place on earth kicked off the holiday season with their tribute to Halloween. The focal point of the day was at the Haunted Mansion which has gone through a transformation in honor of Tim Burton’s Nightmare Before Christmas. Every aspect of the mansion, from the exterior to the ride itself, glorifies the eccentric but lovable film.

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As I stepped into the classy El Rey Theatre once more this week, I couldn’t help but think of how different it would be from my Balkan Beat Box experience. Upon arrival for a DeVotchKa show, I was anticipating looking at a different type of crowd. However, I found similarities more than differences. For The El Rey, the volume of concert goers never seems to dwindle. No matter what night it is, if it’s a good show, especially one so highly expected to be as DeVotchKa, the crowd will spill past the bar.

Gaining most of their mainstream popularity from scoring the film, Little Miss Sunshine, DeVotchKa had finally been able to reach the masses with their unique take on American punk and folk roots. This four piece band, however, goes far beyond what’s expected of a rock band. Exhibiting their credibility, all multi-instrumentalists flourish together as they weave in and out of Greek, Mariachi, and Slavic notes. I wondered, will Los Angeles embrace them tonight as much as world music lovers or those so called sophiticated hipsters? I was about to find out.

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Get a true taste of NoHo at the second annual All-Day, All-Arts, All-NoHo “NoHo Scene” on Sunday, October 5 from 11 am until 8 pm.  Admission to all NoHo Scene events and activities is free.

Free theater performances, catered food and wine, kids scene, marketplace, live music and a whole lot more. Get there early - the tickets go fast!

Free theater performances take place between 11 am and 6 pm.  Tickets will be available at the Ticket Booth at Theatre Circle (on Lankershim Blvd., just south of Magnolia) and will be given away starting at 11 am on a first-come, first-served basis.

Relax at the Food and Wine Garden while watching great entertainment on the Outdoor Stage (no tickets required) between 11am and 8 pm.

Visual artists will take over Lankershim Boulevard, creating an Artists Village.  Walk through a beautiful blend of art and experience how art is made - LIVE! - at the demonstration booth.

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Being given the chance to interview an innovative and amazing talent like Al Doyle is a dream for any music enthusiast.  A truly significant part of the awesome, quirky and danceable Hot Chip and a critical piece of LCD Soundsystem, Al Doyle makes great music and is a well spoken music buff.  BeatCrave had the opportunity to join in on a conference interview with other music writers nationwide on Wednesday, September 17.  Knowledgeable music writers and the, dare we say, genius of Al Doyle should have been the perfect combination for a well rounded, in-depth look at one part of the awesome Hot Chip.  Unfortunately, no, interestingly, the combination resulted in a voyeuristic experience in music snobbery, technical difficulty and a Britt’s uncanny ability to make it all worthwhile.

All good stories start, where they should, at the beginning.  Calling into a conference interview is like visiting a speak-easy on the phone: one must give a code, wait for an indeterminable amount of time and then, suddenly, a voice let’s you enter the forum while introducing Al Doyle. No one but Al Doyle can be heard unless it is your turn to ask a question and depending on how quickly one dials *1 determines when the opportunity to ask a question will be granted.

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We have always been told not to judge a book by its cover, but we are all guilty of doing it, and we are victims of others’ judgments. So if people are going to judge regardless, I might as well have a little fun with it and share my own judgments with you. In this new series, I will tell you what I think about a music artists’ choice of fashion and what it seems to say about them. Not wasting any time, I will be starting off this series with a group whose song about what they want to be when they grow up has successfully been playing in my head for the past week.

The Pussycat Dolls, whose song, “When I Grow Up,” can be heard blasting on the radio, say they are all about self-confidence and female empowerment, but what is so empowering about the way they dress?

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