It’s going to be another hot weekend, so it may be best to spend the heat of the day in air conditioned comfort with a book or movie…and we can help with that!
For a good new read, stop by the Friends of John C. Fremont Library’s monthly used book sale, from 12-4 p.m. today, or 12-5 p.m. on Saturday. There will be both new and used books, DVDs and CDs for sale at very affordable prices (most $1 or less!)…and all proceeds benefit the library. (To help even more, while you’re there, you could also join the Friends group.)
Later, at 2 p.m. on Saturday (and Sunday, too), at the New Beverly Cinema, 7165 Beverly Blvd., you can catch a nice, cool screening of the original “Jurassic Park,” Steven Spielberg’s 1983 blockbuster about an island theme park populated with cloned dinosaurs. (What could go wrong? Can you say, “velociraptors”?) Also, what would a weekend afternoon kiddie matinee be without a good short before the feature? You’ll get one here: Chapter 8 of the original 13-chapter 1936 Flash Gordon serial, which is unspooling installment-by-installment during select NewBev screenings in July.
For more afternoon film, and summer, fun, there’s the American Cinematheque’s 13th Annual Tiki Night, starting at 4 p.m. at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood. A tropical breeze will cool the warm afternoon with a program hosted by King Kukulele, who will also perform with his band the Friki Tikis. As always, there will also be vendors, cocktails, food, fashion, dancing and more Tiki entertainment…followed by a screening of “Rapa Nui,” the 1994 adventure set on pre-colonial Easter Island, with Jason Scott Lee and Esai Morales as former friends turned rivals for the hand of a beautiful young woman. Filled with stunning scenery, and featuring music by Stewart Copeland of The Police.
As the hot 
day begins to turn into cool evening, there are a couple of great opportunities to go outside and enjoy some good music. First at 5 p.m. in Hancock Park (between LACMA and the Tar Pits Museum, LACMA sponsors a free performance by Frances Livings’ Ipanema Lounge. The band features an eclectic mix of international musicians who specialize in a sensual, multilingual, and groovy jazz repertoire, with a blend of Mediterranean and Latin jazz in English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese expressing a rich atmosphere of cultural diversity.
Also on Saturday evening, at 7:30 p.m., Levitt Pavillion’s free concert series continues at MacArthur Park, with The Suffers, Houston’s award-winning 10-piece ensemble that has redefined the sound of Gulf Coast Soul. Established in 2011, The Suffers’ lineup was curated by bassist Adam Castaneda and vocalist/keyboardist Pat Kelly, who brought on trumpet player Jon Durbin, trombonist Michael Razo, guitarist Kevin Bernier, percussionist Jose “Chapy” Luna, and drummer/vocalist Nick Zamora. Jazz saxophonist Cory Wilson and guitarist/vocalist Alex Zamora fill out the rhythm section, while frontwoman Kam Franklin tops off the group with soaring vocals.
On Sunday, there are a couple of fun family art activities to keep you cool. First up, at LACMA, you can “Travel to Egypt” with this week’s Andell Family Sundays workshop, starting at 12:30 p.m. (though you can just drop in any time between then and 3 p.m.) in the museum’s central courtyard. You can visit LACMA’s permanent collection of ancient art (more than 2,000 years old!) from Egypt and the Near East, look for the mother and son gods Isis and Horus, a sarcophagus and mummy, and many animals like baboons, cats, and falcons. And then, after exploring, make your own art inspired by what you see. The event is free with general admission and appropriate for all ages…but children must be accompanied by an adult.
Starting just a bit later, at 1:30 p.m. (but also available to drop-ins any time until 3:30 p.m.), across the street at the Craft and Folk Art Museum, families can join the CraftLab Family Workshop, “Mapping Spaces: Yarn Painting.” How do you make a painting without paint? With yarn! Taking inspiration from maps and images, participants will turn yarn and glue into lines and colorful blocks on two-dimensional surfaces to create a fiber masterpiece. Admission is free for CAFAM members, and $7/adults, $5/children for non-members.
If you’d like to go back to the movies on Sunday afternoon, Cinefamily will host a special nun-themed afternoon (“Nunday Funday“), starting at 2 p.m. with an opening reception on its back patio featuring “an all-nun DJ set by our promotions director/programmer Taylor Rowley (KXLU‘s The Windmills of Your Mind)”…and then a screening of the 1966 comedy “The Trouble with Angels,” starring Rosalind Russell and Hayley Mills as a mother superior and the rebellious teen who drives her crazy at a Catholic boarding school. It’s followed, of course, by the campy psychadelic 1968 sequel, “Where Angels Go, Trouble Follows.”
For those who like their films darker – a LOT darker – the American Cinematheque pairs David Fincher’s “Zodiac,” starring Jake Gyllenhaal as a San Francisco Chronicle staffer obsessed with the notorious serial killer, with “The Zodiac Killer,” a ripped-from-the-headlines exploitation flick inspired by the murders. Director Tom Hanson will be on-hand to provide an introduction to the second movie. Introduction to second feature by THE ZODIAC KILLER director Tom Hanson. The show starts at 5 p.m. Sunday at the Egyptian Theater.
Back in the music groove, at 6 p.m. on Sunday, LACMA presents a performance by Trio Céleste. Iryna Krechovsky (violin), Ross Gasworth (cello), and Kevin Kwan Loucks (piano) perform Beethoven: Kakadu Variations, Opus 121a, and Dvorak: Piano Trio in E minor, Opus 90, “Dumky.” The group is one of the most dynamic chamber music ensembles on the classical music scene today, with recent performances at the Chicago Cultural Center, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, New York’s Carnegie Hall, Seoul Art Center in South Korea, and the world premiere of Paul Dooley’s Concerto Grosso for Piano Trio and Strings co-commissioned by Trio Céleste and Chamber Music | OC. The concert is free and open to the public
Levitt Pavillion also has another show at 6:30 p.m. on Sunday, at MacArthur Park…but this time it’s puppets instead of music, as Bob Baker’s Marionettes take the stage for an evening of family fun.
Finally, we’ll leave you with a heads-up that westbound Wilshire Blvd. will be closed from 9 p.m. Friday (today) through 7 a.m. Monday, between Crenshaw Blvd. and Mansfield Ave. for jet grouting activities at Wilshire and Mansfield. Eastbound traffic will flow normally, and access to Wilshire will be maintained from local streets. For full details and detour information, see https://www.metro.net/projects/notices/notice_purpleline1_062917/
