Creepiosity Saturday, June 19, 2010

Just how creepy is stumbling upon a detached, used Band-Aid? Pretty creepy, according to comedy writer David Bickel, whose Creepiosity: A Hilarious Guide to the Unintentionally Creepy catalogues 100 of the most disturbing everyday creep-outs you're likely to encounter. Grown men in Boy Scout uniforms? (Let's hope not.) Old ladies with really long hair? (Please no.) Fish with people faces? (I can't look.) Lifelike baby dolls? (Why, just why?) The author joins comedians Kevin Pollak, Nick Kroll, Laura Silverman and Gary Valentine to examine the raison d'etre of the creepy, along with a warning: "Some things are intended to be creepy. Other things are not." Largo at the Coronet, 366 N. La Cienega Blvd., L.A.; Wed., June 23, 8 p.m.; $20, $30 with book. (310) 855-0350. (Originally published in L.A. Weekly, June 18, 2010.)

posted by Derek Thomas @ 7:26 PM, ,

Rona Barrett: Nothing but the Truth Sunday, June 13, 2010

Whatever happened to Rona Barrett? Though an iconic presence on 1970s network TV as America's conduit to Hollywood scandal, via Good Morning America, The Today Show and Entertainment Tonight, Barrett went MIA by the 1990s. At last, the gossip queen returns, in her one-woman show Rona Barrett: Nothing but the Truth, wherein she shares a career's worth of scandalous celebrity tidbits involving the likes of Cher, Robin Williams, John Wayne, Mick Jagger and Bette Davis. (She's also famous for her feuds with Frank Sinatra and Tom Snyder, but who isn't?) The show includes vintage video clips of Barrett's reportage, so expect a few cringe-worthy moments, mostly involving hairstyles. And, although likely not part of the show, it's worth noting that Barrett authored the 1978 self-help book How You Can Look Rich and Achieve Sexual Ecstasy. Do tell! Paley Center for Media, 465 N. Beverly Dr., Beverly Hills; Thurs., June 17, 7 p.m.; $20. (310) 786-1000, paleycenter.org. (Originally published in L.A. Weekly, June 11, 2010.)

posted by Derek Thomas @ 2:03 PM, ,

An Evening With John Waters Saturday, June 5, 2010

Polyesterlicious? Pink Flamingotastic? Hairspraymazing? That's John Waters, the iconic cult-film director who transformed low-brow cinema into high art, and he explains it all at ALOUD's "An Evening With John Waters: On Neurotic Happiness," an onstage conversation with Hollywood's own antiestablishmentarian Bruce Wagner (Force Majeure, anyone?). While the talk may run the gamut from lesbian porn to the Vatican, and Johnny Mathis in between, it's all inspired by the filmmakers' latest memoir, Role Models, a tribute to the real-life saints and sinners who shaped Waters' ironic, outlandish and totally trashy tastes. Aratani/Japan America Theatre, 244 S. San Pedro St., Little Tokyo; Tues., June 8, 8 p.m.; $25. (213) 680-3700. (Originally published in L.A. Weekly, June 4, 2010.)

posted by Derek Thomas @ 3:06 PM, ,

Foxy: My Life in Three Acts Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Call her Jackie Brown, call her Coffy, just don't call her late for dinner because blaxploitation icon Pam Grier appears in person at the Egyptian Theater to sign copies of her tell-all memoir Foxy: My Life in Three Acts, followed by screenings of Foxy Brown and Jackie Brown, Grier's samely named but decades apart badass classics. While Quentin Tarantino's 1997 Jackie enshrined Grier as the queen of female empowerment, it was 1974's Foxy that first crowned her. Just check the poster: "She's brown sugar and spice/but if you don't treat her nice/she'll put you on ice!" Egyptian Theater, 6712 Hollywood Blvd., Hlywd.; Sat., June 5, 6:15 p.m. (screenings, 7:30 p.m.); $11. (323) 466-FILM, americancinematheque.com. (Originally published in L.A. Weekly, June 4, 2010.)

posted by Derek Thomas @ 12:54 AM, ,