Mary Oliver, winner of both the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award, was back in Los Angeles after five long, barren years, speaking again at historic Royce Hall on the UCLA campus. Presented by UCLA Live, the event was nowhere near the sellout it should have been for a night of such inspirational and beautiful weaving of poetry and prose. Mary Oliver has been writing for over fifty years now, and the stunning growth of her new work proves that she isn’t feeling complacent, nor has she lost her voice, as she reaches her 75th year on the planet.

There’s a reason why the Shakespearian tragedy Titus Andronicus isn’t taught at the high school or hell even the college level.  It’s the ultimate tragedy with no humor, or forgiveness or redemption. However, it’s a great look into character study. It makes you look at these characters stripped to the raw and not afraid to show it off.  Titus (Dan Mailley) is the cruelest son-of-a-bitch in the history of Shakespearian villainy. Macbeth, Richard the III and Iago would both be scared and in awe of this man. The play opens up with the emperor of Rome death and his throne is left up to his sons Saturninus and Bassianus. Their childish bickering leaves only one other person: the Emperor’s brother Titus.

DaVinci has changed hands, and took out the booths, but left Dean Martin's special booth for those making reservations. People have traveled from all over for Deans seat! The place has been redone with gorgeous wooden floors and tables with padded chairs. Walls are olive and vanilla and have DaVinci sketches displayed around the room.

A SOLD OUT audience greeted Mr. Curtis on Sunday, Jan 31st, 2010 as the next featured artist in the highly anticipated and popular LEGEND SERIES held at the Magic Castle.  The series was developed to celebrate the life and careers of some of stage and screens greatest Icons.  The response has been overwhelming with previous guest appearances including Phyllis Diller, Rose Marie and Tippi Hedren that were hosted by B. Harlan Boll. 

GO GREEN EXPO, the nation’s premier green business and sustainable lifestyle show known for its innovative and interactive programming, returned to the Los Angeles Convention Center on January 22-24, 2010 for the second year in a row as the first stop on a nationwide tour that also includes New York City, Philadelphia and Atlanta.  Following last year’s show that reached more than 10,000 attendees, Go Green Expo 2010 focused on the next steps in environmental responsibility and the growing green revolution. 

In 1985, a different type of movie came to audiences who weren’t sure what to make of it. The title, The Color Purple, seemed harmless enough. It had a number of huge stars such as Danny Glover, and an upcoming New York actress and future Academy Award winner Whoopi Goldberg and multi Emmy-award winning talk show host Oprah Winfrey, who only been on the air for about a year. Winfrey gathered her sources together to bring The Color Purple to stage.

Vinoteque has the kind of comfort where one wants to stay a little longer rather than leaving after the last course. It has the comfort that keeps you lingering until the chef sends out his last dessert. At first glance one thinks the walls are made of bottles of wines, as in "Vino-therapy" and the unusual decorated mirrors attract glances. Other things of interest are the attractive drop lamps set in front of the ceiling with recessed lighting. All the seating are padded on wooden chairs, matching the floors.

Remember those old MGM Musicals, when Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney decided on a moments notice to “put on a show”?  They must have influenced actress/writer Renee Taylor to put on a fundraiser to assist the residents of the Motion Picture Home, and within two weeks, she hosted a luncheon/fundraiser right in her own backyard!

The strange days at Mystic Falls High School for The Vampire Diaries seem almost like Dawson’s Creek with fangs. So it shouldn’t surprise anyone that Kevin Williamson is the executive producer and writer behind both of those two great teen angst TV series.

I found a little house built in 1908 that was made into a restaurant with all the charm one could ask for. It's called "Ado" in Venice. The kitchen is downstairs with a dining room above. It's decked out in chocolate walls of wood, and everything is wooden - exposed beams and wooden floors - along with large sconces, the walls a'la candlelight. There's one table downstairs next to the kitchen.

He has to be the busiest man in the world, but Placido Domingo never forgets his Latin heritage.  When Alicia Garcia Clark approached him 18 years ago to support the Hispanics for the Opera – his answer was: ¨”What can I do to help?” Today Latinos comprise more than 11% of the L.A. Opera’s audience, and the annual Hispanics for the Opera Awards dinner is one of the most spectacular events in town

The one piece of advice I can give anyone in watching this outstanding production is this: bring a bottle of extra strength Excedrin tablets.  The collage of soft tinkering sounds to full blown loud banging will make your headache mimic those sounds after you leave. And if you don’t bring the aspirin, the harmonic noise will be worth the risk.  A collage of dirty barrels, long and small pieces of rubber tubing, beyond dented rash cans, dirty brooms and mops and grimy traffic signs, tin lids, hang neatly above the performers. The unclean floor and the noise, all at once, can and will be tolerated. 

Music’s biggest night, the 52nd Grammy Awards is destine to hit an unparallel crescendo with two powerful performers singing with heart wrenching emotion. The classic “Bridge Over Troubled Waters” has r&b diva Mary J. Blige and opera’s Andrea Bocelli climaxing together vocally in front of a worldwide audience. The song is available for download at iTunes and all proceeds will benefit relief efforts in Haiti.

Arguably, Fringe is the best new science fiction show on the air, coming back extra strong in its current second season on Fox TV. Fans have compared it to The X-Files, the early years. The complex drama that explores the “endless impossibilities” was co-created by today’s king of the genre J.J. Abrams (Lost), who is the first to brag about the series’ “dream team of performers,” Anna Torv as FBI agent Olivia Dunham, John Noble as crazy but brilliant scientist Walter Bishop, and Joshua Jackson as his shrewd son Peter Bishop.

The three main characters have made The Vampire Diaries into must-see-TV. Thanks to the chemistry oozing from the trio of hot blooded stars, the adaptation of the bestselling books is destine to have a long run on the CW network with Nina Dobrev playing the hauntingly beautiful Elena, Paul Wesley playing the conflicted vampire Stefan, and Ian Somerhalder playing the badass bloodsucker.

The two hottest gangs roaming the streets of LA are not as dangerous as you might think. They are the casts of Glee and Jersey Shore. And they were making the rounds between award shows in Hollywood. We caught up with the bickering Jersey Shore castmates at the GBK Lounge hosted by Gavin B. Keilly, who introduced the East Coast wild bunch to the luxury lifestyle they had only dreamt about until landing in Tinsel Town on a rainy day.

The juggernaut avant-garde troupe from Quebec has spread its mirth to practically every corner of the earth. In the midst of the tsunami of tourist attractions in Orlando, La Nouba steadily and understandably draws sell-out crowds. During the coldest week in years, we enjoyed this production at an early evening performance.

How do you prepare your kids for a trip to Orlando?  How do you describe the wildly disparate attractions, the over-the-top mindset?  How to handle the uniform expectation that the entire Orlando economy is devoted to separating visitors from their dollars?  A couple Carl Hiassen books are a good start (Hoot, Flush and Scat are each excellent for readers of all ages). But mostly, it is best to just dive right in.

Another great evening from the unscripted series delivered by the hilarious boys and girls of the Impro Theatre and Combined Artform. Their style is uniquely funny the kind that make your sides ache from so much hard laughter. Nothing is scripted, hence the unscripted part and everyone, cast and audience, have a raucous good time. Previously, both companies brought forth Jane Austen Unscripted, Sondheim Unscripted and Tennessee Williams Unscripted, bringing the Bard to life was just anther rip roaring trip into hystericsville.

The pier at Redondo Beach has been something I have managed to miss for many years. My family discovered its allure during a stay at the lovely Portofino Hotel & Yacht Club. As part of the Noble House family of resorts, the PH&YC offers a boutique luxury vibe on a quiet edge of the Redondo King Harbor.