Los Angeles Dreaming

This year is one of the most diverse sets of races for Congress and governor seats ever, according to a New York Times report looking at candidates of color, female candidates and LGBT candidates.

Today on Neal Saavedra's Fork Report (4:03 PM) I'll be announcing pre-sale ticket dates, which will begin this Tuesday, March 8th at 10AM and will run until Sunday, March 13th at 10PM. LA Weekly's 4th Annual Tacolandia, curated by me, will take place at  L.A.'s historic Olvera Street on Saturday, June 11th from 3PM to 7PM. This year, we'll be expanding to well over 100 of the best taco vendors in the U.S. and Mexico at the best and biggest taco festival in the U.S. with world class taqueros, carefully handpicked from Mexico, Arizona, San Diego, Orange County with the biggest group, of course, coming from Los Angeles, the Taco and Mexican food capitol of the USA.

If you haven't been, we put on an event that's inexpensive but brings the same level of chef talent found at the high end events around town, and we have the biggest participation of any event in the city of mom and pop restaurants and stands serving a range of tacos from regional Mexican, to Alta Californian, to Modern Mexican (Uh, hello, last year, we brought Pangea's Guillermo Gonzalez, the first chef in Mexico to open a Modern Mexican kitchen and a Latin America's 50 best best recipient) to pocho (Mexican-American) cuisine.

And, in order to avoid taco fatigue, we've added some other stellar vendors serving a few taco-like foods, savory and sweet, to add variety, and to maintain our high standards.

Starting Tuesday, March 8th, go to the Tacolandia micro-site and use the promotional code: TACOWHISPERER (that's me) to buy your discounted ticket, but more importantly, to secure your place. In the 3 years Tacolandia has been held, every single ticket has sold out in advance of the event; last year we were sold out a month in advance!

Tacolandia 2016, Saturday June 11th, 3PM-7PM, Olvera Street, http://microapp.laweekly.com/tacolandia/2016/

Pre-sale runs from March 8th at 10AM to March 13th at 10PM

Promo-code: TACOWHISPERER

For the first time in its history – and what may be a first for any major U.S. city – Los Angeles is preparing to host five professional sports games on the same day. Dubbed the “Super Sports Equinox” by FiveThirtyEight, the Rams, Clippers, Kings and Galaxy will all be playing at home on Sunday, Oct. 28. To cap off this ultimate pro sports day, the Dodgers are scheduled to play Game 5 of the World Series against the Boston Red Sox.

The so-called "Sports Equinox" occurs when there are games in each of the four "big" U.S. sports leagues: Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association, the National Football League, and the National Hockey League.

FiveThirtyEight notes that Phoenix experienced the first-ever Super Sports Equinox in 2001 - but the Coyotes were on the road. L.A. will be the first city to ever host a Super Sports Equinox in one metro area.

Californians had their say about Proposition 12 on Election Day. The new law requires the livestock industry maintain minimum cage size requirements for pigs, and calves raised for veal. Prop 12 also mandates that all eggs sold in California be cage-free by 2022.

It’s a dramatic shift for animal welfare, and when the law takes effect will designate California as one of the strictest in the nation. Two-thirds of California’s hens are caged, and now farmers are now required to include one square foot of floor space by 2019, with a deadline of 2021 to become cage-free. As for calves raised for veal and pigs, calves will need a 43 square feet pen, and a 24 square feet pen for pigs by 2022, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

Prop 12 will likely bring price increases to LA restaurants, as most analysts believe the new costs will be handed down to consumers. Eater spoke with two local chefs to see how they feel about Prop 12’s passing, and what these changes could mean for dining out in Los Angeles.

Becky Reams, Lately

“As a chef, it’s our honor and responsibility to work with products that have been raised or grown responsibly and with care. I’ve always been a proponent of cage-free facilities and only use cage-free eggs in my cooking. I’m happy to see Prop 12 pass, even if it means prices for chicken, pork, and veal go up. It’s a small expense to pay, knowing your food is being raised in a safe and healthy environment. Also, reducing imports for some products means we’ll have more incentive to work locally with farmers.”

Royce Burke, Yarrow

“I think it is a step in the right direction for both the egg and meat industries. It is very easy for us as restaurateurs and consumers to only look at the higher cost and how it affects our bottom line, but it is important to remember that the products we use come from somewhere. I had egg laying chickens growing up, and I can’t imagine them in a cage that is one square foot? It will take a lot to help the average consumer who has grown used to meat and eggs being shrink wrapped understand that these items will be more expensive but they will be a better quality. It’s also a vital step in the process of reforming the meat production industry. People need to make the connection between what’s served to them in a restaurant or sold in the supermarket aisle and the animals these products come from. I am by no means vegetarian but we have to start taking steps to value quality food correctly and if that means eating less meat, so be it!”

Jason Fullilove, Hilltop Coffee + Kitchen, The Parlor, Barbara Jean

“I think it’s a step in the right direction. But it doesn’t specify how much room the chickens get to roam or if their even allowed outside the barn. I would hope the goal is to get so selling “Pasture Raised Eggs” which means the chickens get to roam free, forage, and have ample fresh foods to pick. I only used good eggs at all my locations. The happier the live stock the better the product”

On Election Day it remains to be seen if the much-touted "blue wave" will actually wash away the ugliness and lies of Trumpian politics, but either way, Stephanie Miller has been riding it and taking liberals along with her via her popular radio program and live comedy shows. On Saturday, Nov. 3, a sold-out audience gave Miller a raucous standing ovation at the Saban Theatre, the third and final show in the progressive radio host and comedian’s Sexy Liberal Blue Wave Tour. The crowd — which included attorney Gloria Allred — seemed to channel its collective frustration with the Trump administration into extra emphatic and lingering cheers and applause, and when the orgasmic glee in the room finally climaxed, Miller joked, “That is a lot of DNA stains on my blue dress, Los Angeles.”

As host of The Stephanie Miller Show on SiriusXM, the Los Feliz–based broadcaster spends several hours a day talking about politics and current events, and since L.A. Weekly spoke to Miller about her rising profile last year, she's only gotten more popular. So how does she manage to make people laugh in what feels like a never-ending onslaught of bad news? “Trust me, to most of us comedians, it’s just as not-funny and scary and sad as it is to everybody else, but what we do is try to empower people with laughter,” Miller says, explaining that liberal comedians have always “punched up" their targets, criticizing people and institutions with more power in an attempt to weaken them. “To me, the reason the right-wingers aren’t funny is because they punch down. They punch at people less fortunate than they are.”

Miller likens responding to the latest news cycle to being on a hamster wheel, and acknowledges that the jokes don’t always come easily. “You just feel like, oh my God, how do we make this funny?” she laments. "As I always say, you have to laugh or you would cry all fucking day. This is worse than any of us could actually have imagined.”

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Gloria Allred in the audience for Stephanie Miller’s Sexy Liberal Blue Wave Tour comedy show at the Saban Theatre

Tiffany Rose/Getty Images for Sexy Liberal Blue Wave

The most common thing fans say to Miller is, “You’re the only thing keeping me sane,” which she says cracks her up because “I’m a woman in a basement going insane herself. I’m like, ‘America, you’re in danger, girl!’ I’m barely hanging on to my own sanity, but I think that’s what people need — to go, ‘Oh, I thought it was just me.’”

Saturday’s show started with a brief appearance by Martin Sheen (reprising his role as fictional president Jed Bartlet from The West Wing) escorted onstage by two of his Secret Service men. Sheen returned at the end of the show for a panel discussion with Miller and fellow performers John Fugelsang and Margaret Cho, Rob Reiner, Congressman Ted Lieu and Congressman Adam Schiff.

Saturday’s show was a fundraiser for Flip the 14, a Democratic organization working to flip the House of Representatives — but that wasn't the show’s only purpose. Miller thinks part of the reason her shows sell out is because progressives want to be around like-minded people. “It started as a joke calling it Sexy Liberal,” she reveals. "We’re not talking about us. We’re talking about the audience. It means you’re empathetic, open-minded and open-hearted.”

That may be true, but the sexy liberals in attendance at the Saban were far more focused on Miller than on one another. They showered her with love as she flowed through her set, making anti-Trump jokes like, “FEMA now is letting him text our phones directly? How long can it be before we get the dick pic, people?”

After pointing out that the refugees fleeing violence in South America are mostly women and children, she asked, “What did Jeanine Pirro say? ‘The caravan has child molesters, career criminals, wife beaters….’ I’m like, ‘How did Trump get his cabinet in there?’”

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The celebrity panel at Stephanie Miller’s Sexy Liberal Blue Wave Tour featured, from left, Ted Lieu, Rob Reiner, Martin Sheen, Miller, John Fugelsang, Margaret Cho and Adam Schiff.

Tiffany Rose/Getty Images for Sexy Liberal Blue Wave

Miller was followed by comedian John Fugelsang, whose stand-up addressed everything from the un-Christian behavior of Christian Trump supporters to Kevin Spacey, whom Netflix fired from House of Cards after sexual assault allegations surfaced. Pointing out the irony, the comic noted, “I’m so proud to live in a country where fictional presidents cannot get away with sexual assault.”

Margaret Cho, introduced by Miller as “one of my sheroes,” talked about her bisexuality and did her signature impressions of her Korean mother. The hilarious Cho also took on Melania Trump, saying how disturbing it is that she has sex with Trump — “Immigrants do the jobs that nobody else wants,” she deadpanned.

During the celebrity panel that closed out the night, Sheen revealed that he had been arrested for political protests more than 50 times, while Rob Reiner spoke of what's on everyone's mind this week: elections.  He told the crowd that while almost every election is described as “the most important,” he believes Tuesday, Nov. 6's to be the most significant of our lifetime.

Whatever the results of today's vote may be, it's nice to know we have performers like Miller to help get us through. She uses comedy to address serious political issues but her relatable humor make us feel that even the worst atrocities can be overcome. Her comedy is realistic but it’s also hopeful. If liberals can't find power in government, power in laughter might be the next best thing.

More about Stephanie Miller's radio and live shows here.

Source: https://www.laweekly.com/arts/riding-the-sexy-liberal-blue-wave-with-stephanie-miller-10035530

The Fountain Theatre is one of the major venues for serious drama in Los Angeles, so it’s no surprise that Cost of Living by playwright Martyna Majok, winner of the 2018 Pulitzer for best play, is making its West Coast premiere there. The drama won a plethora of awards and was named one of the best plays of 2017 by the New York Times.

Following the Fountain’s mission of producing plays that reflect diversity and inclusion, the drama focuses on the realities facing people with physical disabilities.

John (Tobias Forrest) plays a privileged grad student who has cerebral palsy. Ani (Katy Sullivan) is a foul-mouthed quadriplegic. Their caregivers, Jess (Xochitl Romero) and Eddie (Felix Solis) also have problems. Although their two stories run on a parallel tracks, the characters’ lives are ultimately intertwined.

I had the opportunity to chat with Tobias Forrest about his character and his own personal life as a quadriplegic actor. Forrest has a spinal cord injury resulting from an accident in 1998 when he dove off a waterfall into shallow water at the Grand Canyon.

He has since built a successful acting career, performing in his wheelchair.

Forrest has had guest starring roles on television shows like Weeds and was the lead in the award-winning play Pyretown in Pittsburg and Los Angeles. Currently, he appears in Special Unit a film available on iTunes and Amazon.

He was also a singer with the Los Angeles based funk/rock band Cityzen, which has performed at The Roxy, The Whiskey and the House of Blues.

According to Forrest, acting in Cost of Living, with its overlapping conversations, is a lot like performing live music where musicians sometimes play together and other times perform alone.

The play also requires him to get into the mind of a person whose disability differs from his own injuries.

“I am also conscious to honor those with cerebral palsy and do my best to bring an authentic portrayal of this problem. My character allows me to make choices I don’t ordinarily get to do. It’s a rare opportunity for an actor with disabilities.”

Katy Sullivan reprises the role of Ani. She previously performed the role at the Williamstown Theatre Festival and its off-Broadway production. She is also disabled.

Although Cost of Living deals with the serious issues facing people who daily deal with physical disabilities, it comes with a healthy dose of humor. It also has some male nudity.

According to Fountain Theater Artistic Director Stephen Sachs, “The play provides us with the opportunity to bring actors with and without disabilities together and allows us to reach out and serve a specific community. At the same time, its themes are profoundly universal, illuminating the human condition.”

Cost of Living runs November 2nd through December 16th. Mondays, Fridays, and Saturdays 8p.m.; Sundays 2 p.m. Tickets $40-$45. Seniors 65+ $35; Students with ID $25. Mondays $40 or pay what you want when available. 5060 Fountain Ave. (323) 663-1525 or FountainTheatre.com. Secure on-site parking $5.