The shooting death of 33-year-old rapper T-Hood at his residence in Georgia is being investigated as a possible self-defense case, according to police in Gwinnett County, northeast of Atlanta.
Police have identified the alleged shooter as Ky Lasheed Frost, 24, the son of “Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta” stars Rasheeda and Kirk Frost. Ky Frost was detained at the scene of the shooting and interviewed, but no charges have been filed against him.
A representative for Rasheeda did not reply immediately to The Times’ request for comment Friday.
Authorities responded to a domestic dispute at approximately 7 p.m. on Aug. 8 and discovered the rapper — real name Tevin Hood — suffering from a gunshot wound. He was transported to a local hospital, where he died from his injuries.
Hood was dating Ky Frost’s sister, Kelsie Frost, according to TMZ. The entertainment news site also published surveillance video recorded earlier this year in their apartment that showed them in a physical altercation. In the video, Hood walks around the bedroom while Kelsie Frost is lying on the bed. The video appears to show Hood as he leaps toward her and begins to choke her.
Ky Frost and a witness, Ariel Miranda Hutchinson, 25, remained on the scene of the shooting last Friday and cooperated with investigators, police said.
Meanwhile, a female victim sustained physical injuries, police said. Kelsie Frost posted a carousel of photos of herself and Hood last Saturday on Instagram with the caption, “Just come get me baby please….. I can’t even type this. I love you papa. I can’t wait to hold you again.”
EastEnders has received a number of complaints from viewers after they aired one raunchy scene between Alfie and Kat Moon earlier this summer
The BBC has been hit with complaints over one raunchy EastEnders scene, which aired earlier this year. This summer, fans watched on as Alfie and Kat Moon tied the knot for the third time. Kat hoped to get a little bit of action before the big day, but was left disappointed when Alfie wasn’t up to it. It came after the character suffered from erectile dysfunction after undergoing treatment for prostate cancer.
Alfie and Kat’s scene received complaints from BBC viewers (Image: BBC)
However, Alfie later rejected Kat’s advances before things went any further, telling her he’d made them dinner. Kat seemed like she’d had enough as she asked Alfie: “How are we supposed to get married if you can’t even bear to touch me?”
She then stormed out of the house, later finding a porn site on the family laptop. It was later revealed that their son Tommy was the one watching porn, although viewers knew it was Joel who introduced him to the site.
Despite no action taking place, it’s been revealed that the BBC did receive complaints about the scene.
The BBC decided the complaint was ‘not upheld’(Image: BBC)
The broadcaster recently published its list of complaints, which showed a grievance for “inappropriate sexual content” during the episode which aired on June 10.
However, the BBC reviewed the complaint and decided it was “not upheld,” as the content was not inappropriate.
A trailer released by the BBC soap earlier today teased the first confrontation between the estranged mother and daughter duo, with Kat looking stunned as she comes face-to-face with Zoe for the first time.
Zoe made her shock return earlier this year but quickly left to go to Barcelona after a close run-in with Kat. Alfie then went to find her behind Kat’s back, but unfortunately came back alone.
Kat is still unaware that both Alfie and Stacey have been in contact with her daughter, but from the explosive new trailer, it looks like she may be about to find out very soon…
EastEnders airs Mondays to Thursdays at 7:30pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
On a wide, empty stretch of Venice Beach in 1980, seven Los Angeles architects — Frank Gehry, Thom Mayne, Eric Owen Moss, Coy Howard, Craig Hodgetts, Robert Mangurian and Frederick Fisher — gathered for a group portrait by photographer Ave Pildas. Clad in mismatched outfits and standing casually in the sand, they looked more like a rumpled rock band than the future of American architecture.
The resulting image, published in Interiors magazine, distilled a seismic moment in L.A.’s creative history. Those seven, gazing in their own directions yet joined in a sense of mischievous rebellion and cocky exuberance, represented a new generation that was bringing a brash, loose creativity to their work and starting to distance itself from the buttoned-up codes and expectations of the architecture establishment.
Each would go on to have a successful career, from Pritzker Architecture Prize winners to directors of architecture schools. And they and their compatriots would, for a while at least, help put a rapidly changing L.A. at the center of the built culture.
“That one photograph contains a whole world,” notes filmmaker Russell Brown, who recently directed a 12-part documentary series about that Venice architecture scene. “There was risk going on, and freedom; it was all about ideas.”
“It’s become a kind of reference point,” adds architectural journalist Frances Anderton, host of the series. “It just keeps reappearing whenever there’s a conversation about that period.”
The 1980 image is the jumping-off point for “Rebel Architects: From Venice to the World Stage,” produced by Brown’s nonprofit, Friends of Residential Treasures: Los Angeles. Four of the architects — now in their 70s and 80s — gathered for a (far less brash) new photo and an honest conversation about their early careers in L.A., and what’s transpired since for the series, which began streaming monthly on FORT: LA’s website July 1.
A native Angeleno with a background in feature and documentary filmmaking, Brown conceived of the concept after a chat with architect Robert Thibodeau, co-founder of Venice-based DU Architects. After a deeper dive into the image with Anderton, the idea for a reunion was born.
“We thought, why don’t we restage the photo and then use that as an excuse to get the guys together?” Brown explains.
He preferred a spontaneous, lighthearted group discussion to the typical documentary, with its one-on-one interviews and heavy production.
Frances Anderton, from left, Frederick Fisher, Craig Hodgetts, Thom Mayne and Eric Owen Moss catch up for “Rebel Architects,” a 12-part series.
(FORT: LA)
“It’s about the chemistry between creative peers,” says Brown. “The real legacy of these architects isn’t just in the buildings. It’s in the conversations they started — and are still having.” He added: “There’s a spark that happens when they’re together … They talk about failure, competition, teaching, aging. It’s a very human exchange.”
Episode 1, titled “Capturing a Moment in L.A. Architecture,” opens with four of the surviving architects — Fisher, Mayne, Moss and Hodgetts — recreating that seminal photograph for Pildas and sitting down for an interview. (Howard was interviewed separately, Gehry declined and Mangurian died in 2023.) The group dissects the photo’s cinematic, informal composition, in which Pildas aims down from a berm, the neglected buildings behind the eclectic crew shrinking into the horizon, merging with the sand. And they remember a time in which the city’s messy urban forms and perceived cultural inferiority provided endless creative fuel, and liberation.
Pildas recalls how the original shoot came together at the request of British design editor Beverly Russell, who was looking to capture “Frank Gehry and some of his Turks.” (The international design press was gaga for L.A. at the time. Anderton notes that her move from the U.K. resulted from a similar assignment, on the “subversive architects of the West Coast,” for the publication Architectural Review in 1987.)
At the time, most of the architects were working in garages and warehouses, forming their studios and collaborating with equally norm-busting and (relatively) unheralded artists in the scrappy, dangerous, forgotten, yet exploding Venice scene. In a later episode, the architects start listing the art talents they would run into, or befriend, including Larry Bell, James Turrell, Ed Ruscha, Fred Eversley, Robert Irwin, Robert Rauschenberg and Jean-Michel Basquiat, to name a few.
Basquiat was then living and working in Hodgetts’ building. “It was a spectacular fusion of all this creative energy,” Hodgetts remembers. “There was no audience, there were no guardrails, and one did not feel constrained.” He adds, later: “We all felt like we were marooned on a desert island.”
Pildas, who had studied architecture before switching to design and, eventually, photography, was uniquely suited to capture the group. He had shot some of the small, quirky experiments of Mangurian and Mayne, and knew most of the others through social and professional circles. (He even knew Hodgetts from high school back in Cincinnati.)
The first attempt at the photo seemed stiff, says Pildas, so he took out a joint, which all except Hodgetts accepted, he says. The icebreaker worked. In a later image, says Pildas, Fisher is hugging Gehry’s leg, the others huddled around. “It got pretty friendly in the end,” he jokes.
Pildas argues that the photo is much more layered with meaning (not to mention nostalgia) now than it was at the time. “Back then, it was just another magazine shoot. Now, it’s history,” he says. Adds Moss: “Its relevancy, or not, is confirmed by the following years. Otherwise it’s gone.”
Frederick Fisher, from left, Thom Mayne, Craig Hodgetts and Eric Owen Moss recreate their famous 1980 photo.
(Ave Pildas)
Each episode explores the image’s layers, and the unfolding stories that followed — the challenges of maintaining originality; crucial role of journalists in promoting their work; maddening disconnect between L.A.’s talent and its clients, along with the mercurial, ever-evolving identity of Los Angeles. The tone, like the photo, is unpretentious and playful, heavy on character and story, not theory. This was not always an easy task with a group that can get esoteric quite quickly, adds Anderton. “I was trying to keep it light,” she laughs. “I don’t think I even have the ability to talk in the language of the academy.”
“They’re cracking jokes, interrupting each other, reminiscing about teaching gigs and design arguments,” says Brown. “There’s real affection, but also a sense of rivalry that never fully went away.” Hodgetts doesn’t see it that way, however. “It was really about the joy of creating things. We wanted to jam a bit, perform together; that’s really life-affirming,” he says.
There are some revealing moments. Mayne, whose firm Morphosis is known for bold, city-altering buildings such as Caltrans HQ in downtown L.A., reflects on teaching as a way of “being the father I never had.” (His father left his family when he was a young boy.) He tenderly discusses the seminal role that his wife Blythe — a co-owner of Morphosis — has played in his career. Fisher reveals that Gehry was the chief reason he dropped everything to come out to L.A. (At the time, he was working as a display designer at a department store in Cincinnati.) “I remember seeing this architect jumping up and down on cardboard furniture. I could see there was something going on here. Something percolating,” he says. Moss opens up about his struggles to negotiate the demands of the practical world, while Hodgetts performs brilliant critiques of the others’ work, sometimes to broad smiles, others to cringes.
Notably absent from the reunion is Gehry himself, who is now 96. “He’s at a point in his life where trudging through sand for a photo wasn’t going to happen,” says Brown. “But his presence is everywhere. He’s still the elephant in the room.”
One episode explores how Gehry, about a decade older than the others, both profoundly influenced and often overshadowed the group — a reality that was perhaps reinforced by his nonchalant dominance in the photo itself. “Frank takes up a lot of oxygen,” Mayne quips. Still, all admire Gehry’s unwillingness to compromise creatively, despite often heavy criticism.
Another prevailing theme is the bittersweet loss of that early sense of freedom, and the Venice of the 1970s, with its breathtakingly low rents and abandoned charm. Today’s architects — wherever they are — face higher stakes, infinitely higher costs and tighter regulations.
“The Venice we grew up with is completely gone,” says Fisher. “But maybe it’s just moved,” noted Moss. Distinguishing L.A. as a place whose energy and attention is constantly shifting, he wonders if creative ferment might now be happening in faraway places like Tehachapi — “wherever land is cheap and ambition is high,” he says.
While Pildas was capturing the seven architects 45 years ago, he was also busy chronicling the city’s street culture — jazz clubs, boulevard eccentrics, decaying movie palaces and bohemian artists. All were featured in the 2023 documentary “Ave’s America” (streaming on Prime Video) directed by his former student, Patrick Taulère, exploring his six decades of humbly perceptive, deeply human work.
After reviewing the recreation of the photo — the architects are still smiling this time, but their scrappy overconfidence feels eons away — Pildas wonders who the next generation will be, and how they will rise.
“Maybe it’ll happen that they’ll have another picture someday with a bunch of new architects, right?” he says. “This is a fertile ground for architecture anyway, and always has been.”
Exposing that “fertile ground” to Angelenos of all kinds is FORT: LA’s overarching goal. Founded in 2020, it offers architecture trails, fellowships and a surprising variety of programming, from design competitions to architecture-themed wine tastings. All, says Brown, is delivered, like “Rebel Architects,” with a sense of accessible joy and exploration — an especially useful gift in a turbulent, insecure time for the city.
“Suddenly, you kind of think about the city in a different way and feel it in a different way,” says Brown. “This is a place that allows this kind of vision to come to life.”
If you read the Western press this morning, you may come to believe that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s desire to take military control over Gaza is new. But dropping 2000lb bombs does not rescue captives and wiping out whole neighbourhoods does not come without plans to build something in their place.
On Friday, Israel’s security cabinet approved the occupation of Gaza City, formalising what was always the endgame of this genocide. The plan follows a deliberate sequence: First destroy, then starve, occupy, demand demilitarisation, and finally carry out full ethnic cleansing once Palestinians have no political power and capacity to resist. This is how the dream of “Greater Israel” is achieved.
But why formalise this occupation now, after 22 months of systematic slaughter? Because the crime scene must be sanitised before the world sees what remains of Gaza.
On Sunday, the Israeli army assassinated Al Jazeera journalists Anas al-Sharif, Mohammed Qreiqeh, Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal and Moamen Aliwa by dropping a missile on a media tent near al-Shifa Hospital. Their names are now added to the long list of more than 230 Palestinian journalists and media workers that Israel has killed since October 2023.
With Israel banning all foreign media from freely accessing Gaza, Palestinian journalists have been solely responsible for covering and documenting Israeli war crimes. The assassination is a clear message to them to stop, to stay silent.
Meanwhile, foreign journalists who rode on airdrop flights to Gaza were also warned. Aerial footage they released offered glimpses of Gaza’s corpse: A patchwork of shattered concrete, ruins and hollowed streets. It is complete desolation.
The footage shocked viewers across the world and so the Israeli government was quick to ban filming on these flights, warning that aid drops would be halted if there were any violations.
Israel knows it cannot continue to block foreign media access to Gaza forever. The genocide will come to an end eventually; aid convoys and relief workers will be allowed in and with them, foreign journalists with cameras.
So before that day arrives, Israel is racing to erase the evidence because once the world sees Gaza, it will no longer be able to pretend that the war was about anything other than the mass killing of Palestinians and the erasure of their history.
The occupation of Gaza City is the murderer returning to the crime scene to hide the body. The goal is not only to cover up the crimes, but to convince the world that the dead have not died and that what we see is not what it is.
The official death toll in Gaza stands at 60,000, a number that by many expert accounts is an undercount. According to estimates, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have likely been murdered. As UN experts declared on August 7, “Israel is exterminating the people of Gaza by any and all means.” There are a lot of crimes to cover up.
We have already seen the modus operandi of the Israeli army in trying to destroy evidence in Gaza. It has buried massacred civilians in mass graves with bulldozers; it has withheld bodies of Palestinian torture victims; it has dug into the sand whole crime scenes of execution; it has planted weapons in hospitals that it has ransacked; it has lied about discovering tunnels.
All of this fits neatly with Israel’s long history of burying evidence of atrocities. Since 1948, Israeli authorities have systematically erased their ethnic cleansing of Palestinians by building on top of the ruins of pillaged Palestinian villages and towns.
Israeli intelligence has also removed documents from archives that provide evidence of Zionist and Israeli forces committing war crimes during the Nakba of 1948. Some of the documents that have disappeared give gruesome details about the brutality of Zionist fighters during massacres of Palestinians, like in the village of Dawaymeh, near Hebron, where hundreds of Palestinian men, women, and children were killed by artillery fire or directly executed. In 1955, the settlement of Amatzia was built on the ruins of the Palestinian village.
By occupying the northern part of the Gaza Strip now, Israel will certainly resort to these same methods of erasure and falsification. It will also be able to control foreign media coverage, just as it has done until now.
The Israeli army has only allowed foreign journalists into Gaza embedded with its military units under strict conditions that transform reporters into participants in hasbara. Embedded journalists must submit all materials for military review before publication, must operate under constant observation, and cannot speak freely with Palestinians.
Journalists thus become mouthpieces for the Israeli military, parroting their justifications for wholesale destruction and propagating their lies about Palestinian civilians as “human shields” and Gaza hospitals and schools as “terror hubs”.
The full-scale occupation can also help facilitate further massacres and ethnic cleansing. Those who refuse forced displacement will be labelled “militants” to excuse their slaughter. Israel used this strategy early into the genocide, dropping leaflets warning Palestinians in northern Gaza that they will be deemed “partners in a terrorist organisation” if they do not comply with “evacuation orders”.
Mass displacement is essential to the cover-up because it creates a new narrative that Palestinians are voluntarily migrating rather than being ethnically cleansed. The short-term goal is to force those willing to comply into concentration camps in the south and detach them from their homes and land. Over time, it would become easier to expel Palestinians elsewhere and deny them the right to return. It is the same way Nakba refugees were forced to flee to Gaza and were then denied their internationally recognised right of return.
The response of the international community to Israel’s plan has been just more condemnations. Germany went as far as halting military exports that could be used in Gaza – something that should have been done 22 months ago, when Israel started indiscriminately bombing civilians.
These actions are pathetic. They do not absolve these governments of their complicity in aiding and abetting the crime of genocide; they are just another sign of their moral cowardice.
The international community must take decisive action. It must undertake military intervention, as mandated under international law, to force Israel to immediately end the violence, to allow unrestricted humanitarian aid into Gaza, and to give Palestinians the freedom they are entitled to. International journalists must be granted immediate access to collect whatever evidence remains of Israel’s crimes before it disappears under the cover of “military operations”.
It is time the world starts believing Palestinians. For 22 months, Palestinians have said this is genocide. They have said it while stuck under the rubble, while starving, while carrying their children’s bodies. They said Israel was not defending itself but trying to erase Palestinians. They said occupation and ethnic cleansing are the goal. Israeli politicians themselves have said it.
Without urgent international action, the words “never again” will refer not to the prevention of genocide, but to the existence of Palestinian life in Gaza. The truth so many Palestinians have died to tell must not be buried with their bodies.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.
More than 100 artists, musicians, comedians, actors and performers from L.A.’s thriving, multifaceted underground art scene are featured in a new experimental video game named “Blippo+.” Created by Jona Bechtolt and Claire L. Evans, with music by Bechtolt and Rob Kieswetter, the trio behind the L.A.-based post-pop band YACHT (Young Americans Challenging High Technology), the game is part video art installation, part interactive theater. It was created for the newfangled gaming console Playdate, which was released in 2022 and purposefully conjures old-school devices like the Nintendo Game Boy, with a black-and-white, 1-bit display.
“This is essentially our bootleg way of making television, by skipping all the gatekeepers and going straight to a distribution platform that is still open to artist’s weird experiments, a.k.a. video games,” said Evans, in an interview Thursday in advance of the game’s exhibition party at Bob Baker Marionette Theater in Highland Park.
“Hollywood [production] has left Los Angeles, so the people that are here have to scramble to figure out what to do,” added Bechtolt. “So we moved to where there’s lots of funding, and an openness for experimentation. And that’s the video game world, indie video games, specifically.”
Playdate’s low-res format was ideal for “Blippo+,” which rolls out in a looping, 11-week cycle, with new programming — original, avant-garde soaps, sitcoms, news, weather and talk shows— arriving every Thursday at 10 a.m. PDT. Bechtolt and Evans collaborated with director JJ Stratford, a longtime video artist and music video maker, who runs the all-analog Telefantasy Studios in Glendale, dedicated to, according to its website, “bringing the strange, surreal, and speculative to life.”
“She’s a scholar of video arts, and an artist herself,” explained Bechtolt of Stratford. “When all of the TV studios in Los Angeles converted to digital, they just threw out their analog equipment. So JJ has been collecting this stuff for years and years, and now she has a full-on 1982 television studio.”
The L.A.-based post-pop trio YACHT has created a new art project / video game called “Blippo+.”
Post-production took another year, and the game was finally released on Playdate in May. Next month “Blippo+” will roll out on Steam and NintendoSwitch.
Playdate was created by the Portland-based software development and video game publishing company Panic Inc. YACHT originated in Portland and the people behind Panic were longtime fans. They approached the band almost a decade ago at a music festival in North Carolina.
“They gave us this open invitation to make something as YACHT if we ever had an idea for a video game,” said Bechtolt.
Evans added that Panic’s interest was likely fueled by the band’s reputation for creating experimental multimedia art projects that exist both on and offline, including co-founding the Triforium Project, which worked to restore and revitalize artist Joseph Young’s controversial Triforium sound-and-light sculpture in downtown Los Angeles, and resulted in a variety of live art and music performances at the site.
“Blippo+” is a natural extension of YACHT’s immersion in underground art and obsession with how analog and digital tools can collide to create new forms and functions for a post-postmodern world. It was also proudly made without the use of AI, Bechtolt and Evans noted.
I’m arts and culture writer Jessica Gelt, heading back underground where I belong. Here’s your weekly dose of arts news.
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Gustavo Dudamel conducts the L.A. Phil in John Williams’ score for “Jurassic Park.”
(L.A. Philharmonic)
‘Jurassic Park’ in Concert Gustavo Dudamel and L.A. Phil perform John Williams’ epic score live to picture as Steven Spielberg’s 1993 blockbuster starring Sam Neill, Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum is projected on the big screen in HD. 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Hollywood Bowl, 2301 N Highland Ave. hollywoodbowl.com
The Old Globe presents “Deceived,” based on the play “Gas Light,” Saturday through Sept. 7.
(Ben Wiseman)
Deceived Playwrights Johnna Wright and Patty Jamieson’s update Patrick Hamilton’s classic 1938 stage thriller “Gas Light” (also the basis of the 1944 film “Gaslight”) about a woman who begins to doubt her seemingly perfect new husband as she is increasingly bedeviled by strange occurrences. Saturday through Sept. 7 Old Globe Theatre, 1363 Old Globe Way, San Diego. theoldglobe.org
The Hollywood Bowl at night.
(L.A. Philharmonic)
The Russians are coming … And L.A. Phil has them for two separate programs this week at the Hollywood Bowl. Tuesday night, Elim Chan conducts the orchestra performing Tchaikovsky’s “Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35” (with violinist James Ehnes), Britten’s “Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes, Op. 33A” and the 1919 version of Stravinsky’s “The Firebird.” Then on Thursday, Gemma New takes the baton for Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Capriccio espagnol, Op. 34,” Arutiunian’s Trumpet concerto (performed by Pacho Flores) and Tchaikovsky’s Fourth symphony. 8 p.m. Tuesday; 8 p.m. Thursday. Hollywood Bowl, 2301 N Highland Ave. https://www.hollywoodbowl.com/
Brittany Howard and Alabama Shakes play the Hollywood Bowl on Wednesday.
(Amy Harris / Invision / AP)
Alabama Shakes In their first L.A. show in eight years, the soulful rockers led by singer-guitarist Brittany Howard are joined by Oakland punk quartet Shannon and the Clams. 8 p.m. Wednesday. Hollywood Bowl, 2301 N Highland Ave. hollywoodbowl.com
The North American tour of “& Juliet” arrives at the Ahmanson on Aug. 13.
(Matthew Murphy)
& Juliet What if Romeo’s tragic love didn’t end it all? Find out in this jukebox musical written by David West Read (TV’s “Schitt’s Creek”) and featuring the music of Swedish pop hitmaker Max Martin and others. Wednesday–Sept. 7. Ahmanson Theatre, 135 N. Grand Ave., downtown L.A. centertheatregroup.org
Legendary L.A. jazz composer/musician Bobby Bradford, pictured in 2019, brings his tribute to baseball great Jackie Robinson to the Hammer’s JazzPOP series on Thursday.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
Bobby Bradford’s Stealin’ Home: A Tribute to Jackie Robinson The West Coast jazz great leads an all-star septet performing his original composition, an homage to the Dodger legend who broke baseball’s color barrier in 1947. Part of the Hammer’s 2025 JazzPOP series. 8 p.m. Thursday. UCLA Hammer Museum, 10899 Wilshire Blvd., Westwood. hammer.ucla.edu
Culture news
Vincent Van Gogh, “Tarascon Stagecoach,” 1888, oil on canvas
(Henry and Rose Pearlman Foundation)
Los Angeles County Museum of Art announced that it has been gifted its first paintings by Vincent van Gogh and Édouard Manet, in addition to four works by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Alfred Sisley, Wilhelm Lehmbruck and Maurice Brazil Prendergast. The pieces come from the Pearlman Foundation, which is dividing its collection of Impressionist, Post-Impressionist and Modernist art among LACMA, New York’s Museum of Modern Art and the Brooklyn Museum.
Times Classical Music Critic Mark Swed writes an appreciation of experimental theater director and playwright Robert Wilson, who died at the end of July. Swed was in Austria when he heard the news, attending the Salzberg Festival, and watching, “the kind of uncompromisingly slow, shockingly beauteous and incomprehensibly time-and-space-bending weirdness Wilson took infinite pleasure in hosting when he made what he called operas.”
The Japanese Pavilion at the L.A. County Museum of Art in 2012.
(LACMA)
Times contributor Sam Lubell takes a deep dive into the work of Bruce Goff, who designed Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s Japanese Pavilion, noting that while Goff remained largely under-the-radar throughout his life, he nonetheless inspired a host renegade of West Coast architects.
Gustavo Dudamel appeared onstage at the Hollywood Bowl on Tuesday, to the great joy of fans and the orchestra alike. This summer marks the 20th anniversary of the now legendary conductor’s U.S. debut, writes Swed in a review of Dudamel’s single homecoming week this Bowl season. “After 20 years, Dudamel clearly knows what works at the Bowl, but he also likes to push the envelope as with Tuesday’s savvy blend of Duke Ellington and jazzy Ravel,” Swed writes.
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Philanthropist Glorya Kaufman at her Beverly Hills home in 2012.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
Glorya Kaufman, the philanthropist who transformed dance in Los Angeles through the establishment of an eponymous dance school at USC as well as a prominent dance series at the Music Center, among many other initiatives, has died. She was 95. Read her full obituary here.
The Tom and Ethel Bradley Residence in Leimert Park — along with the Stylesville Barbershop & Beauty Salon in Pacoima, St. Elmo Village and Jewel’s Catch One in Mid-City, the California Eagle newspaper in South L.A. and New Bethel Baptist Church in Venice—have been designated Historic-Cultural Monuments as part of a project meant to recognize Black heritage and led by the Getty in collaboration with the City of Los Angeles’ Office of Historic Resources.
When Pasadena Playhouseannounces its new seasons each year, it typically delays naming one show until a later date. That time has now come, and Producing Artistic Director Danny Feldman sets Julia Masli’s “ha ha ha ha ha ha ha,” directed by Kim Noble, as the theater’s fifth Mainstage production, running from Oct.15 to Nov. 9. The playhouse also announced some juicy casting news: Tony Award winner Jefferson Mays will star as Salieri in Peter Shaffer’s “Amadeus,” which is scheduled to open Feb. 15.
Paging parents of teenagers! There is an organization called TeenTix that has paired with a veritable cornucopia of L.A.-area arts institutions to offer a youth pass that charges local kids between the ages of 13 and 19 $5 to attend shows, concerts and exhibits. More than 35 groups participate in the program, including Geffen Playhouse, Center Theatre Group, the Soraya, Pasadena Playhouse, Boston Court, Pasadena Symphony, the Armory, A Noise Within, the Autry Museum of the West, Heidi Duckler Dance, Skirball Cultural Center, Sierra Madre Playhouse and Actors Gang. Reservations are required, and info and passes can be found here.
— Jessica Gelt
And last but not least
There is a free plant stand in Altadena — a symbol of new life in the wake of January’s devastating Eaton fire.
What do Dead Kennedys’ Jello Biafra, Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth and Motley Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx have in common? They all dig Frankie and the Witch Fingers, an L.A.-based band whose irresistible garagey-psychedelic rock sometimes even invokes shades of Oingo Boingo and Devo thanks to a staccato freneticism and pointed lyrics. The diversity of FATWF’s peer-fans speak to the quintet’s wide-ranging appeal, and the title of their new 11-song album, “Trash Classic,” is a spot-on descriptor of the LP as a whole.
In their longtime rehearsal-recording room in a legendary Vernon warehouse, the band perch on a couch a few days before leaving for tour. There’s a whiteboard with a set list behind the sofa, and they share some “mood board” phrases written for the creation of “Trash Classic.” On posterboard, the bon mots include “Lord Forgive Us For Our Synths,” “Jello -B.Y.O.F. (Bring Your Own Fork) – Ra” and “Weenus.” Laughter ensues at the memories.
The lineup formed with Dylan Sizemore (lead vocals, rhythm guitar) and Josh Menashe (lead guitar, backing vocals, synthesizer) more than a decade ago, the pair meeting at college in Bloomington, Ind. In different bands, they’d seen each other’s gigs and run into each other at parties.
“I was just bored one day, and was like, ‘I wonder if this guy wants to jam.’ I had all these songs,” recalls Sizemore. “I just kind of showed up to his house, and I knew he was really good at guitar and really good at music in general.”
Josh Menashe, from left, Dylan Sizemore, Nicole “Nikki Pickle” Smith, Jon Modaff and Nick Aguilar, of the Los Angeles psych-rock band Frankie and the Witch Fingers get into character in their rehearsal space in Vernon on July 11, 2025.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
The San Diego-raised Menashe recalls, “I think by the time I met Dylan, I’d already dropped out [of college], though, and there were day jobs — at a screen-printing shop, I worked at a Turkish restaurant; whatever I could do to keep my music addiction going. I never really settled on a major because I just couldn’t think about what I wanted to do. Nothing made as much sense as music.”
Sizemore had been dabbling in music that was “power-pop-y, kind of like Tom Petty worship …”
“… he was in a band called Dead Beach,” Menashe adds, “and I would say it was garage rock, almost like Nirvana meets Tom Petty.”
“And Josh was in a more like surf rock, almost like mathy band. What would you describe [the band] Women as?” Sizemore asks.
“Angular, punky, buncha noise stuff,” affirms Menashe, who also played with acclaimed Bloomington-to-L.A. band Triptides starting in 2010.
In FATWF (the name comes from Sizemore’s cat Frankie) the pair’s experience and influences were varied enough to create something new that, over seven albums since 2013, has morphed into a wildly creative and raucous band with hooks, melodies, smarts, irreverence, loud guitars and wonderfully oddball synth and sounds.
A move to L.A. in 2014 and eventual changes in the rhythm section — Nikki Pickles (Nicole Smith), formerly of Death Valley Girls, joining in 2019; with drummer Nick Aguilar’s 2022 addition solidifying the band further. Jon Modaff, a multi-instrumentalist from Kentucky who played drums on tour with FATWF in 2021, joined on synth in 2024, giving the band an even broader sonic palette to realize their sometimes-oddball audio dreams.
“Trash Classic,” produced by Maryam Qudus (Tune-Yards, Alanis Morissette, Kronos Quartet) follows 2023’s “Data Doom,” which was the first album to feature Aguilar on drums. Songs are by turns epic, edgy, spacey and insistent. Some “Trash Classic” lyrics are topical and pointed: “(While the upper) class is feeding / (On the lower) babies’ food / (Microwaving) TV dinners / (With the porno) graphic news.” “Economy” minces no words: “This has got to be / The best economy / The plasma you sell / (The plasma you sell) / Buys money to eat.”
There was no grand plan or lyrical theme settled ahead of the new album’s creation. “We collectively talk about what’s going on in the world when we’re in rehearsal and stuff, and our feelings about it,” says Sizemore. “I think it’s just at a point now where talking about certain things just feels more — what’s the word? — it feels more part of the zeitgeist. Like ‘Economy,’ I wanted to write about being around abject poverty. But it makes more sense now, it fits into the context of where we are. Things that we talk about in here, about what’s going on, maybe weren’t so omnipresent, and now it feels like it is. Like, you can’t escape poverty. You can’t escape what’s happening to people less fortunate than you. It’s everywhere.”
In writing the lyrics, Sizemore thought about growing up, “seeing people trade in their food stamps to get alcohol because they’re addicted. Messy stuff like that. But it’s relevant now, it’s not just parts of the world. It’s gonna be everywhere if we don’t do something about it.”
Lyrics, while Sizemore-centric, are a collaborative process. Pickle, however, who came to bass in her 20s, says, “I just am happy to be along for the ride, and I’ll contribute where it’s helpful. I like to sit back; I guess I don’t feel qualified as a songwriter.” But, she says, “honestly, I think that that’s a helpful way to be, because if you have too many people with egos on top of each other, like, ‘no, no, no, do it my way.’ I like to listen and then insert where I can. That’s my vibe.”
Differing approaches and backgrounds serve FATWF well. Because of their “cohesive diversity and flexibility in the rock realm,” Aguilar observes, “I feel like we could play with almost anybody. At least a rock band, to any extent.”
While they’re mostly doing headlining tours, they’ve shared stages with Cheap Trick and ZZ Top. So where would FATWF overlap with the two elder statesmen classic rock lineups on the musical spectrum?
“I mean, we were really into the [13th Floor] Elevators, and…” Sizemore says.
“The Velvet Underground…” adds Pickle.
“…Roky Erickson, all that stuff. I think we tried to, like, gear our set more in that direction, just so we weren’t fully playing freaky, noisy funk stuff,” Sizemore continues. “But there’s an overlap, for sure. If we play in Atlanta or something, we’ll get someone saying, ‘Oh, the first time I saw you guys was with ZZ Top’ and that’s always cool.”
“We collectively talk about what’s going on in the world when we’re in rehearsal and stuff, and our feelings about it,” says Sizemore. “I think it’s just at a point now where talking about certain things just feels more — what’s the word? — it feels more part of the zeitgeist.”
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
Most of Frankie’s members cite the DIY scenes in their areas as influential: Aguilar is from San Pedro and began drumming at the age of 10. He eventually played with that neighborhood’s most famous musician: bassist Mike Watt, and growing up, “discovered I don’t need to go to the Staples Center or Irvine Meadows to see a band. I could just go, like, 10 blocks away from my home on my bike to house shows,” he says, adding, “if there wasn’t the music scene in San Pedro, I probably wouldn’t be in this band. I’d probably be playing at the Whisky with some s— metal band that nobody cares about.”
An increasing number of people are caring about FATWF; Jello Biafra even joining them on stage. At a gig in Biafra’s hometown of Boulder, Colo., the punk provocateur met the band after their show. The next night, the singer showed up in Fort Collins.
“We have a lot of mutual friends,” explains Aguilar. “I work at Alex’s Bar in Long Beach. So I met him there a long time ago. He said he was gonna come see us at our Halloween show in San Francisco. I was like, ‘How would you feel if we learned some DK songs and you sang with us for Halloween?’”
He answered in the affirmative, so Frankie and the Witch Fingers learned the Dead Kennedys’ “Halloween,” “Police Truck” and “Holiday in Cambodia.” Biafra rehearsed with the band at sound check, and for the holiday show FATWF dressed up as “bloody doctors.” As for Biafra? “He changed his outfit in between every song! He was throwing fake bloody organs at the audience. You could tell half of the audience knew who he was. And half was like, ‘Yo, who the hell is this?’”
“Talking about all this like ancient history makes me feel, ‘Oh yeah, we’ve kind of come a long way,’” Pickles ruminates. Aguilar states his somewhat modest hopes for the band: “I think my realistic goal is the headline the Fonda Theater one day.”
But if larger-scale fame and fortune find Frankie and the Witch Fingers, beware: Menashe claims he’d get a face tattoo if the band sells a million records. His promise is captured by the reporter’s recorder, officially “on the record,” the band teases him. But in true FATWF fashion, Sizemore pushes it one further: “You gotta get a teardrop too!”
A newly unsealed court document alleges that Richard Tillman admitted to police officers that he drove a vehicle into a Northern California post office and set the building on fire, “trying to make a statement to the United States Government.”
It’s unclear what the statement was intended to be. According to the document, Tillman also told San Jose Police officers at the scene that he was responsible for spray-painting “Viva La Me” on the building as it was burning but was unable to finish writing because of the heat.
The youngest brother of late NFL star and U.S. Army Ranger Pat Tillman has been charged with the federal crime of malicious destruction of government property by fire in connection with the incident at Almaden Valley Station Post Office on July 20 at around 3 a.m. Sunday.
The 44-year-old San Jose resident was arrested at the scene. The criminal complaint against Tillman was filed July 23 but remained sealed until Wednesday when Tillman made his initial appearance in federal district court in San Jose. KRON-TV in San Francisco reports that Tillman did not enter a plea.
Tillman is in federal custody and has a status conference before U.S. Magistrate Judge Nathanael Cousins scheduled for Aug. 6, the U.S. Attorney’s office said in a press release.
The criminal complaint includes a statement of probable cause by U.S. Postal Inspector Shannon Roark. According to the statement, Tillman told officers on the scene that he had placed “instalogs” throughout his vehicle and doused them with lighter fluid. He then backed the vehicle into the post office, exited the vehicle and used a match to set the car ablaze.
The building was “partially destroyed by the fire,” the U.S. Attorney’s office said.
Roark also stated that Tillman told officers at the scene that he had livestreamed the incident on YouTube. Tillman’s channel has since been removed from the site.
In the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, Pat Tillman famously walked away from a three-year, $3.6-million contract offer from the Arizona Cardinals to enlist in the Army, along with his younger brother, Kevin.
On April 22, 2004, Pat Tillman was killed by friendly fire in the province of Khost, Afghanistan. He was 27.
The day after the post office fire, Kevin Tillman released a statement.
“Our family is aware that my brother Richard has been arrested. First and foremost, we are relieved that no one was physically harmed,” Kevin Tillman stated. “ … To be clear, it’s no secret that Richard has been battling severe mental health issues for many years. He has been livestreaming, what I’ll call, his altered self on social media for anyone to witness.
“Unfortunately, securing the proper care and support for him has proven incredibly difficult — or rather, impossible. As a result, none of this is as shocking as it should be.”
It was just past 12:30 a.m. on June 9 when Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies responded to a burglary in progress at a home in Lynwood.
Upon arrival, according to the department’s incident summary, they saw Federico Rodriguez, 45, through a window, holding what appeared to be a pair of scissors.
Hearing screams inside, deputies forced a door open and entered the home, where they found Rodriguez repeatedly stabbing a woman. Sgt. Marcos Esquivel immediately drew his handgun, footage from his body-worn camera showed, and fired multiple shots that killed Rodriguez.
The incident was the fifth of six fatal shootings by deputies that the sheriff’s department has reported so far this year.
The woman Rodriguez was stabbing survived. But despite the apparently life-saving actions of the deputies, two days later the case became a point of controversy in a broader dispute between the department and L.A. County’s Office of Inspector General, which investigates misconduct and the use of deadly force by law enforcement.
The inspector general’s office sent a letter on June 11 to the County Board of Supervisors raising concerns that officials have been blocked from scenes of shootings by deputies and deaths in county jails.
Inspector General Max Huntsman said his office interprets the state law that led to its creation over a decade ago as giving him and his staff the authority to conduct meaningful on-site investigations, with state legislation approved in 2020 strengthening that power.
Inspector General Max Huntsman listens to testimony in the Robinson Courtroom at Loyola Law School in 2024.
(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
Huntsman said allowing his staff to tour scenes of shootings and receive information directly from homicide detectives and other sheriff’s department personnel while the dead bodies have yet to be removed is essential for proper oversight.
But the sheriff’s department has repeatedly denied or limited access, Huntsman said. The June 11 letter announced the “indefinite suspension of Office of Inspector General regular rollouts to deputy-involved shootings and in-custody deaths.”
Huntsman said the decision to halt the rollouts was a response to a persistent lack of transparency by the sheriff’s department.
“The purpose of going there is to conduct an independent investigation. If all we’re doing is standing around being fed what they want us to know, that is not an independent investigation,” he told The Times. “We’re not going to pretend to be doing it when we only get to peek under the curtain.”
At the Civilian Oversight Commission meeting on July 17, Sheriff Robert Luna said his department “will now have a process in place” to allow officials responding to shooting scenes to contact an assistant sheriff to ensure “a little more oversight” over the process.
An interior view of the Altadena Sheriff Station in January.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
Luna called Huntsman’s June 11 letter “alarming,” but disputed how many times officials had been turned away, saying he was only aware of it happening “once — at least in the last five years.”
Commissioner Jamon Hicks inquired further, asking whether the department could be incorrect about the number of times access has been restricted or denied, given that the inspector general’s office alleges it has been a recurring issue.
“It could be, and I’d love to see the information,” Luna said. “I’ve been provided none of that to date.”
Huntsman told The Times that officials from his office were “prohibited from entering” Rodriguez’s home on July 9, as were members of the district attorney’s office and the sheriff’s department’s Internal Affairs Bureau. It was at least the seventh time the sheriff’s department had improperly limited access since 2020, he said.
In a statement, the sheriff’s department said the “claim that the OIG was denied access on June 9 at a [deputy-involved shooting] scene in Lynwood is inaccurate.”
“An OIG representative was on scene and was given the same briefing, along with the concerned Division Chief, Internal Affairs Bureau, Civil Litigation Bureau, Training Bureau, and the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office,” the statement said.
An exterior view of the hiring banner outside the Altadena Sheriff Station in January.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
The statement went on to say that the department is “only aware of one incident on February 27, 2025,” in which the OIG was denied access to a deputy-involved shooting scene.
“The Sheriff’s Department remains firmly committed to transparency in law enforcement and continues to work closely and cooperatively with all oversight bodies,” the statement said.
During the July 17 meeting, Dara Williams, chief deputy of the Office of Inspector General, said the office’s personnel often arrive at shooting scenes hours after deputies have pulled the trigger because of the logistical challenges of traveling across the county. Sheriff’s department homicide detectives typically present preliminary findings and offer tours of the scenes.
But on several occasions, the watchdogs have been denied access entirely, leaving them to rely solely on whatever information the sheriff’s department chooses to release, Williams said.
Hans Johnson, the Civil Oversight Commission’s newly elected chair, said investigators can’t do their jobs properly without being able to scrutinize homicide scenes.
“We count on you, in part, as eyes and ears in the community and in these high-value and very troubling cases of fatalities and deaths,” he said at the July 17 meeting.
Williams said the the sheriff’s department has also been “painfully slow” responding to requests for additional information and records following homicides by deputies. She said that in one particularly egregious example, “we served a subpoena in October of last year and we are still waiting for documents and answers.”
Responding to Huntsman’s letter on June 16, Luna wrote to the Board of Supervisors that the department’s Office of Constitutional Policing “has assisted the OIG by providing Department information to 49 of 53 instances” since January. “Suffice it to say,” he added later in the letter, “robust communications take place between the OIG and the Department. Any assertion to the contrary is false.”
Luna said sometimes access could be restricted to preserve evidence, but Williams said she does not “think it’s fair to say that we were excluded” for that reason.
Williams told the commission she was not allowed to tour a scene earlier this year that Huntsman later told The Times was a Feb. 27 incident in Rosemead.
The sheriff’s department’s incident summary stated that Deputy Gregory Chico shot Susan Lu, 56, after she refused commands to drop a meat cleaver and raised the blade “toward deputies.” Lu was taken to a hospital and declared dead later that day.
In his June 16 letter, Luna wrote that “the OIG, Internal Affairs Bureau (IAB), other Department units, and executives were denied access … due to concerns regarding evidence preservation, given the confined area and complexity of the scene layout.”
Williams told the commission “there was a narrow hallway but the actual incident took place in a bedroom, so I don’t know why we couldn’t have walked down that narrow hallway to just view into the bedroom” where the homicide took place.
“The bottom line,” she added later, “is we don’t want to mislead the public to give them the idea that this is actually effective oversight because, once again, we’re just getting the information from the department.”
This story contains spoilers for “The Fantastic Four: First Steps.”
Marvel’s First Family has finally made its formal MCU debut, which means it’s time to engage in everyone’s favorite tradition: breaking down the movie’s post-credits teases to suss out what’s next.
Directed by “WandaVision” helmer Matt Shakman, “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” introduces audiences to Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal), Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby), Ben Grimm (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) and Johnny Storm (Joseph Quinn). The movie, which officially opens Friday, pits the quartet of superpowered astronauts against Galactus (Ralph Ineson), a cosmic entity with an insatiable hunger for planets.
As the title teases, “First Steps” marks the beginning of Phase 6 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which will culminate with a pair of massive “Avengers” crossover films.
Like most MCU installments, “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” features multiple post-credits stingers. The first, which is shown midway through the end credits, sets up the superhero team’s next big adventure.
The mid-credits scene takes place four years after the Fantastic Four’s showdown with Galactus. It shows Sue sitting on a couch, reading a story to her and Reed’s son, Franklin Richards. After finishing the book, she steps away to grab another, turning down robo-assistant H.E.R.B.I.E.’s suggested title. Sensing something is wrong, Sue starts charging her powers. She rounds the corner to check on Franklin and finds a mysterious cloaked figure interacting with her child.
While his face is not shown, his green cloak and the mask he is holding make it clear to fans familiar with their Marvel lore that this is Doctor Doom.
This marks the first appearance of the iconic villain in the MCU. The character, also known as Victor von Doom, made his comic book debut in “Fantastic Four” No. 5 (1962) and has been a foe of Marvel’s First Family ever since. In the comics, the character is both a scientific genius and a sorcerer hailing from the fictional country of Latveria. (The name of the country is briefly shown in “Fantastic Four: First Steps.”)
Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby) and her son, Franklin (Ada Scott), in “The Fantastic Four: First Steps.”
(Marvel Studios)
Doom’s introduction into the MCU has been highly anticipated since Marvel Studios’ presentation last year at San Diego Comic-Con. Among the major announcements was that the fifth “Avengers” film had been retitled “Avengers: Doomsday” and that “Iron Man” actor Robert Downey Jr. would be returning to the franchise as Doctor Doom.
While Doom’s exact interest in Franklin is not revealed, it’s easy to assume that the child’s powers would be appealing to a supervillain. This encounter also hints at the reason why the Fantastic Four eventually make their way to the universe where the rest of the MCU heroes reside.
“First Steps” is set on Earth-828 — a tribute to “Fantastic Four” co-creator Jack Kirby, who was born Aug. 28, 1917 — a retrofuturistic world in a separate corner of the Marvel multiverse. But the “Thunderbolts*” post-credits scene shows the Fantastic Four’s spacecraft Excelsior appearing in their world on Earth-616. Could Doom have kidnapped young Franklin and taken him to an alternate universe? Whatever the reason, Samuel Sterns’ warning from the “Captain America: Brave New World” post-credits scene was apt: The multiverse is coming.
Fans might wonder how the “Fantastic Four” post-credits scene might have played out had the studio not altered its original plans to feature Kang the Conqueror as the franchise’s next big bad. In the comics Kang and Franklin are part of the same family tree so it’s easy to imagine him as the surprise interloper Sue sees. Either way, a magical nanny might have been helpful. (Marvel Studios pivoted from its original plan after Kang actor Jonathan Majors was convicted on assault and harassment charges in 2023.)
The second “Fantastic Four: First Steps” credits scene is shown after the full credits roll and serves more as a fun bonus and tribute to the eponymous superhero team’s animated past.
“Avengers: Doomsday,” hitting theaters Dec. 18, 2026, will be a massive MCU crossover featuring members of the Fantastic Four, the Thunderbolts/New Avengers and more. Confirmed “Doomsday” cast members include veteran “Avengers” stars Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Anthony Mackie (Sam Wilson/Captain America), Sebastian Stan (Bucky Barnes), Paul Rudd (Scott Lang/Ant-Man) and Tom Hiddleston (Loki), as well as Florence Pugh (Yelena Belova), David Harbour (Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian), Lewis Pullman (Bob Reynolds), Wyatt Russell (John Walker) and Hannah John-Kamen (Ava Starr/Ghost).
Up next for the MCU is “Wonder Man,” a series starring Yahya Abdul-Mateen II that will debut on Disney+ in December. The next Phase 6 film is Marvel and Sony’s “Spider-Man: Brand New Day,” slated for a July 2026 release.
Out on the moody, flame-licked front patio of Mojave Gold in Yucca Valley, Ryan and Alexis Gutierrez took in their first goth show in their new neighborhood.
The couple had just moved to the high desert from the Inland Empire, and given the considerable face tattoo count between them, they’d been looking for some witchy fellow travelers.
After watching the electro project Tantra Punk’s set — a singer marauding across the stage, fogged over with blood-colored lights — the couple passed by a merch booth hawking fresh herbs planted in tiny metal pots. The two were pleasantly surprised they’d found their people here.
“I didn’t even know there was a scene for this out here,” Alexis said. “I literally just passed this place and thought it looked hip. We used to drive to San Diego for something like this.”
“It’s kind of slower out here in the desert, but there’s things like this that make it fun,” Ryan said, “Being in the alternative scene, having shows like this is really important to us.”
The six-week-old Mojave Gold is the most promising new entry in a desert music scene that, lately, has seen its share of high-stakes ownership drama at venues like Pappy & Harriet’s and the Alibi. Mojave Gold’s owners are betting on a more permanent, independent-minded scene for local acts and edgier nightlife in its wake.
“A part of why we moved here 10 years ago was that there are so many amazing musicians, and a lot more people live here now,” said the venue’s co-owner Cooper Gillespie. “I’m like, ‘Yes, bring on all the amazing music venues and new places for the music community to be.’”
The bar inside the nightclub is decorated in gold colors at Mojave Gold, a brand new music venue near Joshua Tree that’s counting on a continued interest in year-round nightlife in the fast-gentrifying area.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
While Joshua Tree is famous for its rough-and-tumble (if sometimes set decorated) roadhouse aesthetic, Mojave Gold looks more like it zigged left up the 111 from Palm Springs. A black and gilt disco vibe permeates the 500-capacity space, from the undulating wood ceiling made from salvaged Hollywood Bowl seats to velveteen booths and a winking poster advertising Quaaludes.
“There’s a purposeful make-out corner,” said Mojave Gold’s interior designer Brookelyn Fox, wryly arching her eyebrows toward the rear of the venue.
Mojave Gold’s attached restaurant is worth a visit in its own right (a cactus and citrus ceviche, charred cauliflower steak and a chocolate mole custard looked especially eye-catching). But in a small town with an outsize presence on the region’s music scene, it could help turn the area into a year-round tour stop in its own right and become a new festival-season mainstay.
“If you’ve got all these bands playing Coachella every year, well, only one of them is going to be able to play Saturday night at Pappy’s,” said Dale Fox, who manages the venue’s financing. “Now, there’s another place.”
Landers residents Gillespie and her Mojave Gold co-founder Greg Gordon are both former Pappy’s employees, working under longtime owners Robyn Celia and Linda Krantz. They suspected there was room for more live music than that beloved and hotly contested venue could handle year-round. They had their eyes on the former AWE Bar space since it closed after a brief run in 2023, with ambitions to rebuild it into a locals-first venue.
Patrons gather in the outdoor patio adjacent to the nightclub at Mojave Gold.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
“The space and the time we’ve had is so much more than we could have done in L.A.” Gillespie said. “Everything takes a lot of time and money in the city, and out here, I feel like there’s a lot more space in all aspects of your life to create. We’ll have national acts, but also bring up our local talent and give them opportunities to have a place to call their own.”
They got lucky when Liz Garo, the talent buyer for the late, lamented Alibi in Palm Springs, was unexpectedly free and looking for a new project in the area after decades booking the Echo, Regent and other venues in Los Angeles. The shows so far have spanned the modern desert’s full range of scenes — country dance nights, the scuzzy punk of Throw Rag, cabaret drag acts and gothic folk from Blood Nebraska.
“It was a part of some music scenes where you didn’t even know who’s playing, but you went to the Echo because you knew all your friends were going to be there,” Gillespie said. “That’s what we want this place to be.”
Mojave Gold arrives as a new crop of nightlife spots have opened to serve both desert lifers and newcomers to the small towns near Joshua Tree National Park. The Red Dog Saloon, Más o Menos and the ad hoc gay bar Tiny Pony Tavern have found their footing for more ambitious desert nightlife. There’s still room for more, Gordon said.
“The big surprise for me when we opened, is that there was not one moment where I felt a sense of competition,” Gordon added. “None of the other restaurants or venues had this kind of cutthroat mentality. There’s no zero-sum thinking. I think we’re still so young out here that … everybody adds something to the market.”
Patrons dance to music from local artists on Desert Gothic night at Mojave Gold.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
But passions about development run deep out here, especially after the pandemic-fueled boom in property flipping. The sad fate of the now-shuttered Alibi, the brutal court skirmish over Pappy’s and the gleaming nearby Acrisure Arena (which just landed the kickoff date and sole SoCal stop of Paul McCartney’s tour) prove that moneyed interests still have their eye on the area’s land and cultural scene.
For now though, the string of little desert towns are happy the Airbnb flippers have taken a beating and longer-term visions for local culture are taking root. “Shout-out to the city government in Yucca,” Gordon said, saluting. “They’re constantly thinking of ways to beautify the area and respect Old Town and encourage curated growth.”
Patrons dance to Tantra Punk on Desert Gothic night at Mojave Gold.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
The Mojave Gold team hopes that this sometimes-shaky boomlet of independent music in the desert can foster a scene like Silver Lake’s in the early 2000s — big enough to be nationally influential, but neighborhood-y enough to roll in twice a week and see where the evening takes you. Even if it’s straight to hell on goth night.
“A big part of those scenes were free or very inexpensive nights when you even if you didn’t have a lot of money, you could go out and have a great time,” Gillespie said. “I hope that the focus here is on fostering the local creative community and not just profiting.”
Ari Aster’s “Eddington” is such a superb social satire about contemporary America that I want to bury it in the desert for 20 years. More distance will make it easier to laugh.
It’s a modern western set in New Mexico — Aster’s home state — where trash blows like tumbleweeds as Sheriff Joe Cross (Joaquin Phoenix) stalks across the street to confront Eddington’s mayor, Ted Garcia (Pedro Pascal), whom he is campaigning to unseat. It’s May of 2020, that hot and twitchy early stretch of the COVID pandemic when reality seemed to disintegrate, and Joe is ticked off about the new mask mandate. He has asthma, and he can’t understand anyone who has their mouth covered.
Joe and Ted have old bad blood between them that’s flowed down from Joe’s fragile wife Louise, a.k.a. Rabbit (Emma Stone), a stunted woman-child who stubbornly paints creepy dolls, and his mother-in-law Dawn (Deirdre O’Connell), a raving conspiracist who believes the Titanic sinking was no accident. Dawn is jazzed to decode the cause of this global shutdown; there’s comfort in believing everything happens for a reason. Her mania proves contagious.
Bad things are happening in Eddington and have been for decades, not just broken shop windows. Joe wears a white hat and clearly considers himself the story’s hero, although he’s not up to the job. If you squint real hard, you can see his perspective that he’s a champion for the underdog. Joe gets his guts in a twist when a maskless elder is kicked out of the local grocery store as the other shoppers applaud. “Public shaming,” Joe spits.
“There’s no COVID in Eddington,” Joe claims in his candidacy announcement video, urging his fellow citizens that “we need to free our hearts.” His earnestness is comic and sweet and dangerous. You can hear every fact he’s leaving out. His rival’s commercials promote a fantastical utopia where Ted is playing piano on the sidewalk and elbow-bumping more Black people in 15 seconds than we see in the rest of the movie. Ted also swears that permitting a tech behemoth named SolidGoldMagikarp to build a controversial giant data center on the outskirts of the county won’t suck precious resources — it’ll transform this nowheresville into a hub for jobs. Elections are a measure of public opinion: Which fibber would you trust?
Danger is coming and like in “High Noon,” this uneasy town will tear itself apart before it arrives. Aster is so good at scrupulously capturing the tiny, fearful COVID behaviors we’ve done our best to forget that it’s a shame (and a relief) that the script isn’t really about the epidemic. Another disease has infected Eddington: Social media has made everyone brain sick.
The film is teeming with viral headlines — serious, frivolous or false — jumbled together on computer screens screaming for attention in the same all-caps font. (Remember the collective decision that no one had the bandwidth to care about murder hornets?) Influencers and phonies and maybe even the occasional real journalist prattle on in the backgrounds of scenes telling people what to think and do, often making things worse. Joe loves his wife dearly. We see him privately watching a YouTuber explain how he can convince droopy Louise to have children. Alas, he spends his nights in their marital bed chastely doomscrolling.
Every character in “Eddington” is lonely and looking for connection. One person’s humiliating nadir comes during a painful tracking shot at an outdoor party where they’re shunned like they have the plague. Phones dominate their interactions: The camera is always there in somebody’s hand, live streaming or recording, flattening life into a reality show and every conversation into a performance.
The script expands to include Joe’s deputies, aggro Guy (Luke Grimes) and Bitcoin-obsessed Michael (Micheal Ward), plus a cop from the neighboring tribal reservation, Officer Butterfly Jimenez (William Belleau) and a handful of bored, identity-seeking teens. They’ll all wind up at odds even though they’re united by the shared need to be correct, to have purpose, to belong. When George Floyd is killed six states away, these young do-gooders rush into the streets, excited to have a reason to get together and yell. The protesters aren’t insincere about the cause. But it’s head-scrambling to watch blonde Sarah (Amélie Hoeferle) lecture her ex-boyfriend Michael, who is Black and a cop, about how he should feel. Meanwhile Brian (Cameron Mann), who is white and one of the most fascinating characters to track, is so desperate for Sarah’s attention that he delivers a hilarious slogan-addled meltdown: “My job is to sit down and listen! As soon as I finish this speech! Which I have no right to make!”
The words come fast and furious and flummoxing. Aster has crowded more pointed zingers and visual gags into each scene than our eyes can take in. His dialogue is laden with vile innuendos — “deep state,” “sexual predator,” “antifa” — and can feel like getting pummeled. When a smooth-talking guru named Vernon (Austin Butler) slithers into the plot, he regales Joe’s family with an incredulous tale of persecution that, as he admits, “sounds insane just to hear coming out of my mouth.” Well, yeah. Aster wants us to feel exhausted sorting fact from fiction.
The verbal barrage builds to a scene in which Joe and Dawn sputter nonsense at each other in a cross-talking non-conversation where both sound like they’re high on cocaine. They are, quite literally, internet junkies.
This is the bleakest of black humor. There’s even an actual dumpster fire. Aster’s breakout debut, “Hereditary,” gave him an overnight pedigree as the princeling of highbrow horror films about trauma. But really, he’s a cringe comedian who exaggerates his anxieties like a tragic clown. Even in “Midsommar,” Aster’s most coherent film, his star Florence Pugh doesn’t merely cry — she howls like she could swallow the earth. It wouldn’t be surprising to hear that when Aster catches himself getting maudlin, he forces himself to actively wallow in self-pity until it feels like a joke. Making the tragic ridiculous is a useful tool. (I once got through a breakup by watching “The Notebook” on repeat.)
With “Beau Is Afraid,” Aster’s previous film with Phoenix, focusing that approach on one man felt too punishing. “Eddington” is hysterical group therapy. I suspect that Aster knows that if we read a news article about a guy like Joe, we wouldn’t have any sympathy for him at all. Instead, Aster essentially handcuffs us to Joe’s point of view and sends us off on this tangled and bitterly funny adventure, in which rattling snakes spice up a humming, whining score by the Haxan Cloak and Daniel Pemberton.
Not every plot twist works. Joe’s sharpest pivot is so inward and incomprehensible that the film feels compelled to signpost it by having a passing driver yell, “You’re going the wrong way!” By the toxic finale, we’re certain only that Phoenix plays pathetic better than anyone these days. From “Her” to “Joker” to “Napoleon” to “Inherent Vice,” he’s constantly finding new wrinkles in his sad sacks. “Eddington’s” design teams have taken care to fill Joe’s home with dreary clutter and outfit him in sagging jeans. By contrast, Pascal’s wealthier Ted is the strutting embodiment of cowboy chic. He’s even selfishly hoarded toilet paper in his fancy adobe estate.
It’s humanistic when “Eddington” notes that everyone in town is a bit of a sinner. The problem is that they’re all eager to throw stones and point out what the others are doing wrong to get a quick fix of moral superiority. So many yellow cards get stacked up against everyone that you come to accept that we’re all flawed, but most of us are doing our best.
Joe isn’t going to make Eddington great again. He never has a handle on any of the conspiracies, and when he grabs a machine gun, he’s got no aim. Aster’s feistiest move is that he refuses to reveal the truth. When you step back at the end to take in the full landscape, you can put most of the story together. (Watch “Eddington” once, talk it out over margaritas and then watch it again.) Aster makes the viewer say their theories out loud afterwards, and when you do, you sound just as unhinged as everyone else in the movie. I dig that kind of culpability: a film that doesn’t point sanctimonious fingers but insists we’re all to blame.
But there are winners and losers and winners who feel like losers and schemers who get away with their misdeeds scot-free. Five years after the events of this movie, we’re still standing in the ashes of the aggrieved. But at least if we’re cackling at ourselves together in the theater, we’re less alone.
‘Eddington’
Rated: R, for strong violence, some grisly images, language and graphic nudity
Emmerdale’s John Sugden came close to confessing to killing Nate Robinson on Thursday night, and as he struggled it seemed one character was onto his dark crimes
Emmerdale’s John Sugden came close to confessing to killing Nate Robinson on Thursday night(Image: ITV)
One scene on Emmerdale on Thursday could have shown the moment a character was onto John Sugden amid Nate Robinson’s funeral.
The villain was tasked with reading the eulogy of his murder victim in front of Nate’s family who remain unaware of his dark betrayal. But John very nearly cracked, telling them all: “I’m so sorry,” as he struggled through the words written by Nate’s wife Tracy Robinson.
He commented on the fact the death was tearing them all apart and how it had clearly impacted them, as he began to tremble with the guilt becoming too much. So much so, one character in particular looked pretty suspicious.
Another character also seemed concerned when John said he “couldn’t do this” referring to reading the eulogy. Moira Dingle, Nate’s stepmother, seemed visibly shocked and almost suspicious – as did John’s partner Aaron Dingle.
But it was someone else, sat at the back of the room, who repeatedly pulled faced and looked confused if not suspicious of John’s behaviour. DS Walsh attended the funeral, leaving Tracy unnerved given she had become a suspect in her husband’s demise.
One scene on Emmerdale on Thursday could have shown the moment a character was onto John Sugden(Image: ITV)
But she was not the only one rattled by the detective showing up, now doubt wanting to see if any of the funeral guests slipped up and revealed themselves as the killer. John was seen horrified to see her there, and couldn’t stop looking at her as he gave the speech.
As John got up to talk to the mourners, he started reading Tracy’s words to her late husband. He suddenly stopped unable to carry on, before speaking to everyone about their grief.
With his guilt shining through, it seemed he could confess and crack at any moment. As this was happening, DS Walsh was watching on intrigued.
As John quivered and faced breaking down in tears, she began to change her expression. She was seen squinting and turning her head, almost as if to question what was happening.
Moira Dingle, Nate’s stepmother, seemed visibly shocked and almost suspicious(Image: ITV)
She was clearly confused over his behaviour and his sudden emotion for a man he barely knew. So was this the moment Walsh realised John, who she’d interrogated weeks earlier, could be a key suspect?
After all, detectives are supposed to spot these things especially when it comes to body language. So might this be the moment John exposed himself as a killer to the lead detective on the case?
Walsh had spoken with John after Nate’s body had been found, as it became apparent John had been one of the last people, if not the last, to see him alive. John was the one telling everyone Nate had fled for Shetland, so if Walsh cracks onto his guilt and puts the pieces together, it could spell the end for John.
Love Island viewers threatened to contact Ofcom after they watched a tense conversation unfold on the recent episode of the ITV2 show
16:44, 05 Jul 2025Updated 16:44, 05 Jul 2025
Love Island viewers slam show after ‘horrible scene’ between two contestants(Image: ITV)
Love Island viewers hit out at the ITV2 dating show after they watched a tense conversation unfold between Dejon and newcomer Billykiss. The duo initially had a connection when the bombshell picked him for a date this week, but he chose to stay partnered up with Meg during the recoupling.
Animosity grew between them after the Islanders took part in a Superman-inspired game which saw Yasmin and Gio pick Dejon as the least dedicated male Islander. “I don’t feel like you’ve dedicated yourself fully to the whole experience,” Yasmin said. “I hope you’ve only dedicated to getting to know one person…”
They initially had a spark during their date(Image: ITV/Shutterstock)
Dejon responded: “I didn’t know when all of a sudden it’s become a problem wanting one woman,” to which Yasmin referred to his date with Billykiss.” The bombshell took the moment to point out how he claimed to be open with her but acts closed around Meg.
She told him: “You don’t want to hear the truth, which is why you’re feeling sour.” A day after the challenge, Billykiss and Dejon sat down to hash things out, with Dejon telling her: “The challenge yesterday, a lot of things were said that I don’t agree with at all.”
Billykiss said it wasn’t fair that he led her on despite knowing his “heart is with Meg” as she explained how she felt. However, he repeatedly shut her down and bluntly said: “You’re not someone that I would want to get to know in here, or on the outside, from the conversations that we’ve had.”
Things got tense between them in the recent episode(Image: ITV/Shutterstock)
She tried to share her thoughts but he stood up and added: “Alright Billykiss. I’m not going to keep begging to speak,” before waltzing off.
Fans were furious with how Dejon spoke to Billykiss and rushed to social media to threaten to filed a complaint with Ofcom.
One user said: “Complaining to @Ofcom Love Island. Allowing Dejon to speak to BillyKiss like that is not appropriate.
“You need to do better, that was so bloody awful to watch.”
Another fan commented: “That comment from Dejon! “That was HORRID and such a show of his character. I honestly rate Billykiss for standing her ground during that conversation,” while one posted: “That was a horrible scene to watch play out.”
One fan added: “Why does Dejon think he can speak like that to Billykiss?” and another reminded people: “Mind you Billykiss was having a nap in the shade, Dejon brought himself to have this conversation and acted like he was forced to be there.”
Love Island continues on Sunday night at 9pm on ITV2 and ITVX*
Center Theatre Group temporarily canceled “Hamlet” at Mark Taper Forum; the Los Angeles Philharmonic scuttled the final night of its Seoul Festival at Walt Disney Concert Hall; the Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles’ Geffen Contemporary and the Broad museum are both closed through the weekend; and the Japanese American National Museum fenced off its pavilion to prevent further vandalism — these are just some of the immediate effects felt by downtown Los Angeles’ many arts organizations as ICE protests, an ongoing curfew and the arrival of thousands of federal troops upend daily life in the city’s civic core.
(On Thursday, Los Angeles city officials carved out a curfew exemption for ticket holders of indoor events and performing arts venues downtown including the Music Center, paving the way for evening performances of Center Theatre Group’s “Hamlet” and Los Angeles Opera’s “Rigoletto.”)
The Trump administration says it will deploy 4,000 National Guard members and 700 Marines to L.A. to protect immigration agents and federal buildings at a reported cost of $134 million. On Tuesday, the state of California requested a temporary restraining order blocking the deployments, so it’s anyone’s guess as to how this will ultimately unfold.
The uncertainty, including how long Mayor Karen Bass’ 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew will remain in effect, has added to the pall over downtown L.A., where businesses and restaurants are also struggling with security issues and the many unknowns of the swiftly evolving crisis.
On Wednesday, I reached out to many of downtown’s arts leaders, and they all issued statements in support of Los Angeles and all of its inhabitants.
“As Los Angeles’ largest theatre company, located in Downtown LA, we are heartbroken by the events unfolding around us and affecting so many in our beautiful and diverse city,” CTG said. “Our mission is to be a home for everyone who calls themselves an Angeleno.”
This is a sentiment that abounds throughout this proud city of immigrants, where many with friends or neighbors who are undocumented feel sorrow to see the violence and destruction.
I’m arts and culture reporter Jessica Gelt, standing with my community in support of all its members. Here’s this week’s arts news.
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Huntley Ritter, from left, Kirsten Dunst, Nathan West and Eliza Dushku in the 2000 movie “Bring It On.”
(Getty / Universal Studios)
Academy screenings The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presents two very different films this weekend. On Friday, the North American premiere of a new 4K restoration of 1975 best picture winner, “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” starring Jack Nicholson, screens with supervising film editor Richard Chew and editor Lynzee Klingman joining screenwriter Larry Karaszewski to discuss the film. Then, the academy’s Teen Movie Madness! series continues Saturday with a 25th anniversary screening of cheerleading cult fave “Bring It On” in 35mm, preceded by a conversation with actor and artist Brandi Williams, who played Lafred in the film. “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” 7:30 p.m. Friday; “Bring It On,” 7:30 p.m. Saturday. Academy Museum, David Geffen Theater, 6067 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles. academymuseum.org
Cinderella Los Angeles Ballet closes out its 2024-25 season with this fairy tale classic featuring choreography by Edwaard Liang set to the music of Sergei Prokofiev. This reimagined version adds a modern sensibility, new twists, fantasy and humor to the story of a young woman, mistreated by her stepmother and stepsisters, who is transformed for a date with a prince by a fairy godmother. 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Dolby Theatre, 6801 Hollywood Blvd, Hollywood. losangelesballet.org
Soprano Renée Fleming will headline the performance “Renée Fleming & Friends” on June 14.
(Andrew Eccles / Decca)
Renée Fleming & Friends Broadway and opera come together as vocalists Tituss Burgess, Lindsay Mendez and Jessie Mueller join the legendary soprano for a one-night-only concert presented by L.A. Opera. When Fleming appeared in the musical “Light in the Piazza” at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in 2019, Times theater critic Charles McNulty wrote that the singer “delivers the goods in the show’s climax … Sound and sense are at last joined, making the distinction between Broadway and opera irrelevant.” (The performance is still planned as originally scheduled. Please check with L.A. Opera for updates.) 7:30 p.m. Friday. Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, 135 N. Grand Ave., downtown L.A. laopera.org
Poster for the movie “The Bull-Dogger” starring actor Bill Pickett,1925. Lithograph on paper.
(Autry Museum)
Black Cowboys: An American Story Beyoncé earned accolades (including her first best album Grammy) for “Cowboy Carter,” bringing the iconography of the Black West to the mainstream. For those whose appetites have been whetted for more, this exhibition at the Autry Museum of the American West, conceived and organized by the Witte Museum in San Antonio, delivers a deep dive into that underreported slice of history. Tales of how Black men and women deployed their equestrian skills to great effect as they tamed and trained horses, tended livestock and embarked on cattle drives across the country come to life through historical and contemporary objects, photographs and personal recollections. The Autry’s presentation also highlights Hollywood’s influence on the Black cowboy image with movie memorabilia, including vintage film posters and the costumes used in the 2021 Netflix film “The Harder They Fall.” Saturday through Jan. 4. Autry Museum of the American West, 4700 Western Heritage Way, Griffith Park. theautry.org
Culture news
Denzel Washington, left, and Jake Gyllenhaal attend the “Othello” Broadway production media day at Tavern on the Green on Feb. 10 in New York.
(C.J. Rivera / Invision / Associated Press)
“Broadway finally got its groove back. The 2024-25 season was the highest-grossing season on record and the second-highest in terms of attendance,” Times theater critic Charles McNultywrites in a column about last Sunday’s Tony Awards. That resurgence could be attributed to the many high-powered film and television stars on New York stages including George Clooney, Kieran Culkin, Jake Gyllenhaal, Denzel Washington, Bob Odenkirk and Sarah Snook — but the real reason audiences flocked to live theater this season, McNulty concludes, was “unadulterated theatrical fearlessness.”
The Smithsonian Institution’s standoff with President Trumptook a new turn Monday evening when the Smithsonian issued a statement that could be read as a rejection of Trump’s late-May firing of National Portrait Gallery director Kim Sajet. The Smithsonian said the organization’s secretary, Lonnie G. Bunch, “has the support of the Board of Regents in his authority and management of the Smithsonian,” after a lengthy meeting by the board. This seems to imply that, for now, Sajet isn’t going anywhere.
An installation view of “The Land Carries Our Ancestors: Contemporary Art by Native Americans” at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
(Carolina A. Miranda / Los Angeles Times)
On Wednesday, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., announced a major gift of modern and contemporary drawings from longtime museum supporters Lenore and Bernard Greenberg. The collection of more than 60 works of art includes pieces by Vija Celmins, Willem de Kooning, Alberto Giacometti, Jasper Johns, Ellsworth Kelly, Franz Kline, Brice Marden, Bruce Nauman, Susan Rothenberg, Ed Ruscha, Shahzia Sikander and Cy Twombly.
“Adrien Brody’s art is horrendous. Why are some people pretending it isn’t?” senior ARTnews editor Alex Greenberger argues in a pointed, sometimes hilarious takedown of the Oscar-winning star’s paintings. “Adrien Brody has received due attention for his acting abilities: his Oscar-winning performance in last year’s film The Brutalist is the kind of work most actors would be lucky to pull off once in their lifetime. Last week, however, he started receiving undue attention for the hideous art he debuted in New York at Eden Gallery, which — based on its press coverage, anyway — is one of the most talked-about exhibitions of the summer,” the column begins. If you need a chuckle, it’s worth reading in its entirety.
The SoCal scene
Patrick Ball, from left, Ramiz Monsef and Gina Torres in “Hamlet” at the Mark Taper Forum.
(Jeff Lorch)
Unlike his assessment of Broadway’s season, Charles McNulty wasn’t so positive about a recent L.A. theater offering. He did not enjoy director Robert O’Hara’s world-premiere adaptation of “Hamlet,” starring Patrick Ball from MAX’s hit show “The Pitt.” The new material places the story in a noir landscape in modern-day L.A. and features a second-act twist when a detective comes to investigate the play’s bloodbath a la “CSI.” “O’Hara’s audacious antics are stimulating at first, but there’s not enough dramatic interest to sustain such a grueling journey,” McNulty writes.
A massive Barbara Kruger mural titled “Questions” on the side of MOCA’s Geffen Contemporary began appearing in news broadcasts and social media posts across the country as ICE protests unfolded over the weekend. This proved prophetic, since the 1990 artwork is composed of a series of pointed questions that interrogate the very nature of power and control. Read all about it here.
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Pasadena Playhouse has announced its 2025-26 season, its first since buying back its historic 1925 building. Theater lovers can gear up for the shiny new Tony Award-winning best revival of a play, “Eureka Day,” as well as Peter Shaffer’s “Amadeus,” a world-premiere adaptation of “Brigadoon” and the novel two-person hip-hop musical, “Mexodus.”
The crowd near Los Angeles City Hall had by Sunday evening reached an uneasy detente with a line of grim-faced police officers.
The LAPD officers gripped “less lethal” riot guns, which fire foam rounds that leave red welts and ugly bruises on anyone they hit. Demonstrators massed in downtown Los Angeles for the third straight day. Some were there to protest federal immigration sweeps across the county — others appeared set on wreaking havoc.
Several young men crept through the crowd, hunched over and hiding something in their hands. They reached the front line and hurled eggs at the officers, who fired into the fleeing crowd with riot guns.
LAPD officers stage on Los Angeles Street.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Jonas March, who was filming the protests as an independent journalist, dropped to the floor and tried to army-crawl away.
“As soon as I stood up, they shot me in the a—,” the 21-year-old said.
Violence and widespread property damage at protests in downtown L.A. have diverted public attention away from the focus of the demonstrations — large-scale immigration sweeps in such predominantly Latino cities as Paramount, Huntington Park and Whittier.
Instead, the unrest has trained attention on a narrow slice of the region — the civic core of Los Angeles — where protests have devolved into clashes with police and made-for-TV scenes of chaos: Waymo taxis on fire. Vandals defacing city buildings with anti-police graffiti. Masked men lobbing chunks of concrete at California Highway Patrol officers keeping protesters off the 101 Freeway.
A person lobs a large rock at CHP officers stationed on the 101 Freeway.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
The escalating unrest led LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell on Sunday night to break with Mayor Karen Bass, who has condemned President Trump’s decision to deploy the National Guard to the city.
“Do we need them? Well, looking at tonight, this thing has gotten out of control,” McDonnell said at a news conference. The chief said he wanted to know more about how the National Guard could help his officers before he decided whether their presence was necessary.
McDonnell drew a distinction between protesters and masked “anarchists” who he said were bent on exploiting the state of unrest to vandalize property and attack police.
CHP officers on the 101 Freeway.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
“When I look at the people who are out there doing the violence, that’s not the people that we see here in the day who are out there legitimately exercising their 1st Amendment rights,” McDonnell said. “These are people who are all hooded up — they’ve got a hoodie on, they’ve got face masks on.”
“They’re people that do this all the time,” he said. “They get away with whatever they can. Go out there from one civil unrest situation to another, using the same or similar tactics frequently. And they are connected.”
McDonnell said some agitators broke up cinder blocks with hammers to create projectiles to hurl at police, and others lobbed “commercial-grade fireworks” at officers.
“That can kill you,” he said.
The LAPD arrested 50 people over the weekend. Capt. Raul Jovel, who oversaw the department’s response to the protests, said those arrested included a man accused of ramming a motorcycle into a line of officers and another suspect who allegedly threw a Molotov cocktail.
California National Guard troops watch as protesters clash with law enforcement in downtown Los Angeles.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
McDonnell said investigators will scour video from police body cameras and footage posted on social media to identify more suspects.
“The number of arrests we made will pale in comparison to the number of arrests that will be made,” McDonnell said.
Representatives of the Los Angeles city attorney and Los Angeles County district attorney’s office could not immediately say whether any cases were being reviewed for prosecution. Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman said those who “hurl cinder blocks, light vehicles on fire, destroy property and assault law enforcement officers” will be charged.
On Sunday, the LAPD responded to a chaotic scene that began when protesters squared off with National Guard troops and Department of Homeland Security officers outside the Metropolitan Detention Center.
Around 1 p.m., a phalanx of National Guard troops charged into the crowd, yelling “push” as they rammed people with riot shields. The troops and federal officers used pepper balls, tear gas canisters, flash-bangs and smoke grenades to break up the crowd.
No one in the crowd had been violent toward the federal deployment up to that point. The purpose of the surge appeared to be to clear space for a convoy of approaching federal vehicles.
Department of Homeland Security police officers had asked protesters to keep vehicle paths clear earlier in the morning, but their commands over a loudspeaker were often drowned out by protesters’ chants. They offered no warning before charging the crowd.
California National Guard troops stand guard at the Metropolitan Detention Center.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
Some in the crowd lobbed bottles and fireworks at the LAPD. Two people rode motorcycles to the front of the crowd, revving their engines and drawing cheers from bystanders. Police accused them of ramming the skirmish line, and the motorcycles could be seen fallen over on their sides afterward. The drivers were led away by police, their feet dragging across asphalt lined with shattered glass and spent rubber bullets.
On the other side of the 101, vandals set fire to a row of Waymos. Acrid smoke billowed from the autonomous taxis as people smashed their windows with skateboards. Others posed for photographs standing on the roofs of the burning white SUVs.
After California Highway Patrol officers pushed protesters off the 101 Freeway, people wearing masks flung chunks of concrete — and even a few electric scooters — at the officers, who sheltered under an overpass. A piece of concrete struck a CHP car, drawing cheers from the crowd.
Los Angeles Police Department officers shoot tear gas as they advance on demonstrators who formed a makeshift barricade.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
Closer to City Hall, the LAPD pushed demonstrators toward Gloria Molina Grand Park, where some in the crowd wrenched pink park benches from their concrete mounts and piled them into a makeshift barricade in the middle of Spring Street.
The crowd, which included a Catholic priest wearing his robes and a woman with a feathered Aztec headdress, milled behind the barricades until LAPD officers on horseback pushed them back, swinging long wooden batons at several people who refused to retreat. Video footage circulating online showed one woman being trampled.
The crowd moved south into the Broadway corridor, where the LAPD said businesses reported being looted around 11 p.m. Footage filmed by an ABC-7 helicopter showed people wearing masks and hooded sweatshirts breaking into a shoe store.
McDonnell said the scenes of lawlessness disgusted him and “every good person in this city.”
Before any chaos erupted on Sunday, Julie Solis walked along Alameda Street holding a California flag, warning protesters not to engage in the kind of behavior that followed later in the day.
Solis, 50, said she believed the National Guard was deployed solely to provoke a response that would justify further aggression from federal law enforcement.
“They want arrests. They want to see us fail,” she said. “We need to be peaceful. We need to be eloquent.”
LONDON — A 53-year-old British man plowed his minivan into a crowd of Liverpool soccer fans who had been celebrating the city team’s Premier League championship Monday and was arrested, police said.
There was no immediate word from authorities on how many people were injured. An air ambulance and other emergency vehicles swarmed the scene to respond to reports that multiple pedestrians had been hit.
“It was extremely fast,” said Harry Rashid, who was at the parade with his wife and two young daughters and only several feet away. “Initially, we just heard the pop, pop, pop of people just being knocked off the bonnet of a car.”
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he was being updated on the situation and thanked police for their quick response.
“The scenes in Liverpool are appalling — my thoughts are with all those injured or affected,” Starmer said.
Liverpool fans had come out in their tens of thousands to celebrate the team winning the Premier League this season for a record-tying 20th top-flight title.
Liverpool’s last league title came in 2020 but supporters were denied the chance to publicly celebrate that trophy because of restrictions in place at the time during the pandemic.
Dancing, scarf-and-flag-waving fans braved wet weather to line the streets and climb up traffic lights to get a view of Liverpool’s players, who were atop two buses bearing the words “Ours Again.”
The hours-long procession — surrounded by a thick layer of police and security — crawled along a 10-mile route and through a sea of red smoke and rain. Fireworks exploded from the Royal Liver Building in the heart of the city to seemingly signal the end of the parade.
The team issued a short statement saying its thoughts and prayers were with those affected.
Rashid said after the car rammed its initial victims, it came to a halt and the crowd charged the vehicle and began smashing windows.
“But then he put his foot down again and just plowed through the rest of them, he just kept going,” Rashid said. “It was horrible. And you could hear the bumps as he was going over the people.”
Rashid said it looked deliberate and he was in shock and disbelief.
“My daughter started screaming and there were people on the ground,” he said. “They were just innocent people, just fans going to enjoy the parade.”
Melley and Douglas write for the Associated Press.
It’s 6 a.m. in Brisbane, Australia, and Kaitlyn Dever is thinking about going to the beach. Except it’s pouring rain outside, which is the only reason she had the option to check out the waves in the first place. The deluge has delayed her call time for “Godzilla x Kong: Supernova,” the monster movie she’s been shooting for the past couple of months.
Just how hard is it raining? Like a normal downpour? Or is it the kind of deluge we see in the final minutes of the season finale of “The Last of Us”?
“It’s actually pouring like the finale of ‘The Last of Us,’” Dever says, laughing.
With the beach off the menu, we have plenty of time to settle in and talk about the bruising (and possibly confusing) season finale of “The Last of Us.” Anyone thinking that the finale might feature a showdown between Dever’s character, Abby Anderson, the young woman who killed Joel (Pedro Pascal) to avenge her father’s death, and Ellie (Bella Ramsey), who has been hunting Abby to exact her own revenge, might be disappointed.
Abby doesn’t turn up until the episode’s last three minutes. When she does finally arrive, she ambushes Ellie. It’s not a tender reunion.
“I let you live,” Abby hisses. “And you wasted it!”
Then we hear the sound of a gunshot and the screen goes black. After a reset, we see Abby lying on a sofa in an entirely different environment, being beckoned from her respite to meet with militia leader Isaac (Jeffrey Wright). She strides to a balcony in Seattle’s T-Mobile Park, the stadium now being used as a base for the Washington Liberation Front. Her entrance is positively papal, and as Abby surveys the scene, a graphic lands on the screen: Seattle Day One, a time frame we’ve already lived from Ellie’s point of view.
What the hell just happened?
[Laughs] I don’t know. I have no idea.
It looks like the show just reset and we’ll be starting Season 3 following Abby for three days, leading up to her confrontation with Ellie.
One would think, yes. But [“The Last of Us” co-creator] Craig [Mazin] hasn’t talked to me about what he’s doing. All he said to me was, “Just get ready for what’s to come because it’s going to be crazier.” He always said he wanted to make Season 2 bigger than Season 1, and he said Season 3 is going to be even bigger. I’m like, “OK. I’ll be ready.”
How did he pitch you on doing the show in the first place?
At my first meeting with Craig and Neil [Druckmann, co-creator of “The Last of Us” game] they told me that their plan for Season 2 was Abby’s introduction to “The Last of Us” world. They told me the number of episodes, so I wasn’t super surprised about that, though I wasn’t thinking that the entire season was going to end on me. [Laughs]
So when you got the script and read that ending …
I was like, “We’re really doing this. Wow.” It’s a lot of pressure. I always think about the times in my past when I’ve done things and I’ve had one line in a scene, and it’s the most nerve-racking thing to do. Everyone else has dialogue, and you’re just thinking about your one line and how you’re going to say it and if you screw it up, the whole scene is screwed up because of your one line. It’s pretty terrifying — but thrilling too.
You’re talking about Abby telling Ellie, “You wasted it”? You really spit it out with some heat.
That’s good to know. I was going back and forth between Vancouver and L.A., so I constantly had to recalibrate and get back into the emotional intensity of Abby. That was actually the last scene I shot.
How did you find your way back into Abby’s anger?
Well, the very first scene I shot was the killing of Joel. The light one. [Laughs] So getting back into it, I’d always go back to that and Abby’s monologue, what she says to Joel before shooting him. Those words are so visceral and heartbreaking and really paint a picture. So I just kept bringing myself back to that place, how I’d been thinking about saying those words for five years.
Abby’s brutal encounter with Ellie in Seattle was the last scene Dever shot on “The Last of Us” Season 2.
(Liane Hentscher / HBO)
Did you watch that Joel episode when it aired or had you already seen it?
I did watch it with my partner. But the first time I watched it, I was by myself. And before that, I had gone to do ADR [automated dialogue replacement] with Craig, and he asked, “Can I just show you a little bit of it?” And I was on the floor because I was so overwhelmed. That is the most intense episode of television I’ve ever seen. And then when I watched it later, I couldn’t believe it, even though I had experienced it myself.
You had experienced it, but you’ve said you don’t really remember filming it because it was four days after your mother’s funeral. [Dever’s mother, Kathy, died from breast cancer in February 2024.] In some ways, it must have been like you were watching it for the first time.
I had to fly out three days after her funeral. And the fourth day was that scene in the chalet with the Fireflies and Joel on the floor. So, yeah, it’s all a blur, and it felt like I got to experience it as a first-time viewer. I’d see things and go, “Oh, yeah.” Grief does a really interesting thing with your brain. It messes with your memory.
Filming the scene where you brutally kill one of the most beloved characters on television goes back to what you were saying about pressure. And to do it under those circumstances must have been overwhelming.
I was terrified. I had spent so much time contemplating my mom’s death before she died, thinking about how I wouldn’t be able to go on. I couldn’t imagine. And then it’s a heartbreaking thing to think about, how life moves on. And you have the choice to keep going or not go to Vancouver and do the show that she was so excited about me doing. And then after she passed, I realized there’s no part of me that couldn’t not do this. I had to do it for her.
How did you fight past the fear?
My dad really encouraged me. I really was terrified. And he was like, “You got this. Mom was so excited that you got to be in this show.” And luckily, the crew was so understanding and supportive. Everyone took care of me.
Then it’s 15 months later and the episode finally airs, which I’d imagine brings about a different set of worries. Did you go online to check out the reaction?
Of course I did! I kill everyone’s favorite character, the love of everyone’s life. I’d never been part of anything this massive before. Like, the whole world is watching this. I had no idea what to expect.
And what did you find?
It was more positive than I thought it would be.
I didn’t play the game, so one of my first thoughts after watching it was: Wow, gamers can keep a secret.
They can. I loved watching all those TikTok videos where people were filming their parents or partners watching and showing their reactions.
Having played the game, you’ve known about Abby and Joel for years.
My dad was playing the second game and handed me the controller and said, “Kaitlyn, you’ve got to see this.” In the game, it’s so jarring and shocking.
On TV too!
[Laughs] But with the game, after they kill Joel, all of a sudden you’re playing as a woman. And my first reaction was, “Is this Ellie? Am I playing as Ellie?” It is interesting how they take these two characters who are mirrors of each other in many ways.
Dever’s Abby surveys the action inside T-Mobile Park on “Seattle Day One.”
(Liane Hentscher / HBO)
I was thinking about how it’d be great if Season 3 would have an episode with Abby and her father that mirrored the one with Ellie and Joel.
That’s a really good idea. I hope we get to do something like that.
I have a feeling you might. Maybe you even know something about that. [Laughs]
Honestly, I can keep a secret too! I knew about Joel dying long before even Season 1 because I had met with Neil years ago when they were talking about making a movie from the game. And he was showing me the making of the second game and asked, “You want to know what happens?” And I’m like, “Oh, my God!” So I’ve been keeping this in a long time.
So you’re good at keeping a secret. Gamers know how Season 3 is likely to develop. You’ve played the game. Are you being coy?
[Laughs] We don’t know what Craig’s plans are. He has been playing with dynamics, even in that first episode of the season where we see Abby taking charge and being a leader.
She sure looks like she’s a leader in the finale’s last scene.
That scene plays at the idea that Abby is sitting in her power. And whatever that means, I will keep to myself for now. People who have played the game will have a few guesses.
When you went to work on “Godzilla x Kong: Supernova” the day after the Abby/Joel episode aired, did people treat you a little differently? Maybe keep their distance a bit? Hide the golf clubs?
It was pretty wild to go to work that day. Everyone wanted to talk about it. And all they could really get out was, “Oooooof, that episode.”
One thing I kept looking for all season was where they used CGI to remove a spider bite from your face. I couldn’t find it.
[Laughs] It’s in the first episode with the Fireflies. I had gone home for a few weeks and got a spider bite on my cheek. I thought it was a pimple. It was not a pimple. It was a huge spider bite and … I hate to use this word, but it was oozing. And the CGI is amazing. You can’t even tell it is there. I still have a scar on my face because they had to cut it out.
1 of 2 | Damaged cars line a residential street after a small plane crashed into the area earlier in the day near Montgomery-Gibbs Executive Airport in San Diego, Calif. Photo by Caroline Brehman/EPA-EFE
May 22 (UPI) — A small jet plane crashed near a military housing neighborhood outside San Diego but the number of onboard fatalities is not yet known.
The incident was reported around 3:45 a.m. local time in the 3100 block of Salmon Street near the Tierrasanta neighborhood in the Murphy Canyon area.
According to the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, the aircraft was a Cessna 550, which often is used as a corporate jet.
One local resident was hospitalized and two others were treated for minor injuries, the San Diego Police Department reported.
It added that the plane crashed near California’s Montgomery-Gibbs Executive Airport after it took off Wednesday night from New Jersey’s Teterboro Airport, according to flight data on FlightAware.
It reportedly landed early Thursday morning in Wichita, where it stayed in Kansas for about an hour before it departed for California.
The Cessna struck homes and caused about 15, along with several cars, to catch fire, San Diego Fire-Rescue Department Assistant Chief Dan Eddy told reporters at the crash site.
“The number of people on board is unknown at this time,” the agency initially said, adding the FAA and National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the cause of the deadly crash.
“The NSTB will lead the investigation and provide any updates,” FAA officials said. “This information is preliminary and subject to change,” they warned.
Eddy said the were no on-ground fatalities but the plane could have held up to 10 people, including its pilot.
According to SDFD officials, the crash scene is now a HAZMAT situation because of aviation fuel flowing down the streets, forcing multiple neighborhoods to be evacuated.
San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl said there was “jet fuel going down the street and everything on fire all at once.” He added that it was “pretty horrific to see.”
Meanwhile, at least a dozen local pets were rescued or decontaminated by the San Diego Humane Society after the crash in the Murphy Canyon area.
“On behalf of our city, I extend my condolences to the families and loved ones of those aboard the plane,” San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria said in a statement, expressing his “deepest” gratitude to scores of agencies for their “swift, coordinated responses” that “quickly evacuated residents, extinguished fires and secured the area to ensure this tragedy was not compounded.”
“San Diego will support the Navy as they assist the residents affected by this tragedy,” the mayor said.
May 21 (UPI) — An ex-New York state police officer on Wednesday pleaded guilty to shooting himself in the leg as part of a fake crime scene in what prosecutors said was a plan to gain sympathy.
Former trooper Thomas Mascia, 27, admitted in court that he staged the supposed crime scene on October 30 after he claimed to have been injured by an unknown shooter near exit 17 of New York’s Southern State Parkway while checking on a disabled vehicle.
The West Hempstead resident pleaded guilty to tampering with physical evidence, falsely reporting a police incident and for official misconduct.
He is expected to serve six months in prison, five years of probation and must undergo continued mental health treatment and pay more than $289,500 in restitution.
Mascia admitted that he spread shells at the alleged scene, then drove in his state vehicle to nearby Hempstead Lake State Park, where he then shot himself with the same caliber rifle loaded with the same shells left on the highway. It is there where he returned and called in the staged incident.
“You weren’t shot by someone else?” asked the assistant Nassau County district attorney, to which Mascia replied: “Yes.”
His actions had set off a statewide manhunt for the suspected vehicle Mascia described until investigators discovered the gunshot was self-inflicted.
Mascia attorney Jeffrey Lichtman stated Mascia also lied about getting hit by a car during an alleged 2022 hit-and-run incident upstate, adding that state police officials missed the signs of mental distress which, according to Lichtman, was what led to October’s staged event.
The former state trooper saw a delayed plea deal earlier this month after Mascia inadvertently expressed that he was not in good mental health.
On Wednesday, he said “yes” after the judge inquired if he was in a good mental state.
Additionally, Mascia’s parents were charged with criminal possession of a firearm.
Thomas Mascia Sr., a former NYPD officer until his conviction in the 1990s for his role in a cocaine ring, was charged after a search of the home related to the incident uncovered an illegal assault-style weapon along with about $80,000 in cash.
Meanwhile, Mascia is expected to be sentenced on August 20.
Rapper T-Hood’s death may involve self-defense, police say
The shooting death of 33-year-old rapper T-Hood at his residence in Georgia is being investigated as a possible self-defense case, according to police in Gwinnett County, northeast of Atlanta.
Police have identified the alleged shooter as Ky Lasheed Frost, 24, the son of “Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta” stars Rasheeda and Kirk Frost. Ky Frost was detained at the scene of the shooting and interviewed, but no charges have been filed against him.
A representative for Rasheeda did not reply immediately to The Times’ request for comment Friday.
Authorities responded to a domestic dispute at approximately 7 p.m. on Aug. 8 and discovered the rapper — real name Tevin Hood — suffering from a gunshot wound. He was transported to a local hospital, where he died from his injuries.
Hood was dating Ky Frost’s sister, Kelsie Frost, according to TMZ. The entertainment news site also published surveillance video recorded earlier this year in their apartment that showed them in a physical altercation. In the video, Hood walks around the bedroom while Kelsie Frost is lying on the bed. The video appears to show Hood as he leaps toward her and begins to choke her.
Ky Frost and a witness, Ariel Miranda Hutchinson, 25, remained on the scene of the shooting last Friday and cooperated with investigators, police said.
Meanwhile, a female victim sustained physical injuries, police said. Kelsie Frost posted a carousel of photos of herself and Hood last Saturday on Instagram with the caption, “Just come get me baby please….. I can’t even type this. I love you papa. I can’t wait to hold you again.”
The investigation is ongoing.
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EastEnders hit with ‘inappropriate sexual content’ complaints after raunchy scene
EastEnders has received a number of complaints from viewers after they aired one raunchy scene between Alfie and Kat Moon earlier this summer
The BBC has been hit with complaints over one raunchy EastEnders scene, which aired earlier this year. This summer, fans watched on as Alfie and Kat Moon tied the knot for the third time. Kat hoped to get a little bit of action before the big day, but was left disappointed when Alfie wasn’t up to it. It came after the character suffered from erectile dysfunction after undergoing treatment for prostate cancer.
In the scene, which aired on June 10, Kat undid her beige trench coat, showing off some revealing leopard print lingerie. She then grabbed her husband-to-be, as the two began passionately kissing. It comes after an EastEnders legend was rushed to hospital after a deadly attack by a familiar face.
However, Alfie later rejected Kat’s advances before things went any further, telling her he’d made them dinner. Kat seemed like she’d had enough as she asked Alfie: “How are we supposed to get married if you can’t even bear to touch me?”
She then stormed out of the house, later finding a porn site on the family laptop. It was later revealed that their son Tommy was the one watching porn, although viewers knew it was Joel who introduced him to the site.
Despite no action taking place, it’s been revealed that the BBC did receive complaints about the scene.
The broadcaster recently published its list of complaints, which showed a grievance for “inappropriate sexual content” during the episode which aired on June 10.
However, the BBC reviewed the complaint and decided it was “not upheld,” as the content was not inappropriate.
Things are set to heat up in the Moon household in the coming weeks, as Zoe Slater is set to make her permanent return to the Square.
A trailer released by the BBC soap earlier today teased the first confrontation between the estranged mother and daughter duo, with Kat looking stunned as she comes face-to-face with Zoe for the first time.
Zoe made her shock return earlier this year but quickly left to go to Barcelona after a close run-in with Kat. Alfie then went to find her behind Kat’s back, but unfortunately came back alone.
Kat is still unaware that both Alfie and Stacey have been in contact with her daughter, but from the explosive new trailer, it looks like she may be about to find out very soon…
EastEnders airs Mondays to Thursdays at 7:30pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
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‘Rebel Architects’ revisits norm-busting Venice Beach art scene
On a wide, empty stretch of Venice Beach in 1980, seven Los Angeles architects — Frank Gehry, Thom Mayne, Eric Owen Moss, Coy Howard, Craig Hodgetts, Robert Mangurian and Frederick Fisher — gathered for a group portrait by photographer Ave Pildas. Clad in mismatched outfits and standing casually in the sand, they looked more like a rumpled rock band than the future of American architecture.
The resulting image, published in Interiors magazine, distilled a seismic moment in L.A.’s creative history. Those seven, gazing in their own directions yet joined in a sense of mischievous rebellion and cocky exuberance, represented a new generation that was bringing a brash, loose creativity to their work and starting to distance itself from the buttoned-up codes and expectations of the architecture establishment.
Each would go on to have a successful career, from Pritzker Architecture Prize winners to directors of architecture schools. And they and their compatriots would, for a while at least, help put a rapidly changing L.A. at the center of the built culture.
“That one photograph contains a whole world,” notes filmmaker Russell Brown, who recently directed a 12-part documentary series about that Venice architecture scene. “There was risk going on, and freedom; it was all about ideas.”
“It’s become a kind of reference point,” adds architectural journalist Frances Anderton, host of the series. “It just keeps reappearing whenever there’s a conversation about that period.”
The 1980 image is the jumping-off point for “Rebel Architects: From Venice to the World Stage,” produced by Brown’s nonprofit, Friends of Residential Treasures: Los Angeles. Four of the architects — now in their 70s and 80s — gathered for a (far less brash) new photo and an honest conversation about their early careers in L.A., and what’s transpired since for the series, which began streaming monthly on FORT: LA’s website July 1.
A native Angeleno with a background in feature and documentary filmmaking, Brown conceived of the concept after a chat with architect Robert Thibodeau, co-founder of Venice-based DU Architects. After a deeper dive into the image with Anderton, the idea for a reunion was born.
“We thought, why don’t we restage the photo and then use that as an excuse to get the guys together?” Brown explains.
He preferred a spontaneous, lighthearted group discussion to the typical documentary, with its one-on-one interviews and heavy production.
Frances Anderton, from left, Frederick Fisher, Craig Hodgetts, Thom Mayne and Eric Owen Moss catch up for “Rebel Architects,” a 12-part series.
(FORT: LA)
“It’s about the chemistry between creative peers,” says Brown. “The real legacy of these architects isn’t just in the buildings. It’s in the conversations they started — and are still having.” He added: “There’s a spark that happens when they’re together … They talk about failure, competition, teaching, aging. It’s a very human exchange.”
Episode 1, titled “Capturing a Moment in L.A. Architecture,” opens with four of the surviving architects — Fisher, Mayne, Moss and Hodgetts — recreating that seminal photograph for Pildas and sitting down for an interview. (Howard was interviewed separately, Gehry declined and Mangurian died in 2023.) The group dissects the photo’s cinematic, informal composition, in which Pildas aims down from a berm, the neglected buildings behind the eclectic crew shrinking into the horizon, merging with the sand. And they remember a time in which the city’s messy urban forms and perceived cultural inferiority provided endless creative fuel, and liberation.
Pildas recalls how the original shoot came together at the request of British design editor Beverly Russell, who was looking to capture “Frank Gehry and some of his Turks.” (The international design press was gaga for L.A. at the time. Anderton notes that her move from the U.K. resulted from a similar assignment, on the “subversive architects of the West Coast,” for the publication Architectural Review in 1987.)
At the time, most of the architects were working in garages and warehouses, forming their studios and collaborating with equally norm-busting and (relatively) unheralded artists in the scrappy, dangerous, forgotten, yet exploding Venice scene. In a later episode, the architects start listing the art talents they would run into, or befriend, including Larry Bell, James Turrell, Ed Ruscha, Fred Eversley, Robert Irwin, Robert Rauschenberg and Jean-Michel Basquiat, to name a few.
Basquiat was then living and working in Hodgetts’ building. “It was a spectacular fusion of all this creative energy,” Hodgetts remembers. “There was no audience, there were no guardrails, and one did not feel constrained.” He adds, later: “We all felt like we were marooned on a desert island.”
Pildas, who had studied architecture before switching to design and, eventually, photography, was uniquely suited to capture the group. He had shot some of the small, quirky experiments of Mangurian and Mayne, and knew most of the others through social and professional circles. (He even knew Hodgetts from high school back in Cincinnati.)
The first attempt at the photo seemed stiff, says Pildas, so he took out a joint, which all except Hodgetts accepted, he says. The icebreaker worked. In a later image, says Pildas, Fisher is hugging Gehry’s leg, the others huddled around. “It got pretty friendly in the end,” he jokes.
Pildas argues that the photo is much more layered with meaning (not to mention nostalgia) now than it was at the time. “Back then, it was just another magazine shoot. Now, it’s history,” he says. Adds Moss: “Its relevancy, or not, is confirmed by the following years. Otherwise it’s gone.”
Frederick Fisher, from left, Thom Mayne, Craig Hodgetts and Eric Owen Moss recreate their famous 1980 photo.
(Ave Pildas)
Each episode explores the image’s layers, and the unfolding stories that followed — the challenges of maintaining originality; crucial role of journalists in promoting their work; maddening disconnect between L.A.’s talent and its clients, along with the mercurial, ever-evolving identity of Los Angeles. The tone, like the photo, is unpretentious and playful, heavy on character and story, not theory. This was not always an easy task with a group that can get esoteric quite quickly, adds Anderton. “I was trying to keep it light,” she laughs. “I don’t think I even have the ability to talk in the language of the academy.”
“They’re cracking jokes, interrupting each other, reminiscing about teaching gigs and design arguments,” says Brown. “There’s real affection, but also a sense of rivalry that never fully went away.” Hodgetts doesn’t see it that way, however. “It was really about the joy of creating things. We wanted to jam a bit, perform together; that’s really life-affirming,” he says.
There are some revealing moments. Mayne, whose firm Morphosis is known for bold, city-altering buildings such as Caltrans HQ in downtown L.A., reflects on teaching as a way of “being the father I never had.” (His father left his family when he was a young boy.) He tenderly discusses the seminal role that his wife Blythe — a co-owner of Morphosis — has played in his career. Fisher reveals that Gehry was the chief reason he dropped everything to come out to L.A. (At the time, he was working as a display designer at a department store in Cincinnati.) “I remember seeing this architect jumping up and down on cardboard furniture. I could see there was something going on here. Something percolating,” he says. Moss opens up about his struggles to negotiate the demands of the practical world, while Hodgetts performs brilliant critiques of the others’ work, sometimes to broad smiles, others to cringes.
Notably absent from the reunion is Gehry himself, who is now 96. “He’s at a point in his life where trudging through sand for a photo wasn’t going to happen,” says Brown. “But his presence is everywhere. He’s still the elephant in the room.”
One episode explores how Gehry, about a decade older than the others, both profoundly influenced and often overshadowed the group — a reality that was perhaps reinforced by his nonchalant dominance in the photo itself. “Frank takes up a lot of oxygen,” Mayne quips. Still, all admire Gehry’s unwillingness to compromise creatively, despite often heavy criticism.
Another prevailing theme is the bittersweet loss of that early sense of freedom, and the Venice of the 1970s, with its breathtakingly low rents and abandoned charm. Today’s architects — wherever they are — face higher stakes, infinitely higher costs and tighter regulations.
“The Venice we grew up with is completely gone,” says Fisher. “But maybe it’s just moved,” noted Moss. Distinguishing L.A. as a place whose energy and attention is constantly shifting, he wonders if creative ferment might now be happening in faraway places like Tehachapi — “wherever land is cheap and ambition is high,” he says.
While Pildas was capturing the seven architects 45 years ago, he was also busy chronicling the city’s street culture — jazz clubs, boulevard eccentrics, decaying movie palaces and bohemian artists. All were featured in the 2023 documentary “Ave’s America” (streaming on Prime Video) directed by his former student, Patrick Taulère, exploring his six decades of humbly perceptive, deeply human work.
After reviewing the recreation of the photo — the architects are still smiling this time, but their scrappy overconfidence feels eons away — Pildas wonders who the next generation will be, and how they will rise.
“Maybe it’ll happen that they’ll have another picture someday with a bunch of new architects, right?” he says. “This is a fertile ground for architecture anyway, and always has been.”
Exposing that “fertile ground” to Angelenos of all kinds is FORT: LA’s overarching goal. Founded in 2020, it offers architecture trails, fellowships and a surprising variety of programming, from design competitions to architecture-themed wine tastings. All, says Brown, is delivered, like “Rebel Architects,” with a sense of accessible joy and exploration — an especially useful gift in a turbulent, insecure time for the city.
“Suddenly, you kind of think about the city in a different way and feel it in a different way,” says Brown. “This is a place that allows this kind of vision to come to life.”
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Israel is occupying Gaza to clean up the crime scene | Israel-Palestine conflict
If you read the Western press this morning, you may come to believe that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s desire to take military control over Gaza is new. But dropping 2000lb bombs does not rescue captives and wiping out whole neighbourhoods does not come without plans to build something in their place.
On Friday, Israel’s security cabinet approved the occupation of Gaza City, formalising what was always the endgame of this genocide. The plan follows a deliberate sequence: First destroy, then starve, occupy, demand demilitarisation, and finally carry out full ethnic cleansing once Palestinians have no political power and capacity to resist. This is how the dream of “Greater Israel” is achieved.
But why formalise this occupation now, after 22 months of systematic slaughter? Because the crime scene must be sanitised before the world sees what remains of Gaza.
On Sunday, the Israeli army assassinated Al Jazeera journalists Anas al-Sharif, Mohammed Qreiqeh, Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal and Moamen Aliwa by dropping a missile on a media tent near al-Shifa Hospital. Their names are now added to the long list of more than 230 Palestinian journalists and media workers that Israel has killed since October 2023.
With Israel banning all foreign media from freely accessing Gaza, Palestinian journalists have been solely responsible for covering and documenting Israeli war crimes. The assassination is a clear message to them to stop, to stay silent.
Meanwhile, foreign journalists who rode on airdrop flights to Gaza were also warned. Aerial footage they released offered glimpses of Gaza’s corpse: A patchwork of shattered concrete, ruins and hollowed streets. It is complete desolation.
The footage shocked viewers across the world and so the Israeli government was quick to ban filming on these flights, warning that aid drops would be halted if there were any violations.
Israel knows it cannot continue to block foreign media access to Gaza forever. The genocide will come to an end eventually; aid convoys and relief workers will be allowed in and with them, foreign journalists with cameras.
So before that day arrives, Israel is racing to erase the evidence because once the world sees Gaza, it will no longer be able to pretend that the war was about anything other than the mass killing of Palestinians and the erasure of their history.
The occupation of Gaza City is the murderer returning to the crime scene to hide the body. The goal is not only to cover up the crimes, but to convince the world that the dead have not died and that what we see is not what it is.
The official death toll in Gaza stands at 60,000, a number that by many expert accounts is an undercount. According to estimates, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have likely been murdered. As UN experts declared on August 7, “Israel is exterminating the people of Gaza by any and all means.” There are a lot of crimes to cover up.
We have already seen the modus operandi of the Israeli army in trying to destroy evidence in Gaza. It has buried massacred civilians in mass graves with bulldozers; it has withheld bodies of Palestinian torture victims; it has dug into the sand whole crime scenes of execution; it has planted weapons in hospitals that it has ransacked; it has lied about discovering tunnels.
All of this fits neatly with Israel’s long history of burying evidence of atrocities. Since 1948, Israeli authorities have systematically erased their ethnic cleansing of Palestinians by building on top of the ruins of pillaged Palestinian villages and towns.
Israeli intelligence has also removed documents from archives that provide evidence of Zionist and Israeli forces committing war crimes during the Nakba of 1948. Some of the documents that have disappeared give gruesome details about the brutality of Zionist fighters during massacres of Palestinians, like in the village of Dawaymeh, near Hebron, where hundreds of Palestinian men, women, and children were killed by artillery fire or directly executed. In 1955, the settlement of Amatzia was built on the ruins of the Palestinian village.
By occupying the northern part of the Gaza Strip now, Israel will certainly resort to these same methods of erasure and falsification. It will also be able to control foreign media coverage, just as it has done until now.
The Israeli army has only allowed foreign journalists into Gaza embedded with its military units under strict conditions that transform reporters into participants in hasbara. Embedded journalists must submit all materials for military review before publication, must operate under constant observation, and cannot speak freely with Palestinians.
Journalists thus become mouthpieces for the Israeli military, parroting their justifications for wholesale destruction and propagating their lies about Palestinian civilians as “human shields” and Gaza hospitals and schools as “terror hubs”.
The full-scale occupation can also help facilitate further massacres and ethnic cleansing. Those who refuse forced displacement will be labelled “militants” to excuse their slaughter. Israel used this strategy early into the genocide, dropping leaflets warning Palestinians in northern Gaza that they will be deemed “partners in a terrorist organisation” if they do not comply with “evacuation orders”.
Mass displacement is essential to the cover-up because it creates a new narrative that Palestinians are voluntarily migrating rather than being ethnically cleansed. The short-term goal is to force those willing to comply into concentration camps in the south and detach them from their homes and land. Over time, it would become easier to expel Palestinians elsewhere and deny them the right to return. It is the same way Nakba refugees were forced to flee to Gaza and were then denied their internationally recognised right of return.
The response of the international community to Israel’s plan has been just more condemnations. Germany went as far as halting military exports that could be used in Gaza – something that should have been done 22 months ago, when Israel started indiscriminately bombing civilians.
These actions are pathetic. They do not absolve these governments of their complicity in aiding and abetting the crime of genocide; they are just another sign of their moral cowardice.
The international community must take decisive action. It must undertake military intervention, as mandated under international law, to force Israel to immediately end the violence, to allow unrestricted humanitarian aid into Gaza, and to give Palestinians the freedom they are entitled to. International journalists must be granted immediate access to collect whatever evidence remains of Israel’s crimes before it disappears under the cover of “military operations”.
It is time the world starts believing Palestinians. For 22 months, Palestinians have said this is genocide. They have said it while stuck under the rubble, while starving, while carrying their children’s bodies. They said Israel was not defending itself but trying to erase Palestinians. They said occupation and ethnic cleansing are the goal. Israeli politicians themselves have said it.
Without urgent international action, the words “never again” will refer not to the prevention of genocide, but to the existence of Palestinian life in Gaza. The truth so many Palestinians have died to tell must not be buried with their bodies.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.
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L.A.’s underground art scene comes alive in new video game, ‘Blippo+’
More than 100 artists, musicians, comedians, actors and performers from L.A.’s thriving, multifaceted underground art scene are featured in a new experimental video game named “Blippo+.” Created by Jona Bechtolt and Claire L. Evans, with music by Bechtolt and Rob Kieswetter, the trio behind the L.A.-based post-pop band YACHT (Young Americans Challenging High Technology), the game is part video art installation, part interactive theater. It was created for the newfangled gaming console Playdate, which was released in 2022 and purposefully conjures old-school devices like the Nintendo Game Boy, with a black-and-white, 1-bit display.
“This is essentially our bootleg way of making television, by skipping all the gatekeepers and going straight to a distribution platform that is still open to artist’s weird experiments, a.k.a. video games,” said Evans, in an interview Thursday in advance of the game’s exhibition party at Bob Baker Marionette Theater in Highland Park.
“Hollywood [production] has left Los Angeles, so the people that are here have to scramble to figure out what to do,” added Bechtolt. “So we moved to where there’s lots of funding, and an openness for experimentation. And that’s the video game world, indie video games, specifically.”
Playdate’s low-res format was ideal for “Blippo+,” which rolls out in a looping, 11-week cycle, with new programming — original, avant-garde soaps, sitcoms, news, weather and talk shows— arriving every Thursday at 10 a.m. PDT. Bechtolt and Evans collaborated with director JJ Stratford, a longtime video artist and music video maker, who runs the all-analog Telefantasy Studios in Glendale, dedicated to, according to its website, “bringing the strange, surreal, and speculative to life.”
“She’s a scholar of video arts, and an artist herself,” explained Bechtolt of Stratford. “When all of the TV studios in Los Angeles converted to digital, they just threw out their analog equipment. So JJ has been collecting this stuff for years and years, and now she has a full-on 1982 television studio.”
The L.A.-based post-pop trio YACHT has created a new art project / video game called “Blippo+.”
(YACHT)
The programming on “Blippo+” was filmed over the course of a year using the kind of tube cameras common in television studios before the digital era, and employing the talents of the band’s aforementioned artist-collaborators including artists Martine Syms and Maya Man; musicians Staz Lindes (of the Paranoyds), Calvin Johnson (of K Records / Beat Happening) Phil Elverum (Mount Eerie); and comedians Whitmer Thomas, Clay Tatum, Mitra Jouhari, Donny Divanian, Kyle Mizono, Anna Seregina, Steve Hernandez, Tipper Newton and Brent Weinbach.
Post-production took another year, and the game was finally released on Playdate in May. Next month “Blippo+” will roll out on Steam and Nintendo Switch.
Playdate was created by the Portland-based software development and video game publishing company Panic Inc. YACHT originated in Portland and the people behind Panic were longtime fans. They approached the band almost a decade ago at a music festival in North Carolina.
“They gave us this open invitation to make something as YACHT if we ever had an idea for a video game,” said Bechtolt.
Evans added that Panic’s interest was likely fueled by the band’s reputation for creating experimental multimedia art projects that exist both on and offline, including co-founding the Triforium Project, which worked to restore and revitalize artist Joseph Young’s controversial Triforium sound-and-light sculpture in downtown Los Angeles, and resulted in a variety of live art and music performances at the site.
“Blippo+” is a natural extension of YACHT’s immersion in underground art and obsession with how analog and digital tools can collide to create new forms and functions for a post-postmodern world. It was also proudly made without the use of AI, Bechtolt and Evans noted.
I’m arts and culture writer Jessica Gelt, heading back underground where I belong. Here’s your weekly dose of arts news.
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Gustavo Dudamel conducts the L.A. Phil in John Williams’ score for “Jurassic Park.”
(L.A. Philharmonic)
‘Jurassic Park’ in Concert
Gustavo Dudamel and L.A. Phil perform John Williams’ epic score live to picture as Steven Spielberg’s 1993 blockbuster starring Sam Neill, Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum is projected on the big screen in HD.
8 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Hollywood Bowl, 2301 N Highland Ave. hollywoodbowl.com
The Old Globe presents “Deceived,” based on the play “Gas Light,” Saturday through Sept. 7.
(Ben Wiseman)
Deceived
Playwrights Johnna Wright and Patty Jamieson’s update Patrick Hamilton’s classic 1938 stage thriller “Gas Light” (also the basis of the 1944 film “Gaslight”) about a woman who begins to doubt her seemingly perfect new husband as she is increasingly bedeviled by strange occurrences.
Saturday through Sept. 7 Old Globe Theatre, 1363 Old Globe Way, San Diego. theoldglobe.org
The Hollywood Bowl at night.
(L.A. Philharmonic)
The Russians are coming …
And L.A. Phil has them for two separate programs this week at the Hollywood Bowl. Tuesday night, Elim Chan conducts the orchestra performing Tchaikovsky’s “Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35” (with violinist James Ehnes), Britten’s “Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes, Op. 33A” and the 1919 version of Stravinsky’s “The Firebird.” Then on Thursday, Gemma New takes the baton for Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Capriccio espagnol, Op. 34,” Arutiunian’s Trumpet concerto (performed by Pacho Flores) and Tchaikovsky’s Fourth symphony.
8 p.m. Tuesday; 8 p.m. Thursday. Hollywood Bowl, 2301 N Highland Ave. https://www.hollywoodbowl.com/
Brittany Howard and Alabama Shakes play the Hollywood Bowl on Wednesday.
(Amy Harris / Invision / AP)
Alabama Shakes
In their first L.A. show in eight years, the soulful rockers led by singer-guitarist Brittany Howard are joined by Oakland punk quartet Shannon and the Clams.
8 p.m. Wednesday. Hollywood Bowl, 2301 N Highland Ave. hollywoodbowl.com
The North American tour of “& Juliet” arrives at the Ahmanson on Aug. 13.
(Matthew Murphy)
& Juliet
What if Romeo’s tragic love didn’t end it all? Find out in this jukebox musical written by David West Read (TV’s “Schitt’s Creek”) and featuring the music of Swedish pop hitmaker Max Martin and others.
Wednesday–Sept. 7. Ahmanson Theatre, 135 N. Grand Ave., downtown L.A. centertheatregroup.org
Legendary L.A. jazz composer/musician Bobby Bradford, pictured in 2019, brings his tribute to baseball great Jackie Robinson to the Hammer’s JazzPOP series on Thursday.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
Bobby Bradford’s Stealin’ Home: A Tribute to Jackie Robinson
The West Coast jazz great leads an all-star septet performing his original composition, an homage to the Dodger legend who broke baseball’s color barrier in 1947. Part of the Hammer’s 2025 JazzPOP series.
8 p.m. Thursday. UCLA Hammer Museum, 10899 Wilshire Blvd., Westwood. hammer.ucla.edu
Culture news
Vincent Van Gogh, “Tarascon Stagecoach,” 1888, oil on canvas
(Henry and Rose Pearlman Foundation)
Los Angeles County Museum of Art announced that it has been gifted its first paintings by Vincent van Gogh and Édouard Manet, in addition to four works by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Alfred Sisley, Wilhelm Lehmbruck and Maurice Brazil Prendergast. The pieces come from the Pearlman Foundation, which is dividing its collection of Impressionist, Post-Impressionist and Modernist art among LACMA, New York’s Museum of Modern Art and the Brooklyn Museum.
Times Classical Music Critic Mark Swed writes an appreciation of experimental theater director and playwright Robert Wilson, who died at the end of July. Swed was in Austria when he heard the news, attending the Salzberg Festival, and watching, “the kind of uncompromisingly slow, shockingly beauteous and incomprehensibly time-and-space-bending weirdness Wilson took infinite pleasure in hosting when he made what he called operas.”
The Japanese Pavilion at the L.A. County Museum of Art in 2012.
(LACMA)
Times contributor Sam Lubell takes a deep dive into the work of Bruce Goff, who designed Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s Japanese Pavilion, noting that while Goff remained largely under-the-radar throughout his life, he nonetheless inspired a host renegade of West Coast architects.
Gustavo Dudamel appeared onstage at the Hollywood Bowl on Tuesday, to the great joy of fans and the orchestra alike. This summer marks the 20th anniversary of the now legendary conductor’s U.S. debut, writes Swed in a review of Dudamel’s single homecoming week this Bowl season. “After 20 years, Dudamel clearly knows what works at the Bowl, but he also likes to push the envelope as with Tuesday’s savvy blend of Duke Ellington and jazzy Ravel,” Swed writes.
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The SoCal scene
Philanthropist Glorya Kaufman at her Beverly Hills home in 2012.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
Glorya Kaufman, the philanthropist who transformed dance in Los Angeles through the establishment of an eponymous dance school at USC as well as a prominent dance series at the Music Center, among many other initiatives, has died. She was 95. Read her full obituary here.
The Tom and Ethel Bradley Residence in Leimert Park — along with the Stylesville Barbershop & Beauty Salon in Pacoima, St. Elmo Village and Jewel’s Catch One in Mid-City, the California Eagle newspaper in South L.A. and New Bethel Baptist Church in Venice—have been designated Historic-Cultural Monuments as part of a project meant to recognize Black heritage and led by the Getty in collaboration with the City of Los Angeles’ Office of Historic Resources.
When Pasadena Playhouse announces its new seasons each year, it typically delays naming one show until a later date. That time has now come, and Producing Artistic Director Danny Feldman sets Julia Masli’s “ha ha ha ha ha ha ha,” directed by Kim Noble, as the theater’s fifth Mainstage production, running from Oct.15 to Nov. 9. The playhouse also announced some juicy casting news: Tony Award winner Jefferson Mays will star as Salieri in Peter Shaffer’s “Amadeus,” which is scheduled to open Feb. 15.
Paging parents of teenagers! There is an organization called TeenTix that has paired with a veritable cornucopia of L.A.-area arts institutions to offer a youth pass that charges local kids between the ages of 13 and 19 $5 to attend shows, concerts and exhibits. More than 35 groups participate in the program, including Geffen Playhouse, Center Theatre Group, the Soraya, Pasadena Playhouse, Boston Court, Pasadena Symphony, the Armory, A Noise Within, the Autry Museum of the West, Heidi Duckler Dance, Skirball Cultural Center, Sierra Madre Playhouse and Actors Gang. Reservations are required, and info and passes can be found here.
— Jessica Gelt
And last but not least
There is a free plant stand in Altadena — a symbol of new life in the wake of January’s devastating Eaton fire.
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Frankie and the Witch Fingers casts a spell on L.A.’s rock scene
What do Dead Kennedys’ Jello Biafra, Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth and Motley Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx have in common? They all dig Frankie and the Witch Fingers, an L.A.-based band whose irresistible garagey-psychedelic rock sometimes even invokes shades of Oingo Boingo and Devo thanks to a staccato freneticism and pointed lyrics. The diversity of FATWF’s peer-fans speak to the quintet’s wide-ranging appeal, and the title of their new 11-song album, “Trash Classic,” is a spot-on descriptor of the LP as a whole.
In their longtime rehearsal-recording room in a legendary Vernon warehouse, the band perch on a couch a few days before leaving for tour. There’s a whiteboard with a set list behind the sofa, and they share some “mood board” phrases written for the creation of “Trash Classic.” On posterboard, the bon mots include “Lord Forgive Us For Our Synths,” “Jello -B.Y.O.F. (Bring Your Own Fork) – Ra” and “Weenus.” Laughter ensues at the memories.
The lineup formed with Dylan Sizemore (lead vocals, rhythm guitar) and Josh Menashe (lead guitar, backing vocals, synthesizer) more than a decade ago, the pair meeting at college in Bloomington, Ind. In different bands, they’d seen each other’s gigs and run into each other at parties.
“I was just bored one day, and was like, ‘I wonder if this guy wants to jam.’ I had all these songs,” recalls Sizemore. “I just kind of showed up to his house, and I knew he was really good at guitar and really good at music in general.”
Josh Menashe, from left, Dylan Sizemore, Nicole “Nikki Pickle” Smith, Jon Modaff and Nick Aguilar, of the Los Angeles psych-rock band Frankie and the Witch Fingers get into character in their rehearsal space in Vernon on July 11, 2025.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
The San Diego-raised Menashe recalls, “I think by the time I met Dylan, I’d already dropped out [of college], though, and there were day jobs — at a screen-printing shop, I worked at a Turkish restaurant; whatever I could do to keep my music addiction going. I never really settled on a major because I just couldn’t think about what I wanted to do. Nothing made as much sense as music.”
Sizemore had been dabbling in music that was “power-pop-y, kind of like Tom Petty worship …”
“… he was in a band called Dead Beach,” Menashe adds, “and I would say it was garage rock, almost like Nirvana meets Tom Petty.”
“And Josh was in a more like surf rock, almost like mathy band. What would you describe [the band] Women as?” Sizemore asks.
“Angular, punky, buncha noise stuff,” affirms Menashe, who also played with acclaimed Bloomington-to-L.A. band Triptides starting in 2010.
In FATWF (the name comes from Sizemore’s cat Frankie) the pair’s experience and influences were varied enough to create something new that, over seven albums since 2013, has morphed into a wildly creative and raucous band with hooks, melodies, smarts, irreverence, loud guitars and wonderfully oddball synth and sounds.
A move to L.A. in 2014 and eventual changes in the rhythm section — Nikki Pickles (Nicole Smith), formerly of Death Valley Girls, joining in 2019; with drummer Nick Aguilar’s 2022 addition solidifying the band further. Jon Modaff, a multi-instrumentalist from Kentucky who played drums on tour with FATWF in 2021, joined on synth in 2024, giving the band an even broader sonic palette to realize their sometimes-oddball audio dreams.
“Trash Classic,” produced by Maryam Qudus (Tune-Yards, Alanis Morissette, Kronos Quartet) follows 2023’s “Data Doom,” which was the first album to feature Aguilar on drums. Songs are by turns epic, edgy, spacey and insistent. Some “Trash Classic” lyrics are topical and pointed: “(While the upper) class is feeding / (On the lower) babies’ food / (Microwaving) TV dinners / (With the porno) graphic news.” “Economy” minces no words: “This has got to be / The best economy / The plasma you sell / (The plasma you sell) / Buys money to eat.”
There was no grand plan or lyrical theme settled ahead of the new album’s creation. “We collectively talk about what’s going on in the world when we’re in rehearsal and stuff, and our feelings about it,” says Sizemore. “I think it’s just at a point now where talking about certain things just feels more — what’s the word? — it feels more part of the zeitgeist. Like ‘Economy,’ I wanted to write about being around abject poverty. But it makes more sense now, it fits into the context of where we are. Things that we talk about in here, about what’s going on, maybe weren’t so omnipresent, and now it feels like it is. Like, you can’t escape poverty. You can’t escape what’s happening to people less fortunate than you. It’s everywhere.”
In writing the lyrics, Sizemore thought about growing up, “seeing people trade in their food stamps to get alcohol because they’re addicted. Messy stuff like that. But it’s relevant now, it’s not just parts of the world. It’s gonna be everywhere if we don’t do something about it.”
Lyrics, while Sizemore-centric, are a collaborative process. Pickle, however, who came to bass in her 20s, says, “I just am happy to be along for the ride, and I’ll contribute where it’s helpful. I like to sit back; I guess I don’t feel qualified as a songwriter.” But, she says, “honestly, I think that that’s a helpful way to be, because if you have too many people with egos on top of each other, like, ‘no, no, no, do it my way.’ I like to listen and then insert where I can. That’s my vibe.”
Differing approaches and backgrounds serve FATWF well. Because of their “cohesive diversity and flexibility in the rock realm,” Aguilar observes, “I feel like we could play with almost anybody. At least a rock band, to any extent.”
While they’re mostly doing headlining tours, they’ve shared stages with Cheap Trick and ZZ Top. So where would FATWF overlap with the two elder statesmen classic rock lineups on the musical spectrum?
“I mean, we were really into the [13th Floor] Elevators, and…” Sizemore says.
“The Velvet Underground…” adds Pickle.
“…Roky Erickson, all that stuff. I think we tried to, like, gear our set more in that direction, just so we weren’t fully playing freaky, noisy funk stuff,” Sizemore continues. “But there’s an overlap, for sure. If we play in Atlanta or something, we’ll get someone saying, ‘Oh, the first time I saw you guys was with ZZ Top’ and that’s always cool.”
“We collectively talk about what’s going on in the world when we’re in rehearsal and stuff, and our feelings about it,” says Sizemore. “I think it’s just at a point now where talking about certain things just feels more — what’s the word? — it feels more part of the zeitgeist.”
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
Most of Frankie’s members cite the DIY scenes in their areas as influential: Aguilar is from San Pedro and began drumming at the age of 10. He eventually played with that neighborhood’s most famous musician: bassist Mike Watt, and growing up, “discovered I don’t need to go to the Staples Center or Irvine Meadows to see a band. I could just go, like, 10 blocks away from my home on my bike to house shows,” he says, adding, “if there wasn’t the music scene in San Pedro, I probably wouldn’t be in this band. I’d probably be playing at the Whisky with some s— metal band that nobody cares about.”
An increasing number of people are caring about FATWF; Jello Biafra even joining them on stage. At a gig in Biafra’s hometown of Boulder, Colo., the punk provocateur met the band after their show. The next night, the singer showed up in Fort Collins.
“We have a lot of mutual friends,” explains Aguilar. “I work at Alex’s Bar in Long Beach. So I met him there a long time ago. He said he was gonna come see us at our Halloween show in San Francisco. I was like, ‘How would you feel if we learned some DK songs and you sang with us for Halloween?’”
He answered in the affirmative, so Frankie and the Witch Fingers learned the Dead Kennedys’ “Halloween,” “Police Truck” and “Holiday in Cambodia.” Biafra rehearsed with the band at sound check, and for the holiday show FATWF dressed up as “bloody doctors.” As for Biafra? “He changed his outfit in between every song! He was throwing fake bloody organs at the audience. You could tell half of the audience knew who he was. And half was like, ‘Yo, who the hell is this?’”
“Talking about all this like ancient history makes me feel, ‘Oh yeah, we’ve kind of come a long way,’” Pickles ruminates. Aguilar states his somewhat modest hopes for the band: “I think my realistic goal is the headline the Fonda Theater one day.”
But if larger-scale fame and fortune find Frankie and the Witch Fingers, beware: Menashe claims he’d get a face tattoo if the band sells a million records. His promise is captured by the reporter’s recorder, officially “on the record,” the band teases him. But in true FATWF fashion, Sizemore pushes it one further: “You gotta get a teardrop too!”
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Pat Tillman’s brother allegedly started a fire to make a ‘statement’
A newly unsealed court document alleges that Richard Tillman admitted to police officers that he drove a vehicle into a Northern California post office and set the building on fire, “trying to make a statement to the United States Government.”
It’s unclear what the statement was intended to be. According to the document, Tillman also told San Jose Police officers at the scene that he was responsible for spray-painting “Viva La Me” on the building as it was burning but was unable to finish writing because of the heat.
The youngest brother of late NFL star and U.S. Army Ranger Pat Tillman has been charged with the federal crime of malicious destruction of government property by fire in connection with the incident at Almaden Valley Station Post Office on July 20 at around 3 a.m. Sunday.
The 44-year-old San Jose resident was arrested at the scene. The criminal complaint against Tillman was filed July 23 but remained sealed until Wednesday when Tillman made his initial appearance in federal district court in San Jose. KRON-TV in San Francisco reports that Tillman did not enter a plea.
Tillman is in federal custody and has a status conference before U.S. Magistrate Judge Nathanael Cousins scheduled for Aug. 6, the U.S. Attorney’s office said in a press release.
The criminal complaint includes a statement of probable cause by U.S. Postal Inspector Shannon Roark. According to the statement, Tillman told officers on the scene that he had placed “instalogs” throughout his vehicle and doused them with lighter fluid. He then backed the vehicle into the post office, exited the vehicle and used a match to set the car ablaze.
The building was “partially destroyed by the fire,” the U.S. Attorney’s office said.
Roark also stated that Tillman told officers at the scene that he had livestreamed the incident on YouTube. Tillman’s channel has since been removed from the site.
In the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, Pat Tillman famously walked away from a three-year, $3.6-million contract offer from the Arizona Cardinals to enlist in the Army, along with his younger brother, Kevin.
On April 22, 2004, Pat Tillman was killed by friendly fire in the province of Khost, Afghanistan. He was 27.
The day after the post office fire, Kevin Tillman released a statement.
“Our family is aware that my brother Richard has been arrested. First and foremost, we are relieved that no one was physically harmed,” Kevin Tillman stated. “ … To be clear, it’s no secret that Richard has been battling severe mental health issues for many years. He has been livestreaming, what I’ll call, his altered self on social media for anyone to witness.
“Unfortunately, securing the proper care and support for him has proven incredibly difficult — or rather, impossible. As a result, none of this is as shocking as it should be.”
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L.A. County sheriff, watchdog clash over deputy killing investigations
It was just past 12:30 a.m. on June 9 when Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies responded to a burglary in progress at a home in Lynwood.
Upon arrival, according to the department’s incident summary, they saw Federico Rodriguez, 45, through a window, holding what appeared to be a pair of scissors.
Hearing screams inside, deputies forced a door open and entered the home, where they found Rodriguez repeatedly stabbing a woman. Sgt. Marcos Esquivel immediately drew his handgun, footage from his body-worn camera showed, and fired multiple shots that killed Rodriguez.
The incident was the fifth of six fatal shootings by deputies that the sheriff’s department has reported so far this year.
The woman Rodriguez was stabbing survived. But despite the apparently life-saving actions of the deputies, two days later the case became a point of controversy in a broader dispute between the department and L.A. County’s Office of Inspector General, which investigates misconduct and the use of deadly force by law enforcement.
The inspector general’s office sent a letter on June 11 to the County Board of Supervisors raising concerns that officials have been blocked from scenes of shootings by deputies and deaths in county jails.
Inspector General Max Huntsman said his office interprets the state law that led to its creation over a decade ago as giving him and his staff the authority to conduct meaningful on-site investigations, with state legislation approved in 2020 strengthening that power.
Inspector General Max Huntsman listens to testimony in the Robinson Courtroom at Loyola Law School in 2024.
(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
Huntsman said allowing his staff to tour scenes of shootings and receive information directly from homicide detectives and other sheriff’s department personnel while the dead bodies have yet to be removed is essential for proper oversight.
But the sheriff’s department has repeatedly denied or limited access, Huntsman said. The June 11 letter announced the “indefinite suspension of Office of Inspector General regular rollouts to deputy-involved shootings and in-custody deaths.”
Huntsman said the decision to halt the rollouts was a response to a persistent lack of transparency by the sheriff’s department.
“The purpose of going there is to conduct an independent investigation. If all we’re doing is standing around being fed what they want us to know, that is not an independent investigation,” he told The Times. “We’re not going to pretend to be doing it when we only get to peek under the curtain.”
At the Civilian Oversight Commission meeting on July 17, Sheriff Robert Luna said his department “will now have a process in place” to allow officials responding to shooting scenes to contact an assistant sheriff to ensure “a little more oversight” over the process.
An interior view of the Altadena Sheriff Station in January.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
Luna called Huntsman’s June 11 letter “alarming,” but disputed how many times officials had been turned away, saying he was only aware of it happening “once — at least in the last five years.”
Commissioner Jamon Hicks inquired further, asking whether the department could be incorrect about the number of times access has been restricted or denied, given that the inspector general’s office alleges it has been a recurring issue.
“It could be, and I’d love to see the information,” Luna said. “I’ve been provided none of that to date.”
Huntsman told The Times that officials from his office were “prohibited from entering” Rodriguez’s home on July 9, as were members of the district attorney’s office and the sheriff’s department’s Internal Affairs Bureau. It was at least the seventh time the sheriff’s department had improperly limited access since 2020, he said.
In a statement, the sheriff’s department said the “claim that the OIG was denied access on June 9 at a [deputy-involved shooting] scene in Lynwood is inaccurate.”
“An OIG representative was on scene and was given the same briefing, along with the concerned Division Chief, Internal Affairs Bureau, Civil Litigation Bureau, Training Bureau, and the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office,” the statement said.
An exterior view of the hiring banner outside the Altadena Sheriff Station in January.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
The statement went on to say that the department is “only aware of one incident on February 27, 2025,” in which the OIG was denied access to a deputy-involved shooting scene.
“The Sheriff’s Department remains firmly committed to transparency in law enforcement and continues to work closely and cooperatively with all oversight bodies,” the statement said.
During the July 17 meeting, Dara Williams, chief deputy of the Office of Inspector General, said the office’s personnel often arrive at shooting scenes hours after deputies have pulled the trigger because of the logistical challenges of traveling across the county. Sheriff’s department homicide detectives typically present preliminary findings and offer tours of the scenes.
But on several occasions, the watchdogs have been denied access entirely, leaving them to rely solely on whatever information the sheriff’s department chooses to release, Williams said.
Hans Johnson, the Civil Oversight Commission’s newly elected chair, said investigators can’t do their jobs properly without being able to scrutinize homicide scenes.
“We count on you, in part, as eyes and ears in the community and in these high-value and very troubling cases of fatalities and deaths,” he said at the July 17 meeting.
Williams said the the sheriff’s department has also been “painfully slow” responding to requests for additional information and records following homicides by deputies. She said that in one particularly egregious example, “we served a subpoena in October of last year and we are still waiting for documents and answers.”
Responding to Huntsman’s letter on June 16, Luna wrote to the Board of Supervisors that the department’s Office of Constitutional Policing “has assisted the OIG by providing Department information to 49 of 53 instances” since January. “Suffice it to say,” he added later in the letter, “robust communications take place between the OIG and the Department. Any assertion to the contrary is false.”
Luna said sometimes access could be restricted to preserve evidence, but Williams said she does not “think it’s fair to say that we were excluded” for that reason.
Williams told the commission she was not allowed to tour a scene earlier this year that Huntsman later told The Times was a Feb. 27 incident in Rosemead.
The sheriff’s department’s incident summary stated that Deputy Gregory Chico shot Susan Lu, 56, after she refused commands to drop a meat cleaver and raised the blade “toward deputies.” Lu was taken to a hospital and declared dead later that day.
In his June 16 letter, Luna wrote that “the OIG, Internal Affairs Bureau (IAB), other Department units, and executives were denied access … due to concerns regarding evidence preservation, given the confined area and complexity of the scene layout.”
Williams told the commission “there was a narrow hallway but the actual incident took place in a bedroom, so I don’t know why we couldn’t have walked down that narrow hallway to just view into the bedroom” where the homicide took place.
“The bottom line,” she added later, “is we don’t want to mislead the public to give them the idea that this is actually effective oversight because, once again, we’re just getting the information from the department.”
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‘Fantastic Four’ post-credits scenes, ‘Doomsday’ connections explained
This story contains spoilers for “The Fantastic Four: First Steps.”
Marvel’s First Family has finally made its formal MCU debut, which means it’s time to engage in everyone’s favorite tradition: breaking down the movie’s post-credits teases to suss out what’s next.
Directed by “WandaVision” helmer Matt Shakman, “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” introduces audiences to Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal), Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby), Ben Grimm (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) and Johnny Storm (Joseph Quinn). The movie, which officially opens Friday, pits the quartet of superpowered astronauts against Galactus (Ralph Ineson), a cosmic entity with an insatiable hunger for planets.
As the title teases, “First Steps” marks the beginning of Phase 6 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which will culminate with a pair of massive “Avengers” crossover films.
Like most MCU installments, “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” features multiple post-credits stingers. The first, which is shown midway through the end credits, sets up the superhero team’s next big adventure.
The mid-credits scene takes place four years after the Fantastic Four’s showdown with Galactus. It shows Sue sitting on a couch, reading a story to her and Reed’s son, Franklin Richards. After finishing the book, she steps away to grab another, turning down robo-assistant H.E.R.B.I.E.’s suggested title. Sensing something is wrong, Sue starts charging her powers. She rounds the corner to check on Franklin and finds a mysterious cloaked figure interacting with her child.
While his face is not shown, his green cloak and the mask he is holding make it clear to fans familiar with their Marvel lore that this is Doctor Doom.
This marks the first appearance of the iconic villain in the MCU. The character, also known as Victor von Doom, made his comic book debut in “Fantastic Four” No. 5 (1962) and has been a foe of Marvel’s First Family ever since. In the comics, the character is both a scientific genius and a sorcerer hailing from the fictional country of Latveria. (The name of the country is briefly shown in “Fantastic Four: First Steps.”)
Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby) and her son, Franklin (Ada Scott), in “The Fantastic Four: First Steps.”
(Marvel Studios)
Doom’s introduction into the MCU has been highly anticipated since Marvel Studios’ presentation last year at San Diego Comic-Con. Among the major announcements was that the fifth “Avengers” film had been retitled “Avengers: Doomsday” and that “Iron Man” actor Robert Downey Jr. would be returning to the franchise as Doctor Doom.
While Doom’s exact interest in Franklin is not revealed, it’s easy to assume that the child’s powers would be appealing to a supervillain. This encounter also hints at the reason why the Fantastic Four eventually make their way to the universe where the rest of the MCU heroes reside.
“First Steps” is set on Earth-828 — a tribute to “Fantastic Four” co-creator Jack Kirby, who was born Aug. 28, 1917 — a retrofuturistic world in a separate corner of the Marvel multiverse. But the “Thunderbolts*” post-credits scene shows the Fantastic Four’s spacecraft Excelsior appearing in their world on Earth-616. Could Doom have kidnapped young Franklin and taken him to an alternate universe? Whatever the reason, Samuel Sterns’ warning from the “Captain America: Brave New World” post-credits scene was apt: The multiverse is coming.
Fans might wonder how the “Fantastic Four” post-credits scene might have played out had the studio not altered its original plans to feature Kang the Conqueror as the franchise’s next big bad. In the comics Kang and Franklin are part of the same family tree so it’s easy to imagine him as the surprise interloper Sue sees. Either way, a magical nanny might have been helpful. (Marvel Studios pivoted from its original plan after Kang actor Jonathan Majors was convicted on assault and harassment charges in 2023.)
The second “Fantastic Four: First Steps” credits scene is shown after the full credits roll and serves more as a fun bonus and tribute to the eponymous superhero team’s animated past.
“Avengers: Doomsday,” hitting theaters Dec. 18, 2026, will be a massive MCU crossover featuring members of the Fantastic Four, the Thunderbolts/New Avengers and more. Confirmed “Doomsday” cast members include veteran “Avengers” stars Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Anthony Mackie (Sam Wilson/Captain America), Sebastian Stan (Bucky Barnes), Paul Rudd (Scott Lang/Ant-Man) and Tom Hiddleston (Loki), as well as Florence Pugh (Yelena Belova), David Harbour (Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian), Lewis Pullman (Bob Reynolds), Wyatt Russell (John Walker) and Hannah John-Kamen (Ava Starr/Ghost).
Up next for the MCU is “Wonder Man,” a series starring Yahya Abdul-Mateen II that will debut on Disney+ in December. The next Phase 6 film is Marvel and Sony’s “Spider-Man: Brand New Day,” slated for a July 2026 release.
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Joshua Tree’s hotly contested music scene gets a new gem in Mojave Gold
Out on the moody, flame-licked front patio of Mojave Gold in Yucca Valley, Ryan and Alexis Gutierrez took in their first goth show in their new neighborhood.
The couple had just moved to the high desert from the Inland Empire, and given the considerable face tattoo count between them, they’d been looking for some witchy fellow travelers.
After watching the electro project Tantra Punk’s set — a singer marauding across the stage, fogged over with blood-colored lights — the couple passed by a merch booth hawking fresh herbs planted in tiny metal pots. The two were pleasantly surprised they’d found their people here.
“I didn’t even know there was a scene for this out here,” Alexis said. “I literally just passed this place and thought it looked hip. We used to drive to San Diego for something like this.”
“It’s kind of slower out here in the desert, but there’s things like this that make it fun,” Ryan said, “Being in the alternative scene, having shows like this is really important to us.”
The six-week-old Mojave Gold is the most promising new entry in a desert music scene that, lately, has seen its share of high-stakes ownership drama at venues like Pappy & Harriet’s and the Alibi. Mojave Gold’s owners are betting on a more permanent, independent-minded scene for local acts and edgier nightlife in its wake.
“A part of why we moved here 10 years ago was that there are so many amazing musicians, and a lot more people live here now,” said the venue’s co-owner Cooper Gillespie. “I’m like, ‘Yes, bring on all the amazing music venues and new places for the music community to be.’”
The bar inside the nightclub is decorated in gold colors at Mojave Gold, a brand new music venue near Joshua Tree that’s counting on a continued interest in year-round nightlife in the fast-gentrifying area.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
While Joshua Tree is famous for its rough-and-tumble (if sometimes set decorated) roadhouse aesthetic, Mojave Gold looks more like it zigged left up the 111 from Palm Springs. A black and gilt disco vibe permeates the 500-capacity space, from the undulating wood ceiling made from salvaged Hollywood Bowl seats to velveteen booths and a winking poster advertising Quaaludes.
“There’s a purposeful make-out corner,” said Mojave Gold’s interior designer Brookelyn Fox, wryly arching her eyebrows toward the rear of the venue.
Mojave Gold’s attached restaurant is worth a visit in its own right (a cactus and citrus ceviche, charred cauliflower steak and a chocolate mole custard looked especially eye-catching). But in a small town with an outsize presence on the region’s music scene, it could help turn the area into a year-round tour stop in its own right and become a new festival-season mainstay.
“If you’ve got all these bands playing Coachella every year, well, only one of them is going to be able to play Saturday night at Pappy’s,” said Dale Fox, who manages the venue’s financing. “Now, there’s another place.”
Landers residents Gillespie and her Mojave Gold co-founder Greg Gordon are both former Pappy’s employees, working under longtime owners Robyn Celia and Linda Krantz. They suspected there was room for more live music than that beloved and hotly contested venue could handle year-round. They had their eyes on the former AWE Bar space since it closed after a brief run in 2023, with ambitions to rebuild it into a locals-first venue.
Patrons gather in the outdoor patio adjacent to the nightclub at Mojave Gold.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
“The space and the time we’ve had is so much more than we could have done in L.A.” Gillespie said. “Everything takes a lot of time and money in the city, and out here, I feel like there’s a lot more space in all aspects of your life to create. We’ll have national acts, but also bring up our local talent and give them opportunities to have a place to call their own.”
They got lucky when Liz Garo, the talent buyer for the late, lamented Alibi in Palm Springs, was unexpectedly free and looking for a new project in the area after decades booking the Echo, Regent and other venues in Los Angeles. The shows so far have spanned the modern desert’s full range of scenes — country dance nights, the scuzzy punk of Throw Rag, cabaret drag acts and gothic folk from Blood Nebraska.
“It was a part of some music scenes where you didn’t even know who’s playing, but you went to the Echo because you knew all your friends were going to be there,” Gillespie said. “That’s what we want this place to be.”
Mojave Gold arrives as a new crop of nightlife spots have opened to serve both desert lifers and newcomers to the small towns near Joshua Tree National Park. The Red Dog Saloon, Más o Menos and the ad hoc gay bar Tiny Pony Tavern have found their footing for more ambitious desert nightlife. There’s still room for more, Gordon said.
“The big surprise for me when we opened, is that there was not one moment where I felt a sense of competition,” Gordon added. “None of the other restaurants or venues had this kind of cutthroat mentality. There’s no zero-sum thinking. I think we’re still so young out here that … everybody adds something to the market.”
Patrons dance to music from local artists on Desert Gothic night at Mojave Gold.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
But passions about development run deep out here, especially after the pandemic-fueled boom in property flipping. The sad fate of the now-shuttered Alibi, the brutal court skirmish over Pappy’s and the gleaming nearby Acrisure Arena (which just landed the kickoff date and sole SoCal stop of Paul McCartney’s tour) prove that moneyed interests still have their eye on the area’s land and cultural scene.
For now though, the string of little desert towns are happy the Airbnb flippers have taken a beating and longer-term visions for local culture are taking root. “Shout-out to the city government in Yucca,” Gordon said, saluting. “They’re constantly thinking of ways to beautify the area and respect Old Town and encourage curated growth.”
Patrons dance to Tantra Punk on Desert Gothic night at Mojave Gold.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
The Mojave Gold team hopes that this sometimes-shaky boomlet of independent music in the desert can foster a scene like Silver Lake’s in the early 2000s — big enough to be nationally influential, but neighborhood-y enough to roll in twice a week and see where the evening takes you. Even if it’s straight to hell on goth night.
“A big part of those scenes were free or very inexpensive nights when you even if you didn’t have a lot of money, you could go out and have a great time,” Gillespie said. “I hope that the focus here is on fostering the local creative community and not just profiting.”
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‘Eddington’ review: Pedro Pascal, Joaquin Phoenix duke it out in Ari Aster’s superb latest
Ari Aster’s “Eddington” is such a superb social satire about contemporary America that I want to bury it in the desert for 20 years. More distance will make it easier to laugh.
It’s a modern western set in New Mexico — Aster’s home state — where trash blows like tumbleweeds as Sheriff Joe Cross (Joaquin Phoenix) stalks across the street to confront Eddington’s mayor, Ted Garcia (Pedro Pascal), whom he is campaigning to unseat. It’s May of 2020, that hot and twitchy early stretch of the COVID pandemic when reality seemed to disintegrate, and Joe is ticked off about the new mask mandate. He has asthma, and he can’t understand anyone who has their mouth covered.
Joe and Ted have old bad blood between them that’s flowed down from Joe’s fragile wife Louise, a.k.a. Rabbit (Emma Stone), a stunted woman-child who stubbornly paints creepy dolls, and his mother-in-law Dawn (Deirdre O’Connell), a raving conspiracist who believes the Titanic sinking was no accident. Dawn is jazzed to decode the cause of this global shutdown; there’s comfort in believing everything happens for a reason. Her mania proves contagious.
Bad things are happening in Eddington and have been for decades, not just broken shop windows. Joe wears a white hat and clearly considers himself the story’s hero, although he’s not up to the job. If you squint real hard, you can see his perspective that he’s a champion for the underdog. Joe gets his guts in a twist when a maskless elder is kicked out of the local grocery store as the other shoppers applaud. “Public shaming,” Joe spits.
“There’s no COVID in Eddington,” Joe claims in his candidacy announcement video, urging his fellow citizens that “we need to free our hearts.” His earnestness is comic and sweet and dangerous. You can hear every fact he’s leaving out. His rival’s commercials promote a fantastical utopia where Ted is playing piano on the sidewalk and elbow-bumping more Black people in 15 seconds than we see in the rest of the movie. Ted also swears that permitting a tech behemoth named SolidGoldMagikarp to build a controversial giant data center on the outskirts of the county won’t suck precious resources — it’ll transform this nowheresville into a hub for jobs. Elections are a measure of public opinion: Which fibber would you trust?
Danger is coming and like in “High Noon,” this uneasy town will tear itself apart before it arrives. Aster is so good at scrupulously capturing the tiny, fearful COVID behaviors we’ve done our best to forget that it’s a shame (and a relief) that the script isn’t really about the epidemic. Another disease has infected Eddington: Social media has made everyone brain sick.
The film is teeming with viral headlines — serious, frivolous or false — jumbled together on computer screens screaming for attention in the same all-caps font. (Remember the collective decision that no one had the bandwidth to care about murder hornets?) Influencers and phonies and maybe even the occasional real journalist prattle on in the backgrounds of scenes telling people what to think and do, often making things worse. Joe loves his wife dearly. We see him privately watching a YouTuber explain how he can convince droopy Louise to have children. Alas, he spends his nights in their marital bed chastely doomscrolling.
Every character in “Eddington” is lonely and looking for connection. One person’s humiliating nadir comes during a painful tracking shot at an outdoor party where they’re shunned like they have the plague. Phones dominate their interactions: The camera is always there in somebody’s hand, live streaming or recording, flattening life into a reality show and every conversation into a performance.
The script expands to include Joe’s deputies, aggro Guy (Luke Grimes) and Bitcoin-obsessed Michael (Micheal Ward), plus a cop from the neighboring tribal reservation, Officer Butterfly Jimenez (William Belleau) and a handful of bored, identity-seeking teens. They’ll all wind up at odds even though they’re united by the shared need to be correct, to have purpose, to belong. When George Floyd is killed six states away, these young do-gooders rush into the streets, excited to have a reason to get together and yell. The protesters aren’t insincere about the cause. But it’s head-scrambling to watch blonde Sarah (Amélie Hoeferle) lecture her ex-boyfriend Michael, who is Black and a cop, about how he should feel. Meanwhile Brian (Cameron Mann), who is white and one of the most fascinating characters to track, is so desperate for Sarah’s attention that he delivers a hilarious slogan-addled meltdown: “My job is to sit down and listen! As soon as I finish this speech! Which I have no right to make!”
The words come fast and furious and flummoxing. Aster has crowded more pointed zingers and visual gags into each scene than our eyes can take in. His dialogue is laden with vile innuendos — “deep state,” “sexual predator,” “antifa” — and can feel like getting pummeled. When a smooth-talking guru named Vernon (Austin Butler) slithers into the plot, he regales Joe’s family with an incredulous tale of persecution that, as he admits, “sounds insane just to hear coming out of my mouth.” Well, yeah. Aster wants us to feel exhausted sorting fact from fiction.
The verbal barrage builds to a scene in which Joe and Dawn sputter nonsense at each other in a cross-talking non-conversation where both sound like they’re high on cocaine. They are, quite literally, internet junkies.
This is the bleakest of black humor. There’s even an actual dumpster fire. Aster’s breakout debut, “Hereditary,” gave him an overnight pedigree as the princeling of highbrow horror films about trauma. But really, he’s a cringe comedian who exaggerates his anxieties like a tragic clown. Even in “Midsommar,” Aster’s most coherent film, his star Florence Pugh doesn’t merely cry — she howls like she could swallow the earth. It wouldn’t be surprising to hear that when Aster catches himself getting maudlin, he forces himself to actively wallow in self-pity until it feels like a joke. Making the tragic ridiculous is a useful tool. (I once got through a breakup by watching “The Notebook” on repeat.)
With “Beau Is Afraid,” Aster’s previous film with Phoenix, focusing that approach on one man felt too punishing. “Eddington” is hysterical group therapy. I suspect that Aster knows that if we read a news article about a guy like Joe, we wouldn’t have any sympathy for him at all. Instead, Aster essentially handcuffs us to Joe’s point of view and sends us off on this tangled and bitterly funny adventure, in which rattling snakes spice up a humming, whining score by the Haxan Cloak and Daniel Pemberton.
Not every plot twist works. Joe’s sharpest pivot is so inward and incomprehensible that the film feels compelled to signpost it by having a passing driver yell, “You’re going the wrong way!” By the toxic finale, we’re certain only that Phoenix plays pathetic better than anyone these days. From “Her” to “Joker” to “Napoleon” to “Inherent Vice,” he’s constantly finding new wrinkles in his sad sacks. “Eddington’s” design teams have taken care to fill Joe’s home with dreary clutter and outfit him in sagging jeans. By contrast, Pascal’s wealthier Ted is the strutting embodiment of cowboy chic. He’s even selfishly hoarded toilet paper in his fancy adobe estate.
It’s humanistic when “Eddington” notes that everyone in town is a bit of a sinner. The problem is that they’re all eager to throw stones and point out what the others are doing wrong to get a quick fix of moral superiority. So many yellow cards get stacked up against everyone that you come to accept that we’re all flawed, but most of us are doing our best.
Joe isn’t going to make Eddington great again. He never has a handle on any of the conspiracies, and when he grabs a machine gun, he’s got no aim. Aster’s feistiest move is that he refuses to reveal the truth. When you step back at the end to take in the full landscape, you can put most of the story together. (Watch “Eddington” once, talk it out over margaritas and then watch it again.) Aster makes the viewer say their theories out loud afterwards, and when you do, you sound just as unhinged as everyone else in the movie. I dig that kind of culpability: a film that doesn’t point sanctimonious fingers but insists we’re all to blame.
But there are winners and losers and winners who feel like losers and schemers who get away with their misdeeds scot-free. Five years after the events of this movie, we’re still standing in the ashes of the aggrieved. But at least if we’re cackling at ourselves together in the theater, we’re less alone.
‘Eddington’
Rated: R, for strong violence, some grisly images, language and graphic nudity
Running time: 2 hours, 29 minutes
Playing: In wide release Friday, July 18
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Emmerdale character ‘already knows John killed Nate’ after telling scene
Emmerdale’s John Sugden came close to confessing to killing Nate Robinson on Thursday night, and as he struggled it seemed one character was onto his dark crimes
One scene on Emmerdale on Thursday could have shown the moment a character was onto John Sugden amid Nate Robinson’s funeral.
The villain was tasked with reading the eulogy of his murder victim in front of Nate’s family who remain unaware of his dark betrayal. But John very nearly cracked, telling them all: “I’m so sorry,” as he struggled through the words written by Nate’s wife Tracy Robinson.
He commented on the fact the death was tearing them all apart and how it had clearly impacted them, as he began to tremble with the guilt becoming too much. So much so, one character in particular looked pretty suspicious.
Another character also seemed concerned when John said he “couldn’t do this” referring to reading the eulogy. Moira Dingle, Nate’s stepmother, seemed visibly shocked and almost suspicious – as did John’s partner Aaron Dingle.
But it was someone else, sat at the back of the room, who repeatedly pulled faced and looked confused if not suspicious of John’s behaviour. DS Walsh attended the funeral, leaving Tracy unnerved given she had become a suspect in her husband’s demise.
READ MORE: Emmerdale comeback leaves villagers speechless as character returns after five years
But she was not the only one rattled by the detective showing up, now doubt wanting to see if any of the funeral guests slipped up and revealed themselves as the killer. John was seen horrified to see her there, and couldn’t stop looking at her as he gave the speech.
As John got up to talk to the mourners, he started reading Tracy’s words to her late husband. He suddenly stopped unable to carry on, before speaking to everyone about their grief.
With his guilt shining through, it seemed he could confess and crack at any moment. As this was happening, DS Walsh was watching on intrigued.
As John quivered and faced breaking down in tears, she began to change her expression. She was seen squinting and turning her head, almost as if to question what was happening.
She was clearly confused over his behaviour and his sudden emotion for a man he barely knew. So was this the moment Walsh realised John, who she’d interrogated weeks earlier, could be a key suspect?
After all, detectives are supposed to spot these things especially when it comes to body language. So might this be the moment John exposed himself as a killer to the lead detective on the case?
Walsh had spoken with John after Nate’s body had been found, as it became apparent John had been one of the last people, if not the last, to see him alive. John was the one telling everyone Nate had fled for Shetland, so if Walsh cracks onto his guilt and puts the pieces together, it could spell the end for John.
Emmerdale airs weeknights at 7:30pm on ITV1 and ITVX, with an hour-long episode on Thursdays. * Follow Mirror Celebs and TV on TikTok , Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and Threads .
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Love Island viewers slam show after ‘horrible scene’ between two contestants
Love Island viewers threatened to contact Ofcom after they watched a tense conversation unfold on the recent episode of the ITV2 show
16:44, 05 Jul 2025Updated 16:44, 05 Jul 2025
Love Island viewers hit out at the ITV2 dating show after they watched a tense conversation unfold between Dejon and newcomer Billykiss. The duo initially had a connection when the bombshell picked him for a date this week, but he chose to stay partnered up with Meg during the recoupling.
Animosity grew between them after the Islanders took part in a Superman-inspired game which saw Yasmin and Gio pick Dejon as the least dedicated male Islander. “I don’t feel like you’ve dedicated yourself fully to the whole experience,” Yasmin said. “I hope you’ve only dedicated to getting to know one person…”
READ MORE: Oasis have released new tickets for UK tour – how to buy yours if you missed out
Dejon responded: “I didn’t know when all of a sudden it’s become a problem wanting one woman,” to which Yasmin referred to his date with Billykiss.” The bombshell took the moment to point out how he claimed to be open with her but acts closed around Meg.
She told him: “You don’t want to hear the truth, which is why you’re feeling sour.” A day after the challenge, Billykiss and Dejon sat down to hash things out, with Dejon telling her: “The challenge yesterday, a lot of things were said that I don’t agree with at all.”
Billykiss said it wasn’t fair that he led her on despite knowing his “heart is with Meg” as she explained how she felt. However, he repeatedly shut her down and bluntly said: “You’re not someone that I would want to get to know in here, or on the outside, from the conversations that we’ve had.”
She tried to share her thoughts but he stood up and added: “Alright Billykiss. I’m not going to keep begging to speak,” before waltzing off.
Fans were furious with how Dejon spoke to Billykiss and rushed to social media to threaten to filed a complaint with Ofcom.
One user said: “Complaining to @Ofcom Love Island. Allowing Dejon to speak to BillyKiss like that is not appropriate.
“You need to do better, that was so bloody awful to watch.”
Another fan commented: “That comment from Dejon! “That was HORRID and such a show of his character. I honestly rate Billykiss for standing her ground during that conversation,” while one posted: “That was a horrible scene to watch play out.”
One fan added: “Why does Dejon think he can speak like that to Billykiss?” and another reminded people: “Mind you Billykiss was having a nap in the shade, Dejon brought himself to have this conversation and acted like he was forced to be there.”
Love Island continues on Sunday night at 9pm on ITV2 and ITVX*
Follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Threads.
READ MORE: Kickers’ ‘durable’ Back to School shoe range that ‘last all year’
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Downtown L.A.’s arts scene grapples with curfews and cancellations
Center Theatre Group temporarily canceled “Hamlet” at Mark Taper Forum; the Los Angeles Philharmonic scuttled the final night of its Seoul Festival at Walt Disney Concert Hall; the Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles’ Geffen Contemporary and the Broad museum are both closed through the weekend; and the Japanese American National Museum fenced off its pavilion to prevent further vandalism — these are just some of the immediate effects felt by downtown Los Angeles’ many arts organizations as ICE protests, an ongoing curfew and the arrival of thousands of federal troops upend daily life in the city’s civic core.
(On Thursday, Los Angeles city officials carved out a curfew exemption for ticket holders of indoor events and performing arts venues downtown including the Music Center, paving the way for evening performances of Center Theatre Group’s “Hamlet” and Los Angeles Opera’s “Rigoletto.”)
The Trump administration says it will deploy 4,000 National Guard members and 700 Marines to L.A. to protect immigration agents and federal buildings at a reported cost of $134 million. On Tuesday, the state of California requested a temporary restraining order blocking the deployments, so it’s anyone’s guess as to how this will ultimately unfold.
The uncertainty, including how long Mayor Karen Bass’ 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew will remain in effect, has added to the pall over downtown L.A., where businesses and restaurants are also struggling with security issues and the many unknowns of the swiftly evolving crisis.
On Wednesday, I reached out to many of downtown’s arts leaders, and they all issued statements in support of Los Angeles and all of its inhabitants.
“As Los Angeles’ largest theatre company, located in Downtown LA, we are heartbroken by the events unfolding around us and affecting so many in our beautiful and diverse city,” CTG said. “Our mission is to be a home for everyone who calls themselves an Angeleno.”
This is a sentiment that abounds throughout this proud city of immigrants, where many with friends or neighbors who are undocumented feel sorrow to see the violence and destruction.
As losses mount for the arts in downtown L.A., it is worth noting that if you add the cost of President Trump’s Saturday military parade in Washington, D.C. — estimated to be about $45 million — to the aforementioned price tag for sending troops to Southern California , the total is about $179 million. The National Endowment for the Arts, which Trump has proposed eliminating entirely, requested a $210.1 million budget for 2025, and millions in grants for arts groups have been clawed back this year under Elon Musk’s DOGE.
I’m arts and culture reporter Jessica Gelt, standing with my community in support of all its members. Here’s this week’s arts news.
Best bets: On our radar this week
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Huntley Ritter, from left, Kirsten Dunst, Nathan West and Eliza Dushku in the 2000 movie “Bring It On.”
(Getty / Universal Studios)
Academy screenings
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presents two very different films this weekend. On Friday, the North American premiere of a new 4K restoration of 1975 best picture winner, “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” starring Jack Nicholson, screens with supervising film editor Richard Chew and editor Lynzee Klingman joining screenwriter Larry Karaszewski to discuss the film. Then, the academy’s Teen Movie Madness! series continues Saturday with a 25th anniversary screening of cheerleading cult fave “Bring It On” in 35mm, preceded by a conversation with actor and artist Brandi Williams, who played Lafred in the film.
“One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” 7:30 p.m. Friday; “Bring It On,” 7:30 p.m. Saturday. Academy Museum, David Geffen Theater, 6067 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles. academymuseum.org
Cinderella
Los Angeles Ballet closes out its 2024-25 season with this fairy tale classic featuring choreography by Edwaard Liang set to the music of Sergei Prokofiev. This reimagined version adds a modern sensibility, new twists, fantasy and humor to the story of a young woman, mistreated by her stepmother and stepsisters, who is transformed for a date with a prince by a fairy godmother.
7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Dolby Theatre, 6801 Hollywood Blvd, Hollywood. losangelesballet.org
Soprano Renée Fleming will headline the performance “Renée Fleming & Friends” on June 14.
(Andrew Eccles / Decca)
Renée Fleming & Friends
Broadway and opera come together as vocalists Tituss Burgess, Lindsay Mendez and Jessie Mueller join the legendary soprano for a one-night-only concert presented by L.A. Opera. When Fleming appeared in the musical “Light in the Piazza” at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in 2019, Times theater critic Charles McNulty wrote that the singer “delivers the goods in the show’s climax … Sound and sense are at last joined, making the distinction between Broadway and opera irrelevant.” (The performance is still planned as originally scheduled. Please check with L.A. Opera for updates.)
7:30 p.m. Friday. Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, 135 N. Grand Ave., downtown L.A. laopera.org
Poster for the movie “The Bull-Dogger” starring actor Bill Pickett,1925. Lithograph on paper.
(Autry Museum)
Black Cowboys: An American Story
Beyoncé earned accolades (including her first best album Grammy) for “Cowboy Carter,” bringing the iconography of the Black West to the mainstream. For those whose appetites have been whetted for more, this exhibition at the Autry Museum of the American West, conceived and organized by the Witte Museum in San Antonio, delivers a deep dive into that underreported slice of history. Tales of how Black men and women deployed their equestrian skills to great effect as they tamed and trained horses, tended livestock and embarked on cattle drives across the country come to life through historical and contemporary objects, photographs and personal recollections. The Autry’s presentation also highlights Hollywood’s influence on the Black cowboy image with movie memorabilia, including vintage film posters and the costumes used in the 2021 Netflix film “The Harder They Fall.”
Saturday through Jan. 4. Autry Museum of the American West, 4700 Western Heritage Way, Griffith Park. theautry.org
Culture news
Denzel Washington, left, and Jake Gyllenhaal attend the “Othello” Broadway production media day at Tavern on the Green on Feb. 10 in New York.
(C.J. Rivera / Invision / Associated Press)
“Broadway finally got its groove back. The 2024-25 season was the highest-grossing season on record and the second-highest in terms of attendance,” Times theater critic Charles McNulty writes in a column about last Sunday’s Tony Awards. That resurgence could be attributed to the many high-powered film and television stars on New York stages including George Clooney, Kieran Culkin, Jake Gyllenhaal, Denzel Washington, Bob Odenkirk and Sarah Snook — but the real reason audiences flocked to live theater this season, McNulty concludes, was “unadulterated theatrical fearlessness.”
The Smithsonian Institution’s standoff with President Trump took a new turn Monday evening when the Smithsonian issued a statement that could be read as a rejection of Trump’s late-May firing of National Portrait Gallery director Kim Sajet. The Smithsonian said the organization’s secretary, Lonnie G. Bunch, “has the support of the Board of Regents in his authority and management of the Smithsonian,” after a lengthy meeting by the board. This seems to imply that, for now, Sajet isn’t going anywhere.
An installation view of “The Land Carries Our Ancestors: Contemporary Art by Native Americans” at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
(Carolina A. Miranda / Los Angeles Times)
On Wednesday, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., announced a major gift of modern and contemporary drawings from longtime museum supporters Lenore and Bernard Greenberg. The collection of more than 60 works of art includes pieces by Vija Celmins, Willem de Kooning, Alberto Giacometti, Jasper Johns, Ellsworth Kelly, Franz Kline, Brice Marden, Bruce Nauman, Susan Rothenberg, Ed Ruscha, Shahzia Sikander and Cy Twombly.
“Adrien Brody’s art is horrendous. Why are some people pretending it isn’t?” senior ARTnews editor Alex Greenberger argues in a pointed, sometimes hilarious takedown of the Oscar-winning star’s paintings. “Adrien Brody has received due attention for his acting abilities: his Oscar-winning performance in last year’s film The Brutalist is the kind of work most actors would be lucky to pull off once in their lifetime. Last week, however, he started receiving undue attention for the hideous art he debuted in New York at Eden Gallery, which — based on its press coverage, anyway — is one of the most talked-about exhibitions of the summer,” the column begins. If you need a chuckle, it’s worth reading in its entirety.
The SoCal scene
Patrick Ball, from left, Ramiz Monsef and Gina Torres in “Hamlet” at the Mark Taper Forum.
(Jeff Lorch)
Unlike his assessment of Broadway’s season, Charles McNulty wasn’t so positive about a recent L.A. theater offering. He did not enjoy director Robert O’Hara’s world-premiere adaptation of “Hamlet,” starring Patrick Ball from MAX’s hit show “The Pitt.” The new material places the story in a noir landscape in modern-day L.A. and features a second-act twist when a detective comes to investigate the play’s bloodbath a la “CSI.” “O’Hara’s audacious antics are stimulating at first, but there’s not enough dramatic interest to sustain such a grueling journey,” McNulty writes.
A massive Barbara Kruger mural titled “Questions” on the side of MOCA’s Geffen Contemporary began appearing in news broadcasts and social media posts across the country as ICE protests unfolded over the weekend. This proved prophetic, since the 1990 artwork is composed of a series of pointed questions that interrogate the very nature of power and control. Read all about it here.
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Pasadena Playhouse has announced its 2025-26 season, its first since buying back its historic 1925 building. Theater lovers can gear up for the shiny new Tony Award-winning best revival of a play, “Eureka Day,” as well as Peter Shaffer’s “Amadeus,” a world-premiere adaptation of “Brigadoon” and the novel two-person hip-hop musical, “Mexodus.”
— Jessica Gelt
And last but not least
There is nothing more delectable — or truer to the diverse fabric of Los Angeles — than a good street taco. The Food team has pulled together a delicious list of 19 street vendors to support from the 101 Best Tacos guide.
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Protesters or agitators: Who is driving chaos at L.A. immigration protests?
The crowd near Los Angeles City Hall had by Sunday evening reached an uneasy detente with a line of grim-faced police officers.
The LAPD officers gripped “less lethal” riot guns, which fire foam rounds that leave red welts and ugly bruises on anyone they hit. Demonstrators massed in downtown Los Angeles for the third straight day. Some were there to protest federal immigration sweeps across the county — others appeared set on wreaking havoc.
Several young men crept through the crowd, hunched over and hiding something in their hands. They reached the front line and hurled eggs at the officers, who fired into the fleeing crowd with riot guns.
LAPD officers stage on Los Angeles Street.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Jonas March, who was filming the protests as an independent journalist, dropped to the floor and tried to army-crawl away.
“As soon as I stood up, they shot me in the a—,” the 21-year-old said.
Violence and widespread property damage at protests in downtown L.A. have diverted public attention away from the focus of the demonstrations — large-scale immigration sweeps in such predominantly Latino cities as Paramount, Huntington Park and Whittier.
Instead, the unrest has trained attention on a narrow slice of the region — the civic core of Los Angeles — where protests have devolved into clashes with police and made-for-TV scenes of chaos: Waymo taxis on fire. Vandals defacing city buildings with anti-police graffiti. Masked men lobbing chunks of concrete at California Highway Patrol officers keeping protesters off the 101 Freeway.
A person lobs a large rock at CHP officers stationed on the 101 Freeway.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
The escalating unrest led LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell on Sunday night to break with Mayor Karen Bass, who has condemned President Trump’s decision to deploy the National Guard to the city.
“Do we need them? Well, looking at tonight, this thing has gotten out of control,” McDonnell said at a news conference. The chief said he wanted to know more about how the National Guard could help his officers before he decided whether their presence was necessary.
McDonnell drew a distinction between protesters and masked “anarchists” who he said were bent on exploiting the state of unrest to vandalize property and attack police.
CHP officers on the 101 Freeway.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
“When I look at the people who are out there doing the violence, that’s not the people that we see here in the day who are out there legitimately exercising their 1st Amendment rights,” McDonnell said. “These are people who are all hooded up — they’ve got a hoodie on, they’ve got face masks on.”
“They’re people that do this all the time,” he said. “They get away with whatever they can. Go out there from one civil unrest situation to another, using the same or similar tactics frequently. And they are connected.”
McDonnell said some agitators broke up cinder blocks with hammers to create projectiles to hurl at police, and others lobbed “commercial-grade fireworks” at officers.
“That can kill you,” he said.
The LAPD arrested 50 people over the weekend. Capt. Raul Jovel, who oversaw the department’s response to the protests, said those arrested included a man accused of ramming a motorcycle into a line of officers and another suspect who allegedly threw a Molotov cocktail.
California National Guard troops watch as protesters clash with law enforcement in downtown Los Angeles.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
McDonnell said investigators will scour video from police body cameras and footage posted on social media to identify more suspects.
“The number of arrests we made will pale in comparison to the number of arrests that will be made,” McDonnell said.
Representatives of the Los Angeles city attorney and Los Angeles County district attorney’s office could not immediately say whether any cases were being reviewed for prosecution. Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman said those who “hurl cinder blocks, light vehicles on fire, destroy property and assault law enforcement officers” will be charged.
On Sunday, the LAPD responded to a chaotic scene that began when protesters squared off with National Guard troops and Department of Homeland Security officers outside the Metropolitan Detention Center.
Around 1 p.m., a phalanx of National Guard troops charged into the crowd, yelling “push” as they rammed people with riot shields. The troops and federal officers used pepper balls, tear gas canisters, flash-bangs and smoke grenades to break up the crowd.
No one in the crowd had been violent toward the federal deployment up to that point. The purpose of the surge appeared to be to clear space for a convoy of approaching federal vehicles.
Department of Homeland Security police officers had asked protesters to keep vehicle paths clear earlier in the morning, but their commands over a loudspeaker were often drowned out by protesters’ chants. They offered no warning before charging the crowd.
California National Guard troops stand guard at the Metropolitan Detention Center.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
Some in the crowd lobbed bottles and fireworks at the LAPD. Two people rode motorcycles to the front of the crowd, revving their engines and drawing cheers from bystanders. Police accused them of ramming the skirmish line, and the motorcycles could be seen fallen over on their sides afterward. The drivers were led away by police, their feet dragging across asphalt lined with shattered glass and spent rubber bullets.
On the other side of the 101, vandals set fire to a row of Waymos. Acrid smoke billowed from the autonomous taxis as people smashed their windows with skateboards. Others posed for photographs standing on the roofs of the burning white SUVs.
After California Highway Patrol officers pushed protesters off the 101 Freeway, people wearing masks flung chunks of concrete — and even a few electric scooters — at the officers, who sheltered under an overpass. A piece of concrete struck a CHP car, drawing cheers from the crowd.
Los Angeles Police Department officers shoot tear gas as they advance on demonstrators who formed a makeshift barricade.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
Closer to City Hall, the LAPD pushed demonstrators toward Gloria Molina Grand Park, where some in the crowd wrenched pink park benches from their concrete mounts and piled them into a makeshift barricade in the middle of Spring Street.
The crowd, which included a Catholic priest wearing his robes and a woman with a feathered Aztec headdress, milled behind the barricades until LAPD officers on horseback pushed them back, swinging long wooden batons at several people who refused to retreat. Video footage circulating online showed one woman being trampled.
The crowd moved south into the Broadway corridor, where the LAPD said businesses reported being looted around 11 p.m. Footage filmed by an ABC-7 helicopter showed people wearing masks and hooded sweatshirts breaking into a shoe store.
McDonnell said the scenes of lawlessness disgusted him and “every good person in this city.”
Before any chaos erupted on Sunday, Julie Solis walked along Alameda Street holding a California flag, warning protesters not to engage in the kind of behavior that followed later in the day.
Solis, 50, said she believed the National Guard was deployed solely to provoke a response that would justify further aggression from federal law enforcement.
“They want arrests. They want to see us fail,” she said. “We need to be peaceful. We need to be eloquent.”
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Driver arrested after car plows into celebrating Liverpool fans
LONDON — A 53-year-old British man plowed his minivan into a crowd of Liverpool soccer fans who had been celebrating the city team’s Premier League championship Monday and was arrested, police said.
There was no immediate word from authorities on how many people were injured. An air ambulance and other emergency vehicles swarmed the scene to respond to reports that multiple pedestrians had been hit.
“It was extremely fast,” said Harry Rashid, who was at the parade with his wife and two young daughters and only several feet away. “Initially, we just heard the pop, pop, pop of people just being knocked off the bonnet of a car.”
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he was being updated on the situation and thanked police for their quick response.
“The scenes in Liverpool are appalling — my thoughts are with all those injured or affected,” Starmer said.
Liverpool fans had come out in their tens of thousands to celebrate the team winning the Premier League this season for a record-tying 20th top-flight title.
Liverpool’s last league title came in 2020 but supporters were denied the chance to publicly celebrate that trophy because of restrictions in place at the time during the pandemic.
Dancing, scarf-and-flag-waving fans braved wet weather to line the streets and climb up traffic lights to get a view of Liverpool’s players, who were atop two buses bearing the words “Ours Again.”
The hours-long procession — surrounded by a thick layer of police and security — crawled along a 10-mile route and through a sea of red smoke and rain. Fireworks exploded from the Royal Liver Building in the heart of the city to seemingly signal the end of the parade.
The team issued a short statement saying its thoughts and prayers were with those affected.
Rashid said after the car rammed its initial victims, it came to a halt and the crowd charged the vehicle and began smashing windows.
“But then he put his foot down again and just plowed through the rest of them, he just kept going,” Rashid said. “It was horrible. And you could hear the bumps as he was going over the people.”
Rashid said it looked deliberate and he was in shock and disbelief.
“My daughter started screaming and there were people on the ground,” he said. “They were just innocent people, just fans going to enjoy the parade.”
Melley and Douglas write for the Associated Press.
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Kaitlyn Dever talks ‘The Last of Us’ finale, ‘crazier’ Season 3
It’s 6 a.m. in Brisbane, Australia, and Kaitlyn Dever is thinking about going to the beach. Except it’s pouring rain outside, which is the only reason she had the option to check out the waves in the first place. The deluge has delayed her call time for “Godzilla x Kong: Supernova,” the monster movie she’s been shooting for the past couple of months.
Just how hard is it raining? Like a normal downpour? Or is it the kind of deluge we see in the final minutes of the season finale of “The Last of Us”?
“It’s actually pouring like the finale of ‘The Last of Us,’” Dever says, laughing.
With the beach off the menu, we have plenty of time to settle in and talk about the bruising (and possibly confusing) season finale of “The Last of Us.” Anyone thinking that the finale might feature a showdown between Dever’s character, Abby Anderson, the young woman who killed Joel (Pedro Pascal) to avenge her father’s death, and Ellie (Bella Ramsey), who has been hunting Abby to exact her own revenge, might be disappointed.
Abby doesn’t turn up until the episode’s last three minutes. When she does finally arrive, she ambushes Ellie. It’s not a tender reunion.
“I let you live,” Abby hisses. “And you wasted it!”
Then we hear the sound of a gunshot and the screen goes black. After a reset, we see Abby lying on a sofa in an entirely different environment, being beckoned from her respite to meet with militia leader Isaac (Jeffrey Wright). She strides to a balcony in Seattle’s T-Mobile Park, the stadium now being used as a base for the Washington Liberation Front. Her entrance is positively papal, and as Abby surveys the scene, a graphic lands on the screen: Seattle Day One, a time frame we’ve already lived from Ellie’s point of view.
What the hell just happened?
[Laughs] I don’t know. I have no idea.
It looks like the show just reset and we’ll be starting Season 3 following Abby for three days, leading up to her confrontation with Ellie.
One would think, yes. But [“The Last of Us” co-creator] Craig [Mazin] hasn’t talked to me about what he’s doing. All he said to me was, “Just get ready for what’s to come because it’s going to be crazier.” He always said he wanted to make Season 2 bigger than Season 1, and he said Season 3 is going to be even bigger. I’m like, “OK. I’ll be ready.”
How did he pitch you on doing the show in the first place?
At my first meeting with Craig and Neil [Druckmann, co-creator of “The Last of Us” game] they told me that their plan for Season 2 was Abby’s introduction to “The Last of Us” world. They told me the number of episodes, so I wasn’t super surprised about that, though I wasn’t thinking that the entire season was going to end on me. [Laughs]
So when you got the script and read that ending …
I was like, “We’re really doing this. Wow.” It’s a lot of pressure. I always think about the times in my past when I’ve done things and I’ve had one line in a scene, and it’s the most nerve-racking thing to do. Everyone else has dialogue, and you’re just thinking about your one line and how you’re going to say it and if you screw it up, the whole scene is screwed up because of your one line. It’s pretty terrifying — but thrilling too.
You’re talking about Abby telling Ellie, “You wasted it”? You really spit it out with some heat.
That’s good to know. I was going back and forth between Vancouver and L.A., so I constantly had to recalibrate and get back into the emotional intensity of Abby. That was actually the last scene I shot.
How did you find your way back into Abby’s anger?
Well, the very first scene I shot was the killing of Joel. The light one. [Laughs] So getting back into it, I’d always go back to that and Abby’s monologue, what she says to Joel before shooting him. Those words are so visceral and heartbreaking and really paint a picture. So I just kept bringing myself back to that place, how I’d been thinking about saying those words for five years.
Abby’s brutal encounter with Ellie in Seattle was the last scene Dever shot on “The Last of Us” Season 2.
(Liane Hentscher / HBO)
Did you watch that Joel episode when it aired or had you already seen it?
I did watch it with my partner. But the first time I watched it, I was by myself. And before that, I had gone to do ADR [automated dialogue replacement] with Craig, and he asked, “Can I just show you a little bit of it?” And I was on the floor because I was so overwhelmed. That is the most intense episode of television I’ve ever seen. And then when I watched it later, I couldn’t believe it, even though I had experienced it myself.
You had experienced it, but you’ve said you don’t really remember filming it because it was four days after your mother’s funeral. [Dever’s mother, Kathy, died from breast cancer in February 2024.] In some ways, it must have been like you were watching it for the first time.
I had to fly out three days after her funeral. And the fourth day was that scene in the chalet with the Fireflies and Joel on the floor. So, yeah, it’s all a blur, and it felt like I got to experience it as a first-time viewer. I’d see things and go, “Oh, yeah.” Grief does a really interesting thing with your brain. It messes with your memory.
Filming the scene where you brutally kill one of the most beloved characters on television goes back to what you were saying about pressure. And to do it under those circumstances must have been overwhelming.
I was terrified. I had spent so much time contemplating my mom’s death before she died, thinking about how I wouldn’t be able to go on. I couldn’t imagine. And then it’s a heartbreaking thing to think about, how life moves on. And you have the choice to keep going or not go to Vancouver and do the show that she was so excited about me doing. And then after she passed, I realized there’s no part of me that couldn’t not do this. I had to do it for her.
How did you fight past the fear?
My dad really encouraged me. I really was terrified. And he was like, “You got this. Mom was so excited that you got to be in this show.” And luckily, the crew was so understanding and supportive. Everyone took care of me.
Then it’s 15 months later and the episode finally airs, which I’d imagine brings about a different set of worries. Did you go online to check out the reaction?
Of course I did! I kill everyone’s favorite character, the love of everyone’s life. I’d never been part of anything this massive before. Like, the whole world is watching this. I had no idea what to expect.
And what did you find?
It was more positive than I thought it would be.
I didn’t play the game, so one of my first thoughts after watching it was: Wow, gamers can keep a secret.
They can. I loved watching all those TikTok videos where people were filming their parents or partners watching and showing their reactions.
Having played the game, you’ve known about Abby and Joel for years.
My dad was playing the second game and handed me the controller and said, “Kaitlyn, you’ve got to see this.” In the game, it’s so jarring and shocking.
On TV too!
[Laughs] But with the game, after they kill Joel, all of a sudden you’re playing as a woman. And my first reaction was, “Is this Ellie? Am I playing as Ellie?” It is interesting how they take these two characters who are mirrors of each other in many ways.
Dever’s Abby surveys the action inside T-Mobile Park on “Seattle Day One.”
(Liane Hentscher / HBO)
I was thinking about how it’d be great if Season 3 would have an episode with Abby and her father that mirrored the one with Ellie and Joel.
That’s a really good idea. I hope we get to do something like that.
I have a feeling you might. Maybe you even know something about that. [Laughs]
Honestly, I can keep a secret too! I knew about Joel dying long before even Season 1 because I had met with Neil years ago when they were talking about making a movie from the game. And he was showing me the making of the second game and asked, “You want to know what happens?” And I’m like, “Oh, my God!” So I’ve been keeping this in a long time.
So you’re good at keeping a secret. Gamers know how Season 3 is likely to develop. You’ve played the game. Are you being coy?
[Laughs] We don’t know what Craig’s plans are. He has been playing with dynamics, even in that first episode of the season where we see Abby taking charge and being a leader.
She sure looks like she’s a leader in the finale’s last scene.
That scene plays at the idea that Abby is sitting in her power. And whatever that means, I will keep to myself for now. People who have played the game will have a few guesses.
When you went to work on “Godzilla x Kong: Supernova” the day after the Abby/Joel episode aired, did people treat you a little differently? Maybe keep their distance a bit? Hide the golf clubs?
It was pretty wild to go to work that day. Everyone wanted to talk about it. And all they could really get out was, “Oooooof, that episode.”
One thing I kept looking for all season was where they used CGI to remove a spider bite from your face. I couldn’t find it.
[Laughs] It’s in the first episode with the Fireflies. I had gone home for a few weeks and got a spider bite on my cheek. I thought it was a pimple. It was not a pimple. It was a huge spider bite and … I hate to use this word, but it was oozing. And the CGI is amazing. You can’t even tell it is there. I still have a scar on my face because they had to cut it out.
So, to summarize: a very eventful shoot for you.
For many reasons. I’ll never forget it.
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Everyone can see the office scene – but you need 20/20 vision to spot five hidden utensils in the image
TEST your vision to the max with this perplexing brain teaser, that will have you scratching your head trying to solve it.
Everyone can see the busy office scene, but only the most eagle-eyed can spot the five hidden utensils in this busy office scene.
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Whether you’re trying to improve your sight, or test your IQ, this puzzle will prove a challenge to many readers.
Put your observation skills to the test and figure out whether you have what it takes to spot the five hidden utensils in under 18 seconds.
Make sure to set your stopwatch before undertaking this challenge, to make it extra hard for yourself.
If you can spot all five within 18 seconds, you are said to have 20/20 vision.
The brainteaser, provided by Diamond Interiors, depicts a busy office scene, featuring people working, chatting and having meetings.
At first glance, it is hard to spot the five utensils hidden within the scene.
However, look closely and the hidden items will begin to be revealed.
Unless you’re lucky enough to spot the five utensils immediately, we recommend analysing the image in great detail.
The visual deception of this image will have you peeling your eyes, but the payoff is worth it.
If you need a hint, we recommend focusing on the table right in the middle of the image.
The first utensil can be found balanced on top of the table.
If you’re looking for something a bit harder, only those with eagle eyes will be able to find the hidden word amongst the flowers in this summer scene.
Another tricky puzzle challenges readers to say the colour without reading the word.
If that’s not hard enough, why not try looking for the jokers hidden in this poker scene in 10 seconds.
How can optical illusions and brainteasers help me?
Engaging in activities like solving optical illusions and brainteasers can have many cognitive benefits as it can stimulate various brain regions.
Some benefits include:
Finally, only the sharpest drivers will be able to spot all hazards in 15 seconds in this busy motorway scene.
Coming back to our challenge, were you able to solve it in under 18 seconds?
For those struggling to find the answer, we have marked the solution for you.
How many utensils were you able to spot?
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In ‘horrific’ scene, small jet crashes in San Diego military neighborhood
1 of 2 | Damaged cars line a residential street after a small plane crashed into the area earlier in the day near Montgomery-Gibbs Executive Airport in San Diego, Calif. Photo by Caroline Brehman/EPA-EFE
May 22 (UPI) — A small jet plane crashed near a military housing neighborhood outside San Diego but the number of onboard fatalities is not yet known.
The incident was reported around 3:45 a.m. local time in the 3100 block of Salmon Street near the Tierrasanta neighborhood in the Murphy Canyon area.
According to the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, the aircraft was a Cessna 550, which often is used as a corporate jet.
One local resident was hospitalized and two others were treated for minor injuries, the San Diego Police Department reported.
It added that the plane crashed near California’s Montgomery-Gibbs Executive Airport after it took off Wednesday night from New Jersey’s Teterboro Airport, according to flight data on FlightAware.
It reportedly landed early Thursday morning in Wichita, where it stayed in Kansas for about an hour before it departed for California.
The Cessna struck homes and caused about 15, along with several cars, to catch fire, San Diego Fire-Rescue Department Assistant Chief Dan Eddy told reporters at the crash site.
“The number of people on board is unknown at this time,” the agency initially said, adding the FAA and National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the cause of the deadly crash.
“The NSTB will lead the investigation and provide any updates,” FAA officials said. “This information is preliminary and subject to change,” they warned.
Eddy said the were no on-ground fatalities but the plane could have held up to 10 people, including its pilot.
According to SDFD officials, the crash scene is now a HAZMAT situation because of aviation fuel flowing down the streets, forcing multiple neighborhoods to be evacuated.
San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl said there was “jet fuel going down the street and everything on fire all at once.” He added that it was “pretty horrific to see.”
Meanwhile, at least a dozen local pets were rescued or decontaminated by the San Diego Humane Society after the crash in the Murphy Canyon area.
“On behalf of our city, I extend my condolences to the families and loved ones of those aboard the plane,” San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria said in a statement, expressing his “deepest” gratitude to scores of agencies for their “swift, coordinated responses” that “quickly evacuated residents, extinguished fires and secured the area to ensure this tragedy was not compounded.”
“San Diego will support the Navy as they assist the residents affected by this tragedy,” the mayor said.
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N.Y. manhunt aftermath: Ex-state trooper pleads guilty to shooting himself, faking crime scene
May 21 (UPI) — An ex-New York state police officer on Wednesday pleaded guilty to shooting himself in the leg as part of a fake crime scene in what prosecutors said was a plan to gain sympathy.
Former trooper Thomas Mascia, 27, admitted in court that he staged the supposed crime scene on October 30 after he claimed to have been injured by an unknown shooter near exit 17 of New York’s Southern State Parkway while checking on a disabled vehicle.
The West Hempstead resident pleaded guilty to tampering with physical evidence, falsely reporting a police incident and for official misconduct.
He is expected to serve six months in prison, five years of probation and must undergo continued mental health treatment and pay more than $289,500 in restitution.
Mascia admitted that he spread shells at the alleged scene, then drove in his state vehicle to nearby Hempstead Lake State Park, where he then shot himself with the same caliber rifle loaded with the same shells left on the highway. It is there where he returned and called in the staged incident.
“You weren’t shot by someone else?” asked the assistant Nassau County district attorney, to which Mascia replied: “Yes.”
His actions had set off a statewide manhunt for the suspected vehicle Mascia described until investigators discovered the gunshot was self-inflicted.
Mascia attorney Jeffrey Lichtman stated Mascia also lied about getting hit by a car during an alleged 2022 hit-and-run incident upstate, adding that state police officials missed the signs of mental distress which, according to Lichtman, was what led to October’s staged event.
The former state trooper saw a delayed plea deal earlier this month after Mascia inadvertently expressed that he was not in good mental health.
On Wednesday, he said “yes” after the judge inquired if he was in a good mental state.
Additionally, Mascia’s parents were charged with criminal possession of a firearm.
Thomas Mascia Sr., a former NYPD officer until his conviction in the 1990s for his role in a cocaine ring, was charged after a search of the home related to the incident uncovered an illegal assault-style weapon along with about $80,000 in cash.
Meanwhile, Mascia is expected to be sentenced on August 20.
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