Twilight Concert Series, Jimmy Cliff, The Delirians : September 12, 2013

september 12, 2013

FREE, THURSDAY NIGHTS, 7-10PM

Jimmy Cliff The Delirians

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Table of contents page 11

Insider’s guide The 411 on this year’s shows

pages 8-9

page 12

Map

Classic gaming

Find your way around the Pier

Playland Arcade and the Santa Monica Pier go way back

page 10

page 14-15

Reggae royalty Jimmy Cliff keeps going

What a summer

Legendary performer closes this year’s Twilight Concerts

Twilight Concert Series Partners

Twilight Concert Series stage sees everything from retro R&B to classic ska during its 2013 season

Spaceland Laemmle Santa Monica Daily Press

Myspace Cirque du Soleil KCRW OneWest Bank 98.7 FM G'day USA Quantas Airways Shore Hotel Chili Beans Eyewear Michelob Ultra LA Weekly Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf Mambo Cotton On Australia.com Loaded Boards Rum & Humble

Drum Workshop Uber Barefoot Wine Sabian WSR Creative Bagavagabonds Heal the Bay Del Frisco's Grille Mariasol City of Santa Monica Pacific Park of Santa Monica Studio 16 City TV Whole Foods Buy Local Santa Monica For more information, visit

www.SantaMonicaPier.org

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Jimmy Cliff

Reggae royalty Jimmy Cliff keeps going Legendary performer closes this year’s Twilight Concerts T

o qualify Jimmy Cliff as an “icon” or “living legend” of reggae is unnecessary.

He is reggae royalty through-and-through and his foray into film, as the lead actor in the 1973 film “The Harder They Come” — which marks its 40th anniversary this year with a series of screenings nationwide — helped popularize the genre globally. To boot, Cliff is the only living reggae musician enshrined in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame — with Bob Marley, the artist he paved the way for, being the other.

Cliff, 65, is resurgent and dynamic as ever.

“Rebirth,” his most recent release, won Best Reggae Album at the 2013 Grammy Awards, and this month, the Many Rivers Crossed Tour finds Cliff and his band performing live across the U.S., including the evening of Thursday, Sept. 12, at the Santa Monica Pier as part of the Twilight Concert Series presented by

MySpace.

Born James Chambers in St. Catherine, Jamaica, in 1948, Chambers replaced his surname with Cliff to express a desire to soar high as a musician. Having released his first song “Hurricane Hattie” at age 14 in the 1960s, Cliff has enjoyed a prodigious and legendary career spanning an astounding five decades. With a dizzying discography of his own, Cliff’s songs have been covered

by Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, Cher and Fiona Apple. Meanwhile, Cliff’s cover of “I Can See Clearly Now” was even included in the popular ‘90s Disney film “Cool Runnings.”

While Cliff’s famous tenor is etched on hundreds of now-classic ska and reggae tracks, the musician’s crossover into rock is substantial and well-documented. Performing in front of thousands at the Bonnaroo Festival in

Tennessee last year was a reinvigorated Cliff, fresh out of studio sessions with collaborator and punk legend Tim Armstrong (Rancid, Operation Ivy). Armstrong produced the “Sacred Fire” EP that served as the prelude to “Rebirth,” the latter released as Cliff’s first studio album in seven years.

“The album is about my rebirth as an artist and as a man, but also about the rebirth of the world,” Cliff is quoted as saying in the official biography on his website.

It is certainly a world in which Cliff’s politically-tinged music, such as the 1970 song “Vietnam,” resonates as loudly as over. Bob Dylan counts the track among his all-time great protest songs and Paul Simon was inspired to record “Mother and Child Reunion” with Cliff’s band in Jamaica because of it. On “Rebirth,” Cliff addresses poverty and hunger on the haunting “Children’s Bread,” which was

inspired by an African tour.

For the Many Rivers Crossed Tour, Cliff brings back trumpeter/vocalist Dwight Richards — a “rare returnee,” per Jamaica’s Gleaner newspaper — but has otherwise assembled a brand new band. The tour focuses on the context of Cliff’s best songs and the process through which they were created. In an interview with the Gleaner, Cliff promises nothing short of an experience that will “draw you into my world” and adds the tour will emphasize “storytelling.”

With so many accomplishments, Cliff is still as motivated as ever. It turns out Cliff is pursuing “stadium act” status.

“I have not become the artist I believe I am,” he told Rolling Stone last year.

Evidently, Cliff’s heights are never high enough.

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WATCH ING THE SHOW from the beach tonight?

Don't forget to recycle your glass bottles and aluminum cans.

2411 Delaware Avenue in Santa Monica

(310) 453-9677

Twilight Concerts insider’s guide Tickets

Smoking

No tickets necessary, this is pure free summer fun (remember that?) all thanks to our partners and sponsors who have brought us another season of awesome free concerts at the beach. Make sure to show them some love.

Don’t even think about it, it’s a 100-year-old wooden Pier, and we really like it.

Pets Dogs are welcome, but must be on a leash.

Time 7 p.m. — 10 p.m., but those in the know stake out a good spot early.

Parking Parking is available in the 1550 Pacific Coast Highway Lot next to the Santa Monica Pier on a first-come, first-served basis. Those wanting to avoid long waits should try one of the municipal lots around Second Street and Colorado Avenue or grab the ParkMe app for live data of parking availability and prices.

Go technology!

Weather & attire It never gets too cold, but sometimes it gets a little chilly once the sun goes down. So bring something or head up to the Pier Tent on the deck to grab this year’s limited-edition sweatshirt or T-shirt!

Seating Seating is not provided, so feel free to bring your own chairs, blankets, etc ...

Food & drinks Bike & skateboard valet Park your wheels at the free bike and skateboard valet located next to the beach bike path just south of the Pier.

There are plenty of great food and beverage options on the deck and at the various restaurants on the Pier. Most even have to-go options perfect for munching during the show. As a reminder, alcohol consumption is not permitted in public spaces, but there are several full-service bars in the area.

Friends & family

The Concert Garden

Bring them, the more the merrier. You will not regret it. This is one epic summer tradition.

There is a 21-and-over Concert Garden featuring Barefoot Wines, an assortment of cocktails and non-alcoholic beverages.

Do not miss this view.

First aid/lost & found If you need first aid or assistance, please visit the Pier Tent or flag down a security officer. If it is an emergency, please call 911.

E-mail list & special offers Sign up at TwilightSeries.org for special announcements, offers and invites.

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Santa Monica Recycling Center

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Classic gaming Playland Arcade and the Santa Monica Pier go way back F

or the past 60 years, Playland Arcade has been a fixture on the Santa Monica Pier, as much a part of the landmark’s history and presence as the waves and salt air.

The arcade is going strong today, attracting locals and tourists alike, with its offerings of over 100 contemporary and retro video games, as well as kiddie rides, pinball machines, air hockey tables, Skee-Ball, shooting galleries, and of course, an extensive prize room. And since the doors open in the morning, and stay open until midnight or later, it’s easy to see why the arcade is one of the most popular spots for family outings and dates on the Westside.

The atmosphere is maintained by sisters Marlene and Jonie Gordon, arcade founder George Gordon’s daughters, and only the most recent members of the Gordon clan to be in the game business.

“You don’t find a lot of businesses who are into their fourth generation of family ownership anywhere, particularly in the Los Angeles area,” said Jim Harris, pier historian. “The importance of the arcade lies in its longevity, as well as the distinction of being familyowned for almost six decades. It has survived

all of the pier’s good times and its bad times, and the Gordon family has kept it a strong and vital part of the pier throughout.”

The Gordon family had been in games before; George Gordon ran an arcade in Atlantic City, N. J., before moving to California with brother Eugene and father Morris after World War II. The Gordon family’s history intersected with the pier in 1952, when George Gordon opened the Playland Arcade on the boardwalk. Gordon borrowed money from his father to start the arcade, choosing Santa Monica over the neighboring Pacific Ocean Park Pier, an odd choice perhaps given that the Santa Monica Pier was more known then for its connection to the Santa Monica Yacht Harbor, Harris said.

Gordon housed the arcade in a building that came with an ocean-side history; it had been erected about 30 years before, and had already acted as a boat sales and service shop.

Despite this unconventional location, Gordon worked over the next two decades to expand the arcade, at one point purchasing another piece of “Santa Monicana” with a col-

orful history, the Merry-Go-Round Building and carousel. Gordon sold the carousel to the city of Santa Monica in 1977, but in the meantime, the arcade also included an archery range, the billiard building, car rides and a shooting gallery, complete with live bullets.

In the mid-’60s, two events seemed set to put Playland on a pedestal. The opening of the Santa Monica section of Interstate 10 in 1966 meant that more than foot traffic could grace the arcade, and the closure of the Pacific Ocean Park Pier, which filed for bankruptcy in 1967, removed the Santa Monica arcade’s only coastal competition in the Los Angeles area, Harris said.

However, upon entering the ‘70s, the arcade, and the entire pier, was threatened with destruction multiple times; the boardwalk was in disrepair, and plans were made by city officials to demolish the pier and replace it with, among other things, a manmade island that would feature a resort and hotel, Harris said.

It was thanks to counter-movements to restore, not replace, the pier that the boardwalk was saved, and Gordon was at the forefront.

“George Gordon was the pier’s rock,”

Harris said. “He was trusted and respected by everyone on the pier.

“His ability to guide and maintain operations through some of the pier’s more difficult periods is still an inspiration today.”

Today, the arcade no longer includes the carousel, and the live shooting galleries are gone, but the history is all there.

After all, the arcade serves as a celebration of its own history, as well as the history of the pier and the history of carnival games and boardwalk fun in America.

“Alongside all of the flashy new video games you can find good old-fashioned SkeeBall as well as some other wonderful ‘retro’ classics,” Harris said. “It never loses that good old ‘boardwalk feeling.’ While its appearance has changed and the games have evolved, there is still that unmistakable and unique atmosphere created by the lights, whistles and buzzers.”

Lose yourself in time at the Playland Arcade. Whether you’ve come for up-to-date fun, or classic amusement, you’re playing a part in pier history. For more information, call (310) 451-5133 or visit playlandarcadesmpier.com.

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Surly | Linus | Biria Virtue | Phat Cycles Schwinn | Nirve Purefix | Haro Free Agent | Litespeed Stromer | E-motion

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What a summer Twilight Concert Series stage sees everything from retro R&B to classic ska during its 2013 season T

o say that it has been an eclectic summer of music on the Santa Monica Pier is an understatement.

We opened with rockers Surfer Blood, had a night of six-string slingers with Hanni El Khatib and Bombino and rocked out to the retro R&B sounds of L.A.’s own Nick Waterhouse.

We thank all of you for coming out, making 2013 one of our most successful summer’s ever.

But, it’s not over yet.

The legendary Jimmy Cliff closes the summer off right with his classic reggae sound.

See you in 2014.

Twilight Concert Series Schedule July 11

Surfer Blood with Terraplane Sun

July 18

Meshell Ndegeocello with The Record Company

July 25 photo courtesy Brandon Wise

surfer blood

No Age with Tijuana Panthers

Aug. 1

Xavier Rudd with Aus Rocks Us

Aug. 8

Hanni El Khatib and Bombino

Aug. 15

The English Beat with Maxwell Smart & Rusty’s EAC

Aug. 22

Nick Waterhouse with Boogaloo Assassins

Aug. 29

Trombone Shorty with The Dustbowl Revival

Sept. 5

Gardens & Villa and Mr. Little Jeans

Sept. 12

Jimmy Cliff with The Delirians photo courtesy Brandon Wise

Meshell Ndegeocello

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photo courtesy Brandon Wise

The English Beat

Michael Yanow

Nick Waterhouse

photo courtesy Brandon Wise

photo courtesy Brandon Wise mayor pam o'connor

photo courtesy Paul Alvarez Jr.

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Trombone Shorty

No Age

photo courtesy Brandon Wise

Xavier Rudd

photo courtesy Brandon Wise Hanni El Khatib

photo courtesy Brandon Wise

Bombino

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