Twilight Concert Series, Alex Cuba: August 23, 2012

Vol. 9 august 23rd, 2012

alex cuba

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2012 Twilight Concert Series lineup • Aug. 30: New Orleans’ Hot 8 Brass Band and Louisiana funk band The Gumbo Brothers • Sept. 6: Southern California Indie breakout act Best Coast with No opening up * All shows begin at 7 p.m.

2012 Twilight Concert Series Table of contents Pg. 5

User guide Learn more about the TCS

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Cuba by way of Canada Alex Cuba gives this week’s show a Latin flavor

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A game of history Playland Arcade is a record of the pier in one historic package

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Map Make your way around the pier with ease

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Snapping away Pictures from previous concerts

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Future shows Find out who will be playing upcoming concerts Alex Cuba

About this publication This Twilight Concert Series guide has been created as a partnership between the Santa Monica Pier Corporation and the Santa Monica Daily Press.

It is intended to help concert-goers navigate the popular summer concert series.

The Santa Monica Pier Corporation is a non-profit created in 1983 by the Santa Monica City Council to preserve and enhance the pleasure pier experience for people of all ages and for future generations.

For more information, visit santamonicapier.org, or call (310) 458-8901.

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Twilight Concert Series user guide Here’s the skinny on this year’s shows Tickets, cost No ticket or reservation is necessary for the concerts. And all of the concerts are free.

However, should you find yourself wanting to express your appreciation for the concerts you are welcome to make a tax deductible contribution to the Santa Monica Pier Restoration Corporation either by donating online at santamonicapier.org or in person at one of the concerts by visiting the pier booth.

What time do the concerts begin and end?

Hundreds of bikes are parked during each show so make sure you get a spot.

First aid/lost and found If you require first aid or assistance, please visit the pier booth/tent and we will contact the proper authority. If it is an emergency, please call 911. The lost and found will also be located at that location.

Smoking Smoking not permitted on the Santa Monica Pier.

7 p.m. — 10 p.m.

Parking Parking is available in the 1550 Pacific Coast Highway Lot, on a first-come, firstserved basis. There is no parking permitted on the Pier Parking Deck.

There are also a number of city structures located in nearby Downtown Santa Monica.

For more information, visit the City of Santa Monica’s parking site for directions and pricing at parking.smgov.net/overview.html.

For directions to the Santa Monica Pier, visit santamonicapier.org/location.

Bike valet There is a free bike valet located next to the beach bike path just south of the Santa Monica Pier. It’s the reward for being kind to the environment.

Volunteer

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

Weather It never gets really cold, but after the sun goes down it can sometimes get a bit chilly requiring only a sweater or light jacket. It’s always a good idea to have something to throw on just in case.

Seating Seating is not provided. You are welcome to bring beach chairs and blankets and sit on the pier deck or the beach. We ask that you bring low beach chairs. Many people do sit on the sand at the beach below the pier deck.

Food and drinks Alcohol consumption is not permitted in public spaces in Santa Monica. However, there are several full-service bars on the pier.

Food is permitted.

Have a drink “Sonoma on the Deck” Wine and Beer Lounge will be located on the pier overlooking the sand, where guests can enjoy a selection of specialty wine and beer, see the concerts in a relaxed environment, all while taking in the sunset overlooking the Santa Monica Bay.“Sonoma on the Deck” will feature locally-owned, award-winning Solsticio Wines from Argentina, California labels, specialty beer and more! Beer and wine will be offered for $5 and $8 respectively. Must be 21 years of age and present an I.D. “Sonoma on the Deck” is a perfect place to enjoy a summer’s night with great wine, friends and entertainment!

The pier is always looking for a little help with the dance series.

Volunteers are needed to help with raising funds, assisting the crew and providing hospitality for artists.

If you are interested in assisting at the concerts, please contact us at (310) 4588901, or e-mail Anne Railsback at Anne@santamonicapier.org. Please provide the following information: • E-mail address • Phone Numbers: Cell/home • General availability • Special skills/interests • Fundraising ideas

Santa Monica Pier contact info Telephone: (310) 458-8901

Internet: santamonicapier.org

Mail: 200 Santa Monica Pier, Suite A Santa Monica, CA. 90401

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Cuba by way of Canada Alex Cuba gives this week’s show a Latin flavor lex Cuba is industrious. His e-mail signature even reads, “Watch out, world, here is an artist managing himself.” And he manages himself and his career very well.

His guidance of his career has led him to the Twilight Concert Series at the Santa Monica Pier this week and though he’s played Los Angeles venues such as The Mint many times, he’s never played outside or by the water.

“It’s always been great in Los Angeles, but I’ve never played outside. I’m really looking forward to playing on the pier,” he said. “Los Angeles is one of those places that I feel somehow very comfortable because they seem to know my music and my songs. There’s a great Latino community here, the weather reminds me of my home in Cuba and it always makes me feel welcome. It’s a very happening place.”

The Artemisa, Cuba native who currently resides in Smithers, B.C. (14 hours north of Vancouver) has won two Juno Awards for World Music Album of the Year: in 2006 for “Humo De Tabaco,” and in 2008 for his second album, “Agua Del Pozo.”

In 2010, he won the Latin Grammy for Best New Artist, and he’s collaborated with Nelly Furtado for her Spanish language debut album “Mi Plan” (My Plan) which was released September 2009, (Cuba co-wrote more than half of the songs on Furtado’s album) but the success if anything has surprised him.

“It’s been quite the journey for me. I came to Canada as a bass player and my original goal was to become a bass player for somebody famous. That was my drive. I wanted to play with Alanis Morissette. That was my goal.”

From his earliest years in Artemisa (which is one hour west of Havana), he was immersed in music. Cuba’s first stage appearance on national TV was at the tender age of 4, playing claves (a percussion instrument) in a group directed by his music instructor father. He went on to study guitar, percussion and bass, practicing eight hours a day during his teens.

“I spent many years in Cuba being a bass player. But slowly something changed in me while I was in Canada. I started to make my own CDs and when I won the Juno I said, ‘Wow! I guess they really liked it,’” explains Cuba.

Growing up in Artemisa, accustomed to heat, Cuba married a Canadian and immigrated to British Columbia, yet has managed to remain true to his Spanish-Language folkfunk, despite the bitter cold.

“I have to tell you and I hope this doesn’t sound too easy in my answer but I didn’t have any trouble with the weather and I think it was because I was serious about every decision I was making,” Cuba said. “I was serious about marrying my wife and serious about loving her. I was serious about everything. When you are inside of a relationship that you love, the exterior doesn’t seem to have too much impact.”

Cuba is involved in every level of the creative process; from the props that were made for his videos, to the glasses he wears and the guitar, which features so many details.

“There’s part of a trombone coming out of [the guitar] and a clarinet part as well. It’s pretty wicked,” Cuba said.

Cuba works closely with all the producers of his videos.

Taylor Fox (who is from Cuba’s hometown) and Christian Blitz co-directed “Are You” and says Cuba, “It was very much a collaboration. We are all very much involved. Even the outfit in the video is one that I chose myself, I found it somewhere in a second-hand store.”

For more information, visit www.AlexCuba.com.

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Alex Cuba

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A game of history Playland Arcade is a record of the pier in one historic package 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, deputy director of the pier and 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.

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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 colorful history, the MerryGo-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 Skee-Ball 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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Santa Monica Ford Lincoln Mercury

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1230 Santa Monica Blvd. | Santa Monica, Ca., 90404 | (800) 809-1283

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S u b a r u o f S a n t a M o n i c a 1229 Santa Monica Blvd. | Santa Monica, Ca., 90404 | (800) 809-1283 www.SubaruSantaMonica.com | Twitter: @SubaruSM | Facebook: facebook.com/SubaruSM

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Week 7 - Amadou & Mariam

RECYCLE NOW! Aluminum Cans $ .80 1 per pound with this coupon

expires 9-30-12

Aluminum Plastic Glass Bi-Metal Newspaper CardboardWhite/Color/Computer Paper Copper & Brass

Santa Monica Recycling Center 2411 Delaware Avenue in Santa Monica

(310) 453-9677

MICHIGAN

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CLOVERFIELD

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Picture perfect Amadou & Mariam transported Mali to the beach ali’s own Amadou & Mariam brought sounds from their homeland to the Santa Monica Pier for last week’s installment of the Twilight Concert Series.

This week will feature another international heavy weight with Alex Cuba and his contemporary mix of world music and Caribbean standards

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Snap away We’re asking concert-goers to send in their photos from each week’s show.

E-mail them to daniela@smdp.com or post them on our Facebook page at facebook.com/SantaMonicaPier.

If you’re on Twitter we can be found at twitter.com/SantaMonicaPier.

If you’re more into hashtags, tag it #pierconcerts.

Week 5 - Kasey Chambers

Week 4 - Jackie Greene

Week 6 - PARADE Collective

The Great Bike Giveaway is back!

Presented by BIKE ATTACK and PURE FIX

e k i b e i x i Win a fconcert! every

Raffle tickets will be available for sale at the concert, and a drawing will take place at the end of every show.

You do not need to be present to win.

BIKE ATTACK 2400 Main St. Santa Monica

310-581-8014

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Hot 8 Brass Band

Twilight Concert Series 2012 lineup Week 9

Hot 8 Brass Band Plus The Gumbo Brothers

Aug. 30 New Orleans’ own Hot 8 Brass Band has epitomized New Orleans street music for over a decade. The band plays the traditional Second Line parades, hosted each Sunday afternoon by Social Aid and Pleasure Clubs, infusing their performances with the funk and energy that makes New Orleans music loved around the world. The members of the Hot 8 Brass Band were born and raised in New Orleans and many began playing together in high school. What makes the Hot 8 so special are the sounds they coax from their well-loved, well-worn instruments. An evening with the Hot 8 is like no other.

Members of the Hot 8 Brass Band have toured in Japan, Italy, France, Spain, Finland, England and Sardinia. The band performs annually at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and at world and jazz festivals across the U.S. and Europe.

Members of the band have been featured in both Spike Lee documentaries, “When the Levees Broke and If God is Willing” and “Da Creek Don’t Rise.” The band was also featured in the second season of the HBO series, “Tremé.” They recently appeared at The Apollo with Dr. John, Lou Reed, Nicolas Payton and others for the annual Great Day in Harlem. The Hot 8 has released three critically acclaimed

recordings and is featured on the latest Blind Boys of Alabama recording on TimeLife Records.

The Hot 8 Brass Band has been part of an important relief project following Hurricane Katrina. SAVE OUR BRASS! is a local grassroots project that has brought music and instruments to shelters, temporary trailer parks, and communities across the Gulf Coast.

Week 10

Best Coast Plus No

Sept. 6 Combine the sophisticated chill of a New York City winter with the girlish, laid back romance of California in the summertime and what to you get? The answer is Best Coast, the latest musical endeavor by perennially cool, self-described “weird girl” Bethany Cosentino.

Best Coast was born when Cosentino decided to come home to L.A. after a time in New York City, to get a fresh start at living in the place she knows best — California. Quickly garnering praise from critics and listeners with the single “Sun Was High (So Was I),” Cosentino was approached by UK-based label Blackest Rainbow, who released her now sold-out tape “Where the Boys Are.” A Los Angeles native, Cosentino grew tired of what she had grown up with and did what so many have done before — she picked up and left for the East Coast,

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specifically Brooklyn, with the intention of going to art school for creative writing.

“I was like, I hate the beach, I hate flip flops. I want to go to New York,” she said.

But Brooklyn quickly turned out to be far different from what she had envisioned. “I realized that I actually liked all those things, they reminded me of home,” and life in New York was too cold, both literally and figuratively, with too many people trying way too hard, “it’s like, there are people in New York who look like they’re at the beach sometimes but it’s not real, it’s not the same.”

Looking for a way to get a taste of her native land all the way in Brooklyn, Cosentino was drawn to the 1950’s and ‘60’s aesthetic of The

Beach Boys and The Everly Brothers, which, she said, “made me happy.” Creating her own little Southern California in her bedroom wasn’t enough, however, and one weekend Cosentino decided enough was enough.

“One weekend I just decided to leave New York. Two days later I was back in L.A.,” Cosentino said matter-of-factly. She started making music almost immediately, having been “inspired by the music I was listening to in New York,” Cosentino “wanted to be making the music I wanted to listen to.” Because of this, the project’s aesthetic is intended and natural, a combination of Cosentino’s influences and her inherent Californian-ness.

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