Author: Bondo Wyszpolski - Easy Reader News

Rescued by her own writing How Kari Sayers kept the real world at bay by Bondo Wyszpolski Kari Sayers has written three novels. The third one has been adapted for the screen and actors are being auditioned. In 2018, the Rancho Palos Verdes resident retired from teaching at Marymount University after 32 years and that’s…

Hermosa’s Jazz, punk legacy to be featured at MB film fest “Jazz v. Punk”—I think it’s a draw by Bondo Wyszpolski The Florana International Film Festival takes place Friday and Saturday atop the Manhattan Village Mall parking structure with the same 25-30 short films each evening. One of the highlights of the event was shot…

Rural romantic “A Memoir of Samuel Palmer,” by Samuel Palmer, A.H. Palmer, and F.G. Stephens (Getty Publications, 96 pp., $10.95) by Bondo Wyszpolski In addition to its often meaty and handsome art catalogues, the Getty has since 2018 been releasing a series of low-priced, small-format paperbacks under the general title of “Lives of the Artists.”…

Movies in Manhattan A new, drive-in film festival will take place on the rooftop level of the Manhattan Village parking structure by Bondo Wyszpolski Over the years, Manhattan Beach has hosted numerous artistic events, and sometimes there’s one the likes of which we haven’t seen. The Florana International Film Festival is a case in point.…

The half of the Moon you’ll never see A dying mother tells her children she’s been to the Moon; then they find a locked trunk by Bondo Wyszpolski (Editor’s note: This is an excerpt from a novel that’s set in Brazil in 2002. Several writers and artists are drinking coffee at a café in São…

Can we take a rain check? Dora Maar, Surrealist painter and photographer Originally I might have titled this piece “No longer a footnote,” but the scheduled exhibition of Dora Maar’s photography, photo-collages, and paintings never made it to the Getty. However, the show, which originated at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, traveled to the Tate…

Desperation Row “Apparitions (Ghosts on Pacific Avenue),” by James Preston Allen (Beacon Light Press) As the editor and publisher of Random Length News since 1979, James Allen has had a front-row seat observing the downtown districts of San Pedro. On this two-disc set, he’s put aside his laptop and picked up his guitar to become…

The Great Intermission Postponed, delayed, cancelled… but the show will go on This wasn’t at all what we expected a year ago, but life deals the cards and we play the hand we’re given. Many individual artists were able to adapt, whereas galleries, theaters, and other venues struggled to find ways to deliver the goods.…

Don’t get your hopes up “In the Presence of Schopenhauer,” by Michel Houellebecq (Polity Press) Every volume by Arthur Schopenhauer, and in particular “The World as Will and Representation,” should carry a warning label: Not to be read before the age of 30, especially by those maintaining a “Romantic” outlook on life. Why? because the…

Christmas/Holiday-Themed Magic Show Manhattan Beach resident Dan Manson, award-winning magician and producer, presents the magic performance “Christmas Light,” with an international cast of Magicians. It takes place at 5 p.m. on Saturday and offers an interactive, family-friendly holiday-themed magic show, with interactive holiday magic appropriate for all ages. Manson is a veteran magician who has…

Blake was here, now he’s not The invisible Visionary at the Getty Center William Blake, who died in 1827, is yet another casualty in 2020. The English printmaker, painter-illustrator, and poet-painter (who among us doesn’t know “Tyger, Tyger, burning bright…”?) was to have had the starring role in “William Blake: Visionary,” a Getty show that…

Making music when you can’t play music On the road again? Not yet, but… The year dawned promisingly for most of us, or so we thought. And so thought Mark McMillen and Annie Boreson, the Manhattan Beach-based husband and wife duo who have lived in the South Bay for 10-plus years and have performed in…

David Wolfram, former president of Destination: Art and one of the founding artists of the Torrance-based studio, is packing his bags and leaving town, but not before his online solo show opens with a Zoom reception on Saturday (on view through Dec. 20). Wolfram has been a noted artist on the local scene for many…

All lit up, and somewhere to go A glowing review, of course The wonders of orchestrated illumination are to be found in “GLOW” at the South Coast Botanic Garden. This nightly event, in collaboration with San Pedro-based California Outdoor Lighting, allows guests to meander through a select area of the grounds which have been festooned…

Basking in the Moonlight When “Form and Movement” came out to play As noted last week in Easy Reader, Simon Ouwerkerk’s sculptures are being quarantined inside of the Manhattan Beach Art Center—and that means no visitors. So this past Saturday they were brought out into the light of day and were available for viewing by…

Sculptures on the move Simon Ouwerkerk puts his pedal to the metal in Manhattan Beach Across the board, artists have been cheated. Cheated from performing in front of a live audience or from having their work viewed in person. Right now there’s a full gallery with sculptures by Simon Ouwerkerk in the Manhattan Beach Art…