Susan von Seggern, Author at Susan von Seggern

LA’s Top Yogis Come Together to Benefit NextAid for the First Annual Yoga Day Saturday, October 22 at the Topanga Fairgrounds

09/27/2011 by Susan von Seggern

With the goal of “bringing the largest, most diverse Yoga community together for a day, in one of LA’s most tranquil settings,” Yoga Day LA is a chance to slow down, relax and enjoy the unique experience of doing Yoga under the California sun. Set between the Santa Monica Mountains, with the Pacific breeze pushing up through the canyon, attendees will experience Yoga in an outdoor setting with friends and have the chance to make new ones from all over the City. In addition to Yoga, enjoy Yoga Day LA’s abundant selection of food and smoothie vendors, wellness services, and complimentary Zico coconut water and Pom Juice for everyone.

Yoga Day LA will take place from 8:00am – 6:30pm at the Topanga Community Club Fairgrounds, located in beautiful Topanga at 1440 N. Topanga Canyon Boulevard, Topanga, CA 90290. The Fairgrounds are approximately 8 miles north of the Pacific Coast Highway and 5 miles south of the Ventura Freeway. Yoga Day LA will feature six 75-90 minute classes lead by the top yogis in Los Angeles. The event itself is free to attend, with classes priced at $25 for the first class, $15 for the second. Tickets for the classes are available at http://www.yogadayla.com/register.html.

Yoga Day LA will begin with a Sunrise yoga session at 8:00am, with Jorgen Christiansson leading into a mid-morning Yoga session with Kia Miller of Yoga Works at 9:30am, followed by 11:30am “It’s Getting Hot” yoga with Annmarie Solo of Yoga Desa. The afternoon classes will commence with “Sunscreen Yoga” with Steve Ross of Maha Yoga, followed by “Not So Lazy Afternoon” Yoga with Andrea Brook and the Earth Harp. The classes will conclude with a dusk Yoga session with Bryan Kest of Power Yoga. At the end of this glorious day of Yoga, all will be soothed by more music from the Earth Harp.… Read More

Religious Studies Professor Darryl Caterine Journeys Through a Paranormal America with Haunted Ground, Out October 11 through Praeger Publishers

09/14/2011 by Susan von Seggern

Millions watch popular television shows like “The X-Files,” “Medium,” and “The Mentalist” and hit movies such as Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Sixth Sense, and Phenomenon. Why do Americans continue to have such a keen interest in the paranormal?

Haunted Ground is out in time for Halloween!

Religious studies professor Darryl Caterine has written Haunted Ground: Journeys through a Paranormal America to answer these questions. Visiting Lily Dale, New York – a thriving Spiritualist community established well over a century ago; Roswell, New Mexico – home of the Roswell UFO Festival that attracts nearly 30,000 attendees annually; and Killington, Vermont for the American Society of Dowsers conference; Caterine leads a fascinating and insightful tour through present-day meetings of Spiritualists, ufologists, and dowsers that illuminates our obsession with the paranormal and challenges the misunderstanding of the paranormal as a marginal or inconsequential feature of America’s religious landscape.… Read More

Writers, Want to Meet and Learn from the Best in the Business? The Screenwriting Expo Returns for its 10th Year with Top Scribes, Execs, Producers, and Agents

09/14/2011 by Susan von Seggern

On September 15-18, 2011, the Screenwriting Expo returns for its 10th year bringing with it opportunities for screenwriters to pitch top producers, development execs, agents and managers, and learn the most current writing techniques from their hit writing peers. Featuring over dozens of classes, workshops, Q&As, and panels, the Screenwriting Expo is a must-attend event for anyone serious about a career in writing for film and television.

For the first time the Screenwriting Expo brings together some of the top executives in the business including Charlie Vignola, director of development for Bruckheimer Films, who shepherded the Pirates of the Caribbean series and several other hits to the screen; The Hangover producer Dan Goldberg, Enchanted producer Sunil Perkash, Immortals producer Joe LeFavi, Crash producer Brian Avery, and many more. In addition several agents will be on hand this year including successful reps from The Gersh Agency, plus Victoria Wisdom, Bruce Bartlett and others.

Vlas and Charley Parlapanides are speaking on Friday at 6pm

This year’s speakers include hit making writers, including Mark Fergus (Children of Men, Iron Man, Cowboys And Aliens), Ashley Miller & Zack Stentz (Thor, X-Men: First Class, Fringe), and Alfred Gough & Miles Millar (Spider-Man 2, “Smallville”), Shane Salerno (Armageddon, “Hawaii 5-0”), Kurt Wimmer (Salt), Vlas and Charley Parlapanides (Immortals), Ben Ripley (Source Code), Kevin Grevioux (Underworld films), Timothy Dowling (Just Go With It), Barnet Kellman (“The Middle”), Marlene King (“Pretty Little Liars”) and so many other top scribes!… Read More

NextAid and Solar Sister Present ILLUMINATE, A Benefit for Economic Empowerment for Girls and Women in Africa September 18, 2011 from 5pm – 1am at YOTEL New York

09/10/2011 by Susan von Seggern

On September 18, 2011, the brightest lights in technology, development and entertainment will come together to celebrate the transforming impact of creating economic opportunity for women and girls in Africa. Illuminate, an energetic dance party and fundraiser hosted by the creative social enterprises NextAid and Solar Sister will light up the night at the most radical hotel in New York City, YOTEL New York.

Kicking off during a week of internationally-recognized global events – the Clinton Global Initiative, the United Nations General Assembly, White Ribbon Alliance’s Women Inspiration and Enterprise Symposium, and Mashable’s Social Good Summit – Illuminate gives the leaders of today and the change makers of tomorrow a chance to listen to great entertainment, check out the latest in technology innovations, mix and mingle, socialize and, of course, dance!

NextAid

Through the energy of music, dance and creativity, NextAid and Solar Sister’s Illuminate is bringing together renowned New York DJs and musicians, and spoken word poets, including Anane’ Vega with AmonDrum on percussion, Nickodemus with Nappy G of the infamous Turntables on the Hudson, DJ OBaH, and Mr. V with live performances by Candice Anitra and Wunmi. Illuminate is partnered with Giant Step, Nokero, and Fusicology, with the support of White Ribbon Alliance, The Bloom Effect, Africology, Media Services NYC, and Universal-Rhythm.

In addition to enjoying an incredible line-up of performances, guests will also have the opportunity to browse the latest in innovative technology solutions in a Tech4Development Marketplace that will feature products that have the breakthrough potential to improve the lives of the poor through creative, appropriate design, such as the world’s first solar light bulb developed by Nokero.

Illuminate takes place at YOTEL New York in the Club Lounge on FOUR, at 570 Tenth Avenue, New York, NY 10036 from 5pm to 1am, starting off with a cocktail reception and marketplace, followed by the main event with live performances from 7pm to 10pm and after-party, until 1am. Tickets are available at http://illuminate-nyc.eventbrite.com.… Read More

Angel City Jazz Festival Comes to Zipper Hall with the Edmar Castaneda Quartet and the Nick Mancini Trio with special guest Otmaro Ruiz September 30

09/10/2011 by Susan von Seggern

The acclaimed Angel City Jazz Festival continues its 2011 run with its first ever show at the Colburn School’s Zipper Hall, an underappreciated gem of the performance spaces along Grand Avenue in Downtown Los Angeles. The evening will feature the Edmar Castaneda Quartet and Nick Mancini’s trio with special guest Otmaro Ruiz, and on September 30. Tickets are $25 and are available at http://edmarcastaneda.eventbrite.com/.

Edmar Castaneda and his harp

Edmar Castaneda was born in 1978, in the city of Bogotá, Colombia. Since his move to the United States in 1994, Edmar has quite literally taken New York and the world stage by storm with his virtuosic command of the Colombian harp. A master at realizing beautiful complexities of time, while skillfully drawing out lush colors and dynamic spirits, Edmar has been characterized as “almost a world unto himself” by The New York Times. The legendary Paquito D’Rivera, Edmar’s frequent collaborator, has remarked “Edmar is…an enormous talent, he has the versatility and the enchanting charisma of a musician who has taken his harp out of the shadow to become one of the most original musicians from the Big Apple.”… Read More

Angel City Jazz Festival Closes with a Tribute to and Performance by Creative Music Pioneer Roscoe Mitchell at REDCAT on October 2

09/01/2011 by Susan von Seggern

The Angel City Jazz Festival closes on Sunday October 2 at 7:00pm with another show at REDCAT, the Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater, located in the Walt Disney Concert Hall complex. This very special event showcases and pays tribute to a leader in creative music and cutting edge jazz Roscoe Mitchell, a legendary winds player and founder of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Music and the Art Ensemble of Chicago. Tickets are $30 and are available at www.redcat.org or by calling 213-237-2800.

Creative Music legend Roscoe Mitchell performs at the Angel City Jazz Festival

Percussionist-composer Alex Cline realizes a years-long aspiration with a performance of his arrangement/re-imagining of the Art Ensemble of Chicago’s “People in Sorrow,” composed by Roscoe Mitchell. The piece, recorded by the Art Ensemble in 1969, had a profound and lasting impact on Cline, who first heard it as a teenager. Offered as a tribute to Mitchell, the Art Ensemble, and the AACM, the composed material along with the spirit of the original performance on the classic recording become the starting points for this deeply personal version of the piece, featuring sensitive and adventurous interpretations and improvisations by an all-star eleven-piece ensemble, including famed saxophonist Oliver Lake, woodwind player Vinny Golia, New York harpist Zeena Parkins, vocalist Dwight Trible, guitarist G.E. Stinson, bassist Mark Dresser and others. By retaining and showcasing its special beauty, evocative of the turbulent times in which it was first performed while simultaneously being a transcendent, timeless work of art, Cline endeavors to present “People in Sorrow” as a celebration of the transformational power of music.

The second half of the program will be a performance by The Roscoe Mitchell Trio which includes Mitchell and James Fei on woodwinds, and William Winant on percussion, performing a piece by Roscoe Mitchell written for this event. … Read More

Angel City Jazz Festival Brings Theo Bleckmann and Todd Sickafoose to REDCAT September 25

09/01/2011 by Susan von Seggern

The acclaimed Angel City Jazz Festival continues its 2011 run with the first of two festival shows at REDCAT, the Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater, located in the Walt Disney Concert Hall complex. The festival show on Sunday September 25 at 7:00pm brings solo vocalist Theo Bleckmann, and Todd Sickafoose and Tiny Resistors to this notable venue. Tickets are $25 and are available at www.redcat.org or by calling 213-237-2800.

Todd Sickafoose performs at REDCAT during the Angel City Jazz Festival

The evening opens with a solo set by vocalist Bleckmann. A Grammy nominated jazz singer and new music composer of eclectic tastes and prodigious gifts, Bleckmann makes music that is accessibly sophisticated, unsentimentally emotional, and seriously playful. His work provokes the mind to wonder, but connects immediately with the heart.

Bassist Todd Sickafoose has become well known as Ani DiFranco’s collaborator, and has opened concerts for her performing his own music in packed concert halls all over the world. He has also performed and recorded with Andrew Bird, Nels Cline, Jenny Scheinman, Trey Anastasio, Yoko Ono, Myra Melford, Tin Hat, Bobby Previte and many others. The consistency of his personal voice within wildly diverse collaborations prompted the LA Weekly to call him “One of the most comprehensive musical minds of this coast”. The San Francisco Chronicle has called him, “A captivating improviser, imaginative composer, and master of collaboration,” and The New Yorker has called him “Ani DiFranco’s secret weapon.” This concert features his band Tiny Resistors with string quartet.

Angel City Jazz Festival Returns to the Ford Amphitheatre on Saturday October 1, 2011

08/30/2011 by Susan von Seggern

Festival producers Rocco Somazzi and Jeff Gauthier continue to explore new and provocative avenues of creative jazz at the 4th annual Angel City Jazz Festival. The theme for the 2011 festival is Global Jam, with artists representing nine countries at seven events in six venues throughout Los Angeles. The festival centerpiece production will take place Saturday October 1 at the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre, 2580 Cahuenga Blvd East, Hollywood, CA 90068.

Tigran headlines the Angel City Jazz Festival Global Jam at the Ford

The Jam begins at 5pm with Los Angeles’ own Pan Afrikan People’s Arkestra celebrating its 50^th anniversary of furthering the legacy of iconic pianist Horace Tapscott, followed by the dynamic Japanese duo of Satoko Fujii on piano and Natsuki Tamura on trumpet at 6:15pm, continuing with the French progressive ensemble The Kandinsky Effect at 7:00pm, The Tigran Quintet featuring Armenian pianist Tigran Hamasyan at 8pm, and finishing with Indian saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa and Samdhi in their first west coast appearance at 9:30pm.

Tickets are $45 for adults, $18 for full-time students with ID and $12 for children 12 and under and are available at www.FordTheatres.org or 323 461-3673 (for non-visual media, 323 GO 1- FORD). Through the Ford’s early buyer incentive program, adults who buy tickets on or before September 25th pay only $40. This event is produced in association with the L.A. County Arts Commission.… Read More

Burkina Electric with Lucas Ligeti and DJ Spooky Bring the Angel City Jazz Festival Global Jam to The Echoplex

08/30/2011 by Susan von Seggern

Saturday, September 24 at 8:30pm at the Echoplex in Echo Park the Angel City Jazz Festival brings a mélange of jazz, world beats and dance music to this hipster mecca with Burkina Electric featuring Lukas Ligeti and special guest DJ Spooky. Hailed by the New York Times as an “irresistible brew of West African music and electronica,” Burkina Electric is the first electronic music group from Burkina Faso, in the interior of West Africa. Burkina Electric’s music combines the traditions and rhythms of Burkina Faso with contemporary electronic dance culture, making it a trailblazer in electronic world music. A diverse and talented group consisting of four musicians and two dancers, they collectively participate in the creative process and represent disparate musical genres and sounds from across the globe. Led by noted percussionist Lukas Ligeti, this concert will feature a collaboration with the legendary New York electronic music artist D.J. Spooky. Tickets are $20 for general admission, $25 for seats and are available here.

Burkina Electric and DJ Spooky

Angel City Jazz Festival Young Artist Competition Winner, Larry Karush Quintet Play at Jazz at LACMA September 23

08/25/2011 by Susan von Seggern

The acclaimed Angel City Jazz Festival continues its 2011 run with a FREE event at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art as part of their Jazz at LACMA Friday night series. The event will take place on Friday September 23 at 6:00pm and feature a set by the winner of the Angel City Jazz Festival Young Artist Competition and a set by the noted Larry Karush Quintet.

Larry Karush

2011 is the debut year of the Angel City Jazz Young Artist Competition. All entered ensembles were composed of musicians between the ages of 15 and 24 years old, have at least one member currently enrolled in a high school, college, music academy or university in the greater Los Angeles area, consist of between 3 and 10 members, and compose, arrange and perform original music which features improvisation. The selected finalists River Keefer, the Connor McElwain Group, Shutz Vtet, and the Sears – Gurrola – Yokota Trio will perform before a panel of judges Thursday September 15 at Blue Whale jazz club in Little Tokyo at 123 Astronaut E S Onizuka Street starting at 8pm. The judges for the competition will be festival artists Dwight Trible & Larry Karush, festival producer and Cryptogramophone Label owner Jeff Gauthier, and club owner Joon Lee. This performance is open to the public and the cover is just $5. The winning ensemble will receive a $1000 prize, and perform at LACMA on September 23 as part of the Angel City Jazz Festival.… Read More