BEST OF THE WEEKEND.TELEVISION EVIL DOINGS: England's comedy trio ``The League of Gentlemen'' offers a bizarre blend of Pythonesque wit and Grand Guignol Grand Guignol Short plays of violence, horror, and sadism popular in 20th-century Parisian cabarets. The name probably derives from the violent plots that featured the puppet Guignol. The plays were performed mainly at the Théâtre du Grand Guignol from 1897 to 1962. grotesqueries. The group's eponymous first film, debuting Saturday at 7 p.m. and 12:30 a.m., should become something of a morbid holiday classic - it's just hard to say whether that holiday will be Christmas or Halloween. Many of the eccentric characters from the small, evil town of Royston Vasey Royston Vasey is a small fictional town in the north of England. It is the setting of the BBC television comedy series The League of Gentlemen. The preceding (radio) series On the Town with the League of Gentlemen familiar to ``League of Gentlemen'' fans - Tubbs and Edward, the piggish pig·gish adj. 1. Greedy: a piggish appetite. 2. Stubborn; pigheaded. pig operators of a shop catering exclusively to locals (visitors meet very grim fates in their hands), and Pauline, the virulent career counselor - don't appear in this production. (Three performers - Mark Gatiss Mark Gatiss (born October 17, 1966) is an English actor and writer. Gatiss was born in Sedgefield, County Durham, England. He currently lives in Islington, London, with his partner Ian and their dog Bunsen. , Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith - play all the characters, and write the material with Jeremy Dyson.) So it's saying something that, given the bizarre tales included here, they're not too terribly missed. The film offers a trilogy of stories told on Christmas Eve to Bernice, a not-particularly-reverent reverend at the ill-named Chapel of Hope. One involves line-dancing and voodoo, another includes a German boys choir run by a vampire (and worse), and the last, most hilarious yarn concerns an ancient curse on a family of veterinarians Veterinarians and veterinary surgeons (vets) are medical professionals who operate exclusively on animals. Well-known and notable veterinarians include:
Also airing this weekend is ``The League of Gentlemen: Behind the Scenes,'' a special that purports to explain the troupe to the uninitiated, which BBC America will present Sunday at 5, 8:20 and 10:30 p.m. But given that BBC America has already run a couple of seasons of the series and the movie, perhaps this program comes a bit belatedly. - David Kronke FESTIVAL FAMILY FUN: Looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. an entertaining but affordable family outing on Sunday? The annual Festival in the Park will be held from noon to 8 p.m. in Warner Park, 5800 Topanga Canyon Blvd., Woodland Hills. Sponsored by the Woodland Hills Chamber of Commerce, the free event will include musical performances by Ronnie and the Classics and the Persuasions, a classic car show, arts and crafts arts and crafts, term for that general field of applied design in which hand fabrication is dominant. The term was coined in England in the late 19th cent. as a label for the then-current movement directed toward the revivifying of the decorative arts. vendors, and food. A highlight for kids will be the Fun Zone, with children's arts and crafts, games, a moon bounce and pony rides. For more information, call (818) 347-4737. - Holly Andres STAGE UNCOMMON TALENT: National Public Radio monologuist Sandra Tsing Loh will perform her new piece ``A Year in Van Nuys'' at 6:30 p.m. Saturday during the A.S.K Theater Projects Common Ground festival, which continues through Sunday at UCLA's McGowan Hall. The festival also includes performances by the Ziggurat ziggurat (zĭg`  răt), form of temple common to the Sumerians, Babylonians and Assyrians. The earliest examples date from the end of the 3d millenium B.C. Theatre, the Actors' Gang and the Coastline Project. The Ghost Road Company and Theater of NOTE will perform ``The Clytemnestra Project'' and Heather Woodbury performs her country-spanning performance piece, ``Tale of 2 Cities: An American Joyride on Multiple Tracks.'' All Common Ground Festival events are free of charge, but reservations are required. Performances, which are all one hour in length, begin at 7 p.m. today, 3 p.m. Saturday and 1:30 p.m. Sunday. Call (310) 478-9275 for reservations and specific performance times.f=AI Times Square .5- Evan Henerson TATTOO YOU: The Vancouver-based dance company Holy Body Tattoo The Holy Body Tattoo is an award-winning Canadian contemporary dance troupe based in Vancouver, British Columbia. It was formed in 1993 by co-artistic directors and choreographers Noam Gagnon and Dana Gingras who had performed together since 1987. concludes its Los Angeles premiere engagement at 8:30 p.m. today and Saturday at UCLA's Freud Playhouse. Performing ``our brief eternity,'' a work for three dancers, the Holy Body Tattoo is in the middle of a seven-city United States, European and Canadian tour. Performed by Noam Gagnon, Dana Gingras and Susan Elliott, the one-hour piece features an industrial rock score by Jean-Yves Theriault, a black-and-white video/film by William Morrison and designer Steven Gilmore, and projected texts by writers William Gibson and Christopher Halcrow. Tickets are $12 to $35. Call (310) 825-2101. - E.H. MUSIC JAZZ LICKS: Kenny Burrell's funky, melodic sound is the cool pinnacle of jazz guitar. His approach is timeless, whether in the context of Jimmy Smith's organ trio of the '50s, collaborations with Coleman Hawkins and Gil Evans in the '60s or the contemporary jam scene spearheaded by Medeski Martin & Wood. Burrell appears tonight through Sunday at Catalina Bar & Grill in support of his new album, ``Lucky So and So.'' Catalina's is at 1640 N. Cahuenga Blvd., Hollywood. Show times are 8:30 and 10:30 p.m. today and Saturday and 7 and 9 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $15 and $20. Information: (323) 466-2210. - Fred Shuster POP LIFE: The ``West Side Story'' overture rings Saturday as part of the West Hollywood Orchestra's summer concert. Under the baton of Nan Washburn, the symphony's ``By POPular Demand'' at the West Hollywood Park Auditorium will present such perennials as the suite to ``An American in Paris
An American in Paris is a symphonic composition by American composer George Gershwin, composed in 1928. ,'' while Broadway singers Jason Graae and Karen Morrow perform selections from ``Applause,'' ``Annie Warbucks'' and ``Mame.'' The auditorium is at 647 N. San Vicente Blvd., West Hollywood. Show time is 8 p.m. and tickets are $20 general and $10 seniors and students. Information: (866) 946-2255. - F.S. SOLSTICE CELEBRATION: Dust off the dulcimer dulcimer (dŭl`sĭmər), stringed musical instrument. It is a wooden box with strings stretched over it that are struck with small mallets. The number of strings may vary. The dulcimer is related to the psaltery and modern zither. . It's time for the annual Summer Solstice Folk Music, Dance and Storytelling Festival. Along with countless performances, workshops and crafts displays, this weekend's event features a Saturday concert by Scottish fiddle virtuoso Alasdair Fraser. The 19th annual festival at Soka University of America SUA's educational philosophy was established by Tsunesaburo Makiguchi, the first president of Soka Gakkai, who had worked as the principal of an elementary school in Japan. Makiguchi published the Value Creating Educational System based on his belief that "the purpose of education is to is presented by the California Traditional Music Society. Soka University is at 26800 W. Mulholland Highway, Calabasas. Events run from 9 a.m. Saturday and Sunday. Saturday's concert takes place at 8 p.m. at Ikeda Auditorium; admission is $15 general and $25 reserved. Information: (818) 817-7756 or www.ctms-folkmusic.org. - F.S. FILM BLUE RIDGE REVEL: ``Songcatcher'' is a movie ode to Appalachian music. Its soundtrack is rich with traditional mountain songs performed by the cream of Americana talent - Emmylou Harris, Iris DeMent de·ment tr.v. de·ment·ed, de·ment·ing, de·ments 1. To make (a person) insane. 2. To cause (a person) to lose intellectual capacity. , Taj Mahal, Hazel Dickens - as well as some amazingly melodic actors, among them grizzled griz·zled adj. 1. Partly gray or streaked with gray: a grizzled beard. 2. Having fur or hair streaked or tipped with gray. veteran Pat Carroll and opera-trained teen-ager Emmy Rossum. Filmed in the lush Blue Ridge Mountains Blue Ridge also Blue Ridge Mountains A range of the Appalachian Mountains extending from southern Pennsylvania to northern Georgia. It rises to 2,038.6 m (6,684 ft) at Mount Mitchell in the Black Mountains of western North Carolina. in North Carolina North Carolina, state in the SE United States. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean (E), South Carolina and Georgia (S), Tennessee (W), and Virginia (N). Facts and Figures Area, 52,586 sq mi (136,198 sq km). Pop. , the movie tells a peculiar, sometimes pat, but never uninteresting story of academic curiosity clashing and meshing with proud, skeptical folkways folkways, term coined by William Graham Sumner in his treatise Folkways (1906) to denote those group habits that are common to a society or culture and are usually called customs. . The English actress Janet McTeer (``Tumbleweeds'') plays a 1907 musicologist mu·si·col·o·gy n. The historical and scientific study of music. mu  si·co·log who ``discovers'' the indigenous music while visiting her sister's backwoods school. In no time, she's lugging bulky, antique recording equipment up inaccessible hill and down steep holler, meeting cooperation and resistance, and eventually relaxing enough to fall in love with a cranky crank·y 1 adj. crank·i·er, crank·i·est 1. Having a bad disposition; peevish. 2. Having eccentric ways; odd. 3. mountain man (Aidan Quinn) and dance to this stuff she's been studying. Writer-director Maggie Greenwald manages to squeeze a lot of liberal and feminist talking points into a narrative that sometimes leans too heavily on melodrama and at other times nearly stops altogether. But fine acting and, especially, the music lead the movie joyfully through any and all missteps. - Bob Strauss DON'T MISS THIS: Hip-hop poet Jill Scott, whose ``Who Is Jill Scott? Words and Sounds Vol. 1'' remains on the charts, appears July 28 at the Greek Theatre. Tickets, ranging from $25 to $67.50, go on sale at 10 a.m. Saturday at Ticketmaster locations. CAPTION(S): 7 photos Photo: (1) Mountain man Aldan Quinn and musicologist Janet McTeer fall in love in ``Songcatcher.'' (2) no caption (scene from ``The League of Gentlemen'') (3) Noam Gagnon and Dana Gingras perform ``Our Brief Eternity. (4) no caption (ALASDAIR FRASER) (5) no caption (KENNY BURRELL) (6) no caption (NAN WASHBURN) (7) no caption (JILL SCOTT) |
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