BEST OF THE WEEKEND.TELEVISION SONGS FOR THE ASKING Adv. 1. for the asking - on the occasion of a request; "advice was free for the asking" on request : The age-old battle-of-the-bands concept is reworked into a new VH-1 reality series with ``Bands on the Run,'' an energetic and entertaining program made more interesting by the fact that the groups aren't isolated under synthetic conditions but get to interact with the big, messy world. (One band in search of cheap publicity runs afoul of the law by setting up for an impromptu live show - just outside an auxiliary police station.) VH-1 has set up this competition: Bands, each traveling by customized van, enter a city and have just a couple of days Just a Couple of Days is the debut novel by author Tony Vigorito. Initially published by a small press in 2001, it has since achieved significant underground success (earning Independent Publisher's to generate buzz for their show. Whoever makes the most money, from both tickets and merchandise sales, wins. Some of the rules are apparently fudged: Each band member is given a per diem per diem adj. or n. Latin for "per day," it is short for payment of daily expenses and/or fees of an employee or an agent. of just $20, but most of the contestants seem to spend several times that amount each night on alcohol. Some of the musicians seem to focus on recruiting groupies (no doubt lulled into thinking that the ubiquitous cameras mean the groups are more famous than they really are) more than fans. Three bands begin the competition Sunday: Soulcracker, a San Diego pop-rock unit who approach the contest with a certain level of competence and drive; Flickerstick, some rowdy, undisciplined Dallas rockers who seem less interested in doing well in competition than in scoring with members of Harlow, a goth-chick band of dubious ability but obvious sex appeal. (Next week, the funk-pop ensemble Josh Dodes Band joins the fray.) Tonight the groups take San Francisco, if not exactly by storm, then with much sound and fury signifying nothing. We watch these young aspirants flounder flounder: see flatfish. flounder Any of about 300 species of flatfishes (order Pleuronectiformes). When born, the flounder is bilaterally symmetrical, with an eye on each side, and it swims near the sea's surface. through the days leading up to their shows, with internal bickering and even tragedy interrupting their trek to stardom. Most amusingly (and realistically), whether or not any of these groups are genuinely talented seems to be utterly irrelevant. ``Band on the Run'' premieres at 10 p.m. Sunday on VH-1. -D.K. PANDA-DORABLE: There was something of a baby boom in the panda population in 1999 - eight surviving baby pandas were born. The San Diego Zoo San Diego Zoo One of the world's largest collections of mammals, birds, and reptiles, located in San Diego, Calif., and administered by the Zoological Society of San Diego. The 100-acre (40. enjoyed its own blessed event that year, with the birth of Hua Mei (Chinese for ``China-U.S.A.''), the first panda to survive birth in American captivity. ``Nature: The Panda Baby'' examines this recent addition to a species so endangered, nobody is sure how many remain alive, from the comically ill-fated attempts to breed the pandas at Washington, D.C.'s National Zoo, to San Diego's efforts to understand this most quixotic quix·ot·ic also quix·ot·i·cal adj. 1. Caught up in the romance of noble deeds and the pursuit of unreachable goals; idealistic without regard to practicality. 2. of animals: For example, although they love bamboo - they were dying out in China because of a bamboo shortage until the Chinese developed a sort of ``Bamboo Helper''-style food - they in fact have carnivorous car·niv·o·rous adj. 1. Of or relating to carnivores. 2. Flesh-eating or predatory: a carnivorous bird. 3. digestive systems. San Diego's couple weren't a match made in heaven. He (Shi Shi) is older, sedentary, listless (programming) listless - In functional programming, a property of a function which allows it to be combined with other functions in a way that eliminates intermediate data structures, especially lists. ; she (Bai Yun) is young, lively, outgoing and co-operative. Panda lovers will adore the generous dollops of cute footage of the animals frolicking, but there's a deeper issue at work here: As Donald Lindburg of San Diego's Center for the Reproduction of Endangered Species endangered species, any plant or animal species whose ability to survive and reproduce has been jeopardized by human activities. In 1999 the U.S. government, in accordance with the U.S. notes, if we can't save an endangered animal this beloved, that doesn't bode well for less photogenic photogenic /pho·to·gen·ic/ (-jen´ik) 1. produced by light, as photogenic epilepsy. 2. producing or emitting light. pho·to·gen·ic adj. 1. creatures. ``Nature: The Panda Baby'' airs at 8 p.m. Sunday on KCET KCET Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo (Japan) KCET Kamaraj College of Engineering and Technology . - D.K. FOOLIN' AROUND: And for something completely different, BBC America celebrates April Fool's weekend with a ``Monty Python's Flying Circus'' marathon, beginning at 5 p.m. today and running through 1:50 a.m. Sunday night/Monday morning. Things begin with a special compilation of sketches hosted by Steve Martin (who's not as funny here as he was at the Oscars), ``20 Years of Monty Python's Flying Circus Monty Python’s Flying Circus ingenious, satiric show that uses both live action and animation. [Br. and Am. TV: Terrace, II, 108] See : Zaniness .'' Actually, it's now more than 30, but who's counting? The show is still hilarious. - David Kronke STAGE 'STOMP' IN DA NOISE: Most of us think garbage can lids and brooms are best used to ... uh ... cover garbage cans and tidy up floors. Not the Stompers Stompers were first created in 1980 by Schaper Toys. These toys were battery-powered vehicles that ran on a single AA battery and featured all-wheel drive. They were driven by a single motor that turned both axles. . Beginning this week, the international percussion performance known as ``Stomp'' bangs and crashes into the Wilshire Theater for three weeks. That's right. Zippo lighters, wooden poles, tea chests, plastic bags, plungers and hubcaps - it's all fair game to express the rhythm of daily life. ``Stomp'' plays at 8 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, 5 and 9 p.m. Saturday, and 2 and 7:30 p.m. Sunday through April 15 at the Wilshire, 8440 Wilshire Blvd. in Beverly Hills. Tickets are $37 to $57. Call (213) 365-3500. - Evan Henerson DOWN HOME: Quebec-based Les Deux Mondes will visit California State University, Northridge CSUN offers a variety of programs leading to bachelor's degrees in 61 fields and master's degrees in 42 fields. The university has over 150,000 alumni. It's also home to a summer musical theater/theater program known as TADW (TeenAge Drama Workshop) that leads teenagers through an , this week with the L.A. premiere of ``The Tale of Teeka'' at 8 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday at the university's Performing Arts Center A performing arts center, often abbreviated PAC, is a multi-use performance space that can be adapted for use by various types of the performing arts, including dance, music and theatre. , 18111 Nordhoff St. Written by Michael Marc Brouchard, ``Teeka'' is the tale of a man who revisits his childhood home and friendship with a pet goose. Tuesday's performance will have sign language accompaniment and will be followed by a panel discussion on the topic of domestic violence. Tickets are $9 to $17. Call (818) 677-2488. - E.H. DAMSELS? IN DISTRESS?: Don't let the costumes and puppetry puppetry Art of creating and manipulating puppets in a theatrical show. Puppets are figures that are moved by human rather than mechanical aid. They may be controlled by one or several puppeteers, who are screened from the spectators. of Julie Taymor fool you. This is anything but ``Disney Lite.'' The American Repertory Theater's production of ``The King Stag,'' directed by Andrei Serban, will be at UCLA's Royce Hall at 8 tonight and 2 p.m. Saturday. The play, by 18th-century Venetian playwright Carlo Gozzi, presents a world of kings, damsels, sorcery sorcery: see incantation; magic; spell; witchcraft. Sorcery Sorrow (See GRIEF.) sorcerer’s apprentice finds a spell that makes objects do the cleanup work. [Fr. and, one would hope, a deer or two. Set in the Oriental kingdom of Serendippo, King Deramo is 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. a wife despite the machinations of the devious Prime Minister Tartaglia. Julie Taymor, director and costume designer of Disney's ``The Lion King,'' designed the costumes, masks and puppetry for ``The King Stag'' which premiered in Cambridge, Mass., in 1984. The performances will feature a preshow discussion one hour prior to each performance with Carol Sorgenfrei of UCLA's School of Theater, Film and Television. Tickets are $12 to $40. Call (310) 825-2101. - E.H. FESTIVAL A celebration of the life's work of farm workers' activist Cesar Chavez will be held at 1:30 p.m. Sunday. The cultural arts festival will include art and educational exhibits, cultural performances, student essay and art contest displays, children's activities and food. The eighth annual event will be preceded by a March for Justice at noon beginning at Brand Park, 15174 San Fernando Mission Blvd., Mission Hills. The march will end at San Fernando Recreation Park. The event is sponsored in part by the Cesar Chavez Commemorative Committee, the cities of Los Angeles and San Fernando, and Pueblo y Salud. San Fernando Recreation Park is at 208 Park Ave., San Fernando; (818) 837-2272. - Holly Andres FILM FROM RIDICULOUS TO SUBLIME: We have kind of the yin and yang Yin and Yang Noun two complementary principles of Chinese philosophy: Yin is negative, dark, and feminine, Yang is positive, bright, and masculine [Chinese yin dark + yang bright] of revival movies this weekend - Ingmar Bergman's grim masterpiece ``Persona,'' about an actress who has stopped talking, and John Schlesinger's comedy-fantasy ``Billy Liar,'' about a funeral director's assistant who can't open his mouth without spinning a tall tall. Based on a stage play, the witty 1963 ``Billy Liar'' stars Tom Courtenay in a standout performance as the irrepressible Billy and a luminous Julie Christie as one of the three objects of his desire in the Walter Mitty-esque story. The film plays today through Tuesday at the Nuart in West L.A., kicking off the British New Wave at the series. Call (310) 478-6379 for information. ``Persona'' features two of Bergman's premier players, Bibi Andersson and Liv Ullman, as the actress and her nurse, respectively, in an exploration of personality disorder personality disorder Mental disorder that is marked by deeply ingrained and lasting patterns of inflexible, maladaptive, or antisocial behaviour to the degree that an individual's social or occupational functioning is impaired. . The restored print that screens at 7:30 and 9:30 tonight and Saturday at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, also known as LACMA, is the official and world-renowned art museum of the County of Los Angeles, California, located on Wilshire Boulevard along Museum Row in the Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles. contains the opening sequence, which was censored in its original U.S. release, and has new subtitles based on a recent translation. Call (323) 857-6010 for information or click on LACMA's Web site, www.lacma.org. - Rob Lowman MUSIC BROADBENT AT LACMA: Alan Broadbent is one of mainstream jazz's busiest pianists. When not leading his own trio or playing alongside Charlie Haden in the acclaimed Quartet West, he's writing arrangements for the likes of Natalie Cole. Tonight, Broadbent brings his trio to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art for a free concert in the plaza. LACMA is at 5905 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles. Show time is 5:30 p.m. and there is no charge. Information: (323) 857-6000. - Fred Shuster `STEADY' PROGRESS: Even while manufactured teen-pop and hard-core rap continue to dominate the charts, true talents like singer-songwriter Jonatha Brooke forge their own path. Brooke, whose independently produced new disc, ``Steady Pull,'' features cameos from Neil Finn of Crowded House and Spearhead's Michael Franti, performs tonight at the El Rey Theatre. The album's first single, ``Linger,'' will appear in the forthcoming film ``Julie Johnson,'' starring Courtney Love and Spalding Gray. The El Rey is at 5515 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles. Show time is 9 p.m. and admission is $23. Information: (213) 480-3232. - F.S. CAPTION(S): 9 photos Photo: (1) no caption (``Monty Python's Flying Circus'') (2) no caption (Panda baby) (3) no caption (``Stomp'') (4) no caption (``The King Stag'') (5) no caption (``The Tale of Teeka'') (6) no caption (CESAR CHAVEZ) (7) no caption (BIBI BIBI Benthic Index of Biotic Integrity ANDERSON AND LIV ULLMANN) (8) no caption (ALAN BROADBENT) (9) no caption (JONATHA BROOKE) |
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