Behind the Scenes

Walking into Don Chente is like walking into another world. Caddy corner from Staples Center, the restaurant looks like an imposing club – all mirrors and velvet red carpeting – but when I ask where I can leave my bike, the woman at the front is warm and welcoming.

Ford on the Road’s next stop is the stunningSan Gabriel Mission Playhouse for ¡Viva la Tradición! A Tribute to Nati Cano and Los Camperos. The show brings together powerhouse mariachi artists to tell the story of musical pioneer Nati Cano’s life through music and dance. To help you make the most of your visit, we chatted with Colibri Entertainment‘s Susie Garcia about her favorite things to do in San Gabriel!

Last weekend, we hung out at the Downtown Pomona Art Walk and got sassy with the energetic dancers of Blue13 Dance Company during their Bollywood JAM Session! We’ve got a couple more JAMs coming up in Pomona (Samba in September and Cumbia in October), so we decided to ask some local JAMmers to share their favorite things to do and places to go in the area.

Taalam’s words rang in my ears long after I first heard them. As a poet myself, I drove and drove and drove until I reached Flypoet‘s spoken word show at The Savoy in Inglewood – a monthly haven for us wordsmiths. Heck, these lines go beyond the poet community and resonate on a quintessentially LA level: what is LA if not driving and dreams?

“How many pull-ups can you do?” That’s how Artistic Director Jacques Heim greeted me as I arrived at the Diavolo | Architecture in Motion dance studio – a warehouse in the heart of Downtown’s Arts District. Jacques and company were in the midst of rehearsal when I arrived on a nearly 100 degree day. The dozen industrial size fans cooling the space beat like drums intensifying the moment.

In anticipation of TAIKOPROJECT andQuetzal‘s upcoming collaboration concertat the Japanese American National Museum, we sat down with TAIKOPROJECT Managing Director Bryan Yamami to discuss his favorite things to do in Little Tokyo!

Our next Ford on the Road adventure takes us to the beautiful upper ridge of the valley to catch Diavolo | Architecture in Motion’s epic US premiere L’Espace du Temps at theValley Performing Arts Center (VPAC)! To help you plan your trip, VPAC Program and Artistic Administrator Justin Souza shared his favorite things to do in the Northridge area. Take a look!

A golf tee, a metal screw and a ruler — not the first things that come to mind when the subject is music. But each of these items had its moment in the spotlight during my recent chat with Motoko Honda, a composer/performer whose sonic improvisations have drawn ecstatic comparisons to Radiohead, John Cage and Prokofiev.

Ford on the Road‘s next stop is the Angel City Jazz Festival to experience the sonic wizardry of Motoko Honda and Vanessa Vo at Bransdall Art Park in Hollywood. To prepare for this leg of our journey, we asked Angel City Jazz Fest’s Rocco Somazzi to recommend some fun things to do before and after the show!