Who Says LA’s Not a Football/Transit Town?

September 6, 2012 Leave a comment

When I think of the great things that have happened in my world so far this year, there are a few that immediately come to mind… Aside from getting engaged (which obviously tops the list), it’s hard not to recognize the greatness of the Metro Expo Line opening and the USC football season starting.

When the Expo Line opened in April, it dramatically changed the way I commute to work from Downtown LA to Culver City. It gave me time to read every day, something I had seriously been missing, and put me on my bike at the end of the ride, getting me out in the beautiful Los Angeles weather, if only for a few minutes each day. It also saved me a ton of gas money, stress, and wear & tear on my car. And it wasn’t just for work, I’ve written before about some of the great adventures I’ve had on the Expo Line. Ridership is already above predictions for this point in time, and on it’s way to meeting projections far into the future. It’s crowded even late into the night… And yet people say LA isn’t a transit town.

An Expo Line train with a USC Football ad waits at 7th Street / Metro Center Station.

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Song for the Suburbs

March 23, 2012 Leave a comment

Happy Friday!

Thought I’d post something a little fun. This is by one of my favorite artists, Ben Rector (who I sadly missed at the very Metro accessible, Downtown LA venue, Club Nokia this week with NEEDTOBREATHE).

His latest album, Something Like This is well worth a listen (or a purchase), and I thought I’d share one of my favorite songs (for obvious reasons) here. His previous albums are also full of great music.

 

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The 54th GRAMMY Awards and The City Around Them

February 14, 2012 Leave a comment

If you follow me on twitter (@stevenmwhite), it’s no surprise to you after this weekend that I’m a fan of the GRAMMYs. For both personal and professional reasons, I have followed and enjoyed the GRAMMY awards telecast for a long time. If you’re a recent acquaintance or twitter follower, you may not know that this website used to be a lighting portfolio, rather than a blog. I am intensely interested in show production and spent years as a lighting designer and programmer. My current dream is to operate a performance venue or theatre because it combines my loves of show production and civic space. All that to say, one of the reasons I started this blog was not just to write about development and transit, but live events and shows. That part of the blog has been somewhat neglected, but the GRAMMYs are bringing it back.

Me on this year's GRAMMY Red Carpet.

Personally, I got involved in The Recording Academy’s “GRAMMY U” program while in college and got the opportunity to attend rehearsals for The GRAMMY Awards and a related charity show, the MusiCares Person of the Year Tribute. Within a year, I found myself working on the MusiCares Person of the Year as the producer’s assistant. I’ve been back in other capacities every year since and now work full-time for the show’s production company (please note that the opinions here are not those of my company, but only myself). We also design and produce the Red Carpet and Media Center for the GRAMMY Awards, so I had a very busy weekend working on the two events this year.

Two years ago, I had the opportunity to attend the GRAMMY Awards — and take a date. That first date became my girlfriend, and we just spent our two-year anniversary watching Paul McCartney, Rihanna, Coldplay, and the Foo Fighters rehearse for this year’s show.

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Million Dollar Miracle

December 5, 2011 3 Comments

Yesterday I had the wonderful experience of seeing the original, 1947 verison of Miracle on 34th Street in the Million Dollar Theater — Sid Grauman’s original movie palace that is even 29 years older than the film.

In a scene from "Miracle on 34th Street," Kris Kringle tries to win over a doubting young girl.

Most of my black and white movie watching experience is from my days in film school and consists largely of analyzing things and learning the history of filmmaking at a deeper level than I ever really wanted. This was something completely different. When you hear someone speak of the magic of movies, this was the experience they’re talking about. This was the reminiscent of that first-day speech you hear in film school, before the classes, papers, and studies start, of the way movies bring people together in a dark room and yet take them far away to another city, another time, or another world. And even though it’s dark, somehow the experience is better when that room is a beautiful one.

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