Entertainment
L.A.’s Autry Museum spent 18 years moving 400,000 Native objects. That’s just the start
We’re climbing up the outdated Southwest Museum tower, a 1914 Mission Revival gem that’s now closed to the general public as a consequence of fireplace questions of safety. The slim, red-painted staircase, seven tales excessive, winds round and round, with every stage bearing a small, dusty storage space, principally empty. On the tippy prime is an out of doors terrace overlooking lush Mount Washington and Northeast Los Angeles one facet and a crisp silhouette of the downtown L.A. skyline on the opposite.
Till lately, these storage nooks had been filled with containers of objects from the museum’s assortment, which incorporates historic ceramics, woven baskets, uncommon textiles and beaded ceremonial regalia. However now not.
The Autry Museum of the American West merged with the Southwest Museum of the American Indian in 2003 and now stewards its huge assortment of Indigenous artwork and artifacts, the second-largest of its form within the U.S. subsequent to the Smithsonian’s Nationwide Museum of the American Indian.
Autry President Stephen Aron friends over the sting of the scuffed railing, trying down into the snail shell-like epicenter of the staircase. It’s a dizzying view, a steep vortex plummeting greater than 100 ft.
The spiral staircase contained in the tower of the Southwest Museum of the American Indian rises greater than 100 ft.
(Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Occasions)
“If you look down, all these ranges had collections piled on them,” he says of the Southwest Museum’s treasures earlier than the Autry relocated them. “I simply bear in mind seas of containers and never figuring out the place issues had been.”
He does now.
The Autry Museum’s new Sources Middle, a $32-million, 100,000-square-foot facility in Burbank, opened in late October. It was constructed to accommodate, preserve and in any other case take care of each museums’ collections — greater than 600,000 artifacts, artworks and library supplies. Designed by the L.A. agency Chu-Gooding Architects, the constructing mission has been greater than a decade within the works, spearheaded by former longtime Autry Museum President W. Richard West, Jr., who retired final 12 months. (West was the founding director of the Smithsonian’s American Indian museum.) Now the Southwest Museum’s assortment is sort of solely tucked away in a state-of-the-art, climate-controlled and fire-safe surroundings.
The Sources Middle can be a analysis vacation spot, open by appointment, for students, artists, tribal representatives and others to check the invaluable objects it homes. And maybe most essential, it’s an area meant to function a conduit for collaboration with Native communities, who see the essential objects saved there as residing objects imbued with the spirits of their ancestors. The Autry doesn’t see itself as “proudly owning” these objects as a lot as “collectively stewarding them” with their communities of origin, Aron says.
As such, the gleaming facility — a renovated former workplace constructing — options hovering home windows in its foyer that overlook a ceremonial backyard designed by Native-owned Costello Kennedy Panorama Structure. The agency collaborated with cultural educators from Indigenous Southern California tribes. It’s a contemplative house for Native friends to carry ceremonies and reconnect with their ancestral objects. The backyard comprises native California grasses historically utilized in basket weaving in addition to strawberry vines and elderberry timber that, once they bear fruit, could be harvested by Native guests. There’s a meditative water characteristic and a round ceremonial alter the place choices could be left by tribal neighborhood members.
“The historical past between museums and Native individuals has been a lower than honorable one. There’s at all times been this stress,” says Joe D. Horse Seize, Autry’s vice chairman of native collections. “The concept of making a facility the place Native individuals can have interaction with works their ancestors created, and work collaboratively and have entry — which they haven’t had for a lot of, a few years — I feel is de facto, critically essential to the cultural heritage and in addition the Autry’s relationship with tribes.”
The ceremonial backyard on the Autry’s new Sources Middle in Burbank is an area the place Native guests can reconnect with ancestral artifacts and maintain ceremonies.
(Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Occasions)
The Southwest Museum is L.A.’s oldest museum, based in 1907 by Charles Fletcher Lummis. Since 2003, the Autry has spent about $20 million conserving and caring for its assortment and historic grounds close to the Mount Washington-Highland Park border. Absorbing the gathering has allowed the Autry, which had beforehand featured a extra Eurocentric tackle the American West, to inform a extra nuanced, traditionally correct and inclusive story.
However the greater than 100-year-old Southwest Museum constructing — which the Nationwide Belief for Historic Preservation named a “nationwide treasure” in 2015 — has been problematic for exhibitions and isn’t outfitted to retailer artwork correctly. Storage rooms had been overcrowded, with poor local weather controls, and there are water leaks and pest infestations. The constructing can be in want of in depth earthquake retrofitting. It’s been in solely partial operation since no less than 2003. Till lately, solely a small space of the museum was open to the general public on Saturdays. The Southwest Museum closed utterly in September.
“The requirements had been completely different [decades ago], the understandings had been completely different, however they constructed a spot that was a showplace for Los Angeles within the period that they did,” Aron says, stressing the significance of context. “And the practices that they adopted had been thought-about acceptable and correct on the time.”
The Autry estimates that, so as to reopen the location as a museum, retrofitting and renovations would value greater than $100 million. As an alternative, it’s on the lookout for a brand new proprietor to steward the constructing and grounds, an entity that would use the house for “neighborhood profit.” The Autry, meantime, will proceed to take care of and exhibit the gathering. Aron says there may be now “one entity” being vetted — which is vetting prices itself — although he wouldn’t reveal any names.
The Southwest Museum of the American Indian on the Mount Washington-Highland Park border is L.A.’s oldest museum.
(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Occasions)
Aron says that “within the historical past of strikes,” the relocation of greater than 400,000 typically fragile objects from the Southwest Museum to the Sources Middle “defies creativeness.” The transfer took greater than a decade. Packing alone took greater than 12 years, beginning in 2004 after the merger and main as much as the constructing’s completion in 2016.
A whole lot of hundreds of objects needed to be inventoried and barcoded, cleaned and conserved, and stabilized for transport. That meant establishing an onsite conservation lab, photograph studio, customized packing space and walk-in freezer on the Southwest Museum. The latter is the place natural materials, tasty to moths and beetles, had been frozen for 10 days at minus-30 levels to kill pests. It took a 12 months alone to construct this short-term preservation mission infrastructure.
The Autry’s preservation mission, which took greater than 12 years, included photographing and inventorying greater than 400,000 objects from the Southwest Museum’s assortment.
(From the Autry Museum of the American West)
Over the subsequent 12 to 13 years, estimates LaLeña Lewark, vice chairman of collections and conservation on the Autry, staffers prepped and packed the gathering, one object at a time. The tower the place the ceramics assortment had been housed — 10,381 objects — was essentially the most problematic. Every part needed to be carried down by hand, one field or merchandise at a time, with conservators and artwork handlers shifting cautiously down the 3-foot-wide round staircase. Heavy rains in early 2005 led to the tower roof leaking and a few dozen staffers executed an emergency evacuation, working for 3 weeks to relocate the objects, with moist containers first inspected by conservators.
Staffing on the Autry has ebbed and flowed over time. At one level, round 2007, simply three individuals had been packing the gathering, and progress inched ahead. By 2010 the museum had 15 staffers on the mission.
Because the Sources Middle was accomplished in phases, the shifting of objects occurred in levels in tandem, beginning in 2012. The collections traveled on a particular truck with enhanced suspension that reduces vibrations when driving over bumps.
The Autry labored with a advisor from the Gabrielino-Tongva neighborhood, who created an advisory committee that acted as a liaison with different Native communities. It reviewed packing and transport methodologies.
“Tribes may need requests, objects which are gender delicate with regard to dealing with,” Lewark says.
Miraculously nothing received damaged or misplaced within the transfer.
A conservator works on a historic basket as a part of the Autry’s preservation mission of Southwest Museum objects. The mission took greater than 12 years.
(From the Autry Museum of the American West)
The Autry has been criticized for not displaying the Southwest Museum assortment typically or broadly sufficient. Lewark factors to the historical past of the transfer.
“Folks say, ‘You may have it, why isn’t it on show extra?’ However it was packed away,” Lewark says. “We’re step by step including extra of the Southwest assortment all through extra of our galleries. We’re eager to do extra.”
An exhibition of California Native objects from the Southwest Museum assortment referred to as “Waterways” — half of a bigger exhibition, “Human Nature” — opens on the Autry later this 12 months. One other future present, “Inventive Continuities: Household, Satisfaction and Group in Native Artwork,” is curated by Horse Seize in collaboration with three up to date Native artists.
Acoma ceramics of their new residence on the Autry Museum’s Sources Middle.
(Autry Museum of the American West)
Autry Museum President Stephen Aron exhibits off historic clothes in storage on the Sources Middle.
(Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Occasions)
Classic movies are saved in a “chilly room” on the Autry’s new Sources Middle.
(Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Occasions)
When work, uncommon manuscripts, recordings, outdated pictures, textiles, ceramics and different objects — each assortment objects in addition to latest donations nonetheless being processed — arrive on the Sources Middle, they’re inventoried and go by way of conservation labs, the place they’re inspected earlier than being barcoded and photographed if vital. Pictures are digitized and archived in a collections administration database; objects are then rigorously saved in temperature-, humidity- and light-controlled environments.
There’s a “cool room” and a “chilly room,” the previous for audio and visible materials from completely different time durations, the latter for coloration pictures and movie. Darkened storage cupboards home costumes and historic clothes. The lengthy, cavernous hallways — which really feel considerably like a public storage facility besides for the miniature nineteenth century stagecoach packed away — are divided by large roll-up doorways to help with local weather controls and fireplace prevention.
A number of hundred saddles, principally from the Autry’s assortment, was once housed on freestanding wooden mounts that appear like horsebacks and took up a lot house. Now they’re lined up neatly on glossy metallic mounts on rollers. One piece, a greater than 150-year-old Native American ladies’s saddle from the Crow tribe, options elaborate beadwork on the stirrups and across the seat. One other, by “saddle maker to the celebrities” Edward H. Bohlin, is fabricated from sculpted silver and leather-based. It’s roughly 225 kilos — pity the poor horse — and belonged to Gene Autry.
Streamlined storage is straightforward on the eyes, every thing squared away in sterile, cream-colored, steel-and-baked-enamel shelving or deep drawers that appear like file cupboards. However what it means, virtually, is accessibility — which is essential to the imaginative and prescient of the Sources Middle. Guests can now extra simply discover and research the objects they’re trying to find. The foyer gives a peek into open storage within the archeological school room and library studying room. The Autry hopes to facilitate long-term loans to Native communities and establishments internationally in order that assortment objects are seen broadly.
“One of many challenges for us on the Sources Middle is to verify the collections are opened up,” Aron says, “and opening up means facilitating these sorts of preparations.”
Uncommon and historic manuscripts in storage on the Sources Middle’s library.
(Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Occasions)
Autry Museum President Stephen Aron shows work by Native American artist Harry Fonseca saved on the Sources Middle.
(Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Occasions)
The Southwest Museum’s assortment is now solely moved into the Sources Middle however for a small show of pottery. The Autry’s assortment is about 90% relocated from on-site storage on the Griffith Park museum. That permits the Autry to create extra exhibition house on the museum, although it at present lacks the funds to take action. Each collections are collectively known as the Autry’s Native Collections.
With the transfer full, new challenges now come up for the Sources Middle. Like the place and the right way to retailer objects whereas additionally respecting Native beliefs and protocols. Even the right way to discuss with storage is a matter. Many Native communities desire the time period “collections house” over “storage” as a result of the latter implies lifelessness and inactivity. “Native objects are by no means inactive,” Horse Seize says.
Group is a problem. Some 14,000 baskets within the Southwest Museum assortment had been organized by area — Arctic, sub-Arctic, North West Coast — in a baskets storage room, with objects grouped by tribe. The entire Pomo baskets, from a Central California tribe, are saved collectively, for instance. However in accordance with Native neighborhood needs, the Pomo baskets will now be saved with all the opposite Pomo items within the assortment, no matter media. Maintaining these “residing objects” collectively is essential, Horse Seize says.
“Native objects have a specific amount of life and spirit to them — they’re going to be happier once they’re all collectively in the identical neighborhood,” he says, including {that a} multiyear reorganization is underway.
“However the problem there — from a storage [standpoint] — is that this facility was set as much as do it a technique and we’re now shifting round just a little bit to replicate and respect that viewpoint,” Aron says. The Sources Middle is “a piece in progress,” he provides, however there are limits, notably for a facility that doesn’t generate income. “We’re going to strive, we’re going to maneuver issues round, we’re going to do it proper,” he says. “However we can not broaden this constructing, we have to make issues match.”
An enormous freight elevator on the Autry Museum’s Sources Middle is “massive sufficient to suit a stagecoach — as a result of we’ve got one within the assortment,” jokes museum President Stephen Aron.
(Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Occasions)
Plains beadwork in its new housing on the Sources Middle.
(Autry Museum of the American West)
Conservation, too, is a compromise. Honoring tribal protocols means residing objects shouldn’t be saved underneath plastic, for instance, in order that the objects can breathe. Conservators usually wish to retailer woven hat baskets with the opening dealing with upwards, in order to extra evenly distribute weight throughout the crown. However some tribal consultants suppose it extra essential to retailer the hats with the opening dealing with down, as if they’re being worn. The answer: Do the latter, however with customized assist inserts developed by Autry workers.
Horse Seize factors out that standard Western conservation methods additionally favor dealing with objects as occasionally as doable and, when vital, with protecting gloves on. However many Native communities really feel “these objects need to be cherished, they deserved to be touched with palms versus gloves. As a result of there’s life to them,” he says. “What we’re doing is balancing conservation wants with cultural wants.”
In keeping with its new coverage on administration of Native collections, the Autry has agreed to not show objects — together with publishing pictures of them — with out first consulting tribal representatives. That is particularly essential concerning delicate photographs of ceremonial objects or funerary objects, as an example, footage that usually had been taken with out the consent of these depicted.
“On the finish of the day it’s about respect,” Horse Seize says. “And a part of that’s placing restrictions into what works can exit, what works can be utilized, what works could be visited and by whom.”
Ancestor poles, every representing a Tongva lady, within the Sources Middle foyer. They had been created for a collaborative mission and will likely be put in within the museum’s “Imagined West” exhibition.
(Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Occasions)
The Sources Middle features a neighborhood room, which appears out onto the ceremonial backyard, for tribal representatives and others to reconnect with objects and have discussions with museum staffers, together with about repatriation. The Autry adheres to federal and state laws across the return of objects to their communities of origin, Aron says, however he stresses that’s simply “the authorized minimal of what we must be doing” towards rebalancing the connection between Native communities and the museums that home their heritage.
Horse Seize says the neighborhood room is as a lot an area for schooling and ceremony as it’s for discussing repatriation. It features a altering room for ceremonial regalia and a cupboard of botanicals for “smudging,” a purification course of.
Communications that transpire on this room, round a large walnut desk, are sometimes studying expeditions, Aron says, with up to date Native consultants “education” the museum about objects, a lot of which had been collected underneath doubtful circumstances, or inaccurate assortment data taken greater than 100 years in the past. In that sense, the Sources Middle can be — particularly — a discussion board for cultural understanding and reconciliation.
“Caring for the work, safely defending and housing it, are the important first steps. But when we cease there, we’ve failed,” Aron says. “That’s actually simply the ground versus the ceiling, which is ‘How can we facilitate the research of those [objects]? How can we join Native communities with their ancestral creations? How can we show and exhibit?’ That’s the longer term.”
Released on Hulu (and Disney+) with little to no fanfare, Kim O. Nguyen’s Prom Dates has an immediate aura of familiarity to it. Notably plucking its core character arcs from Olivia Wilde’s Booksmart (and raunchy humor from Emma Seligman’s Bottoms, among others), it retreads a conventional story of two best friends, Jess (Antonia Gentry) and Hannah (High School Musical: The Musical: The Series’ Julia Lester), who have made a pact that their senior prom will be the greatest night of their lives.
The two have dates for prom until Jess’ boyfriend, Luca (Jordan Buhat, with an incredible turn as the biggest douche of our time), cheats on her and gets caught. Meanwhile, Hannah desperately wants to come out as gay, but her friend Greg (Kenny Ridwan) promposes to her in front of the entire school, putting her in a precarious situation. Hannah has the hots for Angie (Terry Hu) but can’t muster up a casual conversation with her without choking on her gum and farting (one of the film’s least funny sequences), while Greg has rewired his entire life on being devoted to her.
This makes for some relatively funny banter, with Ridwan stealing the show during a key scene where he attempts to look for Hannah but meets her brother, Jacob (JT Neal), so dehydrated from crying that he chugs a large water bottle in one go. This type of physical comedy is classic but is always effective, especially when the actors know when to be ultra-expressive (and when to ultimately dial it down) when the scene warrants it. In that regard, Ridwan is the best part of the movie, always appearing in the most uncomfortable situations and stealing the spotlight away from Gentry and Lester, who are equally as good.
Truth be told,the movie wouldn’t have worked if the chemistry between the two leads wasn’t solid. Thankfully, it’s far more than that, with Gentry and Lester portraying their friendship in an achingly sincere, relatable light that makes each uncomfortable situation far more entertaining than they should (I mean, sneezing blood on a stripteaser isn’t funny, but the way in which it’s executed is so surprising that it may bring chuckles out of you).
Gentry’s performance is far more grounded than Lester’s, but their different traits work quite well when paired together. Even if their personalities couldn’t be more different, they still find a way to connect with each other, leading to often absurd situations, which always end with the two finding ways to reconnect as they attempt (but miserably fail) to find new prom dates.
It’s a shame that the bulk of the film re-treads character arcs and a storyline we’ve all seen before, ultimately making the viewing experience a tad uneven. That’s not saying there aren’t any strong moments; there are plenty of hilarious situations that deftly use physical humor in a way that feels fresh and original (the frat boy concussion scene is a perfect example of subverting initial expectations the scene immediately sets up), but there are also plenty of situations that fall flat on their face.
One of them sees Hannah throw up a grand total of four times on a fountain as a couple celebrates their two-year wedding anniversary (with She-Hulk: Attorney at Law’s Patty Guggenheim appearing in a small role). The confrontation between the couple is funny, but what comes before isn’t, and it continues for a long time before the scene morphs into something quasi-interesting.
The movie then jumps to its ending, which, in all honesty, has highs and lows. The biggest high involves Lester singing a rendition of Frank Sinatra’s L.O.V.E. while the lows occur as Nguyen and writer D.J. Mausner go for some of the biggest and most uneventful prom movie clichés in the book, attempting to nicely tie everything together in a bow instead of going beyond what the initial character arcs introduced. Still, Prom Dates is a relatively inoffensive movie that cements both Gentry and Lester as terrific up-and-coming talents, and acts as a reminder that, if you haven’t seen both Ginny & Georgia and High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, you should definitely get on that train right now.
Prom Dates is now available to stream on Hulu in the United States and on Disney+ internationally.
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Entertainment
If you liked Nikki Glaser's roast of Tom Brady, wait till she flames herself in new HBO special
Long gone are the days of Nikki Glaser’s WAP (her words, kinda) but in her new HBO special, “Someday You’ll Die,” taped at the Moore Theater in Seattle, her hilarity is on full display. Entwining topics like our ever-changing bodies, navigating friends with babies, role playing, freezing eggs, the animal kingdom and, ultimately, her own mortality, she’s empathetic and raw, brutally honest, and even more brutally dark. Glaser is as real as it gets and as funny as they come, and on May 11, there are two ways to soak her in. “Someday You’ll Die” on HBO or at the Palladium during the Netflix is a Joke Festival. We recommend both.
Glaser’s reach is worldwide because she’s so much more than just a comic and master roaster (Please see: Sunday’s roast of Tom Brady). She played host on “FBOY Island” for three seasons, is the current host of its spinoff “Lovers and Liars,” and she’s also an incredible singer, as America learned when she took her Snowstorm head off on “The Masked Singer.”
Glaser picked up guitar during the pandemic, which ultimately led to “Some Day You’ll Die” having a theme song, aptly titled “Someday You’ll Die,” (available on all streaming platforms Thursday) which Glaser wrote and recorded. Is she great at everything? Well, she did exit “Dancing With the Stars” (Season 27) a tad early, but as she says, “I’m so grateful that it went the way it did because being voted off first is way funnier than any of the other numbers.”
And for someone who appears to be able to do it all pretty well, Glaser isn’t trying to be a role model. She just inadvertently might be. And for someone who claims to be aging, she looks better than ever — could she be the new George Clooney?
You seriously have never looked better while roasting your body on stage. What’s your routine like heading into a taping like this with a dress like that?
Nikki Glaser: There’s definitely this thought that this is a big deal and want to look as good as possible. I’ve been hearing about Pilates for 20 years and I finally gave in three months before the special. It was about aesthetics that I got into it, and then it was really about the strength to pull off that final gang bang act out. I couldn’t balance like that and engage my core had I not been doing Pilates. It’s so ironic that I started Pilates to look good, but I would never have been able to hold it that long during the bit had I not been doing it. I didn’t even realize I was training for that.
It’s an admirable bit. Also admirable, you being so open about your body struggles.
Yeah, I just struggle with aging and being perceived a certain way, and feeling like part of my talent is dependent on me being f—able and attractive and now I need to maintain that. I feel insecure that if I’m not funny enough, at least I can be nice to look at and if I’m not nice enough to look at, I have to be funnier. It’s always like a balancing act with those things and it’s a huge amount of pressure. Timing the spray tan right, getting your hair done in the right way, making sure you sleep well and drink enough water, then you have to have a certain facial the day before — I probably do as much stuff getting ready as Victoria’s Secret models do before a runway. It really is ridiculous too because no one is expecting that of me, and no one needs it of me. I just hold myself to a level of excellence for these things that are unachievable. I always feel like I didn’t do enough. No matter what, I’ll never feel good enough. Which is, you know, what the special is about as well.
I think a lot of people feel like that and sometimes they need to hear it from someone they look up to or are a fan of.
There’s a part of me that’s like, OK, should I move into this phase of my life where I don’t say anything negative about myself? Don’t talk about how I feel about myself most days because people don’t want to hear it? Especially if someone looks at me and goes, oh, she thinks she’s fat? I’m fatter than her, so I must be disgusting. We all have something, and I know that may not be the best example, but I’m not an example to young women. I am just telling my truth and it’s not my job as a comedian to be a role model. I’ve never wanted to be a role model because I think it’s too much pressure. I’d like to be a role model in the sense that people feel like they can be honest about how they’re feeling.
Nikki Glaser onstage at the Moore Theater in Seattle during her HBO special “Someday You’ll Die,” which begins airing Thursday.
(Jennifer Rose Clasen)
It’s interesting because some might say that admitting your flaws and self-doubt is role model behavior for them.
Yeah, that’s the one I like to hear. I like it when people say they have the same thoughts, or I have depression. What I’ve always really wanted from my celebrities was to not hear about how great their lives are, how much they love themselves, and how they have it together. I want to hear from the people that I put on a pedestal that they are hanging on by a thread. That always makes me feel way better and it literally helps heal me more than motivational things like, you gotta wake up every morning and love yourself! It helps me more to go, oh, my God, Taylor Swift feels insecure too?
That opens up my eyes to the fact that it’s not worth dwelling on when I see someone like Taylor Swift having the same thoughts as me. I think, OK, then it’s ubiquitous. I’ll never overcome it because if I were Taylor Swift, I’d overcome it. And I don’t really have solutions on how to fix it. I’m more of just complaining about the way it is. Sometimes I feel like my material doesn’t offer a solution, it’s just telling people mostly that life sucks and one day you die, but I think there’s freedom in the truth and not putting a spin on it. I don’t want to be told about what the solution is. If that works, we’d all do the solution.
You’re kind of like if T. Swift wrote lyrics we can’t publish in the L.A. Times.
Oh, my gosh, that means so much to me! Taylor Swift is who I would like to be if I could pick what I was good at. I’ve always loved singing and I’ve always loved music. I got some bad feedback when I was young about my voice and I was just discouraged until, you know, my mid 30s. I was told I wasn’t good, so I decided I had to find another industry. I tried acting but wasn’t a good actress and I was like, what the f—, man? How am I going to get in? That’s how I discovered stand-up and obviously the shoe fit perfectly. It was exactly what I like about music, but I could be more specific. And it was exactly what I like about comedy, but I could write it myself.
What came first, “Someday You’ll Die” the special or “Someday You’ll Die” the song?
We shot the special first. My boyfriend [Chris Convy] executive produced it, and we were in editing talking about what song I wanted for the credits and I was like, I like this song! And this song! And this song! He’s like, OK, well, we’re a little over budget, so this is going to have to come out of your money, which I was willing to do because ending on a really good song is important to me. I was thinking, how much could it be? He goes, it’s gonna range from 20K to 35K for each song. After hearing that I thought, I’ve been taking voice lessons, I did all right on “The Masked Singer,” and I’ve been playing guitar since COVID, so what if I wrote a song?
I pitched it and all of the pieces came together. I’ve always wanted to write a song and it’s my favorite thing I’ve ever done. It’s the proudest I’ve ever been because I never tried to write a song before; I was always scared I couldn’t do it. I think in life you’re just scared to take opportunities, so when this came about — writing a song for my HBO comedy special — I had to do it. I think it comes from a place of insecurity. I say yes to everything because I’m scared that they’ll stop asking if I don’t. There’s also this thing of I never want to get to a point in my life when I’m 60 and I look back and go, oh, you didn’t do that because you were scared.
Glaser has been everywhere these days, from TV shows like “FBoy Island” and “The Masked Singer” to last Sunday’s Tom Brady roast on Netflix.
(Jennifer Rose Clasen)
At this point, you certainly seem fearless in more ways than one. OK, so Hollywood Palladium May 11. Have you played there before?
Yeah, we did a roast there, I think it was Bruce Willis? It might have been all of them. I really don’t know where I do these things, but there was some roast in the Palladium, so I have! I’m really excited about this year’s festival because it looks so huge. I can’t believe how many shows are going on. I hope people show up because I have new material and it’s a chance for me to use some saved stuff I’ve been working on. I also have stuff that maybe was in the special that I have worked on, just expounding my feelings about it all. It’s also just such a big fun room and with the festival, energy will be in the air. And it’s the last show I do for a heavy month of work, and I always go to see Taylor Swift on the third night she’s performing because I know as a performer, the first night you’re like, OK, I have two more and need to conserve my energy. But on that third night, you’re just free and I’m telling you, the night of my show I’m going to feel so free. It’ll just be a catharsis on stage. I cannot wait.
Oh FFS, this again?! *spoilers will occur in this segment*
Yes, I have to point out a few of my main issues, so you will know to steer clear of Founding Fathers if you have the same pet peeves. That’s why the below will include spoilers, so beware of those in the below.
I did find myself almost yelling at the screen, which – to the film’s credit – means it’s hitting some spots. Not anything good, unfortunately, as I was going “Oh, for f***’s sake, this again?!” at the screen.
Not only is the first victim of the slasher a woman. And not only is she a lesbian (or queer) woman. She also just kissed her girlfriend, professed her love for her girlfriend, and asked her to stay. That is the stereotypical brutal trope textbook moment for when a lesbian (or queer woman) will get killed.
From The 100 to The Purge series and The Walking Dead, it happens constantly. I do not need this as a mystery element in my horror comedy slasher as well.
However, with Founder’s Day, it gets a bit worse. I realized we never actually saw the queer woman die. And another rule of horror is that someone is never truly dead unless you see them die. So, instead of this being another “Bury your gays” moment, it was the other terrible trope: The psychopath lesbian predator!
I am grossly oversimplifying, but right now LGBTQ series are (once again) getting canceled by the dozen, so I don’t need this crap in my horror comedies as well. You could just as easily have chosen any white man. One obvious character comes to mind, which you’ll understand if you watch the movie.
But no, it just had to be the queer female. Which means I definitely had to get miffed (to put it very mildly) about it.
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Columbia University cancels its main commencement ceremony after weeks of turmoil
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News1 week agoBoth sides prepare as Florida's six-week abortion ban is set to take effect Wednesday
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Politics1 week agoColumbia University’s policy-making senate votes for resolution calling to investigate school’s leadership
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