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Malibu Seen

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kimdevore_2
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SCORE!

Kelsey Grammer presided over a celebration of classics at this year’s Mancini Musicale at Paramount Studios. The dinner concert showcased the talents of dozens of young musicians who participated in The Henry Mancini Institute’s summer program at UCLA.

A variety of Mancini hits was performed and were followed with a tribute to Quincy Jones, as well as additional performances by Dianne Reeves and Herbie Hancock.

Grammer broke out in a little scat as he was welcomed on stage to the music of “Fraiser.” “I feel like Bob Hope now,” he quipped. “I even have my own theme song.”

Grammer became acquainted with Mancini eight years ago when he spoke with the legendary composer about launching his own television series. “On the very first episode of ‘Fraiser,’ one of the call-in guests was Henry Mancini,” he said. “It was a collect call, and I am so happy to repay the kindness and the charges.” That they did, raising $450,000 for the Mancini Institute.

AND THE BAND PLAYED ON

The show goes on at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion as the Los Angeles Philharmonic celebrated the music of Duke Ellington Wednesday evening. With the nation continuing to grieve and mourn, many organizations have canceled, scaled back or postponed their cultural and social festivities. The philharmonic considered making such a move, but not for long.

Malibu’s Robert I. Weingarten is passionate about the decision. “We’re going forward. It’s our duty.” The chairman of the Los Angeles Philharmonic says programs like these are vital to keeping the American spirit alive. “It’s part of waging this war,” he maintains. “If we pull in our horns and run, we lose. We need to conduct our lives as they should be conducted, only then can we win.”

For Weingarten, staying the course has never been more important. “I told our board that we always examine the relevance of what we do during times like these. But you must remember that music touches us like no other art form. It celebrates our greatest joys and comforts us in times of sorrow. It is unique among the arts in that it has the power to heal. That is what we can do to bring the community together. We have a responsibility to go on and it is more relevant than ever.” Bravo!

LOVE AND KISSES

By
kimdevore_2
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Malibu’s John Raitt was on the celebrity roster at the opening night of “Kiss Me, Kate” at the Shubert Theatre on Aug. 22, and the grand gala that followed at the St. Regis Hotel. The event was “too darn hot” as Raitt joined Blake Edwards, Carl Reiner, Sally Kirkland, Michael York, James Farentino and Jimmy Smits for an evening of song and celebration. It was a nostalgic night for theater lovers that also reunited Broadway vets Patricia Morison, who played the original role of Kate on Broadway, Ann Miller, who played Lois Lane in the MGM film, and James Whitmore.

The production, which features the toe-tapping tunes of Cole Porter, picked up five Tony Awards and opened to rave reviews. It’s not too late to catch Kate. They’ll be singing up a storm until Oct. 13. What else can you say but Wunderbar!

DA, DA, DA

Sherry Lansing, meantime, had her eyes and ears on the opera. Lansing joined pals Nancy Daly Riordan and Placido Domingo at the Russian-themed opening night gala for the L.A. Opera’s “Queen of Spades.” After a standing ovation, the black tie clan made its way to the Music Center Plaza, which was turned into a whimsical “winter palace” fit for a czar.

Once inside, 600 guests admired ice sculptures that had been artfully carved into Russia’s most famous landmarks, including the onion-domed St. Basil Cathedral. They roamed around sipping their Stolichnaya while enjoying background music provided by the Moscow Strings.

Among the minglers were Maximillian Schell, who directs the upcoming production of “Lohengrin,” heavy hitters Barbara and Marvin Davis as well as celebs Michael York, David Hyde Pierce and Diane Lane. The menu, but of course, was Russian in flavor. Celebrity chef Joaquim Splichal was on hand with platters of smoked salmon bilinis and savory beef stroganoff. After dinner, they danced till the midnight hour. Zdorovye!

THE STAGE IS SET

Pleasant diversions seem more welcome than ever these days, and theater and music lovers have lots to choose from. The racy production of “The Car Man,” an auto-erotic thriller, takes off at the Ahmanson through the end of the month, “Sa Ve En Rose” holds its magnifique world premiere at the Court Theater, “Spine” taps into the woes of well-to-do women at the Coast Playhouse, and due to overwhelming demand, the one and only Elvis Costello teams up with the Charles Mingus Orchestra at UCLA’s Royce Hall.

It might be a good time to just sit back, take a break and enjoy.

Students speak out on war

By
13StarsManager
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Six Pepperdine students sat and talked about life’s uncertainty as

the first generation in nearly 60 years to see a war in their own backyard.

Interviewed by Nikki Pedersen

Special to The Malibu Times

Steve Mock, 20, Malibu campus ministry intern

“As far as U.S. government actions towards foreign policy, in relation to the nation and us as students, we’re going to see huge changes. With the threat of terrorism, different alliances will be forged. We have 25 percent of the world’s wealth; we use 25 percent of the world’s resources, yet we’re only 3 percent of the world’s population. It gives us a very biased view. I don’t agree with going to war. But at the same time, to allow a (terrorist) group of people to kill thousands of people and not do anything about it, is stating politically that those people have the power, and they’re allowed to do that without anything happening to them.”

Breton Phillips, 21, Campus ministry intern

“Being a business administration major, I’m conscious of the fallout from the terrorists and how it’s affecting businesses. It’s a huge travesty that goes beyond the WTC. Look at the airlines and how they’ve experienced huge losses–the thousands of layoffs. It will affect social services and put a strain on the system. Then look at tourism; in Los Angeles County, I heard L.A.’s losing $20 million a day. The stock market has fallen. And think about reservists being called up, how they won’t be at their regular jobs. A doctor could be called up at any moment, and his hospital’s not going to have him anymore. I still don’t think we should make war against Afghanistan, because the terrorists don’t represent the whole country.”

Lee Diaz, 20,

Member of Young Life, Political Science/ sociology major

“From a political science point of view it’s very much a time to be watching the news. There’s been a lot of political cohesion, a lot of bipartisan actions taken, which is amazing. One swift action against the country brought everybody together, and even though something this harsh brought a change, it’s made us think about what is justice. In our country, justice is getting these people who caused the terror in our lives, whereas in their viewpoint, justice might already have been served.”

Annalise Brock, 22, International studies.

“I’m concerned with people in this nation stepping up and taking responsibility–not for what happened, but for helping and loving others in this country. Also, to love other people from other countries. On campus it’s especially important, because there are a lot of international students, many of them from the Middle East. A lot of them have felt threatened. I’ve heard a lot of anger from people interviewed by the media, but we don’t know how the media’s manipulated us. Our perspective as Americans is completely different–we’re at the top of the pyramid of power. As students, we’re taught to look at different perspectives. Our perspective is not the world’s–it’s the American perspective.”

Carlina Johnson, 18

Why do we want to go to war so badly? We know that’s not a way to solve problems, because of the deep strides we’ve made in the past to avoid that. I think we’re really contradicting ourselves, and it’s an important time in our nation to really understand what we want–as head officials and as citizens–whether people who are strongly against the war really will have a voice.

Fond memories at reunion

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13StarsManager
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0

I recently attended the 50th high school class reunion for Santa Monica High School. I would like to share some of my fond memories from the past.

At the reunion, I was reunited with two longtime Malibu friends, Lin Franklin and Don Donaldson. Lin lived at Escondido Beach in the 1940s and 1950s . Don lived in Point Dume during the same era. I lived in Paradise Cove with my father, Bill Swanson, and sister, Margie Swanson. My father was the original developer of Paradise Cove and pier. Being a typical 13-year-old in the summer, I would watch the beach daily, for boys. Don, Lin and the Rindge boys would gather at The Cove to swim, hunt grunion and build beach fires. Often, we would raid the watermelon patch up Ramirez Canyon.

During the school year, the bus would pick up Don and his brother from one of the few houses on Point Dume. I remember Don bounding out of the garage where he lived to the bus each morning while his parents were building the family home nearby. I shared a 35-foot mobile home (trailer) with my sister. Power outages were frequent. We shared common phone lines and also drove to Santa Monica for groceries.

We shared many memories at the reunion. Somehow, things don’t change much. We had a very special life in Malibu, free from politics, traffic and pollution. We were so lucky! My 50 years in Malibu will always be remembered.

Gloria Swanson Hayes

Pilloried for position

By
13StarsManager
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0

Ninety-eight percent of the adults in Malibu are decent, hard-working, honest Americans. It’s the other lousy two percent that I voted for that get all the publicity. But then I voted for them. Land conservative Dan Wallace has asked me in his letter to The Malibu Times on 9/13/01, questions that indicate I am against open space and his friends. Councilman Ken Kearsley sermonizes that I am against kids and I don’t want to pay more taxes (Measure K taxes Malibuites under Proposition 13 considerably less than newer residents of Malibu) and that I am a curmudgeon who steals from the open-space community. Next, I will be accused of being a snitch for the Malibu Code Enforcement officer.

Oh, well! I have never affirmed anything other than that the Lily’s Caf Malibu Steering Committee and I are cohesive in that Measure K, a $15,000,000 bond issue, must be defeated as written. We believe that the proposed general bond is in fact, general, all-purpose, and broad-spectrum and does not reflect the wishes of Malibuites. We believe that the desire of the citizens of Malibu is not to give the City Council an unbound hand in the spending of this general bond money based upon local politics and political influence. Finally, we question the availability of the Malibu City Council to use eminent domain in purchasing private property from an unwilling seller anywhere in Malibu.

I have publicly stated (Taki Talks) that we are in favor of a bond measure being placed on the ballot in which the Malibu Council does not have blank check authority and the measure is line itemed as is traditional with 99 percent of all bond measures in the United States of America. We want to understand what Malibuites are voting for. Where is the bond tax money going?

Mr. Wallace, since I asked for Measure K to be traditionally worded, your co-committee associates complain that I’m a wet blanket, my house has been paint-bombed, egged and wine bottles have been thrown against its front door. I am now awaiting the traditional cross burning on my front lawn for being incompatible with the Malibu Open-Space Conservatives over simply the wording of Bond Measure K. Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed. God bless Malibu.

And that is all I have to say.

Tom Fakehany

Students speak out on war

By
13StarsManager
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0

 

City Council stunned by state’s LCP

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13StarsManager
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Coastal Commission plan for Malibu coast ignores city’s draft.

Ken Gale/Special to The Malibu Times

The State Coastal Commission draft of a local coastal plan (LCP) for Malibu released last Friday aroused anger and indignation among city councilmembers Monday night. But most hadn’t had a chance to absorb the thick document over the weekend, so the council took no action.

“From what I’ve read, it’s pretty draconian,” Councilmember Sharon Barovsky said. “It looks like you’d have to have a permit just to have a birthday party for your child on the beach.”

“What this draft LCP does is restore Los Angeles County’s plan for our city, which Malibu citizens rejected,” said Councilmember Tom Hasse. “It’s why we became a city, so we could control our own destiny.

That [LCP] means turning Malibu into Coney Island West, with hotels on every corner,” he added.

Hasse pointed his finger directly at Peter Douglas, executive director of the Coastal Commission. “Peter Douglas has always had an ideological ax to grind against Malibu,” he said, and he called on Malibu voters not to vote for any candidate running for governor or the state Legislature who does not condemn the Coastal Commission LCP.

An LCP basically spells out how local communities along the California coastline will use beaches and adjacent lands. State laws mandate certain regulations designed to maintain natural coastal beauty, while at the same time guaranteeing such things as public beach access to beaches and visitor services, such as lodging, restaurants and public facilities. The Coastal Commission is one of the enforcers of those regulations.

Malibu had submitted its own draft version of an LCP last year that would have severely restricted commercial development in favor of open space and limited visitor amenities. The Coastal Commission rejected that plan and was then mandated by state law to write its own plan for Malibu.

The city then drew up another draft that it submitted to the Coastal Commission last month. City Hall sources say there has been no communication from the commission since then, despite earlier assurances from officials there that they would consult with Malibu planners in the process of drafting their LCP.

Here are some of the items in the Coastal LCP that councilmembers objected to, based on their preliminary readings:

  • The 24-acre Crummer property on Malibu Bluffs would be rezoned from “rural residential” to “visitor-serving commercial,” which would allow a hotel or motel to be built there.

“Which means effectively ending the chance for an agreement to relocate the ballfields from Bluffs Park,” Barovsky said.

  • Civic Center property would be rezoned. According to Hasse, “They have taken the Chili Cook-Off site, which we have zoned general commercial, and changed it to commercial visitor serving, meaning instead of small business and office buildings, we will have hotels and restaurants there.”
  • According to Barovsky, the Coastal LCP would open up residential streets Cliffside and Birdview Drives in Point Dume to public parking.
  • It also requires public access to beaches every 1,000 feet.

The Malibu Township Council (MTC), a longtime land preservationist organization, came under fire from councilmembers for its lawsuit against the city enjoining it from pursuing its own LCP. Councilmember Ken Kearsley noted that a letter from MTC to the city last May stated clearly that the “Coastal Commission, not the city” should write the Malibu LCP.

“They got what they asked for,” Kearsley said.

“Congratulations, MTC, you won,” said Barovsky. “Now you should explain to the people why you wanted the Coastal Commission to write our own LCP.”

Hasse called on the MTC to “stop these ridiculous law suits, unless they really want this for the city, which I don’t believe they do.”

Mayor Joan House noted there will be many hearings on the LCP coming up over the next two months and said, “It’s going to be a very heavy load.”

The council postponed some of the other weighty items on the agenda Monday night. These included several proposals from the Planning Department to change the city’s slope/density ordinances, making them more flexible for property owners. Slope/density is a formula for determining the allowable size of a building on a given lot, according to the steepness of a slope on the property. Changes proposed by the Planning Department would ease many of the current restrictions. Action on most of these proposed changes was postponed until the Oct. 22 council meeting because the Planning Commission had not been given them in time for discussion by this week’s council meeting.

Also postponed was discussion on a proposed Waste Water Management Plan drawn up by the city building department. Overall, this plan seeks to upgrade wastewater treatment and runoff facilities as now defined in the city’s 1995 general plan. It looks at newer technologies to replace current methods and to be used in new construction developments. It also would establish a wastewater inspection program for current and replacement systems. Because Building and Safety official Vic Peterson was out sick with the flu Monday, discussion was postponed until Oct. 8.

Making dreams come true

By
13StarsManager
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0

I am the director of the Malibu Community Center on Point Dume. Its 19-year history has been one of great success. In its prime, of just four years ago, there were numerous classes, art lessons, a dedicated room for the seniors, summer day camp programs. Even the City of Malibu conducted various commission meetings here.

Even the establishment and growth of the Point Dume Marine Science School has been bitter sweet. As they grew, we diminished and many programs had to seek new locations or dissolve altogether. I would love to see a new community center built. Yes, I realize that $2,250,000 is not enough to build a community center, ball fields, playgrounds, trails and all the amenities we wish for, but we can increase our purchasing power with matching funds and grants once we have committed to this ballot measure.

I’m willing to concede that Malibu does need the open spaces, and buying land is the best way to avoid the consequences of overbuilding. I believe a large majority of Malibu is ready to do the same and after we have passed this bond in November, we will be able to turn many of our community dreams into reality and work together to achieve our goals.

Nidra Winger Maus

False to a fault

By
13StarsManager
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0

After reading the latest vitriolic attack on most of our City Council, especially aimed so viciously at Councilmember Sharon Barovsky, it seems clear that the naysayers who oppose the upcoming Bond Measure must have little support since they are reduced to using phony names of non-existent individuals who neither live in Malibu, pay taxes in Malibu, nor vote in Malibu!

It is also obvious that the Malibu Times does not bother to check out the true identities of those who submit letters under fictitious (and often ludicrous) names. I recently had a letter printed in the Los Angeles Times, but before it was published, a staffer called me to confirm my name and phone number to ensure that this was a legitimate submission. I suggest the Malibu Times does the same in future. Of course, it is true that the chair of the so-called (and self-appointed) “Lily’s Cafe Sneering Committee” is named Tom FAKEhany (emphasis added)!

And that’s all I have to say.

Leslie Moss

Local clergy seek to comfort, recommend restraint

By
kimdevore_2
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0

As shell-shocked Americans witnessed the sobering site of a diminished Manhattan skyline this week, two words came to mind: “What next?” Talk of smoking out those responsible for attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon had many Malibu residents wondering about war-and turning to religious leaders for direction.

“We are holding in pain, and fear and terror,” said Rabbi Judith HaLevy of the Malibu Jewish Community Center, “but faith is what sustains us and we need to be there for one another.”

At Our Lady of Malibu, Monsignor John Sheridan maintains that “people want to feel the presence of God and we need to respond to their loneliness and confusion.”

But in addition to words of comfort, these spiritual leaders recommend restraint, especially when it comes to striking back at terrorists like Osama bin Laden and countries like Afghanistan.

“Vengeance alone is not enough of a motive,” said HaLevy. “At the same time, there does need to be a response because we can’t allow this kind of evil to exist.”

What kind of response? “If I had the answer, I would be Colin Powell or George Bush or Ariel Sharon, but I am only the rabbi. I can only hope that the people in power will use their highest judgment.”

Sheridan, who lost a young relative in the World Trade Center attacks, echoed her view. Even from his clerical point of view, a response is warranted.

“If we could identify Osama bin Laden, where he is and surgically strike, you would be justified. But if it meant just bombing, we would be as bad as they are.”

When it comes to words of war, they also want to remind followers that pain and despair should not lead to rage, retaliation and vengeance.

“You are angry, you are searching for a gun, an immediate target,” said Sheridan. “We cannot do that.”

“Yes, we need a measured response,” HaLevy maintains. “But we don’t bomb Afghanistan into the Stone Age. My job is to remind people that these are human beings.”

Another concern is a backlash of intolerance, such as in the recent publicized statement by Rev. Jerry Falwell.

“I am deeply disturbed by Jerry Falwell,” said HaLevy, “who said it was all due to the ACLU, gays and lesbians. I don’t care if it’s Falwell or bin Laden. It’s the same kind of rigid thinking that says we are right and everyone else is wrong.” Falwell has since apologized for his comments.

Both Sheridan and HaLevy hope that good will emerge from this tragedy. In the words of Sheridan, “I believe in my heart that for the first time in the history of the human family, we have a chance to come together as a whole.”

“It is a time for people to come home, to be rooted,” said HaLevy. “It is clear that everyone is part of the same web.”

But as the clergy seeks to comfort, they find themselves in the position of searching for answers themselves. As Sheridan simply but eloquently admits, “I’d say sometimes it’s really hard to figure out what God’s plan is in all of this.”

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