Recently in the print press:
This LA Times special feature with high praise for the Glendale Pops and Artistic Director Matt Catingub.

This Glendale News-Press letter to the editor from Matt Catingub urging support for the Alex Theatre and its excellent programming. “The arts are what make a great city a great city.”

The Alex is the centerpiece of Glendale’s downtown district, providing cultural resources, creating jobs, and attracting spending by patrons, which benefits local restaurants and retailers.

Glendale Arts currently operates the Alex under an agreement in effect through mid-2015. This may delay the forced sale of the Alex, but will not prevent it. The Alex Theatre could be saved as a “carve-out” project through language that allows cities to retain public facilities built with redevelopment money.

A strong message from the community will make a difference, and go a long way in Sacramento. Write to state representatives, send letters to the editor in the Glendale News Press, and spread the word to others to do the same.

Check out the Glendale Arts fact sheet about the Alex Theatre, Glendale Arts programs and its many events and supporters.

Send messages to elected representatives now!
Local representatives contact information:

Senator Carol Liu – 21st District
(818) 409-0400
Senator.Liu@senate.ca.gov

Assemblymember Mike Gatto – 43rd District
(818) 558-3043
assemblymember.gatto@assembly.ca.gov

Assemblymember Anthony Portantino – 44th District
(626) 577-9944
assemblymember.portantino@assembly.ca.gov

Letters to the editor Glendale News Press
gnp@latimes.com

Although invitations were extended to all state-level officials representing this area, Portantino was the only one who attended the meeting.

Chief Assistant Director of Community Development Phil Lanzafame provided details on the legislation, and made clear that no additional funds will go to Glendale or other school districts as a result of ending redevelopment agencies. Instead, the tax increment will go directly to the schools and the state will send proportionately less – just as much as is required by Prop 98! (See slide 8 of staff’s AB XI 26 Status report: the net result, it says, is that the state’s contribution to local government is reduced).

Lanzafame also reported that the Friends of the Glendale Library Board, concerned about further cuts to the library budget resulting from loss of redevelopment revenues, and about cancellation of the $10 million Central Library project, would be sending letters of support for the bill. The Glendale Chamber of Commerce, and Glendale Arts and the Alex Theatre, were meeting soon to consider this step as well.

We are enjoying every Glendale Pops concert immensely, and hoping the community will quickly realize what a gem this orchestra is and pack the Alex for every show, including the next one, This is Romance, featuring guest artist Kenny Loggins, February 10. Here’s what our resident expert just sent out in an email:

“The Glendale Pops Orchestra performs at the Alex Theater next on February 10. Led by Matt Catingub, it is one of the finest orchestras in the nation. Matt’s arrangements are sparkling, and when he’s not conducting them he’s singing a solo or taking a big saxophone cadenza. Top-notch guest musicians, like jazz pianist David Benoit, are featured at every concert. Matt handpicks the top studio musicians in LA for the orchestra (one standout is trumpeter Wayne Bergeron, whose stratospheric high notes soar over the band).

Go to the Glendale Pops Orchestra concert on February 10 at the Alex Theatre. You won’t be disappointed. I hope you give them the support I know they deserve.”

I received this email the same day Glendale and other cities in California confronted the news reported in the Glendale News-Press: “the state could try to pry away about nine properties the redevelopment agency transferred to the city, including the Alex Theatre. If the state got a hold of them, city officials fear quick liquidation.”

Glendale Arts manages The Alex Theatre, and the Glendale Pops Orchestra. In addition to Matt Catingub and his stellar musicians, it brings other top-rated orchestras, shows, and international groups to the Alex regularly. It supports local and aspiring artists and talent and partners with our school district, the entertainment industry, and other nonprofits and community leaders to support worthy causes.

Glendale Arts General Manager Elissa Glickman writes on her Facebook page: “If the state of California does choose to take and sell the Alex Theatre, it would not only impact the hundreds of downtown restaurants and businesses who rely on the Alex’s 150,000+ patrons to increase sales, but also our more than 30 full and part time employees and the hundreds of non-profit community, education and arts organizations that perform at the Theatre every year.”

Support our local arts organization and its stewardship of the Alex Theatre: speak out, write legislators, and fill theatre seats to keep excellent arts programming and resources in Glendale.

Auditions are open to any students living in and around the Glendale area ages 6 to 17 years of age. Times/ages for audition:
Saturday, September 24:
10 – 12 years old – 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
13 – 17 years old – 1:30 to 4:30 p.m.

Audition application and information

Fight the crowds and support this great orchestra, which is bringing the perfect mix of entertainment industry flair, world-class musicianship, and exhilarating arrangements to Glendale. Purchase season tickets to the Glendale Pops 2011-2012 season, for three concerts at The Alex Theatre, and get reserved seating at The Americana free concerts – this Thursday and September 22.

Season tickets for 2011-2012 Glendale Pops concerts are on sale now via this link; the next performance is June 30, outdoors at The Americana on Brand (season ticket holders receive VIP seating at this free event).

Reviews of the show published this week, following this blog’s brief writeup:

Catingub, Glendale Pops dazzle in “Premiere”, Crescenta Valley Weekly, May 19, 2011. Excerpt: “Matt Catingub, the GPO’s new artistic director, emceed the concert with a sly charm and warmth that had the audience feeling as if they were being welcomed at the home of an old friend…Each number performed by the GPO was played with aplomb and immaculate finish. It’s little wonder that Glendale Arts and the GPO’s many supporters were beaming with pride when Catingub was named its artistic director.”

Glendale Pops rocks the house, Glendale News-Press, May 20, 2011. Excerpt: “The excitement generated by the conductor, orchestra and special guests Kenny Loggins, David Benoit and Monica Mancini was nothing short of electrifying and possibly the best show this reporter has seen to date at the Alex.”

Glendale Pops can’t be missed, Letter from Eric Johnston to the Glendale News-Press, May 20, 2011. Excerpt: “I would argue the Glendale Pops, led by its incomparable conductor Matt Catingub, is every bit if not more talented than any pops orchestra in the country. I am gratified that we have such a world-class orchestra in our very own backyard…How many other cities in Southern California can claim this? Kudos to the Glendale Arts organization for helping bring this exceptional entertainment to our city…Glendale aspires to be a world-class cultural arts city, and our officials are doing what they can to achieve this. However, being known as a city of the arts requires that its citizens actually support the arts.”

Glendale Arts has struck the perfect tone with Artistic Director Matt Catingub, an area native and entertainment professional with award-winning soundtracks and experience with top recording artists.

The audience was thrilled by the selections, the pace, and the energy of the whole concert. Seriously, if you missed The Premiere, you missed a fantastic event in Glendale. Don’t miss their next show (check Glendale Arts for more information):

Congratulations to Glendale Arts, a gem reflecting the best of its community’s arts and entertainment heritage.

Mary Apick’s celebrated production features powerful, true stories of ten women of all ages who face oppression in the Middle East, especially Iran. These women wear the traditional veil, both willingly and unwillingly.

The play begins with an American journalist who falls asleep while researching the lives of Middle Eastern women. Mid-dream, the women who serve as the subject of her news article come to life around the journalist, sharing their stories, which shed a troublesome light on the treatment of women in parts of the Middle East.

Mary Apick plays several parts including the character Zahra Kazemi, a Canadian journalist who was tortured, raped and killed in Tehran for taking photographs of the exterior of a prison in 2003 and a stereotypical lavish Persian woman who wears the slinkiest of designer dresses beneath her head-to-toe Burqa (which she claims to adore). Other stories include a young girl who kills herself after being severely reprimanded for listening to music and a woman being punished for a moral sin that she has committed by being buried up to her neck in a shallow grave and then stoned to death.

Since premiering in 2005, in which it became the winner of the 2005 Los Angeles Theatre Festival’s Critics’ Choice Award, “Beneath the Veil” has shared its powerful message with audiences across the country. Previous performances include The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Lincoln Center, and the Geffen Playhouse. Past speakers and honorary chairs for previous performances include First Lady Laura Bush, international journalist Rudi Bakhtiar, former representative to the United Nation’s General Assembly Goli Ameri, and deputy executive director of Amnesty International Timothy Higdon.

“Beneath the Veil” is presented by Mary Apick Productions, Inc. in association with the Armenian American Medical Society’s Women’s Auxiliary, Glendale Arts, YWCA of Glendale and the City of Glendale Commission on the Status of Women. A portion of the proceeds from the Alex Theatre performance will go to the Armenian American Medical Society’s Women’s Auxiliary and the YWCA of Glendale.

Ticket Prices:
VIP Ticket: $125.00 Includes pre and post receptions and prime Orchestra seating.
For VIP Tickets go to www.itsmyseat.com
Orchestra Level Seating: $75.00 / $55.00
Terrace Level Seating: $55.00
Balcony Seating: $35.00
Special Student Price (Balcony Only): $25.00 Promo Code VEILSTUDENT

Go to the Glendale Arts webpage for tickets or more information.

The program will run February 1-16 in a push to assist the Salvation Army that has been providing for over 1100 families in the Glendale area. With unemployment in California still hovering around 12%, there has never been a greater need for food donations in the community.

Salvation Army of Glendale’s food bank has become increasingly low. The Downtown Glendale Merchants Association and Kiwanis are raising awareness and making it easier to give by creating additional donation points in conjunction with the Valentine’s holiday.

DROP-OFF POINTS FOR DONATIONS:
Porto’s Bakery, 315 N. Brand Blvd.
Glendale Arts, 116 W. California
Massage Envy Spa, 333 N. Brand Blvd.
Glendale Police Department, 131 N. Isabel
Fire Department (various locations)
City Hall, 613 E. Broadway
Glendale YMCA, 140 N. Louise
Salvation Army of Glendale, Windsor & Central