7 Days In Arts / January 5-11,2001

6
Saturday

Horns a-blazing, the University of Judaism presents Blow, Gabriel, Blow, a tribute to some of the finest trumpet players of the ’40s, the Gabriels of their time. A full band led by clarinetist Abe Most and trumpeters Al Aarons, Zeke Zachary and Hershey Bell will perform numbers made famous by Louis Armstrong, Ziggy Elman and Mannie Klein. For those of you keeping score, that’s one band in one show blowing through swing, jitterbug and klezmer. Herb Jeffries, formerly of the Duke Ellington Orchestra, will emcee. $25-$30. 8:30 p.m. Also Sun., Jan. 7 at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.; Tue., Jan. 9 at 8 p.m. 15600 Mulholland Dr., Bel Air. For tickets or more information, call (310) 476-9777 ext. 203.

7
Sunday

It is a well-known fact that many Jews were energetic and outspoken advocates in the civil rights struggles of the 1950s and ’60s. What is less often discussed is the extent to which the African American community supported Israel and civil rights for Jews during this period. In a lecture tonight at the Skirball Cultural Center, Rabbi Marc Schneier examines “Shared Dreams: Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Jewish Community.” Schneier is president of the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding, and tonight’s lecture is based on his book, “Shared Dreams.” 2 p.m. 2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd., Los Angeles. For reservations, call (310) 440-4667.

8
Monday

Installation artist Karen Frimkess Wolff uses sound and carefully ordered objects to create her art. An art history teacher at the Braille Institute in Los Angeles, Wolff has created an installation using hundreds of tiny bells. Juxtaposed to this work in the “Floats” exhibit at the Sam Francis Gallery is Masayuki Oda’s steel sculpture. Mon.-Fri., 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Through Feb. 9. Sam Francis Gallery at Crossroads School, 1714 21st Street, Santa Monica. For more information, call (310) 829-7391 ext. 402.

9
Tuesday

Richard Artschwager operated a furniture factory from 1955-65. He began to produce in-factory artwork, pseudofurniture, made of plywood. As his art developed, Artschwager came to be identified with the Dada and later Pop Art movements. His current exhibition at Daniel Weinberg Gallery features sculpture based on the shipping crates used to transport fine art. Like his pseudofurniture, Artschwager’s crates encourage uncertainty, blurring distinctions between high art and craft. Tues.-Sat. 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Through Feb. 14. 6148 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles. For more information, call (323) 954-8425.

10
Wednesday

“The Autumn Garden” is the play, and the play’s the thing at the Skirball Cultural Center, where L.A. Theatre Works produces its popular live radio theater series. Lillian Hellman’s moving and affectionate play follows five friends entering middle age as they convene for their annual vacation at a genteel Southern resort. When the friends encounter an acquaintance from their past, they are forced to re-examine their lives and the choices they’ve made. $32-$36. Wed.-Fri., 8 p.m.; Sat., 2 p.m.; Sun., 4 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Through Jan. 14. 2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd., Los Angeles. For reservations, call (310) 827-0889.

11
Thursday

Andrea Sabesin grew up Jewish in Memphis, Tenn., and didn’t write a play about it. Or rather, that experience takes a back seat to the freckled trials of a very redheaded girl in her solo show “Girl, Your Hair’s On Fire!” From her eclectic grade-school years, switching from a predominantly African American school to an Episcopalian and then an Orthodox Jewish day school, through her postgraduate stint at Chicago’s Second City comedy troupe, Sabesin’s story is a wild comic ride. $10. Thursdays, 8 p.m. Through Feb. 15. 2100 Square Feet, 5615 San Vicente Blvd., Los Angeles. For reservations or more information, call (310) 915-3992.

12
Friday

Foreshadowing and dramatic irony need not exist only in fiction, as director and Getty Scholar Peter Forgacs demonstrates in “Free Fall.” This tenth film in Forgacs’ ongoing “Private Hungary” series uses found film footage taken by assimilated Jewish Hungarian businessman Gyorgy Peto in the late 1930s. Forgacs takes the stuff of standard home movies – a nephew’s birthday party, boating on the lake – and combines it with newsreel footage and the viewers’ own knowledge of historical circumstances to create a documentary of ordinary life in extraordinary times. In Hungarian with English narration and subtitles. 8 p.m. Williams Auditorium, The Getty Center. For reservations or more information, call (310) 440-7300.