to do

By Angela Rocco DeCarlo The Costa Mesa opera house audience in Orange County, California, went wild. The Segerstrom Center for the Arts’  performance, October 2,  featuring the Francis Ford Coppola masterpiece film,"The Godfather" with a full symphonic orchestra onstage providing the beautiful music of Nino Rota's Academy Award winning score, conducted by UCLA alum, Justin Freer, was sensational. The word was the symphony's trumpet player, Robert Frear, of Long Beach State music department, was the original musician from the film. His featured solo, The Godfather Waltz,  in that haunting opening scene in Don Corleone's office, as Bonasera is asking for a favor to avenge his daughter, primes the audience for what is to come. As an Opera Pacific docent I've enjoyed many operas in that theater, but I can not recall such a vocally appreciative audience. Of course, The Godfather, is, in a certain sense, an opera. It is something Puccini or Verdi might have fashioned. It has all the elements of a great opera - love, loyalty, betrayal and revenge. Especially loyalty and revenge. And there are certainly enough deaths to satisfy that element of operatic trauma. Poor Michael Corleone is the perfect Aristotelian tragic hero. His flaw of family love and devotion to his father causes him to lose his soul. He abandons his planned life to avenge his father. So sad. In ...

Downtown Art Walk The Second Thursday of Every Month in Downtown Los Angeles Next Art Walk: Thursday, October 9 2008 12pm - 9 pm • Free Admission Title: Downtown Art Walk ~LA Description: The Downtown Art Walk is a self-guided tour that showcases the many art exhibition venues in Downtown Los Angeles — commercial art galleries, museums, and non-profit arts venues. Free Shuttle Service provided 6 - 10 pm The shuttle, called \"The Hippodrome,\" is hosted by Esotouric (Kim Cooper and Richard Schave). Athena Parking: renovated, indoor parking garage at 415 S. Main St. $5 flat rate any time of day or night (no in and out). Open 24 hours. NEW in October: New gallery Cold Springs Fine Art, and new sponsors Tiara Cafe and siptea. Participating Galleries The Museum of Contemporary Art Gallery at REDCAT 7+FIG Art Space Gary Leonard PYO Gallery LA Japanese American National Museum LA Artcore Center 2nd Street Cigars and Gallery Art Slave Morono Kiang Gallery Cold Springs Fine Art bank M. J. Higgins Taller 410 Museum of Neon Art Crewest SWITCH Katalyst LAMP Community Art Project Pharmaka Art Los Angeles Center for Digital Art El Nopal Press Bert Green Fine Art Julie Rico Gallery The Latino Museum Phyllis Stein Art Todd/Browning Gallery Niche.LA Video Art Spring Arts Collective Gallery Phantom Galleries LA compact/space Fifty/24 Gallery The Last Laugh Rouge Galerie 626 Gallery Arty Downtown Art Center Gallery Infusion Gallery G727 The Hive Gallery USC Windows Dalessio For more information visit: http://www.downtownartwalk.com/ Start Time: 12:00 Date: 2008-10-09 End Time: 21:00