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What Happened to the “Woodstock Generation”?

August 22, 2019
By: Eric Trules

This past August 15, 16, 17, and 18 was the 50th anniversary of the 1969 Woodstock Festival, officially named “An Aquarian Exposition: 3 Days of Peace and Music,” created by the four-headed, at-cross-purposed, producing team of Michael Lang, Artie Kornfield, John P. Roberts, and Joel Rosenman. But despite all its pre-production difficulties, its mounds of personality discord, and its fields of endless garbage that the iconic festival paid to have hauled away, “Woodstock” also earned its reputation as the era-defining event of the 1960s counter culture, the moment in time when music, culture, and history all came together to be…

Sara Gazarek and Black Nile at Metro Arts’ “Jazz Tracks” in Union Station

April 27, 2019
By: Eric Trules

I love Union Station. “The Last of the Great Train Stations,” I make sure to show it to all my out of town guests, along with the Hollywood sign, Santa Monica and Venice beaches, Pacific Coast Highway, Topanga Canyon, Chinatown, South Central, and Skid Row. (More on those choices in another post.)But Union Station, our West Coast gem of international “grand central” stations (you can tell I’m from New York), opened in 1939 and was designed by architects John and Donald B. Parkinson and built by Robert E. McKee Inc. The style is a gorgeous mishmash of Spanish mission, art…

The Godfather’s Last Appearance at the Apollo

January 5, 2007
By: Eric Trules

Then all of sudden, there’s a great stir amongst the crowd. It’s pandemonium. I crane my head to see – the impossible. Pushing his way through the throng, in his sad-as-tears, soulful way, is… the Godfather himself. James Brown. It’s him! The press corps is popping and pushing. The crowd is moaning and screaming. The Godfather is being carried forward by centrifugal force – right towards me. I lift my camera above the crowd. I click the digital shutter. The Godfather is right there, a foot in front of me!. James Brown lives! He’s pulled another fast one. It’s sham. A publicity stunt. The Godfather’s walking there right in front of my eyes.

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