It’s not possible to travel back in time to catch The Doors at Hollywood Bowl. But you can do the next best thing Thursday night, as the Art Theatre will have the band on the big screen, showing a digitally remastered, high-definition version of the entire July 5, 1968 concert.
It’s just the latest example of how co-owner Mark Vidor has kept his Art Theatre a place that harnesses the magic of cinema to provide experiences you simply cannot get at movie-theater chains—just as the Art’s former owner did while Vidor was growing up.
“I have fond high-school and college memories of music-related events at the Art under the helm of Howard Linn in the ’80s,” Vidor reminisces. “Standouts were the ska/2-tone revival film Dance Craze, Led Zeppelin’s The Song Remains the Same, David Bowie’s Absolute Beginners. And, of course, The Rocky Horror Picture Show.”
The Rocky Horror Picture Show continues to be an Art Theatre staple, screening every Saturday at midnight. But that’s just the tip of the musical iceberg, as the Art regularly screens everything from concerts, such as the upcoming Doors film or the recently-screened Some Girls Live in Texas, covering The Rolling Stones’ Lone Star State stop on their 1978 tour; and rock documentaries, such as The Rise and Fall of The Clash and the November 14 showing of Charlie Is My Darling, which documents the Stones’ 1965 tour of Ireland.
“I started booking music events because I am a big music fan, and I feel the best way to experience it is with a crowd, whether it be live or recorded,” Vidor says. “I’m also a friend of Rand [Foster] from Fingerprints, and I feel that music events are a great way for the Art and Fingerprints to team up. Our first big live music event was Jessica Dobson and Deep Sea Diver, which inspired my friend and concert promoter Jon Halperin to bring the even bigger Vampire Weekend to the Art for a great show. Jon introduced me to a friend of his who had just finished a film on Lemmy Kilmister of Motorhead, which was our first big rock documentary.”
But rock ‘n’ roll is far from the only part of the musical spectrum covered at the Art. Peruse the Art’s November calendar alone and you find The Fall of the House of Usher, a 1920s silent-film adaptation of Claude Debussy’s unfinished opera based on the short story by Edgar Allen Poe; Opera on Ice, featuring some of the world’s best figure skaters interpreting classic arias; the ballets Giselle and Swan Lake; acclaimed modern-dance film Pina; and San Francisco Opera’s Samson and Delilah.
“We felt the MET OPERA series that is done live from the Metropolitan Opera in New York was a great fit for us, so that’s why we started showing those early last year,” Vidor says. “Unfortunately, the distributor costs are very high on that series, and [so] we weren’t able to break even on it. Our new opera series is recorded in different European cities, as well as San Francisco. Distributor costs are much more doable for us on those, and there is more of a selection of opera to choose from. […] We’ve partnered up with Andreas Mitisek, head of Long Beach Opera, to do a series of opera-related films (about one a month) that coincide with current and upcoming LBO productions. The Fall of the House of Usher coincides with their Phillip Glass opera of the same name in January.”
The Doors: Live at the Hollywood Bowl screens Thursday at 9PM. To keep up on the Art Theatres cinematic music offerings—as well as their live music events—visit arttheatrelongbeach.com.
{FG_GEOMAP [33.77180920000001,-118.16700530000003] FG_GEOMAP}