We made it! Here is your weekly weekend run down –
Sunday is Mother’s Day. If you’ve procrastinated like most people do then here is your chance to redeem yourself. I hope your mom likes RuPauls Drag race.
RuPaul’s DragCon May 11-13
Put the phrase “Yas, kween!” to good use at the L.A. Convention Center, where you can kiki with your favorite Drag Race contestants, master the art of the wig, and watch Look Queens battle Dance Queens on the runway. Between events, peruse everything from wholesale rhinestones to art dolls from more than 300 exhibitors.
Artcubed Presents ARTXFOOD May 11- June 3
For their first pop-up, ARTXFOOD, local artist Greg Ito designed a completely immersive dining environment where everything from the table you’re sitting at to the plates you’re eating off of to the neon swan sculpture and the enormous chandelier are for sale. It all goes down at Hollywood’s Goya Studios.
Top Dawg Entertainment Championship Tour featuring Kendrick Lamar, SZA, Schoolboy Q, and more May 11th
L.A.’s home-grown entertainment group Top Dawg Entertainment stages a two-night stand at the Forum featuring a collection of the label’s top acts. Kendrick Lamar and SZA alone would be an incredible show (as you know if you caught the Black Panther soundtrack artists’ live duet at Coachella last month) but they’re joined by Schoolboy Q, Jay Rock, Ab-Soul, SiR, and Lance Skiiwalker, for an incredible night of hip hop.
Hamilton May 8-27
Maybe you skipped Lin-Manuel Miranda’s historical hip-hop smash at the Pantages last year. Or maybe you saw it three times. Either way, don’t throw away your shot (yup) to catch it again at Costa Mesa’s Segerstrom Center for the Arts—because you can never be in the room where it happens (not sorry) too many times.
Pop-Up Magazine May 12
Journalists, comedians, memoirists, and other writerly humans read their works in front of a packed crowd (this weekend’s stellar lineup includes sometimes-LA mag contributor Davy Rothbart, exceptional essayist John Jeremiah Sullivan, photographer Lauren Greenfield, and so many more). None of the narratives is recorded for posterity, though, so catch this event at the Theatre at Ace Hotel or don’t catch it at all.
Beyond the Streets Through July 6
Graffiti historian Roger Gastman—who helped orchestrate MOCA’s record-setting Art in the Streets show in 2011—takes over a 40,000-square-foot warehouse on the edge of Chinatown for a totally bonkers street art experience. See works from more than 100 artists, including marquee names like Jean-Michel Basquiat and Jenny Holzer, plus live performances and lectures.
Tiny Porch Concerts May 13
Expand your outdoor concert horizons with wine in hand at Malibu’s Peter Strauss Ranch amphitheater, which hosted Johnny Cash way back when. Bring a picnic and your (low back) lawn chairs to its summer concert series, beginning with a performance from the Eagle Rock Gospel Singers.
