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LAET_ 08-12-2009_ D_ 1_ D1_ LA_ 1_CMYK TSet: 08-11-2009 21:22 CALENDAR D WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 12, 2009 :: LATIMES.COM/CALENDAR Wall-to-wall IMAGES unity symbol Los Angeles and other part- Across Wilshire, an ners, and will be officially an- POLES nounced Thursday. art installation will In a reenactment of the ac- tual events, invited dignitaries commemorate the will break down selected por- 1989 events in Berlin. tions of the Wilshire wall, which APART will be placed directly in front of the Los Angeles County Mu- Diane Haithman seum of Art. Project leaders plan a live feed of the events be- In what government and tween Los Angeles and Berlin, arts officials are calling the official sister cities since 1967. most ambitious commemora- (Because of the time differ- tion of the 20th anniversary of ence, it will already be Nov. 9 in the fall of the Berlin Wall out- Berlin, the day the wall came side of Germany, a symbolic re- down in 1989). creation of the wall that once Professional artists who will separated East and West Ber- participate include “Obama lin will be erected across Wil- Hope” muralist Shepard Fai- shire Boulevard in November. rey, L.A. muralist Kent Twitch- The Wall Project, painted by ell and Berlin-based Thierry professional and amateur art- Noir, noted for painting his ists, will close Sunday after- brightly colored human figures noon traffic on one of the city’s on the real wall in Berlin. busiest thoroughfares for three Twitchell said that he plans to hours on Nov. 8 beginning at create portraits of the two 3 p.m. The project involves the presidents who saw the begin- Culver City’s Wende Museum ning and the end of the Berlin and Archive of the Cold War, Wall, John F. Kennedy and the city of Los Angeles, the Ronald Reagan. German Consulate General in [See Wall, Page D5] Wende Museum SUPPORTER: Wende President Justinian Jampol said the Wall Project’s LACMA location is “highly symbolic.” Autry drops its expansion plan sion project in Griffith Park The $175-million would be an ill-advised diver- sion of our financial resources Kevin Winter Getty Images for Fox proposal for the and an insupportable distrac- RISQUÉ: The teen combined short shorts, boots and a sultry act that left people debating the event days later. tion from our work in serving Griffith Park facility the community,” Autry Presi- stalls over Southwest. dent John L. Gray states in the letter. “We come to this deci- Wholesome teen or edgy adult? Miley Cyrus’ suggestive sion with reluctance and deep Suzanne Muchnic regret — but the constant de- performance raises questions about her next move. lays, the past and future costs, In a move that concedes a the unyielding insistence on fi- measure of victory to long-term nancial and programmatic BY DAWN C. CHMIELEWSKI >>> Miley Cyrus’ provocative performance during Mon- opponents, the Autry National commitments which we cannot Center has bowed out of a pro- responsibly make, and the day night’s “Teen Choice Awards,” in which she wore short shorts and boots and at one tracted battle for a $175-million prospect of future expensive expansion of its facility in Grif- and debilitating litigation all point straddled a pole, has set off a firestorm on the Internet over whether the act was fith Park. demand that we fulfill the Au- appropriate for a 16-year-old entertainer in front of a youthful audience. City approval of the plan try’s vision under different cir- hinged on a recent demand for cumstances.” On YouTube and on Twitter, followers of the Disney Channel series “Hannah Montana” the Autry to make a legally Councilman José Huizar, binding commitment to sup- whose district includes the debated whether Miley was doing a pole dance on top of a moving ice cream pushcart or port the Southwest Museum, Southwest Museum, said the was simply hanging on to the pole for balance. Some found her sultry routine over the top located in Mount Washington, decision caught him by sur- as a fully functioning art insti- prise. for the Fox award show, which attracted 4 million viewers — more than a quarter of whom tution in perpetuity. In a letter “I was expecting more delivered to members of the rounds of negotiation,” he said. are under age 18 themselves, according to Nielsen ratings. Los Angeles City Council Tues- “It didn’t make sense to me Internet gossip columnist Perez Hilton dubbed the performance “the return of Slutty day, the Autry stated that such that there would be a $175-mil- a commitment would be irre- lion commitment to the expan- Cyrus,” and an impromptu Twitter poll attracted more than 4,000 votes — 65% of whom sponsible and that it is with- sion of the Griffith Park site drawing its proposal. and that the Autry wouldn’t said she looked like a stripper. [See Miley, Page D6] “Any further attempt to pro- want to make a commitment to ceed with the proposed expan- [See Autry, Page D6] THEATER REVIEW A subdued farewell John Hughes’ low-key funeral in Chicago’s After all, he’s only 1 man North Shore is in keeping with his life. D3 der: Special Victims Unit” Thumbs DuBois — puts the fo- B.D. Wong ably plays regular who gave an indelible cus squarely on its star. LACMA series Broadway performance as the This small and not exactly on the agenda the roles but he can’t gender-scrambling opera diva smoothly structured story in “M. Butterfly,” to incarnate (Tom Cone wrote the book Michael Govan agrees make up for rumpled 11 mixed-nuts characters. based on his play) allows a per- to meet with a group ‘Herringbone’ story. The occasion is a kaleido- former to multiply before our over a film program’s scopic tale about an 8-year-old eyes, and Wong proves himself suspension. D9 named George who becomes exceedingly adept at theatrical CHARLES McNULTY possessed by the demonic spir- mitosis. Muslim punk THEATER CRITIC reporting from la jolla it of a vaudeville veteran, and Concentrating at first on says it loud if anyone from Actors’ Equity George and his parents, Arthur is within earshot, one of your and Louise, a Southern family Taqwacore bands like “Herringbone,” now at La union members is being cheat- trying to scrape by in the De- the Kominas set Jolla Playhouse starring a ed if he’s not earning at pression, Wong slips in and out sociopolitical issues to a puckishly versatile B.D. Wong, least quadruple the going of personas with the cunning hard-core beat. D4 is more of an acting feat than a rate. swiftness of an escape artist. Ask Amy .................... D7 memorable musical yarn — The production — directed Louise’s rich brother unexpect- more showmanship than show. by distinguished acting vet- edly dies when a casualty of the Comics D10-11 ............... Craig Schwartz The work (which had its eran Roger Rees and featuring stock market literally crashes TV Grid ................... D12 DOING IT ALL: B.D. Wong plays 11 disparate characters New York premiere in 1982) re- an onstage trio led by pianist down on his head, and Arthur in the staging of “Herringbone” at La Jolla Playhouse. quires Wong, the “Law & Or- Dan Lipton, who also fills in as [See Theater, Page D8] LAET_ 08-12-2009_ D_ 5_ D5_ LA_ 1_K TSet: 08-11-2009 21:20 LATIMES.COM/CALENDAR WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 12, 2009 D5 The Wall Project Al Seib Los Angeles Times WALLED OFF: An artist’s rendering, left, shows what the Wall Project may look like when it is up. In 1989, East German guards prepare to let their countrymen enter West Berlin. It’s a Berlin Wall memorial and a traffic hazard all in one [Wall, from Page D1] president and founder of the wall panels, all 11 feet tall and 3 will paint an additional 10 pan- sign off on closing Wilshire. Project is the largest Berlin The Wall Project will be Wende Museum. “It connects feet wide, will be painted on the els for the Wall Along Wilshire, “We do this all the time,” Wall anniversary commemora- made up of two parts: The downtown to the ocean, those grounds of the Page Museum doing most of their work in said Councilman Tom La- tion that he is aware of outside “Wall Across Wilshire” will have two cultural anchors to the city. at the La Brea Tar Pits in Han- front of the 5900 building. The Bonge, whose district includes of Berlin. Germany plans to do- as its adjunct the “Wall Along Also, going through an area cock Park, adjacent to public will have the opportuni- the project site, mentioning a nate as much as $40,000 to the Wilshire — Eastside Gallery where there are lots of muse- LACMA. Thirty of those panels ty to observe the artists at work recent NASCAR-related event effort, which Jampol estimated West,” which will have a some- ums and cultural institutions, will be used to construct the in both locations. at the nearby Petersen Auto- could cost $500,000. what longer life in front of the it’s very reflective of what oc- Wall Across Wilshire, and the Jampol said the painting motive Museum that also re- “Look at the map — that we 5900 Wilshire Blvd. building, re- curred in Berlin, because when other 10 will form the Wall done on the Berlin Wall circa quired the temporary closure are doing this here on the West maining in place from Oct. 17 to that line was drawn through Along Wilshire.