WEST HOLLYWOOD—The city of West Hollywood is teaming up with WeHo Arts to present the 2016 Summer Sounds free concert series. According to a press release from the city of West Hollywood, the concert series will offer a variety of different music samplings in public places around West Hollywood on summer afternoons.
The first concert of the series will take place on Sunday, June 26, at the West Hollywood City Hall Community Plaza, located at 8300 Santa Monica Boulevard. Jennifer Leitham, a veteran Jazz performer, will kick off the concert at 4:00 p.m.
Leitham has played on more than 140 albums, and released 10 of her own. Some notable artists that she has performed with include Woody Herman, George Shearing, Mel Torme, k.d. Lang, and Peggy Lee.
Before the concert performance by Leitham, there will be a special free screening of the 2012 Outfits Audience Award-winning documentary, I Stand Corrected, which documents Leitham’s public transition from being known as John Leitham to becoming Jennifer Leitham, all while being on tour with Doc Severinson.
The screening is presented as part of West Hollywood’s One City One Pride Festival and will begin viewing at 2:00 p.m. in the West Hollywood Community Room. The director of the film, Andrea Meyerson, will be on location for a special question and answer session following the conclusion of the film.
Jennifer has been featured on LA Weekly’s Most Interesting People of 2016 list and was chosen as one of the 20 pioneers “whose life stories have resonated across the culture” in Vanity Fair’s Trans America issue.
The next scheduled concert is set for Sunday, July 10, at 4:00 p.m. at Plummer Park, located at 7377 Santa Monica Boulevard. The concert will feature forro, which is accordion-driven Brazilian dance music, similar to salsa or cumbia. The artist on stage will be MoForro as the evening is set to be fun-filled and full of rhythm.
Beat Mosaic will be hitting the stage on Sunday, July 24 at 4:00 p.m. at Plummer Park. Beat Mosaic combines the sounds of L.A. funk, soul music, dance, and afrobeat.
Plummer Park continues its swing of free shows on Sunday, August 7 when the Zetz Klezmer Ensemble will be performing original and traditional music that is rooted in klezmer traditions of Eastern European Jewish communities. During the show, Zetz will entice the crowd with stories, history, and demonstrations of klezmer music. The show begins at 4:00 p.m.
The last concert of the Summer Sounds 2016 season will be Mark Christian Miller, a West Hollywood resident, and musician. He will be performing jazz and swing on Sunday, August 21 at Kings Road Park, located at 1000 Kings Road. Like all of the other performances the show will begin at 4:00 p.m. Miller’s second recording, Crazy Moon, played for some time on jazz stations across the country and it spent four months on the national charts.
West Hollywood is presenting all of the Summer Sounds concerts free to the public and will not be requiring any RSVPs. There is first-come, first served seating provided for those who attend or patrons can bring a lawn chair to the event. For more information or to hear music samples visit www.weho.org/arts, or contact Mike Che at (323) 848-6377 or at mche@weho.org. Any deaf or hearing impaired may call (323) 848-6496.
