All posts tagged: Bass

LA mayor Karen Bass offers short-term cuts to film production fees across Hollywood as election nears

LA mayor Karen Bass offers short-term cuts to film production fees across Hollywood as election nears

Published by Daniella Wilson

Get the latest entertainment news, reviews and star-studded interviews with our Independent Culture email Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass has offered a temporary reduction in film production fees as she seeks to convince Hollywood voters that she should keep her job. The city’s mayoral election will take place on June 2, with Bass standing for re-election and facing stiff competition from the likes of Councilwoman Nithya Raman and reality television star Spencer Pratt. Both Raman and Pratt have claimed in recent days that Bass has not done enough to keep film production in Los Angeles. As Variety reports, Bass has now announced a six-month pilot program that will reduce fees for “low-impact” productions. She has also announced a 20 percent discount for productions parking at city lots for a year, which is in line with a deal that was recently agreed to keep the production of the new Baywatch reboot at Venice Beach. LA mayor …

Miroslav Vitous: Mountain Call review – double bass duets balance muscularity with mellowness | Music

Miroslav Vitous: Mountain Call review – double bass duets balance muscularity with mellowness | Music

Published by Sam Flores

Czech double bass virtuoso and composer Miroslav Vitous must by now have shrugged off any residual irritation about the oft-circulated fact that he was a founding member of the legendary jazz-rock fusion band Weather Report in 1970. Vitous’s dislike of the band’s drift away from improv toward electric music and popular global funk saw him leave as their star was rising. His CV would turn out just fine: Miles Davis, Chick Corea, Jan Garbarek, John Surman and Jack DeJohnette were among his many classy playing partners. Seven years in the making, with Vitous now 78, Mountain Call reflects a lifetime’s immersion in classical music alongside jazz, and the balance of spontaneity, nuance and cinematic atmospherics that offered him. The artwork for Mountain Call Across multiple improv dialogues and two suites (all short, Vitous being no fan of loquacity), the set prominently features DeJohnette, who died in October, with Esperanza Spalding, saxophonist Bob Mintzer and the phenomenal French clarinettist Michel Portal, who died in February. Eight duo tracks for Vitous and Portal (mostly all-improvised) are worth …

Mayor Karen Bass says LA28 head Wasserman should step down

Mayor Karen Bass says LA28 head Wasserman should step down

Published by Sam Flores

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said in an interview Monday that she does not want embattled mogul Casey Wasserman running the 2028 Summer Games. Bass told CNN’s Dana Bash that it was “unfortunate” that the organizers of the Los Angeles Olympics are supporting Wasserman amid revelations that he exchanged flirty emails two decades ago with later-convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell. Bass initially declined to take a position on the drama surrounding Wasserman, saying two weeks ago that it was up to the board of the LA28 Olympics — the nonprofit behind the Games — to decide whether to keep him. But Monday, Bass offered a new take on Wasserman’s fate. “My opinion is that he should step down,” Bass said. “That’s not the opinion of the board.” She said that “we need to look at the leadership” of LA28 and that her job is to make sure that the city is “completely prepared” for the Games. Representatives for LA28 and Wasserman didn’t respond to requests for comment. Wasserman has previously apologized for his correspondence with …

Karen Bass Says Casey Wasserman Should ‘Step Dow’ From LA28

Karen Bass Says Casey Wasserman Should ‘Step Dow’ From LA28

Published by Daniella Wilson

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is calling on Casey Wasserman to step down as chairperson of LA28 after some emails of his surfaced in the Department of Justice’s Jeffrey Epstein document release. During an interview on CNN Monday, the mayor said, “I cannot fire him, but I have an opinion. And my opinion is that he should step down. That’s not the opinion of the board.” Last week, Wasserman was publicly backed by the Los Angeles Olympics Committee board after they hired an outside law firm to review his interactions with Ghislaine Maxwell, the convicted sex trafficker connected to Epstein. Their flirtatious correspondence took place in 2003, years before Epstein’s arrest in Palm Beach. “LA28 takes allegations of misconduct seriously, and our Board is committed to thoroughly reviewing any concerns related to the organization’s leadership,” the executive committee wrote. “Mr. Wasserman fully cooperated with the review. We found Mr. Wasserman’s relationship with Epstein and Maxwell did not go beyond what has already been publicly documented.” Bass made it clear in today’s interview that she disagreed …

Potstickers and sea bass with ginger and spring onions: Amy Poon’s recipes for lunar new year | Food

Potstickers and sea bass with ginger and spring onions: Amy Poon’s recipes for lunar new year | Food

Published by Sam Flores

Christmas is lovely, but my kids think Chinese new year is by far the best holiday. I might be biased, but, unusually, I am inclined to agree with them. As my eldest puts it, “New clothes, cash, booze and food – what’s not to love?” There’s the added bonus that cash is absolutely more than acceptable – in fact, it’s de rigueur, so there’s no shopping for mundane socks and smelly candles. Chinese new year is full of rituals and, just as at Christmas, every family has its own, but they are all variations on a theme. Symbolism looms large in Chinese culture, and at new year it centres around messages of prosperity, luck and family. Symbolism extends naturally to the food, too. The word for “fish’” in Chinese, Mandarin and Cantonese sounds a lot like the word for “surplus”, so to have fish is to have an abundance, to have more than one needs, while dumplings represent wealth on account of their shape. I hope you enjoy these abundantly wealth-wishing recipes. Kung hei fat …

Councilmember Nithya Raman to run for L.A. mayor, challenging onetime ally Karen Bass

Councilmember Nithya Raman to run for L.A. mayor, challenging onetime ally Karen Bass

Published by Sam Flores

For a few fleeting hours, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass seemed to be facing a clear path to reelection, after several high-powered challengers pulled out or declined to enter the race. But just three hours before the filing deadline, progressive City Councilmember Nithya Raman, a onetime Bass ally, launched a mayoral bid, shocking the city’s political establishment and upending the race. Her candidacy poses the most serious threat yet to Bass, who for the last year has faced bruising criticism over her handling of the devastating Palisades fire. On Saturday, Raman portrayed the city government as unable to tackle high housing costs, fix broken streetlights or address the stubborn homelessness crisis. City agencies, she said, “can’t seem to manage the basics.” “Los Angeles is at a breaking point, and people feel it in the most basic ways,” she said after submitting her candidate paperwork at the City Clerk’s Office. Raman, 44, who had previously endorsed the mayor’s reelection bid, called Bass “an icon” and someone she deeply admires. But she said the city needs a …

Rick Caruso on a LA Mayoral Bid, Spencer Pratt and Karen Bass Scandal

Rick Caruso on a LA Mayoral Bid, Spencer Pratt and Karen Bass Scandal

Published by Daniella Wilson

With one day left to declare candidacy in the race for Los Angeles mayor, all eyes are on Rick Caruso, the billionaire developer behind outdoor shopping meccas like The Grove. Caruso ran and narrowly lost to Karen Bass in the last election, then became a fierce critic of the mayor — never more so than in the aftermath of the devastating wildfires that wiped out the Pacific Palisades and Altadena in early 2025. Caruso famously hired private firefighters to save his Palisades Village, successfully sparing it from the flames. Bass, alternately, was in Ghana for a diplomatic trip as L.A. burned, a decision she later admitted to regretting. Caruso announced several weeks ago he would not be seeking public office. As the minutes tick away to the campaign deadline, however, chatter has grown that he could be lured back into the race. The chatter has grown even louder due to his outrage over a Los Angeles Times report that Bass — who is running for reelection — directed officials to soften details in a fires report, in …

Ed Westwick Is Down for ‘Gossip Girl’ Spinoff on Chuck Bass

Ed Westwick Is Down for ‘Gossip Girl’ Spinoff on Chuck Bass

Published by Daniella Wilson

Could Gossip Girl fans hear the iconic line, “I’m Chuck Bass,” once again? Maybe, because Ed Westwick has revealed that he’s down to step into his character’s shoes for a spinoff. The actor, best known for playing the villainous playboy turned Blair Waldorf’s (Leighton Meester) devoted partner, was recently asked by Hits Radio UK if he would reprise Chuck Bass if a spinoff came to fruition. “It would be super interesting to see where Chuck Bass is. I just think it would be really hard to get everyone together,” he said. “You know what? I think anything is possible in this world, so yeah, it would be great to know what Chuck is up to these days — for sure!” Gossip Girl, which ran for six seasons from 2007 to 2012, followed a group of wealthy teens through their scandalous lives as Manhattan’s elite and how they betray each other for each other’s gain, all while the chaos is narrated by a mysterious, ruthless blogger. In addition to Westwick and Meester, the cast also included …

Bass directed watering down of Palisades fire after-action report, sources say

Bass directed watering down of Palisades fire after-action report, sources say

Published by Sam Flores

For nearly two months, Mayor Karen Bass has repeatedly denied that she was involved in altering an after-action report on the Palisades fire to downplay failures by the city and the Los Angeles Fire Department in combating the catastrophic blaze. But two sources with knowledge of Bass’ office said that after receiving an early draft, the mayor told then-interim Fire Chief Ronnie Villanueva that the report could expose the city to legal liabilities for those failures. Bass wanted key findings about the LAFD’s actions removed or softened before the report was made public, the sources said — and that is what happened. The changes to the report, which was released on Oct. 8, came to light through a Times investigation published in December. The sources told The Times that two people close to Bass informed them of the mayor’s behind-the-scenes role in watering down the report. One source spoke to both of the people; the other spoke to one of them. The sources requested anonymity to speak frankly about the mayor’s private conversations with Villanueva …