The nation's sluggish real estate market, coupled with a shift upstream to a larger market, has helped a young Quincy software firm grow its business.
Buildium LLC was founded in 2004 with software aimed at landlords, but changed its target customer last year to small and midsize property managers just as residential real estate brokers began expanding into property management to offset a loss in business.
The combination of the two changes is now fueling a 10 percent to 15 percent monthly growth in the number of Buildium subscribers, co-CEO Michael Monteiro said.
He declined to disclose the number of customers Buildium serves, but said its web-based software manages 55,000 residential units nationally.
The company's technology, which is designed for managers of 100 units to 1,000 units, is priced according to the number of units. For example, the fee for 150 units is $75 per month, or $800 per year, Monteiro said.
Buildium customer Rebecca Marston, president of Boston property management firm Marston & Voss Realty and an 18-year industry veteran, said web-based applications such as Buildium's reduce the number of mailings while enabling her customers (landlords and condo owners) to monitor financial information.
About a dozen-vendors now provide online property management software, which has grown to be popular with property managers. Just three years ago, this type of technology wasn't available, said Sylvia Hill, past president of the Virginia-based National Association of Residential Property Managers.
Neither the Virginia association, which claims 2,000 members, nor the National Property Management Association Inc., which claims 4,200 members, could provide the total number of units professionally managed in the United States.
Monteiro estimates there are about 150,000 property managers in the United States.
Buildium's origins started in 2002, when Monteiro and two former co-workers at Cambridge-based Sapient Corp. needed a tool to help them manage residential properties they owned in Providence, R.I. After commercializing it, they realized that landlords with just a few properties didn't need such extensive applications, and large property managers (5,000 or more units) were already served by software developed by Yardi Systems Inc., a California-based company.
So Buildium split the two markets to find its sweet spot, Monteiro said.
"We decided to move up the value chain to people who need the software for a living -- that was a space that was being ignored," he said.
Several Boston-area companies have developed technology for marketing and managing real estate and properties including Cambridge-based rental property tool FlipKey Inc., which plans to publicly launch this spring.
Others in the real estate space include Newton-based Investment Instruments Corp. and Boston-based facility management software maker VFA Inc., a 140-person company whose software enables automated capital planning.
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It actually wasn't all that long ago that the term short sale was unfamiliar to a lot of real estate practitioners and a good portion of the general public. How quickly things have changed. A Google search for real estate short sale yields more than 600,000 entries. Real estate agents are inundated with flyers, ads, and come-ons for seminars and classes on the subject; and probably just about every market area in the country contains at least a half-dozen agents who will claim to be specialists in the field.
In my own Orange County, California, market area a recent examination of MLS data showed that at least 20 percent of the residential listings were identified as being short sales. Significantly, though, the number of short sales that actually closed escrow was a decidedly lower proportion. Somewhere between 6 to 8 percent of all closed escrows were short sales. At the current rate we have a sixty month (5 years!) supply of short sale listings. Regrettably, many of those will go to foreclosure before they are ever sold.
One reason that short sales comprise such a small proportion of actual closings is that short sales are frequently difficult, frustrating, and time-consuming, with little prospect of a successful closing. There is no hard and comprehensive evidence for this; but there is plenty of the anecdotal kind. Stories abound about the short sales that ultimately went to foreclosure even though there had been legitimate offers made on them. More than once those offers were higher than the ultimate price received for the property after it had become an REO. The common thread through all these stories? Apparent lender indifference, convoluted processes, and interminable failures to make decisions.
As a result, many competent and experienced agents just don't want to become involved with the process of making an offer on a short sale.
Recently, our colleague David Silver-Westrick, one of the sharper tools in the Realtor® shed, formulated a proposal that major lenders and loan-servicing institutions sign on to a "Short Sale Bill of Rights." David listed 4 points:
A commitment by all lenders and their servicers to make it easy for sellers and agents to immediately locate online the correct department and the individual who will be responsible for processing the short sale applications.
A single industrywide short sale application and list of supporting documents that all lenders and servicers would agree to accept. The Uniform Loan Application is an industry standard. It should not be hard to agree on a Uniform Short Sale Application.
A commitment by all lenders and their servicers to responsively update the listing agent and seller on the status of the short sale application throughout the process.
A commitment by all lenders and their servicers to deliver a clear answer, in writing, yes or no, within a reasonable time frame. I suggest 30 days from receipt of the complete application is reasonable.
Of course, one might want to add to or modify some of these points; but the basic idea is a sound one. If implemented, it would no doubt bring more agents and their clients into the short sale arena; and it would certainly result in an increase in short sale closings.
It would be nice to think that organized real estate -- primarily, the National Association of Realtors® -- along with the appropriate governmental agencies and congressional committees might get together with the major lending institutions to agree on a uniform and sensible short sale process such as that outlined in Mr. Silver-Westrick's proposal. As he points out, "Short sales, done properly, act as a safety valve in a declining market, minimizing harm to lenders and sellers alike. The status quo is harming everybody and is a drag on the economy. Lenders are losing more money than they need to. Sellers feel like they have no control. Buyers are frustrated and tempted to wait to buy. Agents are spinning their wheels. We can certainly do better than this … ."
He is right.
Published: March 21, 2008
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Labels: Short sales
Los Angeles, "far-ouest' francais
Je reprends ci-apres un article de Philippe Garnier paru dans Liberation du 26 decembre 2007. Qu'il soit vivement remercie!
"Trente ans durant, à partir de 1868, le service des eaux de Los Angeles fut en partie aux mains d’un Français, Solomon Lazard. Lointainement lié à la fameuse banque d’affaires Lazard Frères, il avait racheté le réseau vétuste à un autre Français, Jean-Louis Sainsevain, un neveu du premier véritable pionnier français, Jean-Louis Vignes. Ce dernier, vigneron de Bordeaux, était arrivé, via Valparaiso et Hawaï, dans le pueblo de Los Angeles en 1831, lorsque la bourgade assoupie comptait à peine 700 âmes. Vignes a planté son vignoble sur 42 hectares qui deviendront le centre-ville trente ans plus tard. Une rue porte encore son nom, derrière la gare, pratique pour rejoindre Sunset Boulevard quand l’autoroute 10 est encombrée. Une autre porte celui de sa demeure, «Aliso», d’après le sycomore monumental qui en faisait l’attrait.
Les premiers Français de Los Angeles n’ont jamais constitué plus de 2 % de la population, mais ils étaient autrement visibles et remuants que les réfugiés fiscaux d’aujourd’hui. Il y a eu plusieurs conseillers municipaux, et même un maire, le pas commode ex-loup de mer Joseph Mascarel, qui joua les Wyatt Earp en voulant interdire le port d’armes dans tout le patelin. Ce qui explique peut-être la petite annonce passée par une faction adverse à la fin de son mandat : «Wanted (avant le 23 avril 1866) : un candidat maire qui sache lire et parler l’anglais. Signé : Many citizens».
Barbier lyncheur
Ce ne sont que quelques-unes des drôles d’histoires racontées par l’exposition «Pionniers and entrepreneurs», qui se tient jusqu’au 14 janvier dans une vaste salle de la Pico House. Cet immeuble historique du quartier du Pueblo a longtemps été le National Hotel, où se tenait le traditionnel banquet du 14 Juillet à cause des proprios français. L’exposition, nourrie par les travaux de l’historienne Hélène Demeester sur l’immigration française, doit beaucoup à la ténacité d’une employée du consulat, Mercedes Mira, et au soutien du financier Lionel Sauvage, fondateur de la Flax (France Los Angeles Exchange), une association à but non lucratif destinée à promouvoir les échanges culturels entre Los Angeles et la France.
Qui étaient ces pionniers ? Entre les bergers basques rappliqués vers 1868 quand le coton du Sud commence à faire défaut à cause du blocus de la guerre de Sécession et le lynchage de l’assassin français Michel Lachenais (trois meurtres en dix ans) par une meute de «vigilantes» menée par un autre Français, l’ancien barbier devenu opérateur immobilier Félix Signoret, on trouve aussi une communauté qui prospère. Le portail du corral auquel on a pendu Lachenais était sans doute la seule structure assez solide pour servir de potence, et les photos de l’événement prises par Jacob Bell se sont longtemps vendues un dollar pièce - s’il était besoin de rappeler le côté Far West de Los Angeles en 1870. Le barbier lyncheur était par ailleurs conseiller municipal, ce qui ne l’empêchait pas d’avoir recours à ces procédés expéditifs, ni d’être réélu.
Il y a eu trois vagues d’immigration française : les aventuriers comme Vignes, arrivés à l’époque où la Californie était encore sous tutelle mexicaine, ou à cause de la ruée vers l’or de 1849. Ensuite, les marchands éduqués, qui vont devenir boutiquiers, médecins, peintres, restaurateurs ou banquiers. Et plus tard les gueux venus de provinces pauvres comme les Hautes-Alpes, qui gravitaient autour des hôtels établis dans le quartier français, des rues comme Aliso, Ducommun ou Lyons, aujourd’hui démolies ou réduites à des bretelles d’autoroute, mais qu’on peut entrevoir encore dans certains films de Buster Keaton, comme The Goat. Chaque province avait son hôtel (Strasbourg Hotel, l’Hôtel Café des Alpes, l’Hôtel de Gap, etc.), qui servait aussi de boîte postale et de bureau d’emploi aux nouveaux arrivants . Les Béarnais se retrouvaient à l’Hôtel Henri IV, ceux des Pyrénées à l’Hôtel des Pyrénées. Parfois, ces bergers basques ou savoyards investissaient leurs économies dans des meublés servant à d’autres fonctions, tout aussi vitales que la restauration. Sur une carte de 1909 dressée par la compagnie d’assurance incendie Sanborn, certains immeubles d’Aliso ou de Ducommun sont marqués fb (pour female boarding, pensionnaires féminines, un euphémisme victorien pour boxon ou hôtel de passe). L’Hôtel de Paris est identifié comme tel. On comptait beaucoup de tenanciers de saloon (dont le fameux Blondeau Station, qui deviendra le premier studio d’Hollywood), de marchands de vins et autres restaurateurs (comme Philippe’s, la cafétéria près de la grande poste, ou la boulangerie des frères Taix, qui deviendra un restaurant basque encore ouvert aujourd’hui).
Publicités
Mais la communauté française avait aussi ses piliers d’industrie et dames de charité dont l’activité se revendiquait des valeurs républicaines et de justice sociale. Ainsi la French Benevolent Society, établie en 1860, crée-t-elle un hôpital sur College Street au nord de la ville dans ce qui est aujourd’hui Chinatown. Pour un dollar par mois, les assurés bénéficient de soins gratuits. «Bienfaisance Mutuelle» : la Sécu avant la lettre. En plus de diriger la compagnie des eaux - il perdra son contrat en 1898, quand les Anglo-Saxons du department of Water and Power prennent la ville au collet (comme le raconte le film Chinatown), emprise qui dure encore aujourd’hui - Solomon Lazard possède un magasin sur Main Street. Son neveu Eugene Meyer, autre juif alsacien, le rachètera pour en faire le grand magasin de mode City of Paris, sur Spring Street. L’établissement fait aussi office de consulat français. Meyer, comme son successeur Leon Lœb, serviront d’agents consulaires durant des décennies - ce qui n’empêche pas le Progrès, un des trois journaux français locaux, de le traiter régulièrement de «traître», d’«Allemand», ou de «circoncis». Le journal ne paraîtra que deux ans, durant l’affaire Dreyfus. Des trois feuilles de chou, l’Union nouvelle sera nettement la plus durable, paraissant de 1879 à 1966.
On peut se faire une idée de la communauté au tournant du siècle rien qu’en lisant les publicités. Fusenot, sur South Broadway, vend des manteaux. A.B.Blanchard les ravaude, et répare les chaussures. James Larquier offre ses services d’écrivain public, avant de devenir le gendre de l’ex-maire Joseph Mascarel. Les Espagnols appellent encore Don Jose ce «doyen capitaliste», cofondateur de la Farmers and Merchants Bank, deuxième banque locale, qui fusionnera avec une autre pour devenir la Bank of America. P. Pouillotte, maréchal-ferrant, vend aussi du charbon. Le Dr Cave est chirurgien-dentiste. Une Mme Puissègue, des Pyrénées, tient, rue Howard, un établissement de bains d’eaux minérales sulfureuses, puisées dans la nappe phréatique aujourd’hui encore exploitée dans Koreatown.
Boulangeries
Si les archives consulaires ont été détruites en 1906 lors du tremblement de terre et de l’incendie de San Francisco, il reste une collection partielle de ces journaux. Mais, reflétant ainsi la nature atomisée de l’agglomération et de ses ethnies, Los Angeles n’a pas de musée historique, seulement des musées ethniques et locaux. Inaccessibles, ces journaux français moisissent et tombent en poussière au musée d’Histoire naturelle. Le 14 décembre 1895, on lit dans le Progrès que la canicule de Noël va encore durer quelques jours ; que M. Flew a reçu une importante livraison d’eau minérale de la source Parot en provenance de Saint- Romain-le-Puy, dans la Loire ; que le confiseur L.J. Christophe a été arrêté pour voies de fait sur ses employés ; que «Bobby le nègre» a été condamné aux travaux forcés à perpétuité, pour avoir causé la mort de deux hommes par une bouteille de vin empoisonnée qu’il destinait à un de ses «camarades nègres». Nigger Alley, entre ce qui est aujourd’hui la Plaza et la gare de Union Station, fut le site de massacres de Chinois qui défrayèrent la chronique jusque sur la côte est. Juste en face subsiste encore une partie du magnifique immeuble en briques construit par un des frères Garnier, Philippe, le seul resté en Californie après avoir fait fortune, d’abord grâce aux moutons, puis à la culture de blé et de seigle, destinés aux boulangeries basques et françaises. La maison de maître de son ranch, toujours debout, est devenue le musée historique de la ville d’Encino, dans la vallée de San Fernando. L’immeuble downtown, lui, a toujours été loué à un marchand chinois, flanqué d’un bordel et d’une fumerie d’opium. L’aile qui subsiste abrite aujourd’hui le musée historique chinois.
Germain Pellissier, lui, n’a jamais vu le magnifique immeuble vert Art déco qui portait son nom lors de sa construction. Comme beaucoup, sa fortune viendra plus de l’immobilier que de l’élevage ovin. Lorsque la ville se développe à l’ouest, le long du «Miracle Mile» de Wilshire Boulevard, les 59 hectares de l’éleveur valent de l’or (même si à l’époque, une maison ne coûte que 100 à 300 dollars). En 1929, son petit-fils Henry de Roulet fait construire le Pellissier Building, qui, restauré en 1980, brille encore au coin de Wilshire et Western sous le nom du Wiltern, fameuse salle de concert où se sont produits Tom Waits, Al Green et Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. Dans la même veine rock’n’roll, plus sinistre, le Château Pyrénées, d’un autre ancien éleveur, Sylvestre Dupuy - folie béarnaise à tourelles sise en pleine campagne, à Alhambra - s’est retrouvé il y a quelques années sur les manchettes des journaux. C’est là, chez le producteur Phil Spector, qui avait racheté le gros complexe à un pornographe anglais en 1995, qu’est morte la starlette Lana Clarkson, dans l’ombre «d’un doute raisonnable», suicidée des mains du nabab. Mais il n’y avait plus de barbier français pour mener les lyncheurs."
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Labels: Histoire + LOs Angeles
The Cultural Services of the French Consulate in Los Angeles
present :
SUMMARY
VISUAL ARTS
FILM
MUSIC
EVENT
PERFORMING ARTS
CALL FOR APPLICATIONS 2007
BOOKS
ONGOING
LECTURES & CONFERENCES
UPCOMING
EDUCATION
LINKS
VISUAL ARTS
June 2, 2007 – August 3, 2007
François-Marie Banier
The French photograph, François-Marie Banier is a keen observer of everyday life and his photos are known for the way they capture the fantasies, excentricities and emotions of both the famous and not-so-famous people he photographs. Opening reception : Sat.June 2, 6 to 8pm.
Location : Gagosian Gallery
456 North Camden Dr. – Beverly Hills, CA 90210
Info : (310) 271 9400 ; www.gagosian.com
June 5, 2007 – September 9, 2007
Manet's Bar at the Folies-Bergère
This focus exhibition highlights one of the great masterpieces of 19th-century French art, A Bar at the Folies-Bergère, the 1882 Salon painting by Édouard Manet (French, 1832–1883) on loan to the Getty from the Courtauld Institute of Art, London. The exhibition runs concurrently with Defining Modernity: European Drawings, 1800-1900, which also features several Courtauld loans, and is accompanied by a detailed illustrated brochure providing the viewer with essential historical, social, and critical context.
FREE and open to the public
Location : J. Paul Getty Museum
1200 Getty Center Dr. - Los Angeles, CA 90049
Info :
http://www.getty.edu/June 5, 2007 – September 20, 2007
Defining Modernity: European Drawings, 1800–1900
The development of new materials, the expansion of artistic themes to include subjects from modern life, and the increased demand for images created by new print mediums all invigorated the practice of drawing during the 1800s. This exhibition surveys the depth and variety of 19th-century draftsmanship with works from the Getty Museum's collection and loans from the Courtauld Institute of Art in London. It features works by artists such as Edgar Degas, Vincent van Gogh, and Georges Seurat, who exploited the new subjects and materials of drawing and used traditional subjects and mediums in innovative ways. This exhibition inaugurates the new galleries for drawings on the Plaza Level of the West Pavilion.
FREE and open to the public
Location : J. Paul Getty Museum
1200 Getty Center Dr. - Los Angeles, CA 90049
Info :
http://www.getty.edu/Etant Donnés : The French-American Fund for Contemporary Art
The Fund for Contemporary Art is dedicated to nurturing and supporting outstanding programming of contemporary artists from France and the United States. It facilitates the discovery of emerging talent and firmly believes in the need to sustain interest in established artists whose work inspires younger generations.
Etant Donnés is instrumental in creating a network of curators from both countries who work together and exchange ideas.
The Curatorial Research Grant program supports the professional development of American curators by offering them extended stays of up to three months in France for research projects in the field of contemporary art.
Application deadline : September 30, 2007
The invitation to France for American Curators Program supports the professional development of American Curators by offering travel and accommodation in France for up to one week for research in the field of contemporary art.
Application deadline : September 30, 2007
Info :
http://www.facecouncil.org/MUSIC
June 2, 2007 at 8pm
Manu Chao
Manu Chao sings in
French,
Spanish,
Arabic,
Galician,
Portuguese,
English, and
Wolof, often mixing them in the same song. His music has many influences:
rock, French
chanson, Iberoamerican
salsa,
reggae,
ska, and Algerian
raï.
These influences were obtained from immigrants in France, his
Iberian relations, and foremost his travels in
Mesoamerica as a wandering
nomad following the disbanding of Mano Negra.
Many of Chao's
lyrics are about
love, living in
ghettos and
immigration, and often carry a
left-wing message. This reflects Chao's own political leanings—he is very close to the
Zapatista movement, whose public spokesman,
Subcomandante Marcos, is
sampled heavily on Radio Bemba Sound System, and is openly critical of the
Bush administration in the US. He has many followers among the European left and the
anti-globalization movement, though some resent his being part of the music establishment.
Location : LA Sports Arena
3939 South Figueroa Street - Los Angeles, CA 90037
Info :
http://www.manuchao.net/ ;
http://www.goldenvoice.com/June 6, 2007 at 8pm
Patrick Bruel
Actor, singer and one of France’s biggest stars, Patrick Bruel launches his first USA tour and makes one stop in Los Angeles at the Wilshire Theater Beverly Hills.
Joined by his performers, musicians and vocalists, he will sing his most famous songs in an amazing atmosphere. An artist very close to his public and an array of talented musicians are elements which turn Bruel’s concerts into magical and unique shows.
For the first time in the U.S.A, Patrick Bruel will share unforgettable moments with his overseas fans. This performance promises to be as emotional as it is unforgettable!
Location : Wilshire Theater Beverly Hills
8440 Wilshire Blvd – Los Angeles, CA 90211
Info : (800) 230-0418 ;
http://www.bruelusa.com/ ;
http://www.wilshiretheatretickets.org/June 7, 2007 – June 10, 2007
61st Ojai Music Festival
This year’s Festival has invited French pianist and conductor Pierre-Laurent Aimard to be its music director. A key figure in the music of our time and a leading interpreter of the standard piano repertoire, Pierre-Laurent Aimard enjoys an internationally celebrated career that transcends traditional boundaries. Named the 2007 Instrumentalist of the Year by Musical America, this season, in addition to performances with major orchestras and a song recital series at the Palais Garnier, Opera de Paris, he curates a “Perspectives” series at Carnegie Hall and a “carte blanche” at the Konzerthaus Vienna, and begins a three-year term as artistic leader of The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. The key artistic elements of the Festival build upon Mr. Aimard’s advocacy of the music of Ligeti, Stravinsky, Carter, Bartók and Eötvös.
Location : Ojai, CA
Info :
http://www.ojaifestival.org/June 8, 2007 at 7:30pm
Manu Chao
Location : Red Rocks Amphitheater
Morisson, CO 80465
Info :
http://www.manuchao.net/ ;
http://www.goldenvoice.com/June 9, 2007 at 8pm
The Parisii Quartet
Formed in 1984 by four prize-winning graduates of the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Paris, the Parisii Quartet are renowned for their "fresh intensity and expressive panache" (Los Angeles Times). They perform works by César Franck and Claude Debussy, two of the great figures of classical music in France at the end of the 19th century, to complement the exhibition
Manet's Bar at the Folies-Bergère.
Location: Getty Center, Harold M. Williams Auditorium
1200 Getty Center Dr. - Los Angeles, CA 90049
Info : Call (310) 440-7300 for tickets.
http://www.getty.edu/June 9, 2007 at 9pm
Wax Tailor
Wax Tailor, aka JC Le Saout, made a remarkable impact worldwide with his debut “Tales of the Forgotten Melodies”. A sweeping, cinematic hip-hop album that had critics citing similarities to DJ Shadow, RJD2 and Portishead, “Tales” propelled this Frenchman to stardom in his home country. With “Hope & Sorrow,” released in May, 2007, Wax Tailor confirms his musical identity. Often categorized as trip-hop or down tempo hip-hop, Wax Tailor breaks musical barriers using a sonic palette to demonstrate his life chronicles tainted in soul, jazz, and funk.
Location : Echo
1822 West Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90026
Info :
http://www.waxtailor.com/ ;
http://www.atmosheriques.com/June 17, 2007 at 2pm
Richard Bona
Richard Bona grew up in Cameroun, in a home filled with music : his grandfather and mother were singers. According to his mother, this little fellow had something special to do with music. After 7 years in a musical school in Paris and apparitions all over the world these last ten years, he has played with the most illustrious musicians : French as Didier Lockwood, Manu Dibango and Salif Keita or American : Michael and Randy Brecker, Georges Benson, Bobby mc Ferrin and Brandford Marsalis. Richard Bona is said to be 'one of the best bassists on the planet'.
Location : Playboy Jazz Festival
The Hollywood Bowl
Info :
http://www.bonatology.com/ ; www.festivalproductions.net
June 17, 2007 at 10pm
Keren Ann
After a concert at the Olympia in Paris on May 5th 2007, this young songwriter hit the road again for a series of dates across North America. Surrounded by a fascinating mix of musical cultures from an early age, Keren Ann grew up listening to everything from French 'variété' and folk to traditional Yiddish music. After writing with Benjamin Biolay the majority of tracks on
Henri Salvador's acclaimed new album "Chambre avec vue", she is now considered as one of the leading singer/songwriters on the contemporary French music scene. Travelling a middle road between American folk tradition and contemporary pop, Keren Ann widened her horizons on this new album “Keren Ann”."
Location : Troubadour
9081 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
Info :
http://www.kerenann.com/ ;
http://www.troubadour.com/June 21, 2007 at 8pm
Les Nubians
Multi-cultural sensibilities come naturally to Les Nubians. Born to a French father and Cameroonian mother, Helene and Celia learned how to sing at a young age. Inspired by a backstage meeting with jazz singer Abbey Lincoln (who encouraged them to "do it-the greatest thing in the world is to be a singer!"), the group pursued their music relentlessly. The "Princesses Nubiennes" are a successful amalgam of the music they'd experienced during their life travels, combining their African roots with jazzy nuances, funky rhythms and a hint of British soul, all delivered in their uniquely elegant French style.
Location : Cervantes
2637 Welton Street - Denver, CO 80205
Info :
http://www.lesnubians.com/June 22, 2007 at 8:30pm
Feist
After two years of touring in support of her 2004 album "Let It Die," Leslie Feist is already back on the road with a new album “The Reminder” and has hit major European cities in April in advance of a Canadian tour and a June run through the States. This young Canadian songwriter, who has been living in Paris for many years, browses genre with a light touch from folk to indie rock.
Location : Boulder Theater
2034 14th Street – Boulder, CO
Info :
http://www.listentofeist.com/June 22, 2007 at 8pm
Les Nubians
Location : Belly up
450 South Galena Street - Aspen, CO
Info :
http://www.lesnubians.com/June 29, 2007 at 8:30pm
Feist
Location : The Wiltern
3790 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90010
Info :
http://www.listentofeist.com/Coming soon : July 21, 2007 at 9pm
Daft Punk
The mysterious French duo Daft Punk have never revealed their true identity, wearing an ever-changing selection of masks to cover their real faces in interviews and concerts. The media-shy duo has nevertheless become an absolute phenomenon on the 90’s music scene. Daft Punk have not only put French techno on the map but convinced music fans around the world that the leading Anglo-Saxon groups in this domain now have a serious rival.
Location : LA Sports Arena
3939 South Figueroa Street - Los Angeles, CA 90037
Info : (800) 230-0418 ;
http://www.daft-musique.com/The French Music Export Office on My Space : a platform of French produced artists !
www.myspace.com/frenchmusicexport is platform to discover the original sounds made in France (click on our friends’page and get a quick listening of their latest productions) ! With a link to the French Music Export Office’s website where you can find many more goodies : bios in English, dates of the French artists’ gigs around the world, professional contact information for each artist, etc.,
www.myspace.com/frenchmusicexport goes hand in hand with our official website
http://www.french-music.org/Support our artists abroad, post a comment on our page, enjoy the diversity of the music produced in France !
www.myspace.com/frenchmusicexportPERFORMING ARTS
Etant Donnés : The French-American Fund for the Performing Arts
The Fund for the Performing Arts is dedicated to encouraging French-American cooperation in theater in the United States and in France.
Info :
http://www.facecouncil.org/BOOKS
Why France? American Historians Reflects on an Enduring Fascination
France has long attracted the attention of many of America's most accomplished historians. The field of French history has been vastly influential in American thought, both within the academy and beyond, regardless of France's standing among U.S. political and cultural elites. Even though other countries, from Britain to China, may have had a greater impact on American history, none has exerted quite the same hold on the American historical imagination. To gain a fresh perspective on this passionate relationship, Laura Lee Downs and Stéphane Gerson commissioned a diverse array of historians to write autobiographical essays in which they explore their intellectual, political, and personal engagements with France and its past. In addition to the essays, Why France? includes a lengthy introduction by the editors and an afterword by one of France's most distinguished historians, Roger Chartier. Taken together, these essays provide a rich and thought-provoking portrait of France, the Franco-American relationship, and a half-century of American intellectual life.
Info : Edited by Laura Lee Downs & Stephane Gerson, Cornell Press University, 2007
The little girl and the cigarette by Benoit Duteurtre
Translated by Charlotte Mandell
In the over-legislated world of this outrageous comedy, a death row inmate becomes a darling of the media-and the tobacco conglomerates-after he demands his right to a final cigarette in a smoke-free prison. Meanwhile, a little girl accuses a petty municipal bureaucrat of sexual perversion when she catches him sneaking a cigarette. Incredulously, he realizes that in this world where children are not just kings, but tyrants, a cigarette could lead him to the electric chair. At the cutting edge of European fiction, young, hip French author Benoit Duteurtre creates a world disconcertingly close to our own-yet wildly askew-in this daring and antic comedy.
Info : Published by Melville House Publishing, 2007
For more information on French books and translations, visit:
http://www.frenchbooknews.com/,
www.frenchculture.org/books/index.html &
http://cifdi.francophonie.org/Repert/LittFrancoph.cfmLECTURES & CONFERENCES
June 17, 2007 at 2pm
Luncheon of the Boating Party
Internationally-known, best-selling author and San Diego resident, Susan Vreeland is a two-time winner of the Theodore Geisel Award and is known for writing historical fiction on art-related themes. She will present her latest book, Luncheon of the Boating Party, inspired by the painting of Renoir, which will be followed by a book signing.
Location : San Diego Museum of Art
Balboa Park, 1450 El Prado – San Diego, CA 92101
Info : Res. (619) 232 7931
EDUCATION
June 1&2, 2007 at 7:30pm
Pièces en un acte
Series of French plays written by Sacha Guitry performed by Le Lycée Français Drama Club, in French, directed by Mr. Leloup
Location : Theater Raymond Kabbaz
10361 West Pico Blvd – Los Angeles, CA
Info : RSVP (310) 286 0553 ;
http://www.theatreraymondkabbaz.com/19-21 juin 2007
Colloque annuel de la Fédération Internationale des Professeurs de Français : « Le cadre européen, une référence mondiale ? »
Les professeurs de français désireux de participer à ce colloque sont priés de s’inscrire également auprès du Service Culturel du Consulat de France à Los Angeles :
culture@consulfrance-losangeles.orgLieu : Centre International d’Etudes Pédagogiques (CIEP)
1, avenue Léon Journault – 92318 Sèvres Cédex, France
Info :
www.fipf.org/colloque2007.htm ; téléphone - (33) (0) 1.46.26.53.16 & Fax (33) (0) 1.46.26.51.69 ;
secretariat@fipf.orgAssistantship Program
Teach English in France ! The French Ministry of Education and the Cultural Services at the French Embassy offer between 1,000 and 1,700 teaching assistant position in French primary and secondary schools and in Instituts universitaires de formation des maîtres (IUFMs) in all regions of France and the DOM-TOMS.
Info :
www.frenchculture.org/the_education.cfmInternships in France
Since 1997, the Cultural Service of the French Embassy has offered an extraordinary internship program to French-speaking students enrolled in an American university. The success of this service is growing with students and internship companies. Application requirements:
- Must be enrolled in an American University or have finished their studies within the past 2 years (undergraduate or graduate students).
- Can be American citizens or other nationalities.
- Must have sufficient proficiency in French to perform their job.
Info :
www.frenchculture.org/the_education.cfmFILM
For information on French films and screenings, please register for free to
frenchfilminla@consulfrance-losangeles.org (newsletters, invitations, etc...).
EVENTS
June 3, 2007 from 11:30am to 3pm
PicNic des Chefs : le Tour de France culinaire
A wonderful day for the whole family under the trees surrounded by mountains and nature. The party will start at 11:30 am with apéritifs and lunch.
Games & Raffle (petanque, soccer, volleyball), French DJ, life band and dancing – Moon Bouncers for the kids
Location: Montecillo/Old Lodge is located inside Elysian Park next to Dodger Stadium on the corner of Stadium Way and Scott Ave - Los Angeles
Info: Call Kora at 949 295 0506
June 10, 2007 from 11:30am to 3pm
« La Fête de la Musique » with The Alliance Française de Los Angeles
In the magnificent gardens of the Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills, 5 stages and 20 performances.
Jazz, Pop, new Wave, afro, Cuban, puppet show for children and much more!
A selection of French food by Club Culinaire of Los Angeles will also be available.
Info:
http://www.afdela.org/ ; Purchase tickets online :
www.afdela.org/fete-1.phpCALL FOR APPLICATIONS 2007
International Residence At Couvent Des Récollets
The City of Paris and the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs offer foreign artists a resident's program at the Récollets International Accommodation and Exchange Centre, a prestigious building inaugurated in 2003, on the banks of Saint Martin Canal, in the heart of Paris, to foreign artists specialized in any discipline.
This program is targeted to confirmed writers and artists who will be selected by a board of examiners on the basis of a project they would like to develop in Paris during their stay. This project can be carried out at the invitation of a Paris art institution within the framework of a program of cultural cooperation or as a personal artistic research approach.
The winners are hosted in one of the 6 studios, the sizes of which range from 50 to 85 m2 for a 3 months period. At the end of their stay, the artists must write a report on their stay.
Disciplines : visual arts, performing arts, literature.
Aid to projects : A 1500 € monthly allowance is allocated by the ministry of Foreign Affairs to support the artists' projects, and an assurance in case of illness during the stay. Application documents & Info :
www.international-recollets-paris.org/inscription/accueil.php?lng=en.
Deadline for applications : June 15, 2007.
ONGOING
“Architecture of the Veil : an Installation by Samta Benyahia” at the UCLA Fowler Museum
http://www.fowler.ucla.edu/“WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution” at Geffen Contemporary at MOCA
http://www.moca.org/“A Renaissance Cabinet Rediscovered” at the J. Paul Getty Museum
http://www.getty.edu/“Oudry’s Painted Menagerie” at the J. Paul Getty Museum
http://www.getty.edu/UPCOMING
“Recent History : Photographs by Luc Delahaye” at the J. Paul Getty Museum
http://www.getty.edu/“Please Be Seated : A Video Installation by Nicole Cohen” at the J. Paul Getty Museum
http://www.getty.edu/The 20th Annual Santa Barbara French Festival
http://www.frenchfestival.com/LINKS
Alliance Française de Los Angeles :
http://www.afdela.com/Alliance Française de Pasadena :
http://www.afdepasadena.org/Maison de la France :
http://www.franceguide.com/Théâtre Raymond Kabbaz :
http://theatreraymondkabbaz.com/
