Adam Del Monte

It hasn't been proven yet that a flamenco concert can change the chemical composition of your brain, but it's something aficionados instinctively know. There has to be the right combination of performers, of course--a lightning rod of a dancer like Laila del Monte, for instance, with her husband, Adam del Monte, on guitar, Maimon Miller making a violin gently weep and the reliably resonant singers Antonio de Jerez and Jesus Montoya.

Movies Web-master "Spider-Man" spins his way onto the big screen Friday in the guise of Tobey Maguire. Sam Raimi directs as Peter Parker's alter ego squares off against the Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe). Kirsten Dunst, above right with Maguire, co-stars. Also: Woody Allen's "Hollywood Ending" is about a washed-up director who suffers psychosomatic blindness during the shooting of his comeback movie. With Tea Leoni, George Hamilton and Treat Williams. Opens Friday.

Flamenco has always been a world unto itself, so it's news when artists of great technical and stylistic authority stretch beyond its limits to incorporate outside traditions. In their "Flamenco Fusion" program at the Fountain Theatre on Tuesday, guitarist Adam del Monte and dancer Laila del Monte did just that, layering jazz, Middle Eastern and Western European Gypsy influences without blurring their powerful flamenco impetus.

The Middle East has been the center of cultural ferment for millenniums, from the dominance of Egypt to the campaigns of Alexander to the incursions of the Crusaders and beyond. It also has been a perpetual flash point, ignited by dreams of empire, ethnicity, religion and oil. The contradictions between those two factors--cultural connectivity and seemingly endless conflicts--underscored a concert of world music and dance Saturday night at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre.

The Middle East has been the center of cultural ferment for millenniums, from the dominance of Egypt to the campaigns of Alexander to the incursions of the Crusaders and beyond. It also has been a perpetual flash point, ignited by dreams of empire, ethnicity, religion and oil. The contradictions between those two factors--cultural connectivity and seemingly endless conflicts--underscored a concert of world music and dance Saturday night at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre.

Very late in the theater piece "Amar es Olvidar La Vida" (To Love Is to Forget Life) at the Los Angeles Theatre Center on Friday, an anguished scream from actor-dancer Robert Alvarez morphed into a classic, flamenco wail of pain coming from singer Jesus ('El Genio Gitano") Montoya.

MOVIES "Lost in Space," inspired by the old TV series, is a science-fiction adventure about a family's ill-fated voyage aboard a sabotaged spaceship. Gary Oldman, William Hurt, Mimi Rogers and Matt LeBlanc star with otherworldly creatures and high-tech robots. The film opens Friday in general release.

Movies Web-master "Spider-Man" spins his way onto the big screen Friday in the guise of Tobey Maguire. Sam Raimi directs as Peter Parker's alter ego squares off against the Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe). Kirsten Dunst, above right with Maguire, co-stars. Also: Woody Allen's "Hollywood Ending" is about a washed-up director who suffers psychosomatic blindness during the shooting of his comeback movie. With Tea Leoni, George Hamilton and Treat Williams. Opens Friday.

Movies Jim Carrey teams with the Farrelly brothers for "Me, Myself & Irene," an outrageous comedy about a woman who falls in love with a man with multiple-personality disorder. Opens wide Friday. * The Oscar-winning "Wallace & Gromit" hatches the truly high-concept "Chicken Run," which re-imagines "The Great Escape" as a clay-animated poultry caper with Mel Gibson voicing the Steve McQueen character's part. Opens Wednesday. Pop Music Veterans and newcomers mingle at Urbanfest L.A.

Sometimes, fate has a role in bringing flamenco collaborators together. Perhaps in a smoky Spanish club, they hear the right rhythms across a crowded room and hook up when the spirit moves them. But in the case of Laila and Adam del Monte--the dancer and guitarist currently generating heat on the L.A. flamenco scene--a rabbi had something to do with it. Maybe that's another kind of fate. Or maybe the rabbi was just lucky--not all part-time matchmakers have so much to work with.

Sometimes, fate has a role in bringing flamenco collaborators together. Perhaps in a smoky Spanish club, they hear the right rhythms across a crowded room and hook up when the spirit moves them. But in the case of Laila and Adam del Monte--the dancer and guitarist currently generating heat on the L.A. flamenco scene--a rabbi had something to do with it. Maybe that's another kind of fate. Or maybe the rabbi was just lucky--not all part-time matchmakers have so much to work with.

Movies Jim Carrey teams with the Farrelly brothers for "Me, Myself & Irene," an outrageous comedy about a woman who falls in love with a man with multiple-personality disorder. Opens wide Friday. * The Oscar-winning "Wallace & Gromit" hatches the truly high-concept "Chicken Run," which re-imagines "The Great Escape" as a clay-animated poultry caper with Mel Gibson voicing the Steve McQueen character's part. Opens Wednesday. Pop Music Veterans and newcomers mingle at Urbanfest L.A.

Very late in the theater piece "Amar es Olvidar La Vida" (To Love Is to Forget Life) at the Los Angeles Theatre Center on Friday, an anguished scream from actor-dancer Robert Alvarez morphed into a classic, flamenco wail of pain coming from singer Jesus ('El Genio Gitano") Montoya.

It hasn't been proven yet that a flamenco concert can change the chemical composition of your brain, but it's something aficionados instinctively know. There has to be the right combination of performers, of course--a lightning rod of a dancer like Laila del Monte, for instance, with her husband, Adam del Monte, on guitar, Maimon Miller making a violin gently weep and the reliably resonant singers Antonio de Jerez and Jesus Montoya.

MOVIES "Lost in Space," inspired by the old TV series, is a science-fiction adventure about a family's ill-fated voyage aboard a sabotaged spaceship. Gary Oldman, William Hurt, Mimi Rogers and Matt LeBlanc star with otherworldly creatures and high-tech robots. The film opens Friday in general release.

Flamenco has always been a world unto itself, so it's news when artists of great technical and stylistic authority stretch beyond its limits to incorporate outside traditions. In their "Flamenco Fusion" program at the Fountain Theatre on Tuesday, guitarist Adam del Monte and dancer Laila del Monte did just that, layering jazz, Middle Eastern and Western European Gypsy influences without blurring their powerful flamenco impetus.

If Adam del Monte had offered a CD of music played in "Azahar," a program of music and dance at the Alex Theatre in Glendale on Saturday night, there would have been a long line of customers in the lobby.

With hybrid music compositions, it's a challenge--and very tempting--to try to separate and identify the various ingredients. But with several collaborative moments in "Pasados por el Mundo" (World Passages), Friday night at the Fountain Theatre in Hollywood, the results were simply too compelling for dissection.