Peter Himmelman

Children's recording artist Peter Himmelman will perform a concert at the Westside Pavilion, first floor, Westside Too, 10800 W. Pico Blvd. in Los Angeles, at noon on June 28. The concert will benefit children participating in the Project 9865 and youTHink programs of the Center for American Studies and Culture and My Jewish Discovery Museum of JCC/LA. Concert-goers can also join in painting get-well cards for hospitalized children in the Project 9865 creative therapy program. Tickets are $15.

PETER Himmelman makes music for children as a sideline. Unlike former Del Fuegos frontman Dan Zanes, who's now a family music superstar, folk-rock heavyweight Himmelman tucks his brainy, quirky kid stuff into the spaces between his albums and concerts for adults and his film and TV scores ("Bug Juice, "Men in Trees" and "Bones").

Get Peter Himmelman in front of an audience and he can be the consummate cutup, a wit who excels at off-the-cuff humor, composes comic songs on the spot, and typically goes the extra mile to get close to his listeners. Well, maybe just the extra half-mile. That, Himmelman said, is how far he had to walk on a recent night in Kansas City, Mo., before he found a spot where he felt comfortable performing.

Things are good for Peter Himmelman. The Santa Monica-based singer-songwriter's 10th solo album, "Imperfect World," just came out Tuesday, he has a show at the Mint nightclub tonight celebrating its release, his father-in-law just swung through town (that would be Bob Dylan) and, even with the rain, the weather's been relatively agreeable.

Write a few verses and a chorus, tack on a melody and a musical arrangement and--presto--you've got a pop song. But Peter Himmelman thinks there needs to be one other ingredient: a reason for writing it.

Peter Himmelman isn't the sort of rock musician you'd expect to provide an evening's light entertainment--unless, that is, he brings his crayons. Playing a solo show at Bogart's a few years back, the Minnesota native passed out paper and Crayolas to the audience and solicited drawings, poems, concert reviews and any other feedback the crowd might care to give.

"You get called a 'veteran singer-songwriter' at age 36," Peter Himmelman mused during a recent phone conversation from his home in Santa Monica. "If you were a lawyer or something, you'd just be getting started at 36. I don't feel like a veteran. I feel like I'm about 16, you know?" His career started back in the late '70s when he was a member of Sussman Lawrence and was categorized as an "angry young man" a la Elvis Costello and Graham Parker.

Peter Himmelman, the brainy rocker who called one of his albums "Gematria" and another "Synesthesia," clearly lacks the gift of pithy nomenclature. Otherwise, he might rename himself Peter Paradox and clarify everything. Paradoxes have framed this Minnesota-bred, Santa Monica-based singer-songwriter's 14-year recording career, and they continue with "Love Thinketh No Evil," Himmelman's first studio album (other than a children's record) since 1994.

Peter Himmelman, the brainy rocker who called one of his albums "Gematria" and another "Synesthesia," clearly lacks the gift of pithy nomenclature. Otherwise, he might rename himself Peter Paradox and clarify everything. Paradoxes have framed this Minnesota-bred, Santa Monica-based singer-songwriter's 14-year recording career, and they continue with "Love Thinketh No Evil," Himmelman's first studio album (other than a children's record) since 1994.

PETER Himmelman makes music for children as a sideline. Unlike former Del Fuegos frontman Dan Zanes, who's now a family music superstar, folk-rock heavyweight Himmelman tucks his brainy, quirky kid stuff into the spaces between his albums and concerts for adults and his film and TV scores ("Bug Juice, "Men in Trees" and "Bones").

On sale now at the House of Blues: Vanessa Carlton on Nov. 11, Social Distortion on Dec. 27-29, Peter Himmelman, Pete Yorn on Oct. 29, Donell Jones on Oct. 8 and Luciano on Oct. 6.... No Doubt, Garbage and the Distillers head to Bakersfield Centennial Garden on Nov. 25. Tickets on sale Saturday.... At the Wiltern: Boxcar Racer on Nov. 23; Tickets on sale Saturday. Ani DiFranco on Oct. 23; Tickets on sale now.... Ruben Blades will be at the Mayan on Oct. 24. Tickets on sale now....

Peter Himmelman, the brainy rocker who called one of his albums "Gematria" and another "Synesthesia," clearly lacks the gift of pithy nomenclature. Otherwise, he might rename himself Peter Paradox and clarify everything. Paradoxes have framed this Minnesota-bred, Santa Monica-based singer-songwriter's 14-year recording career, and they continue with "Love Thinketh No Evil," Himmelman's first studio album (other than a children's record) since 1994.

Peter Himmelman, the brainy rocker who called one of his albums "Gematria" and another "Synesthesia," clearly lacks the gift of pithy nomenclature. Otherwise, he might rename himself Peter Paradox and clarify everything. Paradoxes have framed this Minnesota-bred, Santa Monica-based singer-songwriter's 14-year recording career, and they continue with "Love Thinketh No Evil," Himmelman's first studio album (other than a children's record) since 1994.

Children's recording artist Peter Himmelman will perform a concert at the Westside Pavilion, first floor, Westside Too, 10800 W. Pico Blvd. in Los Angeles, at noon on June 28. The concert will benefit children participating in the Project 9865 and youTHink programs of the Center for American Studies and Culture and My Jewish Discovery Museum of JCC/LA. Concert-goers can also join in painting get-well cards for hospitalized children in the Project 9865 creative therapy program. Tickets are $15.

"You get called a 'veteran singer-songwriter' at age 36," Peter Himmelman mused during a recent phone conversation from his home in Santa Monica. "If you were a lawyer or something, you'd just be getting started at 36. I don't feel like a veteran. I feel like I'm about 16, you know?" His career started back in the late '70s when he was a member of Sussman Lawrence and was categorized as an "angry young man" a la Elvis Costello and Graham Parker.

Winning over a concert audience comes so easily to Peter Himmelman that he seemed to be setting a self-imposed handicap for himself Saturday night at the Coach House just to make it a challenge. For the first 65 minutes of his show, he held the clever, indefatigable, ever-entertaining tongue that makes him one of rock's most engaging between-songs extemporizers.

On sale now at the House of Blues: Vanessa Carlton on Nov. 11, Social Distortion on Dec. 27-29, Peter Himmelman, Pete Yorn on Oct. 29, Donell Jones on Oct. 8 and Luciano on Oct. 6.... No Doubt, Garbage and the Distillers head to Bakersfield Centennial Garden on Nov. 25. Tickets on sale Saturday.... At the Wiltern: Boxcar Racer on Nov. 23; Tickets on sale Saturday. Ani DiFranco on Oct. 23; Tickets on sale now.... Ruben Blades will be at the Mayan on Oct. 24. Tickets on sale now....

Things are good for Peter Himmelman. The Santa Monica-based singer-songwriter's 10th solo album, "Imperfect World," just came out Tuesday, he has a show at the Mint nightclub tonight celebrating its release, his father-in-law just swung through town (that would be Bob Dylan) and, even with the rain, the weather's been relatively agreeable.

Get Peter Himmelman in front of an audience and he can be the consummate cutup, a wit who excels at off-the-cuff humor, composes comic songs on the spot, and typically goes the extra mile to get close to his listeners. Well, maybe just the extra half-mile. That, Himmelman said, is how far he had to walk on a recent night in Kansas City, Mo., before he found a spot where he felt comfortable performing.

Write a few verses and a chorus, tack on a melody and a musical arrangement and--presto--you've got a pop song. But Peter Himmelman thinks there needs to be one other ingredient: a reason for writing it.