The background : The $20-million MOCA building is still under construction on Bunker Hill downtown (scheduled to open in 1986, but already its founders have endowment commitments of $22 million, 17,000 members, 381 artworks, and a huge, temporary exhibition hall in Little Tokyo called the Temporary Contemporary that is expected to become permanent. Timothy Mason's "Before I Got My Eye Put Out" at South Coast Repertory concerns a famous novelist (James Olson) who treats his life and his loved ones as if they were simply raw material for his books Eventually, life gets back at him. "I want them to turn and I want to draw attention to their surroundings, to the architecture "I think that's largely the point of an opening night. It features re-creations of villages of the seven Polynesian peoples who originally settled the Hawaiian islands. In his brief speech at the ceremony, Hillerman said, "Beyond its pleasure as art, this work will expose thousands of people to the sublime beauty of these great creatures All artists are communicators, be they painters or actors.

But it's a wonderful piece, rhythmic, lyric and pianistically idiomatic "The Chopin group-I put that in just because I wanted to". Fields even lights a candle to accompany her wretched little supper-a gesture that would have seemed false if Jens had tried it. In addition to UCI's own student and touring-artist presentations, Councilwoman Miller said that the attractions at the new theater are to include concerts, plays, conferences and other events involving community groups and schools. "What I really like" the non-playboy finally admitted, "is that lately a lot of people-older people-have been coming up and saying, 'Gee, I really enjoy your work' "It's not just screaming bubble-gummers anymore". The Bangkok of tourists is all smiles and flowers, a gracious city hugging the curves of the Chao Praya River. LACMA's Art Museum Council holds its 24th annual Art and Architecture Tour next Sunday, 10 a. m.

Few conductors seem to enjoy "The Nutcracker" more than Slatkin, and his orchestra responds with an affectionate, meticulous account that takes the familiar classic and transforms it into something new "Waltz of the Snowflakes" and the "Arabian Dance" are seductive. Not only have living organisms been turned into gratuitous luxury goods, but in turn re-appropriated to create a dangerous emblem of aesthetic extravagance, defined more by the value of its materials than by intrinsic artistic merit. The concert's producers, who were instrumental in the telecast of last summer's Live Aid concert, say they already have commitments to establish satellite transmission linkups to countries representing up to 75% of the globe, including Japan and Russia. For example, he and his rival drive to their ancient, deadly ritual of honor in trucks! Photographed by Fujio Morita, "Onimasa" is a color film in which black, whites and grays predominate, punctuated by the scarlet of a kimono-or of a spurt of blood.

"LOW LIFE" New Order Qwest Few bands can claim a better pedigree than New Order. We got spoiled on 'Blood Simple' because we had 60-some investors who were legally prohibited from interfering by the terms of a limited partnership" During "Blood Simple" the Coens also collaborated with director Sam Raimi on the script for "The XYZ Murders" as-yet unreleased by Embassy Pictures. Nevertheless, at a top price of $47. 50 for musicals and $40 for dramas, theater attendance so far this season has dropped, reportedly by as much as 25, with paid attendance falling below 50% capacity. On the basis of what little evidence we have of pre-1960s recorded material, the gap between a Klemperer and a Toscanini interpretation of this repertory isn't as wide, in matters other than tempo, as reputations would lead one to suppose.

Since the end of February, Marillo has been preaching the gospel of be-bop in yet another way: as talent coordinator for a Monday night series of concerts at the Jazz Mine Record and Book Store on Pearl Street, featuring such local mainstays as guitarists Steve O'Connor and Peter Sprague and the Padres' pitcher-cum-guitarist Eric Show. But how will the show handle the original's raunchy sex humor? "It'll be just like the movie, except it makes no reference to sex or drugs" quipped exec producer Allen Rucker. "This is 1986, not 1954 or the 1970s, and we're going to play music for 1986 with a contemporary flair" Herndon said. Reed, in fact, had fingered himself by showing a policeman a receipt for his gun when asked for identification as he was hanging around the courthouse.

But how do you lure moviegoers to a film with two still-emerging talents, Matthew Modine and Nicolas Cage, in a drama superficially about adolescent mental illness-especially when Modine spends most of the film curled up as a bird? Tri-Star's answer was to rush a "wet print" of the just-completed film into three theaters in Los Angeles, New York in Toronto on Dec 21, qualifying the film for the '84 Oscars. Undertaken in 1982 as what he calls a labor of love and made for $150,000, "Passion and Memory" is based on the book "Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies & Bucks" by Donald Bogle and has Robert Guillaume of "Benson" as host. Messiaen the colorist does explore the possibilities in horn solos, piano solos and in the constant instrumental reiteration of specific birdcalls. The cast includes Sabine Hass, bass Kevin Langan and tenor Siefried Jerusalem. It (the tour) is definitely on" said Barbara Horgan, special projects administrator for the New York company.

"Silent Night, Deadly Night" was returned to its makers, who announced plans to release it this fall) The overall message of Wednesday's conference, if there was one to be taken away by the psychologists, is that Hollywood won't respond to therapy. I certainly don't want them to distract" Judging from her description of "Untitled" included in an ambitious four-part program of her own compositions, that may be tricky. Friday, the issues broadened dramatically when SAG executive secretary Leonard Chassman, who was subpoenaed by Landham, acknowledged in court that there is no signed SAG contract There hasn't been since 1977. The door to the room burst open to admit a tall, pale, brown-haired man dressed like nobody the kids could make out He was not a bureaucrat, an official in a suit He was not a street person either.

On the March trip-which I call the 'Commie' tour, because mostly what I remember is spending endless hours in airports, trying to get through passport control-we performed in Prague, Krakow, Leipzig, Dresden and Moscow. But you'd better not screw up, because if you trip, you have a lot further to fall" "You get to be King Christmas" Segal joked. stations that are members of the Public Broadcasting Service. "Theater gives people an experience that simply can't be had in any other medium" Ormeny said "It creates a sense of community.

"Whether it's shown on cassette, laser disc, TV or in theaters" Cates says, "people will have to make the product" RADICAL: Call the Teen Hot Line! The adults are taking over America's movie theaters. In the current "Sea Gull" alone are such performers as Vickery, Bill Irwin, Phoebe Cates and Penny Fuller. But Tuck Milligan (now in the New Mayfair's "Blue Window) found the graphic nudity called for in "Equus" helpful to him as an actor: "The more items of clothing we removed, the more the audience dropped away. "A superstar stands on stage and says, 'Hey, I don't take dope My guitarist did He's dead, or he can't move right ' Kids can see that They can understand that". There's only been professional Yiddish theater for one century, because it was frowned on by traditional Jews-still is by Hasidic Jews-but in this one century this kind of theater has covered a whole range of experience and since Yiddish-speaking Jews have scattered all over the world, it has developed a universal familiarity. The original railroad car has been extended in several directions over the last 65 years, and photographs on the walls reflect this establishment's link with L. A history.