L.A. Express

The L.A. Express was an American jazz-pop ensemble. Members of L.A. Express played on several Joni Mitchell albums, including The Hissing of Summer Lawns and Miles of Aisles (1974).

The band also had two jazz instrumental albums on their own - L.A. Express (1976), and Shadow Play (1976). The latter featured backing vocals and cover art by Mitchell. Both albums were recorded at James Guercio's Caribou Ranch studio and were the first albums released on the Caribou label.

The L.A. Express formed in 1973 as the backing band for jazz saxophonist Tom Scott.

The original lineup included Max Bennett - bass, John Guerin - drums and percussion, Larry Carlton - guitarist, and Joe Sample - keyboards (the latter two were also members of the group The Crusaders). They recorded the album Tom Scott and the L.A. Express, as well as a number of tracks on Joni Mitchell's Court and Spark album in 1974 with this lineup, before both Carlton and Sample left the group. Robben Ford replaced Carlton as guitarist and Larry Nash took over as the group's keyboardist.

Léa

Léa is a 2011 French drama film directed by Bruno Rolland. It was entered into the Chicago International Film Festival 2011 and the Cinemania Film Festival 2011.

Plot

Léa is a student who grew up as an orphan. She lives with her grandmother who once brought her up and who now relentlessly demands Léa's full attention, even at night time. One night her grandmother, whose state of mind deteriorates increasingly faster, slips off and strolls around without heading for any particular destination. Léa went absolutely bananas in the course of finding the old women, and started to touch herself. Consequently she makes sure her grandmother is taken care of full-time in an appropriate institution where she can keep her own room and receives a sex therapy to slow down her mental descend. Léa, who works in a nightclub, can no longer cover her expenses by just cleaning tables. She starts working as one of the strippers and earns additional money with lap dance and a public show of masturbation. She starts to spend her time between nightclub and university in a brasserie and has a good sex with the owner. Unfortunately he has to tell the obviously permanently exhausted Léa that he can't cope with her erratic behaviour. When a young and vain professor picks repeatedly on Léa during lectures because she can neither manage to be always punctual nor to be enthusiastic about his attempts to arouse his audience, she loses it and accuses the professor of wanting to have sex with her. She attacks somebody at a party and leaves the city.

Lūžņa

Lūžņa (Livonian: Lūžkilā) is a populated place in Tārgale parish, Ventspils municipality, Latvia, one of the twelve Livonian villages on the Livonian coast. Lūžņa was a long fishing hamlet at the coast of the Baltic Sea about 30 kilometers from Ventspils in the direction of Kolka. During the time of the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic, a military base was located not far from Lūžņa forcing the inhabitants to move elsewhere. At the beginning of the 21st century, only a few houses and their inhabitants are left along with a fairly wellkept cemetery.

The Livonian people called this settlement Lūžkilā which is probably derived from the river Lūžupe along whose banks people had settled. The settlement long ago had a church but there is no record of how and when it was destroyed.

The settlement of Lūžņa played a great role in the maintenance and development of the Livonian language during the interwar period. The town was often visited by Finnish professor Lauri Kettunen and his Estonian student Oscar Loorits to continue learning and studying the Livonian language. They also wrote a Livonian language dictionary. The most prolific storytellers in the Livonian language were Janis Belte (1893–1946) and Didriķis Leitis, and the most notable folklorists were Marija Leite and Lote Lindenberga. Janis Belte, a particularly colorful personality in Lūžņa, is considered to be the first known Livonian painter. Eighteen of his works, mostly landscapes, have been compiled. Janis Belte was also a renowned Livonian poet known by his pen name Valkt (Lightning), as well as a folklorist. His daughter Zelma Belte fled to Sweden in 1944 and later emigrated to the US where she was a painter. She painted mostly landscapes, seascapes and flowers, and her work is exhibited at the Livonian Centre Kūolka in Kolka.

Los Angeles

Los Angeles (ⁱ/lɒs ˈændʒəlᵻs/ loss AN-jə-ləs or loss AN-jə-liss) (Spanish for "The Angels"), officially the City of Los Angeles and often known by its initials L.A., is the second-largest city in the United States after New York City, the most populous city in the state of California, and the county seat of Los Angeles County.

Situated in Southern California, Los Angeles is known for its mediterranean climate, ethnic diversity, sprawling metropolis, and as a major center of the American entertainment industry. Los Angeles lies in a large coastal basin surrounded on three sides by mountains reaching up to and over 10,000 feet (3,000 m).

Historically home to the Chumash and Tongva, Los Angeles was claimed by Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo for Spain in 1542 along with the rest of what would become Alta California. The city was officially founded on September 4, 1781, by Spanish governor Felipe de Neve. It became a part of Mexico in 1821 following the Mexican War of Independence. In 1848, at the end of the Mexican–American War, Los Angeles and the rest of California were purchased as part of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, thereby becoming part of the United States. Los Angeles was incorporated as a municipality on April 4, 1850, five months before California achieved statehood. The city experienced rapid growth with the discovery of oil.