Brandon Ferguson

The Five Must-See Shows in OC This Week

Tuesday, May 28 Insane Clown Posse City National Grove of Anaheim A rap duo that dons elaborate clown face paint, Insane Clown Posse boast obsessively about drinking an obscure soda called Faygo and having a legion of fans who refer to themselves as Juggalos. Why wouldn't you go see them? Whether o ... More >>

The Five Must-See Shows in OC This Weekend

Friday, May 17 Sederra House of Blues Anaheim Anytime the punk shredders of Sederra come to the House of Blues Anaheim, they have a habit of bringing the entire Fullerton punk scene with them. Last time they played the Mouse House for free, they stuffed the place to capacity to the point where they ... More >>

The Five Must-See Shows in OC This Weekend

Friday, April 5 Feeding PeopleFingerprints Feeding People play a delightful brand of fuzzy-buzzy garage rock seasoned with reverby vocals and spooky-circus guitar riffs. At times, they're reminiscent of the Doors (but if the Doors had made it to the late '70s.) Another way to conceptualize Feedin ... More >>

Octomom's Former La Habra Octopad Gets Major Makeover

What sort of condition did Nadya Suleman leave her two-story La Habra home in when she left town for Palmdale you ask? What's that you say? You didn't ask? Well, we'll tell you anyways!If you were a neighbor of Suleman, aka Octomom, who lived in the cookie cutter North Hills neighborhood between 200 ... More >>

The Best Concerts to See in OC This Weekend

Friday, March 8 Death Hymn Number 9 Unit B Studio Once, there was a band called the Gories, and there was a guy called Hasil Adkins, as well as a dude named Tav Falco, and they played like maniacs. If they weren't sweating blood, it was only because someone else bled on them first. That's what Deat ... More >>

The Night Marchers at Alex's Bar - Alex's Bar - February 23, 2013

Night MarchersFeb. 23, 2013Alex's BarIt's fair to argue that if the Night Marchers' frontman Jonathan Reis hadn't been in such seminal 80s/90s bands as Drive Like Jehu and Rocket from the Crypt, he couldn't draw the same crowd as the one that showed at Alex's bar on Saturday night. Much like Hot Sna ... More >>

The Five Best Concerts in OC This Weekend

Friday, February 22Angry SamoansThe Observatory First wave punk rockers everywhere are alive and kicking. Just look at the Angry Samoans, hailing from Los Angeles, they've been doing their thing since the late 70s. And since their inception, they've made a career out of being offensive. Rumor has it ... More >>

The Five Best Concerts in OC This Weekend

Friday, February 15 The Ziggens Slidebar If you don't know much about Orange County ska/ surf/punk/garage band the Ziggens, it's ok, somehow they've been over shadowed by one time label mates such as Sublime. But unlike Sublime, who burned out before becoming massively succesful, the Ziggens have ... More >>

The Five Best Concerts in OC This Week

Tuesday, January 22 Cat Power The Observatory No, it's not a feline liberation movement (although that would be rad), but rather the on-going musical project of singer/songwriter Chan Marshall that spans the musical spectrum from punk and folk to blues and electronica. Known for her unconventional ... More >>

The Five Best Concerts in OC This Weekend

Friday, January 11 Cheap Sex/Lower Class Brats The Observatory No, the band's not getting back together--Cheap Sex is reuniting for one night only to celebrate the ten-year anniversary of their debut album's 2003 release. And while fans are charged to once again hear the band's reckless, thrashin ... More >>

The Five Best Shows in OC This Week: Tropicool, Voodoo Glowskulls

Monday, October 22Harvelle'sFunk Jam Hosted By Delta NoveLong Beach band Delta Nove bring the good kind of funk to Monday nights every week at the underground lounge and nightclub Harvelle's. This live music funk jam (plus special guest DJs weekly) is a sure fire cure for any leftover traces of w ... More >>

Dana Rohrabacher Was A No Show at Laguna Beach Election Forum

Last night the League of Women Voters Orange Coast hosted a candidates' forum for Congressman Dana Rohrabacher and his Democratic Party challenger Ron Varasteh. But instead of partisan fireworks and lively debate, political junkies were instead met with a dud. Was Rohrabacher, wh ... More >>

The Five Best Shows in OC This Weekend: Sound Asylum, Agent Orange

Friday, October 12 MeikoThe Yost TheaterThe Yost Theater puts on three musical events in one night--the festivities start off with a co-headlining act of Meiko and Bobby Long at the early hour of 6 p.m. Local transplant folk musician Meiko, a native of Georgia, came to Los Angeles at a young ag ... More >>

The Best Five Shows in OC This Week

Monday, September 24Pawn Shop Kings The Constellation RoomA unique musical style often comes from superior talent and vision, though it can also be a product of geographical diversity. Case in point: Pawn Shop Kings. They're a musical melting pot--a whole lot of Arkansas blended with SoCal's sunshin ... More >>

The Five Best Concerts in O.C. This Weekend

See Also:*Free Ticket Wednesday: She Wants Revenge at the Observatory*The Hives - The Observatory - September 11, 2012 [w/Video]*Jim Norton Wants to Sleep With You, if You Can Stand His Sleep ApneaFriday, September 14She Wants RevengeThe ObservatoryIs that the sound of the 1980s reemerging from the ... More >>

FYF Fest 2012: Five Reunited Bands We Really Want to See

See Also:*FYF Fest Two-Day Line-up Announced*The Growlers Announce New Album Release* Pacific Festival: The Dunes AnnouncedPlenty of people tend to associate FYF Fest with bands that will soon be filling their iPods with fresh sound for the fall. This year, its lineup of subterranean, local and ... More >>

Anaheim City Council Meeting Held in Auditorium, Sees Large Turnout

Dozens of Anaheim residents outraged by the recent spate of officer involved shootings focused their anger addressing the city council again last night. A phalanx of news vans was parked on Lincoln Avenue as hundreds of people gathered in the massive auditorium at Anaheim High School. The location w ... More >>

Residents Speak at Emergency Anaheim City Council Meeting

Today, a small group of Anaheim residents addressed an emergency meeting of the city council before public officials went behind closed doors to discuss, among other things, a recent lawsuit brought against the city by the ACLU. The suit filed in June alleges the city's majority Latino population is ... More >>

What Next, Anaheim?

Click here for our Anaheim police shooting archivesLess than two weeks after Anaheim police shot and killed unarmed 24-year-old Manuel Diaz, it's starting to look (from the outside at least) as if the resulting wave of civic anger unleashed on the neighborhoods north of Disneyland has subsided. Whil ... More >>

Us and Them: the Embattled Residents of Anaheim's Flatlands

Across La Palma Avenue, near the site where Anaheim police shot unarmed resident Manuel Diaz last Saturday, a group of young women holding signs yelled at passing drivers, directing them to a car wash to help raise money for the slain man's funeral. Behind a strip mall, a group of young men hosed an ... More >>

Dispatch from Anaheim's Fourth Night of Rage

Click here for our Anaheim police shooting archivesLast night's riots, which erupted around Anaheim Boulevard and Broadway, saw protesters, enraged by the recent police-involved shootings of two residents, smashing windows, setting structural fires and throwing bottles and other objects at cops. The ... More >>

Family, Friends and Supporters Hold Candlelight Vigil for Slain Anaheim Man

Last night, approximately a hundred Anaheim residents held a candle light vigil for Manuel Diaz, who was killed Saturday by police. Gathering near the intersection of La Palma Avenue and  Anna Street, where the unarmed 25-year-old was shot in the head, and joined by Diaz's mother, the ... More >>

OC Weekly Dominates 2012 OC Press Club Awards with 16 of 'Em!

Last night, the Orange County Press Club held its annual awards ceremony at Encore Dinner Theater in Tustin, and in-between a hoppin' swing music set, a pretty good four-course dinner, reporters gossiping, and way too many smoke breaks to count, there were awards handed out--and, surprise, surprise. ... More >>

[W/VIDEO] Footage of Fullerton Police Beating Kelly Thomas to Death Finally Released

**CLICK HERE FOR THE OC WEEKLY'S COMPLETE KELLY THOMAS ARCHIVES**Today, the world finally got to see security footage of Fullerton police officers beating Kelly Thomas to death, a case that has sparked worldwide outrage.The video--complete with Thomas pleading for his life--is after the jump. WARNIN ... More >>

Mysteries of Anaheim: A Chinese Boneyard Without Any Bones?

​Among the many jewels in OC's collection of body depositories, Anaheim Cemetery is perhaps the shiniest. Established in 1866, its soil is fertilized by the area's earliest pioneers. Home to the first public mausoleum on the west coast, (take that, Rose Hills), its garden of crooked headstone ... More >>

Mysteries of Brea Canyon: Portola Expedition

​If you've ever sped north through Brea Canyon Road on your way to the 57 freeway, or less likely to Diamond Bar, you've noticed a few things: massive oil derricks standing like silent sentinels along the cliffs, flotsam and jetsam dumped in the surrounding foliage, and flattened road kill. But th ... More >>

Santa Ana Occupier to Take Chances with Judge

​When Occupy Santa Ana kicked off its long-term protest last October, day one ended with four activists being arrested for allegedly violating the city's no-camping ordinance. Three of those four have since accepted reduced charges from the City Attorney. But one Occupier, 24-year-old Sam Are ... More >>

[UPDATED with POLICE REMARK:] Was a Teenage Girl Raped in Fullerton Last Night?

​UPDATE, Feb. 21, 2012, 12:30P.M.: According to Fullerton Police Sgt. Andrew Goodrich, police have no reports of a rape occurring in the Hillcrest Park area on Friday night. The spokesman said the department took a report of a possible sexual assault, which occurred Friday afternoon near Buena Par ... More >>

Report: No Fullerton Cop Cover Up in Wake of Kelly Thomas Killing

​The attorney charged with independently reviewing the police response to the Kelly Thomas killing presented his first report tonight to a special session meeting of the Fullerton city council and cleared the police of a cover up. Flanked by rows of buzzing television cameras in front of a pa ... More >>

Letters From OC Weekly Readers

Letters From OC Weekly Readers

What We Learned, Jan. 6-Jan. 13

​Jan. 6: We obtain a screenshot of Jeremy Popoff's Facebook page, on which he claims he hasn't avoided calls from the Weekly, that we committed journalistic malpractice by "twisting [his] words" and that our man Brandon Ferguson should masturbate rather than try to ask him questions. Can't argue w ... More >>

Scott Walker to Visit Scott Baugh, Occupy to Attend

UPDATE DEC. 29, 7:30 P.M.: For those of you hoping Occupy activists at tonight's protest would have stormed the glass-encased offices of  Scott Baugh, kicked in the doors and found Wisconsin governor Scott Walker on his knees fellating the Orange County GOP Chairman while dollar bills rained fr ... More >>

[UPDATED: Occupy Irvine to end Encampment] Occupy Santa Ana Backs off Occupation

UPDATE, DEC. 20, 5:07 P.M.:  And then there were none. A week after Occupy Santa Ana ended its formal occupation of the Civic Center, Occupy Irvine has decided to do the same. According to activist D'Marie Mulattieri, who was responsible for setting up the original Occupy Orange County Fac ... More >>

Fullerton Police Crash Virgin Of Guadalupe Ceremony, Offer No Comment

​Mary may be the mother of God, but the Fullerton Police don't  care. That's according to a local resident who said an annual neighborhood event to honor the Virgin of Guadalupe, Mary's mestizo manifestation was rudely crashed by beat cops just after midnight on Monday morning.Carmen Medellin ... More >>

Fender Factory Opens its Doors

Brandon FergusonPhyllis Fender speaks at the grand opening of the visitor center at the Fender manufacturing plant in Corona​Though it moved a relatively short distance from the quaint shopping district surrounding downtown Fullerton to the bucolic splendor of Corona (cough), Fender has truly ... More >>

The Sad Saga of the Playground Festival

[Mental Notes] Plenty of finger-pointing about the epic fail of "OC's Coachella."

[UPDATE] Law Enforcement Descends on 'OC Weekly' Building!

Brandon Ferguson​UPDATE, 2:30 P.M., SEPTEMBER 6, 2011: It's been eerily quiet in the hallways surrounding Weekly world headquarters since our neighbors at the Law Offices of Anthony Kassas were escorted off the premises nearly three weeks ago by officials from the California Department of Justice. ... More >>

OC All Over the VMAs

[Mental Notes] Plus, a concert and food drive in honor of Kelly Thomas

Don Steves, La Habra Chevrolet Dealer, Found Dead

Brandon Ferguson​A 70-year-old man found dead in his car yesterday evening at 2342 Vista Road in La Habra Heights has been identified as Donald Steves Jr. According to Assistant Chief Ed Winter of the Los Angeles Department of Coroner, Steves suffered a gunshot wound and the incident is being inve ... More >>

[UPDATED with 1 More Photo:] 3 Returning From Crystal Cathedral Service Perish in Fiery Crash

UPDATE, AUG. 9, 1:07 P.M.: One more shot by the Weekly's Brandon Ferguson from last night's triple-fatal accident in Buena Park shows the wreckage:​

OC Weekly Honored By Los Angeles Press Club

Yay, Kelly!​Last night the Los Angeles Press Club held its 53rd Annual Southern California Journalism Awards at the ornately appointed Millennium Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. We know you have some burning questions: Did award presenter and Mary Tyler Moore Show thespian Ed Asner really ... More >>

Message to Indies: How to Release Your Own Vinyl Record

Brandon Ferguson​Last night the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles hosted a panel discussion on the process of vinyl production as it pertains to small artists. Among the four panelists on stage at the Clive Davis Theatre was Infrasonic Sound owner/mastering engineer Pete Lyman, who was featured in my r ... More >>

OC Register Article on Factory Records Has Best. Lede. Ever. LOL.

Miguel VasconcellosDave James of Factory Records​We're not even going to say anything about how OC Register published a story on vinyl records making a comeback, five days after we put the same story on our cover (Revinylized, by Brandon Ferguson) on the same people, and photographed by a former O ... More >>

Drink of the Week: San Clemente Cosmo

Brandon Ferguson​Oftentimes when a bar creates a new alcoholic concoction, something goes horribly awry: either overzealous bartenders blend flavors that just don't work well together (think mint leaves and any number of boozes), or they overdo it with the sugary liquids and create a nasty franken ... More >>

Weird In OC

[Mental Notes] This week in unusual Orange County concerts

Lyrics Born, Chali 2na at Commonwealth Lounge Last Night

Brandon Ferguson​Lyrics Born and Chali 2na  Oct. 19, 2010Commonwealth LoungeThe Show: You gotta feel bad for Bay area MC Lyrics Born who followed rapper Chali 2na last night at the Commonwealth lounge. Though he brought his A game and spat rhymes with dedicated enthusiasm, it wasn't enough to ... More >>

Last Night: Sea Wolf at Detroit Bar

Brandon Ferguson​The Hype: Playing nondescript but high-quality indie rock for the past ten years, Alex Brown Church, a.k.a. Sea Wolf, has produced two full-length albums. Last year, he released White Water, White Bloom. Their inoffensive brand of eclectic folk music was recently de ... More >>

Last Night: the Reverend Horton Heat, House of Blues, Anaheim

The Hype: If you've had a chance to pick up the Texas psychobilly pioneers' latest album, Laughin' & Cryin' With the Reverend Horton Heat, then you've probably noticed that for the most part, psycho has been surgically removed from billy. Brandon FergusonThe songs on this record run the gamut ... More >>

OC Weekly Music Feature: [Local Only] DJ Frankie Alvaro

OC Weekly contributor Brandon Ferguson talks to local turntablist Frankie Alvaro.OC Weekly: What can someone expect from a typical DJ Frankie set? Frankie Alvaro: I play a lot of Northern soul. I like to play a couple of '60s hits as well, so people know what's going on--so it's not too obscure. A l ... More >>