When the Orange County Buddhist Church plays host to the Obon festival this weekend, it’s a time to reflect on the impermanence of life. The centuries-old Japanese custom remembers ancestors that came before us through bon odori, an immersive dance celebrating the teachings of the Buddha. The parking lot of the Shin Buddhist temple in […]
Culture
Orange County Buddhist Church Honors Ancestors With Annual Obon Festival
Dead and Company Transport Fans To and From Dodger Stadium
One fairly hot day in LA, Dead & Company made it even hotter with a sizzling performance of a terrific set of Grateful Dead tunes. Singer / guitarists John Mayer and Bob Weir and bassist Oteil Burbridge were in particularly fine form from the get go, and the synergy they had with the audience at […]
Burlesque Superstar Dita Von Teese Performs Sold-Out Homecoming Show at the House of Blues Anaheim
Miss Dita Von Teese may not have been the type to be named homecoming queen when she was a student at University High in Irvine in 1990 (she was too busy staying home perfecting her craft and building the empire she now sits proudly on the throne of, after all) but she had a homecoming […]
Dita Von Teese, International Queen of Burlesque, Still Feels Like an Orange County Girl
“Somewhere in the archives,” a satin-smooth voice of a woman on the other end of a San Francisco hotel phone line says, “there’s a picture of a blond me inside this cage.” She estimates the photo would have been taken in the early 1990s: ’91, ’93 maybe. And it would have been used in the […]
The Road to Nowhere Begins and Ends in Fullerton
The Road to Nowhere begins at Ford Park* in Fullerton, California. The inaugural foot parade started with a small but mighty, plucky group of 20 or so of Fullerton locals, artists, journalists and even a bonafide ancient parade historian. The rag tag group met organizer Tim Johnson (of Fullerton’s infamous Fourth of July bike parade […]
Where to Start at Day of Music Fullerton 2018
The fourth annual Day of Music Fullerton is upon us. On June 21, 2015, the city of Fullerton joined the global Fête De La Musique (translation: Music Festival, but also known as “Make Music Day” and “Day of Music”). The purpose for the festival, which occurs on the summer solstice of June 21, is to […]
‘Enkrypt Los Angeles’ Made It Out The Struggle, Now She Struggles For Her Passion
Everybody’s a fucking photographer these days; HB bros with an iPhone 8s who go to the beach everyday, your annoying yet kind-hearted niece who just got her first Polaroid and just about every damn hipster in the greater LA area. But when you stumble on the work of someone like Enkrypt Los Angeles (a 27-year-old […]
The Recently Appointed Queen of Medieval Times in Buena Park Is Met With Cheers and Jeers
“Are you ready to be a queen?” Queen Isabella asks the young girl standing in front of her as a mid-size crowd of tourists gathers in the main hall of a replica castle on Beach Boulevard on a recent Monday night. “It’s quite exciting,” she assures the child. Just before show time at Medieval Times […]
A Dystopian Urinetown: The Musical Deluges STAGEStheatre
Fans of Urinetown: The Musical—and I count myself as one of those fervid believers—look forward to each new production as eagerly as if they are a kid on the night before going to Disneyland (before they realize it sucks) or a 15-year-old gearing up for his first dry hump. It’s a time of frenzied expectations […]
Contemplating ‘Costuming the Leading Ladies of Shakespeare: From Stratford to Orange County’ at UC Irvine
The first work of Shakespeare’s I ever saw performed was A Midsummer Night’s Dream. On the giant white-box set, the lovers swung on trapezes, and acrobatic tricks amazed with shimmering props. It enthralled my 13-year-old self, creating the delusion that all Shakespeare was done just like that. Much later, I learned that the production was […]
‘Tony DeLap: A Retrospective’ Is a Magical Affair, ‘Reclaimed Landscapes: The Art of Jarod Charzewski’ Reminds Us What Matters
Viewing Laguna Art Museum’s “Tony DeLap: A Retrospective” is like being in the audience of a magic act. Not because of the repetitious images of floating ladies and card tricks placed throughout the show. Not even because the artist has been an actual magician most of his life. Rather, it’s because, as with any decent […]
The Evolution Of Coachella’s Campgrounds
It’s Saturday, May 1, 2004, and the desert heat is comparable to Dante’s eighth ring of hell. But the Pixies, Kraftwerk, Hieroglyphics, LCD Soundsystem, (old school) Black Keys and Living Legends played day one of Coachella, so it almost doesn’t matter. Radiohead closed out the main stage leaving those who witnessed the magic in […]
From Flowers to 4/20 to Coachella, April Is a Month of Magic
April is a magical month. It’s the first month of spring, meaning poppies and wild flowers color California’s hillsides. It’s the month the unofficial international day of weed is celebrated, which is a big deal this year considering it’s the first rotation of 4/20 under the state’s new legislation. April’s also the commencement of festival […]
A Diverse Lineup Takes Center Stage at South Coast Rep’s Pacific Playwrights Festival
Twenty-one years ago, the following names graced the inaugural Pacific Playwrights Festival (PPF), South Coast Repertory’s foray into the mostly uncharted (at least on the Left Coast) waters of new plays: Richard Greenberg, Anthony Clarvoe, Cusi Cram, John Glore, Jessica Hagedorn, Howard Korder, Chris Van Groningen, Karen Zacarias. Okay, okay, that was supposed to be […]
Designer Betsey Johnson Shares Her Guide to Living and Loving with Style
When it comes to matters of happiness, career and style, Betsey Johnson’s advice on all three are essentially the same: “decide it, then do it.” The iconic fashion designer knows there’s a time and place to be superfluous (which is to say, often) but when it comes to success in all aspects of life, […]
11 LGBT Punk and Metal Artists Who Made An Impact
If there’s at least one positive thing we’ve learned in the ongoing chaotic aftermath of the Trump administration, it’s that as a modern civilized society, we can’t take things like diversity and inclusion for granted. When it comes to musical genres like punk rock and heavy metal, one should keep in mind that there have […]
Lost In OC: Deep-Throating Tide Pods and Other Life Mistakes
I have never, intentionally at least, snorted a condom up my nose. I have yet to ingest a Tide Pod, though it can’t be worse than the sea urchin I ate in Laguna Beach in 1987. I got on a plane, flew two states away and still couldn’t get the taste out of my mouth. […]
The Well-Curated ‘LA ATTITUDE’ Show at Sue Greenwood Fine Art Captures the City’s Intimidating Spirit
One of the most important talents a curator can possess is corraling artists in one place and making it seem as if their works belong together. Sue Greenwood has done just that, bringing a trio of Los Angeles painters—William Wray, Scott Yeskel and Danny McCaw—into her Laguna Beach gallery, with the resulting exhibition, “LA ATTITUDE,” […]
Revisiting the Legacy of Sam’s Seafood, Sunset Beach’s Original Polynesian Palace
The buildings that have stood at what’s now 16278 Pacific Coast Highway in Sunset Beach or Surfside (call it what you want, just don’t DARE call it Huntington Beach around a local) have weathered their fair share of storms over the years. They’ve endured the tradewinds of new development, a flaming inferno and even Hurricane […]
Party for Leonora Carrington This Friday at Makara Center for the Arts
We are all invited to a birthday party for artist and writer extraordinaire Leonora Carrington, but an RSVP is required for the free event. Hosted by SanTana’s Makara Center for the Arts, the celebration will have two special guests: the surrealist’s son and grandson. Leonora Carrington‘s art and writing can’t get enough celebration as far […]
A Ghost Is Resurrected at the Bowers With ‘American Visionary: John F. Kennedy’s Life and Times’
I.F. Stone once described John F. Kennedy as “simply an optical illusion,” and nowhere is that more evident than in “American Visionary: John F. Kennedy’s Life and Times,” the curated showing of Kennedy photographs now at the Bowers Museum. Tracing the life of the 35th president of the United States from his privileged birth to […]