The hardest thing about watching the World Cup this year won’t be that the U.S. didn’t make the cut. No, the hardest thing will be deciding on the perfect place to drink at 8 am during the early matches. Once you’ve decided that, then you gotta figure out how many times you can use the, […]
Calendar
This Week in Clean Beaches: Hands Across the Sand, Eelgrass Beds, Kids Ocean Day
They held hands on the beach in February, and they will again on Saturday. No, this is not a reference to lovey-dovey couples out for strolls on the sand but demonstrators who prefer clean-energy solutions to dirty-fuel excavation and distribution fouling coastal Orange County and elsewhere. For instance, Saturday marks the three-year anniversary of […]
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 […]
Coachella Sets The Standard Of Security In High Risk Festival Environment
It’s 90 degrees, and you’re waiting in line, except it’s more of a swarm of sweaty people herding toward the entrance, trying to get into Coachella. The wind stirs up dust, which blows in your eyes, sticks to your skin and coats your hair. A person passes out in line because of the heat. The […]
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 […]
Snow Dumps Make North Lake Tahoe’s Northstar a Worthy Spring Skiing Spot
Today doesn’t feel like the second day of spring, but imagine how they feel up in North Lake Tahoe. Another March Miracle dropped 7 feet of new snow on area ski resorts March 1-3, another 4.5 feet as of last Friday and several more feet at the higher elevations from the storm we Southlanders are […]
See How the Other Half Swings at New Club Champion Golf Fitters in Newport Beach
Yours truly got to see how the other guys’ foursome lives at a golf club fitting session last week at the new Club Champion studio in Newport Beach. You can check out the operation yourself Thursday evening, when Club Champion hosts a combination grand opening and benefit for the nonprofit Folds of Honor, which provides educational […]
Dan Savage’s Hump! Film Fest Returns to Long Beach
For years, decades even, ocweekly.com and the back pages of our dead-tree edition have featured the sex-and-relationship-advice column Savage Love. Think ¡Ask a Mexican!, only with more fluids from naughty bits. (Dan Savage and Gustavo Arellano even swapped columns once.) Savage, an openly gay father and husband, as well as editorial director of Seattle’s savage […]
Pat Harris Tells OC Democrats Tonight Why He’s Better Than Dianne Feinstein
A Democrat gunning for the U.S. Senate seat held by a leader of his own party speaks in Laguna Niguel Monday night. Pat Harris, an author, criminal defense and civil rights attorney and one of six Democrats challenging Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-California), is scheduled to pull his “eco” bus up to Faith Episcopal Church, 27801 […]
2018 Lewbowski Fest Will Roll into Fountain Bowl Again
Raise a White Russian and toast the return of the Lewbowski Fest to Fountain Valley this May. Twenty years of The Big Lebowski in the City of Angels will be celebrated May 25 at Lebowski Fest LA, which packs into the Wiltern a screening of the 1998 Coen Brothers’ stoner classic, music by the Kyle […]
OC (and Beyond) Valentine’s Lineup 2018!
Somewhere between the cost of flowers, scoring prix-fixe reservations and standing in line at Victoria’s Secret, we realized February 14 was not made for those trying to spend less. Or is it? This is not your typical Valentine’s lineup. We’re going above and beyond to give you a list of alternative couples (and maybe […]
NAMM Ushers In The Future of Music (And Gear So Good It’s Invisible)
For those who have never been to a NAMM (National Association of Music Merchants) show, it is an epic trade show for the music industry. Picture a university-sized Mecca for manufacturers, retailers, and distributors wanting to expand their business, as well as a place where musicians can get up on the latest toys. Naturally, tourists […]
True 2 Crue
In the world of ’80s hair metal bands, Motley Crue were the living embodiment of sex, drugs and rock n’ roll, typical for VH1’s Behind The Music fodder, but one thing is true: they did produce great music. Which explains the longevity of their mainstream popularity to this day, and fans can still enjoy their […]
Charles Phoenix: Long Beachland
Enthusiastic public historian Charles Phoenix is the reigning king of kitsch—and googie, Americana and anything else you want to file under “the way we was”—and if it ended up looking beautiful in a Southern California snapshot taken anytime between say 1951 and 1969, then Phoenix probably has the original Kodachrome slide filed in his archive. […]
Decades Collide: 80s v 90s
We weren’t all lucky enough to live through the greatest period on planet Earth. But for one night only, you can pretend you were there. Crimp your hair and grab your Tamagotchi because we’re about to mix two of the greatest decades together for a night of pure magic. Decades Collide at House of Blues […]
Equal Means Equal
Much progress has been made in the realm of women’s rights (thanks, feminism!) but there is still work to be done to ensure all women, regardless of socioeconomic status, race and gender, receive the same basic fundamental rights. Enter filmmaker Kamala Lopez, who trekked across the United States with a film crew to document the […]
The Good, The Bad and the Ugly
The Good, The Bad and the Ugly is arguably the purest expression of the Spaghetti Western aesthetic, and of a certain fundamental philosophical state, too. That gigantic pitiless landscape and those gigantic pitiless faces in severe close-up, those grey-and-greyer moralities in ever more complex conflict, and that endless trek through what the band Can might […]
Pregnant
Together, Daniel Trudeau and Styles Munson are Pregnant, a musical project established in Placerville, a region in Sacramento, that rightfully deserves its name for the intriguing mixture of genres swimming with each other in an amniotic sac of warm, experimental sounds. Using a combination of foot pedals, vocals, electronic beats, sampling, loops, guitar, saxophone, and […]
Professor Colombo
Mondays this month belong to the Wayfarer’s monthly resident band Professor Colombo, a bluesy rock n ‘roll duo from Huntington Beach that adds just a touch of psychedelic flavor to their retro sound. Composed of Andrew Willingham and Eric Roebuck, the two dudes will let their rockin’ hair down for the very last time at […]
Dreamgirls
Not every diva gets lucky enough to capture the spotlight, no matter how hard we try. But at least we have our friends around to absorb our diva meltdowns. In Dreamgirls, we witness the tale of a singing trio from Chicago who get their big break only to find that their friendship can’t withstand all […]
Long Beach Carnevale
Come celebrate Mardi Gras of the West as Carnevale returns to the Aquarium of the Pacific for a day of music, mystery and masquerade. Modeled on the carnival of Venice, Italy, this historic celebration offers participants the chance to express their creativity and enthusiasm, donning fanciful masks and costumes and frolicking together in dance and […]