Orange County's Leading Source Of News, Culture And Entertainment
Orange County's Leading Source Of News, Culture And Entertainment
On Feb. 29 in this blog, R. Scott Moxley foresaw an “upcoming unflattering grand jury report” on the jailhouse murder of John Derek Chamberlain. Chamberlain was beat to death by inmates while Deputy Kevin Taylor, the on-duty officer, allegedly failed to notice the prolonged beating because he was watching baseball on television. Taylor also allegedly …
Continue reading “Future Of Sheriff's Department, County At Risk”
Late this afternoon, the District Attorney's press office notified reporters that Tony Rackauckas will publicly address the controversial John Chamberlain jail murder on Friday morning. Prosecutors and the grand jury investigated the killing, but the results have not yet been made public. Rackauckas is expected to announce multiple indictments. Last week, two high-ranking assistant sheriffs, …
Mike Conley, 1959-2008 In memory of the M.I.A. vocalist and owner of Avalon Bar On very short notice Sunday evening, close to 200 people came through Costa Mesa's Avalon Bar to pay their respects to its late owner, Mike Conley, and to lend financial and emotional support to his family. The former vocalist with the …
The young man working the counter at the Anaheim Turkish restaurant DONER G was exceedingly kind while telling me I couldn't have anything I ordered. Soups? No. Salads? Not today. Stews, falafels, beans? Each time, he shook his head with a smile. But surely, they had some of Turkey's infamous coffee brewing? “Sorry, friend,” the …
Continue reading “[This Hole-In-the-Wall Life] Coming Attractions: Anaheim's Doner G”
Movie of the Week: Cléo From 5 to 7. Agnés Varda's feature-film debut injected an unprecedented woman's perspective into the all-male world of the nouvelle vague, its lighter-than-air tone making the gravity beneath the surface all the more deeply felt. We are with a pop singer with the stage name of Cléo Victoire, and we …
Continue reading “[Special Screenings] Local Showings of Cléo From 5 to 7, More”
Ae production BoothBrown. Just seeing those four words sets pulses racing among Autechre's loyal fanbase. Since the mid-'90s, Britain's Sean Booth and Rob Brown have been synonymous with electronic music that sounds like the impossibly unfathomable (and intriguing) future. Every Autechre release is a sonic adventure, leading you down convoluted byways heretofore unexplored. That sensation …
Taken for a Ride Did crimes Kamran Mashayekhi witnessed put his life in danger? Some law-enforcement officials aren't so sure On a sticky table at a bustling Norms restaurant, laminated pictures of pancakes peek through splayed white pages, folded newspaper articles and an orange envelope. “I'm marked for death,” a thickly accented, graying Iranian-born man …
Continue reading “Did Crimes Kamran Mashayekhi Witnessed Put His Life in Danger?”
A Bad Break Robert Zilliott's drinking problem had cost him nearly everything. But he was stone-cold sober when a Laguna Beach cop broke his bones Robert Zilliott just wanted to lie on the sand and forget his problems. It was just before noon on June 24, 2006, a beautiful summer day in Laguna Beach, one …
Dancing On the Ceiling Political animals at OCMA's 'Disorderly Conduct' There are some who say that all art is political. That may be so, but specifically political art—art in which the artist sets out with a message to impart to the masses about some great cause of the day—is rarely a good idea. All too …
Every year the Grammy Awards ceremony proves—among other things—how far out of step my tastes are with mainstream music, a state of affairs with which I came to terms, oh, in the early '80s. It also reveals the dearth of imagination/adventurousness of the nominating committee. Most of the music that charts and excites people of …
As the final credits roll in Zodiac, David Fincher's cinematic procedural about San Francisco's never-caught Zodiac Killer, Donovan's “Hurdy Gurdy Man” plays in all its quivering glory. The syrupy psych gem is used to sinister effect, something that doesn't surprise its author in the least. “That's what juxtaposition is,” says Donovan (last name Leitch) over …
What, you were looking at CNN.com all Tuesday night? Why weren't you reading our staff blog, Navel Gazing? Here's what you missed from intrepid bloggers Gustavo Arellano and Luke Y. Thompson in Santa Ana and Derek Olson in Newport Beach: 4:30 p.m., The Quill, Santa Ana “I didn't vote for a Democrat, I can tell …