Orange County's Leading Source Of News, Culture And Entertainment
Orange County's Leading Source Of News, Culture And Entertainment
Illustration by Mark DancyA FEW QUESTIONS I've lived in Orange County for nine years now, and I have a few questions: 1. Why do so many video clerks and other people in retail offer zero resistance to their bosses' demands they spout corporate chatter to their customers? The other day, a Vons employee who was …
Photo by R.D. Ward/ U.S. Dept of DefenseBabies are pretty irresponsible, but theyget a pass because they don't know any better—that, and they don't have much to be responsible about. But when they get bigger and it hurts when they hit someone, hurts more when they drive the car into opposing traffic, and hurts terrifically …
Courtesy Anaheim AngelsWe knew there was trouble all the wayback in January. Really? That much froth and frenzy about poor Miss Jackson-if-you're-nasty? Really? How very plebe. It was a stupid, stupid year, I thought. But what do I know? As Roy the Bigot once helpfully explained to me (“Shut up,” he explained) when I was …
JANUARY 1 Disney's Twilight Zone Tower of Terror float—the tallest ever entered in the Tournament of Roses Parade—ambles down Pasadena's Colorado Boulevard and is seen by millions. It then goes on display at Disney's California Adventure in Anaheim for a week, where it is seen by disappointed Iowans. The float honors an attraction based on …
Photo by Sasha ContrerasMany restaurants plaster a fanciful boast across their menu—”World Famous Hamburger,” “Best Pastrami in Town,” you know the shtick—but Great Wall Mongolian BBQ in La Habra prints perhaps the shtickiest. According to its menu/place mat, their steaming, succulent bowls of Mongolian BBQ are the “largest in LA County.” It's a laughable assertion, …
Photo by James BunoanDecember is the best time to buy old stuff in America, Rin Tanaka tells me as we mill about outside his tiny/crowded San Clemente apartment. We're outside because one wall of his place is almost totally engulfed in day-glow and metal-flake motorcycle helmets while the bedroom has been rendered nearly unusable for …
Photo by Steve ShermanBlind Boys Of Alabama Go Tell it on the Mountain The Blind Boys of Alabama have long been one of the most soulful and sweet gospel groups to inhabit the planet. But the septet has recently blossomed into much more than just that—the Boys have crossed into the secular world with divine …
While Orange County Republicans celebrated the re-election of George W. Bush and their governor’s triumphs on various statewide ballot initiatives, one result dumbfounded them: Irvine’s solid support for Larry Agran and his liberal slate. “What the hell happened?” asked GOP strategist Mike Schroeder as he stared at election results around midnight inside the local party’s …
Photo by James BunoanThe Cramps drip obsolete culture like your hidden sores drip pus: B horror movies, buried rock N roll sounds, and barfy sex regurgitated as 1-4-5 fuzz from Poison Ivy Rorschach's pink-polished phalanges. Add singer Lux Interior's hillbilly hiccups up top, and you get 25-plus years of golden goo-goo muck. But you already …
Photo by Matt OttoBROTHERS Long Beach, Nov. 1, 8:15 a.m. Eli the gas-station guy used to be all bubbly when I bought gas at his station. “I never see you anymore,” he'd usually say—and it was true. Now, I'm there every other day, and his silence is worse than his small talk, so Monday I …
FILE UNDER: Rock, Two Instruments Turned Into 10 Death From Above 1979 You're a Woman, I'm a Machine Vice Records Call it luck of the draw or a downright godsend, but some bands have it and some bands don't. And Death From Above 1979 (DFA)–a drum-and-bass pair forced to slap on the 1979 ending to …
FILE UNDER: POP, PROFESSORIAL PARANOIA John Cale HoboSapiens Or Music Please, will someone give John Cale a break? Yeah, the words “Velvet Underground” seem to always follow his name in any given discussion, but fer chrissakes–the old guy hasn't played with them in 36 years, and you know, he has produced some albums since (Patti …