Hamilton, Hendrix, Elvis, the Khmer Rouge and Other Reasons to Look Forward to Local Theater in 2018

If you add the numbers in the year 2018, you get 11, which means, as all the savvy kids know, that 11 is the magic number of this new year. Bet it all on 11! Buy 11 Hot Pockets for the price of 10! Vote Nov. 6 against your local Republican congressman 11 times! And …

The Year In Hate: Saying Goodbye to 2017

JANUARY On Jan. 5, the first day of the 2017-18 Legislative Session in Sacramento, Assemblyman Raul Bocanegra introduces Assembly Bill 39, which would establish the California Hate Crimes Registry. Listing every hate crime and criminal who perpetrates one for public inspection is necessary, the San Fernando Valley Democrat explains, because “we have witnessed an alarming …

Huntington Beach Police Chief Handy Now Loses Captains and Lieutenants

The Huntington Beach Police Officers’ Association released the results of a poll in August that revealed 92 percent of the membership had no confidence in Police Chief Rob Handy. Now, the Huntington Beach Police Management Association (HBPMA), in an “unprecedented move,” is saying pretty much the same thing. “We represent the captains and lieutenants of …

Orange County’s Informant Scandal Yields Evidence of Forensic Science Deception in Murder Trials

CHAPTER ONE Except for a disturbing fact—the presence of Nicholas, a bloody, bound, diaper-soiled, crying 2-year-old sitting on the kitchen floor without supervision—Catherine Tameny’s modest one-bedroom apartment situated between the Disneyland and Knott’s Berry Farm amusement parks looked deceptively neat upon opening the front door. Tameny’s worried mother, Carolyn, and her stepfather, John, entered the …

Cambodians in Long Beach Affected by Poor Living Conditions, ICE Detentions

The Cambodian Advocacy Collaborative held a forum in Long Beach on Saturday to reveal the results of a new “needs assessment” survey while drawing attention to recent immigration detentions impacting the community. The city is home to the largest Cambodian population in the nation, many of whom first arrived in the early 80’s as refugees …

State Probes Doctors Joseph Efe Imarah and Ruth Annette Schack

Medical Board of California discipline could be coming for a Newport Beach psychiatrist accused of over-prescribing medications and laboratory testing for a 30-year-old man and an Irvine anesthesiologist who allegedly sent an 84-year-old woman home without outpatient surgery due to heart irregularities—but did not consult a cardiologist. She died of heart failure that same day. Kimberly Kirchmeyer, the …

Temo Molina Flips His Sound On Its Head With Debut Solo Album

Anyone familiar with the dreamy electro-prog-shoegaze of Long Beach band Flying Hand is also wonderfully familiar with the spacious playing of singer and guitarist Temo Molina, a still-largely undiscovered and certainly under-appreciated local artist who has spent the 15 years of his career thus-far baring his soul through music. He puts out his second solo …

Our Great Cover Song Challenge Celebrates the Best and Worst ’80s Movie Soundtracks

[Editor’s Note: On August 21, the movie “Dirty Dancing” celebrated its 30th anniversary. We took this opportunity to introduce our 2nd Great Cover Song Challenge, wherein musicians were dared to agree to cover a song without knowing advance what it would be or even who it would be by. They had about six weeks to …

Santa Ana City Council Delays Action On Commercial Cannabis Ordinance Due To Potential Problems

The Santa Ana City Council met on Tuesday night for another four-hour doozy of a meeting. The council was supposed to take action on three cannabis items: Ordinance Amendment No. 2017-03 to create chapter 40 in the city’s municipal code to regulate commercial, i.e. recreational cannabis; an “in-lieu fee agreement,” or added tax, to mitigate any …