HAVE A GREATER WEEKEND: PIRATES INVADE, CLOWNS COMMUTE AND WORKS FIRE

[EDITOR'S NOTE: Have A Greater Weekend is your preparedness guide for the most-important days of your life---the weekend. Suggestions are welcome, so long as you send them at least three weeks before the event---and never forget who makes the final call.]

PIRATES INVADE BELMONT SHORE!

Pirates will overrun Belmont Pier on Saturday and Sunday in what’s being called an invasion but seems a lot more like an invitation—and after a year’s hiatus, is one of the most-anticipated events of Sea Festival. It’s hard to say how pirates—thieving, violent and anti-social—have come to be perceived as Teddy Bears of the High Seas, but it’s easy to see how they are staying that way. This weekend’s activities include pirate encampments, Captain Jack Sparrow’s Kids’ Treasure Hunt, belly and fire dancers, a pirate costume contest, a pirate parade and sword fights. This year begins what organizers hope will become a new tradition—a film festival on the beach—and the debut movie is “Captain Blood.” Personally, we’re still waiting for the keel-hauling competition.

PIRATES INVASION OF BELMONT PIER LONG BEACH SEA FESTIVAL • BELMONT PIER • 25 39TH PLACE • LONG BEACH 90803 • 562.477.6820 ALFREDOSBEACHCLUB.COM • JULY 2, 10AM-9PM; JULY 3, 10AM-6PM • FREE

A COMMUTING CIRCUS? MEET ME AT METRO!

This is the time of year for loving the full spectrum of America, and there are few better ways to comprehend what that really means than a trip on the Blue Line train from Long Beach to downtown Los Angeles. As if the daily panorama of diversity isn’t enough, a collaboration of theatre groups is presenting Meet Me @ Metro II, a traveling circus of performances—using theater, dance, puppetry, music, spectacle and comedy—at stops along the line. Local participants include the Long Beach Theatre Arts Collaborative (LBTAC)–including Alive Theatre, The Garage Theatre, Long Beach Playhouse, Long Beach Shakespeare, California Repertory Company, University Players, White Lotus Collective, Long Beach Repertory and Act Out Mystery Theatre—and The Found Theatre. Check out this LBTAC video!  The event begins at the historic Watts Towers and participants ride the Metro from the 103rd St. station south to Long Beach and back. The sideshow caravan was originally inspired by interactions with the youth of Watts, many of whom, it was discovered, had never traveled outside a 10-mile radius of their community. The inaugural Meet Me At The Metro attracted over 5,000 ticketed and incidental audience members and employed over 100 local artists and staff.

MEET ME @ METRO II WATTS TOWERS ARTS CENTER • 1727 EAST 107TH STREET • LOS ANGELES 90803 • WATTSVILLAGETHEATERCOMPANY.ORG • JULY 2-10 (SATURDAYS AND SUNDAYS ONLY) 11AM • $11

JULY 4TH CONCERTS & FIREWORKS
AT BIXBY & ROSIE PARKS
FROM COUNCILMEMBERS SUJA & GERRIE

Suja Lowenthal and Gerrie Schipske, best known for their part-time jobs as members of the Long Beach City Council, will each take an Independence Day foray into concert promotion by riding the tried-and-true tradition of music in the park.

LET FREEDOM SWING!

Festive American music from John Phillip Sousa to the Big Band era to Broadway tunes to the Beach Boys—and of course, saluting the men and women of our American Armed Forces—will be presented in the iconic band shell of Bixby Park, almost inarguably the most-historic community park in Long Beach. The restoration of the band shell is among Lowenthal’s best-received accomplishments as 2nd District councilmember, and one of her constituents, Claudia Schou, is pushing to rehabilitate all of Bixby Park. Monday’s concert features The Gay Freedom Band of Los Angeles as well as the Union Station Swing Orchestra. After that, move down to the south end of the park to watch fireworks from the Queen Mary.

CUSTOM MADE!

This 20th-century take on the Fourth of July features the music of Motown and Top 40 in Rosie the Riveter Park, appropriately located near the former Douglas Aircraft Plant, where women labored in the jobs men left behind during World War II. Schipske has focused on the park and the women it honors throughout her tenure as 5th District representative, and this show—featuring Custom Made’s post-war-legacy music—is the latest example. The group has performed all over the world, including Las Vegas, Japan, Thailand, Korea, Disneyland, Germany, and for U.S. troops in Iraq. Rosie the Riveter park is adjacent to Veterans Memorial Stadium, where the city’s annual fireworks display will be put on after sunset.

LET FREEDOM SWING VICE MAYOR SUJA LOWENTHAL • BIXBY PARK & HISTORIC BAND SHELL • 2001 E. FIRST STREET • LONG BEACH 90802 • (562) 570-1601 • LONGBEACH.GOV • JULY 4, 6PM-8PM • FREE

CUSTOM MADE FIFTH DISTRICT COUNCILWOMAN GERRIE SCHIPSKE • ROSIE THE RIVETER PARK & INTERPRETIVE CENTER • 3695 CLARK AVENUE • LONG BEACH 90808 • 562.201.1296 • GERRIESCHIPSKE.COM • JULY 4, 6:15PM – 8:15PM • FREE