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AT BRIGHTON FESTIVAL, A REAL-LIFE EXHIBIT OF THE ART OF COLLABORATION
The third in a series looking at the similarities between Long Beach and Brighton, England. Both are home to many artists, a happy circumstance that Brighton annually leverages into a month of major arts festivals that reach into every part of the community. Could Long Beach do the same?
BELLFLOWER WILL WAIT FOR ITS MASCOT ‘TIL THE COW COMES HOME
Belle the Cow, the massive bronze mascot of the City of Bellflower, finally has a home—a spot near the trailhead of the city’s bike-and-pedestrian path, where Woodruff Ave., Flora Vista St. and Flower St. intersect—and tentative plans are to move her in within the next six months, according to a story by Arnold Adler in [...]
“QUILLS’” ALLEGORY IS HEAVY-HANDED, JUST LIKE THE MARQUIS DE SADE LIKES IT
Cal Rep's production of Obie Award-winning "Quills"---which invokes the Marquis de Sade to make a case for freedom of expression---gets its drive from high-octane acting and lowbrow bawdy, but slows down when the moralizing begins.
AN ERSTWHILE ATTORNEY’S EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT OF THE ART HE SEES IN THINGS
Former Deputy City Attorney Jim McCabe presents evidence of his photographic artistry during the first-ever exhibit of his digital images. About 20 examples of his art---which transforms in-plain-sight elements of our world into precise and personal observations---are on display in the Paradise Cafe through March 7.
BIXBY PARK’S TACTFUL ACTIVIST CLAUDIA SCHOU AND DODGEBALL’S RETURN ON GREATER LB RADIO WEDNESDAY
Claudia Schou, whose movement to rehabilitate Bixby Park is either disproving the sad-but-truism that “You can’t fight city hall” or completely disregarding it (see, the woman doesn’t want to fight), will discuss the inspiration and effectiveness of tactful activism tactics at 7 p.m. Wednesday on Greater Long Beach Radio with Dave Wielenga. The second half [...]
LB CITY GIRL: ONLY BUSINESS FRIENDLINESS WILL SOOTHE MY RAGING GRANNY
Although the Raging Grannies protested in 2010, they stayed far away from the site where Tesla Motors considered building a production line to replace Downey Studios, where workers reported illnesses they suspected were caused by contamination from the former NASA plant--the future home of Tierra Luna Marketplace.
LAST LOOK: THE GUY WHO TOOK MY INTRAMURAL SOCCER GAME TOO SERIOUSLY
I saw you taking practice shots, kicking the ball really hard but missing every time, even though there was no goalie. You were trying to impress the women, even though there’s never been a single recorded instance of a woman getting turned on by a man in a neon headband, tank top, blue short shorts and the orange shoes kicking a soccer ball really hard.
LAST LOOK: WHEN THE BEST LOCAL PRODUCTIONS WERE LONG BEACH ORIGINALS
Original works characterized Long Beach theatre in 2011, led by Ryan McClary's "General Entropy" at the Alive Theatre and "LOLPERA" by LN&AND at The Garage Theatre---and Ashley Allen (above) played big parts in both of them.
GREATER LONG BEACH RADIO THIS MORNING AT 11: SECOND+PCH AND ‘FOR LOVE OF LIBERTY’
Environmental consultant Heather Altmanand documentary filmmaker Frank Martin are among the guests on this week’s edition of Greater Long Beach Radio with Dave Wielenga, which goes live this morning at 11 and will be rebroadcast this evening at 7 on KBEACH.org. The ever-controversial Second+PCH hotel/retail/residential development will likely get an up-or-down vote from the Long [...]
KNOW YOUR HISTORY: THE HALF-DOZEN GREATEST ZOMBIE HUNTERS EVER
You don't have to have brains to be a great zombie hunter. In fact, a certain empty-headed quality seems to help. And so it is that the half-dozen greatest zombie hunters, stalkers and killers in history turn out to be a motley collection. Wherever in the world they come from, they also come from the edges of society, the edges of sanity, the edges of life itself.
OMG! GARAGE THEATRE’S ‘LOLPERA’ MAKES BRILLIANT LOLZ, SRSLY
What do you get by turning the whole LOLcats phenomenon into a full-blown opera whose libretto is comprised of the actual captions-on-kitty pictures that are on the web site sung by the kittehs made human flesh and composed into a story with the kind of meaning that matters? You get brilliance.
THE MAN WHO SAVED THE ART … UNTIL THE MAN WHO SAVED THE ART
In the uncertain days before the row was retro, the most-constant sight on 4th Street was the Art Theatre box office, which glowed as reassuringly as a lighthouse. Inside was Howard Linn, the frail, bald man who for years nurtured the faded-glory movie house until its ultimate rescuer came along.
MORRISSEY: MUSICIAN, CELEB, HERO—AND GOOD GRADE ON MY COLLEGE PAPER
For three months, I conducted research on Moz, fan culture, ‘zines, hero worship, celebrity cycles and Manchester whiteness. In the process I concocted more theoretical shit about the Pope of Mop than I’ve ever wanted to---and officially became Smith’d out. But I got a good grade in my Celebrity Culture class.
GOOSEFIRE GALLERY BRINGS LONG BEACH ITS FIRST TOUCH OF GLASS
Clinton Roman’s delicate work is famous for his mastery of potion blowing borosilicate glass. It features many archetypal symbols from the world’s myths and religions, including Native American culture, blown from every color of the rainbow.
DOES THE RISE OF THE LB POST MEAN THE FALL OF JOURNALISM IN LONG BEACH?
The Long Beach Post, the fastest-growing information outlet in town, was co-founded and is co-owned by City Councilman Robert Garcia and Chamber of Commerce government affairs consultant Shaun Lumachi. As other news organizations struggle, what does that mean for for the city?
STRAIGHT FROM THE BRAINS OF SUJA AND ROBERT, VIA LBREPORT.COM
Vice Mayor Suja Lowenthal of the 2nd district and Council member Robert Garcia of the 1st district sit side-by-side behind the rail at Council meetings and often seem like mirror images---especially their blank poker faces. Fortunately, LBReport.com has secured a hard line to their brains and today begins a series of transcriptions
ET TU, BONZO: A CENTURY’S WORTH OF RONALD REAGAN IN HIS OWN WORDS
Doctrinaire Republican office-holders are fascinating—government officials who distrust government, and they explain this distrust by venerating Reagan, a government official who raised taxes as California governor and never eliminated a government program or department as U.S. President.
DAVID LYNCH FILM FEST AT ART THEATRE: BROUGHT TO YOU BY A VERY WEIRD KID
It's 1986, and a 10-year-old boy is jumping up and down because his favorite filmmaker has just come out with a new movie. His father drives him out to the Del Amo Mall. They settle into their seats. The lights go down. The film is "Blue Velvet." The boy is me.
ALL WRITEY!!! OF BIKE LANES, STUDENT POLITICIANS, STAR PARKER & $1.9 BILLION COMPUTERS
THE ROAD TO BIKE-FRIENDLINESS IS A FRUSTRATING CONSTRUCTION ZONE [ By Jeanine Birong ] If bike lanes along Broadway and 3rd are such a great idea, why was no environmental study completed? Where is the traffic study that shows the impact of going from three east/west lanes to two? What about the traffic that is now [...]
WHAT WOULD A STRONGER COASTAL COMMISSION BE LIKE? IN A WORD, “FINE”
What's chilling about the proposal are the priorities of the Legislative Analysts Office. Never mind the impact of fines on Coastal Act enforcement, never mind the issue of whether a state agency ought to have this power---to the LAO, administering fines is first and foremost a matter of raising revenue.
A LOT OF LOVING AND A LOT OF REPEATING IN GERTRUDE STEIN MUSICAL
If you like conventional musical theater devices and Gertrude Stein's unconventional style of repeatedly rearranging the words in simple sentences, you'll probably enjoy "Loving Repeating" ... enjoy Repeating Loving you'll probably ... Loving you'll Repeating enjoy probably ... Repeating probably you'll enjoy Loving ... Repeating you'll Loving probably enjoy ...
COMMIE GIRL: WELCOME TO SARAH PALIN’S OEUVRE OF THE GROTESQUE
Nobody’s saying Sarah Palin reached into Jared Loughner’s brain and caused this, as if she were Angela Lansbury and crazy old Loughner were the Manchurian Candidate. They’re saying that if she had any shame, she ought to be feeling some right about now, and she should really rethink her whole Oeuvre of the Grotesque.
ACADEMIA NUTS: MY BORING PLASTIC YARD FASCINATES A USC GRAD STUDENT!
In the third installment of her Lawn to Garden diary, Jeanine Birong reveals how boring it is to watch grass die---especially when you can't see a thing---until a USC journalism student shows an interest and asks for an interview. Suddenly, she can't stop raving about it!
BIKING THROUGH PUVUGNA TURNS SAD ANNIVERSARY INTO SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE
I rode my bike to places Cindy would have enjoyed. When I reached ceremonial Puvugna at Long Beach State and saw the dedication to the Tongva ancestors---portraits with black, yellow and red flags---I realized they looked just like Cindy’s pictures of laundry!
SOMETHING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO BUYING CALIFORNIA’S ELECTIONS
After gaining a little perspective---the win by Jerry Brown over Meg Whitman, the loss of Prop 19, the win of local Measure D---I am no longer as freaked out about the Citizens United ruling as I first was. I don't necessarily correlate big campaign spending with winning elections. That does not mean I do not think there is reason for concern.
AS GOVERNOR, JERRY THE JABBERJAW WOULD BE A REPORTER’S DREAM
Brown does love law enforcement, and he does hate capital punishment. He does think government sometimes hurts more than it helps, and he does feel that government is sometimes the solution to life’s difficulties. If elected, he is quite capable of anything. And that will be a hell of a story
‘HISTORY OF THE DEVIL’ AT THE GARAGE: A DOUBLE DILEMMA OF GOOD VS. BAD
Playwright Clive Barker is not especially concerned with plot or logic. Instead, this seems to be about holding forth on the nature of evil and of humanity, and musing on whether the former isn't wholly a product of the latter. On the other hand, the acting is wonderful.
LBREPORT.COM EDITORIAL: FOSTER’S MAYORAL LEARNING CURVE LOOKS LIKE A DOWNWARD SPIRAL
Mayor Bob Foster has learned a lot since taking office. He’s become so enlightened that he now dismisses years of testimony by Long Beach’s previous police chief, the professional judgment of Los Angeles’ current police chief and multiple research studies cited in a recent Rand corporation study—which L.A.’s current police chief publicly cited in testimony [...]
COMMIE GIRL: LOOKING FOR THE PRETTY PEOPLE AT THE DODGERS GAME
Every five minutes or so, we’d get excited and start to point one out ... but then we’d get a better look and have to withdraw our nascent claims. The pretty people were at the bottom of Dodger Stadium, their good looks and general sexiness having brought them great wealth or proximity to it---not all the way at the top with us.
‘MARK TWAIN’S OTHER WOMAN’: A CREEPY TWO-TIMER, BUT STILL A GREAT READ
One can only guess why Twain broke up with his live-in secretary. Only a few weeks before, her journal reports that Twain sent her on an errand to buy a vibrator. Meanwhile, by this era of his life Twain had begun cultivating the company of underage girls.
ALL WRITEY!! THIS WEEK’S SAMPLING OF YOUR COMMENTS / CRITICISMS / LOVE NOTES / WITTICISMS
A HOUSE-TO-HOUSE SEARCH PARTY FOR SCOFFLAW CATS? GET MEOWTTA HERE! [Louise Cunningham, July 31] This column deserves a “Purr-litzer” for sure! A real problem, but presented in a hysterically funny piece. Don’t government folks have better things to do than come up with this silly piece of law? Encouraging neighbors to turn each other in [...]
A HOUSE-TO-HOUSE SEARCH PARTY FOR SCOFFLAW CATS? GET MEOWTTA HERE!
While I try to give the slip to the Cat License Gestapo---buying cat food and litter at a store in another county, avoiding neighbors with allergies who might put the clues together---I have visions of Kitty at the computer furtively searching out countries without cat extradition laws … Cat-mandoo, Purrsia, Cat-alina.
ALL WRITEY! THIS WEEK’S SAMPLING OF YOUR COMMENTS / CRITICISMS / LOVE NOTES / WITTICISMS
RACHEL POWERS’ “ALL AROUND THE TOP O’ THE TOWN ON A FAREWELL TOUR WITH VAL LERCH,” JULY 21 Rachel, What a beautiful story. You did NLB justice. Thank you. / VAL Enjoyed every paragraph of this story. / SILVIA BONILLA Val was always a likeable guy. Overboard sometimes, but he has a good heart. No [...]
THE GIRL WHO KICKED THE HORNET’S NEST—SWEET, SWEDE NOTHINGS
It felt like we English-speakers had to wait a really long time for this final installment in the late Stieg Larsson’s Millenium series. I knew once I started reading, I might be tempted to consume it all in one sitting, like a box of chocolates. Like a box of sweet, sweet lutfisk-flavored chocolates.
IT’S LB FIGHT NIGHT, AKA THE FUNKY WESTERN CIVILIZATION
Another Long Beach Fight Night comes to the Long Beach City College Hall of Champions Gym on Sunday evening beginning at 4:30 p.m., and that always puts my head to humming songs from Tonio K.’s 1978 album, Life In The Foodchain---specifically, “The Funky Western Civilization.”
THE HAPPINESS PROJECT: ACING A CLASS NEVER FELT SO GOOD
Once you get past author Gretchen Rubin's seemingly good fortune, there is a lot of good information in the book for those who want to tackle happiness like a grade-point-defining, end-of-semester project---whether you're the type to start organizing your index cards the day of the assignment (Rubin), or the panicked typist finishing up as the birds greet the rising sun (me).
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Greater Long Beach is a full-service website grown from very deep roots … and the pooled talents and experience of the city’s very best journalists. Together, these journalists provide something … well, GREATER: GREATER, as in a Long Beach that is reported, investigated and explained with intelligence, diligence and fearlessness. GREATER, as in a Long [...]
ALL WRITEY!!! A SAMPLING OF YOUR COMMENTS/CRITICISMS/LOVE NOTES/WITTICISMS
MAY 4, “HAPPY BIRTHDAY, EGRETSNOTREGRETS.COM—ONE YEAR LATER, STILL ‘KILLING A BUNCH OF BIRDS WITH ONE STONE’” Reliable information–that’s the key [to EgretsNotRegrets.com]. Straight talk. Helpful. Intelligent. To the point. Expertise with environmental documents. Humorous. A surefire formula for your successful blog. I know when I go to Egrets Not Regrets there will be no B.S. [...]
BLAH-BLAH-BLAH, MARIO GUERRA RUNNING FOR RE-ELECTION IN DOWNEY, YADDA-YADDA-YADDA
Downey’s chatterboxing city councilman, Mario Guerra, says he wants another term. Of course, Guerra doesn’t put it so succinctly as that. This guy’s got a mouth, and he likes to shoot it off. Guerra’s the guy who told me last Nov. 23 that Tesla Motors had selected Downey as the site of its manufacturing plant, [...]
