I am a man of peace. Ask anyone: friends, colleagues, those persistent Nobel Prize folks (Sven, give it a rest), I am all about peace and kind and good and nice. It’s why I created “The 7,” to bring niceness and doing-stuffness into your lives which, this week, includes mind-reading dogs, self-defense, surf art and the best damn volleyball team in the country. Does that make me America’s greatest hero? Hey, those are your words.
So, you can imagine, I was a little taken aback by my dear friend and cribbage partner Asia Morris’s most recent theft of this column last week in which she called into question my ego and professionalism, wondering “how he sleeps at night.”
In a word: peacefully.
Peacefully in the knowledge that I didn’t steal anyone’s column, peacefully in the knowledge that I have not killed an acres-worth of plants that had the misfortune of finding their way onto my desk and then spoke about it with an odd, far-away, contented look that gives one a creepy John Wilkes Booth vibe, Booth and Asia both being known to barge into spaces.
Peace!
THURSDAY
There was a time when vaudeville was the dominant form of entertainment in this country, a live variety show with acts from everywhere doing just about everything and The Pretty Things Peepshow refuses to let it die.
They will be performing their take on vaudeville for one night at Harvelle’s Burlesque, their take including naughty puppets called Rasputin’s Marionettes—they’ve been featured on Buffy the Vampire Slayer—sword swallowing The Unkillable Jenny Lynne and Peepshow creator and host Go-Go Amy who is also, in no particular order, a fire-eater, balloon swallower, straight jacket escaper and singer because it’s important to be well-rounded.
Amy also has a partner named Scraps, a dog of such accomplishment that he has two nicknames: “Scraps the Dog of Wonderment” and “Scraps the Mind Reading Dog.” We prefer the latter because dogs have always read us like a book. By the way, Scraps got his name after Amy found him under a car outside a sewing shop and noticed he had a tendency to hide in a pile of scrap fabric under a sewing machine.
For information on show time and tickets, or to find out from Scraps if the one you’re currently seeing is ‘The One,’ click here.
FRIDAY
The Long Beach State men’s volleyball team, defending national champions, are off to a 6-0 start, having just thumped UCLA, 3-0, and are currently the unanimous No. 1 team in the nation. They are, in a word, good.
The Beach can complete its LA-fecta tonight by beating USC which it plays at 7 p.m. in the Walter Pyramid. Be sure and get there early because the team will be raising their national championship banner, the team’s first since 1991, before the game.
About the game, USC is good, though not great this year. The Trojans are 4-2 and not currently ranked in the top 10, you know, like its football team. Still, any opportunity Long Beach State has to beat up and/or humiliate the two universities that tend to be a little full of themselves is, in a word, good.
For more information and tickets click here.
SATURDAY
The Aquarium of the Pacific will host its 16th annual Festival of Human Abilities today and tomorrow, the festival being a great show of the creative abilities of some really talented people with disabilities.
As in other years, there will be wheelchair dancers (check out the Rollettes, above), signers, musicians, sign language choirs, art demonstrations, accessible SCUBA diving demonstrations and, really, a lot more. Sign language interpreters will be present at all major shows, and an audio tour and a visitor guide in Braille are available for those who are blind.
What is also great, is that you can get into the act and participate in free classes led by people who have disabilities. Classes are for all ages and abilities and each class will be 30-45 minutes in length. All classes are located at the Premier Watershed Classroom except Painting with Wheelchair Wheels, which is located in the aquarium’s Learning Center. Space is limited so sign up at the class entrance.
For more information about acts or classes click here.
Academy of Survival Arts was established in the Philippines and aims to empower women and girls against sexual assault, rape and all forms of violence. Currently located in Los Angeles, California, Survival Arts teaches and shares the knowledge necessary for survival in today’s ever-increasingly violent world.
Today, it will be holding a one-day training for women and girls of color at Flora Y Tierra, located at 811 E. 7th Street. The class, which goes from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., will show students the techniques to protect themselves against violence in any situation. Please come prepared with water, appropriate sunblock gear and comfortable attire.
The class asks for donations of $20 to $25.
You can RSVP for the class at [email protected]. For more information click here.
Much of what we think of as “surf culture” is experienced, and purchased, from afar from people who rarely get to the beach and have never been anywhere near a surfboard. The fact that this culture could become a dominant part of American consciousness is due, in part, to the ability and talents of adherents to create an attractive, and sellable, narrative.
First, literally, among these was LeRoy Grannis. You might not know his name but you most definitely know his photos. Grannis produced some of surfing’s most iconic images. They were not exclusively of what went on in the water, but out of it by all who were touched by surfing which is why his photos don’t chronicle a sport but a culture.
Which is why Long Beach Museum of Art’s exhibition of Grannis’s photos is called “Cult to Culture.” The exhibition explores Grannis’s mastery in the medium and his ability to capture iconic images that played a profound role in shaping the world of surfing during its golden age of the ’60s and the ’70s.
For more information click here.
SUNDAY
Cal State Long Beach’s Carpenter Center will be the site for “We Shall Overcome: A Celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr.” today at 2 p.m.
The performance, created by producer and music director Damien Sneed, is inspired by the words and actions of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., “We Shall Overcome” celebrates a repertoire of music traditions from Aretha Franklin and Duke Ellington, to Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, as well as music from “The Wiz.” All of this is interwoven with Dr. King’s speeches that have electrified and inspired generations.
For more information or tickets click here.
The Wizard of Oz is often misrepresented as a children’s movie because its main character is a kid. By that definition, The Tin Drum, Lord of the Flies and The Bicycle Thief are children’s movies.
The classic movie will be screened once again in movie theaters as part of TCM’s Big Screen Classics series from Fathom Events. The Wizard of Oz will play on nearly 700 movie screens nationwide, including the Cinemark 14 Long Beach, AMC Del Amo 18, and Regal Long Beach Stadium 18.
Go see it. Go see arguably the saddest scene in American film history when Dorothy (above) sings “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” Another misconception: this is a happy song. This is the problem when people do not listen to the words and do not understand history and context. This is why some people think “Fortunate Son” and “Born in the USA” are patriotic. They are not.
And “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” happy? What part of “If happy little bluebirds fly/Beyond the rainbow/Why, oh why, can’t I” do you not understand?
Oh, and take the kids. If they’ve never seen it before, don’t tell them about the flying monkeys. Just, you know, let it happen. Hilarious.
For more information click here.