The following is a curated roundup of weekend events in Long Beach published every Wednesday on the Hi-lo/Long Beach Post. Have an event to share? Email [email protected] with “Things to Do” in the subject line.
This weekend we welcome you to laugh, drink, and soak in all the live music spanning an amalgam of genres: blues, jazz, rock and heaps of local acts. We’re sorry if you have a tough time choosing what to do this Saturday. We know, there’s too much good stuff.
Get to scrollin’!
STAND-UP COMEDY SHOW – FICKLEWOOD CIDERWORKS (Thursday)
Catch a free stand-up comedy show at cider bar Ficklewood CIderworks in Downtown Thursday, Aug. 26.
Hosted by Long Beach comedy duo Berenice Ashikian and Garrett Ulrich, the show promises comics from Long Beach, Los Angeles and Orange County.
Doors are at 7 p.m., show starts at 7:30 p.m. Masks are required while indoors. Click here for more information.
Ficklewood Ciderworks is at 720 E. Broadway.
“#BANG4CHANGE” DOCUMENTARY FILM SCREENING – ART THEATRE (Thursday)
After a sold-out screening last month, “#Bang4Change,” a documentary by OC filmmaker and social justice activist Ferin Kidd that captured the civil unrest of the George Floyd protests in Minneapolis last year is slated to return to the Art Theatre Thursday, Aug. 26.
The three-hour event will include a screening of the 45-minute film, followed by a Q&A portion with Kidd and Ashley Paulson, a lead figure in the film, who is being flown out from Minneapolis for the event.
Tickets cost $10 and can be purchased online, click here.
The Art Theatre of Long Beach is at 2025 E. Fourth St.
AQUARIUM ADVENTURES AT HOME (Friday)
This 30-minute live interactive Zoom session invites the family to build, play and create with an Aquarium educator Friday, Aug. 27 at 6 p.m.
For $70, the Aquarium will mail you an “adventure kit” with games, activities and materials you can use in tandem with the program.
Purchase your kits online, click here. For more information click here.
INTERNATIONAL CITY THEATRE’S ‘CLOSELY RELATED KEYS’ – BEVERLY O’NEILL THEATER (Friday)
After 18 months, resident professional theater company International City Theatre is returning for its 36th season with the family drama “Closely Related Keys.”
Written by multiple award-winning Los Angeles-based playwright Wendy Graf and directed by Sundra McClain, the play is set in the weeks after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in 2001 and follows the life of an up-and-coming corporate attorney who discovers she has an Iraqi half-sister.
Previews of the play are already underway, with Wednesday’s performance a particular success regarding COVID-19 safety protocol, ICT president caryn desai noted via email. ICT is requiring all patrons to wear a mask inside the theater and seating is staggered between households.
“People were very respectful of the rules and of each other,” she said. “That was a good sign and helped everyone feel secure in venturing out – many for the first time.”
Tickets on opening night, Friday Aug. 27, are $55. The play will be performed every Thursday – Sunday until Sept 12. Click here for more information on ticket prices and showtimes.
The Beverly O’Neill Theater is at 330 E. Seaside Way.
EAST VILLAGE BUSINESS BLOCK PARTY – EAST VILLAGE (Saturday)
https://www.instagram.com/p/CSr1zfWpr4d/
More than 20 businesses in East Village are taking part in the East Village business block party Saturday, Aug. 28
From noon to 5 p.m. check out new and re-opened businesses, many of which will host other local pop-ups and offer special promotions.
For example, the recently opened home and lifestyle store, Cone 11 Studio, will be offering free mini-pottery lessons, Picasso portraits and live music from Swan Faucet.
The bulk of the participating businesses are on Linden Avenue between Broadway and First Street and on Broadway between Elm and Linden avenues.
Cone 11 Studio is at 408 E. First St. Suite 101
BLUES FOR ALL SUMMER CONCERT – CESAR CHAVEZ AMPHITHEATER (Saturday)
On Saturday, Aug. 28 the blues will be in full swing at Cesar Chavez Amphitheater with the Blues for All free summer concert.
The lineup includes Redd House, Willy Aguilar and Bill Grisolia and the New Blues Revolution All-Stars featuring Laurie Morvan.
The concert is from 3-5 p.m. at Cesar Chavez Park, which includes the amphitheater. The event is free to attend, but RSVP is strongly recommended, click here.
Cesar Chavez Amphitheater is at 401 Golden Ave.
SUMMER’S END COMMUNITY JAZZ CELEBRATION – SCHERER PARK (Saturday)
As a final send-off to summer, catch the outdoor jazz concert, Summer’s End Community Jazz Celebration Saturday, Aug. 28.
The concert at Scherer Park will be hosted by KJazz DJ Bubba Jackson and Grammy-award-winning jazz pianist and composer David Benoit, who will also headline the concert.
The opening lineup will feature millennial musicians who are deemed to be the next generation of jazz stars — from Xavier “X” Gordon and Black Nile, to local favorite Tatiana Tate. Then, a special performance by A Horn Line from the Long Beach City College Jazz Studies program.
The free concert is from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Click here for more information.
Scherer Park is at 4600 Long Beach Blvd.
WHISKEY TASTING – ROXANNE’S (Saturday)
Try out a new strain of whiskey from Wille’s Tin Shop’s newest line, Dirty Prospector, Saturday, Aug. 28. Did we mention it’s free?
Show up to Roxanne’s bar, which is also the home base for Wille’s Tin Shop, between 1-4 p.m. to grab a taste of this 100% grain whisky, triple distilled and finished in an Oloroso Sherry cask with charred American oak.
Click here for more information. Must be 21 or older to partake.
Roxanne’s is at 1115 E. Wardlow Road.
HAPPY SUNDAYS – ZAFERIA DISTRICT (Sunday)
For locals, made by locals, Happy Sunday’s is back this year for its fifth iteration with over 40 local bands expected to perform on Sunday, Aug. 29.
The day-long festival spans a stretch of Anaheim Street, known as Zaferia District, where bands perform at local businesses and venues including DiPiazza’s, The Bamboo Club, Tennessee Jack’s, Supply & Demand, Alex’s Bar, Commodity/All Time Plants and Compound. A Big Red Bus will be available to transport attendees to and from venues, though many are within walking distance of each other.
The event is free to attend. Shows are from 2-7 p.m. Masks will be required when indoors.
Click here for more information and to see the lineup/slot times.
SPONSORED BY THE AQUARIUM OF THE PACIFIC
AUTHOR EXPLORES HUMANS’ RESPONSIBILITY TO ANIMALS – AQUARIUM OF THE PACIFIC, SEPT. 1
Provocative environmental writer Emma Marris asks us to question our relationship with and what we owe the “wild” animals living in our human world, especially creatures housed in zoos and aquariums
As part of the First Wednesdays lecture series at the Aquarium of the Pacific, and in her recently published book, “Wild Souls: Freedom and Flourishing in the Non-Human World,” Marris challenges us to change the way we think about nature and our place within it as animal life and human life become ever more intertwined.
The free event — capped off with a cocktail hour and book signing — will take place in-person from 7-9 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 1. Reservations are required, click here.
Aquarium of the Pacific is located at 100 Aquarium Way.