By Charly SHELTON When Disney’s California Adventure first opened in 2001, it was amusing but wasn’t something you couldn’t get anywhere else. It lacked that magic that Disneyland had brought and maintained for almost 50 years. A rollercoaster, a water-rafting ride, swinging swings and a Ferris wheel. Santa Monica pier has many of these same […]
By Charly SHELTON Aldous Snow (Russel Brand) was a shining gem in an already spectacularly funny movie, 2008’s Judd Apatow-n-Pals comedy “Forgetting Sarah Marshall.” And Brand played the new wave British rocker so well that when he walked off screen for the last time, you found yourself wondering what he may be up to next. […]
By Ted AYALA The afternoon of last Sunday, June 6, I took my musical journeying out quite a ways beyond Glendale and the Crescenta Valley area. Ruslan Biryukov, the founder and music director of the Glendale Philharmonic, was one of the featured soloists in the West Covina Symphony Orchestra’s season finale at the Haugh Performing […]
By Charly SHELTON For those of you like this reporter, who had very little desire to see “Sex and the City 2” thinking they are whipping a dead horse with this franchise, I sympathize. But after seeing it, it did have a bit of a sparkle. Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) realizes her marriage with Mr. […]
By Ted AYALA As I stepped into the Alex Theater last Saturday, I almost felt a sense of regret at having to leave behind the brisk, fragrant springtime night behind me. I say almost because as lovely as it would have been to stay out that night, the opportunity to hear the Los Angeles Chamber […]
By Charly SHELTON Shrek has had many misadventures over the nearly 10 years since the green ogre debuted from the then new animation department of Dreamworks SKG. He saved the princess, defeated the evil Lord Farquaad, married his princess-turned-ogre true love, then he was turned human, saved his princess again – this time from the […]
All photos by Diane ACOSTA By Ted AYALA Last Saturday evening, the First Baptist Church in Glendale was the host for a concert that paid tribute to mothers everywhere on their special day. This concert, part of a series produced by Positive Motions, programmed a wide assortment of works. Leading off the program was a […]
By Charly SHELTON When we last left Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), he announced he was Iron Man, using his super suit to fight crime the world over. Now his father’s scorned Russian partner has set his own son (Mickey Rourke) on a path to vengeance and this path leads right to Tony. While fighting […]
By Ted AYALA The 2009/2010 season of the Santa Cecilia Orchestra came to a spectacular close on April 25 with a concert celebrating the bicentenary of Mexico’s independence. The program, held at Occidental College’s Thorne Hall, was devoted exclusively to orchestral works by Mexican composers. Mexico has its own very long and proud tradition in […]
By Mary O’KEEFE “Cecile B. DeMille asked if he could do a screen test on me.” “Oh yes, I knew Jimmy Cagney. He was a very nice guy.” “So they asked me to kick my legs and scream as King Kong carried me to the top of the Empire State Building. Of course Kong never […]