Guitar Legend
Taking your Guitar Hero obsession to a whole new level.
House Of Blues
1530 S. Disneyland Dr.
Anaheim CA 92802
714-778-2583

Aqua Net, 9 p.m.
DJ Sticky Pete sprays the sounds of disco, new wave, freestyle and electro.
Que Sera
1923 E. Seventh St.
Long Beach CA 90813
562-599-6170

April Spain, 8:00 p.m.
Soothing jazz carried on an ocean breeze.
Wind & Sea
34699 St. of the Golden Lantern
Dana Point CA 92629
949-496-6500

Screening: Blade Runner, 8 p.m.
The year 2019 doesn't seem so far off now...
Bay Theatre
340 Main Street
Seal Beach CA 90740
562-431-9988

If there's one thing that unites just about everyone in Orange County, it's probably not opposition to the War in Iraq or a sincere belief that our beaches are too clean. No, that one thing is this: gas is too fucking expensive and it's about fucking time to do something about it.

Fortunately, somebody is: Irvine businessman Mitch Goldstone, who doubles as a consumer activist who's also opposed bogus credit card fees. This morning, Goldstone alerted us to a July 3 rally against gas fees that he's hoping will draw hundreds of people. The rally will take place at 7:30 a.m. at the intersection of Jamboree and Barranca Parkway. Organizers will have placards and signs on hand; all you need to do is show up. Plus, there's free food.

Goldstone says the rally isn't targeting gas stations. Think of it more as an inspirational picket that could prove viral. The next thing you know we'll all be boycotting our own cars and standing on the sidewalks yelling at the scabs who keep driving.

http://news.yahoo.com/prweb/20080630/bs_prweb/prweb1063174_1

Like Rich, we're excited to see the "new" Orange Coast, and wish it the best even though it's now technically a competitor. I've yet to see the issue that Rich dissected but did catch the one before, one that already had hints of the literary journalism and well-written analysis readers can expect under newish editor Marty Smith.

One article stuck out in particular: Matthew Heller's contention that Orange County Christian pastors try not to mix politics with their faith. "If the GOP has realized that politics and an undiluted faith-based agenda don’t mix, it has finally arrived at a conclusion reached by some of Orange County’s most prominent evangelical leaders, who for the most part have steered clear of strident political activism," Heller asserts. It's a rather crazy argument (just check out the posts in our "Gimme that OC Religion" archives) with little proof other than Heller corralling three pastors to say so: Rick Warren of Saddleback Church (who's gone on the record to oppose gay marriage--gee, wonder how his Purpose-Driven flock will vote on the proposed ban-gay-marriage amendment this coming November), Dale Burke of Fullerton's First Evangelical Free Church (who tells Heller he's against gay marriage and states, "When people hold to a core set of values ... it’s natural that that they would align themselves with a party that holds similar values"--yep, no politics there!) and the Crystal Cathedral's Robert Schuller the Elder.

Schuller has made it a career of telling people he used to be political but hasn't been for years and does the same with Heller. “Every time you have an issue that’s controversial, there are smart people on both sides," Schuller says, "I don’t like to take positions when there are intelligent people on both sides”--a funny statement considering he let Mike Carona slime his way across the Cathedral's stage.

Then comes the matter of Schuller's McCarthyite past.

Maybe—or at least help steer OC’s 34-year-old glossy monthly magazine away from what had been a frothy, puff-piece-packed publication that featured interviews and profiles with former owner Ruth Ko’s friends, and B- (sometimes C)-grade celebrities adorning its covers who often had nothing whatsoever to do with Orange County.

So by putting a close-up photo of a sweet, delicious Balboa Bar on the cover of their July “Best of Orange County” issue—the debut of a newly re-launched and revamped Orange Coast—returning editor Martin J. Smith is clearly making a statement: no more cover shots of celebs who’ve never even heard of the magazine.

Still, this transition into what I hope will become a regional magazine that’s rich with literary nonfiction and every bit as good as Texas Monthly or Los Angeles (the latter which also underwent a new-and-improved rejiggering a few years ago, also, like Orange Coast, after it was purchased by Indiana-based Emmis Communications) may be a slow one. There are still some remnants of the old Orange Coast that may or may not stick around—old standbys like party photos of rich folks grinning plasticized grins into the camera at various benefits, which pubs like the Register and the billionaire-loving Riviera already do. (How many Ed Arnold pictures can one person possibly stomach?) And there are still tons of ads for medical groups and jewelry stores, but we won’t begrudge Orange Coast for those—you gotta pay the rent somehow.

This issue also marks the launch of myriad new features, some which hit better than others. Chris Epting’s “OC Answer Man,” where Epting thinks up questions himself and then answers them for your alleged fun and amusement, could be more creative—howzabout an e-mail address to take missives from actual readers? Roy Rivenburg should actually make an effort at being funny with his “News From the Future,” because he doesn’t come close.

A real estate feature, “On the Market,” is just obscene, with photos and capsule descriptions of lavish OC properties, the cheapest one costing a mere $3.9 million. Jason Lee gets kinda-sorta profiled in “Ex-Pat,” a short piece highlighting an OC-er who’s made it big. Lee apparently wouldn’t talk to Orange Coast, though (hell, he wouldn’t talk to the Weekly either when we tried for an interview last year), so all Lee’s quotes are culled from other sources.

The old Orange Coast always left you feeling that it catered to the super-rich, and you won’t shake that feeling when you eyeball the $1,275 shoulder bag featured in the “OC Style” section, or the $895 Stella McCartney floral print blouse that looks like someone vomited up a fruit platter.

Then there’s the meat of the issue: “The Best of Orange County.” It’s not nearly as extensive as the Weekly’s Best Of issue, and not as eye-rollingly awful as the Register’s (will Olive Garden win Best Italian Restaurant again? Of course it will), with just seven or so blurbs for each category, but you know, when you’re reading Orange Coast in the waiting room of your dentist’s office, where the mag always winds up, sometimes you just want the quick rundown. And I’ll leave it to the Weekly’s food guys to argue if the Sapphire Pantry is indeed the county’s best cheese shop, or if 50 Forks is truly OC’s best dining value.

And, as part of its Best Of ish, there are profiles of what Orange Coast calls “Certified OC Originals,” one of whom is Register columnist Frank Mickadeit, who’s photographed with a rather constipated look on his face as he’s actually rolling up his sleeves. Because, y’know, Frank’s badass-tough, and he won’t take shit from anybody, and he gets out into the streets, etc. etc. Still, when I read the quote from former Mickadeit colleague Jean Pasco in the Martin J. Smith-penned piece—the one about Mickadeit “smoking stogies with GOP power couple Mike and Susan Schroeder,” it’s pretty hard not to also read that as, “I’ll never write anything bad about my cigar-sucking GOP power couple friends ever never never.”

Elsewhere: Patrick J. Kiger’s feature on a supposed surge of interest in Richard Nixon was fine, but the gardening feature on Nixon’s old La Casa Pacifica stomping grounds in San Clemente was a little too much Dick for me. Then there’s their restaurant guide: just one noteworthy joint in all of Aliso Viejo? The Weekly’s website lists 17. Just one in Cypress? We’ve got 10. Only 7 in Huntington Beach? We’ve got 45.

But like I said, change can be a slow-churning process . . .

One thing you can say about Orange Coast, OC's thick, glossy-covered regional monthly magazine—they know how to throw some good parties. And the mag's grand re-launching party last night was pretty great—tasty hors d'oerves, free martinis and assorted other booze, lots of Beautiful Newport Beach People, and great views of the county from the penthouse suite of . . . well, I forget the building, but it's right near the Taco Bell skyscraper in Irvine.

(It wasn't even a real penthouse, actually—way too much exposed aluminum foil insulation and concrete flooring, but I'm sure it'll look bitchen for some corporate mucky-muck once construction is completed someday.)

Also: free valet service, provided by Class Act Valet, which, as it said on the invite, is “Orange Coast's Official Valet Service.” (Memo to Ted: When will the Weekly get our own official valet service, dammit?!?) And the Reggie's Frank Mickadeit was there, too, but he doesn't have enough name/face recognition with me yet, which is fine . . .

Then there was the goodie bag, packed with trinkets: An extra-large T-shirt which would turn the wearer into a walking billboard for a Jaguar/Land Rover dealership; high-end hair care product samples; sandal-shaped soaps; a mini-facial kit; a mint tin from Flemings Steakhouse, with wine-bottle-shaped mints; and, of course, a copy of the new Orange Coast.

Which, under returning editor Martin J. Smith, looks to be an improvement over the glitzy glam-rag/B-list celebrity asskiss/Chapman University Prez Jim Doti PR vehicle it was under previous owner Ruth Ko.

(Full disclosure: I wrote several Smith-edited pieces for Orange Coast during his previous tenure back in the late-'90s. Even more full disclosure: I unfortunately contributed to some of that Jim Doti PR in a puff piece I penned about Chapman's law school, but I was much younger then, and I really, really needed the money because I was a big 'ol freelance-writing whore.)

Ko sold Orange Coast last year to Emmis Communications, which also owns such regional mags as Los Angeles (also much-improved under Emmis ownership), and what may be the country's best such pub, Texas Monthly.

So I've got high expectations for it, especially since they slapped a photo of a Balboa Bar on their cover instead of, say, Mike Carona, like they did when that whole "America's Sheriff" dogshit was happening...

Coming tomorrow in this space: Digging deep into the new Orange Coast...

Daffodil J. Altan takes a look at Orange County launderer, Prudential Overall Supply, in "Taken to the Cleaners." Is the Irvine-based industrial-laundry company cheating workers out of a living wage? Three cities say yes.

In "The D Files" Gustavo Arellano takes a look at the declassified FBI files Exonerate Joel Dvorman, Orange County's original conservative scapegoat.

While R. Scott Moxley's "Moxley Confidential" takes a look at Jose Avina, the boy who sodomized four others at just 14 years old.

Plus...

• The Weekly's standing columns, Ask a Mexican!, Hey You! and Savage Love

• Restaurant reviews of Hak Heang in Long Beach and Paul's Coffee Shop in Fountain Valley

• Culture pieces focusing on The J Flynn Gallery's "LOL" exhibit, Theatre Out's 'Small Domestic Acts,' Summer-Music-Festival Hippiewear and video games.

• Film reviews of "WALL-E," "Wanted" and local special screenings

• Music pieces on the George Michael, Plants and Animals, Dave Segal's Sprawl of Sound on Slayer's 'Reign in Blood,' Ariel Pink in the Studio, C.R.A.C. at Abstract Workshop, Rex Reason's Aural Reports on Songwriter David Choi Mixes Rhymes With Mash-ups, Locals Only on Cursed Chimera's 'The Great Caldune' and new CD Reviews

And more!

I don't usually approve of the Cobrasnake/Dim Mak/Steve Aoki thing at all, or at least, definitely not fashion-wise, but the hipster beacons will be hosting a yard sale in conjunction with RVCA over at RVCA's Costa Mesa headquarters. And we love RVCA. So here you go:

Cobrasnake (sometimes along with Cory Kennedy) has been known to host these successful and popular "yard sales," AKA chances to unload pricey T-shirts to unsuspecting fans of his party photography website, in locations all over the world. Tomorrow's yard sale will feature items from Brian Lichtenberg (responsible for many of M.I.A.'s flashy diggs), pro-surfer/artist/Japanese Motors singer Alex Knost, Akram, Velvet Leaf Clothing, Hippo Gorilla Giraffe, Heartschallenger and more.

It's open to all ages, and the flier doesn't specify whether or not they'll be accepting credit cards, so be sure to bring some cash just in case.

The sale promises to have "tons of DJs, surfers, homeless" on hand in addition to hipster T-shirts and clothing and hipsters.

So go check it out if you've got nothing else to do on a beautiful Saturday afternoon—I mean, if you're into that kind of thing.

More info and full flier after the jump.

If you're anything like me, the exciting Hollywood blockbusters being released this summer may as well not bother, because you haven't a spare dime to spend seeing them. As the cost of living continues to rise, finding entertainment that's as cheap as possible becomes increasingly necessary and frankly, it's a lot to ask of the American public to spend what amounts to about three gallons of gas on a movie that may or may not be any good anyway. Thank heavens, then, for the internet, which not only offers a plethora of incredible entertainment but also provides mankind with the thrill of the hunt that we instinctively desire . . . but with Google instead of a bow and arrow.

This weekend, I recommend that everyone stay home and watch Ray Tintori's Death to the Tinman, available for free* right here: Death to the Tinman. Tintori adapts L. Frank Baum's story of the Tin Woodman in his Oz series, but keeps the basic framework of the story the same. Death to the Tinman tells the story of Bill, the "most hated man in a twenty mile radius," and his passionate love for Jane, daughter of the town pastor. The pastor, in an effort to keep Bill away from his daughter, asks God to put a curse on the axe Bill uses to chop wood. Bill loses both of his arms in the succeeding wood chopping accident, his legs in an industrial machine, and the rest of his body in a plane crash. His friend, an engineer, builds him a metal body to contain his heart and eyes, but the rest of Bill's body mysteriously reforms and leaves the morgue. Tin Bill rushes to see Jane, only to find that she has fallen in love with the eyeless, heartless version of himself. Tin Bill decides to win her back at any cost, and mayhem ensues.

Death to the Tinman contains more incredible shots and ideas in its twelve minutes than most feature films. Tintori uses stylistic elements of German Expressionism, silent cinema, late '50s Bergman, Guy Maddin, Terrence Malick, Wes Anderson, surrealist cinema . . . the list goes on. But rather than feeling like a too clever amalgam of everything one would learn in film school, Death to the Tinman adapts these influences to create something completely original and brilliant. Alternately hilarious and heartbreaking (and never less than completely beautiful to look at), the film should hopefully serve as Tintori's license to demand carte blanche on any future project in which he is involved. Prior to Tinman, Tintori made another excellent short called Jettison Your Loved Ones and recently, Tintori has directed some music videos for MGMT ("Time to Pretend" and "Electric Feel") and served as art director on Benh Zeitlin's short film Glory at Sea (trailer of which can be seen here . . . check that trademark Tintori feel!)

It's short, it's free, it's mind blowingly good. How many other things can you say that about nowadays?

SHIMMY & SHAKE BURLESQUE SHOW WITH THE TEQUILA WORMS; CATHOUSE THUMPERS, Saturday 9 p.m.
Nipple tassels and nylons.
Doll Hut
107 S. Adams St.
Anaheim CA 92802
714-533-1286

CANINE RUNWAY, THE SEARCH FOR AMERICA’S MOST PAW-PULAR POOCH, Saturday 5 p.m.
The next step is an eating disorder.
Muttropolis, A Utopia for Pets and Their Parents
865 Newport Center Dr.
Newport Beach CA

SEE ALL THE MONKEYS FOR HALF THE NUTS!, Friday 2 - 4 p.m.
Half price admission to the monkey house. Insert obvious pun here.
Santa Ana Zoo
1801 E. Chestnut Ave.
Santa Ana CA 92701
714-953-8555

MONKEY KING: A JOURNEY TO CHINA, Daily
Take your children to learn about the 16th century Buddhist monk, Xuan Zang, who took a journey along China’s Silk Road.
Bowers Kidseum
1802 N. Main St.
Santa Ana CA 92706
714-567-3679

LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, Friday-Saturday 7:30 p.m., Sunday 2 p.m.
A man-eating plant, a deranged dentist and you. Fabulous weekend.
Musical Theatre Village in the Irvine Spectrum
36-A Mauchly
Irvine CA
949-753-1996

Was walking up Main Street in SanTana the other day, and who was driving a massive Cadillac Escalade without a care to gas prices? None other than Mike Harrah, the Weekly's former landlord, one of many sugar papis to councilmember Claudia Alvarez, and the man who wants to build a 37-story building near a residential neighborhood that would be the tallest in Orange County.

Seeing Mike staring glumly into traffic reminded us we hadn't thought about his phallic skyscraper complex for a while. SanTana voters approved One Broadway Plaza in 2005 with the provision that Harrah fill up more than half of the building with tenants before he began construction. He's been saying that he's close to signing up "a major corporation" since 1999, and yet nothing. The area where One Broadway Plaza is supposed to stand is barren save for a chopped-up historic home exposed to the elements. The sluggish economy means few people want to relocate at this point, which would usually signify Harrah could cash in once it gets healthier, but other developments in more-prestigious parts of Orange County mean those companies will go there.

Just give it up, Mike. Become SanTana's most beloved man by turning the One Broadway Plaza property into a park--that'll do more goodwill than Papi Pulido has ever accomplished in his 22 years in SanTana politics. Stick to riding around in a Harley instead of attempting to be a bearded Robert Moses. And, please, please, please, get acts into your Orange County Pavilion that aren't cover bands or conservative shindigs!