People: I have a bone to pick. This weekend I was at an undisclosed show. I was in the pit, dead center, and the band was positively killing it. So there I was two-stepping and doing a little scuttle when I looked up at the crowd around me. To my[Read More…]
Arts & Life
Content that focuses on popular culture, local art and music, entertainment and the events. Common topics include lifestyle, television and film, theater, music, video game, food, etc
Feeling a-o-cake
Greetings, Arts & Life devotees. This is your friendly neighborhood Spiderman. Just kidding, it’s the Daily 49er’s print managing editor, but like almost as exciting, right? I recently got a behind-the-scenes look at a bakery in Signal Hill, Rossmoor Pastries. The following was inspired by a delicate, oversized cupcake sitting[Read More…]
Preview: S/he & Me
Watch out Caitlyn Jenner, California State University, Long Beach has it’s own transgender firebrand. As seen on the award winning show “Transparent,” Golden Globe winner and CSULB theater teacher Alexandra Billings stars in the theatrical cabaret “S/he & Me.” “S/he & Me” follows a particular chapter of Billings’ past that[Read More…]
Tacography of Long Beach
Taco fanatics: As the journey wears on to review every taqueria in Long Beach, it dawned on me while looking up at a taco menu just how many taco fillings there are. Truly, Mexicans waste no part of their livestock. Though sometimes taquerias provide crude translations for the uninitiated, they[Read More…]
See you on the ‘Other Shore’
A memorial concert held in honor of former California State University, Long Beach Director of Percussions, Michael Carney on Sunday drummed up emotions surrounding impermanence, mortality and healing. “Carney was very giving with his time, caring about each individual student and helping them grow,” said Ted Atkatz, the current director[Read More…]
CSULB MFA student turns teatime into art
Sitting at a table covered by pink paper at the Dennis W. Dutzi Gallery is Kiyomi Fukui. Atop the table there’s seashell-shaped sugar cubes she’s handmade. Fukui, a Master of Fine Arts student, casually sips a hot cup of freshly made hibiscus tea. She looks around invitingly. “Would you like[Read More…]
Preview: N*gger Wetb*ck Ch*nk
“N*gger Wetb*ck Ch*nk”: Yes, that’s actually the title. But save the pitchforks. Having endured threats from both neo-Nazis and the NAACP, “N*gger Wetb*ck Ch*nk” explores racism and discrimination through the testimonies of long time friends Rafael Agustin, Allan Axibal and Miles Gregley. “[The slurs] are names we’ve been called in[Read More…]
CSULB alumni parody ‘Hamlet’
Combining Shakespearian diction with slapstick comedy à la Three Stooges, Four Clowns’ production of “Hamlet” offers a unique take of the Bard’s tragedy. Under the direction of CSULB alumni Turner Munch the seriocomic spoof has clowns playing the main roles. An internationally touring troupe, Four Clowns was founded by Artistic[Read More…]
Festivalgoers catch country fever
The Long Beach Folk Revival Festival transformed Rainbow Lagoon Park into a boot-stomping hoedown on Saturday. The haystacks, cowboy hats, country twang and bluegrass jam sessions made attendees feel as if they were somewhere deep in the Heartland instead of the California coast. Thousands attended: a herd of mustachioed men,[Read More…]
Review: ‘The Visit’
After directorial flops such as “The Last Airbender” and “After Earth,” M. Night Shyamalan was on the verge of becoming irrelevant. Feet to the fire, the director needed something clutch with “The Visit,” perhaps the last chance to salvage his reputation as a savvy crafter of supernatural spookiness. Fortunately for[Read More…]