by Angela Rocco DeCarlo   Featuring: Huntington Beach Oilers Marching Band The Wall Street Journal's theater critic designated Meredith Willson's (1902-1984)1957 Iowa fairy tale, "The Music Man", as the great American musical,  after seeing a stellar production recently on the East Coast. Other productions are in the works for audiences in Chicago and in 2020 on Broadway. Southern California is fortunate: the Pacific Symphony Pops is presenting a semi-staged concert production of the beautifully conceived and written show Friday and Saturday, May 31 and June 1,  8 p.m. at the Costa Mesa Renee and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall. This hometown hymn to the complex and sometimes stifling, but ultimately lovable life in River City, Iowa, 1912, is based upon Willson's experience growing upin Mason City, Iowa. Enhancing that down home ambience will be a special appearance by the Huntington Beach High School Oilers Marching Band - playing the iconic show tune, "Seventy-Six Trombones". Inspired by Willson's time with the famous John Philip Sousa's band in the 1920s. Willson was an accomplished musician, composer and music director for leading network radio programs such as the Jack Benny Program, the Burns and Allen Program and many others. His stint with the New York philharmonic as first chair flute and piccolo added to his deep musical abilities. He wrote over 40 songs - 22 were cut -during ...

https://youtu.be/6sw4GzhmZ40 The heat continues to rise as the biggest names in Hollywood attend “Halloween Hotness”. This annual inspirational charity event benefits two fantastic causes in St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital & The National Canine Cancer Foundation. Also a portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Hurricane Harvey relief effort. The tremendous impact of Halloween Hotness has brought out the Hollywood elite again and again for a truly benevolent cause. The proceeds from the Halloween Hotness’ in years past have helped advance the battle against cancer and brought us a few steps closer to eliminate it once and for all. This year we’ve chosen American Legion Hollywood Post 43 as the location for our event. These hallowed halls were once graced by such stars such as: Marilyn Monroe, Ronald Regan, Charlton Heston, Abbott & Costello, Shirley Temple, and thousands more. Accommodating the event at the American Legion Hollywood, Halloween Hotness also benefits our troops, veterans, and their families. We’ve also added an exciting new element to our event, a Fashion Show! This exciting fashion show will be highlighting the unique and trendy attire to our evening’s festivities. Halloween Hotness event information: Celebrity Red Carpet Charity Event - Halloween Hotness 4 American Legion Hollywood Post 43 Sunday, ...

Prohibition to Gentrification, French Restaurant Celebrates Decades of Serving L.A.’s French Quarter, Old Hollywood, Politicos and Next-Gen Hipsters   Sunday, October 8, 2017 4 p.m. – 8 p.m. Taix French Restaurant 1911 W. Sunset BoulevardLos Angeles, CA 90026   Taix French Restaurant, Los Angeles oldest family owned and operated French country restaurant, is celebrating its 90th anniversary with its traditional “cent” roast chicken dinner. On Sunday, October 8, 2017 from 4 p.m .to 8 p.m., customers, old and new, can celebrate with a 90-cent “Taix” Roast Chicken dinner special.   The menu for the evening’s anniversary hours will be limited to soup de jour, salad and the “Taix” Roast Chicken with au jus—a classic French country chicken dinner introduced by Marius Taix Jr. in 1927. (Dishes will only be 90 cents each.) Full service bar available; reservations will not be accepted and diners will beseated on a first come, first serve basis.   The Taix Family is the third and fourth generation of sheepherders and bakers from the “Hautes-Alpes” in southeastern France that moved to Los Angeles around 1870. In 1912 Marius Taix Sr. built a hotel called the Champ d’Or in downtown Los Angeles’ French quarter, which was located on 321 Commercial Street, and included a hotel restaurant subleased to a ...

Verdi's masterpiece - one of them anyway - AIDA, has it's final Orange County, CA, performance Tuesday, 8 p.m., Renee and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, Costa Mesa, CA. It is not to be missed.        Aida, the 1871 spectacle usually performed with "a cast of thousands," including animals, which debuted at the Cairo Opera House, is distilled to its essential elements, which are quite enough to enthrall an audience.  Local critics were lavish in praise of the South African soprano, Kelebogile Besong, making her North American debut, in the role of Aida at Segerstrom Concert Hall.                    This is one of the great operas everyone should see at least once.  It is awash with military and political intrigue, a love triangle and enough gorgeous Verdi music to thrill.         Besong as Aida, slave to the Egyptian princess Amneris, played by local diva, Milena Kitic, is besotted with the Egyptian military hero, Radames, the man Amneris wants for herself. Aida, herself a princess, unknown to her captors, is distraught when the victorious General Radames brings back defeated enemies, which include Aida's father, the king.          The ingenious staging in an oversized downstage sandbox, with the fabulous 88 - piece Pacific Symphony Orchestra, Carl St. Clair conducting, on stage behind the actors, works rather well. The chorus and dancers ...

By Mark DeCarlo The holidays are a great time to travel to Italy. The crowds are small, the prices are low, but so are the temperatures. If you're not looking for a sun-splashed beach week on the Amalfi Coast, this may be the perfect time to finally take your romantic trip to Italia. Londra Palace Outdoor Trattoria in mid-summer swing Regardless of when you go, no trip to the cradle of modern civilization would be complete without visiting Venice, the most incomprehensively amazing city on the planet. Actually, it's not a city. Venezia is 118 small islands linked by bridges and traversed by gondolas. It's also a great place to walk -- virtually every rambling alley leads to a crooked corner that reveals a new treasure: food, drinks, art, architecture, vistas -- romantic does not begin to describe this improbable world apart. The Republic of Venice has been on the map since the Middle Ages, by virtue of its location, and has stayed relevant because... it's freakin' VENICE! No other city in Europe, or elsewhere, features its same amalgam of water, stone, wine and cuisine. For holiday or honeymoon, the romance and sublime feel of this city is beyond description. We researched and studied everything we ...

Directed by Bailey Kobe and Featuring Actors Shaun Sipos, Julie McNiven, Jessica Camacho, Michael Steger, Michael DeLorenzo, Mark DeCarlo, Phillip Garcia, and Kelly Perine “The Babymoon”, a film by Director and Writer Bailey Kobe (“Caterpillar’s Kimono” with Ben Savage), will be featured at Dances With Films Festival for its World Premiere on Friday, June 10th, 2016 at the TCL Chinese Theatre in West Hollywood, CA. An invite-only red carpet event at 1:45 p.m will be followed by the screening at 2:45 p.m and after-party at 4:30. RSVP is required for press line and admittance to the screening. Press is also invited to attend after-party at Loews Hotel immediately after. Please email kate@doubleententefilms.com by June 9th to RSVP. TCL Chinese Theatre is located at 6925 Hollywood Boulevard, Hollywood, CA. For more information please visit the Facebook Page or website. www.fb.com/TheBabymoonAdventure or www.TheBabymoon.org. ba·by·moon (bābēˌmo͞on) noun: a relaxing or romantic vacation taken by parents-to-be before their baby is born. In “THE BABYMOON”, a fragile relationship coupled with an unpredicted pregnancy, takes the unsuspecting parents to a place they only dreamt of - only to find themselves in the throes of a poorly-planned political revolution. WHAT:   Film Screening: “The Babymoon” WHO:  Writer/Director Bailey Kobe (“Caterpillar’s Kimono” with Ben ...

Never before in recorded history has there been a visionary as gifted... or hilarious, as Dr. Lars Dingman, the iTunes Psychic. Award-winning radio personality Dr. Lars Dingman, will offer every audience member the opportunity to come on stage for a free psychic peek at their future during his live broadcast. Using only the last 3 songs, randomly picked by the subject's digital music player, Earth's first Digital Age Psychic will predict the future and reveal past lives. FREE VACATION: Someone in the audience will win a FREE CANCUN VACATION Lars already knows who's going to win, but you have to show up to find out. Don't miss the oracle the HuffingtonPost calls "Earth's funniest psychic... Dingman's uncanny accuracy - and lunatic hilarity - deftly merge comedy and Psychic phenomena. A MUST SEE!" See and Hear his amazing predictions at www.itunespychic.com and follow him on Twitter @itunespsychic. Video: https://youtu.be/t8Ge-JdLEoc WATCH LIVE THIS MONDAY! Dr. Lars Dingman, iTunes Psychic Monday, May 23 2016 7:00pm   $5 UCB Sunset 5419 W Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90027

Ground Breaks for New York City’s Virgin Hotel VOA begins construction on the 412,000-square-foot Virgin Hotel in NoMad The VOA-designed Virgin Hotel will be located on Broadway between 30th and 29th Streets. Last Friday, ground broke in Manhattan for the world’s second Virgin Hotel. Designed by the New York–based architecture firm VOA, in collaboration with developer the Lam Group, the 412,000-square-foot tower will contain 465 guest rooms and offer roughly 70,000 square feet of retail space at its base. With a slim façade that grows larger through sections that jut out from its sides, the 39-story building will bring a flash of modernity to the historic NoMad neighborhood. “Where the building appears to be shifting to the sides, we deducted some bulk out of the corners of the structure so we could reuse the floor area higher up,” says Brian McFarland, VOA’s lead architect on the project. “This allowed us the opportunity to create more corner windows at a higher elevation so those rooms could enjoy views the lower rooms wouldn’t allow.” Virgin Hotel in NoMad Virgin Hotels, a division of Richard Branson's Virgin Group, plans to roll out hotels of distinct designs in various cities around the world, and as such, “the Virgin Hotel ...

There’s something about Miami. It welcomes you by not making too much of a fuss about you. “Oh, so there you are,” it seems to say. “Great. Dale, Chico. Te veo después y nos tomamos un café." And you know, it’s happy to see you. My favorite spot to welcome the day in all of Miami is not anywhere near the infamous SoBe of the tanned and gorgeous. It’s not on a boat gliding past tall downtown buildings on bayside waters. It’s sitting on the sidewalk facing the huge, colorful, exhuberant sculpture at the entryway of the otherwise unremarkable Dadeland Metrorail Station in South Miami. It ́s fittingly called “Welcome” and stands amid the light gray concrete on mornings when my own bed wants nothing to do with me and, as my mother would say, “el que me fume, pierde el vicio.” And here's the trick: you sit on the sidewalk in front of it with your newspaper and your strong, sugary, Cuban coffee... you look at it for awhile... and pretty soon you start to feel happy and... god forbid... optimistic. By then you’ll look a little crazy to couples walking by with their strollers or their dogs, so taking a few ...

https://youtu.be/Y7AxRA8kCX8 The Travel Adventure Show 2016 will be at the Pennsylvania Convention Center all weekend long – from March 19 to March 20. Make sure you get your tickets now, because you won’t want to miss this exciting event. Click Here to get those tickets now: http://travelshows.com/philadelphia/. Our team is so pumped they’ve even come up with a list for visitors of the top three (3) things to do at the #PhillyTravelShow. As you walk around the exhibition floor, we hope this list helps direct you on exactly how to find the best ways to plan your ultimate dream vacation. Talk to the Experts At America’s Favorite Travel Show, you’ll be able to speak directly with the travel experts that represent hundreds of the top destinations from around the world. You can plan your next escape with renowned travel agents, customize your trip preferences and learn about the different experiences and excursions at each location, and collect the “inside knowledge” so you can travel like a “local” when you get to your destination. You’ll receive local knowledge and travel advice on where to go, what to do, where to stay and how to ensure that you have a personalized travel experience. At http://travelshows.com/shows/philadelphia/plan-your-experience/, you can ...