One of my favorite bands, Train, just came out with a new album, entitled: California 37. It doesn’t rank up there with important works like Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon, the first Boston album or Prince’s Purple Rain, but for Train fans like myself, it’s just what that proverbial doctor ordered, and I have been listening to it steadily since its release.
This spring, Kingsburg High School will be doing a production of the classic musical Bye Bye Birdie. The stage musical is a satire on American society set in the late 1950s and inspired by the Army draft notice given famously to Elvis Presley in 1957.
Before I get started, perhaps I should lay all of my cards out on the table. I have been listening to the band Van Halen for most of my life. I loved the band when Diamond David Lee Roth was manning the microphone; was incredulous when he decided to leave the band and chase Hollywood; politely ignored them when they momentarily paired up with Gary Cherone (a wonderful vocalist with his band Extreme, including the brilliant Three Sides to Every Story, but was a terrible choice for Van Halen);
If you are a reader, whether you worry about the closing of the “brick and mortar” stores, champion the proliferation of the e-book or stand somewhere in between, I think we could all agree that these are some exciting times to live in. This is especially true for fiction. Finding great stories to be transported away by or brilliant new authors to discover should be easier now than ever before.
If you have spent any time on Facebook at all, you may have seen some promotion from a restaurant in Fresno called Eureka Burger. Quite amusingly, they post a definition for themselves on their website. It displays the word Eureka, offers the pronunciation and adds that it is an interjection. It goes on to list the word’s definition: 1) Used as an exclamation of triumph at a discovery; 2) The enlightening burger experience, accompanied by fresh ingredients, craft beer and rock n’ roll. Recently, my wife and I visited the establishment and we can report that it is exactly this.
This past summer, the small film Lex had its premiere at The Regency Theaters in Pasadena. It went on to win the Best Short Film at the Action on Film International Film Festival. The film was co-written by Stefanie Halstead, former Dinuba Raisin Queen and current owner of Dance Dolls Dance School, with locations in both Kingsburg and Dinuba.
This fall’s theater production at Kingsburg High School is the William Shakespeare classic, Romeo & Juliet. The classic tragedy is the story of two young lovers whose deaths end up uniting their feuding families. Whether this version of the tale leans closer to Director Baz Luhrmann’s 1996 film than the Famous Bard’s original, we will have to wait for the curtain to rise.
When I was young, my family adopted a black kitten. We didn’t have it very long. As I recall, we thought at the time that some neighborhood children had kicked it. Whatever happened, the animal did not survive the experience. My father is a retired Kingsburg Police Lieutenant and heard stories of black cats being thrown into churches. He recalled one story in particular where a black cat had been thrown into someone’s back yard during a party, in order to elicit some negative reaction.
In the six years that my family and I have been attending Kingsburg Community Church, we have had a few different Worship Leaders. All have been very good, but little did I know how special our current leader was. He wears many different hats: Music Teacher, Choral Director, Composer, Musician, Recording Engineer and Producer to name but a few.
There is a great new attraction in Kingsburg, and if you are anything like me and have heard something about this already, you might have come away with the wrong impression. I know that I did. You may have seen a post on Facebook; or heard some talk about a new bar, loud live music or a “hotspot” being on the river at a place called “Bullfrogs”. If so, allow me to tell you that it is those things, but only if you want it to be.
