“Is this the worst time to buy a house in SoCal?, Aug. 26 Terry Castleman’s article is spot-on. The early 2000s were truly a Wild West market. My wife and I bought a condo (two bedrooms, two bathrooms, 1,250 square feet) a mile from the beach in Dana Point in 2003 using a home equity line of credit at 2.49%, no [...]
Paramount was squeezed into agreeing to this settlement. Controlling shareholder Shari Redstone was desperate for the Skydance merger to be completed even though 1st Amendment experts warned that any settlement consistuted a bribe of a public official and may be illegal. Further, it sets a dangerious precedent for media outlets interviewing public officials. Los Angeles Times | Letters [...]
A significant percentage of Los Angeles’ homeless veteran population lives on Skid Row, pictured here. (Photo: U.S. Air Force/Staff Sgt. Andrew Lee) California Legionnaire — Over the last decade, homelessness in Los Angeles County has exploded. Statistics compiled by the L.A. County Sheriff projected the number to hit 80,000 by the end of 2021. Of those 80,000, more than 10 percent are veterans. [...]
Que Sera in Long Beach, California This was the band’s first show after its lead guitarist Joey Cauthen left to pursue a college degree so all the pressure was on Chico to pick up the slack. Since then, SA has added another ax man and filled out its horn section. SA’s plays an all-original set that fuses funk, hip-hop, [...]
Allyson Stewart with her daughters Jade and Serenity after graduating from the Orange County Rescue Mission’s Village of Hope. The night of Nov. 14, 2013 is forever seared in Allyson Stewart’s brain: police officers searching her Garden Grove apartment, her infant son being taken away, her junkie boyfriend locked in a bedroom, lines of methamphetamine on a mirror and enough illegal [...]
Hurt and the Heartbeat at the Whisky A Go Go Shortly before the show, H&H founder and front man James Lewis (south OC’s favorite jammin’ UPS driver) added Michael Lara (MJ and the Space Jams) on guitar and veteran utility man Sky Lee Vague who has since taken over drum duties. The band recently rolled out its second album [...]
Jimi Lewis & The Muckers at Doll Hut in Anaheim Teaming up with Michael Lara (MJ and the Space Jams), this is James Lewis’ side project, an outlet for releasing new material that doesn’t fit into Hurt and the Heartbeat’s catalog.
House of Blues in Anaheim One of the last shows at HOB Anaheim when it was based in Disney’s California Adventure Park, SA rocked the house. It was SA’s coming out party after playing a solid year of smaller bars around Riverside, OC and LA. Originally I was told that only stills could be taken, but after schmoozing the [...]
Wendy Clausen served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 2007 to 2010. (Scott Smeltzer / Weekend) latimes.com — After graduating from Sycamore High School in Tustin, Wendy Clausen wanted to do something big. She wanted to be a Marine. Military service was going to be her life and her career. But shortly before completing boot camp, she injured her pelvis during [...]
Hurt and the Heartbeat - Boscoes Originally I planned to freelance a story about the band, but after the pitch was shot down James and I talked about posting a couple of vids on the band’s Facebook page, which easily exceeded our expectations. Something crazy like 500 views the first day.