Past Stories
The Pokrasso Effect
The premiere printmaker and his colleagues energize RCC’s Quad Gallery
The popularity of printmaking has been on the rise for the past several years—and with it a new generation of creators are exploring the multifaceted pr...
Where There’s Smoke There’s . . .
Cheech and Chong return to the stage, where it all started
C
heech and Chong are on the road again, pissing off the straights while turning on everybody else with their marijuana-infused brand of subversive sketch comedy.
When ...
A Fighting Chance
When you were very small, there wasn’t much you wanted.
Clean diapers, a cuddle, and food made the shortlist early-on. Stuffed animals were slowly added, then siblings, books, and anything you could climb on.
By the time you ...
Consumption Junction
There’s a growing awareness in our nation, finally, regarding what we put in our mouths. From Oscar-nominated documentaries like Food, Inc., which reveals the horrifying effects of corporate farming (pesticides, inhumane ...
Gems & Germs
There’s nothing humorous about STDs—or germs of any sort, really—unless they’re place in the proper, comical context. For example, I Googled STD/germ “slogans” and was impressed by what peopl...
Family Ties
Writer Polly Frost mostly sits around in dirty pajamas tickling funny bones through her keyboard, but her family thinks she spends her days frequenting kinky orgies. “If you ever want your family to think you are goofing ...
“Uh-oh, Hot Dog!”
Bobby Lee is surprisingly eloquent when he talks about comedy. I’m interviewing him for his upcoming shows at the Ontario Improv on Feb. 2 to 4, and I’m struck by the fact there seem to be several Bobby Lee’s....
Dishing Up the Dirty
Curator and owner of the new Claremont Packing House artspace Cynde Miller had to explain the venue’s name to me—because, apparently, I am just that old now. Derived from “perma”—a slang term meani...
The Incredible Thinking Woman
9 to 5, the hugely-successful ’80s comedy starring Lily Tomlin, Jane Fonda and Dolly Parton was on television the night before I interviewed Lily Tomlin. I’d forgotten what a zany flick it was and Tomlin is—as usual—hil...
Foul Play
It’s easy to talk to Bob Saget. He’s friendly, down-to-earth and unfailingly self-deprecating. It’s when you sit down later to try and transcribe the interview that you realize you’ve got your work cut out for you. The ...
Unlocking Your Inner Mandala
According to Redlands-based filmmaker Chris Pepino, part of the adventure of making movies is never knowing what project will come along next. That was certainly the case for his latest film, Inside the Perfect Circle, which ch...
The F Word Revisited
If you ever want to start a flurry of passionate exchanges among a group of serious artists and arts educators, just mention the name Judy Chicago. As a groundbreaking feminist artist, Chicago has been a point of contention and...
Back in Old Wine Country
Forget Napa. Back in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Ontario was a winemaker’s paradise, overflowing with grapes. It was considered California’s largest wine growing and wine-producing district.
Much ...
The Rise and Fall of Big Boy
You always wanted to live large.
Your closets are jammed with the finest designer threads available. You got bling and kicks that are the envy of your friends. Your wheels are crazy hot and your home is even hotter.
You’re&...
Gala Getaway
Ever since its debut in October of 2010, Riverside’s Culver Center of the Arts has been at the forefront of bringing unique exhibitions and programming to the Inland Empire. Nowhere has this been more apparent than in the Cul...
A Matter of Life and Death
Don’t run in the house.
It’s one of the first rules you learned when you were young, right along with “No playing ball in the living room.”
You could run on the playground. You could run in the school gym.…
A Ho Ho Happening!
It may not officially be winter yet (that would be Dec. 22), but the Pomona Arts Colony has rolled out a combination of shows to usher in the holiday month that features everything from funky Christmas camp to poignant social&h...
Creative Capitalism
Groundbreaking art movements aren’t always ignited by social politics—sometimes, the economic landscape can create the spark, especially when that economy is in crisis. Take, for example, Interpace Corporation, a progressiv...
Laughs for a Legend
César Estrada Chávez was a Mexican-American civil rights activist and union organizer whose quiet integrity and selfless dedication to the American labor movement improved the lives of workers in California and across the cou...
Doc Rock
You can feel it down to your bones.
You’ve got a pain in the neck, for one thing. No, not that kind—a real pain in the neck and it’s not going away. Work has been a headache—literally—and your feelings are…
She’s a Witch!
Yes, it’s The Crucible in theatre form. Most Californians wouldn’t know, having read The Crucible as a literary text in high school, that the 1952 play by Arthur Miller originated as a theatrical allegory to America’s pos...
It’s all about the “Woo Woo”
Recently I’ve been watching some YouTube videos by spiritualist Eckhart Tolle, whose book A New Earth is one of Oprah’s favorites, and thinking a lot about what he calls “being present.” Many philosophers—especially B...
The Illustrated Man
It would be easy to assume that Pablo Ferro spends his days looking back with pride and nostalgia over his five-decade career as a designer of iconic film titles, trailer campaigns and commercials. But lately it seems that othe...
The Great Beep Forward
If someone mentions video game music, what probably comes to mind is either the dawn of the arcade age of gaming, complete with stereotypical high and low pitches of beeps and bloops. Or perhaps your nostalgia flashes you back ...
Slightly Subversive
Now in its fourth year, this annual exhibition of pop surrealist, lowbrow culture jamming art curated by Bob Self at the Riverside Art Museum is intended to showcase the underground artistry that has served to both inspire and ...
“Don’t Interrupt, Rude!”
“In the beginning, it was rough being a girl,” Anjelah Johnson describes her beginnings in stand-up. “If you’re not funny looking or overweight, then they don’t think you’re going to be funny.”
Johnson isn’t you...
Jewell of Denial
Ever since you were able to understand language, those were two words that inflamed you the most. They meant denial. They were a barrier to what you wanted. They were frustrating, too. And, perhaps unbeknownst to the speaker, t...
Red Hot Raku
Internationally known as one of the fathers of American raku, former Scripps professor of ceramics Paul Soldner passed away earlier this year—but his legacy lives on. In a tribute exhibition to his work, “Serendipity: Paul ...
