Cornerstone Theater Company and The California Endowment, in partnership with The Black Parallel School Board, will bring the community, policy makers, and the media together to dramatize personal stories of school discipline and to discuss alternatives to harsh practices on Wednesday, June 26, 2013 at the State Capitol in Sacramento.  This bridge building event, Talk it Out: A Community Conversation to Fix School Discipline, will feature a dramatic reading of a new play, Willful, performed by students, community members and professional actors, with a focus on the current debate over the excessive use of “willful defiance” in school suspensions and expulsions.  The event is sponsored by the office of Roger Dickinson, D-Sacramento and author of AB 420, a new bill that would restrict the ill-defined and overused “willful defiance” rationale for harsh disciplinary measures. Read the rest of this entry »

After a year of culinary experimentation and an award-winning design makeover, Beachwood Cafe Owner Patti Peck (Millie’s Cafe & Edendale Grill) and Chef Minh Phan (Echo Park Artisanal) will celebrate the milestone with a Grand Opening/One-Year Anniversary party on Friday, March 1, 2013.  The event will feature an open house from 6:00pm to 8:00pm with free passed appetizers, mocktails and cocktails, followed from 8:00pm to 10:00pm with a $30 tasting menu debuting the cafe’s new spring menu.  Beachwood Cafe serves fresh farm-to-table fare in the historic Beachwood Canyon neighborhood of Los Angeles (internationally recognizable for the iconic Hollywood sign).  The whimsical redesign of the restaurant (formerly the Village Coffee Shop), by Architect Barbara Bestor, earned the cafe a 2012 AIA Restaurant Design Award.  Breakfast, lunch and dinner are served.  The Grand Opening party is open to the public. Read the rest of this entry »

From hidden bars serving up $2.50 caipirinhas and tiny boutiques, to the best clubs and vintage markets, Total São Paulo: A Guide to the Unexpected (Unhinged Jaw Press) is a must-have travel resource for discerning creative types traveling to one of the world’s most up-and-coming cities. Written by Phuong-Cac Nguyen, an American journalist who has been reporting and breathing Sao Paulo’s pop culture/lifestyle beat for years, this beautifully designed 176-page paperback guidebook packs in places off the beaten track in 10 essential neighborhoods. Sprinkled among the candid, gorgeously shot photographs are also 11 easy-to-read, illustrated maps and 17 interviews with Sao Paulo VIPs who give the inside scoop on the metropolis’ best spots. Total São Paulo: A Guide to the Unexpected will be released in April 2009 through www.unhingedjawpress.com and independent bookstores worldwide. A supplemental online Sao Paulo city guide will be launched in December at www.totalSPguide.com with profiles on hotspots, provocative features and a regularly updated happenings calendar.
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Antidote Films is pleased to present Bomb It, the global graffiti documentary by award winning director Jon Reiss. Currently on a whirlwind international film festival tour, the film will screen theatrically for US audiences in spring 2008 followed by the DVD release. Featuring street artists and top graffiti writers from 5 continents Bomb It is the first film to update the story of graffiti with a truly international perspective. Personalities such as Cornbread, Lady Pink, acclaimed hip hop artist and former graffiti writer KRS One, international art machine Shepard Fairey, Brazilian bombing twin brothers Os Gemeos, and others share their lives with the camera. Globally comprehensive as well as politically relevant, a recent review by IGN.com reported, “… At the core of the film is a poignant social statement about public space and the war being waged for it.” To learn more please visit http://bombit-themovie.com and http://www.myspace.com/bombitthemovie and for constant updates about this film and graffiti culture in general, especially artist’s rights, visit the Bomb It blog at http://bombit-themovie.com/blog
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