Entertainment

CALIFORNIA—The Employment Development Department of California reported on Monday, July 20 that more than 230,000 Californians who are employed in the arts, entertainment, and recreation sectors have filed for unemployment claims since mid-March, when the pandemic hit the United States. According to the EDD's statistics, divided by county, that includes 65,000 workers in Los Angeles, 30,000 in Orange County,...

SAN FRANCISCO—After 10 years of bringing environmental films to San Franciscans, the San Francisco Green Film Festival will close for good due to financial losses caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The decision by the Festival's Board of Directors comes following their cancellation of the 10th Anniversary Festival scheduled for September 2020. "This was a difficult, heartbreaking decision.” says Rachel Caplan, the...

HELLO AMERICA!─With the death of Congressman John Lewis, one realizes we are witnessing the birth of a new America, along with a new cry of those around the globe who are hungering for acknowledgement and respect as human beings. The coronavirus has opened the hidden doors of bigotry, and ignorance that has been cleverly hidden for many decades, which would...

HOLLYWOOD─I had no plans to do a recap of the latest episode of the Showtime drama “The Chi,” but things were so riveting. Just typing this has me eager for the next episode America. The episode, ‘Terror Town’ was a turning point for so many reasons America. SPOILER ALERT: If you have not watched the episode, stop reading now. First,...

SAN FRANCISCO—The COVID-19 pandemic forced the cancelation of the 2020 Stern Grove Festival season. Organizers have found a way to entertain fans through Best of the Fest, a series of video playlists featuring archived performances, scenery of the Grove, and special guests. According to Stern Grove Festival's press release, Best of the Fest began airing on Sunday, June 14 and...

HOLLYWOOD─The buzz about one of the staple characters on the NBC soap “Days of Our Lives” has been talked about for months and this week, Sami Brady made her return and blew into town like a storm people. First we had Eli and Lani tie the knot, then Justin and Kayla’s wedding blew up and this week the focus...

SAN FRANCISCO—San Francisco’s annual Shakespeare festival will be free, online, and live this year due to the pandemic. The festival starts July 18, and will run until September 27.  A live performance of “King Lear”, this year’s featured performance, will be available live on Youtube on July 18 at 7:00 PM, and on Sunday, July 19 at 4 PM. The...

HOLLYWOOD─Smart, exciting, riveting are just a few words I can use to describe the movie “Arkansas” which turned out to be a delightful surprise in a theater-less movie going experience for the past couple of weeks. I have seen plenty of movies dedicated to the world of drugs. The operations that happen behind the scenes, the glitz and glamour...

HOLLYWOOD─I recently read a story that revealed fans of horror films are better prepared for outbreaks, pandemics and utter chaos that we only imagine can happen in the movies, but it feels like we’re living in a pandemic right now. Let’s be clear, this is not “Night of the Living Dead” or some zombie apocalypse, but we are dealing...

HELLO AMERICA!─It was so sad and emotionally disturbing to hear about the death of Elvis Presley’s grandson Benjamin Keough.  It forced me to remember what a good friend his granddad was to me when I first arrived in Hollywood. Sonny West, one of the Presley crew and a close friend of mine brought him over to the RKO lot...