There are still tickets available to the Orange County Beer Festival taking place on Sunday, August 30 at Irvine Lake. Please note the web address on the flyer had to be changed due to technical difficulties. This is the active web address: drinkeatplay.com/orangecountybeerfest/ or you can just click on the flyer.

To order tickets click on the top right of the Drink:Eat:Play website or here. Tickets MUST be purchased in advance, none will be available at the door. There is also a designated driver special of $15, which gives you access to everything except the beer tastings, obviously. Enter code “dd” when ordering tickets.

Remember folks it’s gonna be hot, Hot, HOT on Sunday. In addition to all of the wonderful beer we’ll be drinking don’t forget to drink plenty of water. I don’t want to see someone keeling over ’cause, you know, that’d ruin my buzz. All kidding aside drink responsibly people and that means water and lots of it … that goes for yours truly as well. And to prevent this nonsense from happening iced tea and water will be available for FREE.

Don’t forget to mark your calendars for the  LA Beer Festival on September 19th.

This is a 21+ only event. Even if you are the designated driver you must be 21 to attend.

Fans of beer and/or drinking, mark your calendars now for Drink:Eat:Play‘s first ever Orange County Beer Festival and hopefully not the last. It will be held on Sunday, August 30, 2009 from 2:00 – 5:00 p.m. at Irvine Lake. Please note, this is a 21+ only event.

With so many great Orange Country breweries, the OC shouldn’t be limited to wine tasting and pairings, which are good too. However, it’s about time for OC to have it’s own beer festival. The event will highlight Orange County’s top breweries, in addition to over 60 domestic and international brands. Click for full OC Beer Fest List. Since it really wouldn’t be a festival without food and music they’ve got that covered as well. The festival will feature barbeque, In-n-Out, and some great ’80s glam rock from Metal Shop.

To purchase tickets and for more information, click on the flyer. Tickets are $40 per person and will NOT be available at the door.

Recently a shoe outlet opening, now a festival dedicated to beer and it’s football season again. I think I’ve died and gone to heaven. Go Steelers!!! ;)

For those of you who can’t get enough beer or just one beer festival just won’t do – and really, who wants to limit themselves to one? – there will be another: LA Beer Festival on Saturday, September 19th.

P.S. I will be posting a follow-up blog about my time at the OC Beer Festival.

Allen Shellenberger, the drummer for Lit, has died of brain cancer. He was 39.

The Orange County band recorded three albums, one of which went platinum and propelled them to international fame but to us they will always be part of our talented OC family. My thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends during this difficult time.

Here’s a link to his Obituary in the Los Angeles Times.

So sad.

All I got was this tiki-tacky ashtray! Full. Of. Win.

Well that’s only sorta true, I also got a set of lovely atomic-tiki bar glasses and a wonderful clock to augment the object d’art above. If you have never been to Tiki Oasis, it’s a poly-pop appreciation weekend in San Diego that is full up hipsters, hippies and lots and lots of rum. I went with the wife and friend for a day trip and I have to tell you it was pretty fun! I was initially concerned that it would be too much of the renaissance-fair set and too little of the middle-aged hipster set. Turns out it was just a bunch of drunken tiki worshipers having a really big party!

Orange County, as you may or may not know, was once rife with tiki temples. Alas those days are gone and only a couple of places remain. Notable among these are the Enchanted Tiki Room and the former Sam’s Seafood in Huntington Beach; the later of which has changed hands and names so many times I’ve lost count. Anyway, if you want to relive the glory days of swinging bachelor pads and jet-set exotica that California was once famous for, Tiki Oasis is the place to do it. Maybe we’ll see you there next year!

Concerts in Hart Park: Wednesdays, 7-8:30 p.m.

OK, so it’s kinda schmaltzy but who doesn’t love a free concert on a nice warm summer evening? So pack your snacks and drinkies and settle in for some free entertainment. Blankets or (low) lawn chairs are welcomed but leave you pets at home – nobody wants to listen to your Basset Hound howl. Additionally, food will be available for purchase courtesy of Kiwanis of Orange.

2009 Concerts in Hart Park dates:

• July 8, The Wise Guys Big Band Machine – Big band/swing music
• July 15, The Fenians – Traditional and contemporary Irish music
• July 22, Stone Soul – Motown, soul and R & B classics
• July 29, Open Wide – Classic rock
• August 5, Crashdance – Top 40 dance favorites
• August 12, The Sam Morrison Band – southern classic rock
• August 19, The Hodads – 50’s and 60’s rock-n-roll
• August 26, Film at Eleven – Motown and R & B classics

Hart Park is located at 701 South Glassell St., Orange, CA 92866

See you there!

Yes folks, it’s true. According to this OC Register article, the fair committee approved (and apparently already filmed) a 3-D movie about “Al’s brain” to be shown at this year’s OC Fair. The 10 minute film will be shown in a temporary tent that will be set up for this year, however there are plans to build an $8 million permanent building at the fairgrounds site.

OC Fair CEO Steve Beazley likened the film to Disney’s “Captian EO”. (I personally would love a full-scale Weird Al spoof of the entire Captain EO short instead of a journey “inside his brain” but….whatever). He goes on to compare the fair to Disneyland (hehe), by stating Disney opens new attractions every year to keep interest in the parks, and they want to do the same with the Fair.

Feel free to read the full article and see the pros and cons to putting this into the fairgrounds.

But I want to know, what are your thoughts? Do you agree with spending $2.5 million on this film, just for the OC Fair? Or do you think this is about as smart as building the New Year’s Eve Orange Drop thingy?

Better yet….let’s do a poll! But please feel free to comment as well!

**Special thanks to former OC Metblogger Mike for sharing this via his twitter account.

If anyone cares what I think, I say build the thing. I don’t think we’re in a position to rule out ANYTHING that could possibly end up making money for fair. Let’s just hope it at least makes $2.5 million to cover the cost of the film!

[poll=23]

Who’s with me?

Before the year 2000, Verizon Wireless Ampitheater was known as Irvine Meadows Amphitheater. In the 1980’s the amphitheater employed a teenaged Tom Dumont as a burger cook. While it is every budding musicians dream to make it big, Tom has fulfilled that dream. A few years later he became the guitarist for No Doubt, arguably the biggest music act to come out of Orange County. With a career spanning over twenty years, their music has evolved from their Ska roots to the a Grammy Award winning Pop powerhouse. Not only have they grown musically, but the No Doubt family has grown in size and geographically. Despite that growth, the band still has deep roots in Orange County. Now a resident of Long Beach, Tom grew up in Irvine, and has lived in Orange and Anaheim along the way. Recently I had the pleasure to sit down with guitarist Tom and ask him some questions relating to his experiences with the band and his ties with Orange County.

Jeff Donaldson: Growing up in Orange County, I know you ventured to Irvine Meadows / Verizon Wireless Amphitheater at least once as a teen/ young adult. My first concert there was Berlin and Talk Talk. Do you remember the first concert you went to go see there? Who did you go to see?

Tom Dumont: Actually my first memories of Irvine Meadows was as an employee. I grew up in Irvine, and when I turned 16 I got a job there, literally flipping hamburgers in the concession stands…I worked there every summer for at least 4 or 5 years. I just loved music and I usually got off the grill early enough to catch most of the headliners set. If there was a band playing that I really liked, I’d sneak in using my employee badge and shirt. So basically in the 80’s I saw almost everyone who played there. I loved it. And quickly moved up from burgers to beer sales to managing stands. I was ambitious :)

J: What was your favorite or most memorable concert at Irvine Meadows / Verizon Wireless Amphitheater? It could be as a performer or spectator. Why?

TD:Most memorable would be when No Doubt opened for Ziggy Marley there in 1990. I think we were the first of 5 bands that day. We were still a local band with no record deal. Although we had great shows headlining clubs in those days, playing at Irvine was a very big deal obviously and for my own reasons as well (see answer above.) I think our upcoming 4 night stand there will even top that though!
(more…)

Last week I to Los Angeles to meet a friend lunch. While I love Orange County, I realized there are some areas I wish that OC was more like LA:

• Credit card Parking Meters-I noticed them in use while having coffee at Intelligentsia in Silverlake. The ability to pay parking meters with a credit/debit card is needed. I hardly carry cash. I know Huntington Beach had a pilot program on limited meters in the dog park area of Huntington Cliffs near dog beach, but they are not on the streets much
• Public Transportation-The frequency and availability is much better than in OC. I really wish cities like Irvine had not voted against it, and now it looks like the Centerline Light Rail Plan is still on hold indefinitely. Although “OCTA has approximately $340 million in Measure M funds set aside for “high-technology advanced rail transit” which could be used on substitute projects…” it is my fear that the “substitute projects” will just be band-aids to a continuing problem.
• Attitudes-no one seams to care/make a big deal about who they/you are. If anything it seems like people are more worried about keeping anonymity than blowing it. A prime example was the same day having coffee and my friend was taking a picture of a dog for his wife, and after the fact realized they were a celebrity. While sitting there that morning, I noticed a few people that were famous. Not the self promoting, reality show types that want you to recognize them, but people I recognized form their body of work. Unfortunately, it has been y experience in Orange County that when someone of celebrity type status is recognized, they usually are mobbed or at least hounded for photos and/or autographs. Not to say that doesn’t happen in LA occasion, but not as often in my observations.
• The lack of a “Downtown.” While Santa Ana calls itself “Downtown Orange County” I am not sure if everyone agrees.
• Bike racks on most streets. The other day I rode to my doctors appointment and had to search for a place to lock my bike and ended up locking it pinned to a handicap parking post and a shrub. No fun. Almost every place I have been in LA has either fixtures on the street to lock bikes or some sort of rack.

Now for a couple differences I like.

• Smog- It is a a LITTLE better in Orange County.
• Traffic- a little more forgiving. Measure M and the toll roads have helped with improving a lot of troubled area. There are still areas to improve on, like I stated above, but our traffic is lighter than LA.

These are just a couple things that struck me the other day. I would love to hear your additions.

As you know I have complained in the past that there is nothing to do in OC for New Year’s Eve, aside from the God forsaken hell-hole known as the Orange County Fair Grounds. I am not sure they’re even doing that this year… good riddance! Well it’s a moot point because this NYE, House of Blues Anaheim presents Richard Cheese & Lounge Against The Machine. God save the Queen this is great news!

[Photo courtesy of Richard Cheese & Lounge Against The Machine]

Holy shit! I am so there – just bought my tickets to see the big Dick show on December 31st. If you’re not familiar, Richard and the band sing lounge/swankified versions of contemporary hits. You can hear samples at his web page. It’s so worth the $47.50 to get in. Can I count on seeing some of you there? The wife and I would love to hang with you on New Year’s Eve – just give me a shout in the comments if we will see ya at the show. It’ll be filthy. It’ll be fun! It’ll be cheesy!

Click here to purchase tickets to see Richard Cheese & Lounge Against The Machine at House of Blues Anaheim (Downtown Disney) – December 31st, 2008.