Share: It’s March of 2023, and life is not great. A slew of personal issues and the fact that I had missed out on tickets to Taylor Swift’s highly anticipated “Eras Tour” had me feeling really bummed. But one day while out with my family I heard the magic words that every Swiftie wanted to hear, “Congratulations! You got tickets to Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour!” To say I was ecstatic wouldn’t properly convey everything running through my head. Fast forward to Aug 4, and …
Free concert series delivers all that jazz
Share: Buzzing with life, students piled together into the west patio of the Center of Arts on Thursday, entranced by the musical stylings of PCC’s jazz and guitar ensemble. The ensemble is made up of both music majors and non-majors who have a passion for music and performing. These student ensembles give students the opportunity to perform in front of fellow peers on campus grounds every Tuesday and Thursday from 12-1 p.m. “We do these performances as a learning opportunity for the students to perform …
PCC all-star jazz combo band stuns in final performance
Share: Pasadena City College Studio Jazz Singers and All-star combo band performed at Green Street Restaurant. The event was put together as part of their final by Mary Durst, the director of the Supper Club Show. Mary Durst is a music professor at PCC. Her class meets every Wednesday night for three hours throughout the semester. Durst wants to allow her students to perform live for their final in order to grow their experience outside of the classroom. “The live performance reinforces students to learn …
‘The Secret Conversations’ does more for McGovern than it does for Ava Gardner
Share: Some 34 years after she was dubbed “The Most Beautiful Animal Alive,” a financially struggling, physically ailing Ava Gardner contracted a journalist to ghostwrite her memoir as the less humiliating alternative to pawning off her old jewels. So began the working relationship between writer Peter Evans and Gardner. The relationship would span across a year and ultimately culminated with Gardner abruptly withdrawing her permission to publish. This didn’t stop Evans’s estate from posthumously publishing “Ava Gardner: The Secret Conversations,” in 2013. The book was …
What’s that Smell: Local indie talent shines in Los Angeles
Share: It wasn’t just smoke from cigarettes and joints being emitted from The Smell in Los Angeles, but also the sound of shoegaze-like guitar riffs, head pounding drum breakdowns, and a vocalist reminiscent of early 2000s pop punk. On Sunday, Feb 19, this venue hosted three local bands opening with The Crymes, Grave Secrets, and then closing the show with the band Bed. The Smell has been part of Downtown Los Angeles since 1998. It’s not only a venue where musicians can practice and have …
PCC’s Latin Jazz Ensemble serenades Lancers in live concert
Share: PCC’s Latin Jazz Ensemble serenaded Lancer’s Pass last week, collecting passing students who were entranced by the genre’s infectious rhythms. The ensemble, led by Dave Tull, played classics from the Latin jazz repertoire, such as Mama Guela, Como Fué, Llegó La Banda and Mambo Diablo, and swing songs redone in the Latin style. Cantaloupe Island is a jazz standard that the ensemble played as a samba and There Will Never Be Another You was played as a mambo. The ensemble played the jazz standard …
A swinging centennial: Jackie Robinson at 100
Share: A lot can happen in one hundred years. Culture can shift and the beliefs and lifestyles of a society can change drastically. A major catalyst for a new wave of societal beliefs in our world was Jackie Robinson, who was honored at PCC’s Westerbeck Recital Hall this past Sunday, Sept. 29. Robinson was born in 1919, and the musical recital that took place on campus is aptly entitled “A Swinging Centennial: Jackie Robinson at 100.” Follow:
The vaginas convene at Westerbeck theatre
Share: Last week, Pasadena City College students performed Eve Ensler’s feminist play “The Vagina Monologues” for the second year in a row at the Westerbeck theater. The play was produced by PCC psychology professors Jennifer Fiebig and Jennifer Noble and performed by a cast of 38 empowering female students. The production included monologues in the spanish language and even included monologues of two students who told their stories of domestic violence. PCC’s Cross Cultural Center, Psychology Club, Feminist Club and Shepherd’s Door, a non-profit …
Concert percussion brings the rhythm
Share: Patrons stepping into the Westerbeck Recital Hall on the night of November 14 were greeted by a wide variety of instruments completely covering the stage. Tad Carpenter and the Concert Percussion Ensemble would soon come out on the stage and use every one of those instruments to create a wide variety of sounds that filled the hall with rhythmic beauty A quick glance at the various drums around the room is all one really needs to understand the purpose of each different instrument. The …