Midsummer Scream: We're now deep inside the sweatiest, sunburniest stretch of July, but a rolling fog is creeping into Long Beach, and it bears an October chill. The first of our mondo Halloween festivals has arrived, so get the 411 on yard haunt tips, upcoming theme park extravaganzas, cool costume and make-up suggestions, and everything to do with the eeriest part of the year. The dastardly dates? Lurk for the LBCC on July 30 and 31.
KCON LA: When the first KCON arrived in Irvine just a half decade ago, an impressive 12,000 fans turned out for live K-Pop performances, events dedicated to Korean variety shows, starry panels covering all aspects of K-entertainment, information on K-fashion, and lots of delicious food. The phenom has grown from there, with outposts on both coasts. Some 70,000 fans turned out in 2015 for the NY and LA to-dos, in fact, so count on the July 29-31 Staples Center spectacular to be beyond big.
National Dance Day: Stroll by Grand Park on Saturday, July 30 and you're bound to see hundreds of people learning a routine from "So You Think You Can Dance" celebs. It's free to join, and you can be a beginner (or pro), so don't stress too much over the whole "two left feet" thing. Just bring your pizzazz, and jazz hands, to "National Dance Day's flagship west coast celebration." The Dizzy Feet Foundation is the org behind the sashaying, by the by.
Battleship Iowa Barbershop Re-Opens: Remember a few months back, when the haircuttery aboard the USS Iowa opened for a day (and one day only)? If you missed getting your locks trimmed in the very same chair where George H.W. Bush got a haircut, your chance is coming back around on Sunday, July 31. It's twenty dollars, cash, and you can add on a self-guided tour ticket for eleven bucks. Details on this rare chance? This way.
Galco's Summer Soda Tasting: No one need explain that the temperature is on the warmish side these days, and the suggestion that people need to find icy beverages almost need not be made. But we shall make it, here, with the recommendation that you swing by the Soda Pop Stop on Sunday, July 31 for a mondo tasting of all sorts of quirky libations. Music and other delightful doings are part of this fundraiser for the Friends of the Southwest Museum.
