The
Al Freeman Events Newsletter
This
'n That Archive
Website courtesy of:
Alan
Freeman
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This ‘n that, helpful information
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Some more helpful hints and interesting stuff from yesteryear...... please
send me your favorite interesting tidbits ......
Editor’s Note: Many very worthwhile organizations host Golf Tournaments
in the local area, and although these events are great fun and great
fundraisers….. there are just too many to list them all. Please visit the
excellent charity Golf Tournament listings at www.charitygolfonline.com to find
(most) all the charity Tournaments in the So. Cal region. And Tournament organizers,
make sure your Tourney is listed here …. it’s free !!!
Get yourself on the mailing list for the Improv Comedy Shops in
Irvine and Brea…. and they will regularly send you special offers for
free tickets and special shows. See the current lineup and signup at www.symfonee.com/Improv/irvine/home/index.aspx
Air Travelers…… if
you travel as much as the rest of us, this might come in handy.
Here’s a website that lists every flight on all airline carriers
between any two city pairs – none of this jumping around all over the web
to find out who goes where and when. Check it out at http://travel.airwise.com/schedules/
Speaking of traveling….. if you’re out there by car, check out
the National list of Speed Traps at http://www.speedtrap.org/speedtraps/stetlist.asp
Two Wheels, One Planet…. and if you enjoy bicycling, there are a ton of resources on the web
offering local information about groups, rides, paths, safety and fun for
bikers of al persuasions. I ran
across a site every local bicycling enthusiast
should visit, at www.cyclingdude.com/ -- it’s in a blog format, with loads of
information about CA clubs, local routes, etc.
If you like live music and concerts, sign up for the email newsletter from Live Nation www.livenation.com
for updates on venues large and small in So Cal.
They offer special deals, premium parking, and special seating spots
too. Also, the best and current
(accurate) listing of Concerts and live music is in The OC Register on
Friday, in the “Ten
Days Out” column of
the Show section. Worth the read…..
For the locals of
Huntington Beach
and people close to HB, there is a new wonderful website that will give you
all the info you need over where to go and what to do in
Huntington Beach
. Check it out, a site like this was long overdue,
at www.thelocalhb.com/HB_locals/local_music.html
Thanks to Cynthia Metzger for the info….
Long
Beach/Belmont Shore citizens and
denizens, hearken ye…. here’s an
underground voice for you too, the
Long Beach Party Project www.lbpp.net/
Here it is…. Independent confirmation from Self Magazine that Orange County
women are the most fit in the nation, article www.ocregister.com/news/character-ccix-county-1929993-orange-women
Dog Lovers…. here’s a chance to slather some goodness on your pooch,
along with other like-minded folks, at the Orange County
Chihuahua and Small Dog Meet up Group.
Chihuahuas,
various small dog breeds and their owners meet at the monthly play dates at
various local dog parks. It’s a great opportunity for your pooch to socialize
and play! Check out the calendar for monthly meet ups and other dog
events. It’s free to join, info at http://chihuahua.meetup.com/451/
Here’s a website with lots of info for Pet lovers www.petloverspublications.com/OC/oc_calendar.html
Get a Human on the Line –
I ran across this little tidbit…..might help to break the logjam and frustration. Tired of
computers answering your telephone calls and automated customer service
runarounds ?? Me too !!
Try www.GetHuman.com
and www.NoPhoneTrees.com
to help connect to an employee and bypass automated systems.
These sites offer special inside phone numbers and codes to bypass
phone hell and get your arms around someone who can help.
Free yourself and landfills of Junk
Mail –
Send a written request, with your name as it appears on all that junk, to: Mail
Preference Service, c/o The Direct marketing Association,
P.O. Box 9008
,
Farmingdale
,
NY
11735-9008
. Include this message “Please
register my name with the Mail Preference Service”.
You can also opt out for a $1 fee at www.dmaconsumers.org/consumerassistance.html
For special deals on local events....
go to www.goldstarevents.com/
and sign up for their weekly listing. They
cut deals with local venues and you can get theatre tickets, concert seats,
Improv etc. at half off or better. You
enter your local zip code and they tailor the events to be close to you.
Jazz Lovers.... I’m a Jazz
lover, that’s been a passion since my teens. Here’s
a good site for local Jazz events and programs www.lajazz.com/index.cfm
Also more
jazz information at
www.kkjz.org/events/index.shtml
Want to check out parties and fun destination events
all over the world?? Check out
my friend Kevin Wilkerson’s www.pubclub.com
website. From the small getogethers in the
South
Bay
to
Europe
and points Worldwide, Kevin picks up info on some of the most fun events
everywhere. Also, you can see
overwhelming evidence of sordid local behavior at Tommy T’s website
www.upscaleaccess.com
Tommy and his crew snap photos in many of the local clubs and pubs….
Here’s the contact info for some local Dance
Studios: www.ocswing.com
www.dancesportplace.com
www.clubpromenade.com www.avant-gard-ballroom.com
Give them a try, learn some new
moves or polish what ya’ got…..
Here’s something special for live music buffs…. Some guys with way too much time on their hands and an abstract profit motive put together a website with
literally hundreds of days-gone-by live music concerts, courtesy of Bill
Graham’s library.
Bill
Graham, promoter extraordinaire, ran the
Filmore in SFO, and he had a no exception rule that he owned the live
recordings for every performer that played there…. hence the music treasure. Put on a good set of ‘phones and dive in…. you’ll be
banging your head in no time !!!
http://concerts.wolfgangsvault.com/RadioPlayList.aspx
I met Greer
Wylder at the
opening of Tory Burch in SC Plaza, and she is delightful.
For 14 years, Greer wrote about fashion, dining and trends in
Orange
County
as a popular columnist for the Daily Pilot.
She has started a free daily e-mail service called "A Daily Dose
of OC" for
Orange
County
that tips you to hot new retail stores, great bargains (available only to
free subscribers to "A Daily Dose of OC"), undiscovered dining
spots and the latest products and services.
Pretty cool, she finds out of the way places, ID’s trends, and provides a “Daily
Dose” of interesting local color. Check out her site and sign
up at www.greersoc.com
Now Greer is writing for the Daily Pilot again, scouting out the
better things for your bargain hunting pleasure…..
I wish I had a dollar for every time I heard that someone had lost their Cell
Phone, left it in the rent-a-car, croaked after falling in the blue
Pacific etc. and they lost all their numbers and had to start over again.
Here’s a very helpful and simple way to avoid this unfortunate
circumstance. Go to Amazon www.amazon.com
or any other big website that sells phone accessories and in the search
field enter in the make and model of your cell phone.
For $5-25 you can get a cable and software that hooks your cell phone
to your computer through the USB port, so you can backup your phone book, do
editing, ringtones, and always have those names and numbers if your phone
hits the skids…. or you change to another model.
Cheap, EZ, and loaded with smartz……
Do you swing ??
I mean swing dance....
if you do or would like to know how to jump, jive and wail, check out
the OC Swing Club at www.ocswing.com
Our good friend Shesha Marvin has been teaching and organizing swing dance classes
and events all over OC for years – and there are several local venues
pretty much every night of the week. Also,
here’s a calendar of local ballroom and swing events www.ocdance.com/thisweek.html
Get on their email list….
I don’t
know how they do this…. but take a look at the Quick Change Artists video
at www.youtube.com/v/RB-wUgnyGv0
Amazing
!!
Did you ever
wonder about Charities and how they spend their contributions??
Long time readers of my newsletter know that I check all of them out,
and you can too….. go to www.charitywatch.org
or www.charitynavigator.org
to get the skinny on the Charity organization in question.
Pretty good info…..
Gas Prices are sky–high.....
so here’s a little helper. Checkout www.orangecountygasprices.com/
to see where the best deals on gas are in OC, or at least what the
low prices are so you don’t drive all over for 2 cents a gallon.....
you know who you are......
Here’s another great site with this information – MSN gets info
every night from the credit cards charged and assembles it -- autos.msn.com/everyday/gasstations.aspx?zip=&src=Netx
For a great Charity events Calendar....
Orange
Coast
magazine has
a Master Calendar of many worthwhile events, with details and contact info.
It’s constantly updated. Go
to www.orangecoastmagazine.com and get to Master Calendar.
Also, for the scoop on happenings in the great land north of the 605
(LA to you purists) checkout www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/events/index.jsp
Hans
has been adding a lot of new stuff to
www.pubdistrict.com
for
clubs in OC and LA – this is worth a visit if you haven’t been there
lately….
Savvy
shoppers get deals and inside info by signing up for the South
Coast Plaza’s Premier Club at www.southcoastplaza.com/premiereclub.php
Really deep underground Rave, concert and music calendar …. www.socal-raves.org/calendar
Local wine events of all sorts
are delivered fresh to your email inbox courtesy of www.localwineevents.com/
- sign up for their free local
newsletter and you’ll get all the wine tastings/wine events in your local
community. And for an all-female
wine lover site, go to www.womenwine.com/
Like Happy
Hour fun and mingling?? Miss
the old days?? Checkout www.happyhourinfo.info/orangecounty.php
for a list of after work haunts in the local area.....
Friends and Fans of the Grape….. here’s a detailed list of the
various Orange County Wine Boutiques, and some local wine events,
courtesy of OC Metro/OC Menus www.ocmenus.net/entertainment.htm
And signup for an OC Wine events newsletter at www.localwineevents.com/Orange-County-Wine
If
you are interested in volunteer work or just to stay informed, there is a group
called the Volunteer Center of Orange County that organizes community efforts.
Here’s a website with a list of (almost all) the local charities www.volunteercenter.org/nonprofits/default.asp?id=23
Another group is www.volunteermatch.org/
YOU can make a difference in the world....
Diamond
Productions
Al Freeman
(949) 222-2232
Orange County's #1
Event Planning since 1997
