Column: LCD Soundsystem in Pomona: This is happening

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You may not know who LCD Soundsystem is, but the important thing is, a lot of music fans do, and they were buzzing about a show by the band in Pomona on Monday, a semi-secret show that drew 1,700 to the Fox on only three days’ notice. Was this the most talked-about cultural event of 2016 for the Inland Valley? Time will tell, but maybe. My Wednesday column tells the story.

Above, two photos before the concert; below, two photos after. So many people!

Videos of many of the songs from the concert have been uploaded from fans’ phones. Here’s one: “Home.” Oh, and “This is Happening,” referenced in the headline, is the title of their third album.

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Hope, Crosby and Cucamonga

Reader Doug Evans, who recently read a Bob Hope biography, emails the following:

“In googling YouTube clips of Bob and Bing clowning around in their movies, I found this verse in a song called ‘Apalachicola F-L-A’ from ‘The Road to Rio’ [1947]: ‘Magnolia trees in blossom and a pretty southern gal / It’s better than the orange groves in Cucamonga, Cal.’ So I can contribute that to the vast lore of Inland Empire references you’ve been accumulating over the years.”

The reference comes early in the song and is easy to miss — so, extra thanks to Doug for not missing it. This is the first time anyone has brought up this song to me. Nice to know old-time local references are still out there to be found!

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Madge Bellamy, star

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In writing about 1920s and ’30s actress Madge Bellamy, who died in 1990 in Upland, I noted in October that she might be the only Ontario resident with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and said I’d have to visit her star sometime.

The other day, I did. I was on my way to Amoeba Music. I got off the subway at Hollywood and Vine, then walked west. Her star is at 6715 Hollywood Blvd., about five blocks west of Vine, between Wilcox and Hudson. It’s like any other star, but I’m glad I paid homage.

Below, Madge Bellamy in “White Zombie.”

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Column: ‘Repo Man’ local reference is anything but generic

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Friday’s column — I’m back! — kicks off with a few words about the 20th anniversary of the movie “Repo Man,” which has a Pomona reference. (Above, Emilio Estevez, left, and Harry Dean Stanton in a scene from the film.) After that: Culture Corner items, Claremont items, a quick note about my vacation and a plug for three upcoming events around my “Pomona A to Z” book, two of them this Saturday and one of them on the radio.

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‘Politics of Love’ movie trailer features downtown Pomona

“Politics of Love” is an independent romantic comedy about two people on opposite sides of the McCain-Obama presidential campaign in 2008. Much of the movie was filmed in Pomona. It had a very short theatrical release but I believe it can be purchased online. You can watch the trailer above.

The Masonic Lodge is featured prominently (with a “McCain-Palin” banner), Trinity Methodist Church shows up, as do one or more homes in Lincoln Park, and is that the Western University campus at one point?

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Upland screenwriter hit bullseye with ‘Grosse Pointe Blank’

Tom Jankiewicz, an Upland resident who wrote the screenplay for the 1997 movie “Grosse Pointe Blank,” died Jan. 23, at a mere 49 years of age. I knew him. Sunday’s column is a tribute to him and the circumstances that spawned the hit film. Above, he’s pictured in his home with a copy of the framed movie poster; below, he’s on location on Monrovia’s Myrtle Avenue, which stood in for Grosse Pointe, Mich., the film’s setting.

 

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