Arts

I have to say that I am truly sad to read the Jan. 29 commentary by Barry McComb titled “It's important to save the Alex” - not only for myself, but for all the future generations. How can this happen? How can we allow this? My grandmother moved to Glendale in the late '40s to raise her four daughters. Almost 50 years ago one of her daughters had a child, Cynthia, at Glendale Adventist Medical Center. This child, me, grew up with Grandma Garnet enjoying the arts at the Alex Theatre.

GLENDALE ? The arts are almost everywhere in Jennifer Hopkins' teaching. She uses drama, dance and music to help her fifth-grade students at R.D. White Elementary School learn academics in a program that is so effective she was nominated for a Los Angeles Music Center Bravo Award. "I can't imagine not doing it that way because I would be completely bored teaching it right out of the book," said Hopkins, who has taught at R.D. White for six years. "It makes teaching fun, not to mention the benefits the students get from the arts."

Alecia Foster NORTHEAST GLENDALE -- Hundreds of student musicians, dancers, actors and visual artists will show off their talents tonight at The Alex Theatre during "Celebration of the Arts 2001 ". The event has artists from Glendale Unified School District performing and showing their works at The Alex as part of the theater's 75th-anniversary celebration. The art display will begin at 6:30 p.m. in the courtyard, weather permitting. The concert will begin at 7:30 p.m. A limited number of tickets will be available at the door.

o7The Glendale News-Press visited the Child Educational Center's Traveling Troubadours Performing Arts Camp at Paradise Canyon Elementary School and asked campers: Who is your favorite performer?f7 "I love all performers on stage, especially proteges like Shirley Temple who are our age and get on stage fast." EMMA CHUNG, 10 "I like hula dancers because my mom is from Hawaii." NATALIE BOYD, 9 "I like Green Day because a lot of their music is really good.

“This is the best restaurant in town!” Hoover High School student Josh Deaktor said, placing sausage links on a hungry attendee’s plate at the Tri-School Pancake Breakfast in front of Keppel Elementary on Saturday morning. Parents, friends and teachers from Hoover, Toll Middle and Keppel Elementary schools gathered to enjoy pancakes and listen to the sounds of the schools’ choir arrangements. “I decided to help out at the event because I wanted to volunteer in the community,” said Deaktor, who plays the baritone saxophone in the high school’s jazz band.

I am responding to an article titled "School board to authorize layoff notices" in the Feb. 17 News-Press. I was quoted as saying: "Art and music [education] I would consider an extra, maybe. " This statement was most certainly taken out of context. The arts are not a frill. They are an essential part of the curriculum in our schools. In fact, I would argue that they are just as important as science and math. I am an arts advocate. I have even turned my passion into a vocation and am now serving as the executive director of the Glendale Symphony Orchestra Assn.

If they take the time to ask, arts groups may get just what they want by completing a survey created by the city's new Arts and Culture Commission. This first survey will determine who the artists and art groups are in Glendale, says Eve Rappoport, community services supervisor for arts and culture. The next step will be another round of forms, asking artists and groups about their needs. Information gathered will be placed in the commission's database and published in a directory to be made available to those interested in the arts.

One Colorado and the Armory Center for the Arts are ready to celebrate the summer with the acclaimed children's series Kids in the Courtyard , which consists of participatory, live performances followed by art workshops led by the Armory Center for the Arts, Thursdays in July at 11 a.m. in the One Colorado Courtyard. All are free and open to the public. Children of all ages are welcome. Free baby stroller parking is provided. July 12 ? Drumtime Drum Circle with John Lacques What happens when you mix kids with drums and percussion?

New 10-minute plays performed in Studio Theatre The Glendale Community College Theatre Arts Department presents "Present Life: An Evening of 10-Minute Plays," as part of the college's 85th anniversary celebration, opening Wednesday, May 8 in the GCC Auditorium Studio Theatre. Additional shows are May 9, 10 and 11 at 8 p.m. "Present Life" is an eclectic mix of new 10-minute plays from notable playwrights with the theme of birthdays and anniversaries. Seating in the Studio Theatre is limited and there is no late seating.

The Southern California wildfires of 2007 and 2009 are a distant memory for most, but an organization that emerged from the devastation is alive and kicking. ART from the ashes, a Glendale-based cooperative of artists and volunteers that creates artworks out of the detritus of natural disasters, recently hosted a pop-up restaurant and exhibit, Comida Y Arte, in the ultra-cool Wine Vault on Brand. The food was tasty, the artwork tastier. And for another month, you can sample the art for yourself.

Before I became a homeowner, I would frown down upon houses in my neighborhood whose front yards looked like a scene from a horror movie.   “How can you live with an ugly brown patch” I would think. I would just figure seniors on fixed incomes lived in those homes who couldn't afford gardeners or high water bills. Little did I know how expensive it was to maintain an attractive lawn. Since I've became a homeowner back in 1995, the one expense at the top of the list has to be landscaping.

With a combat career already filled with firsts, the history in the making that is Ronda Rousey's career now officially has an opponent to co-author the next chapter in women's mixed-martial-arts chronicle. With Rousey sitting cageside along with Glendale Fighting Club trainer Edmond Tarverdyan and friend and fellow GFC trainee Marina Shafir, bantamweights Miesha Tate and Cat Zingano made their Ultimate Fighting Championship debuts Saturday in Las Vegas at “The Ultimate Fighter 17 Finale,” thrilling the Mandalay Bay crowd with Zingano winning the back-and-forth barnburner via third-round technical knockout.

Glendale Unified officials will apply for a “long shot” competitive arts grant that the U.S. Department of Education will disperse to just six school districts in the nation. If Glendale Unified is successful, it could win up to $325,000 for the Mark Keppel Visual and Performing Arts elementary magnet. “This grant is a long shot,” said Kelly King, director of Glendale Unified's categorical programs. Should the district win, however, it would open up a second opportunity to apply for additional funding beyond the one-year grant for up to three years more.

Marina Shafir walked in, walked through some punches and promptly and emphatically took care of business on Saturday night. The up-and-coming Glendale-trained mixed martial artist easily disposed of opponent Danielle Mack with a first-round armbar, winning in just 59 seconds at Tuff-N-Uff's Mayhem in Mesquite II card in Mesquite, Nev. With the victory, Shafir, fighting at 150 pounds, improved to 3-0 in her amateur MMA career, as Mack (0-3)...

Girls and boys, women and men of all ages from near and far descended upon the Glendale Fighting Club on Saturday afternoon to watch Ronda Rousey take center stage. Far removed from the bright lights and big stage of the Ultimate Fighting Championship and exactly two weeks removed from her historic title defense of the UFC women's bantamweight championship , Rousey conducted her first-ever mixed-martial-arts clinic, demonstrating some of the knowledge and technique that's made her an unbeaten phenom.

It became a familiar story line each time Bill Stokes took the field. Call it the art of intimidation. Get to the line of scrimmage and quickly try to find a way to upset the timing of the opposing teams' offensive line before ultimately finding a hole to make life miserable for a quarterback by recording a sack. Stokes mastered that talent throughout his high school and college careers, which included a stellar two-year stint as an outside linebacker with the Glendale Community College football team.

In the afterglow of the historic and riveting UFC 157 main event Saturday night in Anaheim, Ronda Rousey's grim prefight demeanor had drastically turned into a winning smile. With Rousey, who trains at the Glendale Fighting Club, and opponent Liz Carmouche entering the Ultimate Fighting Championship's octagon for the first-ever women's fight, Rousey emerged just the same as she always has in her mixed-martial-arts career - with her hands raised in victory. “I don't know how many adjectives I have right now,” said Rousey of her emotions at the postfight press conference Saturday not long after she defended her UFC women's bantamweight title.

CABAZON - With his greatest opportunity there for the taking, for the first time in his career, Art "Lionheart" Hovhannisyan came up short. Faced with a familiar foe in former sparring partner Alejandro Perez, Hovhannisyan came up on the losing end of a close unanimous decision Friday night at the Morongo Casino in 'Shobox's' junior welterweight main event on Showtime, with the judges scoring it 96-93 twice and 95-94. The News-Press scored it 95-94 for Perez. The bout was contested for the vacant North American Boxing Organization 130-pound title and went to Perez (16-3-1, 11 knockouts)