Enjoy the Summer!

The Hermosa Beach Art Walk takes place today and Sunday. They started putting up rows of little white tents yesterday on the grounds of the Hermosa Beach Community Center (Pier Avenue and PCH) and today the artists will be using them to display their wares, starting at 10 a.m. Last year I bought a small oil of a rooster on a golf course in Hawaii. How do I know so much about the rooster's location? The artist was so bemused by it that he wrote it down on the back of the frame!

This single event replaces the three monthly Art Walks that were held on Thursdays, literally on the streets of Hermosa (and was a hell of a lot more revenue-producing for the restos there.)

Sunday, the South Bay New Orleans Dixieland Jazz concert will feature Dr. Bob Brodsky's famous lecture on Our Kind of Music, or OKOM, in addition to live bands which will perform on either side of his act. Bob roped Richie in as his official roadie and we've been driving around with a movie screen wedged between us in the car. Had to fold a back seat down flat to accomodate it. The session begins at 1 p.m. at the Knights of Columbus, 214 Avenue I, Riviera Village. Admission is $9.

Soon the free concerts in Polliwog Park, Manhattan Beach, will begin. They start at 5 p.m. every Sunday and last a little over an hour. As always the Hyperion Outfall Serenaders, the official band of Manhattan Beach, will start the season. Each Sunday showcases a different musical style -- zydeco or a rock' roll tribute band or country and western or reggae.

We used to take folding chairs and a picnic and a bottle of wine, but this year the Official Nannies of Southern California are whining about "excessive drinking!" which we have never, ever seen. People are quite content to sip daintily; there is no drunken cavorting. Last year, they banned smoking -- outdoors, in a huge park. I thought that was kind of funny -- "Bring yer wine! Pull up a chair! But if you want a cigarette, go out to the street." Where will it all end?