THIS WEAKEND PLANNER IS MELTING FROM THE HEAT

CALENDAR
Friday, Aug 26
6:00pm-10:00pm
Fiesta La Ballona @ Veterans Memorial Building/Veterans Park: A celebration international in flavor, with a weekend festival at Veterans Park anchoring an array of events taking place throughout the city. The festival includes booths for community groups ranging from voter registration to the Wine of the Month Club. The fiesta also features craft booths and an array of food including sausages and tacos, YUM!!

7:00pm
Killswitch Engage & As I Lay Dying @ Concrete Street Ampitheatre, Corpus Christi, TX

8:15pm
Donna Summer @ Gibson Amphitheatre (formerly known as Universal Amphitheatre)

8:30pm
Riverflicks @ The Hudson River: Check out Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban free @ Pier 25.

11:30pm
The Broadway Bar on Theater Row: Inside Broadway Bar is an experiment in mixing L.A.'s deco history with elements of modern and retro design. A sleek bar area weaves through a classic '20s design space. with special attention paid to the building's architecture and history. Wow, I am not into bars or drinking, but this one sounds pretty cool. I should take my girlfriend. (4117 Overland Ave.)

Saturday, August 27
10:00am-11:00pm
Sunset Junction Street Festival: Since its inception as a Silver Lake community-building event in 1980, Sunset Junction has grown into an annual summer ritual for thousands of Angelenos. Sunset Boulevard, which is one of L.A.'s busiest arteries, is closed to traffic and transformed into a neighborhood playground for all ages and persuasions, from Latino families to Asian drag queens, from Silver Lake scenesters to nouveau bohos. Among the many acts performing are Rilo Kiley and The Walkmen. This festival sounds like fun, but you know what this means—more traffic now that Sunset is going to be closed down…geez. (3600 to 4400 Sunset Blvd)

5:00pm
Aviatic @ Citywalk: Check out this amazing band as they battle against 10 other finalists for a whole lotta moolah.

8:00pm
America w/ Cindy Alexander @ Canyon Club, Agoura Hills

10:00pm
Stoney Curtis Band @ Sand Dollar Lounge, Las Vegas: A blues legend in the making (21 and over).

Sunday, August 28
10:00am-11:00pm
Sunset Junction Street Festival: Performers include Chaka Khan and Jody Watley.

10:00am-9:30pm
Viva! Chicago Latin Music Festival: Get a weekend primer on la musica Latina at the annual event, now in its 17^th year. Among the acts scheduled to appear are 2004 Grammy nominees Angel Melendez & The 911 Mambo Orchestra, Cabas, Malo, Fey, Betzaida and Jesus Enriquez. I wish I knew how to dance—this festival sounds like so much fun.

2:00pm-9:00pm
Blues, BBQ & Fireworks Festival @ Hudson River Pier 54: Lots of cool music, with food in between. The night ends with a bang, as a major fireworks display covers the night sky over the Hudson River. Wow, doesn’t this sound amazing? Wish we were in NYC—it can’t be any hotter than L.A.

2:00pm
Debi Graham Band @ Hollywood & Highland Courtyard (all ages).

5:00pm
Dredg @ Knickerbockers, Lincoln, NE. It's an early one and all ages.

8:00pm
The Video Music Awards on MTV

Upcoming:
Monday, August 29
7:30pm
Citizen Cope, Marc Broussard and Brandi Carlile @ House of Blues, Anaheim, next to Disneyland (21 and over).

JE-C’S NEW-MOVIE RUNDOWN
The Brothers Grimm
Starring: Matt Damon, Heath Ledger, Jonathan Pryce, Peter Stormare and Lena Headey
Synopsis: Terry Gilliam directs this revisionist adventure story that loosely follows the fairy taletelling brothers Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm. The siblings are early 18th-century con men who convince people to pay them for their abilities to banish strange creatures from their villages. It's all a scam, which has them worried after Napoleon's men want their services to investigate an evil queen who may be sapping blood from innocent young girls.
Thoughts: Oh yeah, I am so looking forward to this movie, and I have no idea why. I think it will have cool special effects, but I’ve already seen a couple of extended scenes, and the dialogue is terrible. And to think, I convinced my girlfriend to see it with me; if it sucks I’m never going to hear the end of it. Then again, I did watch The Wedding Date with her, so she owes me one.

The Cave
Starring: Cole Hauser, Morris Chestnut, Eddie Cibrian, Rick Ravanello, Marcel Lures, Lena Headey and Piper Perabo
Synopsis: Jack and his brother Tyler gather a team of professional cave explorers to investigate a newly discovered underground ecosystem in Romania. But once they're a mile underground they have a run-in with a nasty new breed of flesh-hungry beast.
Thoughts: Um…hmm…This is probably going to suck. All in all, it’s a pretty pathetic week for movies.

Also coming out this week:
Dirty Deeds
Undiscovered

JE-C’S TOP FIVE MOVIES OF THE YEAR
5.Wedding Crashers: This movie had me laughing the entire time. Vince Vaughn is hilarious, and it’is just one of those movies where the most absurd things happen and you just can’t help but laugh. If you are one of three people who haven’t seen it yet, you’re missing out.
4.Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: When the reviews first came out, people were saying Depp was too over the top, I completely disagree. Depp is awesome, as always, and Tim Burton has created an awesome new look for this classic remake. I even liked the new ending!!!
3.Hustle & Flow: Talk about a movie that hits home. For the past four years, this has been my life to a certain extent. To actually be able to watch it on the big screen brought back memories. I was able to relate to the struggles of making it big in the business and all the countless hours spent in the studio trying to make the songs just right. I think everyone can relate to it on some level, not just hip-hop fans.
2.Batman Begins: Like I predicted when I saw the coming attractions over a year ago, this movie was my favorite summer blockbuster and has restored the Batman franchise back to where it should be. It also lived up to the hype unlike most of the summer movies. Christian Bale makes an awesome Batman. I can’t wait for the sequel.
1.Crash- The best movie of the year so far. Crash is so on point it’s scary. I saw it twice during the same weekend, and it affected me the same way both times. This movie is a classic in so many ways and one of the best films I’ve ever seen.

BIGGEST DISAPOINTMENTS
War of the Worlds: Spielberg, buddy, you let me down. I can usually count on you delivering a classic movie, but this one was far from that.
Fantastic Four: When I saw the coming attractions for this movie, it was on my must-see list, but then I heard the word of mouth and have yet to see it. I don’t even know if I would bother renting it.

DVD OF THE WEEK
Sin City: By far one of the coolest movies of the year, not to mention one of the best adaptations of a comic book ever to hit the big screen. I finally added this movie to my ever-growing DVD collection.

FAVORITE SONGS THIS WEEK
Stereophonics: “Dakota”
Marjorie Fair: “Empty Room”
Trapt: “Stand Up”
Cold: “Happens All the Time”