IF MUSIC BE THE FOOD OF LOVE, PLAY ON Claremont’s free live music series Friday Nights Live rolls on Friday, June 23 with Amazing Tone Benders at Laemmle plaza; Liz Hangan and Blues and Fries at the chamber of commerce; rock, country, blues and soul with Mick Rhodes and the Hard Eight at Shelton Park; and Random Spark at city hall; Friday Nights Live runs from 6 to 9 p.m. through October 27. More info, including future lineups, is at claremontchamber.org.
ROCK, BLUES, FOLK IN THE AIR Friday Nights Live, Claremont’s free, summer-long live music series continues tonight with Dynamite Dawson at Laemmle; Anamaria De La Cruz at the chamber; Pride of Cucamonga at Shelton Park; and Technopagan at city hall; Friday Nights Live runs from 6 to 9 p.m. through October 27.
FRIDAY NIGHTS LIVE Claremont’s free music series Friday Nights Live continues with longtime local faves The Dogs at the Laemmle plaza; Tony D’Amico Sings at the chamber of commerce; and scintillating jazz with Cougar Estrada’s Lounge Trio at Shelton Park. Friday Nights Live runs from 6 to 9 p.m. every Friday night through October 27. More info, including future lineups, is at claremontchamber.org.
ARTSTART STARTS IT UP Project ARTstART high school students will lead art-making activities for all ages at Memorial Park today from 3:30 to 5 p.m. The park is located at 840 N. Indian Hill Blvd. At the nearby Claremont Heritage Ginger Elliott Exhibition Center, the Claremont Museum of Art’s StART It Up exhibition will be on view.
FILM FESTIVAL FUN The ninth annual Claremont Film Festival (mountain in movie Meru right), continues today through Sunday at the Laemmle 5 Theatre, 415 W. Second St. Screening tonight are Following the Ninth, a documentary about the global impact of Beethoven’s final symphony, and Love and Justice: In the Footsteps of Beethoven’s Rebel Opera, which explores the composer’s opera Fidelio, and its themes of love, justice, and a courageous woman’s fight for freedom in the face of tyranny.
OLA FIESTA KICKS OFF The 70th annual OLA Fiesta at Our Lady of the Assumption Church returns to Claremont today, tomorrow and Sunday. The event at OLA, 435 Berkeley Ave., attracts some 15,000 visitors to its international food booths, carnival rides and live entertainment. Headliners for Friday are The ACE Band, Satisfaction Unlimited tops the bill on Saturday and Johnny Starr and the Galaxy close out the festival on Sunday.
ORALÉ! It’s Cinco de Mayo, a day wherein Americans drink tequila and eat Mexican food or, in my house: Friday. The Mexican holiday commemorates its army’s unlikely victory over French forces at the Battle of Puebla in 1862. A solemn event in Mexico, with military parades and the like, it’s a less reverential affair here in America.
SCRIPPS FACULTY/STUDENT EVENTS Scripps College presents its Faculty-Student Research Collaboration from 1:30 to 3 p.m. at Humanities Auditorium, 1030 Columbia Ave., Claremont. Scripps faculty and students from diverse fields will discuss their work together and students will present their research.
RECORD STORE DAY Record Store Day was conceived in 2007 as a way to celebrate and spread the good word about the unique culture surrounding the nearly 1,400 independently owned record stores in the US and the thousands internationally. There are now stores that celebrate RSD on every continent except Antarctica, and today marks the 10th anniversary of the event.
GET YOUR CLASSICAL ON Scripps College’s free Friday “Noon” Concert Series continues at 12:15 p.m. today with a show at Balch Auditorium, 1030 Columbia Ave., Claremont. Todor Pelev, violin, and Douglas Ashcraft, piano, will perform Franck’s Violin Sonata in A Major. More info is at collegescalendar.org or (909) 607-3266.
IMMIGRATION CONFERENCE The Seventh Annual Collegiate Alliance for Immigration Reform (CAIR) conference takes place at Pomona College from 8 a.m. to 7:45 p.m. The event, at Smith Campus Center, 170 E. Sixth St., Claremont, is $35 and is hosted by Improving Dreams, Equality, Access and Success (IDEAS) at the Claremont Colleges.
I SPEAK FOR THE TREES The Claremont Museum of Art’s new exhibition, “Tree Speak: Interpretations of the Rustlings,” opens with a reception from 6 to 9 p.m. at 200 W. First St. A CMA press release explained the show will present visual interpretations “which ascend from the concept or image of trees and leaves in nature.”
HOMELAND SECURITY AT HOME Claremont McKenna College hosts a lecture today, “Homeland Security at the Local Level: A Public Policy Conference,” from 8 a.m. to noon at McKenna Auditorium, 390 E. Ninth St. The Inland Empire Center for Economics and Public Policy at CMC is hosting the conference on the role of local governments in the fight against terrorism.
THE ‘PIES’ HAVE IT Today is Claremont’s annual Pie Festival from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. throughout the?Village, from city hall to the public plaza. Activities include a pie-eating contest, bakers’ stage demos, a recipe card hunt, a vendor market and live music. See the pie festival special guide included in this edition.
