We have a staff meeting every Wednesday where the entirety of our team sits around a long conference table excitedly or begrudgingly discussing current projects. We brainstorm, we spitball, we laugh, we lament, it’s a half hour, to an hour I look forward to it on a regular basis. I get to catch up with coworkers and see their friendly faces, which are normally positioned behind a computer screen or next to their phones with their brows furrowed.

There was a point during today’s meeting where my gaze wandered over to my dear friend and speed walking enthusiast Steve Lowery’s face; I found myself wondering if the intern he’d lost at a strip club last week had begun her “proper journal therapy” and whether it was, in fact, aiding her recovery. I also took a mental note that eating nothing but cauliflower salads will yes, help a person look a certain form of fit, but does nothing for one’s character. Such a torturous form of carbless self-punishment must make a person irritable at best.

I asked a simple question about who to inform about taking vacation days off when my superior told me it was Lowery. Then came the finger, pointing aggressively across the table. “You see,” he gloated, “you have to get approval from me. Did you hear that? From me!” Now, I don’t know what kind of dictatorship Lowery thinks he’s running, but, being the forgiving, understanding, considerate person I am, I laughed and shrugged off his maniacal mannerisms with ease; knowing that whatever fad diet (tasteless cauliflower salads) Lowery was on must be the fuel, or lack thereof, of the fire.

So I implore you, Long Beach, to please send help. Send bread, send actual, non-rabbit food. Send chocolate, lasagna, avocado toast or whatever else you love eating (our address is 211 E. Ocean Blvd. Ste. 400). My editor needs sustenance, comfort and compassion during this difficult time.

And with that, live jazz!

Friday

Spend your Friday night at Commodity Coffee and Analog Record Shop where you can drink and bob your head to live jazz; the main draw of the evening is an art show featuring Long Beach-inspired photography and paintings by Sterling Reed and Nat Iosbaker, two local artists who will be showcasing works of and inspired by Long Beach (you can also purchase said art).

The event runs from 7 to 10 p.m.; 1322 Coronado Ave.

Saturday

[SPONSORED] Held annually for the past decade, the Aquarium of the Pacific’s two-day Urban Ocean Festival will feature art exhibitions, a fashion contest for designs using recycled materials, mural painting, poetry readings and more, all as a way to explore our relationship with the ocean as a seaside community. You can also take an ocean boat cruise through the port complex at an additional cost. If you’re looking for something to do with the fam, this is a great option.

The festival takes place Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Aquarium; 100 Aquarium Way. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit the website here.

Spring has sprung and what better way to celebrate the turn of the season than being surrounded by flowers? At the Bembridge House, a Victorian beauty and historic Long Beach landmark built in 1906, Long Beach Heritage is not only hosting a plant sale but offering free tours of its rose, succulent, tropical and lavender gardens. Proceeds from the plant sale will go toward supporting the gardens and historic house.

The Spring Plant Sale will take place from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.; 953 N. Park Circle. For more info, visit the event page here.

No, it’s not in Long Beach, but in less than a 30-minute drive you can experience a clash of two cultures with Los Angeles- and Rotterdam-based galleries and collectives collaborating to bring eight unique curatorial projects to the Torrance Art Museum; learn about the cultural climate of the Netherlands port town, as well as LA.

At 3:30 p.m. learn about the eight Rotterdam groups and at 6 p.m. check out the opening reception with all parties present. The event is free and open to the public; 3320 Civic Center Dr. N., Torrance, CA. For more info, check out the website here.

Help workers striking for better conditions in the Phillippines by eating delicious Filipino food?! It’s a win-win. Chef AC Boral, known for his modern take on the cuisine, is making banana ketchup and lechon sauce rice bowls from scratch for this fundraising event at The Hawk. Rice Up! Rice Bowls for a Good Cause hopes to show the local community that there’s an alternative to the “pre-packaged, corporate ingredients that come at the expense of workers’ rights.”

Rice Up! Takes place from 4 to 8 p.m. at The Hawk; 468 W. Anaheim St. For more info, visit the event page here.

Sunday



Run a 5K on the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach race course during this second annual charity event. Entry fees, as well as other proceeds, will go toward the Grand Prix Association of Long Beach, a nonprofit that has raised more than $4 million for Long Beach charities since it was started in 1991. The route will take runners from the start/finish line on Shoreline Drive and through a hairpin turn at Shoreline and Ocean Boulevard.

The 5K is from 6 a.m. to noon. For the full schedule visit the website here, to register click here. The $45 race fee includes a shirt and finishers’ medal.

Close out your weekend by checking out Loiter Galleries’ just-opened show, “EXTRA EXTRA: News as Art,” where a collection of world-changing newspaper front pages—collected by avid newsie Sam Saposnek and now in the hands of his grandson—display “a time capsule of events that shaped the world”. It’s a nostalgic exhibit, looking fondly back at the days when the news had to be physically delivered, opened and read. Saposnek, who entered the newspaper business at the young age of seven and, according to press material, “loved the smell of news ink, claiming it ran through his veins.”

EXTRA EXTRA: News as Art runs through April 30; 375 North Promenade. Gallery hours are Monday-Friday 5 to 8 p.m., Saturday 5 to 10 p.m. and Sunday 5 to 9 p.m. For more info, check out the website here.