Author: JohnValbyNation

Du Tu Le, a towering literary figure in Vietnam and in the cities and towns across America where the waves of Vietnamese refugees and immigrants settled after the fall of Saigon, has died at his home in Garden Grove, leaving behind 77 volumes of poetry — one for each year of his life. Though he…

Stephanie Alison Walker’s “The Abuelas,” now at Antaeus Theatre Company in Glendale, is the kind of play that makes staff dramaturgs earn their keep: so much history to contextualize. A standalone companion to Walker’s “The Madres,” which ran last year at Skylight Theatre, “The Abuelas” dramatizes the repercussions of Argentina’s “dirty war” of 1976-83, when…

The Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa announced Saturday that its new president will be Casey Reitz, executive director of New York’s Second Stage Theater and part of the Tony-winning producing team for the 2017 best musical “Dear Evan Hansen.” Reitz, who succeeds Terrence Dwyer, will begin in December. Reitz led all administrative,…

Here is a list of classical music performances in L.A. for Oct. 20-27: American Youth Symphony Season opener includes Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6, “Pastoral,” plus Joan Tower’s “Sequoia” and Sibelius’ Violin Concerto with violinist Gallia Kastner. Royce Hall, UCLA, 10745 Dickson Court, Westwood. Sun., 7 p.m. Free. (310) 470-2332. AYSymphony.org Bela Fleck, Zakir Hussain, Edgar…

Here is a list of dance performances in L.A. for Oct. 20-27: La Bayadère Mariinsky Ballet and Orchestra performs the classic romantic tragedy about a temple dancer in India. Segerstrom Hall, Segerstrom Center for the Arts, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. Sun., 1 p.m. $39 and up. (714) 556-2787. scfta.org L.A. Dances Two-month festival,…

1/12 Singer Gwen Stefani sold her contemporary-style compound in the Beverly Hills Post Office area to stand-up comic Sebastian Maniscalco for $21.65 million. The 11,845-square-foot spread, which was once owned by Jennifer Lopez, features a black-and-white striped kitchen.   (James Moss) 2/12 The renovated contemporary-style home is in a guard-gated enclave north of Beverly Hills…

Before the financial crisis, the term “high-yield savings account” would have been considered an oxymoron. Today, such products are thriving. Click Here: Italy Football Shop After the Federal Reserve dropped its benchmark lending rate to near-zero in late 2008, big U.S. banks paid virtually nothing to anyone who parked money with them. That presented an…

Dear Liz: My daughter has two children, ages 2 and 4. Recently the children’s father took his own life. He was 27. The job he worked as long as I knew him paid him in cash, so he didn’t pay into Social Security. Does this mean the children cannot receive survivor benefits from Social Security?…

It’s been 32 years since the popularity of wine coolers peaked. Zima’s day in the sun was a quarter of a century ago. The website that popularized “icing” — a drinking game that involved getting down on one knee and chugging a bottle of Smirnoff Ice — doesn’t even exist anymore. Now the question is…

Skirts and jackets made of aluminum-can pull tabs and cork were among the animal-friendly pieces of apparel on display at the second Vegan Fashion Week held Oct. 10-15 in downtown Los Angeles. (The first one took place in March, also in DTLA.) Emmanuelle Rienda, the event organizer, acknowledged that “vegan” might not conjure images of…