Laguna Beach filmmaker Greg McGillivray peers through his old 16-mm Bolex (Photo by Don Leach).

A jumble of vintage cameras and other cinematic treasures that date to the magical beginnings of moving images fills Greg MacGillivray’s upstairs corner office.

Next to a staircase in the hallway to his office at the MacGillivray Freeman Films company is a row of cameras, more modern and personal ones that have defined the stages in the Laguna Beach filmmaker’s life and long career.

There is his first camera, a Kodak, which MacGillivray acquired at age 10, along with the 8-millimeter camera he used to make his first films during his days as a teenager growing up in Corona del Mar and surfing at Big Corona. And, of course, there’s the 16-millimeter Bolex. He and his late buddy and business partner, Jim Freeman, used it to make “Five Summer Stories,” a cult classic among the surfing set, and other surfing films in the 1960s and 70s.

Freeman died in a helicopter crash in 1976, but MacGillivray went onto become a filmmaker known for his mastery of bulkier cameras that make films in the high-resolution IMAX documentary format.

On Friday, MacGillivray, now 66, will reach another highway mile marker in his career with the release of “To The Arctic,” the first film in an ambitious campaign to make 20 IMAX films in as many years.

… Continue reading O.C. filmmaker trains his lens on ambitious goal 

Kings of Road Kill: Band leaders Randy Cochran, second from left (with bass), and Darren Ellis, second from right (with guitar)

The idea came to Darren Ellis, front man for the Road Kill Kings, during a recent trip with his daughter to Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry.

“I thought ‘how cool would it be to do our own version of the Grand Ole Opry?’” the Huntington Beach resident recalled, when pressed to tell the story of how the Hula Hayride came about.

His band’s website describes the Road Kill Kings as an Americana group. Its five members came together out of their love of country, bluegrass and rockabilly music — all “with a dash of rock ‘n’ roll thrown in for drinkability,” the band’s online bio noted. The Road Kill Kings have played gigs at Mother’s Tavern in Sunset Beach, the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano and elsewhere in Orange County.

Since his trip to Tennessee in December, Ellis has combined his love of country music with his fondness for the “Prairie Home Companion” broadcasts on National Public Radio and his reverence for the bygone Louisiana Hayride — which launched Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash and Hank Williams to musical stardom — in creating a new local musical endeavor, he said.

Ellis and the band’s bass player, Randy Cochran, along with Christopher Burkhardt, a Costa Mesa resident who isn’t in the band, have now started the so-called “Hula Hayride.” This dinner time entertainment program for a good cause blends elements of an old-fashioned radio variety show with Americana or Roots music against the Hawaiian backdrop of a tiki ballroom.

… Continue Reading: Hula Hayride rolls again Thursday night

Bradley Zint and his French horn (File photo by Don Leach)

From within a case on the floor of a suburban San Diego living room I picked it up, a battle-worn and scarred French horn, made that way after years of playing exhaustive symphonies.

Not long after I buzzed a few notes, the sounds piqued the interest of my girlfriend. She was seated nearby, listening with amusement.

“Can I try it?” she asked.

It was an innocent enough question, though it was a significant moment. There in San Diego, the city where I grew up, was the first time she heard me really play my instrument.

“Sure,” I quickly replied, equally piqued by her sudden interest. “Why not?”

… Continue Reading Classically Trained: My OC Can You Play odyssey – Part II

Members of the H.B. Symphony Orchestra’s woodwind section perform in a concert. (Courtesy of H.B. Symphony Orchestra)

One note at a time, the Huntington Beach Symphony Orchestra has picked up tempo in its three years of existence.

The HBSO took root in Surf City’s rich communal soil in February 2009 with a modest goal of performing two concerts that initial year.

Gradually, the home-grown orchestra raised its level of ambition to four concerts during the year, which it can now perform. In the coming years, the orchestra hopes to be capable of playing five or six per season in coming years, said Grant Sevdayan, its music director and conductor.

While most of the HBSO’s musicians are professionals, one third are volunteers. These include doctors, lawyers and other professionals moonlighting for the orchestra simply because they love classical music.

“Without good community ties, the orchestra doesn’t make any sense,” said Sevdayan, whose day job is to serve as choir director and organist at St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church on Talbert Avenue near Beach Boulevard.

“… There is a great need for good music and good music promotion in Huntington Beach, so our kids don’t end up listening to Lady Gaga,” he added.

… Continue reading A communal love of fine music

Slow Fish Roll is prepared with soy paper tempura roll filled with baby lobster, masago and bell peppers sprinkled on top. (Photo by Kevin Chang)

Slow Fish is an attractive little storefront sushi bar and restaurant tucked away in a Huntington Beach strip mall.

Its imaginative small plate menu impressed us most. The most spectacular offering seems to appear on almost every table, and it is called the Fat Avo.

From a distance it resembles a green apple, but it is actually thinly sliced avocado formed around a core of lightly seared, seasoned albacore. It’s topped with a tall cracker-like leaf, a sprig of greenery and, for color, the brilliant red of an anachronistic maraschino cherry.

Remove the cherry and dig in to this luscious faux fruit. Avocado and tuna make the perfect couple and the beautifully textured, creamy avocado marries deliciously with the slightly spicy, silky, diced fish. Fat Avo is lovely to look at and delightful to devour.

… Continue Reading The Gossiping Gourmet: Savor Japanese delights at Slow Fish