PROGRAM PLANNED FOR BURBANK AFRICAN VIOLET SOCIETY

The Burbank African Violet Society will be having its next club meeting today, Thursday, May 20, at 10 a.m. at The Little White Chapel Christian Church, 1711 N. Avon St. in Burbank.

The program will be “My Violets and Other Hobbies,” which will include a raffle and silent auction tables, and a plant and supply sale.

Guests are always welcome to attend meetings. 

For more information telephone (661) 940-3990 or reference the website burbankafricanviolets.weebly.com.

Masks and social distancing are required.

USC-VHH FOUNDATION HOSTS VIRTUAL BINGO EVENT

The community is invited to support the May 21 virtual drag queen bingo event from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. benefitting the USC Verdugo Hills Hospital Foundation. Money is being raised for the interventional radiology/cardiac catheterization lab (cath lab) currently under construction at the hospital. The Foundation has made a commitment to donate $100,000 for the cath lab and funds raised at the virtual bingo will be dedicated to this effort.

The cost is $30 per person.

To support this effort contact Barbara_Jordan@med.usc.edu or call her at (818) 952-2226.

Sponsorships available. To find our more, visit www.cvweekly.com/JUST FOR FUN.

CANCER SURVIVORS’ CHOIR ONLINE

An online film performance by the Shout at Cancer choir in the U.K. will be given at the Cancer Support Community-Pasadena on Thursday, May 27 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. The performance is free of charge.

All choir members have had their voice boxes removed due to cancer. The film includes performances of songs popularized by Nina Simone, Tears for Fears and Louis Armstrong. Backup is provided by the Peter Edwards Jazz Trio and a saxophone quartet. The performance includes cancer stories of choir members. The director is Bill Brummel.

The Cancer Support Community-Pasadena is located at 75 E. Del Mar Blvd., Suite 215, in Pasadena. www.cscpasadena.org   

CALTECH PRESENTS ‘FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON’

Theater Arts Caltech announces a virtual workshop reading of “From the Earth to the Moon!”

The musical reading will be screened for one night only, on May 28 at 7 p.m., on YouTube. Register at tacit.caltech.edu for the free performance and to receive a link for the live Zoom Q&A with the writers, director and cast following the show.

In imagining a late 1800s that might have been, this musical adaptation of “From the Earth to the Moon” has audience members turn their eyes and efforts to creating a brighter tomorrow for everyone. It is a story of timeless ideals, applied in the unique and timely setting of technological problem-solving. It is a tale of both the power and pitfalls of ambition, of the strength of friendship and of reconciliation, of the trials of love, of passion for truth and knowledge, and of the eternal human need to go beyond the confines of the present, to break the bounds of the possible, and to reach for the stars.

TGHS PRESENTS NEIL PARSONS

The Glendale Historical Society hosts the virtual event “In Conversation with Neil Parsons.” Dr. Parsons is the author of “Clicko: The Wild Dancing Bushman,” which tells the story of Franz Taibosh. Taibosh, originally from South Africa, traveled the world as a performer with Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. Dr. Parsons will discuss how Taibosh found his way to Glendale during a time when racial policies forced him to hide from his white neighbors. 

The conversation will be introduced by Francesca Smith. She will describe the 2018 campaign by TGHS to preserve Clicko House, located at 1442 Montgomery Ave., from demolition. The house was the earliest known extant residence of an African American in Glendale who did not live with employers or at his/her workplace.

The event takes place on Saturday, May 29 at 11 a.m. and attendance is complimentary but advance RSVP is required. A Zoom link will be sent a few days prior to the event.

VHHS PLANS REUNION

“Team 74” is planning a 50th high school reunion in 2024. Friends and graduates of Verdugo Hills High School are invited to attend to trade stories of family, careers, adventures and anything else.

Currently Team 74 is in the planning phase of collecting names and numbers of classmates and putting together a database; emails from classmates can be received at clsof74reunion@yahoo.com. Information should include a mailing address, cell number and graduate’s name at graduation (if different than now).

A list of frequently asked questions will be provided to keep everyone updated as the reunion plans move forward. Those who belong to various VHHS groups will see redundant information to ensure all classmates are notified and have an opportunity to attend.

At this time the FB VHHS groups will be the reunion information outlet until a more focused site is created.

PASADENA HERITAGE SPRING HOME TOUR

Pasadena Heritage presents a new version of its annual Spring Home Tour. Instead of a one-day event, tours of six architectural works of art will be offered as a series. Recordings of two different homes will premiere on the last Sundays of May and June and will be available through July 4.

Premiering May 30 is an exploration of Arroyo del Rey, the 1979 custom-designed Modern home nestled under the freeway bridge and taking full advantage of its site, designed by Buff & Hensman. The second featured home is the Moseley House, designed in 1999 by Don Hensman. The tour will include interviews with the homeowners who will give first-hand accounts of working with Conrad Buff and Don Hensman.

Tickets for three days of tours with six homes are $50 for nonmembers, $40 for members. Tickets for individual homes are: one day of tours with two homes $18 for nonmembers, $15 for members.

Visit the website at https://tinyurl.com/3uy58n7y for more information.