For the 4th, exhibits, concerts, reading lists, feasting

From CalArts, Zocalo, UCI, the Getty, UCLA & Cal State Fullerton

Hope a safe, sane and fun Fourth weekend's on tap for one and all. With a legal holiday for many, the three-day weekend will allow for lots of intellectual exploring, feasting, reading and taking in stuff around the town. If anyone is left out there reading this, for example:

• The folks from Valencia, even with their ultra-cool downtown L.A. toe-hold at REDCAT, will be invading the city with L.A. Record 100, an array of concerts and events -- including many throughout the holiday weekend to benefit the community arts partnership program, as well as with 'Box Scheme,' the 2010 MFA graduates' exhibit that will take over space in multiple galleries in the old Chinatown.

• If graphics and fabrics grab certain artistic fancies for some people, they may be making their way to Fullerton for 'Love Me, Tees Me,' a summer showcase of T-shirt art, including some silk-screening demos today (7-3).

• Since the 4th marks the true start of Southern California summer, when, perhaps, the gloom lifts most everywhere, including on the Westside and the coast, well, it must be time to get out those beach reading lists, including one from the downtown literary and public affairs crowd or maybe try this batch from some literary minded folks in Irvine.

• Of course, what's a long holiday without lots of eating. Consider feasting as the Aztecs once did, or maybe while fretting about the cruelty of the eats or perhaps there will be moments to consider that meal's olfactory significance, as occurs if someone simply mentions the word 'curry.'

• And hate to be a serious-minded, gloomy gus. But this is supposed to be a time to consider freedom, independence, democracy and the kind of government we the people accept. As in, don't think there's any escape from the state budget crisis. The partisan, paralyzing divide in Sacramento and across the Golden State has left us all in societal penury. Meaning? Well, among other effects will be a two-week, cost-saving shutdown of a Westside public museum.