Riverside: where the good times roll and the summer heat wants to kill you. You’ll want to beat the sizzling heat by drinking plenty of water and using sunblock when venturing outside. Or, if you’re like me, sit in a freezer and binge-watch season five of “Game of Thrones” 10 times. If you’re not cool like me, then you’ll find plenty of things to check out in Riverside over the summer. Here’s what’s going down.
Movies: a little something for everybody
Last summer saw the debut of Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy.” The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) returns to the big screen this summer with “Ant-Man” on July 17. The newly-rebooted “Fantastic Four” will also make its way for moviegoers August 7. If you’re not a comic book fan but nonetheless love action blockbusters, then you won’t want to miss “Terminator Genisys” on July 1 and “Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation” on July 31.
For those who want their funny bone tickled, “Ted 2,” “Minions,” “Trainwreck” (starring Amy Schumer), “Pixels” and “Vacation” will hit summer theaters on June 26, July 10, 17, 24 and 29, respectively.
Horror fans will take delight in the premiers of “Dark Places” on August 7 and “Sinister 2” on August 21. As for the serious-minded, “Magic Mike: XXL” hits theaters July 1, followed by “Papertowns,” “Southpaw” and “Straight Outta Compton” on July 24 and August 14.
Downtown Riverside will also be showing films in “Movies on Main.” This summer, the free, family-friendly event will be showing “The Boxtrolls” on July 9, “The Lego Movie” on July 16 and “Big Hero 6” on July 23, each at 8:30 p.m.
Music releases: pump up the jams
This summer will see many popular artists returning to the spotlight with new albums. It’ll kick off with “Dark Before Dawn” on June 23 by Breaking Benjamin; fingers crossed that their six-year musical hiatus doesn’t show on the album.
Legendary British rocker and folksinger Richard Thompson will also be releasing an album on June 23 titled “Still,” his sixteenth studio record. Releasing his 36th(!) studio album “The Monsanto Years” on June 29 is yet another famous rock ‘n roller, Neil Young.
Everybody’s favorite rapper, Lil Wayne, will be putting out yet another masterpiece album in “Free Weezy Album” on July 4. Wu-Tang member Ghostface Killah’s “Twelve Reasons to Die II” debuts on July 10, followed by Pitbull’s new album “Dale,” which hits the market July 17.
For the country fans out there, Alan Jackson’s “Angels and Alcohol” takes hold July 17. Indie and folk fans will also be satisfied with Frank Turner’s “Positive Songs for Negative People” on August 7, and the summer will wind down with even more old rockers with too much time on their hands: Motorhead’s “Bad Magic” on August 28, Iron Maiden’s “The Book of Souls” on September 4 and Slayer’s “Repentless” on September 11.
The arts: life of a city
UCR’s Osher summer film series continues with the screening of “The Sheltering Sky” on June 23, 1-4 p.m. at the U.V. This will be followed by “The Giver” on June 30, “The Hours” on July 7 and “They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?” on July 14. The city of Riverside will also be hosting a number of concerts and artistic events. The famous play “The Last Days of Judas Iscariot” will be premiering at The Box at 8 p.m. on June 26, 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. on June 27 and 2 p.m. on June 28. The Riverside Metropolitan Museum will feature a vast array of visual arts exploring the history of Riverside on July 2 and 18. The Riverside County Philharmonic will also be performing at the Riverside National Cemetery on July 2 from from 7:30-10 p.m. In addition to that, the Riverside Community Players will be performing “Nunsense! The Musical” on July 15 from 7-10 p.m.
