FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Long Beach, CA - February 7, 2001- Long Beach Culture.org [LBC] today announced the addition of its newest feature. CenterStage(sm) provides in-depth discussions between professional journalists and Artist Members of LBC. "This feature encourages artists to talk about their work in a comfortable, free-flowing format, and provides members and visitors alike with a unique insight into the personalities that shape the rich cultural landscape of Long Beach," said Sander Roscoe Wolff, Executive Director of LBC.

This month, CenterStage(sm) premieres Pete Brooks' Writing for the Working Class - A Conversation with Raquel Pasquela Ramirez. Raquel Ramirez is a Long Beach resident and has just completed a Master's of Fine Arts degree in poetry at California State University at Long Beach. Raquel has read throughout Southern California and participated in several poetry slams. She has self-published several books and is currently retrofitting her first novel.

Pete Brooks is a longtime aficionado of Long Beach's diverse music scene, an avid portrait photographer, a political junkie, and a creative writer. Professionally, Pete is a graphic artist and music critic for Gazette Newspapers.

January's CenterStage(sm) featured a conversation between Lee Adams and DJ Gary of 00Soul. They discussed Gary's early days as club promoter and the recent challenges of being part of the music business.

Lee Adams is a musician, novelist, and producer. She was the lead singer/songwriter in Boho and, subsequently, produced her critically acclaimed solo album, "Champions & Lunatics." She recently finished her first full length novel, "5th & Vanguard," and is working on the sequel.

LBC's first CenterStage(sm) was a conversation with Matthew Rivera, a young multi-instrumentalist of great talent.

"We believe that the new CenterStage(sm_ feature will stimulate interest in arts and culture in Long Beach," said Lorenzo Gigliotti, "and provide a forum for unique and significant artistic voices."

The LongBeachCulture.org Web Portal is @ http://www.longbeachculture.org.

About Long Beach Culture.org

LongBeachCulture.org is a free service that enables musicians, artists, and actors to promote themselves and their events. Event and Artist information is completely searchable, allowing fans of the Arts to easily find anything they're looking for. New features are being integrated all the time, including 'Chat!' - a message board for the free exchange of ideas and information, GigWatch(sm) - a free tool that allows Members to receive automatic, personalized e-mail notifications of their favorite artists' event postings, and LBC Radio(sm) - an Internet radio station with a 24-hour stream of pre-recorded songs from LBC member musicians.

Interested supporters, potential partners and prospective artists are encouraged to contact LongBeachCulture.org, or visit the web site at www.longbeachculture.org for additional information.

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