THE CROWD:Coming up: Much for locals to do

One of the great cabaret stars on the American landscape will perform at the Samueli Theater in the Orange County Performing Arts Center starting March 22. Amanda McBroom, who rose to fame when Bette Midler recorded her song “The Rose” in the film by the same name, will headline a onewoman performance for four nights in Costa Mesa through March 25. Described as an “urban poet who writes like an angel and has a voice to match,” McBroom will join pianist Michele Brourman at the Samueli Theater.

McBroom has performed on the Grammy Awards, at the Kennedy Center and at Carnegie Hall. Her songs have been recorded by Barry Manilow, Judy Collins, Barbara Cook, Harry Belafonte and Lee Ann Rimes to name a few.

Her local connection to Newport Beach is familial. McBroom’s brother is the well-known local talk host and therapist John Jolliffe. By the way, her father is the late movie star Errol Flynn, for whom she has written an emotional ballad. For ticket information, call (714) 556-2787 or go to www.ocpac.org .

Former U.S. Atty. Gen. Janet Reno will be the guest of honor April 20 at a symposium on Parkinson’s disease at the Balboa Bay Club and Resort. The Orange County Chapter of the National Parkinson Foundation will join Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in producing the event. Reno, the nation’s 78th attorney general, and the first woman to hold the office, revealed in 1995 that she has Parkinson’s disease. She will speak on “living with Parkinson’s disease” and join a panel discussion with other national experts for a question-andanswer session with the audience. Registration for the forum is $20, and tickets can be reserved by calling the Hoag Education Line at (800) 514-4624.

Rock ‘n’ roller Grace Slick will be in Newport Beach and Laguna Beach on March 24 and 25. The former lead singer of the ‘60s band Jefferson Airplane, which became Jefferson Starship and then just Starship, will present a collection of her original paintings and limited-edition lithographs at the Wentworth Gallery at Fashion Island and in Laguna. Slick, a Malibu resident who retired from her music career in 1989, devotes her time to her painting, traveling the world to exhibit her work. There’s more information at www.wentworthgallery.com .

The Newport Harbor Alumnae Chapter of Tri-Delta Sorority will present a comedy night April 27 at the Balboa Bay Club benefiting the Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation of Irvine. They are calling the event “Laughter for Life.” This will be the organization’s 22nd biannual event. Co-chairs Connie Granieri, Erin Varnado and Kim Desai are busy selling tickets to the $100-per-person evening, which will include a multi-course dinner and the comedy show. To reserve your space, call Dawn Sather at (949) 842-8783 or Connie Granieri at (714) 724-8974.

In Thursday’s column, I mistakenly reported that the Kahn family of Bayshores, honored at the recent Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Gala, have a diabetic son. In fact, it was the other honorees, the Seedman family, who have a son, Austin, who fights diabetes. My apologies for the error.

Further, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation of Orange County board wanted to make it clear that “it is rare for children to die of type 1 diabetes; it is a lifelong disease whose long-term complications can lead to premature death.” The reaction to the premature death of Ali Bosl, as reported in the column, has been heartfelt. I have received numerous calls from readers relaying sympathy and support for the Bosl family and their efforts to support Fund a Cure in memory of Ali. The collective heart of Newport-Mesa goes out to the Bosl family.