The Convention Center’s Dan Spellens critiques our coverage and plugs a few upcoming shows

Not sure what this says about my psyche, but sometimes I forget stories I’ve written if everyone likes them. The stories I screwed up—or the ones that just never got out—are the ones I just can’t stop thinking about.

Which sort of explains why I’ll always remember Dan Spellens, the Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center’s director of theaters and entertainment, for his periodic calls when this week’s edition of The District Weekly hasn’t arrived at his offices yet—or (much more likely) when the Convention & Entertainment Center somehow didn’t make it into our calendar listings.

“I will tell you, I’m still not real pleased with the lack of coverage we’re getting from you guys on the calendar section,” Spellens said just last Tuesday. “I just don’t understand the hit-and-miss nature of it all. Sometimes we’re there—sometimes we have events and we’re in there—and other times we’re not.” I agree: I don’t get it, either.

Maybe that’s because I’m not the calendar boss [No, Ellen Griley is, and she’s human, and makes mistakes, and sometimes press releases don’t reach her, and other times they are simply forgotten. She’s probably the only editor-in-chief in the country who continues to compile calendar listings, of which we have A LOT—but it’s never personal, no, never, ever, ever, so hey, Spellens, call me, not Theo!—ed.], a fact I most recently reminded Spellens of when he called me to complain on the afternoon of Sept. 27—a Sunday, when neither of us should have been at work. But he had to call Sunday, Spellens explained, because Yom Kippur began at sundown, and thus he wouldn’t be able to phone me on Monday and probably not again before Wednesday.

That would have been a shame, I thought as I took a break from putting a fourth coat of really cheap paint on our bedroom to listen to him and to sweat all over my cell phone.

Spellens does have a point, though: we’re in the publicity business here, too. And so, in the spirit of getting the word out—and of the holidays—here are a few of Dan Spellens’ Can’t-Miss Shows of 2010.

Firstly, he reminds us all that Rufus Wainwright and the Webb Sisters will be attacking the Terrace Theater with their melodic greatness on Jan. 9, followed not too closely by Slayer and Megadeth on Jan. 22 at Long Beach Arena.

“If that’s not two ends of the spectrum, I don’t know what is,” Spellens says. So we can count on him?

“Oh yeah, I’ll be front row. Hell, I’ll be on the stage,” Spellens says. Want more?

“Beyond that, there’s not a whole lot I can really talk about,” Spellens says—before plugging a few more shows.

He recommends Disney on Ice, Jan. 6-10 at Long Beach Arena; longtime Long Beach jazzman Al Williams’ traditional Valentine’s Day spectacular (that’s Feb. 14, fellas); Long Beach Opera’s presentation of The Good Soldier Schweik, Jan. 23 in the Center Theater—and its offering of Nixon in China, March 28 in the Terrace Theater.

International City Theatre begins is Silver Jubilee season Feb. 23 with Backwards in High Heels (The Ginger Musical), in its Los Angeles premiere at the Center Theater.

And then USFIRST.org (an acronym of For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) brings its Los Angeles regional robot-building competition to Long Beach Arena March 26-27.

“I think you’ll like this one,” Spellens says. “They give groups of high-school kids a box—they all get the same parts and gears—and they all make robots, and the robots all face off against each other.”

Sounds like a District story meeting. So, is that everything through March? No.

“I’m hoping to jam a couple more things in there,” Spellens says, adding, “We should do this again in a couple months.”

He’s right—and I’m pretty sure he’ll remind me about it, too.

Tags: convention center, Dan Spellens, international city theatre, Long Beach, nixon in china, rufus wainwright, slayer, terrace theater