Weekend catch-up edition...

City Council is gone to New Orleans

No meetings this week with so many members off to a League of Cities confab for panels and wining and dining. I'm told the semi-official dinner for elected officials from Los Angeles and the expense account holders who schmooze them will be hosted by the Cerrell company on Thursday night at Broussard's, a French Quarter landmark where the seafood entrees start at $25.

Revolving door at City Hall

David Zahniser reports in the Times on the flow of top city staffers into the private sector where they play on their contacts to lobby, whether officially or not. "The credibility of city government really gets damaged by this," says Greg Nelson, who was the top deputy to former Councilman Joel Wachs, and later head of the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment. LAT

Remembering Norman Mailer

Times book editor David L. Ulin got his appreciation up Sunday. Sample:

Mailer, after all, was the sort of author who could both dazzle and infuriate, often within the space of a single paragraph. He was a major talent who could not keep himself from reminding you that he was a major talent, an astute observer of his moment, who tended to operate as if that moment were entirely his.

Also: obituary, excerpts, bibliography

AIDS activist Scott Hitt

R. Scott Hitt, a gay physician appointed by President Clinton in 1996 as chairman of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS, died last week of metastatic colon cancer. He was 49. LAT

Louis Galen, philanthropist

The man whose name is on the new Galen Center at USC died at 82 after struggling with heart trouble. LAT

Ex-KFWB hand Charlie Brailer

The longtime newscaster on AM 980 died Nov. 7 at home in Lancaster. A memorial service will be held Nov. 17 at the Halley Olsen Murphy mortuary there.

Up close with Louise Steinman

The author who is the force behind the Aloud lecture and readings series at the L.A. Public Library was interviewed by Times editorial page editor Jim Newton, in the Sunday paper and on video. Nice praise in the story for the work of LA Observed contributor Jenny Price.

Encounter at LAX Theme Building reopens

But with the view still blocked by scaffolding, what's the point? Breeze

Turmoil at the Robb Report?

This is unconfirmed, but a tipster says the Robb Report has shut down Luxury Home and Vertical Living and canned the magazines' editor.

Preservation LA website

Ken Bernstein's Office of Historic Resources in the city's planning department has put together a website dedicated to preservation in Los Angeles. Technically I'm part of the Survey LA project discussed there, but my contributions have waned from negligible to nil due to time constraints. But there's still hope.

Marty Smith's exit email

I reported last month that L.A. Times Magazine editor Martin J. Smith was leaving to edit Orange Coast Magazine. His last Times email was kind of funny: "Friends: A former treasury minister in Abuja, Nigeria, has e-mailed me a rather extraordinary and lucrative offer, and so I have decided to leave the Los Angeles Times Magazine after eight wonderful years. Until the money is wired into my account, though, I expect to be editing Emmis' newest magazine in Southern California."

Hot in Hollywood

It's not just a benefit, it's also a blog (with some naked male pictures if that's your thing.)

Brokaw at Town Hall tonight

Tom Brokaw will discuss his new book Boom! Voices of the Sixties: Personal Reflections on the 60's and Today with ABC's Judy Muller at a Town Hall's Writers Bloc get together at Temple Emanuel in Beverly Hills.