Figuring out where LA's garbage goes is beyond my pay grade, but I do know that it's a bad idea to bury it next to a national park. I found out about this peculiar plan years ago - and, by the way, what is it about people who think anything that's empty, regardless of location, should have stuff in it? - during my explorations of Joshua Tree National Park.

It was on one of my trips that I met Donna and Larry Charpied, a delightful pair of organic jojoba farmers who live at the park's edge and have become the unofficial guardians of this enchanting enclave. They had drawn a line in the sand, single-handedly battling the Ontario-based Kaiser Ventures and the Bureau of Land Management via do-it-yourself law books over a plan to build the country's largest landfill in the canyons of Eagle Mountain near the south side of the park.

I began writing about the situation when I first met Donna and Larry, and have since chronicled their two-decade, mostly self-financed campaign to stop the dump, in various venues, including here, and in my book Joshua Tree: Desolation Tango.

Over the years, the Charpieds have been joined by various organizations and pro bono lawyers, and were recently featured on Huell Howser. His coverage brought much, and long-deserved, attention to the magic jojoba oil that Donna and Larry make at their carefully tended farm populated by plants that came from Adam and Eve, a pair of seeds from the region.

Several years ago, Donna Charpied won the Minerva Hoyt award, named for the Pasadena socialite whose efforts led to establishment of what was then Joshua Tree National Monument. Senor Howser threw them a fantastic bash at his magnificent desert hacienda, and many of the area's park fans and personnel joined in the celebration. Since Hoyt's epic campaign, no one has fought more fiercely for the region than the Charpieds. Along with their allies, they have won every round in the courts, up to and including a verdict that put the kibosh on the mine in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, as I wrote about last year on this site.

But now comes word that Kaiser is asking the Supreme Court to consider this case. If you're thinking of not voting on Tuesday, understand that it matters very much who sits on the Supreme Court - and quite possibly there will be appointments coming up in the next couple of years. It's one thing for Clarence Thomas to have made bizarre jokes about pubic hair on coke cans, but the prospect of seeing them strewn around the park's perimeter because they have escaped from a dump - or even of knowing that they are lining the park's edge under the surface - is not the experience we seek at our parks, nor is it what parks deserve or were made parks for. Of course many other problems could result from the construction of a mega-dump in this locale. For exactly what, read the above links, and also see this for information about Kaiser's decision to file an appeal.

And while you're at it, buy some jojoba oil from the Charpieds. Yes, it will change your life!

How about a ghost story for Halloween? There's still room at REDCAT -- they just added a second show -- for Mark Z. Danielewski's spooky little tale, The 50 Year Sword. (REDCAT's on the 2nd Street side of the Disney Hall complex; shows are at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. on Sunday. Tickets $8-$15. (213) 237-2800.)

MZD's the author of the even spookier House of Leaves, about a house that's bigger on the inside than on the outside. (I still can't quite read it. Author and critic Lev Grossman tweeted just last week that "HOUSE OF LEAVES was the last book that made me sleep with the light on. I found it horrifying." So for now I stick to Only Revolutions, road trip, time travel, love story.)

But on Sunday it's The 50 Year Sword, "a collaborative theatrical presentation of Danielewski's limited-edition, illustrated ghost story... an unpredictable evening of whispering voices and the intricacies of malice foretold and retold."

How did you come to write The 50 Year Sword?

It was a hiking story. I went on hikes and I wrote it in my head. I went on more hikes and rewrote it in my head. And then when I sat down to write, it all came out differently. Suddenly I discovered a seamstress, a birthday party and orphans. I even discovered butterflies which I'd seen on my hikes but never thought about enough to include until they weren't around anymore. The sword though never changed. There was always that blade which inflicts its terrible harm deep into the future.

I've seen it described as an adult ghost story in the guise of a children's book. Accurate?

It's a ghost story for adults who still remember what it's like to wonder and fear like a child -- to find confusion in the obvious, delight in strangeness and reason in the unseen.

Tell a bit about the collaboration with shadowcaster Christine Marie and sound designer John Zalewski...

My main job is to point out possible contradictions. Silly things really. For example, the Story Teller doesn't use a chair or the Harvester butterfly isn't blue. The rest is up to Christine. She's the Shadow Artist, a protégée of Larry Reed, and I'm happy to stand in the darkness she casts.

Curiously I just learned that she values Tai Chi when it comes to her shadow casters because it's a form devoted to moving slowly and seamlessly. Having studied with Michael Krubiner for a few years, I can appreciate how difficult such apparently easy gestures are.

I also smile whenever she mentions measuring tapes. The geometry of light requires a great deal of precision. Christine smiled when she found out about the construction of ONLY REVOLUTIONS. Both of us understand how even the whimsical walks hand in hand with the numeric.

John Zalewsk also understands this curious relation between numbers and mood. Cadence keeps coming up. Reiterations too. We also keep revisiting the importance of bringing out certain themes without over-literalizing them. Just enough to evoke gloom or love or the sharpening of menace. Both of us enjoy quiet references too. I'm fond of John's wit with a quick loop. Besides his name starts with a Z. You know I like that.

What I'm most intrigued by now is...

...how the reading itself will create this spatial dynamic between the three of us -- where John will work from the back of the house conjuring sounds and tempos while Christine will present her inspirations, some of them 40 feet high, from behind the cyclorama, while I'll be right there in the middle with the actors. We'll be far apart from one another. But if we get it right all of us will fuse and disappear into the story of a woman confronting the terror in mercy.

Of course whether that happens or not, only Halloween will tell.

Why the Netherlands release?

THE FIFTY YEAR SWORD was released simultaneously in Holland in both English and Dutch. Initially it was supposed to come out as a little chapbook celebrating the 60th Anniversary of The Busy Bee. The sword though took on a life of its own. The folio size grew, Peter Van Sambeek's beautiful art took up residency in those pages, the quotation marks thickened with the colors of fall. The next thing we knew a separate release date made sense and a limited print run made the most sense. With ONLY REVOLUTIONS on the horizon, releasing it in the U.S. at the same time made no sense at all.

I suppose eventually THE FIFTY YEAR SWORD will come out here. It's just a question of when and how. As a graphic novel was one idea. Puppets another. Maybe shadow art. Who knows.

What's the scariest movie you've seen?

Bambi. Mom gets shot in the beginning and animals start talking.

What are you scared of?

The absence of god.

What frightens you?

The existence of god.

Your twitter time stamp -- 11:11?

Where the antinomies of belief give way to a faith requiring no certainty.

How's Carl?

A creature of absolute and unforgiving wrath. And I love him.

-30-

More? Yes, more, at Chuck Palahniuk's site last month, at LAist in 2007, and, well, everywhere.

Shadowcaster photo by Steven Gunther

I was at Dodger Stadium last Thursday night for a special screening of "Fernando Nation", the new ESPN 30 for 30 documentary on Fernando Valenzuela. Also at the screening was Valenzuela himself, along with the film's director Cruz Angeles. The documentary airs tonight on ESPN Deportes and Tuesday night on ESPN.

Nearly all of the ESPN 30 for 30 documentaries have been phenomenal, and this one was also good. I didn't quite think it was quite as poignant or compelling as some of the others I've seen, but it's a great 50 minutes of TV viewing for any Dodger fan. My only real complaint about the documentary is that it felt rushed at times, and even Angeles himself admitted that he didn't get to include everything he wanted. Some of the 30 for 30 films have been 90 minutes, and others have been 2 hours. "Fernando Nation" probably needed an additional 30 minutes to realize its full potential.

Unlike other Valenzuela documentaries, this one focused quite a bit on the Latino community in Los Angeles. It told the story of how Chavez Ravine was once a thriving Hispanic community, and then properly noted that residents were kicked for a public housing project, not for Dodger Stadium. The head of the project Frank Wilkinson was accused of being a communist in the 1950s, and the land sat nearly vacant for several years until Walter O'Malley claimed it for the Dodgers. A tiny handful of stragglers stayed behind in the area, and they were famously portrayed on television as being forcibly removed from their homes.

The television footage led to bitter feelings between the Hispanic community and the Dodgers for years, and motivated O'Malley to find a "Mexican Koufax" to expand the team's fan base. It wasn't until 1979 that famous scout Mike Brito discovered Valezuela pitching in Mexico, and just barely signed him before the Yankees could.

The rest of the story is history, and "Fernandomania" swept LA in 1981, and he single-handedly converted the Mexican community into baseball fans, and more importantly, Dodger fans. His impact is felt to this day as the Dodgers remain extremely popular among LA-area Hispanics. The timing of Fernando's arrival is also examined, as it came early in Reagan's presidency, when unemployment was high, Latinos struggled for equal rights, and anti-immigration forces were growing.

"You can't tell the story of Fernandomania without talking about Chavez Ravine," Angeles said after the screening. "Every time we see a Fernandomania film, it's the same thing. It's already been made ... I didn't really want to make that version. I wanted to make a version about a community and a sports figure."

Despite Valenzuela's early career success, the film notes that he was probably overused as he threw double digit numbers of complete games six times in his first seven seasons while relying on a high-stress screwball. If Valenzuela pitched today, he would have pitched far fewer innings to preserve his arm. But young pitchers were handled completely differently back then.

The film is boosted by old clips of Vin Scully calling Fernando's games and one really gets the sense of how his incredible 1981 season rallied a community. It also illustrates how the pudgy native from the tiny Mexican town of Etchohuaquila struggled to handle his sudden stardom.

There was plenty that Angeles left out. At our screening, he lamented leaving out how Bobby Castillo taught Valenzuela the screwball. I thought he could have gone more deeply into the Chavez Ravine controversy. He also could have shown a little more of Fernando's career after 1981, and discussed how Valenzuela wouldn't do anything for the Dodgers until 2003, when Derrick Hall and Jaime Jarrin convinced him to come back as part of the team's Spanish radio broadcasting crew.

I'm having trouble deciding what Angeles should have taken out to get this other material in. I think at the end of the day, ESPN should have just found a way to provide 30 more minutes so that "Fernando Nation" would have felt a little less rushed. Still, I think it's a must-view for any baseball fan in LA.

October's end is near, bringing us closer to Halloween and Day of the Dead celebrations. Even the weather is contributing to the mood. Dark days are upon us as we use these seasonal celebrations to contemplate the meanings of death, mortality and the soul's essence.

In sync with the season, Hollywood is ready to unleash plenty of film fare to provide people with catharsis for discharging anxiety about death. Up next... "Paranormal Activity 2." But may I recommend live theater as alternative form of entertainment?

A few weeks ago I attended a performance of Delondra William's play, "Skeleton Stories" at Theatre of Note in Hollywood. It's a story about a young girl's efforts to rescue her mother's soul in the Mesoamerican Underworld of the Dead. Using animation, lighting effects, mixed media, puppetry and masks, director Bill Voorhees has created one of the most eye-catching productions that I've ever seen. It's as if Julie Taymor adapted Gulliermo Del Toro's movie, "Hell Boy," for the stage.

I leave you with some photographs of the production but this is something you should experience in person. The play runs every weekend through November 6th.

Thursday

• Michael Jaime-Becerra speaks at Written in CA Reading Series at Pasadena Museum of California Art. 7 PM


• Altadena's Wicked Literature: A Halloween Theatre Festival starts today at the Mountain View Mausoleum and Cemetery in Altadena, CA (2400 Fair Oaks Avenue)


• Bo Caldwell reads Distant Land of My Father @ Village Books, Pacific Palisade. 7:30 PM


• El Nido Family Centers honors Beau Bridges and Wendy Bridges with its Champions for Families Award at the Skirball Cultural Center


• Outfest honors Roland Emmerich and Fox Entertainment Group at its Legacy Awards at 8 PM at the Directors Guild of America.


• Boys & Girls Clubs of America honors Magic Johnson at its 2010 Heroes & High Hopes Dinner. 6:00 PM at the JW Marriott at LA Live.


• Cynthia McFadden will emcee the International Women's Media Foundation's 2010 Courage in Journalism Awards at the Beverly Hills Hotel. 6:30 PM


• Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences presents special Monsters at the Movies panel at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills. Panelists include Shane Mahan, Jon Favreau ("Zathura: A Space Adventure"), makeup artist Greg Cannom (Bram Stoker's Dracula"), visual effects artist Phil Tippett ("Jurassic Park"), producer Lou Arkoff ("Darkness Falls") and actor David Naughton ("An American Werewolf in London"). Doors open 6:30 PM. Program begins at 7:30 PM

• The Beverly Hills Literary Escape weekend kicks off with a cocktail party at the Beverly Canon Gardens and a "Moveable Feast," featuring celebrated authors at storefronts along Canon Drive. 7 PM


• America Tropical, an opera inspired by Mexican muralist David Alfaro Siqueiros' adventures in Los Angeles, premieres USC. 3 PM


• Westen Oschse reads Empire of Salt: Tome's of the Dead @ Book Soup. 7 PM


• YWCA Greater Los Angeles hosts its Benefactrix Ball at the Beverly Hills Hotel 6:00 PM


• 14th Annual Arab Film Festival opens (continuing through October 24) at the Writers Guild Theater. 8 PM

Saturday

• Pasadena Museum of History hosts the "Straight-Laced and Buttoned-Up: Dress and Undress at the Turn of the 20th Century" fashion show at Altadena Town and Country Club, 2290 Country Club Drive, Altadena 91001. 2 PM


• Bourbon Grand Tasting to benefit LA Conservancy at Seven Grand, 515 W. 7th Street from 4 -7 PM


• Sergio Aragones signs MAD's Greatest Artists: Sergio Aragones: Five Decades of His Finest Work 5 PM @ Book Soup


• Artisanal LA Opening Day to benefit LAUSD School Garden programs starts 11:00 AM at Cooper Design Space


• Children's Diabetes Foundation honors Maria Shriver at its annual "The Carousel of Hope" dinner at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. 6:30 PM

Sunday

• Harry Hamlin displays Full Frontal Nudity @ Skylight Books 5 PM


• Film location professionals celebrate their own at the 16th annual California On Location Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.


• Tikkunfest on Pico Boulevard. 1:00 PM


• Four Legged Friends Foundation hosts its Count FLuFFula's Costumes & Cocktails fundraiser in West Hollywood. 5:00 PM

Monday

• Foreign Affairs editor, Gideon Rose, gives a Zocalo lecture on "How America Ends its Wars" at The Actor's Gang, 9070 Venice Boulevard in Culver City. 7:30 PM


• Sean Penn honored at this year's Hollywood Film Festival Awards Gala Ceremony at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.


• Condoleezza Rice in conversation with Patt Morrison at the Saban Theater, hosted by PEN Center USA and Book Soup. 8 PM


• Tuesday


• Writer's Bloc hosts a former Columbian Presidential Candidate and hostage Ingrid Betancourt in conversation with book critic David Kipen at MGM Building, 10250 Constellation Blvd., Century City. 7:30 PM


• Minerva Awards honors Sandra Day O'Connor, Oprah Winfrey and others at the Long Beach Convention Center. 5:00 PM


• Mark Bittman discusses his new cookbook, The Food Matters Cookbook, with KCRW's Evan Kleiman at Skirball Cultural Center. 7:30 PM. Tickets $15.

After the New York Yankees lost Monday night to the Texas Rangers in Game 3 of the American League Championship Series, Jon Weisman of Dodger Thoughts threw up a quick post pointing out how Yankee fans, like fans of ALL teams, will leave games early.

A few very defensive Yankee fans chimed in to defend the passion of Yankee fans. Others pointed out that Dodgers fans show up late also.

I tried to find out how long it had been since Dodgers fans had this reputation. A search through the LA Times database didn't reveal much about when the "arrive late, leave early" phenomenon was applied to Dodgers fans (and eventually to all Southern California sports fans), but I did find two interesting stories.

On the day of the first home game at Dodger Stadium, April 10, 1962, Police Chief William Parker advised fans to arrive TWO hours before the game and expect to take TWO hours to get out of the parking lot. And Parker added that it might even take longer if the game went into extra innings and edged into the evening rush hour. (First pitch was scheduled for 1:00 pm and the game took 2:47 to play, so most fans were getting on the freeway around 4 or 4:30 pm if they were lucky.)

Then, on July 14, 1973, I found a letter to the Times Sports section from a Janet Macfarlane, which really didn't address the question of leaving early, but certainly demonstrated why people arrived late. And this letter showed that all the complaints people have about driving to Dodger Stadium are pretty much the same in the last 37 years.

I will have to reproduce some excerpts from the letter by hand, since the database provides a pdf file. My comments will be italicized.

"Let me tell you why this baseball buff has vowed never again to set foot inside Dodger Stadium. At 6:30 pm, we left Pacific Palisades for the Stadium. (This may seem foolish today, but in 1973, most Dodgers home games started at 8 pm.) ... The traffic resembled a parking lot, not a freeway, and there was NO traffic direction until nearly in the stadium. (So you expected an easy drive from the Westside to Downtown with people directing traffic on the Santa Monica and Harbor Freeways...) We arrived at the end of the fourth inning, hurried to the ticket window to exchange our Mutual Tickets ... (Wait, you didn't have tickets in hand? And if it's the fourth inning, it's at least 8:45 pm, if not later. Did you ever look at a map to see where Pacific Palisades is in relation to Downtown L.A.?) No one seemed to have any idea what to do with said tickets ... After a fair bit, I was told that the Mutual window was on the far side of Parking Lot 29. (Indeed it was. I was always wanted to go there as a kid because the Mutual Will Call sign seemed exotic to me. My mom said it wasn't. As it turned out, Mom was not feeding me a line to keep me quiet. She was speaking the truth. It was just a big shack out in a parking lot.)

.

.. By the sixth inning we were in our seats. Wanted a glass of beer after this and found no one working the stands. (Which is not surprising since California sporting venues have not had roving beer vendors for decades, except in very expensive areas where there is waiter service.) One is expected to stand in line for one inning, pay 50 cents for stale peanuts and 85 cents for a beer. I can buy a whole six-pack in the store for $1.35! Total cost of four tickets, parking, two Pepsis, two beers, peanuts, and radio repairs: $18.40. (That works out to about $88 in 2010, which would be a pretty good deal for a group of four at Dodger Stadium now.) I'll listen to the radio, but the team will have to do without my physical appearance. The spirit is willing, but the flesh and pocket book are weak."

Sadly, I cannot determine exactly which game Ms. Macfarlane attended. The Dodgers had a long homestand to start July. The longest any of the night game lasted was just 2:46. Two of the games were over in less than two hours.

Did Janet Macfarlane keep her promise? I don't know. I still think she is walking around the Dodger Stadium parking lot, looking for Lot 29, looking for the Mutual Will Call booth. A ghost who will never find rest until there is no traffic in Los Angeles and Pacific Palisades is moved closer to Downtown.

She was not a beautiful baby. She was big, and covered with a skin rash. Not exactly camera-ready.

So what's she doing in W Magazine, the glossy, high-fashion bible whose November 2010 issue features a naked Kim Kardashian on the cover? But there she is, on page 66, still big, still 100-plus pounds heavier than the rest of her crowd, there she is, naked and ready for her close-up. She spent four hours posing in that shoot with Robert Maxwell, a photographer more renowned for his portraits of Kate Winslet and surfers in Hawaii than for mucking around the hay in a barn, adjusting the light on a horse.

She's not any horse, of course. She's Zenyatta, and the world is in love with her. We can't help it, we slobbering groupies worshiping at the altar of the most exciting athlete in her sport. We think she is the best ever, and we are not people given to adoration of jocks. In fact, other jocks adore her. On Sunday, Terrell Owens, Cincinnati Bengals' wide receiver, dropped by the barn to pay respects. "She's a beautiful horse," he marveled. "She's a big girl."

In her presence, we stutter and gush our horse-love partly over her pure talent--she has never lost in 19 races--but also over her character. This animal is worthy of our love, this animal, says her groom, Mario Espinoza, "likes people more than horses." This animal loves attention and gives as good as she gets. She dances, she poses, she engages. She drinks Guinness beer. You want to hang out with her, you have a crush on her. Everybody does. Get in line.

On a recent morning at Hollywood Park, she breezes 5/8th of a mile along the backstretch under jockey Mike Smith, her first speed workout since winning her last race on Oct. 2. We the smitten are hanging over the rail, mouths agape at her power and acceleration. She even snorts pretty. "What you'd get her in?" owner Jerry Moss asks his trainer, John Shirreffs, who's cradling a stopwatch. "One-oh-three." "Is that what you were looking for?" "Yeah." Shirreffs is the only one in Zenyatta's entourage who remains normal in her presence. He must be sedated. Asked if he's ever had a specimen like her, all he says is "never."

She Who Is Adored walks back to the barn against a soundtrack of clicking camera shutters.

Zenyatta's unbeaten record will be challenged Nov. 6 when she attempts to win the Breeders' Cup Classic for the second time against the sport's elite racers. She will dance her way to the gate, she will, if form holds, run her drama-queen race, lingering at the back of the pack, then picking off the competition until, near the front on the outside, Smith tells her to go, and she finds the gear Porsche has yet to invent. She is the most exciting athlete we will ever see, and none has ever handled her gift so well. We love her. We can't help it.

At the barn, hot walker Carmen Samora spends 45 minutes guiding her around the stables in one-minute loops. Owner Ann Moss stands near the open barn door, holding a copy of W and feeling the love. "Zennie you are so beautiful," she says every time She Who Is Adored passes by. A group of people--track workers, training staff, media, Smith--crowd the barn door. When someone calls her name, or snaps a shutter, when a vehicle moves on the road outside, Zenyatta pauses, lifts her dark-chocolate head, flicks her ears forward and strikes the noble pose fit for a fashion magazine. She does it because you want her to, and because she wants to.

"She's an extremely curious mare," says Steve Willard, her exercise rider on the days she's not doing speed work. "She'll stop to look at a leaf falling from a tree." He points to a masonry wall beyond the barn that defines the periphery of the track. "Once I saw her watch a possum walking along that wall for about two minutes."

Who doesn't love a horse who loves leaves and possums? You watch Espinoza and Samora bathing her as she nickers and rolls her fat pink tongue around the bit, the soapy water splashing over her huge haunches, the sun rendering her dark coat shampoo-ad shiny. It's a good life.

Grazing on a small patch of lawn, Zenyatta obliges when Smith's two friends want a picture and move in close. She raises her head, points her ears and waits for the sound of the shutter before dropping back down to nibble the grass. Smith kisses her neck, they leave and three other groupies move in to impose on her goodwill. One strokes her silky neck, clutching a Zenyatta poster as her friend fumbles with the camera, shaking with excitement. She would marry this horse if they would let her.

She can't help it, nobody can. "OK," read one recent tweet on Zenyatta's Twitter page. "I wasn't gonna get sucked in, but I caved. Now following a talking horse."

Southern California is blessed with natural wonders. One is a singular creature who soon will be off to Kentucky to defend her status as The Best Racehorse Maybe Of All Time. Soon, her handlers say, she will be retired to breed, in a new home far away. Dottie Ingordo helped raise a homely filly into a champion racer whose personality is as big as her famous frame, and the Moss racing manager will miss this special girl. "But it's like children," Ingordo says. "You have to let them live their lives. That's the next part of her life."

We can't wait to see She Who Is Adored in the pages of Parents magazine.

Photos of Zenyatta:Roberta Weiser

Thursday, October 14, 2010

• Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust's Opening Ceremony. 10:00 AM


• Author Joseph O'Neill in conversation with book critic David Kipen at ALOUD in Mark Taper Auditorium-Central Library 7:00 PM


• Healthy Child, Healthy World presents its annual gala at the Smog Shoppe on 2651 South La Cienega Boulevard. 7:00 PM

Friday, October 15, 2010

• Sienna Miller hosts the Esquire House Grand Opening Charity Benefit for the International Medical Corps in Beverly Hills. 7:00 PM


• 100 Black Men of Los Angeles honors Oprah Winfrey at its annual Gala Dinner at the Four Seasons. 6 PM


• Author Buzz Alexander reads at Mama's Hot Tamales, 2122 W 7th St, Los Angeles. 6:30 PM

Saturday, October 16, 2010

• Author John Buntin leads a tour of "L.A. Noir" for Esotouric


• Italian American Museum hosts a Taste of Italy fundraiser at 4:00 PM.


• Wynonna Judd performs at "A Little Bit Country" fete presented by the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center 's Women's Guild in the Barker Hangar at the Santa Monica Airport. Santa Monica 6:30 PM


• Cookbook maven Paula Wolfert speaks at the Couscous Festival, debuting on Sat and Sun at the Chefs Center of California, 45 North San Gabriel Blvd, Pasadena, California 91107. Starting at 11 AM


• Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research hosts a celebration of the 44th anniversary of the Black Panther Party, featuring documentary film screenings, an exhibit of BPP newspaper covers and artwork, and a slide show presentation by Emory Douglas, former minister of culture for the BPP. Fun starts at 10 AM


• Pearl C. Hsiung Opening Reception at Steve Turner Gallery


• Robert Gutierrez art show Opening Reception at Richard Heller Gallery in Santa Monica's Bergmont Station, 5-7 PM

Sunday, October 17, 2010

• Big Parade Practice Walks return in October. A non-stairway "Blackbelt" walk - exploring an experimental pavement route, 10 miles - is scheduled for Sunday, October 17. Meet at the Chinatown Metro Gold Line station at 9 AM.


• Diamond in The Raw Foundation honors Pam Grier and Nancy Lieberman at the 2010 Stuntwomen's Awards. Skirball Cultural Center.


• Travel Town Museum Foundation's Depot Day starts at 10 AM at Travel Town Museum


• American Institute of Architects Los Angeles launches its Fall Home Tour Series: Off Sunset, Brentwood to Palisades. 11:00 AM

Monday, October 18, 2010

• Gwyneth Paltrow, Diane Kruger, Kate Hudson, Kerry Washington, Sofia Coppola, Hilary Swank, Diane Keaton, Jodie Foster and Jessica Chastain will be honored at Elle's 2010 Women in Hollywood event at the Four Seasons


• Malcom Beith reads The Last Narco: Inside the Hunt for El Chapo...at Book Soup. 7 PM


• Michael Connelly reads The Reversal at Skylight books. 7:30 PM

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

• John Chiang, California State Controller, Bill Lockyer, California State Treasurer and other leaders gather at the Milken Institute State of the State Conference on October 19 at the Beverly Hilton to discuss 'Restoring California's Prosperity'


• Urban Land Institute's FutureBuildLA 2010 conference and expo starts at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Starts at 8:00 AM

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

• Dinaw Mengestu reads How to Read the Air at Vroman's Bookstore in Pasadena. 7 PM


• Heather Hartley reading at The Rumor Mill: Writers Wanted!,11739 West Washington Blvd, Los Angeles. 7:30 PM

Thursday, October 7, 2010

• Manolo Blahnik will be making a stop at Neiman Marcus this afternoon to sign copies of his latest book, Manolo's New Shoes, in the Neiman Marcus shoe salon, level one. 9700 Wilshire Blvd. Beverly Hills from 1 PM to 3 PM


• Actresses Kathy Garver ("Family Affair"), Dawn Wells ("Gilligan's Island") and Alison Arngrim ("Little House on the Prairie") will make a rare public appearance together at the popular Larry Edmunds Bookshop in Hollywood at 7:00 PM


• Los Angeles Philharmonic Opening Night Concert and Gala. 7:00 PM Walt Disney Concert Hall.


• The Afterglow: A Tribute to Robert Frost at 6 PM at USC Fisher Museum of Art


• LEADAPRON gallery presents the opening of the Morton Bartlett: Model Children exhibition from 7 to 9 PM. 8445 Melrose Place, Los Angeles


• Matthew Weiner and Shonda Rhimes co-host Planned Parenthood Los Angeles's Advocacy Project fundraiser "Politics, Sex & Cocktails". 7:00 PM at the Pacific Design Center.

• Deborah Borda of Wells Fargo honored at the Young Musicians Foundation 56th Annual Gala at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.


• JoAnne Hepp, Jaime Hepp,Ben Howland,Team TAG honored by the Boys & Girls Club of Venice's Fifth Annual Champion of Youth Gala. Ritz Carlton Hotel, Marina Del Rey. 6:00 PM

Saturday, October 9 2010

• Design Week Los Angeles starts, featuring 50 events across the city from October 9-17

• John Lennon's Birthday Celebration, Noon, at Lennon's star @ 1750 N. Vine St., in front of the Capitol Records Building in Hollywood


• Los Angeles Police Foundation hosts its 11th Annual True Blue Gala at LA Live. 5:00 PM. Speakers include Vernon E. Jordan, Former Secretary of State James A. Baker, III, and Former First Lady Laura W. Bush


• The 13th annual Latino Book and Family Festival at Greenlee Plaza in LA starts at 10 AM.


• Culinary Historians of Southern California hosts a lecture about absinthe from 10 AM to 12 PM at the Central Library (5th & Flower)


• William A Clark Memorial Library hosts a symposium on "From Bohemia to Conceptual Writing: Books, Presses, and Publishing in the Cultural Life of Twentieth-Century California" 9 AM


• Friendly House hosts its 21st Annual Awards Luncheon, honoring Kathleen Silver and Marianne Williamson, at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. Wallis Annenberg and Natalie Cole are scheduled to speak

• Savor the Season - Cooking for Love fundraiser at The Lot Studios


• Second Annual Charles & Ray Eames Foundation Fundraiser. 5 PM


• Mike the Poet leads A+D Museum's Urban Hike: Forgotten LA - Bunker Hill. Make a reservation here


• Steven Kotler discusses A Small Furry Prayer: Dog Rescue and the Meaning of Life at Diesel, A Bookstore in Brentwood. 3 PM


• Woodbury University hosts 10/10/10: A Celebration of Julius Shulman at Union Station, honoring Diane Keaton and Iwan Baan. 6:00 PM

Monday, October 11, 2010

• Brian Finkelstein hosts The Moth-LA GrandSLAM Championship at The Echoplex. 8 PM


• Jack H. Skirball Series at the REDCAT presents experimental filmmaker Lewis Klahr in person to screen and discuss his latest film series "Prolix Satori." $9 8:30 PM

• Library Foundation of Los Angeles hosts "Cocktails with Michael Cunningham" Young Literati Event at Cafe Pinot. 7 PM


• "Modern Art in Los Angeles: A Conversation with Frederic Tuten and Steve Martin" at Getty Center. 7 PM


• Bill Boyarsky leads a discussion at the "California Up for Grabs:The 2010 Gubernatorial Race and the Politics of Reform in the Golden State" evening hosted by The Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West at The Huntington Library. 6:30 PM. Includes Brown-Whitman 3rd televised debate. Reservations required


• Susan Straight reads Take One Candlelight a Room @ Skylight Books. 7:30 PM

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

• SCI-Arc Lecture presented by BLDBLOG's Geoff Manaugh who will discuss the "Quadraturin and Other" 7:00 PM


• Marianne Williamson will speak at the Friends of Wellness Luncheon to benefit the Wellness Community-West Los Angeles at the Skirball Cultural Center

It has been more than two years since some Times loyalists hung this three-story banner from an LAT parking structure. Today's story in the NYT (and check out Kevin's great round-up of reaction links) shows what an understatement that turned out to be.

And remember the web site Tell Zell? Still alive on the intertubes, though sadly dormant.

Last week the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) met and unveiled some of the considerable progress they are making under new president Scott Blackmun. Naturally, one of the questions that came up was whether a U.S. city could bid for the 2020 Olympic Games. USOC chairman Larry Probst had some interesting comments about Chicago.

"I think it would be challenging for any other city to organize a bid in that time frame but not impossible," Probst told the Chicago Tribune in an article headlined "Chicago likely USOC's strongest candid for U.S. bid for 2020 Olympics."

The comments probably raised a few eyebrows here in Los Angeles where the Southern California Committee for the Olympic Games is always ready for a bid. Despite Probst's comments, Los Angeles is the most Olympic-ready city in the United States.

I say this with some knowledge, as I worked for New York's 2012 Olympic bid and was a consultant for Chicago's 2016 bid. That's not to say that Chicago could not host an excellent Olympics, because it could. Their plan for 2016 was first-rate, and they deserved to go well past the first round in voting. But in order for Chicago to bid again, they would need to find political and community support, and the city still needs to build an Olympic Stadium, an Olympic Village, and several other venues.

Conversely, Los Angeles can host the Olympics using entirely existing venues. And unlike virtually every other bold proposal in this city, an Olympic bid is the one thing that has broad political and community support because of the great success of the 1984 Games.

I will get into how a Los Angeles Olympic Games would work later in this column, but this LA vs. Chicago argument may be moot because the United States is unlikely to host the Summer Olympics any time soon.

While the United States is obviously in a different continent from South America, many IOC members consider the Americas to be one region. After being in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, the IOC will not want to go back to the Western Hemisphere in 2020. Additionally, the USOC still has a long ways to go in order to rebuild its reputation in the international Olympic community. Scott Blackmun has made progress on a wide variety of issues, particularly distribution of marketing and television revenues, but the USOC still needs to work on building relationships with IOC members, and other "sports politicians" around the world.

Chicago Mayor Richard Daley was particularly pessimistic about the US's chances.

"If it's a political decision, they have to go to India, they have to go to Africa, they have to go to the Middle East," Daley offered as advice to the next mayor. "You can't participate. So be careful how much money you spend.

"Whoever it is (serving as mayor) has to figure that out," he said. "You just can't bid for it and all of a sudden, say, 'Johannesburg or Cape Town's going to get it. They're going to get it. New Delhi, they're going to get it. Someplace in the Middle East, they should get it.' That's the same reason they give for Rio de Janeiro."

There's some truth to what Daley is saying, but he's not completely right. Early signs point to the 2020 Olympic bid contest shaping up to be a two-horse race between Rome and a South Africa city - most likely Durban. New Delhi was supposed to use the 2010 Commonwealth Games as a springboard to an Olympic bid, but those Games have been a disaster.

It will be a long time before India is able to prove to the IOC that it is capable of hosting an Olympic Games. And despite Daley's comments, many IOC members are still not comfortable with the idea of a Middle East Olympics. Most recently, Doha in Qatar bid for 2016 and failed to pass the technical stage. One of the main reasons cited was weather, as hot temperatures would have led Doha to stage the Games in October, later than the IOC would like. Doha's population is relatively small for an Olympic host city.

Dubai in U.A.E. has announced its intention to bid for 2020, but the city has the same weather concerns as Doha. Additionally, Dubai is facing significant problems with its debt, and when I went there last year, even local sports officials acknowledged they were years away from being able to mount a realistic Olympic bid.

Conversely, the relatively positive feedback on the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa has boosted that nation's hopes. The entire IOC will be in Durban next year to vote on the host for the 2018 Winter Olympics (where PyeongChang, South Korea is currently favored over Munich, Germany and Annecy, France). That's an incredible advantage for any bid city. Since the Salt Lake City scandal, there have been significant travel restrictions placed on IOC members during bid campaigns, so this is a real coup for Durban.

There are several Asian cities that could bid for 2020, but none of their prospects are bright. Busan, South Korea has shown interest, but if PyeongChang wins for 2018, then that would end Busan's chances. Tokyo and Hiroshima have expressed interest, but after Tokyo's second round exit for 2016, it's unclear if enough enthusiasm exists for a second straight Japanese bid.

In Europe, Istanbul has made it clear that it will bid for 2020, but it has bid multiple times and not come close to winning. Budapest, Bucharest, Lisbon, and St. Petersburg have made murmurs about bidding, but Rome is the continent's only city that seems truly organized to this point.

It's still extremely early, but the success of the 2010 World Cup, the sentiment that Africa should host its first Olympics, and the IOC session next year, all seem to make Durban the current favorite for 2020. Additionally, the IOC has never held three consecutive Olympics outside of Europe. Knowing this, European members who want the 2024 Games in their country will vote for Durban.

Whichever city loses between Durban and a European city will likely be the favorite in 2024. By that bidding cycle, it figures that Madrid could mount a viable campaign after strong bids for 2012 and 2016. Paris might also have a good chance, since it would be the 100th anniversary of the famed "Chariots of Fire" Games, which are considered one of the greatest ever. A U.S. city could bid for 2024, but they would be the underdogs against an African bid or a European bid.

All this means, that Los Angeles or any other U.S. city might have to wait until 2028 to host the Summer Olympics, a mere 32 years after Atlanta. Of course, that could be further delayed if Denver or Reno/Tahoe realize their dreams of hosting the Winter Olympics in either 2022 or 2026. It's not clear yet if the USOC wants to entertain Winter bids, or made a stronger effort at Summer bids.

2028 might sound ridiculously far away, but that would basically mean that Blackmun and Probst would have 11 years to repair the damage wrought by past USOC instability. Olympics are awarded seven years in advance. If Blackmun can stay in his current position for that long, then the U.S. would be primed to win by then.

As for which U.S. city could win, the real question on this site is whether it could be Los Angeles. The USOC has basically made it clear that only Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, and possibly San Francisco have a realistic shot at being the official U.S. Candidate City. San Francisco is too spread out though, and there are too many political landmines at this time.

The IOC would love to be in New York for the first time, but there is no obvious site for an Olympic Stadium. A stadium proposal on the West Side of Manhattan died in 2005, and the Jets (who would have used the facility) now share a brand new stadium in New Jersey with the Giants. A second stadium proposal is now Citi Field, home of the Mets, and the team would have to agree to move out for a year or more while the venue is temporarily changed for the Olympics. Another stadium site has yet to emerge, and building any sports facility in New York is notoriously difficult.

That basically leaves Los Angeles and Chicago as the most likely future candidates to host the next Olympic Games in the United States. While Chicago doesn't have an Olympic Stadium or a Village, they at least have a blueprint for a bid. It's possible that later this decade the city could regenerate the political and community support that frayed close to the end of their bid.

On the other hand, Los Angeles's biggest challenge will be to form a compelling reason as to why the city should get to host the Olympics a third time, and not too long after the 1984 Games (in Olympic time). As Alan Abrahamson likes to say, every bid needs a "why." Arguing that Los Angeles saved the Olympic Movement in 1984 and therefore deserves the Games again, will not work with the IOC. Even though it's basically true, some IOC members look at that statement as arrogant and several other IOC members like to think they saved the Olympic Movement themselves.

Additionally, pointing out the low cost of a Los Angeles Olympic Games is not necessarily appealing to some IOC members. It may help win over the Finance Commission, but often times IOC members like to see the Games as a mechanism to build grandiose facilities for sports they love. They also want to see the Games as an opportunity to advance a particular cause or promote a certain sport in an area where it needs a boost.

Los Angeles could appeal to the IOC through celebrity. The ability to align Hollywood with certain IOC members' causes or favorite sports would win over some members. Additionally, Los Angeles' diversity is a strength, as many athletes from around the world could compete before a virtual "hometown crowd" here. The terrific weather here is also appealing, particularly to members of the Athletes Commission. Los Angeles is already a great place for athletes to workout and there is an excellent sports culture here.

So how would a Los Angeles Olympics work? Well, L.A. is already in the fortunate position where it would not need to build a single new venue. The city's official Bid Book for the 2016 Games outlines a bid that uses existing facilities. Very few of them were even used in 1984 because of the stadium construction done in LA by AEG and others over the past 25 years.

Effectively, there would be three Olympic clusters. The main cluster would extend from Downtown to the Coliseum with events taking place at the Convention Center, STAPLES Center, L.A. Live, and then on down to USC and Exposition Park. A second cluster would include all of the facilities in Carson at Home Depot Center. And a third major cluster would be in Long Beach where aquatics facilities exist and sailing and rowing could take place. The Honda Center in Anaheim would need to be used for either gymnastics or basketball, and other venues like the Forum, Pauley Pavilion, Santa Anita (for equestrian), the Pomona Fairplex (for shooting), and Raging Waters (for whitewater canoeing) would be used as well.

Golf and rugby sevens have been added to the Olympic program, but those would not be difficult to accommodate. LA has several world-class golf courses including Riviera and Trump National. The Home Depot Center seems like a natural fit for rugby sevens, but even Dodger or Angel Stadium could be used (since baseball and softball have been eliminated from the Olympic program).

Traffic was not problematic in 1984, and it would not be problematic again because of Olympic priority lanes and the addition of a real subway system.

There would still probably need to be additional slight modifications to the 2016 plan for Los Angeles to win. Originally, the LA bid team planned a $112 million renovation of the Coliseum that would have reinstalled a track and included the building of luxury suites. But having gone to several USC football games in recent years, I think the Coliseum will need a more thorough renovation to win over the IOC. That could be paid for using Games revenue. (Of course a new LA NFL stadium could change everything, but it doesn't look like the City of Industry site will have space for a track, and we don't know much yet about a proposed downtown stadium.)

Another issue is the Olympic Village. While USC and UCLA dorms worked in 1984, today's standard of Olympic Villages is so high-tech and luxurious that the LA bid team would need to find land to build a residential facility that could house over 12,000 athletes, and even more coaches. Since the IOC prefers a compact bid, the Village would have to be near Downtown.

All of this is fun to speculate about, but again, it may be a while before LA can host the Games again.

Word is spreading that Socal native Stephen J. Cannell died last night in his Pasadena home due to complications associated with melanoma. What a shock! He was only 69.

A prolific writer and producer, Cannell created or co-created almost 40 TV series including "Baretta," "The Greatest American Hero," "Hardcastle and McCormick," "21 Jump Street," "The A-Team" and "Wiseguy.

He will be most revered for creating that quintessential Angeleno Jim Rockford of "The Rockford Files," which introduced viewers to hitherto unseen L.A. landscapes and residents. Can you imagine Sgt. Joe Friday of "Dragnet" returning home every night to his trailer in Paradise Cove, Malibu?

Cannell's shows gave so many familiar faces their first breaks: Kevin Spacey, Jeff Goldblum, Johnny Depp...

So many icons have passed away in the past ten days: Eddie Fisher, Tony Curtis, Arthur Penn, Patty Fox... It's like St. Peter wanted to close Heaven's Third Quarter books with a stellar collection of souls.