How I sacrificed my dignity to score tickets to the summer’s hottest concert

Tickets for Radiohead’s Hollywood Bowl shows on August 24th and 25th went on sale ages ago. Thanks to Ticketmaster’s constant flow of email blasts, of which I’m a recipient, I knew the precise moment they would be made available.

And I did nothing, for a variety of reasons; like, I have a few days because they’re not going to sell out right away, and I just care about getting in because the Bowl is a satisfying experience no matter where you are sitting thanks to the huge video screens flanking the stage; or, yeah, I still have their last album, In Rainbows, in heavy rotation 10 months after its release so do I really need to see them play songs I’m overly familiar with; or even, I’ll do it after I wash my car… you get the procrastinatory picture by now.

So, of course, they sold out in a few minutes– or they may as well have as far as I was concerned.

Last week, the epiphany of what-have-I-done?-ness came out of nowhere, or, as I like to think of it, Flavorpill, which is my homepage these days. In a frenzy, I started with Craig’s List, which had a few ads from people with either extra tickets or looking to swap nights. The majority of the CL ads though were from ticket brokers, primarily Turbo Ticket. Did I want to spend $4000 for two pool circle seats? Does anyone? (more…)

Story behind this in the comments, read ‘em.

I was thinking of starting an email campaign to implore the LA Times to make The Envelope a weekly (or at least a regular monthly) PRINT section, as it brilliantly covers Los Angeles’ main industry — film and television production. (Any takers with an itchy forward finger?)

It was included in today’s print edition as it’s Emmy season (read, “mucho network ads”) and I devoured it in its entirety this morning, which strikes even me as odd because the only programming I watch is Mad Men, Project Runway and a slew of political and public affairs shows.

So where else but on Countdown with Keith Olbermann would I have caught Paris Hilton’s hilarious response ad to the McCain campaign’s absurd, ham fisted attempt to denigrate Obama by linking her to Barack in “celebrity” stature?

I don’t know much about Hilton beyond the fact that a lot of teenage girls and, sadly, a sizable contingent of my gay brothers hang on the WeHo denizen’s every mono-syllabic utterance and crotch flashing. Is there more worth knowing? I thought not, but her ad, wherein she also declared her candidacy for, like, the presidency of the United States made me reconsider.

If you’re a layman law dweeb and patriot like myself AND you’re outraged by the US government’s shameful acts of torturing prisoners at Guantanamo, trumped up charges against said prisoners and the devious propaganda that was generated to sway public opinion in defiance of facts, then you should catch channel LA 36’s broadcast of LA Public Library’s Aloud Lecture Series interview with Steven T. Wax, a public defender who took on legally representing two men that he believed were being framed by the US government.

It is an infuriating episode in one of this country’s most shameful eras, i.e. the last 7 years. The interview centers around his new book, Kafka Comes to America: Fighting for Justice in the War on Terror and the stories he told from the book read like a script for a Hollywood movie about government corruption at the highest levels. (Hint, hint to studio book optioners.)

Big news for West Side burger afficionados: Santa Monica’s beloved construct-your-own burger eatery (is “burgery” a word?) The Counter is opening a new location in the Marina.  The new Counter is tucked away at the end of the Waterside Marina del Rey shops, near the corner of Admiralty Way and Fiji Way (and believe me, my duty to serve our loyal readers with useful information barely eked out a win over my selfish desire to keep this location ”undisclosed,” Cheney style).

According to the guy pictured on the ladder out front, The Counter opens this Monday.  I peered inside, and the place looks to be all set up, with the staff holding a meeting on those trademark metal chairs.

Perhaps The Counter’s expansion to the Marina will shorten the wait at their Santa Monica location.  Or maybe, like L.A.’s roadways, when they build more, more inevitably will come.

I just got Councilmember Tom LaBonge’s email about the next in the series of evening bike rides he is leading through Los Angeles this summer. The third ride in Tour LaBonge is tomorrow, Wednesday evening, August 6th.

The plan: Meet at City Halls steps by 6:15 PM; 10-mile ride commences. The ride will include a stop for ice cream and end by about 8:00 PM.

Fifty cyclists showed up for the last one, a ride along Los Angeles River Bike Path and through Griffith Park on July 30th. And LA Metblogs’ own Will Campbell participated.

This time, the ride will wind through Downtown.

Route map after the jump. (more…)

I just came across a press release and was reminded that as of Aug. 2nd, 21 live crape myrtles are now in the courtyard at One Colorado–just so you can make a wish. Regardless of what you think about Yoko’s tumultuous relationship with That Band, it’s important to acknowledge her significance as a great figure in the contemporary conceptual art world. Shes a pioneering feminist artist. She’s a force of nature. She makes good stuff happen. If she had a motto, it would be Git ‘Er Done, I’m sure of it.

So check out the flowering trees installed amongst the cafe tables in the courtyard of One Colorado. Visitors are invited to write their wishes on pieces of paper and hang them on the tree branches, a traditional Japanese way of making a wish (and especially fun for kids). Wishes from Wish Tree Pasadena will be joined with others from around the world and placed into Ono’s”Imagine Peace” Tower on Videy Island, off the coast of Reykjavik, Iceland. The artwork is dedicated to the memory of John Lennon. The trees are up until November 9, at which point they’ll prolly be so full of wishes the trees will appear to be constructed out of paper. More info is here.

Today presents two opportunities to delve back into the odious Reagan era in Los Angeles.

First, in today’s LA Times opinion section, conservative fact-twister Jonah Goldberg, still mad at the hippies, links the recent deaths of two figures via their individual efforts against communism; those of “cold warrior”/US foreign policy expert Peter Rodman and Alexander Solzhenitsyn, the Russian author who exposed the brutality of the Soviet prison system in his book, The Gulag Archipelago, leading to his receiving the Nobel Prize for Literature AND being exiled from the Soviet Union in the ’70s.

Goldberg brings the neocons’ trademark tunnel vision to Rodman’s role, and praise for Reagan administration efforts, in developing foreign policy to route communism from places like Afghanistan– and we all know how well that worked out– and takes a swipe at Peace Action (formerly SANE/The Freeze) along the way for daring to question US tactics in the first place. He manages to leave out Jane Fonda and “Hollywood liberals,” to his credit, but not by much. He saves his ire for his piece’s true intent: attacking Obama.

That Goldberg, a misty-eyed Reagan worshipper, accuses Obama of “brutal oversimplification” for implying “victory in the Cold War was some Hallmark-movie lesson in global hand-holding” is pretty rich. Goldberg must have his mother’s balls.

The fun part: Tonight sees the Regeneration Tour touch down at Universal Citywalk’s Gibson Ampitheater with Human League, Belinda Carlisle, ABC, A Flock of Seagulls and Naked Eyes. Dead or Alive cancelled out from the tour at the last minute due to living plastic surgery experiment/frontman Pete Burns’ “health problems.”

With the ’80s being the decade that won’t die, politically or culturally, I was a little surprised to get my weekly email from Goldstar Events and see that they are offering $49.50 mezzanine tickets for $15.30 (plus service charge.)

Regeneration indeed.

The Regeneration Tour, Gibson Ampitheater at Universal Citywalk; tonight, 7:45 pm.

If the words “Los Angeles” and “County Fair” seem to you like an oxymoron, you are probably not alone.  Check out the video on the website home page for the 2008 Los Angeles County Fair, which comes to town country in Pomona this September 5th through 28th.  The video pokes fun at Los Angeles bimbocity slicker types who no doubt comprise some portion of the Fair’s attandance.

Step right up for more information

Pasadena Star News Reports additional 100,000 sign up for 11/13/08 Shake Out Event after last Tuesdays Chino Hills shaker.

Are you ready for the big one? I have reservations on how emotionally ready we can be for the actual shaking, but we certainly can plan on being a survivor. That is what the November 13 Great Shake Out is all about. You can still sign up for the Great Shake Out.  More information can be found on their Home Page. 

The entire event is based on the USGS 7.8 Quake Scenario issued this spring that forecasts East LA and the SGV could be particularly hard hit.  Our own Wil Wheaton gave you notice of that forecast HERE earlier this year.  I’ve been in LA long enough to be a bit cynical about the constant rolling dates predicted for the big one, but still take the likelihood serious and prepare to be a survivor.

After Northridge I learned the hard way you can’t plan enough for surviving afterwards.  Somethings I didn’t take serious enough, like bolting tall objects to a wall.  Other things like what should go into an EQ Kit that aren’t on a list is the tough one.  If you have kids make sure you have their preferred dry foods, formula, diapers, blanky and a stuffed animal in the kit.  Have money, cold hard cash in your kit as when power and phone lines are down your ATM and credit cards won’t work. (more…)

LAT breaks anthrax mailer suicide story; and Meghan Daum is back.

It wouldn’t be fair to rag on the Los Angeles Times like I did last week and then not point out two positive developments.

On Friday, LAT’s David Willman broke the story about the suspicious death of government biodefense scientist Bruce E. Ivin, an apparent suicide stemming from his being pursued as a primary suspect by the FBI in the deadly anthrax mailings that killed five people in 2001.

Saturday’s, Sunday’s and today’s LAT brought more on the evolving story. It turns out Ivins stood to gain financially as a co-inventor of a genetically engineered anthrax vaccine, with AP chiming in with a story about Ivin’s therapist’s concerns that he was “a sociopathic, homicidal killer.”

The LAT story was picked up across the globe. I caught an interview with Willman on MSNBC last week.

Other good news at the beleaguered paper is that Saturday opinion columnist Meghan Daum is back from book leave. She’ll be at this Saturday’s Hammer Readings, hopefully reading from her forthcoming book (due in 2010) about real estate and identity, entitled Give Me Shelter.

I’m curious to hear if she shares my recurring fantasy of seeing Jeff Lewis, the ass on Bravo’s Flipping Out, on the street one day and running over him. So I guess I’ve got my question for her during the Q & A.

Hammer Readings at Hammer Museum, 180899 Wilshire Blvd. at Westwood Blvd., Los Angeles CA 90024