Los Angeles News Blog

It was a sad day for adrenaline junkies back in September when the cast and crew of theater production Point Break Live! announced it was packing up its surfboards and ex-presidents masks to head for Las Vegas after nearly a year of sold out shows in Los Angeles.  Lucky for us, Point Break Live! has returned to the Dragonfly in Hollywood and you can catch it there every Saturday night from here on out.
 
For those who aren't in the know (or haven't read Lovell Estell III's review), Point Break Live! is a riotous and interactive, DIY stage adaptation of director Kathryn Bigelow's 1991 blockbuster about a gang of bank-robbing surfers led by Bodhi Sattva (Patrick Swayze) and infiltrated by undercover FBI agent Johnny Utah (Keanu Reeves). Remember that scene in the beginning of Point Break where Gary Busey's character (Angelo Pappas) goes diving for bricks at the bottom of the FBI swimming pool? Well, substitute that Olympic sized for an absurd, plastic kiddie pool and a poncho-clad audience getting soaked with every splish, splash of Pappas' shallow swim. That is Point Break Live.

On Saturday, in the Huffington Post, power lesbian and longtime gay rights activist Torie Osborn did something few people in her A-list position have been willing to do: Publicly criticize the "No on 8" campaign.  

While Osborn doesn't name names, she still takes the "No on 8" campaign to task for not building effective coalitions with blacks and Latinos...which is something L.A. Weekly first revealed a few weeks ago.

The Los Angeles Times reported about how a Denver district attorney pushed California Attorney General Jerry Brown into using "familial DNA" searching to try and catch three Denver rapists whose DNA profiles belonged to felons in Oregon, Arizona and California.

According to the Times, Brown initially refused to help catch the rapists but Denver district attorney Mitchell Morrissey was undaunted. He told the Times, "I explained to him clearly that was not something we were going to give up on. If the assailant raped another woman or hurt a child, I was coming straight back to California and I wasn't going to be patient."

Later, Brown changed his mind after he received backing from California district attorneys and Los Angeles police and sheriff's unions. He also has plans to run for governor in two years.

Now, Brown is conducting a "familial DNA" search looking for a relative of the Grim Sleeper, a serial killer believed to be responsible for at least 11 murders in South Los Angeles over a 23-year span. The victims were killed almost exclusively along a section of Western Avenue.

The LA Weekly broke the news about the killer, dubbed the Grim Sleeper by the Weekly because he took a 13-year break before bizarrely resuming his slayings, and Brown's decision in August.

The killers DNA does not match any of the millions of genetic profiles of convicted criminals in law enforcement databases, and detectives have precious few clues.

According to the Times, state officials put the odds of finding the Grim Sleeper through a relative at about one in 10.

Earlier this month, Los Angeles City Councilman Bernard Parks and the LAPD unveiled a billboard, at the intersection of 98th Street and Western Avenue, that advertises a $500,000 award offered by the City Council for information leading to the capture of the Grim Sleeper.

In addition, the Grim Sleeper was profiled on America's Most Wanted. The program, which aired on November 1, featured "Jackie," the Grim Sleeper's only known living victim. She recalled the killer as a "young, good-looking black man" who was driving an Orange Pinto.

Just before 11 a.m. this morning Federal District Judge George Wu spoke the words that ended the weeklong MySpace Trial: "All right, let's bring the jury in."

Lori Drew (R) and her daughter Sarah Drew who was Megan Meier's best friend leaving the U.S. Federal Courthouse. Photo by Ted Soqui. Click image for MySpace Verdict slideshow.

The Los Angeles Department of Building & Safety's Code Enforcement Bureau has 321 open cases involving sign complaints, according to a city report filed in early November.

Eighty-nine of the complaints involve "supergraphics" or signs that wrap around buildings. Of those, 46 are currently in some form of litigation with the city.

Fifteen of the 321 complaints concern billboards.

The bulk of the remaining cases involve complaints against "on-site" signs such as banners, flags and wall signs. (An on-site sign advertises the business where the sign, flag or wall sign is located.)

The Department of Building & Safety said they have responded to over 7,800 sign complaints since 2002.

The two-page overview, which was sent to members of the Planning and Land Use Management Committee on November 7, came a few weeks after the Los Angeles City Council blasted the Department of Building & Safety for lack of transparency and failing to start the city's long-awaited billboard and fee inspection program. The LA Weekly chronicled the city's failed building fee inspection program in Billboards Gone Wild.

Last month, volunteers, who were sick of waiting for the billboard inspection fee program, did what the city failed to do: they counted the billboards in Council member Bill Rosendahl's District in Venice and Westchester. Curbed LA reported that a a total of 563 billboards were found in Rosendahl's district. Eighty-four billboards were found along a 4.2 mile stretch of Lincoln Boulevard.

The holiday season is plentiful - if not bursting - with Christmas films, most of which are heaped upon us in early succession just like everything else tinsel and mistletoe. And you can't say there isn't variety to account for differing tastes: It's A Wonderful Life for your traditionalists; A Christmas Story for your Gen X'ers, Home Alone for Gen Y; Lethal Weapon and Die Hard for those who want a little bang with their ho-ho-ho. (Of course they count, they take place at Christmas!)  It's fair to say, however, that we still don't have a solid case for a traditional classic for Thanksgiving...  or do we?  There is one film which remains a staunch favorite particularly among fans, both for its big laughs as well as its immense heart, which by all rights ought to be crowned the pinnacle of Thanksgiving movie magic: we never fail to find ourselves thankful for Planes, Trains and Automobiles.

For weeks, activists and political observers in the gay community have been calling for a post-Prop. 8 town hall meeting, where "No on 8" staffers can take, and hopefully answer, tough questions about the Proposition 8 loss.

Tonight at 6 p.m., the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center will host a "virtual" version of such an event, with "No on 8" leaders Geoff Kors and Lorri Jean facing the public by way of a computer screen. Critics now wonder if campaign honchos are trying to pull a fast one by controlling the environment of the meeting and the questions they will be asked.

"Something doesn't smell right," says Miki Jackson, a longtime gay rights activist based in Los Angeles.

For Michael Petrelis, a San Francisco gay rights activist, the virtual town hall meeting is one more sign that the old guard has to go.

"It's becoming more and more obvious to me that we need new leadership," says Petrelis.

Music is exceptionally - my wife may say irrationally - important to me. I can walk into a store, determined to spend hundreds of dollars, only to turn around and walk right back out if something horrible is playing inside. Music has never been disposable background noise; it's defined me, inspired me, soothed me, and provided a soundtrack to my life. I think this began in second grade, when my father introduced me to music as art during weekly drives to visit my great aunt in Northridge.

We lived in Sunland, and because the 210 didn't go all the way through to Pasadena like it does now, we had to spend a lot of time driving along surface streets before we could pick up the freeway in Sylmar. Though many of today's parents hasten their children's descent into consumerist zombies by distracting them with DVDs or handheld video games, minimizing or even eliminating interaction on the shortest of car rides, my parents treated our visits to Aunt Val's house as miniature road trips. We played the alphabet game and auto bingo, we told stories, and we all sang along with KLOS and KMET, or one of my dad's many cassette tapes.

My dad loved classic rock, so when I look back on my childhood, The Beatles, Boston, Heart, The Doobie Brothers, and Fleetwood Mac provide the soundtrack. Twenty-nine years later, I can't listen to "Second Hand News" without hearing the unique sound of his VW bus's engine just underneath it in my memory. Most people who listen to "Black Water" hear Patrick Simmons on vocals, but not me. I hear my dad, modulating his voice to hit all the different parts of the harmonies during the chorus. When I hear anything off Boston's eponymous debut, it's accompanied by the steady sound of a hammer driving nails into cedar wood. Dad listened to that album a lot while I helped him build a gate for our side yard in the usual eight year-old manner: by wearing an oversized tool belt and handing him nails while I stayed out of the way. I'm sure it's possible to listen to Dreamboat Annie without giant earphones and a 15-foot coiled black cord, but I don't know why anyone would want to.

Federal District Judge George Wu has shown an easy ability to reference films and TV shows during the trial of Lori Drew. Maybe, then, he's familiar with Laurence Olivier's famous prologue to his film version of Hamlet: "This is the story of a man who could not make up his mind." The line is especially apt for Wu, who's been taking his time ruling on a motion to dismiss the case by Drew's lawyer, Dean Steward, for lack of evidence. Such motions are fairly reflexive: A trial's prosecution rests its case and the defense attorney moves for dismissal, claiming the D.A. or U.S. Attorney hasn't proven his or her case. It happens every day, with the vast majority of motions being waved away by a judge who tells the defense lawyer to get on with presenting his side of the case.

 

Almost seven long years after the Los Angeles City Council vowed to find the exact locations and determine the physical condition of the city's virtually unregulated forest of legal and illegal 10,000 billboards, the city's Building and Safety Department says they will begin the long-awaited program on February 1.

The Building & Safety Department is proposing to charge $186 per billboard structure for a three-year inspection period.  The fee will be levied on the smaller billboard companies that were not party to City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo's sweetheart settlement deals beginning in 2005 with Clear Channel, CBS Outdoor, Regency Outdoor, and Vista Media. Those companies already agreed to the $186 fee.  According to the Coalition to Ban Billboard Blight, the four companies own 6,581 signs, which "leaves an estimated 3,500 signs owned by other companies that would be covered by the latest proposal."

The fees would pay for three field inspectors to conduct the actual survey and enter the information into a billboard database, plus a supervising inspector and a clerk. The program, which is estimated to cost $1,871,594, is expected to take 2.7 years to complete.

The news of an inspection program came as a shock to anti-billboard activists who have been questioning the delay along with City Council Member Jack Weiss since City Council members voted for the program in 2002. At the time, the building department estimated that there were at least 4,000 illegal billboards in Los Angeles. The billboard boondoggle was chronicled in the LA Weekly cover story, Billboards Gone Wild.

"Everybody should be pleased if the program actually starts on Feb. 1, but it's hard to see why it took almost two years to come up with a fee that's identical to the one included in the lawsuit settlement with Clear Channel, CBS, and Regency, " said Dennis Hathaway, president of the Coalition to Ban Billboard Blight.

Even at a city council meeting on October 22 there seemed to be no immediate plan to start the program. In fact, the meeting turned sour quick when Building & Safety officials told the bewildered city council that the city's long-awaited billboard inspection program was still many months away from starting. A visibly miffed Council Member Eric Garcetti, who got his first dose of the ineptitude that has befallen the inspection program, said, that "Every time we don't do some basic work, it just reaffirms people's suspicions about whether City Hall is serious about this."
 
Garcetti quipped that outraged community members have built a billboard database quicker than building department experts in far less time. Garcetti asked for a report on its progress by late January.
 
Hector Buitrago, chief of the code inspection section at Building & Safety, seemed unmoved by Garcetti's annoyance, offering that the department has "made progress."
 
Buitrago and his department provided the same lip service last February when Councilmember Weiss asked the department for a reason behind the delay. Again, Buitrago said they needed to figure out a new fee to charge the smaller billboard companies that weren't involved in the settlement.

A few weeks later, sick and tired of billboard blight and the lack of an inspection program, volunteers in Council member Bill Rosendahl's district completed their own survey on November 8 of the billboards in Council District 11.  Curbed LA reported that a a total of 563 billboards were found in Rosendahl's district. Eighty-four billboards were found along a 4.2 mile stretch of Lincoln Boulevard.

However, in a surprising twist, the Building & Safety Department coughed up a 12-page memo outlining its plan to start the program as of February 1. Inquiring minds still want to know why it took building workers and the City Attorney's office four years to come up with the exact same fee that was agreed upon by the billboard giants? We also want to know why building and safety workers still haven't asked Clear Channel Outdoor, CBS Outdoor and Regency Outdoor to pony up their $186 annual fee on each billboard?





 

"Our entire justice system rests on the assumption that attorneys can be trusted to be ethical," said Federal District Judge Dale Fischer. It was Monday morning and Fischer had just begun addressing a leniency request for super-lawyer Terry Christensen, 64, who'd been convicted last August of conspiracy and aiding in wiretapping.

 "The hammer's going up!" whispered private investigator John Nazarian, who was sitting in the packed Roybal Federal Building courtroom.

With the passage of Proposition 8, according to the Los Angeles Times, Hollywood has been suddenly compelled to do some soul searching, with entertainment big shots coming under fire for contributing to the "Yes on 8" campaign. A-list gays have also been dragged into the controversy as they decide where they stand on the issue.

The Times doesn't really go into it, but Proposition 8 has finally forced Hollywood, which has always been uncomfortable with homosexuality, to come out of the closet and examine its true attitudes towards gays and lesbians and the struggle they fight.

The countdown to the Thanksgiving holiday may have begun but that doesn't mean L.A. has slowed down one bit. From Medieval reenactments in parking lots to flamboyant concerts to costumed queen competitions, this weekend was all about extravagant performances. Here's what we did and what you might have missed:

Of Montreal's Vaudevillian Camp at the Hollywood Palladium

Photo by Timothy Norris. Click image for entire Of Montreal slideshow.

Jeff Weiss and Timothy Norris checked out Athens, Georgia-based band Of Montreal at the Palladium on Saturday night. According to Weiss, "Watching an Of Montreal concert today feels like a cross between a Ted Haggerty-led revival, a wrap party for suburban kids in a 9th grade production of The Wiz, and a Queen concert, had Freddie Mercury & Co. been born 20 years later and gotten their start as a Prince cover band." Read his entire review, "Braces, Boas and Barnes."

Words by Liz Ohanesian, photographs by Jackie Canchola. Click images for entire Metal on Metal slideshow.

Chivalry, honor and the spirit of a ruthless Cimmerian god abound Saturday night at the Steve Allen Theater in For the Glory of Steel, where tournament battles following the militaristic and societal codes of the Middle Ages presented by the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) met up with the mosh pit chaos of L.A. band Crom for a night of metal madness. Limbs were severed, sweat was flung from thrashing chunks of hair and in the end we weren't sure if we had visited a violently gallant past or stumbled into a lawless alternate present.

The SCA, an international organization that aims to recreate aspects of medieval life, came from lands tucked inside the the Kingdom of Caid, a grand conquest that includes what modern men and women know as Southern California, Greater Las Vegas and Hawaii. They represented primarily the Baronies of the Angels (parts of Los Angeles and the San Gabriel Valley), Altavia (San Fernando Valley) and Gyldenholt (Orange County), dressed in their battle best and prepared to raise swords in a "heavy metal parking lot" complete with long-haired guys in cut-off denim jackets.

Meanwhile, Crom emerged from the shadows of L.A. clubs and DIY spaces with penchants for black metal and Conan the Barbarian, bearing guitar riffs that actually live up to the album review cliche "brutal" and manage to leave a trail of blood and spilt beer in their wake. Vice Magazine loves these guys. Your prissy childhood best friend probably doesn't. They had come to brandish axes towards our insignificant skulls.

And so the question was asked, who would be victorious in the great engagement of Metal vs. Metal? 

After the government rested its case in chief against Lori Drew today, her attorney, Dean Steward, made a standard motion for dismissal on the grounds that not enough evidence had been presented proving Ms. Drew had committed a crime. Surprisingly, after considering the motion during a court recess, Federal District Judge George Wu said he would decide over the weekend and rule Monday morning, November 24.

More to follow.

Today saw the cross-examination of Tina Meier, the still-grieving mother of a daughter who committed suicide in 2006 after being the unwitting target in a game of cyber-bullying. Megan Meier was 13 when she hanged herself minutes after being jilted by her MySpace friend Josh Evans. She died not knowing that Josh never existed but was, allegedly, the spiteful creation of Lori Drew, now 49, and Drew’s teenaged daughter Sarah and her friend Ashley Grills. Only Lori, however, faces Federal charges of conspiracy and violation of MySpace’s terms of service.

By RYAN RITCHIE

An interesting poetry reading happens about as often as a Clippers winning season, but that hasn’t stopped thousands of hack wordsmiths from getting in front of audiences to espouse beliefs that no one but the poet’s mother cares about (and even she doesn’t care all that much). But like the tired cliché says, there are exceptions to every rule, and in the modern era, its goes by the names of Dan Fante and Tony O’Neill.

Each writer recently signed a deal with Harper Perennial and celebrated with a reading last night at Los Feliz’s Skylight Books. The 40 people on hand – comprised mostly of neo-beatnik white guys and college-looking girls with intentionally disheveled haircuts – witnessed a one-two punch of writers destined to make the leap from underground literature’s best kept secrets to mainstream stars.

Dan Fante at Skylight.

Hey, Lost fans – did you hear about the big event at Meltdown Comics in Hollywood last night? The one launching the new line of Kubrick figures – the tiny Lego-plus-like figurines originated in Japan that have become all the rage amongst toy collectors – based on characters from the show? Figured you didn’t have the energy to trek down in the middle of the work week? You screwed up, man.

Click image for entire slideshow.

(L-R) Abrams, Lindelof & Cuse. Click image for entire slideshow.

A veritable public staff meeting – with Sharpies! – was set up courtesy of the excellent Meltdown crew and ABC, including series creators J.J. Abrams (fresh off his super-exclusive press tour previewing footage from the upcoming Star Trek reboot) and Damon Lindelof; executive producers Bryan Burk, Jack Bender, Edward Kitsis, Adam Horowitz and Carlton Cuse; and writers Elizabeth Sarnoff, Paul Zbyszewski, Melinda Hsu Taylor, Kyle Pennington, and Brian K. Vaughan. As Cuse confirmed for us prior to the signing, it’s probably the most creative talent behind the hit show that had been gathered for any event that wasn’t Comic-Con… if not more. And yet it did seem as though the organizers expected a larger crowd, given all the placards and notices posted in the store that the team would not be able to chit-chat with the fans, please keep the line moving, etc. Nevertheless, for the ultimately healthy turnout that did show up, the Lost gang was more than happy to sign and banter with the enthusiastic fanboys ‘n’ fangirls for over an hour, while crews from the network shot one-on-ones and interview footage for next season's DVD release.

Jury selection for the trial of Lori Drew, the Missouri woman accused of illegally creating a fictitious MySpace profile (one that resulted in a fragile 13-year-old girl committing suicide) was supposed to race by today; there was even talk of opening statements being heard late this afternoon. Nothing doing, however – those Tuesday statements were as much a mirage as the “Josh Evans” character that Drew is accused of cooking up in cyberspace to torment the late Megan Meier. Instead, delay piled on delay and voir dire, the process by which potential jurors are questioned by judge and attorneys, didn’t even start until after 4 p.m.

Web Editor's note: the L.A. Weekly is proud to raise a pint of Guinness and welcome Wil Wheaton onboard as our new weekly columnist. Check back every Tuesday for his latest.

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Way back in early 1990, I was at the Forum in Inglewood for a Kings hockey game. The Kings were hosting the Chicago Blackhawks, and by the second period the game was effectively over. The Kings were in the process of turning in yet another lackluster performance en route to a 7-4 defeat, which was the style at the time.

As the Zamboni began to resurface the ice before the third period, thousands of fans streamed out of the building.

“Look at these people,” I said to my friend Thomas, disgusted, “they’re like fucking Dodger fans! The game’s not over!”

He pointed to the scoreboard. “Yes, it is,” he said.

“There’s a whole period left, man! They could come back!”

“You really believe that?”

I didn’t, but I was committed to my righteous indignation. Somehow, I’d managed to summon more passion about the game than the players. “Never forget,” I intoned as solemnly as I could, “the Miracle on Manchester.” (For those of you who are too young to remember, the Miracle on Manchester happened in a 1982 playoff game with our hated rivals the Edmonton Oilers, who were a much better team. Trailing 5-0 in the second period of a must-win game, the Kings mounted a comeback so unlikely and so impressive, we’re still talking about it 26 years later. I know, I know, but it makes the 7-8-2 record a little more bearable.)

BY ELLA TAYLOR

I don’t know whether it was before or after Obama won the election that security officials threw a three-block cordon around his house in Chicago. I’m no security expert, and given this country’s penchant for knocking off progressive politicians, perhaps that’s what it takes to protect the first black President we’ve ever had. But surely it’s worth reflecting on the practical and symbolic significance of sealing Obama off from the very people who helped elect him? For the same reasons, it’s been depressing to read all the assiduously uncritical media fizz — including from the New York Times — speculating about which ritzy Washington private school the Obama girls will attend once the First Family lands in the White House. Call me a purist, but given the message of change and inclusivity on which Obama campaigned, wouldn’t it be nice if he set the tone and sent his daughters to one of the many decent public schools the nation’s capital has to offer? Obama’s election was the best news we’ve had all year. But no one has ever governed wisely or well from inside a moated castle.

Going on a hunt for nudity seems a bit of a risque stretch for Watson Adventures, the company who organize recreational scavenger hunts at museums and other public institutions, normally of the much more straight-laced "murder mystery" variety. And truth be told, the hunt for "Naked at the Getty" on Saturday played out in a far more PG-13 manner than you might initially expect; as part of Watson’s trickily worded, occasionally deceptive 30-question "hunt" there would be no tallying of bare breasts involved, though curiously there was a least one question each asking for a count on a particular gallery's centaurs and/or decapitations. Ew!

Is it just me or was it was incredibly hard to keep up with the insane amount of art and music events that happened in Los Angeles over the weekend? Friday night I remember hanging out backstage with Street Drum Corps when they opened for Motley Crue at the Palladium (pics coming soon) and Saturday night I remember touring Echo Park on a converted school bus turned crusty punk party on wheels. The rest is kind of hazy. Basically, from clowns to burlesque to naked scavenger hunts to heavy metal art shows, it's a miracle any of us made it to work this morning. Here's a recap of what we did and who we saw:

Rockie Gardiner Memorial Gathering at Boardner's

(L-R) L.A. Weekly food critic Jonathan Gold and Editor in Chief Laurie Ochoa with Rockie Gardiner's son Jeremy. Click image for entire slideshow.

Friends, fans and family of longtime L.A. Weekly astrology columnist Rockie Gardiner, who passed away on Halloween, gathered at Boardner's in Hollywood to celebrate the life of our favorite stargazer.

Art Core: Honoring Metal Through Art at Congregation of the Forgotten Saints

Artist Krys Sapp poses with his Art Core piece. Photo by Shannon Cottrell. Click image for entire slideshow.

Artists and rockers descended on Melrose Ave. Boutique turned art gallery Congregation of the Forgotten Saints for the opening of "Art Core: Honoring Metal Through Art." The devilish group show featured such artists as Johny Chow, Cam Rackam, Gidget Gein, Cam De Leon, Chet Zar, Vince Locke, MearOne, Jeremy Cross and more.

By Liz Ohanesian

Colin Christian "Freaky Deaky"

Clowns. Once their bulbous noses and painted grins adorned living rooms and children's bedrooms across the nation. But times changed, and the great clown painting became a relic of mid-twentieth century Americana, the faces meant to provoke smiles now inducing goosebumps for the post-Pennywise generation.

It was one such 1950s painting found in an antique shop during the course of a father-son road trip that led Culver City's Corey Helford Gallery to resurrect the star of circuses and fifth birthday parties for its newest show “Clowns! The Reinterpretation of the Classic American Clown Painting.” The group show, which opened on November 15, featured fifty-two pieces commissioned by the gallery from artists ranging from the easily recognizable, like Shag, Paul Frank and Tokidoki, to up-and-comers like Sweden-based Anneli Olander and local Natalia Fabia. Several artists, including acclaimed British street artist D*Face, appeared courtesy of London's StolenSpace Gallery.

By Erica Wrightson


Violet Valentine seduces the crowd at the Derby. Photo by Jackie Canchola. Click image for entire slideshow.

Backstage at the Derby in Los Feliz on Saturday November 15, a miniature classic car show materialized in the parking lot. Members of the Venice-based Devils Car Club parked their Cadillacs and Chevys out back, showing off their shiny fenders and sparkling hoods, serving drinks in blue party cups out of their open trunks. The Devils' president, Jose De Leon, stood proudly behind his '55 Ford Custom with Mercury taillights and a bright green hood that glittered under the smoky glow of the moon. Next to him was Reb Kennedy of Wild Records, dressed impeccably in a suit and hat and leaning against his '58 powder pink Cadillac Coupe de Ville with a mint green roof.

While vintage tunes spun in the background, classic bodies glistened under the dim red lights of the Derby's cozy bar, and women in stilettos and coal black bobs tucked themselves into leather booths lined with heavy velvet curtains. The Whistle Bait Mods and Rockers event, presented by Pinup Girl Clothing, was a fusion of 1950s style and 1960s rock and soul from DJs Alberto Sol, Johnny Devil and DJ Hellhound, including a special set from Sol called East L.A. Review, highlighting music from 1960s East L.A. on 45s. "Everybody's groovin’ tonight," said Alexander the Great, Alberto Sol's DJ partner, remarking on the unique combination of live rockabilly music and bodacious bods.

On Saturday, tens of thousands of people--young and old, gay and straight--loudly protested the passage of Proposition 8 in downtown Los Angeles near City Hall. The peaceful demonstration, organized by a newly-formed group of young gay and lesbian activists called F.A.I.R., was probably the best-attended rally in the past ten days, when spontaneous and organized protests started on Wednesday, November 5. West Hollywood City Councilman John Duran told the protesters, "This is the day we pass the torch to the next generation." They took it, and marched through downtown and over to Hollywood on a very hot and emotionally-charged day.

Proposition 8 protesters marched in downtown Los Angeles on Saturday.

Updated at 4:53 pm and revised number of homes burned
Los Angeles police and fire officials are now floating the chilling possibility that they may find bodies inside the Oakridge Park mobile home neighborhood once they get a handle on the Sayre Fire, still only 10 percent contained. By their calculations, there are too many burned-out hulks of cars left near houses, implying that some people didn't make it out.

One firefighter said it was the most ferocious fire he'd ever seen inside the Los Angeles city limits, and told a story of heroics in which he and three other firefighters found an elderly woman inside her burning home, and hustled her out just as the windows exploded from intense heat.

With the Oakridge Park mobile home development in the San Fernando Valley looking as if it had been "hit by a nuclear bomb," and roughly 500 of its 700 closely packed houses burned down to soft piles of ash, the Los Angeles Police Department declared the Sayre Fire a massive crime scene on Saturday.

Los Angeles City Fire Department arson teams were reportedly preparing to launch what one official said could grow into the largest arson investigation in memory, rivaling the massive manhunt to identify the person who started the horrific Laguna Beach fire of Oct. 27, 1993, that torched 441 homes.

Federal Judge George Wu does not like surprises. At the start of today's pretrial hearing for Lori Drew, Wu asked if any of the gathered counsels, who included U.S. Attorney Thomas O'Brien and high-powered defense lawyer Dean Steward, if they'd seen Law and Order last week. The lawyers shrugged "No" and Wu explained that the show seemed based on the matter before them, namely, U.S. v. Lori Drew, in which a Missouri mom is charged with using a bogus MySpace account to bully a teenage girl she disliked. The girl, Megan Meier, wound up committing suicide. The charges Drew faces don't include persuading Meier to commit suicide, so Steward wanted the ears of prospective jurors to be shielded from all mention of the S-word, which he contended would be extremely prejudicial to Drew.

For a little over a week, I have covered "No on 8" rallies in West Hollywood and at the Los Angeles Mormon Temple, and I have walked with protesters as they marched through the streets of Westwood, Hollywood, and Silver Lake. I have talked with people--gay and straight--in their twenties and thirties, interviewed longtime community activists and "No on 8" campaign staffers, and attended various media events. When you talk and meet with these many people, you can see certain things coming down the road. While I'm not entirely comfortable writing a quasi-editorial, and I'll probably never do it again, I want to briefly share a few things before the big rally in downtown Los Angeles on Saturday morning.

A protester marches through Westwood March last Thursday afternoon.

Photo by Erin Broadley. Click image for entire slideshow.

If today was a training session to help government and emergency personnel understand how to react to a 7.8 Big One hitting Los Angeles, and to get Angelenos revved up about earthquake preparedness, it looks like they still have quite a ways to go. I guess that was the point.

One problem was the puffed-up claim that 5 million people were volunteering or somehow involved. It would be a miracle if 100,000 were. I saw a small number of volunteers in Balboa Park, and a small number at Fire Station 88 in Van Nuys. The lesson turned out to be about chronic government overhype of almost everything: It the public wary and even less likely to get involved.

Lesson Two was about communications, under the category "Lack Thereof." The nice volunteers who showed up at the American Red Cross mass casualty site at the Balboa Recreation Center were milling around wondering where the fake bandages and makeup artists were. Earnest Red Cross and city officials were on the phone several times, trying to get an answer about the fake blood. It turns out no faked injuries had been authorized there. No big deal. But that's why things get so screwed up in an actual disaster, when the information is critical and wires quickly get crossed.