Orange Line vs. pickup truck

I knew something was up when the helicopters were hovering over Van Nuys and Robert Blake wasn't on trial for anything.

An Orange Line bus and a pickup truck collided at Kester Avenue at 6:30 a.m. today. Here's the full story from Channel 4:

LOS ANGELES -- A Metro Orange Line bus and a pickup truck collided Thursday on a busway in Van Nuys, and two ambulances were sent to the scene, authorities said. Following the collision, aerial video showed that the bus ended up with its front end up against a building.

The ambulances were sent to Oxnard Street and Kester Avenue at 6:30 a.m., said Ron Myers of the Los Angeles Fire Department.

The circumstances of the crash were under investigation. The collision is the latest involving the reticulated buses, which recently went into service along a limited-access roadway.

Channel 4 even has this image gallery.

The latest I heard from flipping through TV channels is one injury.

Three injuries.

Can't remember if I've blogged on this street before, but Kester Avenue between Victory Boulevard and Oxnard Street (the bus crosses just north of Oxnard) is one of the busiest, most unpredictible and dangerous stretches of roadway in the entire Valley. You have to drive it every day, know it and respect its capricious nature to avoid an accident. The area is at once heavily populated, crowded with auto repair shops, and a major crossing for trucks, cars, bicycles, strollers, darting children, and now giant buses.

We've called it the Valley's own "Paper Boy" game, for those familiar with the video-game equivalent.

You have to really watch out, drive cautiously and know anything can happen.

Still, the TRAFFIC LIGHT at the busway, which is clearly marked with a sign that says "Busway," makes it plain that YOU NEED TO STOP WHEN THE BUS IS COMING AND THE LIGHT IS RED.

Columnist back from the brink

Via Romenesko, from the Chicago Sun-Times. Neil Steinberg begins this way:

THOSE COLUMNS I WROTE ABOUT MY HOME LIFE OVER THE PAST 10 YEARS WERE NOT A LIE. I really live in a rambling old house with a pair of eager, mischievous boys and a pretty, wisecracking wife. We really remodeled our kitchen on a pharaonic scale. We really have three cats.

But the stories in the newspapers (and on TV, and radio) last month were also true. I probably shouldn't say that. But you have come to expect a certain candor in this space and now does not seem the time to change. I got drunk and slapped my wife during an argument. I immediately knew it was a mistake -- I used to say that if I ever hit Edie, I would draw back a bloody stump, and that wasn't far from what happened. She called the cops, they came, clapped me into handcuffs and hauled me off to jail. When I asked her later why she had to have me arrested, she said, "Nobody hits me, buddy." Pithy as always.

(snip)

The next day in court my wife made a statement that can be accurately condensed as "He drinks too much and needs help." When she had tried, again and again and again, to tell me that in previous years, I would always muster my charm, lie low a few days and wriggle out. Drinking was what I did, who I was, my comfort and my joy and I wasn't about to give it up for any lecturing wife. But after 14 sleepless hours behind bars, I passionately wanted to get out, and when the judge offered me the choice of going through the fine rehab program inside the Cook County Jail, or somewhere else outside, I eagerly opted for the latter.

Go to the link above for the rest.

The dream is alive

David Letterman has Starbucks coffee pumped directly to his desk.

In order to make this work, they need to insulate the tubing so the beverage remains hot on its journey.

From the Letterman site, via Starbucks Gossip, which, curiously is run by Jim Romenesko of the vastly more famous media site:

Dave is thirsting for some Starbucks coffee and tonight, to satisfy his desire, we rigged up something really special. From the Starbucks across the street and down the block, we have a direct link via 550 feet of clear plastic tubing. Dave has a spigot at his desk. The source is in Starbucks. The power to get the coffee from Starbucks to Dave's desk is supplied by a nitrogen tank at Starbucks. We turn on the camera at Starbucks and meet and greet Brad Simanski at the counter. ...

When all is ready, Brad the Barista turns on the power and Dave's decaf coffee is sent on its way. The camera follows the coffee leaving the n/e c/o 54th and Broadway. Across 54th is goes, then across Broadway, through the Ed Sullivan Theater doors, through the lobby, down the side of the theater and to the spigot. Dave turns on the faucet to enjoy a nice delicious cup of Starbucks. Complains the customer; "It's too cold." This technology is still in its infancy stage and portions still need to be worked out. Over all, though, a success. The coffee from Starbucks was a success. Big money was lost on this bit. No, not on the creating of the whole thing . . . but on the money bet that it wouldn't work. It was rehearsed once with a modicum of success. For the show, we were very happy with the results.

Robert Hilburn takes a buyout

L.A. Times music critic Robert Hilburn is taking a buyout but will still freelance for the paper, L.A. Observed reports.

Back in the days before the Web, in the late '70s, I looked to the Times and Hilburn for my pop-musical education and was introduced to the wonders of punk rock through its pages. Yes, in those days the Times was somewhat ahead of the curve. It was before the L.A. Weekly became a big force, and all the local clubs -- the Starwood, the Roxy, the Whisky -- would advertise in the Sunday Calendar.

The whole Dylan and Springsteen fixation was annoying yet amusing; it's been a newsroom game over the years to count the grafs until one of them is mentioned in just about any Hilburn story, no matter who or what the subject. Still, he remains a legend.

The most fascinating person of 2005

Camilla.

HRH Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, nee Camilla Parker Bowles, was named the most fascinating person of 2005 in the world of Barbara Walters on last night's prime-time special.

My pick, Jon Stewart, didn't even make the list. Well, I guess he was more fascinating last year.

I almost forgot the show was on and didn't start taping until the halfway point. Most of the interviews were EXTREMELY short, and there was no Camilla chat. Is that the way it always is with the "most fascinating person" -- no interview? That way they're not tipped off as to their fascination, I suppose.

Yeah, Camilla is plenty fascinating all right, having caught Prince Charles' eye some decades ago, not being suitable, but carrying on an affair for years and finally marrying him some years after the death of Princess Diana. Sure, the prince of Wales is pretty much an idiot, but she's gotta be comfortable with that, having known him all these years.

Here's the screwiest take on the list, from the Manufacturers Blog:

The Ten Most Fascinating People of 2005: Barbara Walters Misses the Boat

The Blogger-in-Chief was hesitant to write on this topic, so it looks like his humble apprentice gets the leftover scraps.

We were only just slightly annoyed when we turned on ABC last night to watch the Barbara Walters' (anybody remember Barbara WaWa?) special, "The Ten Most Fascinating People of 2005."

We waited in great anticipation through the entire hour-long special to see if she decided to lump a manufacturer--any manufacturer--into her list.

Nope.

Here was her "list" of "fascinating people":

Dakota Fanning
Jamie Foxx
Condoleezza Rice
Teri Hatcher
Thomas Mesereau
Lance Armstrong
Beth Holloway-Twitty
Tom Cruise
Kanye West
Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall

Wup dee do. Kinda lame, if you ask us.

A couple questions:

Where are the manufacturers in that list? We only make everything that these "fascinating" people use everyday.

What was Barbara Walters' criteria?Perhaps these people were chosen because many are considered popular and "cool?" Manufacturers are cool too, ya know. We even make cool stuff. In fact, this blog has a whole section on Cool Stuff Being Made.

When was the last time Barbara Walters went on a plant tour? We think if she went on one, she'd surely find it fascinating.

Loyal readers of this blog (both of you) will recall that when People magazine listed their Hottest Beach Bodies we called for a boycott because not one manufacturer was included in that list.

Somebody should call for a boycott of Barbara Walters.

Any takers?

Oh, and Barbara, 2005 isn't over yet. There's still a month to go, by our count. Anytime you want to amend the list, we'll happily invite ourselves.

By the way, Cool Stuff Being Made is, indeed, cool. Today's movie is on makin' bacon.

L.A. Observed is back out of commission

UPDATE

L.A. Observed is back. The explanation herein. The world can continue to spin on its axis.

"Bandwidth limit exceeded," is the message I get when I go to L.A. Observed. Guess you can be too popular. Hope Kevin Roderick gets it sorted out soon -- it's like we're in the dark here.

Mack Reed elaborates and sympathizes at L.A. Voice.

This underscores the order I go in. Fire up the browser, go to L.A. Observed, then L.A. Voice, the two best sites for this particular city. And even though L.A. Voice is billed as a community of bloggers, it's pretty much Mack who pulls the freight. L.A. Observed is all Kevin, of course. A great job done by both gentlemen, and quite a public service as well.

Here in Van Nuys on leaf blowers

Andrew defends leaf blowers, on the grounds that they offer a tangible benefit along with their noise and pollution.

Our gardener (yes, we have a gardener, don't start with me), Larry, has a rather quiet leaf blower, but it's a blower nonetheless. I'm ambivalent -- those things sure do work -- but I also have a broom.

I also favor letting leaves stay where they fall and/or moving them into my compost bin. Composting is the best thing we can do to both fortify the garden and dispose of organic wastes (both yard and kitchen varieties) with maximum efficiency -- no truck needed to haul it away, all processing done by critters and micro-organisms.

I'm off track and not betting. So goodbye.

Holiday hell week

Any week that includes a "day off" holiday is HELL WEEK at the Daily News. For the privilege of having a day away, we spend an entire week inundated with extra work and earlier deadlines, no time to breathe.

And there's not enough free food here. Just as well, since I could stand to drop a few pounds. (I've gained 5 to 10 pounds since I returned here in 2002 for my most-recent Daily News stint. It's a long story, but I have worked here three separate times.)

So that's why posting is low to nonexistant at present. I know you all want to hear about my toilet repairs, why I'm pissed off about winshield wiper refills and how the dry weather is affecting the inside of my nose, but it'll have to wait.

Until then, all the best to you and yours for the happiest (blah, blah, blah) of Thanksgivings. Vegetarians that we are, we will be feasting on this, made by Ilene from the new Real Food Daily Cookbook.

The great Real Food Daily restaurant offers full Thanksgiving meals, praised in this case by Laist.
Alas, it's too late to order, but if you drop by in Santa Monica or West Hollywood, you can probably get yourself a nice plate of faux turkey breast, potatoes and more.

L.A. Times cutting 85 jobs

L.A. Observed has the memo. L.A. Voice says it's going to hit the copy desk the hardest because LAT is heavier there than other Tribune Co. papers.

Deadline to apply for a "separation package" (a.k.a. buyout) is Nov. 25 (a.k.a. the day after Thanksgiving).

Orange Line: Honeymoon phase?

Daily News staffer Lisa Mascaro looks at the zeitgeist of the Orange Line, with Joel Kotkin offering the following:

The (Red Line) subway, Kotkin reminds, carries only a fraction of its projected ridership more than a decade after it opened.

"They go through an early honeymoon period where everyone takes it," Kotkin said about shiny-new commuter lines. "Try it in three months. When the Red Line started, there were all sorts of people in ties and jackets."

He thinks Orange Line supporters should see the busway for what it is - a cheap alternative to rail for transit-dependent people - and not fantasize that the Valley is a new center of world-class urbanity.

"We're not talking about sashaying on the Champs-Elysses," he said. "If people want to get all enthused about it, that's great. ... Cafes and dancing seals at every stop? That's not what you're going to get."

Forget the "dancing seals," but a lot could happen along the busway, both commercial and residential. And yes, your friends from Starbucks and Coffee Bean could be a part of it.

Kotkin doubts middle-class riders will trade their cars for buses in great numbers in the long run.

But he still thinks the Orange Line should be extended to crisscross the Valley and go out to Thousand Oaks - since busways are so much cheaper than rail lines. The Orange Line's original plans included similar north-south busways near Canoga Avenue and Van Nuys Boulevard.

Van Nuys Boulevard, especially, is primed for a busway. The street is WIDE because the famed Red Cars used to travel along tracks in the middle of the street. All MTA has to do is reclaim the median.

Now I know Zev Yaroslavsky is set on Canoga Avenue, but I think the second north-south busway should be on Reseda Boulevard.

On the Ventura Boulevard end, you would hit Tarzana and the Tarzana portion of Encino-Tarzana Regional Medical Center, then head by the park at Victory Boulevard (and the Sherman Oaks Center for Enriched Studies, which is nowhere near Sherman Oaks, by the way), by a whole bunch of businesses, including the hub at Sherman Way and eventually up to California State University Northridge -- which is notoriously hard to reach by bus in a timely manner. After that, head up to the 118 Freeway.

Next candidate for an east-west line (besides Ventura Boulevard, which MUST be dealt with at some point) would be Nordhoff Street, which takes in Panorama City to the East, CSUN and the Northridge Mall farther West. Ideally it would head south where Nordhoff hits Corbin Avenue and eventually link to the Orange Line around Victory.

L.A. Times cuts itself, reports on it, too

The L.A. Times cuts its Outdoors section. Can't say I love reading about catching trout and bagging elk, but that seems ominous. Again, the Times seems to say more than it seemingly shoud, what with morale and all:

There will be further cuts at The Times in coming weeks, (Dean) Baquet said, but he declined to elaborate.

A painful play on words

The New York Times' Alessandra Stanley on Oprah:

She is a media mogul who is to self-improvement what Martha Stewart is to home entertaining, but Winfrey's multiple personalities -- celebrity confidante, self-help evangelist and benefactress to the needy -- are unmatched. She is her own version of a U.N. educational and cultural organization: "O"-nesco.

"O-nesco"?

How about exchanging names first?

Seen on Craigslist: The hot brunette at Coffee Bean on Hollywood Blvd - m4w - 32

Nanny Nanny Nanny Nanny

How many nannies does it take to screw in a light bulb?

Seriously, if you want to know what's really going on out there, look here.

Opinions on the L.A. Times Opinion firings

No love lost at Laist. And Mack Reed of L.A. Voice is pro-Scheer but anti-Ramirez.

Mickey Kaus is pro-Ramirez and, curiously, both pro and extremely anti-Scheer at the same time:

I would have kept Robert Scheer, though. He's an annoying egomaniac, certain of his own authority even when he's wackily wrong. I remember him assuring me, shortly after 9/11, that we would discover it was the work of a rogue European cell and not Osama bin Laden. He once attacked my parents. (That was in the course of reviewing my book.) If I could press a magic button and end his career I probably would. But the op-ed page is a good place to explore alternative universes--that's better than just "piling on," as Maureen Dowd recently described her role. And Scheer is a skilled polemicist who's right more often than a stopped clock. (Though it's close, as Jackie Mason would say.)

Laist experiences the Orange Line

Laist rides the bus. Also with tips and some cool pictures. A quote:

The local papers can't get enough of The Orange Line. The Daily News ran what seems like their hundredth front page story on the new transitway today and the Times took it to the editorial page making the case for more parking at the orange line/red line transfer location. LAist rode the Orange line for the first time last week and was pleasantly surprised with how enjoyable the ride was. It felt a little like riding BART up north and gave us the opportunity to see parts of the valley we don't normally get to enjoy when we're in the car avoiding distracted cell phone drivers and aggressive red light runners along Victory Boulevard. The Route is actually pretty darn attractive.

Has a Pulitzer, gets fired anyway

I thought winning the Pulitzer Prize was a guarantee of lifelong employment and untold riches. But the L.A. Times is firing political cartoonist Michael Ramirez (emphasis below is mine, especially on the word "discontinuing"). One thing you gotta give the Times credit for is letting the two fired guys be quoted. You don't see that happening very often:

In a major shake-up of its editorial pages, the Los Angeles Times announced Thursday that it was discontinuing one of its most liberal columnists as well as its conservative editorial cartoonist.

Editorial Page Editor Andrés Martinez said that Robert Scheer, a Times reporter for 17 years before he began writing a column on the Op-Ed pages in 1993, will be dropped. Cartoonist Michael Ramirez, The Times' cartoonist since 1997, will leave the paper at the end of the year and will not be replaced.

(snip)

Scheer and Ramirez said Thursday that they believed their strong political stances played a role in their dismissals.

Scheer said he thought The Times had grown tired of his liberal politics. "I've been a punching bag for Bill O'Reilly and Rush Limbaugh for years and I think the paper finally collapsed," he said. He said he and Ramirez "both had strong opinions and [I think] the owners think they can improve circulation by making the paper bland and safer."

Ramirez, who won a Pulitzer Prize in 1994, said: "I can't help but think it's also a philosophical parting of ways." He said he also believed his removal was partly due to budgetary concerns, as well as a desire to change the look of the editorial pages.

Ramirez's departure leaves The Times without a permanent staff editorial cartoonist. (Ramirez's predecessor, Paul Conrad, won three Pulitzer Prizes, two of them at The Times).

"You have a newspaper that has such a grand tradition of editorial cartooning," Ramirez said. "I think it makes a lesser product and I think the readers lose."

(snip)

Ramirez's cartoons will continue to appear in The Times through December. After that, he said, his cartoons will continue to be syndicated by Copley News Service, which has distributed them since 1988.

I grew up with Paul Conrad's L.A. Times cartoons, and he formed and shaped my opinion of what a good editorial cartoon should be. There was a level of sophistication that was and is lacking in the work most other cartoonists -- and I had no idea because I only knew from Conrad, who won three Pulitzers.

And while I'm thinking about it, Paul Conrad is STILL drawing cartoons, but NOT for the L.A. Times. I'll have to look into the circumstances of his parting with the paper. Here's a particularly good example of Conrad's recent work and his Rosa Parks tribute.

Here's some of Ramirez's work. And Scheer's, which I confess I've never read. Was I the only person excited by Michael Kinsley's arrival and thunderous tenure (and then dismayed that it ended so quickly)?

But seriously folks, has a Pulitzer Prize winner ever been fired up until now? If so, I'd like to know.

And for those keeping score, the Daily News does employ a staff political cartoonist, Patrick O'Connor. You might've seen his GIANT BILLBOARD at the corner of Burbank Boulevard and Woodman Avenue a few months back.

The Double Espresso

Coffee from Starbucks and Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf can be bitter and over-roasted. And it takes longer to drink than the 2-year-old will allow without constant pleas of "Have some," ... "Have some coffee" ... "I want coffee." She's 2, for the love of God. And I also have to be awake, at least a little bit, some of the time.

Enter my not-so-secret weapon. The double espresso.

Sure, it takes longer for them to make it (they have to shoot it out of the espresso machine, not just let it drip into a cup like regular coffee). But it's both economical ($1.85 or so$1.75 at the local Starbucks for a double), and with TWO SUGARS mixed in, you can drain it in one or two good swigs and begin to enjoy the caffeine high right away.

Call it the difference between snorting and shooting, if you will. I will.

Now, before the little one is three sips through her Trader Joe's individually boxed soy milk (with cool retractable straw), I'm ready to face the day, or the next few hours if it, anyway.

Espresso tip: Look for the crema on top -- you'll know it's been made right.

Our polling place changed

(If you want to understand Arnold, you have to see "Pumping Iron." It's all about winning and using psychological warfare to do so. Even when Arnold could win a bodybuilding competition (for which prize money was negligible, by the way) on his own physical merits, he felt both a need and compulsion to "psyche out" the other participants. Guess it's not working so well these days, but what the hell.)

Forget the neighbor's garage, a couple blocks down, with plenty of parking. Instead, for the "special election" we had to find a new polling place, in a largish apartment building's rec room. Not all that far away, but not much parking, either, so Ilene and I piled the girl into her stroller and hiked it over there first thing in the morning.

Just as we got there, a woman was in a tizzy about her pre-marked absentee ballot, on which she "made a mistake," as she said. Did she confuse Propositions 78 and 79? Easy enough to do. But did she have to get in front of us? Yes. And was her name in the same part of the alphabet (and same book of registered voters' names) as ours? Yes.

The other drama concerned the County-issued cell phone that the precinct workers couldn't get a signal on.

Anyhow, we Inka-Voted (we had discussed the issues on the 10-minute walk to the polling place -- about all the whole slate of issues merited) and left.

Even though I'm in "the media," I was surprised to find that Proposition 80 would have re-regulated the state's electric-power industry. I hadn't heard a thing about it, but considering the problems we've had with Enron and rolling blackouts (which, thankfully, didn't affect the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power), I figured some re-regulation would be a good idea.

Well, Prop. 80, along with everything but the LAUSD school bond, was defeated. I'm just shocked that there was a proposition that flew so far under the radar that I had no idea it was on the ballot until walking toward the polling place.

As to how I voted on everything else, I've been registered as "non-partisan" ever since I've been in the news business. Now I don't think that's a requirement, or even some kind of high moral ground on which to stand, but I just feel more comfortable that way as both a journalist AND a private citizen because I'm not happy with either the Democrats or Republicans. And the way our system is structured, minor parties are virtually shut out of any role in actually governing. Makes for a different kind of democracy than in Europe. Not better or worse, just different.

I could go on about how the collective political consciousness in the U.S. produces two parties that encompass the blended ideological soup of the electorate, pleasing a few and causing indifference or disgust in the rest, but I won't.

I digress.

Can't say I'm a fan of Arnold Schwarzenegger. I'd hoped for less big-money pandering on his part, but I can't see Gray (or is it Grey?) Davis or Cruz Bustamente doing any better. And I thought Arnold's close connection with former Gov. Pete Wilson was a plus. Not that I'm a fan of anti-immigrant measure Prop. 187, because I'm not, but I have a great admiration for Wilson due to his dogged determination more than anything. When I worked at the Glendale News-Press in the '90s, he'd come by on a regular basis, roll up the shirt sleeves, answer any question and plead for whatever was on his mind. Just the fact that he came to those little papers and wasn't full of BS stuck with me. I hoped Arnold would emulate Wilson more than he has, but what can you do?

Again I digress.

Nobody can think the California Legislature is working. I'm not sure if it was better before or after term limits, but anything that could be done to make the seats in the Assembly and Senate less safe for either party is OK by me, so I voted for Prop. 77. Had to go along with Prop. 79 (and against 78) because something has to be done about prescription drug costs. The whole buy-drugs-from-Canada thing is just a symptom of a system that's horribly out of whack, and, again, better to do something rather than nothing.

And even though I'm now a father, the whole Prop. 73 abortion-notification measure just isn't right. You hope a girl will tell her parents in such cases, but you don't have to have a law about it.

Love to tell you about the rest, but even I'm bored.

Later.

The ultimate car

Expect to see these in every other driveway in my neighborhood. Beginning in 2006 ...

Hybrid option for Camry -- America's Most Popular Car

Appealing to our patriotic tendencies, the car will be assembled in Kentucky (albeit of mostly Japanese parts).

Here's the pitch:

Camry is America's most popular car, with sales topping 425,000 units in 2004. A large number of buyers who might not otherwise choose a hybrid car will select the Camry Hybrid. These buyers will enjoy improved fuel efficiency, uncompromised performance and the most advanced hybrid system on the road: Hybrid Synergy Drive®.

Most of Camry Hybrid's electrical powertrain components will be imported from Japan, but the 4-cylinder engine will be assembled in Georgetown, Kentucky. As with all other Toyota vehicles featuring Hybrid Synergy Drive®, the Camry Hybrid powertrain will be engineered to achieve the model's specific performance specifications and to exceed buyer expectations.

The growing hybrid market
Camry Hybrid was born of Toyota's commitment to produce environmentally sensitive vehicles and the increasing market demand for hybrids. Toyota has sold more than 400,000 hybrid vehicles worldwide. The company is on target to produce 300,000 hybrid vehicles annually by 2005, and one million by the end of the decade. Camry Hybrid follows Prius and Highlander Hybrid as the third Toyota hybrid in the U.S. market.

Toyota will continue to release information about Camry Hybrid performance, specifications, options, price and first date of sale. Hybrid Synergy View will keep you up with the latest news!

Check out the U.S. Camry Hybrid launch announcement for more information.

Fun facts on this page: 425,000 Camrys sold in 2004, 500,000 hybrids sold worldwide by Toyota, with goal of 300,000 per year.

Our friends Brad and Lara are NOT seniors yet have a Prius AND a Camry. They live on the Westside, where seniors presumably drive other kinds of vehicles and thus don't understand the phenomenon that is the classic Camry driver.

The Most Fascinating People

The names of a select few of Barbara Walters' "Most Fascinating People" have trickled out, as Andrew reports on Here in Van Nuys. As I said there, who can remember the name of last year's "most fascinating person"? Last year's best-picture Oscar winner? Not that I've won anything ever or am thought of as "fascinating" by anybody, but these things have an incredible burst of power followed by quick amnesia.

Now back to the fascination. Presumably none of those currently mentioned are in the running for "Most Fascinating Person." Here's what we have so far:

NEW YORK (AP) - Tom Cruise, Teri Hatcher and Kanye West are among the names on Barbara Walters' list of the 10 most fascinating people of 2005.The list of the year's most prominent names in entertainment, politics and sports also includes Lance Armstrong, Michael Jackson's lawyer Tom Mesereau and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, ABC announced Monday.

"Barbara Walters Presents: The 10 Most Fascinating People of 2005" will air Nov. 29 (10 p.m. EST). The No. 1 most fascinating person of the year will be revealed on the special, now in its 12th year.

Presumably the "most fascinating person" is not among these six, so that leaves four more "fascinating" people, with one of those "most fascinating." By process of elimination and elucidation, I will attempt to, at least, name Babs' No. 1, if not get a few of the others remaining on the list. Return her Nov. 30 to see how well I did -- and feel free to supply your picks in the comments.

They could be fascinating:

The politicians

L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (long shot)

Arnold Schwarzenegger (long shot)

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin (not as long, but still a long shot)

U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (good bet)

The activists

Cindy Sheehan (leading anti-Iraq War voice is a good bet)

Morgan Spurlock (the "Super Size Me" guy who's an advocate for the working class)

The anchors

Anderson Cooper (most-buzzed-about anchor of the moment)

Shepard Smith (defied Fox News conventional wisdom by critizing government during Katrina aftermath)

MY PICK FOR MOST FASCINATING: Jon Stewart (incredible buzz, best-selling books, the ear of the under-40 generation and the ability to get bow-tied talking heads yanked from all-news networks)

The Actors

Angelina Jolie (she stole a "world's sexiest man" candidate from one of "America's sweethearts" and is also intent on saving the world -- and not just by adopting children at a Mia Farrow-esque pace)

Charlize Theron (could repeat as Best Actress Oscar winner)

Jennifer Aniston (had "world's sexiest man" stolen by "world's sexiest woman" ... what does that make her? A freakin' martyr with patentable hair)

Music

Gwen Stefani (she's being played in every boutique in L.A. Barbara Walters wants tutorial on how to pronounce, "Hollaback.")

Oddities

Ashley Smith (the woman who kept a fugitive from killing her by quoting out of preacher Rick Warren's The Purpose-Driven Life" ... and offering him some of her crystal meth, the latter of which she renounced after getting her own book deal)

Camrys can be dangerous to your health

Ilene said it much better than me (or is it I? We'll let the "Eats, Shoots & Leaves" lady sort that one out).

A special corner

Yesterday's Orange Line crash, in what used to be Van Nuys but is now Valley Glen, made me think about the corner of Woodman Avenue and Oxnard Street. I grew up in what they call a "garden apartment" not far from there. That it was an apartment complex was clear. The "garden" part was due to the trees and ivy, through which we would run, playing army, with baseball bats doubling as rifles, the last gasps of Vietnam nowhere on our grubby radar.

Back to Woodman and Oxnard. That corner was the center of my known universe. There used to be more shops than there are now. Most of those on the northwest corner were bulldozed to make way for apartments and condos. I remember when gas cost 43 cents a gallon at the Mobil station (which is still a Mobil station).

We used to go to a small grocery store on the southeast corner (since replaced by a mini-mall with seemingly nothing to offer -- who needs a water store?). The butcher once gave me a hand-made sausage that looked like it had every kind of animal part on the farm in it. It was spicy. And don't get me started on where or what the casing came from. I would get Bazooka bubble gum, with those little Bazooka Joe cartoons, for 2 cents apiece and Topps baseball cards, with equally card-like gum, for a quarter a pack.

There was a beauty shop where my mother went weekly to get her hair done, a barbershop where I got my hair cut.

On the northwest corner, right next to the laundromat, there was liquor store where I got comic books to read while our clothes were spinning. On the other side was Phillip's TV, run by a quiet man named Phillip, who used to fix our set. Those TVs with tubes needed a lot of fixing. He even replaced the channel-changing knob a couple of times. (We barely had color, let alone a remote.) Not like today when you pretty much have a TV for 10 years with no trouble at all and throw it out when it stops working.




Remember those tube-testing machines they used to have at Sav-On and Thrifty? You'd pull your tubes from the set, take them to the drugstore and plug them into the appropriate socket. (I think they gave you little stick-on numbers so you'd know which tube came from which socket when you went to re-insert them in the back.) Then the machine's meter would tell you if the tube was good or bad. We weren't the type to even open the back of the TV set, lest we never get it working again. When I got a bit older, I'd take everything apart, but this was before I had access to a set of screwdrivers.



What's now the Matterhorn Chef restaurant used to be called Old Heidelberg. I've never eaten there -- Bavarian food wasn't and isn't something that appeals to the vegetarian in me. A funny place for a fancy-ish restaurant, but it's nice to know it's still there after all these years.

Orange Line vs. Camry

How did I know a Toyota Camry was involved?

The most serious crash occurred when a Woodland Hills woman, who is believed to have been talking on a cell phone, ran a red light at Woodman Avenue, officials said. Her Toyota Camry hit the bus and then spun around and hit it again before stopping, they said.

The woman suffered a serious injury, but was in good condition late Wednesday.

Fourteen people on the bus were sent to local hospitals but suffered only minor injuries.

What is it about senior citizens and Camrys? Remember The Camry Death March.

I got a little sentimental, if not weepy, when I saw an elderly couple rolling along this morning in what seniors used to drive: A Ford Taurus. This was an '80s model. Now there's the Ford Five Hundred for those who want a V8 with a lot of metal. The Chrysler 300 looks stylish. Honda Accord. Nissan Maxima.

But they all want a Camry.

Remember, I pass both Sherman Oaks Hospital and Kaiser-Permanente Woodland Hills every morning, so I have plenty of Camry exposure. And to the lady in Sherman Oaks with the perfectly-preserved orange 1970s Volvo -- DON'T CUT ACROSS THREE LANES OF TRAFFIC WITHOUT SIGNALING.

There, I feel better.

Major Orange Line accident

At Woodman Avenue and Oxnard Street. FifteenThirteen injured.

And I hear one of those is a fatality.No fatalities.

And there was a minor accident earlier in the day near Corbin Avenue.

Thanks for stopping by

Two hundred people took a look here after the L.A. Observed link. Whether it's the Metro Orange Line or what I ate for breakfast that intrigues you, thanks for your interest. This morning, I had Cheerios with Rice Dream rice milk, shared with the child. (Trader Joe's O's are actually better than General Mills' Cheerios, though Wal-Mart's generic rendition is much worse).

There was pie sitting out overnight in the Daily News newsroom, but it mysteriously disappeared. Guess some misguided person thought that pie can't last overnight without risking food-borne illness. I, for one, am willing to live a little dangerously, especially when it comes to pie.

Photo by Andy Holzman/Daily News
I don't have a lot of time, but I wanted to give a shout-out for Mike Teatreault, the Daily News' letters editor. Mike, who I had the pleasure of working with on the Features copy desk at one point in our Daily News careers, wrote a great Orange Line piece. He gives our oft-photographed mayor a good ribbing:

I was going to ride the bus on Saturday but I was afraid of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Not Antonio himself, but of Antonio's almost mystical ability to get his picture taken. Where there is Antonio, a camera will appear. I don't like to have my picture taken; a picture steals part of our souls. Look at the movie stars, look at the celebrities, look at the politicians.

Another quote:

The bus arrives a little more than two minutes after I do. I get on through the rear door, just behind the strange accordion thing that allows the bus to turn on a dime. The bus is almost full, but nobody is standing. Half of the seats face the center of the bus. I choose a seat facing the aisle.

It's the best seat for the second part of why I rode the bus. The Orange Line is my retirement plan. A lot of people are worried about the dangers of this busway: No intersection crossing gates. Poor placement of light signals. Poor placement of warning signs. Neighbors will be kept awake nights by the sound of buses bumping into cars, bicyclists and pedestrians.

What if they aren't just dogs-in-the-manger, sour-graping-it, light-rail chauvinists? I intend to be on the bus. Even a slow-motion accident, a tai-chi collision, will be sufficient for my retirement. I have my lawyer's business card in my wallet.

I am the only coat-and-tie person on the bus. Everybody else appears to labor for a living. There are no blondes going west; perhaps they ride east in the morning.

I made it on L.A. Observed

The king of L.A. bloggers name-checks me right here. Thanks, Kevin Roderick.

Also got a link from Andrew at Here in Van Nuys, who covers the same territory except with cooler original pictures.

(I will exit ass-kissing mode ... now)

First Orange Line crash

It had to happen. It's buried in Daily News staffer Lisa Mascaro subway story, but somebody finally crashed into an Orange Line bus:

The Orange Line had its first collision just before 4 p.m. Thursday when a northbound motorist driving on a suspended license ran a red light at Vesper Avenue and hit an eastbound bus, authorities said. There were no injuries.

Now I'm not saying I know what kind of car the motorist was driving, but it could be one less Camry on the road.

The Rod report

I reviewed the new Rod Stewart standards disc in today's Daily News. The key in evaluating these kinds of records -- wildly popular, necessarily compromising -- is to put yourself in the shoes of those (and there are many) who buy them. Here's the lede:

Guys like Stewart have all the luck. The crooner has sold 13 million of these "Songbook" discs since the series began in 2002, with a new one issued each year. But can Rod the (former) Mod hit the notes? Yes, and some impossibly high, too. Are the arrangements top notch? Absolutely. And one thing about that voice - it's an original.

Here's a quibble:

As on Stewart's earlier standards discs, instrumental solos are limited to restating the theme in eight bars or less, no solos allowed, even by big-name guests. Trumpeters Chris Botti and Roy Hargrove, guitarist George Benson and saxophonist Dave Koz are wasted.

And a caveat (Ilene says this part is too musically nerdy):

But on all 13 songs, Kenny Asher's bread-and-butter piano and Bob Mann's steady rhythm guitar keep the proceedings humming along.

And summing up:

If you love Stewart's voice, there's no better way to hear it than here. And if you can't stand it, at least give the guy credit for tackling the Great American Songbook, although the millions he's made from the venture is probably thanks enough.

Not everybody lives so close to the Orange Line

So how to get there, or not? If you're close to Van Nuys Boulevard, take the Metro Rapid and get a transfer -- I'm gonna see how often THOSE buses come in the morning and evening.

Daily News and the Orange Line

My paper, the Los Angeles Daily News, is doing a pretty good job of covering the Metro Orange Line, offering a daily countdown -- "8 days to the Orange Line," says today's logo.

Go here for all the stories.

Today's story is all about the motorists failing to stop for the new traffic lights on the busway. The ticket is $350. Ouch. And in a previous story, Lisa Mascaro writes about resistance to using the Orange Line, with quotes like this:

"Why would anybody with a car want to take that, even with the cost of gasoline?" said John Nakahama, a retired architect in West Hills.

"I won't do it myself. I'm not even curious to try that. It's a bus."

Lisa also reports that estimates of only 5,000 to 7,000 riders per day are way too low, possibly to make it look that much better if/when they exceed expectations:

"I think the 5,000 number is really low-ball," said Professor James E. Moore of the University of Southern California's Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering. "They'll have absolutely no trouble beating that 5,000-passenger-per-day figure."

Moore hesitated to make his own ridership projection for the busway, Line 901, without doing formal computer modeling, but expects much higher numbers.

"Don't be surprised if it's double that. Don't be surprised if we hit that 20,000 to 25,000 this year, as opposed to 2020."

But there's also skepticism about whether the project is doomed from the get-go:

Veteran bus riders have also had a mixed response. While some look forward to a trip that's faster than current east-west routes, others say the MTA hasn't provided enough connecting buses to make the system effective - especially for those living in the North San Fernando Valley.

"It does nothing for us," said Bart Reed, executive director of The Transit Coalition, an advocacy group for bus riders.

"The amount of money they saved by not providing connecting services marginalizes the Orange Line," he said. "There is a huge amount of shooting yourself in the foot when you're spending one-third of a billion dollars and don't bring in the supporting cast to make it work."

Here in Van Nuys on the Orange Line

I totally missed that Andrew from Here in Van Nuys was in the L.A. Times story right here:

This is going to … join us again to greater metropolitan Los Angeles," said Van Nuys resident Andrew Hurvitz, noting that the opening of the busway comes three years after the Valley tried to secede from Los Angeles. "It's going to de-isolate the Valley.

"I feel like we're at a turning point," he added. "We are finally becoming less of a cliche than we were before. We're a dense, urban city and must live differently than we did in the 1950s. We can't [all] live in a single-family house with a three-car garage anymore."

But Hurvitz, an associate producer for a documentary film company with offices on Ventura Boulevard, said he's unlikely to ride the Orange Line, although he thinks a student to whom he rents a room in his house might.

Will the Orange Line work?

The L.A. Times' Amanda Covarrubias weighs in with the following think piece on the Orange line:

There's the hopeful:

"This is going to … join us again to greater metropolitan Los Angeles," said Van Nuys resident Andrew Hurvitz, noting that the opening of the busway comes three years after the Valley tried to secede from Los Angeles. "It's going to de-isolate the Valley.

"I feel like we're at a turning point," he added. "We are finally becoming less of a cliche than we were before. We're a dense, urban city and must live differently than we did in the 1950s. We can't [all] live in a single-family house with a three-car garage anymore."

The skeptical:

But the Orange Line "doesn't go anywhere you would want it to go," said Joel Kotkin, a Valley Village resident and Irvine senior fellow at the New America Foundation, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank. "It's a tour of the industrial bowels of the Valley. And there's no place to stop to get a cup of coffee."

Kotkin and others believe the Orange Line, like most bus lines in the city, will fill a need for low-income workers and students. But, he adds, it won't do much to unclog the 101 — or even nearby surface streets, such as Ventura, Victory and Van Nuys boulevards.

"I think it might be a great thing for a teenager in Valley Village who's got a job three days a week at Nordstrom" in Woodland Hills, he said. "For a woman cleaning house in Chandler Estates and living in Reseda, for that person, it works."

L.A. Observed's Kevin Roderick:

"You won't notice it on the 101 Freeway. It won't be those kinds of numbers," said Kevin Roderick, author of "The San Fernando Valley: America's Suburb."

Low expectations:

MTA officials ... calculate that the line will have 5,000 to 7,000 riders a day in its first year, low even by Los Angeles mass transit standards. They hope daily ridership will grow to as much as 25,000 in 15 years.

Future plans:

MTA officials point out that the busway could be converted to light rail if it became wildly popular.

And of course ... people who live in the Chandler Estates area and own not one, but TWO adjacent houses. The kind of people who throw stacks of $100 bills in the fireplace when they need a little heat ... not your typical L.A. bus rider, and they're not happy:

Mitch and Tess Ramin live in a small, one-story house on nearby Chandler Boulevard with their baby daughter and are renovating a larger home next door that they plan to move into. Their tree-lined neighborhood in Sherman Oaks resembles that of "The Brady Bunch," the classic family sitcom set in the Valley. (The "Brady Bunch" house is in Studio City about two miles from the Orange Line's eastern terminus.)

The Ramins question whether the busway belongs there.

The real estate investor and his wife are concerned that the bus corridor that runs behind their backyards will cause noise and crime, pointing out that a transient has already moved into the landscaped easement between the sound wall and their back fence.

MTA officials "don't care as much as we do because they don't live here," Tess Ramin said. "We moved here because of the backyard, to get away from the noise of the traffic…. Now there's no escape."

What's more, during test runs this month to introduce bus drivers to the new vehicles and the route, the Ramins said they noticed that drivers were honking their horns as they drove through the blind intersection at Ethel Avenue just up the street.

Do you know the way to San Jose Downtown L.A.:

West Hills resident Dan Blake, an economics professor at Cal State Northridge and director of the San Fernando Valley Economic Research Center, said he's looking forward to using it to get to Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown Los Angeles on Saturday nights. It costs about $6 to park downtown but only $3 for a Metro day pass to ride any bus, subway or light rail train in a 24-hour period.

"It really does connect," he said. "From one end of the busway, you can go to Long Beach and look at the aquarium."

The Metro Orange Line Schedule

... is right here.

Leave the Van Nuys station at 8:23 a.m., arrive at Warner Center at 8:52.

That's 29 minutes (and the buses come every 5 minutes during rush hours). Not bad. Give me 10 minutes each way to walk to and from the stop for a total commute of 49 minutes. Longer than driving (20 to 35 minutes depending on traffic and route) but doable. And at $1.25 per trip ($1.10 with prepaid tokens), there is some savings over what it would cost in gas at the current $3 per gallon, not to mention wear and tear on the car.

For comparison's sake, the current MTA bus No. 164 on Victory Boulevard, which leaves every 10 to 20 minutes during the morning rush hour, takes 34 minutes to make the same trip.

The more-frequent Orange Line service, plus the dedicated bus route (minimizing the effects of vehicle traffic) should take the guesswork out of arrival and departure times.

What I'm not so happy about is that the "every 5 minutes" Orange Line service leaving Warner Center and heading east suddenly becomes "every 9 to 12 minutes" after 6 p.m. What's the deal? Since when was "rush hour" from 3:10 to 5:51 p.m.? I don't blow this joint until 6, and for that I have to wait an extra 4 to 8 minutes? Are there really that many more people traveling between 3 and 6? Maybe between 5 and 6, but not between 3 and 5. Sure it's only a few minutes, but 5 minutes here, 5 there, and the whole thing starts to unravel a bit when it comes to advantages over driving. It'll all come down to pumping it out of here on food and getting to the stop quickly.

Now, if I get a skateboard/scooter/rocket jet pack, I can shave a few minutes off of the trip to and from the bus stops.

Free Metro Orange Line rides on opening weekend

The Metro Orange Line is set to begin carrying passengers on Oct. 29 -- that's a Saturday, folks -- and will be giving free rides that weekend. Here's the latest press release:

Official Opening Date for Metro Orange Line set for Oct. 29

• Free public rides, community festivities planned for opening day weekend

Heralding a new era in transit service for the San Fernando Valley, Metro plans to officially open the Metro Orange Line Saturday, Oct. 29 to free public rides and festive community celebrations.

The new 14-mile transitway will start across the street from the terminus of the Metro Red Line subway in North Hollywood and pass through the communities of Van Nuys, Sherman Oaks, Encino, and Tarzana to Warner Center in Woodland Hills, offering Valley commuters a time and money-saving commuting alternative to the 101 Freeway.

“The opening of the Metro Orange Line represents a milestone for the citizens of the San Fernando Valley, who have waited decades for an innovative transportation solution to help relieve some of the most congested freeway corridors in the country,” said Antonio Villaraigosa, Mayor of the City of Los Angeles and Chairman of the Metro Board of Directors. “With gasoline prices spiking to $3 and more per gallon, the Orange Line will arrive just in time to help Valley commuters save money and commute time. I urge all Angelenos to join me in riding the Metro Orange Line and the entire Metro Bus and Rail System whenever possible.”

The public will get their first opportunity to ride the new line for free Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 29-30, where opening weekend service will be frequent.

“I and many San Fernando Valley citizens have dedicated the better part of the last seven years to bringing this transit project to a successful conclusion,” said Zev Yaroslavsky, Los Angeles County Supervisor. “This is an L.A. solution to an L.A. traffic problem. When the Orange Line succeeds — as I know it will — it will serve as a region-wide model that offers commuters a quick, reliable, flexible and inexpensive alternative to gridlock.”

On Saturday, community celebrations are planned between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. at several stations along the route including the North Hollywood, Van Nuys, Balboa, Pierce College, and Warner Center stations. No community events are scheduled on Sunday.

The opening of the transitway will mark the debut of the 60-foot Metro Liner, a custom-built, articulated bus that can seat up to 57 passengers. These advanced, aerodynamically designed vehicles provide quick and easy boarding, a roomy interior, full accessibility and automated station announcement system.

“The Metro Orange Line will bring quicker, more efficient bus service to Valley commuters and easier access to the expansive, countywide Metro Bus and Rail system," said Roger Snoble, CEO of Metro. “We encourage everyone to jump on-board and experience the Valley’s new shortcut for themselves.”

The Orange Line, the first of its kind transitway project in Southern California, began construction in January 2003 and incorporates a host of innovative construction and design features, from advanced traffic light signal priority system to artistically designed transit stations, park & ride lots with more than 3,000 parking spaces, bicycle and pedestrian paths and California native landscaping.

Ridership on the line is expected to reach an average of 22,000 boardings per day by 2020, providing access to business and education centers, arts and theater venues, neighborhoods, entertainment, attractions and the natural environment.

Following free rides opening weekend, Metro Orange Line fares will be $1.25 for one-way trips, or $3 for a Metro Day Pass that allows unlimited local access on both the Metro Bus and Rail System from the time of purchase until 3 a.m the next day. Weekly and monthly transit passes are $14 and $52, respectively. One-way and day pass fares can be purchased at station ticket vending machines. Monthly passes can be purchased on Metro’s web site at www.metro.net and at various retail outlets.

For more information on the Metro Orange Line, visit www.metro.net/orangeline.

Now if they'd only RELEASE A SCHEDULE so I know how long the trip is going to take from Van Nuys to Woodland Hills. And I need to get myself a scooter, skateboard, roller skates or some other wheeled mode of transport to get me from home to the bus stop and from the final stop to work.

Orange Line Busway opens Oct. 29

We got a brochure in the mail from the MTA announcing the day. The Orange Line travel times aren't in yet -- they're probably still figuring it out with the test runs (I've seen a total of one bus so far). But the Daily News today, in a Lisa Mascaro story warning motorists about the weight of an MTA bus, should it hit your car head-on, had the following at the end of the story :

The 14-mile busway, between North Hollywood and Warner Center, is expected to carry travelers across the Valley in about 40 minutes.

During its busiest times, as many as two dozen 60-foot buses will be running along the busway.

Forty minutes from North Hollywood to Warner Center. Not bad, especially considering the buses still have to deal with picking up passengers and stopping for traffic signals. If it can get me a 20-minute commute from Van Nuys to Warner Center, I will be very, very happy. If it's 30 minutes, I will be less happy. Longer than that, and I will be unhappy.

A graphic in a less-recent Daily News said that there will be bike racks INSIDE the bus. Sounds better to me than the current MTA buses, which have bike racks on the front. The pressure of strapping the bike in and then running to the front of the bus to take it off at the end of the trip is too much for me to handle. But there will be only three racks per bus, and really, how much space do you expect a bus to have for bikes? I'm thinking skateboard or scooter to complete my regression into total teenagehood.

They came, they dug big holes, they left

The sewer work in my Van Nuys neighborhood made its way to our street yesterday. Giant holes were dug with enormous backhoes (the 2-year-old loved it -- "big trucks!" ) ostensibly to install pipes that were broken during the Northridge Earthquake. Oh well, what's 11 years of leaky sewers between friends?

I really am excited that they're doing in at all. And hopefully our street, which resembles a rock-strewn dirt road more than anything, will be repaved as a result.

Generic backhoe photo, but it looked surprisingly like this, right down to the clouds.

I had to drive around a guy who was in a hole up to his neck at 6:30 p.m., and the crew worked overtime, until about 7 o'clock, refilling the holes (they broke a water pipe sometime during the day), and this morning at 7:30 a.m. or so there was a giant water truck with a guy hosing down the mud. On a street that doesnt drain at all due to being in almost total disrepair, it just made muddy puddles. Whatever. It just means we're that much closer to new pavement and hopefully some Starbucks-busting speed humps. Now if they put in real curbs, that would be special. Ours is one of those streets that just slopes up to the lawns -- no curbs and no sidewalks, the latter for which I'd gladly give up some lawn to the city because I LOVE sidewalks. Great for kids, dogs and regular people, too. It would give the coffee-seekers something to walk on while they made their way toward Starbucks.

The power went out today

Somebody at the DWP connected the wrong cables together, according to reports, knocking out power to large parts of Los Angeles, including much of the San Fernando Valley. Out for about 2 hours. Just a flicker at the Daily News office in Woodland Hills, but it did hit Van Nuys, Sherman Oaks, North Hollywood, downtown and a whole bunch of other places.

But let's all remember what's important. I'll have to reprogram the VCR to record the "Big Brother 6" finale. One more episode. It's always a relief for "Big Brother" to be over. You start out a summer, there's nothing to watch, and you get hooked on something that, while not bad, could be a whole lot better. And by now you just want it all to end.

Back to the outage. Only a couple of hours. Not enough, I hope, to kill the Double Rainbow Cherry Chip soy ice cream. And we've got a new sprinkler controller that has a 2-year lithium battery. So just a couple of clocks and two VCRs to reprogram.

The state of Jazz in L.A.

Lynell George's big piece on live jazz in L.A., Off the radar but still flying: L.A.'s jazz scene is as sprawling -- and as tenacious -- as the region itself has been quite the subject of conversation lately, both in the office here at the L.A. Daily News and in the Usenet newsgroup rec.music.makers.guitar.jazz.

I planned to respond on the newsgroup but stopped to think about it. There is more light in the darkened tunnel of the L.A. Times piece than I initially detected. And I just don't know what a working musician "deserves" as far as "respect" and a livelihood goes. It's one of the things that kept me from pursuing a career in music (not having talent pouring out of every orific was the other). Anyhow, here's some of what I wrote and never posted (but, as you can read, I am doing so now:

This is a tough one for me. I am familiar with the article, and I think it's overwhelmingly more than a little negative, with no not enough mention of the fact that live jazz is struggling all over the country and that L.A. isn't an anomaly when it comes to a less-than-ideal jazz scene.

When you read the Lynell George piece, I wish you could read the companion article by the great Don Heckman (he's the jazz critic for the Times), which for some reason is not on the L.A. Times Web site anymore. It talks about L.A.'s place in jazz history, from Jelly Roll Morton through the Central Avenue scene and the West Coast sound. He doesn't even mention Ornette, Bird's time in L.A. or the explosion in fusion (much of it birthed at the Baked Potato club in Studio City) and all the smooth jazz that happens here (and which gets a lot of attention in terms of airplay and sales, whether you like it or not). Even without all that, Heckman does mentions the many and varied kinds of music that do happen in L.A., especially Latin jazz, which is very big and well-attended here, and the growing avant-garde jazz movement (Vinny Golia, Nels Cline, etc.), plus a host of ethnic improvised music (Persian, Celtic) as well as folk and bluegrass (not mentioning the jam band phenomenon, which is big here, too) that are all part of the greater music scene, which has a potential to grow and morph into something new and exciting.

And there are performers who are making their mark, none of whom are mentioned in the Lynell George story. What about John Pisano, whose Guitar Night has survived multiple venues to become an L.A. institution? And L.A. is just teeming with great players who work a lot, both live and on records.

And there's a growing free-music scene (as in free of charge, not of Western harmony) in L.A. From the major museums to downtown office areas, festivals, the Grove shopping area and more, there are always jazz events that expose people to this great music at no charge.

Bottom line, people like John Pisano who constantly promote what they are doing and work hard at it will be heard. Just as Jimmy Bruno has a pot cooking on every fire (yes, he's in Philly, not L.A., but he's the best example of a guy who really knows what it takes), those who know how to hustle will rise to the top -- the same in L.A. as anywhere else.

Could we use a bunch of clubs in one easily accessible area? Yes. Could we use more coffeehouse venues that welcome jazz music? Also yes. Do we need more players who work to build a following through regular gigs? Yes.

In the Times story, the top three clubs, in terms of prestige and ability to attract national acts -- the Jazz Bakery, Vibrato and Catalina's -- are featured. Catalina's is in Hollywood, but Vibrato is up on Mulholland Drive in the hills between the Westside and the San Fernando Valley, and the Bakery is in Culver City -- neither of the latter two exactly centrally located. And two of the three (Catalina's and Vibrato) are pretty darn expensive, what with covers and high food and drink prices.

At the smaller clubs, it's hard to know what will make a scene happen. I tend to think that a lot of regular performers who are there either weekly or monthly, peppered with higher-profile acts who drop in occasionally. But I don't run a club and really can't say for sure what works.

I work at a newspaper (the L.A. Daily News, smaller and more suburban than the Times) and I can tell you that the clubs are NOT doing their job when it comes to publicity. There are some good independent publicity people, along with some performers who really know how to put themselves out there, but most clubs have no idea how to get themselves written about in newspapers and magazines.

And music journalism in general, not just jazz, is in a pretty sorry state these days. In most print and broadcast media, music takes a very-far-back back seat to movies and TV. And things like "American Idol" and whatever the latest rap innovation happens to be are making all the noise.

The whole situation is tough, and there are no easy answers.

A lot of people are moaning about how jazz in L.A. is not as big or important as N.Y. What can you do? L.A. will never be N.Y. But it is possible to have a scene, or many different scenes here, and there are players that are working a lot -- not necessarily making a ton of money in the clubs, but working quite a bit just the same. It's not like playing jazz clubs was lucrative in the '70s and now not so much. And I hear the New York players all the time saying how getting a paying gig in that city is next to impossible.

Ted Greene, guitarist extraordinaire

Ted Greene, one of this area's best-kept musical secrets -- and one of jazz's very best guitarists -- was found dead Monday, July 25, in his Encino apartment. More on Ted, plus my review of his live performance at Spazio one year ago.

The mind of Wayne Shorter

Since Wayne Shorter is one of the greatest and strangest saxophonists of all time, this probably belongs in my jazz blog, but it's just so ... interesting that I thought it fit better right here.

I haven't read the new Shorter bio, "Footprints," but the book, along with a new album and trio tour, has put the spotlight on the man famous for tearing it up with Art Blakey in the '50s, recharging Miles Davis' post-Coltrane era quintet in the '60s, and forming the enormously successful, fusion pioneering Weather Report in the '70s.

In short, Wayne Shorter watches "American Idol," and thinks about crappy movies.

From Dan Ouellette's Q&A with Shorter in Billboard:

Q: Even back then, though, jazz records didn't make lots of money.

A: If something makes a lot of money, it doesn't make it cool.
People worry about missing out on that pot of gold. But what they're
really missing out on is their creative process. It's about
evolving. It's like that movie "Resident Evil" with Milla
Jovovich. Everybody was getting injected with something that made
the people feed off each other like "Night of the Living Dead,"
but it didn't have the same effect with Milla. Her injection didn't
work. So these guys were trying to destroy her, because she wasn't
mutating to be some kind of war machine. But one guy said not to
destroy her because she wasn't mutating, she was evolving.

on Joni Mitchell and "American Idol" (I've read in the Village Voice that Wayne prefers Clay over Reuben, calling the latter an r&b retread):

Q: Joni Mitchell is also on Nonesuch. What is it about her music that attracted you to play on so many of her albums?

A: She's talking about things in her lyrics, and she's a fighter.
She told me that around the time when she recorded "Don Juan's
Reckless Daughter" and "Mingus" that someone sent her a letter
accusing her of playing a minor second within a chord and how that
was destroying the "pop" feeling she was known for. It was like
saying she was going over to some other side.

It's like her song "Both Sides Now" that she wrote when she was
20 or 21. It was about an encounter she had with a man and the
daughter she had. She recorded it, and a record executive said to
her, "You know, don't you?" The words struck him on a business
side. She said she had to think fast, on her feet, so she said yes.
And the executive detailed it out: We get young artists, squeeze the
blood out of the stone, then throw them away and get another young
artist. That's what the industry is like.

Q: And you agree?

A: Yes, it's like this record executive who came on "American
Idol" one night who said he could see working in the studio with
one of the contestants. It was if he was saying, "I'm going to show
you how to judge." The inference was that he could make this singer
a star, that he could see and guarantee who could be a moneymaker.
That's what "American Idol" is about: giving someone all the
responsibility to do the thinking, the marketing, the moneymaking,
the making of the idol.

Now if Wayne Shorter, one of the most advanced thinkers in jazz, is watching "American Idol," am I missing something?

Has blogging jumped the shark?

I've noticed over the last month that everybody -- and I do mean everybody -- is blogging. Just about every day, somebody I know is starting a blog, usually on Blogger (it's understandable, if not devoid of clunky HTML coding, and, most importantly, FREE).

Google, which owns Blogger, is either be feeling the strain or further plotting for world domination. And Yahoo must be wondering why it missed the blogging train completely. At least Yahoo Mail gave everybody a gigabyte of space to fend off Google's GMail. Worked for me.

But if nobody reads your blog, does it really exist? I guess you can tell from the comments if people are reading, but so far I have gotten none. I think there's some way to add a counter to the page. Guess I'll have to look into that one.

But blogging has already developed a style that is designed to attract people to your blog and perhaps lure them to bookmark and look at it on a daily basis.

First of all, you have to relentlessly read other blogs, then quote from and link to them when you find something interesting. Keep on doing this and tbose people will find your links through Web services that keep track of this sort of thing (I'm not sure how that works, either). Then they will check out your blog, curious about who's linking to them, and they might, in turn, put your blog address on their "favorite site" list to the side of their page, hoping, of course, that you will or have already done the same with them.

And that's how the general Web-surfing public finds out about new blogs, by reading about them on the blogs they currently read and following the links into the ever-more-vast world of the blogosphere, as it is called.

The whole Web is so webby, that I think there's even a way to figure out how many people have added your blog to their "favorites" menu in their browser. Again, I know nothing more about it.

Now that I've settled on a page design for this blog, I can proceed to add more to MY favorite blog list to the right of these posts. (That list gets wiped out every time you change page designs from the Blogger selection.)

So, back to the question, has blogging jumped the shark? Is it on the downhill side of the hump? I think the whole idea of making money by blogging is probably over with, if it ever had any truth to it in the first place. For Blogger and Google, it's just another way for it to place text ads and draw people into their orbit for future services.

Some say the Huffington Post, the big celeb-fueled, left-leaning political blog started by righty-turned-lefty Arianna Huffington, signaled the shark-jumping moment. Others think that it is the beginning of blogging's golden age. Still, others think it signals nothing.

Still, everybody is blogging, or at least thinks they should be blogging (or that somebody should be blogging for them). Newspapers are all pondering when and how they should be blogging. It's a media revolution in the making. But how to manage the cacophany of everybody and everything blogging around the clock about every topic large and small? I think most people, myself included, have neither the time nor the inclination to flood their blog with posts, madly search the Web for quotable, bloggable fodder and then assemble it and begin again. Making Blogger easier to use (I think it IS easier with Web browsers that aren't IE 5.0 and 5.2, which I use) would go a long way. I can do elementary HTML, but who the hell wants to? And you need a good computer that doesn't crash a lot, a lot of time, an obsessive-compulsive streak and a lack of willingness to leave the keyboard. Guess I'll have to work on it.

Scientology after all

The whole TomKat phenomenon has gotten me thinking about Scientology. I first seriously looked at the whole thing in the early '90s, when I was city editor at the Glendale News-Press (back in the days before the L.A. Times bought it -- another story for another time).

At the time, Glendale was the local nexus of a group called the Cult Awareness Network, which either participated in, or at the very least condoned the "de-programming" of members of Scientology and other groups. To add to the mix, Scientology had quite a presence in Glendale and neighboring La Canada-Flintridge.

Now the word "cult" is loaded; it's a pejorative term that is applied to all-encompassing religions or groups that either offer or demand total immersion from their members and, as a result, draw the ire of those members' friends and relatives. Due to the loaded nature of the word, I do not want to call Scientology a cult but rather a philosophy/religion that demands a lot of time, money and loyalty from its members and which, like most religions of this type throughout the centuries, tends to promote both separation from the public at large, as well as a mission of proselytizing to and bringing in converts from that very same public.

Enough of that. The whole deal for me was that the Cult Awareness Network, run in the L.A. area at least by a nice lady from Glendale named Priscilla Coates, was being drowned by a number of Scientology-backed lawsuits -- a technique that church opponents say is used to silence its critics.

Well, to make a long story somewhat less so, we did a few stories about the brouhaha, and eventually a local family who had a son that had joined Scientology contacted me through CAN and claimed the guy was either brainwashed or somehow being held against his will. There are a lot of such stories about Scientology, but the closer I looked, you really don't know who or what to believe.

Sure there's "group think" aimed at keeping people in the fold, and yes, I believe a certain sort of person is attracted to Scientology and other such groups. My observation is that Scientology appeals to intelligent people who are not well-educated and who need validation of their innate intelligence -- and that includes Tom Cruise and a passel of Hollywood actors who did not take the Jodie Foster route of higher education, or in many cases, even through high school graduation.

So eventually I go to some kind of anti-cult convention near the airport, and there are a bunch of Scientologists protesting the event outside. The Scientology PR people (yes, they chain-smoke generic cigarettes, and they watch your hand while you're writing in your notebook and pause until you stop, I assume to encourage you to get it all down) ushered me toward this guy, who explained that he knew his family was unhappy with his involvement in Scientology, but he, on the other hand, was very happy with it and had no wish to leave the church.

So what can you do with a person who joins a religion like Scientology ... or the Hare Krishnas, the Unification Church, or even the Hasidic Jewish group Chabad, for that matter? (I choose these because they are all immersive groups. And like it or not, that's how some people want their religion to be). It's nice to have a fully functioning bullshit detector, but for people who don't (and who are of legal age and sound mind), what are you gonna do?

I'm sure Katie Holmes can figure this out for herself. She's what, 26? And she's been around the Hollywood cul de sac for a while (that was her in "The Ice Storm," no?) Still, if anything, this is all the more reason for young Hollywood actors to GO TO COLLEGE. I can guarantee that Scientology is NOT populated by college graduates -- people who have found other outlets, uses and validation for their intelligence.

I don't like or respect Scientology, and it's pretty easy to see right through it. But the horror stories in the anti-Scientology community haven't been followed up over the years with a whole lot of hard evidence, especially in regards to people being held against their will. A lot of religions have their unsavory aspects, some more than others. I wish I had data on the number of people flowing into and out of Scientology and other religions, but I suspect that most people who get involved in it do extricate themselves, the great majority of them sooner, a few later.

So how did the story end? Eventually the Cult Awareness Network went bankrupt (I'm sure the lawsuits didn't help), and some Scientology entity purchased the assets at auction, took over the name and began operating CAN itself. In other words, the leading group opposing Scientologists was eventually taken over by its very own Public Enemy No. 1. So you'd call the CAN number, ostensibly worried about someone you know joining a "cult" religion, and you'd be connected to a member of the Church of Scientology. It would be akin to Phyllis Schlafly taking over the National Organization for Women, Howard Dean helming the Republican National Committee, Jim Brady's widow heading the NRA, Ralph Reed leading Planned Parenthood -- you get the idea.

In short, after a whole lot of research on my part, there was no smoking gun. And it's pretty hard to draw the line about what is a "cult" and what isn't -- and there are varying degrees even under that definition. If a 20/30/40-year-old American decides to forgo Western life, shave his or her head and join a Buddhist monastary, is brainwashing or cult-think at work? Are the Amish or Hasidic Jews, or even severe Catholic religious orders considered "cults." What about splinter Mormon groups, or the mainstream Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for that matter? It's a slippery slope to be sure. Some people want or need an intense, all-encompassing religious experience, something more than the church-on-Sunday drill. The ugly truth, and one easy to spot, is that money makes the world go 'round for many, many religious groups.

I'm not saying coercion and intimidation don't occur in these all-encompassing religions. The same thing can happen in more "traditional" groups and should be abhorred in any setting.

Would I recommend that somebody indulge their curiosity in Scientology by taking its "Personality Test" or otherwise becoming involved in the church? No. I think it's bunk. Should their friends and relatives be allowed to plead with them not to do so? Yes. Should people have the right to explore Scientology if they wish? Also yes, even though I wish they'd do so from afar.

The last 18 days

I haven't blogged in 18 days. Time flies. I have all sorts of blog-worthy ideas, but since I can't speak them into a tape recorder wired continuously to my noggin and subsequently will them to appear here in some sort of grammatically acceptable form, it just hasn't been happening.

Traffic light from hell still bugs me. I turned the tables on it and used the new left-turn arrow on Woodley to turn left onto Victory one morning. Boy do I feel smug, self-satisfied and triumphant. None of those really, but what the hell? I guess the whole raison d'etre (no, I do not speak French, nor understand Latin) for this soul-sucking traffic light is the eventual arrival of the MTA Orange Line busway. Not that it makes any sense, since the busway travels east-west, the same direction as Victory.

I'll probably be on that busway when it begins service, which is supposed to happen later this year. If the buses come more often than once every half-hour, that is. Until the final westbound stop near Canoga Park High is built, the bus will run right by the Los Angeles Daily News, all the more reason for me to make it the instrument of my morning commute.

They call them "speed humps"

Bigger than speed bumps, about 2 feet in length, actually, "speed humps" have come to the first portion of the long stretch of Hatteras Street between Van Nuys Boulevard and Hazeltine Avenue.

The reason (other than somebody calling and haranguing City Councilwoman Wendy Greuel) would seem to be that this portion of Hatteras is a pass-through street used by many who are not residents of the neighborhood and who, for some reason, want to get through it as quickly as acceleratingly possible.

Well, these "speed humps" will either slow you down or severly damage whatever is on the underside of your vehicle, usually the former, and they'll probably make pedestrian life (we walk their often due to the presence of ACTUAL SIDEWALKS), not to mention residential life, more worth living.

Now if only they'd resurface Martha Street -- which has become a pass-through of its own since the ever-popular Starbucks sprouted in the old Red Chariot serial-killer bar space on Tilden Avenue and Burbank Boulevard -- and put a bunch of "speed humps" there. Then I'd be in suburban heaven.

Remember: Speed kills. Speed humps kill automobile undercarriages.

Traffic signal from hell, part 2

The light at Victory and Woodley remains my traffic nemesis. At 6:20 p.m., the backup going east on Victory was all the way to the next traffic light. Sure there were some cars on Woodley crossing Victory, but they should expect to wait for at least a single light to cross what is one of the San Fernando Valley's main thoroughfares.

But to be backed up at least a quarter-mile and to be kept from crossing an intersection for 3 to 4 cyclings of the traffic light? something's not right. And on this stretch of Victory, running from the light West of Reseda Boulevard until the 405 Freeway, the speed limit is 40 mph, and the lights USED TO BE timed for 50 mph, turning the six-lane street into a virtual highway.

Clearly something must be done.