Los Angeles Downtown News has the scoop:

»continue reading Farewell, Crazy Gideon’s–Final Sale Tomorrow, Saturday, January 30

»continue reading Curling!–Yes, Curling!–Hollywood Curling–Open House, This Sunday, January 31

Will they pull it off? »continue reading The Soft Pack–10 (Ten) Area Shows, Saturday, January 30

Just in case you don’t have your $299 VIP Superticket Front Row ticket, you can go here for info. See you at the Breakfast of Champions on Saturday.
Here’s the schedule events:

Friday, January 29th, 2010

12:00pm
Check-in begins at hotel
5:00pm
Fanfest Opens
6:00pm
Photo Ops – Jushin Thunder Liger
6:00pm
Photo Ops – “Too Hot” Scott Taylor
7:00pm – 8:00pm
ROH Meet/Greet for VIPs featuring Austin Aries, The Briscoes, Tyler Black, Colt Cabana, Jerry Lynn, Claudio Castagnoli, Roderick Strong and others.
8:00pm
Superticket and then GA entry into show
8:45pm
Start of Ring of Honor show. Takes place in the International Ballroom (Main Floor) of the Hilton LAX.

»continue reading WrestleReunion 4, Today-Sunday at–Where Else–the LAX Hilton

The Sol drew a crowd of 14,832 to their opener last season, and ended up averaging more than 6,200 fans for home games at Home Depot Center. They finished the regular season 12-3-5, the best record in the league, before losing 1-0 to Sky Blue FC in the championship game.

It seems when The D. comes a-knockin’ everyone comes a-rockin’. The line-up for their Stand with Haiti Benefit next week at the Wiltern has ballooned and getting dangerously close to maximum rock and comedy thresholds. Here’s where we stand today:

TENACIOUS D and Friends
Stand with Haiti: To Aid Partners In Health Haiti Relief
Featuring Performances By:
TENACIOUS D
Frank Black
Russell Brand— Just Added!
Aimee Mann— Just Added!
James Mercer
Bob Odenkirk
Patton Oswalt
Maya Rudolph— Just Added!
Jason Segel— Just Added!
Ben Stiller— Just Added!
Tig Notaro— Just Added!

[Tickets & Info]

Catcher in the Rye author J.D. Salinger dies [USA Today]

Suffice to say, I was a fan. Still am, though less so these days, and maybe not as much of Catcher, more so of the Eastern-tinged short stories. (One expects this not uncommon we fans get older and inevitably become phonies ourselves.)

The A.P. obit carried by USA Today is decent, with a fair amount of detail and insight about the writing, though one wishes they did not close the piece with unsavory details sourced from memoirs by third parties.

NEW YORK (AP) — J.D. Salinger, the legendary author, youth hero and fugitive from fame whose The Catcher in the Rye shocked and inspired a world he increasingly shunned, has died. He was 91.

Salinger died of natural causes at his home on Wednesday, the author’s son said in a statement from Salinger’s literary representative. He had lived for decades in self-imposed isolation in the small, remote house in Cornish, N.H.

The Catcher in the Rye, with its immortal teenage protagonist, the twisted, rebellious Holden Caulfield, came out in 1951, a time of anxious, Cold War conformity and the dawn of modern adolescence. The Book-of-the-Month Club, which made Catcher a featured selection, advised that for “anyone who has ever brought up a son” the novel will be “a source of wonder and delight — and concern.” [Continues at USA Today]

HOLLYWOOD, CA :: David Liebe Hart (aka David Unger Hart; aka David King Liebe Hart; aka David Nkrumah Liebe Unger Hart) will again open and/or close more than 70% of all shows at the legendary Hollywood Bowl this 2010 season. The Bowl’s summer ’10 season is slated to begin June 18, with David Hart reprising his role as Doug the Dog outside the gates free of charge (donations encouraged).

Some of the featured artists Hart, a recurring cast member of Adult Swim’s Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! television program will open for, free of charge outside the gates (donations encouraged) this 2010 season include Femi Kuti, Peter Gabriel, Goldfrapp, Bugs Bunny, Joshua Bell, Earth, Wind and Fire, Smokey Robinson, John Williams, Gustav Dudamel and Harry Connick, Jr. Hart’s full tentative summer schedule is now available at hollywoodbowl.com.

Subscription sales for David Liebe Hart are unnecessary; subscription sales for all events inside the actual gates begin January 28 (today).

» http://www.hollywoodbowl.com/

So California scored the cash from the Fed for a bullet train to from SF. Woo hoo. The ride will take a little over 2.5 hours. Or make that 2.5 hours and 10 years, as this thing is a damn decade away.

You just know snooty San Franciscans will make this about them somehow. I can just hear them snarking why would they want to cruise down to Disneyland or something.

But does this mean the bullet train to Las Vegas is officially dead or what? Maybe rails aren’t the way to go. Vegas can’t even keep their own little useless monorail going these days: it just filed for Ch. 7 BK.

How long until teleportation gets here already? Weren’t we promised teleportation by 2010? Along with our damn jetpacks, that is.

A production of the musical Rent will is set for the Hollywood Bowl for three nights, August 6, 7 & 8:

Three performances of the Jonathan Larson musical will play the famed California venue Aug. 6-8, according to the Los Angeles Times. Casting and creative team will be announced at a later date.

The Bowl has presented acclaimed productions of Les Miserables and Guys and Dolls in recent summers.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning musical Rent by composer-lyricist-librettist Larson concerns a group of bohemians who fall in and out of love in the age of AIDS. The Broadway production of Rent closed in September 2008 after 12 years of performances at the Nederlander Theatre.

Tickets are not yet available, however 2010 Bowl Season Subscriptions, presumably including choice seats to Rent should be on sale any moment.

Habitat for Humanity | Stillerstrong

Huge photo gallery of all performers below.

»continue reading Love and Haiti Benefit with Aziz Ansari, Ben Stiller, Sarah Silverman, Thomas Lennon, Ed Helms & Nick Kroll, Largo at the Coronet Theater, January 25, 2009

While we work up our in-depth analysis from reading about this online, take your pick of the frankly too-damn-many articles out there this morning on it.

HEADS UP
Sloan @ King King Sun 2/21

Feb. 16 @ Crocodile Lounge, Seattle WA
Feb. 17 @ The Doug Fir, Portland OR
Feb. 19 @ Slims, San Francisco CA
Feb. 21 @ King King, Los Angeles CA

Sloan
sloanmusic.com

THREE MONTH HEADS UP

Los Campesinos! @ El Rey Sat 5/8

MUCHO MAS CAMPESINOS!

Los Campesinos!, El Rey Theater, August 21, 2009
Coachella 2009: Los Campesinos!
SXSW ’08: Los Campesinos!
Los Campesinos! at The Echo, November 27, 2007
Photo by Sung from their 8/21/2009 El Rey show.