TALK*
Zócalo asks “Is Business Abusing the Ballot?” in a panel discussion tonight. “California businesses are increasingly taking their disputes with cities, labor and especially each other to municipal ballots in the form of initiatives and referenda. As a result, voters, not the market, are forced to pick business winners and losers and decide complex development, planning and zoning questions that are supposed to be handled by city governments.” To discuss this trend are political consultants Rob Stutzman and Harvey Englander, Anaheim City Councilwoman Lorri Galloway and labor strategist and advocate Madeline Janis.

7:30 pm // Autry National Center // 4700 Western Heritage Way, Los Angeles // Free, but reservations recommended.

THE ‘HOFF
We couldn’t believe our eyes when we read that the ‘Hoff himself – David Hasselhoff – will be performing at a benefit tonight at Molly Malone's. His blog says the set list should include: "Hooked On A Feeling," "Jump In My Car" and "More Than Words Can Say…"

8:30 pm // Molly Malone's // 575 S. Fairfax Ave., Los Angeles // $10.

FILM
Girls girls girls are on the brain at the New Beverly Cinema’s double feature tonight. Cheerleaders’ Wild Weekend (1979) tells the story of three cheerleading teams heading for a competition who are kidnapped by terrorists! The second feature Escape from Women's Prison (1978) focuses on four women convicts who bust out of jail and take a busload of young female tennis players hostage. They end up at the house of the judge that originally sent them to the slammer.

7:30 pm (Cheerleader) and 10 pm (Escape) // New Beverly Cinema // 7165 W. Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles // $7.

MORE TALK
Michael Patris, curator of the exhibition "Mount Lowe: Souvenirs from the Incline Railway" and founder of the Mount Lowe Preservation Society, Inc., presents an illustrated lecture on "Earth’s Grandest Mountain Ride." The railway opened in 1893 and for 43 years served nearly 4 million passengers in the SGV/LA area.

7:30 pm // Pasadena Museum of History // 470 W. Walnut St., Pasadena // $15-$20.

NETWORKING
The LA .NET Geek Dinners are a monthly gathering of tech geeks (and friends) who are interested in Microsoft technologies, coding, the Internet, technology in general, databases, software, design, testing, servers, networking or anything .Net. This month’s dinner topic is cloud computing (“imagine infinite scalability and no datacenter.”)

8 pm // The Tavern on Main // 123 Main St., El Segundo // Dinner costs around $10.

*Pencil pick of the day

David Hasselhoff/AP File Photo