Last Saturday Ford and "Band from TV" partnered together in Downtown LA to launch the Ford Flex with a charity scavenger hunt through that roamed throughout Los Angeles, raising money for various charities. Basically the event challenged each team to use the interactive technologies of the new vehicle - Ford brands the Flex as a vehicle for "urban adventures" so it seems the scavenger hunt was created to showcase exactly that. Too bad one of......

Last night we hit downtown L.A. for the Edison's weekly event, Incandescence, where vaudeville circus/dance troupe Lucent Dossier was performing from the stage, from the rafters, from the floor amid the audience. We sampled the absinthe cocktails which were served to us in vintage-looking glass bottles that we were allowed to take home. And even some of the liquor shots were handed to us in corked glass bottles that resembled those miracle elixirs con men......

CABARET Lucent Dossier brings its vaudeville/cabaret show to the Edison tonight. Who do they have in their talent roster? Little elves, fire dancers, belly dancers, trapeze artists, contortionists, jugglers, burlesque dancers, performance art and the bearded lady. So, really, you never know what to expect tonight. 9 pm // Edison // 108 West 2nd St. 101, Los Angeles // $15. TALK * Iranian authors Azar Nafisi (Reading Lolita in Tehran) and Marjane Satrapi Persepolis......

If you happened to miss the December 3 Downtown News, you haven't seen the personal ads Jon Regardie suggested to help Mayor Villaraigosa get a New Year's Eve smooch. They're pretty hysterical from top to bottom. My favorite one begins with the perfectly awkward hook: "Looking for My Energizer Lady Bunny: Hot bilingual mayor has an opening on his staff - for love!" In the same edition, peep Evan George's report on the uneasy relationship......