While hundreds of volunteers are stealthily working into the wee hours to affix flora to framework and as people begin to plan for finding space along the parade route, an unexpected battle has been waging between human rights groups and the City of Pasadena. The Pasadena Star-News reports that the controversy surrounds several components, including the upcoming 2008 Olympic Games to be held in Beijing, China, and the requests made by the Pasadena Coalition for......

Monday Edmund White presents Hotel de Dream: A New York Novel 7pm @ Central Library Patricia Hampl presents The Florist's Daughter 7pm @ Dutton's Red Hen Press poets read their work 8pm @ Boston Court Main Stage, Pasadena Tuesday Oliver Sacks presents Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain 7pm @ Central Library Roger Director presents I Dream in Blue 7:30pm @ Barnes & Noble, The Grove Francisco Goldman presents The Art of Politcal......

Thomas Suriya of Taos, New Mexico had never painted a mural before, or even a portrait. and yet in 1983 he busted with an iconic Hollywood mural on his first try. Now 24 years later he has returned to LA to give "You are the Star" a touch up. Thanks to a grant by the Hollywood Arts Council, 59-year-old Suriya is back in town to put some life back into a mural that has been......

Out here in Tinseltown, movies are part of our livelihood. They are meant to be an event, an experience, a true artform to be appreciated. It is ironic then, that the one of the great moviegoing traditions of yesteryear, the drive-in theater, has been nearly wiped out from the Southern California landscape. But this past weekend marked a comeback of sorts with the grand opening of the Star-Vu Drive-In in Costa Mesa. Located at the......

Now let's hear an American Idol who can actually sing. This morning we have Fantasia Barrino singing "The Star Spangled Banner" in what appears to be Houston Texas as the Astros were about to face off against the New York Yankees for the All-Star Game. Maybe one day "American Idol" will invite all the winners and almost-winners face off against each other in some million dollar winner-take-all Super Idol series. Of course we'd miss......

On this day in 1814, Francis Scott Key watched a failed British Navy attack on Fort McHenry during the War of 1812. Due to heavy storms and crappy equipment on both sides, neither the Americans defending the fort nor the Brits trying to attack it so they could continue sailing into Baltimore Harbor did much damage on each other, but Key was inspired when he saw a huge flag rise from the US fort......

Alice Cooper @ Ventura Theatre Nickelback @ Pond of Anaheim Lisa Germano @ Amoeba (free, 7pm) XO @ Viper Room The Star Fuckers @ The Cat Club Silversun Pickups, Darker My Love @ The Troubadour Brutus Gets the Girl @ The Scene Dennis DeYoung @ The Canyon Bad Dudes @ The Smell Craig Wedren & Adam Wade @ Spaceland......

Tonight 6/26 Tsar, Hawksley Workman - Spaceland (free) T.I. - House of Blues Corinne Baily Rae - Troubador Metal Skool - Key Club Soccer Mom - Viper Tuesday 6/27 Mike Watt (dj set) - Amoeba (free) Be Your Own Pet - Troubador Beck, Jamie Lidell - Wiltern Les Claypool, The Coup - Avalon Slick Rick - House of Blues Flogging Molly - Molly Malone's Hawksley Workman - Temple Bar Il Divo - Greek Wednesday......