LA Observed
LA Observed
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LA Observed covers the week's top stories in LA media, politics and culture, sharing breaking news when it's available and tying up loose ends on the topics that Angelenos have been discussing all week.
Photo credit: Marc Goldstein
TODAY'S SHOW
Jacko Story Continues
If you had told me a week ago that I'd still be reading and listening to all the stories about Michael Jackson, I would have protested. And If you'd suggested that Jackson would be my subject in this time spot again this week, I might have said you were crazy. And yet, here we are...
RECENT SHOWS
Covering Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson's death yesterday at age 50 is a tragedy for his children and the rest of the Jackson family, as well as a sad and surprising event for his millions of fans around the world...
A New LA Tradition
First off, congratulations and all that to the Lakers. They're the one L.A. pro sports team that can be counted on to bring home a championship trophy every now and then. Congratulations also to Los Angeles for taking the Lakers title mostly in stride. And for embracing what looks to be a budding and well deserved tradition...
Commencement
This has been one of those days where I feel lucky to spend many of my hours on campus at UCLA. The first thing I saw when I came out of the parking garage was a stall selling bouquets of flowers. No frazzled students rushing to class, looking pressured. Worried. Today everything felt lighter. Even sunny, despite the insistent June gloom hanging low on the hills. That's because today is graduation day...
Surprise, It's Raining
Like many of you, I suspect, I was jostled awake this morning by a strange sound from outside. What was that pounding on the deck? Of course it was rain. Two separate downpours, if I counted correctly in my morning haze..
Spector's Life Twitters Away
The easiest way to keep your finger on the pulse of the local news media these days is, as I've said before, to follow them on Twitter.
From the LA Times to the local TV and radio newsrooms, their "news" now goes out to the public as short tweets before it goes on the air or even on their blogs...
Winners and Losers
After every election there's a useful media tradition of going beyond the vote totals and assessing the real winners and losers. Cliché as it sometimes seems, the ritual serves a good purpose. It helps the reporters and pundits themselves – as well as their readers and listeners - recalibrate their perceptions of who's hot and who's not....
Antonio's Turning Point
Here we are, many of us -- voting again. Ballots are trickling in and on Tuesday night they will count ‘em up and let us know how we did. There's a lot riding on the electorate this time, if you accept what's been dominating the media all week...
Is Mannywod over?
Legacy Player:
I got my first up close taste of the Manny Ramirez show during spring training in Arizona. It was a beautiful March day, and after months of playing hard to get over his contract, Manny and the Dodgers had settled...
Money Trouble at the Getty
Legacy Player:
The Getty Museum has become an important visual touchstone of Los Angeles from its perch on a ridgeline of the Santa Monica Mountains, overlooking the Westside where the San Diego Freeway rolls down out of the hills...
Celebrating Books and Reyner Banham
Legacy Player:
I took a walk around the campus at UCLA yesterday to look at preparations for the Festival of Books this weekend. And it was a little sobering...
Don't Elect Chief
Legacy Player:
How's this for a bad idea? Make the Los Angeles police chief an elected position. The idea's being floated by the Los Angeles Police Protective League.
They're the union that represents rank and file officers, and that
would love to have a chief its members can intimidate and control.
A chief less like William Bratton, in particular...
Gaylord Wilshire
Legacy Player:
I was surprised recently, as I drove on the 405 freeway between the Valley and the Westside, to see a sign marking a stretch of the pavement as the Nathan Shapell Memorial Highway...
Stupid Government Tricks
Legacy Player:
At the risk of sounding a bit too much like one of those shouters on AM radio, this week the topic on the table is: stupid government tricks. They range from the entertaining to the truly bewildering...
Craig
Legacy Player:
This week I jumped at the chance to check out the man who is getting a lot of the blame – or credit, if you prefer – for putting American newspapers on the road to non-existence...
Obama's First Visit
Legacy Player:
Well, we've made it through President Obama's first visit to Southern California. If you escaped the traffic shutdowns, his two days here probably seemed pleasant enough...
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Host
Editor and Publisher of the website LA Observed and a writer for Los Angeles magazine; former reporter for the Los Angeles Times.
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