George

Hi, and welcome to another edition of Prep Rally. I’m Eric Sondheimer. It’s midseason in high school baseball, so let’s take a look at players producing results.

The producers

Sophomore Tyler George of Santa Margarita is 7-0 with an 0.85 ERA.

(Greg Townsend)

The mad rush to earn an automatic playoff berth in the Southern Section and earn the No. 1 seed in the City Section has begun in high school baseball. At midseason, Orange Lutheran is No. 1 in the Southern Section. El Camino Real or Bell are trending toward No. 1 in the City Section.

As far as players, sophomore Tyler George of Santa Margarita has had a dream season pitching. He’s 7-0 with an 0.85 ERA and just two walks in 41 1/3 innings.

Catcher Brady Murrietta has been like a superhero for Orange Lutheran behind the plate, leading, grinding and delivering.

Pitcher Dustin Dunwoody of Royal has an 0.18 ERA.

Here’s a list of players delivering big results at midseason.

Baseball

Orange Lutheran’s Ricardo Hurtado (left) and Blake Killinger were the offensive and defensive MVP of the Boras Classic.

(Nick Koza)

Orange Lutheran, which won the National High School Invitational in North Carolina, added the Boras Classic South to its resume, beating Norco 4-1 in the championship game. Here’s the report.

Orange Lutheran is No. 1 and Norco No. 1 in the new top 25 rankings by The Times.

Agoura freshman pitcher Zach Partee threw a no-hitter in a 1-0 win over Calabasas, which came back to score four runs in the bottom of the seventh to beat the Chargers 10-9 on Friday.

Harvard-Westlake and Sherman Oaks Notre Dame play a three-game series this week that could decide the Mission League title.

Orange Lutheran will play St. Mary’s on Saturday at Santa Clara University for the Boras Classic title.

South Gate had the biggest upset of the week, handing Bell a rare defeat in the Eastern League 7-3.

El Camino Real has a one-game lead over Birmingham in the West Valley League. The Valley Mission League has Poly and Sylmar tied with 6-1 records and North Hollywood at 5-2. Poly and North Hollywood have a two-game series this week.

Carson is atop the Marine League at 5-0.

Softball

Norco’s Leighton Gray (left), Peyton May and Saddie Burroughs.

(Nick Koza)

Norco (17-2) got its revenge, beating Fullerton and JSerra, the two teams that have wins over the Cougars. Peyton May and Coral Williams continue to be solid pitchers for Norco.

Murrieta Mesa is rolling along with an 18-0 record. Sophomore Tatum Wolff leads the team with a .552 batting average, including 32 hits, 20 RBIs and five home runs.

Orange Lutheran won a tournament championship over Thousand Oaks 6-1. It was quite a week pitching and hitting for Rylee Silva. The Lancers resume Trinity League with a challenging two-game week facing Santa Margarita and Mater Dei. Coach Steve Miklos earned victory No. 600.

Granada Hills opened West Valley League play with an important 7-3 win over El Camino Real. The Highlanders are 7-8 overall after facing Southern Section teams.

Carson is 2-0 in the Marine League and has games against Narbonne, Banning and Long Beach Poly this week.

Here’s the top 20 Southland softball rankings.

Track

Olympian Quincy Wilson (center) cruises to victory in the 400-meter dash in a meet record 45.48 seconds.

(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)

The chance to see Olympian Quincy Wilson run in the 400 on Saturday night helped draw a record crowd of more than 14,000 for two days of the Arcadia Invitational at Arcadia High.

Wilson broke Michael Norman’s meet record, running 45.48 seconds.

Servite’s 4×100 relay team put on quite a show, breaking its own state record with a time of 39.70.

It’s pretty amazing because the relay team is made up of three sophomores and a junior. Kudos goes to coach Brandon Thomas. Benjamin Harris won the 100 meters in 10.32 seconds.

Thomas also helps coach the sister school, Rosary, whose girls’ 4×100 relay team also went beyond fast.

Here’s the report from the Arcadia Invitational.

Golf

Junior Jake Norr of Palisades made a hole-in-one at Woodley Lakes earlier this week while going 6-under par in nine holes.

(Palisades High)

The week could not have gone better for Palisades golfer Jake Norr, who recorded two holes in one on different courses.

Here’s the report on his memorable week.

Santa Margarita is looking strong in the Southern Section after winning a tournament in Palm Springs. Brayden Jones of Mater Dei was the individual champion.

St. Francis sophomore golfer Jaden Soong is taking this week off from playing with his high school team to travel to Dallas to play in the U.S. vs. Sweden junior golf competition. Soong won the CIF state title as a freshman.

Lacrosse

Loyola’s lacrosse team took a trip to the University of Notre Dame to play several matches. The Cubs lost to Salesianum from Delaware 14-6. They defeated Seton Hall Prep 15-10. They return home to face Foothill on Wednesday.

Loyola continues to top the boys lacrosse rankings in the Southern Section with St. Margaret’s No. 2.

In the girls’ rankings, Santa Margarita and Mira Costa rank No. 1 and No. 2.

Volleyball

Mateo Fuerbringer of Mira Costa is a 6-foot-5 junior volleyball player committed to UCLA.

(Steve Galluzzo)

The No. 1 volleyball prospect in the nation from the class of 2027 is Mateo Fuerbringer of Mira Costa. Here’s a profile of the UCLA commit who comes from a volleyball family.

Mira Costa (28-2) traveled to Hawaii and won the Clash of the Titans tournament at Punahou, including a win over Southern California rival Huntington Beach.

Notes . . .

Former Pasadena High and Laker Michael Cooper is the new basketball coach at Cal State Los Angeles….

Bonita softball standout Koa Puppe has committed to Cal State Fullerton…

It looks like a strike threat in the Los Angeles Unified School District starting Tuesday will be resolved. UTLA reached a tentative agreement Sunday, one of the three unions seeking new contracts. A strike would have halted LAUSD sporting events. Some have been moved to Monday in case the strike begins….

Los Alamitos is scheduled to announce its new football coach this week….

Zafar Sarajzada is the new basketball coach at St. Genevieve. He’s been an assistant at Sierra Canyon….

The All-CIF boys basketball team is headed by Maxi Adams of Sierra Canyon. The All-CIF girls basketball team is led by Kaleena Smith of Ontario Christian and Jerzy Robinson of Sierra Canyon….

Redondo Union guard Devin Wright has committed to Fairleigh Dickinson….

Redondo Union guard Chace Holley has committed to San Diego….

Defensive lineman Montana Toilolo of Mater Dei has committed to UCLA….

Receiver Charles Davis of Westlake has committed to Cal….

Former Narbonne basketball star Marcus Adams has committed to Hawaii. He’s played at CSUN and Arizona State….

Pole Moala, who was a standout defensive back at Leuzinger this past season, has committed to UCLA. He has since transferred to Santa Margarita….

Chris Paul will become an assistant coach at Campbell Hall, where his son plays.

From the archives: Gabriela Jaquez

Gabriela Jaquez in 2021.

(Mel Melcon/Los Angeles Times)

Former Camarillo standout Gabriela Jaquez celebrated a dream come true winning an NCAA women’s basketball championship for UCLA and starring in the championship game against South Carolina with 21 points, 10 rebounds and five assists.

Jaquez was a two-sport standout at Camarillo, also playing softball. She became a McDonald’s All-American and always wanted to follow brother Jaime to UCLA.

But UCLA didn’t offer Gabriela a scholarship until late in the recruiting process. Here’s a story from the 2022 that explains her late development and how dreams come true the hard way.

Recommendations

From Operations Sports, a look at the boycott by public schools in Nevada about playing Bishop Gorman’s football team.

From the Seattle Times, a story on Minnesota being sued for allowing transgender athletes to compete in girls sports.

Tweets you might have missed

Until next time….

Have a question, comment or something you’d like to see in a future Prep Rally newsletter? Email me at eric.sondheimer@latimes.com, and follow me on Twitter at @latsondheimer.

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It’s midseason in high school baseball, so let’s look at players who are producing results at a high level. Forget about rankings, radar guns or who has scholarship offers. These are the players making an impact.

No one has been better than sophomore pitcher Tyler George of Santa Margarita. With a 7-0 record, 0.85 ERA and just two walks in 41 1/3 innings, the 6-foot-5, 190-pound 16-year-old has shown what a top pitcher is supposed to look like.

Few saw this coming — except for his freshman coach last season, Mike Hiserman, who said, “He was the most fundamentally sound all-around freshman baseball player I’ve ever coached. Was good at everything yet still immensely coachable. You tell him something once and he does it.”

George said he has focused on mixing up his pitches — fastball, curveball, slider, change-up.

“Just not overthrowing the ball, not throwing as hard as I can but hitting the spots and having a feel for my off-speed pitches,” he said.

He threw all nine innings during a 1-0 win over Mater Dei that was full of drama.

“It was a lot of fun,” he said. “The adrenaline was running. It was cool.”

His brother, Hayden, is a freshman pitcher at UCLA, and he said Bruins coach John Savage has been asking Hayden about him, which is a good sign when he becomes available to talk to recruiters in the summer.

Royal pitcher Dustin Dunwoody is 7-0 with an 0.18 ERA.

(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)

• Dustin Dunwoody, Royal: Armed with an overpowering fastball, Dunwoody is 7-0, has an 0.18 ERA with 74 strikeouts in 39 1/3 innings.

Catcher Brady Murrietta of Orange Lutheran makes the tag at home plate against St. John Bosco.

(Nick Koza)

• Brady Murrietta, Orange Lutheran: The senior catcher keeps throwing out baserunners trying to challenge him. He’s also terrific on throws to the plate, picking up the hop and making the tag. And don’t forget his clutch hitting. He leads the team in RBIs with 12.
• Troy Randall, Corona Santiago: The junior third baseman is hitting .460 with 29 hits and also has given up just two hits in 12 innings in a relief pitching role.
• Jake Kim, Harvard-Westlake: The junior has displayed power and consistency, making him one of the toughest outs in the Wolverines’ lineup. He has 22 hits, a .500 batting average and four home runs.
• Malakye Matsumoto, Sherman Oaks Notre Dame: With 22 hits and 17 RBIs, the senior third baseman has been delivering for 14-3 Notre Dame.
• Tate Belfanti, Cypress: The junior left-hander has 53 strikeouts in 28 innings while going 5-0.
• Jake Ange, Thousand Oaks: The junior was a starter for the basketball team and has come out and hit seven home runs, including a game in which he hit two grand slams.
• Dylan Seward, Norco: The junior shortstop has been producing since he was a starter as a freshman. He has 26 hits, 16 RBIs and makes the plays when the ball is hit in his direction.
• James Tronstein, Harvard-Westlake: The senior shortstop has 26 hits, including four home runs, as the Wolverines’ leadoff hitter.
• Gary Morse, Orange Lutheran: The 6-foot-8 pitcher is 3-1 with a 1.40 ERA and 54 strikeouts in 30 innings for the No. 1 team in Southern California.
• Caleb Trugman, Ayala: The two-way player has 23 hits and is 6-0 pitchers and an 0.76 ERA.
• Xavier Cadena, El Dorado: The outfielder has hit five home runs, driven in 19 runs and is batting .373.
• Carson Sheffer, Oaks Christian: The senior catcher continues to be stellar behind the plate while also contributing 22 hits, including seven doubles.
• Landon Hovermale, Norco: A model of consistency, the left-handed Hovermale is 6-0 with an 0.95 ERA and has walked just four batters in 36 2/3 innings.
• Jackson Sellz, El Camino Real: The junior keeps throwing complete games for the defending City Section champs. He’s 6-0 with a 1.20 ERA and five complete games.
• Jayden Rojas, Bell: The senior third baseman is batting .466 with 27 hits for 17-2 Bell. As a pitcher, he’s 4-0 with a 1.04 ERA.

Wales open their campaign against Scotland, who crushed their World Cup hopes last summer in a sobering opening match.

In fact, Wales have not tasted victory over their Celtic rivals in more than three years, but George says Saturday will be far from a grudge match.

“It doesn’t matter who we’re coming up against in the first week, it’s the first game, so we really want to try and put a stamp down,” she said.

“It’s a fresh start, we’ve got new coaches coming in and a different style of playing.

“It’s the same for them, they’ve got new coaches. We don’t really know what they’re going to bring, but we’re concentrating on ourselves as much as we can. Obviously we’ll look a little bit at them, but the onus is on us.”

WASHINGTON — Merely two weeks had passed since the Iran war began when Gen. Randy George, the Army’s highest-ranking officer, began sounding an alarm.

Touring a weapons depot in North Carolina, George warned lawmakers present that the conflict’s vast and ever-growing list of targets was straining U.S. capacity — “depleting our stockpiles faster than we can replace them,” as one congressman recalled. Since assuming Army leadership, George had made it his mission to strengthen the nation’s industrial base in anticipation of precisely this moment, when the United States would be engaged in a major war with a formidable adversary.

On Thursday, in a brief phone call, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth fired George. No reason was given, a U.S. official familiar with the matter told The Times.

The forced departure of George in the middle of a war created yet another blow to morale inside the Pentagon, where multiple officials expressed dismay over the state of the department’s leadership. Over the last year, Hegseth has fired five sitting members of the joint chiefs of staff, with only two holdovers remaining in their posts.

“Whenever you have a change in leadership, military or otherwise, there is bound to be some churn in information management,” one U.S. official said, granted anonymity to speak candidly. “So what you’re doing, in the middle of a war, as we are taking U.S. casualties, is you’re taking out the general in charge of making sure the right people and equipment are flowing into the Middle East.”

Inside the building, officials believe that Hegseth’s next target is Dan Driscoll, the Army secretary and an ally to President Trump. Driscoll has been seen by Hegseth’s aides as outshining the Defense secretary on prominent policy initiatives.

Gen. Randy George, U.S. Army chief of staff, speaks with soldiers during training exercises at Lightning Academy at Schofield Barracks in Honolulu on Nov. 10, 2025.

(Christopher Lee/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

It is a purge that Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill fear could have tangible, detrimental effects on the war effort. Sens. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Joni Ernst of Iowa, all members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, have expressed private concerns over George’s firing, a second U.S. official said.

Forcing out Army leadership responsible for training and equipping its soldiers, and for ensuring weapons stockpiles continue to meet demand, risks bureaucratic chaos and despair in the ranks at a time when the Trump administration is openly considering a ground operation in Iran.

Others in the Pentagon have raised concern over the U.S. military stockpile, including Air Force Secretary Troy Meink, who last month warned at a defense conference that munitions shortages were a concern even before the war began.

“It was something that we were concerned about even before the operation,” Meink said. “It has just been the fact that we couldn’t see the threat evolving and what we’re facing. So we definitely have to improve on that.”

Trump has denied that the United States faces weapons shortages, even after meeting with the nation’s top contractors last month in a push for them to increase — and on some products, quadruple — their output.

“What interceptors we have for Iran is because of Randy George,” the first U.S. official countered. “He continued to work that problem set up through [Thursday]. It’s a problem set he was working in real time.”

Jerry McGinn, director of the Center for the Industrial Base at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said U.S. forces have reached a stage in the war where they can pivot away from standoff weapons systems. With Iran’s air defenses largely degraded, they can instead rely on weapons such as laser-guided bombs, helping ease pressure on stockpiles.

But Iran’s downing of two U.S. aircraft on Friday suggests that longer-range weapons may still be necessary.

“When the stockpile is stressed, as it was after Ukraine and then now with Iran, any surge in need leads to a backlog as they try to replenish,” McGinn said.

“The three things they’ve been using a whole lot of are Tomahawks, [Terminal High Altitude Area Defense] and Patriots, and those inventories were already somewhat depleted after Midnight Hammer last summer,” McGinn added. “You can’t crank those out very fast.”

Beyond his role tending to the nation’s “magazine depth” — making sure the military isn’t firing more weapons than it is able to replenish — George also led the Pentagon’s effort to set up a joint task force last year aimed at speeding up the U.S. military’s ability to counter small unmanned aircraft systems, or drones.

The program has proved critical in the war effort. Tehran now relies heavily on its Shahed drones, with its missile production and launch capacity severely diminished.

Acknowledging the Pentagon expulsions, Iran’s embassy in South Africa posted photos on social media Friday x-ing out portraits of several top U.S. military officials fired in recent months.

“Regime change happened successfully,” the Iranians wrote.

WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has asked the Army’s top uniformed officer, Gen. Randy George, to step down, the Pentagon said Thursday, as the United States wages a war against Iran.

A Pentagon official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter, confirmed that George has been asked to take early retirement from the post of Army chief of staff, which he has held since August 2023.

The ouster of George is just the latest of more than a dozen firings of top generals and admirals by Hegseth since he first took office last year.

CBS News was first to report the ouster.

George is a graduate of West Point Military Academy and an infantry officer who served in the first Gulf War as well as Iraq and Afghanistan. He also served as Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s top military aide from 2021 to 2022, during the Biden administration, before taking on top leadership roles in the Army.

George survived the initial round of firings last February, which saw the removal of top military leaders, including Adm. Lisa Franchetti, the Navy’s top uniformed officer, and Gen. Jim Silfe, the No. 2 leader at the Air Force, by Hegseth. President Donald Trump also fired Gen. Charles “C.Q.” Brown, then the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, at the same time.

Since then, more than a dozen other top military generals and admirals have either retired early or been removed from their posts.

Among these departures was George’s deputy, the Vice Chief of Staff of the Army, Gen. James Mingus, who was in the post for less than two years when Trump suddenly nominated Lt. Gen. Christopher LaNeve for the position. LaNeve was then serving as Hegseth’s top military aide, having been plucked for that post from commanding the Eighth Army in South Korea after less than a year in the job.

Toropin writes for the Associated Press.

Tony Maudsley is best known for his role as George Shuttleworth on Coronation Street and away from the soap he lives a far less dramatic life

Tony Maudsley is a beloved figure on Coronation Street – but what do we know about his life off the set?

Tony joined the ITV soap in 2020, portraying George Shuttleworth, the son of the late funeral director Archie (Roy Hudd). Since then, he’s won over viewers and has been involved in numerous major plotlines.

Particularly now, as George is inching closer to uncovering the truth about wicked Theo Silverton (James Cartwright), who has been tormenting Todd Grimshaw (Gareth Pierce) for several months, reports the Daily Star.

Off-screen, actor Tony leads a far less dramatic life. Here, we delve into the accomplished star’s personal world.

Tony’s Hollywood Stardom

In addition to Corrie, Tony has featured in Queer As Folk, Emmerdale and also starred in the popular ITV sitcom Benidorm, playing hairdresser Kenneth Du Beke from 2011 to 2018.

Moreover, Tony made an appearance in the Harry Potter series in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, portraying Hagrid’s half-brother, Gawp.

Reflecting on his time in Harry Potter, Tony remarked: “It was one of the hardest jobs I’ve ever done. I was weighed down with these huge monster feet that were so heavy, that I could never get into the canteen and back in time.”

Tony also shared screen space with Johnny Depp in the film Sleepy Hollow – but had an awkward encounter with the Hollywood icon. He revealed to Soap Inside magazine: “Very early on in my career, I worked with Johnny Depp on the film Sleepy Hollow.

“At the time, I’d stopped smoking for three years – but Johnny invited me for a roll-up round the back of the set, and I couldn’t say no! So, there I was trying to look cool with Johnny, while choking on a cigarette. It’s been a pretty lovely career.”

Tony’s private family life

Tony regularly keeps his devoted following of 77,000 Instagram fans informed about his daily activities. Earlier this year, he offered supporters an uncommon glimpse into his personal world when he posted multiple pictures of his beloved dog following a grooming session.

He wrote alongside the post: “Took Bosie to a new groomers today in Worsley Village and they did a great job! They even cleaned his teeth (well the few he’s got left!)”

And in March, Tony honoured his seldom-seen mother after sharing a photograph of them together for Mother’s Day. In the image, Tony appeared delighted standing next to his mum. He wrote with the post: “Happy Mother’s Day from me and mine.”

Tony’s grief following tragic loss

In January 2024, Tony expressed his devastation after his friend Michael McGarrigle – who collaborated with Tony on ITV’s Benidorm – had died.

Tony initially requested assistance from his followers to locate costume supervisor Michael who had disappeared, but days afterwards he confirmed the tragic news that Michael had passed away.

Posting a photo with Michael, Tony shared a heartfelt tribute to his mate: “Thank you so much to everyone for all your efforts in reposting our appeal to find Michael yesterday. I’m so sad to say that we found out late last night that we’ve lost our beautiful friend.

“Our whole Benidorm family is devastated and we’ll miss him hugely. RIP Michael.”

In addition to Benidorm, Michael served as the costume supervisor on programmes such as Prisoners Wives Maternal, The Larkins, DCI Banks, Whitechapel, Mrs Biggs, Annika and The Fear. He was also the co-owner of a musical theatre and cabaret bar in Brighton, Bar Broadway.

Coronation Street airs Monday to Friday at 8:30pm on ITV1 and ITVX

Antonelli’s first lap in the final session was 0.298secs quicker than Russell’s. He was on course to improve on his final run but locked up into the hairpin and lost time.

The 19-year-old Italian said: “Super happy with the session. It was a good one, a clean one. And I felt very good in the car and every run I was just improving and improving.

“Shame about the last lap after a lock-up in Turn 11 but it was a good one before that.”

Antonelli became the youngest driver to take pole position in history in China and is emerging as a serious threat to Russell in the championship – they start the race separated by four points, less than the margin between first and second places in a grand prix.

Russell, who was complaining of a lack of rear grip throughout qualifying, was quicker than Antonelli in the difficult first sector of the lap but lost out over the rest.

“Really strange session,” the Briton said. “We were both very fast all weekend. We made some adjustments after final practice and in this qualifying we were nowhere so we have to try and understand.”

Piastri, meanwhile, was pleased with the obvious progress McLaren have made this weekend, during which they have for the first time been in the mix with Ferrari as the closest challengers to Mercedes.

“We have looked good all weekend,” said the Australian, who is yet to start a grand prix this season after a crash on the reconnaissance lap in Australia and a battery failure in China before the start.

“We don’t have the pace to match Mercedes still but we are getting closer.”

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, his car sporting an aerodynamic upgrade that featured new side pods, floor and engine cover, was seventh fastest, 0.791secs off the pace.

Both Verstappen and Norris were among the drivers to run wide at Spoon, where a tailwind on entry was causing problems.

Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad were eighth and 10th, sandwiching the Haas of Esteban Ocon.

Williams’ Alex Albon had a torrid session, running off track and hitting the wall at Degner Two, traditionally one of the track’s most demanding corners, midway through the session, before a spin after colliding with Cadillac’s Sergio Perez, who appeared not to see Albon on the inside as the British-born Thai dived down the inside at the chicane.

The two Aston Martins brought up the tail of the field on a weekend on which engine partner Honda want to show improvement on its home track after a dire start to the season.

American reserve driver Jak Crawford, completing one of the team’s mandatory young driver days, was in Fernando Alonso’s car and was 22nd, just over a second slower than Lance Stroll.

Honda have introduced some changes that are hoped to address the engine-vibration issues that have been causing reliability problems and major discomfort for the drivers.

Aston Martin also have an aerodynamic upgrade for Japan, featuring a new engine cover and front-of-floor furniture.

Like millions of pop-culture-obsessed Americans, Howard Stern is bingeing FX’s “Love Story” and soaking up the nostalgia of ’90s-era New York, but unlike most of America, the radio host was buddies with the series’ real-life stars, and even graced the cover of JFK Jr.’s George magazine.

“I had done the cover for George magazine,” Stern said on his eponymous SiriusXM radio show Monday. “So I knew John Kennedy Jr., and he actually showed up to the shoot. It’s one of the worst covers I ever did. And I’ve done a lot of bad ones.”

John F. Kennedy Jr. launched George magazine alongside his partner, Michael J. Berman, in September 1995. With the tagline “Not Just Politics as Usual,” the magazine married pop culture and politics in an unprecedented way and aimed to flip the script on mainstream political discourse. The covers were legendary in their own right and featured supermodels, rock stars, Oscar winners and action film stars dressed up as the nation’s first president.

And, of course, radio jokester and provocateur Stern.

“They convinced me to be chopping down a cherry tree with a chainsaw, dressed up in colonial garb, dressed up, like, I guess I was supposed to be George Washington, but George Washington didn’t wear the s— I was wearing,” he continued.

“It was 100 years ago, and I remember I wasn’t doing a lot of magazine covers by choice,” Stern said.

When John Kennedy Jr., whom Stern described as “literally American royalty and the nicest guy in the world,” asked him to pose for the cover of the April/May 1996 issue, themed “The Virtue Issue,” Stern told his agent, “Of course I’ll do it.”

“I went down there, and they were like, ‘It’s George magazine. We have a theme cover. You can’t be in your regular clothes. We want you to be, like, George Washington,” he continued. “They must have caught me on the right day, because I was incredibly amenable. Normally, I would have gone, ‘I’m not wearing this s—.’”

Stern said he got the full supermodel treatment. “You know what John and the photographer did, that thing that they do to supermodels, ‘Gorgeous! You look great! Oh, man, this is the greatest cover. This is our best cover!’ They’re yelling while the guy’s clicking away, and I’m posing like I’m Cindy Crawford, like I’m one of the Hadid sisters,” he continues. “I’m standing there thinking I look handsome with my chainsaw and Louis the 14th [outfit.]”

After Stern went on dragging everything from the “pilgrim shoes” to the “poofy shirt” he wore for the shoot, he revealed that he actually knew Carolyn Bessette Kennedy as well, although he was a bit cagey about how exactly he knew her.

“She was very lovely,” he said. “She was a really nice woman. I don’t want to go into how I knew her, but I knew her.”

When Stern’s co-host, Robin Quivers, pushed him on why he couldn’t divulge how he knew the former Calvin Klein publicist, he said, “I just know enough to keep my mouth shut about that. Some stuff you do have to keep private. But anyway, I knew her. “

According to Disney, “Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette” is FX’s most-watched limited series ever on Hulu and Disney+, with reports that the first five episodes have been streamed more than 25 million hours since the Ryan Murphy series premiered in February.

The show, starring newcomer Paul Anthony Kelly as Kennedy and Sarah Pidgeon as Bessette, will air its finale Thursday.

Inara George looks back on it now as wistfully as someone remembering a love affair or a semester abroad.

“It was at this tiny theater on Pico near LaBrea, next to a barbecue place,” she says. “Our backstage was behind the theater, so we’d sit out there wearing these crazy corseted outfits while the guy next door was smoking brisket.”

A fixture of the Los Angeles music scene known for her solo records and as half of the Bird and the Bee, George is recalling the summer she spent working as a 20-something actor in “The Wandering Whore,” a musical set in 18th century London by composer Eliot Douglass and lyricist Philip Littell that played L.A.’s Playwrights’ Arena in August 1997.

“There was a scene where I die,” George adds, “and then I get reanimated by a ghost and someone pays — I don’t know if you need to put this in the article — someone pays to have relations with me.” She sighs.

“It was just such a rich time.”

Three decades later, George’s warm feelings for that era — and especially for the duo who soundtracked it — have led to an exquisite new album, “Songs of Douglass & Littell,” on which she sets aside her own songwriting to interpret nine tunes by these under-the-radar veterans of West Coast musical theater: searching, funny, vividly emotional songs like “Tired Butterfly,” about a busy insect in search of “a little nap,” and “The Extra Nipple,” which ponders a “harsh encounter with another heart.”

Think of the record as George’s take on one of Ella Fitzgerald’s classic “Song Book” LPs from the late ’50s and early ’60s, when the jazz star was systematically enshrining the work of Cole Porter, Irving Berlin and other authors of the Great American Songbook.

“These men deserve to have some attention,” George says of Douglass and Littell, the latter of whom she’s known since she was a little girl performing in plays at Topanga Canyon’s Theatricum Botanicum. “I want to give them their flowers.”

Yet if the album is rooted in the creative awakenings of George’s youth, it’s also the 51-year-old’s way of embracing middle age.

Inspired by singers like Helen Merrill and Chet Baker — “Elis & Tom,” a 1974 duo album by Brazil’s Elis Regina and Antônio Carlos Jobim, was another touchstone — George turns on “Songs” from the Bird and the Bee’s blippy electronica and the folky pop of her solo work to a jazzier sound that puts her cool, breathy vocals amid piano, strings and horns.

“This is a grown-up record,” says George, who shares three teenage children with her husband, the movie director Jake Kasdan. “I don’t want to be making music that makes me feel like I’m trying to be younger — I wanted to make something that makes me feel my age.”

Inara George at home this month.

(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)

The singer is at home near Griffith Park on a recent afternoon; with her kids at school and Kasdan away on a film shoot, the house is quiet, though signs of music are everywhere: a drum set, a grand piano, a guitar once owned by George’s late father, Lowell George, who founded the cult-fave L.A. rock band Little Feat and who died of a heart attack when Inara was only 4.

“As a woman, it’s a weird time in life — there’s something in-between about it,” she says. “Even the question of what do you wear. When you’re younger, you’re like, I’m gonna wear a dress — is it sexy, is it cute? Now, all of a sudden, all I want to do is wear suits.” She laughs.

Douglass, who plays piano on the new album, hears a “groundedness” in George’s singing all the more remarkable given that the arrangements represent “a new kind of school for her,” he says. “I was wondering how she would approach it, and she’s done it with such aplomb and wisdom.”

On Friday night, Douglass will accompany George — along with more than a dozen other players — in a record-release concert at Largo at the Coronet, with proceeds going to the nonprofit LA Voice, which seeks to organize voters on issues related to immigration and affordable housing.

George happily describes “Songs of Douglass & Littell” as a passion project. “I think you get to a certain point where selling a million records is not your intention,” she says. “Obviously, I wouldn’t make a record like this if I had that intention.” (Counterpoint: the arena-filling success of Laufey.)

“I’m just about the experience,” she adds, “and this has been an amazing experience.”

The experience began one night a few years ago when George hosted a wine-soaked reunion of performers who’d worked with Douglass and Littell back in the ’90s on shows like “The Wandering Whore” and “No Miracle: A Consolation,” the latter a song cycle rooted in the losses of the AIDS epidemic.

Philip Littell, from left, Eliot Douglass and Inara George.

(Thomas Heegard)

After her years of childhood dramatics at the Theatricum — Littell remembers meeting “this bird of a girl with these huge eyes” — George had gone to Boston’s Emerson College to study acting but dropped out and returned to L.A., where she eventually made her name as a musician. (In addition to the Bird and the Bee, her duo with the Grammy-winning producer Greg Kurstin, she’s also played with the Living Sisters and sung with Foo Fighters.)

Yet her postcollege stint in the experimental theater scene always stuck with her, she says. Reconnecting with Littell, whose other work includes the libretto for André Previn’s operatic adaptation of “A Streetcar Named Desire,” and Douglass, who played piano for years with Cirque du Soleil, got George thinking about how she might help preserve their music and bring it to a modern audience.

In 2024, she put together a trio for an intimate gig at Pasadena’s Healing Force of the Universe record store; her old friend Mike Andrews, who produced her solo albums, was there and told her they should record the material. Given the number of ballads she’d worked up, George asked Douglass and Littell to write a couple of new uptempo tunes; among the ones they came up with was the frisky “La Lune S’en Va.”

Does George speak French?

“Not at all,” she says, smiling. “But Philip does. It’s so fun — I was like, ‘Yeah, I’ll take it.’ I think the pronunciation’s OK.”

She and a small crew of musicians cut the album live in the studio over three days — in part an attempt to capture some energy, in part an acknowledgment of an economic reality.

“Is music just a hobby for me now? Yeah, it is,” says George, who’s putting “Songs” out through her own label, Release Me Records. “I mean, I’m spending money to do it.” She worries about the disappearance of music’s middle class even as she notes happily that “Again & Again” by the Bird and the Bee “recently had a little TikTok moment,” as she puts it. (With 86 million streams, it’s the duo’s most popular track on Spotify, followed by an ethereal cover of the Bee Gees’ “How Deep Is Your Love.”)

Yet all that seems less important to George than taking the opportunity to honor “these incredibly talented, very sensitive people” who she says shaped the artist she became.

“Their songs just mean so much to me,” she says of Douglass and Littell. “More than ever, this is the music I want to listen to.”