A five-year grassroots campaign to spur the reopening of one of the crown jewels of moviegoing in Los Angeles is on indefinite pause following an incident at the theater Friday night.
Ben Steinberg, a 26-year-old film student at Cal State Northridge, has long been a vocal and active proponent of reopening Hollywood’s Cinerama Dome, which has been closed since the onset of the pandemic in March 2020. A Change.org petition started by Steinberg has more than 31,000 signatures asking the Decurion Corp., longtime owners of the venue, to reopen or lease the property to someone else who would. Across social media platforms, Steinberg has nearly 12,000 followers.
From across Sunset Boulevard on Friday night, Steinberg — along with a projectionist and a privately-hired security guard — had been projecting images of two members of the Forman family, who own Decurion, onto the front of the Dome along with the slogan “Mr. Forman REOPEN THE DOME!” After about two-and-a-half hours, LAPD officers arrived in response to a radio call received around 9 p.m.
“They came to us and they informed us that the property owner considers it harassment and that it’s an escalation and that we have to shut down,” said Steinberg in an interview with The Times on Sunday afternoon. “So we just shut down immediately. We didn’t contest anything.”
There was no immediate response to a request for comment from Decurion on Monday. The LAPD confirmed details of the incident.
The Cinerama Dome originally opened in 1963 with its white tiled design and distinctive marquee. In April 2021 it was announced by Pacific Theatres that the venue would not be reopening. That brief statement regarding the closure of Pacific Theatres and ArcLight Cinemas, which operated the Dome and were also owned by Decurion, said in part, “This was not the outcome anyone wanted, but despite a huge effort that exhausted all potential options, the company does not have a viable way forward.”
Since then there have been sporadic signs of life regarding the venue, mostly to do with liquor licensing and permit requests, such as last October when a company called Dome Center LLC filed an application for a conditional-use permit.
Particularly since it became part of the larger ArcLight Hollywood multiplex in 2002, the Dome had been a vital part of the community of moviegoers in Los Angeles, home to many notable premieres and events. The front of the theater made a memorable appearance in Quentin Tarantino’s Oscar-winning 2019 film “Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood.”
For now Steinberg considers his Save the Cinerama Dome campaign, which began in April 2021, paused but he hopes to resume it as soon as possible. The complaint made to the police Friday was the first reaction of any kind Steinberg has received from Decurion.
“I think it definitely tells what their intentions are,” said Steinberg. “This is the only sign that they’ve given us that they don’t want us to continue and it’s definitely a threat.”
For Steinberg, the campaign has grown beyond just wanting to see movies again in a favorite venue and into something about who truly owns the cultural capital of the city.
“I think it’s extremely important to the community of Los Angeles and it represents the city,” said Steinberg of the Cinerama Dome. “And just personally, I have so many good memories of the theater. I would hope that I’d be able to go back in again and watch movies. I think the whole city deserves the movie theater. I don’t think it would be fair for them to keep it abandoned.”
While Decurion may be operating within its rights as owner of the property, its secretive and mysterious business practices have increasingly angered film fans concerned about the future of moviegoing in the city.
“When I first posted about it, I thought people wouldn’t care,” said Steinberg. “But it seems like the whole world cares about the Cinerama Dome. And I think too it’s more than the Cinerama Dome at this point. I think it just kind of represents the overall landscape of L.A. and America and how these large corporations can own historic buildings and keep them abandoned and then sort of push away people who want [them] to reopen.”
Remember when our president attacked a female journalist for asking uncomfortable questions with a casual, sincere, “Quiet, piggy”?
That was five months ago, a lifetime in the chaos of the Trump administration, but it was a telling moment about how not just our president but those crafting his policy view women and their place in society. Hint: It’s not at the top.
While I have not a bit of pity or dismay that Pam Bondi and Kristi Noem — the former U.S. attorney general and the former secretary of Homeland Security, respectively — were given the ax by President Trump in recent days, it shouldn’t be lost that this is another “quiet, piggy” week in an administration that is increasingly openly hostile to women in power.
When democracies decay, and especially when movements like Christian nationalism rise, an erosion of women’s equality almost always comes first. Bondi and Noem are part of a U.S. erosion that should alarm us all, whatever your gender identity.
First, the obvious. Good riddance. Noem seemed to relish cruelty, and treated her job like a costume party, constantly mugging for cameras with guns and faux toughness as if the dismantling of lives and imprisoning even children was a game. Never mind the grift.
Bondi, meanwhile, always seemed like the football team’s third-favorite cheerleader, desperately vying for the attention of the jock-gods around her, even if it meant groveling for approval, even if it meant selling out all women with her ultimate censoring of the Epstein files.
But while Bondi and Noem were obviously incompetent, incompetence has never been a fire-able offense for Trump. Just ask Pete Hegseth, whose Thor fantasies are currently playing out in an all-to-real war. Or Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has dismantled American science while glorifying beef tallow and workouts in jeans. Don’t even get me started on Kash Patel.
It’s no accident that women at the top of Trump’s administration are being purged. They were useful in the first days of the regime, while power was still being consolidated and shimmers of diversity were helpful. But as the sexist and racist nature of the MAGA machine has gained mainstream acquiescence if not acceptance, the need to keep up the appearance of diversity is less and less.
Take, for example, the far-right attacks on Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett after her pointed and skeptical questions recently on Trump’s attempt to end birthright citizenship.
This is the same Texas gentleman who went viral recently for proclaiming, “Women, shut up! Of course. It is literally an offense to God” for women to have influence in the governing of society.
He’s also part of a group of far-right religious leaders — including a pastor associated with Hegseth — who support ending women’s right to vote and replacing it with a single “household” vote cast by, you guessed it, men.
Bondi and Noem may be the most high-profile examples of how this misogyny is playing out in MAGA reality, but they aren’t the only women forced out of power by Trump and his cronies this year. It’s a push that is far more systematic and insidious than we are giving them credit for. Hegseth has all but wiped women out of the top ranks of the military — just recently personally knocking two women off a promotions list.
RFK Jr. and others, meanwhile, are busy pushing women out of science. The Washington Post pointed out that last year at this time, the feds purged women and people of color from the boards that review the science and research happening at the National Institutes of Health— 38 out of 43 experts that were fired were women and minorities.
A report out last month also found that all those attacks on universities last year, with the cutting of grants even in areas such as cancer research — disproportionately affected female scientists. Many of these female scientists, especially younger ones, will never recover from those quashed research projects and lost jobs in a field that demands results and published work, meaning we are looking at a generational loss of female scientific talent.
And let’s not forget Renee Nicole Good, shot by an ICE officer in Minneapolis who, with as much casualness as Trump’s “quiet, piggy,” said “f—ing b—” after shooting her and walking away.
Bondi and Noem aren’t just unqualified villains shown the door. They are villainesses.
The Trump administration knows the difference, and so should we.
Dakota Mortensen’s storyline will be edited out of the upcoming season of “Vanderpump Villa.”
Mortensen, who regularly appears in “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives,” was set to be included in the third season of “Vanderpump Villa” — slated to premiere April 16 — as part of a getaway with members of DadTok, the group that consists of past and current partners linked to the MomTok influencers of “Mormon Wives.” Variety was first to report the decision.
Hulu declined to comment.
It’s the latest reality TV series caught in the relationship dust-up involving Mortensen and his ex, Taylor Frankie Paul.
Last month, a domestic violence investigation between the on-again, off-again pair prompted Season 5 of Hulu’s “Mormon Wives” to pause filming. Subsequently, the release of a video of a separate dispute in 2023 led to the shelving of Season 22 of ABC’s “The Bachelorette,” which featured Paul as its heroine. It has not yet been announced whether or not it will air at a later date.
Much of Paul’s story on “Mormon Wives” has revolved around her rocky relationship with Mortensen. Paul was previously arrested and charged in 2023, eventually pleading guilty to one count of aggravated assault; other charges were dropped. Part of that incident was documented on the series premiere of the show in 2024.
How does “Vanderpump Villa” figure into all of this? The third season of “Mormon Wives” featured the fallout from an explosive crossover with Hulu’s other reality series, which follows former Bravo star Lisa Vanderpump and her staff at various luxury European estates. “Mormon Wives” stars Demi Engemann and Jessi Ngatikaura were guests on that show’s second season and got embroiled in drama with staff member Marciano Brunette, who alleges he had intimate connections with both women. The recent fourth season of “Mormon Wives” revisits the crossover, with some of the women’s spouses partaking in their own “Villa” getaway that fuels more drama, including between Mortensen and Paul.
Mortensen isn’t totally out of the reality TV circuit, though. He is set to appear in “Unwell Winter Games,” a YouTube reality competition series produced by Alex Cooper, that premieres April 6.
House Democrats will hold a pair of “shadow hearings” in California next week on the upcoming midterm elections — part of a broader party effort to defend state voting systems against mounting critiques and threats of intervention from the Trump administration.
Such hearings, similar to those recently held in Los Angeles on President Trump’s immigration raids, provide Democrats an opportunity to highlight issues their majority Republican counterparts won’t schedule for more formal hearings in Washington.
The hearings — scheduled for Los Angeles on Tuesday and San Francisco on Thursday — will feature testimony from voting and elections experts, and will be led by Rep. Joseph Morelle of New York, ranking Democrat on the House Administration Committee with oversight of elections, and Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco), the former House speaker.
Morelle, in a statement to The Times, said, “Democracy’s defenses are under attack” and must be defended.
“We will not let President Trump and House Republicans’ efforts to take over our elections prevail. We’re going to use every tool in our toolbox and that includes working with pro-democracy allies in communities across the country,” he said. “I look forward to hearing about the work being done in California to protect democracy as we fight on the ground and in Congress.”
Pelosi, in her own statement to The Times, said protecting democracy “demands vigilance, transparency, and action,” and the shadow hearings “will bring together voices on the front lines of election security, voting rights, and accountability to ensure that every American’s vote is protected and every institution earns the public’s trust.”
“At a time of rampant threats to our democratic system, we must strengthen and defend the integrity of our elections to reaffirm that our government is of, by, and for the people,” she said.
Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Redlands), chair of the Democratic Caucus, and other Democrats from California are also expected to attend. Republican members of Congress are not expected to be there.
The hearings will be the first in a while to be led — at least in part — by Pelosi, 86, who gave up her position in party leadership and does not currently hold any committee assignments. She announced in November that she will not seek reelection.
Trump has alleged for years, without evidence, that U.S. elections are undermined and swayed by widespread voter fraud, and that such fraud cost him the 2020 election that he lost to Joe Biden. He and his personal attorneys have repeatedly argued as much in court, but always lost — in part because they could never produce any evidence to back their claims.
Since retaking the White House last year, Trump has continued pushing his baseless claims, and pushed his administration to attack voting systems — particularly in blue states where he has been unpopular.
In January, the FBI raided and seized 2020 election records from an elections office in Fulton County, Ga., that was the subject of Trump’s allegations of voter fraud in 2020.
In February, Trump said Republicans should “take over the voting in at least 15 places,” alleging that voting irregularities in what he called “crooked states” are hurting his party. “The Republicans ought to nationalize the voting.”
This week, Trump issued an executive order purporting to give federal agencies control over ballot processing by the U.S. Postal Service.
Trump administration officials and allies have also raised concerns that they might send immigration agents to polling locations during the midterms, in part by refusing to rule out such a move in the wake of mass deployments of such agents into American cities to pursue Trump’s mass deportation agenda.
Trump has framed his efforts to end voting by mail — which he recently did himself — and increase voter identification requirements as “common sense” steps to combat fraud that most Americans agree with. A vast majority of California voters cast ballots by mail, including nearly 90% in last year’s special election on Proposition 50, the state’s mid-decade redistricting measure.
Democrats and many elections experts have rejected Trump’s election claims as baseless, defended state-run systems as safe and secure, and said his demands for stricter voter ID regulations would disenfranchise millions of U.S. citizen voters who lack the sort of documents he wants to mandate — including women who changed their name in marriage.
Voting experts say fraudulent votes, including by noncitizens, are rare, and that there is no evidence that fraud swings U.S. elections.
States including California have joined voting rights organizations in suing to block Trump’s various attempts to intervene in state-run elections, including his order last week and a previous one purporting to place new federal requirements on voter identification and proof of citizenship.
California officials and others have repeatedly noted that federal law gives states the right to administer elections as they see fit, and promised to fight any attempts by the president or his administration to infringe on state election powers.
Scheduled to participate in the hearings were experts from the UCLA Voting Rights Project, Loyola Law School, the League of Women Voters of California, Common Cause California, and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, or MALDEF.
A MAJOR capital city in Africa has revealed its huge new terminal that is about to open – and you can even fly there with Ryanair.
The expansion or Rabat-Sale Airport comes in time for the 2030 FIFA World Cup which will have games hosted in Morocco.
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Rabat-Sale is about to open its expanded terminal for the first timeCredit: ALA CONCEPT architectsThe airport serves the country’s capital – the coastal city of RabatCredit: Alamy
Rabat, a coastal city, is close to finishing the expansion of its terminal that will quadruple the amount of passengers.
It’s part of Morocco’s investment of $2.8 billion (£2.1billion) in its airports to double capacity from38million to 80million passengers each year by 2030.
Rabat-Sale Airport’s annual capacity alone will go from around 1.5million passengers to 5million.
The whole terminal will be 69,000 square metres and have state-of-the-art facilities – like six telescopic boarding bridges.
It will have upgraded shops and eating areas, additional aircraft parking positions, and a two-level parking with 1,300 spaces.
The terminal was expected to open years ago, but was subject to delays.
Brits will get to see the upgraded terminal if they fly there with Ryanair as the airline is opening a new base in Rabat in April 2026 and will station two aircraft there.
The service will include a total of 20 routes for the 2026 summer season.
There are direct flights from both London Stansted and Manchester with Ryanair to Rabat from as little as £16.
The expansion has been put in place to take additional passengers in time for the World Cup in four years’ time.
The airport is are five miles outside of Rabat56 miles away from Casablanca – which city’s airport is also getting an upgrade.
The Mohammed V Airport in Casablanca, Morocco is expanding its airport with a new terminal which will be able to handle up to 20million passengers a year.
The new terminal will be in the shape of an ‘H’ and is scheduled to be operational by 2029.
It will have three levels with shops, green spaces, an airport hotel, and a 3,700 metre runway.
Other airports around the country getting expansions and upgrades are in Marrakech, Agadir, Tangier and Fez.
Other airports are also undergoing upgrades – like CasablancaCredit: ALA CONCEPT architects and RSHP architects
Covered marquees. Downed statues. Painted-over murals. A canceled holiday.
California has effectively exorcised César Chávez from the public sphere just weeks after a New York Times investigation found two women who said the legendary labor leader sexually assaulted them when they were teenage girls in the 1970s. Just as explosive was the revelation by his longtime lieutenant, Dolores Huerta, that he raped her in the 1960s.
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My prediction for the next place we’ll see a Chávez purge: books about him, which number into the dozens and span from academic treatises to children’s tales. But before critics relegate those texts to the banned section, folks should read some of them to see how writers helped establish the Chávez myth and propagated it for decades.
The books that created the Chávez legend
The tendency to elevate him above other activists was there from the start. In 1967, John Gregory Dunne published “Delano: The Story of the California Grape Strike,” which saw the author (and husband to Joan Didion) capture the essence of el movimiento in its earliest days through on-the-ground reporting and interviews with Chávez, whom Dunne described in the introduction as “the right man at the right place at what was, sadly, both the right and the wrong time.”
Famed writer Peter Matthiessen cemented Chávez’s image as a humble hero fighting a lone, brave battle against philistine farmers with a two-part New Yorker profile that became the basis for 1969s “Sal Si Puedes: Cesar Chavez and the New American Revolution.” That narrative continued with Jacques Levy’s 1975 release “Cesar Chavez: Autobiography of La Causa.” Talk about getting too close to the subject: The author’s archived papers disclosed he served as Chávez’s literal notetaker during the 1970 negotiations that ended the grape strike and led to the UFW’s first union contracts.
Chávez came under strong scrutiny
Rose-tinted biographies tellingly stopped around the time Chávez created a commune in what’s now currently the César E. Chávez National Monument in Keene and began to target perceived enemies within the UFW. Critics instead appeared in the media — one of the first was a 1979 Reason article that alleged he was misusing federal funds and contained the prescient line, “Many people will be reluctant to believe anything that could cast a shadow over this man.”
Other critical dispatches included pieces in the L.A. Times, Village Voice and one in the Sacramento Bee so damning in its indictment of how Chávez had, on his own, sabotaged the movement so many associated with him that its author, Marcos Breton, recently wrote how Chávez was left “hostile and angry” by his simple questions.
In the wake of Chávez’s decline and eventual death in 1993, authors created a new genre: Saint César. Titles like “Cesar Chavez and the Common Sense of Nonviolence,” “Conquering Goliath: Cesar Chavez at the Beginning” (by his mentor, Fred Ross Sr., the most important California organizer you’ve never heard of) and “The Rhetorical Career of César Chávez” pushed forth the gospel of their subject as a plainspoken prophet out of the Good Book.
Chávez inspired millions — but those books will now forever read as hollow and sadly myopic.
Rethinking the Chávez myth
True reappraisals of Chávez and his work wouldn’t start until after former Times editor and reporter Miriam Pawel published a 2006 series for this paper that showed the ugly, domineering side of Chávez and the UFW’s decline. Six years later, longtime activist Frank Bardacke simultaneously praised and damned Chávez in his “Trampling Out the Vintage: Cesar Chavez and the Two Souls of the United Farm Workers.” Though a good read, it pales in importance and poignant lyricism to two double whammies that dropped in 2014: “From the Jaws of Victory The Triumph and Tragedy of Cesar Chavez and the Farm Worker Movement” by Dartmouth College professor (and my distant cousin!) Matthew Garcia and Pawel’s own “The Crusades of Cesar Chavez: A Biography.”
Garcia and Pawel are now making media appearances and writing essays to opine on where they think Chávez went wrong. Expect updates to all of these books and so many others in the months and years to come — if they’re ever published again.
Today’s top stories
Red diamond rattlesnakes are among species in the Golden State. One reptile expert who relocates snakes says her phone has been “ringing off the hook.”
(Christina House/Los Angeles Times)
Weird rattlesnake season
Unseasonably warm March weather triggered an unusually active rattlesnake season in California, with experts fielding record calls about sightings statewide.
Two fatal bites in Southern California in March and 77 Poison Control calls in three months far exceed typical annual patterns.
Those former Californians said the move saved them almost $700 in monthly housing costs, and they became 48% more likely to own a home in their new state.
Minimal snow in California mountains
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Commentary and opinions
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(Stella Kalinina / For The Times; Bill Addison / Los Angeles Times; Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times; Kayla Bartkowski / Los Angeles Times)
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A question for you: How are you celebrating Easter this year?
Dodgers pitcher Shohei Ohtani delivers during the second inning of a 4-1 win over the Cleveland Guardians at Dodger Stadium on Tuesday night.
(Ronaldo Bolaños/Los Angeles Times)
Today’s great photo is from Times photographer Ronaldo Bolaños at Tuesday night’s Dodgers’ game. Shohei Ohtani battled through the rain to throw a one-hit gem in the Dodgers’ 4-1 win over the Cleveland Guardians.
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Jim Rainey, staff reporter Hugo Martín, assistant editor Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor Andrew Campa, weekend reporter Karim Doumar, head of newsletters
Weekly insights and analysis on the latest developments in military technology, strategy, and foreign policy.
With fielding of the Army’s highly anticipated MV-75 Future Long Range Assault tiltrotor aircraft not set to begin until next year under an incredibly aggressive schedule, the service is already building plans for the aircraft into training for mid-grade officers and putting soldiers through recently installed full-size simulators, officials said Tuesday.
Speaking to reporters at the Association of the United States Army’s Global Force Symposium in Huntsville, Alabama, Gen. David Hodne, head of U.S. Army Transformation and Training Command, said that while some soldiers with special operations backgrounds had already experienced V-22 Osprey operations through work with other services, the Army Aviation Center of Excellence (AVCOE) was working to further socialize what the service is promoting as a radically different capability.
“[AVCOE Commander Maj. Gen. Claire Gill is] already introducing MV-75 planning factors into the Captains Career Course,” Hodne said, referring to a 21-week professional training program designed for officers with between four and seven years of service and split between general leadership principles and technical proficiency. “[You have] twice the range, twice the speed. So getting officers talking about that capability is the start.”
A rendering of an MV-75 launching drones. (Bell)
Army officials took delivery of two MV-75 FLRAA “virtual prototypes (VPs)” in June and July of last year at Redstone Arsenal and Fort Rucker, Alabama. Based on digital twins of the aircraft, the simulators highlight “the transformational power of digital engineering,” Brig. Gen. David Phillips, Program Executive Officer for Army Aviation, said last year.
“The VP replicates the cockpit design, mission software, and flight dynamics models of the MV-75; it allows RTC XPs to continue developing tiltrotor experience to prepare for future flight test activities,” Army officials said in a February release. “Additionally, the RTC team actively uses the VP to expose aviators to tiltrotor unique considerations, whether in the context of training and tactics development, Special User Evaluations (SUEs) or VIP demonstrations.”
With Gill at the helm for MV-75 integration, Mohan said the simulators will be a valuable familiarization tool.
“In terms of developing the right instructor base that can integrate this capability, he already has the capability to start that, with one of the simulators that’s already at Fort Rucker,” Mohan said.
Brent Ingraham, assistant secretary of the Army, described these early-delivery digital prototypes as critical to the service’s modernized fielding approach.
“That allows soldiers to get in, start the training, do a lot of the stuff up front, figure out all of the procedures and how they will execute the mission, right?” he said. “A lot of the stuff is being done now ahead of the first flight even occurring.”
Soldiers gaining hands-on experience with the future of Army aviation, learning to operate the MV-75 through an immersive Virtual Prototype at Redstone Arsenal. (US Army) Matthew Ryan
Additional training on advanced composites is also beginning, according to Lt. Gen. Chris Mohan, head of U.S. Army Materiel Command, so soldiers can become proficient at skin and structural repair, “as well as all the digital engineering that goes into the integration end of a truly digitally engineered platform.”
During the roundtable, Army Under Secretary Mike Obadal pushed back on a reporter’s question about the service having to contend with the reputation of tiltrotor aircraft for “catching fire and falling out of the sky” as it sought to make its new tiltrotor a keystone for future Army aviation operations. The question referred to the V-22 Osprey, which entered service in 2007 and has sustained multiple deadly mishaps unique to its design, such as the ability of the prop-rotors to churn up brownout conditions during landing; “vortex ring state,” a condition in which the Osprey faces rapid descent into its own downwash; and most recently, a gearbox issue linked to a fatal 2022 crash that led to widespread flight restrictions.
An Osprey landing on an Amphibious Assault Ship. (USN)
But the Army has maintained that MV-75 is entirely a different aircraft and that the “1980s technology” that bedeviled the Osprey is nowhere to be found in the new Valor.
“I think we have to be very careful about making sweeping statements about tiltrotor technology, and especially when you look at what [manufacturers] Bell-Textron and the Army are doing, because it is the most advanced manufacturing and digital backbone that exists,” Obadal said. “So General Electric creates the digital backbone for all of the intercontinental airliners that Boeing makes, the 777 [and] 787, and they’re applying that experience and technology to our MV-75.”
The MV-75 design has the rotors rotate between forward and vertical flight modes independent of the engine nacelles, rather than the entire nacelles rotating, which occurs on the V-22, “dramatically reduces the technical complexity” of the plane, he said, while the digital systems and controls give it cutting-edge reliability.
“From a technical perspective, it’s far more advanced than anything that exists in the military inventory, because of its fly-by-wire systems and its digital backbone,” Obadal said.
Pictured is the Bell V-280 Valor developed for the Army’s Joint Multi-Role Technical Demonstrator program as a pre-cursor to the Future Long Range Assault Aircraft. On 5 December 2022, Bell was chosen to develop the MV-75 FLRAA (Photos courtesy of Bell) Matthew Ryan
Regarding cultural comfort-building with a tiltrotor aircraft given the V-22’s mixed reputation, Obadal said it was a nonissue.
“When I talk to [soldiers] about it, they say they want to fly it, and so do I,” he said.
In January, the Army confirmed to The War Zone that it planned to accelerate its timeline for the MV-75 by multiple years, fielding the first planes in 2027 versus 2031. The impetus came from Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George, who emphasized that the service needed the MV-75’s speed and range “very quickly,” especially due to the operational demands of the vast Pacific, and couldn’t wait until the next decade to integrate it.
FOR Dermot Kennedy’s third album, he wanted to explore both the beauty and burden of a successful music career.
The award-winning Irish singer might headline huge arenas but he has always had his feet firmly on the ground, valuing a normal life, privacy and simple things such as walking in his local woods — the theme of his new record.
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Dermot Kennedy says a lot of songs from his new album, The Weight of the Woods, carry a ‘vulnerability’ he has not previously shownCredit: SuppliedKennedy says it’s better for him to ‘sit back and let the music do the work’Credit: Supplied
He says: “I feel I’m at a sweet spot, because I can play The O2 in London but I can walk around all day and no one really knows who I am.
“Having a career in music is a blessing. It’s the most amazing thing, but at the same time, there are certain challenges that come with it. It tests relationships and tests your own resolve, it’s a pressure. And I wanted to write about that.”
The pull of nature as a place to reset became more powerful to the singer as he found success — both his previous collections, Without Fear (2019) and Sonder (2022), topped the album chart.
“With a career in music, you’re not anonymous, you’re constantly moving from city to city,” he explains.
“Being somewhere where you can only see trees in every direction has become more and more important to me, and more powerful. Where I live is quite remote, and that’s the way I want to be.”
This recurring woodland imagery reflects a sense of calm and nostalgia to Kennedy, and the cover of his new album, The Weight Of The Woods, features the singer in a woodland setting.
As we chat in his central London record label offices, he’s signing a huge pile of his new CDs.
“It’s a great album cover,” he says smiling. “Even signing these all morning, I’m not sick of looking at it yet.”
A standout on Kennedy’s new record is the track Sycamore, a gorgeous introspective ode to home and identity.
“The Irish landscape has always been important to me,” he says. “Where we took the picture for the album still resonates. It’s a big part of how I’m inspired.”
Working with producer Gabe Simon — who produced Noah Kahan’s 2022 breakthrough album, Stick Season — Kennedy made The Weight Of The Woods in Ireland, Nashville and Norway.
He says: “Sycamore is lush and smooth, which felt different for me. It was the first song we made when Gabe came over — there’s a sycamore tree right in front of my house that’s become a kind of talisman in my life. It felt like a lovely way to start.
“A lot of these songs carry a vulnerability I haven’t shown before, and that felt important, because you can’t pretend you’re 100 per cent all the time. It’s just not true.”
This shift shows a new confidence, one that allows him to do things his own way.
“Generally, I’m a quiet person, so on previous albums I wasn’t the loudest in the room whereas with this one, I have the confidence to shout for it and take my time.
“It’s taken this long to get to a point where I know what I want — what I need and what’s authentic.”
The Weight Of The Woods reflects a stage in his life where Kennedy feels more secure, more at home and more fully himself. Now married with a baby daughter, his perspective has shifted in ways he struggles to fully articulate.
“How has fatherhood changed me?” he ponders. “It’s hard to sum up, I can’t explain it in a couple of minutes.
“It just means the world to me and gives you a completely new perspective on life.
“It makes you realise there are more important things than chasing goals in music.
“The best thing I can do now is make music that moves me and try to live in a way that feels like the purest version of who I am. It becomes the centre of everything.
“Fatherhood has given me more confidence, but also a different kind of fragility, making me more emotionally open.
“A lot of these songs carry a vulnerability that I haven’t shown in my music before, and that’s important.”
Musically, Kennedy feels the album has a strong Irishness, though it was not a deliberate concept.
Honest is a track that feels especially personal, as it directly references where he is from in Ireland.
He says: The first lyric is about Kilteel [near Rathcoole, Co Dublin] which is an important part of where I’m from. It’s a more personal record so I needed to tell the story of where I’m from.”
He reflects on the pull of home: “Sometimes when you’re trying to have a career in music, people assume they need to move away and live somewhere else.
“But in Ireland we have one of the richest musical landscapes in the world, you know? So, it’s nice to be a part of that.
“And it’s the most Irish-sounding track. I played the bodhran [a traditional Irish frame drum] on it, the drum you hear at the beginning, and there’s also a tin whistle. It all came together very naturally so these songs feel dynamic to me and they’re really going to work live.”
Wasted is a favourite of Kennedy’s on the record. Inspired by US singer and producer Dijon, he says: “It felt like it had that excited, upbeat energy without being pop. It felt real in the room and exciting.”
Then there’s The Only Time I Prayed, which explores the singer’s relationship with faith.
“I’ve got songs like Glory, and lyrics about the devil, but I’d consider myself definitely agnostic. I believe in otherworldly things but I’m not a practising Catholic.
“Still, when things get difficult, people pray — regardless of faith. It comes from desperation, and I find that fascinating. Sometimes I even feel envious of people with a strong faith.”
The singer says it has taken time for him to discover what he truly wants, needs, and feels is authenticCredit: Supplied
Another highlight on the record is Funeral, a stunning track about letting go of the past to move forward.
“I just wanted that song to be about ditching any difficult stuff I’ve been through,” he says.
“Songwriters spend an awful lot of time wallowing in the past and I wanted it to feel triumphant — moving forward into something more positive.
“It felt good and the vocal carries an energy which is always a fun thing on a song.”
On this third album, Kennedy feels more confident, self-assured and clearer about what is authentic to him.
He says: “It’s less inhibition and less stress — not poring over every decision. So confidence showed up in quite a carefree, exciting way.”
It was important to Kennedy that the album was stripped back and imperfect to add to the studio atmosphere.
“Musically, if you listen closely, there are lots of imperfections, little noises other artists or producers might take out,” he says.
“You can hear someone talking, a chair creaking. It puts me back in that room, and I don’t want to lose that.”
That same approach mirrors a wider creative release: “I feel like I’ve let go massively, which is a good thing.”
That sense of letting go has also reshaped how he defines success.
“Any pressure that came with the second album was internal, applied by myself,” he says. “I don’t think being competitive puts me in the best place to be the best artist I can be. I’m pretty sure it doesn’t.
“Tracking streams or records isn’t success to me. With this record, it was just lovely to get back to a place where I really enjoyed making the music, the visual world around it, and playing the songs.
“Don’t get me wrong, I still want lots of people to hear it, but I feel like I’ve already succeeded with this project.
“If it reaches a ton of people, that’s fantastic, but I had a beautiful time making it, and that’s everything.
“When you chase numbers and all that stuff, it’s all quite surface level and not very fulfilling in the end.
“I don’t think trying too hard is the move. It’s important to work hard and promote things, but being overly try-hard isn’t appealing.
“It’s better to sit back and let the music do the work. By letting go — stepping back from social media and putting the music first — it feels more likely to set my career up the way I want it.”
Live performance remains central to Kennedy’s identity. He feels he has built his career the “old-fashioned way” by playing rooms and winning audiences over.
He says: “Nowadays, there’s so many ways that someone can forge a career. You can blow up on the internet or go viral. For me, it’s never really been like that.
“It’s been more about getting people into a room. I think I can play in such a way that they might want to come back and see it again next time.”
“For me, when I dreamed about having a career in music, all I thought about was playing in big, beautiful theatres. So playing live is an important part of what I do.”
Even as he now fills large venues, Kennedy is keen to preserve a sense of intimacy within those spaces.
He explains: “We’re going to do it differently. There are lots of ways you can use tech in a live show. You can run tracks for things like horns and production, but then the whole show ends up on track and can feel like elevated karaoke.
“You can come off stage feeling like you haven’t really achieved much. So, with this tour, we’ve got rid of the click track and any backing tracks. It’s about keeping it real and letting the performance have more freedom.
“We’re getting rid of any kind of bells and whistles, and it’s just fun. I could start a song at any tempo, I could be feeling a certain way that ends up being a faster version with more energy, or we could pull it right back.
“You go to a live show for the energy, and I think it’s far easier to tap into that special place if you don’t have that stuff.”
Kennedy is also more careful about looking after his voice when he tours
“I try not to do more than two nights in a row, because it compromises the rest of the tour. It means I can walk on stage excited, instead of just hoping I get through it.”
It’s part of a wider shift in how he approaches performance. “It’s a process as well, working with vocal coaches and stuff. I run a lot more now, because you need that lung capacity. I’m not sure about other people’s experience touring, but it feels like a sport sometimes.”
That mindset has also made him more aware of the level required to sustain a major live career — something he saw first-hand watching Taylor Swift live.
Kennedy on stage in the US earlier this monthCredit: Getty
“Well, I saw her at the venue I’m playing this summer, and it was inspiring.” he says. “I saw Travis, her fiancé, talking about her fitness regime and just how she’s operating at a kind of scary level.
“I find that really inspiring, because it makes you realise this is a very high level of what we do — you have to take it seriously. When someone is that on top of their game, it’s just incredibly motivating.”
“The show is, what, three hours long? It was wild to see. And honestly, it was just cool to be in Dublin and see people so excited by those songs.
“What really struck me was that it was just her songs. You realise this is someone who started out just writing songs, and now it’s millions of people all over the world.
“But it doesn’t feel like some manufactured pop machine. It just feels like someone who writes songs, and that’s what makes it so powerful.”
The album The Weight Of The Woods is out on April 3.
Dermot Kennedy’s The Weight Of The Woods is out on April 3Credit: supplied
• The Academy Awards will move from the Dolby Theatre to L.A. Live in downtown Los Angeles beginning in 2029 under a new agreement with AEG that runs through 2039.
• The shift to L.A. Live will place the ceremony within a larger, campus-style complex, allowing the red carpet, show, press operations and post-show events to be staged in a more centralized footprint with increased capacity.
• The move will coincide with the Oscars’ shift to YouTube, part of a broader reset for the ceremony as it looks to expand its global reach after years of declining television viewership.
The Oscars are leaving Hollywood — or at least Hollywood Boulevard.
Beginning in 2029, the Academy Awards will move from the Dolby Theatre, their home for nearly a quarter century, to L.A. Live in downtown Los Angeles, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and AEG announced on Thursday. The ceremony will be held in the theater currently known as the Peacock Theater, which is expected to be renamed before the Oscars arrive as part of a new naming rights deal.
The new agreement runs through 2039. Discussions about the move have been underway for the last couple of years, according to people familiar with the planning who were not authorized to speak publicly.
The change in venue comes as the Oscars are also moving away from their traditional home on broadcast television. Earlier this year, the Academy announced that the ceremony will begin streaming live worldwide on YouTube in 2029, ending a five-decade run on ABC.
Since 2002, the show has been closely associated with Hollywood Boulevard, where the red carpet runs alongside the Walk of Fame and, for one night a year, the area becomes the symbolic center of the film industry. The Dolby Theatre sits at the corner of Hollywood and Highland, inside a retail and entertainment center near the TCL Chinese Theatre and the El Capitan.
L.A. Live offers a more centralized, campus-style setting, with venues and event spaces clustered together. The complex is adjacent to Crypto.com Arena and the Los Angeles Convention Center and is part of a larger sports and entertainment district developed and operated by AEG that regularly hosts concerts, sporting events and awards shows, including the Emmys and the Grammys. AEG has recently proposed adding a new hotel, residences and additional entertainment space to the complex, part of a longer-term expansion of the site.
In some ways, the move out of the Dolby is less a break than a return: The ceremony was staged for years in downtown L.A. at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion and at the Shrine Auditorium before settling at the Dolby.
At the Oscars’ new home, the red carpet, ceremony, press operations and post-show events can all be staged within a compact footprint that includes the adjacent JW Marriott hotel and its ballroom. The theater itself is expected to undergo upgrades to its stage, sound and lighting systems, allowing it to be configured more specifically around the show. The move is also expected to increase capacity, a growing consideration as the academy’s ranks have expanded significantly in recent years, now numbering more than 11,000 members.
At the Dolby, space has long been tight. Each year, multiple blocks of Hollywood Boulevard are shut down for days at a time, rerouting traffic and turning the area into a heavily secured zone — conditions that were even more restrictive this year with security tightened further amid the war in Iran, including a one-mile police buffer around the theater.
The Academy had been looking for a venue that offered greater control over how the show is staged, including how the audience is arranged and how the room is used for both the broadcast and the live event. The new venue is expected to provide more room for press areas, green rooms and backstage operations, along with upgraded technical infrastructure for staging the ceremony.
Early design renderings released by the academy suggest that, for viewers at home, the Oscars may not look all that different. The stage retains the sweeping, curved proscenium that has defined the Dolby Theatre era, suggesting a similar visual approach at a larger scale, with expanded screen space and a more immersive ceiling design.
For both the academy and AEG, which owns and operates the complex, the appeal is in keeping everything in one place — arrivals, ceremony, the Governors Ball and afterparties — rather than spreading events across multiple locations. The setup also creates new opportunities for hospitality and sponsorship tied to the broader campus.
“L.A. Live was built to host the moments that define culture and there is no greater global stage than the Oscars,” said Todd Goldstein, AEG’s chief revenue officer. “Together, we will create an environment that celebrates creativity, honors excellence and delivers an unforgettable experience for movie fans everywhere.”
Taken together, the changes amount to a significant reset for the Oscars, which have seen their audience decline from more than 40 million viewers in the late 1990s to 17.9 million this year, down 9% from the previous year. Moving to YouTube offers a way to reach a broader, more global audience at a time when traditional television viewership has declined.
The Oscars will remain at the Dolby through the 100th ceremony in 2028 before making the transition the following year.
“For the 101st Oscars and beyond, the Academy looks forward to closely collaborating with AEG to make L.A. Live the perfect backdrop for our global celebration of cinema,” Academy Chief Executive Bill Kramer and President Lynette Howell Taylor said in a statement.
Riz Ahmed has created and stars in a marvelous new series, “Bait,” premiering Wednesday on Prime Video. There are no worms in it, though viral video plays a part, and fame — the pursuit of which is a subject — is a lure.
But what’s in a name? A comedy by any other name would be as funny — if it was funny, and this one very much is, in a way that’s crazy and serious and human, built around a character in crisis who refuses to believe his life is out of control and is so invested in putting up a front that he’s begun to believe his own lies. Almost. It’s a series in which hallucinations, dreams, magical realism and memories, which punctuate and interfere with the “normal” business of the story, all amount the same thing, and in which the style of the filming shifts with the action.
Ahmad plays Shah Latif, a British Pakistani actor, who, owing to the exertions of his faithful, often frustrated agent, Felicia (Weruche Opia), is improbably auditioning to be the next James Bond. But he repeatedly forgets his line when his scene partner, a girl with a gun, asks, “Tell me, when it’s just you all alone, how do you live with yourself? Do you even know who you are?” establishing a theme. (The line he can’t recall: “I don’t live with myself, I live with whoever you need me to be.” Spies and actors!)
Leaving the audition, he contrives to be photographed by one of the paparazzi lurking outside, sniffing for a Bond scoop; his picture is published, which creates a stir and some racist blowback, culminating in a package thrown through the front window of his parents’ home. (It is not a window that opens.) What’s inside the package I’ll leave for you to discover, but it will play a part through the rest of the show.
The recurring question of who will be the next James Bond generates a lot of pop cultural heat in our world; just type “next James Bond” into your search engine of choice. At one point, you may recall, Idris Elba was regularly bruited as a potential 007, which occasioned enough anti-Black reaction that he officially took himself out of the unofficial running. It may have been on Ahmed’s mind here — Shah claims high purpose for his Bondean aspirations, that he wants “to show them that this too is what British looks like.”
On the one hand, Shah has had enough of a career to have been made into a “limited edition collectible action figure,” starred in a well-regarded but underseen small film, played “the translator in ‘Homeland’ series seven” and earned a rising star award from some French festival; on the other, he is, professionally speaking, no Idris Elba — not a nobody, but not too many rungs above it. (He’s not Dev Patel, either, with whom he’s repeatedly confused.)
At the top of the second episode, Shah is seemingly being interviewed on a podcast, “Sir Chatwick Stewart, with me, Sir Patrick Stewart” — played by the man himself, whom we hear but never see — about his ambitions, though it’s soon clear that Stewart is a mental projection, an inner critic and inquisitor. He’ll stick around through the series, offering barbed commentary and something like support: “If I humiliate you, it’s to save you from the bigger humiliation of remaining as you are.”
As a protagonist continually getting in his own way, Shah is a classic sort of comic character. He creates opportunities only to squander them; finds himself voiceless after forcing himself onstage at a black-tie gala or in an underground club (he was once a politically provocative MC). After a newsworthy mishap, his agent advises him to lie low, which is impossible for him to do; there is no itch he won’t scratch, and no good advice he’ll actually follow. Apart from a rival actor (Himesh Patel) he’s a protagonist without antagonists, excepting himself. He’s insufficiently grateful to the people he owes, and insufficiently apologetic to those he’s wronged.
Shah’s self-involvement will be challenged by ex-girlfriend Yasmin (Ritu Arya), encountered first by accident, then sought out — a writer, she has published an op-ed headlined, “No, Shah Latif, We Don’t Need a Brown Bond” — in which she accuses him of “exchanging his political art for vanilla distraction.” His family, whom he neglects to visit for months, includes warm-hearted cousin Zulfi (Guz Khan), who has started a Muslim ride share company; a no-nonsense sister (Aasiya Shah) — the name of her character is rendered as “Q” on IMDb and elsewhere, but in the series itself she’s called Ainy — doting mother Tahira (Sheeba Chaddha); and his skeptical father, Parvez (Sajid Hasan), who has not been keeping his doctor appointments and asks Shah, “What do you even do? I watch TV all day — you’re never on it.”
Appropriate to a character who lives for being onscreen, “Bait” plays with the language of film — gritty procedural, a burst of Bollywood, romantic comedy — though not necessarily to the usual ends. Frame-filling titles identify the London neighborhoods where the action takes place — Wembley, Kentish Town, Brick Lane, Ladbroke Grove — as Paris, Moscow and Mexico City might appear in an international thriller. The series is at once satirical and celebratory; “Bait” feels abundant, both in its presentation of a culture, which has the ring of documentary truth, and as a beautifully realized work of art.
The announcement of the end of CBS News Radio last Friday was met with elegiac tributes to the service that built the foundation of William Paley’s company nearly 100 years ago and brought the heroic work of journalists such as Edward R. Murrow to millions of listeners.
But for the 700 affiliates carrying CBS News Radio, the concerns are more practical as they are faced with finding new national programming that will replace it. CBS Radio News will go silent on May 22.
The shutdown of the historic radio division was part of a division-wide staff cut that will affect 6% of the CBS News workforce. Affiliate stations learned of the decision only minutes before it was released to the press.
The local all-news radio stations carrying the service had to post messages on social media to assure listeners that they were not disappearing — only the national newscasts that were provided by CBS.
KNX, the all-news station in Los Angeles that has carried CBS programming since 1936, posted a lengthy segment on the impending closure and explained how “KNX News is not going anywhere.”
KNX was owned by CBS until 2017. The New York-based Audacy, under its previous name Entercom, acquired the CBS radio stations in 2017. KNX and the other Audacy news stations such as WBBM in Chicago, KCBS in San Francisco and WWJ in Detroit remained CBS affiliates, carrying the hourly CBS newscasts.
The Audacy all-news outlets, which reach around 9 million listeners a month, provided about one-third of U.S. coverage for CBS News Radio, the most of any station group carrying the service.
Audacy said it will find a replacement for CBS News Radio to provide national and international coverage, noting that the mission of its all-news stations will not be affected.
“The vast majority of our news and talk programming remains original and locally-produced, and we are beginning conversations with other national news providers to ensure our listeners continue to have access to world-class programming they value and trust.” said Chris Oliviero, chief business officer for Audacy.
Educating the listening public and advertisers that the stations will be fundamentally the same once CBS is gone will require some effort. KNX and the other Audacy all-news stations have a long association with CBS, which launched their formats starting in the late 1960s.
Along with the hourly newscasts, the stations carried “The Osgood Files,” a massively popular commentary segment hosted by the late former “CBS Sunday Morning” host Charles Osgood, for 46 years until 2017. The jingles and sounders used to identify CBS News network programming heard on the stations for decades have also been part of the listening experience.
Among the possible replacements for CBS News Radio is ABC News Audio, which is the largest network radio news service in the U.S. with 1,500 affiliates. The Audacy stations currently use ABC News content outside of its hourly newscasts.
KFI-AM currently carries the ABC News Audio newscasts in Los Angeles. Exclusivity of the ABC News Audio affiliations are determined on a market-by-market basis, according to a representative at the network.
Fox News Media, the home of the conservative-leaning cable channel, also offers a radio service with hourly newscasts and dedicated reporters, which airs on several hundred stations (the company does not supply a specific number).
While Fox News Radio delivers straight reporting, the service is likely to find a home on some of the conservative talk stations that are currently CBS News affiliates.
A new play area has opened at Crystal Palace Park and it is free to visitCredit: kiddoadventures / FacebookThe park features a number of slides, swings and climbing framesCredit: kiddoadventures / FacebookMany of the different elements of the playground are also accessibleCredit: HTA Design
The park features “hands-on play” with a “world shaped by scales, skeletons and stories from deep time”.
There are a number of pathways to explore with dinosaur-details as well as a few different shaped slides on the embankment.
A huge dinosaur-like skeleton also offers kids the chance to climb and hide, with the curving tail forming a play trail.
In the sandpit, which is shaped like a dinosaur’s footprint, young children can also dig and discover fossils.
The new playground replaces an old one that had become rundown over the years.
After enjoying the new play park, make sure to head on the dinosaur trail to see around 30 Grade-I listed statues scattered across the park.
These are the world’s first life-sized prehistoric animal sculptures which were all inspired by fossils found by Victorian palaeontologists over 170 years ago.
Many of the dinosaurs look rather different to how we imagine dinosaurs now and that is because the statues were created from the scientific information Victorians had at the time.
It is free to visit the park as well as the sculptures, which can be found across islands and lakes in the park.
And by this summer, there will be a new £17.75million Visitor Centre.
There’s even a climbing frame and trail that looks like a dinosaur skeletonCredit: kiddoadventures / FacebookAcross Crystal Palace Park you can also see 30 Grade-I listed dinosaur sculpturesCredit: Alamy
It will be a single-storey and will have an ‘Interpretation and Activity Room’ which will showcase the park’s history and future through a number of displays, objects and information panels.
The park’s Grand Centre Walk is also being restored to create more space for events, with the path becoming wider and a new entrance being built at Penge Gate.
In total, the park’s revamp is expected to cost around £52million.
Troy Terry scored on a breakaway 1:29 into overtime for his second goal of the game after Mikael Granlund tied it late in regulation and the Ducks rallied to defeat the Buffalo Sabres 6-5 on Sunday night.
Anaheim ended Buffalo’s seven-game road winning streak when Tage Thompson couldn’t keep in the puck in the Ducks’ zone and Terry held on a 2-on-0 break to score on a backhander.
Granlund tied the score at 5 with 1:44 remaining in the third period on a power play with Ville Husso pulled for an extra attacker.
Chris Kreider and Jackson LaCombe had power-play goals in the first period, Beckett Sennecke also scored, Husso made 24 saves and the Ducks have won consecutive games as part of a four-game points streak.
Alex Lyon had his 10-game road winning streak — tied for the third-longest by a goaltender in NHL history — snapped after giving up six goals on 33 shots. That included giving up goals to Sennecke and Terry on two of the Ducks’ four shots in the second period.
Alex Tuch, Josh Doan, Jack Quinn, Owen Power and Zach Benson scored for the Sabres, who extended their franchise-record road points streak to 14 games. It was their second loss in the last 14 games overall.
Lyon hadn’t lost a road start since Dec. 8, when Buffalo was last in the Eastern Conference with a 2-9-2 record outside of upstate New York. The Sabres had since won 20 of 24 road games as part of an astonishing turnaround that has them set to end the longest playoff drought in the NHL and on track to claim a first division title since 2009-10.
A victory for Lyon would have tied San Jose’s Evgeni Nabokov in 2009-10 and Minnesota’s Devan Dubnyk in 2014-15 for the longest undefeated road run in league history.
Plus, every time you drive, you can see the escalating average cost for a gallon of gas throughout the state that ranges from $5.77 in Orange County, $5.78 in San Diego County, $5.80 in Los Angeles County and $5.86 in San Francisco County to the high of $6.57 in Mono County, according to AAA.
It can easily make anyone think having fun is unaffordable.
Fortunately, our Travel and Experiences team has put together a list of 75 fun things to do for under $20.
On warm days, it’s hard to beat a ride on the swan boats at Echo Park.
They’re powered by foot paddles, and the pedaling is easy because you’re in no hurry. Maybe you’ll want to do a circuit of the lake (really a man-made reservoir). Maybe you’ll sidle up to the towers of whitewater rising from the mid-lake fountain.
Maybe you’ll wait until after dark (because the swans light up).
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
Experience L.A.’s esoteric history at the Philosophical Research Society (Los Feliz)
Cost: Free to visit, workshops and lectures from $10 and up.
Located at the intersection of Los Feliz and Griffith Park boulevards, the Philosophical Research Society has long been a place of mystery, intrigue and, for some, apprehension.
The Mayan Revival campus painted in Southwestern shades of clay, cream and sage was built in 1935 by the celebrated author and esoteric lecturer Manly P. Hall.
Today, it hosts a dizzying array of events each week including poetry readings, death cafes, sound baths, a weekly class on Buddhism, tarot and astrology salons and musical performances — some of which have a suggested donation of just $10.
If you visit, make sure to make time to browse the excellently curated metaphysical bookstore.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
Find the perfect meditation spot at the Self-Realization Fellowship Lake Shrine (Pacific Palisades)
Cost: Free.
Whether or not you’re familiar with the work of Paramahansa Yogananda, who founded the Self-Realization Fellowship in 1920, if you live in Los Angeles you owe him a debt of gratitude for the smattering of lush, meditative gardens in Southern California that are still open to the public today.
Among those is Lake Shrine, a beautifully landscaped 10-acre property in the Pacific Palisades surrounding a spring-fed lake that is dotted with quiet meditation spots.
It is free to visit, but you will need to make a reservation online before you go. (Reservations open each Saturday at 10 a.m. for the week ahead, and they can fill up quickly.)
(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
Cozy up with a flick at the Paramount Drive-In Theater (Paramount)
Cost: $14 per adult, $7 per kid (ages 3-11).
For a night out that feels as cozy as a night in, head to the Paramount Drive-In Theater. In the comfort of your own car, you can spread out, munch popcorn and make all the commentary you want without getting looks from other moviegoers.
Tickets are purchased on arrival, and the parking lot is huge, so you’re bound to secure a good view of the big screen. There is a concession store on site with candy, chips and drinks, but you are free to bring all the snacks you want from home. Recline your seat all the way back, relax and enjoy the show.
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WASHINGTON — President Trump said Saturday that he will order federal immigration officers to take a role in airport security starting Monday unless Democrats agree on a bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security.
In a pair of social media posts, Trump first threatened and then said he had made plans to put officers from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in airports if the congressional standoff continues. He made the announcement as a partial shutdown contributes to long lines to pass through screening at some of the nation’s largest airports.
The president suggested ICE agents would bring the administration’s immigration crackdown into the nation’s airports, promising to arrest “all Illegal Immigrants.”
“I look forward to moving ICE in on Monday, and have already told them to, ‘GET READY. NO MORE WAITING, NO MORE GAMES!’” Trump wrote while spending the weekend in Florida.
The move appears to be a pointed effort to expand the type of immigration enforcement that has become a sticking point in Congress. Democrats pledged to oppose funding for the Department of Homeland Security unless changes were made in the wake of a crackdown in Minnesota that led to the fatal shootings of two protesters. Democrats are asking for better identification for federal law enforcement officers, a new code of conduct for those agencies and more use of judicial warrants, among other measures.
The Minnesota operation was tied in part to allegations of fraud involving Somali residents. On Saturday, Trump said ICE officers sent to airports would focus on arresting immigrants from Somalia who are in the United States illegally. Repeating his criticism of Somalis, he said they “totally destroyed” Minnesota.
“If the Democrats do not allow for Just and Proper Security at our Airports, and elsewhere throughout our Country, ICE will do the job far better than ever done before,” Trump said.
Trump’s posts did not offer additional detail on how ICE would take a role in airport security and what it meant for the Transportation Security Administration, which screens passengers and luggage for hazardous items.
The vast majority of TSA employees are considered essential and continue to work during the funding lapse, but they are doing so without pay. Call-out rates have started to increase at some airports, and Homeland Security said at least 376 have quit since the partial shutdown began Feb. 14.
On Saturday, in a rare weekend session, the Senate rejected a motion by Democrats to take up legislation to reopen TSA and pay workers who are now going without paychecks. Republicans argue that they need to fund all parts of the Department of Homeland Security, not just certain ones. A bill to fund the agency failed to advance in the Senate on Friday.
There were signs of progress, though, with the restarting in recent days of stalled talks between Democrats and the White House. On Saturday, Republican and Democratic senators were set to meet for a third consecutive day with White House officials behind closed doors as Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York spoke of “productive conversations.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) urged the bipartisan group to act quickly. He has said that Democrats and the White House need to find compromise as lines at airports have grown.
“If that group that’s meeting can’t come up with a solution really quickly, things are going to get worse and worse,” Thune said Saturday.
Binkley writes for the Associated Press. AP writer Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this report.
PHOENIX — Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman went into the offseason expecting outfielder Kyle Tucker to sign elsewhere.
Sure, Friedman was confident in what the Dodgers could provide on and off the field to the 29-year-old four-time All-Star. And Tucker was a rare hitter who could actually elevate an already star-powered Dodgers lineup. But with the team unwilling to offer a super long-term deal, their chances at landing the best free-agent hitter available this past offseason felt “incredibly low.”
“I can’t remember a time where a player has taken a shorter-term, higher-AAV deal when they’ve had an actual long-term contract on the table,” Friedman said Wednesday.
The Dodgers, however, had already pulled off a bigger surprise when closer Edwin Díaz chose them over returning to the Mets this past December.
The team’s pitch, which included a conversation with the Dodgers’ director of family programs Patricia Romero, discussions about preparation and player resources, and a championship track record, helped land both top-tier free agents.
Of course it didn’t hurt that though Tucker’s contract was only four years, it was worth $240 million. Taking deferrals into account, the net-present day value set an MLB record at about $57 million per year.
The Dodgers’ aggressive offseason, coming off consecutive World Series titles, once again makes them the favorite entering the 2026 season.
They wrap up their Cactus League schedule this week, as World Baseball Classic participants trickle back into camp, and baseball operations leadership make final opening day roster decisions.
Before Friedman headed back to Los Angeles, he spoke with The Times on a range of topics. Here’s part of that conversion, edited for length and clarity.
Q: When it comes to the WBC, there’s variance on how supportive teams are. You have Shohei Ohtani participating as a position player, Yoshinobu Yamamoto pitching after an extra-short offseason, Kiké Hernández supporting Puerto Rico in person while rehabbing. How have you landed in being highly flexible?
Friedman: Obviously everything is case by case. But in a vacuum, we are incredibly supportive of the World Baseball Classic and what it does for our game worldwide. We saw it in ‘23, we saw it this past year, with just how important this is to the players, the staff, the fans — and just how exciting it is for baseball.
So that part’s easy. Now you layer on our situation, us trying to win a World Series. For position players, it’s easier to justify. For pitchers, it’s way harder. Throwing at that intensity in March is really, really challenging. And so we feel like our role is to work with each of our players and have conversations and share our thoughts, listen to their thoughts, and then answers kind of fall out of that.
Q: It’s such a cliche to say you can never have too much pitching, but with this group, are you close?
Friedman: I’ve learned my lesson to never say that we have enough pitching. But I do feel like we are breaking camp with the most talented one through 20 arms — which gets at, obviously, who we’ll break with, and then depth behind it — that we’ve ever had.
Q: Between Díaz, who’s part of that equation, and Tucker, you signed two players this offseason who you didn’t necessarily expect to land. What does that say about this organization and what you’ve done the last few years?
Friedman: Our biggest, most overarching goal is to be a destination spot, where our own players don’t want to leave, where players on other teams are looking longingly, because we feel like championships fall out of that. By having the right environment, having the right culture, that helps your star players want to stay, it helps in the recruitment of others. So we’re way better at it today than we were five years ago. But it’s like a living organism that we have to continue to foster and nurture and develop. And we hope we’re way better at it five years from now.
Q: On that note, the Dodgers are very much caught in the middle of CBA posturing with the current agreement expiring this year. You hear a lot of players saying the Dodgers are doing it the right way and other teams could be doing something similar. On the other hand, the league appears to be floating a salary cap, and plenty of fans are accusing the Dodgers of “ruining baseball.” What’s it been like to see those conflicting narratives?
Friedman: Obviously see it, come across it, hear it quite a bit. But we’re just not that focused on it. We’re a really healthy organization, and the partnership we have with our fans is our guiding light. And we’re doing everything we can to put a team out there that our fans really connect with, and that they feel that partnership with all that they pour into us, and don’t really think about it in any other terms.
And so obviously, there’s a lot of narratives that get extrapolated from that. But our sole focus is on ourselves and the partnership we have with our fans and the rest of it to us, it’s kind of just noise.
Q: You guys raised the bar years ago to, “We’re going to be in the postseason every year.” But there were clear frustrations from the fan base when that wasn’t consistently leading to championships. Is it fair to say that this continued push is almost a response to that frustration?
Friedman: Each year we’ve poured everything we have into winning. And in October, you need a really talented roster, and you need some good fortune. And there’s years where we haven’t been as talented as we wanted to be, whether it’s injuries or lack of performance. There’s years we’ve had really bad fortune, there’s years we’ve had good fortune. And a lot of that is the game, and it’s what I both love and hate about it.
I wouldn’t say our mindset is all that different. But obviously, when you’re in a moment in time with an incredibly talented roster, I think the mindset is, ‘Don’t sit back on your heels, be aggressive, and don’t be nonchalant about the opportunity that we have in front of us.’ And so it’s more the idea of pressing an advantage and being aggressive on that front.
Q: I’m sure when you were pursuing Ohtani, you looked into the revenue ramifications of signing him. Has this been about what you expected? Has it exceeded your expectations?
Friedman: Oh, it’s far exceeded. I don’t think the human brain could have comprehended it correctly. It’s been a perfect storm on a lot of levels, and something that has definitely far exceeded our expectations.”
Q: A three-peat seems to be the goal. Is there such a thing as a successful season without winning a championship, or has this team gotten to a point where you really have to win a World Series in order to claim success?
Friedman: Everything for us, all of our energy and focus, is on doing everything we can to win a championship this year. And our first goal is to win the division and be in position to have a bye. Last year, we added to the degree of difficulty [by winning the division but having to play in the wild-card round] in a way that I’d like to avoid this year.
So that’s the first goal. And then obviously that puts you in the best position to accomplish our ultimate goal, which is winning a World Series. So that’s what all of our energy and focus is on.
And, obviously, if we win the World Series this year, it will be a three-peat. But it’s not how my brain processes it. We’ve won back-to-back, and those are in the bank. And now it’s, do everything we can to win this year, and it’s its own unique, disparate year.
PHILADELPHIA — Besides carrying on the UCLA legacy, which Mick Cronin says is an honor in itself, he’s got an extra incentive here this weekend that has nothing to do with finding the best cheesesteak in town.
“We’ve got to win two games,” said Cronin, whose Bruins will start off going against Central Florida, whose coach, Johnny Dawkins, knows all too well from the years they squared off when he was at Cincinnati in the American Athletic Conference. “My daughter goes to American [University.]
“I’ll see her Monday. But I would like to spend a week with her.”
That’s because the East Region will be held in Washington, where AU is located. But for the Bruins to advance to past a Sunday showdown most likely against powerful Connecticut, Cronin says they’ll first need to contain Central Florida’s potent attack.
UCLA coach Mick Cronin talks with guard Trent Perry during the Bruins’ game at Michigan on Feb. 14.
(Lon Horwedel / Associated Press)
“Central Florida can score,” he explained of the 21-11 Knights, who’ve successfully made the transition from the AAC to the Big 12. “They’re athletic.
“[Themus] Fulks [averaging 14.1 points and 6.7 assists] keeps me up at night because he can get in the lane whenever he wants. He’s great off the pick and roll. He makes good reads and he’s a problem.
“I’ve seen Riley Kugel [14.4 points] since high school. He played for a friend of mine, so I know he’s a very good player and has gotten better as he’s gotten older.
“They can shoot it. They’ve struggled of late which means law of averages, that’s going to flip. They’re an athletic, aggressive team.”
On the other hand Dawkins, back in the city where he played for five years and won an NBA Eastern Conference title while playing alongside Charles Barkley, knows what he’s up against.
“Mick does a great job with his team,” said Dawkins, who before coming to Central Florida went 156-115 coaching eight years at Stanford, following a decade serving as Mike Krzyzewski’s assistant at his alma mater, Duke. “Of course. UCLA is a storied program of all college basketball.
“What an amazing history they’ve had there. and, of course, Coach Cronin is a coach I have known from the American as well. I know his team is going to be really, really talented.
“They’re very skilled and they’re tough.”
Speaking of that legacy, which includes a 1976 Final Four appearance here under John Wooden’s replacement, Gene Bartow, Cronin’s players knew what they were signing up for when they decided to come to Westwood.
“It’s definitely a blessing just to be part of this, to be part of the history, part of the tradition,” said senior guard Skyy Clark, averaging 11.7 points per game. “It’s a lot to carry for sure, but it motivates us to go out there and just do what we can.”
UCLA forward Tyler Bilodeau is congratulated by fans after beating USC at the Galen Center on March 7.
(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
“Yeah, a lot comes with these four letters we wear on our chest,” added second-leading scorer and top playmaker Donovan Dent (13.5, 7.6 assists). “We just want to make our names and the history of it.
“I wouldn’t say there’s extra pressure, but we know there’s definitely a standard that needs to be held.”
UCLA forward Tyler Bilodeau and Dent were injured during the Bruins’ Big Ten tournament run, but Cronin said Thursday “they looked good today [during practice,] so knock on wood.”
Maintaining the standard first set by Wooden is what lured Cronin from Cincinnati, where he won 296 games in 13 years and took them to the NCAA tournament nine times.
“I had a great job and was close to being the winningest coach ever at Cincinnati,” said Cronin, who’ll be making his fourth tourney appearance with the Bruins, including dropping a 2022 Sweet Sixteen game to North Carolina in this building. “But I left to sit in Coach Wooden’s chair and coach at the best university in the country, arguably the world, and everything that goes with it.
“It’s tremendous. I’ve been very fortunate. To coach at my alma mater, Cincinnati, and to be the head basketball coach at UCLA following so many.”
On Friday night, Cronin and the Bruins will take on the challenge of Central Florida and his longtime adversary Dawkins, mindful there are no gimmes once you get this far. No. 5 seed Wisconsin learned that during a loss to No. 12 High Point on Thursday and top-ranked Duke nearly did, having to rally from 13 points down to survive No. 16 Siena.
“You got to have players,” he said. “If you can’t coach, you’re not going to be in those tournaments. “The better players you have, the further you go.
That’s the whole key to getting in these things and advancing in them. Perseverance.”
MS NOW is making sweeping changes to its daytime programming, moving hosts Stephanie Ruhle and Alicia Menendez to new time slots.
The changes include the departure of Ana Cabrera, who told viewers about her plans Wednesday. Carbera joined MS NOW — formerly MSNBC — from CNN in 2023. Chris Jansing, the current 11 a.m. Eastern host, will become chief political correspondent.
Stephanie Ruhle is the new anchor for MSNBC’s “The 11th Hour.”
(MSNBC)
The moves announced by MS NOW President Rebecca Kutler are aimed at improving daytime ratings on the network, which changed its name from MSNBC after being spun off from Comcast into a new company called Versant.
MS NOW has seen improved ratings in prime time with opinion programming since the network was re-branded in November. The politically progressive-leaning network will have hosts with a point-of-view in the daytime hours as well once the programming changes take effect in June.
In a memo to staff obtained by The Times, Kutler said the daytime programming will “still be rooted in hard news.”
Ana Cabrera speaks at The Common Good Forum & American Spirit Awards 2018 at The Common Good Forum on May 21, 2018 in New York City.
(Sylvain Gaboury / Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)
Ruhle will move from her 11 p.m. Eastern program “The 11th Hour” to a daytime shift from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Eastern. Her program will focus on money and politics.
Menendez will host two hours in the afternoon starting at noon Eastern.
The schedule changes will take effect in June.
Alicia Menendez, Michael Steele and Symone Sanders Townsend of MSNBC’s “The Weekend.”
(MSNBC/Virginia Sherwood/MSNBC)
Once Ruhle’s new program debuts, “Morning Joe” will return to a three-hour format. The program co-hosted by Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski expanded to four hours in 2022. Although the expansion improved ratings, the hosts have asked to scale back so they can pursue other projects at the network.
Menendez has been part of the trio on “The Weeknight,” with Michael Steele and Simone Sanders-Townsend. Luke Russert will take her seat on the program as he returns to an on-air role. Russert had been part of the daytime MSNBC show “The Cycle,” and recently served as creative director for MS NOW’s live event series.
Ruhle will be replaced on “The 11th Hour” by Ali Velshi, who recently served as a weekend anchor. Jacob Soboroff, the network’s national correspondent, will take over Velshi’s anchor duties from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Eastern.
Kutler said there will be no job reductions related to the schedule changes, saying she expects to have “more people working at MS NOW by the end of 2026 than we do today.”
MS NOW is the second most-watched cable news network behind Fox News while leading CNN.
All the predictions, drama and pageantry of Hollywood’s biggest night will play out at the Dolby Theatre this afternoon as the 98th Academy Awards get underway.
How many awards will “Sinners,” directed by Ryan Coogler, win from its record-setting 16 nominations? And will Coogler win best director? Our critic says, “no.”
Tonight is also a big evening for our entertainment team, which has been producing features, previews, explainers, predictions and so much more.
The 2026 Oscars will air on ABC, and those with cable subscriptions can also watch by logging into the ABC app or abc.com.
The telecast will also stream live on Hulu, YouTubeTV, AT&T TV and FuboTV. Internationally, the ceremony will be broadcast in more than 200 territories. You can check your local listings here.
When the red carpet viewing gets underway
“Chicken Shop Date” host Amelia Dimoldenberg will return, for a third-straight year, as social media ambassador and correspondent for the official red carpet, which will kick off at 3:30 p.m. on ABC and Hulu.
For extended coverage, E! will begin its red carpet broadcast at 1 p.m. ABC’s coverage begins at 12:30 p.m., followed by “The Oscars Red Carpet Show,” hosted by Tamron Hall and Jesse Palmer.
“Sinners” is picking up steam heading into the show
My colleague Greg Braxton wrote about how award prognosticators believe Sinners gained positive press after its stars — Delroy Lindo and Michael B. Jordan — were called a racial slur at the BAFTAs.
Jordan’s and Lindo’s handling of the BAFTA incident, along with warmly received victories for the “Sinners” cast at the Actor Awards on March 1, has given the Warner Bros. release unexpected momentum leading up to Sunday’s Oscars ceremony.
Although it received a record-breaking 16 nominations, the film has been largely overshadowed through much of awards season by Paul Thomas Anderson’s political thriller “One Battle After Another.”
And Timothée Chalamet of “Marty Supreme” had been considered for months as an almost-certain lock for lead actor. But the events in past weeks have seemingly positioned “Sinners” for upset wins in the picture race and lead actor for Jordan.
Every character — from Miles Caton’s rebellious guitarist and Jack O’Connell’s lilting vampire to Wunmi Mosaku’s soulful witch and Michael B. Jordan’s bootlegging twins Smoke and Stack — has been scarred by life in 1930s Mississippi.
She also said the film “Eddington” should’ve been a contender (perhaps a nod to “On the Waterfront”). Ari Aster’s merciless black comedy drags us back to May 2020 when tempers, temperatures and misinformation were heating up across America.
Dueling civic leaders Sheriff Joe (Joaquin Phoenix) and Mayor Ted (Pedro Pascal) agree that COVID has yet to arrive in their New Mexican hamlet.
But with the Oscars, quality is often secondary to an awards narrative. Both movies have cultural relevance.
Both won critical acclaim and, to a degree, commercial success. (Though “One Battle” wasn’t the blockbuster “Sinners” was, it still grossed more than any other movie in Anderson’s career.) “Sinners” scored 16 Oscar nominations, the most in history; “One Battle” was close behind with 13.
There’s much more to read in the above links. Enjoy them and the Oscars.
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In late November, Gabriela Jaquez scored 29 points against Tennessee. It wasn’t her career high; that came when she tallied 30 points two years prior.
But that game, when Tennessee had no answers for a player who was then the UCLA women’s basketball team’s fifth offensive option, felt like Jaquez’s coming-out party after years as a quieter cog in the Bruins’ rotation. It changed the way teams had to defend her. Previously known more for attacking the rim than for shooting from outside, Jaquez showcased a different dimension.
Suddenly, one of the best teams in the nation had one of the best breakout stars. Entering the NCAA tournament, the 31-1 Big Ten champion Bruins are relying on Jaquez as one of their super seniors to guide them back to the Final Four.
UCLA guard Charlisse Leger-Walker hugs teammate Gabriela Jaquez, who led the Bruins in scoring during a win over Tennessee on Nov. 30 at Pauley Pavilion.
(Luiza Moraes / Getty Images)
“I do think she’s always been that player,” said senior guard Kiki Rice, who has played four seasons with Jaquez. “But I do think she’s had a lot more opportunity to demonstrate that, and you saw that in the beginning of the year. She just started off such a hot shooter, and the way that she’s developed every single year, gotten better and just found a way to impact the team.”
Though she hasn’t reached that same scoring peak again, Jaquez has quietly buoyed UCLA’s dominant run this season as the Bruins have emerged as one of the favorites to win a national title. She ranks second on UCLA (among players with at least 30 attempts) in field-goal percentage at 54.3%, second in three-point shooting at 41.1% and third in scoring.
Jaquez has gotten attention for being part of a family legacy at UCLA and spending an offseason with the Bruins’ softball team. But in the background, even when she hasn’t been the leader for the UCLA women’s basketball team, Jaquez has honed herself into one of just 25 Power Four conference players shooting better than 40% from deep this season.
Jaquez, who tallied her 1,000th career point early this season, is having a career-best season with 13.6 points per game, has added double-digits in 25 of her 31 games this season.
“There’s so much depth to her,” said guard Charlisse Leger-Walker, who often dances alongside Jaquez in videos posted on social media and Leger-Walker’s YouTube video series. “Getting to understand her off the court, I think has really helped our connection on the court, and kind of how her personality is so outgoing. She likes to bring people along. You can see that on the court.”
Jaquez came in as a 5-foot-11 freshman who played primarily as an undersized forward and would crash the net and collect rebounds.
The shooting, though, has been the biggest change this season.
“I think of her as someone who, especially early on, like she doesn’t need to have the ball on hand, she doesn’t need to have plays run for her to impact the game,” Rice said. “But then she’s been shooting so well too.”
Early in the season, teams doubled Lauren Betts, who leads the team with 16.4 points per game as a center, which opened Jaquez to shoot from deep, establishing herself as someone who needed to be keyed on.
UCLA’s Gabriela Jaquez shoots the ball under pressure from Oregon’s Katie Fiso on Dec. 7 at Pauley Pavilion.
(Luke Hales / Getty Images)
Her 107 three-point attempts are a career-high this season, with her shot selection jumping to 32.4% coming from behind the arc. That’s come with a career-high 2.2 assists per game and an 85.2 defensive rating, ranked in the top 20% of the nation.
“She can shoot the ball, she can finish, she defends,” shooting guard Gianna Kneepkens said. “I love playing with Gabs. Sometimes I get caught watching her because she’s just so amazing.”
Now, Jaquez projects as a first-round WNBA pick, in large part because of her versatility on offense. She is listed as a guard on the Bruins’ roster, but often starts at forward, where she can stretch the floor. Her 5.4 rebounds per game are third on the team, thanks in large part because of her ability to fill positions one through five.
During UCLA’s Big Ten semifinal win over Ohio State, Jaquez shot four for 12 but Bruins coach Cori Close noted Jaquez’s importance when her shooting isn’t on target.
“What I liked about that the most is that she struggled a little bit in the middle of the second half,” Close said. “It just showed a lot of her mental toughness that, when we needed her the most, she was going to be there for us on the defensive end and on the rebounding end.”
While all five starters have been mentioned as possible WNBA first-rounders, Jaquez has perhaps made the biggest leap, two WNBA scouts not authorized to publicly discuss prospects said.
UCLA senior Gabriela Jaquez celebrates with the Big Ten tournament trophy after the Bruins beat Iowa in the finals on March 8 in Indianapolis.
(Michael Conroy / Associated Press)
When Rice and Leger-Walker are on the bench, Jaquez has taken on point guard duties.
“She does all those little hustle plays,” Leger-Walker said. “She will score if you need her to, she’ll cut, she’ll rebound, like, she’s so versatile. You know what you’re getting from her, and she’s kind of that person who’s the engine of our team.”
Jaquez hasn’t thought much about what happens after this season. This year’s mantra of joy has resonated after last year’s crushing Final Four loss to Connecticut.
“It’s been fuel,” Jaquez said. “That started [last] spring and into the offseason, knowing exactly what to work on, how to prepare…. But I just love the team aspect of basketball, I love this group of girls specifically and I think having so much fun out there has [been the most important thing] and winning has made it even better.”
The night Jaquez hit five three-pointers against Tennessee may have felt like her arrival. But for the teammates who have watched her develop for four years, it looked less like a breakthrough and more like the rest of the country finally catching up.
The rest of the country may have only noticed this season. But inside UCLA’s locker room, Jaquez has been that player all along.
“Gabs is an extremely confident person, so I feel like if you’d asked her this freshman year, she would have believed that she’d become just the incredible player that she is,” Rice said. “Just the opportunity, her experience at this level these past few years has really helped her develop into what she is.”
When I think of the solidarity of musicians, I recall an iconic scene from the film “Titanic.”
It’s the one where a quartet plays “Nearer, My God, to Thee” as the great, “unsinkable” ship sinks into the North Atlantic Ocean.
They attempted to offer calm amid a sea of panic as passengers and crew feverishly boarded lifeboats. The events were based on a true story and historians note that the body of the Titanic band leader Wallace Hartley was found floating in the ocean “with his music case strapped to it.”
Even in tragedy, we seek music to bring us solace.
Much closer to home, musicians from Pacific Palisades, Altadena and other affected areas have been challenged to keep the music going after losing instruments, studio equipment and business along with their homes in the January 2025 fires that claimed the lives of 31 people.
One organization, Altadena Musicians, launched the app Instrumental Giving to connect donors who can spare an old piano or a gently used cello with those who lost similar instruments.
KC Mancebo, an Altadena Musicians advisor, spoke with The Times about the group’s mission and success.
The campaign’s genesis
It started with composers Brandon Jay and his wife, Gwendolyn Sanford, who saw their Altadena home, music studio and several instruments destroyed by the Eaton fire.
Shortly after the fire, Jay posted about the lost equipment and what each piece meant to his family.
He said the response from that post — hundreds of people offering their instruments and other types of aid — left him “overwhelmed and gobsmacked.”
He called friends and helpers from throughout the music industry, including Mancebo, chief executive of the event production and talent booking agency Clamorhouse, hoping to offer to others the same help he received.
Mancebo had been helping homeowners navigate fire insurance paperwork and processes.
“Brandon Jay asked, ‘Why don’t we start gathering instruments for our friends,” Mancebo said. “We had 25 friends in the Palisades and 15 friends in the Eaton fire that lost everything, so we and others got involved.”
How’s it going so far?
The organization has passed out around 3,500 instruments to 1,200 families since the first donations in late January 2025, Mancebo said.
The donations range from ukuleles to Steinway & Sons pianos.
“We’re providing instruments to anyone from children who lost their first instruments to people who lost their entire studio,” she said. “The need is great.”
The gifts have come from individual donors and corporate benefactors such as JBL, which has provided speakers and equipment, as well as guitar makers Fender and Gibson, among others.
Rebuilding from the ashes
Mancebo lost her Westside home eight years ago because of a defective dryer that caught fire, she said.
“I went through the whole process of insurance, permitting and rebuilding and we didn’t have FEMA or anyone to help,” she said. “I want to provide that help to those in a similar situation.”
Mancebo said it took eight years to recover and rebuild her home.
“No one is fine after the first year,” she said. “Everyone needs help.”
Brentwood resident Amy Engelhardt, a singer/songwriter, composer, lyricist and playwright, donated her Kawai Upright Piano to the Altadena Musicians organization on March 10, 2026.
(Courtesy of Amy Engelhardt)
One person’s goodbye is another’s hello
Brentwood resident Amy Engelhardt, a singer/songwriter, composer, lyricist and playwright, loved her Kawai upright piano she purchased through a PennySaver ad in 2000.
“It was a deal for the starving artist,” she said. “I paid so little and I always considered it a gift.”
Since then, Engelhardt said she has written all of her music on that piano. She didn’t, however, play it while recording her Grammy-nominated vocal group, the Bobs.
Still, she donated her piano this week to a woman who lost her home. The instrument would not be making the permanent move with Engelhardt back to New York, where her playwriting services are in demand.
“I did get emotional about it, but it’s OK,” Engelhardt said. “It’s comforting knowing that someone else will love it and create their own memories.”
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