President Trump’s favorite musical is, famously, “Les Misérables,” but few fans have been storming the barricades to get into the Kennedy Center this season.
The Washington Post reports that sales for the current season of music, dance and theater at the Washington, D.C., cultural institution have declined dramatically since the president’s inauguration and his subsequent takeover of the Kennedy Center’s leadership.
The Post cites data showing the Kennedy Center has sold only 57% of its tickets from September to mid October, many of which are believed to be comped giveaways. That contrasts with a 93% ticket sale rate through the same period last year.
The venues surveyed include the Opera House, the Concert Hall and the Eisenhower Theater, with performances by the National Symphony Orchestra, touring Broadway musicals and dance troupes. Out of 143,000 possible seats for the current season, 53,000 have not yet sold. When fans have bought tickets, they’ve spent less than half as much money from September to the first half of October 2025 compared with the same time last year — the lowest total since 2018 other than the height of the 2020 pandemic.
After Trump’s election, he appointed Republican diplomat and former State Department spokesperson Richard Grenell to lead the Kennedy Center, whose board elected Trump as its president. The new leadership fired several longtime staffers, and prominent board members and leaders like Ben Folds left the organization.
““I couldn’t be a pawn in that,” Folds told The Times. “Was I supposed to call my homies like Sara Bareilles and say, ‘Hey, do you want to come play here?’”
Artists that do perform at the Kennedy Center have noted a change in the audience. Yasmin Williams, a singer-songwriter who performed in September after a contentious email exchange with Grennell, said that “During my Kennedy Center show on Thursday night, a group of Tr*mp supporters boo’d me when I mentioned Ric Grenell and seemed to be there to intimidate me,” yet “playing that Malcolm X video in that space and forcing this current administration to reckon with the damage they’ve caused, while also promoting joy and the power of music to the audience … this is why I do what I do.” (Kennedy Center spokesperson Roma Daravi told the Post that “This is an absolutely ridiculous claim.”)
Grennell, for his part, said on X that that “We are doing the big things that people want to see. We are seeing a huge change because people are recognizing that they want to be a part of something that is common-sense programming.” In August, Trump announced his picks for Kennedy Center honors, including actor and filmmaker Sylvester Stallone, glam-rockers KISS, singer Gloria Gaynor, country music star George Strait and English actor and comedian Michael Crawford.
Dodgers fans Aiden Mashaka and his dad, Akida Mashaka.
(Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Times)
How long have you been a Dodgers fan?
Akida: What are you talking about? Kirk Gibson! I’m Tommy Lasorda, baby!
How much did you pay for your ticket?
Akida: $900. We bought our tickets from a third party. I’ve been asking my brother-in-law how much I owe him, but he’s such an amazing human being. He’s like “Don’t worry. I got this!”
Was it worth it?
Akida: Of course it’s worth it. We’re seeing the Dodgers World Series. The flight costs more than $900. If you have it, it’s worth it. If you don’t have it, it’s not worth it — you can watch it on TV. If I was still in school, I would be watching on TV. But I am a 53-year-old man, after many years of life, so I can spend $900 to watch the Dodgers.
Aiden: This is maybe my second or third game that I’ve been to for the Dodgers. Being at the World Series, like the grand finale, I feel like it’s a great time to be here. I’m really proud of my dad, my auntie and my uncle for bringing me here. I want to thank them.
The budget airline is making a big change to tickets at most airports
Ryanair said the change will help eliminate check-in charges(Image: rparys via Getty Images)
Ryanair is set to make a significant change to its ticketing system, effective from November 12. Starting from this date, the airline will only issue ‘100% Digital Boarding Passes’ (DBP), and physical tickets will no longer be accepted at most airports.
This scheme, initially scheduled for May 2025, seeks to help eliminate certain charges and save around 300 tonnes of paper each year, while allowing travellers to receive direct flight updates. But if you’re concerned about the practical aspects, don’t worry.
The Mirror has summarised three main questions and answers regarding the upcoming change, using official information from Ryanair. You can also learn more about the boarding pass change on the airline’s website here
1. How can I get a digital boarding pass?
Ryanair passengers can check in online at Ryanair.com or via the Ryanair App, which is available on Apple’s App Store and Google Play. The Express reports that passengers should complete this process before arriving at the airport to avoid extra charges.
After check-in, a DBP will automatically appear in the Ryanair App. You should present this at airport security and the boarding gate before your flight. The budget airline stated that this method is ‘quicker, easier,’ and results in ‘less stress’ compared to using paper tickets.
2. What happens if my phone dies or I lose it before boarding?
Losing your mobile phone can be a stressful experience, but according to Ryanair’s boss Michael O’Leary, it won’t stop you from catching your flight.
In a conversation on The Independent’s daily travel podcast, he explained: “The big concern that people have is: ‘What happens if I lose my battery or what if I lose my phone?’
“…If you lose your phone, no issue. As long as you’ve checked in before you got to the airport, we’ll reissue a paper boarding pass at the airport free of charge.”
Even if your mobile runs out of juice, O’Leary pointed out that staff will have each passenger’s ‘sequence number’ at the departure gate. This means you should still be able to board without it, so ‘nobody should worry’.
Guidance on Ryanair’s website echoes this, adding: “If you have already checked in online and you lose your smartphone or tablet (or it dies), your details are already on our system and you will be assisted at the gate.”
3. What if the airport Wi-Fi is poor, or I have no mobile data?
Ryanair has reassured passengers that once they’ve completed online check-in, their DBP will be accessible offline within the Ryanair App. However, its website guidance emphasises: “All Ryanair passengers will still receive email reminders to check-in online 48 and 24hrs predeparture.
“If any passenger arrives at airport but hasn’t checked in online (having ignored these reminders), they will still be required to pay the airport check-in fee.”
Currently, the fee is set at £55/€55 per passenger for most flights. However, passengers flying out of Spain are obliged to pay £30/€30, while those departing from Austria will be hit with a £40/€40 charge.
If you crossed “see the Dodgers in the World Series” off your bucket list last year, here’s a bucket list update for you: See the Dodgers in the World Series, from the comfort of a hotel room with a full view of the field.
Not at Dodger Stadium, of course. In Toronto, however, where a hotel is built into the ballpark and 55 rooms allow you to open the curtains and catch the game without a ticket.
During the World Series, the nightly rate for these rooms starts at $3,999 (in Canadian dollars, or about $2,850 in U.S. dollars).
A view of the field from one of the rooms at the Toronto Marriott City Centre.
You have to get to Toronto, and that costs a lot of money too. But you don’t need to pay separately for game tickets and a hotel, and you can get room service instead of standing in line at concession stands.
The rooms include chairs that face the field, so you don’t have to stand on your bed to catch the action. And you never know: a player could toss you a ball during batting practice, right through your window. Take a look:
The FTC is suing Ticketmaster and its parent company, Live Nation Entertainment, for allegedly engaging in illegal ticket vendor practices. In a letter to lawmakers dated Oct. 17, Live Nation executive vice president Daniel Wall denies the FTC’s allegations that the company is helping scalpers and said that the company will implement new practices to benefit concertgoers.
As part of these new policy changes, the ticket vendor will no longer allow users purchasing tickets to have multiple accounts. All excess accounts will soon be canceled, and each reseller’s account must have a unique taxpayer ID.
According to the letter, the company also plans to shut down TradeDesk, its inventory management application. The controversial software is a tool that helps resellers track and price tickets across several marketplaces, often dealing with a large amount of tickets. The application has been previously accused of facilitating ticket harvesting, which Wall also denies, saying the platform doesn’t purchase tickets. He says competitors like StubHub and Vivid Seats use similar software.
Live Nation will be “removing TradeDesk’s concert ticket management functionality from the market” to help boost its reputation.
The recent FTC lawsuit isn’t the first legal battle the ticket-selling giant has faced. Last year, the Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Live Nation, which suggested breaking up the company due to its alleged monopolistic practices.
Amid these lawsuits, fans have continued to complain about being unable to get their hands on tickets and having to pay much more than face value from resellers.
Founded in 1976, Ticketmaster has been the industry’s largest ticket provider since 1995, with around 80% of live concerts sold through the site. As of late, it has also acquired a growing share of the resale market. According to the FTC, consumers spent more than $82.6 billion buying tickets from the Beverly Hills-based company from 2019 to 2024.
The vendor also promises to implement new AI-powered tools to help verify identities, rid unauthorized users and police potentially fraudulent purchases.
Norwalk resident Andrew Garcia filed Monday with Los Angeles County Superior Court to dismiss without prejudice a claim he had filed earlier this month seeking to recoup his money after a big announcement teased by James on social media ended up having nothing to do with his NBA career, now going into its 23rd season, coming to an end.
Garcia said Monday he decided to drop the case after he accepted an offer from the PrizePicks fantasy sports app. The company has deposited promo funds in the amount of $865.66 — the full amount Garcia spent on two tickets to the Lakers’ game against the Cleveland Cavaliers on March 31, 2026 — into Garcia’s PrizePicks account, according to documentation viewed by The Times.
Garcia said will be able to cash out any winnings he receives off those transactions. In addition, he said, PrizePicks will be giving him tickets to a Lakers game of his choice and some other merchandise.
“I didn’t have to dismiss the case” in order to receive the deal from PrizePicks, Garcia said, “but I chose to, because I was like, you know, you guys are fully compensating me for my loss, and then some. There’s no reason for me to further pursue this, because then it would look like I’m double-dipping, you know?”
PrizePicks vice president of communications Elisa Richardson confirmed the deal in an email to The Times.
“We reached out to Andrew after seeing the news and finding out he was a PrizePicks player,” Richardson wrote. “We’re always looking for ways to surprise and delight our players.”
On Oct. 6, James posted on social media that he would announce “the decision of all decisions” the next day. The NBA’s all-time leading scorer also included a video clip teasing “The Second Decision,” a reference to 2010’s “The Decision,” in which James famously announced his intention to play for the Miami Heat.
Garcia wasn’t the only person who thought a retirement announcement was imminent — and he also wasn’t the only one who wanted to be sure to see James on his farewell tour. According to Victory Live, which analyzes verified ticket resale data across the secondary market, ticket sales for Lakers games jumped 25 times higher after James’ teaser post and the average price for those tickets increased from $280 to $399.
Ticket sales and prices returned to normal soon after it was revealed that “The Second Decision” was nothing more than a Hennessy ad. In his lawsuit, Garcia claimed James owed him the amount paid for the tickets because of “fraud, deception, misrepresentation, and any and all basis of legal recovery.”
Can you put a price on the experience of enjoying a World Series game at Dodger Stadium?
Yes, and it’s a very high one.
The Dodgers put tickets for potential World Series games on sale Tuesday, with the cheapest seat available for $881.95, according to an afternoon review of the team website. That seat — $800 for the ticket and $81.95 for fees — is located at the end of the reserve level, high above the field and next to the foul pole.
World Series prices posted on the website Tuesday ranged as high as $1,510.05. The best seats are sold as part of season packages, so that $1,510.05 seat ($1,371 ticket plus $139.05 fees) is located on the field level, near the foul pole and bullpen.
If the Dodgers advance to the World Series and play the Seattle Mariners, the Dodgers would play as many as four home games, starting Friday, Oct. 24. If the Dodgers advance and play the Toronto Blue Jays, the Dodgers would play as many as three home games, starting Monday, Oct. 27.
On Oct. 24, a family of four could get into Disneyland for a total of $796. On Oct. 27, a family of four could get into Disneyland for a total of $676.
Ticket prices are subject to change based on demand.
When the Dodgers put National League Championship Series tickets on sale, the cheapest price was $155. On Tuesday, the cheapest ticket on the team website for Game 3 on Thursday was $168.
However, since the game time has been set at 3 p.m. and weekday afternoon games are not popular, tickets on the resale market could be bought for about $100 Tuesday.
One lucky EuroMillions player in the UK has won a life-changing £25mCredit: Getty
It marks the second Friday in a row that a UK ticket-holder has won the top prize, and the fourth time this year.
Andy Carter, senior winners’ adviser at Allwyn, operator of The National Lottery, said: “Wow, it’s been an exciting night for EuroMillions players, as a single UK ticket-holder has landed the amazing £25m jackpot.
“That’s two UK EuroMillions jackpot wins in the space of a week, after another lucky player scooped the incredible £26M jackpot in last Friday’s draw (3 October).
“Players are now urged to check their tickets and to give us a call if they think they are tonight’s lucky winner.”
EveryEuroMillionsticket also bags you an automatic entry into the UK Millionaire Maker, which guarantees at least one player will pocket £1million in every draw.
The UK Millionaire Maker Selection winner is: TGXG94724.
The first EuroMillions draw took place on February 7, 2004, by three organisations: France’s Française des Jeux, Loterías y Apuestas del Estado in Spain and the Camelot in the UK.
One of the UK’s biggest prizes was up for grabs on December, 4, 2020 with a whopping £175million EuroMillions jackpot, which would make a winner richer than Adele.
Colin and Chris Weir, from Largs in Scotland, netted a huge £161,653,000 in the July 12, 2011.
Heartwarming moment dad who battled cancer tells son he’s won massive jackpot on the EuroMillions
Adrian and Gillian Bayford, from Haverhill, Suffolk, picked up £148,656,000 after they played the draw on August, 10, 2012, while Jane Park became Britain’s youngest lottery winner when she scooped up £1 million in 2013.
A fan who spent hundreds of dollars for tickets to what he thought would be one of LeBron James’ final NBA games is looking to recoup the money in small claims court after it turned out “The Second Deicision” teased by the Lakers superstar had nothing to do with his retirement.
Norwalk resident Andrew Garcia filed a claim Tuesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court that states that James owes him $865.66 because of “fraud, deception, misrepresentation, and any and all basis of legal recovery.”
Garcia told The Times that he spent that amount for two tickets to the Lakers’ game against the Cleveland Cavaliers on March 31, 2026, at Crypto.com Arena , thinking it would be the 40-year-old NBA icon’s final game against the team that drafted him in 2003.
He and other basketball fans were under that impression after James posted Monday on X that he would be announcing “the decision of all decisions” the next day. The post included a video clip teasing “The Second Decision,” a clear reference to 2010’s “The Decision,” in which James famously announced he was going to “take my talents to South Beach” to play for the Miami Heat.
Garcia said he purchased the tickets within 10 minutes of James’ social media post.
“I was like, ‘Holy s—, LeBron is going to retire! We’ve got to get tickets now,’” the 29-year-old Garcia said. “Like, literally, because if he formally makes this announcement, you know, there’s gonna be some significant price changes, right?”
Garcia is a huge fan of the Lakers and James, as well as an avid basketball fan in general, so he thought it would be cool to see the NBA’s all-time leading scorer play for the last time against the team with which he started his career and brought its first title in 2016 after his return from Miami.
“Moments like that, I understand the value,” Garcia said. “There still may be some moderate value [to the tickets], however it’s not the same without him retiring. I remember Kobe’s last year, it was kind of what this would have been, per se, where every ticket was worth a lot. Every game had value. …
“I missed out on that. I was a little bit younger at the time. I obviously wasn’t in a position to where I could just buy tickets unfortunately at that age. I believe I was like 18 or 19 at the time. And that’s one of my biggest regrets as a sports fan. I really wish I could have gotten the Kobe’s last year. So I see this as a potential to kind of make up for what I lost with Kobe.”
But “The Second Decision” ended up having nothing to do with retirement. It was merely a Hennessy ad.
So now Garcia wants his money back.
“There is no circumstance absent him saying he’s gonna retire that I would have bought tickets that far in advance,” Garcia said. “I mean, I buy tickets, but I don’t buy tickets five months’ advance. I’m the kind of person that buys tickets five hours in advance. It was solely, solely, solely based on that. So that’s why I was really thinking, ‘You know what, this might be grounds for a case.’ ”
The Times reached out to an attorney said to be working with James related to the claim but did not receive an immediate response.
In light of everything that has happened this week, though, Garcia said he’d still be willing to pay the same amount of money to see James play during his eventual retirement tour.
“Of course,” Garcia said. “I would probably spend more, because life is all about memories and experiences.”
The cost to experience the Happiest Place on Earth continues to rise as the Disneyland Resort unveiled its annual price increases for the upcoming year.
The Disneyland Resort on Wednesday morning increased prices on most tickets for guests 10 and older, with the price to visit a single park on its most in-demand days now $224 per person, up from $206. The price of its lowest-tier offering — a one-day, one-park ticket for often a less crowded weekday — will remain the same at $104. (Disneyland Resort ticket prices vary depending on the day and consumer demand.)
Pricing for all other one-day, one-park tickets on more popular days will increase between 1.5% and 4.8% — Disneyland has six tiers of pricing based on crowd levels — and most increased moderately between $3 and $7, a lower jump than in years past. Park hopper add-ons, which allow a guest to visit both Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure on the same day, are now between $70 and $90 per day, up from $65 to $75 per day, depending on the crowd calendar.
Parking at the resort has also increased, up $5 to $40 per day for a standard vehicle.
Once in the park, those who opt for the line-skipping Lightning Lane Multi Pass will find that service starts at $34 per day, up from $32, but the program is also subject to variable pricing. For instance, today a Lightning Lane Multi Pass is $40 per guest.
Its Magic Key annual pass has also experienced an increase for its top two tiers, the so-called Inspire and Believe passes. The Inspire pass, which offers the most year-round access and highest merchandise and dining discounts, including the cost of parking, is up $150 to $1,899. The Believe key is up $100 to $1,474. Prices for its two lowest tier Magic Keys — the Enchant and Imagine — did not change.
Currently, only the Enchant and Imagine keys, the latter for Southern California residents, are available for sale. All are available for renew, as Disney makes Magic Key passes for sale available at various times throughout the year.
Disneyland has maintained its lowest $104 ticket for seven years now. This year, for instance, one can visit the park in early November at that rate in the days between the resort’s Halloween and holidays celebrations. From Oct. 7 through April 4, 2026, Disneyland has also increased its number of $104 days, up from 20 to 32 for the upcoming months.
“Disney Parks offer a full day of experiences each day, with ticket, hotel, and dining options designed to suit a wide range of needs and budgets for all who visit,” read a statement from the company. “Our commitment to creating magical experiences for everyone remains at the heart of what we do — and that will never change.”
The resort has also unveiled a new California ticket offer, which is set to go on sale Dec. 3. The deal is for a 3-day park-hopper ticket, which can be used on non-consecutive visits, and starts at $249 per person, which amounts to $83 per day. A Lightning Lane Multi Pass add-on will bring the cost of the ticket to $351 per person, or $117 per day. The offer is good for visits from Jan. 1, 2026 to May 21, 2026.
Disneyland is currently in the midst of its 70th anniversary celebration, which will continue until next summer. As part of the latter, Disneyland unveiled the show “Walt Disney — A Magical Life,” featuring the first-ever audio animatronic of the company’s founder. Disneyland this week announced an update is coming soon to one of its most historic attractions, as it will be adding Rapunzel’s Tower to its Storybook Land Canal Boats, a leisurely boat ride through tableaus of exquisite miniatures.
While Disneyland has yet to announce its full slate of programming for 2026, popular festivities such as Lunar New Year and the Food & Wine Festival are set to return. Disneyland Park in its Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge area will unveil a new mission on its attraction Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run to tie into the upcoming film, “The Mandalorian and Grogu.” The new interactive scenes are set to debut May 22, 2026.
Disney’s experiences division — which includes the Disney theme parks, cruise line and Aulani resort and spa in Hawaii — reported revenue of $9.1 billion, up 8% compared with the previous year, in its most recent quarterly earnings report. Operating income rose 13% to $2.5 billion.
Though on first glance this pairing seems an unlikely double bill, the fine folks at the New Beverly know what they’re doing, and this will make for an evening of subliminal messages and energizing subversion. Directed by John Carpenter (who also wrote the screenplay under a pseudonym), 1988’s “They Live” comes on like an alien invasion B-movie about a drifter (wrestler-turned-actor Roddy Piper) who becomes part of the resistance, but reveals itself to be an angry rebuke of Reagan-era greed. 2001’s “Josie and the Pussycats,” written and directed by Deborah Kaplan and Harry Elfont, is an uproarious satire of pop culture consumerism as a small-time rock band (Rachael Leigh Cook, Tara Reid and Rosario Dawson) come to realize the true aims of the record company that shoots them to stardom. (Parker Posey and Alan Cumming are camp delights as nefarious executives.) Though both movies are very much of their respective moments, they sadly still have a lot to say about our current one.
“They Live” is playing with “Josie and the Pussycats” on Oct. 10, 11 and 12 at the New Beverly. Tickets here.
By Thomas Pynchon Penguin Press: 304 pages, $30 If you buy books linked on our site, The Times may earn a commission from Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookstores.
With next week’s publication of his ninth novel, “Shadow Ticket,” Thomas Pynchon’s secret 20th century is at last complete.
For many of us, Pynchon is the best American writer since F. Scott Fitzgerald. Since the arrival in 1963 of his first novel, “V.,” he has loomed as the presiding colossus of our literature — revered as a Nobel-caliber genius, reviled as impenetrable and reviewed with increasing condescension since his turn toward detective fiction with “Inherent Vice” in 2009.
Now comes “Shadow Ticket,” and it’s late Pynchon at his finest. Dark as a vampire’s pocket, light-fingered as a jewel thief, “Shadow Ticket” capers across the page with breezy, baggy-pants assurance — and then pauses on its way down the fire escape just long enough to crack your heart open.
Only now can we finally see that Pynchon has been quietly assembling — one novel at a time, in no particular order — an almost decade-by-decade chronicle no less ambitious than Balzac’s “La Comédie Humaine,” August Wilson’s Century Cycle or the 55 years of Garry Trudeau’s “Doonesbury.” This is his Pynchoniad, a zigzagging epic of America and the world through our bloodiest, most shameful hundred years. Perhaps suffering from what Pynchon called in “V.” our “great temporal homesickness for the decade we were born in,” he has now filled in the only remaining blank spot on his 20th century map: the 1930s.
A photograph of Thomas Pynchon in 1955. The elusive novelist has avoided nearly all media for more than 50 years.
(Bettmann Archive)
It all begins in Depression-era Milwaukee as a righteously funny gangster novel. In a scenario straight out of Dashiell Hammett’s early stories, a detective agency operative named Hicks McTaggart gets an assignment to chase down the runaway heiress to a major cheese fortune. Roughly midway through, Pynchon’s characters hightail it all the way to proto-fascist Budapest, where shadows more lethal than any Tommy gun begin to encroach. By the end, this novel has become at once a requiem, a farewell, an old soft-shoe number — and a warning.
When Pynchon’s jacket summary of this tale of two cities first surfaced six months ago, cynics could be forgiven for wondering whether an 88-year-old man, hearing time’s winged chariot idling at the curb, hadn’t just taken two half-completed works in progress and spot-welded them together. Younger people are forever wondering — in whispers, and never for general consumption — whether some person older than they might have, you know, lost a step.
Well, buzz off, kids. Thomas Pynchon’s voice on the page still sings, clarion strong. Unlike most novelists, his voice has two distinct but overlapping registers. The first is Olympian, polymathic, erudite, antically funny, often beautiful, at times gross, at others incredibly romantic, never afraid to challenge or even confound, and unmistakably worked at. The second, audible less frequently until 1990’s “Vineland,” sounds looser, freer, warmer, more improvisational, more curious about love and family, increasingly wistful, all but twilit with rue. He still brakes for bad puns and double-negative understatements, but he avoids the kind of under-metabolized research that sometimes alienated his early readers.
“Shadow Ticket’s” structure turns the current film adaptation of “Vineland” inside out — that would be “One Battle After Another,” whose thrilling middle more than redeems an only slightly off-key beginning and end. By contrast, “Shadow Ticket” offers a wildly seductive overture, a companionable but occasionally slack midsection, and a haunting sucker punch of an ending.
Mercifully, having already set “The Crying of Lot 49” and “Inherent Vice” largely in L.A., Pynchon still hasn’t lost his nostalgia for Los Angeles, a place where he lived and wrote for a while in the ’60s and ’70s. “Shadow Ticket” marks Pynchon’s third book to take place mostly on the other side of the world, but then — like so many New Yorkers — the novel finds its denouement in what Pynchon here calls “that old L.A. vacuum cleaner.”
Pynchon may not have lost a step in “Shadow Ticket,” but sometimes he seems to be conserving his energy. His signature long, comma-rich sentences reach their periods a little sooner now. His chapters end with a wink as often as a thunderclap. Sometimes he sounds almost rushed, peppering his narration with “so forths,” and making his readers play odds-or-evens to attribute long stretches of dialogue.
Maybe only on second reading do we realize that we’ve been reading a kind of Dear John letter to America. Nobody else writing today can begin a final chapter as elegiacally as Pynchon does here: “Somewhere out beyond the western edge of the Old World is said to stand a wonder of our time, a statue hundreds of meters high, of a masked woman. … Like somebody we knew once a long time ago.”
Is this the Statue of Liberty, turning her back at last on the huddled masses she once welcomed? One character immediately suggests yes, another denies it. Either way, it’s a sobering way to introduce an ending as compassionately doom-laden as any Pynchon has ever given us.
Bear in mind, this is the same Pynchon who, a hundred pages earlier, has raffishly referred to sex as “doing the horizontal Peabody.” (Don’t bother Googling. This one’s his.) One early reviewer has compared “Shadow Ticket’s” shaggy charm to cold pizza, and readers will know what he means. Who’s ever sorry to see a flat box in the fridge the next morning?
For most of the way, though, “Shadow Ticket” may remind you of an exceptionally tight tribute band, playing the oldies so lovingly that you might as well be listening to your old, long-since-unloaded vinyl. The catch is, for an encore — just when you could swear the band might actually be improving on the original — the musicians turn around and blow you away with a lost song that nobody’s ever heard before.
Thus, with a flourish, Pynchon types fin to his secret 20th century. But what does he do now? The man’s only 88. (Anybody who finds the phrase “only 88” amusing is welcome to laugh, but plenty of people thought Pynchon was hanging it up at 76 with “Bleeding Edge.” Plenty of people were mistaken.)
So, will Pynchon stand pat with his 20th century now secure, and take his winnings to the cashier’s window? Or will he, as anyone who roots for American literature might devoutly wish, hold out for blackjack?
Hit him.
Kipen is a contributor to Cambridge Pynchon in Context, a former NEA Director of Literature, a full-time member UCLA’s writing faculty and founder of the Libros Schmibros Lending Library and the just-birthed 21st Century Federal Writers’ Project.
Rivian looks increasingly like it will be a successful EV start-up, but don’t get overexcited by the Tesla similarities.
After Tesla(TSLA -4.29%) proved that a start-up electric car company could take on the traditional automakers, Wall Street jumped into action. That was when Rivian(RIVN -0.44%) came public, to much fanfare. Fast forward a few years to the current day, and Rivian’s stock price has fallen some 90% from its all-time highs. Is this a diamond in the rough that could turn you into a millionaire in a Tesla-style success story, or should you have more modest expectations?
Rivian has done big things
To give credit where credit is due, Rivian has achieved a huge amount of success in a very short period of time. It basically went from an idea — making electric vehicles (EVs) — to an operating business with a well-respected EV truck and an EV delivery van used widely by retail powerhouse Amazon(AMZN -0.84%). That isn’t something that could have been achieved if Rivian didn’t have its act together.
Image source: Rivian.
Notably, in late 2024, Rivian hit a key milestone, achieving a modest gross profit for the first time. While a gross profit only means that it was able to generate more revenue from selling its vehicles than it cost to produce them, that is a key step toward positive earnings.
The modest gross profit came after Rivian hit another important goal, scaled production. It delivered more than 10,000 vehicles in the second quarter of 2025, which is a substantial number. It also has a new truck called the R2 coming out next year, which will be geared to the mass market. That should help to further increase volume, which will allow Rivian to spread its costs over even more vehicles.
In many ways, Rivian is following in Tesla’s footsteps. Given the massive stock price advance Tesla has made over its history, some investors might see Rivian as a second chance to catch a little of the Tesla opportunity they might have missed. Don’t get overly excited.
Rivian has a long way to go
With a well-respected product and key partners like tech giant Amazon and automakerVolkswagen (which has agreed to provide fresh capital to Rivian based on Rivian’s ability to meet certain business goals), Rivian seems like it will establish itself as a sustainably profitable business. However, this goal is still likely to be at least a few years away, given the need to invest in the business and research and development right now. Rivian could help you reach a seven-figure net worth, but it isn’t likely to do so quickly.
Moreover, the competition set today is much larger than it was when Tesla entered the auto market. At the time, Tesla was basically the only company making EVs. Today, there are a number of sizable EV makers. Virtually all of the traditional automakers are in the space, too. Even if Rivian is successful, it could still just produce a modest profit at the bottom of its income statement, thanks to the changed competitive landscape.
That said, even that outcome would require strong execution. Although Rivian has lived up to its goals, for the most part, so far, there’s no guarantee that it will continue to do so in the future. If the company starts missing its targets, investors are likely to turn deeply negative on the stock.
How much more negative could they get after a 90% price decline? Well, the stock happens to be up nearly 23% over the past year, which is notably better than the nearly 17% gain of the S&P 500 index (^GSPC -0.50%). Even after a 90%+ decline, there’s still ample room for a deep drawdown, as investors appear to have priced in a lot of good news in recent days.
Risk takers may find it attractive
It probably wouldn’t be a great idea to bet your house on Rivian. But it has achieved a great deal in a short period of time, with material opportunity for more success in the future. The problem is that it could also fall short of its goals and flame out, like many upstart EV makers have already done. If you see the execution strength and want to add Rivian to a diversified portfolio, it could help you reach millionaire status. Just go in recognizing the risk, which is material, and the time period you need to consider, which is long.
That’s why more conservative investors will probably want to sit on the sidelines for now. It makes a great deal of sense to wait at least until the R2 has been brought to market, so investors can assess how well the new car does with consumers.
Reuben Gregg Brewer has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Amazon and Tesla. The Motley Fool recommends Volkswagen Ag. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Post Malone, Lainey Wilson and Cody Johnson will headline 2026’s Stagecoach country music festival, organizers announced Thursday, bringing together one of Nashville’s most successful converts with two of its most reliable hitmakers.
The three-day event, scheduled for April 24 to 26 at Indio’s Empire Polo Club, will also feature Brooks & Dunn, Ella Langley, Bailey Zimmerman, Wynonna Judd, Riley Green, Lyle Lovett, Little Big Town, Warren Zeiders, Nate Smith and Hudson Westbrook.
Among the non-country acts on the bill for the annual show, which takes place on the same grounds as Coachella the weekend after that festival, are the rappers Pitbull, Ludacris and BigXthaPlug and the rock bands Journey, Bush, Counting Crows, Third Eye Blind and Hootie & the Blowfish. Noah Cyrus and Teddy Swims will be there, as will the winner of an upcoming CBS singing competition show called “The Road.”
None of next year’s headliners is a stranger to Stagecoach, which premiered in 2007 and which in recent years has rivaled Coachella as a destination for marketers and influencers.
In 2024, Malone played a set of classic country covers at the fest that included guest appearances by Dwight Yoakam, Brad Paisley and Sara Evans; he also joined Morgan Wallen during the latter’s headlining performance to debut “I Had Some Help,” their smash duet from Malone’s first country album after his years working in hip-hop and pop. Wilson, who was named entertainer of the year at May’s ACM Awards, performed at Stagecoach in 2022 and 2023, while Johnson played in 2017 and 2022; both stars are nominated for entertainer of the year at November’s CMA Awards.
Other acts scheduled to perform at Stagecoach 2026 include Red Clay Strays, Sam Barber, Gavin Adcock, Wyatt Flores, Billy Bob Thornton, Charles Wesley Godwin, Chase Rice, Kameron Marlowe, Larkin Poe, S.G. Goodman and the Wallflowers.
Passes for the festival, which start at $549 and go up past $4,000 for various VIP packages, will go on sale Oct. 2. This past April’s show — with headliners Zach Bryan, Jelly Roll and Luke Combs — sold out in advance even as Coachella struggled to move tickets as briskly as it once did.
Goldenvoice, the L.A.-based promoter that puts on both festivals, said Monday that Coachella 2026 had sold out just days after tickets went on sale late last week. The lineup for Coachella, which the company announced months earlier than it typically does, is topped by Justin Bieber, Sabrina Carpenter and Karol G.
The singer D4vd called off a series of upcoming tour dates, including a concert this weekend at Los Angeles’ Greek Theatre, as police investigate his connection to the death of a teenage Inland Empire girl whose decomposed body was discovered this month in a car registered to the musician.
A representative for the Greek said the show, which was scheduled for Saturday night, had been canceled. Other tour dates in San Francisco and in Europe had either been removed from or were listed as canceled on Ticketmaster’s website by Friday afternoon.
An event at L.A.’s Grammy Museum scheduled for Wednesday — in which D4vd planned to perform and to take part in a conversation about his work — has also been called off. A representative for D4vd didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Last week, D4vd, 20, announced that he would release a deluxe edition of his 2025 album, “Withered,” on Friday, but the project hadn’t appeared on streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music by Friday morning.
Police are investigating the singer’s ties to Celeste Rivas, who was reported missing in April 2024 and whose whereabouts were a mystery until this week, when authorities identified her remains after they found a body in the trunk of a Tesla in a Hollywood tow lot on Sept. 8.
When it comes to making travel plans for the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Olympics, you may still be crouched at the starting blocks. But the race for flights, hotel reservations and event tickets will begin in 2026, long before the Games commence.
The Los Angeles Times is your guide to the 2028 Olympics and Paralympics. Follow us for expert coverage of every aspect of the LA28 Games.
If you’re planning to visit Southern California for LA28, preparation will be crucial. And a little positive thinking wouldn’t hurt. As Winnipeg-based sports tour operator Dave Guenther of Roadtrips says, the Olympic cycle often feels like “two or three years of cynicism followed by two weeks of unbridled joy.”
As the days tick down to the L.A. Olympics (July 14-30, 2028) and Paralympics (Aug. 15-27, 2008), we’ll be answering the most important travel questions. We’ll be adding updates as new information comes in, so be sure to bookmark this guide.
Getting tickets to the Games
The Coliseum during the opening ceremonies for the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
(Los Angeles Times)
When will tickets for the Olympic Games go on sale?
Beginning in January, fans can register to enter the lottery for Olympic tickets at the organizing committee’s website, la28.org. If selected in the random draw, organizers say, fans will receive a purchase time and date for when ticket drops begin in spring 2026. Organizers say those in communities near Games venues will get early access. See a broader outline of LA28’s ticket schedule here.
Also in early 2026, LA28 will start offering hospitality packages that combine event tickets with overnight accommodations, transportation and/or special events. Tickets for the Paralympic Games will go on sale in 2027.
More details are expected later this year. Anyone interested can sign up to receive announcements through the LA28 newsletter.
What will tickets cost?
Organizers say Olympic and Paralympic competition tickets will start at $28, about $2 more than they did in Paris in 2024. We don’t know the high end yet. If Paris is a fair guide, most-coveted seats for the most popular events could be as high as $800 or more. The official vendors are also expected to manage a channel for resales of tickets, as they did in Paris.
Share via
The two most costly events are likely to be the opening and closing ceremonies. In Paris, per-ticket prices reached more than $2,900 for the opening, and more than $1,700 for the closing. In Los Angeles — for the first time — the opening ceremonies will be split between two venues, the L.A. Coliseum and SoFi Stadium in Inglewood.
Some of the toughest tickets, Guenther said, are gymnastics, swimming, track and field, and beach volleyball. “If you are super keen on seeing the women’s gymnastics finals, you might be on a path to disappointment,” Guenther said. “But if you’re flexible, there are a lot of things that are going to be options.”
The finish of the 400-meter hurdles at the 1932 Summer Games in Los Angeles.
(Associated Press)
Can I volunteer at the Games?
You can try. Recent Summer Olympics have relied upon tens of thousands of volunteers, who must meet language and training requirements. (Not every aspiring volunteer in Paris got assigned.) To stay in touch with volunteer opportunities, sign up for the LA28 newsletter.
Where will the Games happen?
The 2028 festivities will include 36 Olympic sports and 23 Paralympic sports, spread over about 40 venues. The lion’s share of Olympic events will take place in downtown L.A. and Exposition Park (which together have 10 venues); Long Beach (seven venues); Carson; Inglewood; the San Fernando and San Gabriel valleys.
But events are also scheduled in San Clemente, Venice, Anaheim, Pacific Palisades, Pomona and the City of Industry. The Paralympics will use many of the same venues. Indeed, this could be a learning experience for out-of-towners who don’t realize just how broadly Greater Los Angeles sprawls.
The softball and canoe slalom events will be held in Oklahoma City.
Flights, hotels and Airbnbs
The $300-million Kali Hotel across from SoFi Stadium is expected to be completed before the 2028 L.A. Games.
(William Liang / For The Times)
How far ahead can I book flights?
Most airlines usually start accepting bookings 330 days (or 11 months) before the flight date. At Southwest Airlines, lead time can be eight to 10 months.
How far ahead can I book a hotel?
Ordinarily, hotels start accepting bookings 365 days ahead, so if you’re just looking for a room (and not a ticket-and-hotel package), set a reminder for around July 2027. Many hotels in Greater Los Angeles — especially those unaffiliated with global brands — are likely to follow their usual timetables. If you’re interested in a hotel-ticket combo deal, those will be offered in early 2026, as previously mentioned.
Industry veterans say most major hotels around Los Angeles have probably already made deals allotting blocks of 2028 rooms to organizers of the Games or independent tour operators like Roadtrips. For example, the Queen Mary in Long Beach already has 300 rooms and suites under contract with LA28, according to managing director Steve Caloca.
Another opportunity may arise even later: Typically, organizers and tour operators often return unsold room-nights to hotel control 60 or 90 days ahead of the event, which may give consumers a chance to book those “leftovers” directly, perhaps at a lower cost.
What will hotel rooms cost?
Nothing boosts hotel prices like the Olympics, and experts say the most luxurious hotels tend to hike their prices the most. Analyzing figures from Paris, hotel industry consultants CoStar found that average hotel rates — $342-$393 in the summer of 2023 — more than doubled to $731-$939 for the 2024 Games.
L.A.’s starting hotel rates are lower than those in Paris were. CoStar found that average daily hotel rates for greater L.A. from July 14-30, 2024, were $193-$231.
What about short-term rentals?
Again, expect prices to soar. Airbnb reported a 40% jump in accommodations inventory and a 400% jump in Paris-area bookings during the 2024 Games. On the eve of the Games, property management website Hostify.com reported that asking prices for short-term rentals in Paris had quintupled from $154 nightly to $772.
Do note that at every Games, it seems, there are reports of astronomical prices, followed by later reports of 11th-hour discounts because some people got too greedy earlier on.
Los Angeles seems to be starting out with higher short-term rental rates than those in Paris. The vacation rental website Airroi.com estimates the average Airbnb rate in greater Los Angeles for the year ended August 2025 was $283.
But of course, you can spend plenty more. One broker told The Times he has already rented out an L.A. mansion for $300,000 a month in 2028.
Will tensions between major L.A. hotels and union workers surface during the Olympics?
Hard to say. The L.A. City Council in May approved a measure requiring many hotels to raise their minimum wage to $30 hourly by July 2028. A business group started a petition drive seeking to undo the measure but fell short earlier this month.
Could President Trump’s immigration policies affect the Games?
That’s anybody’s guess. Heads of state in host countries usually play a ceremonial role, standing mostly in the background. Trump may have other ideas. In early August, he announced that he would chair a task force in charge of Olympic safety, border security and transportation.
Some foreign sports fans might stay away to signal opposition to the Trump Administration, as many Canadian travelers have been doing this year. But domestic travelers, not foreign visitors, fill most seats at the Olympics. Paris tourism statistics show U.S. visitors to that city during the 2024 “Olympic fortnight” were up a relatively modest 13% over the previous year.
Why do people go through so much trouble to see the Games?
“There is a tremendous magic,” Guenther said. “It really is quite something how people enjoy the time together with people from all over the world. … You find yourself welling up for an athlete in a sport you’ve never thought about.”
Times staff writer Thuc Nhi Nguyen contributed to this report.
After Paris sold a record 12 million tickets for the 2024 Olympics and Paralympics, the group organizing the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles is getting a head start on ticket sales.
General registration for 2028 Olympic tickets will open in January 2026, more than a full year ahead of the ticket timeline used during the Paris Games, LA28 announced on Wednesday. Tickets to the Paralympics — coming to L.A. for the first time — will go on sale in 2027.
Beginning next year, fans can register to enter the lottery for Olympic tickets at the organizing committee’s website la28.org. If selected in the random draw, fans will receive a purchase time and date for when ticket drops begin in spring 2026. Fans who are not selected for the first round of ticket drops will be automatically be entered into subsequent ones. LA28 officials plan to announce more information about the process later this year.
Single-event tickets will start at $28, with early access for locals around Olympic venue cities. In addition to major sports zones in Downtown L.A., Exposition Park, the Sepulveda Basin, Long Beach, Inglewood and Carson will host multiple Olympic events. L.A., Long Beach and Carson will host the majority of the Paralympic events.
“The LA28 Games will be an opportunity to purchase a ticket to history,” LA28 CEO Reynold Hoover said in a statement. “Whether you’re a local family attending your first Olympic or Paralympic event or a global traveler joining us for a once-in-a-lifetime experience, there really will be something for everyone across our suite of ticket options and hospitality packages.”
AXS and Eventim, which expanded their partnership with LA28, is the official ticket provider for the 2028 L.A. Olympics and Paralympics. Hospitality packages offered by On Location will be available on a first-come, first-served basis beginning in early 2026. The ticket-inclusive options include guaranteed accommodations, official LA28 transportation options and premium seating.
The Olympics begin on July 14, 2028, with a dual-venue opening ceremony at the Coliseum and SoFi Stadium. They close on July 30 at the Coliseum, while the Paralympics come to L.A. for the first time from Aug. 15-27.
The Paris organizing committee, which sold 9.5 million tickets for the Olympics and 2.5 million for Paralympics, didn’t begin its ticket registration process until November 2022, with the first, bundled ticket sales beginning in February 2023. The total number of tickets sold broke the previous record held by the London Olympics, which still holds the Paralympic record with 2.7 million tickets sold.
Issues accessing tickets from the MLB app caused problems at the entry gates for fans trying to enter Dodger Stadium before Monday’s game between the Dodgers and Colorado Rockies.
It’s unclear how many fans were affected, but the problem wasn’t confined to fans entering Dodger Stadium — the issue has been ongoing since at least last weekend at MLB ballparks across the country.
“MLB’s ticketing system TDC is experiencing difficulties across multiple venues for retrieving tickets and fan entry,” the Dodgers said in a statement. “The league is working with the Dodgers and other franchises to address the issues.”
The Dodgers notified season ticket holders Monday about the situation, urging them to reset their passwords on the MLB website. They instructed them to contact the team’s member services department if they were unable to access their tickets or couldn’t reset their passwords.
An MLB representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Federal Trade Commission accused a shadowy group of flooding Ticketmaster with fake accounts to purchase and resell tickets to concerts by Taylor Swift, Bruce Springsteen and other top artists.
The FTC alleged that between Nov. 1, 2022, and Dec. 30, 2023, a core group of three individuals used a network of sites such as Totaltickets, TotallyTix and Front Rose Tix to purchase at least 379,776 tickets from Ticketmaster, spending nearly $57 million. The complaint states they then resold those tickets on secondary marketplaces for nearly $64 million.
The trio allegedly used software to mask IP addresses, purloined credit cards and SIM cards to create fake Ticketmaster accounts. They also enlisted friends and family to create Ticketmaster Verified Fan accounts, giving small sign-up bonuses and kickbacks for creating new accounts.
The FTC alleges that the group made $1.2 million from flipping tickets to Taylor Swift’s record-breaking Eras Tour in 2023 alone. According to the complaint, at a Las Vegas Taylor Swift concert, “Defendants used 49 different accounts to purchase 273 tickets to Taylor Swift’s March 25, 2023, concert at Allegiant Stadium, dramatically exceeding The Eras Tour’s 2023 six-ticket limit. Defendants then marked up and resold these tickets, netting $119,227.21 in revenue.”
For one Bruce Springsteen show at MetLife Stadium on Sept. 1, 2023, “Defendants used 277 different accounts to purchase 1,530 tickets, dramatically exceeding Springsteen and the E Street Band’s four-ticket limit. Defendants marked up and resold these tickets, netting $20,900.84 in revenue.”
The FTC alleges their actions are a violation of the Better Online Ticket Sales Act. Representatives for Ticketmaster parent firm Live Nation did not immediately return a request for comment.
While Ticketmaster is not accused of any wrongdoing in the complaint, Swift famously lambasted Ticketmaster after the Eras Tour on-sale fiasco in which many fans were locked out of opportunities to buy tickets and saw seats instantly snapped up and placed on resale markets at many times the face value.
“There are a multitude of reasons why people had such a hard time trying to get tickets and I’m trying to figure out how this situation can be improved moving forward,” she wrote in a 2022 social media post. “I’m not going to make excuses for anyone because we asked them multiple times if they could handle this kind of demand and we were assured they could.”
“It really pisses me off that a lot of [fans] feel like they went through several bear attacks to get them,” Swift added.
The incident prompted rowdy hearings in Congress and a federal antitrust lawsuit against Ticketmaster and Live Nation. Although Ticketmaster is not targeted in the complaint, the FTC does include a slide that it says is from a 2018 presentation deck, where Ticketmaster warns of “Serious negative economic impact if we move to 8 ticket limit across the board.” In March, President Trump issued an executive order to combat fraudulent ticket reselling practices.
