The attacks have triggered fires in two districts of Kyiv, according to the city’s mayor.
Published On 7 Jul 20267 Jul 2026
Russian missile attacks have struck Kyiv in the third large-scale assault on the Ukrainian capital in less than a week.
Early on Wednesday, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said in a statement on Telegram that the Russian strikes had triggered fires in two districts of the city. It is not clear if there have been any casualties or damage.
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Moscow also launched a large-scale attack on Kyiv on Monday, killing at least 14 people and damaging at least a dozen buildings.
Both Russia and Ukraine have recently expanded their use of long-range weapons, including missiles, marking a new front in Moscow’s four-year war.
Ukraine has focused its attacks on Russian energy facilities to weaken its war efforts.
Ukraine said on Tuesday that its drones attacked a dozen tankers from Russia’s “shadow fleet” over the past two days that were delivering fuel to Moscow-occupied Crimea. Kyiv’s military said they had struck eight vessels subject to sanctions in the Sea of Azov, each with a deadweight of about 7,000 metric tonnes. Two more tankers were hit later in the day.
The Sea of Azov is a key supply route for Russian forces in Crimea and other occupied parts of southern Ukraine.
Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 – in a move that has been unrecognised internationally – eight years before launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Moscow has not publicly commented on this week’s attacks on Ukraine, which also included strikes on electrical substations, radar systems, and missile installations.
Attacks amid NATO Summit
The latest exchange of fire between Russia and Ukraine also comes amid NATO’s annual summit, which began on Tuesday. The military alliance’s leaders have gathered in Turkey’s capital Ankara for the two-day summit, where defence spending and the Russia-Ukraine war is under discussion.
NATO is expected to pledge further military support for Ukraine, as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urges the alliance to step up aid for the country’s air defences following a deadly escalation of Russian attacks on Kyiv.
Zelenskyy – who has renewed his call for Ukraine to be allowed to join the alliance – wrote on social media on Tuesday that he had signed new agreements with Estonia, the Netherlands, and Denmark in Ankara.
The deals create “new opportunities for joint production, the development of innovative defense technologies, systematic exchange of expertise, and the export of Ukrainian battlefield-proven solutions”, he said.
Further agreements are expected with Germany, Norway, Finland, and Canada.
US President Donald Trump is also expected to meet Zelenskyy on the summit sidelines on Wednesday, having spoken with Russian President Vladimir Putin ahead of the NATO gathering.
Asked about Russia’s war in Ukraine, Trump said he hoped it would be settled “soon”.
“I think they both want to make a deal,” Trump said.
“It’s too bad it took so long, but I think something’s going to come out.”
Welcome back to The Times’ Lakers newsletter, where it’s been a, uh, busy week.
Over a short seven days, the Lakers confronted their past, welcomed their present and got a glimpse at their future. Starting with LeBron James officially filing for divorce last Tuesday, the Lakers transformed into almost a completely new team overnight.
But did they turn into a better team?
All things Lakers, all the time.
Get all the Lakers news you need in Thuc Nhi Nguyen’s weekly newsletter.
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Hello to a new era
The relationship was characterized by passive aggression, cryptic tweets and small slights that added up to a big, if not inevitable, breakup. After such a complicated tenure, at least LeBron James’ Lakers career ended with clarity.
By informing the team before free agency started that he would not be returning next season, James offered a clean break when both sides needed it. The 41-year-old, who is still the best unrestricted free agent on the market, will keep the rest of the league hostage. The Lakers can move forward in peace.
They didn’t take long to find their rebound star.
The Lakers went all-in to get center Walker Kessler. Not just with the four-year, $130-million contract — which is longer than many of the other deals signed this month — but with the draft capital. When a simple offer sheet wouldn’t have been enough to pry the restricted free agent away from Utah, the Lakers threw in two first-round picks (2031, 2033) and two first-round swaps (2028, 2030). They don’t control their own first-round pick until 2032, meaning there aren’t many exit ramps if things go wrong.
But, on the other hand, what if they go right?
Kessler, 24, is seen as a “perfect” fit for the Luka Doncic-Austin Reaves Lakers, a league source told my colleague Broderick Turner. He’s an elite rim protector, averaging 2.4 blocks per game in his four-year NBA career. He led the NBA in offensive rebounds in 2024-25 and ranked fourth in rebounding rate, according to Basketball Reference.
He’s what Doncic asked for.
The concern might be more about an unproven track record. He only played five games last season because of a shoulder injury. He finished third in rookie of the year voting in 2023 but has only one full-time starting season. Even then, he played only 58 games in 2024-25.
It’s a big bet for a player who hasn’t even approached an All-Star conversation.
(Thuc Nhi Nguyen / Los Angeles Times)
Six of the Lakers’ top nine players from last season are gone. The Lakers started reloading their draft assets by trading Deandre Ayton on Friday, shipping the big man to Washington for Jaden Hardy and second-round draft picks in 2031 and 2032. Hardy, like new free agent addition Quentin Grimes, is another Doncic teammate from Dallas.
With Ayton’s departure, the Lakers are on the hunt for a backup center. They have two remaining roster spots and are still in the mix to add a two-way wing defender. Rookie Cameron Carr is showing in summer league that he could be an immediate three-point threat. He has some work to do in the weight room and needs more reps to be ready on the defensive end to fill the three-and-D responsibility Rui Hachimura held.
Hachimura was the last of the Lakers’ unrestricted free agents to settle on a new home. The 6-foot-8 forward was a valuable asset to the Lakers and maybe wasn’t appreciated enough for his willingness to accept different roles, even moving to the bench briefly during an important contract year.
Hachimura, who made about $18 million last season, got looks from across the league but agreed to a two-year, $28-million deal with the Clippers on Monday.
Even for some NBA players, moving is prohibitively inconvenient.
Goodbye to the old
Outsiders looked at James’ initial move to the Lakers as something that went beyond basketball reasons. Perhaps the breakup was the same way.
Doncic, Reaves and James could have been as competitive as any trio in the league, evidenced by the short, successful glimpses we saw last season. The basketball could have been beautiful.
But if James would have played out his career with the Lakers, there always would have been an awkward pall over the final years. This relationship wasn’t serving either party anymore. He was right that it was simply time to move on.
On paper, he leaves behind a historic chapter of an unparalleled career. Already a Hall of Famer before he came to L.A., James won the Lakers’ 17th NBA championship, ending a 10-year title drought for the franchise. He broke the NBA’s all-time scoring record while wearing a Lakers jersey in front of a sold-out Lakers crowd.
In the hearts of Lakers fans, the legacy is complicated. Fans never got to create the everlasting joyful memories we saw at the Knicks championship parade or, if you’ve been watching soccer, in this month’s FIFA World Cup. Perhaps the Lakers faithful will never forgive him for his role in the disastrous Russell Westbrook trade that set the organization back for years. James, for all his personal accolades and cultural influence, still stands no chance against the spirit of Kobe Bryant, especially after Bryant’s shocking death in 2020.
The comparisons were unrelenting. But James never shied away from them.
“Truly a honor to wear the [purple and gold],” James wrote on Twitter with purple and yellow heart emojis, responding to a kind statement from Lakers governor Jeanie Buss. “… Hope I made a few proud during my stint.”
Most breakups are hard. The end of this relationship, at least, is a rare instance when you can smile both because it’s over and because it happened.
Poll results
Last week, we asked which unrestricted free agent would you most like to keep. Ultimately, no one gets their wish; all have signed elsewhere. There were 39 total votes, with several submitting two names, but for the sake of this count, I only took each ballot’s first choice.
Here are the results:
Rui Hachimura: 23
Marcus Smart: 9
Luke Kennard: 5
Jaxson Hayes: 1
“Marcus Hachimura”: 1
New question
Last week’s poll didn’t have a particularly long shelf life. The first wave of free agency swept up almost all the available Lakers players within hours. This new question could fuel debate to outlast all of our natural lives: Would you like to see the Lakers retire LeBron James’ jersey? Slide into my inbox (thucnhi.nguyen@latimes.com) to vote!
—Yes
—No
Favorite thing I ate this week
The special combination bánh mì (bánh mì đặc biệt) from San Francisco’s L&G Vietnamese Sandwich.
(Thuc Nhi Nguyen / Los Angeles Times)
When I was young(er), my parents went grocery shopping at the Vietnamese store Saturday mornings, and on his way out the door, my dad would poke his head into my room and ask simply, “One or two?” He was asking how many Vietnamese sandwiches I wanted for lunch.
Bánh mì remains my ultimate comfort food, and I liked the special combination bánh mì (bánh mì đặc biệt) from San Francisco’s L&G Vietnamese Sandwich so much that I went twice in three days. It had all the right Vietnamese cold cuts with the perfect pate and mayo ratio, and for an $11.50 deal, I even risk the caffeine-fueled heart palpitations to add a Vietnamese iced coffee.
Four wins to go. How can your team reach the final and win the World Cup 2026? Click here to find out.
Who: Switzerland vs Colombia What: FIFA World Cup 2026 – Round of 16 Where: BC Place Vancouver, Vancouver, Canada When: Tuesday, July 7, at 1pm (20:00 GMT) How to follow: We will have all the build-up on Al Jazeera Sport from 16:45 GMT before our live text commentary stream.
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The World Cup’s round of 16 concludes on Tuesday in Vancouver, as Switzerland and Colombia face off, with both aiming to match their best performances.
Colombia have established themselves as dangerous outsiders at the tournament, right from topping their group to advancing into the last-16, all while conceding just one goal.
The South Americans’ sturdy defence, though, will face a tricky test against Switzerland, whose breakout star Johan Manzambi has caught global attention.
Playing at the same venue for a third consecutive time, Switzerland has a slight advantage heading into the game. But with Colombia boasting a balance of attacking flair and disciplined defence, the Swiss will have very little space and opportunity to exploit.
Al Jazeera tells you everything about Switzerland vs Colombia:
How did Switzerland and Colombia reach the round of 16?
Switzerland topped Group B with seven points, beating Canada and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and drawing with Qatar. They sealed a 2-0 victory over Algeria in the round of 32, bringing up their first World Cup knockout victory since 1938.
Colombia topped Group K with seven points, beating Uzbekistan and DR Congo, and holding Portugal to a draw. In the round of 32, they beat Ghana 1-0.
Swiss youngster Manzambi is the man to watch
Switzerland’s 20-year-old midfielder Manzambi has arguably been their trump card at the tournament, thanks to his three goals and two assists.
Though he started his debut World Cup off the bench in the first game, the youngster has since become an integral part of the Swiss attack. From setting up chances to finishing them off in style, the swashbuckling Manzambi played an all-round role for his national side.
His breakout performance in the tournament prompted coach Murat Yakin to call him “a very precious and important player”.
“He has been constantly improving his performance. He is a team player. He’s not only a player that you like to watch … he is an all-rounder. He has many qualities and there is still so much potential in him,” Yakin added.
The Swiss attacking quartet of Manzambi, Breel Embolo, Dan Ndoye and Ruben Vargas have been in fine form, scoring eight of their team’s nine goals between them.
Should they click again and guide the team to victory, it would see Switzerland through to the quarterfinals for the first time since they hosted the tournament in 1954 – and their fourth overall (also 1934 and 1938).
Breakout star Johan Manzambi is just 20 years old, but he’s racking up performances far beyond his years [Alex Grimm/Getty Images via AFP]
Colombia coach praises his ‘versatile’ team
Colombia coach Nestor Lorenzo emphasised his “versatile” team’s ability to adapt to situations, as they look to follow in the footsteps of the their 2014 Brazil World Cup performance that resulted in the nation’s best-ever placing in the last-eight of the tournament.
“I believe it is key for us to have those types of players, players who interpret the game with simplicity, and that they know how to behave. They grasp the game, they understand the game,” Lorenzo said.
“On top of the fact that they have the physical and technical capacity that allows for improved versatility, they understand the game. They understand the different moments, and it enables the team to grow. I think we have many players of this sort who are highly versatile.”
Colombia have conceded just once so far – against Uzbekistan in their opening game – and registered five goals in five games, with Daniel Munoz scoring twice and Bayern Munich winger Luis Diaz bagging a goal and assist each.
Colombia’s Luis Diaz was the player of the match in their opening 3-1 World Cup win over Uzbekistan [Eloisa Sanchez/Reuters]
Switzerland vs Colombia prediction
The Opta supercomputer gives Colombia a 41.9 percent likelihood of winning in regulation time, while Switzerland’s chances of winning are 28.2 percent.
The model estimates a 29.9 percent probability of the game going to extra time.
Switzerland vs Colombia: How to watch, schedule
Switzerland: RTS, SRF, RSI (10pm, Central European Summer Time)
Colombia: Caracol, RCN Television SA (3pm, Colombia Time)
United States: FOX, FOX One, Telemundo App, Telemundo Network, Peacock (3pm, Eastern Daylight Time)
United Kingdom: STV, STV Player, ITVX, ITV1 (9pm, British Summer Time)
To check the TV listings for your country, head to FIFA’s TV listing schedule here.
Colombia fans celebrate after the match as their country qualified for the round of 16 stage of the World Cup [Siphiwe Sibeko/Reuters]
Who will the winner face in the quarterfinals?
The winner of the Switzerland vs Colombia match will play either Argentina or Egypt in the quarterfinals in Kansas City in the US, on Saturday, July 11.
Switzerland vs Colombia: Head-to-head
Wednesday’s World Cup match between Switzerland and Colombia will be their fifth meeting across all competitions. Three of those four previous encounters were friendlies, and the most recent dates back to March 2007, when Colombia won 3-1.
The only competitive encounter between these teams was a group-stage match at the 1994 World Cup, which Colombia won 2-0.
However, Colombia’s record against European opposition this year has not been great – they lost to Croatia and France in March friendlies, and drew with Portugal in their final group game this month at the tournament.
Switzerland vs Colombia: Team news
Switzerland have a major fitness issue: Mazambi, Vargas and Djibril Sow, three influential players, quit training early on Monday, raising doubts about their availability.
“Obviously, if they have to quit the training session earlier, everybody is very annoyed because this is going to be a very big loss. If they might not play, it could be a huge issue for us,” coach Yakin said.
Switzerland’s Aebischer and Jaquez are out with muscle injuries, while Colombia’s Cordoba is sidelined due to a groin injury.
Breel Embolo #7 of Switzerland celebrates scoring his team’s first goal during the round of 32 match between Switzerland and Algeria [Fran Santiago/Getty Images/AFP]
People in Cuba already faced an ongoing economic and humanitarian crisis, largely due to a US blockade.
Published On 7 Jul 20267 Jul 2026
Cuba has suffered its third nationwide power blackout since the start of the year, as the country’s fuel reserves diminish and its electric grid crumbles due to an energy crisis precipitated by the US fuel blockade.
The blackout in the country of nearly 10 million people was reported on Monday by the state-run Electric Union, which said that the cause is under investigation.
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Cuba’s Energy and Mines Minister Vicente de la O Levy said protocols were quickly activated to restore electricity throughout Cuba after the outage.
“Vital services continue to be protected, amidst this complex situation exacerbated by the energy blockade we face,” he said.
Grid operator UNE said it was providing electricity to some vital services, including hospitals and food production centres, but by late afternoon was able to serve only 1 percent of the capital, Havana’s, demand.
Cuba was already struggling with fuel supplies before US President Donald Trump cut off oil deliveries from Venezuela to the island in January. But Trump’s actions, including threatening tariffs on any country that sells or provides oil to Cuba, have made things significantly worse, and deepened the island’s financial crisis. As a result, blackouts and power cuts have accelerated.
Since January, Washington has only allowed one oil tanker, from Russia, to pass its blockade and dock in Cuba, as part of a sanctions campaign aimed at ending more than six decades of communist government in Havana.
Trump has pointed to the US abduction of Venezuela’s socialist president, Nicolas Maduro, in January, and his replacement with a successor that can be pressured to work with the US, as a potential blueprint for Cuba.
Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel accused the US of trying to “incite social unrest by strangling Cuba’s fuel supply”.
“The actions of electrical workers in the midst of a genocidal energy blockade are heroic,” he wrote on social media.
The blackout is the eighth on the island of 9.6 million people since late 2024. It comes as the state imposes power cuts across the country – over 30 hours straight in parts of Havana and over 70 hours in some rural areas – in a desperate attempt to preserve fuel.
“Living like this is agony,” Meyboll Font, a 51-year-old self-employed social media community manager, told the AFP news agency.
Font said her Havana neighbourhood has been surviving on just “three or four hours of power a day”, but that the blackout was worse because “you never know when it [electricity] will return”.
SACRAMENTO — When attorney Janice Rogers Brown left her job as Gov. Pete Wilson’s legal adviser last year to become a justice on the state’s 3rd District Court of Appeal, she cashed out the vacation, personal leave and holiday time accumulated in her years in state service.
Her unused 138 days off were converted into a lump sum payment of $52,359 when she moved to the judiciary, according to payroll records obtained from the state controller’s office.
“When I was in the governor’s office, I didn’t get much time off,” said Brown, who had earlier worked for the state attorney general.
The jurist was one of thousands of state employees who accumulate their vacations–and eventually cash them out–rather than use them.
While there is no question that they are entitled to the money–courts have ruled that the time is a vested right–the vast accumulation of vacation and leave time represents a sizable liability for state government.
As of June 30, California taxpayers owed their government employees more than $1.1 billion in accumulated vacation time, according to a controller’s office estimate.
And the amount is growing.
“We have given leave time as a benefit when we didn’t have cash,” said Patricia Pavone, chief of benefits and training for the state Department of Personnel Administration. “Now it’s coming back to haunt us. It’s borrowing in the future. Instead of a liability in 1991, we have it in 2001 in higher dollars when people retire.”
State policies that put a cap on the amount of leave time that can be accrued and eventually cashed out are not observed uniformly. A department computer survey of 72,000 state employee records found that 6,665 had accumulated vacation and leave time in excess of their limits.
More than 100 employees have accrued the equivalent of half a year’s pay or more, according to the study, and one unidentified individual has saved up more than 2,000 hours–the equivalent of a year’s pay.
As Pavone and others point out, unused leave time is cashed out at a worker’s final salary, which in most cases has risen with cost of living adjustments and promotions.
“The system is far too generous,” said one former high-level executive branch appointee, who cashed out a sizable amount of accumulated time when he left government. He asked not to be identified. “If you added the state holidays, the floating holidays, the annual leave hours, you can accumulate enormous amounts of time. You can take a reasonable or small amount of vacation and leave state service and have an enormous accumulation.”
Official state policy and negotiated employee contracts set the maximum at 50 days of vacation time, or 80 days for employees who decide to forgo sick days in exchange for a more generous “annual leave” system.
In contrast, federal government policy allows workers to carry only 30 days of accrued leave time into the next year. And several states also have a 30-day limit, including Florida, Arizona, Nevada and Washington, according to a survey conducted by Workplace Economics Inc. of Washington, D.C.
Many private businesses along with the federal government take a “use it or lose it” approach to vacation time, limiting their future liability by putting a cap on the amount that an employee can carry over into the next year.
However, California is legally unable to enforce its relatively generous limits, officials say. To take away excess time that has not been used at the end of the year would require a change in state law and would be subject to labor negotiations, said Pavone’s boss, personnel administration director David J. Tirapelle.
Instead, supervisors are supposed to sit down with their employees and set up vacation schedules that will ensure that vacation time is used.
“We want employees to take their vacations,” said Department of Personnel Administration spokeswoman Shirley McCall. “It’s there to use, not to accumulate for financial purposes.”
Generally, the higher the employees’ rank in the bureaucracy, the more likely that they will exceed the cap, department statistics show.
The highest ranking employees, people such as the governor’s former legal adviser, Justice Brown, say they find it almost impossible to get away for more than a few days at a time because of the demands of their jobs.
And career employees in certain departments–Emergency Services, Caltrans and the California Highway Patrol–find it difficult to use up their time as fast as they accumulate it.
When four ranking Highway Patrol officers left their jobs last year–to retire or because of disability–they took with them lump sum payments totaling $245,800 in vacation and compensatory time.
For example, former chief deputy Harry T. Adair cashed out 46 weeks of accumulated time worth $82,894.
Lynn Newquist, commander of personnel services for the CHP, said her agency tries to comply with state policy. “The commanders review vacation and annual leave balance usually around June 1 of each year and usually encourage employees to plan on time off,” she said.
But a broad exception to the state leave policy is made to allow for natural emergencies and public calamities, she said. And the unused time can accumulate quickly.
New state employees start earning as much as 16.5 days off a year–10.5 days of vacation plus six additional days if they decide to trade sick days, which cannot be cashed out, for added “annual leave” days.
After the third year, they begin to earn 22.5 days of leave time annually. The amount of annual leave time continues to climb in increments to a maximum of 30 days after 25 years.
Few private employers have been quite so magnanimous with benefits, according to a 1993 survey conducted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Only one in 10 companies surveyed offered their workers more than 20 vacation days off each year–even after 20 years of service.
And in an effort to balance the state budget during California’s lean recession years, state workers in 1991 were given one additional day off a month in exchange for a 5% pay cut. For most workers, the additional days were given for a year and a half, until the pay cut was restored. For many of the governor’s appointees, however, the pay cut remains in place, and they continue to accumulate the added time. (This added leave time does not count toward the state’s 80-day limit.)
“The theory is since we couldn’t give them a pay raise, we should give them a day off instead,” said Wilson press secretary Paul Kranhold.
But large numbers of state workers simply banked the time, waiting for the day when they would leave government service and cash it out.
There are a number of reasons why state workers find it easy to accumulate leave time rather than use it.
For one, the state is generous with paid holidays–13 per year. Only six other states observe that many, according to the Workplace Economics survey.
And many have been able to accumulate large amounts of compensated time off–or “comp time”–for working extra hours or on weekends. This is time that they can use in place of leave time for their vacations.
The top salaried state employees, including the governor’s top appointees and attorneys, are generally not eligible for comp time, although exceptions can be made in recognition of several days of unusually arduous work, said Edmund Brehl, labor relations counsel for the Department of Personnel Administration.
But this year the state auditor reported that a number of supervisors, managers and attorneys working for the Department of Fish and Game and the legal division at the Department of Transportation had been banking sizable amounts of comp time, in violation of state policy. The employees were using the time instead of vacation leave. One unnamed Caltrans attorney had banked almost a half a year’s worth of comp time–the equivalent of $43,891, the auditor’s report said.
Other Caltrans employees have been allowed to accumulate vacation time far in excess of state limits.
When former Caltrans district director Jerry B. Baxter left his $85,900-a-year post in Los Angeles last year for a top-paying job at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, he cashed out his vacation time.
The 161 days of leave time that he had accumulated in his 35 years with the department entitled him to a lump sum payment of $56,730.
Caltrans spokesman Jim Drago said part of the problem has been downsizing the agency. “As we’ve been reducing the size of the department, the opportunity for other people to take vacation time gets reduced,” he said.
Top employees at other departments say they find they cannot break away for prolonged vacations. Charles S. Poochigian, the governor’s former appointments secretary, said he rarely was able to get away for a vacation for more than a few days at a time while working for Wilson or for Gov. George Deukmejian.
“I’m not claiming I was overworked and underpaid,” said Poochigian, who last year ran successfully for the Assembly from Fresno. “I think the compensation was quite good given the job opportunity and satisfaction. But there are few opportunities for time off when you work for the governor or the Speaker of the Assembly, people at that level.”
Last year, Poochigian said he used up leave time in his successful campaign for the Legislature. But he still had enough left over after seven years of government service to receive a lump sum of $26,770 for his unused time.
When James W. Robinson left his job as Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren’s communications director last year, he cashed out his remaining vacation time–118 days and six hours–for $45,384. He had accumulated the time over more than a decade in government, starting under Gov. Deukmejian.
In a recent interview, Robinson told a reporter: “If you’re suggesting that a person in a relatively high-level, high-pressure job can quickly accumulate a lot of time that can then be cashed out in what sounds like big amounts, that’s absolutely right. That’s the way the system is set up.”
I will miss watching the greatest maestro and savant in the history of basketball, LeBron James. He is to basketball what Van Gogh was to painting, Coltrane to music, Hemingway to literature. He came from poverty and rose to a global hero and gave back. His after-game interviews were always intelligent and sometimes humorous. To all his detractors and haters? Eat your hearts out, he is a happy man.
Dell Franklin Cayucos
I have always been in awe of LeBron’s athleticism and basketball IQ. And I greatly admire his dedication to maintaining his physical abilities throughout the years and his philanthropic pursuits.
But, as a lifelong Lakers fan, I will not miss LeBron. He was never a true Laker. He made it clear when he announced that he was taking his talents to South Beach that he cared only about LeBron, not the team.
So, as he closes out his career elsewhere, I will enjoy watching his superior playing prowess from afar. But I will be grateful that I can now cheer for my Lakers without the drama LeBron brings to every team he’s been on.
Linda Salzman Rancho Palos Verdes
I agree that it was probably time to move on from LeBron simply in the interest to pursue a long-term player versus one more year from the King. But Bill Plaschke’s argument that he was tired of the mind games LeBron supposedly was playing is a terrible take. Losing 27-7-7 is not replaceable overnight, if ever.
George Metalsky Redondo Beach
While acknowledging LeBron James as one of the greatest basketball players of all time, it never really felt as if he was selflessly committed to the Purple and Gold team concept like so many of the legendary players that preceded him.
During his eight years as a Laker there seemed to be countless occasions when Lakers brass capitulated to his “demands.” Year after year we endured a mishmash roster with his hand-picked players, just to appease LeBron.
During the Lakers’ dynasty we had championship teams. With LeBron we had a king shaping his fiefdom to first and foremost best serve him.
He’s a great player but a horrible GM. The Lakers will be a better team without him.
David Griffin Westwood
I only have one question regarding LeBron James: What happens to Bronny now?
Welcome back to the Times of Troy newsletter, where we’re just one month out from fall camp and the start of Lincoln Riley’s fifth season at USC. Soon enough, we’ll have actual football to discuss and not just the existential crises surrounding it.
But while the college sports calendar remains dormant for the moment, summer basketball practice is in full swing at USC. The Times was there at Galen Center last week to get an idea of where the Trojans stand heading into a critical third season for Eric Musselman as coach. And I came away feeling like this is the most talented team the Trojans have had in quite some time.
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What that will mean come March, I wouldn’t even attempt to speculate at this point. It’s June. This team has been together only a couple of weeks. Plans are bound to change. And injuries are bound to happen.*
*I do feel safe in assuming whatever ancient curse or voodoo hex was cast long ago on USC basketball can’t possibly derail another season like it did the last one.**
**OK, so transfer center Eric Reibe aggravating an injury in June and sitting out the summer isn’t … ideal. And sure, neither is the fact that transfer guard KJ Lewis won’t be cleared from the ankle injury he suffered in February until “hopefully mid-to-late September,” per Musselman. But still no freak car accidents, sudden cardiac incidents or bizarre player dismissals to date …
But Musselman has all the makings of a roster that should — read: must — make it to March.
The difference isn’t so much in what USC added to its roster, but rather in who Musselman and his staff managed to retain from the previous one. That was USC’s primary focus coming into the offseason.
Instead of having to rebuild an entire team from scratch like in Musselman’s first two seasons, which proved much more difficult than expected, the Trojans brought back their three top returning players: Rodney Rice, Alijah Arenas and Jacob Cofie.
“Those three are a great start for us,” Musselman said last week, and alluded to losing two transfers last year. “We learned with Wes [Yates] and [Desmond Claude], that hurt us.”
The continuity is significant. At least two of those returners will be starters, with a full year in Musselman’s system, and all three could be drafted next spring if they have strong seasons.
It starts with Rice, the guard who through six games last season looked like a bona fide rising star. His shoulder injury ended up totally changing the Trojans’ trajectory. His return should be equally impactful.
“I can play at a high level, an All-American level,” Rice said. “I have all the confidence in the world still.”
Musselman and his staff feel the same way. And all parties involved concur that the makeup of this roster will better maximize Rice’s skills. He’ll be able to play more off the ball, with other options like lightning-quick Colgate transfer Jalen Cox able to handle more of the load as a floor general.
Rice won’t return to full go until after summer practice, but that’s more of a precaution than anything. He could be on the brink of a big season, if all things break right.
I’m less confident in the spring emergence of Cofie, the forward who played his way into an NBA scouting combine invite in May. When he first signed with USC, Musselman told me he thought Cofie was a future first-round pick. But considering the expectations, I thought his first season as a Trojan was mostly underwhelming.
Musselman thought Cofie “didn’t really have a stamp on the roster” last season. But so far this year, “He’s kind of a different guy.”
Cofie has made a point to expand his game to the perimeter. Just 27% of Cofie’s shots last season came from behind the arc, and he made just 31% of them. But any added spacing would be welcomed on a roster with potential to get bogged down inside the arc.
“You’ll see me shoot a lot more threes,” Cofie said last week. We’ll see how that factors into the lineups that USC is able to deploy this fall.
The most intriguing of the Trojans’ trio of returners is Arenas, given the wide range of possible outcomes in front of the guard this season. After arriving last year as one of the most-hyped hoops prospects in school history, he returns with a chance to basically redo his ill-fated freshman year.
The challenge for him as a sophomore is to be a more efficient player, after shooting just 34% from the field and 21% from three-point range. Arenas also uncharacteristically struggled finishing at the rim and with his shot selection, two skills that previously were seen as strengths.
He has all the tools to bounce back. Arenas’ ability to create space and find his own shot, in particular, is special. The question is how those tools best fit USC with so many more options around him.
When he debuted in January last season after missing the start because of knee surgery, Arenas immediately shouldered the load and dominated the ball. It was too much to ask of a freshman in that situation. But that’s no longer necessary with Rice healthy and Cox able to handle the point. Arenas will benefit from being off the ball more often.
Adding three McDonald’s All-Americans should go a long way with this team as well, if only because there will be real talent at the back end of the rotation. And unlike last season, USC should be able to bring its freshmen along at their own pace.
The potential is obvious with Darius and Adonis Ratliff, but both presumably would benefit from that time. Christian Collins, on the other hand, looks primed to make an impact right away, if needed. Watching him knife through the lane on his way to the hoop last week, I found myself wondering if he might be a lottery pick by next spring.
“Christian has been very impressive,” Musselman said. “We knew the intangibles and the length and the reaction to loose balls, but he has scored the ball, you know, [really well] for a freshman at this early stage.”
It’s far too early to draw any conclusions about the upcoming season. But after watching just one practice, it’s not hard to see why Musselman and his staff are feeling especially sunny this summer.
New eligibility rules
Back in October 2024, days after two USC defenders announced they were sitting out the football season to preserve their eligibility, a frustrated Riley offered what he felt was a reasonable solution to a growing problem.
“Guys should have five years to do whatever you want,” Riley said. “I think it should be that plain and simple. Then nobody has to worry about any of this other crap like how many games you’ve played.”
Almost two years later, the NCAA is finally on board with the coach.
The Division 1 Cabinet voted last week to implement major changes to the NCAA’s eligibility rules, giving athletes five years of eligibility to play five seasons. That means no more redshirts, no more medical waivers, no more eligibility questions. All eligibility clocks start the academic year after an athlete’s 19th birthday, and the only exceptions, per the NCAA, are for pregnancy, active-duty military service and religious missions.
Any athlete who wants to state their case for an extra year of eligibility has until the end of next month. But after that, the word “redshirt” officially can be retired from the college football vocabulary.
USC pitching coach Sean Allen talks to Gavin Lauridsen during a Super Regional game last season.
(Kara Durrette / For The Times)
—Musselman has yet to have one of his USC players selected in the NBA draft. But that will change next season. I’d expect, by next spring, we will be talking about as many as three Trojans who could be selected in 2027. Collins and Arenas are five-star talents, and while Collins’ stock is higher at the moment, Arenas easily could return to draft darling status with a strong start to the season. Then there’s Cofie, who balled his way into a draft combine invite this spring, and Rice, whose name will be known in draft circles soon enough.
—Fourteen USC baseball players entered the transfer portal. That group includes two promising young pitchers in Diego Velazquez (who also plays infield) and Gavin Lauridsen. Both were highly touted prospects and looked slated for bigger roles next season. USC also lost its starting catcher to the portal again, with Isaac Cadena committing to Clemson. Losing the young pitchers is a blow, but without the backing to match the name, image and licensing offers of some ACC and SEC teams, this sort of exodus is just inevitable.
What I’m Watching This Week
Tatiana Maslany in “Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed.”
(Apple TV)
Apple has been on an absolute heater, and “Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed” is yet another unique and worthy entrant into its growing library of prestige TV. It stars Tatiana Maslany as Paula, a divorced mom and magazine fact-checker whose only solace is returning to a webcam boy who turns out to be scamming her. Her life is unraveling, but when she takes matters into her own hands, it only descends further into chaos.
“Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed” is an absolute thrill ride and one of the more surprising shows I’ve seen this year.
That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at ryan.kartje@latimes.com, and follow me on X at @Ryan_Kartje. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.
A British expat living in Benidorm has shared the best time to visit Spain’s beloved seaside hotspot, ideal for those looking to avoid crowds while still enjoying perfect weather
Benidorm is a popular holiday destination and one Brit who’s lived there for 30 years has shared the best time to visit (stock image)(Image: Sergio Formoso via Getty Images)
A British expat living in Spain has revealed the best time to visit the popular coastal hotspot of Benidorm in order to dodge the “crowds” and “chaos”.
Benidorm is a hugely popular seaside resort in Spain, renowned for its vibrant nightlife, vast selection of hotels and towering skyscrapers, golden sandy beaches, busy cafés and restaurants, and much more. It’s a firm favourite for countless hen and stag dos, while others sing the praises of its charming Old Town and the stunning natural, rugged coastline – a far cry from the images most commonly associated with the resort.
According to the annual report published by the Visit Benidorm Foundation, the destination welcomed just over three million visitors in 2025, a rise of 7.7 per cent on 2024’s figures.
The total number of overnight stays surpassed 16 million, an increase of 3.4 per cent on 2024’s bookings. It marked the first time in Benidorm’s history the resort had recorded such numbers.
Many Brits choose to up sticks and move to Benidorm for its reliably sunny skies all year round and a more laid-back way of life.
That’s certainly true of Geoff, who shares content on social media under the name “Benidorm Resort Expert”.
He bills himself as a “Benidorm Travel Expert” having lived and worked in the Spanish resort for 33 years, with his content centred on providing “deals, trips and advice” about life in the popular destination.
In a recent TikTok video, Geoff recommended visiting Benidorm during the cooler periods. Speaking directly to camera, he began: “Everyone wants Benidorm at its hottest but they’ve got it wrong. We’ve just had three days of red alert – this is the first time, ever, three days on the bounce and honestly, we’ve been melting out here.
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“But this morning, look at it. Temperature’s dropped five or six degrees, we’ve got a bit of cloud, there’s a gentle breeze and the sea, it’s like a mill pond.”
He continued: “No crowds, no chaos, no 40 degree heat bouncing off the pavement; just a calm morning, a bit of grounding, feet in the sand and literally the whole beach to myself.”
Geoff was full of praise for the tranquil early morning atmosphere on offer. He added: “The day hasn’t kicked off yet and this right here is the best bit of it – 24 degrees, sea like glass, and not a soul rushing anywhere.
“Forget the heatwave hype, this is when Benidorm is at its best.”
Benidorm isn’t the only destination grappling with scorching temperatures brought on by a heatwave, with Britain experiencing Spain-like conditions as record-breaking heat swept across the country.
However, this week the stifling temperatures have finally begun to ease across parts of the UK.
Met Office deputy chief forecaster Tony Wisson said: “Toward the weekend, high pressure will continue to build in across most of the UK as it extends from the Azores.
“This will lead to more settled, warm or very warm conditions for many, especially across England and Wales, though some rain may still affect the far north.”
He added: “The forecast for this weekend suggests that temperatures could approach high 20°C across parts of England, perhaps 30°C in parts of the southeast, with values of mid to high 20°C in Wales.
“Although a return to heatwave conditions is looking increasingly likely for some areas, the likelihood of such extreme high temperatures or high levels of humidity as last week is currently low.”
Dodgers two-way phenom Shohei Ohtani waddled through the clubhouse after the Dodgers’ 4-3 comeback victory against the Padres on Friday night, the bulging ice wraps around his left knee and right arm creating a penguin-like effect to his gait.
That in and of itself wasn’t noteworthy — ice after starts is a regular part of any pitcher’s recovery and arm care. But for Ohtani, the awkward wraps were reminders of one ailment he’s getting over, knee inflammation, and one that popped up Friday night — a right biceps problem.
“More precautionary reason,” Ohtani said through interpreter Will Ireton about being replaced by a pinch-hitter in the seventh inning. “I was a little concerned with my biceps with the last at-bat that I took.”
Ohtani limited the Padres (43-44) to three runs over 110 pitches when he stepped up to the plate in the sixth.
Teoscar Hernández hits a grand slam for the Dodgers against the San Diego Padres on Friday.
He worked a full count and then flew out to right field. Ohtani paused on his follow-through, his lips pursed, before jogging up the line.
“It’s the same location that I felt a couple months ago,” Ohtani said. “It went away relatively quickly, so I expect that to happen again.”
That Ohtani dealt with a biceps problem earlier this season was not disclosed before Friday. Even manager Dave Roberts said after the game that he had just learned about the previous ailment.
Ohtani will take off Saturday to recover, Roberts said. And Ohtani skipping his last pitching start before the All-Star break is “on the table.”
Ohtani was voted the starting designated hitter for the National League, marking his sixth straight All-Star selection. But even before Friday, it seemed unlikely he would pitch in the All-Star Game given his rotation schedule.
“He’s a quick healer, and finds a way to get back,” Roberts said. “But I do think that for us to read and react and hear what his body is telling him is really important, given the toll it takes on his body to be a two-way player.”
The injury concern replaced now-assuaged questions about Ohtani’s pairing with catcher Dalton Rushing with Will Smith (neck) on the injured list. Smith has at least resumed throwing and took swings Thursday, Roberts said, but he isn’t expected to return before the All-Star break.
The last time Rushing caught Ohtani, the pitcher took over pitch-calling after a disastrous second inning against the Twins last week.
“I just overthought last time,” Rushing said in a conversation with The Times on Thursday night. “I was trying to be perfect, and with a guy like that, you don’t have to be perfect. You just need to call the right pitches at the right time and allow his stuff to just beat them naturally. And that’s the plan [Friday]. Whether I call the pitch, he calls the pitch. I want to make sure we’re both convicted in what we’re throwing, and we can execute it to the best of our ability.”
On Friday, Ohtani handed back over pitch-calling duties, communicating with head shakes and nods instead of the PitchCom buttons on his arm.
Ohtani walked the first two batters he faced. But then he struck out three of the next four, escaping the jam down just 1-0, courtesy of an RBI single from Gavin Sheets.
That started a streak of 10 batters who Ohtani retired in order, fanning six of them.
“The best way that I can describe it is, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” Rushing said when asked what he’d learned from following along last week. “That’s the way he pitches. … Trust what you do, trust how good his stuff is, and just go from there.”
Dodgers pitcher Shohei Ohtani, left, gets a fist bump from catcher Dalton Rushing during the first inning of a 4-3 win over the San Diego Padres at Dodger Stadium on Friday night.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
Ohtani’s back-to-back strikeouts to end the second inning were a good example. Against left-handed hitting Sung-Mun Song, he threw mostly four-seam fastballs and splitters, finishing off the six-pitch at-bat with a sweeper, according to Statcast.
Against right-handed hitting Rodolfo Durán, Ohtani threw mostly sinkers and sweepers, with one four-seamer mixed in out of seven pitches.
Ohtani eventually relented a second run with two outs in the fourth inning. He fell behind 0-2 in the count to Jackson Merrill, who flipped a strike call with an ABS challenge. Then Merrill hammered a fastball over the plate for a solo homer.
Ohtani successfully navigated traffic to throw a scoreless fifth, but Xander Bogaerts tagged him for an RBI double in the sixth.
“I think I did the bare minimum,” Ohtani said. “To get through six, to give the team the chance to win, keep the game in check. But there were some good and some bad.”
Ohtani gave up seven hits for a quality start that wasn’t his cleanest. The Dodgers (58-31), who had struggled to get anything going against Padres starter Michael King, were trailing 3-0 when Ohtani exited. But Teoscar Hernández took care of the deficit.
Teoscar Hernández hits a grand slam in the seventh inning of the Dodgers’ 4-3 win over the San Diego Padres at Dodger Stadium on Friday night.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
Facing reliever Adrian Morejon with the bases loaded and no outs in the seventh, Hernández ambushed a first-pitch slider.
“Knowing him, every pitch is hard,” Hernández said. “I was looking for the hardest one, the fastball, middle-in. But just reacted to that one in the middle of the plate.”
Hernández drifted up the first-base line as he watched the ball fly. When it landed, he launched his bat back toward the dugout, and it made it halfway there.
“I’m just trying to find the same swing that I had before I got hurt,” Hernández said. “And at the same time, just do something for the team. It happened to be a big swing.”
The bass legend and superproducer Don Was didn’t expect to be covering Curtis Mayfield’s Civil Rights-era anthem “This Is My Country” on the road in 2026. But lately, the chaos in the United States made the song seem regrettably apropos.
“It wasn’t supposed to still feel potent. It was supposed to be something that served a moment,” said Was, who included the defiant single on his 2025 album “Groove In the Face of Adversity.”
“It’s shocking to be here in 2026 and, whatever distance we traveled from 1966 until now, to see it all get reset,” Was said. “That song’s a more powerful statement now than it was then. It was inconceivable that it would still be relevant — this is supposed to be the utopian age of Aquarius. This is not the way it was supposed to turn out.”
Was remembers the tumult, violence and hope that came out of that era in his hometown of Detroit. The city’s music, famed for rough-hewn virtuosity from blues to soul to techno, is the spring that waters “Adversity.” It is, remarkably, the 73-year-old’s first solo album after a career spanning the pioneering electro-pop band Was (Not Was) and deep producer relationships with the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan and Bonnie Raitt.
He also spent years in Bob Weir & Wolf Bros with the late Grateful Dead founder, and will play from the Dead’s landmark “Blues for Allah” on his tour that stops at Lodge Room on July 7.
With a backing band of studio killers dubbed the Pan-Detroit Ensemble, “Adversity” has an expansive modern atmosphere, yet a lived-in, filament-bulb quality in the playing that carries through funk, jazz, rock and R&B. It’s largely a covers record, but you wouldn’t know it from the depth of the revisions — veering from the Yusef Lateef standard “Nubian Lady” to Hank Williams’ “I Ain’t Got Nothin’ But Time,” closing with funk group Cameo’s “Insane.”
“I’ve been carrying it around in my head for 30 years,” Was said. “This first album to me is really a handshake, a ‘nice to meet you,’ this jambalaya of Detroit sounds.” While much of the source material comes from elsewhere, the cumulative mood is extremely personal to an artist who has spent his life helping the greats find true expression.
“I’ve come to admire artists who are willing to go in deep inside their most personal thoughts for the sake of helping the listener understand their own lives,” he said. “To help them deal with the trauma of being human — especially in these times, man.”
Tops on that list is the late Grateful Dead founder Bob Weir — who died in January at 78 — as a model for a band staying fearless and uncompromising. Was, still heartbroken about the loss of his friend and bandmate, recalled their first time on tour.
“When Bobby called asking me to play bass with the Wolf Bros, I thought at the very least, this is going to be a master class in losing self-consciousness and forgetting about fear,” Was said. “If the band stumbled, the audience wouldn’t walk out. They appreciated the fact that you were trying to do something new for them. Then there’d be a couple moments every night with an incredible exchange between the musicians and you can feel the audience becoming a member of the band.”
Playing the Dead’s “Blues for Allah” on this tour — an LP rooted in Middle Eastern scales, pirouetting time signatures and improvisational telepathy — put him in communion with his old friend.
“I used to think that songs like ‘King Solomon’s Marbles’ were just jams and conversations on the spot. But when we really got into it, there’s a form underneath and you can take tremendous liberty with that form,” Was said.
Was’ production career was built on a similar principle.
His early band Was (Not Was) remains a visionary electro-pop act with subtle, salient politics. “Out Come the Freaks” is a favorite on Pride month dance floors — “If you just wanted to do poppers and dance all night, it worked, and if you wanted to think about the government careening out of control, it worked too,” Was said of the band’s club material.
The late Ozzy Osbourne sang on the band’s international hit “Shake Your Head,” alongside a winking, very game Kim Basinger. The actor was a replacement after Madonna backed out, leaving the proto-rave tune one of the era’s most unlikely collaborations.
He recalled Ozzy fondly. “In 1975, this folk group I was in booked us to open for Black Sabbath at the Toledo Sports Arena, playing for a bunch of 14-year-old white boys on amphetamines,” Was said. “They weren’t having it. I’ve heard the tape of that show, and the drummer was bleeding from being hit by so many bottles that we had to stop playing. That was my first exposure to Ozzy, so I was a little afraid to do the session, but he was up for an adventure.”
Don Was and the Pan-Detroit Ensemble
(Gemma Corfield)
A Stones confidant and producer from 1994’s “Voodoo Lounge” up until 2023’s “Hackney Diamonds” (where Andrew Watt took the helm), Was had nothing but praise for the band, and still admits to a twinge of fandom in their presence.
“There’s never been a day in the studio with the Rolling Stones where I didn’t look around the room and go, ‘Oh my God,’” he said. “I’ve known Mick for over 30 years, but the last time they played L.A. at SoFi Stadium, Mick came walking down that stage and I was like, ‘Wow, there he is, it’s 1965 again.’”
With Dylan, he recalled the mercurial genius’ impish side. “I was producing Dylan, and George Harrison came in to play guitar. Bob was messing with him, Bob pushed the engineer aside and he ran the tape machine. George had never heard the song before, didn’t know what key it was in, and Bob just starts the tape. George played a respectable solo, but clearly it was rough. Bob, just to be funny, stopped the machine and said ‘That’s it, perfect.’ George turns to me and said, ‘What do you think, Don?’ And Bob goes, “Yeah, what do you think, Don?’ I’m looking at these two guys and time slowed down. I remembered trying to sell my car to get a ticket to go to New York to see the Concert for Bangladesh. Now they’re asking me what I think. I was paralyzed.”
“A voice appeared in my head,” he said, “Telling me, ‘He’s not paying you to be a fan.‘ So I said to George, ‘It was good, man. Let’s see if we can beat it.’ You can’t allow the iconography to dictate the outcome in the studio. You have to put that aside.”
As president of Blue Note Records, the estimable jazz label he’s led for more than a decade, Was relentlessly looks forward. He’s released restless modern records by Domi & JD Beck, Fathers, Makaya McCraven and Julian Lage (the hotshot jazz guitarist now playing with Dylan). He’s refreshingly optimistic about challenging music in streaming’s ruthless economy.
“Don’t make music for the delivery system,” Was said. “I don’t think about streaming, I think about touching people. If you do that, nothing has changed fundamentally in the music business. If your purpose is to get under people’s skin and make them feel something, that’s the same job it was for Mozart. How people listen can keep changing, but I don’t think the palette of human emotion changes, and that’s who you’re addressing.”
Was came from a working-class industrial city, making music reflective of Detroit’s technological upheaval and economic neglect. “Adversity” is a beacon to keep playing in spite of everything.
“I think that the salvation of musicians is that no matter what happens, what technological advancements come along, there’s still nothing like the experience of being in the same room as people who are playing together,” Was said. “It’s always been tough, man. It’s harder these days to buy a Ferrari as a musician, but I don’t know that that’s necessary. I have total confidence that the opportunity is there for anybody who is willing to give the audience a meaningful experience.”
In 2016, Nakajima received psychiatric care at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, diagnosed with depression, PTSD and suicidal ideation. Her doctors searched for ways to manage her stress by exposing her to various activities, including video games, serene Icelandic landscapes and an aerial silks performance. The last brought her anxiety down, revealing that the arts were the answer. Her doctor prescribed the arts, comedy specifically, so she went to the Upright Citizens Brigade for class.
She found a calling and a safe space in comedy.
“I didn’t know I was born a comedian,” Nakajima said. “Finally, I really felt I was accepted as a comedian, validated for who I am.”
Nakajima shares her healing journey to the stage in “Made in America,” which just had an encore performance at UCB on Tuesday after its award-winning run in 2022 (it is also available for streaming on UCB’s website through Tuesday). The one-woman show arrives in time for the United States’ 250th anniversary on Saturday, documenting Nakajima’s search for the American dream as a first-generation Japanese American woman. “Made in America” premiered in 2022 at the Hollywood Fringe Festival during Joe Biden’s presidency and following the Jan. 6 United States Capitol attack. In 2026, its musings on identity and belonging pierce through today’s political landscape shaped by Donald Trump’s second presidency.
“I wanted to let people know this is an American story,” she said.
“Made in America” is about Nakajima’s life. It begins in her mother’s womb. She felt so safe there, she yearned to return. Growing up, she experienced an emotionally and physically abusive life at home, recalling her father breaking furniture and her mother’s alcohol-induced belittling comments. But her name, Teruko, translates to a “shining child.” Thus, she proclaims in the show, “I’m a superstar!”
The beauty in “Made in America” is Nakajima’s ability to find the humor in her trauma. When the show transitions to her life in America, she talks about her life as a dominatrix in New York City and her struggles with romance in Los Angeles. Her comedic jabs at the American economy and humorous reflections juxtapose somber moments of stillness in the midst of her struggles. This balance puts her life into perspective, revealing a positive personality beneath a dark saga.
Nakajima performs “Made in America” at Upright Citizens Brigade Theater.
(Nick Rasmussen)
“I look very happy-go-lucky and cheerful, but actually, I am a very dark person because I have a dark history,” she said. “I always wanted to leave my story behind. I wanted to leave my mark in this world before I died, so I needed to make something.”
The first class Nakajima took at UCB was John Flynn’s storytelling course. There, she started building pieces of the show without realizing it. As they added up, the idea for a show surfaced. After class one day, she asked Flynn to direct it. Flynn, who has been teaching at UCB in New York and L.A. for about 20 years, agreed.
“She disarms people,” Flynn said. “There’s something about her that is just so unique and so delightful that you won’t forget her.”
Flynn first met her at his storytelling open mic. She walked in with her emotional support dog Titi (also known as Tiny Teruko), wearing her signature red heart-framed glasses, without lenses. Soon, these glasses would make him double over in laughter when she performed and cried, dabbing her eyes with tissue through the frame.
“When you start to learn her story and the experiences she’s had, it is amazing that she is so positive,” he said. “She’s such a sort of undeniable positive energy that she just radiates all the time, which is so compelling and why people are so drawn to her.”
Revived at UCB amid Trump’s second term and the nation’s 250th birthday, Nakajima’s show doubles as a defiant immigrant love letter to America — and a refuge for audiences feeling alone.
(Nick Rasmussen)
Nakajima puts all of herself into the show. Aside from comedy, she has been a cheerleader in Japan, a salsa dancer in New York and a sculptor on the side — she loves sculpting MLB players’ butts; Derek Jeter is her favorite. In the show, she folds these aspects of her life into a single story, dancing from section to section. Comedy is more than just laughs; it’s storytelling.
“I am so good at cheering people up, since I was very little,” she said. “I had no competition with others because I’m the one and only. Nobody looks like me.”
Together, Flynn and Teruko parsed through her life stories to give the show an arc. For Flynn, it’s like carving away at what is already there to create something fun and cohesive, like a sculpture. “What’s fun about directing one-person shows like this is that it’s usually just two people in a room putting something together,” Flynn said.
Bringing the show back this year, the work gets sharper and tighter, but the biggest shift is in its conclusion. Once optimistic about the future of life in America, the show now has a stronger desire to make change. There was a sense of hope in 2022 for women like Nakajima, an immigrant who sought safety in a new country and struggled with abuse from her family and strange men. Today, as Trump’s immigration policies lean on deportation and discrimination, she simply wants to be seen.
“America, thank you for not giving up on me,” Nakajima said toward the end of the show. She is proud to be American, not just because she gets to have the same nationality as her dog Titi, but primarily because of the new life it offered her. America promised happiness. Whether it actually comes is another story, but in this one, the promise itself gave her a sense of purpose.
“After the show, people come to me in person and through messages,” she said. “A lot of people said, ‘I felt like I am not alone.’ That gives me so much hope and unity. I feel safe and like I have something to look forward to because I’m not the only one.”
Flynn realized how much he took for granted while working on the show with Nakajima. “I think, even though these are scary times and things seem to be going in directions that aren’t the best, there are still great people, and there’s something that is still there and is not dying and is still fighting,” Flynn said.
When she began her acting journey, Nakajima thought she’d turn to drama, but there’s something more unguarded in comedy.
Nakajima holding up her dog Titi during a performance of “Made in America.”
(Nick Rasmussen)
“I’m very authentic and invincible through comedy,” she said.
By the end of “Made in America,” Nakajima is no longer trying to find her way back to her mother’s womb. She is confident in her place in the world. She remembers that she is a star. She brings out her dog Titi, who was hidden on stage throughout the entire performance, and shares that UCB gave her a new outlook on life. Comedy breaks away her stresses and allows viewers to be vulnerable with her.
“I always wanted to feel safe,” she said. “I never had that. Finally, I found a safe space, and then I realized that I’m actually important. I’m actually worthy. I’m so happy right now to be able to express myself through comedy because it’s the truth.”
Living here has certainly been good for his acting career. Though he broke into the business as a member of NYC-turned-MTV sketch comedy group the State in 1994, he moved to L.A. in the fall of 1997 when he landed a role in the second season of “Men Behaving Badly,” an NBC sitcom. Marino shot just 13 episodes before the show was canceled. Still, he stayed in L.A., landing roles in much-loved shows like “Veronica Mars,” “Party Down,” “The Residence” and “Running Point.” He’s also co-written a few things, including “Role Models” and “Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass,” out July 10, which was filmed in and around Los Angeles.
In Sunday Funday, L.A. people give us a play-by-play of their ideal Sunday around town. Find ideas and inspiration on where to go, what to eat and how to enjoy life on the weekends.
“Working around L.A. and running around to jobs is how I got to understand L.A.,” Marino says. “It’s just a very comfortable city to live in. I just think it’s fun to be able to bounce around and do anything you feel like doing.”
Here’s how Marino would spend his perfect, carefree Sunday in Los Angeles.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
6 a.m.: Dog walking, coffee and flowers
We have two dogs. They need to go outside in the morning and eat, and they are very vocal about it. For a while, every morning at 5:58 my one dog, Dot, would start whining and moving around until I’d go “yeah, OK, let’s feed you.”
In our family, I’m the one who feeds the dogs and takes them out, because I’m a morning person. I enjoy it when it’s not fully light out, maybe making myself a coffee or taking a walk to this place called Project Bloom Coffee. It’s a little mom and pop kind of place and they have terrific coffee and breakfast sandwiches. They’re also a florist. Sometimes they even use this cool paper holder with a handle where, on one side you put the coffee and then on the other side you put your beautiful flower display. So then you get to walk home with your coffee and your flowers together and it’s something I’ve never seen anywhere else.
7:30 a.m.: Online chess
After I go get my coffee and walk the dogs, I’ll still be the only person up so I’ll get on my computer and get a couple of games of chess in. I play people from around the world online on Chess.com, and I usually either get frustrated or feel like I’m the best chess player in the world. Anyway, I’m getting my rating up on the app and I’m very excited about it. I’ve gone down the rabbit hole of chess tutorials on TikTok and YouTube that teach me how to play better.
9 a.m.: More coffee and “911”
If I go to Project Bloom, I’ll bring my wife a coffee and some flowers but if not, we have a little espresso and cappuccino maker so I’ll use that to make her a cappuccino, which I’ll bring to her in bed. She’s always very happy about that and then I’ll go try to wake my [16-year-old] daughter up, which usually takes about two or three tries until I take her phone, set the timer for five minutes, and then put it on the other side of her room so she has to get out of her bed to turn it off when it sounds.
She and I have been religiously watching “911” recently. We started with Season 1 and now we’re about six or seven seasons in so I’ll make her breakfast — maybe a Nutella crepe with some little cherry tomatoes on the side, which is weird but she likes it or maybe some oatmeal — and then we’ll watch “911” and talk about our favorite characters, like Buck, Chimney and Bobby.
Noon: Lunch on the Westside
We have a little apartment in Marina Del Rey that’s right by the beach so sometimes I’ll go out there with the dogs, just to sit for a while and enjoy. I usually walk between the Venice pier and Washington Street, but sometimes I’ll go further north and walk along Venice Beach if I want to hang out with some freaky deakies.
When I’m over on that side of town, there’s a couple of places that I might go for food, like this Italian restaurant called Ospi that’s in Venice. They’re incredible. They make their own homemade pasta and it’s delicious. There’s also this chain called Guisados, and I love their tacos so sometimes I’ll do that too. Venice Ramen is good too, and they do these things called jumbo gyoza that are absolutely delicious. They’re like 2.5 times bigger than a normal gyoza, like palm-sized, and I really like them.
2 p.m.: Play practice and a pint
My daughter is in two plays right now at this place called the Morgan-Wixson Theatre in Santa Monica, so it’s my responsibility to take her over there and drop her off for practice. When I do that, if it’s a Sunday, I might want to grab a Guinness somewhere and watch basketball. There’s a bar called Weary Livers down the street that has a lot of board games and it feels like you’re in somebody’s basement, which is good. It’s also right next to the Brixton, which is another nice bar that I’ll go to from time to time if I’m waiting for my daughter to finish rehearsal because it’s a lot of driving otherwise.
Right now, David [Wain] and I are trying to figure out different promotional things we can do for our movie, “Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass,” so maybe we’d do some more of that. It’s a really funny movie and we sold it at Sundance.
Anyway, two Sundays ago we walked around with our friend Frank Barrera, who is also one of the camera operators on “Gail Daughtry.” We went to the Hollywood Walk of Fame and we shot promos for the movie where we were talking to different people and pretending that the Gail Daughtry cinematic universe is vast and has been around for decades, like we were asking people what their favorite Gail Daughtry movie is. It confused a lot of them, but every once in a while somebody would say something so we’re using those for promo spots.
I also spent some time just running up and down the street being very overly enthusiastic and screaming “the new Gail Daughtry movie is coming out!” and then we shot people’s reactions, which were typically “confusion” and “not caring.” Like, “Stop yelling at me, weirdo.”
7:30 p.m.: Thai takeout
On weekends, my wife and I like to order from a specific Thai place that’s won many awards. It’s called Luv 2 Eat Thai Bistro and it’s absolutely fantastic. The crab curry is so delicious and they do these street food sausages that we crave. They come with ginger and peanuts and garlic, plus a big slab of raw cabbage and some hot peppers and we’ll eat them like popcorn, just throwing them in our mouths while we catch up on “Survivor.” The flavor is just insane, and we think about how good they are all the time.
9:30 p.m.: Checkmate
After we watch “Survivor,” usually what happens next is that we’ll end up going, “Should we watch a movie?” Then we’ll look around for a movie for a while and then my daughter will be like, “Hey, Mom! Come in here and watch this YouTube show with me” so my wife will get pulled away, and I’ll immediately pick up my computer and start playing chess again. I like to bookend my day with a quiet chess game in the morning and another quiet game at night. It’s a nice way to wind down.
I’ll typically play a minimum of about three games before my eyes start to close because they’re trying to fall asleep. That’s when I’ll quit because I’ll be making stupid moves and it affects my rating, like “Oh, I just lost that game because I fell asleep while my computer was on,” so that’s how I know when I’m done.
Herb Alpert walks up a long driveway at his rambling Malibu estate, wincing slightly after having woken up around 3 a.m. with a cramp in his left calf.
“It’s still kind of seizing,” the trumpeter says as he leads me past a garden lush with moist-looking tropical plants.
This, Alpert accepts, is the reality of life at 91. Yet the only reason he’s out here racking up steps by the hundreds on a recent morning is because he was tooling around in his sculpture studio before I arrived. And the only reason the sculpture studio is so far from his music studio — there’s also a studio devoted to his painting — is because of his huge success over the last 60 or so years.
“So I can’t really complain,” he says.
A Los Angeles native who got his start writing songs like Sam Cooke’s “Wonderful World,” Alpert has lived here in Malibu since 1972, a decade after he released “The Lonely Bull,” his debut album with the Tijuana Brass. The LP’s title track, inspired by a bullfight Alpert caught in Mexico, went to No. 6 on Billboard’s Hot 100; more than a dozen finger-snapping Top 40 hits followed, including “A Taste of Honey,” “Spanish Flea” (also heard as a theme song on TV’s “The Dating Game”) and “This Guy’s in Love With You,” which took a rare Alpert vocal turn all the way to No. 1.
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What’s more, these inescapable tunes came out on Alpert’s own label, A&M Records, which he “formed on a handshake,” as he puts it, in 1962 with his business partner Jerry Moss. The label quickly became one of the biggest independent record companies in music, with acts such as Carole King, the Carpenters, the Police, Peter Frampton and Janet Jackson, as well as a beloved recording studio complex on La Brea Avenue. (Moss, who with Alpert sold A&M in 1989 for a reported $500 million, died in 2023.)
After years working on his own and with his wife, the singer Lani Hall, Alpert revived the Tijuana Brass name in 2024 and launched a tour that will stop Sunday night at the Hollywood Bowl. We sat down in his gear-stuffed music studio to talk about it and much more.
I’m sure you heard that John Mayer and McG bought the former A&M Studios last year. I wondered what your emotional investment is in the place at this point. I don’t have an emotional investment. Once I left the lot, I was out of there — I didn’t look back. I wanted to paint, I wanted to sculpt, I wanted to make music. I wasn’t thinking about the business.
What’s an A&M success story you took particular pride in? Cat Stevens. I heard this kid — he was a kid at the time — at the Troubadour, just him and a guitar, and I got goosebumps. It was so beautiful and so honest.
What was Karen Carpenter like? She was a doll. She didn’t know how great she was — didn’t think she was a great singer. One hell of a drummer too. Go onto YouTube and search Karen Carpenter’s solo on drums — it’ll knock your socks off. But she was innocent. She was lucky to have [her brother] Richard because Richard knew what to do with her in a very gentle way.
Even at the Carpenters’ smoothest, I hear deep sadness in Karen’s singing. I think that’s a standard ingredient to great artists. Listen closely to Miles Davis and you’ll hear the same thing.
Karen struggled with her mental health, which her fame didn’t help. Did you ever feel responsible for what she went through? I’ve gone over that question so many times in my head: If I hadn’t picked them out and signed them, would the same result have happened?
Where have you landed? I don’t have an answer.
In a recent documentary about you, you’re talking about “Wonderful World” and you say that nobody knows what a hit record sounds like. That’s your feeling now based on years of experience. But did you think you knew when you were young? I didn’t know then either. “Wonderful World” was a demo that Keen Records put on a shelf. When Sam started selling records on RCA Victor, they pulled it out as a lark, and it ended up one of the biggest-selling singles Sam ever had. I’ve told this story before, but at A&M a guy played a record for me — I said, “Man, this record stinks.” Well, I was turning down “Louie Louie.”
Why didn’t you understand “Louie Louie”? It was out of tune. It was too long. I didn’t know what the hell they were saying.
That’s why it’s great. Probably so. But did they have another hit record? Sam used to say, “Close your eyes when you listen to a new artist — don’t get swayed by whether they’re beautiful or they’re handsome or they can dance their ass off.”
OK, but you were like a heartthrob in the ’60s. What am I now — chopped liver?
I don’t think you can say your success had nothing to do with your looks. I don’t think it did. You know that sadness you were talking about? It’s in my horn.
I agree. But it didn’t hurt that you looked great. It didn’t hurt once I had a hit record. It wouldn’t have given me a hit record.
Jerry Moss, left, and Herb Alpert in 1974.
(Michael Putland / Getty Images)
Let’s talk about your song “Rise.” Got lucky with that.
In what way? My nephew Randy, who’s one of my managers, he wanted me to take some of the Tijuana Brass records and do a little disco number with them. So we go into the studio with a bunch of great musicians, start playing “Taste of Honey” at 120 beats per minute. I got nauseous — I said, “Man, I ain’t doing this.”
Nauseous? The record was big, and I didn’t want to tamper with it. But Randy had written this song called “Rise” with a friend of his. He wanted me to play that at 120 beats per minute too. I said, “Lookit, man — let’s slow this thing down and let people dance closer together.” We recorded it live in the studio. Julius Wechter was playing marimba — dear friend of mine. I said, “What do you think of this thing? Pretty cool, isn’t it?” He turns around and says, “I hate it. That beat — the four-on-the-floor is killing me.” I expected a different answer from him. But it didn’t matter.
What’d you make of the Notorious B.I.G.’s sampling “Rise” for his “Hypnotize”? How could you not like that record? These guys that take your bass line and make a record by pressing a button — I think that’s cheating a bit. But there’s 70 zillion streams on that song. Can’t deny it.
“Rise” was also sampled by the rapper Nas for his song “Power, Paper & P—.” I don’t know how to comment on that one.
A lot of musicians from your generation have been selling their catalogs lately. Have you considered it? There’s no reason to — I don’t need the money.
I wrote about Frankie Valli a few years ago, and he and Bob Gaudio seemed eager to have this company Primary Wave out there finding ways to — Monetize the catalog. I get it. But they don’t have to do that with us. I don’t know if you know what’s happening, but I’m in the heyday of my career right now.
Right now? It wasn’t my idea to get the Tijuana Brass back together again. My nephew, he’s a social media guy, and he went around the world to see what songs of mine were selling the most. Turned out there were about 18 songs. I started listening to the 18, and at the end, I felt happy, I felt joyous, I felt a smile was on my face. I thought, Man, let’s try this — this might be interesting. We started doing it, and we’ve been sold out 50 concerts in a row.
It strikes me that without the Tijuana Brass, you weren’t playing the Hollywood Bowl. Hell no, I wasn’t.
What’s that say to you? That the music is touching people. The times we’re living in, there’s a lot of doubt with what’s going on, and I think people are getting some positive energy from it.
You’re a lifelong Angeleno. Lots of well-to-do folks say that L.A. has gone to hell in a handbasket. What’s your take? I think it’s pretty much the same all over the country.
Which is? Gone to hell in a handbasket. People are confused about where they’re going, whether they’re gonna be able to have enough food on the table, whether they can afford gasoline. I’m not saying it’s all bad — it’s just hard to make sense of a lot of it for a lot of people, including the guy you’re talking to.
Your music has pulled from any number of cultures. Do you think it speaks of your Jewish identity? Most definitely. My father was born in a shtetl outside Kyiv — didn’t speak Russian, spoke Yiddish. He brought his mandolin with him when he was 16 years old on a boat by himself and landed at Ellis Island. He used to play songs for me on the mandolin. When his nostrils flared, I knew he was into it. That kind of got me.
Jewish meets Mexican feels very L.A. to me. I think we’re all a product of our surroundings. In high school I used to go see Gerry Mulligan and Chet Baker, and I was touched by them. Of course, they were loaded.
What kind of guy was Chet Baker? A troubled guy who was a brilliant musician. I gave him one of my horns, and he pawned it the next day. He was sweet but he didn’t have a hold on his emotions.
Not great for living, obviously. But good for music? Well, you’re opening up a whole can of worms. I mean, why did so many great jazz musicians get hooked on drugs? Maybe guys that were hung up on being a human being, they found that getting stoned helped them through the struggle. I recorded Stan Getz the first time he ever recorded without drugs. It was at A&M — he was wearing this red silk shirt that had sweat stains under both arms. He had like 75 reeds on the ground because he couldn’t pick out the right one. He finally found the right reed, got over the anxiety and started playing — same Stan Getz you heard throughout his career. These guys were under the assumption that being stoned would change what they played. I don’t think that holds any water.
Was there a time you thought it might be true? I did experiment with grass once. Turned on a recorder, took a puff, started playing some jazz. Took another puff, started playing some more jazz. I listened to that recording the next morning — it was terrible.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Can we do a little Herb Alpert trivia to finish? Do I have a choice?
“A Taste of Honey” won record of the year at the Grammys in 1966. You’re gonna ask why.
You beat the Beatles’ “Yesterday.” No kidding?
The year after “Taste of Honey,” you were nominated for record of the year again with “What Now My Love.” That one you lost. Remember what you lost to? Not “Louie, Louie.”
“Strangers in the Night.” That’s a real pop song. Love the guy, but not my favorite by him.
What’s your favorite Sinatra song? “Only the Lonely.”
“This Guy’s in Love With You” — great vocal performance. Why didn’t you do more? I’m not a singer.
Sure you are. I know it’s a great performance. But it was one take, man — I did that in one take.
This is what I’m saying. Look, I had an interesting guy in the sound booth who did the arrangements named Burt Bacharach.
I read that you talked with Burt a few times a week until he died. I did, and not about music. We talked about football, basketball, politics, you name it.
What’s your basketball team? Lakers.
Hard to be a Lakers fan these days. Easy to be a critic.
It’s the 250th birthday of the United States of America and how better to celebrate than with a big-screen hagiography of America’s first president, George Washington? “Young Washington” arrives in theaters just in time for the Fourth of July with a chiseled, hot young actor in the lead role and the sheen of a prestige HBO drama, though the result isn’t really big-screen spectacle or appointment television. It feels more like something to be watched on the AV rig in a middle school social studies class. At least there won’t be a quiz at the end.
But there could be, because the plot of “Young Washington” plays out with all the thrill of a textbook chapter. It takes place mostly around 1753-55, at the advent of the French and Indian War. We open in medias res when the 23-year-old Col. Washington (William Franklyn-Miller) lurches from a dysentery-riddled nap directly into battle in the Pennsylvania woods, his battalion on the back foot, surrounded by gore and gunpowder. Another officer describes how dire the situation is while George ponders saving his men and asks, “What could be worth the risk?” Washington steels his gaze and we cut to black. You can almost hear the eagles scream, guitars riff and engines rev.
“Young Washington” is produced and distributed by Angel Studios, the faith-based movie studio that churns out films based on true stories that either feature freak accidents, strange illnesses or, more recently, unique stories from the past in which faith in God is a factor. Apparently, our nation’s founding also falls under this umbrella.
The film is directed by Jon Erwin, one of the in-house Angel Studios mainstays, who also helmed “Jesus Revolution,”“I Still Believe” and “I Can Only Imagine.” Erwin gives the whole project a kind of gritty, visceral approach — very “Game of Thrones” in red coats. It’s violent, muddy, the contrast is high and too many drone shots soar over the forest treetops.
Though it opens with a bang, this 1755 battle framing device gives way to the George origin story, starting with his father’s death 12 years earlier, when the 11-year-old George is bereft that he’ll have to sacrifice his education in order to become a tenant farmer and provide for his family including his mother, Mary (Mary-Louise Parker, doing a bizarre accent).
His older half-brother Lawrence (John Foss) takes him under his wing and teaches him, and the young George grows into a smart, bright, ambitious young man, whose dreams of becoming a British officer are dashed because he doesn’t have formal education, a fortuitous marriage or his own land. But he’s bootstrapped himself into intelligence and with savvy networking and know-how, he becomes indispensable to the British, volunteering as a major to survey land and negotiate treaties with the Native tribes and French army. It’s all a bunch of politicking and petty disputes until it escalates into all-out war thanks to an ill-advised ambush.
Sir Ben Kingsley, Kelsey Grammar (who starred in “Jesus Revolution”) and Andy Serkis play the British officers who begrudgingly, at times, believe in George and his capabilities, though a lot of the film is about a young man getting rebuffed by snobbish British officers.
He’s the kind of character who always makes the noble choice, does and says what’s right, and sees everyone as equals (including enslaved African men and Native American allies). He inspires his brother and others that the world can change and takes inspiration from his mother, who encourages him to continue his path and do it as God’s servant.
Unfortunately, this doesn’t make for a character that’s in any way complex or interesting at all. Franklyn-Miller is certainly pretty, serving as a fine face for this story, but the screenplay (by Erwin, Diederik Hoogstraten and Tom Provost) flattens his character into a basic cookie-cutter hero. Audiences, including the middle school social studies students, deserve better and more nuanced stories about this country and the values it was built upon.
“Young Washington” is propaganda in the form of a history lesson wrapped in a summer blockbuster. If only it were even slightly entertaining — maybe they’ll tackle that in the inevitable sequel.
‘Young Washington’
Rated: PG-13, for sequences of strong war violence and some bloody images
OLYMPIC VALLEY, Calif. — In the pre-dawn chill of the Sierra Nevada, Christina Klayko bounced on the balls of her feet, trying to keep warm and calm before one of the planet’s most punishing competitions.
Surrounding her at the starting line for the Western States Endurance Run — a lung-busting 100-mile race over towering mountain ridges and through deep, sun-scorched canyons — were some of the most elite athletes in the world, including former champions, record holders and an Olympic marathon medalist.
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Klayko, a 48-year-old mother of three, had no illusions about winning — she was just relieved to be there. She is a two-time cancer survivor, and a year earlier, she was lying on an operating table enduring a full hysterectomy, followed by months of radiation treatment. She was terrified she might die.
Spectators trekked to Emigrant Pass before dawn to cheer at the first significant milestone the Western States Endurance Run.
“I was in a very dark place,” she said. “I would have given anything just to be able to walk my dog around the block.”
But Klayko, a former software engineer from Los Altos, has never been a quitter. In her twenties, following a breast cancer diagnosis and a full mastectomy, she finished an Ironman triathlon. Last Saturday, she was hoping to complete an even more miraculous comeback.
To do so, she would have to run almost half the width of California, from the shores of Lake Tahoe to Auburn, a former mining town in the foothills above Sacramento, along remote, rock-strewn paths that rise and fall like a roller coaster.
In all, she would have to propel herself up more than 18,000 vertical feet, or three times the elevation hikers climb to the summit of Mt. Whitney, the tallest peak in the contiguous U.S. And she’d have to endure relentless jack-hammering from nearly 23,000 feet of descent.
Hard things are nothing new to her, Klayko said. And unlike cancer, running is a choice. You can walk away when you’ve had enough.
There’s no prize money for doing well in the Western States 100, but finishers get a commemorative belt buckle and, more importantly, membership in one of the most exclusive clubs in all of sports. More than 11,000 runners entered a lottery for fewer than 400 spots this year. Many had waited for more than a decade for their chance.
But there’s a cruel twist — not everyone who crosses the finish line wins the bragging rights.
There’s a strict 30-hour time limit. Which means, most years, dozens of competitors struggle over snow-capped mountains, push themselves to the brink of heat stroke in the sweltering canyons and endure a long, dark night in the wilderness, only to show up at the finish line a few minutes late.
Eric Strand, 65, of Wildwood, MO, center, runs in front of the Granite Chief Wilderness at the start of the Western States Endurance Run.
They’re not acknowledged as finishers. As far as the official record is concerned, they didn’t make it.
So as Klayko waited for the ceremonial shotgun blast that signals the start, she wasn’t worrying about cancer, or mortality, or even the hours of torture that lay ahead — she was dreading the cutoff.
“I knew I could just push and push as long as I had to,” Klayko said. But she couldn’t escape the looming fear of “running out of time.”
The first major obstacle was Emigrant Pass, a high ridge that is four miles, almost straight uphill, from the start at the Palisades Tahoe ski resort.
Half an hour after the start, the sun peeked over distant summits, turning the horizon orange, and the first runners approached the top.
In the lead pack was Jim Walmsley, a four-time Western States champion and holder of the course record — an astonishing 14 hours, 9 minutes and 28 seconds. Spaniard Kilian Jornet, arguably the greatest ultra runner of all time, was right there with him. That was no surprise. In addition to having won Western States and almost every other notable ultramarathon, Jornet famously summited Mt. Everest twice in one week — without supplemental oxygen.
Among the women was Molly Seidel, perhaps the most recognizable name after Jornet. Seidel had been a 27-year-old barista and babysitter before the COVID-delayed Olympics in 2021, when she shocked the running world by winning the bronze medal in the marathon. It was only the third marathon she had ever run.
These battle-hardened pros barely flinched when they crested the ridge and ran headfirst into bitter, gale-force winds gusting to 65 mph. Their bare, muscled legs kept pumping steadily and carried them down the other side, where the gusts quickly subsided.
The rest of the pack didn’t make it look so easy.
Spectators watch the sunrise before the start of the Western States Endurance Run.
Many were hunched and gasping as they struggled toward the crest. One woman bent over and started retching violently. Locking eyes with a reporter, she shouted, “I’M OK!” — apparently unaware that she was screaming over the wind and whatever was playing in her headphones. “I JUST SWALLOWED TOO MUCH SPIT!”
Then she straightened and staggered into the howling gale: only 96 more miles to go.
Seven hours later, at mile 56, the lead runners climbed out of the course’s deepest and hottest canyon, onto a dusty promontory called Michigan Bluff.
The first few looked almost as fresh and fast as they had at the ridge. But the punishment was starting to show on everyone else.
Jornet, who had been nursing a knee injury before the race, was concerned about the canyons. He didn’t make it through them, dropping out at mile 38.
Walmsley, who had been among the leaders for the first 30 miles, was fading by Michigan Bluff. Persistent hip pain would force him from the race at the next aid station. At this point, most of the other runners, including Klayko, were hours behind.
Justin Grunewald, a 40-year-old Colorado doctor, who some picked as a dark horse contender to finish in the top ten, looked exasperated as he emerged from the canyon. He went straight to his support team, who started dumping water down the back of his shirt and tying an ice bag around his neck.
“I’m totally fine,” he told them, “but my knee is killing me because I keep eating s—.” That’s runner shorthand for falling.
His knee was bleeding, but the real problem was his vision. He pulled off his sunglasses, and his eyes were a scary shade of red. He leaned his head back while a friend squeezed drops into them and reminded him to keep wearing his glasses. Obvious advice — but what else do you say to someone hellbent on running another 44 miles?
“Ultra runners are a strange breed,” said Amanda Basham, Grunewald’s wife. She was on his support team this year, but she has twice finished the race in fourth place.
Jacob Banta, of Mill Valley, pushes up the trail near Michigan Bluff during the Western States Endurance Run.
As Grunewald composed himself and trotted off into the distance, it seemed like a good time to ask the obvious: why does anyone put themselves through such an ordeal?
Basham laughed and said most people would probably brush the question aside with something safe and trite, like, “I just love running!” But the truth, she said, is that “almost everyone here has an intense story.”
Grunewald’s first wife and running partner, Gabe, died after fighting a rare cancer for 10 years, Basham said. Other competitors have lost a child, struggled with mental health or battled addiction. Running long distances on secluded trails can be a coping mechanism. For some, showing up at big races to commune with their tribe is like group therapy.
“We all come together for this common thing, and it doesn’t really matter if you went to rehab 10 times,” Basham said. “You’re here trying to get better, and it’s cool.”
Minutes later, Seidel hobbled out of the canyon clutching her thighs. When her crew offered her a chair, she tried to settle but started panting in pain, apologizing that she was in too much agony to sit.
This was her first attempt at 100 miles. She would explain later that she hadn’t eaten enough during the race and had developed excruciating skin lesions from chafing. It looked like her day was done, but she refused to quit.
The women’s winner, Jennifer Lichter, might have the most intense story of them all. Born in Bogota, Colombia, she was a nine-year old orphaned by cartel violence when a couple from Wisconsin adopted her.
In her first 100-mile race, she shaved a minute off the women’s course record, finishing in 15 hours, 28 minutes and five seconds.
The men’s winner, Vincent Bouillard, smashed the overall course record by more than 20 minutes, sprinting across the line in 13 hours, 46 minutes and 15 seconds.
Klayko, who never imagined herself involved in the chase for records, emerged from the canyon eight hours behind the leaders.
For most of the race, she hovered between hiking fast and running slow. She subsisted mostly on energy chews and gels, indulging in a baked potato sprinkled with salt at one point, and luxuriating in a cup of broth with rice at another.
Was attempting the race wise, given her health? Had she told her doctors she was planning to do this?
“That’s, um, a good question,” she said with a chuckle. “They know I’m a serious runner but … I don’t think I actually told them I was running the Western States.”
Probably for the best.
Like a lot of the runners, Klayko said she got a jolt of much needed energy at mile 78, on the bank of the American River, where the run suddenly turns into an obstacle course.
Racers grab a thin nylon rope and gingerly wade into the freezing water. Volunteers offer life vests and stay close to prevent drownings, but offer no assistance.
A racer crosses the American River during the Western States Endurance Run.
Near the middle of the crossing, the water got so deep that many runners submerged completely, pulling on the rope to haul themselves to the far bank.
“It definitely woke me up,” Klayko said of her crossing in the dark at 3 a.m. “It was a lot colder than I expected.”
On the other side — soaked to the bone, with wet clothes and shoes — she crawled back onto the dusty trail and started running again. Soon after, the trouble set in.
It began with a burning sensation on the bottom of her left foot. As the pain intensified, she started hobbling, leaning on the trekking pole in her right hand to take pressure off the blister that was growing bigger than a golf ball.
With just miles to go, her husband, Chris, who ran beside her — after the halfway point, competitors are allowed to have a companion for safety — kept checking the time. They were falling behind.
What do you say to someone you love in such a situation? You don’t want them to suffer, but you don’t want them to fail.
“We need to hustle,” he told her.
In the last few hundred yards, the race enters the football stadium at Placer High School. Seidel had finished hours earlier, at 5:29 a.m., when the stadium was relatively empty.
But the last 60 minutes before the notorious cutoff — known as Golden Hour — attracts a huge crowd.
Cameras film from every angle as one battered body after another circles the track. Some jog, some hobble, some openly sob. Whatever they do, it’s fully public and likely to go viral on social media.
Christina Klayko pushes for the finish at Placer High School with just minutes to spare in the Western States Endurance Run..
Klayko said she was coached to visualize her finish during training. In her head, it looked nothing like this.
When she came around the final bend with the clock ticking down, gasps arose from the media gaggle behind the finish line.
Desperate to compensate for the enormous blisters on both feet now, she leaned forward and to the right at almost 90 degrees — wobbling and weaving on her heels, relying on trekking poles to stay upright and claw forward.
It was hard to watch but impossible to look away.
When she was finally in stumbling distance of the line, Chris bounced up and down and thrust his arms in the air. The crowd roared.
She finished with 18 minutes to spare.
Christina Klayko nearly collapsed after crossing the finish with minutes to spare in Western States Endurance Run.
An estimated 10 million mourners attended Iran’s first Supreme Leader’s funeral in 1989, making it one of the world’s largest gatherings. As Iran prepares for the funeral of Khamenei, it’s expecting even bigger numbers.
A MAJOR airport in the UK is launching new overnight weekend trains for the first time.
Late-night airport passengers no longer need to break the bank to hail a cab.
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Stansted Airport is launching an overnight weekend train serviceCredit: AlamyStansted Express trains will run until 5am on weekendsCredit: Alamy
Thousands of travellers heading to and from London Stansted Airport will soon be able to catch trains through the night.
Stansted Express is launching a trial overnight service that will run every Friday night into Saturday morning from July 3.
The new service is aimed at passengers travelling on late-night and early-morning flights during the busy summer holiday season.
During the summer trial, trains will run every 30 minutes between 11.30pm and 5am, linking Stansted Airport with Tottenham Hale and London Liverpool Street.
Most of the overnight trains will operate between Stansted Airport and Tottenham Hale, where passengers can connect with the Victoria line Night Tube to continue their journeys across London.
A handful of early morning services will also start from, or continue to, London Liverpool Street.
The journey from Stansted Airport to Tottenham Hale takes around 36 minutes, providing a quick link into the capital.
Rail Minister Lord Peter Hendy, said: “These overnight Stansted Express services will make a real difference to people arriving late or travelling for early flights – connecting them straight into London via the Night Tube.
“Alongside contactless ticketing at every London airport, we’re building a railway that works for passengers and drives growth across the country.”
The trial will be running until September 25, giving flyers more transport options during the busy holiday season.
Stansted Express will evaluate how many passengers use the late-night trains during the trial before deciding whether to make them permanent.
Indiana Fever head coach Stephanie White has denounced the racist hate and abuse directed at Alyssa Thomas since the Phoenix Mercury forward committed a flagrant foul against star guard Caitlin Clark.
“It’s absolutely unacceptable,” White told the media before the team’s practice on Wednesday. “I think as a league as a whole, there’s been so much more toxicity, racism, homophobia — straight-out hate nonsense. And it is absolutely unacceptable.”
White attributed most of the hateful comments to online agitators rather than true WNBA or Indiana Fever fans.
“I believe this is people who are using our league, using our players, to further divisive agendas,” White said, while acknowledging that certain criticisms and fan dynamics are part of the game. “But it’s not hard to not be a jerk. If you are one of these people that are online doing this, do not call yourself a WNBA fan.”
A former Indiana Miss Basketball honoree, White played in the WNBA from 1999 to 2003, including with the Fever, before transitioning to coaching. She was previously the head coach of the Connecticut Sun — where she coached Thomas — before being hired by the Fever.
“Our league is about inclusiveness,” she continued. “Our league is about competition. Our league is about elevating — elevating women, elevating marginalized communities, and being inclusive of all different walks of life. That is what our league has always been about from day one. That is what our league will continue to be about.”
Indiana Fever head coach Stephanie White has denounced the racist abuse directed to Alyssa Thomas.
(Erik Rank / Associated Press)
Thomas was suspended for a game after the WNBA reviewed a viral moment that occurred during the Mercury’s 111-109 win over the Fever last Wednesday. Thomas and Clark were scrambling for a loose ball at around the 6:52 mark during the second quarter and Thomas’ fist pressed into Clark’s throat after she landed on her. No fouls were called at that time, and screenshots and video from the incident quickly made their rounds on social media. Upon review after the game, the WNBA assessed Thomas a Flagrant 2 foul.
The 13-year veteran and six-time All Star told reporters Tuesday that she has received death threats and racist abuse in the aftermath.
“It’s unfortunate that it’s come to this over basketball,” Thomas, who had served her suspension Saturday, said. “A lot of us, myself included, didn’t even know the play took place until after the game. Now we’re being painted as thugs. There’s death threats out on us. It’s really unacceptable. It’s something that needs to change in this league and I’m just really sick and tired of it.”
She called out the WNBA and Commissioner Cathy Engelbert for not doing more to protect players off the court.
“We’re so concerned about the safety on the court, but time and time again, we’re having people threaten our lives,” Thomas said, explaining that her main concern was not the suspension itself. “Leaking addresses out there. Putting crazy pictures that have nothing to do with basketball. At some point, the league needs to [take] a stand … Time and time again, players are going through this and the league remains silent. I’m sick and tired of it. It’s time for them to step up and have our backs.”
Engelbert released a statement Tuesday night following Thomas’ comments.
“The WNBA vehemently condemns any and all forms of hate,” the widely reported statement read. “The safety and well-being of everyone in our community is always the league’s top priority. We are aware of Alyssa Thomas’ comments, and what she and her teammates have experienced is completely unacceptable and not representative of the WNBA community. The league and our security team have been in contact with the Phoenix Mercury organization and remain committed to protecting all players.”
This is not the first time Thomas has spoken out about racist abuse she and her teammates have received following a match-up against the Fever. During the 2024 playoffs, while a member of the Sun, Thomas said that she had never experienced the sort of “racial comments” or “been called the things that [she’s] been called on social media” by so-called Fever fans. The Sun eliminated the Fever that year.
Clark’s fame and popularity have often led to various talking heads, commentators and even politicians who may not regularly follow the WNBA to share their hot takes whenever a situation involves the former college phenom. The ensuing discourse and social media chatter are often divisive.
Thomas’ flagrant foul occurred two days after the teams’ chippy June 22 matchup, which saw Thomas and Clark receive technical fouls along with three other players for their involvement in a scuffle during the final frame of the Fever’s 86-77 win.
“There’s a difference between trolling, and there’s a difference between hatred,” Thomas said Tuesday of the racist slurs she and other players have received. “The hatred that we’re experiencing over a play that, honestly, was a complete accident, no one even knew it happened. It’s just unfortunate. The league has to do better in this instance.”
Dine-in movie theater chain Alamo Drafthouse Cinema is launching a new initiative to show unreleased independent films that had successful festival runs, a move that comes as specialty films have struggled to gain distribution.
The Alamo Exclusives program, announced Wednesday, will give limited theatrical runs to films that showed at festivals including Sundance, the Toronto International Film Festival, Tribeca Festival and South by Southwest festival, as well as Alamo’s own Fantastic Fest.
The idea is to help showcase films that received critical acclaim, but did not secure distribution or acquisition deals. The chain will not acquire these films, but instead will enter into agreements with filmmakers to exhibit their films on Alamo Drafthouse screens. By showing these films to audiences on the big screen, these films could get the momentum they need for further opportunities.
The program’s first film will be the documentary “Butthole Surfers: The Hole Truth and Nothing Butt,” which debuted last year at South by Southwest and chronicles the history of the punk rock band.
The film will be shown in Alamo Drafthouse theaters for a limited time later this summer.
The Austin-based chain, which is owned by Sony Pictures, has a long history of curating indie films for its audiences, giving Alamo Drafthouse confidence that its viewers want to see these kinds of movies, company chief executive Michael Kustermann said in a statement.
“Time and again, they’ve shown they’ll come out to support bold, original films when given the opportunity,” he said. The new Alamo Exclusives “gives us another way to champion filmmaker-driven films that deserve to be discovered and connect them with the wider Alamo Drafthouse audience.”
The initiative comes at a difficult time for indie films. Since the pandemic upended the movie business, traditional studios and distributors have had less appetite for risk, including betting on smaller indie films out of festivals.
And as the 2023 dual writers’ and actors’ strikes thinned out theatrical lineups, that aversion to uncertainty became a push for reliable and profitable hits.
“Too many incredible films premiere at festivals and then never receive the theatrical life they deserve,” Lisa Dreyer, director of Fantastic Fest and film innovation at Alamo, said in a statement. “We are actively searching for films across all genres, from horror to comedy, to everything in-between, to champion in this new, exciting way.”
Advertised as “from the world of ‘Legally Blonde,’” the new Prime Video series “Elle” revisits that film’s heroine, Elle Woods (Lexi Minetree), as a 16-year-old high school student, suddenly transported from Beverly Hills to Seattle after her plastic surgeon father (Tom Everett Scott) botches a nose job and has to lie low.
Set in 1995, six years before the events of the first “Legally Blonde” film, with Seattle still living through the long tail of first-wave grunge — Kurt Cobain, Eddie Vedder and Chris Cornell are mentioned almost in a single breath — it shares with the big-screen mothership only its indomitable protagonist, who loves pink and her Chihuahua, Bruiser. (The dog gets its own origin story: It was “rescued” from the Spellings, as in Aaron, who found that its “earth tones” didn’t match “their new color palette.”)
There’s a passing reference to the lawyer Elle might (and does) become, and surely some things I missed, but if you’ve never seen “Legally Blonde,” you will not be at any particular disadvantage. (Possibly you will be at a disadvantage if you have seen it.) Bruiser aside, nothing that happens here affects what happens there. Don’t think twice, or even once, about canon. This is something else entirely.
What that is is a high school comedy, which is to say it’s full of familiar characters swept up in teenage drama. And because this is an eight-episode series and not a two-hour movie, relationships will shift more than once. Indeed, they will not be done shifting by the season’s end; a second is clearly in the producers’ sights.
The series is a fish out of water story as Elle moves from Beverly Hills to Seattle. From left, Kimberly (Chandler Kinney), Liz (Gabrielle Policano), Elle (Lexi Minetree), Miles (Jacob Moskovitz) and Dustin (Zac Looker).
(Kimberley French / Prime Video)
Floating into her new school on a bubble of positivity that will stubbornly refuse to burst, Elle is a spot of color in a sea of black and plaid. (There’s a joke that all the cliques — “jocks, D&D nerds, stoners, kids with parents with Microsoft money, kids with parents with Boeing money” — dress exactly alike.) Her surface mistaken for her substance, she’s mocked by Kimberley (Chandler Kinney), the Mean Queen Bee in a reversal of the usual dynamic; it’s the supposedly deep, authentic characters looking down on the privileged, seemingly shallow one. (Not understanding that Bikini Kill is a band, Elle will offer, “Bikini Kill? I know bikinis … that kill.”) Introducing herself to the skeptical Liz (Gabrielle Policano), who makes music and works in a record store, she says, “I like iced coffee, the month of July and when people dress kind of tennis-y, even when they don’t play tennis.”
At the same time, Elle will quickly bond with Shannon (Danielle Chand), the school’s self-appointed one-woman welcoming committee, and Miles (Jacob Moskovitz), a central-casting nice guy who literally collides with her, as is traditional. (His jacket is blue denim to set him apart.) Socially aware quasi-outsider Dustin (Zac Looker) will take a second longer to sway. Inevitably, all will fall before her goodness, her school spirit and her No Doubt karaoke, though her good intentions will have unintended consequences as well, and she’ll have things to learn — it’s a fish out of water story in which the water will change the fish, and the fish the water. In a late-season plotline, in order to give them something to think about than one another, they’ll become a Scooby Gang (with explicit references to “The Breakfast Club”), investigating adult shenanigans. Well, we love a Scooby Gang.
Chief among the grown-ups is Elle’s equally blond mother, Eva (June Diane Raphael), who will become involved in the mayoral campaign of (the late) James Van Der Beek’s Dean Wilson. At school, there are prickly Principal Anderson (Matt Oberg) and Donna (Amy Pietz, nice to see her), his good-hearted secretary, a champion of needy teens and, it will be revealed, Liz’s mother. It feels wrong to saddle the lovable Scott, as Elle’s father, Wyatt, with a fugitive-from-malpractice plot, such as it is — they had to get the family out of Beverly Hills somehow — and just as his character is lying low, so does he disappear, sadly, a little into the scenery. He does get a nice line about meeting someone named Mike McCready, the Pearl Jam guitarist, in a coffee shop and maybe getting together to play, and a chance to lead partygoers in Oasis’ “Wonderwall.”
Minetree is an apt choice to play a younger Reese Witherspoon (an executive producer), with a dash of “Clueless” Alicia Silverstone stirred in, and the younger cast is likable across the board. Written by Laura Kittrell, “Elle” is lightweight, often obvious and oddly, refreshingly innocent — Elle is waiting for “a perfect first kiss from a perfect guy” — both for the genre and the setting. (As Robyn Hitchcock sang of Seattle in “Viva! Sea-Tac,” “They’ve got the best computers and coffee and smack.”) In a way, it feels like a show made for those who already want what it’s selling, but that’s not me, and I had a perfectly fine time.
For those of us who remember the bicentennial, the semiquincentennial is a complete and utter dud. Many fine festivities will take place on and around July 4, but compared with the years-long nationwide celebration that marked this country’s 200th anniversary, 250 feels like a nonevent.
Perhaps it was inevitable. Semiquincentennial (meaning half of a 500-year anniversary) certainly doesn’t roll off the tongue as easily as bicentennial and our current president isn’t making it any catchier. Mostly because he seems to think 250 is the new 80 (the birthday President Trump recently marked with his UFC Freedom 250 cage match on the White House lawn).
To be fair, the federal government’s involvement in bicentennial planning also got bogged down with political and personal hubris. The national commission, originally created by President Lyndon B. Johnson, was reformed under President Richard Nixon. Plagued by criticism and scandal, it was eventually dissolved by Congress and replaced by a new commission that decided to mostly fund community celebrations.
There was much hand-wringing over missed opportunities at the time, but for more than a year, state and local governments staged reenactments, parades and patriotic events all over the country while the commercial sector star-spangled the crap out of everything: T-shirts, bell-bottoms and bathing suits; curtains, bedspreads and throw rugs; dishware, glassware and Tupperware.
The Declaration of Independence appeared on highball glasses, tea towels and collectible plates. Beginning in 1974, CBS ran mini-history lessons called “Bicentennial Minutes,” which were then sent up on shows as diverse as “Hee Haw” and “Maude.” George Washington and other Founding Fathers graced Pez dispensers, coasters and the cover of Mad Magazine. There was a bicentennial Barbie and a colonial Campbell’s Soup doll. McDonald’s sold red, white and blue milkshakes, Burger King offered a flag-bedecked series of glass tumblers, Disney characters wore tricorn hats for a line of park merchandise.
Some called it the “buy-centennial” but for a kid who daily rocked Stars and Stripes sneakers, and, thanks to a year’s worth of American-history-themed “Schoolhouse Rock!,” could, and would, sing the preamble to the Constitution or the anthem “No More Kings” at the drop of a hat, it was great fun.
Now, of course, “No More Kings” is an anti-Trump protest theme, and the right has so co-opted patriotism that wearing a flag-emblazoned T-shirt can feel somehow partisan. American history itself has become a bone of contention, with the left accusing the right of whitewashing this country’s inarguable sins — Native American displacement, slavery, gender inequality and racist policies — while the right insists that the left is obsessed with undermining our nation’s power and legacy by “woke”-shaming it.
The only thing each end of our divided political spectrum can agree on is that democracy is under mortal threat from the other.
That’s one good reason to feel less than festive, and there are plenty of others, including increased political violence, the war in Iran, tariffs, surging gas prices, civil rights rollbacks, Immigration and Customs Enforcement tactics, artificial intelligence’s threat to jobs, the resurgence of measles, the rising cost of just about everything and the fact that some critics are claiming that Steven Spielberg’s “Disclosure Day” is less full of wonder than “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.”
But things weren’t so great heading into the bicentennial either. I was 12 at the time, born nine months after Alabama Gov. George Wallace gave his infamous “segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever” speech and less than two months before President Kennedy was assassinated. I hadn’t been alive a year when civil rights activists James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner were murdered in Mississippi by members of the Ku Klux Klan and hadn’t turned 5 when the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and then-Sen. Robert F. Kennedy were also assassinated.
Sure, it was that now-wistfully remembered time when kids went out in the morning and played, mostly unmonitored, until nightfall (with the inevitable trips to the doctor for stitches and tetanus shots for those wounds too obvious to hide from parents). But by the time the bicentennial rolled around, my life had played out against the backdrop of civil unrest and the Vietnam War, both spilling from our black-and-white television almost nightly.
I was 9 when Wallace, then a presidential candidate, was shot and 10 when I learned what OPEC and gas siphoning meant as my family spent hours in an un-air-conditioned car, inching toward the gas pump after the 1973 “Yom Kippur” Arab-Israeli War resulted in oil shortages.
That same year, Vice President Spiro Agnew resigned from office, pleading “no contest” to charges of tax evasion but avoiding prosecution for charges of bribery and criminal conspiracy, and Nixon appointed House Minority Leader Gerald Ford (R-Mich.) to Agnew’s place. In 1974, Nixon, faced with impeachment for his part in the Watergate scandal, became the first president in U.S. history to resign.
The bicentennial’s tall ships festivals, fife and drum parades and Old Glory consumer fest occurred in a country reeling from more than a decade of history-changing assassinations, civil unrest, economic anxiety and high-level political corruption (not to mention a collective fear of the ocean brought on by the 1975 release of Spielberg’s “Jaws”). Democracy was celebrated under Ford, the first, and thus far only, president to come to office through the provisions of the 25th Amendment rather than a national election.
A president who, after being regularly and ruthlessly lampooned by comedian Chevy Chase on the nascent “Saturday Night Live,” reacted by becoming friends with Chase instead of, you know, forcing the network to fire him.
If the bicentennial roiled with some of the same tensions Americans feel today, it did benefit from a cultural cohesion that no longer exists. The year 1976 saw the founding of Apple and the introduction of VHS tapes, but the national audience was still very much a reality. Back then, you couldn’t escape the songs of the summer — “Silly Love Songs” (Wings), “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” (Elton John and Kiki Dee) and “Afternoon Delight” (Starland Vocal Band) — any more than you could miss those “Bicentennial Minutes.” We all listened to the radio, watched TV, went to the movies and bought books, and our preferences revealed the country’s desire for both comfort and change.
On the bestseller lists, Agatha Christie’s final Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple books marked the end of an era, toggling in the No. 1 spot with the political turbulence of Gore Vidal’s “1876” and Leon Uris’ “Trinity.” “Rocky” beat “All the President’s Men,” “Taxi Driver,” “Network,” “Marathon Man” and “The Omen” at the box office and, later, in the best picture Oscar race.
On television, Americans sought the nostalgic comfort food of “Happy Days,” “The Waltons” and “Little House on the Prairie” amid the more pointed social comedies of “All in the Family,” “The Jeffersons” and “MASH,” all of which had nightly averages of 20 million or more viewers.
In today’s cultural landscape, defined by social media bubbles, streaming services and Spotify libraries, the gap between mass audience and cultural significance is much wider than it was 50 years ago (“The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” may be the highest-grossing movie of the year, but it’s hard to imagine it winning best picture) and mass audience has become a relative term for pretty much everything that is not the Super Bowl.
Even so, we too find ourselves rooting for the little guy (“Project Hail Mary”) and reaching into the past for inspiration (a new “Little House on the Prairie” debuts next week on Netflix) even as we contemplate the future of tech (“The Six Billion Dollar Man” has become every computer genius who can leap a firewall).
I don’t know what it was like to be an adult in 1976, but I remember my parents fretting over the grocery budget, nixing travel plans because of the price of gas and worrying about the future of a country that seemed so irreparably divided. To paraphrase the Diana Ross hit of the time, did we know where we were going to? Not at all. The bicentennial occurred during an election year, with all the partisan denunciations that entails (though when Jimmy Carter narrowly beat Ford, no one thought of contesting the results).
Even so, most Americans were still ready to party, to celebrate the 200th anniversary of a long-shot revolution that resulted in the United States of America.
So does it stink that the semiquincentennial has been such a flop? Yes, it does. But, as is written in its very singable preamble, the Constitution was written “in order to form a more perfect union.” Not “perfect,” but “more perfect.” As in better.
Even in the most troubled times, the cornerstone of our democracy is the understanding that we will always need to do better and there is a living document that allows us to do so.
And 250 years’ worth of that is definitely worth celebrating.
Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda celebrates after the Dodgers beat the Montreal Expos to win the NL pennant in 1981.
(Associated Press)
Years as manager: 1976-1996
Record: 1,599-1,439, .526 win pct
After serving as the team’s third base coach for four seasons, Lasorda took over as manager late in the 1976 season when Alston announced his retirement. He led the Dodgers to the National League pennant in his first two full seasons, losing both times to the Yankees in the World Series. He won his first World Series in 1981, knocking off the Yankees, and rallied his team to a surprise title in 1988 in which the Dodgers beat the heavily favored Athletics. Lasorda was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1997, his first year of eligibility.
A fiery and vibrant presence who spent 71 years with the Dodgers, Lasorda managed nine players who won the NL rookie of the year award. The Dodgers also opened the Japanese player pipeline on his watch. Hideo Nomo, the first Japanese big leaguer to permanently relocate to the U.S., joined the Dodgers in 1995. Three decades later, the team features Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto on its star-studded roster.
