A new career?

I attended my first red-carpet event this weekend, a quintessential southern California experience.

I was on the paparazzi front line outside El Cajon City Hall as gobs of B-list TV celebrities and teen heartthrobs arrived to take part in the annual Mother Goose Parade.

Among the first arrivals was John Schneider (Bo from "The Dukes of Hazzard") who pulled up in the General Lee. And, yes, the car still plays the first few notes of "Dixie" on its horn. (Click on the map or any pic for a larger view.)
Each of the other celebrities pulled up in one of several limos that were otherwise hidden behind City Hall waiting to pick up the stars after they arrived in their personal vehicles. The revelation shattered my naïve fantasy of celebrities' traveling around in limos everywhere they go.
Most of the celebrities shook hands and passed out autographs to the crowds of screaming fans surrounding the red-carpet area.

Schneider has held up well over the years.
But I can't say the same for Dean Cain, who stared as Superman in "Lois and Clark" then hosted the "Ripley's Believe It or Not!" series.
Erik Estrada arrived with his daughter.
Robert Wagner was with his co-star from the "Dennis the Menace" movies, Maxwell Perry Cotton, who also appears on "Brothers & Sisters."

The parade was a much-delayed repeat performance for Wagner, who apparently served as Mother Goose grand marshal with his wife Natalie Wood in the late 1950s. That was well before the boating incident, of course.
Eva La Rue (CSI: Miami) with daughter.
Efren Ramirez played Pedro in the movie "Napoleon Dynamite."
Greg Grunberg from "Heroes."
Kimberlin Brown from "The Young and the Restless."
Sara Paxton from "Aquamarine."
Corbin Bleu, star of the "High School Musical" movies, generated the most excitement.
Everywhere he went crowds of teens and pre-teens screamed their heads off and jumped up and down in ecstasy. It was pandemonium.
Drake Bell, of Nickelodeon's "Drake and Josh," was probably the least crowd-friendly of the bunch.
Kyle Massey of Disney's "Cory in the House" and "That's So Raven."
"American Idol" runner-up Katharine McPhee.
Emily Osment, who plays the sidekick to Hannah Montana.
Singer Monet.
Schneider hamming it up with the crowd. Woof!

Here's the lineup before the parade rolled down Main Street.

The only good Bambi is a dead Bambi

A Minnesota woman celebrated the first day of hunting season by stalking and killing a rare albino deer.

Watch video report here.

Clearly, I didn't inherit the get-a-thrill-out-of-killing-the prettiest-and-rarest-animal gene.

Beat Saban, the video

Día de los Muertos

Just across the street from Union Station in downtown L.A., people were celebrating the Day of the Dead in El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historic Monument.
The plaza was full of altars honoring departed family and friends.
The scene reminded me of the New Orleans tradition of building personal altars on St. Joseph's Day in the spring.



Many of the altars were full of personal items.
Others had political themes, like this one honoring Emiliano Zapata who was a leader in the Mexican Revolution.

Going home

I took the train back to San Diego from downtown L.A.'s Union Station.
This huge mural overlooks the station's east lobby . . .
Which is capped by this glass dome.
Here's the old lobby, which dates to 1939, on the station's west side.

What's all that noise?

As I left my seminar late this afternoon I found the Trojan Marching Band rehearsing at the nearby track stadium. They seemed to be having a lot of fun.

Funny. I don't remember high school band practice in south Louisiana being that enjoyable. Okay, maybe it had something to do with the 95-degree temperatures and 100-percent humidity.

"Know your enemy"

I started my day at USC early enough to find fresh piles of the Daily Trojan neatly stacked in convenient locations around campus.The Von Kleinsmid Center, a research library.The Student Union.The Youth Triumphant fountain in Alumni Park.The Shrine Auditorium (located just off campus), which has hosted the Oscars, the Emmys, the Grammys and more over the years.There were signs of this weekend's homecoming everywhere, including in Alumni Park.This tent, sitting on prime campus real estate, apparently is reserved for former members of the football team.Even Tommy Trojan was getting into the act.I couldn't have bought a ticket for the game even if I had wanted to. (Note the "sold out" label in the next pic.)The beaver taunting was vicious in some places.I stumbled across the football team's practice field on my way to my seminar. From the ground, you can't see past the walls that surround the space. But I got this overhead view by climbing to the top of the bleachers in the track stadium just across the street. So much for closed practices.

Behind enemy lines

I'm paying my first visit to Trojanland to attend a work seminar, and I couldn't resist stopping first at the storied stadium that is home to USC's football team and the former host of two Summer Olympic Games.
At night in low light, the Coliseum certainly has a certain panache. But I've heard that the downtown stadium - like its crosstown cousin the Rose Bowl - is a bit of a dump in the guileless glare of sunlight.
USC is located just outside downtown L.A. on a compact scenic campus. (Click on the map to view it larger.)
I found Tommy Trojan near the center of the campus. The 77-year-old statue is an important part of school tradition.
As is George Tirebiter, the scraggly mutt that became the school's live mascot in the 1940s. He's immortalized in this bronze.
This is Alumni Park, also near the center of campus. The tents in the background are part homecoming celebrations leading up to this weekend's PAC 10 conference game against Oregon State.
I was really hoping that my in-your-face LSU shirt would provoke some livid reactions from Trojan faithful as I roamed campus tonight, but I couldn't have been more disappointed.

Not only did no one dare speak to me, but most of the people I encountered (many wearing USC clothing) turned their eyes away from me like cowardly puppies fearful of triggering a confrontation with a snarling, rabid pit bull.

This ain't the SEC.
I'm wondering if the members of the debate team will spend their time under this tent arguing whether a single national championship makes a dynasty.
This is where they play those other ball sports.The Coliseum is located just south of campus in Exposition Park, which is home to a growing cluster of museums . . .
Including the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.
I thought my skin was going to incinerate when I had to walk into this hotel gift shop to buy a newspaper.

Finally!

The game we've all been waiting for.Tiger fans will swarm Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa on Saturday to watch the Tigers maul former LSU coach Nick Satan and his flavor-of-the-month team. (Click on any image to view it larger.)
Bama fans have been gearing up for the game as well.