Concerts

Promoters on Wednesday more than doubled Michael Jackson's summer run of concerts in London after advance tickets sold out within hours of going on sale at prices ranging from $70 to $105. AEG Live said an advance allotment of half the tickets for the 10 shows in July sold out soon after going on sale. Eighteen concerts have been added into September, and more shows are possible. The 50-year-old King of Pop has said the shows at the 20,000-capacity O2 Arena in south London will be his last in the British capital.

Janos Starker, a renowned concert cellist as well as a distinguished teacher and recording artist, died Sunday at his home in Bloomington, Ind. He was 88 and had been in declining health. Since 1958, Starker had been a professor at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. The university announced his death. Starker's cello seminars attracted students from all over the world. "I personally cannot perform without teaching, and I cannot teach without performing," he told the Chicago Tribune in 1993.

Concerts scrapped: Because of lagging ticket sales as well as a decline in individual and corporate donations, the Santa Clarita Symphony has canceled its 2009 season.

First they put a lid on it, and now they're pulling the plug. Universal City's Gibson Amphitheatre, a fixture on the Southern California live music scene for more than 40 years, will close in September and be demolished to make room for the new Wizarding World of Harry Potter attraction at Universal Studios theme park, officials announced Wednesday. The announcement came a day after Universal Studios Hollywood won approval from the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors to begin construction on its planned $1.6-billion expansion of the theme park.

Pianist Yuja Wang struck a chord at the Hollywood Bowl this month and not just with her performance of Rachmaninoff's Third Piano Concerto. The 24-year-old Chinese soloist had necks craning, tongues wagging and flashbulbs popping when she walked on wearing an orange, thigh-grazing, body-hugging dress atop sparkly gold strappy stiletto sandals. In particular, Wang's outfit was a hot topic at the concert and continued after L.A. Times music critic Mark Swed's review appeared in print and online.

Gerald McCabe, a furniture designer whose passion for woodworking and love of music led to the creation of the Santa Monica folk music institution McCabe's Guitar Shop, died Sunday in Eugene, Ore., two days after suffering a heart attack. He was 82. McCabe left his namesake operation before it became celebrated for the intimate concerts that have been held there for decades, but in its earliest days the store, on Pico Boulevard a block west of its current location, played a crucial role in the evolution of the Southern California folk music community.

Hollywood's Jeff Bridges, a musician before his acting career took off, will return to his roots with a pair of concerts this spring in suburban Las Vegas . Bridges will perform April 19 at Santa Fe Station and the following night at Red Rock Resort . Bridges' musical talents were showcased in 2010's “ Crazy Heart .” The veteran performer took home the lead-actor Oscar for his portrayal of Bad Blake, a down-on-his-luck country...

The smoke cleared Monday on the site of Woodstock '99 as authorities and cleanup crews dealt with the aftermath of the weekend festival's violent finale--widespread looting, arson and rioting that sent the event's peaceful ethos up in flames. The Sunday night chaos saw hundreds of youths set a dozen bonfires, tear down at least two 50-foot light towers and torch a row of cargo containers, authorities and witnesses said. Propane gas tanks also reportedly were thrown into the flames by rioters.

Eight years after trading in his Stetson and pop music superstardom for domestic life raising his three young daughters, Garth Brooks, the biggest-selling solo performer of all time, has decided to dust off that hat and come out of retirement -- but only on weekends. Brooks announced Thursday afternoon that he'll start a series of solo acoustic concerts in the 1,500-seat Encore Theater at the Wynn casino and resort in Las Vegas as part of a multimillion-dollar deal with Steve Wynn, the hotel's billionaire developer.

A list of upcoming concerts across the Southland, with on-sale dates in parentheses. Hollywood Palladium Tiger Heat, Feb. 10 (Thu.); Fleet Foxes, May 7 (Fri.) Hollywood Bowl Rod Stewart & Stevie Nicks, April 17 (Mon.) Nokia Theatre Katy Perry, Aug. 5-7 (now); Ricky Martin, May 6-7; La Banda El Recodo, May 28 (Sat.) Music Box OMD, March 25 and 29; Architecture in Helsinki, June 1 (now); Yelle, May 21 (Fri.) El Rey Theatre Uh Huh Her, April 1 (now)

File this under the Universe Abhors a Vacuum in Pop Music Too file: Just as news came down that the long-running Gibson Amphitheatre at Universal City will close in September and be razed to make way for a new Harry Potter attraction, a new pop music venue is about to come online in Los Angeles. Nederlander Concerts has entered a deal to book concerts at USC's Galen Center, a sports arena that can handle events for audiences of 5,000 to 11,000 capacity, Nederlander Concerts Chief Executive Alex Hodges told The Times on Wednesday.

New Yorkers may go out of their way to sneer at L.A., but hey, we don't mind recognizing accomplishment when it's due to our East Coast brethren. At the more indie-rock-inclined edition of the L.A. Phil's Brooklyn Festival, marquee acts from the neighborhood including Chairlift and the Antlers will push their experimental rock and electronica in a grander orchestral direction. Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 S. Grand Ave., L.A. 8 p.m. Fri. $30-$55. Laphil.com .

A tree grows most surely in Brooklyn. But what's in a ZIP Code? The Los Angeles Philharmonic began its Brooklyn Festival on Tuesday night with a Green Umbrella concert at Walt Disney Concert Hall. The hip New York City borough is not just a destination for visual artists, artisan picklers and other assorted foodies, but also host to a significant new music scene. Meanwhile, Hear Now held its third annual Festival of Contemporary Los Angeles Music in Venice - where foodies (along with artisan picklers)

The day after a fertilizer plant exploded in central Texas, killing at least 11 people and injuring more than 160, country music icon Willie Nelson announced he would hold a benefit concert for the victims. Nelson was born about five miles from the site of the disaster in West, Texas.  “West has been in my backyard all my life,” Nelson tweeted Wednesday night. “My heart is praying for the community that we call home.” Nelson still keeps a house in his birthplace,  Abbott, Texas.

Large classical music ensembles are no strangers to economic challenges, but the Santa Monica-based Verdi Chorus may be the only one whose existential crisis came when an Italian restaurant went out of business. The opera-only ensemble of about 50 voices has lived to tell the tale, and this weekend, it will celebrate its 30th anniversary while also honoring the 200th anniversary of the birth of Giuseppe Verdi, the great composer after whom it is only tangentially named. The chorus began in 1983 as a house organ of Verdi Ristorante di Musica, a fancily redone former Wilshire Boulevard funeral parlor where singing was as much a fixture as veal scaloppine.

PALO ALTO - We hallucinate. But we are often of two minds about having two minds. We produce drugs to enhance hallucinations and drugs to dull them. Medical science seeks to relieve schizophrenics of their visions. Religion, on the other hand, sanctifies visionaries. Neurologists hunt for explanations. Art is haunted by the haunted. Where would opera be without its mad scenes and wild fantasies? Where would the Beatles have been without LSD? Stanford University made an ambitious attempt to bring together much of the above in its new Bing Concert Hall on Friday night with the premiere of "Visitations" - two short chamber operas about hallucinations by faculty composer and neurological researcher Jonathan Berger.

The onset of winter in Los Angeles is less a meteorological shift than a cultural one, marked by holiday decorations and seasonal shopping but not snowfall or frozen lakes. One sure signifier of yuletide in the Southland is the swell of festive concerts, and whether you prefer yours traditional, kitschy, jazzy or punk-rock, chances are there's something out there for you. Aimee Mann Christmas Show Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter Aimee Mann puts together a Christmas show like none other.

Ooks of Hazzard, Killsonic, Strangely Attractive and more Where: The Autumn Lights Festival, Pershing Square, 532 S. Olive Ave., L.A. When: 7 p.m.-1 a.m. Saturday Price: Free Info: http://www.autumnlightsla.com

Meat Loaf has cited illness for the cancellation of another concert during his "Last at Bat" tour. The 65-year-old rocker pulled out of a Nottingham concert at Capital FM Arena during the farewell tour just 30 minutes before doors were scheduled to open Sunday, the Associated Press reported . The concert was the fifth of eight shows lined up for Britain on the tour that kicked off April 5. The performance was " postponed due...

Singer Barbra Streisand is adding a second concert in Israel this summer after the first one sold out in about a day -- even with tickets priced at $700 each. This is the first time the 70-year-old singer has gone to Israel to perform, and the engagement comes during the country's 65th anniversary, the Israeli Ministry of Tourism announced Tuesday. The added show by Streisand, who sang at the Oscars in February, is to be June 22 at Bloomfield Stadium in Tel Aviv. The first concert will be June 20 at the same location, which seats about 16,000 people.