Donovan

Every great room needs a great soundtrack. That's particularly true of the rooms created by night-life impresario, music lover and DJ Brent Bolthouse. If his newest beachside lounge, the Bungalow, could sing it would sound like 1960s superstar Donovan. Positioned on the corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Ocean Avenue, with gauzy views of the glimmering Pacific Ocean, the song it would sing would be "Sunshine Superman. " "There's such a great connection between music and the sea," says Bolthouse on a recent afternoon, standing on the Bungalow's expansive wooden deck, staring west.

U.S. national team Coach Juergen Klinsmann called 29 players into training camp for next month's trio of World Cup qualifiers and, as expected, the Galaxy's Landon Donovan was left off the list. However Galaxy teammate Omar Gonzalez was among those called up Thursday. He will join the team after L.A.'s May 26 match with Seattle. The U.S. will play friendlies with Belgium and Germany before returning to the final round of regional World Cup qualifying June 7 in Jamaica. The U.S., currently third in its six-team qualifying group, will then play host to Panama on June 11 in Seattle and Honduras a week later in suburban Salt Lake City.

Donovan, famous for '60s pop hits such as "Hurdy Gurdy Man" and "Mellow Yellow," has announced plans to open the Invincible Donovan University, where students will adhere to the principles of transcendental meditation. "I know it sounds like an airy-fairy hippie dream to go on about '60s peace and love," said the 61-year-old singer, who was born Donovan Leitch in the Maryhill area of Glasgow, Scotland. "But the world is ready for this now; it is clear this is the time."

David Beckham's six years with the Galaxy bolstered the fortunes of both the Galaxy and Major League Soccer. But now that the superstar is gone, has it made any difference? It's a mixed bag, but it's still early in the season. Through its first five home games at the 27,000-seat Home Depot Center, the Galaxy's average attendance is down 6% from a year earlier to 21,011. Ticket broker StubHub, which takes over the stadium's naming rights June 1 as part of a marketing partnership with the Galaxy, likewise is "seeing a bit of lag" in the resale market for Galaxy tickets, according to StubHub spokeswoman Alison Salcedo.

An early front-runner for the 2007 Odd Couple Pairing of the Year award has emerged with word that filmmaker David Lynch and '60s folk-rock hero Donovan will team for three free appearances this month. They'll make stops Jan. 12 at Lincoln Center in New York, Jan. 14 at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and conclude their brief tour Jan. 21 at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood.

Since word got out that David Lynch and Donovan would appear together in three cities -- New York, Washington and Hollywood -- people have been buzzing about the unlikeliness of the pairing. What could the master of subconscious cinema share with the flower-power Hurdy Gurdy Man, beyond a devotion to Transcendental Meditation (TM), the spiritual path this mini-tour promoted? It was like putting Anne Rice and Bob Newhart on tour together because they're both Catholic.

The Galaxy invited season-ticket holders to a lunch-time news conference Wednesday and many fans expected the team to announce that forward Landon Donovan would be leaving for the English Premier League. Instead, the team announced its captain and leading scorer had signed a four-year contract that would keep him in Los Angeles through 2013. "Thank you, Landon!" one fan shouted at Donovan, who responded with a shy grin. And Donovan had reason to smile -- millions of them -- since the value of his contract more than doubles the $900,000 base salary he got from the Galaxy last season, when he led it to the Major League Soccer championship game and was selected the league's most valuable player.

Former Labor Secretary Raymond J. Donovan has been cleared in a secret probe into allegations that he may have lied when he denied knowing anything about an alleged $15,000 kickback scheme involving Donovan and his construction company, according to a report issued Friday. One of the alleged kickbacks was a $5,000 contribution solicited by Donovan for the New Jersey gubernatorial campaign of Raymond Bateman, according to a report by independent counsel Leon A.

A federal judge sentenced a trucking executive to six months in prison for falsely telling the FBI that Labor Secretary Raymond J. Donovan laundered Teamsters Union contributions to President Reagan's 1980 campaign. Michael E. Klepfer, 45, pleaded guilty in a plea bargain Nov. 16 to one count of making a false statement. Allegations by Klepfer and nearly 40 other persons led to a six-month investigation of Donovan, who was cleared by a special prosecutor in June, 1982.

The jury hearing the criminal case against former U.S. Labor Secretary Raymond J. Donovan was sequestered Thursday after a newspaper reported that Donovan is the subject of a perjury investigation. State Supreme Court Justice John P. Collins granted a motion for sequestering from defense lawyers in the larceny and fraud case, which is in its final days of closing statements, Assistant Dist. Atty. Stephen R. Bookin said. The judge did not inform the jurors of his reason for sequestering them.

The give-away for fans at the Galaxy game Sunday night was a Landon Donovan bobblehead doll. But for Donovan, what mattered was the penalty kick that got away. Donovan failed to convert his second consecutive penalty kick and the Houston Dynamo defeated the Galaxy, 1-0, in front of 20,071 at a chilly Home Depot Center. BOX SCORE: Houston 1, Galaxy 0 The victory gave Houston some solace after the Galaxy defeated the Dynamo in the MLS Cup to win the league championship the last two years, with the Galaxy winning both titles at home.

GALAXY VS HOUSTON When: 8. Where: Home Depot Center. On the air: TV: ESPN2, ESPN Deportes; Radio: 1150, 1330. Records: Galaxy 4-1-2, Dynamo 4-2-2. Record vs. Dynamo (2012): 0-1-0. Update: Seeking its third consecutive win, the Galaxy faces the Houston club that it has defeated in the MLS Cup the last two years to win back-to-back championships. The game also is Landon Donovan's bobblehead night, and Donovan, forward Robbie Keane, defender Todd Dunivant and goalkeeper Carlo Cudicini are expected back after missing last week's game because of minor injuries.

All eyes were on the fluorescent green shoes of Landon Donovan, and the Galaxy star made the most of his initial start at Home Depot Center this season, scoring the second goal and assisting on the first in Saturday night's 2-0 victory over Sporting Kansas City. Even before the opening kickoff the near-capacity crowd of 25,908 broke into a chant and Donovan, the third-highest scorer in Major League Soccer history, gave the fans plenty to cheer after seeming a step slow against FC Dallas one week earlier in his first MLS start.

Despite being eliminated in the CONCACAF Champions League semifinals, the Galaxy at least knows Landon Donovan, the team's all-time scoring leader, is back to playing a complete game. For the first time since he reported late to the Galaxy after a self-imposed hiatus for mental and physical exhaustion, Donovan played a full 90 minutes in the Galaxy's 1-0 loss to the Monterrey Rayados on Wednesday night in Mexico. Monterrey won the two-leg CONCACAF tournament with a 3-1 aggregate score.

Lost in the euphoria over the United States national team's tie with Mexico in a World Cup qualifier Tuesday was one simple fact: This American team isn't very good. Gritty, gutty, determined, yes. But good? Not so much. Consider that in three World Cup qualifiers this year the U.S. has scored twice, been outshot by a margin of more than 2 to 1 — including an incredible 17-1 in the Mexico game — and managed only three shots on goal. Its only win came in a snowstorm near Denver in a game that should have been suspended.

Landon Donovan admitted Thursday that he nearly walked away from soccer for good after the Galaxy won last year's MLS title. But after a four-month break to alleviate physical and mental exhaustion, the former Galaxy captain returned to training this week "very motivated again" and with the hope of regaining his job with the U.S. national team by the next round of World Cup qualifiers in June. "I have a long way to go and a lot of work to do," said Donovan, the all-time leader in goals and assists for the U.S. national team.

After a bitter courtroom confrontation, a judge Saturday ordered an alternate juror seated and deliberations to begin again in the marathon larceny and fraud trial of former Labor Secretary Raymond J. Donovan. "The people and the defendants have a right to a verdict," state Supreme Court Justice John P. Collins said after finding "ambiguous" a section of New York trial law prohibiting the substitution of jurors without the permission of defendants after a jury has started its deliberations.

Chris Klein isn't worried about David Beckham and his much-anticipated return to the United States. The Los Angeles Galaxy will be midway through their MLS season when Beckham arrives in July from his overseas loan to AC Milan and Klein says his teammate's absence won't be an issue. "Since the beginning of the year, we've focused on the core group of guys in the locker room that we have," Klein said after a recent practice. "I think initially to have Landon (Donovan) back is the biggest thing for us. He's a homegrown player, he's an American player and probably one of the best we've ever produced.

When: 2 p.m. Where: Home Depot Center. On the air: TV: TWC SportsNet, UniMas; Radio: 1150, 1220. Records (2012): Galaxy 16-12-6, Chicago 17-11-6. Record vs. Chicago (2012): 1-0. Update: The Galaxy got off to a horrendous start last year, then caught fire in midsummer to win a second straight Major League Soccer title. This year the team starts the season without Landon Donovan; as a result, new captain Robbie Keane, whose 16 goals were fourth-best in MLS last year, will have to shoulder much of the offensive load.

The Galaxy's David Beckham Era ended in December with a second consecutive Major Soccer League title. So Sunday afternoon a new era will begin when the Galaxy players, after receiving their championship rings, embark on a quest for more jewelry and a league-record third straight championship. Their MLS journey begins at the Home Depot Center against the Chicago Fire. But Beckham won't be the only big name not in uniform. Landon Donovan - who scored the winning goal in each of those MLS Cup finals - may show up to get his ring, but he won't be suiting up, continuing a self-imposed sabbatical that included a recent 10-day trip to Cambodia, where he apparently sought spiritual enlightenment.