Drum

EVENTS The Watts Towers are one of L.A.'s finest folk art achievements, and at the Watts Towers Day of the Drum & Jazz Festival, the iconic structure and its neighborhood are celebrated with music, dance and cultural festivities. Watts Towers Arts Center and Charles Mingus Youth arts Center, 1727 E. 107th St., L.A. All day Sat. and Sun., see wattstowers.org for full event schedule.

A University of Central Florida student who was plotting an apparent massacre at his dorm managed to amass guns, explosives and hundreds of rounds of ammunition, with his roommates oblivious to his plans, police said Tuesday. James Oliver Seevakumaran's body was found in his dorm room early Monday morning with a .45-caliber handgun and a .22-caliber tactical rifle that had a 110-round drum magazine attached to it, police said. He also had a checklist of plotted actions leading up to a massacre that he never completed, police said.

If David Henry Hwang really thinks that "Flower Drum Song" is any more racially offensive than a box of Rice-a-Roni, then he needs to pull his head out of his politically correct navel ("Let the Debate Begin," by Michael Phillips, Sept. 16). The musical was based on a novel by Chin Y. Lee, a native Chinese who immigrated to the U.S. in 1947; and except for inventing a single additional character and lightening the tone, Oscar Hammerstein II and Joseph Fields remained absolutely faithful to Lee's vision--a vision, perhaps, that is not as relevant today as it was in 1957.

Emanuel Pleitez is running for mayor. But at this moment, he is jogging for mayor - in sneakers and baby-blue athletic shorts down a sidewalk in Reseda. By all accounts, the lanky former tech company executive is a long-shot candidate. He is fifth in the polls and has raised only nickels compared with the top contenders in the Los Angeles race. Many voters don't even know his name. But Pleitez, 30, is an optimist, and his thinking goes like this: If people just get the chance to meet him, they might vote for him. So in the days leading up to Tuesday's primary election, he is running 100 miles across the city in a grueling effort to introduce himself to as many of them as possible.

Your summary (World Report, Jan. 8) of a Canadian professor's argument that the United States might be planning a secret attack on Canada--our long-term ally--has, indeed, surprised many of us in the Pentagon. Nothing could be further from the truth. The United States and Canada remain firm friends, as evidenced by our joint effort, with approximately 25 other nations, to meet the aggression of Iraq's Saddam Hussein against Kuwait. Floyd Rudmin, professor of law and business at Queen's University, recently wrote in a Canadian scholarly journal that the home of the relatively young 10th Mountain Division at Ft. Drum, N.Y., close to Canada, suggests the United States might be planning to invade Canada to cut communication between Quebec and Ottawa.

An interesting report this week on a 2009 case of anthrax after a drumming circle event, from our friends at the government's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: The spores were blown up as the drummers pounded away on animal-hide drums. Though this way of spreading anthrax may sound odd, animals and their hides are well known as a source of anthrax-spore exposure; anthrax infections among livestock are common enough that researchers of the bacterium have even used genetic typing of spores in dirt to map historic cattle-driving trails in the Western United States.

As a lifelong drummer, I read with great interest Dan Neil's column on the death of the drum solo ("The Big Bang," 800 Words, Jan. 22). I've never been a big fan of drum solos. Any overlong solo or soulless display of proficiency (on any instrument) borders on braggadocio and pretension. I also think audiences tire of overly long drum solos simply because there is no melody. Brevity may be the soul of wit, as the saying goes, but it is also the soul of a good drum solo. David Zimelis Los Angeles While neither a drummer, musicologist nor music critic, I've always been an ardent rock fan. I agree with Neil's praise of Charlie Watts and his remarks on the decline of rock concert intimacy, but I adamantly disagree with his and Neil Peart's take on Ron Bushy's landmark work in "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida."

Fifty years after he rocketed to the international stage with "The Tin Drum," Gunter Grass is still surprised at the overnight success of his tale of World War II as told through the eyes of a stunted boy and his toy instrument. Grass -- who turned 82 Friday -- paused when asked the reason for the book's global appeal during an interview in the central German university town of Goettingen. "Perhaps because it's a good book," he quipped. His pivotal work has been translated into about 40 languages.

Wanted: Accomplished musician for touring rock band. Minimum 25 years' professional experience. Ideal candidate has at least two Top 40 hits, maximum four from the 1960s or '70s; '80s may be acceptable. Plays one or more instruments -- not drums. Compensation: to be determined. Fringe benefits: playing with a Beatle. Not that Ringo Starr ever had to place an ad in the Recycler, but that's the gist of what the ex-Beatle has called for every couple of years when he gets the itch to hit the road with his All-Starr Band, which wrapped up its five-week U.S. tour Saturday at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles.

The World Boxing Assn. super bantamweight title fight between champion Daniel Zaragoza and challenger Paul Banke, scheduled for April 25 at the Forum, has been postponed because of a damaged ear drum suffered by Zaragoza.

ORLANDO - Florida A&M University lacked the internal and institutional controls it needed to identify and fight hazing before the beating death of drum major Robert Champion in Orlando a year ago, according to a long-awaited investigative report that was released Friday. The sharply critical report focuses on numerous problems that the State University System of Florida found during its yearlong investigation into whether FAMU did enough to deter hazing in the years before Champion was beaten by fellow marching band members after the Florida Classic football game.

UCLA and USC had retreated to neutral corners. The Bruins came out swinging. The Trojans came out with a letter. UCLA put an end to a tradition — the pregame ritual of the USC drum major stabbing the turf with a sword — then went wild at its own annual event. A bonfire rally at UCLA Thursday night brought out some of the rivalry's rancor. "We hate those dudes across town," senior fullback David Allen told the crowd. "We're taking it back this year. " Meanwhile, across town, there was displeasure with UCLA not allowing the drum major to stab the field.

In the last 15 years, I've covered nearly every USC road game where the Trojans marching band performs on the field, and there's always a moment in those games that makes me cringe. It's the moment before the pregame show in which the USC drum major majestically - or is that tauntingly? - plants a sword in the middle of the opponent's field. I hate it. I'm stunned other schools allow it. It feels like more than just a piece of metal digging into grass, it feels like a lack of respect burrowing under the stadium's skin.

UCLA already has one stop against USC, and it's still several days until Saturday's Pac-12 Conference football showdown at the Rose Bowl. The drum major for USC's band will not be allowed to stab his sword into the UCLA logo at midfield during its traditional pregame performance. The Trojans drum major has been planting his sword in that way at games home and away dating back to the 1970s. USC was told that if the sword is planted, the Trojans band will not be allowed to perform at halftime, a person in the UCLA athletic department confirmed.

Because we're all talking about people getting second terms today, here's another guy who gets a return try at an old job. Foo Fighters' frontman Dave Grohl will again take on the drumming duties for a new studio album by desert-rock titans Queens of the Stone Age. Grohl, who cut his teeth drumming in an obscure Seattle grunge trio , famously hit the skins on Queens' beloved 2002 album, "Songs for the Deaf," and his playing was universally lauded...

EVENTS The Watts Towers are one of L.A.'s finest folk art achievements, and at the Watts Towers Day of the Drum & Jazz Festival, the iconic structure and its neighborhood are celebrated with music, dance and cultural festivities. Watts Towers Arts Center and Charles Mingus Youth arts Center, 1727 E. 107th St., L.A. All day Sat. and Sun., see wattstowers.org for full event schedule.

Disco's birth had nothing to do with drum machines and synthesizers, as D. James Romero stated ("A Techno Family Tree," March 30). Look at the credits on any '70s disco album: The music was played "live" in the studio and put many musicians to work. Drum machines came to prominence in the '80s. Chic was a band; their drummer was Tony Thompson. DAVID HART Playa del Rey

Santa Clara County officials have asked for a court order to shut down a Silicon Valley recycling firm that is listed as one of the nation's worst toxic contamination sites. The civil complaint was filed in Superior Court against Lorentz Barrel and Drum Co. of San Jose and its owner, Ernest Lorentz. Deputy Dist. Atty. Jerome Nadler said there is an "immediate and overwhelming" danger from hazardous pollution at the company and he said he will ask the court to issue a temporary injunction.

Days before the launch of a convention vital to his election hopes, Mitt Romney and fellow Republicans were embroiled Tuesday in an effort to shove aside a U.S. Senate candidate who thrust the unwelcome issue of abortion to the fore of the political debate. In Tampa, Fla., where convention delegates were drafting the Republican Party platform, the controversy drew wide attention to a plank opposing abortion with no exception for victims of rape or incest. "Well done," said Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, chairman of the platform committee, praising delegates for avoiding the sort of prolonged debate that threatened to fracture Republicans in previous party gatherings.

Wanted: Accomplished musician for touring rock band. Minimum 25 years' professional experience. Ideal candidate has at least two Top 40 hits, maximum four from the 1960s or '70s; '80s may be acceptable. Plays one or more instruments -- not drums. Compensation: to be determined. Fringe benefits: playing with a Beatle. Not that Ringo Starr ever had to place an ad in the Recycler, but that's the gist of what the ex-Beatle has called for every couple of years when he gets the itch to hit the road with his All-Starr Band, which wrapped up its five-week U.S. tour Saturday at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles.