Flea

Mark and Cindy Evans make the rounds of Southern California flea markets early, before most shoppers have gotten out of bed. Their favorite stops: The Groves Antique Market Held the first Sunday of the month from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Irvine Valley College, 5500 Irvine Center Drive, Irvine. Admission and parking are free. Dogs allowed. (949) 786-5277. Pasadena City College Flea Market Also held on the first Sunday of every month, from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. (Due to a scheduling change, the market happens to be open this Sunday.

The Clippers' public relations department sent out a notice announcing none of their players would be available Wednesday. It wasn't surprising to hear they lacked the backbone to own up to their own disappearing act a night earlier. The PR notice said the players would be available to talk Thursday at 11:15 p.m. I'm sure the Clippers meant 11:15 a.m., but then I wonder - maybe they don't want anyone talking to them. Why didn't they schedule exit interviews for the players Wednesday?

After more than 20 years, the queen of Shabby Chic still heads out in the dark of early morning in search of the perfect flea-market finds. "We don't do wheel barrels-into-coffee tables," Rachel Ashwell said, referring to some buyers' penchant to take old stuff and make it into something else. Rather, Ashwell, like many shoppers, chooses for items that are largely ready to roll. But how? Some insights into what makes her say "yes" to a piece — and, more important, what makes her say "no. " Function.

INDIO -- "I feel like I'm in 'Lawrence of Arabia,' " Anthony Kiedis said Sunday night, not long after Red Hot Chili Peppers had taken the main stage at Coachella for the final headlining performance of the three-day festival. Kiedis was referring to the dust storm that blew up Sunday afternoon and quickly turned the Empire Polo Club into a wind-swept sandbox. But the frontman might also have felt like Lawrence because he was standing before a crowd the size of an army, easily the biggest any one act played to at Coachella.

"Gulliver's Travels" star Jack Black has purchased Flea's Los Feliz-area home for $5,965,000, Redfin.com shows. Sitting on a flag-shaped lot of more than half an acre, the two-story 1915 house had been renovated by Flea (a.k.a. bassist Michael Balzary) of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, who added a Topanga Canyon ambience. The kitchen was infused with a hippy vibe. Seven bedrooms and three bathrooms are included in the home's 6,500 square feet of living space. There is a swimming pool, a large motor court and solar roof panels.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Michael Balzary, known as Flea, has listed a newly built Malibu house for sale at $4,795,000. Designed by Marmol Radziner, the contemporary indoor-outdoor home has a cement floor and ocean and canyon views. There are three bedrooms, three bathrooms and an office in more than 3,000 square feet. Outdoor amenities on the gated 2.4-acre site include a free-form swimming pool. Flea, 48, is a founding member of the Grammy-winning band, which has released nine studio albums since it formed in 1983 and has sold more than 65 million copies worldwide.

Tweets of admiration continue to roll in for Lakers owner Jerry Buss, who died Monday at the age of 80. A sampling: Lakers forward Pau Gasol: "Today is a very sad day for all the Lakers and basketball. All my support and condolences to the Buss family. Rest in peace Dr. Buss. " Former Laker Dennis Rodman: "My thoughts and prayers are with the Buss family. Dr. Jerry Buss was like a Dad to me and is a tremendous loss to Lakers fam. " Former Lakers announcer Spero Dedes: "Rest in peace, Dr. Buss.

This post has been corrected. See below for details. Among the pleas and invectives, yowls and barks coming from Patti Smith on stage at the Wiltern on Friday, the bellowed cries of “free money!” “Gloria!” and “Pussy Riot!”; the Sylvia Plath dedication and the yarn about Jimmy Iovine, Bruce Springsteen and the birth of “Because the Night,” the singer, poet, and National Book Award-winning memoirist relayed a sage piece of advice to the crowd. “You don't have to go to school," she said.

Humans like to think of themselves as residing at the top of the evolutionary chain, but the tiny water flea beats them out by at least one measure ? the size of its genome. The creature, which lives in freshwater ponds around the world, requires nearly 31,000 genes to complete its genetic blueprint, almost a third more than humans and 50% more than the common housefly, researchers reported last week in the journal Science . That gives Daphnia pulex , only 1 millimeter long, more genes than any creature whose genome has been decoded to date, according to geneticist John Colbourne of Indiana University, who led the team that performed the sequencing.

A flurry of typhus infections since the beginning of the year has prompted health officials to warn residents to stay away from fleas, which spread the disease. "The key is controlling them around your house," said Howard Sutter, a spokesman for the Orange County Health Care Agency. Since Jan. 1, he said, six cases have been reported involving four adults and two children in Huntington Beach, Fountain Valley and Placentia. Typhus is marked by fever, headache, muscle aches and rash.

Los Angeles County supervisors agreed Tuesday to explore ways to restrict illegal vending and lawn sales, a move that could give sheriff's deputies more power to seize goods and issue fines. Selling used clothes or fruit from front yards or carts on busy streets has been common in Los Angeles for years. But Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas and law enforcement officials say the tradition has evolved into a problem, especially in communities around Watts, where informal flea markets have developed on some blocks . Ridley-Thomas and some residents say the illegal vendors hurt legitimate businesses, dodge sales tax laws and increase traffic in residential neighborhoods.

To call bassist Flea's new collaborative effort, Atoms for Peace, a departure for the versatile musician is to underestimate the scope of his talents. Over his 30-year career, he's played punk bass, slap bass, jazz bass, trance bass, arena rock bass and nearly naked tube-sock bass. On "Amok," the five-man supergroup's debut album, the artist known for his work as a nihilist in "The Big Lebowski" - oh, and as a founding member of the Red Hot Chili Peppers - provides mesmerizing doses of hypnosis bass to create some of the most groove-heavy lines of his career.

Tweets of admiration continue to roll in for Lakers owner Jerry Buss, who died Monday at the age of 80. A sampling: Lakers forward Pau Gasol: "Today is a very sad day for all the Lakers and basketball. All my support and condolences to the Buss family. Rest in peace Dr. Buss. " Former Laker Dennis Rodman: "My thoughts and prayers are with the Buss family. Dr. Jerry Buss was like a Dad to me and is a tremendous loss to Lakers fam. " Former Lakers announcer Spero Dedes: "Rest in peace, Dr. Buss.

After moving to Los Angeles from his native New York eight years ago, writer-director Marshall Lewy spent many weekends hanging out at his neighborhood farmers market in Silver Lake. He became intrigued by the idea of a sprawling metropolis where farmers markets come to life, bringing in fresh produce and unusual characters from farms that surround the nation's second-largest city. The experience planted the seed for "California Solo," an independent movie about a former British pop rocker played by Scottish actor Robert Carlyle ("Trainspotting" and "The Full Monty")

This post has been corrected. See below for details. Among the pleas and invectives, yowls and barks coming from Patti Smith on stage at the Wiltern on Friday, the bellowed cries of “free money!” “Gloria!” and “Pussy Riot!”; the Sylvia Plath dedication and the yarn about Jimmy Iovine, Bruce Springsteen and the birth of “Because the Night,” the singer, poet, and National Book Award-winning memoirist relayed a sage piece of advice to the crowd. “You don't have to go to school," she said.

The documentary "Craigslist Joe" fulfills its unique premise - a young filmmaker will spend a month traveling the U.S. surviving solely on the connections he makes using über-popular "online flea market" Craigslist - without providing much in the way of stakes, obstacles, tension or, frankly, greater meaning. In December 2008, armed with only a smartphone, laptop, toothbrush, the clothes on his back and, oh, yes, a cameraman (whom he met on Craigslist, natch), director-star Joseph Garner journeyed from his L.A. home, across the country and back, securing free transport, food, shelter and friendship via the apparent kindness of strangers who populate the cult of Craigslist.

Question: I live in a flea-infested apartment. I do not own a pet. The fleas come from rodents inside the walls. The property manager will not fix the problem. What can I do? Answer: In California, the law requires that landlords offer and maintain rental housing that is fit and habitable -- and this means free of vermin such as fleas. When the infestation is traceable to the tenant, the tenant pays for the extermination, but if the tenant is not to blame, the landlord pays. Tenants have various options when landlords won't step up. You can complain to your local or state housing or health department.

You are going to watch this video of Sand Flea, a robot developed by Boston Dynamics, and for a few seconds you are going to be bored. After all, Sand Flea isn't much to look at - just an 11 pound robot with large plastic wheels that don't look hi-tech or expensive, and all the robot does at first is move noisily over what appears to be a parking lot - much like a remote-control car. But then Sand Flea comes to a wall, and instead of...

Spain has a post-holiday tradition that goes way beyond Black Friday. Each year the country conducts an entire month of January sales, or rebajas , that make winter a good time to visit. Illinois-based Tourcrafters offers a four-night Madrid shopping trip through the end of the month that starts at $485 per person. On this tour, bargain hunters have free time to check out the Mercado de San Miguel food market, the Rastro antique flea market and El Corte Ingles department store while enjoying tapas and wine-tastings along the way. Dates: The five day/four-night tour is offered for travel through Jan. 31. Price: $485 per person, based on double occupancy (this tour is offered in February and March for a higher price)