History Lesson

LA JOLLA -- The story of early rock 'n' roll is a truly American tale. The music probably wouldn't have been possible if not for the proximity of people from diverse backgrounds, overhearing each other and appropriating what they liked. Yet if America in the late 1940s and early '50s was beginning to come together in music, the country, in most other ways, remained deeply divided. "Memphis" -- a musical being given an exuberant, high-gloss staging at La Jolla Playhouse -- looks back on this time and finds a message at once chilling and full of hope.

MOSCOW — Josef Stalin ruled the Soviet Union for three decades, turning it from a backward agrarian country into a nuclear superpower — and a land of mass murder, political repression and gulags. After his communist successors acknowledged the brutality of his reign, Stalin's body was removed from its place of honor in a Red Square mausoleum and buried under the cover of darkness beneath the walls of the Kremlin. The harsher details of that history lesson might be lost on some Russian students, however, now that Stalin's face graces the covers of school notebooks that recently went on sale in Moscow and have become an immediate bestseller.

God bless the American media. Over the last two weeks, thousands of well-educated journalists and political experts have made their mortgage payments by commenting on the antics of an idiot congressman who tweeted a picture of his genitals, and an idiot ex-governor who sloppily manipulated history for ideological ends. I get the obsession on the first story. Sex always sells. Illicit sex — or something close to it — by arrogant politicians sells more. That's a constant. But what about Sarah Palin's goofy history lesson?

The first rule of business - any business - is this: Do what you do well. And what Chicago does well is drink. Oh, there are other things to be sure (architecture! comedy! baseball!), but in this city, booze is as much a business as it is a way of life. Perhaps that passion stems from Chicago's history. It was, after all, a bootlegger's playground during Prohibition. After bellying up to some of the city's best bars, I can say the tradition lives on. The craft cocktail movement, which reimagines classic drinks using modern techniques and house-made ingredients, is alive and well here.

Your attempt to remake history ("Events," April 17) should be pointed out. In May, 1864, Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman was nowhere near Virginia. He was just beginning his famous march to Atlanta--starting from Chattanooga, Tenn. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant was in command of the Federal troops at the Wilderness. MARK APOIAN Long Beach

For a piece of history that gave us the rockets' red glare and bombs bursting in air, the War of 1812 tends to evoke a collective "Huh?" on the U.S. side of the border with Canada. "The War of 1812 has no compelling narrative that appeals to the average American," said Jerald Podair, a history professor at Lawrence University in Wisconsin. "It's just a hodgepodge of buildings burning, bombs bursting in air and paintings being saved from the invaders, all for a vaguely defined purpose.

It's that time again — unfortunately, for the Lakers. Coach Mike Brown has no idea what awaits him Thursday at the Rose Garden, a misguided arena name if ever there was one for a Lakers opponent. The issues are much more than thorny up here. They've lasted almost a generation for the Lakers. Since acquiring Kobe Bryant in a draft-day trade in 1996, the Lakers are 6-23 in Portland in the regular season, falling to the Trail Blazers year after year, whether rain or hail or the occasional burst of sunshine as their bus pulls into the oversized garage.

Class is now in session. The bearish professor is at the lectern. His much younger teaching assistant, who doubles as his wife, is at his side, gazing at him adoringly, hanging on his every word. What snowy-haired academic wouldn't kill for that? The students look a little old for the classroom. But these Iowa Republicans are never too old to learn. They've come here this evening to the Santa Maria Vineyard & Winery in Carroll to hear Newt Gingrich's lecture and decide whether they might be able to reward him Tuesday as he seeks a kind of political tenure, the presidency of the United States.

An afternoon with retired Judge James Reese is like a living history lesson - not the textbook, milestone-studded type, but a side-splitting, mind-bending walk through time. Reese, 92, grew up poor in Depression-era New Orleans, with a mother who cleaned houses and a mechanic father who, more often than not, drank away his $17 weekly wages. Reese came west to escape segregation but discovered in Los Angeles that "every section of the country had its own discriminatory mores and customs.

In "The Mill and the Cross. " Polish-born filmmaker Lech Majewski dramatizes the creation of Pieter Bruegel's 1564 painting "The Way to Calvary," a deeply felt response to the Spanish occupation of Flanders. Working from the painting as an original text, Majewski and co-writer Michael Francis Gibson find threads of narrative within the broad landscape of the canvas and the more than 500 figures depicted there. They also show Bruegel (played by Rutger Hauer, a long way from his recent "Hobo With a Shotgun")

During the men's European runway shows this summer, I overheard a fashion editor describing a military history book he'd read. "The commanding officers in the British army at the time of the Crimean War were dandy aristocrats who were more concerned with one-upping each other with over-the-top uniforms and military regalia than they were with military strategy," he said. With the cardinal-red military jacket, blue sash and chest full of medals worn by Prince William during his April nuptials to Kate Middleton fresh in my mind, I was intrigued and inquired further.

God bless the American media. Over the last two weeks, thousands of well-educated journalists and political experts have made their mortgage payments by commenting on the antics of an idiot congressman who tweeted a picture of his genitals, and an idiot ex-governor who sloppily manipulated history for ideological ends. I get the obsession on the first story. Sex always sells. Illicit sex — or something close to it — by arrogant politicians sells more. That's a constant. But what about Sarah Palin's goofy history lesson?

It's Monday rehearsal night for the Hollywood Choir at the Cochran Avenue Baptist Church in mid-city L.A., but instead of a rousing gospel tune, the 65-member choir is dissecting the intervals and harmonies of a lilting arrangement of "Danny Boy. " It is one of three songs (including a Gaelic version of the Emerald Isle's national anthem) they will be performing at Thursday's "This Is Ireland" concert at UCLA's Royce Hall . "A gospel choir singing Irish songs does sound surprising," says the choir's buoyant leader Blinky Williams, laughing.