Hollywood Bowl

The Los Angeles Philharmonic revealed details Friday about ticketing for the free musical festival "?Bienvenido Gustavo!," a five-hour Hollywood Bowl event on Oct. 3 that will be Gustavo Dudamel's first appearance as music director of the Phil. Tickets will be available beginning at noon Aug. 1; up to four tickets per person may be obtained at the Hollywood Bowl box office. Requests also may be made by calling the Bowl at (323) 850-2000 or via Ticketmaster. More information is at www.laphil.

The sands of time can be cruel, sure, but sometimes they settle for wryly ironic. After years apart, the three surviving founding members of the Beach Boys will launch a 50-date, 50th anniversary tour in April and at every show they will ask the musical question, "Wouldn't it be nice if we were older?" "It is weird," said Mike Love, who turns 71 next month, about singing those young man's lines from "Wouldn't It Be Nice. " "We do another one, 'When I Grow up to Be a Man' -- the opening is incredible, it's got fantastic harmonies -- but yeah, it's written from the point of a young guy looking to the future and here we are, very much in that future.

The second leg of Radiohead's North American tour will include two nights at the Hollywood Bowl in August and an opening-night spot at the Lollapalooza festival in Chicago, the English band announced Monday. Tickets for the Hollywood Bowl on Aug. 24 and 25 and for two other Southern California shows -- Aug. 27 at Cricket Wireless Amphitheatre in Chula Vista and Aug. 28 at the Santa Barbara Bowl -- will go on sale Saturday. At the three-day Lollapalooza in Grant Park, where it plays Aug. 1, Radiohead will be joined by a lineup that includes Rage Against the Machine, Nine Inch Nails, Kanye West, Gnarls Barkley, the Raconteurs, Wilco and Love and Rockets.

A list of upcoming concerts across the Southland, with on-sale dates in parentheses. Hollywood Bowl Coldplay, May 1-2 (Mon.) The Wiltern Creed, May 15 (Fri.) City National Grove of Anaheim Will Downing, Feb. 12 (Fri.) House of Blues Michael Schenker, Feb. 25; We Came as Romans, March 23; DevilDriver, April 6 (now). The Observatory Nipsey Hussle, Jan. 27 (now) House of Blues Anaheim Steel Panther, Jan. 21; D.R.U.G.S., Feb. 8; Ozomatli, Feb. 19; Katchafire, April 12; Tyrone Wells, May 25 (now)

The debut of the new $25-million Hollywood Bowl shell last season has opened a new chapter in the history of the landmark, retaining its iconic scalloped shape while incorporating a halo-like canopy into the design to improve acoustics. The new Bowl is the latest in a series of shells that date back to the early 1920s.

Beck in the Bowl: Beck will make his debut as a Hollywood Bowl headliner Sept. 20. Tickets will range from $20 to $75 and go on sale May 10 when the Bowl's box office opens. Spoon and MGMT round out the bill. Information at (323) 850-2000 or www.hollywoodbowl.com. Beck's new album, still untitled, is due later this year, and will be produced by Danger Mouse. -- Still talkin': Talk show host Larry King has extended his contract at CNN through 2011, his agents say. -- Opera prize: Tenor Matthew Polenzani, 39, has been selected to receive the third annual Beverly Sills Artist Award from the Metropolitan Opera in New York.

Intimacy is a relative concept at the Hollywood Bowl. Warmly communicative musicians can turn the cavernous venue into something like a living room. And that's just what happened Tuesday when listeners were held rapt by Bramwell Tovey, principal guest conductor of the L.A. Philharmonic at the Bowl, in a rousing, serene and triumphant program of works by Leonard Bernstein and Samuel Barber. The coziness was most apparent during the concert's centerpiece, Barber's rapturous Violin Concerto, when the audience remained hushed after the first movement, allowing the superlative 33-year-old Canadian soloist James Ehnes to take a moment to tune his violin in the cool night air. Ehnes last performed the Barber at the Bowl in 1998, but it's hard to imagine the earlier account matching this one for sheer magic.

When the elements are aligned, the Hollywood Bowl can transform a pop music concert into something larger than life. Take it from someone who's been hitting the hill for 45 years: On certain nights, it's not just good or bad. It's heaven or hell. Start with heaven, please. How about Elton John in 1973, in the full flower of his flamboyant youth and with cash to lavish on an over-the-top extravaganza? It included five grand pianos filled with doves and with a letter of his name on each, "Deep Throat" star Linda Lovelace as hostess, and a stageful of cultural icons -- Queen Elizabeth, Elvis, Groucho Marx, Mae West (they were impersonators of course, but that was part of the fun)

Those who arrived at the Hollywood Bowl on Thursday night expecting to see and hear conductor Edo de Waart and violinist Julian Rachlin play some Russian music were hit with a double whammy. First, De Waart had canceled his Bowl appearances this week because of illness, and Miguel Harth-Bedoya -- who led two concerts at the Bowl only a month ago -- was rushed back to fill Thursday's slot. Then Rachlin canceled because of illness, and Augustin Hadelich -- who played in Carnegie Hall with Harth-Bedoya's Fort Worth Symphony in January -- was granted an unexpected Bowl debut.

Some Southern California communities have scaled back or canceled their July 4 celebrations this year — Marina del Rey and Inglewood have canceled — but the skies over L.A. will still bloom with plenty of colorful explosions when dusk hits Monday. Most of the shows in Los Angeles, Orange, Ventura and Riverside counties are free or inexpensive, but if you're looking for a more elaborate affair and are willing to spend extra money, head to the Hollywood Bowl to see Hall and Oates, or to the Newport Dunes resort, or to the Rose Bowl, where families can experience an all-day food and music celebration finished off by a pyrotechnic display.

As the old joke goes: "How do you get to Carnegie Hall?" "Practice, practice. " That punch line would have to be rewritten for vocal coach, performer and composer Ben Toth. Toth, 34, got to Carnegie Hall — and the Hollywood Bowl and Broadway — by helping other people practice, practice and practice some more. During a late November interview at a Los Feliz cafe, Toth — whose clients include Lea Michele, Taye Diggs, Josh Radnor, Wayne Brady, Christina Hendricks and Mandy Patinkin — was on a high from serving as musical director, arranger and backup singer for "Cheyenne Jackson's Cocktail Hour: Music From the 'Mad Men' Era" at Carnegie Hall" on Nov. 18. But there wasn't much time to relax and enjoy: Toth was also coaching Beau Bridges for his Broadway singing debut in "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.

The Academy Award statuette that Orson Welles won for the original screenplay of "Citizen Kane" was auctioned for more than $861,000 in Los Angeles. The 1942 Oscar was thought to be lost for decades. It surfaced in 1994 when cinematographer Gary Graver tried to sell it. The sale was stopped by Beatrice Welles, Orson's youngest daughter and sole heir. Welles, who wrote the screenplay for "Citizen Kane" with Herman Mankiewicz, also directed and starred in the film, considered by most critics to be one of the best of all time.

Every night that there's a concert at the Hollywood Bowl, its operator, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, sends beams of light into the sky above. The purpose isn't to create a lot of showbiz hoopla, says Deborah Borda, the Philharmonic's president and chief executive. It's to tell pilots of helicopters and small aircraft to stay the heck away. But increasingly, Borda says, attempts to communicate both in light and in words have fallen on deafening ears. Not a summer concert night goes by now, she says, without the purity of music falling prey to choppers dealing noise pollution.

A platinum blond proponent of Scandinavian efficiency, the electro-pop singer Robyn lives by the mantra that Fembots have feelings too. At a moment when Lady Gaga found success in hugeness and epic dance beats, Robyn keeps things smaller, using club sounds to get at intimate emotional ideas while never losing a certain sass. With the excellent electronica combo Royksopp. Hollywood Bowl, 2301 N. Highland Ave. L.A. 7 p.m. Sat. $29.50-$87.50. hollywoodbowl.com.

EVENTS Haunted Hayride This year's all-new, 25-minute Haunted Hayride is based on the nightmarish journals of the Clifton twins, daughters of zookeeper Ferdinand Clifton. It makes trembling guests prey for 15-foot-tall mascots of death, 400-year-old children and terrifying clowns. Additional highlights include the spooky In Between Maze and the Human Menagerie slide show. Griffith Park Old Zoo, 4730 Crystal Spring Ave., L.A. 7 p.m.-midnight today; 7 p.m.-10:30 p.m. Sun. $25-$50.

MUSIC There'll be no Nicole Kidman ballads at this version of "A Night at the Moulin Rouge: A Magical Evening in Paris," but there will be fireworks and a rowdy display of Parisian music with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra. They'll perform "An American in Paris" and other Gallic-themed classics, with the dancers from the legendary venue. Hollywood Bowl, 2301 N. Highland Ave., L.A. 8:30 p.m Fri.-Sat., 7:30 p.m. Sun. $11-$134. http://www.hollywoodbowl.com.

Brahms and Gershwin are great, but some of us are more inclined to use Hollywood Bowl as an excuse to have a picnic. A musical feast with good friends is a wonderful way to spend a summer evening. For some reason, a baguette and some good cheese or even a bag of corn curls tastes fabulous under the stars. But you don't have to settle for anything that ordinary. It seems that almost every chef in town has added takeout to his or her menu.

For the record: This listing originally stated that Dolly Parton was playing the Hollywood Bowl Saturday and Sunday. It has been corrected to show that she is actually playing Friday and Saturday. With a fresh record out and a world tour that includes her Hollywood Bowl headlining debut, the 65-year-old country veteran runs counter to the idea of surrender. She's country's ultimate can-do gal, a reputation that deepens with bright-eyed new original tunes about painting rainbows in the sky and finding satisfaction in Champagne and chocolate milk alike.

EVENTS L.A. BBQ Festival A hearty appetite is encouraged at the three-day celebration of basted meats, which will include spare ribs, pulled pork and beef brisket. Sample delectables from Texas Thunder BBQ, Chicago BBQ Co., Bourbon Q and more, with live music. Santa Monica Pier, 1550 Pacific Coast Highway, Santa Monica. 4:30 p.m. Friday, 11 a.m. Saturday and Sunday. (310) 902-6955. Labbqfest.com. Oktoberfest The 32,000-square-foot Village at Oktoberfest celebrates 43 years of traditional Bavarian fun, including oompah bands, hearty food and beer and dances.