Rock Concert

The mosh pit wore camouflage. For that matter, so did many in the crowd. During the first major rock concert in Chechnya since the wars began in 1994, uniformed security forces outnumbered concertgoers for much of Monday's event. Sound systems were crippled by massive police radio jamming while some of the top bands in Russia performed and strutted in a republic almost none had dared visit before.

You would think, given the Ferrari F430 Spider's unearthly good looks -- its sheet metal like a fierce, turbulent flow of molten lipstick -- that the car would primarily be a visual experience. And yet, as I sit here reflecting on my week in this car, my brain trembling with San Andreas-like aftershocks and my hair fully locked in the horizontal position, what I remember most is its sound -- or sounds. This thing has more voices than Linda Blair in full antichrist mode.

The rock group Queen said it would invite thousands of emergency services workers to an open-air concert in London's Hyde Park that was postponed by a week because of the terrorist attacks in the city. Queen's Paul Rodgers said the group wanted Friday's concert to be a tribute to the "extraordinary response" of the police officers, firefighters and paramedics who helped the victims of last week's subway and bus bombings.

Dido, Annie Lennox, Travis and Texas will take the stage in Edinburgh, Scotland, for a sixth Live 8 rock concert on July 6, the same day the G8 group of industrialized countries meets, organizers said Tuesday. Composer-singer Bob Geldof has announced concerts in London, Paris, Rome, Berlin and Philadelphia for July 2 to urge G8 leaders to boost aid to Africa, cancel debts and remove trade barriers.

Nick Lowe has just finished 90 minutes of solo music here at the Birchmere, a set that included all of his best-known songs -- except one. The silver-haired daddy of British pop hasn't played "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love & Understanding," a track that he wrote and that helped make Elvis Costello famous in the 1970s. So everybody knows what's coming when Lowe returns to the stage for an encore. He strums the opening chords, and a ripple of delight rolls through the room. Then stops.

U2 at the L.A. Memorial Coliseum in 1997 ... the Lilith Fair at the Rose Bowl in 1999 ... the Rolling Stones with Guns N' Roses at the Coliseum in 1989 ... Elton John at Dodger Stadium in 1975. Stadium concerts have given pop-rock stars some of their biggest crowds, and fans some of their most cherished memories. So why has stadium rock joined the endangered species list? Big-name pop-rock acts can now make as much money staying indoors.

It was as far from a rock 'n' roll venue as you could get -- a palatial room at the posh St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort & Spa in Dana Point. Nine hundred ballroom chairs were lined up, theater style. And a stage worthy of a Las Vegas showroom was bathed in a rainbow of spots, ready for the concert by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers that would raise funds for the AIDS Services Foundation Orange County and the Laguna Art Museum.

Mandy Moore is getting to do two things she loves: singing and acting. The young talent's new album, "Coverage," hits stores Tuesday, and she's been working on several movies following her starring roles in "A Walk to Remember" and "How to Deal." On Thursday, Moore joins other singers in serving up film music as she hosts "Women Rock! Songs From the Movies," the fourth annual edition of the Lifetime concert specials geared toward raising awareness of breast cancer.

The state Supreme Court has suspended a judge who was spotted smoking marijuana at a rock concert after he admitted during a misconduct investigation that he did so about twice a year. A woman told court officials last October that she saw District Judge Thomas Gilbert smoke a joint at a concert in Detroit, 250 miles from Traverse City, where Gilbert works. The woman was from Elk Rapids, a town near Traverse City that is in Gilbert's district.

It wasn't "The Matrix Reloaded" or "Finding Nemo" but the San Jose Earthquakes and Los Angeles Galaxy that were playing in Theater 1 of Regal Cinemas' Lincolnshire Stadium 20 on a recent rainy Wednesday night. A sparse crowd of about 20 was huddled for a soccer match being broadcast live and in high-definition television. Elsewhere in the megaplex, patrons on hand for a motion picture may have been wondering, "Where's the remote?"