Sideways

Al Greenwood, known to Southern Californians as "the Bedspread King," has died. He was 93. Greenwood, a longtime Long Beach resident, died of congestive heart failure Wednesday night at his daughter's and son-in-law's home in Seal Beach. A Massachusetts native who made his way west during the Great Depression, Greenwood became known in his later years for his kitschy late-night TV advertisements.

About 20 miles beyond the red-tile roofs of downtown Santa Barbara, it begins: the rolling blond hills that go indecently green in spring, the massive estates and miniature horses, the sprawling vineyards and "Sideways" scenery, the dude ranch with 10,000 acres, the old stagecoach stop with boar on the menu and bikers in the parking lot .... Santa Barbara County's wine country has a lot to offer. The nine micro-itineraries that follow are a quick introduction for newcomers, part of our ongoing series of Southern California Close-Ups.

It's a book signing, excerpt reading, film teasing and wine tasting. Tonight's special edition of the Echo's Extreme Wine Tasting celebrates the release of local author Rex Pickett's "Sideways" (St. Martin's Griffin, New York), a wine-centric road-trip story based on his adventures with pals Julian Davies and Roy Gittens.

Santa Ynez Valley A failed 40-year-old writer is spending a week here in the wine country, celebrating his best friend's last days of freedom before he plunges into a marriage that looks doomed before it's started. Just before he walks into a posh tasting room, his agent phones with the news that his novel didn't sell, ensuring that he'll spend the rest of his life grading English papers for pimply middle-school brats. Will he take the news lying down?

Todd Bodine won the rain-delayed Busch series race Monday at Darlington, S.C., when his car bounced off Jamie McMurray's on the final lap and slid sideways across the finish line. It was the second consecutive dramatic finish at the track. Ricky Craven on Sunday beat Kurt Busch by a few inches -- officially .002 seconds -- in the closest finish since Winston Cup went to its electronic scoring system in 1993.

There's a steep price to pay for living on Eldred Street. You have cars that run away. Truck cargos that roll away. Mail carriers who fade away. Visitors who turn around and go away. "To live here, you learn what you can and can't do," said Ric Phiegh, whose Highland Park home is on the steepest street in Los Angeles. In a city bisected by a mountain range and laced with hills and ridges, that distinction is high praise.

STAGE Long before "Sideways" was a hit Alexander Payne movie, it was an adored novel by Rex Pickett. Now it gets a stage treatment in this adaptation of the story of two guys cruising through wine country as they confront the rest of their adulthood. Ruskin Group Theatre, 3000 Airport Ave., Santa Monica. Fri.-July 8. $25. ruskingrouptheatre.com.

Andre Previn, music director of both the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) in London, will change titles at his British connection, effective Jan. 1.

Previous generations didn't think about how it would firm their thighs or strengthen their pectorals, but they stayed in great shape doing it. Long before Stairmasters and aerobics, men and women kept with daily doses of good, old-fashioned housework. Though times have changed with the introduction of the vacuum and other so-called labor-saving devices, there's still a lot of benefit to be gotten from household chores.