Stairway

So this guy goes to the doctor for back pain and the diagnosis is pretty awful: The patient is going to need spinal surgery again, for the third time in three years. Charles Fleming thought back on all the misery he'd endured the first two times he was cut open like a Christmas goose. He gave about two seconds' worth of consideration to the doctor's proposed disc-ectomy and said thanks, doc, but not just yet. He couldn't face the knife again. Just one problem: What to do about the crippling pain?

In the last decade, Apple made the 99-cent download the standard unit of music sales. Now, Apple is reportedly poised to try a second transformation, enticing music fans to store songs online — "in the cloud" — instead of on a hard drive. If the company's iCloud helps persuade the masses to embrace cloud-based services, that could help reverse more than a decade of sliding music sales. That's a big "if," however, and much depends on the labels' willingness to change. The shift from physical CDs to digital files has been a mixed blessing for the music industry, opening the door to rampant online piracy as well as promising new business models.

So this guy goes to the doctor for back pain and the diagnosis is pretty awful: The patient is going to need spinal surgery again, for the third time in three years. Charles Fleming thought back on all the misery he'd endured the first two times he was cut open like a Christmas goose. He gave about two seconds' worth of consideration to the doctor's proposed disc-ectomy and said thanks, doc, but not just yet. He couldn't face the knife again. Just one problem: What to do about the crippling pain?

The writer Gay Talese once remarked that the pull of a great city arises, in part, from its power to pose mysteries. You can spend your entire life in such a city, walking its streets, only to turn a corner one day and encounter something you had never noticed before, something new and enigmatic. Why did that church become a nightclub? What's the story with the old mansion tucked between the office towers? Stuff like that. Talese, of course, was talking about his native New York.

Tom Wilson, 5th District supervisor and chairman of the Orange County Board of Supervisors, returns to Laguna Beach for a talk at the Laguna Canyon Conservancy meeting Monday. He returns with no explanation of why the county-owned stairways -- left under county ownership when South Laguna was annexed to Laguna Beach, close to the new $200-million Montage Resort & Spa -- have no handrails, need paving and are dangerous and unsafe, especially for older walkers. Come on, Supervisor Wilson, either represent Laguna Beach on the Board of Supervisors or explain what's happening.

Twenty-eight children were crushed to death Monday in a narrow stairway while running to answer a school assembly bell, the China Youth News said today. The children, most under 10, became jammed into the unlit stairway because school authorities had not unlocked the door at the other end. Some fell, and those behind piled on top of them.

In "A Westside Story of Death, Denial" (Opinion, April 14), about the murder of Deanna Maran, a Santa Monica High School sophomore, Michael Cieply makes mention of an event called "Stairway of the Stars." He takes issue with the seeming omission of a mention of Deanna's death at the performance and insinuates that she is being forgotten by the music department. Until that unfortunate moment, the article was strong and raised many excellent points. I am the choral director at Santa Monica High School, and Deanna sang in my class.

Leo Carrillo State Beach: 36000 block, PCH. Nicholas Canyon County Beach: PCH, 1 mile south of Leo Carrillo beach. El Pescador State Beach: 32900 PCH. La Piedra State Beach: 32700 PCH. El Matador State Beach: 32350 PCH. Stairway: 31300 block, Broad Beach Road. Walkway and steps: 31200 block, Broad Beach Road. Zuma Beach County Park: 30000 block, PCH. Westward Beach and Point Dume State Beach: south end, Westward Beach Road. Paradise Cove: 28128 PCH. Escondido Beach: 27200 block, PCH.

I read with interest Robert Lloyd's article about the "Tim and Eric Awesome Show" tour ["Foolish Pleasure," March 15]. I would like to make a suggestion regarding Mr. Lloyd's choice of words in one section. In describing the "Oooh, mama!" segment, he says "the pair wreck a basement rec room, chanting 'Oooh, mama!' while a large woman looks on from the stairway." May I suggest this simple change: "The pair wreck a basement rec room, chanting 'Oooh, mama!' while 'Mama,' portrayed by the voluptuous character actress, Judith Goldstein, looks on from the stairway."

Update: Actress Deborah Pratt, who wrote, appeared in and co-produced the time-travel drama "Quantum Leap" (1989-93), has sold her Holmby Hills-area home for $2.9 million. The traditional house, built in 1936, has a curved stairway off the entry, an elevator, high ceilings, a step-down living room and a formal dining room with a silver closet. The main house and separate guesthouse have six bedrooms and 5 1/2 bathrooms in 4,555 square feet. There is a pool. Pratt, 58, purchased the property in 1996 for $1.27 million, according to public records.

I read with interest Robert Lloyd's article about the "Tim and Eric Awesome Show" tour ["Foolish Pleasure," March 15]. I would like to make a suggestion regarding Mr. Lloyd's choice of words in one section. In describing the "Oooh, mama!" segment, he says "the pair wreck a basement rec room, chanting 'Oooh, mama!' while a large woman looks on from the stairway." May I suggest this simple change: "The pair wreck a basement rec room, chanting 'Oooh, mama!' while 'Mama,' portrayed by the voluptuous character actress, Judith Goldstein, looks on from the stairway."

Let's BE clear about one thing: They were a great band. I thought so wholeheartedly in 10th grade. But then my musical taste broadened, grew more "sophisticated" or "adult." They became a guilty pleasure, a reminder of my adolescence, the kind of band I was embarrassed I ever liked. But man, Led Zeppelin could play. When they were on, they produced heavy metal with nuance, with roots in not just the blues but Middle Eastern music, flat-out cranking rave-ups and English folk rock.

One . . . more . . . step. Almost there. Top of the hill. Don't step on the smashed guavas. Step over the giant philodendron. Ignore the snapping dog. More than 75 years ago, Laurel and Hardy struggled to maneuver a piano up these 131 Silver Lake steps in the classic comedy "The Music Box," cementing the staircase in cinematic history. Hauling an oversized load up the oxygen-depleting ascent hasn't gotten any easier, but it's worth the trip. Huff. Puff.

The coastal protection agency that secured a public beach path last year through entertainment magnate David Geffen's Malibu compound now is being asked to approve several projects that previously had been constructed there without permits. Officials said Geffen built a 42-foot-long deck extension, a private stairway to the beach, a large storage shed, fencing, a gate and a concrete walkway without California Coastal Commission permission.

Your article "Stair Wars" in the Sunday Real Estate Section missed a step. Both photographs showed stairs that only had a handrail on one side of the stairway. More than 90% of all stair accidents occur because the person using the stairway failed to hold on to, or was unable to grab a handrail. This poor, but common, design is the real culprit. It makes little difference whether the steps have a pitch of 8:9 or 7:11, if people don't or can't use a handrail. And the sad thing is that it costs very little to install a handrail on both sides of a stairway.

BEFORE the age of photography, fame was a small club. God and the gods were founding members; there were kings and queens. Education was only for the privileged, and there was no need to know the masses because they had no power. In our cultural history, rumors were the first attempts to generate "legend" or stories among the unknown. A rumor might spread about how, seven leagues from here or there, lived a beautiful woman -- or she might be ugly. Tales, fairy tales, might be told about her.

Corinne Bailey Rae "Corinne Bailey Rae" (Capitol) * * * CORINNE BAILEY RAE has a passion for Led Zeppelin and a past that includes a teenage stint fronting a noisy indie-rock band. But the 27-year-old British singer-songwriter's debut (in stores June 20) betrays little of that, instead showcasing a freshly minted soul artist whose breezy tunes stylishly blend modern and retro touches, ruminating without cliche on love lost, found and eagerly pursued.