Tours

During the dusty Texas summers of his youth, Don Henley worked in his father's auto parts store and learned the vagaries of fan belts, batteries, spark plugs, tailpipes and mufflers. His father taught the future rock star plenty, and, when the family business started to collapse, one of the lessons was to recognize who was to blame. "My father was a small-business man after he got out of World War II," Henley said. "He despised chains, the big guys, who eventually helped put him out of business."

A familiar voice was piped into the Whisky on Monday, and the audience that crowded the West Hollywood club laughed out loud when they heard it: It was an excerpt of a dated interview with Sting, and the famously droll rock star was answering a question about the prospects of a reunion of his old band, the Police. "It would be cause for having me certified insane," the Brit said, an edge in his voice.

For Van Halen, the stars seemed aligned for a triumphant 2007. Next month, the group will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and the plan was to follow that with a summer reunion tour that would feature David Lee Roth back at the mike for the first time since the Reagan years. But, once again, the backstage soap opera of Van Halen is the story of the day.

BEFORE Denise Pulley opened her Huntington Beach home for a garden tour, she did what most hosts do. She got ready. She snipped, she plucked, she swept. She reseeded her lawn and exiled her dog from it. She blew her budget on colorful flora, including two clematis purchased for just the right vertical shoots of purple, lavender and blue.

A sampling of spring garden and home tours and major garden- related events are listed below. Many are not wheelchair accessible, and some do not allow children. Call ahead for details. MARCH March 24: Cliff May Tour. A rare look at Cliff May's Riviera Ranch and Sullivan Canyon homes in Brentwood. Sponsored by the Gamble House. $75 general admission, $50 for Friends of the Gamble House members. www.gamblehouse.org. March 25: Pasadena Heritage Spring Home Tour.

Take a backcountry tour into Navajo history at Canyon de Chelly National Monument, a landscape of soaring red-rock canyon walls and 1,000-year-old ruins in northeastern Arizona. THE DEAL: A special lodging-and-exploration package, called a Magical History Tour, will be available April 1 to Oct. 31 and will combine accommodations for two nights with an off-road, six-wheel drive tour.

Cyndi Lauper, Deborah Harry, Erasure and Margaret Cho are the headliners on the new "True Colors" tour, which will hit major cities nationwide to promote gay rights. The 15-city event kicks off in Las Vegas on June 8 and ends in Los Angeles on June 30. A dollar from every ticket sold will be earmarked for the Human Rights Campaign, which advocates equal rights for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people.

SOMETIMES the best way to see what's on the ground is from the air, which prompts thousands of travelers to take sightseeing flights over some of Earth's beloved landscapes. But two recent fatal crashes in Hawaii, both involving helicopters and both on Kauai, again raise the question of how safe these bird's-eye views might be.

Stalking volcanoes Volcano researcher and author Donna O'Meara will lead a Mountains of Fire tour that explores volcanoes that shaped Italy's landscape and history: Mt. Vesuvius, Mt. Etna, Vulcano and Stromboli. Dates: Sept. 14 to 23 Itinerary: Naples, Pompeii, Sorrento, Sicily, Mt. Etna, Vulcano Island, Lipari Island, Stromboli Island, Catania. Price: $4,565 per person, double occupancy (single supplement $900), including accommodations for nine nights, some meals, transportation, guides.

Escape the city on a three-day package that's as American as apple pie. The springtime Bounty of the County tour of the San Luis Obispo area includes accommodations, wine tastings, gourmet food and a couple of surprising extras: a gas voucher and a free homemade pie. The deal: $299 per room for a two-night stay at the popular Apple Farm Inn in San Luis Obispo.