David Horowitz descended on UCI last night as part of his nationwide tour condemning a national student group called Muslim Student Association—a group with more than 150 chapters in colleges all over the country.

Horowitz, a famous right-wing nut jobber, is known for taking out provocative full-page ads in campus newspapers that say things like "black people don't deserve reparations for slavery," in advance of his speaking engagements during Black History Month, which would then cause all kinds of static in the school paper. In some cases protesters, or school administrators would admonish the paper for printing the incendiary ad, which would prompt Horowitz to say it is an example of censorship on university campuses.

So Horowitz' appearance at UCI, since he's the master of stirring the pot, was ripe for a good, old-fashioned Muslim Student Union protest. The MSU has been the subject of much scrutiny in the last five years as they've sometimes forgotten to make themselves invisible in a society that is extremely phobic of their multi-continent, multi-faceted, more than one billion person faith. At UCI in particular, things have become heated [see "Against the Wall," Oct. 19 2007].

As I was walking to the Horowitz event I noticed one of the MSU member from the story I wrote last year. I asked him if he was on his way to the Horowitz event and he just laughed.

So no Muslim protesters, damn, this was going to be a lot more boring, I thought. Once in the lecture room at Rowland Hall, the first thing I noticed was it was sparsely populated, mostly with people 50 and over. There were about 40 audience members total, scattered in seats throughout the lecture room. The room was a minimalist theater style setting with white undecorated walls and ceiling, and puke-inducing overhead fluorescent lighting. At the front of the room was an obviously Photoshopped poster of a hijabed Muslim woman holding a sign that says "God Bless Hitler" in English.

Friday night found Dave Segal attending the Good Foot at Que Sera to see DJ Nobody, Dennis Owens and Scott Weaver spinning world-class funk and soul. Then he had his mind blown by psych-rockers Magic Lantern and the Antarcticans at the Prospector Saturday.

Meanwhile Rich Kane reviewed The Register and unfortunately, the review was unfavorable once again. Poor Register. It just keeps getting kicked while it's down. Speaking of kickin' it, Christopher Victorio attended KIIS FM's Wango Tango in Irvine to see Snoop Dogg and the like.

Edwin Goei was also in Irvine this weekend, only he was stuffing his face rather than rocking out. This time he visited Paris Baguette to eat some yummy sandwiches.

And Vickie Chang took a behind the scenes "Animal Encounter: Sea Otter" tour at the Aquarium of The Pacific, which has their ten year anniversary coming up. There she shook hands with Charlie the otter—who apparently isn't as nice as he looks, fed sharks some chum and watched a puffin take a chunk out of a worker's hand.

On Saturday, Luke Y. Thompson headed to OC Weekly photographer John Gilhooley's art show at Memphis in Santa Ana, featuring a slew of OC Weekly covers beautifully displayed on a chartreuse wall and printed on glossy, over-sized paper (oh, the glory of glossy!). And across the street from Gilhooley's show was an exhibition where casts had been made from the boobs of the OC Rollergirls team, and painted different creative ways. See kids? Art can be fun!

Our Art Director, Kelly Lewis, played volleyball in Huntington Beach (as usual), taking several breaks to watch the AVP Pro Volleyball Tournament in full swing on the other side of the pier, where Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh beat Tyra Turner and Rachel Wacholder with a controversial referee call that got the crowd booing.

For all you country fans out there, photographer Christopher Victorio shared some shots of the Stagecoach Music Festival in Indio and Rich Kane's Reg-O-Meter took some shots at the OC Register's new web-show, The Juice. It's juicy!

This weekend had so many festivals going on that both Navel Gazing and Heard Mentality were working through the weekend.

First, we had Luke Y. Thompson pulling double duty blogging his little heart out at the Newport Beach Film Festival AND attending his big movie premiere in Hollywood. While Dave Segal and Erin DeWitt were off at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio listening their little ears off for our reading pleasure.

Speaking of a festivals, Gustavo Arellano attended the LA Times Festival of Books and spoke on a panel about immigration. Once that was over he practiced a little religious commemoration by stirring the shit some more with Robert Morey, pastor of Faith Community Church in Irvine. This time he unleashed yet another critique of Morey's blog, BiblicalThought.com.

Then Rich Kane blessed us with another review of the car wreck that is the OC Register complete with puppy, kitty and exploding diarrhea references. And Edwin Goei actually witnessed a car wreck while eating at Gammy's Café. But don't worry. It didn't disrupt his appetite. Read a review of the restaurant here.

By far the most interesting thing to happen this weekend was the thievery of Jenna Jameson's vagina. You're just going to have to read about it yourself.

Speaking of vaginas, Rich Kane submitted another arousing issue of the Reg-O-Meter complete with mentions of Asian masseuses, pussy (cats) and saggy tits that resemble fried eggs. Meanwhile, food critic Edwin Goei actually ate some fried eggs at Champion Food in Fountain Valley. Read the review here.

Dave Segal stayed fairly musical this weekend as he DJed a set of psychedelic rock at Charlie O's in LA on Friday; also on the bill: the Moon Upstairs, He's My Brother She's My Sister, DJ Short Shorts and Lions of Panjshir. Saturday he caught Nosaj Thing DJing at the Crosby and Woolfy DJing at Avalon Bar. And on Sunday he turned 46 and then went to the Echo in LA for a night of Krautrock tribute bands. Happy Birthday Dave!

This weekend began on Thursday thanks to Rockstar Energy's Taste of Chaos tour coming to Long Beach arena. Weekly staffers and freelancers headed out and experienced the shenanigans reporting back later, hung over and rocked out.

Music Editor Dave Segal spent Friday taking in Crystal Castles at Detroit Bar and tapping his foot furiously to the skinny-jeaned electro beats. Sadly, it was too hot and packed in there to bust out any non-existent repertoire of dance moves (view photos here). Meanwhile, Derek Olson attended The Billabong XXL Global Big Wave surfing awards. Cowabunga! No? Not funny? eh.

Saturday found Rich Kane recapping the Reg and R. Scott Moxley dissin' on Dillow. Again.

While Edwin Goei did what he does best on Sundays—eat. This time he tasted the splendors of The Crystal Cove Shake Shack and it seems he's a little shaken from the experience.

This weekend was a kick ass good time with Rich Kane doing another edition of the Reg-O-Meter that's pretty funny, I'm not gonna lie.

Saturday night caught Dave Segal reviewing Autechre, Rob Hall and Massonix at Echoplex, where he was a lil' influenced because he's been into Autechre ever since he heard their tracks on the first Artificial Intelligence compilation.

Meanwhile, Luke Y. Thompson attended a Hollywood party at the house Orson Welles died in. The home is currently owned by "Heathers" screenwriter Daniel Waters, whose new movie "Sex And Death 101" just opened.

Sunday found Thompson attending a memorial barbecue for his late friend, conservative columnist Cathy Seipp. Attendees included LA Weekly news editor Jill Stewart, advice columnist Amy Alkon, actress/comedian Sandra Tsing Loh, and bloggers Mickey Kaus, Luke Ford, and Ben Sullivan. While Edwin Goei dined at Daikokuya, a highly-regarded L.A. ramen shop that recently opened a location in Costa Mesa and Gustavo Arellano explained to us all what The Real Reason Why UCLA Lost is.

This weekend found OCW's Le Receptionist, Leslie Agan, at the opening night of Phantom of The Opera at OCPAC. While our oh-so-fabulous Music Editor Dave Segal was at Kitsch Bar in Costa Mesa catching the diverse and excellent Steve "aDJective" Fisch.

As usual, Managing Editor Rich Kane spent Saturday tearing apart the OC Register and feeding the bits to his Reg-O-Meter. The results didn't come out too well (a.k.a. the machine broke).

Meanwhile, Clubs Editor Erin DeWitt and I caught the OC Music Awards on Saturday night and on Sunday Edwin Goei had a splendid time digesting avocado pizzas at Stonefire Grill in Irvine. Yummy.

Sometime in between, Gustavo Arellano went to Jason's in downtown SanTana to celebrate his retirement with Corsican calamari and an extra-spicy Bloody Mary and Luke Y. Thompson attended a film screening (he loves those darn things). He viewed the world premiere of AMHURST at the Huntington Library, to be precise. It's a horror movie from Huntington Beach director Rocky Costanzo and his company, LifeLine Entertainment. You can catch a full review of the film in an upcoming issue of the OC Weekly.

Yes, we know. Our weekends are just amazing. You may feel jealous now.

On Friday night, Dave Segal watched London duo, Black Ghosts, put on one of the better hipster-dance live shows he's seen in a while. Saying, "It was kind of like a combination of Daft Punk and Chemical Brothers, full of aggressive beats, filthy synth textures and sing-along tunes."

Saturday found our own Luke Y. Thompson at the toy store shopping for Iron Man action figures to add to his collection. He found himself a Robert Downey Jr. action figure at the Toys R Us in Irvine.

Too bad it looks more like Eddie Izzard than Downey, though. Sigh.

Also on Saturday: The Reg-O-Meter's data came back with another negative reading after Rich Kane tore last week's Orange County Register articles apart. Check back next Saturday for this week's reading. (And if you notice a Reg tidbit you feel we should add to the mix, please feel free to e-mail rkane@ocweekly.com)

On Sunday, Edwin Goei told us how to properly enjoy an all day Filipino breakfast at Manila Groove in Tustin. Sadly, it doesn't involve a big wooden spoon and fork. While Gustavo Arellano warns cruisers not to hit Bristol (cuz da po po be roamin) and R. Scott Moxley remarks about Gordon Dillow's uncanny ability to generate imaginary dilemmas. And get paid!

Dave Segal and Tom Child spent the weekend in Austin for the South By Southwest Festival, which they live-blogged out of Heard Mentality. Browse the SXSW blog for their coverage here, and do scroll down and flip through some slide shows while you're there. Chelsea Ide wraps up the SXSW weekend quite nicely over here.

Once again, the Reg-O-Meter (which now has a snazzy new logo - thanks, Steve!) went negative after Rich Kane fed it this week's notables from the Orange County Register. Check back next Saturday for this week's reading. (And if you notice a Reg tidbit you feel we should add to the mix, e-mail rkane@ocweekly.com)

On Saturday, Christopher Victorio snapped the GoodGuys 2nd Orange County Car Show at the Costa Mesa fairgrounds. Photos of funky rides and fuzzy dice over here.

Also on Sat: Luke Thompson and pal Matthew King viewed The Bank Job and critiqued it on YouTube. And Nate Jackson chronicled a Huntington Beach protest that marked the 5th anniversary of the Iraq war.

On Sunday, Edwin Goei told us how to get a dollar off bento boxes at Costa Mesa's Mitsuwa Marketplace. And Gustavo Arellano found yet more morons to rant about.

Patrick Chavis got a taste of Pinoy pop culture at UCI Friday night, where he caught Bambu, Rhythm Natives and the Fighting Cocks. Pat also ran into a tagger who dreams of letters. Read his review and see some photos here.

Rich Kane spent his Saturday morning reviewing the past week in the Orange County Register. The Reggie didn't fare very well. . .click here to see why. Rich will check in with the Reg-O-Meter next Saturday, so do drop by to see if our favorite local daily can rise from the grave.

Dave Segal's Saturday night unfolded at The Prospector in Long Beach where he enjoyed psychedelic shoegaze rock from LA bands Shields and the Sky Parade and Pomona's Amazing Reverb Engine, plus excellent complementary selections from DJs Billgazer and Short Shorts. Dave will be live-blogging SXSW from Austin, Texas past Wednesday, so do check in at Heard Mentality for his coverage.

Luke Thompson ended up in Eagle Rock's All-Star Lanes Saturday, where he serenaded birthday boy Ben Sullivan with his karaoke version of "Ice Ice Baby." (Ben is the proprietor of ScienceBlog and the brother of former LA Weekly music editor Kate Sullivan, who is now studying horticulture.)

Also on Saturday: OCWeekly.com photographer Fever Dragon hopped from gallery to gallery for the Long Beach Art walk. Photos galore over here.

On Sunday, Gustavo Arellano launched another snazzy web feature: a church services review. This week's place of worship: At Your Service - the Main Place Christian Fellowship Church Prayer Booth. Next week? Who knows. Check back next Sunday.

Edwin Goei's Sunday food blog visited Pastagina, an Irvine joint where pasta is proudly machine-made.

And Christopher Victorio got St. Paddy's started early at Muldoon’s Dublin Pub in Newport Beach for their 7th annual Sexiest Kilt Competition. Flip through our gallery to see who won. Hint: It ain't the guy pictured. We just liked his casual kilt.

Jewlicious Festival 4.0, the largest youth festival celebrating contemporary Jewish culture and identity, was held in Long Beach over the Feb. 29 - March 2 weekend at the Barbara and Ray Alpert Jewish Community Center. Reza Allah-Bakhshi dropped by on Saturday and caught internationally acclaimed rapper Y-Love, human beatbox Yuri Lane and Moshav. Check out his photos here. Also in attendance was our Derek Olson, who shot some video that will grace Heard Mentality later today.

Luke Thompson drove to Hollywood Friday evening for the premiere of The Lost. Check out some footage from his expedition over here.

Saturday took Luke to the Art Institute in Santa Ana for the Rock the Runway show. (Photos to follow.) In other LYT news, the website for his most recent movie, Wicked Lake, just went live.

Dave Segal spent Saturday night at Que Sera in Long Beach for the Phase 4our night: "Excellent dance-music DJs all night, topped by Woolfy, whose cosmic disco-funk tracks made everyone in the room seem 50 percent sexier."

Also on Saturday:

Christopher Victorio watched the OC Roller Girls take down a team from the IE at the Costa Mesa fairgrounds. (Photos here.)

Gustavo Arellano attended the Orange County Hispanic Bar Association's annual fundraising dinner. (Blog post here.)

Cindy Cafferty stopped by the Santa Ana Zoo's 56th birthday celebration. (Post here.)

And clubs photographer Fever Dragon and pal Jeff Phifer caught Look Daggers, On Blast, Pop Noir, Repeater and The Mashed Potatoes at The Vault 350. (See pix and post.)

Dave wound up at the Avalon Bar in Costa Mesa Sunday evening to pay respects to the club's late owner, Mike Conley. He then proceeded to Detoit Bar to see Danish noise-pop duo The Raveonettes, as did Reza, whose Last Night review you can read over here.

Dave Segal moved into Detroit Bar on both Friday and Saturday nights: "Free the Robots' thrilling [Friday] live show blew away Afrika Bambaataa's moldy DJ set. Local upstarts overshadowed a legend!" And on Sat, "DJs Josh One, Hyder, James Pants and Peanut Butter Wolf spun loads of great hip-hop cuts and freaky dance tracks that didn't fit neatly into any categories."

Saturday took our interns Patrick Chavis and Nate Jackson to Cal State Long Beach for the Ludacris concert/protest and the Costa Mesa Fairgrounds for Kat Von D's MusInk Tattoo and Music Festival, respectively. Patrick chatted protesters up in the rain while Nate ogled the heavily-inked and scantily clad, then caught the Tiger Army performance at the concert hall on the premises. Photographer Christopher Victorio dropped in on MusInk on all three days and will shoot us tons of snaps later today.

Also on Saturday: CV shot Billy Joel at the Honda Center while Reid Sheldon took in The Henry Clay People at The Prospector in Long Beach. He writes: "Some might have been disappointed with a set of mostly covers (there were one or two others in there that I can't remember right now), but really I found myself more than satisfied. They played my two favorite originals as well as a brand new song from their forthcoming full length album that will be out later this month. They came, they drank, they rocked, and I hope someone sober drove them home (probably one of the nice girls selling their merch)." Read the rest of Reid's review here.

Elsewhere, LYT rediscovered the wonders of Wal-Mart, where he bought shelves, "the three-disc director's cut of HELLBOY for $9.44, and ear-plugs, for all the leaf-blowers and lawnmowers in Santa Ana. Dental floss too. Wal-Mart's pretty cool sometimes."

On Sunday, food blogger Edwin Goei reviewed Pho Ha Noi, which took the place of the pricier Saigon Grille in Irvine. Check back next Sun. for Edwin's take on a certain hot dog stand that's set up in front of the REI Sporting Goods Store in Santa Ana on the weekends.

Christopher visited Huntington Beach High School for the OCTO (Orange County Transporter Organization) Winter Meet, which featured scores of cute but rusty Volkswagen buses. Later in the night, he dropped in on the last leg of the DJ wars at OC Weekly's Spin City event at Sutra, where Irvine boy DJ Dizzy won the right to take his scratching skills to Miami. Again, photos to come.

Last but never least, Gustavo Arellano appeared on Inside OC with Rick Reiff with OC Register reporter Norberto Santana, Jr. on Sunday. (Santana joined G. at Jason's for his usual Corsican calamari and Bloody Mary Friday.) Tune in to KOCE on Wednesday if you missed the show.

Cobra Starship landed at the Pomona Glass House Friday night for the closest-to-OC leg of their "Really Really Ridiculously Good Looking Tour." Christopher Victorio caught the main act and support band Metro Station (but missed out on We The Kings and The Cab, also on tour with Cobra). The venue was packed, and some fans brought their Cobra Starship action figures along for the ride. Photos here.

Saturday took OCW intern and Cal State Fulleron student Nate Jackson to the L.A. Convention Center to audition for NBC's American Gladiators: "The place was crammed with people like a flea market on steroids. There was everything from a Gladiator-style pugil stick battle station, to muscle supplement vendors, to a spray-on tanning center where people lined up to get doused with Crayola orange." Read the rest of Nate's review here.

Also on Sat: Food critic Edwin Goei started his first of what we hope will be many weekend food blog posts on Navel Gazing. It's not too late to catch Asameshi Maeda Honten - the "Legendary Ramen Fair" in Costa Mesa, but don't wait too long as it ends today.

Dave Segal spent Saturday night at the Light Gallery in Costa Mesa, where he caught the penultimate Double Fisted DJ night with DJ Poppa, Scotty Coats, Dirty-Lo and their fellow jocks with the Love Break crew. "They spun high-quality disco and house music all night while interesting pop-art paintings hung interestingly on the walls," says he.

Film critic LYT watched U2-3D at the Irvine Spectrum. His two cents (okay, maybe four): "The 3D effects weren't the best, with more "ghosting" of images than I'd have liked, but overall it made me nostalgic for the days of huge rock star bands and musicians who believe they can bring world peace. Not so many of those nowadays, and if there were, no doubt some idiot right wingers would tell them to "shut up and sing." Also, I learned that annoying fat fucks think that when a movie is of a concert, it entitles them to talk through the whole thing in a brazen manner I don't think they'd have at a "normal" movie. I even yelled "Shut up" at them twice; did no good. Thankfully the movie was loud."

Christopher spent Saturday and Sunday photographing the Ragga Muffins Festival in Long Beach. We're still sifting through his 1,500 snaps, but do read a review of Saturday's lineup by Marco Villalobos, who incurred the wrath of a security guard with bad hair for trying to sneak in through the exit door.

Other notable weekend items:

Vickie Chang reports that some jerks from Canada stole OC boy Matt Costa's gear. The band would like their stuff back, please. In happier news, our Gustavo Arellano won the same award as Brad Pitt. And Rich Kane reports that he did "the most exciting, inspiring, enthralling, spiritually moving mass of laundry I've ever done -- really, it was worth at least a segment on "Oprah" -- particularly when it came time to confront my stains and "shout" them out..."

The Gothla Festival hit Fullerton from Friday to Sunday, and we were there in full force. Christopher Victorio took some beautiful pictures of the ladies gyrating in all sorts of intricate outfits at Saturday night's Gothic Gala. (Check those out here.) Luke Thompson and Derek Olson were also in attendance and will be posting some video on Navel Gazing later today.

Clubs photographer Fever Dragon spent Friday evening on board The Rocket Boat in Alamitos Harbor for a punk lineup that included the Friendly Neighbors, Ashtray Babies, Vomit Bomb & Bad Parents. "It was probably one of the best live shows I've shot," said he and we agree. Drunkenness and debauchery should always be caught on camera. Jeff Phifer was on the boat too, and gave us his two cents on the increasingly popular venue.

Gustavo Arellano kept his Friday ritual of dining at Jason's in Downtown SanTana and ordering the same thing: Corsican calamari with a Bloody Mary, extra spicy. Dave Segal was also in Long Beach Friday for Que Sera's Good Foot monthly and watched as three DJs spun 60s/70s/80s dance tunes. "This night has been going for over nine years and it still draws sizable crowds," he notes.

On Saturday, Christopher took his camera to LB for a Haute Dogs Bulldog Beauty Contest and ran into Quinn Fry from Real Housewives, who was judging the doggies. Talk about an events whore...CV snapped her at the Anaheim Ducks Casino Night at the Honda Center and Amanda Parsons and Erin DeWitt bumped into her at OC's Most Eligible Bachelor Auction (where she bought her own boyfriend) just last month. Pup and bitch photos later.

Speaking of clubs editor Erin DeWitt, she celebrated moving out of Fountain Valley and into a lovely home in Santa Ana Saturday night and several Weekly kids were there for the housewarming. Also on Saturday, the folks from Freedom Communications held auditions at the Grove of Anaheim for some upcoming lamesauce OC Register entertainment web feature. (We were going to have Rich Kane audition, but he was too busy looking for some way to skip town at the Los Angeles Times Travel Show.)

Sunday night took Le Receptionist, Leslie Agan, to Detroit Bar to see The Black Lips. Sounded like a good time if you enjoy sweat, spit and silly string.

Elsewhere, in some dark, undisclosed region of the county, we suspect a clever couple or two made pre-Valentines Day use of Dave Segal's "In Sound We Thrust" bedroom playlist.

Hungover from Super Bowl Sunday? Us too. (Yes, even those of us who aren't the biggest football nuts by a long shot. . .but when stranded in SFO waiting to head back to John Wayne, there aren't too many entertainment options.) Anyway, we obviously didn't go hog wild on Super Bowl coverage around here, but our sister paper, the Phoenix New Times, sure did. They even built this nifty blog thing. Looking for the OC-Super Bowl connection? Try this cute but woefully mediocre singer-songwriter from Mission Viejo whose 60 second Doritos ad scored her a record deal. Of course, The Register was all over that one.

Before we launch into Super Tuesday (or begin wondering why everything is so decidedly "super" this week), here's your regular What We Did Monday morning roundup:

Christopher Victorio (our unofficial official web photographer) crashed Sutra's Brazilian Carnaval Friday night, bounced around to some samba and snapped the scantily-clad. Ain't it great how we can always count on him for that sort of thing? Christopher's Saturday night was spent sipping complimentary Ketel One martinis and basking in the energy of sax player Gerald Albright and his band at the Ocean Institute's Jazz in January affair. (Which is bizarrely held in February.) Everything from a week in Hawaii to a chef from the Ritz-Carlton was auctioned off, and though there was no dance floor, folks could not sit still. Photos here.

Music editor Dave Segal spent Friday night at the ever-popular Alex's Bar in Long Beach for The Secret Affair: a DJ night featuring all things '60s and danceable. 'Twas "a great night of music and unintentional body friction (it was PACKED)," says he. Dave would go on to the Alterknit Lounge (part of The Knitting Factory club) in L.A. Saturday to see Guam, Bad Trips and Solar Wimp. "Krautrock, psych rock and progressive post-punk rock. It rocked."

Waleed Rashidi got his dose of live sound at Friar Tuck's Bar and Grille in Pomona Saturday night, where Death By Stereo were performing. Read his review and see some photos here.

LYT checked out the Dirk Hagner exhibition at Space on Spurgeon. His take: "The pictures on the official site (spaceonspurgeon.com) kinda say it all. Very....woodcutty. And really big for woodcuts. Some guy with a Liverpool accent gave me a free glass of champagne. There was also a drawing of two dead birds hanging upside down that I found quite striking." In other news, Luke had his first taste of the new Diet Dr Pepper chocolate cherry flavor and is certain it would make a great mixer.

Remember R. Scott Moxley's challenge to a certain former sheriff? The one in which he dared Michael S. Carona to play the contents of secret tapes containing conversations between himself and former assistant sheriff Don Haidl? The same tapes Carona said would prove his innocence?! Well, Mox threw down the gauntlet over a month ago, and, unsurprisingly, the Carona camp didn't take it up. Instead, over the weekend, the news broke that Carona's attorneys filed a motion to throw said tapes out. Hm. Do we smell a rat or a big fat chicken? Or some bastard hybrid breed? Give it up, Carona and Caronies.

Other things that transpired over the break:

Dave Segal spent Friday night at Detroit Bar and reports it was "your basic hipster dance party starring NYC mash-up DJ Pase Rock and a club full of Cokey McCokersons." Cuddly.

Also on Fri: Waleed Rashidi went to see the Circle Jerks at the Pomona Glass House. In last week's edition of OC Weekly, Ryan Ritchie determined that "getting old sucks, especially for a 52-year-old punk front man famous for singing 'Live Fast, Die Young.'" Though the Weekly piece sounded like a death knell for the Jerks, Wal found them bouncing across the stage "with the nervous activity of a fourth-grader whose Ritalin prescription expired last month."

Saturday night found Reza Allah-Bakhshi at Surf City Saloon where the bar owner got him liquored up on the house as he watched the Generators, Longway, Unwanted Guests and Blacktop Idol take the stage. His lens was broken, but Reza took some killer shots anyway. On Sunday, Reza made his way to Detroit to see 8MM and the Papercranes. Read his take here.

LYT spent Sunday night watching the WWE Royal Rumble in Hi-Def at the home of Snakes on a Plane executive producer Jeff Katz: "In case you're wondering, surprise entrant John Cena won the 30-man main event, which will place him in the main event of WrestleMania this March, most likely against Randy Orton. Hmmm, that match sounds familiar..."

In other happy news, our Amanda Parsons (who was recently freed from Real Housewives review bondage) got herself a brand new Mini Cooper over the weekend. Amanda's old ride was totaled on the 22 Freeway earlier in the month - after being stolen and beaten up last year. Here's hoping that's the end of those auto woes.

UPDATE: Photos are up.

By Amanda Parsons and Erin DeWitt

When the press release for a Newport Beach bachelor auction came across our desks, we were all over that shit. And when we heard there was going to be an open bar? The deal got even sweeter.

You would think that a room full of eligible men, free flowing alcohol and some B-list reality TV stars would make for a fun evening.

It didn’t.

NAMM 2008 came and went, with fans and music celebs flooding the Anaheim Convention Center. Weekly web photographer Christopher Victorio dropped by the madhouse on Saturday and ran into folks from Slipknot, Megadeth, Queensryche, Motley Crue and even Playmate of the Year Sara Jean Underwood. Photos galore over here.

After rubbing elbows (literally, the floor was packed!) with folks with bad hair at NAMM, Chris headed to the Jolly Roger next door for another gearhead tradition: Deke Dickerson's Geek Guitarfest. Though he had to run to San Diego for another shoot, CV was mighty impressed by the acts he caught, namely James Calvin Wilsey and Lester Peabody. (Click the links and have a listen for yourself.)

On Sunday, the New York Times ran a piece on locally-grown kiddie show Yo Gabba Gabba and mentioned OC Weekly in it. Why they couldn't have done the same in an article on Carona that ran last week is beyond us.

Also on Sunday: The shocking news that Los Angeles Times publisher David Hiller fired editor-in-chief Jim O'Shea broke. The dismissal supposedly came over a heated talk about budget cuts. Sound familiar? Former LAT editor Dean Baquet left under similar "circumstances." I remember standing in a along with other Times employees in a packed section of the editorial floor late 2006 when O'Shea addressed his staff for the first time. Print -outs of Dean Baquet's face were taped to walls and cubicles and reporters and editors greeted his successor with folded arms and questions about how much of the paper was going to come out of Chicago from then on. Hard to believe O'Shea's time's up already. I somehow doubt they'll be sticking his face around the newsroom, though.

What else happened. . .LYT tried to beam himself back to his mother planet to no avail. (See lower photo. Review of that new Trekkie exhibit in Long Beach coming later today.)

Gustavo Arellano picked a fight with some hipsters on behalf of his one true love (after his lovely girlfriend, of course), accurate history.

Dave Segal drove to L.A. to see Lichens and Om at the Echoplex. (Lichens is a one-man, eerie ambient orchestra; Om are a bass/drums power duo making masterly mystical metal, he informs us. We suspect he had a good time.)

And Christopher met up with folks from former seasons of The Amazing Race for a finals party Sunday night. Incidentally, the winning team was from OC. Hooray. Pictures to come.

OC's lamesauce Saturday night lineup forced music editor Dave Segal and photographer/Le Receptionist Leslie Agan to fly to The Prospector in Long Beach to catch The Vandelles, LSD and the Search for God and the Stevenson Ranch Davidians. The Vandelles were pretty awesome, the other acts. . .not so much. Read Dave-o's report here and flip through some of Leslie's pictures.

Also jaded by the OC music scene on Saturday, Weekly contributor Waleed Rashidi drove up to The Press in Claremont to see Savage Republic. Wal was impressed and said as much in his bloggy review.

Earlier in the day, the Los Angeles Times reported that those lovable Minutemen adopted a stretch of the 5 Freeway. Apparently Caltrans will do anything for a freebie.

Still elsewhere on Saturday, web photographer Christopher Victorio found himself in ruddy Half Moon Bay for the 2008 Mavericks Surf Contest where OC boy Greg Long won big. Photos here.

LYT attended the LAFCA Awards at the InterContinental Los Angeles Sat night, and spent at least five minutes of his precious weekend time shooting the first of what could be many drunken karaoke YouTube clips. (Just when we thought those Gayman clips were the best of him. . .)

On Sunday, sea lion pups were released into the wild ("the wild" being Crescent Bay Beach in Laguna) and DJ Boogi won the latest installment of the Spin City contest at Sutra. Pix here.

And at some point over the weekend, FORMER SHERIFF Mike Carona was grinding his teeth, digging his fingers into his temples and dreading the announcement he'd be making Monday morning. His Indictedness meets the press at 9 a.m.

Friday night took Reid Sheldon to The Gypsy Lounge in Lake Forest, where he noted three mid-set stage exits, an impromptu rap and two wardrobe malfunctions as he documented "death doo-wop" group Jail Weddings. Check out Reid's Last Night review (the first of many, we hope, for 2008) over here.

Meanwhile, Gustavo Arellano took food critic Edwin Goei's advice and headed over to Jason's in downtown Santa Ana. The Mexican was impressed and recommends the corsican calamari and sea crepes.

The craptastic weather didn't keep OC Weekly staffers across departments from holing up at Detroit Bar Saturday to see The Bird and The Bee and support our own Kevin Poush, whose new band, Two Guns, was playing. Shawn Smith wrote a live review and took pictures (as did Le Receptionist, Leslie Agan).

On Sunday, the OC Register unlearned photoshop, as evidenced by this screen capture of a story detailing the arrest of Darin Minasian, the "Jelly Belly Bandit," who appears to have had his head cut in half.

LYT went to a bunch of malls over the weekend and lamented the closing of yet another Kay Bee Toys (Laguna Hills) and yet another Spencer Gifts (Irvine Spectrum). "Then I ate the best abalone I've ever had at Maki Maki sushi at the Spectrum, even took a photo of it."

As for me, moving to Anaheim finally paid off with this announcement from the Disney people. Just when I was grumbling about SanTana residents getting free access to Bowers (every first Sunday and third Tuesday) too. Not that this is a freebie (it's from friggin Disney after all), but it's better than nada.

Hope your weekend was happy.

Photos of the staff at Detroit courtesy Leslie Agan.

So my weekly "Didja do anything cool I can throw into that Monday morning post?" note to the OCW staff was meet with *crickets* and Zzzzs. Everyone's in holiday hibernation mode and your regular "What You Missed" programming will resume next week.

What I hope you didn't miss was this blog entry from last Friday, in which R. Scott Moxley challenged Sheriff Mike Carona to a duel. OK, not quite, but Mox did indicate that His Indictedness was chickenshit for not playing a couple of tapes that will -supposedly- prove his innocence.

To further stress the sentiment, Moxley taped a couple of papers to Weekly Headquarters windows:

The fine folks in our production department inform us that a large sheriff's deptartment helicopter was not pleased, aiming its nose at Mox's paperwork and making a noise so loud we heard it at the opposite end of the building (where we assure you we were up to no good).

We tried to convince Jay From Production to don a chicken suit and stand on the roof for the occasion, but he refused, wondering aloud if such 'copters were armed with missiles. Instead, he drew us a lovely Carona chicken icon with a badge and boots, which the prod. folks gaily pasted next to the rest of the statement. (My camera died just as I lifted it to capture the fowl, but hopefully someone will snap it and we can paste it here later. Pssst. . .Rich?)

Happy last day of the year, folks! No "To Do Tonight" post today, as the lovely Rachel Leeson is off on a much deserved vacation. But do check out Erin DeWitt's compilation of New Year's Eve posters if you don't have plans.

And before I forget, a very Happy Birthday to our gorgeous and talented Ms. Amanda Parsons.

Freelancer Shawn Smith was at Disneyland Friday night when she noticed that the Social Distortion show slated for the evening had been pulled. We bit our nails wondering if this was the latest in Disney censorship at the venue, which Clubs editor Erin DeWitt blogged in September. But it wasn't so, thank goodness. Shawn reports that the boys simply had the flu. Get well soon, guys.

Staffer LYT drove to the L.A. River Center Friday to bid Los Angeles Times editorial page assistant editor Matt Welch adieu. For those who don't know, Welch is heading to Washington, D.C. in January to take over as editor-in-chief of Reason Magazine. The band TSAR played, and as much merriment as could be had next to the L.A. River was had.

Our Erin DeWitt attended the Militia Group and Pull Your Pants Up Christmas party/food drive in Newport Friday to show support for co-worker Kevin Poush (who couldn't make the event and had to stay home sick). Bah, almost everyone at the office has been sick this season. Photos later - if Erin can track down the photographer she ran into at the party, that is.

Tori Amos dropped in on the Grove of Anaheim Saturday night, switching wigs between songs. Our photographer was all set to shoot her, when the venue told him Amos' publicist had denied the request last minute. Kinda odd since she spoke to the Weekly just last week. "Only one photog was approved," he grumbled. Looks like that person was Miguel Vasconcellos of the Reg. Alas, Miggy appears to have gotten the "first five minutes" deal, since all his photos feature Amos in her first wig of the night. Lame sauce, as our Amanda Parsons would say. In other Amos news, watch Tori kick two disrespectful cellphone-using fans out of a concert in San Diego over here.

Gustavo Arellano visited the Sol Art Gallery Cafe Saturday night for the opening of the Conversations with God show, featuring the art of Eric Leonard Jones and the music of the Mad Marionettes. Twas a cool show, he reports. "Unfortunately, I arrived just as it finished, but I heard good things..." Jones' art will be on display till February. Details here.

After being M.I.A. on the blog for weeks (and immersed in several top secret projects), R.Scott Moxley returned to Navel Gazing last week and blogged this, this and this over the weekend. Dunno about you, but I'm still in shock. Great to have you back, Scottie.

Music editor Dave Segal attended the raucous, psychedelic Christmas party thrown by L.A. Record's hip staff at the Eagle Rock Center for the Arts Sunday night, "one of whose gifts was a pleasant case of tinnitus, thanks to stellar sets by Magic Lantern, Crystal Antlers, Antimc and a few of the area's savviest DJs," he writes. Drop by our music blog, Heard Mentality, later today for a full report.

Straight out of Seattle, the Cycle World International Motorcycle Show opened its doors in Long Beach Friday and promptly shut Sunday. Weekly web photographer Christopher Victorio snuck in and drooled over the endless eye candy - such as this fully customized 2008 Suzuki Hayabusa sportbike. More pictures here.

The Boat Parade of Lights aka "A Merry Mardi Gras" sans the shirt lifting (though we hear there was some bead throwing) kicked off at Dana Point Friday and continued Saturday night. Missed it? So did we. Fortunately, it continues next weekend. Download the flyer here.

Landlocked, but determined not to be left out, Villa Park had its own landlubber's version of the parade down Taft Avenue, by Villa Park High School on Sunday. Check out The Register's flashy guide to boat parades here.

Staff writer LYT cast his vote for this year's best flicks along with the rest of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. This year's winners are listed here.

Gem Faire -which was an excellent chance to pick up some cheap but creative X-mas presents- returned to the Costa Mesa fair grounds Friday and stayed on through the weekend. I liked it enough back in August to pick up a Raku necklace and enough snaps for a slideshow. The fair won't be back in town till February next year.

Hundreds of Catholics took over downtown Santa Ana Sunday (wait, this sounds like any other day in SanTana...) to celebrate their beloved Virgin of Guadalupe. Photos and stuff at the Reg.

The Punk Rock Cruise noted in Friday's calendar section looked intriguing, but at $320-$640 for the privilege, we said "Shine it!"

OCW intern extraordinaire Rachel Leeson was dying to get into KROQ's Almost Acoustic Christmas bash, but all those calls to the station weren't getting her diddly squat. We lurve our interns, so we e-mailed a few people and got her a photo pass for both Saturday and Sunday nights. Rachel should be reporting back with plenty of photos later today. She did mention that The Killers made a surprise guest appearance at yesterday's show. End-of-semester madness at UCI and a raging hangover from last night will probably mean sometime after lunch. . .

Inked-up dames and the fellas who love 'em headed out to the first annual Miss Surf City Tattooed Lady contest at the Surf City Saloon in Huntington Beach on Sunday. The strip mall block party included Saloon neighbors 13 Bones, One Stop Smoke Shop, Hair International Salon, and Sick Dogs Tattoo.

By the time the all-day event wound down and the winner was crowned just before 6 p.m., most of the crowd (and the contestants) were feeling the effects of the free booze and food.

Click the image for photos from the event.