EDM nightclubs
Sound
1642 N. Las Palmas Ave., L.A.
soundnightclub.com
Create
6021 Hollywood Blvd., L.A.
sbe.com
Lure
1439 Ivar Ave., L.A.
lurehollywood.com
Avalon
1735 N. Vine Ave., L.A.
avalonhollywood.com
Exchange
618 S. Spring St., L.A.
exchangela.com
Time Warner Cable Inc., which is awaiting regulatory approval to merge with Comcast Corp., missed analysts' profit estimates as TV programming costs rose and the company offered more promotions to lure subscribers.
Fourth-quarter earnings, excluding some items, rose to $2.03 a share, falling short of the $2.09 average of analysts' estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Sales gained 3.8 percent to $5.79 billion, the New York-based company said in a statement. Analysts projected revenue of $5.81 billion.
As the total number of Americans paying for TV declines, Time Warner Cable has focused on offering cheaper bundles of cable, Internet and phone service to keep subscribers and lure new ones. The company has faced rising costs for sports and broadcast channels, while investing in improving its broadband network as younger viewers increasingly watch shows on the Web instead of paying for traditional cable.
"The big drag remains the rate of programming rate increases," Craig Moffett, an analyst at MoffettNathanson LLC, said in a phone interview. Efforts to draw new customers also reduced profit, he said.
"They're focusing more on bringing customers into double and triple play packages, and those often have promotional prices up front," Moffett said.
Programming and content expenses climbed 7.1 percent to $1.3 billion in the quarter, as companies demand higher fees for the right to air their sports and broadcast channels.
Time Warner Cable shares fell 0.4 percent to $138.58 at 10:01 a.m. New York time. The stock was down 8.5 percent this month through yesterday.
The falling number of Americans paying for TV partly inspired Comcast's proposed $45.2 billion takeover of Time Warner Cable. The deal could give the combined companies scale to help invest in their network and combat rising expenses.
While Time Warner Cable reiterated that it expects the deal to close soon, the companies extended the expiration date of their merger agreement by six months to August, according to a regulatory filing Thursday.
The extension is "no surprise" and "purely procedural," according to James Ratcliffe, an analyst at Buckingham Research Group. He said it's very likely that the deal will be completed.
The merger is still under regulatory review. The U.S. Federal Communications Commission and Justice Department have been vetting the deal since it was announced almost a year ago and delayed their decisions several times.
Time Warner Cable said it had its best quarter for subscriber numbers in at least seven years. The company lost 38,000 residential cable customers, while gaining 295,000 residential voice customers and 168,000 residential high-speed Internet clients.
The subscriber performance was better than analysts expected, according to Philip Cusick, an analyst with JPMorgan Chase & Co. In a research note, he said analysts were anticipating a loss of 103,000 cable customers with additions of 30,000 for voice and 93,000 for broadband.
The tradeoff for stronger subscriber growth and retention was that monthly bills didn't rise as much as some analysts expected, partly because of more promotions. The average monthly broadband bill rose to $47.30 a month, while Cusick expected $47.49, and voice revenue of $30.58 was short of Cusick's $31.63 estimate.
"This is actually the first real sign of a turnaround at Time Warner Cable," Moffett said. "The company has been much too reliant on price increases as of late. And now for the first time they're showing real signs of fixing the basic problems and it's showing up in much better subscriber results than in the past."
Moffett said video subscribers may even rise this year.
Time Warner Cable's net income rose to $554 million, or $1.95 a share, from $540 million, or $1.89, a year earlier.
The company said the costs of airing football, basketball and other games are driving its rising expenses. Customers this year have a $2.75 monthly charge added to their bills for sports programming.
Other providers have made similar moves. The charge for broadcast networks on Comcast's monthly bills has gone up to $3.25 from $1.50 in most markets.
The price increases have further pushed viewers online, where there are increasingly cheaper options to access content. In 2013, the number of Americans with cable or satellite subscriptions fell for the first time.
Copyright © 2015, Los Angeles TimesFord's net income tumbled in the fourth quarter as the company took an expected charge to deal with its struggling Venezuelan operations.
But without the charge and other one-time items, Ford came out ahead of Wall Street's expectations for the fourth quarter and the full year.
Its shares rose 2 percent in premarket trading about an hour before the market open.
Ford's net income fell to $52 million in the fourth quarter, largely due to an $800 million charge because of Venezuelan currency controls and constraints on what in can build and sell in the country. Ford announced last week that it would remove its Venezuelan operations from its financial reporting in future quarters.
Ford's earnings of a penny per share compared to earnings of 75 cents per share in the fourth quarter a year ago.
Without one-time items, including the Venezuela charge and separation payments due to plant closures in Europe and Australia, Ford earned $1.1 billion in the quarter, down 15 percent from a year ago.
But its adjusted earnings of 26 cents per share beat Wall Street's forecast of 22 cents per share, according to FactSet.
Fourth-quarter revenue fell 4.5 percent to $35.9 billion, but also beat analysts' expectations.
For the full year, Ford's earnings fell 56 percent to $3.2 billion, or 80 cents per share. On a pretax basis, the company earned $6.3 billion, down from a near-record of $8.6 billion a year ago.
Worldwide sales fell less than 1 percent to 6.3 million cars and trucks. Sales were down in North America, South America and the Middle East but rose in Europe and Asia.
Dearborn, Michigan-based Ford had repeatedly warned that its profits would be down in 2014. Last fall, the company cut its full-year pretax earnings forecast to $6 billion from $7 billion to $8 billion.
Ford spent heavily to introduce a record 24 vehicles worldwide, including a redesigned Mustang and the new aluminum-bodied F-150 pickup truck. Ford is spending more than $1 billion to retrofit its two U.S. plants to make the new truck; while shipments have already begun, the Dearborn and Kansas City plants that make the lucrative trucks won't be fully operational until the second quarter of this year.
Ford struggled with higher warranty costs, including a $500 million charge for the recall of 850,000 vehicles with defective air bags. The company is also rapidly expanding in Asia, where it's building five plants and launching the Lincoln brand.
The losses were offset by Ford Credit, the company's finance arm, which earned a pretax profit of $1.9 billion. That was the unit's best result since 2011. Ford also earned a record full-year profit of $589 million in Asia.
In North America, Ford's full-year profit fell 22 percent to $6.9 billion, largely the result of a slowdown in pickup truck sales as the company prepared to launch the new F-150. Ford said profit-sharing checks for its 50,000 U.S. hourly workers, which are based on North American profits, will total around $6,900 when paid in March. That's down from a record $8,800 per worker last year.
In Europe, Ford narrowed its full-year loss to $1.1 billion. Ford's European sales improved thanks to new vehicles, but results were hurt by the economic slowdown in Russia. In South America, Ford's losses ballooned to $1.2 billion as the company was hit by import restrictions in Argentina and a weaker economy in Brazil.
Profit-sharing payments to each of Ford's 50,000 U.S. hourly workers will be about $6,900 when paid in March. That's $1,900 less than last year, which was a record.
Things are expected to improve this year. Ford expects a pretax profit of $8.5 billion to $9.5 billion in 2015. The company is launching just 15 vehicles and it expects warranty costs to fall.
Ford shares rose 25 cents to $14.71 in premarket trading about an hour ahead of the market open.
Copyright © 2015, Los Angeles TimesTo the editor: My child is a student at Waldorf School of Orange County, and it's unbelievable that 41% of kindergartners started the school year unvaccinated. Just recently a Waldorf parent told me that no one is talking about the measles epidemic — not one conversation. ("Once easily recognized, signs of measles now elude young doctors," Jan. 26)
Maybe as a society we value a dog's life more than a human life.
All dogs in California that are 4 months or older are legally required to be vaccinated for rabies. A law enacted in 2011 allows an exemption for the rabies shot if the dog has existing medical conditions that would further deteriorate its health but requires that the animal be confined to the owner's home or be kept on a short leash when away from home.
In contrast, a parent of a human child may sign a paper claiming a belief exemption from all vaccinations. Wow.
Gina Piazza, Costa Mesa
..
To the editor: I do not dispute the value of vaccines, and all my children were inoculated on schedule. However, I sympathize with the so-called deniers.
For generations, many members of the medical establishment have over-promised their ability to prevent and cure disease, told us to take medications that were later determined to have terrible side effects, and more recently failed to protect us from extortionary medical billing practices by their hospitals and insurance companies.
It is both rational and reasonable for some people to no longer trust their doctors.
Rather than ridiculing them, members of the medical community should ask first: What part do we have in this? Once they answer that question, they can begin to rebuild the public's faith in them.
David Fleck, Granada Hills
..
To the editor: Well-meaning but misguided parents must realize that measles shots are not lethal injections.
Quite the opposite: Failure to protect their (and other people's) children is a rash decision that could sicken, disable or even kill innocents.
Chris Ungar, Los Osos, Calif.
Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion
Copyright © 2015, Los Angeles TimesEDM nightclubs
Sound
1642 N. Las Palmas Ave., L.A.
soundnightclub.com
Create
6021 Hollywood Blvd., L.A.
sbe.com
Lure
1439 Ivar Ave., L.A.
lurehollywood.com
Avalon
1735 N. Vine Ave., L.A.
avalonhollywood.com
Exchange
618 S. Spring St., L.A.
exchangela.com
The Internet practically imploded when Steely Dan, a less-than-obvious-choice, was announced as part of the lineup for Coachella, the spring music festival in Indio, Calif.
If you missed out on tickets to the sold-out shows, head to the Pearl at the Palms Casino on Apr. 11, when the brainy kings of '70s jazz rock stop by on their Rockabye Gollie Angel tour with eight supporting musicians and three backing vocalists.
Guitarist Walter Becker and frontman and pianist Donald Fagen have been together since day one, compiling a four-decade catalog of hits, including "Reelin' in the Years," "Rikki Don't Lose That Number," "F.M.," "Peg," "Hey Nineteen," "Deacon Blues," and "Babylon Sisters." Their seven platinum albums, including the groundbreaking "Aja," sold more than 40 million copies.
After breaking up 1981, citing exhaustion, Becker and Fagen reunited in the early '90s and released multi-Grammy winner (including "Album Of The Year") Two Against Nature in 2000. Their latest album, Everything Must Go, came out in 2003.
Tickets start at $93.50 and go on sale Friday, Jan. 30, at noon.
Info: Pearl Box Office, (702) 944-3200
Copyright © 2015, Los Angeles TimesIt appears at least a couple of NBA Development League players need to work on camaraderie just as much as their basketball skills.
Two players on the Iowa Energy were ejected during a game against the Rio Grande Valley Vipers on Tuesday after getting into a fight during a timeout. According to the Des Moines Register, Kailin Lucas and Jarnell Stokes started brawling in front of the Energy bench in the third quarter.
Video of the incident makes it difficult to see how the fight started or what exactly happened, but in-arena broadcasters covering the game did fill in some of the unknowns.
One of them tells the crowd, "… Some unfortunate happenings. Not sure what happened on the Iowa bench, but teammates kind of got into it."
Later, they described Lucas as being "bloodied up a bit" by the fight.
Perhaps the most unusual aspect of the fight is how the referees appear to be oblivious to what's going on until the scuffle is well underway.
Before they were ejected, Lucas had 18 points and Stokes netted 16. Iowa went on to win the game, 124-120.
Copyright © 2015, Los Angeles TimesIn just an average week, Americans safely make more than 1 million trips abroad. But over the course of a year, hundreds of U.S. citizens do die abroad -- and traffic is the leading killer.
Statistics from the U.S. State Department show 803 deaths abroad from "non-natural" causes among U.S. citizen deaths from July 1, 2013, and June 30, 2014. Of those deaths, 213 were listed as vehicular accidents (including autos, buses, motorcycles, pedestrians and trains).
Another 184 deaths were classified as homicides; 134 were suicides; 108 were drownings; 99 were listed as "other accident"; 20 were "drug-related"; 18 were air accidents; 13 were "terrorist action" in Afghanistan; and 10 were maritime accidents.
The country with the most reported deaths was also the country Americans visit most often: Mexico, which received 20.8 million American visitors in 2013, was the site of 244 "non-natural" American deaths in the 12 months ending June 30.
The State Department itself warns travelers against reading too much into these numbers. As officials point out, most American citizens who die abroad are residents in those countries, not tourists. (The State Department has estimated than 1 million U.S. citizens live in Mexico. The Commerce Department, meanwhile, is tracking where American travelers go.)
Also, some deaths go unreported to U.S. officials; and military deaths may be excluded. Moreover, names and details in all of these cases are withheld to preserve families' privacy.
Still, the numbers do offer a reminder that trips come with some risks, especially if there's driving or swimming involved.
In Mexico, where drug-war violence has plagued many states for several years, the State Department's American-death figures have dropped as low as 194 (in 2006), rising as high as 278 (in 2010). In 2013, consular officials counted 216 American deaths in Mexico.
Of the 244 deaths tallied in the 12 months ending June 30, 92 were by homicide, 71 were by vehicular accidents and 33 were by drowning. There were 25 other kinds of accidents, 21 suicides and one death listed only as "drug-related."
Beyond Mexico, Thailand counted 30 American deaths during the year ending June 30; the Philippines, 28; Costa Rica, 22; Germany, 19. Canada, which runs second to Mexico in U.S. visitors, reported just 15 U.S. non-natural deaths.
As for traffic deaths -- in Mexico and worldwide -- the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has gathered country-by-country figures showing relative risks. The numbers are sobering, especially for anyone traveling to Africa. (Of the 20 countries with the highest estimated traffic-death rates worldwide, 15 are in Africa.)
Copyright © 2015, Los Angeles Times"Reborning" is the phenomenon in which customers purchase extravagantly expensive infant dolls – sometimes facsimiles of lost loved ones – that are amazingly lifelike in every particular.
Fascinated by this "beautiful, grotesque and odd" fetish/fad, playwright Zayd Dohrn was inspired to write "Reborning," his superb comedy-drama, now in its Los Angeles premiere at the Fountain Theatre.
The action centers around Kelly (Joanna Strapp), a prickly young woman who lives with her goofily "normal" boyfriend, Daizy (Ryan Doucette). The much in-demand creator of "reborn" babies, Kelly encounters a particularly exacting customer in Emily (Kristin Carey), a successful older woman who has ordered an exact replica of her dead baby girl. But when Kelly begins to suspect that Emily is the woman who gruesomely abandoned her at birth, she arrives at the brink of madness.
It's an admittedly creepy concept, but there's nothing cheap about Dohrn's play, which builds to a shattering denouement.
Director Simon Levy has assembled an extraordinary cast in his exquisitely well-realized production, which also features impressive design elements, particularly Jeff McLaughlin's scruffy apartment set.
All the actors are rock-solid, but Strapp's is a slow-motion train crash of a performance – a real heart-stopper that leaves us emotionally wrecked in its aftermath.
"Reborning," Fountain Theatre, 5060 Fountain Ave., Los Angeles. 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays. Ends March 15. $15-$34.96. (323) 663-1525. www.FountainTheatre.com. Running time: 1 hour, 20 minutes.
Copyright © 2015, Los Angeles TimesThere's no shortage of acting in the Odyssey Theatre Ensemble revival of Eugene O'Neill's "Anna Christie." Accents are adorned like fake noses, illnesses resemble those found in 19th century operas and bits of melodramatic business might as well be underscored with the clashing of cymbals.
What's missing from the production — which stars Jeff Perry (a Steppenwolf Theatre Company veteran and cast member of the hit television series "Scandal") and his daughter, rising actress Zoe Perry, as the play's long-estranged father and daughter — is the kind of directorial guidance that could infuse all this sound and fury with some resonant stillness.
The old-fashioned acting heaves in one direction; Kim Rubinstein's superficially modern staging tugs in another. Emotional combustion fortunately arrives with the introduction of Mat Burke (played by Kevin McKidd of "Grey's Anatomy"), the Irish shipman who washes up from the sea and falls madly in love with Anna, a sickly young woman with a checkered past who has sought sanctuary on her captain father's coal barge.
The plot belongs to another era, revolving around Anna's redemption from her life as a former prostitute after the neglect and exploitation of her childhood. But in trying to stylistically update O'Neill's Pulitzer Prize-winning 1921 drama, this mismanaged revival makes the work seem irretrievably outdated.
Wilson Chin's semi-abstract set design — a raised platform that functions as barroom and boat, surrounded by a border of water standing in for "dat ole davil sea" — is treated by Rubinstein without much concern for common-sense logistics. Absent entirely is a sense of proportion. When the fog rolls in midway through the first act, the effect is so overdone that it's hard to make out what's happening on stage through stinging, watering eyes.
In O'Neill's drama, the fog is, of course, symbolic of the blindness with which the characters muddle their way into the future. Here, it's indicative of a production that is unable to effectively marshal its resources in the intimate space.
In the role of the Swedish captain Chris Christopherson, Jeff Perry gives a broad sketch of this weather-beaten seaman who has turned his back on long ocean voyages and the loneliness and drunken misery he associates with such a life. It's a characterization that stops short of being comic but has some of the same bluster and blunder one finds in the characters of Synge and O'Casey. The production, however, doesn't establish an assured tone for Perry's performance.
O'Neill, who was never known for his acute ear, had a bad habit of writing out speech patterns phonetically. Perry seems straitjacketed by Chris' pidgin English, his mouth forming around his lines as though he were swallowing Swedish meatballs.
The oddness of the portrayal is thrown into relief in the opening scene by Tait Ruppert's nonchalant bartender, who could pass for a waiter at a chain restaurant in Santa Monica. This character may not have a cumbersome accent, but surely he ought to inhabit the same time period as Mary Mara's Marthy Owen, a Dickensian barfly and Chris' bedmate who offers Anna a look into her own future if she doesn't straighten out her ways.
Zoe Perry's accent screams Minnesota, which is where Anna went to live as a young girl with her mother, who died during the voyage. This isn't the only dimension of her performance that is pitched too strenuously.
Pauline Lord, who originated the role of Anna on Broadway, was renowned for the hushed quality of her tragic realism. Perry makes intelligent choices with her interpretation of a woman whose cruel, exploited life hasn't sullied her innermost being, but the gap between character and actress is far too visible. O'Neill invites overacting, but he needs sacrificial immersion.
There are a few clarifying moments of blasting anger between Anna and Chris, but the cathartic fires really only ignite in the scenes between Anna and McKidd's Mat, who doesn't want to love her after she reveals the truth about her past, yet cannot stop. This is an O'Neill play that ends on a hopeful note, though naturally it takes several near catastrophes and a quasi-exorcism to get there.
The production, shot through with the plaintive jazz of sound designer Martin Gutfeldt's saxophone (another of Rubinstein's empty gestures), never finds a coherent rhythm. But a spark of what made O'Neill the great American dramatist (despite his myriad flaws as a writer) comes through. When the fog lifts (glory be to God), a haunted happy ending is the reward.
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'Anna Christie'
Where: Odyssey Theatre, 2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd., L.A.
When: 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays (call for exceptions). Ends March 8.
Tickets: $34.99
Info: (310) 477-2055, Ext. 2; http://www.OdysseyTheatre.com
Running time: 2 hours, 15 minutes
Copyright © 2015, Los Angeles Times
