ICE TRY: Maybe the gods weren’t pleased....

ICE TRY: Maybe the gods weren’t pleased. In an ice carving exhibition at the Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway, Newport Beach’s Mark Daukas and New Yorker Scott Rella sculpted Thor, the Norse god of thunder, from 10 300-pound blocks of ice. Daukas, who holds many national and international titles in ice carving, was expected to win. But he only got a citation for “innovation.” . . . . Says a friend: “They were pretty bummed and not really happy with the judging.”

FOR SHARON: A highlight of the Orange Coast College Symphony’s performance at the school’s Robert B. Moore Theatre Sunday night will be the seven-minute elegy “Ohio Girl.” It’s packed with meaning. . . . It’s Huntington Beach composer Jim Weisheit’s tribute to his cousin, Sharon Lane, the first Army nurse to be killed in the Vietnam War. . . . Says the college’s orchestra director Alan Remington: “I defy anyone to sit down and listen to it without having tears come to their eyes. Jim put his heart and soul into this work.”

DAVE’S SONG: Tony Bennett didn’t leave his heart there, so “Seattle on the Puget Sound” hasn’t caught on as a national treasure. But it’s well known in Seattle. And native son Dave Holden, a jazz musician who’s a regular at the Westin South Coast Plaza, wants that city to officially adopt it. He owns the rights to the song, written by his father. Says Holden, who lives in Huntington Beach: “I’ve been at this 35 years, and I always play that song. People here seem to love it.”

STAYING BUILT: Tonight’s Afghan International Concert and Show at UC Irvine’s Bren Event Center brings together peoples of Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, Tajikistan, India and Uzbekistan. They’ll perform traditional music and dance from each land. Producer Ahmadshah Alam of New York organized the event in part to preserve critical but ephemeral aspects of the war-torn region. . . . . Says Alam: “You can rebuild the country, the houses, but when you lose the culture, you cannot rebuild it.”