FINAL VISIT: Henry Mancini made one of...

FINAL VISIT: Henry Mancini made one of his final concert appearances at the Orange County Performing Arts Center in February. He’d switched with singer Davis Gaines, to accommodate Gaines’ schedule. Originally, Mancini was to appear here earlier this month, which he would have canceled due to his illness. Mancini died of cancer Tuesday. . . . While here in February, he called himself a film composer, not a songwriter: “I don’t know if I’ve ever written a song that wasn’t on assignment.”

CLOSING CAUSE? Fullerton City Councilwoman Molly McClanahan has an idea to help out the city’s money-starved library: a voluntary subscription program. If 1,000 people buy library cards at $50 each, she says, the city’s library could open Sundays. Mayor A.B. (Buck) Catlin calls it “a good idea, a VIP gold card.” . . . They’d better act fast: McClanahan and Catlin were both recalled last Tuesday (B4), and will be gone in November.

FREE MEDLEY: Three decades after the Righteous Brothers first climbed the charts, Santa Ana native Bill Medley still commands major fees, either solo or with Righteous partner Bobby Hatfield. But Saturday, he’ll sing for free at an American Red Cross benefit at the Pacific Amphitheatre in Costa Mesa. . . . It’s the first concert at the amphitheater since the county fair board bought it last year and spent $650,000 on renovations. Says a Medley spokeswoman: “Bill’s schedule is hectic, but the Red Cross is a special favorite of his.”

NO HORSING AROUND: No detail is too small for scrutiny in some cities. In Cypress this week, council members sent back to the drawing books an awning design for a food-and-drink concession proposed for next month’s swap meet at the Los Alamitos Race Course (B3). They said it looked too much like something for the Kentucky Derby track in Louisville. Mayor Richard Partin groused that the designer’s “got Churchill Downs on his mind.”