L.A. underground:”Volcano,” still another L.A. disaster movie...

L.A. underground:

“Volcano,” still another L.A. disaster movie in the making, concerns an eruption that sends lava flowing down Wilshire Boulevard. Whether eastbound or westbound we’re not sure. Twentieth Century Fox didn’t want to go into detail yet. Doesn’t matter to us. We’ve always considered Olympic Boulevard a better east-west thoroughfare, anyway.

DUELING LAVA FLOWS? One reason Twentieth Century Fox is reluctant to talk is that Universal Pictures is also making a volcano flick, “Dante’s Peak.”

With L.A. catastrophes so much in vogue, we figured the latter’s title was a thinly veiled reference to the arboretum called Dante’s View in Griffith Park. Talk about High Concept: Zoo threatened by lava flow!

But further research indicated that the movie is set in the Pacific Northwest. We bet Twentieth Century is relieved about the distant setting. Of course, the studio could have changed the “Volcano” script to avoid duplication. The movie could be retitled, “Twister.” OK, that one’s taken. How about “Whirlwind”?

THE DAY THE MUSIC RESTED: Then there was the mystery of the grand piano sitting quietly in the rotunda of City Hall on Friday.

One source told The Times that it was for a Martin Lawrence movie, “Nothing to Lose,” which had stopped filming while Lawrence recovered from his recent hospitalization. But some movie production workers in the area said it was for a film called “The Eighth Day,” which had a permit to work in City Hall. Others said it was for a commercial.

Or maybe it’s for a sequel to the Holly Hunter movie, “The Piano.” We could envision a scenario in which the instrument is beached on the rotunda.

After arriving on a lava flow.

BREAKING AND ENTERING AND BREAKING: Elva Cook found the following item in the police log of the Westsider newspaper: “A burglar broke the hinge off a garage door, entered, and stole a bicycle, a typewriter and a vacuum cleaner. The burglar fixed the hinge before leaving.”

CONTEMPT OF JUDGE: About 20% of the graduating class of the University of Arizona College of Law signed a petition protesting the choice of Judge Lance Ito as guest speaker at graduation ceremonies, the Arizona Daily Star reports.

Some of the three dozen protesters alleged that Ito was chosen only because of his celebrity status as the judge in the O.J. Simpson trial. “He’s just a California Superior Court judge,” student Jeanne Varner told the Daily Star. A second controversy involved the selection of a high school as the graduation site. Usually the ceremony is held in the university’s Centennial Hall but, because of a snafu, the time requested by the law school had been booked for a Broadway musical.

The play’s title sounds somewhat reminiscent of a common criminal defense:

“Ain’t Misbehavin’.”

miscelLAny:

The slogan of Puritan Bakery is “Best Buns in Town.” Doesn’t sound very puritanical to us.