Dance like Michael Jackson at the Grammy Museum

If you can't get your fill of Michael Jackson from the new documentary "This Is It," a new exhibit at the Grammy Museum in downtown L.A. may do the trick.

The museum, located next to Staples Center in the L.A. Live entertainment complex, unveiled the "Michael Jackson: A Musical Legacy" exhibit this week as a follow-up to two previous Jackson exhibits.

Since his death in July, visitors to the museum have been moonwalking to the Jackson exhibit. The latest collection includes the king of pop's clothing, gloves, a hat and original lyrics.

But museum officials believe the most exciting element will be the interactive floor tiles that light up when visitors dance on them, mimicking a scene from Jackson's "Billie Jean" music video.

Eight video monitors will also show footage of Jackson's previous appearances at the Grammy Awards show.

Until Dec. 31, tickets to the museum are $10. Starting next year, admission for adults jumps to $14.95.

-- Hugo Martin

Photo: Visitors to the Grammy Museum look at a display of Michael Jackson's clothes. Credit: Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times

Campbell's lowers salt in popular tomato soup

The red and white can of Campbell's condensed tomato soup is one of the most popular items sold in a grocery story, trailing only chicken noodle on the soup aisle.

So you can be sure that the executives at Campbell Soup Co. were both careful and nervous about reformulating this bestseller to remove salt.

"If we don't meet people's taste expectations, no one would buy it," said Juli Mandel Sloves, the company's spokeswoman.

Campbell's rolled out the new tomato soup this week, promising that extensive research and testing found that it tastes very much like the old version.

The difference? The new soup has 480 milligrams of sodium per serving, compared with 710 milligrams in the previous formulation. The reduction is part of a drive by the company to follow the advice of health and nutrition advocates and lower the sodium content of its products.

"We have lowered the sodium in our soups, beverages, sauces, pastas and breads," Mandel Sloves said.

Doctors recommend against eating more than 2,300 milligrams of sodium a day. So that one serving of soup -- there are 2.5 in each can -- contains 21% of the suggested daily allowance, and even more for older people and individuals who are especially sensitive to salt. Consuming the entire can puts you at more than half of the daily allowance.

"We have clear and convincing evidence that sodium is associated with high blood pressure, and high blood pressure is a major risk factor for stroke -- and it is pretty consistent across populations and ethnic groups," said Dr. David Katz, a preventive medicine specialist at Yale University's Medical School. 

Was the reduction in tomato soup big enough?
 
"Campbell certainly deserves credit for sharply cutting the sodium of its most popular soup, as well as others," said Michael Jacobson, executive director of  the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a nonprofit group active in nutrition and food safety issues.

But Jacobson, a vocal critic of restaurant chains and food manufacturers that sell salt-laden foods, said, "480 mg from a cup of soup is still a lot," and suggested that "health-conscious people should consider cutting back" on soups with high sodium levels.

Mandel Sloves said that "what's important is that we are reducing sodium. This is a journey."

-- Jerry Hirsch

Photo credit: Campbell Soup Co.

Get Michael Jackson memorabilia while it lasts!

Everyone knows that the best time to find bargains on celebrity memorabilia is right before someone dies, and Michael Jackson is no exception.   

But perhaps you wish to start your own Michael Jackson memorial site now? Look no further than EBay, where domain names such as michaelthekingofpopjackson.com or touchedbymichaelsmusic.com are up for the low, low price of $10 million apiece.

But why stop with a website? Share your love of the gloved one with everyone on your buddy list with the unique AOL screen name KingPopMJ. With a starting bid of only $5,000, you can't afford not to buy it.

Are you a controversial third-world dictator? Or perhaps a Colombian drug lord? Maybe you're just really unpopular. Now you can protect yourself in style with this one-of-a-kind Michael Jackson bulletproof vest!  Supposedly worn by the King of Pop himself, this vest can be yours: Bidding starts at a mere $10,000.

As you know, the L.A. Times usually prints the newspaper only once a day, which means that if you missed today's paper chronicling Jackson's death, you're pretty much out of luck. But don't fret. Fortunately for you, some readers are willing to part with their copies of the paper. You might even be able to snag one for as little as $10,000!

For the more frugal fan, there are plenty of tasteful T-shirts and stickers. This memorial shirt is running for slightly less than $20.

-- Brendan Bigelow

Photo: A screen shot of a Michael Jackson memorabilia auction on Ebay.

L.A.'s last Virgin Megastore launches going-out-of-business sale

The Hollywood Virgin Megastore has started the process of cutting prices and emptying its shelves in preparation for an expected mid-June closing. It's part of the nationwide shutdown of the music store chain announced in March.

Here's the lowdown on what the closure means for shoppers from our colleague Todd Martens over at the L.A. Times' music blog Pop and Hiss.

"The countdown has begun. The last remaining Los Angeles outpost of the Virgin Megastore retail chain launched its going-out-of-business sale last week, with music, DVD and video game products marked down from 10% to 30%.

The clearance sale officially began Thursday. A weekend visit revealed the store to still be fully stocked, and as of Sunday night one would hardly know the store was on its last legs. April's music and DVD releases were on wide display, and most CDs and DVDs were discounted 20%. Those looking for video game bargains may have to hold out a bit, as discounts in the electronic department were largely at 10%.

The staff hasn't been given a timetable for the sale, and an official closing date has not yet been announced, said one of the store's workers. The largest discount right now is at 30% off, but that number will increase in the coming days.

If and when Pop & Hiss gets an official closing date, we'll update this post. A Virgin spokeswoman says the store is expected to close in mid-June.

The closure of Virgin will leave the neighborhood with one last notable record store -- the indie behemoth Amoeba Records. There has, however, been a recent influx of vinyl-centric stores in nearby communities."

-- Nathan Olivarez-Giles

Virgin Megastores to close in Inland Empire and Orange County

Come January, two of the three Virgin Megastores in Southern California will be gone, as record stores struggle with drooping CD sales and high rent expenses.

The stores, at the Block at Orange in Orange County and Ontario Mills in the Inland Empire, will shut their doors in January, managers there said. The only remaining Virgin Megastores in the state will be the ones at the Hollywood & Highland Center in Los Angeles and in downtown San Francisco.

Manager Alex Alvarado of the Ontario location said the store was closing because its lease was expiring and that employees were informed several months ago.

Both stores are offering discounts of 50% to 70%.

Black Friday: Deals on concert tickets

Got a music fan on your holiday shopping list? Ticketmaster is getting into the Black Friday mood with a one-day-only sale on some events in Southern California. There are some two-for-one offers on shows such as Stevie Wonder, and Rick Springfield with .38 Special. For other acts, you can get $10 off. There seems to be some overlap between that promotion and one that AEG Live has going from Friday through Monday on shows including George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic, and Sergio Mendes.

But it doesn't look like there's any discount on those dreaded "convenience fees." Bummer.

-- Julie Makinen

Groove Tubes Factory Sale

Is your vintage amp sounding a little stale lately because it's missing that elusive OA3 vacuum tube?

You might want to join other audiophiles at a factory sale today and Saturday  at Groove Tubes, the San Fernando institution known for manufacturing the amplifier tubes. In the company's 30 years, it has counted Eddie Van Halen, Eric Clapton, Brad Paisley and a slew of other music icons among its customers.

Rare merchandise, and parts of founder Aspen Pittman's personal collection of tubes and speakers, are on sale for 25% off today and 50% off Saturday. When the warehouse opened its doors for the first day of the sale Thursday, rows of shelves reaching to the ceiling were stuffed with equipment from a bygone age -- $45 Crybaby wawa pedals, $20 Panasonic AM/FM radios and boxes upon boxes of tubes for $4 and up.

The company, which was acquired by Fender Musical Instruments Corp. in June, moved its operations in mid-August to join Fender in Ontario and Scottsdale, Ariz. Tubes are now being manufactured in a factory in Mexico.

Pittman, who is now developing new speaker technology, will be at the sale signing copies of his tome "The Tube Amp Book," which amp aficionados alternately refer to as "The Bible" or "The Holy Grail."

The factory is at 1543 Truman St., San Fernando. Sale hours are 8 a.m.  to 4 p.m. Call (818) 365-5500 or email office@aspenandassoc.com for more details.

-- Tiffany Hsu

Photo: A Groove Tubes vacuum tube. Credit: Groovetubes.com