Judging by my email, a lot of people heard KCRW's fundraising pitch last week that included the news that Warren Olney, host of "To the Point" and "Which Way, L.A.?," had suffered a possible concussion in a bicycle accident. For those who have been asking, he's still laid up and is replaced by Sara Terry on tonight's WWLA, airing at 7:30 p.m. This is the last night of the pledge drive.

Noted: Friendly Fire blogger Jonathan Dobrer found the Olney-themed pitching a bit much.

We all knew that Dr. Conrad Murray would be charged today in Michael Jackson's death. The suspense was whether he would be arrested first by the LAPD or allowed to surrender. Well, he came in under his own power and was only taken into custody after being arraigned and pleading not guilty to involuntary manslaughter. Bail was set at $75,000, much higher than usual for the charge, but less than the $300,000 sought by prosecutors. Members of Jackson's family were in court to observe. LAT, AP at CBS 2

Raw materials: The Smoking Gun posted excerpts of the Jackson autopsy report, also released today.

Photo: CBS 2

It's community leadership day on LA Observed, I guess. New York Times bureau chief Jennifer Steinhauer profiles Eli Broad as the "iron checkbook" whose grip on Los Angeles and its arts scene "has never been tighter." Included in the package is an snazzy interactive attempt to map and display Broad's influence on the cityscape, plus photos by Monica Almeida. Story excerpt:

Every American city has its power brokers, but only Los Angeles has an Eli Broad.

Mr. Broad dominates the arts here with a force that has no parallel in any major city. Los Angeles would literally not look the same had Mr. Broad not chosen it as his home 40 years ago, and his business-focused method of managing his giving has earned him a reputation as both a genius and a despot....

A billionaire philanthropist whose beneficence comes with not just strings but with ropes that could moor an ocean liner, he is known to pull his support, resign from a board or, in some cases, decline to fulfill his financial promises when a project comes together in a way he does not like.

“For me there has been no downside,” said Roland G. Fryer Jr., an economics professor at Harvard who has collaborated with Mr. Broad on education projects and whom Mr. Broad, in typical fashion, hunted down one Christmas Eve in Austria, where he was on vacation, to discuss their work. “But I think if you’re not on your game, Eli will crush you.”

The story also surfaces the perennial topic among do-gooders and leaders here: why aren't there more Eli Broads active in L.A.? "His remarkable influence...says much about Los Angeles and its still-adolescent philanthropic culture, diffuse power base and lack of civic investment among many of its richest residents. 'Eli is not the problem,' said Ann Philbin, the director of the Hammer Museum..'The problem is that we don’t have enough Elis in Los Angeles to balance out his generosity and the power of his influence.'"

Los Angeles magazine, in the midst of its 50th anniversary year, is about to officially take the wraps off an ambitious project to generate more conversation about the city's future. CityThink will be housed on the magazine's website and be supported by a new Los Angeles Magazine Foundation, which has seed money from the California Community Foundation. The effort will seek to engage readers and regional leaders and kicks off Tuesday with a piece (under the banner of City Thinkers) by historian William Deverell of USC and the Huntington. Deverell was a co-author of the recent Visiting Blogger post here at LA Observed about the end of the aerospace century, which was illustrated by that charming photograph of Amelia Earhart plopped on a hangar floor at Lockheed.

Gatherings of local philanthropists and other community leaders to talk over civic issues are planned. Elements also include Think Tank, a forum for readers to propose their good ideas; the One-Ten Project, an opera based on the Pasadena Freeway's history commissioned by L.A. Opera with Laura Karpman composing and author M.G. Lord and dramaturg Shannon Halwes writing the libretto; the Get L.A. film competition announced last week; and related articles to run in the print magazine. (This drawing by Lord is inspired by the opera.)

Editor Mary Melton explains after the jump:

The most-emailed story on the New York Times website right now is, with good reason, a piece from the Philippines on the number of bar fights and killings attributed to karaoke renditions of the Frank Sinatra classic "My Way." The theories are, well, complicated.

The killings have produced urban legends about the song and left Filipinos groping for answers. Are the killings the natural byproduct of the country’s culture of violence, drinking and machismo? Or is there something inherently sinister in the song?

Whatever the reason, many karaoke bars have removed the song from their playbooks. And the country’s many Sinatra lovers, like Mr. Gregorio here in this city in the southernmost Philippines, are practicing self-censorship out of perceived self-preservation...

[skip]

Filipinos, who pride themselves on their singing, may have a lower tolerance for bad singers....Indeed, most of the “My Way” killings have reportedly occurred after the singer sang out of tune, causing other patrons to laugh or jeer....

Butch Albarracin, the owner of Center for Pop, a Manila-based singing school that has propelled the careers of many famous singers, was partial to what he called the “existential explanation.”

“ ‘I did it my way’ — it’s so arrogant,” Mr. Albarracin said. “The lyrics evoke feelings of pride and arrogance in the singer, as if you’re somebody when you’re really nobody. It covers up your failures. That’s why it leads to fights.”

Hmm, let's see if any TV crews head to the South Bay tonight for a live stand-up.

Jes Aznar for The New York Times

At least 250 brown pelicans have been treated over the past month at the International Bird Rescue Research Center in San Pedro, according to the center. Other rescue groups in California and Oregon are either full or near capacity. It happened last year too, and was eventually blamed on severe weather. From the Daily Breeze:

Over the past month, Wallerstein has spotted starving pelicans lying on roadways, along the beach and in front of homes. A long pole and net are usually needed to capture pelicans, but the birds have become so weakened that Wallerstein is able to walk up, grab their beaks and place them into cages.

"They're really easy to catch right now, which is not a good thing because it just shows how disoriented and unhealthy they are right now," Wallerstein said.

Researchers are stumped in finding a reason for the mass starvation and deaths among brown pelicans. The birds suffered frostbite and became weakened during last year's migration season, likely caused by storms in Central California.

Photo: Sean Hiller / Daily Breeze

Former inmates at the Daily News' offices in Woodland Hills recognized the dark, old newsroom — cleaned up for Career Builder.com.

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NBC makes Conan disappear online, feuding over Conrad Murray, the gay judge hearing the Prop. 8 case and plenty of politics notes for a Monday. After the jump, as usual.