A SCATTERED LIFE

Frank Zappa once said “Rock journalism is people who can’t write interviewing people who can’t talk for people who can’t read.” Perhaps, but even the slyly cynical Zappa admired rock photojournalism. This Sunday, two of the best, Henry Diltz and Joel Bernstein, will show their iconic images from the Southern California music scene of the late 1960s and early 1970s. The pair are also first-rate raconteurs (ask Diltz to tell the scary one about the glider accident with Jimmy Webb). They will be at the temporary pop-culture bazaar that is the Rhino Pop-up Shop (8032 W. 3rd St.), which closes for good the next day. . . . Dance off your Christmas pie at the reenergized Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach [(562) 437-1689], which is hosting an End of the Year Salsa Dance on Friday with the band Desde Afuera. . . . I talked to Aretha Franklin the other day and she asked me to pass on a message about her Feb. 14 and 15 shows at the Nokia Theatre: “The last time I was in L.A. I wasn’t feeling well and the show wasn’t everything it could have been. I owe L.A. a truly great show. It will be very special, I promise you.” You have to respect that. Tickets now on sale. . . . This week’s date in history: Sandy Koufax, the greatest L.A. Dodger of them all, was born on Dec. 30, 1935. To celebrate, let’s all skip the human growth hormone but still swing for the fence in 2008.

-- Geoff.Boucher@latimes.com