KERO, Channel 23, has taken a look back at the making of Michael Jackson's music video for the song "Childhood," which was shot in forest near Mount Pinos, in southern Kern County, in 1995.

The station interviewed local residents who remember the four-day shoot as being very secretive, and Jackson as a quiet guy who came out of his trailer only for filming at night. 

MMA fighter Lavar Johnson was among the victims in Sunday's shooting at a family reunion in Bakersfield, and a variety of blogs and Tweeters are tracking his recovery at a Bakersfield hospital. 

Johnson -- who is from Madera, just north of Fresno -- was shot once, but is said to be in good condition after two surgeries. 

Johnson was something of a big deal in MMA (mixed martial arts), and had a 12-3 record fighting as a heavyweight. 

A comment in this Examiner.com post alleges the bullet passed through his body but remains lodged in his forearm. Sherdog quoted a text from Johnson's manager in reporting details of surgery that occurred Monday. Another site, called FiveOuncesofPain, didn't do any original reporting but collected info from a variety of sources.

You can watch Johnson beating Dave Huckaba in this Jan. 22 fight. 

We're not sure what to call it anymore since the KernCountyNascar website has disappeared, but the unfinished racetrack at Interstate 5 and Enos Lane had at least one racer taking spins recently.

Photos posted on LateModelRacer this week show weeds are starting to take over the track, which is partially paved and which features some seating. It's an unfinished track, but one that's still clean enough for a local dirt-track racer to take a few spins in his truck.

And as one of several posters noted, there's enough work complete that if someone bought the track for pennies on the dollar, they might be able to build it out and make a go of it once the economy rebounds.

We couldn't resist this one:

Our friend Dr. BLT is working on a country version of Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean." Fair enough. 

But this is tribute is supposed to be a secret, even though the good doctor posted the news on Bakersfield Sound Underground. 

"If you haven't heard much about it, it is for good reason," says the post from this morning. "Being the operator of Bakersfield Sound Underground, I have a reputation to maintain as an underground blogger and an underground singer/songwriter.

The post continues: "Announcing the details, or allowing them to leak and, thus opening up the prospect of a media circus would blow that whole "underground" thing for me and other artists represented there.  We prefer to avoid photo ops and media leaks that would defeat our purpose: paying tribute to the King of Pop.  You will hear more about it once it's over, but when it's over, it will really be more like the beginning."

Alrighty.

Apologies in advance if this post triggers a media circus. Wouldn't want to bring wide attention to a tribute for the most widely known entertainer in the history of mankind.

Bakersfield can be a tough audience.

We booed Johnny Carson, a decision that spawned Bakersfield to become the butt of late-nite humor for decades.

Now comes a tidbit from a blog chronicling the career of The Three Stooges. The Stooges, struggling to make a comeback late in their careers, apparently fell flat in a performance at a Bakersfield Holiday Inn.

Reads the blog: "The first presentation of the new act couldn’t have been more disappointing. The stooges performed at a Holiday Inn in Bakersfield, California. Nobody laughed; even worse, some of the patrons, a little tipsy, started to heckle the trio. “Silence, you’re going to wake up my friend!”, yelled one, to what Moe replied: “You have thirty two teeth right now, wanna see how it is like having none?"…

But is Bakersfield really any tougher an audience than any other city?

I grew up in Fresno, and heard stories about Led Zeppelin being booed offstage at a local show in the late 1960s. And I personally saw a concert by the then-relatively unknown Police, whose leader Sting -- offended that Fresnans were sitting instead of standing before his greatness -- vowed never to play Fresno again (they did, in a stadium show a few years later that earned them big bucks).

What do you think? Are we power haters or just being singled out for honest "feedback" back in the day? 

Critics of President Obama's health-care proposal plan to demonstrate outside the downtown offices of KERO tonight (aka ABC23), apparently to protest ABC's decision to broadcast a special titled "Questions for the President: Prescription for America." 

KERO says it will invite some of the protesters into its studios to watch the public forum live. 

A local "chapter" of the 9/12 Project is behind the protest, and is encouraging people to bring signs reading "No to government run media" (huh?) and "No to National Health Care".  They say their target is ABC, not KERO, which they say has no control over whether or not to air the forum. 

 The PETA news release screams: "Dressed-to-kill nurse has run out of patience with meat-linked heart disease." 

Um, OK. 

But that's not enough. The "nurse" (aka "naughty Nightingale") will set up shop outside Mercy Hospital on Truxtun Avenue at noon today to protest meat eating. And she (real name Virginia Fort) will be wearing a "stethoscope and sexy nurse outfit (complete with a white minidress, knee-high stockings, and spiked heels), carrying a notepad to write 'prescriptions' for a vegetarian diet, and holding a sign that reads, 'Bypass Heart Surgery--Go Vegan.' " 

There's more in the release, but here's our question: For every person PETA gets to quit eating meat from this stunt, how many will be injured because they're looking at the "naughty Nightingale" instead of the road as they drive by?

Ran across this Facebook group called "Marin County Makes the O.C. Look Like Bakersfield."

4,282 smug people have joined the group, which proudly claims Marin is a county of "obscenely rich towns with way too many hot tubs and H2's. Together, they join forces to create the county with the highest per-capita income in the entire country. Take THAT, Orange County!"

Evidence of the intellectual power of the group can be found in a separate discussion, titled simply, "Bakersfield?" Members question whether there are worse places than Bakersfield, with dozens of other nominations. A theme throughout is whether the presence of Arby's is a sign you're one step from moving in with Satan.

My favorite response was from "Natalie: I LOVE BAKERSFIELD CUZ KORN'S FROM THERE. :D
iiiiii'm dumb."

larger view

We know you've all been waiting on the edge of your seats for any tidbit of news related to the movie "Giant Ants Eat Bakersfield."

Well, wait no more: a trailer for the movie, which is still in early stages production, found its way online today. The trailer, described as a music intro to generate interest in the movie, features a large plastic-looking ant hugging a man in front of a KUZZ van and near Buck Owens' Crystal Palace. An original acoustic tune plays in the background.

Filmmaker Hank Ray Harwood says the film is "a metaphor for corporate entertainment that stole Bakersfield's music legacy."

Should production continue or do you get the idea?

One of the more interesting online destinations in the Bakosphere is LateModelRacer.com, home of local dirt track conversations of all kinds. 

But things turned wild early Sunday shortly after the races at Bakersfield Speedway when racer Richie McGowan jumped on the board and accused competitor Brian Shepherd of taking him out on the track AND cheating. Yep, them's fightin' words, and Richie said as much. 

As you might expect, the discussion stayed heated as others piled on, questioned the claims and when Shepherd came in to defend himself. Oh, and the track promoter jumped in head first into the fray, much to the dismay of some observers.

The thread is hard to follow if you don't know the characters and avatars, and all the bad spelling and name-calling makes it hard to wade through every comment. And I'm still not sure whether McGowan has officially retired/unretired or whether there's really going to be a rumble this weekend at Santa Maria Speedway. But after dozens of comments and almost 7,500 views, the thread offers a nice glimpse at the passion that powers local race fans.