Do not be alarmed; the image at left boasts one very big and obvious falsity: French electronic music duo Daft Punk is not playing at this year’s HARD Haunted Mansion event, happening at the Shrine over Halloween weekend in downtown Los Angeles (although according to actress Olivia Wilde, the duo will make a cameo appearance in the movie “Tron Legacy,” for which they’re also crafting the soundtrack). 

Upon closer inspection, the flier also states that the event is happening at a location called “The Hudson.”

This ambitious forgery is just one of many rumors swirling around the Internet regarding the dance music event, including claims of a location change to San Bernardino and that the show is already sold out.

The popular HARD series of dance events garnered a whirlwind of notoriety after HARD Summer 2009 at the Forum was canceled as a result of raucous fans crashing the main floor area.

“HARD Haunted Mansion will take place Friday, October 30 and Saturday, October 31 at the Shrine as planned,” insists promoter Gary Richards via e-mail. “There are many rumors flying around that are false. All correct and up to date information and links to purchase tickets are available at www.hardfest.com.”

In the mid-‘90s, the already fertile house music underground was ignited by an emerging Chicago jock that called himself DJ Sneak. Sampling the best bits from classic disco tracks, DJ Sneak began releasing a long string of these disco-fied house hits, which set off a new trend of mining the bottomless catalog of long-lost dance tracks for the rave generation. It was a deceptively simple idea that only a few artists would be able to master. France’s Daft Punk was able to dominate (and market) the sound into a basis for stardom.

More than 10 years and an American dance underground revival later, and DJs Armand Van Helden (himself a '90s house pioneer familiar with old-school disco) and relative new jock A-Trak have teamed up to inject that euphoric '90s energy into today’s scene, and the results so far have been nothing less than spectacular.

Here's a potentially cool score for Oscar voters to likely bypass in the future. It became widespread news today that French electronic duo Daft Punk will be scoring Disney's "Tron" sequel, dubbed "Tron 2.0," or more annoyingly, "TR2N."

It's a rather perfect choice, in both aesthetic and sound, as Daft Punk specializes in retro-styled futurism. Even those not too familiar with Daft Punk's work may recognize the "Tron"-influenced look in some of the act's work -- check the pairing with Kanye West at last year's Grammy Awards for evidence.

It's certainly a bit more exciting to Pop & Hiss than the previous "Tron 2.0" news posted on Latimes.com. Over at the Hero Complex blog, Geoff Boucher wrote about some "Tron 2.0" casting, picking up on trade reports that "Turistas" vets Olivia Wilde and Beau Garrett have been recruited for the film, which Hero Complex noted was eyeing a spring shoot.

Daft Punk aren't strangers to the film world, having directed their own "Electroma," but it featured none of their music. The Playlist, however, touts the score to "Irréversible," which features one half of Daft Punk in Thomas Bangalter, and we trust them.

-- Todd Martens

Photo: Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times