Tenacious D will be rocking their soli-fuckin-darity this Friday when they appear at the WGA rally in Burbank. The rally, in front of FremantleMedia (4000 W. Alameda), is intended to help expose the “deplorable industry practices” of the reality show producers. The list of shows that FremantleMedia produces includes American Idol, The Next Great American Band, America’s Got Talent and probably a lot of other shows with “America” in the title. Writers of these shows......

Fox Sports reporter Jim Knox was embedded deep within a rowdy Kansas State crowd when tragedy struck. Beware the couch, Jim.......

What could have been a humdrum Saturday afternoon turned out to be the most memorable I've had this entire year. No Age and a lucky crowd of about 75 broke history. Actually, I'm not even sure if we broke history. However, I am certain that no other band has had the gall to execute a renegade show of this particular nature before. This is what happens when you combine an Arthur Magazine editor-type guy,......

It's called Hacienda la Esmeralda's Geisha coffee, it's award-winning, it's super rare, and for wholesalers it cost $130 a pound at auction - if you can get it. The newish Intellegencia coffee shop on Sunset (right next to the Silver Lake Conservatory) got some and will brew up cups of coffee tomorrow from those magic beans for whoever would like to experience what the most expensive coffee in the world tastes like. Eater LA......

In a show of good will that we don't even think the firefighters got, the world famous Roxy on the Sunset Strip will be opening its doors to the WGA writers throughout the strike, LAist has just learned. In support of the writer’s strike, The Roxy Theatre in West Hollywood is opening its legendary doors to all members of the Writers Guild of America. Simply presenting a membership card will allow all guild members......

Maybe it's cuz we're old and jaded and bored of everything humanly possible, but we're sorta loving these Nissan Live Sets on the Fox lot. Last month we saw PJ Harvey, Monday we saw Wyclef who danced inches away from us - on top of a freaking hand rail. The set looks huge online, but when you get there the sound is perfect and - well, it's just an ideal way to see and......

It shall be a metalocaplyse the day after all Hallows Eve. Shredmasters And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead will invade UCLA tomorrow at 8pm with Adult Swim virtual band Dethklok. Adult Swim sez: Dethklok is the undisputed greatest animated metal band in the galaxy. Created by Brendan Small and Tommy Blacha, their crusades into darkness have been immortalized in Metalocalypse, the animated series available on Adult Swim. This college tour......

BarCampLA-4 is here! LAist has been a friend, attendee and proponent of BarCamp since the beginning and this time is no different. What is BarCamp? Here is their definition (it's really the best): BarCamp ad-hoc un-conference born from the desire for people to share and learn in an open environment. It is an intense event with discussions, demos and interaction from attendees. If you like, it can be overnight, like camp! BarCamps - and......

Everyone's favorite Fugee is coming out with a new cd, and before he does, he's gonna sit down at the Nissan Live set (on the Fox lot, we believe) and record some live tracks for Yahoo! Which rhymes with "we love you", and because we do, we are up to passing along this info: Yahoo! Music and Columbia Records want you to join us when Wyclef Jean takes the stage for Nissan Live Sets in......

Free at last! Starbucks has taken up the guise of responsible community membership by making its T-Mobile wireless access free in some Southern California stores through October 31. The reason for the change? No, they didn't realize that the 11th Commandment is "Thou shalt have free wireless" – they want to help out those who've suffered as a result of the recent rash of wildfires. T-Mobile HotSpots are ordinarily a princely fee of $6......

Ahh how glorious the post-In Rainbows world is. Albums being released for free, people downloading them without being prosecuted--all is tranquil. Trent Reznor has announced that his forthcoming project with spoken word artist Saul Williams, The Inevitable Rise and Fall of Niggy Tardust, will be released in Radiohead fashion. However, as Trent explains, the only real difference is that Saul needs your support: "There are obvious similarities in how Radiohead just released their new......

In 1966, Huey Newton & Bobby Seale founded the Black Panther Party. A militia organization, made up of black men & women to fight for their rights, and defend themselves against “capitalist pigs” (the US government). In the politically charged-era of the civil rights movement, the party reached out to their wide membership, with distribution of a newspaper entitled The Black Panther. The publication featured regular artwork from its Minister of Culture, graphic artist Emory......

What happens when you run one of the largest, "extremely lucrative" networks of invite-only, torrent-based music piracy? Interpol comes knocking at your door. Next thing you know all of your properties, including that covert warehouse in Amsterdam where your server is based, are seized in a raid-like manner. As though you were exporting/importing pounds of Class A drugs. Last night around 2 a.m. Pacific Standard Time, OiNK was officially taken off the web. By......

Charles Thompson hasn't recorded an album with the Pixies since 1991's Trompe le Monde, despite years of rumors. But Thompson, who led the trailblazing indie quartet under the pseudonym Black Francis (originally suggested by his father), recorded roughly one album per year since the Pixies' 1993 break up as Frank Black. This summer he put a cap on Frank Black with the 32-track 93-03 compilation. And now, Black Francis is back. Touring behind the edgy,......

All the shadows in the world have disappeared…can Peso Penguin, Barnacles Bear, and Kwazi Kitten save the world & get our shadows back??!! Find out tonight at Wacko, as design team Meomi, read from the second installation of the Octonaut’s adventure THE OCTONAUTS & THE SEA OF SHADE. Will they safely leave the Octopod base, and change the mind of the King of Shade? I know you are on pins and needles but you will......

LAist had the opportunity to catch up with Jonny Coleman, curator of Art Crawl X and also founder of Found Gallery in Silverlake this week to ask him some questions about the art walk this weekend, what not to miss, and why this art walk is sure to kick ass. What is Art Crawl X? Art Crawl X is the tenth annual art walk on the Eastside [excluding downtown]. The Crawl includes both conventional......

We get a lot of announcements in our email box throughout the week. A lot of press releases, tips, and nudes from the ladies. Thank you. But the other day we got a very interesting one from Scion announcing an art exhibit curated by one of our favorite magazines, Swindle. Maybe you've seen the really well-done hardbound (and recently also in paperback), colorful books, basically, that Shepard Fairey puts out when you least expect......

Beirut - "In the Mausoleum" from The Flying Club Cup Instead of playing in someone's apartment (as seen above) they're going to play at your favorite record store (as you will see tonight at 6:30pm). Called a variety of things from Blogrock (because sites such as Stereogum and Pitchfork "discovered" them before the MSM did) to "the poor man's Arcade Fire" (because clearly any band that has the audacity to have a violinist, interesting......

Jack-In-The-Can by RNL The contest in which design teams create structures with canned food, has returned to the Westfield Fashion Square in Sherman Oaks, and will be on display through October 15th. Taking Warhol’s soup can to a whole new level; CANstruction produced by the Society for Design Administration, and organized by the offices of State Senator Jack Scott & Assemblyman Mike Feuer, gathers together L.A. architects & designers to create creative displays, and......

Everyone's seen The Princess Bride a gazillion times, so why not show a clip from the film when we can show a one-man reenactment of one of the more famous scenes? If that gets you in the mood and you're broke but you wanna ask out the hottie for a date tonight, may we suggest the LACMA where they are showing a free presentation of the Rob Reiner classic. It's also one of the......

Tarfest, the La Brea pits' very own arts fest, launches this year -- its fifth -- next Friday. Created both to celebrate the Miracle Mile and to provide the opportunity for artists and audiences to discover each other, Tarfest is free, unlike certain other Sunset Junctionlike festivals one could name. Find the full schedule here; highlights include: Friday, October 5: Gallery exhibition ( and reception featuring musical performances at the Korean Cultural Center, 5505......

With indie rock mainstays Devotchka, Oh No! Oh My!, Foreign Born, Snowden, Illinois, The Black Angels, St. Vincent, and Thee More Shallows, how can one really go wrong? Well, quite simply by not publicizing your festival enough. My experience swerving was a little disconcerting, mainly because of the poor turnout. It's my turn to take a stab at this whole Swerve Festival. Everything seemed perfect on paper (the music, the art, the film, and the......

Need a reason to ride Metro? Tonight you can catch a bus or subway to Hollywood and surface to find Ladytron about to rock your socks off. Global Inheritance, a multi-faceted non-for-profit (also involved in this weekend's Swerve Fest) is back with their second in a series of Public Displays of Affection. Last October's inaugural PDA event fully vindicated the subways-are-fun philosophy lifestyle -- with DJ's, dancing, and a live set from Secret Machines.......

It's easier to name bands that Rodney Bingenheimer didn't discover on his long-running KROQ show, but if you're familiar with the works of Blondie, the Ramones, Duran Duran, Depeche Mode, and The Smiths, it's probably because Rodney first spun it on 106.7 soon to be followed by other stations across the country. The Mayor of the Sunset Strip is the doc released in 2003 about Rodney the gentle, high voiced, mop topped LA deejay......

First let's begin by saying that there is nothing more evil and vile and disgusting than Ticketmaster and their ability to run a monopoly over all these years and it pains us to link to their wretched site as it would be very similar to linking to the devil himself, Dick Cheney. However, there is a concert coming up that many of you would enjoy seeing and there's no other way to go than......

Los Angeles based artist Tom Neely has been on my radar for a long time, so I am really looking forward to his first solo show here in L.A opening this weekend! (Stay tuned for my interview with him next week!) A child with many allergies growing up, Neely spent a lot of his youth in bed reading classic comic books. Trained as a painter, the comic book influence is still clear. His art has......

This Saturday is a good night to catch a couple of cool art openings around town! ACME is launching the group show Tugboat, featuring a variety of works by L.A. based artists Justin Beal, & Doug Crocco, along with Tomory Dodge, Tony Feher, Davis Rhodes, Lisa Sanditz, and Neal Tait. Opening reception is Saturday night from 6-8pm. - runs thru Oct. 6 - ACME - 6150 Wilshire Boulevard, Spaces 1 & 2 - www.acmelosangeles.com......

Tonight is the first-ever Creative Commons Salon in Los Angeles. Entertainment peeps, techies, and creatives of all walks are encouraged to check it out. Drinks, networking, and short multimedia presos. LAND 366 E. 2nd Street (MAP) Los Angeles 7-9 p.m. FREE Animated short describing the Creative Commons Licensing Project after the jump. photo by Dawn Endico via flickr using CC license.......

Los Lobos @ Santa Monica Pier (free) Kronos Quartet @ California Plaza (free) The Dickies, D.I. @ House of Blues The Deadly Syndrome, Let's Go Sailing, The Western States Motel @ The Roxy Angie Mattson, Jason Reeves, The Northstar Session, Matt Ellis Band @ The Hotel Cafe Phathom, Think Alike, A Life like This, The Nixes, Summerfire @ The Troubadour Old Time Relijun, Jail Weddings, the Holy Kiss, Women, Jeremy Jay @ The Echo......

Take a break from that drab Starbucks & get some culture this weekend at the Chango Coffee House in Echo Park! Beginning this Saturday Sept. 1st, the neighborhood eatery/java cafe will present the work of BUGHOUSE in a new exhibit entitled Paraphernalia. Prints, photographs, apparel, and even home accessories are the canvas for this eclectic husband & wife team. The work has fun retro comic art flair, mixing in politics, social issues & vintage......