Yes, I know. Saturday's a busy night. So many places to go. So many people to do. But there's always time to fit in a signing of a really cool book at a really cool gallery space and store, especially if there's gonna be live music. So, why not roll into La Luz De Jesus/Wacko tomorrow night between 6 and 9pm to celebrate the publication of what all us musical nerds have long awaited: Bomp!......

It was a great year of new books, re-discovered books, and books we meant to get to last year but didn't. The end of the year is nearly here and before we look forward, we'll take a look back. Last week, LAist Editors shared their favorite books of 2007. This week, a few LAist Contributors share their favorite book they read this year: Who: Christine Ziemba What: The Ominvore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan Why:......

Have a taste for deliciously scary eye candy? Check out Christopher Ulrich's phantasmagorical paintings: Demoneater Series One in Santa Monica! ...

It was a great year of new books, re-discovered books, and books we meant to get to last year but didn't. The end of the year is nearly here and before we look forward, we'll take a look back. LAist Editors share their favorite book they read this year: Who: Zach Behrens, Editor What: The Four-Hour Work Week by Tim Ferris Why: Inspiring words on how to improve workflow, automate tasks, and get more......

People have been asking me what's up with the Weekly lately and hell if I know. They do their thing and maybe new management has made them lose their edge, but maybe they're just getting olde. Seems to me that once upon a time if someone like Juliette Lewis was in town to play a Saturday night show at the Roxy with a decent bill like Scissors for Lefty and Suffrajett, the Weekly would......

Black Friday has come and gone but there's one more killer sale that you shouldn't miss - the Obey Sale. For the last few years we have been lucky enough to learn about the sale, this year held in a warehouse The OC, and today we are very happy to share the dates with you. When: Friday, December 7th from 9a - 7p & Saturday, December 8th from 9a - 5p Where: 3500 West......

Everyone's favorite perdedor, Beck, returns to Echo Park on Sunday to charm the kids at the Echoplex, the Echo Blast email stated minutes ago: Beck Announces a Special Los Angeles Club Performance SUNDAY NOVEMBER 25TH @ ECHOPLEX Tickets on sale Friday November 23rd at 5pm 2 ticket limit. The only way to retrieve your tickets is at will call the night of the show. You MUST bring the credit card you used to purchase......

The shiny happy and beehived B-52's have been playing a handful of intimate shows around the country that started with a Halloween show with The Rapture at NYC's Roseland Ballroom. Tonight, for example they will be up at the Chumash Casino in Santa Ynez (wonder if they'll do a Jackson 5 cover?), tomorrow they're at the Roxy, and Saturday they wind up the mini-tour at the Depot in Salt Lake City. Clearly we are......

This Thursday and Friday, Los Angeles will see the first return in 30 years of one of its more singular musical forces: Ya Ho Wa 13. Active from 1969-77, the band produced nine LPs – and recorded enough for fifty-six more - of stunningly original psychedelic rock. Hardly anyone ever got to hear them, however, since they were entirely self-released and only available at the Source Restaurant on Sunset and Sweetzer during the last......

As Josh mentioned earlier, today's DVD re-release of the classic Rob Reiner fairy tale "The Princess Bride" is happening now to celebrate and coincide with the film's 20th anniversary. The problem for the MGM marketing team was how do you repackage a movie that everyone has seen and everyone loves, and everyone loves it so much they have probably memorized most of it? One way to do it is to create a title logo......

Destiny's Child vs The Cardigans - "My Favorite Name" About a year and a half ago we introduced you to Indie's mashup DJ Paul V. as he was celebrating the one-year anniversary of Bootie LA, the monthly dance party fueled by the current day's mashups. Since then Bootie LA has moved from the Echo to Safari Sam's but the party hasn't missed a step. Matter of fact, tonight Bootie LA is welcoming French mashup......

Looking for something fun to do this crisp Monday night before Halloween? Look no further, one of our favorite independent design companies, Enchanted Royals, who we highlighted almost a year ago for their adorable hand painted sneakers, T-Shirts and baby onesies, is having their website launch party tonight in Chinatown. Started by designers Haley Thompson and Dara Weinberg, Enchanted Royals shoes and clothing are whimsical, personal, and unique- perfect gifts for the upcoming holidays.......

They are the Go! Team. They are from Brighton, England. They sound like a group of cheerleaders dancing to Motown at the end of a tunnel while you're on acid listening to Sonic Youth. It's impossible to take in everything they're throwing at you at one time, but it gets you and you dance and you smile and you jump around. Then you love them, then you see them play everywhere. Even China let......

LAist reviewed !!!'s excellent album Myth Takes earlier this year. Here's a chance to see what can only be described as a tribal experience. They've got the horn section, they've got crazy needs-more-cowbell jams, they've got the nutty electronics, and they've got the energy to drive this machine. Members of this band are also involved with other amazing groups like Out Hud and LCD Soundsystem if that helps you identify this pseudo-dance-punk-funk genre. If......

Soaked in blood and reeking with suspense "L.A. Rex" is set in South Central Los Angeles, and is about cops, crips, rappers, and "are the killers of El Eme's tax collectors carrying an oval badge?" Will Beall is a cop in real life who worked in the most dangerous district in LA, the 77th. The craziest most violent shit happens there. Gang-bangin that's too fucked up for even the News stations to report on......

This morning, the LA Stage Alliance announced the nominees for the 2007 Ovations Awards, which are the only peer-judged theatre awards in Los Angeles and considered by the LA Times to be the "...highest-profile contest for local theatre..." 30 categories in all, one of our favorite "LAist Recommends" from this year, "The Long Christmas Ride Home" at the Tribe Theatre in the NoHo Arts District, has been nominated for several awards including best ensemble, direction......

LAist had a chance to see the Chemical Brothers at the debut of their US tour at the sold-out Hammerstein Ballroom in NYC last night. It's their first headlining appearance in the US in over 5 years and they brought it, full on. They will be headlining the Nocturnal Festival a week from today and there's plenty of other folks to see there as well, but really, the Brothers alone justify attendance. Here's a photo......

Fans and critics alike love comedian, Dave Attell. It's too bad Dave Attell doesn't love Dave Attell. A New York native with a knack for self-deprecation, Attell has earned critical acclaim and an allegiance of loyal fans. Many of those fans got their first look at Attell from 2001-04, when Dave stumbled his away across the globe with a bottle of beer in one hand, a disposable camera in the other on Comedy Central's Insomniac.......

Looking for a way to cool off this weekend? The beautiful voice of the beautiful Bebel Golberto can be heard on Saturday night at the Avalon. Gilberto is touring in support of her album Momento but she will be playing plenty of other tunes from her nearly 20 year career. Artist: Bebel Gilberto Venue: the Avalon Date/Time: Saturday 09/08/2007, doors @ 6:30pm, show @ 7:30pm......

Throughout this next month, start your Hollywood weekend night with this overly silly, but laugh-out-loud production of three short plays about two genres so lovable that Kenneth Branagh recently shot Shakespeare's As You Like It ninja style and it's inevitable a fourth in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise is to come. Pirates and Ninjas, a production by this year's L.A. Weekly Award winner for Production of the Year (Marat/Sade), Blue House Theatre/Big Mama......

Slayer and Marilyn Manson will be rocking the Irvine Meadows / Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Irvine this Friday. The two are doing a summer-long, 41-date, world-tour together, and are going to make us all cry tears of joy and blood. Having seen Slayer several times, I can assure you that seeing them live is priceless. Slayer just released a special limited edition of "Christ Illusion" which originally debuted a last year. The original line......

Here are some of my favorite LAist stories from this week: Anti reviews a cd that was sent to him, he gives it a "Good", but someone from the band writes in to complain that it wasn't a good enough Peggy Archer showed us that Malibu is finding that whoring out their best beachfront homes to corporations isn't all they hoped it would be Charles Bukowski is my favorite writer, so I liked this......

Deerhunter will be there too! This year Keith and Sean outdo themselves big time with the 4th Annual Fuck Yeah! Fest, and the banging roster they've built. It's a two day show ($13/day or $24 for both days) that spreads itself over five age friendly venues in Echo Park. There's gonna be art, comedians, and over 50 bands. and i mean they'll have a little of everything from grat bands such as Whispertown 2000......

Hadrian over at Cinefile in West L.A. just sent us the heads-up for a great event going on at the Silent Movie Theatre this Wednesday, 8/15 at 9pm. Brent Green is an animator from rural Pennsylvania whose unique style has drawn comparisons to Tim Burton and Adam Jones. Hadrian blogs: Brent Green an untrained, completely original animator from rural Pennyslvania, who plays music along with his short films, while narrating them live in freeform,......

Not since Magritte was in town at the beginning of this year have so many people talked about an art show. Featuring dozens of controversial pieces from a variety of artists like Jackie Beat, Angus Oblong, Plastic God, Mad Puppeteer, Jim Winters, Austin Young, Selene Luna, Jtodd Irby, Chris McKim, Garilyn Brune and Gay Bigfoot, who knew that a topless painting of Bea Arthur that was bought off eBay for a little over $100......

When Hunter S. Thompson passed away he left behind a widow who knew him unlike any other person on earth. She wrote a book about it, and crammed it full of the juicy goodness that every HST fan has a never ending jonez for. In The Gonzo Way, Anita Thompson interviews Hunter's old friends including Johnny Depp, Ed Bradley, Doug Brinkley, Jack Nicholson, Bill Murray, Senator George McGovern to name a few. She will also......

Some around town feel that it’s hip to dislike KCRW, but this LAist is a fan. It was the music programming that got me at first, but nowadays I’m sure that I listen to as much or more of the news and talk programs as I do the music. Plus, what with the internets and podcasting that all the kids are into these days, I can listen to any show any time I want.......

Next time, don't go to Yosemite and bitch about the crowds. Consider a secret little place my family's been vacationing in for years now: Three Rivers. A tiny town in the foothills of the Sequoias, Three Rivers is a pretty idyllic little spot, and home to many families, artists, and musicians. In short, it has a lot of character. Highway 198 runs right through the middle of it, up to Kings Canyon, a 462,901......

Parking at a valet is something that many Americans will go their whole lives without ever doing. And yet in LA most of us will do it at least once a week. After we downed some Slippery Shrimp this afternoon in Chinatown while looking at their impressive wall of autographed photographs of state and local politicians (although, curiously, no photos of our Senators) we realized that we were about to retrieve our car from......

If you search “Korean massage” or “Korean women’s spa” on the internet, hundreds of sites pop up about prostitution and modern slavery rings. Because of the “ambiguity” of massage terminology, I have always been nervous about wandering into strange spas for fear of accidentally stumbling into the wrong kind of place. Luckily, my friend Lori is in the know, and she took me to the Gardena Women’s Sauna last weekend. FYI: Places that are......