Back Door Slam, the group I swooned over at the House of Blues last month and saw again at Lollapalooza earlier this month, is coming back to L.A. for a show at the Troubadour Wednesday, August 29. In anticipation of this momentous occasion -- is that overstating it? -- I talked to lead man Davy Knowles. Apparently his girlfriend read the review I wrote of their show and was a little concerned that I...... [continue]

I was angry and hurt. I said some things I didn't really mean. I used words like "hate" and "twits." I take it all back. The production company that used my street and forced the towing of my car is going to reimburse me. Yesterday I contacted the city and they directed me to FilmLA (as did several LAist readers' comments -- thank you), who gave me the name and phone number for the...... [continue]

/> *Update: Read the developments from the next day. I don't think I'm a bad person. I'm nice to strangers. I gave my belt to a homeless man a few weeks ago. And I drive my car as little as possible so as not to pollute the environment or exacerbate our dangerous oil dependency. I bike everywhere. In fact, I frequently go a week or more without using my car at all. So why am...... [continue]

I received an e-mail today from Netflix. Usually I delete those messages right away, assuming they're advertising something or encouraging me to sell Netflix to my friends. But the subject line on this one caught my eye: "We're lowering the price of your Netflix plan!" ME?? MY NETFLIX PLAN IS CHEAPER?!? YAY!! I have the one-at-a-time unlimited plan (meaning I get one DVD at a time, but as many as I can watch and... [continue]

Remember when you moved to LA just south of Downtown, and you thought all those people who got to live in Santa Monica and Venice and Manhattan Beach were so lucky? Or maybe that was me. Either way, you were (I was) overlooking one of the major advantages of living so far from the beach -- you can bike there and get a great workout! Back in August I used bikemetro.com to figure out... [continue]

My friend Dawn recently moved to Highland Park and we quickly discovered that there is a theater on Figueroa near Avenue 56 that has movies for $3 on Tuesdays and Wednesdays -- and not second-run movies either, real, live, first-run movies. In the last month we have gone four or five times and saw "Shrek the Third," "Evan Almighty," "Ratatouille" and "Transformers." (Some pros and cons of the Highland Park theater after the jump)...... [continue]

The Dodgers just finished a three-game series in San Francisco against their upstate rivals. There was a sense of expectation over the whole thing, as Barry Bonds is at 751 career home runs, only four away from tying Hank Aaron's all-time record (755) and the boys in Blue managed to stop him from adding to that total over the weekend -- Bonds was 0-11 against LA. But I'm personally hoping Bonds, who is in...... [continue]

When I had the opportunity to go see Back Door Slam and Rusted Root at the House of Blues, I didn't know much about the first band, but I figured why not catch up with Rusted Root, that eclectic, blue grass infused with international sounds rock band? I remembered them from high school, when I bought that lovely album called "When I Woke," with the ever-popular "Send Me on My Way." Turns out my...... [continue]

...now I've tried speed-dating -- or HurryDate, as this particular service is called. It's like Match.com with previews. You can go online and meet people, but if you want to get a look at them before you have to go on a real date, nothing beats a quick four-minute conversation at a speed-dating party. So fellow LAist contributor Lindsay Watts and I infiltrated a HurryDate "Party" to see how this whole thing goes. The...... [continue]

West Adams is labeled "Historic West Adams" on the freeway exits leading into the neighborhood, but "historic" is not just a euphemism for old, rundown and where the elite used to want to live -- it actually has a lot of history! Although it's one of those areas that provokes reactions of "really? Is it safe?" when you tell people you live there, the beauties are many and varied....... [continue]

I'm guessing someone went out to celebrate last night, as a couple local college boys were chosen in the first round of the 2007 NBA Draft. USC's Nick Young was the first to go, at pick number 16 to Washington, where he will toil in obscurity and probably be irrelevant in three years. Just kidding -- he might fit well in the Wizards offense. UCLA's Arron Afflalo was chosen 27th by the Pistons, who could...... [continue]

Conservatives are not happy with Wikipedia. Apparently they believe the liberal bias in the media extends to media created by... uh... everyone? So in November 2006 they created Conservapedia, an online encyclopedia with "educational, clean, and concise entries." This is how it defines Hollywood: "a neighborhood located in the city of Los Angeles, California. As a lexical entry, it refers to the movie studios once located in the district, and more generally, to the... [continue]

We like to keep you informed after we've started something, so here's that 24-second clip of Kobe caught on tape complaining about the Lakers. Or rather, about 10 seconds of Kobe as the cameraman pans back and forth between his friends and the Lakers star. My favorite part is the creepy music at the start. Last I checked, the guys selling this video for $1.99 hadn't gotten more than 10,000 people to buy it off...... [continue]

LAist readers might be tired of the controversy, but someone is betting that at least 50,000 people still want more Kobe. The "Kobe Video," which shows the embattled Laker bashing the organization and Andrew Bynum -- and swearing a lot -- is now available for sale on the official Kobe Video site. In case you hadn't heard, the video was shot by two guys who have not identified themselves, but claim to have caught Bryant...... [continue]

As Spring fades away let's revisit the best video we've seen all season. Thanks cops for proving that you guys get the best stuff....... [continue]

L.A. might love Kobe, but he wants out. It's not you, L.A., it's him. Kobe needs his space. You're heading in different directions. He thinks you're "the best," but he has "a new road ahead." Sunday on his site, KB24.com, Kobe re-posted a blog titled "The Truth: A New Road Ahead," explaining why he wants out of L.A. -- and hopefully putting an end to all the back-and-forth about his future with the team. Bryant...... [continue]

To all the loyal Kobe supporters / LAist readers who commented on the Top Ten Reasons LeBron is better than Kobe: First of all, I'm impressed that 25 people care enough about Kobe Bryant to bother defending him. I love that several of the comments were longer than the original post. I should also say that LeBron did disappoint last night, and it's true Kobe won a ring in his first trip to the...... [continue]

In case you care about how fast your information moves through the info-net, today is the last day for public comments on Net Neutrality. If you want the internet to stay mostly equal, speak up. You can tell the FCC whether you think internet service providers should be allowed to run services faster on their own networks. (And then you can go back to looking at videos on YouTube.) photo by dro!d...... [continue]

In honor of Game 4 of the NBA Finals (yes, they're still going on, L.A., even if you didn't notice once your Lakers wilted in the first round), a little love for The King. Please note: I said Top Ten because there are probably thousands of reasons, but I only have time and space for ten here. 10. Nicknames. Bron-Bron, King James, LBJ, The Chosen One, Video Game James. What does Kobe have? One word,...... [continue]

This is probably going to sound crazy, but that's because it is. I hold the keys to Cubs victory, and it all started with a Dodgers game. Here's what happened: I went to see the Dodgers a couple weeks ago when the Cubs were in town. I went to Friday, Saturday and Sunday games, May 25-27. The Cubs lost two of three, but managed to pull out a 4-2 win Saturday. Then they went...... [continue]