Van Hunt plays the Temple Bar tonight, Feb. 19 and March 6 | Photo via his MySpace page In an e-mail early, early, early this morning, McCabe's announced something unexpected: The Swell Season will be playing tomorrow night in the guitar shop's intimate performance space. You may not recognize the band's name, but you know them as Irish singer Glen Hansard and Czech pianist Marketa Irglova from the movie Once. The gig got booked......

Mellowdrone | Photo by Todd Becker via their MySpace page UPDATE, 12:10 P.M.: We forgot to remind you that Sia is playing this afternoon in Santa Monica for free. 2:00 p.m., Starbucks, random (see first bullet in Extra, Extra list). Maybe you're going on a rock n' roll date tonight with one of these bands. Or maybe you're going to the launch party of RocknRollDating.com. Or maybe Valentine's Day sucks and you'll be joining......

Artist: Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings Album: 100 Days, 100 Nights Label: Daptone Records Release Date: 10/02/07 Promo Track "100 Days, 100 Nights": When I first listened to this CD I thought it was a reissue of some '60s soul supergroup but no, this gem came out just last month! This album made me nostalgic for my first car, a '79 Honda Civic 4-door hatchback with an AM radio and the only music station that......

Soul sisters reigned supreme during last night’s American Idol. It was time for the 12 girl finalists to step up to the mike – and five women blew the rest of the girls – and all the guys –out of the water. Judging from last night’s performances, here are our front runners for the competition. If they keep it up, one of these five women could be your next American Idol: Jordin Sparks has......

On this day in 1814, Francis Scott Key watched a failed British Navy attack on Fort McHenry during the War of 1812. Due to heavy storms and crappy equipment on both sides, neither the Americans defending the fort nor the Brits trying to attack it so they could continue sailing into Baltimore Harbor did much damage on each other, but Key was inspired when he saw a huge flag rise from the US fort......

Heart @ Fairplex Pomona Apollo Sunshine @ Troubadour Feist @ Avalon Jill Sobule @ Largo Headlights @ Spaceland 311 @ Santa Barbara Bowl Bonnie Raitt, Keb' Mo' @ Greek New Maximum Donkey @ The Joint Death House Chaplain @ Mr. T's Bowl Scream, Beautiful Creatures @ Viper Room Supagroup, The Giraffes @ Key Club Tsuyama Atsushi, Kawabata Makoto, Tatsuya Yoshida @ The Smell Lisa Lisa, Zapp, The Manhattans, GQ, The Delfonics @ Hyundai Pavilion......

The LA-based, music production/management company Xperimental Entertainment is trying to break the William Hung stigma attached to Asian American pop singers by conducting its own American Idol-type contest on its website. The site features live performances of 10 Asian American singer/musician finalists. Voters can cast ballots once every 24 hours for their favs. Unlike its AI counterpart, there isn’t a Ryan Seacrest in sight, and some of the contestants choose to accompany themselves with......

"We've got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark...and we're wearing sunglasses. Hit it." It's hard to believe that 25 years have passed since the Blues Brothers first appeared on the silver screen, but they have. Harder still to believe that this movie holds up so well, and packs a powerhouse assembly of Blues and Soul music that have never been seen since in a film other than a......

Tonight, the 7th Annual Art Crawl kicks off across the eastside landscape of Silverlake, Los Feliz and Echo Park. The free, self-guided event runs from 6:00 PM to 10:00 PM. Admission is $5.00, which also allows attendees acess to the "Album Cover Art Retrospective" post-crawl party. The Crawl continues throughout the weekend, running from 12:00 PM to 6:00 PM on Saturday and Sunday. At 7:00 PM, head for Pasadena and Norton Simon Museum to......