I've always been intrigued by other "best of" lists, but this year I decided to take it to a whole new level. I e-mailed a handful of bands that I've seen this past year in order to unearth what exactly captivated them in '07. As music listeners, it is our duty to take a keen interest in our favorite musician's influences. After all, they rocked our little world, might as well see what rocked their little world. Therefore, this is an act of paying it forward to those hardworking, underpaid musicians who truly made a difference within the music scene this year. more ›

I went to my 15th Tori Amos concert last night. I still remember the high school days of camping outside of Tower records at 7am on a Saturday morning to get tickets to the her shows, or that time I drove 3 hours in the snow to see her play in Boston on my 21st birthday. And then there was the time we got up at 6am to see her do a show in Central Park for Good Morning America. I even endured a full Alanis Morrissette concert in Vegas to see Tori play second in a double bill. Or there was that time in 1996 I stood in the rain for 2 hours in my L.L. Bean jacket waiting for her to sign autographs and take photos after the show. more ›

Blind Boys of Alabama Christmas Concert, Belly Up Tavern 12/19/06 more ›

One of the many tattoos done by Kat Von D more ›

As Christmas approaches, we get inundated with holiday themed programming (just look at last week's Classical Pick, sheesh). Fear not, though, not everything is annoyingly chock full of jingly tunes. The San Francisco based and Grammy nominated "orchestra of voices," Chanticleer, is visiting Los Angeles on Tuesday with traditional Christmas songs from Gregorian Chant to Gospel, including selections from their newly-released holiday CD, “Let It Snow”. If you're not familiar with their sound, check them out on iTunes (10+ albums) or sample a 16th century Spanish Christmas song at the bottom of their homepage. more ›

Mi Ami (ex-members of Black Eyes from SF) and Bipolar Bear. Since we love classical minimalism, we thought to ask the band a few questions before tonight's show: more ›