Mötley Crüe will heed the call of the motherland as they rock the 2011 Sunset Strip Music Festival (SSMF), taking place August 18 through August 20, announced organizers. Mötley Crüe, this year's Elmer Valentine Award honoree, will share the spandex'd spotlight of the 3-day fest with Public Enemy, Bush, Matt & Kim and more than 50 other bands (check the lineup for new additions). more ›

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Los Angeles is a metropolis, a diversified city of 3.6 million with interests as varied as the neighborhoods that comprise its vast mosaic. Yet, one of the most persistent knocks against this town is its lack of interest in news and politics. Television news, what with its raging hard on for weather-related pieces and sex scandals, gives some life to those pernicious slanders. Print journalism's slow death also does nothing to dispel what may be a lack of interest in the news and the second largest media market in the nation now has one full time AM news station. Thankfully, for you news junkies out there, we have public radio and its weekly news show Left, Right & Center. more ›

Two top attorneys who argued Bush v. Gore on opposite sides have now joined forces to strike down Prop 8 in federal court, filing for a preliminary injunction against same-sex marriage ban until the case is resolved, which would immediately reinstate the right for all Californians to marry. Theodore B. Olson and David will officially announce their case tomorrow morning in downtown, according to the American Foundation for Equal Rights. more ›

On your commute home tonight, don't be surprised if you see corners full of people protesting President Bush's proposed bailout of Wall Street (did anyone catch Bush's broadcast last night?). Instead, members of True Majority want to save Main Street. Protests are planned for 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica, at Highland and Melrose across from Mozza and a few other locations from around town. more ›

Tony Snow died today in Washington D.C. at the age of 53. more ›

President Bush today declared the entire state of California to be in a state of emergency and ordered 75 percent federal funding for firefighting efforts. "I just took off with the plane down from Los Angeles and, literally from Los Angeles all the way up here, there was smoke, so you can see that there's fire everywhere," Gov. Schwarzenegger noted in an earlier request for federal aid. "This fire season has started with a vengeance,'' Sen. Dianne Feinstein said in thanking the president for the emergency declaration. "Lightning has ignited blazes up and down the state, stretching our resources to the limit.'' Nearly 200,000 acres have burned from Big Sur to the Oregon border according to Cal Fire. more ›

• There is more information about the Wilmington shooting Thursday night that left one suspect dead and another in critical condition. "He just came out and decided, 'This is what I'm going to do today,'" one of the officers said. I think someone needed a hobby.
• Are you tired of the current crop of movies at the Arclight in Sherman Oaks? Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel, a Republican who has recently criticized some Bush Administration policies, aims to put your boredom on ice April 10, when he is scheduled to appear at the theater during Zocalo's public lecture series.
• Why the hell are so many people stockpiling weapons in Southern California? We told you about the Torrance man who had a ridiculous barrage of guns n ammo last week. Now a man in Anaheim has been arrested after police discovered a live artillery round in his back seat. It can't be the water.
• One man is in the hospital after he was allegedly stabbed by another man outside the Velvet Margarita Cantina in Hollywood shortly before midnight last night. The two were arguing and one pulled a knife. I blame Pres. Bush.
• OK, no more violence. Let's talk about administrative futility. Teachers and school workers continue to find fault with the new $95 million payroll system LAUSD enacted in January. One woman continued to receive her mother's checks, though the woman died in December 2006 and thousands of teachers and other workers were paid the wrong amount or not at all. It's a good thing Villaraigosa is tackling the woes of education in Los Angeles and not campaigning for Hillary Clinton.
• Enjoy sipping that St. Patrick's Day green gin and juice, but beware: DUI stings are set for this weekend throughout the southland. Checkpoints are planned in a number of communities, including Los Angeles, Pasadena, Covina, Glendale, Hawthorne, Irwindale and Monterey Park. more ›

When you read something you like on LAist, we love it when you hit the "recommend" button, and we love it even more if you put your two cents' worth in the comments. Getting a dialog going with our readers and making sure we're giving you content you can use are top priorities for us. So here's this week's top posts, as endorsed by you via the recommend feature, or as indicated by the level of talk going on in the comments: more ›

• Sacramento to California's teachers: I love you, but I just can't pay you. Thousands of teachers across the state this week could receive pink slips in the wake of the $14.5 billion budget gap. Teachers to Sacramento: I'd like to see you try and force us out.
• The Air Quality Management District loves clean air so much they decided to impose fines on those who burn wood in fire places when the pollution is especially evident outside. "It's a fair trade off," they say. "Hands off my chimney," some homeowners responded.
• In political news, Wyoming professed their love for Obama by handing him a caucus win and Bush continues to be enamored of torture.
• On Tuesday, a Veterans Thrift Store owner returned a box with $30,000 that was left inside some clothes she was sifting through. She received a cash reward because the family loved that there are still some honest people out there. The thrift worker said she will send some of the reward to Mexico so her mother can have an eye operation and will use the rest to buy a digital camera.
• No love lost: A whistle blower claims that the state's Planned Parenthood overcharged the government close to $180 million for birth control pills. Planned Parenthood hasn't issued an opinion because they haven't seen the lawsuit yet.
• Birds and water lovers said, Where's the love as they looked on to the dry vestiges of the empty Silverlake reservoir. Now that the reservoir is free of the carcinogenic bromate-tainted water that was discovered a few months back, the LADWP can commence patching and other necessary repairs, Metroblogging said.
• How much do you love sunlight? At 2 a.m., it's officially time to set your clocks ahead one hour.

#3 UCLA 77, #7 Stanford 67, OT - The Bruins clinched their third consecutive Pac-10 hoops crown with their victory over the Farm. It looked bleak for awhile, but they managed to come from behind. More from Jimmy later this morning. more ›

At a press conference today wih presumptive Republican nominee John McCain, Pres. Bush (who, despite popular opinion, is still president) officially endorsed the Arizona Senator and took a few questions from those wacky reporters who still have the gall to ask questions. more ›

Say you're going to kill the President and the feds will see you in court a week later. That's what happened to a 50-year-old Pacoima man last week before getting arrested, according to the Daily News. Charles Madrid told the Secret Service what he would do if Bush were present right at that moment: "I'd deck his ass." more ›

The Billionaires for Bush have finally placed their bejeweled slippers into that arena of the peasant, the 2008 election, with this powerful video. These heroes are alerting the mud-farmers and illiterates of this Wondrous Nation that if they believe they can finally get the change in America, No, They Can't. more ›

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Today's Wall Street Journal reports that '24' co-creator Joel Surnow is bailing from the show and the Fox network. Surnow is the "right-wing nutjob" who is a personal friend of Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, and President Bush - he's the one that had the brilliant idea to come up with a right wing "answer" to 'The Daily Show' for Fox, but the failure to produce one is evidence he never understood the question. more ›

• As was reported today on LAist, the writer's strike, which cost the city about $1 billion, is nearly over. We all know how involved Mayor V has been nudging the two sides back together. Oh, wait. But at least he weighed in today: "This agreement is a blockbuster for the Los Angeles economy. It will put thousands of writers, set designers, caterers, and behind-the-scenes workers back on the job this week." Blockbuster! HA!
• Election central: Barack Obama added a Grammy to his momentous weekend and Hillary Clinton sacked her campaign manager today. Obama won the award for his oratorically smooth stylins, reading Audacity of Hope and Clinton announced today that she replaced her campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle with longtime aide Maggie Williams in what has had to be a long weekend for beset by four resounding primary and caucus wins by Obama in Washington, Maine, Louisiana and Nebraska.
• The rest of the Grammy winners can be found here and you'll be happy to know that Jimmy Sturr And His Orchestra took the prize for best polka album.
• Is Scientology a cult? Blogging.la found a few Anonymous people who might think so at a demonstration outside the L. Ron Hubbard center on Sunset today.
• A week after a plane crashed into the mountains near Banning Pass, rescuers reported Sunday that they have found the plane more than 11 miles from the site where it was originally reported missing. The fate of all four people on the plane is still unknown.
• Six kids and three adults from southern California fell ill today in D.C., where the group of students from West Covina and their chaperone's were visiting the White House. Insert [Bush Makes Me Sick, Too] joke here.
• From the turnabout is fair play department: A former Internal Revenue Service officer working as a tax preparer in Inglewood has been arrested in connection with an alleged scheme to defraud the government by filing false tax returns. How big of an economic stimulus check do you think he's getting?

It's the fifth Thursday of the month and this is your last chance to see The Airborne Toxic Event in their January Spaceland residency. KROQ and Indie 103.1 both added their song "Sometime Around Midnight" to their rotations last week and Airborne hears this is the first time in about 15 years KROQ has done this with an unsigned band (Weezer being that 15 year marker). "We also feel incredibly lucky and thankful that so many people seem to like our song. We are just a local band from Los Feliz and we would have never imagined we'd be writing an e-mail like this tonight," they wrote earlier this week. more ›

Our crack political team is projecting "reason to believe" that both Rudy Giuliani and Gov. Schwarzenegger will endorse John McCain for the Republican nomination very soon. more ›

President Bush landed this morning at LAX for a Southland visit to promote the free trade agreements he mentioned in Monday's State of the Union address with Colombia, Panama, and South Korea. more ›

The Daily News has an interesting and thorough report on an alleged Iraqi spy living in Canoga Park, a neighborhood in the Northwest Valley.

William Shaoul Benjamin, 65, an Iraqi-born naturalized U.S. citizen, goes on trial today on federal charges that he failed to "register, as required by law, as an agent for executed Iraq leader Saddam Hussein's feared intelligence service, whose leaders are believed by U.S. officials to have played central roles in the reported links between Saddam and al-Qaida." more ›

President George Bush delivered his final State of the Union address this evening. As we mercifully begin the transition out of the Bush era, let us examine the President's speech in typical Washington fashion: taking out a few lines here and there for the most opportune response. more ›

Barack is on a roll. He doubled Hillary Clinton's vote count in South Carolina's primary election yesterday. And Caroline Kennedy's op-ed (titled "A President Like My Father") in this morning's New York Times is adding fuel to the fire as pundits across the ideological spectrum ponder the B.O. mo-mo like they haven't since Iowa, a long three-and-a-half weeks ago. more ›

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Tonight's episode of HBO's "Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel," will investigate the Reggie Bush controversy. This segment will include an interview with Lloyd Lake, the man who claims to have given Bush $291,600 in cash, living arrangements and other benefits while he was playing at USC. more ›

• With exactly one year to go until a new president is inaugurated (and one more year of Jon Stewart's hilarious Bush headlines), the field of Republican hopefuls just got smaller. After poor showings in, well, every primary, caucus and poll, San Diego Congressman Duncan Hunter is ditching the presidential race. No word on what he will do now, but rumors are flying that Hunter will continue to build that fence along the Mexican border he started months ago.
• And speaking of the election, Gov. Arnold is holding off on endorsing a Republican candidate, preferring to stay "neutral." For now. Some are postulating that Schwarzenegger is waiting to endorse someone in the Republican field to see if his friend and NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg, an Independent, will enter the race.
• It's been a rough Saturday night/Sunday morning in LA County as 11 people have been shot at two separate parties in Long Beach and Compton. The first shooting happened late Saturday at a birthday party in Long Beach, when several gang members apparently crashed the party and started a fight. The second shooting took place early Sunday in Compton, when four or five men turned up to a party and started shooting partygoers, shooting eight and leaving three in critical condition.
• Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is expected to address the Chatsworth/Porter Ranch State of the Community Breakfast next month. It's the first time the mayor will speak to the group about issues affecting the area. Yawn. The interesting thing about this is that in the the Daily News headline, they referred to the mayor by his first name: "Antonio to speak to area chamber." I didn't know the Daily News and the mayor were such good friends.
• The Dodgers will play two March exhibition games against the Padres in Beijing. While some veteran players are privately saying they don't want to go, Matt Kemp sounds downright giddy about the trip. I hope the old versus young rift that ripped through the clubhouse late last season does not carry over into this season. Isn't this why we go Joe Torre?
• Several gay porn sites have posted pictures of under age water polo players from Orange, LA and San Diego counties without them knowing. Authorities think a campus police dispatcher may have played a role in taking the pictures. Gives a whole meaning to block that ball, doesn't it?

by Joe King, from Pyle of List. more ›

WORDS more ›

The always dapper Greg Proops is at the Hollywood Improv 8:00pm on Friday; Saturday at 8:00 & 10:00pm. more ›