About the above picture: The Rawking Refuses To Stop!, a blog of all things Los Angeles pop culture and MP3, shares with us their best concert photos of 2007. Above, they sneak out of LA to New York to see Les Savy Fav at the Bowery Ballroom (we'll just say they did the same thing when they came here). Don't forget -- you still have today and tomorrow to enter our Rufus Wainwright/Belinda Carlisle......

A culture of secrecy that led bishops to place the interest of the Catholic Church ahead of the safety of the children. Sound familiar? That was one of the conclusions of The Ferns Report, which was a study that found 24 priests in a tiny enclave in Ireland that was responsible for the sexual abuse of over 100 boys and girls. Another conclusion was that the Catholic Church knew of their dirty little secret......

LA Daily News readers are up-n-arms due to some changes happening at the Valley paper, the most controversial being the removal of ten apparently-popular cartoon strips and the addition of some new ones. The DN went out of their way to allow their readers an avenue to complain if they want, and the people are taking them up on it. Infact the DN opinion blog, Friendly Fire, posted some of the emails, and the......

Pope Benedict yesterday, trying to impose whatever influence he has left on the world, threatened to excommunicate Catholic politicians if they aid in their support of abortion. He also said that they should not receive communion. The Pope was asked whether he supported Mexican Church leaders threatening to excommunicate leftist parliamentarians who last month voted to legalize abortion in Mexico City. "Yes, this excommunication was not an arbitrary one but is allowed by Canon......

The sky is falling! The LA Times gets a bit Chicken Little with the dire headline LA Authorities Brace for Huge Immigration Marches and, on the web, LAPD Planning for a Half-Million at Monday's Marches; both headlines lead to this story, which quickly points out that no one expects violence. They're just worried about traffic. stay in school Yesterday Mayor V repeated his call for students to remain in classes during Monday's pro-immigration marches,......

going up: gas prices. Start counting your mpgs. heeeeeeeere's Antonio! Mayor Villaraigosa delivers his first state of the union state city speech tonight at 5:30pm. It'll be webcast live, and broadcast live on that bigger glowing box on ABC-7 and Channel 35. bummer for Mahoney: The US Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal by the LA Archdiosese, which was trying to keep the personnel papers of two priests secret. The priests have been......

Who knew you could find out so much information just by typing in the date into your browser window? April10.org has the details on all the local events today for the National Day of Action For Immigrant Justice. It's an evening affair so whether you are participating, objecting or avoiding, adjust your schedules accordingly: Time: 5:00PM Location: La Placita - 535 N Main St., Los Angeles, CA Event Details: "Today we Act, Tomorrow we......

For 76 years, Los Angeles has held a Blessing of the Animals on Olvera Street at the north end of downtown Los Angeles. Back in the 1930s it was mostly about donkeys and chickens, but now people show up with their household pets. From mice to snakes, parrots to kitties, chihuahuas to iguanas, llamas to labradors, all animals are welcome — but a cow still gets to lead the procession. Cardinal Mahoney will officiate.......

February 27 is a good birthday for beauties. Leading the pack is Elizabeth Taylor, whose breathtaking looks, acting talent and dramatic offscreen life have defined grand Hollywood stardom. She turns 74 today. But Joanne Woodward (who turns 76) is no small potatoes: she's also an Oscar-winning actress, a classic beauty, and has had a offscreen life that's undeniably cool — 48 years of marriage to Paul Newman. Melrose Place hottie Grant Show turns 44 today;......

We know David Hasselhoff is awesome. How could the driver of K.I.T.T. and the head lifeguard on Baywatch not be? Besides that he's a musical superstar and so locked into our cultural fabric that some even think he's the anti-christ but luminary? As in an inspiration to others? Well, former Governer Jerry Brown seems to think so. He writes of his experience at Mayor Villaraigosa's inauguration:On Friday I attended the inauguration for Antonio Villaraigosa,......