MUSIC Tonight at the Jazz Bakery is the The Alternative String Group, an ensemble of students from Robert Anderson and Jacob Szekely's music school in West Hollywood, The String Project | Los Angeles. Both studio musicians who have worked with the likes of the Dakah Hip-Hop Orchestra and SuperNova, the two have put together a conservatory that is pretty high tech with their interactive music lessons, recording and filming them for student's personal analysis.........

New Releases May 1, 2007 Dirty Dancing: 20th Anniversary Edition [Soundtrack] [Original Recording Remastered] [Extra Tracks] (RCA) Feist - The Reminder (Cherry Tree) Patrick Wolf - The Magic Position (Universal) Dinosaur Jr. - Beyond (Fat Possum) Joan Armatrading - Into the Blues (429 Records) Nine Inch Nails - Survivalism, Pt. 2 [Enhanced] Elvis Costello - My Aim Is True (Hip-O) Angelique Kidjo - Djin Djin (featuring Peter Gabriel, Carlos Santana, Joss Stone, Ziggy Marley,......

It was Latin night on American Idol with coach Jennifer “don’t call me J-Lo” Lopez. But, unfortunately, like her movies of late, the music pretty much tanked. The songs that reflected the beats south of the border were not kind to our eight finalists. (And really, can’t we do a little better than picking boring Gloria Estefan or Carlos Santana songs?) >> Melinda Doolittle started off the show with “Sway,” and this was the......

LAist is proud to offerer a weekly, chart roundup of Billboard Magazine’s most coveted rankings. Join us as we revel in the conventional standard of musical success. Let us cross our fingers, hoist our lighters, and dream together of the supreme resurrection of artist-driven recordings that will forever eclipse the dark cloud of big label greed, A&R sleaze and disposable audio. Amen. Here are this week’s chart toppers. Behold the #1s. __________________________________________________________________________________________ A selection......

Sly Stone gets on stage for the first time in 19 years. That made the Grammy Awards worth watching. Was there anything else that did? U2 and Mary J. Blige singing "One" together — that woman can put it all on the line. Matt Dillon saying that they were a tough act to follow. Kanye winning. Dave Chapelle. Jay-Z's John Lennon t-shirt. Bruce Springsteen. Sam Cooke. What could we have skipped? The cheesy black-and-white-ification of......

Tomorrow night, Avalon Hollywood in conjunction with Will.I.Am of the Black Eyed Peas is hosting a Tsunami Benefit. All of the proceeds of the show, which features Justin Timberlake, James Brown, Carlos Santana, John Legend, Macy Gray, Herbie Hancock, Earth, Wind & Fire and more, are going towards UNICEF's Tsunami Relief efforts. We're not quite sure of all the details yet but we will update this as soon as we do. A week from......