Driving Miss Daisy 2: The Revenge | Photo courtesy of Universal The Los Angeles Film Festival officially kicks off tonight with the premiere of the awful-looking Angelina Jolie action flick, Wanted. It's something about assassins, tattoos, curving bullets and explosions--you know, standard indie fare. Starting tomorrow, the festival begins in earnest with films and events rolling at 18 locations all around Los Angeles. Most, however, are relegated to Westwood and the surrounding neighborhoods. While......

Teens prepare for drinking, dancing, sex, evisceration | Photo courtesy of Sony Pictures In yet another crushing blow to the American democratic experiment, Prom Night was the big winner at the weekend box office. The PG-13 horror flick/shit sandwich grossed $22.7M to easily out-distance fellow newcomer Street Kings which waddled in with a below-expected $12M. The borderline racist 21 continued to show good legs, earning a strong $11M in its third weekend ($62.2M). After......

Feeling down? See this immediately! | Photo courtesy of Fox Searchlight Convincing people to go to a movie theater and see a documentary is a labor of love for me. Folks always protest that they'd rather see something else--something bigger and shinier!--but if they suck it up and buy the ticket for the doc they are invariably happy that they did. This weekend, a truly great documentary unspools in Los Angeles. It's called Young......

Through the presidential election in November, MTV has “Choose or Lose” citizen journalists in twenty-three states to cover the campaign. Here is the Colorado street team member interviewing Academy Award winner Forest Whitaker on the campaign trail for Barack Obama in Boulder, CO on Monday.......

Yesterday the Board of Supervisors unanimously approved additional steps for Project 50, a three year pilot program that will help get some of the most vulnerable people living on skid row into permanent housing. Volunteers completed hundreds of early-morning interviews to identify the 50 people who were in the most trouble -- people living on the streets with chronic illnesses, like liver disease and AIDS, many of whom are also mentally ill. Now a......

The critically acclaimed Black Star album not only introduced the world to two gifted emcees, Mos Def and Talib Kweli, it also opened the world's eyes and ears to the sounds of Cincinnati native, Hi-Tek. Born, Tony Cottrell, Tek has since gone on to become one of hip hop's elite producers working with the likes of everyone from 50 Cent to Snoop to Common to Nas to The Game. Today, the follow up to one......

Close your eyes and gather around the radio and listen to tales that will make you cringe or giggle. This Saturday night brings the next monthly installment of The Thrilling Adventure & Supernatural Suspense Hour, a live old-school style radio performance at the M Bar in Hollywood, which according to the fine folks at Workjuice is comprised of "several serialized short-form comedic radio plays as well as standalone pieces, musical numbers, and the occasional......

This weekend I thought we'd take a break from the sea and the red thing to check out the animal kingdom version of Thanksgiving. Are these not the fattest racoons you have ever seen? It's as if they are a new species. Don't mess with Pedro racoons, man. - Elise The Raccoon (Procyon lotor), also known as the Northern Raccoon, Common Raccoon, Washer Bear or Coon, is a widespread, medium-sized, omnivorous mammal native to......

I'm hoping that no one had time for TV last night and if they did they had the class to watch the Boris Karloff marathon on TCM. 8:00pm Ugly Betty ABC - The Halloween Episode. TV Junkie 8:00pm Pick. 9:00pm To Die In Jerusalem HBO - Have heard enough about this documentary on NPR and elsewhere to know it's a good thing. TV Junkie Pick-O-The-Night 9:00pm The Office NBC - If you don't feel like......

Last week when we were at the MTV VMAs we got to spend a quick minute with Common backstage at the Palms. We not only got to ask him about what he thinks is the reasoning behind his single "The People" making it to the top of the charts, despite it being nothing like 50 Cent, but we also got to ask him about Britney Spears' opening performance. What's interesting is we also got......

The rise of Common from the depths of underground hip hop has been a thing too watch. The Chicago emcee has constantly been one of the strongest and most consistantly solid emcees in the game, but was painfully under-listened and under-respected. He has always enjoyed critical success but it was the mainstream success that eluded him, that was until another fellow Chi-Town emcee by the name Kanye West came and swept him from the......

Peter Case, Ron Franklin @ McCabe's Ice T @ Key Club John Doe @ Malibu Inn Hall & Oates @ Hollywood Bowl Joan as Police Woman, Princeton, Emily Wells @ Spaceland Kings of Leon, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club @ The Greek The Mother Hips, Broken West @ The Roxy Hawnay Troof, The Octopus Project @ The El Rey Common @ The Wiltern Ben Kweller @ The Echo Jon Brion @ Largo James Intveld, Red......

Common - "The People" "The People" was one of our most-played summer jamz. It was on Kanye's "Can't Tell Me Nothin" sampler because Kanye produced it and listen to how sweet it is. It's the sort of non-thug, uplifting, positive hip-hop that people once talked about, but now people are buying. This is the direction BEP could have gone if they hadn't chosen the path of the lowest common denominator aka the Gwen Stefani......

Happy first weekend of September - and happy Labor Day weekend, too, for our American cities! Let's take a look at what's been happening around the Ist-a-verse. The deaths of two firefighters shook Bostonist this week. Boston's firefighters bent over backwards all week long - first, they fought flames pouring from the Boston Tea Party museum, and then a restaurant fire killed two and injured many more. Their efforts make everything else - like Tom......

Junior Senior - "Move Your Feet" Common, Chrisette Michele @ Boulevard3 Hillary Duff @ Gibson Lee Ritenour @ Hollywood Bowl Hanson @ Viper Room Junior Senior @ Roxy Gore Gore Girls @ Ameoba White Savage, Static Static @ Spaceland The Sirens, The Elegant Bastards @ Safari Sam's RX Bandits, Fall of Troy, Maps & Atlases, Casket Salesmen @ Vault 350 The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, David Scott Stone @ The Steve Allen......

Ever read the Shel Silverstein poem, True Story? That's why New Music Tuesday is on a Friday. Go forth into your weekends, and rock. OUT NOW: Bat for Lashes - Fur & Gold (Caroline) Common - Finding Forever (Geffen) Josh Rouse - Country Mouse City House (Bedroom Classics) Culver City Dub Collective - Dos (Everloving) 1990s - Cookies (Rough Trade) Dr. Hook - Greatest Hooks (Capitol/EMI) G. Love & Special Sauce - A Year......

You may have noticed a new button on our left-hand column with the title We See The Best Concerts. It dawned on us the other day that we really do go to the best concerts and we usually write about them the next day or a few days later. So here's a wrap up of all 37 shows we reviewed this month, with links to the posts just in case you missed it. Chris......

Thursday July 12, 2007 kicked off the first of three concerts being put on for free by Zune. Zune is a machine that can hold songs and videos, and even lets you share them with your buddies. The Concert was a daytime event centering around eating lots of things drenched in BBQ sauce while listening to some of the biggest rappers bust out for the crowd. It was great!@#&*^@ The event was at the......

Chris Cornell, Juliette & the Licks @ The Wiltern Flight of the Conchords @ El Rey Theatre Queen Latifah @ Hollywood Bowl Minibar @ Largo Tony Gilkyson & Kip Boardman, Kristin Mooney, Patty Blee @ Cinema Bar......

The Raveonettes, Electric Duo, Midnight Movies, The Meek @ Spaceland The Black Angels, VietNam, Spindrift @ The Troubadour Deerhoof @ Natural History Museum B-Real @ Key Club The Pharcyde, Ugly Duckling @ Blue Cafe The Colour, Simon Dawes, Takota @ The Roxy Kottonmouth Kings @ Ventura Theatre Matt & Kim, Japanther, Mika Miko, No Age @ The Echo The Moderates, Gliss, The Cheat @ El Cid Sara Hickman @ McCabe's Lorenzo Lamas @ The......

LA’s Stones Throw Records are quickly becoming the most important purveyors of independent hip-hop in the new millennium, much like East Coast indie stalwarts Rawkus were in the late 1990s. There is, however, one particularly notable difference between the two. While both labels are known for their independent spirit and bohemian rosters of hip-hop artists (Stones Throw with Madlib and his many aliases, MF Doom, J Dilla, et al and Rawkus was with Mos......

Pick of the Day Lemmy's new band The Head Cat headlines The Knitting Factory tonight. The Motorhead frontman has secured Stray Cats drummer Slim Jim Phantom and Lonesome Spurs guitarist Danny B. Harvey and turned it wayyyy down -- for him, that is. Opening is Bauhaus' Daniel Ash on the wheels of steel, kicking off the night with Speedbuggy. Single, lonely men rejoice. Common @ House of Blues Ne-Yo @ Key Club Teena Marie......

M. Ward, Victoria Williams @ El Rey Dengue Fever @ Temple Bar Morrissey @ Pasadena Civic Auditorium Gladys Knight @ Gibson The Monolators, Repeater, The Friends of Dennis Wilson @ Mr. T's Bowl KRS-One @ The Knitting Factory Ladysmith Black Mambazo @ Cal State Long Beach Pierre de Reeder @ The Mint Margaret Cho @ Largo Mose Allison @ The Jazz Bakery Ron Sexsmith, Annie Stela @ The Troubadour G Love & Special Sauce,......

A Word or 33: Is anyone watching "Idol"? I can't believe it's back, I just haven't accepted it. Maybe when Diana Ross comes on as a consultant, perhaps after she sues "Dreamgirls," then I might consider it. Today - Wednesday - January 17th, 2007 Lakers @ Spurs (KCAL, 6:00 p.m.) "Foreign Correspondent" (TCM, 7:00 p.m.) A '40s classic from Hitchcock. "American Idol" (Fox, 8:00 p.m.) Season premiere part deux. "Armed & Famous" (CBS, 8:00......

A Word or 24(!): Don't forget Jake Gyllenhaal hosting "SNL" on Saturday, and then on Sunday the season premieres of "24" (Fox, 8:00 p.m.) and "Rome" (HBO, 9:00 p.m.). Tonight - Friday - January 12, 2007 "The Killers" (TCM, 7:15 p.m.) Burt Lancaster and Ava Gardner star in this '46 noir classic. Magic @ Lakers (Fox Sports, 7:30 p.m.) "Ghost Whisperer" (CBS, 8:00 p.m.) What more can be said about an episode entitled "Deja......

Stevie Wonder, Al Jarreau, Brian McNight, Common, Corinne Bailey Rae @ Gibson The English Beat @ The Canyon John Doe @ Blue Cafe Colin Hay @ Largo Silversun Pickups @ The Troubadour DeVotchka @ Avalon Royal Jelly @ Forty Deuce Dos, Underground Railroad To Candyland @ The Smell XBXRX, Numbers, Shift, Ni Hao @ The Echo Sandbillies, Franki Doll & the Broken Toys, Sharon Needles @ Silverlake Lounge Dressy Bessy, Big Sir, 8mm @......

Art Brut, We Are Scientists @ Henry Fonda Joe Satriani & Steve Vai @ House of Blues Leon Russell, Dave Mason @ Cerritos Center DJ Krush @ Knitting Factory Groovy Rednecks @ Safari Sam's Poncho Sanchez @ Blue Cafe Silversun Pickups, Viva Voce @ The Echo Starsailor, Brothemandude, Peter Walker @ The Troubadour Backbiter, Motorcycle Black Madonnas, Project K @ Mr. T's Bowl Future Pigeon, Very Be Careful, Mezklah, Fatima @ Echo Park Lake......

Say what you want about the so-called "idiot box", but the advent of the television is one of the most powerful creations mankind has ever invented. Common, in everyday use, not just for entertainment but for news, weather, and education. Doctors and dentists use monitors for health care, police for surveillance, pilots for direction. And live broadcast television has united society through such varied events as the moon landing, the Rodney King beating, Janet......

With sweat dripping down my neck and the taste of stale whiskey on lips, I rocked the dance floor of the Galaxy Theatre in Santa Ana this past Saturday night. The reggae themed Surf Rock Tour took place just east of L.A., bringing out the fabulousness of Chapter 11, OPM, and Common Sense. Oh, and did I mention, there were even a few drunken guys boogieing down to James Brown between sets. Not to......

The July 18th release of California Poppy marks a creative milestone for the group OPM and an inspired evolution in indie hip hop. The album marks the groups’ third album, but only their second release on Suburban Noize Records. The switch to the label allowed OPM to escape from their former major label musical “enslavements” of Atlantic Records, giving the group the creative freedom they needed to go back to their humble roots and......