For the dance ready who aren't looking to haul their cookies all the way to the OC for Pacific Festival, or for those who simply prefer an urban park in which to boogie, this Saturday, dublab presents…HEATING UP: A TROPICAL DANCE PARTY at Levitt Pavilion in MacArthur Park from 6:30- 8:30 p.m. more ›

Last night, a crowd of vinyl nerds, fledgling record labels and artists looking to self-produce packed the Grammy Museum for a free panel discussion called From Vision to Vinyl: A Step-by-Step Look At Album Production hosted by Dublab. The panel, selected by Origami Vinyl owner Neil Shield, was composed of people who helped him put out his first record. They included Pete Lyman of Infrasonic Sound, a recording studio and CD/vinyl mastering suite, Kevin Smith of Bill Smith Custom Records, a pressing plant in El Segundo, Jennifer Freund of Dorado Press, that specializes in album covers and jackets, and Peanut Butter Wolf, a DJ and founder of Stones Throw Records. From the mastering to the pressing to the album art, these were the people to turn to if you wanted to put out a record, and they offered a comprehensive, step by step instruction on how to do it yourself. Each of them was very passionate about their part of the process lovingly describing each step in jargon that I had never heard of. However, from what I did glean I comprised this list. more ›

For the first time, the organization is holding a fundraiser in the form of a dinner gathering called "Creative Cultivation" on Tuesday Sept. 21 at JF Chen in Hollywood. Explains dublab founder Mark McNeil (a.k.a. Frosty), "Our music draws great inspiration from all elements of life and food is no exception. Food and music are a match made daily in our lives. We wanted to create a happening where this relationship was reflected and celebrated. Our friends at Large Marge Sustainables have curated an incredibly diverse offering of local, gourmet food that is on the highly creative and soulful level that dublab is dedicated to sharing." more ›

Ken Russell's The Devils is one of the most controversial films ever made. Based on the Loudun possessions of medieval France, it's a brutal critique of theocracy and power, and its own poster frankly warns the matrimony of sex, violence, and sacrilege "is not for everyone". Nearly 40 years on, The Devils has yet to be released uncut on home media. But BAFTA and the American Cinematheque bring it to the Aero this weekend to tempt fate and pay tribute to Ken Russell. The "Brave New Worlds" series also features sci-fi-devo-mind-warp Altered States, the D.H. Lawrence adaptation Women in Love, and Tchaikovsky biopic The Music Lovers. If the name Ken Russell still leaves you wondering, "Who?", then head up to Hollywood, where the Egyptian hosts Russell's film version of The Who's Tommy, paired with Lisztomania, another Roger Daltrey-starring bizarro rock opera. more ›

To celebrate USC Thornton School of Music’s 125th anniversary, Michael Tilson Thomas conductor and music director of the San Francisco Symphony, returns to his alma mater for a concert with the USC Thornton Symphony Orchestra tonight at 7 pm at Bovard Auditorium. The multimedia presentation includes historic photos of him with some of his mentors and fellow students while he conducts Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 4. Tickets are $18; seniors, USC alumni and non-USC students are $12; current USC students, staff and faculty are free with valid ID. more ›

UCLA Live presents Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis tonight at 8 pm at Royce Hall. Under Music Director Wynton Marsalis, the 15-piece resident orchestra at Jazz at Lincoln Center in NYC will perform rare historic compositions to modern jazz, including compositions and arrangements by members of the band. Tickets: $38-$85. ($15 UCLA students). more ›

Tonight, as always, local multi-instrumentalist/producer extraordinaire Jon Brion (LAist Interview, #2, Review) will be jamming with friends at the Largo at the Coronet. LA-bred electronic mastermind Daedelus will be performing at the Downtown Independent Theater as a part of A Labrat Matinee VII: The Dublab 10th Anniversary Edition. And, lastly, local cover band the Crabs, which features members of the long-defunct Pasadena-based rock band Ozma, will be covering Weezer's 1996 tour de force Pinkerton in its entirety at the Knitting Factory's Front Stage. But we strongly suggest doing whatever it takes to get into the Henry Fonda Music Box to catch Amadou & Mariam, a blind Mali-based husband-and-wife musical duo. Pomona-bred duo Geggy Tah, which of course includes Greg Kurstin of the Bird and the Bee, are slated to kick things off. more ›

The Natural History Museum mixes music and science tonight for its First Friday series. The museum’s celebrating the life and work of Charles Darwin all year, and it’s reflected in the tours and discussions. At 5:30 and 6 pm there will be tours of the Vertebrate Paleontology Collections with Dr. John Harris, NHM Chief Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology, followed by “Lucy's Legacy: The Quest for Human Origins” with paleoanthropologist Dr. Donald C. Johanson. The live music kicks off at 7 pm courtesy of Wolfmother and The Ruby Suns and DJs in the African Mammal Hall. Tickets are $9. more ›

FILM : The Zócolo Public Square Lecture Series is holding a special screening of the upcoming film Elegy, starring Penelope Cruz and Ben Kingsley. Based on The Dying Animal by Philip Roth, the movie is a “meditation on the power of beauty to bind, to reveal and to transform.” A college professor becomes enamored with and destabilized by the beauty of a young woman. The 7:30 pm screening at the Harmony Gold Theatre free, but reservations are recommended. more ›

How cool is this? A free all-night festival on the beach and pier in Santa Monica with over 20 multi-media artists and music from KCRW, Machine Project, Dub Lab and other to-be-announced artists? That's what's happening at Glow, a dusk-to-dawn (7 p.m. to 7 a.m.) event put on by the city of Santa Monica on July 19. more ›

A new documentary by the always innovative, if lowercase, dublab, entitled Secondhand Sureshots: an experiment in creative sound recycling, will be pre-screened at the USC Annenberg Auditorium on November 14th, at 6pm. Presented by The Norman Lear Center's Popular Music Project, the documentary centers around four L.A. djs (Daedelus, J.Rocc, Nobody and Ras G) who are given a mission: to use their expertise at finding obscure album treasures in four different Out of the Closet Thrift stores and make new songs out of their finds: more ›

Come out and support local music labels and artists at A Community Record Fair, presented by Dublab and The LA Record this Sunday, May 20 at The Echoplex. Record labels, stores, DJs and independent collectors will offer new and used vinyl, CDs, DVDs, cassettes and collectible rarities. Visual artists, bookstores and clothing designers will also present their creative gems at special prices. For artist olive47, who designed the stuffed creatures above, this will be one of her last appearances in LA as she prepares to move to London. "I'm selling plush dolls, handscreened T-shirts, prints, stickers and badges," she says. more ›