Photo by Andy Sternberg/LAist A posthumous tribute wall dedicated to singer/songwriter Elliott Smith sat defaced by graffiti for months on end -- LAist said enough, so did the fans and city council.SFist was surprised to learn that chronic presidential candidate Ralph Nader picked former San Francisco Supervisor Matt Gonzalez as his running mate.Phillyist explored the possibilities of green cleaning.In the latest edition of Reel Toronto, a bi-weekly feature looking at films shot in Toronto......

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......

Photo by Andy Sternberg/LAist Who knew an early Monday morning post about graffiti on a mural posthumously made famous by singer/songwriter Elliott Smith would lead to such wonderful results. Nearly six months ago, then-editor of LAist, Tony Pierce, posted a photo of the graffitied wall stating that "this is why we can't have nice things." Then, on Monday, reader Robert T. wrote an e-mail attaching a photo of a new tag on the wall.......

On my way to dying my hair pink and eating yuca tacos, as apparently all Silver Lake residents do, I saw some work being done on the Solutions! wall. Yes, the same one we reported on today, which had been horribly defaced. Some Silver Lake locals took it upon themselves to bring the mural, which serves as an Elliott Smith shrine, back to its former splendor. The wall will now be a canvas ready......

What's the solution for outside Solutions? | Reader submitted photo by Robert T. Last year on August 28, we reported that the Elliott Smith wall had been tagged once again, this time with a rather large "Mouse" tag. Today, almost six months later, the tag still sits there, now with new balloon font tag over it. A Little Background Immediately after the reports of his death began to spread, fans in LA began writing......

M.I.A. struts her stuff at the Echoplex, July 31 UCLA's online student radio station UCLAradio.com has released its list of top 10 most-played albums of 2007. Looks like it was a good year for hip-hop at the station, with the above-pictured third-world jetsetter M.I.A. taking the number one spot. The station also recently put out favorite record lists from many of its managers. Longtime Promotions Director Jason Stern describes his favorites using only lyrics......

I've always been intrigued by other "best of" lists, but this year I decided to take it to a whole new level. I e-mailed a handful of bands that I've seen this past year in order to unearth what exactly captivated them in '07. As music listeners, it is our duty to take a keen interest in our favorite musician's influences. After all, they rocked our little world, might as well see what rocked their......

I've always been intrigued by other "best of" lists, but this year I decided to take it to a whole new level. I e-mailed a handful of bands that I've seen this past year in order to unearth what exactly captivated them in '07. As music listeners, it is our duty to take a keen interest in our favorite musician's influences. After all, they rocked our little world, might as well see what rocked their......

Monday Eliot Tiegel presents The Latinization of America 6:30pm @ Book Soup Judith Freeman discusses and signs The Long Embrace 7pm @ Vroman's Roz Chast discusses Theories of Everything 7pm @ Central Library Robert Kuttner in conversation with Arianna Huffington about The Squandering of America 8pm @ James Bridge Theater, UCLA Tuesday Cesar Millan presents Be the Pack Leader 7pm @ Borders, Pasadena Frank McCourt presents Angela and the Baby Jesus 7pm @ Borders,......

Family Such as a grandpa who was awesome enough to teach a 12-year-old me about binary as well as the difference between analog and digital. People Who Adopt I wouldn’t be here were it not for a kind couple who opened their home and their hearts to my foreign-born mom and her siblings. Really Thick Books Along with other reading, I’ve been working my way through Neal Stephenson’s Baroque Cycle. Even if I only......

When you find yourself sitting around the house (your house, your parent's house, your friend's house, the house of the weird person you met on the Goldline last week) over the long holiday weekend, you'll probably be too full of beer or wine or turkey or stuffing or pumpkin pie to do much of anything besides sit on the couch and stare at whatever's in front of you. Which is fine - if you're into......

Just surfacing amongst the depths of the Pitchfork servers comes the prospect of an unreleased P.T. Anderson short film featuring our beloved Elliott Smith. From the article: "In this film, wrote Wholphin [the one who linked to the story on Cigarettes and Red Vines,] Smith plays a Rastafarian basketball player. While Smith's publicist confirmed said short film exists, further details on it are scant at best. We don't know its title, for one, nor......

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......

One of the nicest things on Sunset Blvd. is the Elliott Smith tribute wall. In October 21, 2003, dreary and brilliant singer songwriter Elliott Smith killed himself by stabbing himself in the heart. Best known for the moody acoustic songs heard in Good Will Hunting, Smith had an Oscar nom in his back pocket in '97 and a contract with Dreamworks in '98. Immediately after the reports of his death began to spread, fans......

Earlimart Mentor Tormentor Majordomo Records released August 21st, 2007 Let me be the first to say that this year will be huge for LA bands. I've written about the not-so obvious, Acute, and the obvious, Sea Wolf. Despite their associations, Earlimart fits in with the former category, but not for long. Their forthcoming album Mentor Tormentor is a prodigious effort that links them to various well-known Los Angeles musicians. The connections begin with The......

With three full length albums under their belt, and lyrics that often run the emotional gamut of life in Los AngelesRilo Kiley is as much a fixture on the L.A. music scene as anyone. While their newest album, Under the Blacklight, won't debut until August 21, they are getting ready to kick things off at All Star Lanes for a "secret" show in Eagle Rock in a few hours. After, Rilo Kiley will leave the country and return to Los Angeles, playing the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium October 15. Blake Sennett took some time to sit down with LAist...

With a crowd that maybe topped 35, we caught Ferraby Lionheart's appearance last night in the intimate back room of the Tangier Lounge. Your proverbial tall drink of water, Ferraby is lean to the point of looking emaciated – someone feed this man! Yet, apparent malnourishment hasn't stopped the Nashville-raised, LA-based musician from making stirring folksy pop that should resonate with anyone who's ever had a love to ponder, which is just about everyone.......

There is a song in the early summer evening air and it’s a song of hipsters, small yummy tacos, and very, very strong drinks. I live a considerable distance from Malo, but it’s always a great place to meet up with people before going to the Greek. Malo is on Sunset Boulevard, the décor is dark, iron is very much in evidence, there are lots of curtains. Outside, the décor is minimal, with a......

Björk - Volta (Atlantic) Bone Thugs -N- Harmony - Strength & Loyalty (Interscope) Barbara Streisand - Streisand: Live In Concert [2 CD] [LIVE] (Sony) Keren Ann - Keren Ann (Blue Note) Brakes - Beatific Visions (Rough Trade) Electrelane - No Shouts, No Calls (Too Pure / Beggars) Elliott Smith - New Moon [2 CD] (Kill Rock Stars) The Clientele - God Save the Clientele (Merge) Page France - Page France and the Family Telephone......

Most vanilla Oscars ever. Ellen DeGeneres wasn't a bad host. But she wasn't a good one. Her mildly funny jokes and conversational good nature made it feel like we were watching a daytime talk show host wallowing in the oversized britches of a big-time awards ceremony. Oh wait, we were. Thank you, Ellen DeGeneres, for proving that queers can be as bland and conventional as breeders. Jerry Seinfeld's presentation of the feature documentary award was......

Whispertown 2000 is an LA based band that sounds the way a soft velour blanket being dragged across the backs of your knees feels. The band is sweet, silly, and serious about bringing you traditional rock song writing styles, with a female edge. Whispertown 2000 play a lot of LA shows, and aren't afraid to make friends with their crowd. Having been to one of their shows, I wandered in feeling like a stranger......

Because everyone is recovering from the festivities of last night, 99% of the rock clubs are closed tonight. So to fill this space - and that void - with something musical, we present to you a nice live video of Elliott Smith (r.i.p.) singing "Rose Parade", which we think is appropriate since KTLA is currently rerunning their broadcast for the umpteenth time. Although Smith apparently wrote the tune about a lesser parade, we'll still......

We're not going to say that the Solutions audio repair store in Silver Lake drove Elliot Smith to suicide, because 1) we don't know that he actually ever took anything in the shop, 2) readers of this site don't seem to cotton to death-associated levity, and 3) wasn't there some speculation that he was actually murdered? But if somebody else happened to say that it did, we would have to say we understand completely.......

Do you like to be rocked to sleep, or rocked like a hurricane? Fri 6/16 - Juana Molina / Jose Gonzalez / Psapp @ El Rey ($21) – All three of these artists performed on Morning Becomes Eclectic this week. Juana Molina’s a critically acclaimed, Argentinean singer-songwriter who recently released her third album. Her music is pretty, electro-folk and she sings in breathy, Spanish. Jose Gonzalez is a Swedish singer-songwriter. The Onion compared him......

New finds are a tricky thing. There are those websites, diners, dives that some may stumble upon and have no desire to share. Of course that is not the LAist way, by signing on to this gig it is part of our “Bloggers Code of Ethics” to share share share. And so, I present ">Pandora, aka the Music Genome Project. It’s a streaming radio station that you create on your own. How does it......

Bedroom Walls All Good Dreamers Pass This Way (Baria Records) – The All Music Guide gives this local band a 4.5/5 and says: “"If Elliott Smith were still alive and decided to get together and jam with Neutral Milk Hotel, the results might sound a lot like this self-described ‘romanticore’ quintet.” That’s very high praise indeed. They’re appearing live at the Troubadour on 5/30. Download a demo of “In Anticipation of Your Suicide” Johnny......

Fri 4/21 - Dinosaur Jr @ Troubadour (SOLD OUT) – Here’s a show for the aging indie rocker. That first reunion show a year ago at Spaceland was a little disappointing (packed and a billion degrees inside). While Green Mind and Where You Been are still the best Dinosaur records, the first three with Lou Barlow have some great moments too. The show on Saturday night is sold out too. Sat 4/22 - Matthew......

Fri 4/14 – The Greenhornes @ Troubadour ($12) – This Cincinnati three-piece plays quality retro rock’n’roll that’s heavily influenced by The Yardbirds. The band includes the rhythm section that played on Loretta Lynn’s great album, Van Lear Rose, and they're also members of the Raconteurs (along with Brendan Benson and Jack White). Download Pattern Skies Sat 4/15 – Kennedy @ The 4th Annual Rock Paper Scissors Rumble ($5) – A rare opportunity to watch......

--!> Inara George is most easily categorized in that cliche-titled-yet-venerable tradition of the Singer-Songwriter — with Topanga native creds to boot. But her art isn’t that simple. Songs from her latest release, All Rise, are at times quiet, gentle, and sparse, while other moments create an intense richly lush melodic landscape that is very much steeped in local history and feeling. Inara is the kind of slightly ethereal artist most accessible to detractors of the......

The first anniversary of the deceased musician, Elliott Smith, who died of a possible suicide on October 21, 2003, was mourned by fans all weekend at an impromptu L.A. shrine located at the red, white and black, squiggly-lined wall on Sunset near Fountain in Silverlake. The wall was the background for the cover of Smith’s prior album, “Figure 8.” Immediately following his death last year, messages to Smith have been scrawled on the wall......