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......

After listening to the music and watching the accompanying videos from Sean Lennon's second full length Friendly Fire, it's easy to tell that he is an artist who values the creative process and takes genuine pride in the work he puts out. Monday night was the official screening of his film Friendly Fire at the Egyptian Theater, where he described watching the film to an enthusiastic audience made up of much of the cast......

Sean Lennon Friendly Fire Capitol (2006) Instead of being looked at as the son of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, famous for being famous like so many other celebrity kin, Sean Lennon has taken his birthright and talent passed on to him, and has used them to his advantage. Eight years after releasing 1998's Into the Sun, he's written yet another album which allows you to enter the world of Sean Lennon, not the......

Even though Beck is #1 this week, due in part to his headlining the LA Weekly Detour Festival, we present to you the video of Bob Dylan's 'When The Deal Goes Down', not just because it stars our girl Scarlett Johansson, but because Bob has somehow stayed in the Amoeba Top 25 ever since he debuted there early last month. Who says the kids don't have any taste? 1. Beck - Information 2. Killers......

Trey Anastasio - Bar 17 (Red Ink) Beck - The Information (Geffen) Lindsey Buckingham - Under the Skin (Warner Bros.) Cirque Du Soleil - Corteo (Cirque Du Soleil) Dears - Gang of Losers (Arts & Crafts) Decemberists - The Crane Wife (Capitol) Plácido Domingo - Moments of Passion (Sony Classical) Don't Die Cindy - Most Imperfect Skies (Cake) Evanescence - The Open Door (Wind-Up) Goldenboy - Underneath the Radio (Eenie Meenie) Robyn Hitchcock &......

The Monday holiday makes it a very light week for new releases. Here are a few things that caught our eye.... Dave Alvin West of the West (Yep Roc) – This is a concept album about California from the former leader of the Blasters. All these songs were written by California songwriters (Alvin co-wrote one of the songs). He covers Merle Haggard, Jackson Browne, John Fogerty, Jerry Garcia, Tom Waits, The Beach Boys and......