Last Tuesday was the Barack Obama-rama at Spaceland (MySpace) in Silver Lake. Organized by Electrocute's (MySpace) Nicole Morier, the fundraiser featured performances by the Copenhagen-based Wolfkin (MySpace) and locals The Polyamorous Affair (MySpace), the aforementioned Electrocute, Willoughby (MySpace), The Bird and the Bee (MySpace), Hard Place (MySpace), and The Lady Tigra (MySpace), as well as booths for Planned Parenthood and the Obama campaign, a voter registration drive, and a raffle that included Obama Hope......

As his running mate Sarah Palin prepares for her Thursday debate (notice how FOX News is already giving her an out?) with Obama VP select Joe Biden, Republican nominee John McCain will be trying to raise a quarter million dollars at a fundraiser tonight. It's at the Century Plaza Hyatt Regency in Century City, so plan ahead for some extra special traffic tonight if you're in the area. Or maybe you're going to the fundraiser......

Earlier this month, local electropop duo Electrocute (MySpace) -- previously covered here -- performed at Bordello (MySpace) in Downtown LA. Tomorrow night, they will be part of the Barack Obama-rama at Spaceland (MySpace) in Silver Lake, with locals The Bird and the Bee (MySpace), The Lady Tigra (MySpace), Hard Place (MySpace), Willoughby (MySpace), and The Polyamorous Affair (MySpace), as well as the Copenhagen-based Wolfkin (MySpace), and Lance Rock manning the DJ booth. The fundraiser......

Last Friday, Denver-based Jessica Sonner (MySpace), as well as locals Holly Conlan (MySpace), Mandy Moore (MySpace), and Terra Naomi (MySpace) performed at the Hotel Cafe in Hollywood. Following the female quartet of singer-songwriters were Pedestrian (MySpace) and Andy Clockwise (MySpace). Yesterday, Moore blogged about her experience testing out new material and collaborating with guitarist Mike Viola: These last two Saturdays playing Hotel Cafe were amazing. Really. I have never really done anything so off-the-cuff......

Sen. John McCain will appear in Los Angeles later today -- first mucking it up with Jay Leno in Burbank then at a fundraiser in Beverly Hills -- following persistent questions about his noticeable absence from the Southland. The 5:30 p.m. fundraiser is to be held at the Beverly Hills Hilton and will be met with sign-wielding demonstrators just as the Democratic convention gets under way in Denver, according to City News Service. The California......

For beer lovers tired of all these wine tasting events, your time has finally come! A couple weekends ago, the Pine Meadows Lawn of the Autry National Center was the site of the first annual Brew Ha Ha. A few dozen microbreweries and brewpubs represented at the beer tasting festival, and some great catering was provided to soak up all the beer. Live entertainment was provided by Bill Dwyer, who you may know from watching......

Portion of Shepard Fairey poster Tonight, artist Shepard Fairey will DJ under his DJ Diabetic moniker along with Z-Trip, Troublemaker and others in a fundraiser at Echoplex for presidential hopeful Barack Obama. The first 100 arrivals to the $20 show will receive Obey’s Obama “HOPE” poster. Also, if you're downtown right now and near 7th and Figueroa, there's a free lunchtime concert by Seville playing a tribute to Motown. Tonight Seville @ 7+Fig Si*Se......

The annual Extravaganza for the Senses, a fund-raising tasting event benefitting the Saban Free Clinic previously mentioned here on LAist was held this past Saturday in Century City on the Fox lot. I was fortunate enough to be invited to attend and have returned with some photos for our readers. I'll be the first to admit that these photos don't really do the event justice, these photos were taken with camera in one hand,......

Photo by theonetruedevo via Flickr Ready to eat and drink for a good cause? I know it sounds too good to be true, but it's legit, and I'm totally going! Extravaganza for the Senses is a fundraising event held annually to benefit the Saban Free Clinic, (formerly the Los Angeles Free Clinic) and features food from 40 Los Angeles restaurants and wine from more than 100 wineries. The presenting sponsor is the Wine House......

Fundraising events when re-election campaigns are imminent are nothing all that noteworthy, unless you happen to be the Mayor of Los Angeles getting cash in another Mayor's territory, namely Mayor Gavin Newsom of San Francisco. Tonight at the Neiman-Marcus store in SF's Union Square, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa will be the central feature of an "invitation-only champagne reception" which is "expected to raise tens of thousands of dollars for his re-election bid next spring," reports SF......

Presumptive Democratic Presidential nominee Barack Obama will be in town this afternoon. And while the man has a plan to move people (not just cars), his visit does come with traffic impacts, however minor: At approximately 2:00 pm the Los Angeles Department at 2:00 of Transportation (LADOT) will begin posting traffic officers at the intersections around the Music Center. They will then close one lane of north bound Hope Street from First Street to Temple......

That's right, because you love The Pixies so much, here's a chance to experience Not Exactly The Pixies. Tomorrow night, local musicians (most of whom have not performed together before practicing for this event) will come together at the Echo, to perform songs from the legendary band, The Pixies. The artists include members of local bands Fishbone, Tribe 8, Shatto, The Larks, EZ Tiger, Romeo Crestwood, Bedroom Walls, The Stranglers, Wild Colonials, and several......

Photo by AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes Even the animals in L.A. get top notch chefs cooking for them. Well, they do at least once a year in a preview for the Beastly Ball, an annual bash at the LA Zoo for the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association, a non-profit that supports the city's zoo. This year, the gala celebrates the California Condor Recovery Project and takes place on June 14 with tickets at $1000. Restaurants......

Try hard and you might get this hang loose feeling from checking out the Hawaiian Fest in Northridge Photo by bhollar via Flickr Annual Northridge Ho Olau lea (Hawaiian Fest) Say Aloha to the the 50th state with a taste of the food and fun of Hawaii. Lots of Hawaiian shirts and grass skirts, vendors with all sorts of goods, fresh floral leis, loads of food (shaved ice!!!!), and beer. Luckily it won't be......

The Flight of the Conchords play two sold-out (boo!) concerts this weekend via their MySpace page There are two upcoming music fundraising events of interest. At King King on Sunday, Ben Lee, Crash Kings and DJ David Roberti will all play a benefit concert to raise funds for a school that will serve the children of the Tashirat Orphanage and the impoverished children in the surrounding community of Tepoztlan, Mexico. Enough funds need to......

Photo of unrelated puppy by droid via Flickr In Lancaster last night, a six month old dog was lit on fire. Luckily, witnesses heard the yelping puppy and extinguished the fire with a jacket. The dog, a pit bull mix, was taken to an animal shelter while police investigated looking for the culprit. More odd news came out of Lancaster earlier this year when a man was killed by an arrow while crossing the......

This week's Sepulveda Blvd explosion took the life of firefighter Brent A. Lovrien, and as the LAFD mourns the loss along with Lovrien's friends and family and the city at large, the sacrifice so often made by our firefighters is on many minds. Prior to this week's tragedy, a fundraising event to benefit Fire Family Foundation, which is a non-profit organization that provides "financial assistance to Firefighters, their families and charities that support the fire......

Chris Caparro, Braden Anderson, and Debi Mae West created Family Affair to help raise money and awareness for social and environmental purposes. This past weekend, Family Affair IV raised $12,000 for The 11th Hour Action Fund to help educate the youth of america on how to sustain the planet. ...

Soulicious is having a party. Come join us for a night of thumping beats, art, performances, and fun....

I wouldn't normally encourage anybody to go out and gorge on a Whopper, but today, the Burger King downtown at Cesar Chavez and Grand Avenue is donating 100% of its sales to the family of SWAT officer Randal Simmons, who was killed last week in a deadly shoot-out in Winnetka. The fundraiser will be running all day today, until midnight tonight. A donation box will also be available at the restaurant for those who......

On Sunday evening, Protecting Adult Welfare held its annual Bare Bowling fundraiser in a San Fernando Valley bowling alley. Not surprisingly, these types of adult events are overwhelmingly attended by men of varying ages (as opposed to an Erotica LA that caters to a mainstream audience that includes a much greater percentage of women), many of whom wield an impressive (or in many cases frightening) amount of camera equipment. As for the pornstars in......

I go out on Friday night and I come home on Saturday morning. But what happens when I go out on Saturday night? Sunday brunch. And this Sunday, the Revlon Run/Walk For Women team, The MissFitz, are presenting a MUSICAL BRUNCH EVENT at Safari Sam’s that will cure your hangover, and possibly cancer. Hosted by Rakaa of Dilated Peoples, “Brunch For A Cause” will feature performances by The Aggrolites, theSTART, Vonyse, The Stoats and......

The New York Times seems to think so. We can confirm that among the 800 or so who paid $2,300 a head to rub elbows with Barack Obama for a minute or two at the Beverly Hilton were: Jennifer Aniston, Burt Bacharach, Mario van Peebles, Stephen Spielberg, Arianna Huffington, Ben Stiller, Morgan Freeman, Zach Braff, Eddie Murphy, Ron Howard, Taye Diggs, Norman Lear, JJ Abrams, Paul Reiser, Christine Lahti, Jackson Browne, and Natalie Maines.......