Van Hunt plays the Temple Bar tonight, Feb. 19 and March 6 | Photo via his MySpace page In an e-mail early, early, early this morning, McCabe's announced something unexpected: The Swell Season will be playing tomorrow night in the guitar shop's intimate performance space. You may not recognize the band's name, but you know them as Irish singer Glen Hansard and Czech pianist Marketa Irglova from the movie Once. The gig got booked......

This is the 'cute' part of Electrocute. They play at Spaceland tonight | Photo from their MySpace page On Friday we interviewed Jay Babcock of Arthur Magazine -- he books a series on Sunday nights at McCabe's Guitar Shop in Santa Monica. More Eastwardly, Alex & Sam will play their second show of the Sunday residency spot at Tangier in Los Feliz (for all February residencies in LA, check out our guide). Last week......

Post Xmas doldrums have hit the tube big time, here's what's worth watching tonight: 7:00pm BBC World News BBCA - BBC will exclusively cover Benazir Bhutto's assassination and turmoil in Pakistan, aka "shit hits fan" 9:45pm A Guy Named Joe TCM - (1943) Featuring Spencer Tracy as the ghost pilot who shadows Van Johnson who is courting his old girlfriend played by Irene Dunne. This original is a million times better than Spielberg's piece of......

Not since Pee Wee's Playhouse has there been a children's show that grown-ups can enjoy as much as kids. Washington DC's local cable-access show, Pancake Mountain, has been attracting rockers like Deerhoof, Scissor Sisters, and Arcade Fire since 2003. Scott Stuckey's concept for the program was to have a children's show that is focused on fun, not on marketing. It's all about the music, and their live dance parties invite local kids to join......

Morris Day & the Time, Sea Wolf, The Broken West, Ben Harper, Blonde Redhead, The Emotions, Medusa, Breakestra, Autolux, Culver City Dub Collective, The Parson Red Heads, The Pity Party, Division Day, others @ Sunset Junction (10a-10p) Yolanda Adams, Angie Stone, Clarence Carter, The Laws Family, Eloise Laws, Barbara Morrison, Linda Hopkins, Billy Valentine @ Compton Summer Soul Jam, Par 3 Golf Course Stevie Nicks, ZZ Top, The Pretenders, Stray Cats, Sugar Ray @......

With all that went down this week, we thought we thought we'd cheer everyone up by giving everyone a double dose of dogs. It was a rollercoaster ride of emotions this week at DCist. Like the rest of country, we were floored by the news of so many dead coming out of Virginia Tech, and with so many of the victims and their relatives from the D.C. area, we felt it important to pay......

There's only one band that matters in rock today. Their music is loud and offensive. They appear to be murdering cartoon characters. They appear to be invading the planet. They're funny and fast and have horrible songs, but you will never go to a Gwar show and come out of the pit unscathed without a smile on your face. Pearl Jam doesn't have the balls to let them open for them which is another......

Who would have thought back in 1985, when the Red Hot Chili Peppers were working with George Clinton, that 21 years later their brand of whiteboy funk would be some of the most reliably popular middle-of-the-road music for the masses? Not only do you hear "Californication" in the dentist's office, bank, and elevator, but it actually sounds good in those places. George Carlin jokes that humans' sole purpose on Earth was probably to do......

Mon 5/22 - Architecture in Helsinki / Tussle @ Troubadour (Sold Out) –Melbourne, Australia’s Architecture in Helsinki are an eight piece indie band. Pitchfork gave their last album an 8.8 and compared them to Fiery Furnaces. They seem like really nice kids and their fanbase keeps growing everytime they play LA. San Francisco’s Tussle makes instrumental dub-dance-indie-electronic music. Download Tussle’s “DiscoD'oro - Munk Remix” Tues 5/23 - George Clinton and Parliament @ House of......

Tuesday is the biggest day of the week for audiophiles. We're like kids in a candy store. In the spirit of that dizzy euphoria, we're launching our weekly guide to what's hot and what's not. Since LAist is an online entity, our primary focus on Tuesdays will be digital downloads. Why? We think digital is the future of music. For instance, Warner Music recently announced plans for a digital label, dubbed Cordless; Apple, Cingular......

[Ed. note: New show added below!] Since most of us are all celebrating the passage of Labor Day by doing absolutely no labor, LAist thought it might behoove the readership to be aware of this weekend's events. That way, everyone can be properly hungover Monday morning and enjoy Labor Day the way it was meant to be enjoyed—flat on your back nursing a little hair of the dog. Saturday At the Troubadour, KCRW welcomes......