Native Californian and artist John Baldessari lives in the aesthetic ghetto of Los Angeles, and in a recent talk with the L.A. Times' Christopher Knight, said plainly that this city's ugliness is a necessity for him to create his art. more ›

KCRW and the Hammer Museum are rekindling their warm weather romance to present the 2011 Summer Night's Music Series Also I Like to Rock beginning July 7 and continuing every Thursday this month. more ›

First impressions are important. We know this. And we know we have one chance to nail it and essentially impress the friendly stranger staring back at us. Yet we still lack the basics of meeting and greeting. Our handshakes are weak, our eye contact mediocre and our ability to retain the other person's name pathetic. For a short time-only, Angelenos are offered the complimentary privilege of honing these social skills. UCLA's Hammer Museum and L.A.-based artist Ana Prvacki present Greeting Committee - a social interaction experiment transpiring now through Sunday, April 10, from 12pm-4pm daily in the museum lobby. more ›

Senior citizens, hipsters, and high-schoolers rustled among the crowded conference room of UCLA's Hammer Museum, waiting for the Jennifer Knox and Sarah Manguso reading to commence. The event was part of the Hammer’s New American Writing Series, which showcases notable contemporary writers. David Foster Wallace, John D’Agata, and Mary Gaitskill are among past participants. Curated by Benjamin Weissman, the series is hailed as one of the best in Los Angeles. more ›

The New Filmmakers Los Angeles will screen 14 short films tonight and you'd be crazy to miss it. The last film of the night is our top pick: show your bike-friendly love by attending the screening of Riding Bikes with the Dutch at Sunset Gower Studios. The film follows a Long Beach family as they travel to Amsterdam to experience how the Dutch use bikes in their everyday life. Get your livable community on starting at 9:15 p.m. Tickets for Riding Bikes with Dutch are $5. more ›

The Daniel Rosenboom Septet, brainchild of composer and trumpet artist Daniel Rosenboom, will be jazzing it up at ROYAL/T tonight. If you're down for saxophone, progressive jazz and good vibes, this could be just the thing. General admission is $10, lucky students get in for $5. Show starts at 8:00 p.m. more ›

The Flux Screening Series is back again at Hammer Museum and the special guests this evening are swoon-worthy: The Neistat Brothers, Angela + Ithyle, Vincent Haycock and Sophie Gateau. They will each be showcasing rare works from their archive. New Spike Jonze, Aardman Animation, Kutiman and David Altobelli work will be shown as well, capping off what should be a delicious short film/music video fest kind of night. Event is FREE, starts at 8 p.m., box office opens one hour before event to get free ticket on first come, first served basis. more ›

Eva Hesse was an artist known for both her pioneering work with materials such as plastics, fiberglass and latex, as well as her short, tragic career and life. This weekend in Los Angeles, two opening art exhibitions and a new play focus on Hesse's life and work. more ›

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Tonight, the month-long "Also I Like to Rock" free concert series kicks off at the Hammer Museum. Curated by Buzz Bands' Kevin Bronson and KCRW, the scheduled lineup is as follows: more ›

The ninth annual Dance Media Film Festival produced by L.A.'s own Dance Camera West jumps out of the starting gate on Friday with three collections of choice short films. Entitled “ScreenDance: A New Visual Language,” the selected cinematic anthologies are presented over two nights at REDCAT, our homegrown source for... more ›

How can we be lovers if we can't be friends? That's the question no talent ass clown Michael Bolton asked us in 1990, and now comedian/voice actor John DiCrosta and actor Joe Nicchi ask the same question of lovers/friends/superheroes Batman and Robin in this short video that won the Sklar Brothers' Open Projector Night at the Hammer Museum Tuesday night. The Dynamic Duo jumped in the sidecar motorcycle and hit up Hollywood and Santa Monica to enjoy a day of frisbee tossing, roller coaster riding and lots of crime couples fighting. Will our heroes put their differences aside and have some fun in the sun? Tune in and find out. more ›

Tomorrow night (April 8) the Hammer Museum in Westwood presents its very own homage to the bicycle with the program Bike Night at the Hammer! The free event will include valet bike parking, vegan food and a screening of the seminal biking classic, Pee-wee’s Big Adventure. Also in the works is a “super secret guest,” whose identity remains a mystery even to this reporter.

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Two years ago, Machine Project hosted a month-long Tablacentric residency, featuring the tabla -- a traditional drum of northern India. Twelve tablas were set up all month at Machine Project, and workshops and sessions ranged from tabla lessons to film screenings, cooking lessons, and a talk on robotics and the tabla. The month's events were devised and organized by Robin Sukhadia aka Tablapusher, a tabla performer, educator, and innovator. more ›

For the January edition of the Hollywood Web Television Meetup, Tubefilter presents an evening with the internet culture show Epic Fu as they launch the new EPIC FU network. There's a screening followed by a discussion with its creators—Zadi Diaz and Steve Woolf. The evening is sponsored by HP and Intel, who will be onhand to give away a free HP Envy laptop and a free HP DreamScreen for Meetup attendees. Doors open at 7 with the panel and screening beginning at 7:30 pm. Tickets are $9.99. Tickets to the mixer only at 8:45 pm are $4.99 more ›

This week the American Cinematheque screens all five films up for the Best Foreign-Language film at the Golden Globes. The week culminates in a free panel discussion with the films’ directors on Saturday at the Egyptian.Tonight at 7:30 pm at the Egyptian is a nominee from France. A Prophet tells the story of 19-year-old Malik, sentenced to six years in prison. Members of a Corsican gang in jail pressure Malik to complete "missions" that ultimately solidify his stature as a skilled gangster. Tickets are $11/$9 for students and seniors. more ›

Last night, Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, supported by Fool's Gold and Las Cafeteras, headlined a sold-out show at The Mayan, capping a memorable year for the local band that included performances at the Hammer Museum, the El Rey Theatre, the Abbot Kinney and Manimal Festivals, as well as KCRW's Halloween Masquerade Ball, and even . Though the set was marred by technical difficulties, frontman Alexander Ebert quickly MacGyvered solutions and several times jumped with wild abandon into the all-ages crowd. more ›

If he does say so himself, LA’s own iconic chronicler of 20th century American crime James Ellroy has just published his “ultimate masterpiece." Following American Tabloid (1995) and The Cold Six Thousand (2001), Blood’s a Rover completes Ellroy’s “Underworld USA” trilogy of novels exploring the dark side of the dark side of our country’s political madness circa 1958-1972. more ›

Now this is a recession buster: The Glendale Parks, Recreation and Community Services Department is holding a one-day "penny carnival" today until 5 pm at Montrose Park (3529 Clifton Place). The carnival includes games, face painting, balloons, popcorn and snow cones for 5 to 25 cents. more ›

DRINKING Bigfoot Lodge is celebrating their 10th Anniversary with a week-long party. They're rolling back the prices, so you can actually party like it's 1999. Help them celebrate by enjoying their "recession busting" special pricing. Heads up: if you really want to relive the glory of '99, check them out all week for other fun events like tomorrow's Knotty Pine Derby, and the return of music to the Bigfoot on Sunday, along with their Bloody Sunday crafty cocktail menu. more ›

The Hammer Museum presents a lecture by artist and photographer Stephen Berkman tonight at 7 pm. He’ll discuss his work, which uses antiquated photographic and optical processes. “Berkman, currently a teacher at the Art Center of Design, will also discuss his quixotic art in the context of the early history of the photographic medium, including phenomenology, spirit photography, and the technical processes used to achieve them.” The lecture is a related program to “The Darker Side of Light” exhibition. The public program is free, but tickets are required. Parking is available under the museum for $3 after 6 pm. more ›

For the eighth year in a row, Dance Camera West will host the Dance Media Film Festival in multiple sites throughout the city from June 5-21. Beginning this Friday and Saturday with three programs screening 31 local and international short (and longer) films at REDCAT downtown, the highly acclaimed festival explores the intersection of cinematography and choreography. Chosen by Los Angeles Magazine as “Pick of the Month” (June 2008), DCW again partners with the city’s most prestigious venues in offering a global perspective on a new visual language through an amalgam of experimental shorts, documentaries, features, and symposiums with visiting international artists. more ›

Are you in the mood for some laughs? The Improv in Hollywood has something in line for your comedic enjoyment for tonight. Funniest in L.A. contest is sure to provide some great laughs as well as getting you acquainted with up and coming talent from the area. Show starts at 8 PM and it is only $14. more ›

THEATRE* ShortLived 2.0 is SF-based PianoFight’s short playwriting competition, and it’s making its LA debut as ShortLived LA at 8 pm tonight at Theatre Asylum. Tickets are $15-$20. Last week, eight original pieces written by local LA writers hit the stage; the highest scoring piece will automatically get a spot in the SF Championship Weekend for a chance to win the grand prize: an invitation to pen a full-length piece produced by PianoFight and staged for a one-month in San Francisco. more ›

Earlier this month, LA-Underground co-presented a showcase, with KXLU and Manimal Vinyl, at The Smell in Downtown LA, featuring Alexandra Hope, VOICEsVOICEs, EXITMUSIC, and Warpaint. more ›

What are you doing today? Cinco de Mayo related or not? Add to our list in the comments section below. more ›

ALOUD at Central Library hosts a conversation with Reza Aslan, cofounder and creative director of BoomGen Studios as well as the Editorial Executive of Mecca.com and journalist Amy Wilentz for Young Literati Members tonight at 7 pm. They’ll talk about “launching a revolution in the way we understand - and confront - radical Islam.” After the program, join both authors and Young Literati members for an intimate gathering, including cocktails and hors d'oeuvres at Café Pinot. (ALOUD Program is open to the public, the post-program cocktails are limited to current Young Literati members.) more ›