Last weekend, the 24th Annual Abbot Kinney Festival took place in Venice. One longtime attendee noted that in past years, the quality of musical entertainment wasn't particularly memorable, so she was pleasantly surprised at the lineup this year, which included locals WAZ (MySpace), Buddy (MySpace), Laura Jansen (MySpace), Holly Conlan (MySpace) with Pedestrian (MySpace), Steve Reynolds (MySpace) with Cary Brothers (MySpace), Brian Wright (MySpace) with Sally Jaye (MySpace), Jesca Hoop (MySpace), Greg Laswell (MySpace),......

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......

Part one of three. Today: Greg Laswell, Priscilla Ahn, William Fitzsimmons, and Joshua Radin. Tomorrow: Meiko, Jim Bianco, and Jessie Baylin. Thursday: Ingrid Michaelson, Cary Brothers, and Jesca Hoop. This past weekend, the 2008 installment of the Hotel Cafe Tour (MySpace) rolled back into town (last month it opened with stops in San Diego, Santa Barbara, Anaheim, and the Hotel Cafe in Hollywood) for the last of two sold-out shows during its domestic run......