Part two of two. As mentioned previously, on Saturday, Levitt Pavilions Free Music across America presented the inaugural edition of Make Music Pasadena (MySpace), with performances on six main stages and 24 other locations around the city. The artists on the Emerging Artists Stage at One Colorado Courtyard, which was where last year's Pasadena Music Festival was held, included Princeton (MySpace), Adele Jacques (MySpace) with Antipop, DJ Antipop (MySpace) from Telepopmusik (MySpace), Stonehoney (MySpace),......

Part three of three. Tuesday: Greg Laswell, Priscilla Ahn, William Fitzsimmons, and Joshua Radin. Yesterday: Meiko, Jim Bianco, and Jessie Baylin. Today: Ingrid Michaelson, Cary Brothers, and Jesca Hoop. Again -- last Saturday, Hotel Cafe Tour 2008 (MySpace)'s Greg Laswell (MySpace), Priscilla Ahn (MySpace), William Fitzsimmons (MySpace), Joshua Radin (MySpace), Meiko (MySpace), Jim Bianco (MySpace), Jessie Baylin (MySpace), Ingrid Michaelson (MySpace), Cary Brothers (MySpace), and Jesca Hoop (MySpace) performed a sold-out show at the......

39 days • 12 musicians • 1 bus Though this may sound like the setup for “The Real World: Singer-Songwriter Edition,” it’s actually the description of the Hotel Cafe Tour—a traveling showcase of some of the best musical talent in the country, most of whom are LA residents and regulars at the Hotel Cafe on Cahuenga. You might think that with so many creative people packed into such a small space, drama would naturally......

Part two of three. Yesterday: Greg Laswell, Priscilla Ahn, William Fitzsimmons, and Joshua Radin. Today: Meiko, Jim Bianco, and Jessie Baylin. Tomorrow: Ingrid Michaelson, Cary Brothers, and Jesca Hoop. Recapping -- last Saturday, Hotel Cafe Tour 2008 (MySpace)'s Greg Laswell (MySpace), Priscilla Ahn (MySpace), William Fitzsimmons (MySpace), Joshua Radin (MySpace), Meiko (MySpace), Jim Bianco (MySpace), Jessie Baylin (MySpace), Ingrid Michaelson (MySpace), Cary Brothers (MySpace), and Jesca Hoop (MySpace) performed a sold-out show at the......

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......

Part of an ongoing series. On Saturday evening, local green-minded band (and Go Magazine covergirls) The Ditty Bops (MySpace), with Jesca Hoop (MySpace), John Reynolds, and Kaveh Rastegar (MySpace), performed at McCabe's Guitar Shop in Santa Monica. The shows also celebrated the release of The Ditty Bops' third full-length album, Summer Rains, with Hoop singing backup on three tracks: "Skinny Bones," "What Happened To The Radio," and "Feel From The Outside In." The Ditty......

Part of an ongoing series. Last Tuesday, local singer/songwriter Jesca Hoop (MySpace), whose album Kismet was number one on Nic Harcourt's Top Ten Albums of 2007, performed a solo acoustic show at Temple Bar (MySpace) in Santa Monica, opening for Van Hunt (MySpace). Hoop's next local show will be with the Hotel Cafe Tour (MySpace) on April 12th at the Henry Fonda Theatre in Hollywood, alongside Meiko (MySpace) who was mentioned by LAist last......

Castledoor at Spaceland on January 31, 2008 | Photo by Koga/LAist Every March in Austin is like Mecca for music and techies. South by Southwest (SXSW) is one of the most popular interactive and music conferences, always hosted in the Texan city that has been honored as one of the creative cities in America. Out of the 1200 or so bands playing from around the world, 109 are from Los Angeles and LA County(give......

Aimee Mann will play tonight and tomorrow night at Largo. Dinner is booked, but they say come down early for drinks | Photo via MySpace Usually Tuesday nights are slow for music in this town. Not tonight -- the spirit of Super Tuesday and democracy must have rung clear to bookers. Of course, LAist is having a party too, starting at 7:00 p.m. at Seven Grand. Choices, choices. If there's a show you do......

Last Tuesday, local singer/songwriter Jesca Hoop (MySpace), whose album Kismet was number one on Nic Harcourt's Top Ten Albums of 2007, performed at the Hotel Cafe in Hollywood. Opening for Hoop were KS Rhoads (MySpace), Rie Sinclair (MySpace), and HoneyHoney (MySpace), featuring Wendy Wang from The Sweet Hurt (MySpace). Hoop was scheduled to again perform tonight at the Hotel Cafe, but according to the venue's website, "Due to illness, Jesca Hoop has postponed her......

Everybody's doing it, right? I don't pretend to be hip or edgy or rebellious. I mean, I grew up on Billy Joel and Madonna and Motown and then the Gen Xer's basic dichotomy of KROQ versus Top 40 in the 90s. I find it increasingly harder to fall in love with albums in the downloading age, and am one of those people who obsessively compiles mixed cds for friends and iPod playlists full of......

Last year we did a lot of Best Of lists, and this year we are on a roll to eclipse the quantity and quality of last year. One thing I have noticed is there seems to be two ways to do a Best Of list. You can do a politically correct one for the hipsters and cynics - which is boring and a lie. Or you can keep it real and talk about how......

"Big Fish" - Jesca Hoop The Kevin Eubanks Group @ The Baked Potato Kiss or Kill @ El Cid Restaurant Sarah Stanley Band, Bob Woodruff @ TAIX Office, Tiger City, Via Audio, DJs at Club NME @ Spaceland Velvet Revolver @ Gibson Amphitheatre Liz Pappademas, Sally Kellerman, Loni Trock @ Genghis Cohen Bjork @ Nokia Theatre Mia Doi Todd, Anders & Woods, Sara Lov @ Tangier Ben Lee, Cary Brothers, Kate Voegele @ El......

"The ghost of Stephen Foster" - Squirrel Nut Zippers Flogging Molly, The Bouncing Souls, Dead to Me, Punk Rock Karaoke @ The Avalon Dead Sara @ Knitting Factory Fuel @ The Grove of Anaheim Squirrel Nut Zippers @ El Rey Theatre Blues Traveler @ Galaxy Concert Theater Eilen Jewell, Rich Wyman, Evan Stone & His Translucent Ham Sandwich Band @ The Mint Pete Yorn, Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs, Donavan Frankenreiter, Phantom Planet, Peter......

If you totally dug the soundtrack to American Beauty (not the orchestral score by Thomas Newman, which is amazing too), then you must know that KCRW DJ Chris Douridas was behind it. His choices in music for that movie led to a Grammy nomination, but that is only one of many movies and accomplishments under his belt. As a DJ, Douridas hosts New Ground on Saturdays at noon for three hours. In September, we......

You might recall that right around Labor Day we celebrated KCRW's 30th anniversary of Morning Becomes Eclectic with a series of interviews with a handful of their on-air personalities. Today we are lucky enough to get the Top 10 list of Nic Harcourt's top albums of 2007. We are very happy to see that he's just as down with local kids Sea Wolf and Great Northern as we are. Not only that, but atop......

Thursday night was a busy one and I probably could've used more of a decompression stop between the Hotel Cafe and the Avalon to give my brain ample time to switch genres, but it was enjoyable nonetheless. It all began at 7 p.m. at the Hotel Cafe with Amy LaVere. I immediately knew I liked her when she took the stage with an upright bass that had a Bass (fish) sticker in the middle......

Bob Mould - "It's Too Late" Bob Mould @ The Roxy (unplugged) Jill Scott @ House of Blues The Subways, Mobius Band, Blackmarket @ Spaceland Matt Pond PA, Jesca Hoop @ Troubadour Dashboard Confessional @ Orpheum The Brombies @ Viva Cantina The Draft, Dead to Me @ Knitting Factory for the kids, so to speak Happy Hump Day Party for Charity! featuring Adult film star: Ava Rose and her Porn Posse, The Sanchez Band,......

Justin Timberlake @ Staples New Pornographers @ Henry Fonda Theater Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Elvis Perkins @ Troubadour Peanut Butter Wolf, Pigeon John @ Roxy Joe Frank @ Largo The Vacation, Kennedy @ Viper Room The Dilettantes, Run Run Run, After Midnight Project, Jake Smith @ Safari Sam's canceled: White Stripes, Cold War Kids @ Forum Amy Winehouse @ Wiltern Jesca Hoop @ Ivar Theater......

The Ditty Bops, Abby DeWald and Amanda Barrett, are like perfectly precious paperdolls, and the music they make is nothing short of fresh baked gingerbread. Their fanciful folk harmonies, old fashioned, ragtime-esque melodies, and penchant for the playful are the hallmarks of this utterly unique duo of doe-eyed beauties. With snazzy instrumentation (expect to see a mandolin and a dulcimer), and occasional cabaret moments, these ladies could charm the pants off a prude. In......

The Fresh - "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley Marina del Rey Summer Symphony @ Burton W. Chace Park Ten Years After @ The Canyon Bob Dylan @ Pacific Amphitheatre Lyle Lovett, k.d. lang @ Greek Theatre Chris Trapper, Craig Range, The Fresh @ Genghis Cohen Jesca Hoop, Laura Jansen, Lissie @ The Hotel Cafe Kiss or Kill @ Alex's Bar Bodies of Water @ Pershing Square The Whirling Dervish, Matador, Guppies @ Relax Bar Sea......

After having seen The Polyphonic Spree this week at the El Rey, I fear I am spoiled for seeing live bands from now on. I've been a fan of the Spree since their debut album, The Beginning Stages Of... was released to critical accalim in 2002, but confess that at times I found the album perplexingly unlistenable in its entirety, but in turn felt that to listen to individual tracks--or Sections, as they call......

Polyphonic Spree "Lithium" Isaac Hayes, Angie Stone, William Bell, others @ Hollywood Bowl, 50 Years of Stax Fergie, Rooney @ The Wiltern The Fray, Gomez, Eisley @ The Greek The Polyphonic Spree, Jesca Hoop @ El Rey Weird "Al" Yankovic @ OC Fair Vagrant Dead, Hellzaboppers, Paul Lemire @ Lighthouse Sinkhole, Little Baby Justice @ Mr. T's Bowl X27, Go Motion @ Safari Sam's Die Die Die, The Youngs, Ghosts of the Russian Empire,......

Jesca Hoop - "Big Fish" On the Surface, Something for Rockets, Low vs. Diamond, Shapes of Race Cars @ Viper Room Jesca Hoop, Thao & the Get Down Stay Down, Tom Schraeder @ The Hotel Cafe The Monolators, Downtown-Union, The Natural Disasters @ The Scene Thailand, The Break Up Brenda's, I Make This Sound, The Coco B's @ Silverlake Lounge Spindrift, Wiskey Biscuit, Crooked Cowboy @ Safari Sam's Burning Briges, Lion Fever, Luxury Flats......

Fish Circus, The Tallulah Sound Experiment, Nerviosea @ Viper Room James Taylor @ Wilshire Theatre Silverchair @ El Rey Johnette Napolitano, Noah Stone, Jesca Hoop, Luke Paquin @ The Hotel Cafe Roxy Cottontail, Lazaro Casanova @ Safari Sam's Cartel, Cobra Starship, Boys Like Girls, Permanent Me @ House of Blues Jesu, Oxbow, Intronaut, Everlovely Lightningheart @ Spaceland The Mothman Infanticide Trio, The Swamp Arc Welders, The Bad Ass Brass Band @ Mr. T's Bowl......

Lucy Lawless @ The Roxy Great Northern, Gray Kid, Foreign Born @ Little Radio George Winston @ Pepperdine University, Smothers Theater Ray Wylie Hubbard, I See Hawks in L.A. @ McCabe's Warner Drive, Itis @ Viper Room Volto @ The Knitting Factory War @ Canyon The Fucking Champs, Earthless, Citay @ Spaceland Girl Talk, Matt & Kim, The Gray Kid @ The Echo Neurosis, Red Sparowes @ El Rey Aztlan Underground, Juan the Mannequin,......

Syd Straw with D.J. Bonebrake and ex–Balancing Act bro Willie Aron @ McCabe's Aimee Mann (pictured), Paul F. Tompkins @ Malibu Performance Arts Black Label Society, Priestess @ Wiltern Napalm Death, A Life Once Lost @ Whisky Bob Forrest @ Silverlake Lounge (5:30p Happy Hour show) Ziggy Marley, Skye @ Avalon Judy Tenuta @ Steve Allen Damien Rice @ Orpheum Mario Escovedo @ El Cid Restaurant Aquabats, The Lashes, Army of Freshmen @ El......

...And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead, Blood Brothers @ Henry Fonda Lucinda Williams @ Royce Hall Imogen Heap @ The Wiltern Joanna Newsom @ El Rey Jesca Hoop @ Temple Bar The Grande Mothers @ House of Blues Melvins, Big Business, Porn, Altamont @ The Troubadour Jill Sobule, Julia Sweeney @ Largo Los Abandoned @ The Echo Zach Brooke @ The Unknown Theater Mute Math, Cute Is What We Aim......

The Cramps, The Demolition Doll Rods, The Groovie Ghoulies @ House of Blues ¡Forward, Russia! @ Spaceland Z Trip, DJ Goldenhead @ Vault 350 John Lee Hooker Jr. @ Harvelle's India.Arie @ Grove of Anaheim Stuart A. Staples @ The Troubadour Witchcraft, Danava @ Safari Sam's Ahmet Zappa (signing) @ Book Soup Billy Vera & the Beaters @ Rusty's Surf Ranch Jesca Hoop, Emily Wells @ The Hotel Cafe Los Super Elegantes, Mika Miko......

Beck, Queens of the Stone Age, Redd Kross, !!!, Blonde Redhead, Of Montreal, The Like, The Blood Arm, others @ LA Weekly Detour Fest, Downtown LA Monsters Are Waiting, AfroBeat Down, The Japanese Motors, Jesca Hoop, others @ Eagle Rock Music Fest, Center for the Arts The Killers @ Wiltern Paul Simon @ Santa Barbara Bowl E-40, Too $hort @ Orange Pavilion Saccharine Trust @ Mr. T's Bowl Margaret Cho @ Largo Willie Clayton......