Kudos to LA Indymedia for pointing out this amazing fantasy that the LA County AFL-CIO is living in. According to the LA Union website (who are trying to fight for higher wages in LA), they believe that a single adult needs to only make $13.52 an hour ($28k a year) to "support a modest standard of living in LA". The AFL-CIO has broken it down to explain to live modestly, one would be able......

There's been a lot of LA bashing around the blogosphere lately, and I have to admit, its really getting me down. I'm sure you've read articles or reader comments about how someone spent a week in LA and subsequently decided that it was like visiting the depths of hell, what with the superficial/unintelligent/unfriendly populace and a geography that leaves something to be desired. We get it. All 3.8 million of us are uneducated douchebags......

Last weekend my dad accompanied me to see the Salvador Dali exhibit at LACMA (although, to avoid a $20 cover and massive crowds, I’d opt for the $17 weekday peek). Nonetheless, and as expected, the exhibit was absolutely astonishing. Upon leaving Dali we toured the famous Japanese Pavilion, which houses a good portion of LACMA’s permanent collection – art and artifacts spanning centuries, the scope of which is indescribable. We left the Pavilion awe-struck (once......

If you saw last night's Dallas - Philly game during "Football Night in America" you saw NBC dim the studio lights of the Costas set because it would allegedly save enough electricity to power the homes of 1,000 American households for a year or some nonsense. If only they would do us all a favor and cut Costas' mic. Some of us would live in the dark for a week if such a deal......

The former Tennessee senator Fred Thompson got into his first GOP presidential debate this afternoon in Michigan. He waited until this late date to save money and create a gameplan before entering the race. Unfortunately after his weak appearance in the debate today, and the fact that he looked like death warmed-over, Republicans have to be disappointed that their new Reagan was far from camera-ready.......

A rock legend will hit the stage tonight. Matt Sharp the alleged heart of Weezer was with the band for their first two records, the debut "Blue" record, and the initially-overlooked but spotlessly perfect Pinkerton. Since he split ways with the band they've never produced anything as good and everyone knows it. Sharp's band The Rentals has been around 13 years now and although that music is sweet and cute and poppy and consistently......

So I'm sort of a musician and a writer, albeit aspiring, who after feeling like a misfit among yuppies that I continually ran into in the South Bay where I grew up, was thrilled to finally make the move into L.A. a couple years ago, specifically Koreatown and then Los Feliz. Finally, I was free to wear whatever the hell I wanted to wear, and not get hostile looks from people (I once wore......

I probably wouldn't have pointed to Amazon.com as a champion of progressive thought and equality, but what do I know? Gaywired.com reports that Dana Rudolph, publisher of Mombian.com, was interested in entering an Amazon.com contest that offered a prize of $25,000 in college tuition. The recipient of the prize could either be the winner or the winner’s immediate family member, which the website categorized as “his or her spouse, children, grandchildren, parents, grandparents and......

Are you sick of being predictable and want to avoid the obvious Sunset Junction this weekend, but you don't know whats crackin'? This Saturday at the Standard Hollywood the local riff-raff will be floating in a pool sipping a free Colt 45, getting the worse sunburns of the summer. Classy? Of course, nothing less for us here at LAist. The event is put on by Vice Magazine and Blow Up LA, and should be cool,......

LAist: Snoop we love you! Snoop Dogg: I accept your love and return it back to you snoop-fold. Bro, you're playing at the Henry Fonda Theatre next Tuesday the 26th with a live band for a BET Awards after party. And tickets haven't sold out yet. What's up with that? Oh it's chill, my cousin. People sometimes need things to percolate before it strikes them that they can see Big Snoop Dogg live and......

The concept of being an over-18 male virgin in LA isn't a foreign one to LAist, if it wasn't for that night in the Honda in Ventura a few days after our 21st birthday (thnx Michelle) who knows how long it may have taken us to lose it. But no way would we have gone on MTV to be taped for Suburban Virgin, a new show the teen-orientated former music network is now casting......

What do you get when you mix together two hippie parents, a grandfather that sang with legendary artists, Santa Barbara college radio, and tight pants? Well if you’re an underground hip-hop fan, then the answer is Lexicon. Having performed all over the globe and having music featured in movies and TV shows, Lexicon now adds live instruments to create a unique sound in the hip hop world. After taking a three-year leave from the......

It seems like most of the better bands and clubs are taking this week off. No offense to those bands who are playing and those clubs that are open, but, come on, we're just keeping it real. Because of that we will show you some video from the Rose Parade. What's interesting from this angle is the speed in which the pace of the parade was truckin' -- and the fact that most of......

We admit it. We love year-end Best Of lists. Why? We think lists by a variety of people are a far better way to see trends and discover new acts than say award shows or sales charts. If it weren't for Best Of lists it's rare that you'd hear so much about TV on the Radio, The Cold War Kids, The Hold Steady, Joanna Newsum, or the Knife - and who knows, maybe it's......

LAist is on the road keeping it real -- so when we were instructed by our friends to dip down into New Orleans and talk to the people, we did. Yesterday we made our way to the notorious 9th Ward, which was the area hit hardest by Katrina a year ago. We already posted a photo essay of some of the photos we took, but we were struck most by the young people in......

Johnny Ramone, the guitarist of the iconic NY punk godfathers Ramones, was a character and a caricature. He was the reason that the band always walked around in the leather jacket, sneakers and long black hair, he was the one who after being beaten up in a street fight so severely required brain surgery sparked the title of the "Too Tough To Die" album, and when he stole Joey's girlfriend in 1982 it was......

Here at LAist we like to help out struggling directors who could use a few extra thousands of dollars, so when a tipster let us know about a contest being held by Current TV, our interests were piqued but we were pretty sure we were gonna say no. Keeping it real and all that. But then we saw that the topic was Tolerance, and what with all of Mel Gibson news happening, and what......

We were really bummed to hear last month that -- after 40 years -- Aron's Records on Highland is closing. One of the great independent retailers of new and used music in LA is shutting its doors after they sell everything left in stock. Now LAist receives this e-mail release from the owners of Silverlake record store UponShop: That's right, UponShop is closing its doors and saying good night. We can't believe it ourselves…but......