Photo from the Getty by Rick O! via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr Students, faculty, staff, and parents associated with Lincoln Elementary school in Santa Monica are trying to come to grips today with the weekend arrest of Thomas Beltran, who taught ESL at the school. Beltran, 60, has been charged with molesting four young girls who were his students. An auto fire turned into a brush fire late this afternoon near......

The Airborne Toxic Event at soundcheck (see more photos here) | Photo by Koga/LAist It's the fifth Thursday of the month and this is your last chance to see The Airborne Toxic Event in their January Spaceland residency. KROQ and Indie 103.1 both added their song "Sometime Around Midnight" to their rotations last week and Airborne hears this is the first time in about 15 years KROQ has done this with an unsigned band......

It’s always a special day at the racetrack--really, it is--and this Saturday at Santa Anita Park is no exception. In addition to the usual characters, inventive cussing and sweet horse action, the kinda bimonthly KROQ microbrew fest is happening in the infield. The 20 or so local breweries will be featuring their favorite beers in 7 oz. sizes for $2.50. And this is all in addition to the main event, which is the Sunshine......

Let's party on the streets! The homicide rate is set to match its lowest number since 1970. The overall homicide rate is down 17 percent from last year. (More about it on LAist here.) With all this peace and, well, non-murder, Snoop might have to find something else to sing about. More good news: Gas prices dropped about 3 cents over the last two weeks. The average price of regular gasoline on Friday was......

A sad week for LAist as they lose their trusted and amazing editor Tony Pierce to the LA Times, but what a blast his last week was. He shared his 25 Favorite CDs of 2007 and wrote a great review of just a good movie, No Country For Old Men. At UCLA, thousands of students celebrated the end of their quarter by running around campus in their undies (lots of photos in a two-part......

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......

One look at the bill for Night Two of KROQ's Almost Acoustic Christmas one might think with all of the INDIE flavor that that LA's "other" rock station was behind the programming. But alas it was KROQ and Night Two featured great performances by Modest Mouse, Muse, Feist, Silversun Pickups, Jimmy Eat World, Spoon and a surprise unannounced performance from the Killers.......

Nothing says Merry Christmas like mosh pits, sweaty fans and loud rock music, unless of course it is KROQ's Almost Acoustic Christmas. Night One, the more "edgy" of the two nights of KROQ's Almost Acoustic Christmas featured performances by rising stars Paramore, legends Bad Religion and chart toppers Linkin Park.......

Right around Labor Day we interviewed KCRW dj Jason Bentley about the 30th anniversary of Morning Becomes Eclectic. Today he provides us with his top ten albums of 2007, and you Radiohead fans will be glad to see that he adds them to his list just like most of his cohorts did. Interestingly when Mathieu Schreyner left Radiohead off his list, not only was he not criticized, but he received many more positive comments......

Defamer: The Reno 911 men slipped on their shorts and offered their support to the striking writers today EatingLA: Everyone's favorite unbalanced chef Gordon Ramsay is going to have "a conversation" at the Paley Center in Beverly Hills on the 20th. Bite me. Sean Bonner: points us to a gift for the man or woman who has everything and would like less (and no it's not a Mike Huckabee mask, but close) Luke Ford:......

Two really good bands (that taste great together) have announced today that they are heading East. The Art Brut / Hold Steady concert that was originally planned to happen at the Wiltern will now go down at the Music Box at the Henry Fonda on November 7. Art Brut is the crazy British band whose tune "Moving to LA" can be heard on KROQ and Indie pretty much every day, and the Hold Steady......

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,......

It's easier to name bands that Rodney Bingenheimer didn't discover on his long-running KROQ show, but if you're familiar with the works of Blondie, the Ramones, Duran Duran, Depeche Mode, and The Smiths, it's probably because Rodney first spun it on 106.7 soon to be followed by other stations across the country. The Mayor of the Sunset Strip is the doc released in 2003 about Rodney the gentle, high voiced, mop topped LA deejay......

So I went to see Band of Horses and Dinosaur Jr. a week ago at The Wiltern, mostly to see the former because they have become one of my all time favorite bands, Everything All The Time certainly one of my desert island albums. But I was also excited to see Dinosaur Jr., because, although I have to admit I never heard much of their music, "Feel The Pain" is actually one of my......

KROQ's LA Invasion: Smashing Pumpkins, Foo Fighters, Velvet Revolver, Kid Rock, Chris Cornell, Cypress Hill, Satellite Party, Hot Hot Heat, Against Me, others @ Home Depot Center K- EARTH Show: The Doobie Brothers, Chicago, War, The Stylistics, The Four Tops @ Irvine Meadows Rise Against, Lagwagon, Strung Out, Silverstein @ Long Beach Arena Mudhoney, the Melvins, Flipper @ Henry Fonda Scorpions @ Gibson Guster @ Avalon Pink Martini @ Hollywood Bowl The Groovy Rednecks,......

Jason Bentley spends four nights a week in the basement studios of KCRW at Santa Monica College. 20 years ago that was virtually the job description of a DJ, but Jason's one of those DJ that didn't exist 20 years ago. He's as likely to be found talking music on the radio as he is to be spinning to four city block's worth of dancing revelers in downtown Los Angeles. If you've enjoyed "Metropolis"......

Somewhere inside the archives of my storage closet resides one of those relics of yesteryear--a recordable audiocassette that, on one Saturday night about fifteen years ago, I stuck in my "boom box" and pressed down the play and record buttons together to capture the KROQ DJ giving his shout-outs to all the folks who'd just called in, including me and one of my partners-in-crime. "And Lindsay and Laurie in La Crescenta are going to Rocky......

In a brilliant melding of marketing genius and a tip of the hat to a bittersweet time in LA rock history, the White Stripes announced today that they will be performing an intimate show at the location formerly known as the Tower Records on Sunset. Transforming it to Icky Thump Records (named after their upcoming cd) the duo will perform at the now-closed-and-shuttered West Hollywood landmark for the benefit of the first 200 fans......

Now that the dust has settled out in Indio, the world famous KROQ today announced its lineup for its annual spring fling, and just like any weenie roast there are some dogs in the bunch. So the question is, is it worth it to venture down behind the Orange Curtain and put up with annoying high schoolers in order to see The Killers, Bad Religion, Rise Against, Social D, Tim Armstrong and the Silversun......

LA's airwaves have been blessed with legendary personalities over the years - Chick Hearn, Vin Scully, Jim Ladd, and Rodney on the Roq just to name a few. Just as important was Richard Blade who for decades educated LA over KROQ's air by spreading the good news of Depeche Mode, The Smiths, Duran Duran, The Cure and so many of our favorites from the '80s when KROQ ruled the world. His "Flashback Lunch" hour......

To celebrate KROQ's Rodney Bingenheimer's star on the Walk of Fame today, The Donnas, Redd Kross, Channel 3, and the Nymphs will rock in his honor @ Henry Ford Fiona Apple @ Largo Sebadoh @ The Troubadour Razorlight @ El Rey The Nice Boys, The Time Flys, The Tyde, Japanese Motors @ The Echo Squab, Level Seven, Phenik, Kill Me Now Kiss Me Later @ The Scene The Wailers, Culver City Dub Collective @......

Because life isn't fair, Carson Daly is now celebrating his fifth year hosting his own late-night talk show. Five years even though he isn't funny, isn't talented, can't interview, and hasn't shaken off the fratboy-turned-yuppie-turned-Gen-Y's-answer-to-Dick-Clark tag -- even though he's had a nationwide platform and access to the biggest stars in the business, starting way back when he was a forgettable jock on KROQ. Now that Conan is getting ready to take over for......

Music. Porn. Bearded ladies. Fighting birds. Naked old guys. You never know where a conversation with Petros Papadakis and Matt "Money" Smith will lead. In a city bursting with wannabe entertainers, these guys are genuinely entertaining. Petros was named Sports Host of the year in 2006 by the Los Angeles Daily News. While working at KROQ, Money claims to have turned the program director on to a little known group called Sublime. With a brand......

As some of you may have noticed, I'm new to the LAist family. I love music and I am happy to provide music listings several times a week. While reading through the archives I saw how Gwen Stefani announced dates to the first part of her tour and seemed to be skipping LA until the very end. That wouldn't appear suspicious if it weren't for a two-day break from April 25 until April 28.......

Tonight - Thursday Kings @ Sharks (Fox Sports, 7:30 p.m.) "Survivor: Cook Islands" (CBS, 8:00 p.m.) The scheming gets more intense, it's all in your head. "The Office" (NBC, 8:00 p.m.) Christmas party double episode! "The OC" (Fox, 9:00 p.m.) For those that can stomach its Chrismukkah episode. "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart" (Comedy Central, 11:00 p.m.) Rajiv "Say it 10x Fast" Chandrasekaran of the Washington Post "The Colber(t) Repor(t)" (Comedy Central, 11:30......

We missed the Guns KROQ Inland Invasion metal fest. We're sure they were even better without all the guys whose names we know. We're sure Alice in Chains was better without their singer. But since we weren't there, we will remember Guns back in the day. This is GNR circa 1988 in Halifax Canada opening for Iron Maiden. Axl starts the tune by telling some fan to blow him, and then, almost in the......

San Francisco: Check. San Diego: Check. Sacramento, Fresno, Bakersfield: check, check, check. Los Angeles: _________ That's right folks, Guns N' Roses announced their West Coast tour dates and LA was not on it. Surf it down to San Diego or ride it up over the Grapevine because there is no jungle in this town of bogus palm trees. But wait, wait, don't tell me! They are indeed playing nearby at KROQ's Inland Invasion in......

The Grates Gravity Won't Get You High Cherry Tree / Interscope Some records are just perfect. Some records you put on and you get it immediately and it speaks to you and you love it and you wear it out and you listen to it in the shower and you listen to it when you drive and you listen to it when you're writing the review in the middle of the night for your......

The dad sings, the cute little daughter plays drums, and the mom clicks the slide show. Perfectly sweet novelty band way too good for our times. They wear thriftstore costumes, they make songs to the slides that they find or receive, they support dad who used to be in a band, they put theatre back into rock. They sound like the Violent Femmes minus the violence. This has been the summer of the little......

Looks like Inland Invasion is going to be a quasi-metal onslaught, nearly as meaty as Ozzfest, but just like most things KROQ these days, a tad watered-down and lacking. Guns N' Roses are the headliners of the Sept 23rd festival, and they're lacking a good chunk of Guns N' Roses. Hell, you don't even get Buckethead any more. Irony abounds as bassist Tommy Stinson now plays with Guns -- his first band was... The......