Happy Friday, everyone. 5 pm can't get here fast enough. / Photo of beverages by pink_fish13 via LAist's flickr pool. FILM Carbuncle is an independent film made over the course of five years. It’s about a director with Asperger’s Syndrome making a movie about a mentally challenged woman who is manipulated by her alcoholic social worker.” We think it’s a comedy. 8 pm // Echo Park Film Center // 1200 N. Alvarado St., Los......

Barbarella plays at the Arclight tonight. / Photo by atomicshakespeares via LAist's flickr pool. SPOKEN WORD The NYC-based nonprofit organization The Moth brings its StorySLAM to LA every first Tuesday of the month. If you’re good a spinning yarns, then StorySLAM is for you. They provide the theme and the mic – you put your name in the hat and if you’re picked, you have 5-minutes to tell your story – no papers allowed.......

Grizzly Bear, via Grizzly-Bear.net Of all the indie bands with some sort of animal in their title, Grizzly Bear might be the top dogs. After all, can Deerhoof, Deerhunter, Caribou, Panda Bear or even Animal Collective claim they are co-headlining a show with the Los Angeles Philharmonic? Nay. It is just the Brooklyn-based quartet who will share a stage at the Walt Disney Concert Hall for a one night only performance with the L.A.......

As the year enters week two, organizations are programming newer music, that which was composed in the last century. This weekend, the Los Angeles Philharmonic began their Concrete Frequency series to an excellent start wth Aaron Copland's "The City" played to film and Edgard Varèse's "Amériques." After the concert, hip-hop violinist duo Paul Dateh and inka one (we interviewed Paul him this summer) played in the lobby by the cafe while Breakestra funked up......

You Me and Iowa Things are starting to get back to normal here, after the holidays -- it's a great night in music for Los Angeles. For one, two major arts institutions are hosting some excellent concerts tonight. At the Natural History Museum's popular music and discussion series, First Fridays, Dr. Antonio Damasio, M.D., Ph.D. (Director of Brain and Creativity Institute, USC) will cover how the brain processes memory, language, emotions and decisions. And......

For the third year, the Los Angeles Philharmonic is producing a series that explores a single topic, usually one that reaches from the hardcore to the non-traditional classical going audiences. In 2006, it was Minimalist Fest. featuring famed compositions of the minimalism movement and an all night concert til 4 a.m. with The Orb and other trance artists. This past year was From Shadow to Stalin, an exploration of Eastern Europe, classical musics to......

Conor Oberst and friends were lucky to have one of the finest backing bands of all time Saturday night at the Hollywood Bowl -- the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Suzie Katayama's arrangements made even Bright Eyes' small songs sound huge, leaving us wondering who picked the setlist -- Katayama or Oberst? (Correction: (Thanks commenter) Bright Eyes multi-instrumentalist (and third permanent member) Nate Walcott arranged, Katayama only conducted.) In recent Hollywood Bowl history the Phil has teamed......

The pairing of rock and classical orchestration has become an interesting and exciting trend in the past few years. The Los Angeles Philharmonic has become a "backup" band of sorts to the likes of Air, Belle and Sebastian, the Decemberists and now Bright Eyes, providing a unique, one of a kind listening experience that sometimes seems a perfect fit while other times a bit off. The Bright Eyes experience was my first in this......

Willie Nelson, Glen Campbell @ Autry National Center Bright Eyes with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Yo La Tengo, M. Ward @ Hollywood Bowl India.Arie, Ziggy Marley, Ottmar Liebert @ The Greek LA Riots, Toxic Avenger, Juiceboxxx @ Echoplex Low, Charlie Parr @ The Troubadour The Blasters, Charlie & the Valentine Killers @ Malibu Inn Zigzag Wanderers, Smash Fashion, Backbiter, Motorcycle Black Madonnas @ Mr. T's Bowl AM, Dirt Dress, Maria, The Sundelles @ The......

For the past 16 years, as part of the Los Angeles Philharmonic's dedication to making music accessible to the widest possible audience, they have been presenting free neighborhood concerts in the community at churches, community centers and other local venues around Southern California. The series for this year begins this week in San Gabriel. The Latin-flavored program includes Bizet’s Suite No. 1 from Carmen; Falla’s Suite from El amor brujo; Villa-Lobos’ Bachianas Brasileiras No.......

We all have heard Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 (in D minor, Op. 125 "Choral"), mostly in sound bytes, mostly the 'Ode to Joy' theme. But have you really heard it? Have you sat through the whole thing sucking in the craziness? Have you been there live? Have you? Have you? Simply put, it's simply amazing. This is rock and roll folks. Beethoven's 9th! Tuesday, July 31, 2007, 8:00 PM Hollywood Bowl 2301 N. Highland Avenue......

Tambuco Percussion Ensemble Free at Grand Performances in Downtown LA From contemporary percussion chamber music to world rhythms, this Mexico City based quartet is a staple of the percussion scene . While they do their own thing, you may see the three time grammy nominated ensemble collaborate with the likes of Kronos Quartet and the locally based Southwest Chamber Music. Check out the tunes "Hook" and "Metro Chabacano" on their MySpace page for two......

This week's top pick comes in the form of a Los Angeles tradition that has been happening since 1948, yet goes by unnoticed every week by many in this city. Welcome to Sundays Live -- it's free, lasts only an hour and there is no need to call ahead for reservations. In fact, if you can't make it, the concert will be heard by delayed broadcast on Wednesday at noon on KCSN, 88.5FM (a......

Grand Performances Downtown, Free, Outdoors, Take the Red Line Thursday - Musicology 102, Music Theory: Melody/Harmony with Alan Chapman Friday - Paulist Choristers of California and Sinfonia Orchestra Saturday - Alan Chapman and Karen Benjamin Celebrate the American Songbook www.GrandPerformances.org Hollywood Bowl Outdoors, Drink Wine, Fireworks Monday thru Wednesday - July 4th Fireworks Spectacular Saturday - The Decemberists with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Sunday - Mozart's Magic Flute www.HollywoodBowl.com LA Opera in Beverly HIlls Outdoors,......

As we mentioned earlier, two rare violins stolen from a member of the Los Angeles Philharmonic were recovered by French authorities last week. The prime suspect in the case raised suspicions, when he offered the instruments for sale to antique dealers for far under their value. However, before purchasing the violins, the dealers went through the internet looking for a more nefarious reason behind the sketchy deal. They found the LAPD’s website which has......

In the classical music world, Los Angeles has something to brag about. It's the LA Phil series - Green Umbrella. The colorfully named series (there is no reason why the umbrella is green) is dedicated to new music, rather, contemporary classical, or if you will, music by composers who are not dead yet (or may have passed post 1950). At last night's performance, the LA Phil celebrated Green Umbrella's 20th Birthday (25th for LA......

I call it Performance Row. That stretch downtown along Grand Avenue between Temple St. and the California Plaza. You can easily walk between 9 performance spaces in 5 minutes. Starting at the Music Center Plaza at Temple and heading South, you first are at the Ahmanson, Center Theatre Group's (CTG) proscenium stage that is used for dance, musicals and other traditional performances. Next is the Mark Taper Forum, a theatre used for newer theatrical......

Jedi Mind Tricks, Ra the Rugged Man @ Troubadour Los Angeles Philharmonic: Haydn's Symphony No. 82 ("The Bear"); Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition @ Disney Concert Hall Jerry Lee Lewis @ Virgin Megastore, Hollywood, (free) 6pm Hurry! What Made Milwaukee Famous @ Spaceland John Trudell @ Largo John W. Dean @ Santa Monica Library, MLK Jr. Auditorium Los Straitjackets @ The Mint Citizen Cope, Alice Smith @ House of Blues Alicia Westerman @ Blue......

Of the hundreds of shows going down in LA this week, heres two that we're thinking about checking out. The Grates at Spaceland tonight. Giddy, fun, silly, and adorable, the Aussie quartet was recently in Vancouver in support of their new record "Gravity Wont Get You High" where they charmed the locals: Near the end of their set, Patience got off the stage and sang "Rock Boys" while waving around one of those ribbons......