A long time ago, but right around this time of year, I was sitting in a living room with a record collector pal, poring through the bins of seasonal vinyl from the likes of Jethro Tull, Merle Haggard and Fear. My friend looked up from his fourth or so glass of nog and remarked, "What am I listening to all this Jesus stuff for? I should put on the Blue Oyster Cult Hanukkah album."......

Out Today (The Baby List) Andrew Bird - Armchair Apocrypha (Fat Possum (Ryko)) LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver (Capitol) Ted Leo & the Pharmacists - Living with the Living (Touch & Go) Modest Mouse - We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank (Sony) I'm from Barcelona - Let Me Introduce My Friends [US Bonus Tracks] (Mute U.S.) Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark - Junk Culture (Caroline) El-P - I'll Sleep When You're......

Congratulations to Bernie for winning The Cold War Kids tickets at the NME Club at Spaceland. Stay tuned to LAist for more contests! Merle Haggard @ Royce Hall Kasabian @ Henry Fonda Cold War Kids @ Spaceland Arianna Huffington @ Borders Books (Westwood) Porcupine Tree @ House of Blues Blue October @ Grove of Anaheim I See Hawks in L.A @ Highland Grounds Jill Sobule, Julia Sweeney @ Largo The Hot IQs @ The......

Fri 6/2 - Mike Stinson / Flash Express / Stax of Women @ El Cid ($7) – Mike Stinson is one of LA’s finest practitioners of honky tonk music. He’s obviously a huge Gram Parsons fan, but also pays tribute to Parsons’ heroes like Merle Haggard and Buck Owens. Dwight Yoakam opened his Population Me album with Stinson’s “The Late Great Golden State.” His extremely talented guitarist, Tony Gilkyson (X, Lone Justice) has an......

The Monday holiday makes it a very light week for new releases. Here are a few things that caught our eye.... Dave Alvin West of the West (Yep Roc) – This is a concept album about California from the former leader of the Blasters. All these songs were written by California songwriters (Alvin co-wrote one of the songs). He covers Merle Haggard, Jackson Browne, John Fogerty, Jerry Garcia, Tom Waits, The Beach Boys and......

Fausto Vitello passing out Thrasher stickers circa way back when. get on the bus The Daily News gets happy with Orange Line riders. take the shuttle The Downtown News checks out the weeks-old Union Station Flyaway shuttle to LAX and finds it's drawing 500 people a day — pretty good, but you'll have no trouble finding a seat. ailing San Gabriel mayor Chi Mui has been hospitalized after less than 2 months at his post;......

Tuesdays, as always, are the day for new releases in audio and video. Unfortunately this is a slow week for new releases in music, though it is a great week for re-releases. LAist has included the highlights of the list below, along with a longer catalog of new releases in film and TV. CD Johnny Cash—Lonesome in Black: The Legendary Sun Recordings (Reissue) Merle Haggard & Conway Twitty—Back 2 Back (Reissue) Waylon Jennings—One and......