Crosswalk Countdown - GuerilLA from Kelly Herrington on Vimeo. A crosswalk at Santa Monica's Third Street Promenade starts to count down. Once it hits 10, a group of enthusiastic party-goers begin to count down with it out loud (think New Years Even at Times Square). The clock hits zero, the blinking hand changes to solid and everyone begins to scream in joy. "Happy New Years!" This is the latest "mission" from LA's version of......

Pity Party at Little Radio on New Years Eve | Photo by Koga/LAist Despite it being Superbowl Sunday, February residencies got off to a great start last night with Alex & Sam at Tangier. Tonight is the first night of February residencies at Spaceland, Silverlake Lounge, Crash Mansion and The Echo/Echoplex. By last Thursday, The Airborne Toxic Event had gained so much popularity from their January residency, they had to reject 300 people from......

Well, whatcha know, Radiohead's In Rainbows, which hit stores on New Year's Day, sits atop the Billboard charts nearly three months after the band offered the album as a pay-what-you-want digital download via their Web site. Today we have confirmation of the cities (albeit neither venues nor dates) that our favorite Glaswegians Englishmen will visit this summer. California stops include Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, San Diego, and San Francisco:The first leg will come prior......

Rain, rain, don't go away, don't come again another day! Wet weather is on its way. And not a moment too soon for some portions of the city. A lack of water in the Valley might slow growth: "West San Fernando Valley Councilman Dennis Zine said he called for the mandatory water conservation in new development after Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's plea for voluntary water saving was largely ignored by Angelenos." You know all that......

New Year's Day, most in LA seemed to be up in Pasadena watching either the Rose Parade or the Rose Bowl, or getting over their New Year's Eve hangover at home watching TV. Why do I think that? Because the roads were EMPTY! It seemed that no one was on the roads. My goal was to head out with a friend, with cameras in hand and hit the roads and drive around LA on......

The New Year's Eve celebration at Little Radio in Downtown LA featured locals The Pity Party (MySpace), Fatlip (formerly of The Pharcyde), and Restaurant (MySpace), as well as DJ Lady Michelle Sinclair (MySpace). Not to mention free alcohol (after a $20.00 admission fee). Local music bloggers in attendance included Amateur Chemist and Rock Insider. Monday night was also "...the last event at Little Radio for about 4-5 months while [they] renovate the entire 10,000......

Venues are still recovering from New Year's Eve as not many concerts are happening tonight. But that doesn't mean there's good music to check out. Local organic hip-hoppers, Swamphouse (a mixture of R&B, rock and jazz), open up at Temple Bar in Santa Monica tonight at 9:30 p.m. They are followed by the Manhattan Beach based reggae band -- International Farmers -- at 11 p.m. Over in Hollywood at the Hotel Cafe, find East Coast......

Officer, police thyself: Sherrifs are looking among their own ranks for DUI-free behavior this NYE. And they're looking at you, too, pal. Drive safe, designate a driver, take the Metro, or call for a Tipsy Tow. The darkest hour is just before dawn--but not on our freeways. 4.2 million Commuters in the Southland get a start on their daily drives before 6 o'clock each morning, proving there are increasingly fewer "good times" to get on......

Love it or hate it, tonight's New Year's Eve. And while half of the city has vacated for NYE's in Vegas, there's plenty to do right here in LA to welcome '08. Fireworks Catch the midnight fireworks in Marina Del Rey. At 11:55 pm and 30-seconds, one firework will be shot into the air for each second, counting down to midnight--and then a few more into 2008. The show be seen from anywhere in the......

So we heard that at 12:00 a.m. EST, 9:00 p.m. PST (or LA time for those of us who could give a crap about the rest of the West Coast) tonight, those sexy boys at Current TV, Max Lugavere and Jason Silva, will be hosting the exclusive (yes, exclusive) US broadcast of Radiohead playing In Rainbows. In its entirety. Sexy, exclusive, entirety. After the broadcast, M and J will be hosting a very special Best......

It's a matter of simple math: New Year's Eve + Drinking + Driving = DUI. That's why the smart--and thoughtful--folks at the Auto Club (AAA) are once again offering up their "Tipsy Tow" service, which provides free rides in the 13 SoCal counties they serve from 6 p.m. tonight until 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday, January 1, 2008. That's a pretty sweet deal, in all honesty. Here's what you, or your party host, or your concerned......

The LA Weekly's Jonathan Gold names his "Top Ten Dishes of 2007" and curious palates all over the Southland take note. His picks include the porcetta at Brentwood's Vicenti (a rotisserie-cooked piece of pork where the "loin and belly are wrapped into a spiral, seasoned with fennel, and spit-roasted to a crackling, licorice-y succulence"), Donut Man's Strawberry Donut, and My Taco's Barbacoa (lamb), which we fell in love with too, when we checked out Garvanza.......

Continuing party planning where we left off, we now turn our focus to the main event: the food. MENU PLANNING The type of food you serve will depend upon the level of elegance and the number of guests. Under 20 people, I can usually make frou-frou little canapes and doots. As the number climbs, it is best to head more in the direction of Superbowl food. With a small get-together, I can pipe cute......

This week's Sunday Photoist pic features an unusual perspective of LA's subway, from the platform of the Red Line's terminus in North Hollywood. Don't forget, there will be ALL NIGHT Metro service on New Year's Eve, and rides are FREE between 9:00 p.m. and 2:00 a.m. Photo by Puck90 via LAist Featured Photos Pool on Flickr......

As reported earlier this week, on New Year's Eve, there will be all night Metro rail service. As one commenter pointed out, the news was actually broken in a press release where it was buried with not much detail given:“The Tournament of Roses parade and game is the biggest venue for Metro Gold Line service all year, with upwards of 60,000 train boardings on a single day,” said Pam O’Connor, Santa Monica City Council member......

ALCOHOL One of the most important elements of a new year's eve party is alcohol. Lots and lots of alcohol. This will cause people to forget your little mistakes, and turn the big mistakes into hilarious anecdotes that you will chuckle over together for years. Figure one bottle of champagne will yield around 6 glasses. Oh, and get plastic glasses if you have invited over more than 20 people. It's tacky, but beats the......

For anyone who isn't storing all your party reserves for some big New Year's bash, here's what's going on around town tonight. JAZZ/VOCALS Silky-voiced Tierney Sutton and her band are on tap for a holiday weekend installment at the Catalina Bar & Grill. The ensemble has been nominated for a Grammy (Best Vocal Jazz Album) for their February 2007 release, and has headlined at notable venues such as Carnegie Hall, The Hollywood Bowl and Jazz......

LAist has polled a number of our favorite LA locals to find out their New Year's Resolutions! In the spirit of fairness, here is mine: I'm cutting up the credit cards! Let's see what everyone else has to say: Pamela Des Barres: To live right smack dab in the NOW! Neil Hamburger: I want to try and put all the years behind me. Keith Morris: 2 try & not B a DICK!!!! Not 2......

Last week Monday, Metro released a series of service enhancements and additions including the new Gold Line schedule. In the additions bucket came two new Metro Rapid lines, both starting in Downtown. The 728 runs between Downtown and Century City, mostly along Olympic Blvd. A ride review by Wad at MetroRiderLA finds that the busy thoroughfare "has a cross-cultural crosstown aspect" as it runs through Central American community of Pico-Union, Koreatown, Little Ethiopia, South Carthay......

Earlier this month, Metro announced the usual free rides on Christmas and New Year's Eve special that they do every year. Tonight, we received a short and brief, but extremely exciting e-mail: "On New Year's Eve Monday, December 31 (into Tuesday, January 1), all Metro Rail lines will run all night, every 20 minutes." Yes, that's all it said. No further details were mentioned (we're sure they are forthcoming, we are curious what "all night"......

Last year, my boyfriend and I wanted to go somewhere fun but romantic but local for our New Years Eve. We had just gotten back from a major trip to Belize, so we weren't in the mood for anything that would stretch our brains or require too much planning. Disneyland seemed like the best choice -- an easy drive (holiday traffic), mindless amusement, and maybe we'd get in a nice dinner at one of......

A suspected drunk driver brough his Sunday to a crashing conclusion when he led officers on a chase from Santa Ana to Glendale late last night. The PIT maneuver was employed on the Colorado Street offramp of the 5 North to bring things to a halt. Kids, don't go spiking Santa's milk tonight with rum; we don't want the cops chasing any reindeer-led sleighs! The LA Times chimes in with their thoughts today on the......

A body was found yesterday afternoon in the Angeles National Forest, off Highway 2 near Big Pines. The identity of the person has not been revealed. Now you can get all the penis-biting snake action you want on the web: the next "Jackass" sequel is set to premiere on the web through Blockbuster's new online movie service. In New Jersey, the state assembly has voted to outlaw the death penalty, "poising the state to......

About the above picture: The Rawking Refuses To Stop!, a blog of all things Los Angeles pop culture and MP3, shares with us their best concert photos of 2007. Above, they sneak out of LA to New York to see Les Savy Fav at the Bowery Ballroom (we'll just say they did the same thing when they came here). Don't forget -- you still have today and tomorrow to enter our Rufus Wainwright/Belinda Carlisle......

On News Year's Eve, Belinda Carlisle and Rufus Wainwright will sing classic French cabaret songs and more accompanied by a Parisian band and dancers. You could be with them in Los Angeles' living room, the Walt Disney Concert Hall, as we are giving away a pair of tickets to the 10:30 p.m. show, which will take you into 2008. To enter, leave a comment telling us about your favorite New Year's Eve in the past.......

If you happened to miss the December 3 Downtown News, you haven't seen the personal ads Jon Regardie suggested to help Mayor Villaraigosa get a New Year's Eve smooch. They're pretty hysterical from top to bottom. My favorite one begins with the perfectly awkward hook: "Looking for My Energizer Lady Bunny: Hot bilingual mayor has an opening on his staff - for love!" In the same edition, peep Evan George's report on the uneasy relationship......

Besides having the same middle name, Wagstaff, Dick Clark and MF Doom do not have a whole lot in common. This year, however, both will be the main attraction at New Year's Eve festivities. While I lied about MF Doom's middle name being Wagstaff (that really is Clark's middle name), I am not lying when I tell you that the masked man will be headlining the Deep Urban Breaks' New Year's celebration. Just like the......

Jim Gaffigan is an actor that does stand-up but his stand-up is what has made him so popular. He's got the Comedy Central Specials, his performance DVD and CD called Beyond the Pale, his regular bits on Conan pushing the hilarious and self-effacing animated series Pale Force, and, of course, there's a soft drink called Sierra Mist. We talked a bit about the creation of Pale Force and the recent contest where 3 lucky viewers......

You shoulda seen the kids run down the street during the LA Weekly Detour Festival a few weeks back. You shoulda heard them scream when they appeared behind their wheels of steel. You shoulda seen em dance once the dirty streets of downtown. Add the filthy, nasty, hilarious Peaches, who rocked out with Tone-Loc last night at the Avalon, PLUS the godfathers of controversial rap, the 2 Live Crew - and now you got......

The Cocoanut Grove at the Ambassador Hotel was the place to go for live entertainment in Los Angeles. Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Judy Garland, Sammy Davis Jr., and Merv Griffin were among the many legends to perform there. This weekend Pink Martini will recreate the nightclub's magic at The Hollywood Bowl. Merv Griffin was to have performed at these concerts. Now the evening will include a tribute to him. The one and only Carol......