Some people turn to an elder or a higher power for guidance in a time of struggle. Los Angeles turns to Portland, Oregon. While before we've turned to Stumptown for direction for our street car transit and bike-friendliness on our streets, this time the City of L.A. has formed a "Mural Task Force" and is turning to Portland for advice based on the success of their mural ordinance. more ›

A North Hollywood man is suspected of kidnapping his mom from her Oregon home, reports KCBS. Marshall McMains Goldberg, 55, is described as 5 feet 9 inches tall, weighing 160 to 165 pounds, with brown hair and blue eyes. more ›

Some people go green by driving Priuses. Others brag about their bio-diesel conversions. Don't get me wrong. These are both admirable attempts at meaningful earth friendliness, but when you really want hardcore bragging rights, nothing beats abandoning the auto altogether. For their first West coast tour, The folk-pop duo known as Blind Pilot decided to head from Vancouver to San Diego by...bicycle. more ›

Police released the name of the swordsman who was shot dead Sunday afternoon by a security guard at the Scientology Celebrity Centre on Franklin Ave. in Hollywood. Mario Majorski, who was involved in the church, possibly as early as 1990, according to an anti-Scientology website, went to UCLA in 1993 and was a plaintiff in a two suits against UCLA and a school professor. more ›

Southern California Edison has announced that they're adding some new renewable energy to their profile. They'll be installing 303 wind turbines up in Gilliam and Morrow Counties in Oregon that will produce 909 megawatts of wind power and 2 billion kilowatt-hours per year. more ›

6 p.m. // The Hammer Museum // 10899 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles // (310) 443-7000 // $5 more ›

Sherman Oaks and South LA made national news yesterday when a Los Angeles native, now based in Oregon, became the latest decried author who penned a fraudulent memoir. Yes, Margaret Seltzer grew up in the Valley, no Margaret B. Jones (her non de plume) did not gangbang in South Central as her book said. more ›

A 33-year-old white woman from Sherman Oaks, now living in Eugene, Oregon, has made national headlines today as news comes that her memoir was largely fabricated. Last week, Margaret Seltzer who goes by the pen name Margaret B. Jones was featured in the New York Times' Home & Garden section in a fascinating story about her book, "Love and Consequences." One LAist reader explains her fascination about it in an e-mail: more ›

Tainted sprouts might be on the shelves of your local grocery store. Although not considered a mealtime staple by many, a nice handful of sprouts can liven up a sandwich or a salad--that is unless they give you salmonella. more ›

Lakers 111, Sonics 91 - Seattle had no chance against the surging Lake Show. Kobe was ejected in the third and it didn't matter (double technical after arguing a call -- not a huge deal). LA has won 11 of their last 13 and all but one was on the road. The Lakers got double digit contributions from seven players, led by Pau Gasol's 22. more ›

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The sixth-ranked Bruins demolished the Oregon State Beavers 84-49. The game was over within the first 30 seconds when Darren Collison hit a three-pointer to start the game to keep the Beavers winless in the Pac-10. more ›

Lakers 130, Suns 124 - So I'm like "OMG!" and then she's like "fer reelllllz!" And then I'm like "NO.WAY." and the she's like "totally." more ›

With exactly three weeks to go until the Tuesday of Destiny, John Edwards will stop by Los Angeles tomorrow. Though he has to stand on 37 crates to equal Sen. Hillary Clinton's footing in California, according to the latest L.A. Times/CNN/Politico California poll, John Edwards will visit the city to stump for votes and reinforce his standing as a man of the people. more ›

Today, our great state filed a lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency over the Bush administration's opinion that states cannot set emission standards.

The EPA denied California a waiver that it needs under the federal Clean Air Act to move forward with regulating greenhouse gas emissions from new cars and light trucks. At least 16 other states had been expected to follow California's lead and adopt the state's tougher emission limits. [CBS2/AP]

I apologize for the lack of football recaps, but I found it very hard to write about college football this season. With all the upsets it just seemed like not even the college players were all that passionate about playing the game. Look at the following lists and you’ll see what I mean. This season seven #1 and #2 ranked teams have been defeated by unranked opponents. Compare that to last season when the... more ›

“Carol Baker Tharp loved the City of Los Angeles and spent the past year working to strengthen its neighborhoods as the General Manager of the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment," Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said today in a statement announcing the passing of Carol Baker Tharp. "Though we mourn her passing today, we take comfort in the fact that her work and ideas will continue to yield positive benefits for the people of Los Angeles.” Tharp was... more ›

Ducks 4, Kings 3, SO - Southern California's teams are getting to know each other pretty well. After opening the season with two games in London, they now face each other in three of their next six games. Last night in Anaheim the Ducks showed signs of life, but blew a two goal lead in the third period. The eventually beat Los Angeles 2-0 in a shoot-out. Spurs 107, Lakers 92 - The Lakers are... more ›

With just a little more than half of the college football season past us, it’s become evident that no team wants to play for the national championship. No, not even undefeated Ohio State whose non-conference schedule included illustrious teams such as Youngstown State, Akron and Kent State. As for the rest of college football, every other team that climbed atop of the corpses has subsequently fallen. See California and LSU last week and South... more ›

If you heard the hysterical sounds of laughter coming from the Los Feliz, Little Armenia, Thai Town and East Hollywood section of Los Angeles Saturday night, it was me. First of all the UCLA Bruins lost to Notre Dame? The fact that Ben Olson got injured in the first quarter and they brought out walk-on quarterback McLeod Bethel-Thompson to replace him shows something fundamentally wrong with this Bruin program. When Patrick Cowan went down... more ›

It’s taken me a while to put this weekend of college football into writing. Never before have I witnessed upsets of this magnitude. It just proves that as much as any experts or I think we know about football, in reality we know absolutely nothing. One of two things can be gleaned out of these games. Either there is parity in college football where a team can beat any other team regardless of ranking... more ›

Anti-war protesters have been gathering in Downtown Los Angeles this afternoon; the CHP has blocked off two ramps on the 101 because of the protest. Huge meat recall: Topps Meat Company is recalling over 20 million pounds of hamburger patties that may be infected with e.coli: more than a dozen people have gotten sick. The man who threatened Tom Cruise with extortion for stolen wedding pictures was found dead in his home, an apparent... more ›

The Bruins were lucky enough to get coverage on FSN this time while breaking away from a 10-10 tie at the half to outlast Washington 44-31 last night. Washington's Jake Locker threw three deadly touchdown passes in the fourth quarter. It was a difficult game for the Bruins, until the Huskies' defense started to give during the second half. Each touchdown pass that Locker completed, the Bruins were able to respond to until finally opening... more ›

China Forbes is the ultra-fabulous frontlady of Pink Martini, a 12 piece “little orchestra” based in Portland, Oregon. Pink Martini is the kind of band that serves up a little sumthin for everyone – their multi-lingual repertoire ranges from lounge to Latin, classical to cosmopolitan and they’re huge stars in France. This Friday, Saturday and Sunday (Sept. 14, 15 & 16) the band hits the stage at the Hollywood Bowl accompanied by our very... more ›

He opened the first Peet's Coffee & Tea in 1966 on a rundown street in Berkeley. He mentored the founders of Starbucks letting them work in his store. And even though he sold the coffee business in 1979, Peet's Coffee & Tea still serves their high quality roasts for many addicted coffee lovers. Peet died yesterday in his home in Ashland, Oregon of cancer. He was considered a connoisseur of gourmet coffee: "Peet was known... more ›

Catching Brandi Shearer's sultry voice live would be a great way to enjoy your holiday weekend. LAist caught her last show at Hotel Cafe and was humming her tunes and listening to her album for days. This time around, LAist had the opportunity to catch up with Brandi and get to know a little bit more about what makes her sounds so unique, what it's like being signed to Amoeba Records and how living in... more ›

LAist: What do yall do for fun with so such a hectic touring schedule?

VURSATYL: When we're on the road Shines & Jumbo usually are diggin' for records at whatever local used record store. Me (Vurs) if we have a day off, I go catch a flick. I'm somewhat of a movie buff.

How did yall come to first know eachother?

Jumbo and I met at Concordia College in Portland at a Basketball camp. We played ball all of the time at various parks in the city. Jumbo introduced me to Shines after they met several years later. They met thru a mutual friend who knew they shared an intrest in records.

What inspired the concept for "Gutterfly"? Whats the overall story?

Blaxploitation Movies and the soundtracks to them were an inspiration. Movies like, The Mack, Superfly, Let's Do It Again all had soundtracks enitrely performed by a sole artist. Willie Hutch, Curtis Mayfield, and The Staple Singers to name a few. As well the opportunity to use a movie concept to express song ideas and musical directions we hadn't attempted before was inviting.

Gutterfly is about three fellas who come to Razor Blade City (Portland) and want to make a name for themselves in the big city. While living there, one of the guys is killed by Pharoahs' assassins. Bumpy & Sleepy want to take the evil Pharoah down and they succeed. All the while empowering the people of Razor Blade City to fight for what they believe in. more ›

Dodgers 6, Padres 5 - The Blue Crew spoiled Trevor Hoffman Night in San Diego, smoking the Padres closer for four runs in the ninth. Hoffman was being honored that game for being baseball's career saves leader, but all the Dodgers gave him was a loss. The comback win snapped LA's losing streak at four and put them back into first place in the NL West. Canucks 2, Ducks 1, 2OT - Anaheim staged a... more ›

Sex is something that drives us, empowers us and gets us into really stupid situations with people we have no business seeing naked. Jen Sincero is the bestselling author and sexpert with the carnal knowledge you need. Ask her your questions (all are posted anonymously). Cuz there's no such thing as being too good in bed. Dear Jen, I was at a dinner party the other night and the topic turned to sex. I’m... more ›

Bruins 68, Jayhawks 55 - Arron Afflalo led the way with 24 points to help UCLA avenge their #2 seeding by beating #1 seed Kansas. The team shot an impressive 53% from the field and was equally impressive on defense. Both teams came in known for protecting the hoop and showed it with a combined 32 steals and 46 turnovers. UCLA is back in the final four for a second straight year and an NCAA... more ›