Any evening with Portland-based "little orchestra" Pink Martini is a party, and their two New Year's Eve shows at Walt Disney Concert Hall will be the perfect way to welcome 2012. Yesterday, LAist spoke with Pink Martini lead vocalist China Forbes to discuss her recent vocal cord surgery, why she loves L.A.'s music venues, and what to expect on New Year's Eve. more ›

The TSA missed a loaded handgun that was packed in the luggage of a passenger bound for Portland. The airport ramp crew found the gun when it tumbled out of the unzipped compartment of a bag. more ›

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 ›

If you're looking to get lucky this weekend, science suggests that you head to San Diego or San Bernadino. According to an OK Cupid survey, the two SoCal cities are among the most promiscuous in the country. CBS News reports on the survey, saying that San Diego slid into the list at #9, while San Bernadino eased it's way on at #7. more ›

A Los Angeles City Council panel is investigating Portland, Oregon’s Public Art Mural Program for inspiration on how to deal with murals locally. Once known as the mural capital of the world, Los Angeles has fallen far behind with mural maintenance as well as commissioning, funding, or allowing new murals to be put up. more ›

Like so many teenagers before him, when Ryan Sollee was fifteen he asked his parents for a guitar. Due to his less than perfect grades, they turned him down, but young Sollee was not to be deterred. He went down to the garage and built one from scratch with some of his dad's fishing line and some balsa wood. "It sounded horrible," he admitted, "But my parents were so impressed, that they broke down and got me one. Either that or the noise was getting to them." more ›

In August, local duo The Pity Party (MySpace) -- previously covered here -- performed at Spaceland (MySpace) in Silver Lake, opening with The Meeting Places (MySpace) for Film School (MySpace). With The Pity Party's M unable to play guitar due to a bicycle accident, and necessity often being the proverbial mother-of-invention, filling in were Jason71 from Eskimohunter (MySpace), Will Etling from The Deadly Syndrome (MySpace), and Hiram Fleites from The Human Value (MySpace). more ›

Skipping the bureaucracies of Metro and the city's own Department of Transportation, a coalition of downtown stakeholders, including government officials, voted last week to create a nonprofit to build a 3-mile streetcar line that would travel mostly along Broadway from LA Live to the some-day Grand Avenue Project. more ›

Riding Metro's light rail trains with a bike is not fun, especially when there's a crowd. Space is limited and bikes, unless foldable, are clunky. In Portland, where the train cars are a different model, bringing a bike is a little easier, especially since you can store them vertically on a hook. more ›

Last Tuesday, pornstar/director Kimberly Kane (MySpace) celebrated the release of her new Vivid-Alt (MySpace) movie "...paints a dark picture of a young woman (Audrey Hollander) struggling to leave the tawdry life of prostitution and drug addiction to follow her dreams of being a Nashville songwriter." more ›

As part of Sundance Channel's green programming, tonight's episode of Big Ideas For A Small Planet features cities tackling transit with green solutions. No, Los Angeles is not featured (save for a couple stock shots of an orange Metro bus), but the ideas presented in the episode are all something the region could or is already looking into. more ›

As mentioned yesterday, Eric Richardson of blogdowntown is visiting Portland on a delegation to study the city's public transit, namely the streetcar system. One of the biggest concerns is construction -- the time it takes and how it affects traffic, both auto and pedestrian. One of the biggest opponents was Mike Powell, of Powell's Books fame. But after the construction came and went, he became a fan. more ›

Blazers 82, Clippers 80 - Portland blew a 14 point lead in Staples Center one night after blowing a 15 point lead on the very same court. This time they were playing the Clippers, so things worked out OK. Los Angeles managed a pathetic 29 points in the first half, but did make a noble effort in the second. Corey Maggette was hot with 32 points, but missed a big shot with eight ticks left. more ›

I told people not to overlook the Portland Trail Blazers. Historically they have played the Lakers really tough. Even though the Blazers were 32-50 last season, they won the season series against the Lakers last season. more ›

Lakers 96, Blazers 83 - Portland made their first 21 free throws so, um, they got that going for them. more ›

The City of Los Angeles is in the process of updating its Bicycle Master Plan, a component of the Transportation Element of the City’s General Plan. more ›

You might recognize the girl above. Locally, that's Sam from the band Alex & Sam who is playing at Tangier all this month every Sunday night, but for those who are more pop-culture oriented (rather, American Idol obsessed), that's Samantha Sidley who got a pass from all three judges for a "Welcome to Hollywood" (she's already here). Her audition was unusual, making it to YouTube (which is below after the jump), because Ryan Seacrest and Paul Abdul switched places. Ryan failed as a judge, but at least our local indie-acoustic songstress made it to the second round. Support her and her band this month, starting tonight. more ›

32-year-old Dionn Semaj Holton was taken into custody on Thursday at noon in relation to accusations by a 15-year-old male who claims he was sexual assaulted by him. more ›

Portland based musician and known as "the Stephen King of Indie Pop," Chris Robley and his band -- Fear of Heights -- play at Mr. T's Bowl tonight in Highland Park. Plenty of MP3s to check out of this indie-pop folk band below. more ›

We Barbarians, the Long Beach locals who recently played on tour with the Cold War Kids, begin their Silverlake Lounge Residency tonight. And we fully approve. more ›

There's only one place hardcore enough to host a night bands tonight and that's The Smell in downtown. After all, it is their 10-Year Anniversary Series. more ›

Two really good bands (that taste great together) have announced today that they are heading East. more ›

!!! aka Chk Chk Chk (or any other triple repeated expletive) played at the Avalon a couple weeks ago to a large crowd of friends, supporters, party-people, and folks who just effing wanted to dance. The band is 8 months into touring to support their incredible album Myth Takes and are about to embark for another pass through Europe. !!! loves LA - they have a lot of friends here, they make a pilgrimage... more ›

Ducks 2, Bruins 1 - After managing just one win in five road games to start the season, the defending Stanley Cup Champions returned home on Wednesday to take care of some business. Boston led from the first minute until a third-period comeback, when the Anaheim looked a little more like their championship form. Dallas 5, Kings 1 - This was familiar. Dallas swept the season series 8-0 last year, and maintained their form into... more ›

Still on tour in support of Wincing the Night Away, their third and most recent release from January of this year, The Shins hit up the Greek Theatre on Sunday to a packed house. Up until a few days prior I really only knew the Portland, OR based band from their two songs on the Garden State soundtrack, Caring is Creepy and New Slang. But I packed in some pre-show listens to the newest... 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 ›

There's a box that generally lives on a shelf in my closet that holds pretty much every single journal, diary, and notebook I've kept since my mom brought me back my first diary (a lavender lock-front Minnie Mouse book with "Journal Intime" embossed in gold block letters) from a trip to France when I was nine years old. I will confess readily that I love to pull that box down and rifle through the... more ›

Last night my friend and I went to the local dive bar to drink Tecates and talk shit on hipsters. When we arrived I had to hit up the ladies room, so my friend went to the counter to order drinks. When I came back, she was sitting in a booth with three guys, two beers and a smile on her face. Ahh, I love arriving to pleasant surprises! I sat down and introduced myself, and the boys did the same. Through conversation it was revealed that they were all musicians, one of them a drummer from Portland that's in a pretty famous indie band. more ›

5. The Melbourne, Australia-based sextet will perform a high-energy, boogie-inducing set featuring songs from their third LP, "Places Like This" (due August); so if you've seen them before, it's time to go back for more. AIH incorporates what's best described as Australian bush yelping reminiscent of early Midnight Oil while managing to sound at times like the B-52s, Gang of Four, Devo, and Talking Heads. Oh, and vocalist / multi-instrumentalist Kellie Sutherland has a most... more ›

Being a late arrival to the Menomena party and not knowing much about the trio from Portland before attending their sold out show at the Troubadour last night, except of course what LAist covered about them, I decided to bring my trusted BFF Russell Mills along to school me on their digital looping musical stylings. After a brief scare at the door, when some forgotten "paraphernalia" in my bag (which they searched) almost didn't... more ›