In the previous installations of Coachella there have been some huge headliners. Rage Against the Machine, Radiohead, Bjork, The Beastie Boys but none quite on the level of day two's headliner, the Purple One, Prince. From the moment he hit the stage with Morris Day and Shelia E. it was apparent that the audience was in for a lesson in musicianship and showmanship. As he played through a set mixed of standards and the cover......

Love ‘em or hate ‘em, music festivals are the dim sum of the concert-going experience; try a little of everything and go back for more of what you like (or ditch out on what you don’t). This year’s Coachella was no exception, with acts like country crooner Dwight Yoakam vying for time against dance-rock lovelies Hot Chip, or Prince breaking down the funk for the masses after a particularly breathtaking Portishead set. With the......

Advertising Age is reporting on the possible end of the nightly network newscast as another 1.2 million viewers in the US stopped tuning in last year. The article points out that the reason why people aren't tuning in at 6pm is because.... they are still at work. Hey networks, instead of constantly going off on red herrings like Terri Schiavo and WMD in Iraq, how about creating a frenzy over the fact that Americans work......

Lemon Sun | Photo via their Myspace via Kate Pollack It looks to be like a blast tonight at The Echo starting at 8 p.m. for a night dedicated to the music of Prince played by Har Mar Superstar, Lemon Sun, Buddy and The Nervous Return with Supercrass and Club Underground DJs between and after performances. The cover is your donation (if you can they say, we know you can, we say) at the......

Photo by Susan Catherine via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr Best known for his authoring of "2001: A Space Odyssey," sci-fi writer Arthur C. Clarke has died at 90 in Sri Lanka. This just in from the LA Times's Soundboard blog...Prince has been added to the Coachella roster! Nice! Obama had a huge campaign moment this morning, perhaps the biggest yet: he confronted the race issue in a stirring speech after his......

Now that the writers' strike is over and it's full-steam ahead with the Oscars, you can bet that just about every TV channel is going to dogpile on the gala event. Yeah, the Grammys went ahead without interference but the Grammys are nothing compared to the Oscars. E! and CNN already have several shows lined up (look for Oscar host, Jon Stewart, on Larry King this Wednesday night) ready to tackle the exciting topics of:......

The Key Club in West Hollywood hosted the The Roots Jam Session, Saturday night As we mentioned in our interview with Questlove, LAist was on the red carpet for the 5th Annual Roots Jam Session at the Key Club in West Hollywood. While we were hoping that this post would serve as a review of the best live band in the world jamming the night away with a little help from some of their......

Maybe he's a cat person? LA Times big-wig Sam Zell has been quoted as saying a healthy love of lady-parts is downright patriotic. LA Observed explores the origins of what was said and why; apparently Zell thinks pussy's so nice, he said it twice: "He said: 'Everyone likes pussy. It’s un-American not to like pussy'" explains someone at the Times. Prince Andrew paid a visit to Compton yesterday to helm the ribbon-cutting ceremony at......

If you see folks walking around with some dirt on their foreheads today, they proabably did it on purpose. It is Ash Wednesday, where Christians are supposed to fast, pray, repent after the debauchery of Mardi Gras and (Super Tuesday). So here' are a few debauch-free events for tonight: WORDS The ALOUD series continues with John Burnham Schwartz, author of Reservation Road, who talks about his new novel set in 1959 Japan where a non-aristocratic......

Electro rockers, Piel, will play tonight at Crash Mansion | Photo from their MySpace page Last chance to catch bands in their Monday night January residencies. That, plus Fred Armisen, who LA Weekly says "does Prince better than Prince." Fred Armisen, Petra Haden, Chelsea Peretti @ The Troubadour Bloodcat Love, The Growlers, Sons & Lovers, Idyllists @ The Viper Room The Parson Red Heads, Idaho Falls, The Monolators, Papercranes @ Spaceland Piel, Odd Modern......

LAist Featured Photos Pool contributor nailmaker shares with us this eerie pic of the empty listening stations inside the Virgin Megastore on Sunset that has now closed its doors forever. Though many people see the big-box music store as a dinosaur in this age of the mp3 download, for Angelenos who frequented this West Hollywood retail cornerstone, the end is still a little bittersweet. Our photographer explains:West Hollywood, CA / 1.20.08. Music listening station......

Last night, as steady rain drenched West Hollywood, Ingrid Michaelson rocked out to a sold-out Troubadour. The mood was light and the in-between-song bantering was charming and quite often hilarious. Ingrid sings with with her mellow innocence and fragile vulnerability in full effect and is backed up beautifully by Ms. Allie Moss, her backup singer and guitarist. The enthusiastic audience managed to tease her back out for a two song encore, a melodic version......

Monday No bookish events on Mr. King's Day. Tuesday John Densmore of The Doors, Jim Henke and John McDermott present The Jim Morrison Scrapbook and Jimi Hendrix: An Illustrated Experience 7pm @ Book Soup Wednesday Sudhir Venkatesh presents Gang Leader for a Day 7pm @ Vroman's E. Duke Vincent presents Black Widow 7pm @ Book Soup Robert Novak presentsThe Prince of Darkness: 50 Years Reporting in Washington 7pm @ Glendale Public Library Thursday Steve......

Jennifer Lopez's twins will receive the royal treatment- the mommy to be was seen picking up onesies that read "Prince" and "Princess" - NY Daily News A new feud perhaps? Jessica Simpson reportedly "went nuts" after hearing that her faux BFF Eva Longoria was haning out with ex John Mayer - Page Six Paris Hilton an Oompa Loompa hero? The heiress gave comfort and protection to a dismayed and injured performer dressed as an......

The announcement that Tom Petty will play the halftime show at this year’s biggest football game got me thinking about those of the recent past. It seems like only yesterday that men across America froze their Tivo to catch a glimpse of Janet Jackson’s nipple ring during the Super Bowl XXXVIII performance. This notorious halftime show also featured Kid Rock wearing the American flag as a shirt and P. Diddy and Nelly flanked by scantily......

I've always been intrigued by other "best of" lists, but this year I decided to take it to a whole new level. I e-mailed a handful of bands that I've seen this past year in order to unearth what exactly captivated them in '07. As music listeners, it is our duty to take a keen interest in our favorite musician's influences. After all, they rocked our little world, might as well see what rocked their......

Artist: Tom Middleton Album: Lifetracks Label: Six Degrees Records Release Date: 11/06/07 Listen to the track "Shinkansen": DJ, mixologist, and producer Tom Middleton has put out an album in his own name. You may have heard of some Middleton's other projects of the last 15 years: AMBA, COSMOS, Global Communication, and The Jedi Knights or his remixes of Prince, Coldplay, and Jamiroquai but this is his first release of his own tracks with his own......

As I've said before, I hate contests. But in life everything is negotiable, and if a contest is so good that I can't pass up, I will pass it along to you. And this one is a good one. We have two tickets to see the Prince of Darkness, Ozzy Osbourne, perform in the cozy confines of the Joint at the Hard Rock in beautiful Las Vegas on November 24th with special guest Rob......

File this under: Biting the hand that feeds you. His royal purpleness, Prince and his record label, have made the rather genius move of threatening to sue his own fans for the use of pictures of Prince, his lyrics and "anything linked to Prince's likeness." (That included fans' photographs of Prince-inspired tattoos and license plates.) Now we can understand if an artist is a bit miffed at sites for pirating and stealing music for......

From writing to recording and producing, Joe Henry knows how to keep himself busy. This year he released his CD "Civilians", wrote the music for "Knocked Up" with Loudon Wainwright III, and produced several tracks for Todd Hayne's Bob Dylan film "I'm Not There". In 2003 he won a Grammy for producing Solomon Burke's "Don't Give Up On Me". Burke has said about Joe Henry, "He's an exciting young man, a talented gentleman, he......

Ian McKellan has got to be bitching his agent out this very second -- in an appearance at Carnegie Hall last week, J.K. Rowling revealed that Professor Albus Dumbledore, the late great headmaster of Hogwarts was actually -- gasp! -- a gay! Newsweek magazine broke the story: One fan asked whether Albus Dumbledore, the head of the famed Hogwarts School of Wizardry and Witchcraft, had ever loved anyone. Rowling smiled. "Dumbledore is gay, actually,"......

Monday Porochista Khakpour presents Sons and Other Flammable Objects 7pm @ Dutton's Kenneth Turan presents Never Coming to a Theater Near You 7pm @ Studio City Branch Library Tuesday Susan Faludi presents The Terror Dream: Fear and Fantasy in Post-9/11 America 7pm @ Central Library Max Brooks presents World War Z 7pm @ Book Soup Walter Mosley presents Blonde Faith 7:30pm @ Skirball Cultural Center President Vicente Fox discusses and signs Revolution of Hope......

Even OJ didn't lose custody of his children, yet somehow Britney Spears has to turn her spawn over to K-Fed. An LA court commissioner today ordered that Spears' ex, Kevin Federline, will be granted full physical custody of their two young sons beginning Wednesday - which we believe is still Prince Spaghetti Day. What did the commish have to look at regarding Britney's behavior over the years? Well lets see - she shaved all......

By now everyone knows who and what Dave Grohl does and has done. There are very few artists in the world of Rock and Roll that are as capable and as adaptable as he is with the art form and not to mention as skilled as he is. From drumming in one of the world’s biggest rock bands ever to becoming the frontman of one of the most consistent and strongest rock outfits in......

It's black on the outside and as colorful as hell on the inside. It's sound system is perfect, it's Basement Bar is cozy, and the room always seems smaller than it should. A good thing. Notorious for a celebrity death and a famous former owner, the Viper Room is a jewel on the Sunset strip. The other night at the Donnas show we met Viper booker Melissa Renee Hernandez who's super hot and friendly......

As if the past couple of weeks haven't been bad enough for Britney, her former bodyguard has officially testified about her drug use, more specifically a bender she went on with singer songwriter and fellow rehaber Howie Day - News of the World Nicole Richie's pregnant body has her at a normal weight finally - Daily News Dennis Rodman has been accused of sexual battery for smacking a bar patron's ass and leaving a mark......

Amy Winehouse's mother Janis has an exclusive interview with the British gossip rag Daily Mail discussing her daughters descent into drugdom - Daily Mail Britney Spears's rehab center, Promises, in Malibu has been issued a subpeona by Kevin Federline and his lawyers in his custody lawsuit - Access Hollywood In other Britney news, she's finally taken off the wigs and looks well, pretty good...or at least better - X17 Nicole Richie's baby might not be......

After last season's excellent cliffhanger, on August 13th Weeds returns to Showtime for its 3rd season. LAist asked Creator and Executive Producer, Jenji Kohan about breaking into television, being a working mom, and what draws her to the flawed characters she has created. LAist: The new season of Weeds begins on August 13. How do feel going into your 3rd season? Jenji Kohan: I feel tired, but great. We took the finale of season......

As a music collector, I’ve always salivated over the concept of The Lost Album. I’ve scoured endless record stores searching for that elusive bootleg of Homegrown - the scrapped Neil Young album, or the lost Brian Eno-produced Television demos, or the abandoned Johnny Cash/Bob Dylan album. (they laid down 15 songs in 2 days back in 1969) Volumes have been written documenting the almost-creation of never-to-be masterpieces such as The Who’s Lifehouse or The......

You may have noticed a new button on our left-hand column with the title We See The Best Concerts. It dawned on us the other day that we really do go to the best concerts and we usually write about them the next day or a few days later. So here's a wrap up of all 37 shows we reviewed this month, with links to the posts just in case you missed it. Chris......