Sons and Daughters' entourage and others watch the band perform from the control room. For the third consecutive year, KCRW's Nic Harcourt and crew set up shop in Austin's Tequila Mockingbird studios to produce Morning Becomes Eclectic during South by Southwest. We caught up with them for the first of three live in-studio sessions last week and witnessed the raw power of Glasgow's Sons and Daughters. If our SXSW posts make it seem like......

Last November we put out a desperate plea to 89.3 KP-CC to go e-z on the O-R-G. In the new year, however coincidentally, we've noticed a near-total abolition of this redundantly rhyming spellin' lesson for Luddites. In early January, we thought it was a dream. One by one -- Julian, Mantle, Stoltze and Xaykaothao -- all starting throwing around "dot org" as if they finally believed that most of us have a degree from an......

With two months left until the Feb. 5 California Primary and 31 days until the Iowa Caucus, candidates from both parties are in full election cycle mode as they try to convince voters of their cause. As we countdown to the Jan. 31 caucus and the CA. Primary, let's take a look at each candidate from the parties in a primer that is not intended to be complete but is meant to offer a brief......

"It's so nice and quiet and beautiful in here... from here the lighting kinda looks like a Cylon from Battlestar Galactica." -- Neko Case, melting the heart of every geek in the house while taking in the mysterious angles and lighting inside the Frank Gehry-designed concert hall. Neko Case closed out the first half of Walt Disney Concert Hall's 2007-08 Songbook Series last Friday to a rapt, grateful, near-sellout audience of about 2,000. The......

I've written e-mails, made phone calls, and pledged. I even wrote a two-page essay at their 3-hour (paid) market research session at the Hyatt. And still, every morning I'm summoned from my slumber by a soft voice announcing in code-like rhyme that my public radio station is having an orgy on the Web. Sixty-three degrees at seven-thirty-three, on eighty-nine-Point-three, KP-CC, I'm Steve Julian.... Online at K-P....C-C dot O-R-G. "Dot O-R-G?" You mean "dot org," I......

It's a dream date for fans of Canadian songstress Feist and Austin's Spoon. Feist is just now making her break on the world stage, with a little help from Uncle Steve. But anyone with an ear to the Toronto indie rock scene could hear her coming ever since her solo debut, Monarch, was released on the heels of By Divine Right's "Bless This Mess" Tour (she was their rhythm guitarist). For most of this......

Too many train crashes! Today saw the second Gold Line crash this month, this one being the worse of the two. The Blue Line was involved in a crash earlier this week as well as a Metrolink train yesterday. Tennie Pierce, the city firefighter who claims co-workers fed him dog food-laced spaghetti settled with city council today for $1.43 million dollars. Will it be a cozy night indoors as it rains outside? Yep. Pretty......

Today in major LA Fire Department events: an early morning structure fire in North Hills sending smoke into the flight path of Van Nuys Airport, a big rig with a trailer overturned on the Southbound Harbor freeway causing a Sig Alert, and a medical emergency in the Hilton Hotel at Universal City where staff mixed ammonia & bleach solutions creating hydrochloric acid (oops!). Is it the second Thursday of the month? Ah, it is!......

They say it's who you know. They also say, you have to be at the right place at the right time. For many KCRW DJs the "who" to know is Chris Douridas and the right place is standing next to him. A chance meeting at a party with the host of Morning Becomes Eclectic, set Anne Litt down a path that would eventually lead to her hosting "Weekend Becomes Eclectic." Now the host of "The......

Chris Douridas can currently be heard as the host of "New Ground" on KCRW 89.9FM (Saturdays, noon-3pm) and on the online only version of "New Ground" at KCRW.com (Monday-Friday, noon-2pm & 8pm-10pm and Tuesday-Saturday, 4am-6am). From 1990-1998 Douridas hosted "Morning Becomes Ecelctic." Continuing the celebration of MBE's 30th anniversary, we had a chance to bounce some questions off Chris about MBE, being influential, and new technology. LAist: By definition, MBE gives a DJ wide latitude......

While public television has a reputation of stuffiness with TV classics like "Masterpiece Theatre" and "Nova" documentaries, public radio, especially here in Los Angeles, is on the cutting edge of music and news reporting. Keeping that edge sharp on the music side is KCRW's (89.9 FM and KCRW.com) morning music show "Morning Becomes Eclectic." MBE celebrates is 30th anniversary this week. To celebrate, the station is offering special programming today. The three DJs, Tom Schnabel,......

Some around town feel that it’s hip to dislike KCRW, but this LAist is a fan. It was the music programming that got me at first, but nowadays I’m sure that I listen to as much or more of the news and talk programs as I do the music. Plus, what with the internets and podcasting that all the kids are into these days, I can listen to any show any time I want.......

SFist commeters pose for before and aftershocks when the mayor commemorates a 1906 earthquake...at 4:30 in the morning. A hot tip on the Chronicle vending machines comes in and the SFist war correspondent risks life and limb to post this dispatch from the frontlines. Houstonist announces their new Cops spinoff "World's Funniest Tazer Videos" and the possible cancellation of their pervs' "World's Grossest Bathroom Videos" and PBS trains cams on cows at, uhg, Mootube. Also,......

There's a literary "voice" and a spoken voice, and if you were listening to the National Public Radio show "Marketplace Money" today around 2:30 on KPCC, you might have recognized both "voices" in one piece as belonging to LAist's own Carolyn Kellogg. She didn't mention it here herself, but Carolyn wrote, produced, and narrated a piece on whether people actually use algebra once they are grown up. If you missed it, or want to......

David Brown, the former host of the public radio show Marketplace, was an avid Tab drinker. When he left the LA-based show for Texas, empty Tab cans were left with sad staff as personal momentos. Turns out his Tab habit wasn't an eccentricity: it was a journalistic tradition. The New Yorker wrote last month of an elite group of talented, powerful journalists who all cherished their low-cal pink '70s beverage. All of them were......

Rapper Tone Loc turns 40 today. Music geek favorite Robyn Hitchcock is 53. Jessica Biel, "7th Heaven" girl turned movie starlet, turns 24 today. Actor David Faustino is now 32. He probably doesn't want to be known forever as the awkward Bud Bundy from "Married...With Children," but, well, sorry Bud. Public Radio's This American Life host Ira Glass turns 47; this spring his show is shooting a pilot TV version for Showtime. John Carter Cash,......

We've neglected to welcome new brother site Houstonist into the Gothamist universe. Today they look at the NY Times travel section's look at Houston. Speaking of Gothamist, they've got an interview with Ron Hogan, who writes about books on his litblog Beatrice, co-edits Mediabistro's Galleycat, and has written the fab gift-ready coffee table book: The Stewardess is Flying the Plane! American Films of the 1970s. Which features Karen Black on the cover, which should......

Seattle is all aflutter about salaries at KEXP, the hallmark indie rock public radio station. As the station struggles to become independent after an initial infusion of cash from Microsoft billionaire Paul Allen, it has made a few financial missteps. But that hasn't stopped it from paying their AM guy, John in the Morning, a $120,000 salary. Which is less than he'd make on commercial radio, but is pretty hefty for a 30-ish indie......

If you need your NPR in the morning like you need coffee, you know the voice of Lisa Napoli. As one of the hosts of the Marketplace Morning Report, she delivers business news in a way that's bearable at 6:50am. Lisa's a journalist with somewhat terrifying multimedia skills: She's produced documentaries, reported for NPR, worked in television and written for the New York Times. Oh, yeah, she's done the internet thing, too. A New......

We must give props for this week's episode written by 90s literary sensation AM Homes. We've always admired "The L Word's" higher aspirations. The show regularly recruits smart, well-respected writers and directors and integrates abstract and intellectual issues more than most TV shows. Homes and the producers even snuck in a Mary Gaitskill reference while larding the script with groaner dialogue. This week we had lots of sizzling dynamics to enjoy: Alice and Dana's enjoyable......

Since the membership drive ended a few weeks ago (and, by the way, KPCC’s ends today), folks who made their KCRW pledges are now receiving their band new baby blue Fringe Benefits cards in the mail. Based on the fervent announcements made during the drives, you'd think all the money you'll save is almost equivalent to your 401K. But then reality sets in. And without keeping a running tally of expenses mitigated by the......

We in Los Angeles sure do love our radio. And lucky for us, we’ve got some of the best programming in the country to engage us. The latest addition to the bounty on the airwaves is “Pacific Drift,” which premiered last night on KPCC 89.3 FM. "Pacific Drift" is the brainchild of Ben Adair, whose previous positions include producing the former public radio show “The Savvy Traveler.” After traipsing to all corners of the......