Friday night American Wine and Food Festival started off with a rager called Red Hot @ Red Seven. Only in its second year, Red Hot is a celebration of red meat, alcohol, cars, and everything else that made this country great. An expensive but doable $150 guaranteed unlimited kobe beef and caipirinhas -- a definite bargain. more ›

In Los Angeles, LAist most definitely celebrated Thanksgiving like no other. After all, one has to keep up all the energy to keep on walking the line at the Writers Strike and fighting the unfortunate return of the wildfires in Malibu, which single handedly destroyed over fifty homes within the first 24 hours. National outlets may be covering the fires, but CNN also found it is easier to buy a gun than fruit and veggies in South Central. On the entertainment front, the Red Hot Chili Peppers are suing Showtime over the show titled Californication and Rami Kashou of Project Runway chatted with LAist about his Palestinian heritage and, of course, designing beauty. more ›

By the end of yesterday morning, Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Michael Balzary, popularly known as Flea, sent a text message saying his home "had burnt to a crisp," according to the LA Times.Michael Balzary, a.k.a. Flea, had purchased a home for more than $10 million in Malibu last year, but the house that burned was another he owned in the hills west of Corral Canyon. That French country-style home is listed for sale... more ›

"Human activity" is what the LA Times is reporting is the cause of the fires. That's arson if it wasn't an accident. The most destructive fire in Malibu in nearly 15 years raced through parched canyons Saturday, consuming 49 homes and forcing the evacuation of thousands of residents. The so-called Corral fire burned 4,700 acres before the fierce Santa Ana winds died down, allowing firefighters to make a stand. By evening, the blaze, which... more ›

New Jersey singer/songwriter Jenny Owen Youngs (MySpace), whose song "Fuck Was I" was on , is arguably best known for her connection with the controversial and self-described "Queen of All Media" Perez Hilton, whose championing of her music led to visits on her MySpace page reportedly leaping from 2,000 plays a day to a whopping 60,000. more ›

Although it might be "understood that Hollywood sells Californication", the boys who wear tube socks on their magic johnsons are headed to court to argue that you can't just steal it. Showtime has found itself on a little roll with "Weeds", "Dexter", and now the sexy/dickish David Duchovny series "Californication", but someone forgot to ask the Red Hot Chili Peppers if it was kosher to use their word for the show. The Hollywood Reporter's... more ›

Despite all the competition that's around it and new clubs that are constantly popping up, the Roxy has continued to be a major player in the LA rock club scene. It was just a year ago yesterday that the Red Hot Chili Peppers played a rockin show at the classic venue - and not only was LAist there, but we gave out a dozen free tickets to lucky wieners. Keeping the hope alive, the... more ›

The Eagles, The Dixie Chicks @ Nokia Velvet Revolver @ Irvine Meadows (postponed due to wildfires. The show will take place Dec. 12 at the Gibson Amphitheatre. More info...) UNKLE @ Echoplex RBD @ Home Depot Center Cute Phase, Black Tie Dynasty @ Vertigos The Warlocks, The Meek, Magic Lantern @ Alex's Bar Babyland @ Spaceland Blonde Redhead @ House of Blues, Anaheim Uh Huh Her, X Ray Ok @ The Knitting Factory Monsters... more ›

You’ve heard it already, “Wow, they’re like 13 years old and in a band!” The Jack Bambis have gotten a lot of attention for their ages – guitarist Indio, bassist Jasper and singer Lia are all 13. Cash, the drummer, shies a few years behind. But the Jack Bambis sound better than a whole lotta crap on the radio being made by people 21 and up (i.e. old enough to know better). Cash graduated from Flea’s Silverlake Conservatory of Music, so they’ve gotten some nice attention from the RHCP crowd, such as a slot on the conservatory’s fundraising concert Hullabaloo and some kudos from Kiedis in the press. Check The Jack Bambis out for yourself at 9 p.m. Thursday night (tonight) at Pershing Square downtown as part of Spaceland’s Thursday Night series. It's free! more ›

The nicer the weather gets, the busier we get across the Ist-A-Verse. But we like being busy. Here's a peek at what we've been up to since last week! more ›

In their first official show of their world tour, Dinosaur Jr. treated last night's show in West Hollywood like the warm-up gig that they probably booked it as - sticking to new songs, tracks from the first two records, and only a few of the hits, including that Cure cover that sounds exactly like the Cure. They also seemed to forget to hire a competent sound man as the one running the board last... more ›

The third annual Silverlake Music Conservatory Hullabaloo put on quite a show at the Henry Fonda Theater Saturday to raise money towards music programs for children of low-income families. Organized by Flea, who we talked to last week, the concert delivered big names headliners like Eddie Vedder and The Red Hot Chili Peppers, and also showcased students from The Conservatory, showing us some of the best musical acts around haven't even gotten their drivers'... more ›

There's so much going on across the Ist-a-Verse that it's almost impossible to keep track these days. Fortunately, we do it so you don't have to! more ›

Red Hot Chili Peppers, Eddie Vedder, Ditty Bops (above), Woody Harrelson, others @ Henry Fonda Willie Nelson, George Strait, Lucinda Williams, many more @ Stagecoach Cypress Hill @ Vault 350 The Jerry Garcia Band @ Fais Do-Do Manic Hispanic @ Galaxy Theatre Rosanne Cash @ Disney Hall One+One (James Zabiela & Nic Fanciulli) @ Vanguard David Grier @ Boulevard Music Victor Wooten @ El Rey Suzanne Somers @ La Mirada Theater for Performance Arts... more ›

The Red Hot Chili Pepper’s legendary bassist Flea, walks through the front door of the Silverlake Music Conservatory’s sun-filled lobby. He’s in the process of putting a shirt on over his tattooed torso and he looks like he’s still recovering from headlining Saturday's show at Coachella. Flea is back at the music school that he established in 2001 to talk about the upcoming fundraiser May 5 at the Henry Fonda Theater. Called the Hullabaloo, the... more ›

Red Hot Chili Who? The Good The Bad And The Wha? Clearly, the belle of this year’s 104 degree ball was Pittburgian genius, Greg Gillis, aka Girl Talk. This master sampler/DJ/remixer melted faces on Saturday night with his awe-inspiring, intense nonsense -- super creations of musical hybrids -- a dozen songs spliced together to create something overwhelmingly familiar and entirely new. Energy, energy and more energy -- a giant screen flashed four frames reading... more ›

Bjork from last night's performance at Coachella more ›

At LAist we've had some pretty cool contests over the year. We have given away box seats to the 'Bowl (including parking and picnic baskets), we gave away New Year's Eve tickets to see the Flaming Lips and Gnarls Barkley, we gave away tickets to see the Red Hot Chili Peppers play at the Roxy, and last week we gave away hella cds and one lucky winner will get to see a Luscious Jackson... more ›

Yes Me To Death, Kissing Cousins, Lyra, The Front, The Color Turning @ The Scene more ›

Artist: !!! Title: Myth Takes Release Date: 3/4/07 Label: Warp Records !!!'s MySpace !!!'s Website If, like me, you’ve been fortunate enough to see a live !!! show, then you’ll know that their recordings are just snapshots in time, a place for the band to step off on extended sweat-inducing punk funk jams. Enough about their bizarre name, call them chkchkchk, uhuhuh, whatever. The band is comprised of Mario Andreoni (guitar), Dan Gorman (horns/percussion/keys),... more ›

LAist is proud to offerer a weekly, chart roundup of Billboard Magazine’s most coveted rankings. Join us as we revel in the conventional standard of musical success. Let us cross our fingers, hoist our lighters, and dream together of the supreme resurrection of artist-driven recordings that will forever eclipse the dark cloud of big label greed, A&R sleaze and disposable audio. Amen. Here are this week’s chart toppers. Behold the #1s. __________________________________________________________________________________________ A selection... more ›

Nothing says I love you, quite like poor compression. Here to express how I feel about this week’s On The Charts, using only this week’s Billboard No.1s, is a video diary of my deepest sentiments. more ›

Every Friday, we at LAist will tell you whether or not you should wake up on Saturday to buy concert tickets. Tomorrow we think you should wake up because Coachella tickets go on sale. Who's playing at Coachella this year? April 27 - Björk / Interpol / the Jesus and Mary Chain / Arctic Monkeys / Sonic Youth / Brazilian Girls / Peaches / Comedians of Comedy / Gogol Bordello / Silversun Pickups /... more ›

Like a presidential election, the information is trickling into the newsroom... Earlier today Andy let everyone know who most of the confirmed artists would be for this year's Coachella. Now we let you know who is playing on what days, etc. April 27 - Björk / Interpol / the Jesus and Mary Chain / Arctic Monkeys / Jarvis Cocker / Sonic Youth / Faithless / DJ Shadow / Peeping Tom / Brazilian Girls / Peaches... more ›

Beyonce continues to bully the charts. And far too many people think that buying Kenny G CDs is an appropriate use of money. I know we can do better than this. Here to make miserable your otherwise sunny day is a list of this week’s Billboard No.1s. Below is the short list. More good news after the jump... Billboard Charts Issue Date: January 27, 2007 The Billboard 200 - Dreamgirls:Soundtrack The Billboard Hot 100... more ›

The password for Goldenvoice's presale is... roxanne. Could there possibly be any more of a hint at a Police reunion? Also allegedly reuniting -- Rage Against the Machine, The Stooges (again)... Not a whole lot is confirmed but all we can say is THREE DAYS -- can you handle it? Presale ends at 8 PM for the 3 Day pass @ $199. April 27-29. UPDATE: Kevin at the Times' Buzz Bands blog sez: Damon... more ›

In a move certain to wind up the tails of many a fan of The Mouse, Disneyland announced that they they are temporarily replacing the onboard soundtracks to both the Space Mountain and California Screamin' roller coasters with remixed versions of songs by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Disneyland asserts "rock fans’ dreams will come true as Rockin’ Both Parks provides new special effects and soundtracks specifically remixed to heighten every twist, turn, rise... more ›

LAist has had a great year and we've tried to share some of that with you. We've given away box seats to some Hollywood Bowl shows that included picnic baskets and free parking, we've given away tickets to Vegoose, the Dixie Chicks, and we even got a bunch of people into that secret Red Hot Chili Peppers gig... and those were only some of our contests. Today we are giving away a super cool... more ›

Former Jane's Addiction guitarist and current Panic Channel heart-throb Dave Navarro has had a crazy year. His split from Carmen Electra was public and messy, the TV show that he co-hosted with Brooke Burke was highly-rated and messy, but all along he has been one of LA's most reliable celebrity bloggers, giving guys like Wil Wheaton a run for Most Popular LA Celeb Blogger. A mix between updating his fans on his tour schedule... more ›

Although it feels like it's been around forever, blogging is so new that even its Godfather is young. Ev Williams was the co-founder of Pyra Labs, which created Blogger.com in 1999, which he sold to Google four years later. After working for The Man for a year, Ev quit Google and formed Odeo, a podcast service. Like most promising start-ups helmed by successful entrepreneurs, Odeo attracted some investement money and formed a Board of... more ›