Test Your Reflex plays this month at Hotel Cafe on Wednesdays | Photo by Luke Wooden via their MySpace Despite SXSW starting up this week with 100+ Los Angeles based bands heading over there, residencies are growing stronger and more venue-diverse across the line, especially on Monday nights where the volume makes it hard to choose from. Here's to a great month of residencies, rock on. Mondays The Chapin Sisters @ The Echo (Free),......

Last Thursday evening, photographer/director Octavio "Winkytiki" Arizala (MySpace) celebrated the release of his Vivid-Alt (MySpace) movie The Bad Luck Betties at the Redwood Bar & Grill in Downtown LA. Also in attendance, besides Bad Luck Betties' "Smoking" Mary Jane (MySpace) and Mika Tan (MySpace) and newcomers Sochee and Mika, were Vivid-Alt head Eon McKai (MySpace), photographer/director Dave Naz (MySpace) and his girlfriend Ashley Blue, and director Vena Virago (MySpace). The party was presented in......

Mardi Gras + Super Tuesday = Drinks with LAist @ Seven Grand tonight. SUPER TUESDAY DRINKS WITH LAist It’s Super Tuesday and Mardi Gras. What other reason do you need to celebrate with LAist? Come to Seven Grand tonight to watch election returns. (Who knew that primaries would be this exciting?) You never know…people may start flashing for beads after a few Glenlivets. For questions or to RSVP: events@laist.com (Note: Seven Grand is a......

Dudes, it's become clear to me that just by walking about whatever fine neighborhood you happen to reside in (NoHo, WeHo, SilLake, DnTn, SanMo, KTown, HanPark, CulCity, etc), you're bound to happen upon a great little bar with great happy hour deals. Fer instance: this week I was walking around Downtown and ran into some friends, who happily guided me to the Redwood Bar & Grill, a fun and surprisingly classy little pirate bar......

The Tangier is hosting Shark Aid and it has nothing to do with saving those sometimes nasty sea dogs. Aaron Finely, a local sound engineer and musician (Rexaquarium, Kennedy, Joe Lies) was attacked by a shark last October, losing a good chunk of his leg. The medical bill is quite steep, so his friends set up this benefit concert to help out (story via Metromix). Lucky for Finely, his friends play great music. Tonight:......

Ever since I started writing food reviews, I have been haunted by Jonathan Gold. I would be researching pho for a post, and come across one of his articles, "Cinnamon, anise and the funk of simmering beef, the soup's unmistakable signature, perfumed the air." Sometimes Jonathan Gold just makes me want to stick a fork in my head. I used to play "Restaurant Roulette" on Ventura Boulevard, where I would just stop at random eateries.......

The Los Angeles Michelin ratings are out! No three-star restaurants for LA, and many Angeleno foodies are already complaining about the non-starred status of places like Lucques, Grace, and JAR. They couldn't get Ackroyd? Meryl Streep will be playing Julia Child in the upcoming movie adaptation of the book "Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen." The sequel will be based on Carol Cooks Keller, hopefully. The kids over at......