Rush @ Hollywood Bowl Slint @ Henry Fonda Sanjaya Malakar, Melinda Doolittle, Lakisha Jones, Jordin Sparks @ Staples Center Division Day, Saint Motel, The Health Club, Moving to France @ Viper Room Buckwheat Zydeco, Doug Legacy & the Zydeco Party Band @ Safari Sam's Patton Oswalt @ Largo Snow Patrol, Hot Hot Heat @ Greek Johnny Polanco @ El Floridita Metal Skool, D’Amato, The Hammer, AL-CE-MI @ Key Club Plasticsoul, Brandon Schott, The Breakups,... more ›

Now we freaking completely understand how someone like George W. Bush gets into the Oval Office: American voters are stupid. Tonight on American Idol, calling voters kicked off the best singer in this popularity contest national singing competition. Melinda Doolittle, the most experienced singer among the remaining three, got kicked off the show by the nearly 60 million callers. We don't mean to sound bitter, but seriously...is it because she didn't have Jordin Sparks'... more ›

As a product of the ’80s and growing up outside Philly, this particular LAist poster never got into Bon Jovi. Maybe it was the big hair. We don’t know. But we preferred the skinny, pasty guys from England. Think John Taylor from Duran Duran or Martin Gore from Depeche Mode. So we were really, really not excited to cover tonight’s American Idol. By 8:03 PM, we were having flashbacks and could already smell the... more ›

We can see the finish line. American Idol is down to the final six finalists and this seemingly never-ending season is almost over. Thank God. We need to watch real TV. Like Tori and Dean: Inn Love. But tonight the show focused less on the lame Ford-commercial filler and actually tried to inspire the millions of people watching. (But not necessarily with the music -- which has been pretty average this season.) The Idol... more ›

A Word or 49: Iggy Pop redeems Jimmy Kimmel tonight. For petessake when is the stupid 'house' gimmick ever gonna end on House? (new one tonight) I'm rockin' the slot with the Shield tonight though - now that Vic seems to be in the clear perhaps we're just back to some stellar violence. Today - Tuesday - April 24th, 2007 Rita Hayworth Marathon (TCM, 5- p.m.) Starting with Pal Joey, then Salome, etc. Check... more ›

A Word or 45: Been thinking about the whole VTech thing from last week and whether or not the Cho footage should have been put on TV: of course it should have been put on TV. It wasn't done distastefully and it was newsworthy and timely, end of story. Tonight - Monday - April 23rd, 2007 The New Adventures of Old Christine/Two and a Half Men/The King of Queens (CBS, 8:30-10:00 p.m.) All new... more ›

So tonight was the night. Sanjaya Malakar was finally voted off the American Idol island. We knew that his 15 minutes of fame had to end eventually, but we thought Votefortheworst.com and Howard Stern could keep him on the show for at least a few more weeks. But all good things must come to an end. So we bid Sanjaya "adieu" and hope that his career goes a little further than, say, Justin Guarini's.... more ›

In another example of a Chicagoan coming to LA to change something sacred comes the story of Carl Amari who is putting together a box set of cds that will contain the dramatic reading of The Bible by Hollywood actors. For some reason they can't figure out who to play Satan. The first part of the project, a 20-CD set of the New Testament for $49.95, will arrive in stores in October. Considering the... more ›

Country music proved to be an Achilles heel for many of our American Idol contestants. The night started off on a good note, with baldiePhil Stacey doing a decent job on Keith Urban's "Where the Blacktop Ends" and Jordin Sparks doing an even better job on coach Martina McBride's song "Broken Wing" (which is a lot of chutzpah for a 17-year-old). Then came Sanjaya. With permed hair in a do-rag, he butchered a song... more ›

American Idol should be thanking their lucky stars. Here they are turning the corner and there are no super hot chicks, no super fantastic singers - except for maybe LaKisha Jones - and the only remaining dudes are boyband rejects. If it wasn't for Sanjaya this would be the worst American Idol ever. And Simon can smirk and squirm every time the 17 year old doesn't suck, but the truth is Fox fucked up... more ›

We have to admit that an hour of the American Idol results show is excessive -- even for LAist. So we skimmed the show and cut straight to the results: Sanjaya Malakar is still safe, and weak Haley Scarnato finally gots the boot. No surprises there, really. Haley's style is so bland that she makes Hillary Duff look, umm...what's the word we're looking for? Talented. But what did kind of surprise us was that... more ›

It was Latin night on American Idol with coach Jennifer “don’t call me J-Lo” Lopez. But, unfortunately, like her movies of late, the music pretty much tanked. The songs that reflected the beats south of the border were not kind to our eight finalists. (And really, can’t we do a little better than picking boring Gloria Estefan or Carlos Santana songs?) >> Melinda Doolittle started off the show with “Sway,” and this was the... more ›

Jenna Jameson's recent and dramatic weight loss is freaking her fans out - NY Post Jason Wahler, Laguna Beach alum, was arrested for the fourth time in nine months, this time fo calling a cop a "nig**r, fag**t, and poor f**k*r" - TMZ Avril Lavigne and hubby buy The Barkers old Bel Air mansion - People Does being pregnant mean you're allowed to wear ill-fitted bathing suits? - Dlisted New couple alert! Scarlett Johanson and... more ›

LAist will cut to the chase and do in less than a minute what American Idol took 30 minutes to do tonight: Rocker chick Gina Glocksen is out and Sanjaya Malakar just took another step toward the finals. If you need a few more details than that, then read on... The nine finalists were split into three groups: >> Group 1: Blake Lewis, Chris Richardson and Sanjaya Malakar >> Group 2: Haley Scarnato, Gina... more ›

As AI contestants drop off one-by-one the show thanks to the Sanjaya Effect, senior citizen crooner Tony Bennett has become the latest casualty and it makes us wonder if it might have something to do with Mr. Malakar. more ›

Tonight on American Idol, octogenarian crooner Tony Bennett coached the remaining nine contestants. While we were semi-excited to hear the Idols take on the standards, LAist was really anticipating what form Sanjaya’s shape-shifting hair would take on this week? Maybe a salt and pepper gray in honor of Mr. Bennet? No such luck. This week, Sanjaya wore a ’do that was much tamer than the faux-hawk: just the simple slicked-back crooner look. But we... more ›

Fan favorite Sanjaya Malakar has taken another step toward American Idol-hood. Tonight, it was portly Chris Sligh— the Jack Osbourne lookalike — who got the boot. Now we admit that Chris had an off night last night with a cover of The Police's "Every Little Thing She Does is Magic," but at least Chris can sing in tune. We can’t say the same for Sanjaya, whose tone-deaf fans obviously voted him into the American... more ›

American Idol was only an hour and seven minutes tonight, which we think meant shorter songs clips and shorter packaged coaching segments with guest judge Gwen Stefani. And the shorter show was just fine with us because (1) most of these “Top 10” singers are good -- but they’re not great; (2) while the song choices were better than last week’s British Invasion, they were ripped right from the Adult Contemporary radio station playlists... more ›

That little Riverside girl who cried and cried over Sanjaya on American Idol last night must have voted a bazillion times on the way home because America's favorite bad singer with no personality has made it through to American Idol's Top 10. (Yeah and you have no one to blame for that because you didn't vote and the folks over at votefortheworst.com did.) So after 30 million votes, Sanjaya stays and Stephanie Edwards is... more ›

In the six seasons of American Idol, LAist can't recall a more average group of singers -- in voice and personality. Tuesday nights so far have been two hours of tedium, except for one or two standout performances a night. Last night -- British Invasion Night -- was no different. The song choices were unappealing to those under 40, and it's a safe bet that many of the contestants never even heard of their... more ›

Diana Ross -- looking like a big-haired, red-feathered, mythical creature (or possibly Sigourney Weaver in Ghostbusters) -- vogued, shrieked and crooned a vegas-style rendition of “More Today Than Yesterday,” while Randy tapped along, Paula danced like a drunken sailor and Simon watched smugly all the while thinking, “If she was in this competition, her entrails would be hanging off the lighting rig.” Or maybe he was just looking through her dress. It's hard to... more ›

There are three months left of American Idol. And judging from last night's show, that's three very long months to whittle down from 12 to the two finalists. The singing overall on the Diana Ross-themed show was pretty lousy, except for a few of the usual suspects: Jordin Sparks (who we think sang a Diana Ross tune from The Land Before Time, Melinda Doolitte belting a song from The Wiz, and show-stopper LaKisha Jones singing... more ›

So American Idol stretched out a 10-minute show again tonight, taking 60 minutes to kick off four people and have two performances. So we'll cut to the chase: After 37 million votes, America shipped off: Antonella Barba (about time!), Jared Cotter, Sabrina Sloan (shocker!) and Sundance Head. (Even more of a shocker is that Sanjaya Malakar stays...) The 12 finalists will be coached next week in diva-dom by Diana Ross.... more ›

Can we fast forward through the rest of the American Idol season? We already know the two finalists will either be Melinda Doolittle vs. Lakisha Jones (if America has its way) or Antonella Barba vs. Sanjaya Malakar (if the site votefortheworst.com has its way). It was boys' night out on American Idol and as a bunch, they were pretty bad sucked. Some of the lowlights included: >> Sanjaya with a new, straighter (more masculine???)... more ›

Sanjaya Malakar must have his whole high school voting for him. Again and again. There's no reason why the kid is still on the show. Now Antonella Barba, embroiled in nudie pic scandal is the go-to girl on Votefortheworst.com, a site that tells American Idol haters who they must vote for, so we expected her to stay this week -- even though she can't sing. But Sanjaya? He's a geeky 17-year-old kid without much... more ›

The remaining 10 guys performed on American Idol last night, and thankfully, it wasn't two hours of excruciating torture like last week. First, it was only a 90-minute show to make room for Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader. (Hence, the shameless Jeff Foxworthy shots in the AI audience. He hosts the show, so you know it's gonna be redneck good.) And while the guys greatly improved from their first outing, they still... more ›

The first four American Idol contestants were booted last night. While we weren’t surprised at the girls (Amy Krebs left because of her vanilla on vanilla rendition of Bonnie Raitt’s “I Can’t Make You Love Me” and Nicole Tranquillo tried too hard to be Chaka Khan and Rufus all at once), the guys who left kinda did. more ›

There's five hours of American Idol on TV this week. And last night's two-hour singing competition that was supposed to separate the men from the boys -- at least the American Idol contenders from the poseurs -- felt like all five wrapped up in one show. That's not a good sign. But we realized why we do these recaps (despite some naysayers): It's so you don't have to lose two hours of your life... more ›

Last night American Idol whittled down its ranks to 24 finalists. While it took nearly an hour to cut people on TV, which was bad enough, we can’t understand why it took the entire day for the judges to deliver a “yay” or “nay” to each contestant. Did Simon need a smoke break every five minutes? Was there a four-hour lunch break? Anyway, some of the judges choices probably stemmed from a likeability or... more ›