Since his early twenties, Garth Trinidad has been DJing Chocolate City on KCRW for over 10 years now. He sits on the Grammy Awards R&B board in support of the new ‘best urban alternative performance’ category, created as a direct result of his continued approach to music programming. He is a much sought after music commenter, supervisor and expert in his field. To catch his show, tune in Saturday nights on KCRW from 6:00-9:00......

Besides having the same middle name, Wagstaff, Dick Clark and MF Doom do not have a whole lot in common. This year, however, both will be the main attraction at New Year's Eve festivities. While I lied about MF Doom's middle name being Wagstaff (that really is Clark's middle name), I am not lying when I tell you that the masked man will be headlining the Deep Urban Breaks' New Year's celebration. Just like the......

Pigeon John is so LA that he doesn't neglect the South Bay, like so many others choose to do. That's why he's gonna be at Venezia in Redondo Beach tonight, bringing the love to all the bitches, as per usual. We love Pigeon John, partly because he can make non-hiphop people stop and say, "Hey what's that? Turn it up!" The Luminaries will be holding it down closer to LA if you're not down......

Come out and support local music labels and artists at A Community Record Fair, presented by Dublab and The LA Record this Sunday, May 20 at The Echoplex. Record labels, stores, DJs and independent collectors will offer new and used vinyl, CDs, DVDs, cassettes and collectible rarities. Visual artists, bookstores and clothing designers will also present their creative gems at special prices. For artist olive47, who designed the stuffed creatures above, this will be......

LA’s Stones Throw Records are quickly becoming the most important purveyors of independent hip-hop in the new millennium, much like East Coast indie stalwarts Rawkus were in the late 1990s. There is, however, one particularly notable difference between the two. While both labels are known for their independent spirit and bohemian rosters of hip-hop artists (Stones Throw with Madlib and his many aliases, MF Doom, J Dilla, et al and Rawkus was with Mos......

Not that long ago Jason Toney was the Editor of LAist and now he works for The Mouse in their online division. And he's still bustin on Negro Please. And he's still bobbin his head to the fat beats. As we continue our list of top ten best of lists, we give you Jason Toney's Best LA Hip Hop CDs of 2006: In a pretty dismal year for hip-hop, local hip-hop head Peanut Butter......

Shine Through is exactly what happened with Aloe Blacc and his latest album. Not being a stranger of voyaging through the realms of multi-genre musical creations, most of the tracks pick up distinct personalities that add to the already captivating voice of Aloe Blacc. Blacc started his musical career as an emcee in the group Emanon, back in 1995. Since then he has had several solo experiences as a rapper, singer, and instrumentalist. Although......

If you're looking for something to do tonight, why not treat yourself to the last night ever of Blue Bongo. The regular club at Little Pedro's has managed to be dance club, blues club, avant-rock club and artist hangout all at once without ever copping attitude. But Little Pedro's, a chronically underappreciated Moroccan-Spanish hybrid bar, restaurant and club on the southeast edge of downtown's art-n-architecture district finally captured the imagination of a new buyer.......

Wednesdays are for Dancing....

Garth Trinidad is familiar to most LAist readers as the host of "Chocolate City" on KCRW, a show that contributes to a local radio scene that makes Los Angeles the envy of listeners across the country (fortunately for them, there's online audio streaming.) Thanks to Garth's radio presence, heaps of hip hop, soul, jazz, and all sorts of underground and non-mainstream music is broadcast over FM radio that otherwise would be heard by far......