As one of the best music venues closed its doors last month, another one began to prepare to take over the space, possibly ensuring the Westside a chance to keep its hip factor, at least in the music scene. Louis and Netty Ryan, the owners of the Temple Bar, have passed the keys on to another couple, Alex Fieglein and Sabrina Roark, who are set to be married soon, but plan on spending their time getting to know patrons at the club by bartending and developing new friendships. more ›

More details are coming out regarding The Temple Bar closing its doors at the end of next month. The venue's booker, Dexter Story, described closing as bittersweet. "We're going to miss this place," he said over the phone this afternoon. As to why owners Louie and Netty Ryan are choosing to close the venue, Story forwarded a letter they have been sending out (the full letter is posted in full below this story): more ›

We've just heard some very bad news. The Temple Bar, one of the few music venues (and if not the best in town when it came to booking a truly eclectic mix) on the Westside, is set to close at the end of September. More details are forthcoming. more ›

If you've never heard of Fado, it is a Portuguese folk tradition born out of the Moorish influence in Lisbon, Portugal and Brazilian love songs called modhinas. Since fado songs are usually about heartbreak and loss, (some call it the Portuguese blues), the tradition was actually subverted by the country's dictators in the 1930s and turned into a political tool, encouraging the unhappy lower classes to focus on nostalgia and romantic love as a distraction, so the genre carried a negative association for some time, until it became popular again in the 1980's. Largely due to the late great Amália Rodriguez (1920-1999), and the success of other modern fadistas, fado has become the most popular Portuguese music outside the country. more ›

The Guide to March Rock Music Residencies has been updated with a few more listings -- it seems as if residencies are catching on, which is a good thing. Meanwhile, Howlin Rain plays their last LA concert before a tour promoting their new album, Magnificent Fiend, that was released yesterday. more ›

Holy Fuck, A Place to Bury Strangers, In Waves @ Spaceland (Silver Lake) more ›

What Made Milwaukee Famous finish up their Los Angeles tour playing along with Tulsa and the British Sea Power/Colourmusic bill moves over to Spaceland. On the Westside, there's only one choice to make and that is hip-hop violinist Paul Dateh at the Temple Bar (check out our interview with him including video). Over in Little Tokyo, Vosotros is having a record release party at LAND for their new album featuring 12 bands. You can get the music free on iTunes via their podcast (search "vosotros the lazy susan" and click on the image) more ›

Last Tuesday, local singer/songwriter Jesca Hoop (MySpace), whose album was number one on Nic Harcourt's Top Ten Albums of 2007, performed a solo acoustic show at Temple Bar (MySpace) in Santa Monica, opening for Van Hunt (MySpace). more ›

We seemed to have missed Santa Monica based Krandon as a Wednesday night resident at Molly Malone's. The lightly meditative and chill alternative indie band's name comes from an abandoned James Joyce play written in collaboration with physicist Neils Bohr according to the band's MySpace page. If that's a little too esoteric for you, our Wednesday night pick this month is a little more down home folk style, but with a loud presence -- Brian Wright & The Waco Tragedies. But Wright and his country buddies pose a difficult choice to make with Jay Leno's very own Kevin Eubanks, who plays at The Baked Potato tonight in Studio City. more ›

In an e-mail early, early, early this morning, McCabe's announced something unexpected: The Swell Season will be playing tomorrow night in the guitar shop's intimate performance space. You may not recognize the band's name, but you know them as Irish singer Glen Hansard and Czech pianist Marketa Irglova from the movie Once. The gig got booked serendipitously yesterday when Glen brought his guitar into the shop for repair. Of course, the bad news here is that tickets sold out quickly, probably before the light of day hit. Tonight, McCabe's presents Jackshit, who we interviewed here on LAist last August. more ›

It's a quality night in Echo Park with Super Furry Animals and Holy Fuck are at the Echoplex and if you can swing it, right there at The Echo you'll find The Kooks and The Morning Benders. In Hollywood, Grammy award winning Dirty Vegas front man Steve Smith is slated to play acoustic tonight at the Hotel Cafe (but is not on the calendar anymore, so who knows). more ›

Last Friday when A-Trak and Kid Sister played at New York City's Natural History Museum, Kanye West made a surprise visit. Neither Flavorpill or the Natural History Museum list Kanye for tonight's version of the NYC event, First Friday, but rumors are afloat, as they're bound to happen. Nevertheless, the evening looks to be killer anyway. more ›

It's the fifth Thursday of the month and this is your last chance to see The Airborne Toxic Event in their January Spaceland residency. KROQ and Indie 103.1 both added their song "Sometime Around Midnight" to their rotations last week and Airborne hears this is the first time in about 15 years KROQ has done this with an unsigned band (Weezer being that 15 year marker). "We also feel incredibly lucky and thankful that so many people seem to like our song. We are just a local band from Los Feliz and we would have never imagined we'd be writing an e-mail like this tonight," they wrote earlier this week. more ›

Release Date: 01/29/08 more ›

Shelby Lynne will be performing songs recorded by Dusty Springfield (of 'Son of a Preacher Man' fame) tonight at Amoeba at 7 p.m. It can get bit tight and uncomfortable over there, so if you just want to watch from the comfort of your home, well, there'll be a webcast. Here's Lynne playing at a live session on KCRW back in October. more ›

Be joyful with the electro-pop sounds of Hey Willpower (Will from Imperial Teen and Tomo from Tussle) at The Echo or get a more worldly groove on at the Temple Bar. Jackshit, who we interviewed once, plays tonight and there are two in-store performances as well: one at Amoeba (of course) and the other at Active Ride Show. There's a few sold out shows, but you deserve to know if you're hardcore enough to try to get in and The Airborne Toxic Event released a new song yesterday (embedded below). more ›

Minibar @ Temple Bar more ›

Cisco Adler protégé and collaborator, Shwayze (seen to the left), is hitting up Redondo Beach tonight with his happier sounding indie hip-hop. He grew up in a trailer park... a trailer park in Malibu that is. “To me, it was the nicest trailer of all time," the 22-year-old musician says. He and Adler play at the Venezia Italian Grill and you can start your night in Malibu, riding the bus down with the gang (RSVPs required, see the MySpace flier). more ›

If you missed Tinariwen at Temple Bar last November, Fader and a few other blogs have posted this from the Taureg band's instore at Other Music in New York. The group's latest cd has been making everyone's Best Albums of 2007 list from Rolling Stone to Pitchfork to KCRW. more ›

Now that the rain has gone away, Spaceland on Ice can continue this week with The Chapin Sisters and their folk/pop. more ›

Venues are still recovering from New Year's Eve as not many concerts are happening tonight. But that doesn't mean there's good music to check out. Local organic hip-hoppers, Swamphouse (a mixture of R&B, rock and jazz), open up at Temple Bar in Santa Monica tonight at 9:30 p.m. They are followed by the Manhattan Beach based reggae band -- International Farmers -- at 11 p.m. more ›

The Wiggles Do The Humpty Dance. It's trippy! more ›

If tonight's slim pickings in the music scene had an official theme, it would fall into Western/Country. In mid-country, House of Blues, Sunset Strip, is hosting a night of insane Psychobilly (punk, meet rockabilly). The Southlands of Long Beach finds the baritone country rock sounds of Brad Johnson at Cowboy Country and to the north in the Valley, the straight ahead country rockabilly Jeffrey Michaels visits The Cowboy Palace Saloon. more ›

Metal Skool with Kelly Clarkson more ›

The Venice Beach Drum Orchestra will play at the Spronto Gallery at 4 p.m. more ›

"Imaginary Places" - Busdriver (and excellent vid filmed on the streets of LA and a great piece too) more ›

Mariachi USA Fiesta 2007 more ›

Etta James & Chuck Berry - "Rock n' Roll Music" more ›

"Sticky Honey" - Juliette and The Licks Juliette and the Licks @ The Roxy (LAist says: "a can't miss tonight") Shonen Knife @ The Glass House John Mayer @ NOKIA Theater LA Live Stay Fucked, Good For Cows, Grandpire @ The Smell Tea Leaf Green @ The Troubadour Rocky Dawuni, Leon Mobley, Da Lion, DJ Nnamdi Moweta @ Temple Bar Joe Baiza Congress Of, Fatso Jetson, Half Assteroids, Scrappers, Not in the House @... more ›

"I Used to Dance With My Daddy" - Datarock Spice Girls @ STAPLES Center Ninja Academy @ Safari Sams The Cult, Death By Stereo, Action Action, The Cliks @ The Wiltern Bloodcat Love, The Lieutenants, Hollerado Spoon, Pinback, Datarock, Sea Wolf @ The Avalon Jesse Malin, Holly Ramos, Johnnie Newman, Julia Othmer @ Hotel Cafe Ten Count Junky, Crystal Stafford Project @ The Derby The Diletantes, Electromagnetic, Idyllists, Tom McShane @ Silverlake Lounge Michael... more ›