Jim Morrison, the leather-pantsed lizard king of Venice Beach and lead singer of The Doors died this day in 1971 in Paris, France. The Doors, though perfectly audible and resonant the world over, sound just a little clearer when played within limits of Los Angeles. more ›

If Machete fired you up for a revolucion (and if it didn't, there are 21+ screenings in Pasadena), the UCLA Film & Television Archive has the series for you! This weekend, they open "The Mexican Revolution on Film" with a Mexican production, Enamorada, contrasted with a Hollywood portrayal in David O. Selznick's production Viva Villa! If you'd rather erode another colonial power, the Aero boasts a weekend of French crime films, with contributions from the '30s on up. It's classic pulp, with equal parts exotica, gangsters & a touch of real-life horrors to give you something to take home. For a further twisted romp through the romantic lands, feast your eyes upon Bunny and the Bull, a bizarro-world journey courtesy of the director of The Mighty Boosh. more ›

Open the front doors of the Grammy Museum to discover the most colorful Porsche covered in rainbows, blue moons, dark starry night, and trippy landscapes. According to the information displayed with The Queen of Rock's car, "Janis Joplin bought this used 1965 Porsche from a Beverly Hills car dealer for nearly $3500 in September 1968. Dave Richards, a roadie for Joplin's former band, Big Brother and the Holding Company painted the car in a swirling psychedelic design which included the image of Joplin and Big Brother on the front fender." more ›

While most of the smart money had the godawful Clash of the Titans repeating as box office champ, it was the scrappy Date Night -- the middling movie that could -- which ultimately won the weekend. The marginally funny "comedy" hauled in $27.1M to best the marginally mythologically accurate Clash ($26.8M | $110.4M). The wonderful How to Train Your Dragon enjoyed a strong third weekend ($25.3M | $133.8M) while Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married Too cratered ($11M | $48.5M). In disquieting news, The Last Song was pretty solid ($10M | $42.4M). This means more Miley movies, America. Shame on you. more ›

A Haunting in Connecticut gets props for casting the radiant Virginia Madsen (and bad-ass Elias Koteas), but significant demerits for wussying out with a PG-13 rating. Once again -- all horror movies should be rated R! Just like in the good old days! As perhaps the world's biggest (and only) Keira Knightley and Sienna Miller fan, I naturally queued up to see Edge of Love when it briefly played in theaters. The movie's not much, but the bathtub scene with Knightley and Miller is definitely worth the price of a rental. Did anyone else tune out like I did after the first season of Mad Men? Grey Garden offers further proof that Drew Barrymore is perhaps the worst successful actress in the universe. Leverage isn't half-bad. Tim Hutton should work more. more ›

The first time I attended the Sundance Film Festival in 2007, I stayed until the festival's conclusion on Sunday. Never will I make that mistake again. While it did allow for a more leisurely pace, all the excitement (and most of the people) had left Park City by mid-week. So this year I once again planned an early Friday morning arrival and a late Tuesday night departure. I was able to see thirteen films, party three nights out of four and sit five feet away from Damien Rice during his amazingly casual concert at the ASCAP Music Cafe. more ›

Ted Terbolizard, a republican congressional candidate running for the 4th district (Northeastern California) in the June election, was arrested in Grass Valley over the weekend on suspicion of drunken driving. Normally, we would not report on a potential congressman who has not much to do in Los Angeles. Beside his name being Terbolizard (we love it), that he is a fervent Ron Paul fan and the fact that he actually blogs and loves the arts, he gets one of those "politicians say the darndest things" awards after his defense of the recent arrest. Courtesy of the Sacremento Bee's Capitol Alert blog via the candidate's blog:

"It's not like the sort of Lindsay Lohan story or Nicole Ritchie (sic) story where I was driving 5 mph the wrong way on the freeway with the doors open and a car full of narcotics, it was absolutley (sic) nothing like that; no car crash or anything." [Capitol Alert]

No bookish events on Mr. King's Day. more ›

Yes, I know. Saturday's a busy night. So many places to go. So many people to do. But there's always time to fit in a signing of a really cool book at a really cool gallery space and store, especially if there's gonna be live music. So, why not roll into La Luz De Jesus/Wacko tomorrow night between 6 and 9pm to celebrate the publication of what all us musical nerds have long awaited: Bomp! : Saving The World One Record At A Time. more ›

According to WhatWouldRamsayDo.com, this email was sent out to everyone on the mailing list of Sebastian's, a Burbank restaurant that was featured on the TV show Kitchen Nightmares: more ›

At the end of each month LAist attempts to review some of the music and musicians that were covered over that four week period. Below is a mix of just some of the month's musical moments: more ›

Cardinal Roger Mahoney revealed that he had been assaulted in July outside of Our Lady of the Angels Cathedral; the attacker was "enraged by the Catholic Church's sexual-abuse scandal within days of a record settlement with hundreds of victims." Karl Dorrell will not be coaching UCLA in its upcoming Las Vegas Bowl game. Defensive coordinator DeWayne Walker will coach in the interim. If the world weren't already all shook up by Jakob Lodwick's departure... more ›

Everyone's favorite Fugee is coming out with a new cd, and before he does, he's gonna sit down at the Nissan Live set (on the Fox lot, we believe) and record some live tracks for Yahoo! more ›

Of all the restaurants in Thai Town, Thai Patio had to fill the biggest shoes. After Palms Thai took their Elvis and moved west down Hollywood Blvd. last year, Thai Patio redecorated and moved in. You can still hear music every night as you eat, and there's still an ever-changing policy with the parking, currently you have to pay a few bucks. The food is good, the menu is large, and the mood is... more ›

I live in a suburb. But our house is on an alley near some busy intersections, so the only wildlife around are sparrows and feral cats. Oh, and once I saw a flock of wild parrots. I work nearby in an office park that is a sea of concrete next to a huge shopping center. Imagine my surprise recently when someone came into the office and insisted, “Elise, you'd better come outside. Your truck is full of raccoons.” Sure enough, a mother and her babies were hanging out in the bed of the truck. I didn’t see any harm in it, and I was once attacked by a pack of wild raccoons while camping so I left them alone. Later, as I was leaving they were going to town on the flowerbeds. more ›

Every Friday @ noon, Farmlab Public Salons opens the doors and offers lectures, discussions and lunch, free-of-charge! more ›

Tuesday's Crowded House show was, well, just that. I’ve never seen so many people squeeze into the Troubadour, and concert organizers even opened the doors of the Loft (their VIP lounge) in an effort to fit everyone. more ›

Last night we headed over to the Getty Center to check out Fridays Off the 405, a monthly offering of evening hours in the museum galleries, with live music and a cash bar to boot. We got a late start, but stuck to our routine of taking Sepulveda, even though a quick glance told us that the 405 was moving free and clear. As the sun began to fade from the sky we pulled... more ›

Hollywood, to corrupt Rabelais, abhors an iconoclast. This simple fact makes the long career of Crispin Glover all the more remarkable. Amazingly, it’s been almost twenty years since Glover’s infamous Rubin and Ed appearance on Late Night with David Letterman. Despite that apparent fiasco, Glover has continued to work regularly, often in big-budget studio fare like The Doors, The People vs. Larry Flynt and both Charlie’s Angels movies. The money earned from those films has been plowed into Glover’s own, more esoteric ventures, particularly the two films he has directed, What Is It? and It Is Fine. Everything Is Fine! more ›

Happy Father's Day! For those of you who have dads, are dads, or know dads, this one's for you, from all of us at the Gothamist network. more ›

A Memorial Weekend BBQ in East Hollywood was my destination yesterday. And since my recent habit has been to use public transit mixed with the bike, that's what I set out to do from my Sherman Oaks flat. First, I was off to Ralphs Fresh Fare at Ventura and Coldwater to pick up some food. I shop, exit and head to my bike. Right then, an escalade pulls up and parks in the fire... more ›

If Perry Farrell wants to have a Flash Mob situation happen in Venice on Sunday, fine. Bro invented Jane's Addiction, an LA band so great it ranks right up there with the Doors, Guns n Roses, and the Beach Boys. Like Brian Wilson, Perry could have holed himself up in a house doing drugs and thinking about surfing, but instead he invented Lollapalooza and then made the underground classic film The Gift. So if... more ›

We know you love your momma. She knows you love her. But today the post office needs to know. more ›

Here are a few spots for eats and drinks that we are looking forward to seeing open: 1. We were very excited to pass on to you that last month was National Grilled Cheese Month, and now we're gearing up for the impending opening of Culver City's Meltdown, which is a (mostly) grilled cheese eatery that's slated to open as early as this week. Their menu, which is available online, looks like an ooey-gooey... more ›

The upside, usually, of going to the early show the night an artist is doing two performances, is not having to stand around waiting forever for the headline to actually hit the stage. This, however, was not the case Monday night when veteran emcee Nas, on the last leg of his Hip Hop is Dead Tour, kept a packed House of Blues crowd waiting, wandering and clock watching. Despite the fact that the doors of... more ›

As a girl with little money and parents who love to dine out, I often find myself eating with them on a Friday night. And I often have to twist arms to get to go to place I want (cough cough: Paco’s Tacos or Hide Sushi). Well, last Friday I was unable to twist the arm that feeds me. My step dad headed out towards Marina Del Rey hoping to take us to CPK or Souplantation (God forbid) or Nichols. I wasn’t in the mood for any of these establishments and begged to be taken to a waterfront-dining establishment. Being a good step dad, he obliged. The choices down at Fisherman’s Village—the waterfront “restaurant row” of Marina Del Rey—are sparse; there’s Shanghai Red’s, El Torrito, some Italian place, and Angler’s Choice, a seafood restaurant. Being a seafood lover and being a person of logic (a seafood restaurant by the sea should have great, fresh seafood), my mom and I voted “Angler’s Choice! Angler’s Choice!” And, unfortunately so it was. more ›

LAist gets and listens to a Lot of music. You can see the bands we like in the concerts that we review, the Tonight in Rock listings that we compile, and in the cds that we review. But we realize that we listen to way more music than we review so we figured we make a list once a week letting you know what we're into. week ending 4/13/07 Rodrigo Y Gabriela - Self-Titled... more ›

When we had a craving for Korean BBQ recently, we fished around the usual sniffing spots for the lowdown on the best in town. What came up was Soot Bull Jeep, a mainstay of the genre for years now, and a consistently top-touted fave. It even made our end-of-2006 "Best of List" as one of the top ten places we didn't eat that year, but wanted to. Now, we won't profess to being experts in the field of Korean cusine, but we know a tasty piece of meat when we meet one, and our dinner did not disappoint. There's nothing in the least bit glamorous about the place, which is a comforting sign. They've got the expected melee of formica table tops with inset charcoal grills and that telltale smoky air to greet you when you slip inside the doors and try to get your eyes to adjust to the surroundings. more ›

- Does UCLA really want us to believe that they have to pay cops overtime to provide security for the Undie Runs? On-duty LAPD wouldn't find it in their hearts to just happen to mosey over to Westwood a few times a year for a few hours to protect co-eds in unmentionables? - Daily Bruin - Free, online, ad-supported version of Photoshop coming this fall - TechCrunch - Bad news: New Angel outfielder Garry... more ›

- Why did The Departed beat Dreamgirls at the Oscars even though Dreamgirls threw a lot of money in hyping it to voters? - Reuters - Where will you be tomorrow at 11:30am when the Doors get their star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in front of the Virgin Megastore? Also, according to the Doors website, jazzy drummer John Densmore, who helped give the Doors part of their unique feel, won't be in... more ›