Photo by Phillyist's Matt Johnson, SkyscraperSunset.com, December 19, 2007. Phillyist explored an impending implosion and lived to tell the tale.Gothamist marveled at the city's new NYC-branded condom campaign - especially the use of a Toronto landmark in the advertising. (Also, fun fact: Gothamist turned five years old yesterday.)Tired of the worldwide Scientology protests? Torontoist totally isn't: they covered the big downtown protest the day it happened, and followed up with an examination of all......

Fear not, fans of Posh and Becks, the high-profile pair are not going to be packing up and heading out of our fair city, as rumors have been circulating. While Los Angeles Galaxy's star midfielder has been passing the ball as part of some MLS off-season training of late, he has not been in talks with the Newcastle United team about a possible signing. The UK's SkySports reports that Beckham "played under [Newcastle's new manager......

Har Mar Superstar - "Power Lunch" Har Mar Superstar, Lady Dottie & the Diamonds, Rolan Bolan @ Viper Room Ryan Adams @ Wilshire Theatre Shout Out Louds @ El Rey Team Dresch @ The Echo Kenny Loggins @ Pacific Amphitheatre Jon Brion @ Largo The Fray, Gomez @ The Greek Jill Sobule, Julia Sweeney @ The Hotel Cafe B-Side Players @ Key Club Dickey Betts & Great Southern @ The Canyon Kenna, Carina Round......

Polyphonic Spree "Lithium" Isaac Hayes, Angie Stone, William Bell, others @ Hollywood Bowl, 50 Years of Stax Fergie, Rooney @ The Wiltern The Fray, Gomez, Eisley @ The Greek The Polyphonic Spree, Jesca Hoop @ El Rey Weird "Al" Yankovic @ OC Fair Vagrant Dead, Hellzaboppers, Paul Lemire @ Lighthouse Sinkhole, Little Baby Justice @ Mr. T's Bowl X27, Go Motion @ Safari Sam's Die Die Die, The Youngs, Ghosts of the Russian Empire,......

Win a pair of tickets to see The Fray (Gomez and Eisley will be there too) live this Wednesday (7/18/07) at The Greek Theatre courtesy of nowwhat.com (they have exclusive behind-the scenes videos, tour photos and more). To enter, leave a comment with your favorite song by The Fray with your registered login (no guest commenting, we can't contact you then). Contest ends at 4:00 p.m. PST today. Good luck! Photo by Rod Blackhurst via......

Everybody's favorite "spoiler" third party candidate, Ralph Nader, may be gearing up for yet another encore in the forthcoming 2008 presidential election. According to a recent article in USA Today, Ralph Nader "told the Green Party's national convention that he is considering a 2008 presidential run." Apparently not yet satisfied with having already helped cost two prior Democratic nominees the presidency, Nader is primed and ready for another go if he deems it sufficiently......

"Vive l'independance!" Sure, we just hoisted back a few brews, grilled up some meat eats, and set off our own rockets' red glare on the 4th of July, but for the French--or merely fans of--today is the day of celebration: Bastille Day, which commemorates France's national uprising and storming of the Bastille prison. (We love history, but we'd rather talk parties, so if you've an inquiring mind, hop on over here and we'll continue with......

Crash Mansion, a live-music venue and nightclub owned by the Bowery Restaurant Group and located at 199 Bowery in New York City , is opening their Los Angeles outpost tonight. They have transformed Myron's Ballroom downtown into a club. We read that is has a capacity for 1200 guests, 5 bars and two stages. Bands that have performed in the New York venue include: Beyonce, Janet Jackson, Norah Jones, Joss Stone, Usher, Gavin DeGraw,......

Some interesting tech-related news from around the web this week. • Blackberry service had an outage this week in many parts of North America and for several tense hours, millions of users had to find something else to do with their thumbs. I feel their pain. But oddly, not in my thumbs. • Despite spending a boatload of cash to advertise Windows Vista, Microsoft has only managed to sell 244 legit copies of the......

We don't know about where you are, but it seems like spring can't decide whether or not to happen. Some days are warm, some days are cold, and sometimes you aren't sure which. Baseball may have started up (and soccer/football winding down) but it still seems cold out there. Unless it's not. Anyways, onto the -ists. Austinist happily anticipated fall's Austin City Limits, even though they're not fully recovered from South By Southwest. In......

This LAist also grabbed her trusty camera and took the Red Line downtown to catch yesterday's Chinese New Year Parade. We joined the fray on Broadway to usher in this Year of the Boar 4705 in all its colorful glory, although we, too, ran into the same parade-photogging snags as our fellow LAist mentioned last night. The parade was just one part of an ongoing celebration, and there's still a window--a porthole, perhaps--of opportunity......

Norah Jones @ Amoeba (6pm, free) Fear, The Dickies @ Galaxy Theatre Stanley Clarke @ Vault 350 Radars to the Sky @ El Cid Miho Hatori @ The Troubadour sosohuman, Jucifer @ The Mint KRS-One @ Blue Cafe The Fray @ House of Blues Sparklehorse @ Henry Fonda Patty Booker @ Viva Cantina Castaneda @ Spaceland Chevy Metal @ The Canyon Darker Shadows Macabaret @ The Bordello Murderland, Candygram for Mongo, Automatique @ The......

LAist is proud to offerer a weekly, chart roundup of Billboard Magazine’s most coveted rankings. Join us as we revel in the conventional standard of musical success. Let us cross our fingers, hoist our lighters, and dream together of the supreme resurrection of artist-driven recordings that will forever eclipse the dark cloud of big label greed, A&R sleaze and disposable audio. Amen. Here are this week’s chart toppers. Behold the #1s. __________________________________________________________________________________________ A selection......

Nothing says I love you, quite like poor compression. Here to express how I feel about this week’s On The Charts, using only this week’s Billboard No.1s, is a video diary of my deepest sentiments. Well, really it’s only one video. And really it's only one sentiment -- Go Slash Go. In honor of Guns N' Roses' number one grab in the Pop Catalog category, and the impending floodish weather forecast for the Los......

Beyonce continues to bully the charts. And far too many people think that buying Kenny G CDs is an appropriate use of money. I know we can do better than this. Here to make miserable your otherwise sunny day is a list of this week’s Billboard No.1s. Below is the short list. More good news after the jump... Billboard Charts Issue Date: January 27, 2007 The Billboard 200 - Dreamgirls:Soundtrack The Billboard Hot 100......

If you are all done with your blatant consumerist pursuits (i.e. Christmas shopping) and you need some karmic balance and a chance to voice your dismay about the current state of immigration reform and the government's decision to send more troops to Iraq, this afternoon's your chance. Get thee to Hollywood & Highland--no, not to pick up a last minute bottle of smellgood at Sephora for your cousin Shayna--but to join in a protest organized......

Straight from my iPod: 1. Justin Timberlake - SexyBack The pinnacle of guilty pleasure straight from MTV's Total Request Live fame. Still a great club banger. 2. The Fray - Look After You All of their songs sound the same but this one hasn't lost its replayability. 3. The Dixie Chicks - The Long Way Around There is nothing to feel guilty about listening to the Dixie Chicks. They kick ass. The only reason......

...And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead, Blood Brothers @ Henry Fonda Black Eyed Peas, Ciara, Danity Kane @ Staples Center RZA (pictured) @ Key Club Bob Forrest @ Silverlake Lounge (5:30pm, Happy Hour people!) The Dickies, Agent Orange @ The Knitting Factory Imogen Heap @ The Wiltern American Music Club @ Spaceland Anita Baker @ Gibson The Fray @ The Troubadour Fu Manchu, Open Hand, The Substitutes @ Viper Room......

Lady Sovereign @ El Rey James Blunt, Starsailor @ Gibson The Fray @ The Wiltern DJ AM @ LAX UK Subs @ Anarchy Library La Rocca, Pop Noir @ The Troubadour The De La Cruz Band @ Zabumba Warlords of Rock & Roll Thunder & Lightning @ Mr. T's Bowl Bitter Sweet, Natalie Walker, John Gold @ Roxy The Drones, Favorite Sons, Devastations @ Spaceland Whiskey Chimp, Fermata, 10 Seconds to Go, Ormolu @......

The Stompinator - What is it about us Democrats that we nominate the pencil-neckiest, geekiest guy of them all to go up against Arnold Schwarzenegger? This strategy that we can paint a popular action star as a puppet of Washington is preposterous. Sigh. How about we save the millions of campaign dollars and just give the gubernatorial election to Arnold right now? Oh, in case you missed it, Phil Angelides has won the democratic......

Although networks of institutions help comprise cities, they cannot survive on conventional institutional arrangements alone. In a vast place like Los Angeles it takes all sorts of institutions within institutions and folks within them to generate new ideas, alternatives, and potential solutions for the innumerable challenges we face. The existence of the Norman Lear Center is a result of “the industry,” (thank you, "All in the Family"!), yet it deals with the very real......

A recent foray into Hollywood found LAist sampling the sushi at one of the newer strip mall spots. Sushi Q, much like many other in its vein, could get easily lost in the fray of mini-malls in this part of town. Sunset at Cherokee isn't exactly known for its chic atmosphere, which is perhaps why it would seem the best way to sample Sushi Q is to do it take-out style. We had some......

LAist does its best to check out the restaurant scene in our favorite hometown, but sometimes we admit that we just don’t like to pick up the phone and make the dreaded reservation call. We know, we know. We’re lazy. And we hate dealing with haughty hostesses and manipulative maitre d’s. So imagine how thrilled we were when we stumbled on Open Table. This wonderfully orchestrated web site allows us to quickly scan dozens......

Over at L.A. Observed, some fantastic rumor-mongering: "About that gathering race for mayor, everybody I spoke with today for a magazine piece I'm writing had heard the same rumor: Antonio Villaraigosa intends to join the fray next week with an official announcement that he is gunning for a rematch. If true, that should make things deliciously complicated for a whole bunch of people already struggling to choose sides without losing friends. Perhaps no one is......