Part of an ongoing series. On Saturday evening, local green-minded band (and Go Magazine covergirls) The Ditty Bops (MySpace), with Jesca Hoop (MySpace), John Reynolds, and Kaveh Rastegar (MySpace), performed at McCabe's Guitar Shop in Santa Monica. The shows also celebrated the release of The Ditty Bops' third full-length album, Summer Rains, with Hoop singing backup on three tracks: "Skinny Bones," "What Happened To The Radio," and "Feel From The Outside In." The Ditty......

So many times those of us who live in LA play host to out-of-town visitors who want to see all the sights that our amazing city has to offer. It's pretty routine to get asked if and how one can get up to the iconic Hollywood Sign to see it up close, and, sadly, it must be admitted that the sign is off-limits to regular folk. This means that looky-loos, locals, and pranksters who......

Fairfax Avenue is the Bomb!!! Declining enrollment and rising costs means less expansion and construction to help relieve overcrowding in LAUSD schools. The LA Times reports that "since the fall, the school system has canceled plans for 19 new schools and additions to existing campuses in South Gate, Bell, Van Nuys, San Fernando, Sun Valley and central Los Angeles, among other areas, citing new enrollment projections." Kids, you don't mind sharing that book, do......

Los Touristas de Whittier, Winners of the Stay Puft League's Season Finals I’ve always been a worker-outer. But lately, as I’ve spent more and more time on the cardio machines at 24 Hour Fitness, I can’t shake feeling that I’m just a hamster on a wheel in a vicious human experiment. To combat my paranoia and possibly find a mentally healthier hobby, I’ve decided to scope out what else L.A. has to offer in......

As you know, the Golden Globes will not be so tony this year. Instead, it's a press conference. And as boring as a press conference is, what's even more, is superfluous picketing.The Hollywood Foreign Press Association has announced that instead of the usual televised three-hour gala on NBC, the HFPA will take complete control of its 65th Annual Golden Globe Awards Announcement and host a press conference open to all media to announce the winners......

The Hollywood Foreign Press has just announced that the traditional Golden Globes awards banquet and show are being canceled and will be replaced by a news conference format that NBC will air. According to Deadline Hollywood Daily, the new format will be an "hour-long HFPA press conference at The Beverly Hilton to be covered live by NBC News beginning at 6:00 pm PST on January 13." Faced with multiple threats from the 72 nominees in......

For anyone who isn't storing all your party reserves for some big New Year's bash, here's what's going on around town tonight. JAZZ/VOCALS Silky-voiced Tierney Sutton and her band are on tap for a holiday weekend installment at the Catalina Bar & Grill. The ensemble has been nominated for a Grammy (Best Vocal Jazz Album) for their February 2007 release, and has headlined at notable venues such as Carnegie Hall, The Hollywood Bowl and Jazz......

Two more strikes against two power players in showbiz today as fallout from the WGA strike. According to a report on KTLA.com this morning, "The union representing striking Hollywood writers has denied requests to allow their members to write for the Oscars - Hollywood's biggest, most glamorous showcase - and the Golden Globes." Interim agreements and waivers were dismissed Monday by the WGA. The Hollywood Foreign Press, who put on the annual Globes gala banquet......

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......

In a bid to save late night television programming as we knew it, the Carson Daly show will jump the gun on production in the coming days; WGA strike settlement or no, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The late night talk shows have taken a big hit since the Writers' Strike began three weeks ago as insomniacs nationwide discover that Nightline never actually went off the air. Viacom's Comedy Central is losing its late......

Although it might be "understood that Hollywood sells Californication", the boys who wear tube socks on their magic johnsons are headed to court to argue that you can't just steal it. Showtime has found itself on a little roll with "Weeds", "Dexter", and now the sexy/dickish David Duchovny series "Californication", but someone forgot to ask the Red Hot Chili Peppers if it was kosher to use their word for the show. The Hollywood Reporter's......

For the fifth year in a row, Liquid Kitty on Pico has won Citysearch's title of Best Martini in LA. Liquid Kitty harkens back to LA's dark, Chandleresque side, with dim lights and strong drinks. It reminds me of both the rat pack martini bar Olive, and a little bit of Yee Mee Loo's, an historic Chinatown bar. The Hollywood speakeasy feel is enhanced by the lack of any kind of sign out front with......

Last night came and went, but we know a select bunch of aware Angelenos turned off their lights last night for Lights Out LA, a program in San Francisco and Los Angeles asking residents to turn off lights for one-hour in the name of conserving energy. Alisa Pugha in Koreatown participated and she spoke to LAist last night. "So just as Light Out LA starts, my power starts dimming. What the fuck?" The anonymous blogger,......

Let's start over, shall we? Disney is investing $1.1 billion into California (Mis)adventure, the ghost town of an amusement park next to Disneyland. The Rose Queen for the Pasadena Rose Parade was announced this morning and her name is Dusty. We just love that name for a girl. Staring now, there is no excuse for anyone of any age to ever go "I don't get blogging." The world's oldest blogger celebrated her birthday this......

I have an occasional habit of going to get coffee with a friend on weeknights at the 101 Cafe (6145 Franklin Ave, right across from The Hollywood Tower). It's just so darn comfortable. And of course, it's open till around 3am, so it's a perfect Late Night Eats spot. Attached to a mighty fancier than normal, even kind of hip, Best Western hotel, the 101 Cafe has a true retro feel, complete with a......

Earlier this month, the LA-based and green-minded The Ditty Bops (MySpace) completed their six week Summer Farm Tour (which began at the Henry Fonda Theater) with a performance at Farm Aid at Randall's Island in New York, complete with an introduction by actress and fellow environmentalist Daryl Hannah. I had the unique opportunity to follow the band in Northern California, Chicago, and New York as they toured across the country in their biodiesel-powered van,......

The Hollywood bowl season is coming to an end, yet there are still chances to win, here at LAist. This time for this Saturday = Bright Eyes + LA Phil (Yo La Tengo + M. Ward). How can you win these tickets? Submit a registered comment telling us your preferred transportation to the Hollywood Bowl by Thursday, September 27, 2007, 12 p.m. PST. Our favorite way of getting to the Bowl is by bicycle via......

The Cocoanut Grove at the Ambassador Hotel was the place to go for live entertainment in Los Angeles. Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Judy Garland, Sammy Davis Jr., and Merv Griffin were among the many legends to perform there. This weekend Pink Martini will recreate the nightclub's magic at The Hollywood Bowl. Merv Griffin was to have performed at these concerts. Now the evening will include a tribute to him. The one and only Carol......

Bad Religion - "Incomplete" John Doe, Dead Rock West, Los Duggans, The Lone @ Safari Sam's Reyes Bros. @ Key Club Gipsy Kings @ The Greek Strunz & Farah @ Catalina Bar & Grill Lukas Haas, Jessica Fichot @ The Hotel Cafe Big Bad Voodoo Daddy & The Hollywood Bowl Orchestra @ Hollywood Bowl Festivals Fuck Yeah Fest: The Explosion, The Fuse, Busdriver, Boom Bip, Entrance, The Mae Shi, Fleshies, Residual Echoes, Imaad Wasif,......

Marilyn Manson - "Tainted Love" Daniel Johnston @ Henry Fonda Slayer, Marilyn Manson @ Irvine Meadows Dios Malos, Pissed Jeans, Infauxtech @ 1269 E. 6th St. (Fuck Yeah Fest Pre Party) Clint Black @ Cerritos Center Air Supply @ The Canyon Aimee Mann @ Largo Gypsy Kings @ The Greek Wild Child @ The Whisky OneRepublic, Glacier Hiking, Northern, The Cheat @ The Roxy Big Bad Voodoo Daddy & The Hollywood Bowl Orchestra @......

Cheap Trick - "Magical Mystery Tour", Tokyo '92 Cheap Trick, The Hollywood Bowl Orchestra @ Hollywood Bowl (some Beatles thing) Great Northern, The Comas, Twilight Sleep @ Spaceland KC & the Sunshine Band @ The Canyon The Adolescents, Channel 3 @ Safari Sam's Tim McGraw, Faith Hill @ The Honda Center CunninLynguists, Tonedeff, PackFM @ The Roxy Guitars & Saxes, Warren Hill, Diane Schuur @ Rainbow Lagoon - Long Beach Jazz Fest Raine Maida,......

Happy 36th Birthday Corey Feldman! It seems like only yesterday that you were impersonating Michael Jackson and snorting your way through Hollywood. Lets not forget your underrated talent as the snarky know it all in Goonies, the old man trapped in a 16 year old's body in Dream a Little Dream and a teen vampire in Lost Boys. And within just a couple weeks you will have something else to celebrate- the premiere of......

And this 'Subway to the Sea' is not just about funding at this point and time. Try planning studies, preliminary engineering, and environmental clearance according to Metro CEO Roger Snoble in the LA Times. But hey, all those steps take funding. Villaraigosa's office over the last year has been quietly gauging whether the public would agree to foot the bill. In one of the many private polls it has commissioned on a variety of......

It's hard to find a good Wookiee these days, so LAPD is looking for a naughty one. A Chewbacca impersonator allegedly sexually assaulted a Marilyn Monroe look-alike near Hollywood and Highland last month, though the crime was just reported yesterday. When authorities showed up to investigate, the suspect fled. Police are presumably looking for a man who is tall, dark, and hairy. There has been no comment from LA County Sheriff Lee Baca, who may......

18,000 screaming queens, pregnant nuns, and babies in lederhosen headed to the Hollywood Bowl last Saturday for the annual Sound Of Music Sing-A-Long. As expected, many snacks from Trader Joe's were eaten (might I recommend the Artichoke/Jalapeno dip), much swooning over Christopher Plummer took place, the Baroness got hissed at, Julie Andrews was cheered, and the unified masses belted in earnest (and amazingly in key) the tunes from Rodgers & Hammerstein's final masterpiece. How......

Tonight's a crazy night of rock. And yet, is there anything cooler than Morrissey playing the bowl tonight? Chris Cornell, Queens of the Stone Age, Sum 41, The Bravery, Plain White T's, Silversun Pickups, Shiny Toy Guns, Cold War Kids @ Seaside Park (Ventura) Grandmaster Melle Mel & Scorpio, Rob Base & DJ EZ Rock, Sugar Hill Gang, Stacey Q, Expose, Stevie B. @ Honda Center Morrissey @ The Hollywood Bowl Reverend Horton Heat,......

700 extra hours -- yes, you read that correctly -- from David Lynch's Inland Empire have been culled into a documentary about David Lynch that is titled Lynch and is being pimped to international buyers at Cannes by Lynch himself. -Cinematical Comic book author/graphic novelist Frank Miller will write and direct the live-action feature film adaptation of the Will Eisner comic book series "The Spirit" about a man who fakes his own death so he......

Illinois teens arrested in Hollywood Hills fire A wildfire that authorities say was ignited by two teenagers tore through the brush-covered hills surrounding the famous Hollywood sign Friday, putting a scare into the city but doing little damage other than coating the area in a thick blanket of smoke. Spears finalises divorce settlement with Federline Celebrity Web site TMZ.com quoted unnamed sources as saying that Federline, who has tried to launch a new career as......

We knew something was wrong. In November we asked "Does the Hollywood Christmas Parade Try to Suck?", and little did we know it wasn't spasticly waving, it was drowning. The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce yesterday said they lost $100k on the parade last year and would probably lose $200k this year. Which is a lot for something that sucks as much as it does, so they're ending the parade forever. But just because something......

Last week all you had to do was stroll down to Hollywood & Highland or take the subway there, then stand in line for a short while and you'd get to hold a real Oscar trophy. Every day we kept forgetting to mention it and then kicked ourselves when it was over. And now The Hollywood Reporter's Risky Biz blog has posted video of regular people holding the award and mugging for the cameras.......