Everybody's doing it, right? I don't pretend to be hip or edgy or rebellious. I mean, I grew up on Billy Joel and Madonna and Motown and then the Gen Xer's basic dichotomy of KROQ versus Top 40 in the 90s. I find it increasingly harder to fall in love with albums in the downloading age, and am one of those people who obsessively compiles mixed cds for friends and iPod playlists full of individual tracks from a broad sampling of artists. The three places I'm most thankful for getting me turned on to new music would be my fellow LAisters, the awesome site 3hive, and good ol' KCRW. So without further ado, here are my pics for the 2007 releases I most enjoyed: more ›

Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga (Merge) Gogol Bordello - Super Taranta! (Side One Dummuy) Mark Ronson - Version (RCA) Oh No! Oh My! - Between The Devil And The Sea (Dim Mak) Gravy Train!!!! - All the Sweet Stuff (Cochon Records) Danzig - The Lost Tracks of Danzig (Evilive) The Monkees - Headquarters [DELUXE EDITION] (Rhino) Chris & Rich Robinson - Brothers of a Feather: Live at the Roxy (Eagle) They Might... more ›

So last weekend I finally made it out to catch Shakespeare By The Sea, after being invited a few times last year and not being able to get my act together. (Unintended, sorry.) This one was The Taming of The Shrew, the only version of which I can confess to seeing is the Moonlighting version. But hey, it made me laugh. So since I knew the story, and since un-miked Shakespearian dialogue can be... more ›

A Word or 26: Welcome to the land of reruns and late night TV. Someone give me a heads up on other stuff on basic cable that's perhaps worth watching. Tonight - Tuesday - June 5th, 2007 Dodgers @ Padres (PRIME, 7:00 p.m.) Twins @ Angels (Fox Sports, 7:00 p.m.) On the Lot (Fox, 8:00 p.m.) The first 5 finalists present their films. The Sea Wolf (TCM, 8:30 p.m.) Edward G. Robinson stars in... more ›

John Fogerty, Blind Boys of Alabama, Lowrider Band, Robert Randolph & the Family Band, Rod Piazza & the Mighty Flyers, James Cotton, others @ Doheny Blues Festival, Dana Point more ›

Al Green, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Jr. Watson & The Texas Horns, others @ Doheny Blues Festival Stevie Nicks, Chris Issak @ The Greek The Sea & Cake, Robbers on High Street @ The Troubadour The Turtle Island Quartet @ The Jazz Bakery Pit er Pat, Priestbird, Ima Fucking Gymnast @ The Smell Armored Saint, Chingalera, Cockpit @ The Viper Room Grant Lee Phillips @ Largo Thank You Drive Through, Couzin It, Erick Macek @... more ›

Björk - Volta (Atlantic) Bone Thugs -N- Harmony - Strength & Loyalty (Interscope) Barbara Streisand - Streisand: Live In Concert [2 CD] [LIVE] (Sony) Keren Ann - Keren Ann (Blue Note) Brakes - Beatific Visions (Rough Trade) Electrelane - No Shouts, No Calls (Too Pure / Beggars) Elliott Smith - New Moon [2 CD] (Kill Rock Stars) The Clientele - God Save the Clientele (Merge) Page France - Page France and the Family Telephone... more ›

Patti Smith @ Roxy Chris Cornell @ Avalon What Made Milwaukee Famous @ Spaceland The Teddybears @ El Rey Theatre The Sea Hags @ The Cat Club The Supersuckers @ Viper Room Herb Alpert and Lani Hall @ Vibrato Grill & Jazz Castledoor, I Make This Sound, Ari Eskandarian @ Silverlake Lounge Dear Nora, Anna Oxygen, Devon Williams & the Allen Bleyle 3 @ The Smell Taylor Hicks @ Grove of Anaheim... more ›

We used to think we loved everything about pop culture; we could even get some twisted enjoyment out of The Simple Life. But the appearance of Nicole Richie's book at #9 on this week's LA Times bestseller list is just wrong. more ›

It's time for the LAIST prize roundup in the book world. John Banville, in a surprise turn, has won the Booker Prize for his novel, The Sea, beating out favorite Julian Barnes, Kazuo Ishiguro, Zadie Smith, Sebastian Barry, and Ali Smith. Apparently the voting was as close as it's ever been. There's a great 3-part interview with Banville at the litblog The Elegant Variation. more ›

THURSDAY more ›

THURSDAY more ›

Unfortunately, the death of Hunter S. Thompson on Sunday stole our attention from the passing of a true Los Angeles icon. Before Blue Crush, before Roxy gear, even before Sally Field, there was Sandra Dee playing Gidget on the big screen and, perhaps single-handedly, letting girls know that they could surf too. She died Sunday at the age of 62. more ›

" target="_blank">The Section Quartet will be performing at 8:00 PM. Cover is $7 at the door. [18+] more ›