The Hackensaw Boys | Photo via their MySpace Our brain is going to explode with all the great choices tonight. From friggin' amazing jazz (see, we're not swearing) at UCLA to folk-punk sensibilities of The Hackensaw Boys at Tangier in Los Feliz (video after the jump), tonight is a bounty of gold. Also, Jim Bianco will be at Amoeba and it's the first night for Wednesday night March residencies. Howlin' Rain @ Spaceland Jim......

For a band of two 16-year-olds and one 17-year-old, Din Caliber has a huge sound that's quite exciting. And Linda Perry, record label owner/producer (credits include Gwen Stefani, Pink, Alicia Keys, Christina Aguilara), has her eye on them. The home schooled trio practices four to five nights a week for four hours and has played the House of Blues and a few shows at the Whiskey A Go Go. Tonight they play the Knitting Factory......

KT Tunstall - "Black Horse & The Cherry Tree" KT Tunstall @ Avalon Misfits @ House of Blues Spiritualized @ The Vista Black Dice, No Age, Mika Miko @ Echoplex Sondre Lerche @ Troubadour American Music Club @ Echo Jill Sobule, Julia Sweeney @ Largo The Whigs, Wild Sweet Orange @ Spaceland Falco Does It Dirty, Omissa, There Shall Be Blood @ Knitting Factory Back Door Slam @ Viper Room DTFM, Truth In Fiction,......

Bloc Party, Justice, Satellite Party, Kinky, Comedians of Comedy, Turbonegro, Teddybears, The Raveonettes, Shout Out Louds, Autolux, Celebrity Skin, others @ Detour Festival Dengue Fever, Mia Doi Todd, Chuchito Valdes, The Pity Party, others @ Eagle Rock Music Festival Kenny Burrell, The Pete Escovedo Family Orchestra (with Sheila E.), others @ Jazz at Drew Natalie Cole, Sheryl Lee Ralph, RuPaul, Linda Hopkins, Loretta Devine, Ann Nesby, Deniece Williams, Jennifer Holliday, others @ Divas Simply......

Monday Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson present Sandworms of Dune 7pm @ Book Soup Tuesday A.W. Hill presents The Last Days of Madame Rey 7pm @ Book Soup Brenda Scott Royce presents Monkey Star 7pm @ Vroman's Wednesday David Rosen presents I Just Want My Pants Back 7pm @ Pi on Sunset Thursday Gabe Rotter presents Duck Duck Wally 7pm @ Book Soup Simon Van Booy presents The Secret Lives of People in Love......

It's a sparklie!! The Aero Theatre in Santa Monica is host today to the 25th Anniversary (yes, really) of this 1982 masterpiece about a sick mouse, a sinking house, Dom Deluise as a crow in a blouse, and magic rats. I'd write more about it but I'm busy gathering my amulet. The Secret Of NIMH -- 25th Anniversary! @ The Aero Theatre Sunday July 29 1328 Montana Avenue Santa Monica 3pm......

Why wait until you get home to read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows when you can read it on the sidewalk moments after purchase? That's what these three decided to do. And after a few pages in, what's the Harry Potter review? "Pretty good." That doesn't sound like much of an enthusiastic answer, but give 'em a break, they were at Borders in Sherman Oaks by 5:30 a.m. Luckily, it wasn't an all-day......

Normally, I don't get all that revved up about art gallery openings that are splashed across the front page of the LA Times' Calender section - it's virtually a guarantee that the place will be packed with people and run out of booze in an hour, but I made an exception for Glen Wexler's show "The Secret Life of Cows" at Track 16 Gallery, because I think cows are funny as hell and I'm......

Mark Wahlberg lights up TV screens this week as Shooter reaches the DVD shelves. I don't know about you, but this tale of double-crosses and revenge had a distinct late 80s/early 90s vibe to it for me. Did Sly pass on this script 20 years ago or was it Steve in '95? For those of you who want to see Samuel L. Jackson in full-on Samuel L. Jackson mode, pick up Black Snake Moan.......

Monday Dave Winfield signs Dropping the Ball 7pm @ Vroman’s Tuesday Michael Collier Over the Mountains 7pm @ Dutton’s Dave Winfield signs Dropping the Ball 7pm @ EsoWon Books Wednesday John Kerry and Teresa Heinz Kerry sign This Moment on Earth 6pm @ Dutton’s Sarah Thyre presents Dark at the Roots 7pm @ Book Soup Rebecca Walker discusses Baby Love 7pm @ Vroman’s Bill McKibben in discussion with Tom Curwen on Deep Economy 7pm......

Tonight - Thursday - March 8th, 2007 The Yakuza Papers (IFC, 5:00 p.m.) All 5 flicks from the gangster saga. Survivor: Fiji (CBS, 8:00 p.m.) More shenanigans from paradise. American Idol (Fox, 8:00 p.m.) Carrie Underwood performs, top 12 finalists revealed. Scrubs (NBC, 9:00 p.m.) Sad news for the Army guy. Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader? (Fox, 9:00 p.m.) Well, are you? 30 Rock (NBC, 9:30 p.m.) Last one before show goes......

The Submarines @ The Echo Pussy Cow, Slingshots @ Lava Lounge Metal Skool, Daybreak Ends @ Key Club Yearlong Disaster, Bloodcat Love, The Ebbs @ Viper Room Pity Party, Hello Menno, Io Perry, The By and By @ Silverlake Lounge Kriminal Pogo, Battle Flask, Running on Fumes, The Booze Hounds @ The Scene Northstar Sessions, Jeremy & Jessica Bergen, Twilight Sleep @ The Knitting Factory Captain Ahab, Health, Paris Hilton Motherfuckers, Fag Bashers @......

NOFX @ House of Blues Justin Timberlake @ Honda Center Kevin Nealon @ Comedy & Magic Club, Hermosa The Deadly Syndrome, Philistine @ Safari Sam's Pompei, Kissing Tigers @ Spaceland Trophy Wives, Jack Dill, The Lift @ Viper Room The Procession, Castle Door, Carina Round @ El Cid Xu Xu Fang, Astra Heights, I Make This Sound @ Silverlake Lounge Peter Walker, Sidestory, We Are Lions, Minipop @ The Troubadour The Front, Fireworks Apart,......

Yesterday we introduced you to the book, Skinny Bitch, and today we bring you the Skinny Bitch herself, Rory Freedman. We were lucky enough to meet her at an event we told you about back in November while chowing on some Indian food. So listen up, here are her rants: 1. A few nights ago, my friend and I went to see an indie film called Shortbus that we knew almost nothing about. The little......

Backbiter, The Bob Lee (Black Sabbath Christmas songs), Hot for Chocolate @ Mr. T's Bowl Kingdom of Ozzy, Seventh Son, Automatic Hotel, Compound X @ Paladino's Jews & Mexicans, Jet Fuel, Big Tone, Black Fuzz, Space Fuzz @ The Scene Scissors for Lefty, Last American Buffalo, The Bloody Heads @ Spaceland Gliss, The Oohlas, The Secret 6, Pop Levi @ The Knitting Factory The Reyes Brothers w/ Mellow Man Ace and Sen Dog @......

With the year winding down, LAist is asking famous celebs, local politicians, and other movers & shakers of LA to tell us what they thought were tops of 2006. Before founding PostSecret, Frank Warren grew up in the Valley and attended Colfax Elementary School with Adam Carolla. If you missed his book signing last month, you can catch him on January 15th at Borders Books in Torrance as he signs the next PS book, "The......

Now we're very confused. On Tuesday we reported that the Jewish Journal had written that the former Seinfeld star Michael Richards was not a member of the tribe. But this afternoon we read in Gothamist that the actor's newly hired PR man says that Richards is indeed Jewish. All of this stems from a new allegation that Richards once went on an anti-Semetic tirade on some audience members at The Improv in April. "He is......

For over twenty years the funky white boys from Fairfax High have been delivering the goods with their band the Red Hot Chili Peppers and last night at the Roxy for a super secret show to launch Microsoft's Zune media player, it's almost as if they were playing to each other. In fact, before one tune they improvised at all the bands that they had seen over the years at the Roxy. Typically the......

As you probably know, LAist is a huge fan of Mark The Cobra Snake. And ginormous fans of Shepard Fairey. But we're super freaky fans of public transportation, in fact LAist's editor's personal blog is called the busblog (busblog.com). So when we heard that The Secret Machines were going to play at Union Station, with guest DJ Shepard Fairey, with a special display featuring the work of The Cobra Snake we nearly kicked over......

• Cat Power will perform tonight at the Knitting Factory. The show starts at 8 PM and tickets are $15. • Avalon hosts The Secret Machines, Moving Units and Autolux tonight. For more information, call (323) 462-8900. Photo by Rahav Segev © 1999......

John Steinbeck's 1937 short novel Of Mice and Men works surprisingly well onstage, and even surprisingly better in small venue, like NoHo's Secret Rose Theatre. LAist remembers the dusty and rabbit-infested book from our high school reading list, but even knowing the heartbreaking ending doesn't spoil the experience of watching a handful of character actors strut their stuff in their finest ranch-hand's denim. The Fire Rose production seems pleased to affiliate the performance with the......

Two major events dominate the week in LA politics–Bob Hertzberg’s introduction of the first TV ads in the mayoral campaign, and Laura Chick’s secret meetings with the mayoral challengers. (Sorry, fellow hacks–the Hahn signs at the sanitation yards aren’t that important.) Attack of the 50-foot Mayoral Candidate Bob Hertzberg released his first campaign ad to a variety of reviews. Boi from Troy says “Message gets an "A" but the imagery gets a kinda-spooky "C",”......