For those who joined us last night (thank you for coming!), we witnessed many hot and bothered moments with an excellent band we've never hard before -- The Makers (we can't find their website, help). They are in residency at Seven Grand every Tuesday and we highly recommend checking them out. For tonight, first night residencies for this month happen at the Viper Room, Hotel Cafe and the Silverlake Lounge (see our Guide to February......

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!......

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. People want to lose weight this year, get in better shape, look good naked, blah, blah, blah, blah. Does it actually happen? Sure, some do. But most? We all know that reality. The problem for some is motivation. We've found one excellent way to walk the talk that is a little more than six months from right now. It's called The World Famous Mud Run, a 10K Adventure/Military race outside of......

I've always been intrigued by other "best of" lists, but this year I decided to take it to a whole new level. I e-mailed a handful of bands that I've seen this past year in order to unearth what exactly captivated them in '07. As music listeners, it is our duty to take a keen interest in our favorite musician's influences. After all, they rocked our little world, might as well see what rocked their......

I've always been intrigued by other "best of" lists, but this year I decided to take it to a whole new level. I e-mailed a handful of bands that I've seen this past year in order to unearth what exactly captivated them in '07. As music listeners, it is our duty to take a keen interest in our favorite musician's influences. After all, they rocked our little world, might as well see what rocked their......

FARMERS MARKET: Downtown’s latest farmers market takes place in the Fashion District. So hit up some holiday shopping then treat yourself to some of the freshest foods around. 4-7 pm // Fashion District // 716 S. Los Angeles St., Downtown // Free. ART: Diego Cardoso is the Executive Officer of Transportation Development and Implementation for the MTA who headed the East Side Gold Line project. He's also on the city planning commission. But his......

Since his early twenties, Garth Trinidad has been DJing Chocolate City on KCRW for over 10 years now. He sits on the Grammy Awards R&B board in support of the new ‘best urban alternative performance’ category, created as a direct result of his continued approach to music programming. He is a much sought after music commenter, supervisor and expert in his field. To catch his show, tune in Saturday nights on KCRW from 6:00-9:00......

Various Artists Kurt Cobain About A Son Music From The Motion Picture Barsuk Records, released 9/11/07 The loud-quiet-LOUD bipolarity and creepy darkness of Kurt Cobain's music comes across loud-and-clear in this excellent collection of grunge, punk, and blues that make up the music of Kurt Cobain About A Son. The fact that no actual Cobain material is used in this makes it even weirder, and if you ask me, better. It makes you miss......

The Brazilians and everyone else that love the intense sport of Jiu-Jitsu have gathered in Long Beach this weekend for the 2007 World Jiu-Jitsu Championship. Matches will continue through this weekend at Cal State University Long Beach.......

The Rentals, Golden Boy, Kyle Chipman @ Spaceland The Reyes Brothers w/ Mellow Man Ace, Optimus, J Killa @ Whisky The World Famous Beat Junkies @ The Knitting Factory The Red Elvises @ Rusty's Surf Ranch The Low Stars @ Hear Music (2pm) Howlin' Rain, Citay, The Moon Upstairs @ The Echo Persephone's Bees, Something for Rockets @ The Troubadour Jessica Fichot @ Amoeba (free, 2pm) Silverchair @ The Wiltern Rusted Root @ House......

Architecture In Helsinki - "Heart It Races" Sinead O'Connor @ Silent Movie Theatre Architecture In Helsinki, Gang Gang Dance, Ariel Pink, Yacht @ Music Box Castledoor, The World Record, The Procession, The Sheers @ Spaceland Tyler Hilton, Jed, Leap Year, Cassie Zambrano @ Knitting Factory Shearwater, Jamie Stewart, Brothers & Sisters, Minus Story @ The Echo Ocrilim, Upsilon Acrux, David Scott Stone, Megafuckers, Jarrett Silberman @ The Smell......

LAist is proud to offer 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. ___________________________________________________________________________________________ Billboard Charts Issue......

LAist is proud to offer 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. ___________________________________________________________________________________________ Billboard Charts......

Clutch, Year Long Disaster, Backyard Tire Fire, Warner Drive @ Roxy Michael Penn, Patton Oswalt @ Largo A Flock of Seagulls @ Hollywood Park Uncle Monk, String Theory, Groovy Rednecks @ Knitting Factory The Autumns, The Sugarplastic, The World Record, Veil Veil Vanish @ Spaceland The Mae Shi, Abe Vigoda, Anchors for Architects, Maria @ Pehrspace Nous Non Plus, Porterville, Pity Party @ Safari Sam's Malcolm Jamal Warner's Miles Long, David Ryan Harris, Dujeous......

LAist is proud to offer 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. __________________________________________________________________________________________ Billboard Charts......

Blades of Glory - Will Ferrell & Jon Heder (AKA Napoleon Dynamite) star as a pair of rival ice skaters who are banned from men's single competition but discover a loophole that allows them to compete as a pairs team. Look for Amy Poehler and her real-life husband Will Arnett (Gob on Arrested Development) as pairs skating champs. After the Wedding - Danish director Susanne Bier has created a comedy/drama Mads Mikkelsen (the bleeding......

Curated by… Guy Maddin Bizarro Canadian filmmaker Guy Maddin (Tales From The Gimli Hospital, Careful, The Saddest Music In The World) has been invited to curate a program of films culled from the extensive collection of the UCLA Film Archive. His choices include On Dangerous Ground, Make Way for Tomorrow, Ministry of Fear and a slew of his own short films, all of which will screen over the next couple of weeks. But tonight Maddin......

The Oscars go down in just a few hours, so this is the last call for Oscar Picks! Just go to this post and choose who you think will win in ten big categories. Here are the AMAZING prizes we have for the winners The Grand Prize Winner (person with the most correct picks) will get a copy of the just-released Luscious Jackson's "Greatest Hits", tickets to the Hotel Cafe on March 29th to see......

The Oscars are right around the corner, everyone's an expert, so let's see what ya got. After the jump we have ten big categories for Sunday's award show. To enter out your picks in the comments and leave your real email address so we can contact you. Please follow this format: 1. Penelope Cruz 2. Jennifer Hudson 3. Forest Whitaker etc... Here are the AMAZING prizes we have for the winners The Grand Prize Winner......

LAist is proud to offer 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. __________________________________________________________________________________________ Billboard Charts......

Disgruntled Laker fans, it’s time to come back home. I know a lot of you went astray in the frustrating aftermath of the Shaq/Kobe split, when there wasn’t enough money to keep their enormous egos on the same court. The Kobe vs. The World teams for a couple years provided some cheap thrills but didn’t win your heart. Then many of you had a little affair with the Clippers last spring, but you are forgiven......

Lots of cross-town and intrastate rivalry in sports this weekend but precious little else. If you like dogs, check out the dog show on Discovery Saturday and Sunday Tonight - Friday "White Christmas" (TCM, 5:00 p.m.) Miracle Legion had it right about the wish to be Danny Kaye, a whole night of his flicks on TCM including "Wonder Man" and "Up In Arms" "Ice Wars 2006: USA vs The World" (CBS, 8:00 p.m.) US......

The sophomore album by BenYomen is a progression towards the consciousness that hip-hop was meant stand for, living up to the Life For The Better crew’s charm. The combination of vibrant beats and socially aware lyrics makes Headphones Hum and Spraycans Rattle one of BenYomen’s best recordings. “The World Is Mourning,” and “Loaner” takes two different approaches to the reality of life, making you take a closer look within yourself. The hook “In a......

The New York Times has launched a new Best Seller List for Political books and it's available online only. This move is surely meant to drive more traffic to their site and also the political list being online will hit a smaller number of people - including those who are say savvy to politics, being online, and the New York Times. So just what are the pundits reading these days? Here are this week's......

We're flashing a sad peace out to their editor Carolyn Kellogg with one hand and bumping knuckles with our new head typist L.A. blogger king Tony Pierce with the other. Where do ist editors go when they hang up the 'editorial we'? They take on MySpace, apparently. At least Ben Brown does. Austinist reminds of the just rewards of less savory careers this week and then they witness the Arctic Monkeys and We Are Scientists......

Bryce Dallas Howard (daughter of Ron) turns 25 today. She's doing both artsy and big-budget stuff; soon she'll be in both As You Like It and Spiderman III. Coldplay's Chris Martin celebrates his 29th birthday today. Jersey hair rocker turned actor Jon Bon Jovi turns 44. And rock icon Lou Reed is now 64. OG SNL comedienne Laraine Newman turns 54. Recently she's appeared on "According to Jim" starring Jim Belushi, the icky-but-living brother of......

Jen Sincero is a sexpert, musician, and the author of the bestselling book, The Straight Girl’s Guide To Sleeping With Chicks and the semi-autobiographical novel, Don’t Sleep With Your Drummer. She currently hosts the weekly sex talk radio show Dr. Happypants on killradio.org. Every week in Living in Sin, Jen provides advice for LA's sexually confused and curious. Got a question for Jen? Ask her. We promise to be discreet — all questions will......

The number of film festivals held in this town seems only slightly outnumbered by the number of Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf outlets. But tomorrow, AFI Fest 2005 (Nov. 3-13) opens -- and in its 19th year -- this is one that shouldn't be ignored. A few of the week's highlights include: Walk the Line: The Johnny Cash biopic, starring Joaquin Phoenix as the Man in Black and Reese Witherspoon as June Carter Cash,......

And what good these myriad mythologies? And what good these magics (sic) not to be released? And what good unknowable divinity... if it's not the world? --Castanets, A Song Is Not The Song Of The World The enigmatic and brooding San Diego native, Ray Raposa, ponders these and other existential questions with his band Castanets on their second release "First Light's Freeze." Though Raposa's lyrics shift from prosaic to poetic, they never drift far......

Have you heard Devin Davis yet? We have, and frankly he has us wondering whether one of the year's best CDs hasn't already taken its bow. The album is called, "Lonely People Of The Wold, Unite!" Davis spent over two years recording it, playing virtually all the instruments himself. The result of all that hard work is a collection of songs that flow together, lift us up, toss us about and make us giggle......