When you have a huge music collection and you listen almost all the time, there tends to be a few artists that you come back to over and over. In our house, full of CD's, concert DVD's, and iPods a few artists reign supreme: The Beatles, Elvis Costello, and Loudon Wainwright III. Loudon's music can make you feel, make you smile, and make you think-- he is a master storyteller. Often listed with the......

From writing to recording and producing, Joe Henry knows how to keep himself busy. This year he released his CD "Civilians", wrote the music for "Knocked Up" with Loudon Wainwright III, and produced several tracks for Todd Hayne's Bob Dylan film "I'm Not There". In 2003 he won a Grammy for producing Solomon Burke's "Don't Give Up On Me". Burke has said about Joe Henry, "He's an exciting young man, a talented gentleman, he......

My heart wasn't saying Bruuuuuuuuce, it was booing. The biggest cliche in amateur criticism is to say "I liked his older stuff better". Bruce Springsteen is supposed to be held on the same level as Bob Dylan, Neil Young, or Johnny Cash. However, if one is to keep it real, the songs The Boss released after the mid '80s don't hold up to contemporaries like Tom Waits or Tom Petty. Seriously, after the Born......

If you go as far west as you can in West Hollywood on Santa Monica Blvd., right before you wind up in Beverly Hills you will see the Troubadour - one of the most famous rock clubs in the world - established in 1957. Home of the Eagles, Jackson Browne, Elton John, and Linda Ronstadt in the '60s and '70s, the warm, rich club also saw the likes of Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, and......

A Word or 22: Earl wasn't all that last night despite the Smellovision but the Office was satisfyingly uncomfortable. Tonight it's nothing but Jerry Lewis until Conan comes on. Tonight - Friday - May 4, 2007 Jerry Lewis Marathon (TCM, 5-??) Starting with the Nutty Professor, it just goes on and on and on White Sox @ Angels (FoxSports, 7:00 p.m.) Ghost Whisperer/Close to Home/NUMB3RS (CBS, 8-11:00 p.m.) Prophetic ghost foretells/Missing witness found dead/Water......

What could be better than Thursday's upcoming "secret" pre-Coachella show at the Glass House with the Jesus and Mary Chain? How about if busty actress Scarlett Johansson was going to be there singing background vocals for the gloomy band? Stereogum, in a tiny aside on a Bjork post, linked to a blog called Cat Dirt who claimed to be the first to correctly announce that the JAMC were going to play the tiny club......

LAist gets and listens to a Lot of music. You can see the bands we like in the concerts that we review, the Tonight in Rock listings that we compile, and in the cds that we review. But we realize that we listen to way more music than we review so we figured we make a list once a week letting you know what we're into. week ending 4/13/07 Rodrigo Y Gabriela - Self-Titled......

Eleni Mandell, with her sixth full length release, Miracle of Five, hit up the Echo for the KCRW release party last night. The packed and almost giddy crowd filled with literally all walks of life (think middle aged baldies, a trannie, and the usual hipsters) were swaying along to EM’s hushed, moody, jazzy folk. Is jazzy folk even a thing? If it isn’t Mandell has made it one. Highlight of the evening? The Echo......

Did you know the Lava Lounge is closing? Did you know bands aren't going to be playing there any more? Did you know they're going to renovate it into a real cocktail lounge? Did you know you only have a few more weeks to enjoy the Lava Lounge as you've enjoyed it for the last 13 years? Did you know that when LAist was a little more into the singles scene, let's say, the......

Podcasting may have not tipped the point like blogging has, but its significance and importance will last long. And to insure proper service to yourself in this day and age, you need to jump on the bandwagon and at least grab the daily free music offered to you. iTunes Store users know that every Tuesday brings a free song to your collection. How would you like an additional 10 songs a week? Thanks to......

Not that we care what they think in Frisco but the SF Weekly (wait, we thought you weren't supposed to call it SF? hmmmm) named Honeycut the Best Soul/Funk Band in town. Well, this isn't your father's soul music. There's Garbage in there, some electronica... modern might be a good way to put it. Sorta sounds like Beck's forays into nu whiteboy funk which is dangerous because even Beck has failed in that world......

Tom Waits, the adorably gruff-voiced hat-wearing homeless-looking storyteller of such classic albums as "Rain Dogs", "Frank's Wild Years" and "Bone Machine" has the most popular CD collection at Hollywood's Amoeba last week (November 28 thru December 5). The accomplishment is quite a feat since "Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards" is a triple CD box set of B-sides and rarities, with an Amoeba price of $42.98. Waits was also #1 at the SF Amoeba location......

Tom Waits turned 57 today. LA's own gravel-voiced minstrel got his start at the Troubador in 1970 and gained commercial success primarily through other artists covering his tunes, for example, the Eagles (the Eagles!!!) covering "Ol' 55" on their On the Border album. Later his songs were covered by the likes of Bruce Springsteen ("Jersey Girl"), Rod Stewart ("Downtown Train"), and even the Ramones ("I Don't Wanna Grow Up"). This is an artist who......

- Ashlee Simpson's redesign isn't all that bad, but we still lurve her sis - CityRag - Take Amtrak to Santa Barbara and get hotel discounts - LA Times (h/t green la girl) - Is Borat the reason that Pam Anderson is single and ready to mingle? Very Niiiice - Defamer - Good thing Tom Waits reads LAist and the paper or he wouldn't have known that our girlfriend Scarlett is going to cover......

Tonight - Tuesday Got Charlie Brown for all the kids, and then late night TV is really kickin' it. "NBA Basketball" (PRIME, 7:00 p.m.) Clippers @ Kings - also Bucks @ Lakers on Fox Sports at 7:30 "A Charlie Brown Christmas" (ABC, 8:00 p.m.) The perennial classic. "Big Day" (ABC, 9:00 p.m.) Sitcom series premiere. A sitcom about frickin' weddings. This is gonna be a winner. "Veronica Mars" (the CW, 9:00 p.m.) Dean Begley......

Tonight - Monday Night If I could watch it all or if you could convince me otherwise: "Monday Night Football" (ESPN, 5:30 p.m.) Packers @ Seahawks "Wife Swap" (ABC, 8:00 p.m.) Harley-ridin' Mom from Illinois gets swapped with a New Jersey fascist Mom "North By Northwest" (TCM, 8:30 p.m.) Hitchcock baby! With Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason, and Martin Landau(!) - this is the one with the cropduster dive-bombing Cary Grant in......

Like Santa (pictured) LAist knows who's naughty and who's nice. We also know that many of you probably didn't check in with your favorite city blog since Wednesday, so here's some highlights of what we busted with while you were scarfing stuffing. - How To Handle Your Horndog Spouse - A montage of the most Thankful People Alive - Tom Waits has a new Box Set out for your ass - How To Add......

Blackmore's Night - Winter Carols (Locomotive) Brand New - The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me (Interscope) Daughtry - Daughtry (19 Recordings/ RCA) Handful of Hate - Gruesome Splendour (Cruz del Music) Il Divo - Siempre (Columbia) Jay-Z - Kingdom Come (Roc-A-Fella) Killswitch Engage - As Daylight Dies (Roadrunner) Patti Labelle - The Gospel According to Patti Labelle (Bungalo) Rock Star Supernova - Rock Star Supernova (Epic) Snoop Dogg - Tha Blue Carpet......

In what could be the best cd in a long time, or the most laughable, Fox News is reporting that Esquire's Sexiest Woman Alive is negotiating with Rhino Records to record an album of Tom Waits covers. Scarlett Johansson, who earlier this month fell from a horse while filming "The Other Boleyn Girl" in England, is going to jump into the ring with the likes of Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, J-Lo, and Juliette Lewis......

Life isn't fair. Learn it. Live it. Accept it. For if it was fair Thelonious Monster and Bob Forrest would be just as well-known as the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and X would be just as rich. The same can be said of Fishbone, Redd Kross, and Lone Justice. All local '80s bands who had just as much talent and chops and soul. It was just different soul. LAist was there in 1986 when......

As we continue to celebrate LA poet Charles Bukowski this week, we turn our attentions to rock stars Tom Waits and Bono, who read two poems that were written at the end of the master's long life. Waits was clearly a fan of the work, and one can hear quite a bit of the Bukowski style in some of Waits' tunes, in particular the song/story "Swordfishtrombones." And Bono is just jumping on another bandwagon,......

Larry King in remembering Mike Douglas said that he thinks "nice guy" when he remembers the former talk show host. LAist remembers someone who loved stars so much that he let them be themselves. He let John and Yoko take over his show for a week, he let Sly Stone be Sly Stone, he even let Tiger Woods (as a child) demonstrate his putting skills. But you tell us, who was featuring Tom Waits......

Even though these Driving Sleeves are made in New York, for some reason they remind us of Ohio. They are long sleeves for when you wear short sleeves and drive. "Driving Sleeves protect your arms from harmful UV rays that cause damaging sunburn and increase the risk of skin cancer!" So let's check in with Ohio. Ohio man serves a year in the Army in Iraq finding roadside bombs and then destroying them due......

Rocket, pictured, is an all-female party-pop group from Hollywood who are as cute as they are adorable. How you can resist a dual-guitar attack? But then add to that mix the lead singer whaling on the key-tar and then tell me you've seen it all. A throw-back to the girl groups who sing about it being their party and they'll cry if they want to -- without actually crying at all -- Rocket write......

The Monday holiday makes it a very light week for new releases. Here are a few things that caught our eye.... Dave Alvin West of the West (Yep Roc) – This is a concept album about California from the former leader of the Blasters. All these songs were written by California songwriters (Alvin co-wrote one of the songs). He covers Merle Haggard, Jackson Browne, John Fogerty, Jerry Garcia, Tom Waits, The Beach Boys and......

We're giving away a pair of tickets to see The Black Rider at the Ahmanson Theatre on Thursday, May 11. If you like Tom Waits, William S. Burroughs or the work of director Robert Wilson, you don't want to miss this amazing, unforgettable performance. We're sorry, this contest is now closed. Fine Print: Affiliates of LAist, other -ist sites and the Center Theatre Group are not eligible to enter. Entries received by 1PM PST......

The Black Rider is stunning in its vision. On a nearly blank stage, actors move like broken puppets; costumes and makeup are extraordinary, horrific, expressionistic. The mastermind is director Robert Wilson, who has created a performance that is striking and unforgettable. Wilson had two bigtime collaborators — Tom Waits wrote the music and William S. Burroughs wrote the story — but in the end it is the director who commands the show, now playing......

From bhangra to book smarts, from rock to margaritaville, there's something for everyone tonight. And if you go see Jimmy Buffet, we want photos. We'll post 'em. UCLA Bhangra 2006 6 pm at The Fowler Join UCLA's award-winning Bhangra team in a fun-filled evening of Punjab-inspired modern Indian dance. Outdoors, light refreshments provided. music from AM + free drinks! 6-8pm at the Knitting Factory At the door, say Billboard invited you to Billboard Underground......

We hear that Moris Tepper, onetime guitarist for Captain Beefheart and Tom Waits, takes the stage tonight at the Echo, early, with buddy PJ Harvey on bass. His band Candlebone will open for Tenacious D this weekend at a benefit for the Women's Reproductive Rights Assistance Project. So you can always go see that and do some good. But tonight is Candlebone's chance to practice in front of a live audience. Do you want......

--!> Inara George is most easily categorized in that cliche-titled-yet-venerable tradition of the Singer-Songwriter — with Topanga native creds to boot. But her art isn’t that simple. Songs from her latest release, All Rise, are at times quiet, gentle, and sparse, while other moments create an intense richly lush melodic landscape that is very much steeped in local history and feeling. Inara is the kind of slightly ethereal artist most accessible to detractors of the......