Jon Weisman, like many of us, wears many hats. A former reporter for the Daily News, Weisman, 41, is now a full-time editor for Variety Magazine, Dodger blogger and father of three. By his own admonition, it is a tough balancing act made even more difficult by his blogs' move from a domain with other baseball writers to the LA Times. The transition from Baseball Toaster, which recently shut down after Weisman and others left, to the Times, could represent a seismic shift in sports journalism. At once, it shows that the mainstream media is continuing to recognize blogs (and bloggers) as writers to be taken seriously while also giving great credence to the multitude of fans who regularly read Weisman's posts. Or it could mean very little in the scheme of things, if the humble Weisman is to be believed. more ›

Who knew an early Monday morning post about graffiti on a mural posthumously made famous by singer/songwriter Elliott Smith would lead to such wonderful results. Nearly six months ago, then-editor of LAist, Tony Pierce, posted a photo of the graffitied wall stating that "this is why we can't have nice things." Then, on Monday, reader Robert T. wrote an e-mail attaching a photo of a new tag on the wall. What we noticed was that the tag from six months ago was still there, under the new one. more ›

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The global day of action was initially announced last month after a video attributed to "Anonymous" coincided with an online effort that managed to temporarily knock out Internet servers belonging to the Church of Scientology. more ›

Last week I met up with Tony Pierce and some of his friends at the best Downtown bar to catch up and have some drinks. After talk about pimps blogging in Compton and strippers getting fondled in Canada, Tony turned to me and asked, “So you been writing about any guys lately?” more ›

When Tony Pierce began as editor of LAist in June of 2006, he brought in a new genius noon column called Tonight in Rock. It was needed, this town is most definitely a music town and you can't avoid it. If you have a favorite band, it's just a matter of when they'll be visiting next. more ›

LAist has polled a number of our favorite LA locals to find out their New Year's Resolutions! In the spirit of fairness, here is mine: I'm cutting up the credit cards! Let's see what everyone else has to say: more ›

This week Zach Behrens became the sixth editor of LAist. Behrens is no stranger to LAist staff or readers -- he was Co-Editor for nearly a year before taking the reins from Tony Pierce and contributed more than 1100 posts since 2005. more ›

Photo by edenjet via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr
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A sad week for LAist as they lose their trusted and amazing editor Tony Pierce to the LA Times, but what a blast his last week was. He shared his 25 Favorite CDs of 2007 and wrote a great review of just a good movie, No Country For Old Men. At UCLA, thousands of students celebrated the end of their quarter by running around campus in their undies (lots of photos in a two-part photo essay, one, two). That wasn't the only photo essay either: Joss Whedon/Mutant Enemy friends and Star Trek actors all joined in at the Writers Strike and KROQ's Almost Acoustic Christmas brought two nights of amazing bands that included Avenged Sevenfold, Linkin Park (Part I), Modest Mouse, Muse, Spoon and The Killers (Part II). Not only is L.A. a great music town, it has just been named the best city for bookish types. For those who are looking for something a little more active, American Gladiators are back (yes!) and if that's not enough, how about a Christmas gift of action and adventure? more ›

• Want a Wii this holiday season? Well toooooo fuckin bad. The best you can hope for is a rain check certificate that will entitle you to a console at some point in January. Even the Wii people themselves are now admitting what a mess they've made of manufacturing this thing.
• Two members of a terrorist cell have pleaded guilty to charges of conspiring to wage war: the splinter group was "was poised to attack military sites, synagogues and other targets" in Southern California. The two men face 20-25 years in prison.
• Oh noes! The hipsters will be so dry now! The DWP will be draining Elysian Park and Silver Lake reservoirs because of high levels of toxic chemicals in the water.
• Gas prices soar, consumer inflation also goes up: "Consumer Price Index rose 0.8 percent last month, the biggest one-month increase since a 1.2 percent surge in September 2005, when the country was hit by rising energy costs in the wake of Hurricane Katrina."
• It's the PLAGUE!!! Actually, no, it's just the flu, and a child in the Valley is the first to be diagnosed this season. Get your flu shots! Unless you're like me and treat every illness with a few stiff shots of whiskey.
• Rhino Records is open again! Not at their storied Westwood location (sniff sniff), but they're operating a "pop-up" store during the month of December only over at Third and Fairfax.
• A "guns-for-gifts" exchange will be held tomorrow in Compton: "People turning in a gun to sheriff's personnel will receive a $50 gift card to Best Buy, Home Depot, Ralphs or Target. $100 gift cards will be given for each of the first 50 guns turned in. About 400 guns were turned in at a similar exchange in 2005".
• Conan O'Brien and NBC are getting sued...by a bodybuilder...over a Clay Aiken gay joke. Do we live on the moon or something? Oh no, that's right -- Hollywood.
• Midnight Ridazz are doing an all-city Bring-A-Toy-For-Charity bike ride tonight. Check their website for details.

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It was a craaaaazy night on the town. You took dozens of photos with your pocket-sized digital camera. But you don't have Photoshop, and all you want to do is upload your pics directly to Flickr (something you could even do wirelessly if Hanukkah Harry hooks you up with with an Eye-Fi). Good news. Flick just went live with a new feature that allows you to crop, resize, touch-up, de-red-eye, brighten, and flip your... more ›

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Some people hate the truth. They look at the scoreboard and they hate what they see. They look at themselves and they hate what they see. They look at others having success and they hate that too. Last night blogging.la did the right thing and they linked to our post about my resignation from LAist due to my new gig at the LA Times. Because the blogosphere is what it is, a small group... more ›

It’s been a whirlwind of a day here at LAist. Early this morning our Editor told the staff via email that he would soon be accepting a new job at the LA Times running all of their blogs (of which there are about 25, currently) and that he would be starting in just a few weeks. We all knew this day would come, but so soon? Since the moment Tony Pierce began at LAist back... more ›

This is my first post on LAist, so I just want to start out by saying I'm thankful for Tony Pierce inviting me to contribute to the site based off of the WGA strike photos I've been sending him. more ›

Who says there's anything we wouldn't do for our readers? Here we are in all of our glory and humiliation for your viewing pleasure. more ›

If you're a local sports fan, hopefully you had Columbus Day (International Day of Solidarity with Indigenous People, whatever) off to nurse a wicked hangover. In fact, maybe you should take tonight off from Sports Center, too. It's Leif Erikson day. Honest. Even George W. Bush knows that (and don't worry, he's probably not working today, either). Maybe it wasn't the worst, but it was up there. T.J. Simers hit the nail on the... more ›

The Detour Festival was ok. I didn't stay for very long because my girlfriend and I felt like cattle, and were tired of doing the unavoidable million laps around City Hall. Basically we echo all the sentiments previously put forth by our faithful editor, Tony Pierce. After the jump enjoy over 60 pics of such bands and big shots as: Kinky, Janeane Garofalo, Autolux, The Ravonettes, and Perry Ferrell's Satellite Party. All Photos by... more ›

Last week when we were at the MTV VMAs we got to spend a quick minute with Common backstage at the Palms. We not only got to ask him about what he thinks is the reasoning behind his single "The People" making it to the top of the charts, despite it being nothing like 50 Cent, but we also got to ask him about Britney Spears' opening performance. What's interesting is we also got... more ›

The season 3 premiere of FX's It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia is the pick of the night. This is arguably Danny DeVito's best work since L.A. Confidential and his best comedy work in almost 20 years. While it's true that since it's cable the cast can say "shit" and "asshole" but that's not a gimmick the show relies on too much. What the show does follow is what made Seinfeld a success - it's a... more ›

9:00pm Big Brother 8 CBS - Another houseguest gets the boot [who are you betting on Tony Pierce?] 9:00pm i-Caught ABC - Soldiers use of the internet; also, so-called blogebrities who have access to the hottest events - hmmmm, that kinda sounds like our lauded editor Tony Pierce ;-) 10:00pm P.O.V. "The Camden 28" PBS/KLCS - Back in the day, people used to do more than just bitch about the war on blogs -... more ›

Damages is the prime time choice for me but check out late night TV: Bill Clinton, David Duchovny, Kirk Douglas, Gogol Bordello! 9:00pm Big Brother 8 CBS - The veto battles continue [look for Tony Pierce's commentary as this is a fave of his] 9:00pm i-Caught ABC - Consumers fight back with video, plus a profile of comic Tom Green's online talk show. 10:00pm Damages FX - Yeah baby! Damages is back after a... more ›

LAist has an Internet radio show. Today is our soft launch. On the show will be Matt Welch of the LA Times talking to LAist Editor Tony Pierce about Welch's new book about John McCain. Call in at 310 984-7600 and listen by joining us after the jump...... more ›

8:00pm Going Back to New Orleans UPN/KCOP - Music icon Deacon John Moore documents the unique culture of the Big Easy. 9:00pm Against the Tide: The Battle for New Orleans CNBC - The business side of the New Orleans recovery effort. 10:00pm Still Waiting: Life After Katrina PBS/KOCE An African American/Creole family returns to New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina, hoping to hold on to their bayou culture. 10:00pm DIY to the Rescue: Katrina Rebuild... more ›

It's been two years since an American city was destroyed. The above clip is a teaser of a video podcast series produced and promoted by entertainment icon Quincy Jones and pop guy Usher who have teamed up with Habitat for Humanity in order to urge Americans not to forget the victims of the hurricane. Think about what happened two years ago and think of a way to help. Editor Tony Pierce drove to New... more ›

Beastie Boys @ Greek Theatre [two photo essays of last night's show here and here] Ted Nugent @ House of Blues Manic, Dead Ponies, Minutes til Midnight, Policy @ The Echo Low vs Diamond, Oliver Future, The Lonely H, The Scare @ Spaceland Metal Skool, Tattooed Millionaires, The Unwanted Guests, Ramonas LA @ Key Club Resident Hero, Rama Duke, Hello Vegas, Putnam Hall @ The Troubadour The Crash Kings, Birds & Batteries, Walker Young... more ›

Morris Day & the Time, Sea Wolf, The Broken West, Ben Harper, Blonde Redhead, The Emotions, Medusa, Breakestra, Autolux, Culver City Dub Collective, The Parson Red Heads, The Pity Party, Division Day, others @ Sunset Junction (10a-10p) Yolanda Adams, Angie Stone, Clarence Carter, The Laws Family, Eloise Laws, Barbara Morrison, Linda Hopkins, Billy Valentine @ Compton Summer Soul Jam, Par 3 Golf Course Stevie Nicks, ZZ Top, The Pretenders, Stray Cats, Sugar Ray @... more ›

Here is a mix of tunes by bands that were mentioned in LAist in July of 2007: Powered by Podbean.com the Dwarves - Detention Girl (Anti interviewed Blag Dahlia of the Dwarves) Snoop Dogg - Beautiful (Anti reviewed Snoop's show) Gnarls Barkley - Crazy (Paul Dateh plays violin on 'Crazy' interviewed by Tony Pierce) Spoon - Infinite Pet (concert previewed by Michele Reverte and reviewed by Joey Maloney) Interpol - Slow Hands (CD review... more ›