Remember the strike? | Photo by Kim Shattuck via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr It's all about last minute campaigning for the Democrats in Ohio and Texas; as of this writing, both primaries are still too close to call (Obama & McCain have taken Vermont). More updates on this morning's story about Margaret Seltzer, the author who fabricated a "memoir" about growing up as a white, female gangbanger in L.A.'s South Central.......

Reeve Oliver plays Tuesday nights at the Key Club this month | Photo via their MySpace Tuesdays are usually slow nights in LA for music and as bands prep to head Texas-way for SXSW, we'll probably see even fewer choices like tonight. But fewer doesn't mean worse. Mountain Goats and Jeffrey Lewis (great video below) play at the Troubadour tonight (and tomorrow), Working For A Nuclear Free City is back with another concert, this......

Photo by atomicshakespeares via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr Suffering from an Oscar hangover? Then check out the next generation of hot filmmakers at The Beverly Hills Shorts Festival, which begins tonight and runs through the weekend. The studio that brought you such blockbusters as the "Lord of the Rings" franchise will soon become only the merest shadow of its former self: Warner Brothers will be absorbing New Line Cinema, which employs......

It's official - Buk's De Longpre house is now a landmark. Those who love the Buk are thrilled about this news, especially after the court fight got nasty when lawyers for the property owners called Bukowski a Nazi. Once that offensive mess got cleared up, the debate about the value of Bukowski's legacy raged on for months. To achieve landmark status after such a fight - especially in a city that seems hell-bent on tearing......

Boom Bip will be at The Roxy Tonight | Photo by Charley B via Boom Bip's MySpace page Yay for Monday nights, there's lots of quality to choose from. If you're looking for something crazy and fun, then watch this video we recently took of Killsonic, who plays at The Bordello tonight. LA Weekly picks Tracy Spuehler at the Hotel Cafe as their pick and What Made Milwaukee Famous plays once again, for free,......

West Indian Girl plays The Troubadour tonight | Photo by Ty Parker via their MySpace LA Weekly points us to some hot picks for tonight. About Girl in Coma: "Joan Jett knows a thing or two about rock & roll, and her latest protegees, Girl in a Coma, on her Blackheart label are one of the best and most interesting bands to come out of Texas in a long time," writes Falling James. They......

Samantha Sidley and Alex Silverman at their Silver Lake rehearsal space | Photo via their MySpace page Alex & Sam may be a duo in title, but their fairly large band, sometimes up to twelve-members on stage, is quite a force of music that just puts a smile on your face. You can't really corner them into a jazz-blues rock or straight rock category. All we can say is that on stage, they've got......

Aimee Mann will play tonight and tomorrow night at Largo. Dinner is booked, but they say come down early for drinks | Photo via MySpace Usually Tuesday nights are slow for music in this town. Not tonight -- the spirit of Super Tuesday and democracy must have rung clear to bookers. Of course, LAist is having a party too, starting at 7:00 p.m. at Seven Grand. Choices, choices. If there's a show you do......

The locally based GOOD Magazine, founded by Ben Goldhirsh, always treats its hometown with respect. Here's some of what they had to say about Los Angeles in their most recent rag, the food issue. LA Weekly's pulitzer prize food critic, Jonathan Gold, is given props in "The Next Sushi" (pg. 70). Which food type will go from unknown to trendy? Gold predicts that Korean Bibimbap could be it: "[It] may someday be as popular among......

Electro rockers, Piel, will play tonight at Crash Mansion | Photo from their MySpace page Last chance to catch bands in their Monday night January residencies. That, plus Fred Armisen, who LA Weekly says "does Prince better than Prince." Fred Armisen, Petra Haden, Chelsea Peretti @ The Troubadour Bloodcat Love, The Growlers, Sons & Lovers, Idyllists @ The Viper Room The Parson Red Heads, Idaho Falls, The Monolators, Papercranes @ Spaceland Piel, Odd Modern......

It's the last Saturday of the month and that means The Blue Mask at Mr. T's Bowl in Highland Park is back after a little holiday break. LA Weekly describes the all-night music party put on by fellow musicians of Motorcycle Black Madonnas as a venue to catch "some of the city’s most respected underground punk, hard-rock and bent-jazz musicians... Best of all, there’s almost no chance that the faux-rock glitterati (or celebrity trash like......

TALK CalArts and USC have a joint program at REDCAT tonight titled, “Listen Again: Music You Should Change Your Mind About Right Now.” A great panel of writers, musicians and scholars discuss the current state of pop music and celebrate the release of the latest scholarly writings on music issued by the Experience Music Project. Panelists include Neal Pollack (alternadad.com), Ann Powers (Los Angeles Times), R.J. Smith (Los Angeles magazine), Oliver Wang (Soul-sides.com, CSU-Long Beach)......

I wasn’t much of a Tom Petty fan in my pre-L.A. years, but like most people, I knew him from the basics…I had caterwauled the lyrics to "Free Fallin’" alongside other angsty Massachusetts teens at a dance or two, and I had been baffled by, but pretended I knew what the hell was going on in, the "Mary Jane's Last Dance" video. But beginning with my drive cross country, I began to develop a taste......

Sometimes Monday nights in Los Angeles are rather lacking for good music. But tonight there is something to celebrate for everyone and as Liz Ohanesian pointed out last month in LA Weekly, if you look east of Vermont, "Mondays have provided the best way for checking out upcoming local groups without busting our budgets." ... Monday-night residencies have become “part of the culture” of the Silver Lake–area nightlife. These free, weekly gatherings have created a......

The Pasadena Star-News is looking for you. Or if there are problems to rant about in general throughout the SGV, then the San Gabriel Valley Tribune might be where you go. Or hey, same goes for Whittier and the Whittier Daily News. "It's a new year and we are on the lookout for letters to the editor. If you have a person that wants to write one, or is expressing an opinion on an......

When Sharon Stone wears a gown that looks like she's been shot or Lindsay Lohan goes out in public in an insanely sheer dress, Mr. Blackwell considers their candidacy for his annual top 10 worst dressed. Countless actresses and singers made questionable wardrobe choices in 2007. The overexposed, the under-dressed, and the over-the-top take center stage in this yearly ritual. Tomorrow Mr. Blackwell, the well-known fashion critic and designer, will unveil his 48th Annual Worst-Dressed......

Sunday marks the return of HBO's The Wire. To get you ready for the premiere of the fifth and final season of a show that TIME, Entertainment Weekly, Slate and the San Francisco Chronicle have all called "The best on television" LAist has lined up interviews with three members of the show's incredible cast. Be sure to check back tomorrow and Friday. Our series begins with Tristan Wilds, who we were introduced to in......

The LA Weekly's Jonathan Gold names his "Top Ten Dishes of 2007" and curious palates all over the Southland take note. His picks include the porcetta at Brentwood's Vicenti (a rotisserie-cooked piece of pork where the "loin and belly are wrapped into a spiral, seasoned with fennel, and spit-roasted to a crackling, licorice-y succulence"), Donut Man's Strawberry Donut, and My Taco's Barbacoa (lamb), which we fell in love with too, when we checked out Garvanza.......

Last night's Old Town Pasadena shooting that left an Arcadia man wounded is reportedly a result of a drug deal gone awry. Police today released the name of the accused shooter, who is 18-year-old Mark Cole of Claremont. It's awful hard to put a plain brown wrapper on the porn you check out online. A New Jersey-based company that runs several internet porn sites revealed they recentled suffered a security breach that made its users......

It's the end of another year and LA has lost yet another handful of important buildings. LA Weekly has the goods on the "big ones" that were lost this year including the Ambassador Hotel and Cocoanut Grove, Trader Vic's, Johnie's Broiler, Mann National Theatre and our personal vote for deepest loss of the year, Tail o' the Pup. It seems we're not the only ones who mourn the loss of our favorite hot dog......

Today's issue of LA Weekly holds their top few picks of the 740 new California laws coming our way in 2008. The law that hits Californians on the most basic level is Senate Bill 33, which bans talking on a cell phone while driving unless using a hands free device. It also bans teens from using cell phones flat out while driving. Don't worry, you don't have to spend your money yet, buying that ear......

For those interested in entertainment I might liken to wrist-slitting, there's Disney on Ice or George Lopez live at the Nokia. For everyone else there's a few things going down around town. FILM Scarface (1932) scribe Ben Hecht's moody 1927 film Underworld screens tonight at the Silent Movie Theatre. "Viennese director Josef von Sternberg’s gritty revenge narrative follows the turbulent romantic and criminal phiursuits" of felon Bull Weed, and the film is often considered "the......

A body was found yesterday afternoon in the Angeles National Forest, off Highway 2 near Big Pines. The identity of the person has not been revealed. Now you can get all the penis-biting snake action you want on the web: the next "Jackass" sequel is set to premiere on the web through Blockbuster's new online movie service. In New Jersey, the state assembly has voted to outlaw the death penalty, "poising the state to......

Jennifer Lopez's twins will receive the royal treatment- the mommy to be was seen picking up onesies that read "Prince" and "Princess" - NY Daily News A new feud perhaps? Jessica Simpson reportedly "went nuts" after hearing that her faux BFF Eva Longoria was haning out with ex John Mayer - Page Six Paris Hilton an Oompa Loompa hero? The heiress gave comfort and protection to a dismayed and injured performer dressed as an......

Three people were injured and dozens evacuated after an apartment fire in Sherman Oaks gutted at least two units at 2 a.m. this morning. It was cold last night, but there are better ways to stay warm people. Australian police arrested a man in Melbourne who threatened to attack The Grove Friday. There is no evidence the man, who has never been to the United States, intended to carry out the attack. Still, days......

People have been asking me what's up with the Weekly lately and hell if I know. They do their thing and maybe new management has made them lose their edge, but maybe they're just getting olde. Seems to me that once upon a time if someone like Juliette Lewis was in town to play a Saturday night show at the Roxy with a decent bill like Scissors for Lefty and Suffrajett, the Weekly would......

Nine are dead in Omaha, Nebraska today after a man opened fire in a shopping mall, and then shot himself. Police do not have a motive so far. Did you have this conversation this morning? "Sorry, boss, I can't come in to work today...a terrible cough, I, uh, flu symptoms, definitely -- what waves? Uh, I don't know what you're talking about...." Lots of SoCal surfers took a sick day and busted out on......

We at LAist love Zocalo's Public Square Lecture events (especially when they're either about porn or food porn) and we know lots of you love Mexican food. So we're excited about their event coming up on Tuesday December 11th called The Mexican Restaurant in Los Angeles, which will be moderated by Jonathan Gold, L.A. Weekly Restaurant Critic and idol-worthy food writer. The scoop and the lineup, from their website:Zócalo has gathered together some of the......

Britney Spears's new friend and advisor Sam Lufti may be charged in a Los Angeles court this week for ramming his car into a process server's Range Rover who was hired by Kevin Federline to subpeona Lufti back in August - US Weekly Jessica Simpson's reps are denying she had any work done on her lips, have they not seen the pics? - People In more celeb plastic surgery news, looks like Jennifer Aniston......

The WORST NEWS IMAGINABLE: you know that shiny new Fender Strat Rock Band controller? It's probably going to break. I KNOW. Harmonix is finally responding to the issue, but we hear it's fairly easy to fix at home. More fallout from striking writers: the Democratic party has cancelled next month's candidate debate due to a contract dispute between CBS and its many creative staffers. The Airbus A380, the world's largest passenger aircraft, is at......