Jeremy Oberstein

It would be disingenuous to describe the The National as new or up-and-coming. The Cincinnati-based band has been around for a good decade and has a solid body of five albums in their arsenal. Yet their current - which included stop at the Wiltern May 21 - felt like an unveiling for The National as they begin to embrace widespread recognition on the strength of their recent release. Showcasing much of their latest album, High...

They've been all over the map, playing at Amoeba, the Avalon and even the Roxy earlier this week. So it may come as no surprise that Band of Horses chose the final resting spot for some of Hollywood's most enduring personalities as the first stop on their road to showcase Infinite Arms. Still, most inside the Masonic Lodge in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery Monday night - which included about four dozen contest winners, studio execs...

Despite blank stares from leadman James Mercer, Broken Bells' artfully constructed and beautifully arranged notes highlighted the band's genius, making the show one of the year's best thus far.

End of the Day Links: More on the earthquake, immigrant rights, eating Chinese food, an arrest in the UCLA assault, the school districts of Glendale and Burbank, Steve Cooley,

David Plouffe, at 42-years-old, has likely reached the pinnacle of his career. He successfully guided a little known junior senator from Illinois to the highest echelon of national power while galvanizing an electorate burnt out from eight years of rancorous political discourse. In, "The Audacity to Win: The Inside Story and Lessons of Barack Obama's Historic Victory," Plouffe details the campaign from its infancy to present day. He takes us on a highly detailed journey in which he initially demurred at the prospect of managing the campaign, through the difficulties of the two-year campaign and the ultimate elation felt after America elected its first black president. He joined us Monday for a chat about what that experience was like, why he was surprised by McCain's campaigns tactics and what lies ahead for the architect of Change as he readies for an appearance Tuesday in Pasadena.

Matt Miller, Arianna Huffington, Tony Blankley and Robert Scheer | Photo by Salvador Farfan | www.caughtinthemoment.com Los Angeles is a metropolis, a diversified city of 3.6 million with interests as varied as the neighborhoods that comprise its vast mosaic. Yet, one of the most persistent knocks against this town is its lack of interest in news and politics. Television news, what with its raging hard on for weather-related pieces and sex scandals, gives some...

Maybe the greatest thing about Grizzly Bear, the thing that everyone should know, is this: They are totally enigmatic and impossible to pin down. Of course, this is what makes them difficult to write about and even more difficult to consider what it is that makes this foursome so appealing. But appealing they are. Backed by a score of firefly lights, and an orchestral touch, the Brooklyn-based quartet played to a nearly-sold out audience...

Diamond Leung still loves baseball and journalism. But you'd understand if he didn't. After five years at the Riverside-Press Enterprise, two of those as the Dodgers beat writer, Leung, 27, was laid off from his post after the paper eliminated most of its baseball coverage. The San Francisco native and UCLA grad, at right, moved back to his hometown and did what any young, self respecting unemployed baseball lover would do: start a blog....

It's hard work watching baseball games on Fox. On the one hand, each contest always seems lasts an hour too long and, on the other, the Fox announcers over-the-top Yankee gushing (though mostly Derek Jeter) makes you feel less like you're watching a baseball game and more like an episode of the Dating Game. Plus, last night's classic not withstanding, game one of the ALCS was a slow, matter of fact contest between the dominant Yankees and the suddenly hapless Angels.

Through a nearly two-hour Wiltern set last week, in which they played two dozen songs from almost every album they've made, Wilco exemplified why their place in musical history is secure. Their set list showcased the strengths of every band member and featured plenty from their early days, the middle ages and a recent run of folk/rock experimentation. In short, there was something for everyone, which was quite necessary given the eclectic crowd of teenage listeners, twenty-something fans and older lovers of Wilco who might have been around since the Summerteeth days.