Jeremy Oberstein

But Cymbeline gets points for amalgamating all genres and Theatricum for putting on one of Shakespeare’s lesser known works. The cast, led by Willow Geer as Imogen and Mike Peebler as Posthumus, struck all the right notes with a golden touch of brevity and soul. Thad Geer, as King Cymbeline, overcame a stiff first couple of scenes to assume a commanding and royal presence while Aaron Hendry’s spot-on portrayal of the sly and duplicitous Iachimo was near perfect.

As Wilco prepares to unveil its seventh studio album, the soon to be released "Wilco, (The Album)," the band is barnstorming across the U.S. and world. Earlier this week, I spoke with Wilco's guitar wizard and Los Angeles native Nels Cline from the road, in Oklahoma City. Nels, one of the newest members of the group, splits his time between riffing with Wilco and his own avant-garde jazz band, the Nels Cline trio. We talked about his two musical worlds, his thoughts on Wilco before he joined the band and the bodily harm he does to himself on stage.

There is something immensely comforting about residencies - month-long appearances by bands at a relatively small venue. By their very nature, they imply homeliness and a familiarity that is both welcoming and calm. The shows, for example, are almost always free and the headlining band, via their month stay, has a fantastic opportunity to endear themselves to fans and staff by their very repetitive nature. Alas, in as much as some bands are more interesting...

At first glance, the pairing of Great Northern and Dears seems like an unlikely duo to grace the same stage. Still, there they were on May 23, each taking their turn trying to wow the Echoplex crowd who learned, after a sometimes amazing, but more often average show, that the bands' similarities far outweigh their differences.

The epicenter of the quake was in Lennox, 10 miles from Downtown Los Angeles Now, hasn't it just been too quiet in Southern California? Were you not just asking about when the next earthquake was going to hit? We have our answer. A 4.7 (originally estimated by sensors as 5.0) struck at 8:39 p.m., 10 miles SSW of Downtown L.A. in Lennox, a suburb just feet from Inglewood. We are getting reports that people...

The Heartless Bastards, featuring Erika Wennerstrom with drummer Dave Colvin (L) and bassist Jesse Ebaugh (R) I Photo via the band. Erika Wennerstromon is an enigma. Raised in Ohio, the lead singer of The Heartless Bastards now resides in Austin, where she writes the music she herself has trouble pegging down into a certain category. The blues/rock/etc/ inspired sound of their newest album, The Mountain, has received rave reviews. It strikes a more complex...

Dylan Hernandez, the 28-year-old Dodgers beat writer for the Los Angeles Times, is set to embark on his second full season covering the team. The native Southern Californian and graduate of UCLA has worked for a slew of papers before the Times hired him in 2007. He recently ended one of the more difficult periods in his professional life: covering the Manny Ramirez saga for the Times through sleepless nights and hundreds of stories. I recently caught up with him about the rigors of covering the sport, how traditional sports journalism has been affected by baseball bloggers and what has to happen for the Dodgers to resign Manny Ramirez.

Her name is Reason and she is not quite 10 years old. In fact, if you ask her, she'll tell you she is 9-and-a-half, which bodes well for her ability to keep a close tab on important numbers. But that is not why I asked her to fill out my NCAA brackets this year. Each and every year, we are subject to endless debate about who will win, who should win and who who has no chance. This year, I decided to forgo usual strategy that included years of picks based on advice from so-called experts and go with someone whose lack of college basketball wisdom rivals only her fondness for recess.

The Dodger spring training complex is a picture of baseball heaven. More than 13 fields, each manicured to perfection sit under a blazing Arizona sun as players mingle with fans and sign autographs amid the state-of-the-art site. The proximity to Los Angeles versus Florida was certainly a key reason many new spring training visitors made trek to the new site while many cited the beautiful fields and relatively cheap ticket prices as reasons to come back. But before the site can be declared a success, Dodger brass must first fix one key component: honoring the team's storied history as the old site in Florida did so well.

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.