Kevin Kelly

Hamell on Trial brought his rocking and wailing tunes to Molly Malone's recently, and LAist was there. Ed Hamell, the one man band that is Hamell on Trial, has been playing his guitar and touring for more than a decade, and he ain't your average guy. While he doesn't really fit into a particular "genre" of music, he most definitely is not a folksinger. His songs are all autobiographical, and some evoke somber feelings...

This past President's Day weekend, LAist took a leisurely trip through our sister city, San Francisco, and up through the windy roads north of Santa Rosa and Napa to our final destination, Harbin Hot Springs. Harbin is reached by a long and winding road up through the mountains, which is often enshrouded by fog and/or rain. This morning, we had both of them. Once you round the final bend of arrive at Harbin, you...

Ah, the urban laundromat. An unpredictable battlefield of soiled raiments. Not exactly somewhere one heads for a fun time, but somewhere that we've all had to visit from time to time. Some of you may be lucky enough to have individual washing machines in your own homes and apartments, but some of you out there have to venture bravely into these dens of iniquity. Laundromats are a lot like public city buses. They are...

It doesn't seem like The Grove can quite figure out what it wants to be. Over the past few months LAist has witnessed a Dodgers celebration, a puppet show, what appeared to be a wedding ("Oh honey, I've always wanted to get married at The Grove...within walking distance of Nordstrom's, The Gap, and Victoria's Secret. Should we book it?"), and several sparsely attended little concerts, all on their tiny little green lawn. This part...

"Fresh coal in your engine, get your 'choo-choo' on the tracks, gather up your peeples, TRAINWRECK'S comin' back to your town..." LAist managed to catch the elusive band TRAINWRECK at the Malibu Inn this past Saturday night and find out about the mysterious band. TRAINWRECK is what you could loosely call a Southern Rock band fronted by singer Darryl Donald (J.R. Reed) in all of his mulleted, porkchop-sideburned glory. He belts out tunes like...

LAist had the chance to try out a SIRIUS satellite radio unit during their morning commute this morning, and this thing might actually live up to the hype. Not only does it offer 7,549 music channels (a slight exaggeration), but it also offers news, sports, entertainment, weather, traffic, and makes lattes. This morning during our commute we listened to The Breeders, The Clash, Sammy Hagar (whoops), Marty Robbins (ah, the City of El Paso),...

The average taxicab driver of Los Angeles must be out to prove something. Maybe they have a chip on their shoulder because they aren't the first thing that pops into someone's mind when they think of a typical "cabbie". That honor has to go to the New York taxicab driver. Those guys are usually pictured in one of two ways; either an overweight, older man, with a pull-down cap on his head, growling "Where...

Have you ever been in the mood for a cashew? A plain old cashew, nothing fancy, or over the top. Chances are, you have been. As any mixed nut assortment can attest, the cashew is the most sought after nut, edging out all others in the battle for top nut. Not even the pecan nor the Brazil nut can compete. How many times have you ever picked through a huge can of mixed nuts,...

LAist's latest contributor, Kevin Kelly, caught a performance of MacHomer on 1/29/2005 at Pepperdine University. Ladies and Gentlemen, Rich Little and Frank Gorshin have apparently channeled (or sold) their mimicry talents to Montreal-born Rick Miller, impressionist and genius behind the wonder that is "MacHomer." Rick has taken Shakespeare's Macbeth and worked it into a contemporary take on the tale using almost every Simpson's character in the process. He impersonates everyone from Apu Nahasapeemapetilon (in...