What is the legislature doing during the government shutdown?; Tourism-reliant businesses feel the sting of the shutdown; Highlights and outcome of the Michael Jackson-AEG trial; Where's the best place for brunch in Los Angeles?; RZA headlines 5-year anniversary party for Echo Park's Bedrock Studios, plus much more.
What is the legislature doing during the government shutdown?
President Obama met yesterday with House and Senate leaders, but there's no sign of progress in resolving the stalemate that has idled 800,000 federal employees, closed national parks, and curtailed everything from scientific research to food inspections.
With many Congressional aides furloughed, and not much happening at the Capitol, some lawmakers are taking constituent calls personally; calls that would usually be answered by staffers.
Joining us with more on what's happening, or not happening on Capitol Hill, Fawn Johnson of National Journal.
Tourism-reliant businesses feel the sting of the government shutdown
Many government workers aren't going to work this morning because of the continued federal shutdown. Besides those employees, the shutdown is hitting a lot of peripheral businesses.
Groveland, California sits right outside Yosemite National Park and the hotels, restaurants and stores there rely on park tourist traffic. Dori Jones owns Dori's Tea Cottage is in Groveland. She joins the show to tell us how the closure is affecting her.
Dodgers announcer Vin Scully hints at retiring after 2014 season
The Dodgers return to the playoffs tonight for the first time in four years. They're facing a team that beat them five times this year: The Atlanta Braves.
RELATED: Timeline: A look at Vin Scully's career
There will no doubt be many fans who will mute their TVs for the game and listen to the radio. That's because the legendary Dodgers announcer Vin Scully will only be on the AM dial for the playoffs.
RELATED: Los Angeles Dodgers announcer Vin Scully hints he may retire after the next baseball season
KPCC's Ben Bergman recently sat down with Scully to talk about his rumored plans to retire after the 2014 season and more.
KPCC's online polls are not scientific surveys of local or national opinion. Rather, they are designed as a way for our audience members to engage with each other and share their views. Let us know what you think on our Facebook page, facebook.com/kpcc, or in the comments below.
The verdict and highlights of the Michael Jackson-AEG trial
The verdict yesterday that AEG was not responsible for Michael Jackson's death was met with outcry from fans.
Jackson' mother and his three children filed a lawsuit against the concert promoter for negligence when the singer was preparing for the AEG's sponsored "This Is It" tour in Europe.
The trial lasted five-months and cost millions of dollars. To re-cap the highlights and sum up the expenses we are joined by the LA Times' Jeff Gottlieb.
RZA headlines 5-year anniversary party for Echo Park's Bedrock Studios
This weekend, RZA will headline a block party in Echo Park. It's a celebration of Bedrock Studios' five years in the neighborhood. Part rehearsal space, part recording studio, part pinball machine collection, many have called the studio space a Disneyland for musicians.
Alex profiles the 5-year-old space that has hosted the likes of Beck, Divine Fits, and Janelle Monáe, in addition to many working musicians in L.A.
RELATED: Tickets and more info about Bedrocktoberfest here (Promo code: BED50)
This weekend, RZA will headline a block party in Echo Park. It's a celebration of Bedrock Studios' five years in the neighborhood. Part-rehearsal space, part-recording studio, part-pinball machine collection, many have called the studio space a Disneyland for musicians.
The 40,000 square-foot former jewelry factory is hard to miss. A massive mural of colorful snakes wraps around the brick exterior, which sits on a quiet street near the 2 freeway.
It was around noon on a weekday, far too early for most respecting musicians to be up, but just walking down the hallway, you get the idea about this place.
In addition to the dog that greets you on the way in, and the pinball machines in the lobby, one of the first things you notice about Bedrock is its vending machine.
"We put some drumsticks and guitar strings, and some teriyaki bites and there's a 9-volt battery," said Bedrock co-founder Kamran Valanejad, who goes just by 'Kamran.' "It's mostly just what you need when you need it."
Before opening Bedrock, Kamran spent years working with musicians at venues in Silverlake and Echo Park.
He said he began to notice a demand for affordable rehearsal space nearby. Sure there were places in the San Fernando valley and downtown LA. But they were often hard to schlep to, and there were often expensive.
"Not every band can afford to rent something month-to-month, and they don't like hauling around their gear, so we said, 'what do we like about rehearsal rooms and what don't we like?'" said Kamran. "We have parking, air conditioning, gear that works, people that are happy to be here."
And he said Echo Park is an ideal location for many reasons.
"I think in LA, if you want to be a creative person, you have to just figure out what works for you and for lots of reasons, Echo Park seems to be a great place for creative work," said Kamran. "The people around you are supportive, there's lots of places to play, there's lots of places now with us to rehearse, people like coffee, there's coffee everywhere and it's fairly inexpensive compared to being in other parts of Los Angeles."
There are over a hundred rooms at Bedrock, like the Madonna Inn, many are decorated with their own themes.
"There's sort of a psychedelic Partridge Family-looking room, there's a dark horror-themed room with posters and there's an Echo Park room that has the newspaper from the day that we made it, from Echo Park."
Bands can also record at Bedrock. There's a shop where they can rent gear and instruments, and a workshop where they get instruments, mics and amps repaired.
Not long after Bedrock opened, a number of notable musicians started dropping by. Beck, Janelle Monae, The Eagles of Death Metal, and Divine Fits have all spent time there. And those are just the bands he knows about.
"There was a rumor that Thom Yorke had been here singing and we could all hear him early one morning and there's no way it could have been anyone else but...things like that just happen," said Kamran.
But he said he's perhaps most impressed by the bands that haven't made it big yet. Everyday he is able to see just how hard aspiring musicians in Los Angeles are working to do what they love.
"The amount of working bands that not only are just like, 'I'm gonna be in a band and I'm gonna play,' but are actually touring and playing and making this a living is really impressive," said Kamran. "You know, even if some of them will bartend at night or whatever they need to do to get by, this is a massive commitment. I mean we had one band, it was a couple, and we found out they had actually been living in their car mostly so they could afford to rent a room here, which isn't that expensive, but that's the level of commitment that a lot of people have out here to their art. We're lucky that this seems to be the playground for that."
This weekend, that playground opens up to the public. On Saturday, Bedrock Studios will host the first Bedrocktoberfest, with beer, music from RZA, Liam Finn and others and several magicians from the Magic Castle.
State of Affairs: Grand Ave. project, LA River and more
It's Thursday and that means it's time for State of Affairs, our look at politics and government throughout California. To help us with that we're joined in studio now by KPCC political reporter Alice Walton and editor Oscar Garza.
This week the board that oversees the construction of the Grand Avenue project agreed to extend a design deadline for two luxury towers that will be built across the street from the Walt Disney Concert Hall. This came just days after the panel rejected a developer's mockup for the towers. What's going on here?
We've talked in previous weeks about a proposed ballot measure that would require the city of Los Angeles to create its own public health department. This week the City Attorney's Office sued to block this measure. What is the problem, according to L.A. city officials?
There's a petition floating around City Hall regarding the future of the L.A. River. But what's unique about this petition is that it's being pushed by elected officials. Isn't it unusual for politicians to be circulating petitions?
Last week we reported that Mayor Eric Garcetti wanted to look into funds that the utility was giving to two nonprofits. This week the new Board of Water and Power Commissioners met for the first time. What happened?
Finally, as we all know, the federal government has been shut down this week. How is it affecting Southern California?
Silk Road online drug market seized by the FBI
The underground web site, The Silk Road, was known as the Amazon of illegal drugs. Yesterday, the FBI arrested the alleged founder of the Silk Road, a 29-year-old named Ross William Ulbricht.
RELATED: Meeting Dread Pirate Roberts, the head of the Silk Road illicit drug website
For more on this, we're joined once again by Nate Anderson deputy editor for Ars Technica.
Criminal Complaint against Ross William Ulbricht, known as Dread Pirate Roberts
Dinner Party Download: 3-D printed toothbrush, wine and moon dust beer
Every week we get your weekend conversation starters with Rico Gagliano and Brendan Newnam, the hosts of the Dinner Party Download podcast and radio show.
On tap this week:
3-D Printed Toothbrush
Somehow, this 3d-printed toothbrush cleans your teeth in six seconds (check out the creepy video model, too!):
Why You Drink Too Much Wine
The amount of wine you drink in a sitting (or standing) depends on all sorts of surprising things.
Moon Dust Beer
Yes, it exists, complete with spacesuit koozies. Ironically, the has a "surprising earthiness."
Where's the best place for brunch in Los Angeles?
Let's talk about brunch.
It might seem a little early in the week to go there, after all, most of us have two whole sleep-deprived days of burnt work coffee and vending machine granola bars to get through before we can start dreaming of bourbon-laced brioche french toast.
But if you know anything about L.A. brunches, you know you've got to plan.
Here to help us strategize our Sunday is Lesley Bargar-Suter, dine editor for Los Angeles Magazine, who recently published a guide to L.A. brunches.
Graphic via lamag.com
LA Mag's Picks for Best Brunches
Fancy
AOC, 8700 W. 3rd St., Beverly Grove
Bouchon, 235 N. Canon Dr., Beverly Hills
Jar, 8225 Beverly Blvd., Beverly Grove
The Tasting Kitchen, 1633 Abbot Kinney Blvd., Venice
Wolfgang Puck at Hotel Bel-Air, 701 Stone Canyon Rd., Bel-Air
Homey
Aroma Tea & Coffee, 4360 Tujunga Ave., Studio City
Barbrix, 2442 Hyperion Ave., Silver Lake
Cooks County, 8009 Beverly Blvd., Beverly Grove
M.B. Post, 1142 Manhattan Ave., Manhattan Beach
Superba Snack Bar, 533 Rose Ave., Venice
Global
El Rocoto, 1356 W. Artesia Blvd., Gardena,
Elite Restaurant, 700 S. Atlantic Blvd., Monterey Park
Rutt's Hawaiian Cafe, 12114 Washington Blvd., Culver City
The Spice Table, 114 S. Central Ave., Little Tokyo
Sunny Spot, 822 W. Washington Blvd., Venice
Boozy
Cecconi's, 8674 Melrose Ave., West Hollywood
Eveleigh, 8752 W. Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood
The Hudson, 1114 N. Crescent Heights Blvd., West Hollywood
Little Dom's, 2128 Hillhurst Ave., Los Feliz
Mr. C, Mr. C Hotel, 1224 Beverwill Dr., Pico-Robertson