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Former president of Shell Oil John Hofmeister and Alaskan journalist Charles Wohlforth discuss an "oil-free future." More >>
If you remember how to do the Robot or Funky Chicken or pop and lock, then go funk yourself at the Grammy Museum as Soul Train celebrates 40 years of, say it with a deep voice, "Love, peace and soul." The Hippest Trip in America named after the VH1 documentary that aired earlier this year and featured interviews with Aretha Franklin, Chaka Khan, Snoop Dogg, The O'Jays, Clive Davis and... More >>
Dylan Moran is possibly the most lovable misanthrope who has ever lived. The Irish comic projects a great deal of misery and sheer, glorious crank in his standup, but he's almost impossible not to like with his keen intelligence, just unkempt enough to still be attractive looks, and perfectly wordy witticism that is tremendously appealing even when he's skewering something close to home.... More >>
Lascelle "Wiss" Bulgin, Albert "Apple" Craig and Cecil "Skelly" Spence originally met as children in Kingston, Jamaica's Mona Rehabilitation Center. Each was stricken with polio but their true bond was an interest in contributing to the burgeoning roots reggae movement. From 1978 to 1981, they released three classics of the genre The Same Song, Unconquered People, and Why You So Craven... More >>
The Troubadour Theatre Company, led by writer-director and chief jester Matt Walker, is renowned for witty mash-ups of Shakespeare with pop tunes. Watching this lampoon of A Winter's Tale and Bill Withers, die-hard Troubie fans may lament the less-than-usual ratio of comedy to drama. Combining a handful of Withers' gentle pop hits with Shakespeare's problematic play (is it a drama? is it a... More >>
Former American Music Club guitarist Sean Hoffman and visual artist Leyla Akdogan are now melodious duo Loch & Key, crooning old-style little ditties that would sound from another, gentler era, if they didn't directly reference Echo Park hipsters. Their new album, Jupiter's Guide for Submariners, is a limited-edition hand-stamped art object very much worth tracking down. Their residency at the... More >>
Join Luke Burbank (Wait Wait Don't Tell Me, This American Life) for a live recording of his podcast phenomenon Too Beautiful To Live, with superstar guests Rob Corddry, Dana Gould, Garfunkel & Oates, Marc Maron, Adam Felber, Princeton, Jesse Thorn, The Dinner Party Download, and other people more famous than you. More >>
Venerable cultural critic Simon Reynolds' latest effort to understand worthwhile music, Totally Wired: Postpunk Interviews and Overviews (Soft Skull Press, $16.95). Glancing through the interviews reads like any given K-TEL commercial, a Freedom Rock for a more discerning and fractured age: Joy Division, The Slits' Ari Up, Siouxsie and Her Banshees, Gang of Four, The Fall, Devo, PIL's Jah... More >>
Most fathers just tell their sons to keep their rooms clean, get good grades and not get a girl pregnant in high school. Justin Halpern's father gave him more colorful advice, like "Listen up, if someone is being nice to you, and you don't know them, run away. No one is nice to you just to be nice to you, and if they are, well, they can go take their pleasant ass somewhere else." After moving... More >>
Here's a benefit that sounds worth getting a pet sitter for: To raise money for rescued farm animals, Animal Acres 2010 Gala kicks off with a "Cowtail Party," followed by a veggie dinner, awards and such, plus entertainment emcee/comedy legend Elayne Boosler (pictured), honorary chair Bill Maher, music by Social Distortion and JP, Chrissie and Fairground Boys, which just happens to be Chrissie... More >>
It's beautiful how completely mild-mannered people have infected popular culture with some of its most evolved and frightening concepts. There's Burroughs, Crumb, Freddie Laker and H.P. Lovecraft, for which the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival, now in its 15th year, screens films based on Lovecraft's writing. Lovecraft was an author who specialized in weird fiction, writing about a world... More >>
When it opened in 1978, the Downtown Women's Center was the only shelter created to the meet the needs of homeless women. The center, which will open a new facility this fall, invites us for A Magical Musical Lunch, a perfect excuse to eat and drink yourself silly for a great cause. Mex food and margaritas will accompany the way-now cabaret sounds of the Dick and Jane Family Orchestra, plus... More >>
The Canadian comic living in London makes a rare L.A. appearance this week. LAW : Wool -- what kind of name is that? WOOL: It was changed at the Canadian border when my fathers family fled Estonia to avoid living under Stalin after the war. It's actually vool but it's legally Wool. You kinda look like a badass. Do you get in many fights? Nah, you don't have to if you look like you know what... More >>
Ever wonder where all those kooky inventions hawked on late-night infomercials come from? Somebody actually dreamed up the Snuggie, the Flowbee, and the George Foreman Grill (probably not George Foreman) and Joseph M. Petrick and Andrew Bowser's mockumentary Mother of Invention tells the story of just such a dreamer. It's a portrait of the artist as a frustrated man, that man being luckless... More >>
Universal Studios Hollywood is an amazing theme park. You should always start the day with the Studio Tour. A tram takes you around to different movie sets. You also get to go in a soundstage where there is no filming at that time. You see a subway. There's a big fire. If you sit on the left side of the tram, you get to feel the heat of the REAL fire! There is also fire in another part of the... More >>
Every college campus turns out a surprising range of notables, and Loyola Marymount is no exception: Laker Andrew Bynum, attorneys Mark Geragos, Robert Shapiro and Johnnie Cochran, even Gilligan's Island's Bob Denver and Facts of Life's Mindy Cohn. But this prestigious campus is the largest Roman Catholic university on the West Coast, so it's no surprise that it had a hand in schooling L.A.'s... More >>
LA Weekly food critic Jonathan Gold join chefs Nancy Silverton and Susan Feniger to discuss "famous foodies." More >>