American Express Company

Jose Renderos: $45 Million Fake Credit Card Ring Sees Indictment For Eastside Suspect

Wouldn't you just love to have a virtually unlimited supply of credit cards that could rack up $45 million in charges? Us too. The problem for 38-year-old Eastsider Jose Rolando Renderos his accomplices was that the cards were fake and the charges were fraudulent, according to a U.S. federal grand ... More >>

L.A. Startup Club, Offering Cousel and Commiseration For the Silicon Beach Set

Would you contribute ten bucks to get an adult webcomix series featuring voiceovers from real porn stars off the ground? How about five for a stainless steel butt plug project? Ben Tao and Eric Lai, founders of Offbeatr, an adult version of crowd-funding sites like Indiegogo and Kickstarter, seem to ... More >>

Bacon Lube: For Lovers Only

J&D's Bacon Lube​Here's a novel way to get bacon into your body. Like the American Express Black Card, which was an urban legend long before it was a real product, bacon lube is finally real -- and it wasn't dreamed up by George Costanza. Manufactured by J&D's, which impressed us with their B ... More >>

L.A. Small Business Health is Mediocre, According to Our Reading of American Express Study

Jon SittnerL.A. is No. 7​L.A. city leaders like to make much of how business friendly they are, what with the bending over backwards for a proposed NFL stadium and the $1 million of your money being given to a rich architectural firm that would have relocated downtown anyway. But for all the ... More >>

Duran Duran - Nokia Theatre - September 27, 2011

See more photos in Timothy Norris' slideshow, "Duran Duran @ Nokia Theatre." Duran Duran, Neon Trees Nokia Theatre. September 27, 2011 Better than...practicing your first kiss on a John Taylor poster. "I've reached the age where I need to put glasses on to see the set list," said Simon Le Bon at ... More >>

UCLA Students Slapped With 2.75% 'Convenience Fee' For Paying Tuition With Credit Cards

Pay up, Bruins.​As if paying triple in tuition what students ponied up 10 years ago isn't enough (along with an additional 8 percent hike for next year), UCLA students who cover their tabs with credit cards will be slapped with another fee: A 2.75 percent "convenience fee," the university say ... More >>

Marijuana Purchases in Southern California Cut Off by American Express?

American ExpressShould Bruins be offended that there's a Trojan on this bitch?​Yes stoners, leave home without it. Turns out the popular practice of using mom's gold card to pay for that Acapulco gold is no longer possible, at least not if that card is issued by American Express. LA Snark vi ... More >>

The Night a Duran Duran Show Got the David Lynch Treatment in LA: Live Review

Lina Lecaro From left: Nick Rhodes, Roger Taylor, Simon Lebon and DD's newest member? ​Few bands have placed as much emphasis on the visual package as Duran Duran. Their good looks, sense of style and glossy, often provocative videos made them innovators during MTV's heyday, a time when the be ... More >>

Five Lessons Learned From Seeing Duran Duran Live for the First Time

Getty Images for American Express​ Read Lina Lecaro's review, "The Night a Duran Duran Show Got the David Lynch Treatment in LA." Wednesday night, American Express' Unstaged series brought together Duran Duran and David Lynch for an unusual live experience. As the band played on The Mayan sta ... More >>

David Lynch on His Live Collaboration with Duran Duran, Plus the Director's Favorite Duran Duran Song

Sean Teegarden​ Read "David Lynch, (Non-)Musician: The L.A. Weekly Interview." Tonight at the Mayan Theatre in downtown Los Angeles, Duran Duran will take the stage in support of their latest album, All You Need is Now. This won't be a standard concert, it's actually part of American Express' ... More >>

Two Cheers for Anonymity

Red Medicine panicked in outing Times' Virbila, but did no lasting harm

The Tribeca Film Festival's Westward Expansion

I love New York in June, in L.A.

Born In The USA But Still Illegal? It Could Happen

​Forget the green card or American Express gold. It's the ultimate test of one's American roots: Born in the USA? You're in for life. You're an equal among citizens and your stake in this country can't be discounted because of the tone of your skin or the rise of your bread. Some politicians ... More >>

Destination Coachella

L.A. bands take to the desert for three days of music overload

Conan O'Brien's Live Variety Show Coming to the Gibson Amphitheater in April

​Conan O'Brien will be bringing his "Legally Prohibited From Being Funny on Television" tour to the Gibson Amphitheater on April 24 [UPDATE: another date added for April 25]. Tickets for the American Express-sponsored tour are available through his Team Coco website. The show is advertised as ... More >>

Record with Legendary Producer Jimmy Jam -- For a Hefty Price

Got a hit, but need a boldface-named producer to take it to the next level? Here's your chance -- if you've got an American Express card and $1,250 to spare. You can buy time with legendary R&B producer Jimmy Jam at his Flyte Tyme Studio in Santa Monica. Jam, whose work with producing partner Ter ... More >>

Dine LA Fall 2009 Restaurant List Announced: Two Weeks of Restaurant Sampling

Today dineLA announced the list of restaurants participating in its fall 2009 event, two weeks of specially priced three-course meals presented by many Los Angeles restaurants. dineLA Restaurant Week (singular, plural, whatever) will take place between October 4 - 9 and October 11 - 16. Sponsored b ... More >>

Theater Reviews: Burn This, Manish Boy, Bright Ideas

Also, Visiting Mr. Green, Gaslight and more

Stage Raw: Bright Ideas

COMPREHENSIVE THEATER LISTINGSAlso, see the current NEW REVIEWS and STAGE FEATURE on Troubadour Theater Company's Oedipus the King, Mama! and the Chekhov Studio's The SeagullNEW REVIEW GO BRIGHT IDEAS ​​Photo by Shashin Desai"All the world's a stage, and our children our players," advises a tuto ... More >>

In the Wurst Way: Downtown's Wurstkuche Serves Up Bohemia on a Toasted Roll

Sausage that demands beer

Farm Aid: Auntie Em's Produce-Driven Dreams

An Eagle Rock favorite takes a fresh approach to cooking

DNC '08: It's Not My Party

And I'll stay home if I want to

Confessions of an Aspiring Kept Man: Is That a Cucumber in Your Shopping Cart?

It's not easy trying to be cougar bait

Gordon Ramsay at the London West Hollywood

Heck's kitchen

How to Make Your Own David Lynch Movie

A new documentary descends into the mind shaft of the maverick director's imagination

Tiger Army, Wiltern, 11/17

Tiger Army Wiltern, 11/17 I love the stand-up bass. It's a ridiculously big, bulky instrument that looks cool as hell, especially when painted dark blue like Tiger Army's or sea green like the one used by the Guana Batz. Not the laid-back, smoky jazz club stand-up bass - those are great too - but ... More >>

Beautiful Boys

Grade A-Won

K-town’s monument to the great Korean sushi innovation

Low and Slow

That is the tempo. Jaime Martin del Campo and Ramiro Arvizu’s La Casita Mexicana

Straight to the Duck Heart

Jonathan Gold’s Top 10 dishes of 2006

Kiss Their Grits

Square One and the most important meal of the day

One Hot Restaurant

The $14 Burger

Oscar M. Night

Any Given Sundae

Can Do

More Viola! More!

The G Spot (Sans the Pleasure)

My Big Fat Greek Dinner

Corporate Conventions

How millions of dollars will buy influence in New York and Boston

Two Guys Walk Into a Bar . . .

Fajita pitas, Octopus Tacos, and the Birth of California Cuisine

25 moments — over 25 years — in L.A. restaurants

Boycott the Oscars

Give peace — and a bad show — a pass

American Idols

The Tao of Andy

Warhol at MOCA

Kama Sutra Journalism

Style and Substance

In with the Old

Amphibious Assault

Thai frog legs in Hollywood

Creme Brulee

And the sweetness of selling out