Aretha Franklin

Five Instruments on the Cusp of Rockstardom

By: Jesse Sendejas Jr. Electric-guitar sales boomed in the 1960s, thanks to Clapton and Hendrix. In the 1980s, synthesizers were popular enough to blow up the likes of A-ha and A Flock of Seagulls. Beck upped the status of two turntables and a microphone, and everyone knows that a band's drummer ge ... More >>

Unions Rally to Block Koch Brothers' L.A. Times Purchase

By Nanette Gonzalez and Sarah Fenske In just two short months, Charles and David Koch's dreams of purchasing the L.A. Times have gone from a well-sourced rumor, first reported on this blog, to the catalyst for outraged essays in newspapers across the country to a protest song by none less than Ry C ... More >>

The Best Concerts to See in Los Angeles This Weekend

For any show in town see our regularly-updated concert calendar. Friday, May 3 The Rolling Stones STAPLES CENTER It's easy to make fun of The Rolling Stones -- a karaoke-addled Mick Jagger even got in on the act last season on Saturday Night Live -- but the not-always-convenient truth is that Jagg ... More >>

A Janis Joplin Musical Boosts the Pasadena Playhouse Box Office

One Night With Janis provides some nostalgic comfort food

Here's How Much a Bunch of Songs Are Worth, Including The Monkees Theme ($120,000)

A popular song is like a stock, or a mutual fund -- its value fluctuates based on market circumstances, and it can even be an investment. Licensing tracks to film, television and commercials has become one of the only ways to make money off of music these days, and you don't actually need to be a mu ... More >>

One Night With Janis Joplin

Fanatics! Henry Rollins' KCRW Show Tomorrow Night: Your Ears Are in Good Hands

KCRW BROADCAST #207 03-16-13 See also: Henry Rollins: Our Constitutional Rights Require Constant Vigilance Fanatics! Is this fantastic or what?! We are back on the radio yet again and this one is going to rock! Last week, we had quite the esoteric affair, especially ending with Free Bird. Perhaps ... More >>

The Ten Best Country Albums of 2012

By Alan Scherstuhl This list of the year's best country albums is assembled with two important premises in mind: First: If the people who record and listen to these records consider them country, than they're damn well country. Purists who argue that country should still sound like '68, '76, '84 o ... More >>

Music Picks: Rome, The xx, Aretha Franklin

Also, Cannibal Corpse, I See Hawks in L.A., Smokey Robinson and others

A Tribute to Dinah Washington with Barbara Morrison - Catalina Bar & Grill - 7/8/12

A Tribute to Dinah Washington, with Barbara Morrison Catalina Bar & Grill 7-8-12 Better than...a blues tribute to Vince Vaughn. Last night at Hollywood's shiniest jazz club, Catalina Bar & Grill, Barbara Morrison led a 17-piece big band in a tribute to the late singing legend Dinah Washington. It' ... More >>

Georgia Anne Muldrow Is the Most Soulful Woman in the Western States

To invoke Bobby Byrd, Rakim and Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart, soul is difficult to define, but you know it when you see it. It can't be calculated, borrowed or bought. The idea is more ancient than Scripture, and its effects are equally ineffable. "Soul" is pure cliché and an unavoidable as ... More >>

Top Five Most Embarrassing Early-'80s Soul Sell-Outs

Larry Graham​By Sean O'Connell This Sunday at the Hollywood Bowl you'll be able to catch Larry Graham, wedged between performances by sand-swept Spyro Gyra and saxophone loverboy Dave Koz. But, Graham is a pioneering funk bassist, so why the heck is he a part of the Bowl's Smooth Summer Jazz ... More >>

The Five Best Cover Songs Ever Covered, Rediscovered!

​ Sometimes the artist who authored a song does a bang-up job in the recording and you never need hear from the song again, except to hear it over and over and enjoy its overwhelming awesomeness. And sometimes an artist writes an incredible song and does an amazing job, and later on, some oth ... More >>

RIP Cornell Dupree

Cornell Dupree​Famed jazz and R&B guitarist Cornell Dupree passed away Sunday, May 8, in his hometown of Fort Worth, TX. He was 69 years old. At 19, the blues musician joined King Curtis and the Kingpins, playing alongside a young Jimi Hendrix. In the 1960s, he became one of Atlantic Records ... More >>

Hall & Oates or Dolly Parton, Anyone? Hollywood Bowl Summer Schedule Released Today

​Several years ago, a group of Brits came to the Hollywood Bowl, L.A.'s mecca of high culture for the masses, and made it into L.A.'s mecca for hip entertainment. We're talking, of course, about Monty Python. You go to the Bowl for your Dudamels and your cheese and wine, but you also go for so ... More >>

Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul, "Alive and Resting at Home"

Aretha Franklin​ The Detroit Free Press reports that, although "Twitter and Facebook were abuzz Monday night with rumors and confusion about whether Aretha Franklin, 68, had died, [...] a Free Press source says Aretha Franklin is alive and resting at home." Here are some tweets from the CRAZY ... More >>

COME ON AND TAKE A TRAIN RIDE

Tonight: Watson Twins Get Soulful at Largo @ the Coronet

​Originally from Kentucky but by now thoroughly Silverlake, the Watson Twins had their big break back in 2006 as featured collaborators on Jenny Lewis' Rabbit Fur Coat album. Chandra and Leigh Watson had been on the scene for years before that milestone, but their gig with the Rilo Kiley sing ... More >>

RSVP ASAP!: Fantastic Hollywood Bowl Poster Art Opening @ the Arclight Tonight

If you attended any of the fantastic shows the Hollywood Bowl programmed this past summer, you probably noticed the very large crowds gathered at the gift shop afterwards practically getting in fisticuffs over the limited number of concert posters available. The reason? The Bowl commissioned some ou ... More >>

Rhino to Release 'Digital 45s,' with A-sides, B-sides and Original (PDF) Sleeves

In ongoing effort to bring weird little songs from Rhino's catalog to the top of the digital avalanche, the legendary LA reissue label is launching a new series of so-called 'digital 45s.' This morning the label announced the program: Rhino will spotlight songs originally issued on 45 by offering t ... More >>

Rock Picks: Electric Daisy Carnival, Explosion in the Sky, Rodriguez

Also, DAT Politics, Mika Miko, Etta James and others

Everybody Skate!

What to do this week

Rock Picks: Aretha Franklin, Lucinda Williams, Deerhunter

Also, Rodriguez, the Monolators, Nas and more

Kids of Widney High, Amoeba, 2/28

Kids of Widney High, Amoeba Records, Feb. 28, 2008 By now, I hope that most people reading this know who the Kids of Widney High are, so I'll only briefly mention their story for those who might have forgotten. They're a group of disabled students (or former students) from a Los Angeles special ed ... More >>

Siouxsie Sioux, The Music Box at the Fonda, February 15

Siouxsie Sioux The Music Box at the Fonda February 15, 2008 By Steve Baltin The calendar may have read as the day after Valentine’s Day, but inside the Music Box it was pure Halloweeny. Siouxsie Sioux was in town, and a thousand of her disciples, clad in black (of course), leather, top hats, and ... More >>

Rock Picks: Siouxsie Sioux, Iron Maiden, Maceo Parker

Plus other Feb. 14-21 shows

Rock Picks: The Kooks, Super Furry Animals, Willie Nelson and more

For the week of Feb. 7-14

He Stands and Delivers

Obama at Garfield High

Medusa

The real

Super Fun Music Hour Podcast #7

A Valentine's Day Special podcast, full of love.

Love, Love, Love

The romantic songs that shape our hearts: A special Valentine’s Day report

Super Fun Music Hour

Little Radio podcast

Theater Reviews

Including Doubt, Beehive and this week's pick, Rocks in my Salsa

Underground Flier

Tequila Mockingbird

Gnarls Barkley, the Beauty of Being Blunt, and the Poppy Lips Battle the Apocalypse

Beyond Bubbly

The Style Council’s New Year’s Eve party mixes

Boys/Men of the World

Think About Aretha Franklin

A conversation and an appreciation

Time of the Session

When the music was fast, and the players anonymous

Revenge against the ’70s (and other hostile decades)

Creation Myth

Drugs and musicians, together forever

Still Kicking Clinton Around

Don't l Look Like Myself?

Saving It

Hum

Gorky's sweet weirdness

Solo

Dating Yourself

Too Deep

Chaka Khan and Lauryn Hill

Music Reviews- Smashing Pumpkins, Gang Starr, 22-Pistepirkko, more

Music Reviews

The Girls Can't Help It