Arts, Entertainment, and Media

Yeah She Raps, But Don't Call iLLCamille a "Female Emcee"

On a Friday night, West Pico bar The Mint was host to a small, hardcore crowd of hip hop purists donning hi-top fades and African medallions. On stage, a woman dressed in a vintage Nike windbreaker, silver leggings, and gold bamboo earrings grabbed the mic and introduced herself to the crowd. "I lik ... More >>

Hanksy, the Banksy-Meets-Tom Hanks Street Artist, Tells Us the Secrets to Spoofing Celebrities

See also: *5 Artsy Things to Do in L.A. This Week *10 Best L.A. Art Galleries For Partying Banksy is so 2010. Hanksy, the similarly secretive street artist and love child of Banksy and Tom Hanks, is reaching his own level of notoriety thanks to his celeb-inspired murals, the subject of Gallery 1988 ... More >>

Crazy, '80s Scandalfest The Morton Downey, Jr. Show Chronicled in New Documentary

Years before reality TV and today's conservative political pundits, we had Morton Downey, Jr., whose The Morton Downey, Jr. Show in the late '80s was Jerry Springer, Geraldo, The O'Reilly Factor and Jersey Shore all wrapped up into one, giant hoagie. On May 21, Cinefamily screens a montage of the s ... More >>

HUSH Chats About the State of Street Art and His Culver City Show at Corey Helford

There is no single process for HUSH. The U.K.-based artist mixes methods as he applies a combination of paint (acrylic and the spray can variety), screen print and ink techniques to his canvases. In the end, the results are exquisitely layered paintings that people sometimes confuse for collage work ... More >>

Five Dance Events to See This Week Including Speed-Dating Choreographers and Composers

See also: *5 Artsy Things to Do in L.A. This Week *Our Latest Theater Reviews *Our Calendar Section, Listing More Great Things to Do in L.A. This week's dance events include speed dating musicians and dancers, the latest from Ryan Heffington and Los Angeles Ballet continues to paint the town Bal ... More >>

Christopher Shinn's Acclaimed Pulitzer Finalist Dying City at Last Arrives in L.A.

"When I grew up," recalls playwright Christopher Shinn, "I grew up with the image of the artist as somebody who could be central to the culture in a big way, and that was the kind of artist I wanted to be. And I remember feeling with Dying City that I might get to be that kind of artist." Shinn is ... More >>

Dr. Dre on His USC Academy: "This Is the Biggest Thing I've Ever Been a Part Of"

As our sister blog The Informer reported yesterday, Interscope Records boss Jimmy Iovine and boss of all bosses Dr. Dre pooled together $70 million they had lying around to establish the USC Jimmy Iovine and Andre Young Academy for Arts, Technology and the Business of Innovation. It will offer stude ... More >>

Remembering the Virtuoso

He Walked the Line

Eloise Klein Healy: L.A.'s Poet Laureate

One of the fascinating Angelenos featured in L.A. Weekly's People 2013 issue. Check out our entire People 2013 issue here. "I could go on about the choices I've made," Eloise Klein Healy writes in her 1991 poetry collection, Artemis in Echo Park, "and all the other elements of my landscape / emotion ... More >>

Melissa Barak: The Rebel Ballerina

One of the fascinating Angelenos featured in L.A. Weekly's People 2013 issue. Check out our entire People 2013 issue here. While New York has sustained sizable, world-renowned dance companies for decades, Los Angeles has yet to follow suit. Melissa Barak, ballet dancer and choreographer, sees dance ... More >>

The Time Axl Rose and Steven Adler Nearly Killed Each Other

Louder Than Hell: The Definitive Oral History of Metal, by Jon Wiederhorn and Katherine Turman comes out today. It's an amazing account of the four-decades-old genre -- more than 700 pages long, with hundreds of interviews, many of them with essential players. It gets into everything from the mu ... More >>

FYF Fest 2013 Lineup Announced

The lineup for FYF Fest 2013 was announced this morning and features Saturday headliners My Bloody Valentine and Sunday headliners the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Artists including TV on the Radio, Flag, Deerhunter, MGMT, Beach House, Yo La Tengo, The Breeders, Devendra Banhart, Solange and Shlohmo will also p ... More >>

Fanatics! Tonight's Show Is Packed With Mix Tape Goodness

RADIO BROADCAST #215 05-12-13 Fanatics. I would like to thank the girls from Honest Marquee for giving us one of their new tracks for us to play. I think it's a great one. Tonight's show is packed with mix tape goodness and I think you're going to dig it. I want to thank you for all the letters y ... More >>

Kirk Franklin Talks About His New "Gospel Brunch"

Raspy-voiced choir director Kirk Franklin got around his limited vocal ability by channeling ideas through other singers, and repackaging gospel music with mainstream sensibilities. During the '90s the Ft. Worth songwriter put his hype man ad libs on rousing praise anthem hits like "Stomp" and "Revo ... More >>

Jeff Hanneman Remembered By Titans of Metal

Slayer guitarist Jeff Hanneman passed last week. He died of liver failure, at the Hemet Valley Memorial Hospital. He was 49. Although the rhythmic heart and soul of one of the heaviest bands in modern music, Hanneman was known as a soft-spoken, easygoing dude. See also: Our Jeff Hanneman obituar ... More >>

Music Picks: Rhye, Papa and Motörhead

Marco Ramirez's The Royale and Theatre Movement Bazaar's Hot Cat Make Old Stories New

Five Dance Shows to See This Week, Including Balanchine's "Rubies"

This week's dance events include Los Angeles Ballet with Balanchine Festival Red, visitors from Canada, and a last chance to meet Heidi Duckler Dance Theatre at the Oasis. See also: *5 Artsy Things to Do in L.A. This Week *Our Latest Theater Reviews *Our Calendar Section, Listing More Great Thing ... More >>

Jay-Z's Great Gatsby Soundtrack Is a Failure

When the first trailer for Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby was released a year ago, it was set to the music of Jay-Z and Kanye West's "No Church in the Wild," from the sometimes duo's incredibly self-important Watch the Throne album. On the surface it made sense. Jay-Z -- who retired as a rapper i ... More >>

We Hang Out With Kiss at Their New Restaurant in Torrance

Kiss co-founders Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons are partners in a restaurant called Rock & Brews, which on Wednesday will open its third location, on PCH in Torrance. "Often this idea of themed restaurants means that it's an excuse for crap food," self-described "foodie" Stanley tells us on-site, as ... More >>

Legendary DJ Alan Freed Received a Strange Form of Payola

Henry Stone is one of those legends in the music biz; he ran ventures including the mega-successful, disco-heavy TK Records (responsible for KC & The Sunshine Band and many more), and helped pioneer the way popular music is distributed and promoted. Hint: In all the sleazy ways you can imagine. In ... More >>

RIP Jeff Hanneman: Slayer Guitarist Is Dead

Slayer guitarist Jeff Hanneman has died. The cause was liver failure; he passed at an area hospital near his home this morning. He was 49. Hanneman has not been active in Slayer for the last few years, since suffering a flesh-eating bacteria from a spider bite. No word yet if that caused any c ... More >>

The Russians Are Coming

LL Cool J's Authentic: A Track By Track Review, Without Prejudice

LL Cool J can do no wrong lately. Actually, strike that, LL Cool J does everything wrong lately. Last year there was his trend-hopping track "Ratchet," dubbed one of the worst of 2012. More recently there was his duet with Brad Paisley, "Accidental Racist," in which he more or less forgave the sin o ... More >>

Yes, Jennifer and Jessica Clavin Used to Be in Mika Miko, But Now They're Bleached

[Editor's note: Weekly scribe Jeff Weiss's column, "Bizarre Ride," appears on West Coast Sound every Wednesday. His archives are available here.] Let's just get this out of the way. Until now, Jennifer and Jessica Clavin have been primarily known for singing and playing bass in the seminal Smell pu ... More >>

Five Historic L.A. Jazz Spots

Have you hugged a jazz musician today? You should. For the second year in a row, April 30th has been declared International Jazz Day by no less a reputable organization than the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. This year's host city is Istanbul. But why not L.A.? A ... More >>

Where Have All of Diddy's Bad Boys Gone? (To Prison, Mostly)

At a concert in New York this past weekend, Bad Boy Records presented its recent signee King Los. Other members of the crew, including MGK, are currently getting some shine as well. But what about the Bad Boys of yesteryear? What are they up to these days? Glad you asked! Here's a rundown.

A Tour of L.A. Puppet Fest

The art of puppetry has morphed over the years: from marionettes, to Muppets, to the dancing of shadows on far-away walls to Simon Morley's renowned stage show Puppetry of the Penis. But at the core, puppetry is the art of playing with and manipulating objects as extensions of oneself. Many events ... More >>

The Best West Coast Christian Rappers in History

Christian hip-hop has had an important presence on the West coast for many years now, although the genre continues to bleed into the secular industry. Even its biggest star, Lecrae, seems to be poising himself for a mainstream invasion. Hey, everyone wants to stay culturally relevant; after all, one ... More >>

Silver Lake's Gay Rights History...As Told By Puppets

See also: *5 Artsy Things to Do in L.A. This Week *L.A.'s Best Experimental Puppet Theater *Move Over, West Hollywood -- Silver Lake Is the True Gay Mecca *Silver Lake Has Always Been Gay, Readers Say Let's face it, puppets are cool. Automata, the non-profit experimental puppet theater and workshop ... More >>

Five Dance Shows to See in L.A. This Week, Including an Offshoot of Cirque du Soleil

This week's dance events include the arrival of nouveau circus Traces and the 6th Annual Pasadena Dance Festival wraps up. 5. Pasadena does festivals besides the Rose Parade The week-long Pasadena Dance Festival peaks with a series of jam-packed shows. Up-and-coming dancemakers and their companie ... More >>

The Big Wedding is Vile, Racist, and Embarrassing

Rules for Radical Puppets

Gibson Amphitheatre To Shut Down

Gibson Amphitheatre, the mainstay mid-size concert venue at Universal City, will close its doors in September, according to its operator Live Nation Entertainment. As announced in December 2011, the 6,200-capacity amphitheatre is expected to be demolished to make way for The Wizarding World of Har ... More >>

5 Best Happy Hours for Craft Beer

For many bars, happy hour means rock-bottom prices for stiff well drinks that could peel paint off the walls. But plastic-bottle vodka isn't for everyone. Besides, any two-for-one deal on Kentucky Gentleman is likely to leave you stuck calling a cab. Instead, take advantage of beer-focused happy hou ... More >>

Keyshia Cole - Club Nokia - 4-19-13

Keyshia Cole Club Nokia 4-19-13 Better than: Selling fish plates On Friday night, a long line of mostly women wrapped around Club Nokia for the Keyshia Cole concert. Devoted fans of the Oakland bred R&B star came out in full force with tight spandex dresses and too-sexy-to-be-comfortable heels. I ... More >>

Adrian Younge: New Soul Legend

The composer and producer reimagines old-school hip-hop

Five Dance Shows to See in L.A. This Week

See also: *5 Artsy Things to Do in L.A. This Week *Our Latest Theater Reviews *Our Calendar Section, Listing More Great Things to Do in L.A. This week's dance events include the return of the ever-popular Alvin American Dance Theater, dances about desire and a body to be discovered at UCLA 5. ... More >>

Farenheit 420

Dancing Days Are Here Again

The Economics of Music Festivals: Who's Getting Rich, Who's Going Broke?

By Chris Parker It's as though the sad, lamentable death of recorded music was accompanied by a kick-ass wake. Sure, label executives have had to sell their fancy homes and put their kids in public schools, but the rest of us have been feasting on a musical smorgasbord. Nothing better exemplifies ... More >>

Deathmatch: Aerosmith vs. New York Dolls

[Editor's note: Deathmatch pairs two things that have something in common, and determines who is better. It's a concept we sort-of ripped off from MTV, except that instead of claymation it's the printed word!] In the 1970s, two bands took the bluesy swagger of the Rolling Stones and the Yardbirds t ... More >>

Brett Shaad Aftermath: John Duran Apologizes to Family as Meningitis Vaccinations Uptick in West Hollywood

West Hollywood Councilman John Duran offered an apology on Monday to the family of Brett Shaad, who died from meningitis over the weekend. Duran held a press conference on Friday about the Shaad tragedy, which sparked national media coverage. "Please offer my deep condolences to the Shaad family," ... More >>

LACMA's Reinstallation of Its Latin American Art Galleries, Explained

See also: *5 Artsy Things to Do in L.A. This Week Born in Mexico City, Ilona Katzew came to L.A. 13 years ago to assume a role at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art as an associate curator of Latin American art. At the time, Latin American art was a component of a larger museum department that al ... More >>

Music Picks: Coachella, Merle Haggard, Spiritualized

KDAY Is Closing? A Eulogy to the Best Station in L.A.

[Editor's note: Weekly scribe Jeff Weiss's column, "Bizarre Ride," normally appears on West Coast Sound every Wednesday. His archives are available here.] "Remember KDAY?" Tupac asked that question on "To Live & Die in LA," but the answer was obvious. Makaveli never even lived in Southern Califor ... More >>

The Best of What’s Around

And Beethoven Begat Tolstoy ...