Bruce Springsteen

The Best Concerts to See in Los Angeles This Week

For any show in town see our regularly-updated concert calendar. Monday, May 6 The California Feetwarmers JOE'S GREAT AMERICAN BAR & GRILL The California Feetwarmers are an astonishingly fine, old-timey New Orleans jazz aggregation. This recently minted blend of two groups, the Balkan beatniks of ... More >>

Under-the-Radar Acts to See at Coachella

[Editor's note: Weekly scribe Jeff Weiss's column, "Bizarre Ride," appears on West Coast Sound every Wednesday. His archives are available here.] Beware any tutorial about the "right way" to do Coachella. Stay sentient, steer clear of phosphorescent forms in spirit hoodies, drink water, and never m ... More >>

Five Artsy Things to Do This Week, Including a Renegade Delivery Man

See also: *Our Latest Theater Reviews *Our Calendar Section, Listing More Great Things to Do in L.A. *Best L.A. Novel Ever: The Tournament This week, there's a symposium on what it's like to live at a time when real life is like sci-fi, a portrait of Jayne Mansfield's car on view and a cutout UPS ... More >>

The Dustbowl Revival Don't Rehearse

Combining elements of New Orleans jazz and Appalachian bluegrass, Venice-based band The Dustbowl Revival seems to come out of another era. But the band competently and inspiringly brings vitality to genres decades older than its members. Made up at times of anywhere from five to 15 members, the aco ... More >>

Music Picks: Fiona Apple, Austra, and the Hives

My Morning Jacket - The Wiltern - 9/12/12

My Morning Jacket The Wiltern 9/12/12 The number of bands building a name and reputation off their live performances has begun dwindling at a startling rate. With Bruce Springsteen and U2 inching closer to performing in wheelchairs, My Morning Jacket seems to be one of the last remaining holdouts w ... More >>

The 1997 Edition Was the Best MTV Video Music Awards

Tonight is the 2012 MTV Video Music Awards. Now in its 29th year, it's had its share of memorable moments, none more so than during the 1997 broadcast. On the occasion of its 15th anniversary, here's the case for why it was the best VMA's ever televised.

L.A. Will Now Treat Scalpers Like Gang Members

That guy with the cardboard sign yelling "Tickets!" is on par with a gangbanger. At least that's the message City Attorney Carmen Trutanich sent with an announcement yesterday that Los Angeles will institute the nation's first-ever scalper injunction. What that means is that "known scalpers" -- 17 o ... More >>

Kurt Vile Gets Folky, Plays Largo Tomorrow

Kurt Vile's music doesn't immediately sound folk. When listing off his early influences, the Philly-born singer-songwriter points to bands like Sonic Youth and Pavement. But underneath the distorted tones his songwriting style -- however brash it may come off at times -- is undoubtedly influenced by ... More >>

Top Ten Best Historic Rock Clubs in L.A.

For all the best of L.A. music, download our free Best Of Mobile app. See also: Top 10 Live Music Venues in L.A.: The Complete List L.A. has some of the best rock n' roll venues in the country. From the sparkly glam rock of the Sunset Strip to the grimy punk of dim little clubs in questionable ar ... More >>

The Best of SXSW Music: Thursday 3/15/2012

If you're familiar with chaos theory, which in its basic form is the attempt to find patterns in the random acts of shit on Earth, then you may understand the difficulty that comes with describing a full day at SXSW. To break down the bright, scintillating chaos, Village Voice Media's roving music e ... More >>

Alert: SXSW Coverage Ahead

"What I want from each and every one of you is a hard-target search of every gas station, residence, warehouse, farmhouse, henhouse, outhouse and doghouse in that area." -- Tommy Lee Jones, The Fugitive You don't have to spend much time at South By Southwest to know that all of the above building ... More >>

Why the Grammys Stink

See also: *2012 Grammys: The Best, the Worst and the Weirdest *Deadmau5, Rihanna - House of Blues - 2/13/12 *Dan Wilson: From "Closing Time" to Adele's "Someone Like You" So, our Grammy credentials were fairly limited last night. In fact, we were trapped in a room for eight hours, with journalists ... More >>

Battle of the Barbies: Who's Better, Lil' Kim or Nicki Minaj?

See also: The Boss Vs. The Bawse: Who's Better, Bruce Springsteen or Rick Ross? [Editor's note: Deathmatch pairs two artists who 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!] Lil' Kim ... More >>

Mikey Welsh Is Dead: How Weezer's Green Album Changed My Life

Fuck Guilty Pleasures celebrates the over-produced, commercial, artless, lowbrow music that we believe is genuinely worthwhile. Like, among the best music ever. Editor's Note: Former Weezer bassist Mikey Welsh was found dead in a Chicago hotel room on October 8, 2011. The cause of death is unknown, ... More >>

Warped Tour - Cal State Dominguez Hills - 8/10/11 (With Gifs!)

Andrew Courtien​Warped Tour, featuring The Devil Wears Prada, Gym Class Heroes, SHARKS, Yelawolf, and more Cal State Dominguez Hills 8/10/11 Warped Tour is the longest running touring festival in the United States, older than the now dead Ozzfest and the immobile Lollapalooza. Throughout its ... More >>

Orson Welles' Moby Dick, a Beatles Cabaret and Romeo and Juliet: Monsters in Love

Craig SchwartzThis​ The Playwrights Horizons production of Melissa James Gibson's domestic comedy, This, opened on Sunday at the Kirk Douglas Theatre (presented by Center Theatre Group). In an excellent production, it's an absorbing soap opera with a metaphysical reach it can't quite grasp. See ex ... More >>

Top Five '80s Metallica Songs That Deserved Kick Ass Music Videos

​Metallica announced last week that, in celebration of their 30th anniversary, they are playing four fan-club exclusive shows at The Fillmore in San Francisco in December. Rolling back prices to 1981 levels, Met Club members can buy tickets to each show for six bucks, or to all four for the ev ... More >>

Former L.A. Mayor Richard Riordan Hires 'Journalist of the Year' Patrick Range McDonald to Ghostwrite His Memoirs

PHOTO BY KEVIN SCANLONRichard Riordan​Bad news for LAUSD's underserved schoolchildren, good news for the dirty politicians of West Hollywood: Award-winning LA Weekly reporter Patrick Range McDonald will be taking the next six months off for a private commission. McDonald was approached by Ric ... More >>

Live Review: Lord Huron at Troubadour

Danielle BacherLord Huron​WHO: Lord Huron featuring Calder Quartet, The Union Line and Milo Greene WHERE: Troubadour WHEN: 5/14/11 Never have a headliner and their venue been a better fit in name. Ben Schneider, the Michigan-born singer-songwriter who began to record as musical alter ego Lord ... More >>

Behind the Mash-Up: Girl Talk Talks!

Thanksgiving Wine Pairings: You Could Ask Your Sommelier, Or Go Straight To The Source

Flickr user nevadadanThanksgiving With A Vineyard View​We spend a lot of time figuring out what to serve for Thanksgiving dinner, but how about what to serve with all of those competing homemade flavors? Asking sommeliers their pairing opinion is laudable, but can be like querying star chefs f ... More >>

Music Picks: BB King and Buddy Guy, Silversun Pickups, Hard Summer, W.A.C.O.

Also Lady Gaga, Frazey Ford, Whispertown 2000, Ludacris and others

Grammy Winners Meet Jersey Shore

Grammy Winners Meet Jersey Shore: Hypothetical Jerzification

Mega-Telethon Broadcasting From L.A., Elsewhere

CNNAnderson Cooper.​A Friday telethon to raise money for the victims of last week's earthquake in Haiti will be broadcast from Los Angeles, New York, London and Haiti, organizers announced Thursday. It will be everywhere: ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, CNN, BET, The CW, HBO, MTV, VH1, CMT, PBS, TNT, Show ... More >>

Guest Blogger Jason Reitman IDs Some of His Favorite Cover Songs

Editor's note. This week director Jason Reitman is guest blogging at West Coast Sound. Reitman, whose new film, Up in the Air, was nominated for six Golden Globes yesterday (including Best Director and Best Screenplay nominations for Reitman ... congrats!), is also a pretty big music head, as you'll ... More >>

Jimmy On the Edge of Town

A Homeless Christian-Muslim From Palestine Pitches a Tent Behind Bed Bath & Beyond in Northridge. Then Come the Railroad Men and Feral Cat Activists.

LA People 2009: Mr. Fix-It — Richard Riordan

Whip the Vote: Devo Plays for Obama Back Home in Swingin' Ohio

Mark Mothersbaugh: "Some counties in this state were won by as little as nine votes"

Rock Picks: Sunset Strip Music Festival, Neil Innes, Cheap Trick

Also, Nikka Costa, Willie Nile, We Are Scientists, and more

Some Thoughts on the "Best. Politician. Inspired. Single. Ever." Also, Nazis. Also, Jesus. Also, NFL football.

Los Angeles's own Sa-Ra create a rallying cry for Obama. Plus, a bunch of other crap this video brought to mind. Super random, super fun.

SXSW Day 2: Songs That No One In Their Right Mind Should Cover

There are a lot of sacred songs in the rock and roll canon, songs that are so connected with their composer that any attempt to replicate them, to put your spin on them, to reinterpret them, is at best doomed to fail, at worst will insult not only the song but your fans. Near the top of that list, r ... More >>

Free-food Alert!

What to do in Los Angeles this week

Nick Lowe in the Age of Experience

While his peers are grasping at straws, Lowe’s work outpaces them all

Erased

Rock Picks

For the week of Nov. 30 – Dec. 7

Heady Metal, Britain's Favorite DJ, and a Defense of Americana's Best Killers

Street Drum Corps

Family Circle

Showtime’s Brotherhood is TV’s newest take on sibling crimes and misdemeanors

There's NoHo like NoHo!

Festivus Maximus

Do you enjoy crowds, music and exhaustion?

Rock Picks

For February 3 - 10

Letters

Articulate Snarls

The return of protest rock

The Sky Lit Up

The Contemporaries

Time of the Session

When the music was fast, and the players anonymous

A Fan's Notes

The Substitute Soundtrack

Letters