Consumer Cyclicals

Tax Day Becomes Porn Day; Studios Donate Earnings To Fight Mandatory Condoms

The patriotic denizens of the porn industry are dedicating their proceeds April 15 to the cause of freedom. That is, they're giving cash in support of a court challenge of Measure B, the L.A. county initiative approved by voters that requires adult performers to use condoms:

AEG Sale Off; Tim Leiweke Steps Down As L.A.-Based CEO

The for sale sign outside the door of Anschutz Entertainment Group, owner of Staples Center, LA Live and London's 02 arena, has been taken down, the company announced. Not only that but Tim Leiweke, the company's L.A.-based president and CEO and the architect of plans to build a $1.5 billion stadiu ... More >>

Porn Talent Agencies Fuming Over Complaints That Allege Unsafe Workplaces

The porn industry is mad as hell, and it's not going to take it anymore! This week a group of adult talent agents lashed out at the AIDS Healthcare Foundation for its latest formal complaint against an agency for allegedly sending performers into unsafe workplaces (e.g. sets where condoms are not m ... More >>

Are the Koch Brothers Trying to Buy the Los Angeles Times?

Update: The Koch Brothers respond, sort of. See next page. See also: Who Will Buy the Los Angeles Times?The latest rumor about the next owner of the L.A. Times, which is for sale, is a doozy. A bombshell. It's a doozy wrapped in a bombshell exploding inside a Drudge siren. Multiple sources te ... More >>

Who Will Buy the Los Angeles Times?

Why do so many rich men want to buy it? And how did it get to this point anyway?

Reading Can Be Grand

Los Angeles Times to be Auctioned, as Will All Tribune Post-Bankruptcy Newspapers: Bruce Karsh Will be The Deal's Frank McCourt

Updated below with Tribune clarifying it's not really an auction, reactions from top Los Angeles Times journalists and potential buyer Austin Beutner. Additional reporting by Hillel Aron. CNBC is reporting that Tribune Co. has hired investment bankers to sell off its newspaper unit, which includes ... More >>

Brainiac Mayoral Candidate Eric Garcetti Pleads Ignorance On Clear Channel Vote as Rival Emanuel Pleitez Files Ethics Complaint

Read L.A Weekly feature article about inner-city success story Emanuel Pleitez. Los Angeles mayoral candidate Emanuel Pleitez is now getting into the thick of a brewing scandal involving rival Eric Garcetti, who L.A. Weekly reported owned stock in Clear Channel Communications while at the same time ... More >>

Amoeba's Vinyl Vault: Treasure Trove or Legal Sticky Wicket?

While the corpses of corporate music retail chains litter strip malls where outlets like Tower Records and Blockbuster Music once stood, Amoeba Music is an independent juggernaut with three California-based stores the size of supermarkets. They've been a destinations for music aficionados for more t ... More >>

Eric Garcetti Owned Clear Channel Stock When He Voted For Digital Billboard Giveaway

Councilman Eric Garcetti long ago conceded that he made a mistake when he voted for a legal settlement that allowed Clear Channel Outdoor and CBS Outdoor to erect 420 digital billboards apiece across the city.The vote was one of the bigger debacles of Garcetti's reign as city council president. Resi ... More >>

Don Was on Running Blue Note Records

Don Was is a frequent sight at shows around L.A. He's hard to miss: all hair, hat, sunglasses, and smiles. He made a name for himself as a bass player with Was (Not Was) as well as a producer for the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan and Bonnie Raitt. Last year, he became the president of Blue Note Records. ... More >>

Sorry, Porn Industry, But Americans Are Just Fine With Condom Sex, Study Says

One of the arguments heard in the porn industry's fight against mandatory condoms is that they're uncomfortable and can help create harmful friction during sex. Nina Hartley has been the most vociferous on this issue, once saying that "condom burn is a real issue. The friction from the latex, even ... More >>

Why EDM Is Thriving While Other Genres Are Sinking

DJs are the new rock stars? Maybe. (Although chefs are already the new rock stars.) Still, the big name DJs do seem to be living pretty large, what with the constant travel to exotic locations, goofily-clad fans, eager women, drugs and parties. Just swap MacBooks for guitars and it doesn't look so d ... More >>

The Movies of Kim Jong Il, Now Available Via Bootlegs and YouTube

Chefs Join Petition to Change Easy-Bake Ovens

Are Hasbro's Easy-Bake Ovens just for girls? Their pink and purple color scheme might suggest so, along with ads and packaging that show only girls playing with the classic toy. Of course, that hasn't stopped generations of pie-curious boys from experimenting with baked goods at a young age. But no ... More >>

Metal Blade Records Celebrates Its 30th Anniversary

A look back at the little metal label that could

3D Film Festival Seeks to Answer: Is 3D a Fad or the Future?

While you were clicking hours away on your View-Master as a child, Christopher Crescitelli was heralding the future. "I was one of those weird kids, who, in the fifth grade, started making 3D imagery with my crayons and colored markers," he says. "People nicknamed me the 3D kid." Unfortunately, ... More >>

Ratchet Up: Street Hero YG Eschews Gangsta Rap in Favor of Party Music

Don Kirshner

Record Store Day 2012: What the Employees Are Buying

See also: Record Store Day 2012: Our Comprehensive Guide to Steals and Deals, Free Grub and Live Performances Listen, we're sure you're a crate-digging ninja and your vinyl collection is a wonder to behold. And we're sure you've been talking everyone's ear off all week about how you're gonna clean ... More >>

Porn Company Says You Should Use Tax Refund to Invest in Smut Biz (Really)

On this tax day a concern called Start My Porn Company is encouraging you to use your refund not for a massive LCD television, the down payment on a new car or a bender with Charlie Sheen. No, it wants you, of course, to start your own porn company. But the L.A.-based porn industry is in the dumps ... More >>

Farmers Field Downtown Stadium Plan Supported by Vast Majority of Angelenos, Says New Poll

A survey being distributed by the backers of a proposed downtown stadium says you really do want such a venue in the heart of L.A. The survey by Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin, Metz & Associates says 72 percent of Angelenos want to see the thing built and that 45 percent "strongly" support it. The folk ... More >>

Trader Joe's Signs Deal With Tomato Workers

After years of nudges, calls to action and protests, grocery chain Trader Joe's has finally signed on to the Fair Food Agreement. Spearheaded by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, it's a major step forward in the decadelong campaign to improve working conditions for pickers in Florida, where nearly ... More >>

World Famous V.I.P. Records To Close

Long Beach shop helped foster the G-Funk era

Reality Bites: The Ultimate Sellout?

Irony behind celebrating the movie as an indie classic

NFL Team NOT Coming to L.A. Next Season: That Conflicts With Plans, Demands of Would-be Downtown Stadium Developer AEG

We call it Maxi Pad Stadium: It's got wings.​Looks like the NFL threw a monkey wrench into plans to build a stadium in downtown L.A. League commissioner Roger Goodell pretty much said no yesterday to the idea of a franchise coming to town for next fall. " ... Next season is too soon to put a ... More >>

Doing the Work

Cry Baby Lane VIDEO: Watch Nickelodeon's 'Banned' Halloween Movie Online

Viacom (Please don't sue me?)Scaredy cat.​So much hullabaloo, this Halloweentime, about the revival of Nickelodeon's fabled turn-of-the-century horror flick "Cry Baby Lane." According to Reuters, it'll be airing this Oct. 31 for the first time since it debuted in 2000. (Once at 12 a.m., and on ... More >>

Prosthetic Records Is The Third L.A. Metal Label To Pull Their Catalog Off Of Spotify

Skeletonwitch's new album - not coming to Spotify​We recently told you about how Norwegian metal giant Indie Recordings was partnering with Inglewood-based label Prosthetic Records. Now there's more news on the Prosthetic front. The imprint has revealed to West Coast Sound that they are in t ... More >>

9/11 Changed Everything For The Music Industry

​By Chaz Kangas September 11th brought irrevocable change to our society, and the music industry was no exception. It was also a very strange time; both rap group The Coup and metal band Dream Theater released album covers with the World Trade Center in flames. Radio DJs across the country, m ... More >>

Village Books in Pacific Palisades, From Its First Book to the Last

Brandon Schoolhouse of Han Cholo: Star Wars in da Hood

PornWikiLeaks Shuts Down: XXX Industry Worked With ... FBI, AIDS Group Against Website That Leaked Porn Stars' Personal Info?

Performer Justine Joli.​Here's a first (maybe): The porn industry is in bed with the FBI. Or so it says. And the two made magic happen from various positions in an attempt to polish off PornWikiLeaks, the website that posted the names and medical records of hundreds if not thousands of adult p ... More >>

Important News If You Still Remember Your MySpace Password

Ahh, the good ol' days​If you're still mackin' on MySpace, we have some bad news: Not only will the site issue massive layoffs this week, it also will probably be sold for the price of a few bacon-wrapped hot dogs. As Gawker reported yesterday, the social media site that News Corp. paid $580 ... More >>

Porn Industry, Johns Hopkins Expert Say L.A. County's STD Figures For Adult Performers Are Bogus

YouTubeBehind the scenes.​On the eve an important state meeting on condoms in porn, the adult industry today claimed that L.A. County statistics on sexual transmitted diseases in porn are seriously flawed. While the industry has long maintained that its STD rates are lower than those of the g ... More >>

Marco Brambilla at Santa Monica Museum of Art

"The Dark Lining" heralds the future of video installation

Amoeba Talks Henry Rollins and Record Store Day Special Events!

​ You all know Amoeba Music--that towering Mecca of music on Sunset Blvd filled with rows of vinyl, precious vinyl. We love Amoeba so much we stay the f*ck away from it, lest it drain our wallets and impoverish us because we can't help but want every last record in the place. They were sat do ... More >>

"Freeway" Ricky Ross Slaps Fake Rick Ross with a New Lawsuit

"Freeway" Ricky Ross vs. Rapper Rick Ross: Who would you put money on? ​He thinks he's Big Meech! Larry Hoover! But Miami rapper Rick Ross might be blowing money fast in court, not in the club, soon if he keeps calling himself the moniker he adopted from "Freeway" Ricky Ross, the Los Angeles ... More >>

Steve Lopez Will Look at Grand Plans For L.A. NFL Stadium Downtown on KCET's 'SoCal Connected' Tonight

Steve Lopez better wear a helmet if he's going to take on AEG.​Lots of questions about this proposed downtown NFL stadium. It already has a name, Farmers Field, and a place, space taken up by the Convention Center's old West Hall. But there are no blueprints yet, and its potential environment ... More >>

Porn Industry Testing Clinic in the Valley Reopens After Being Shut Down by County, State

AIDS Healthcare Foundation wants condoms, not clinics.​The porn industry clinic that came under fire for providing the adult video business with an alternative to condom use -- a system of regular testing for performers -- has reopened under private ownership. The Adult Industry Medical Healt ... More >>

'Octomom' Nadya Suleman Sees Offer to Buy Her Home Withdrawn By L.A. Porn Maker Vivid Entertainment

TMZ'Octomom' Nadya Suleman is too good for porn. See?​Updated after the jump with Suleman's lawyer saying she "wants nothing to do" with the porn maker. We've said it before: Vivid Entertainment, the nation's largest porn production house, has been hounding "Octomom" Nadya Suleman like a pim ... More >>

Beverly Hills' Laemmle Music Hall Movie Theater Likely To Close

Laemmle Music Hall.​It looks like Beverly Hills' Laemmle Music Hall 3 will be the next of the great old movie theaters to fall in Los Angeles. The Beverly Hills Courier reports this week that the Laemmle folks will likely pull out in April as a result of a rent increase they can't absorb; it' ... More >>

Lawsuit: Woman Claims a Princess Cruise Line Employee with a History of Sexual Misconduct Assaulted Her

​Did Princess Cruise Lines have a serial sexual predator working aboard one of its ships? According to California resident Marisa Foppoli, who filed a lawsuit earlier this week in Los Angles Superior Court against the third largest cruise line in the world, the answer is yes. It was the wee hour ... More >>

L.A. Mayor Villaraigosa Was Made Aware Of Downtown NFL Stadium Plans In March, 2009

One vision for a downtown NFL stadium.​Why are we not surprised? Turns out a memo to L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa proves that he was made aware of a downtown stadium proposal as early as March 2009. Journalist Ron Kaye, who unearthed the document, is calling it "Antonio's Dirty Little Secre ... More >>

Should The 'Raider Nation' Return To L.A. If We Get A New Stadium?

A member of the Raider Nation.​All this talk of the NFL returning to Los Angeles -- with two apparently viable bids for new area stadiums on the table -- has some fans giddy about the prospect of possibly bringing the San Diego Chargers or perhaps the Minnesota Vikings to town. So giddy, in f ... More >>

Porn Industry Fights Claims By Performer Derrick Burts, Who Was No Angel (And Who Might Have Freelanced As A Male Escort)

Ted SoquiDerrick Burts, letting the porn industry have it.​The porn business is fighting back against claims by the actor who sparked its last HIV scare that he was met with indifference at the adult-industry-backed clinic where he sought treatment. We even heard from readers who said the ma ... More >>

Sherman Oaks-Based Porn Industry Health Clinic Shut Down By State And L.A. County Officials

The porn industry's main health clinic was shut down Thursday.​Updated after the jump with information about another porn industry STD testing operation. First posted at 11:51 a.m. The porn industry's health-care clinic was shut down Thursday morning by state and county officials, a spokesman ... More >>

Derrick Burts, Porn Actor Who Sparked Latest HIV Scare In San Fernando Valley Industry, Speaks Up For Condom Use (But Offers Strange Story Of How He Came Up Positive)

MySpaceDerrick Burts.​A performer who set off the latest HIV scare in adult film has turned against his employers and is speaking out against the adult video industry and its resistance to mandatory condom use. Derrick Burts teamed up with the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, which unleashed his t ... More >>

Porn Industry Argues That Regular STD Tests Are As Good As Condoms

VividCatwoman just says no to condoms.​So the porn industry has been battling to keep its adult videos condom-free -- pretty much the way you, the consumer, want it to be. Except that the state of California's Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) says state and federal laws a ... More >>

For the Record

The life and premature death of Mary’s Danish