Crescent City

Lucinda Williams' 11 Best Songs

By Darryl Smyers For the better part of four decades, Lucinda Williams has been one of the best songwriters going. Over the course of ten albums, Williams has moved from earthy blues and folk to jangly country/pop. What has remained consistent is her breathtaking vocal delivery and unflinching hone ... More >>

Edward "Apple" Nelson Is a Legendary L.A. Drummer and 70-Year-Old Yoga Enthusiast

[Editor's note: Weekly scribe Jeff Weiss's column, "Bizarre Ride," appears on West Coast Sound every Wednesday. His archives are available here.] You could mistake the funky drummer born Edward Nelson for a decade and a half younger than his 70 years. We're in the Highland Park offices of Now-Again ... More >>

5 Places in L.A. to See Affordable Opera

Centuries ago, opera was more affordable, not just something thought to be for the country club set when the dained to put on their long silk gloves and gold-rimmed glasses. Several companies in Los Angeles have strived to recreate this custom, but it hasn't always been easy. Ticket prices are one ... More >>

Jimmy Cliff, Liars, Jesse Sykes

Also, New Edition, Kátia Moraes & Sambaguru, Milo Greene and others

Kurt Vile, Santigold, Rusko

Also, Star & Dagger, Charli XCX, Church of Misery and others

LACE It Up, I’ll Take It

The Art of an Operatic City

What's a Hyperopera? Avant-Garde Director Yuval Sharon Shows Us

A funny thing happened to Yuval Sharon on his way to a planned career as a film director. While studying at UC Berkeley, he decided to go to the opera. The production was Wozzeck by Alban Berg. To prepare, he listened to a recording at home and found his imagination fired by Berg's searing, atonal c ... More >>

Drink This Now: Nik's New Orleans-Style Iced Coffee at Single Origin Coffee

Iced coffee might not be at the top of your list of things to drink during these cold mornings, but for those of you who drink cold brews the way Apple fanboys and girls line up and wait for the mothership's newest gadget - that is, in rain or shine - "Nik's Cold Brew" at Single Origin Coffee is a N ... More >>

Music Picks: Roberta Flack, Summer Twins, John Cage Centenary Festival

Also, Spindrift, Lenny Kravitz, Dorian Wood, Howlin Rain and others

Music Picks: Woody Allen & His New Orleans Jazz Band, Jane Monheit, Manhattan Murder Mystery

Also, Fishbone, Luciana Souza, Infected Mushroom and others

This Weekend: Dr. John, God Among New Orleans Piano Gods

​ "Around the time I began sitting in on my aunties' jam sessions and hanging around in the clubs, I began to get hipped in a little more to reality: There were an awful lot of good piano players, and not nearly enough jobs to go around. How was I ever going to compete with killer players li ... More >>

SoCal Tsunami Watchers, Surfers Let Down By Anticlimactic Size of Waves

Venice311"Massive crowd at pier. Surfers and boats in water. LAPD copter telling people to move to no avail."​Hordes of curious rubberneckers rushed the Southern California coast this morning after 8 a.m. to witness their very own close-to-home aftermath of the 8.9 Japan catastrophe. (And what ... More >>

WELCOME TO THE RILEYS

Music Picks: Dr. John, Herbie Hancock, Sunset Strip Music Festival

Also, Funkfest, Chromeo, Slayer and others

Brick's Picks: A Little Crazier Now

Free the Robots, Dr. John. Alex Cuba and Merle Haggard

Also, Bestial Mouths, The Dreaming, Echo Lush and Elevaters

THE DOCTOR WILL SEE YOU NOW

Music Picks: Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars, VoicesVoices, Peter Gabriel, Jakob Dylan

Also, Ane Brun, the Melodians, Kate Miller-Heidke, Ian Whitcomb and others

Rock Picks: The Strange Boys, Memory Tapes, Scout Niblett, Four Tet

Also, El Perro Del Mar, Phranc, Moonrats and others

Celebrating Mardi Gras? Download Gyspyphonic Disko's NOLA Mix Pronto

​If you're looking for the soundtrack to your Mardi Gras 2010, and are interested not in New Orleans' past but the future in all its melting pot glory, you should head to Gypsyphonicdisko pronto to download a great mixtape that touches on the sound of the city without resorting to nostalgia or ... More >>

Rock Picks: Van Dyke Parks, Chicago Underground Duo, Rickie Lee Jones

Also, Clipse, Imaad Wasif, Josh Charles and others

Brick's Picks: Saxes Roasting on an Open Fire

Rock Picks: THE JOE KROWN TRIO, THE FIERY FURNACES, THE LILYS, MR. GNOME

Also, Simian Mobile Disco, Wolfmother, El Perro del Mar and others

Allen Toussaint, Fresh from Grammy Appearance with Lil Wayne, Gigs at Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts Tonight

New Orleans pianist-producer Allen Toussaint has to be one of the heaviest talents that this remarkable city has ever spat forth. The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer also served in the crucial capacity of upholding the Crescent City's postwar rumba-tinged, second-line R&B tradition -- exporting it beyon ... More >>

Rock Picks: Everest, Mumiy Troll, Busta Rhymes

Also, Faun Fables, Chris Darrow tribute, Allen Toussaint and others

Rock Picks: Detour Music Festival, Dandy Warhols, David Byrne, Die Rockers Die

Also, Henry Butler, Deerhoof, Eagle Rock Music Festival, Global Drum Project

The Many Moods of Rock the Bells

Hip-hop's been in a lull. Meet the new torchbearers

The Knux-"Bang! Bang!"

Since it's rare that I post something that hasn't already been shared by at least a half dozen other blogs, the fact that I've got the new Knux single first has me running around my apartment doing my Best DJ Clue impression. Granted, there are probably a few other places the song has already appe ... More >>

Randy Newman, Katrina, The Fourth of July and "Louisiana 1927"

Randy Newman, Katrina, The Fourth of July and "Louisiana 1927" By Alex Rawls In April in The New York Times, Geoffrey Himes described Randy Newman’s “Louisiana 1927” as “more than an anthem, ... it’s also a modern-day folk song that gains new lyrics as singers adapt it to new circumstance ... More >>

Rock Picks: Meat Beat Manifesto, Jay-Z, Eels

Plus other music shows for April 10-17

Rock Picks: Watson Twins, Les Claypool, Autechre

Plus other April 3-10 shows

Record Reviews: Gnarls Barkley, Evangelista, No Age, Destroyer

Also, The Knux, Ghost on the Highway, The Little Ones

Rock Picks: Ray Davies, Beth Orton, Justice

Plus other March 27-April 3 shows

Rock Picks: Stevie Wonder, Lucinda Williams, The Frames

For the week of Aug 31 – Sept. 6

Music Picks

For the week of August 17 - 24

Music Picks

For the week of August 10�17

Music Picks

For the week of July 13 - 20

Rock & Pop Listings

For February 10 - 16

Rock Listings

For Feb. 10 - 16, Country & Folk listings follow

Washed Away

New Orleans is an ancestral home for many Angelenos... what happens when there�s nothing to go back to?

Who Were You When the Lights Went Out?

Saved... by Rock & Roll

Way Down Yonder

New Orleans: The heart of the matter

Live in LA

Ready To Rumble

The Northern California seismic threat to the Southland

The Intangibles

Why Not Let Go?

Boss Cupid’s Poet

The good life and hard times of Thom Gunn

5C�s