Dwight D. Eisenhower

Lee Daniels' The Butler Chronicles the Civil Rights Movement Through the Eyes of a White House Servant

Forest Whitaker and Oprah Winfrey shine in a cast packed with talented actors

5 Stories All Angels Fans Should Know

If you're an Angels fan looking for more ways to prove your diehard loyalty, there's a book out there that might hold a helpful suggestion or two. Baseball writer Joe Haakenson recently released 100 Things Angels Fans Should Know and Do before They Die and we took some excerpts from the book to guid ... More >>

Henry Rollins: Our Constitutional Rights Require Constant Vigilance

[Look for your weekly fix from the one and only Henry Rollins right here on West Coast Sound every Thursday, and come back tomorrow for the awesomely annotated playlist for his Saturday KCRW broadcast.] See also: Henry Rollins: Hardcore Nostalgia in Washington D.C. "If destruction be our lot, we ... More >>

Slate Mailer Sleaze in L.A.

Political party “endorsements” jamming your mailbox are often phony

Enter the Dragon

Elliott Smith Memorial Wall Gets a New Face--Again

Elliott Smith's Figure 8 cover art​Don't mess with memorials, especially ones dedicated to musicians tragically gone far too soon. Last spring, former Pink Floyd frontman Roger Waters incited a minor riot (ok, in the comments section of this blog post, but still) when the viral street campai ... More >>

James Benning's RR

The experimental railroad film debuts at L.A. Filmforum

Roger Waters Now in Hot Water over Supposedly Anti-Semitic Images in "The Wall" Stage Show

Stars of David bombs followed by Dollar Sign bombs? How could anyone possibly misread that?​And... here we go again: now the Anti-Defamation League is upset about supposedly anti-semitic messages in Roger Waters' current The Wall stage-show. Here's the problem with Roger Waters: he's always t ... More >>

Badlands: From Ground Zero of the Immigration Crisis Along the Mexican Border

Proposition 14, the Open Primary

What happens to ossified Sacramento if California voters get to shop around?

Roger Waters vs. Elliott Smith's Wall

Street art in the global village

Pink Floyd's Roger Waters Gives Props to Republican President in Public Art Stunt

Notice the familiar The Wall-ish font on the wall?​ This weekend, Pink Floyd's former frontman Roger Waters is issuing a kind of pacifist call to arms in the spirit of Banksy (or is it in the spirit of Mr. Brainwash?) by projecting humongous quotes from Republican president Dwight Eisenhower ... More >>

Les Paul, 1915-2009

W.C. Fields on the legendary innovator: “The music you’re making sounds like an octopus. Like a guy with a million hands”

Only in LA: Les Paul, W.C. Fields, Groucho Marx and the Invention of Multi-Track Recording

A few years ago, longtime LA Weekly writer John Payne interviewed Les Paul, who died yesterday, as part of a comprehensive overview of his career. We'll be publishing Payne's remembrance on the guitar and recording innovator in next week's paper. Below is an excerpt of that piece. ​ He was w ... More >>

On the Road to Burma

Globetrotting with Ozomatli, unlikely U.S. diplomats

The John Birch Society Is Back!

Scrolling down a list of things to possibly do today, I came across an announcement for an appearance by John Birch Society president John McManus, who'll be in North Hollywood tonight talking about "America's Economic Meltdown." The John Friggin' Birch Society! A wave of heady nostalgia swept over ... More >>

The Meaning of Examined Life

Without Monty Python’s help, Cornel West and crew take on the big question

The Latest Republican Cover-Up: The Presidency of George W. Bush

Ready to hit the reset button: At the GOP convention, plenty of Mac and cheese, no W

T.C. Boyle, Aimee Liu, Barry Glassner

At Mark Taper Auditorium

Greed Runs Through It

One man’s journey to the end of the Colorado River

Split Over Atoms

Who will pay for San Onofre’s rehab?

The Great American Spy Novel

Charles McCarry and The Tears of Autumn 30 years later

A Vision of Our Own

Four ideas for the left to redefine itself

George Bush and the Treacherous Country

The Man Who Could Beat Bush

In John Kerry, the Democrats may have themselves a winner

Can Dean Win?

It’s not enough to be right

Marking the Chief

William Bratton’s report card shows talent and huge challenges

Soldiers of Fortune 500

After Gore, the Deluge

The morning-after line on the candidates

Poet of the Revolution

Majid Naficy’s tragic journey home

The World Senator

Alan Cranston’s take on things

Who’s Your Daddy?

Leonard Kleinrock and the birth of the Internet

The Real World Organization

Why being against the WTO isn’t enough

Stein-Hubbell affair

Rewriting the Stein-Hubbell affair

The Battles of Algiers

Why does the worst place on Earth seem so familiar?