Joe Strummer

Rock Star Fashions, Without the Douchiness

[Editor's note: Weekly scribe Jeff Weiss's column, "Bizarre Ride," appears on West Coast Sound every Wednesday. His archives are available here.] Almost everyone has once wanted to dress like a rock star, but most people realize how absurd they look in leather pants and sequins. Wisely, then, Holly ... More >>

The Five Best Concerts in L.A. This Weekend

Friday, December 21 "Christmas 101" with Rufus and Martha Wainwright, Van Dyke Parks, Emmylou Harris, Carrie Fisher UCLA ROYCE HALL Rufus and Martha Wainwright's late mother, Canadian folk singer Kate McGarrigle, created the annual "Christmas 101" holiday event, which features carols from around th ... More >>

Music Picks: Chino XL, Marissa Nadler, As Blood Runs Black

Henry Rollins: The Column! Obamacare vs. the American Death Machine

[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.] The fallout from SCOTUS upholding the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act has been a ... More >>

Henry Rollins: The Column! Rebelling in Sweet Home Alabama

[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.] If you are a fan of American history, Alabama is a very interesting place. To say that a lot has ... More >>

Music Picks: Overdoz, The Cure, Lucinda Williams

Also, K. Flay, The Civil Wars, Bob Mould tribute

It's a Kinky Reggae Party

Henry Rollins: The Column! August Ode

​[The one and only Henry Rollins contributes a weekly column and far-reaching reportage to the music section of the LA Weekly. Look for your weekly Henry Rollins fix right here on West Coast Sound every Thursday and make sure to tune in to Henry's KCRW radio show every Saturday evening, or on ... More >>

Music Picks: Katy Perry, Phish, Deerhunter, Sia, Warped Tour

Also, Big Audio Dynamite, Jill Scott, Cypress Hill and others

WU LYF's Anti-Establishment "Heavy Pop" Hits L.A. Tonight

Jonathan FlandersThis BBQ's getting out of control​Leading today's pack of gnashing, anti-establishment wolves are Manchester's WU LYF, a quartet who play self-described "heavy pop." Formed in 2008, they are the latest followers in the Mancunian footsteps of Joy Division, the Buzzcocks and the ... More >>

Page Two: WU LYF

Countdown to Record Store Day: An Interview with RSD Co-Founder Michael Kurtz

​We've been looking forward to Record Store Day (or RSD) for awhile now. For one, it provides a welcome diversion for those of us not going to Coachella. Also, we are looking forward to all of the limited-edition vinyl releases, in-stores, and sales that come along with RSD. We keep hearing a ... More >>

Captain Beefheart: The Legendary 1980 Profile by Lester Bangs

Captain Beefheart artwork for Doc at the Radar Station album ad (1980)​[As we reported this afternoon, Captain Beefheart, Don Van Vliet, died today at 69. We already posted a list of the "Top 14 Reasons Why Captain Beefheart Was a True American Genius" by Beefheartologist Rob Chalfen. You can ... More >>

Punked in Spain

Alex Cox returns to his disaster film Straight to Hell

Interview: Beloved DJ Joe Sib On Growing Up Punk Rock in LA

Joe Sib, unplugged​Joe Sib -- Side One Dummy Records co-owner, former Wax frontman and former Indie 103.1 DJ (he currently hosts Complete Control on Star 98.7) -- gets nostalgic in his one-man show, California Calling: Growing Up Punk Rock, which he's been touring for a year and performs at th ... More >>

5 Questions with The Stranglers' Hugh Cornwell [ Free Album Download!]

5 Questions with The Stranglers' Hugh Cornwell [ Free Album Download!]

Vampire Weekend in Los Angeles: Ezra Koenig Talks Third Wave Ska, Song Construction, the Clash and California

Vampire Weekend spent much of late 2009 in and around Southern California. The New York four-piece, whose second album, Contra, comes out today, are gigging a sold-out show at the Fonda tonight, the biggest in a series of performances that it has done in Los Angeles since mid '09. For much of the fa ... More >>

Johnny Cash, Joe Strummer, Antonino D'Ambrosio and Shepard Fairey at Subliminal Projects: Bitter Tears, Fury, and Politics

By Barbara Celis Art is the antidote. This timeless truth became clear once again on Saturday night when Subliminal Projects, the Echo Park art gallery owned by Shepard Fairey, hosted a politically- and musically-charged event that celebrated artists as activists and art as a way to agitate conscio ... More >>

On the Road to Burma

Globetrotting with Ozomatli, unlikely U.S. diplomats

LA People 2009: Punkissance Man — Tim Armstrong

Remembering Longtime LA Music Photographer Shawn Mortensen

M.I.A., as shot by Shawn Mortensen The other night as M.I.A. was winding down her Coachella performance of "Paper Planes," she dedicated the song to longtime L.A. photographer Shawn Mortensen, who died last week at the age of 42. We've received a few notes of remembrance from friends and colleagues ... More >>

Van Morrison's Astral Weeks at the Hollywood Bowl, Night One: Set List for a Stunning Evening

photo by Kevin Scanlon Sell the rest of your portfolio. Forgo fancy dinners for the rest of November. Break your lame date and call your soul mate. Do what you have to do, I swear, to get a ticket to tonight's Van Morrison show at the Hollywood Bowl. If you at all have ever been moved by a Morriso ... More >>

Once Upon a Time in Westwood

Alex Cox looks back with laughter

Rockers at Morrison Hotel Gallery with Legendary Music Photographer Bob Gruen

To be honest, I never thought I'd be standing in legendary photographer Bob Gruen's teenage bedroom. The unkempt bed covered by a Led Zeppelin blanket, the shelves of rock memorabilia, the walls plastered with photos and cutout articles from vintage rock magazines like Creem and Rock Scene... it is ... More >>

Jose Roque Body & Paint, Echo Park

On Sunset near Parkman. This area has seen a lot of terrible stuff going on, not only with street art but beyond that. See Christine Pelisek's story about Raven for one tragic story that took place across the street from here. One mural along the underpass of Silver Lake and Sunset was dedica ... More >>

Rock Picks: Rutlemania, Kinky, Angels & Airwaves

And other March 14-20 concerts

Discovering the Candidates Through Their Playlists

It's My Party and I'll Cry If I Want To

Rock Picks: Hank III, Joe Strummer Tribute, Wu-Tang Clan

For the week of Dec. 21 - 27

Breeders for Coachella '08 New Album?

The dates are the festival official, April 25-27, but little else is. And are there any bands from the 80s and 90s left to reunite/headline for Cocahella anyway? Apparently we're now dipping into side-project bands re-grouping as headliners, as the Breeders are being talked about to play the Pol ... More >>

Coming Up

Every week or so, we'll update a list on concerts announced, shows going on sale, and other things happening soon that you may want to know about. James Blunt - Wiltern, Feb. 7 with Sara Bareilles. Tickets go on sale Saturday Cave Singers - Echoplex, Dec. 3 Circle Jerks - Henry Fonda, Jan 4. On ... More >>

Film Reviews

Movie Reviews: Bee Movie, Darfur Now, Primo Levi's Journey

Also Joe Strummer: The Future is Unwritten

The World According to Hutz

Sufism, Chernobyl, Little Richard madness and other adventures in cultural fusion with Gogol Bordello’s mastermind

The Rapture at the Mayan, 7/25

If you haven’t yet experienced the phenomenon of people walk-dancing, apparently the best place to witness this is at a Rapture show. Here’s how it goes down: guy in awfully tight pants and girl in white one-piece from the ‘80s enter bar area, dancing while they walk.

Prisons, Punks and Don Quixote

Our critics’ guide to the very best of LAFF

Arthur Mag Dead

ARTHUR MAG IS DEAD. This on Pitchfork:  Hippies, stoners, and folk freaks the world over wept today as it was announced that Arthur magazine will close its doors after five glorious years of delivering discourse and pretty pictures on art, music, and more to our marijuana-stained hands. As con ... More >>

Glastonbury: The Sound and the Filth

A muddled, wasted tribute to Britain’s infamous music fest

Big Damn Deal

Media darling Lily Allen’s hype exceeds her

Rock & Roll Torchbearer

Brett Gurewitz

The Cenozoic Era Passes in Five Seconds Flat

Subversive promotional activities with Jim Jarmusch

This Band Could Be His Life

Standing at the load-out with Flea, Rollins and the Evens

After the Lights Go Down

What's up at AFI Fest 2004

Revenge against the ’70s (and other hostile decades)

The Art of Confrontation

Still Rockin’ in the Almost Free World

Rush Hour

The Great Pig in the Sky

Money: It’s a hit

Letters

Stop the World

Joe Strummer’s rebel waltz

This Is Our Music

The Napster museum of cultural heritage