John Mayer

The Rolling Stones - Staples Center - 5/20/13

The Rolling Stones Staples Center 5-20-13 If last night's concert at Staples Center really was the Rolling Stones' final show in Los Angeles after nearly 50 years of faithful pilgrimages to the Southland, it revealed that the British warhorses are still capable of major gasp-inducing surprises. Whe ... More >>

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony Was Ruined By Rush Fans

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony aired on HBO on Saturday. Hopefully you didn't watch it, because it was bad. But pity us: We actually attended the damn thing, at the Nokia Theatre last month. So, for the sake of catharsis, let's briefly run it down. It's the only way we can move o ... More >>

How Your Band Can Get More Gigs

Are you a musician? Is your group having issues? Ask Fan Landers! Critic Jessica Hopper has played in and managed bands, toured internationally, booked shows, produced records, worked as a publicist, and is the author of The Girls' Guide to Rocking, a how-to for teen ladies. She is here to help you ... More >>

Here Are All 80 Horrible Similes on Lil Wayne's I Am Not a Human Being II

Lil Wayne has just released his tenth studio album, I Am Not a Human Being II. Nowadays he sometimes feels like an old man playing catch-up in a style he practically invented. Whereas as recently as 2007 we were getting vivid gems like "I'm so motherfuckin' high, I could eat a star," now we're just ... More >>

Which White Entertainers Have a "Hood Pass" to Say the N-Word?

The late aughts saw a debate in the hip-hop community about the use of the n-word, sparked in part by Nas' plan to name his 2008 album Nigger (he ended up calling it Untitled), as well as Russell Simmons' call for industry self-censorship of the word. In 2007 the city of Detroit even hosted a "symbo ... More >>

Wayne Federman

Tristan Prettyman: After Jason Mraz, She Straps on Some Heels

Tristan Prettyman looks out over the East Hollywood landscape from the top floor of the Capitol Records building. The San Diego county resident spent the day doing press and has a label showcase later tonight at the Troubadour. In two weeks, she leaves for a cross-country tour supporting Joshua Radi ... More >>

Fuck Guilty Pleasures: John Mayer's Body of Work is a Wonderland

[Editor's Note: Fuck Guilty Pleasures celebrates the over-produced, commercial, artless, lowbrow music that we believe is genuinely worthwhile. Like, among the best music ever.] John Mayer has been persecuted for years. Way back in 2003, the Village Voice mocked his music in an article called "Phal ... More >>

Exclusive: A Disgruntled Label Exec Spills the Beans About Taylor Swift's Insane-Sounding New Album

Big news: Young country-pop starlet Taylor Swift took a bit of time out from making the "Who me?" face to record another album. Red, out October 22, is about "relationships and breakups," according to Swift, and its first single is called (no shit) "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together." She's be ... More >>

Music Picks: Too $hort, Best Coast, Brad Mehldau Trio

Also, Lee Fields & the Expressions, Simon Stokes, Sonnymoon, and others

The Most Overrated Male Musician Sex Symbols

See also: Top 20 Sexiest Male Musicians of All Time: The Complete List Last week, we unveiled the Top 20 Sexiest Male Musicians of All Time. As usual, there were cries of "What about that one guy I think is hot?" We agree with some of them. Jim Morrison was a talented mess with serpentine hips that ... More >>

Fuck SXSW: 10 Ways to Re-Create It in Los Angeles

South by Southwest (or just "South by" if you're cool and/or in a fake hurry) is well under way, with the interactive and film portions kicking off last weekend and the biggest draw, the music, just beginning. Couldn't make it all the way to Texas? Fuck it. For those of us left behind, we bring you ... 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 >>

Gustavo Galindo Says Fuck You to the Latin Grammys

Redemption is what singer-songwriter Gustavo Galindo's first Grammy nomination means to him. He's something of a Mexican John Mayer type -- in both style and appearance -- and is a nominee for Best Latin Pop, Rock, or Urban Album for his 2011 Spanish-language, rock/pop debut album Entre La Ciudad Y ... More >>

Music Picks: Skrillex, Diplo, Wu-Tang Clan, The Health Club

Also, Art Lande, Albert "Tootie" Heath, Gilad Hekselman, The Stitches, The Villains and others

Lana Del Rey - The Troubadour - 12/7/11

Timothy Norris​Lana Del Rey The Troubadour December 7, 2011 See also: The Problem With Lana Del Rey (Is You) Better than...I ever even knew. Then again, what do I know? "I have my fingers crossed that LDR lives up to all this hype. Girl's got talent," said my friend after I told her I was s ... More >>

Top 20 Most Ridiculous Grammy 2010 Nominations: Still Ridiculous after All These Months

Grammys: they're nuts!​ [Originally published December 2010] It's that time of the year, the time when the imploding music industry gathers to display their astonishing cluelessness by nominating a bunch of hacks, flashes-in-the-pan, and old people that have done their best work 40 years ago ... More >>

Hey Ladies: G. Love is Back! Fixin to Die Preview Party ( Videos)

A. TrachtaG. Love unplugged.​Groupies of Los Angeles, you should kind of be ashamed of yourselves. There was a listening party last night for G. Love's new album, Fixin to Die, at the Solar Powered Plastic Plan--a tucked away little recording studio in Larchmont! It was an intimate party, secu ... More >>

Top 8 Twitter Tools: Threatening Thugs, Homophobic Hip Hoppers and Musical Idiots Who Are Worse Than Courtney Love

8 Threatening Thugs, Homophobic Hip Hoppers and Twitter Idiots Worse Than Courtney Love

Top 20 Most Ridiculous Grammy 2010 Nominations

Grammys: they're nuts!​It's that time of the year, the time when the imploding music industry gathers to display their astonishing cluelessness by nominating a bunch of hacks, flashes-in-the-pan, and old people that have done their best work 40 years ago as "the best music of the year." Yup-- ... More >>

This Weekend: Sunset Junction and Other Functions (Like Service With Rev. Al Green)

Al Green​You've perhaps debated the lineup, read Nightranger's survival guide, gotten the reasoned perspective from Falling James, seen a certain local blog's mixtape and even tried to gauge the hippie traffic patterns. You either have the compunction for Sunset Junction, or you don't. Fact ... More >>

Theater Reviews: Hollywood Fringe Festival

Live in L.A.: Thao and Mirah With the Most of All, We Barbarians, Line and Circle

Photo by John VandersliceThao and Mirah​Bay Area-based indie-folk songstresses Thao Nguyen and Mirah Yom Tov Zeitlyn each has built estimable catalogs over the past several years, Nguyen under her tongue-twisting moniker Thao With the Get Down Stay Down and Mirah as, well, Mirah. They teamed u ... More >>

Nightranger: Everybody Talk About Pop Muzik

Music Picks: Liz Pappademas, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Mad Professor, Bill Frisell

Also, Taylor Swift, Los Tres, Saint Motel, David Allan Coe and others

Music Picks: Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba, Donovan, Ana Tijoux, John Wicks

Also, Janelle Monae, Devendra Banhart, the Low Anthem and others

Jessica Simpson <3's Billy Corgan and Wants to Have His Baby (Maybe)

Jessica Simpson <3's Billy Corgan and wants to have his baby (maybe)

Today in O-Face News: I'll Have What The Mars Volta's Omar Rodríguez-López Is Having!

In the annals of "Guitar Face"--that pseudo-orgasmic grimace that some players pull-off, pretending they're playing something with the complexity of John Fahey when in fact they're running scales up and down really fast--there is a noble lineage going from the guy from Free to G.E. Smith (the SNL ba ... More >>

Rock Photography Talk

Guitar Wars I: Slash vs. John Mayer vs. Billy Gibbons at the House of Blues

You call it. We gotta say that right now we're leaning toward, um, John Mayer, but maybe that's because he's the only one of the three whose guitar face you can see, an effective tool that adds emotion to a solo.

When Bad Things Happen to Funny People

Doug Stanhope, Elayne Boosler, Merrill Markoe and other standups on the pitfalls of comedy

Buddyhead Redux

L.A.'s most loved and feared music Web site is back, leading the never-ending quest for music that doesn't suck

Michael Jackson's Memorial Participants Announced: Kobe, Mariah, Stevie, Berry G., Brooke, John Mayer (?!), Jennifer Hudson, Magic, Rev. Al, Usher, More.

Okay, this is an odd list. Is this not an odd list? Most specifically, John Mayer. Right? That's a left-field pick. Is he not the Leonard Zelig of our time? And Shaheen Jafargholi? Hmm. The rest is fascinating and spot-on. The participants for Michael Jackson's memorial tomorrow have been announced, ... More >>

Over the Weekend: John Mayer's Cruise, Tom Morello's Justice Tour, Lucha VaVoom's Girlie Girl Catfight, Chris Anderson's "Venice"

It's only been a week since we returned from the deafening, drunken mayhem that was SXSW but that didn't keep us from spending our weekend cruising the concert circuit here in L.A. We'll sleep when we're dead (or when they cut off our bar tab). In addition to live performances by John Mayer, Tom Mor ... More >>

All Aboard John Mayer's Mayercraft Carrier 2: Jordin Sparks, Sara Bereilles, Gavin Rossdale, OAR, Guster (and the Mayer Himself)

Randall RobertsSpring-breaking with Mayer: A busload of women road-tripped to get on a ship with the man they love. John Mayer's going to get some action this week. Just, you know, in case you're wondering. He's come up with this plan, and it's called the Mayercraft Carrier 2, the sequel to last y ... More >>

John Mayer's Mayercraft Carrier 2 Cruise Sets Sail Tomorrow: Five Days of Karaoke, Trivia, Live Shows and Hangin' with the Mayer

VH1John Mayer boards his Mayercraft Carrier last year on the maiden voyage At first we thought this was a joke. John Mayer hosts a cruise that disembarks in San Pedro and takes a journey to Cabo St. Lucas; it sounded like one of his yuck-worthy pranks. Then we started getting more emails, and links ... More >>

SXSSXSW Day 4/Days Late (Pt. 1): On Rap/Rock, The Legacy of the Beasties, and Asher Roth Vs. The Knux

Other than freshman Delta Sigma Theta rushes at Cal-State Chico, no substrata of the American population has worse taste in rock than rappers. Sure, your little brother likes Fall Out Boy, but eventually, he's going to grow up and discover The Clash, then weed, then hopefully Junior Murvin and Lee ... More >>

The Weekend Report: Widespread Panic, The Orpheum, Friday, June 20

Widespread Panic, the Orpheum Theatre, June 20 By Jeff Weiss (photos by Timothy Norris) Sometimes, I think music critics hate jam bands for the jokes. After all, on that endless litany of items capable of inspiring comedic rancor, nothing is easier to mock than hippies, save for maybe George Bush ... More >>

Morello Jam, Smokin' Date, No A-ttitude

Entrance

No trash; in with the out crowd; empire Burlesque

Ill-Thought Out Observations From This Year's Grammy's

Because Live Blogging is so gauche. Occasionally the Grammy Committee's old fogey sensibility yields huge dividends. See the inclusion of Morris Day and the motherfucking Time. As far as I know, only two people have paid much attention to Morris Day and the Time post "Jerk Out:" the illustrious ... 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 >>

Straight Ahead, With Detours

Charles Owens at Charlie O’s and other picks

Perez Hilton

The queen of all media

Film Reviews: Diggers, Next and Banished

Also Sing Now or Forever Hold Your Peace and more

Trondheim Rock City!

Scandinavia’s biggest rock fest, featuring Aryan cuties, a Nazi bowling alley and the prime minister’s glam grandson

Grammy Shmammy

Rock Out. Get Sprung. Reconsider K-Fed.Say Goodbye to Love Monkey.

More Viola! More!

Getting their hey ya yas on