KISS (Band)

Music Picks: Rhye, Papa and Motörhead

Five Dance Shows to See in L.A. This Week, Including a Dance in a Vintage Trailer

This week's dance events include the return of Dance Camera West dance film festival and Eifman Ballet's sensual bio-ballet Rodin. See also: *5 Artsy Things to Do in L.A. This Week *Our Latest Theater Reviews *Our Calendar Section, Listing More Great Things to Do in L.A. 5. A moving and movable ... More >>

A Club For People Who Like to Set Things on Fire

See also: *5 Artsy Things to Do in L.A. This Week The L.A. fire artist known as Tedward saw police lights flashing out of the corner of his eye just before filling his mouth with fuel. Police cruise Culver City Park after dark sometimes and flash their lights to make their presence known, so he did ... More >>

Theater to See in L.A. This Week, Including a Mesmerizing Child's-Eye View of Grief, Walking the Tightrope

Child-like views delighted our critics this week, with Mike Kenney's Walking the Tightrope at the 24th Street Theatre taking Pick of the Week, and a nod to Albie Selznick's magic show Smoke and Mirrors at the Lankershim Arts Center in North Hollywood. There's also a recommendation for an adult comed ... More >>

Theater to See in L.A. This Week, Including Family Strife and Sexual Taboos in Machu Picchu, Texas

Family trauma drama Machu Picchu, Texas (pictured above) grabs our Pick of the Week this week. Good reviews also for Noel Coward's Fallen Angels at the Pasadena Playhouse and David Henry Hwang's Chinglish at South Coast Rep. For all New Theater Reviews, and this weekend's comprehensive listing ... More >>

Theater to See in L.A. This Week, Including Jane Kaczmarek in The Snake Can

Kathryn Graf's new comedy about women slipping into middle-age, The Snake Can, is this week's pick of the week. Also a nod for Cathy Rigby reprising her decades-long performance in Peter Pan. See below for all the latest New Theater Reviews, and this week's comprehensive stage listings. Also, two s ... More >>

Theater to See in L.A. This Week, Including Dostoevsky's Notes From Underground

Nods this week for Laguna Playhouse's production of Neil Simon's Chapter Two and Dostoevsky's Notes from Underground at Zombie Joe's Underground in North Hollywood. For the latest new reviews and comprehensive stage listings, see below. Tanna Frederick and Robert Standley star in N. Richard Nash's T ... More >>

Paul V. Talks About How His Dragstrip 66 Dance Party Defined L.A.'s Polysexual Nightlife Scene

Paul Vitagliano, better known as Paul V., is a self-proclaimed "promosexual" — a term he coined and has zero shame about owning. Thanks to social media, of course, self-promotion has become an essential component to party throwing, deejaying and writing/blogging — three things the 50-yea ... More >>

Your Oktoberfest Round-Up: Beer, Brats, Pretzels More Beer

L.A. Oktoberfest -- October 20-21: Bust out the lederhosen for this one, because it's likely to get a little crazy. This two-day festival at the Vanguard in Hollywood sounds like a scene from the movie Beerfest: busty Bavarian babes, beer song sing-a-longs, roving accordion players, stein-holding co ... More >>

2NE1 - Nokia Theatre - August 24, 2012

2NE1 Nokia Theatre 08-24-12 See also: K-pop Till You Drop: The Skinny on the Korean Boy and Girl Groups That Get Major Play in Koreatown 2NE1's first international tour brought the K-pop girl group to Nokia Theatre on Friday. The show felt like a stellar girls night out, and you could tell they w ... More >>

Music Picks: Rome, The xx, Aretha Franklin

Also, Cannibal Corpse, I See Hawks in L.A., Smokey Robinson and others

Fanatics! Henry Rollins' KCRW Show Tomorrow Night: Original Songs Vs. Their Covers

KCRW Broadcast #169 for Saturday, June 16, 2012 See also: Henry Rollins: The Column! Joey Ramone's Legacy Is in Danger Fanatics! Take cover! If you check out our show for tonight, you will note we have a bit of a concept happening here. I have broken the two hours below, so you can quickly see wha ... More >>

The Beach Boys - Hollywood Bowl - 6/2/12

The Beach Boys The Hollywood Bowl 6/2/12 See also: A Tour Of Beach Boys' Haunts In Their Hometown Of Hawthorne, California - With Pictures Better Than: Your average Carnie Wilson show. This year in the UK, Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee is bringing together millions of her subjects (and pl ... More >>

Hanni El Khatib Makes an Album With Dan Auerbach, Gets Drunk

[Editor's note: Weekly scribe Jeff Weiss's column, "Bizarre Ride," appears on West Coast Sound every Wednesday. His archives are available here.] "I'm blaming you if I puke later." "Fine. But admit it in the story," Hanni El Khatib replies, passing a vodka and soda that I didn't order. We've been ... More >>

Top 20 Hair Metal Albums Of All Time: The Complete List

​See also: *Chuck Klosterman's Favorite Hair Metal Albums One day I was sitting around thinking I want to write a song about ménage a trois...and the line 'love in stereo' came into my head. Inspiration can happen anywhere at any time. -Jani Lane, Hit Parader magazine History has not been ... More >>

Henry Rollins, Scott Ian, Mike Watt, Corey Taylor, Dave Navarro - Avalon - 11/30/11

See also: Henry Rollins: The Column! The Time I Drank The Sweat From My Socks Onstage Drop in the Bucket benefit Henry Rollins, Scott Ian, Mike Watt, Corey Taylor, Dave Navarro and others Avalon 11/30/11 Last night handfuls of heavy musicians took the stage for a worthy cause, Drop In The Bucket, ... More >>

Ryan Adams Interview: We Manage To Really Piss Him Off

See also: Ryan Adams performs at Hollywood Forever, October 10, 2011 [Correction: Contrary to what was originally written, Adams did not hang up on reporter Drew Fortune. Rather, Adams cut short the conversation, and the two agreed to continue the next day. West Coast Sound regrets the error. A s ... More >>

The Misfits - House of Blues - 10-04-2011

Javier Cabral​The Misfits and The Dickies House of Blues 10-05-2011 More than three decades in, The Misfits are still doing it, with or without Glenn Danzig. To the orthodox practitioner of punk rock, watching these guys play power chords is as big as watching Black Sabbath or Metallica. It ... More >>

Rasputina - Key Club - 7/29/11

Rasputina at Key Club​WHO: Rasputina
 WHERE: Key Club WHEN: 7/29/11 Better Than... Your kid sister's recital. Russian religious icon Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin has long been a great source of intrigue, fear and inspiration, and one of those inspirations is New York-based act Rasputina. B ... More >>

In Honor of Michael Jackson's "Thriller" Jacket Selling for Almost Two Million: The Most Insane Music Memorabilia Someone Out There Would Buy

Peter BrookerThe Jacket​Somehow a person with a shitload of money decided to plunk down $1.8 million (think Dr. Evil voice) for Michael Jackson's iconic "Thriller" jacket this past weekend, which marked the two year anniversary of his death. We won't speak on the fact that the proud new owner, ... More >>

EXCLUSIVE Interview: Why Anthrax's Scott Ian Hates Coachella and Loves the Big 4

Steve ApplefordAnthrax guitarist Scott Ian​ Guitarist Scott Ian has been metal's No. 1 fan ever since his first whiff of Kiss back in the '70s. He's also been the one constant in every lineup of Anthrax, now one of the "Big 4" originators of thrash-metal set to land on the site of Coachella i ... More >>

The Man Who Invented The Monkees and The Archies, Music Promoter Don Kirshner, Dead at 76

Everything's Archie! MyspaceA cartoonized Don Kirshner presents The Archies with their gold record​ Just a word here about the passing of a giant, Mr. Don Kirshner, who died today at the age of 76. Now, some of us who were around back in "the day" might appreciate a bit of context-putting-in ... More >>

The Melvins Have Landed

The world finally catches up to the elder statesmen of sludge

Top 10 Strangest Rock Star Action Figures (In Honor of the "Hard Rock Barbie" Lawsuit)

Tiny Rockers! 10 Best Rock Star Action Figures (Not Including HorrorPops' Lawsuit Lovin Bassist)

Betty White: The Gift That Keeps on Giving

Betty 365​ Octogenarian Betty White was the unofficial "it" girl of 2010, proving that old is the new young. For the Golden Girls/Betty White fan in your life, thank your friend for being a friend (cue the theme song) with these last-minute, better-than-cheesecake holiday gift ideas. Hoodie ... More >>

You Can't Go Home Again: Henry Rollins on Being Back in the USA, Autumnal Feelings and his Favorite Thomas Wolfe Passage!

Maura LanahanOur eminent columnist, Mr. Henry Rollins!​[The one and only Henry Rollins will be contributing 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 Friday and make sure to tune ... More >>

X Japan in the U.S.: From Anime Conventions to Lollapalooza to a North American Tour

Saturday night, X Japan will play live at The Wiltern. It will be the band's first full concert in Los Angeles ever. This is despite the fact that the band initially formed in the early 1980s and went on to become one of Japan's greatest rock acts, launching the visual kei movement in the process. S ... More >>

Music Picks: Ooh La La Fest, Pavement, Beach House

Also, Kris Kristofferson, the Black Keys, Bettye Lavette and others

The Madlib Mystique

An exclusive interview with underground hip-hop's most elusive producer

Dâm-Funk: Keytar Hero

“I’m not doing the neo-soul thing. I’m a funkster. I’ve been doing this since I was a kid”

Vampire Weekend at the Fonda: More Songs About Language and Taxis

In the schoolyard world of rock & roll, it's easy to see why Vampire Weekend gets picked on. Looking so meek, so intellectual, so teacher's pet, the band -- from suburban New York, no less -- looks the very antithesis of rebellion. They're more like an after-school study group than the most buzzed- ... More >>

Interview: Ben Watt on the Dark Euro Sound, the Business of Dance Music and the Future of Mixes

Ben Watt has had one of the more unusual journeys in the annals of DJ success. As one half of pop act Everything But The Girl, he had much more mainstream fame (and likely more fortune, too) than almost anyone could achieve in club-land. But as the duo followed its muse toward electronic elements in ... More >>

Flaming Lips at the Montalban: Coyne Announces 'Dark Side of the Moon' Collab With Peaches, Rollins

Live review: Flaming Lips at the Montalban

Rock Picks: Broken Nobles, Anny Celsi, Seu Jorge, the Killers

Rock Picks: Broken Nobles, Anny Celsi, Seu Jorge, the Killers

Also, Destroy L.A., Sunset Strip Music Festival, the Drones and others

Movie Reviews: Death In Love, 500 Days of Summer, Severed Ways

Also, The Poker House, The Queen and I, and more

Rock Picks: Erykah Badu, Peaches, The Church, Camera Obscura

Also, Au Revoir Simone, Patrick Wolf, The Field, Fortress of Amplitude and others

Revisiting LA Music History: Guns N Roses' 'Appetite for Destruction' Studio

Nikki DarlingThe studio formerly known as Rumbo, where "Rocket Queen" was recorded It was a time when the Valley lingered somewhere between Frank Zappa's ramblings and a real life version of Paul Thomas Anderson's Boogie Nights. A mix of agriculture, dust, white wagon wheels, diners, car dealershi ... More >>

West Coast Sound: Burger, Fries and a Prince Remix CD

Music ed takes Weekly readers for a ride

Prince Apologizes to L.A. Fans, Will Issue a Limited Edition Remix CD Through In-N-Out Burger

Who knew Prince liked his burgers animal style? In the wake of Prince's much decried three-show evening at L.A. Live on Saturday, which was plagued with sound problems and saw many fans still waiting in line for the Club Nokia show while he was inside performing, the musician last night issued a fo ... More >>

Raymond Pettibon, Sonic Youth, Daniel Johnston, Ron English Celebrate Rock, Paper, Scissors at Bergamot Station

View more photos in the Rock, Paper, Scissor slideshow. Timothy NorrisOne in Ron English's series of kids dressed like Kiss This was a really cool weekend for those of us interested in the convergence of music and art, and whether some of the better-known musician/artists can stand alongside maste ... More >>

Pull Up Your Obamas: Political Fashion Statements — Socks, Tees, Shoes and Even Underwear for Change

Beyond Shepard Fairey's Hope tees

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 >>

Live In L.A.: Prince — Straight, With Chaser

Prince The Roosevelt Hotel Blossom Room June 29 2007 At his concert Friday night, Prince joked that his L.A. friends had warned him: Ain't nothing goin' on in L.A.! Stage banter aside, the truth is that we live in a remarkable place at a remarkable time — The Kid's decision to perform an e ... More >>

Playing Favorites

Queer and/or peculiar films that have mattered

A Dossier of Desperate Measures

Godspeed offshoots light the fuse.

Cagey Cretins

Tyranny, mutation and Blue Öyster Cult

Super Furry Sound

A year in music