Kevin Scanlon

The 2013 People Issue

Welcome to the L.A. Weekly's annual roundup of the city's most intriguing people

Top 10 LA Weekly Web Stories Of 2012

The economy sucked and some news just made you want to bury your head under a pillow. But if you're in the journalism game, 2012 was the gift that kept on giving, from the worst bands (of all time) to Tom Cruise's relationship woes to awkward dance moves. Yes, awkward dance moves. LA Weekly had so ... More >>

Comment: People Like Us

Stephanie Lazarus, Former LAPD Detective, Gets 27 Years-Plus For Murder

In crime, it's rare when the detective becomes the murderer. But it happened to Stephanie Lazarus, a beloved LAPD art-crime investigator who, it turned out, murdered the wife of her ex-boyfriend in jealous rage in 1986 and lived with the crime until DNA connected her to the slaying in 2009. Today ... More >>

Nic Adler On Balistyx And The Genesis Of Grandmaster B

Kevin Scanlon​See also: Bud Bundy's Rap Career?! Hear David Faustino's Music Our cover story this week "Bud Bundy, Original Gangsta" focuses on David Faustino and his Balistyx party, which ran for two years in the early '90s and helped bring hip-hop to the west coast mainstream. Faustino's me ... More >>

Re:Play LA Tonight: J*DaVeY Don't Need No Stinking Genres

Kevin Scanlon​Re:Play LA is our concert series with local indie acts covering classic albums. The final installment -- tonight, Aug. 17 at the Hard Rock Café on Hollywood Boulevard -- will feature genre-unclassifiable duo J*DaVeY. But unlike the other artists in the series, J*DaVeY weren't im ... More >>

Miranda July's The Future and 'Eleven Heavy Things': This Week's LA Weekly Cover Story

Kevin Scanlon​ In case you haven't seen it on newsstands, this week's LA Weekly cover story is on Miranda July, written by our film critic Karina Longworth. Karina tags along with July during the installation and then the opening of her new exhibit "Eleven Heavy Things," an interactive sculpt ... More >>

Former L.A. Mayor Richard Riordan Hires 'Journalist of the Year' Patrick Range McDonald to Ghostwrite His Memoirs

PHOTO BY KEVIN SCANLONRichard Riordan​Bad news for LAUSD's underserved schoolchildren, good news for the dirty politicians of West Hollywood: Award-winning LA Weekly reporter Patrick Range McDonald will be taking the next six months off for a private commission. McDonald was approached by Ric ... More >>

Farid Zadi: The Couscous Coach

Kevin ScanlonFarid Zadi​ Farid Zadi likes to tell the story of how, when he was 14, he got a job as a dishwasher at a local castle to make some extra money. That would be a real castle, not one where the waitstaff dress like courtesans to bring you faux-medieval chicken legs while you watch fa ... More >>

Neil Strawder: From Bank to Barbecue

Kevin ScanlonNeil Strawder​ Like the best chefs, Neil Strawder commands his kitchen with confidence and ease, only his kitchen is a big-ass, brand-spanking-new trailer, a movable feast of barbecued ribs, rib tips, brisket, turkey and pastrami. And he does not sell chicken. "Why do I need to d ... More >>

Erika Nakamura and Amelia Posada: The Meat Is the Message

Kevin ScanlonErika Nakamura and Amelia Posada​ "I am six days away from becoming the mayor of this place," says Amelia Posada, "but I left my phone at home!" The co-owner of Lindy & Grundy Meats, the long-anticipated butcher shop on Fairfax, is seated next to her wife and business partner, Eri ... More >>

Marvin Gapultos: Adobo Road

Kevin ScanlonMarvin Gapultos​ Not so long ago, Marvin Gapultos was a marketing writer for a software company, and the Filipino food he grew up with was incidental music in an otherwise busy life. Then, as so many people did in 2008, he lost his job and began recalibrating what he wanted that l ... More >>

"Pee-Wee Herman Show" Returns as HBO Special

Kevin ScanlonPee-Wee Herman, back on TV​ The New York Times (yup, the NYT itself!) reports that "On Tuesday HBO said it would shoot the current Broadway production of "The Pee-wee Herman Show," which stars Paul Reubens as that impish man-child of its title, for a special to be shown next year ... More >>

Gail Goldberg, L.A.'s Top Planner, Resigns

Kevin ScanlonGail Goldberg retiring after four years​After four years at the helm of the Los Angeles Planning Department, Gail Goldberg announced her resignation today.Goldberg came to Los Angeles from San Diego with a vision for high-density development around transit corridors.But she was quickl ... More >>

Nightranger: Lost Weekend

Court Victory Means L.A. On The Verge Of Shutting Down Pot Shops; But More Lawsuits Are Likely

Kevin ScanlonJane Usher is helping the City Attorney smoke out illegal pot shops.​A judge this week denied an emergency legal attempt to stop the city from shutting down four medical marijuana dispensaries, but more lawsuits against Los Angeles appear to be on the way, a City Attorney's office ... More >>

Secrets of Alleged Killer Cop Stephanie Lazarus to Air on 48 Hours Mystery on Saturday, May 22

This weekend CBS "48 Hours Mystery" is profiling the case of 49-year-old detective Stephanie Ilene Lazarus who was arrested for the cold-case shooting and beating death of her ex-boyfriend's wife Sherri Rae Rasmussen.Kevin ScanlonStephanie Lazarus​ Rasmussen, the director of critical care nur ... More >>

Gadfly Extraordinaire John Walsh Finally Turns to Blogging

Longtime Hollywood resident John Walsh may not be as famous as such bloggers as Perez Hilton or Matt Drudge, but among gadflies, community activists and City Hall insiders in Los Angeles, he's something of a legend.Kevin ScanlonHollywood gadflies (l-r) John Walsh, Chris Shabel, and Miki Jackson​Fo ... More >>

Queer Town Exclusive: Rick Jacobs: Gay Marriage Can Be Won in 2010

For months, gay rights groups have been questioning whether 2010 or 2012 is the best election year to overturn Proposition 8, with the gay community and straight allies waiting for an answer. Today, they got it.Kevin ScanlonCourage Campaign founder Rick Jacobs​At a little after ten o'clock in the ... More >>

Over the Weekend: Perry Farrell and Macy Gray Surprise at L.A. Weekly's L.A. Weekend, Plus We Get Krafty at the Grilled Cheese Invitational

Other than the term "swine flu," we learned several very important things over the weekend: Bea Arthur (RIP) made a damn good leg of roast lamb, there is definitely a limit to how much grilled cheese one can consume, and that the Belvedere vodka served at our L.A. Weekend festival -- yeah, that stuf ... More >>

He shoots, He scores: Why I love the Los Angeles Kings

Kevin ScanlonWarning: This week, I'm talking all about the Los Angeles Kings. Even though we've had a team here since 1968, the First Rule of Being a Sports Fan In Los Angeles dictates that relatively few people follow the Kings or care about the game, because the Kings have struggled - not "The Cli ... More >>

Philippe Petit and James Marsh: Men on Wire

Standing on top of the world with the director and subject of a remarkable new documentary

The Wizard of REDCAT: Mark Murphy presents ...

The performance curator, with the likes of UCLA Live's David Sefton, makes all the world his stage

Steve Erickson

Contortionist supreme

Violence Is Golden: Timur Bekmambetov's Wanted

Director's stock rises with action-movie fans

Warrior King: Sergei Bodrov

Mongol director retraces the footsteps of Genghis Khan, navigates the Hollywood battlefield

Bob Nuchow: Screen Gem

Sheldon Epps

Straight out of Shakespeare

Rami Kashou

In or out

Perry Bennett

The coolest ice cream

Pau Gasol

King Pau

Mark McGurl

Noisemaker

Karen Ocamb

Hard news as a civil right

James Mathers

Art-fiend love-bunny

Franki Chan

Hipsters heart him

Frangela

Battling hateration

Chelsea Handler

Horizontal hostess

Charles Phoenix

Kodachrome king

Byron Allen

In control

Brooks Melchior

Play-by-playboy

Maya Emsden

Public artisan

The Visitor's Richard Jenkins: Dead Man Walking?

There's Life after Six Feet Under for familiar TV face

Henry Rollins: This Is Radio Clash

After years of musical aggro, some harmony

Paul Thomas Anderson: Blood, Sweat and Tears

There Will be Blood director on making his masterpiece, and how baseball may have saved him

Art for Artists’ Sake

Collectors named Baldessari, Pittman, et al.

Judging Amy

Heading south with Junebug’s rising young star

High On Fire, Drunk On Jack!

Metal’s heaviest sludgesters just don’t give a [fudge]

Female Trouble

Lisa See on women’s friendship and the secret written language at the heart of Snow Flower and the Secret Fan

Thai Town After Dark

No Justice? No Kidding

Todd Solondz on being stuck with who you are