Kickstarter Inc.

The Nether, Jennifer Haley's New Play at Kirk Douglas Theatre, Takes Place in a Virtual Reality of Sexual Fantasies

The Dudes' Brewing Co. in Torrance Debuts First Four Beers Cans Coming in June

Usually when a room full of people are chanting "Dudes! Dudes! Dudes!" it's a bachelorette party in a Vegas hotel suite. But last week, when the refrain erupted inside Hot's Kitchen in Hermosa Beach, it was not for male strippers. It was for L.A.'s newest microbrewery --The Dudes' Brewing Company. ... More >>

Celebrator's 25th Anniversary Beer Taps in L.A.

For 25 years, the Northern California-based Celebrator magazine has been the West Coast's premier source for beer news from locally, regionally and beyond. And starting tonight (with other tapping celebrations slated for the next week), Angelenos will get to try Celebrator's 25th Anniversary Double ... More >>

Budweiser Allegedly Watered Down Beer 5 California Craft Alternatives

Anheuser-Busch InBev is being sued by consumers in Pennsylvania, California and New Jersey with companion suits coming from Ohio and Colorado, Bloomberg reports. The complaint filed in Philadelphia alleges that the alcohol content in a variety of Anheuser-Busch products is overstated, which would vi ... More >>

How to Be an L.A. Cinephile

With so many indie films and repertory screenings, how do the city's movie buffs manage it all?

4 Los Angeles Brewery Kickstarter Campaigns: Invest in Your Beer Future

It's been a whirlwind start to 2013 for Los Angeles beer. The scene celebrated it's unofficial third birthday with the near-simultaneous anniversaries of Ladyface, Eagle Rock and Strand brewing companies and El Segundo Brewing Company released its first round of production bottles, which are now spr ... More >>

Q & A With Cheesemaker Christine Maguire: A Farm Stay At Rinconada Dairy Cheese, Jam, Bacon!

Fantastic handmade cheese, bacon from backyard pigs, and homemade jam made from farm fruit aren't exactly the typical Jane and Michael Stern road trip finds. If you've tried any of the cheeses crafted by Christine Maguire of Rinconada Dairy, a visit to the 92-acre ranch that she and her husband, Jim ... More >>

Product Review: The Pizza Baking Steel, A Thin Crust Game Changer?

On our quest for the perfect pizza crust, we've broken pizza stones (more than one), tried all of the mock pizza oven tricks (Bricks!) and talked with chefs like Jeff Mahin over at Stella Rosa about our unfulfilled crust expectations. And now, the Baking Steel. Baking pizza on steel is an idea Mah ... More >>

"Artisan" Instant Coffee? Just Add Panela

Sooner or later, a modern marriage of the current artisan and coffee crazes was inevitable. Still, when that box of Jiva coffee cubes landed on our desk, we found the idea of 'artisan' instant coffee highly entertaining (it was a long day). And, to be fair, our Folgers times have changed. Starbucks ... More >>

Local Promoters Raw Put Bands in Front of Audiences -- For a Fee

A Los Angeles-based company called Raw would like to give your band a show. And also, possibly, an award. In exchange, it would like a few dollars. Raw's clunky, full moniker is RAW: natural born artists -- it's not an acronym but rather references "unpolished" performers. It puts on parties in mo ... More >>

Top 6 Los Angeles Breweries to Watch In 2013

Los Angeles might have one of the younger beer communities on the West Coast, but it is certainly making up for lost time. The city that once lived in the shadow of beer powerhouses like San Diego and Portland is finally starting to come into its own with new breweries beginning to ship suds and man ... More >>

Top 10 Geek Heroes of 2012

In 2012, Stan Lee got his own comic book convention, Akira creator Katsuhiro Otomo came to town, web sensations like the comic Homestuck and series Dick Figures had wild success on Kickstarter and Lloyd Kaufman put a whole ton of Troma films on YouTube. Sure, there's plenty more that happened in 2 ... More >>

Do Kickstarter Bands Have To Pay Taxes? Accountants Aren't So Sure

Boy band Allstar Weekend are Poway's answer to One Direction. The San Diego county-bred group got its start on the Disney Channel music competition Next Big Thing back in 2009. They took second place on that show, but the exposure helped the band ink a four-album deal with Hollywood Records, book a ... More >>

The Best End-of-the-World Parties In L.A. on Friday

According to the Mayan calendar, the I-Ching and a range of biblical and secular prophecies, the world is supposed to come to an end on Friday. It's probably not true but what if it is? You're going to feel pretty dumb if you didn't spend your last evening dancing, eating, drinking and being merry. ... More >>

We Attended Cinefamily's Entire 24-Hour Holiday Telethon. Here's the Mind-Blowing Stuff That Happened

It's somewhere on the wrong side of 4 a.m., John Hawkes is casually smoking cigarettes on an outdoor couch, the German actor Udo Kier just went back to the coffin he likely sleeps in, and Cinefamily's back patio looks like the early morning lull after a biker-gang Christmas party. There are beercans ... More >>

12 Best Gifts for People Who Love L.A.

See also: *Best L.A. Novel Ever: The Tournament *5 Artsy Things to Do in L.A. This Week *Our Best of L.A. issue and our Best of L.A. app What do you get someone who has everything: a beautiful home, great food and legal marijuana? From endless gift certificates to countless books and DVDs, there's ... More >>

Is Music Site Uncool Cool Enough to Get Funding?

Music writers David Greenwald and Daniel Siegal want to create a site for in-depth music reporting and criticism, and they want to pay writers a fair wage to do that work. Sort of like the L.A. Weekly's music section, but they want to do it minus the kind of pageview-driving clickbait -- listicles a ... More >>

How to Succeed on the Web: 4 Tips from This Week's Digital Hollywood Summit

Hashtags and Twitter handles were flying at this week's four-day Digital Hollywood conference. Executives and innovators in film, television, technology and new media came to speak at more than 50 panels held in the glitzy halls of the Ritz Carlton, Marina Del Rey. Attendees were split between youn ... More >>

Short Attention Span Dinner Theater: Your Week in Food, 10/15 - 10/19

In which we highlight the past week in food, either at home or abroad. "In a weak economy, is this the future of keeping businesses open? Move over Kickstarter." Eva Restaurant Rallies for Help to Solve Parking Debacle. "Roy Choi 'broke a lot of laws' when opening Kogi." 6 Things We Learned From ... More >>

Ask Fan Landers: Should I Publicly Humiliate My Bandmate for What He's Done?

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. Send your problems to he ... More >>

GOOD Founder Ben Goldhirsh Talks About Launching a New Platform and Firing Editorial Staffers

When word hit the street back in June that GOOD Magazine would be transforming its website into a "platform" -- oh, and it was firing the majority of its editorial staff -- readers and media-watchers were shocked, and CEO Ben Goldhirsh wasn't talking. That was then. "I didn't feel comfortable sp ... More >>

World's Best Father Photo Series (and Calendar): Dad Baby Food

A new father snaps baby thumbing knowingly through an applesauce-smeared copy of Ada or Ardor. Another day, he tucks a Budweiser into the crook of her soft little arm as she sleeps, drooling and burbling away, and, with a few iPhone heroics, updates his Instagram to the applause of family members a ... More >>

Music Picks: Culture Collide, Nick Lowe, Screaming Females

A new father snaps baby thumbing knowingly through an applesauce-smeared copy of Ada or Ardor. Another day, he tucks a Budweiser into the crook of her soft little arm as she sleeps, drooling and burbling away, and, with a few iPhone heroics, updates his Instagram to the applause of family members a ... More >>

Smallknot: New Website Aims to Help Fund Locally Owned Restaurants

Kickstarter was so six months ago. Now the newest way to fund a creative project -- without taking a loan from a guy named "Vinny the Shark" -- is a website called Smallknot, a Brooklyn-based company that aims to provide a media platform for local businesses, restaurants mostly, to raise money for s ... More >>

Political Prankster Steve Lambert Brings His Interactive Signs to Charlie James Gallery

Kickstarter was so six months ago. Now the newest way to fund a creative project -- without taking a loan from a guy named "Vinny the Shark" -- is a website called Smallknot, a Brooklyn-based company that aims to provide a media platform for local businesses, restaurants mostly, to raise money for s ... More >>

We Gave Charlie Manson's New Record Half a Listen and It Sucks

Let's all try to be really open-minded for a hot second. Records Ad Nauseam, a niche record label run out of the Hollywood boutique Beauty is Pain, just put out a vinyl LP of never-before-released Charles Manson music. Recorded on tape in a room above the chapel at Vacaville Medical Facility in th ... More >>

No Hay Nada Mas

Let's all try to be really open-minded for a hot second. Records Ad Nauseam, a niche record label run out of the Hollywood boutique Beauty is Pain, just put out a vinyl LP of never-before-released Charles Manson music. Recorded on tape in a room above the chapel at Vacaville Medical Facility in th ... More >>

How Dick Figures Broke the Kickstarter Record for Funding of an Animation Project

See also: *Dick Figures, a Hit YouTube Series That References Memes, Video Games and Skrillex *L.A. Weekly's YouTube Issue It's been a whirlwind few months for Ed Skudder and Zack Keller, creators of the popular animated web series Dick Figures. When we first met, they were at Los Angeles Animation ... More >>

Amanda Palmer Brought Her Traveling Art Party to Her L.A. Kickstarter Backers

On Thursday night, Amanda Palmer brought her traveling art party to Los Angeles' Pop tART Gallery. One of only six such events Palmer was throwing in the U.S. and Europe, the party was exclusively for people who donated at least $300 to her wildly successful Kickstarter campaign. Holly Rushing was ... More >>

Chicano Batman, Caped Crusader

[Editor's note: Jeff Weiss's column, "Bizarre Ride," appears on West Coast Sound every Wednesday. Be sure to also check out the archives.] With the July 20 release of The Dark Knight Rises, the iconic Batman franchise returns for its seventh summer with the usual panoply of "pows," "bangs" and Chri ... More >>

L.A. Startup Club, Offering Cousel and Commiseration For the Silicon Beach Set

Would you contribute ten bucks to get an adult webcomix series featuring voiceovers from real porn stars off the ground? How about five for a stainless steel butt plug project? Ben Tao and Eric Lai, founders of Offbeatr, an adult version of crowd-funding sites like Indiegogo and Kickstarter, seem to ... More >>

PopCon L.A.: Steve Sievers Dresses Like a Turtle and Brings His Supa Pirate Booty Hunt Web Series to Denny's

If you go to a lot of fan conventions in Southern California, you've probably seen Steve Sievers. Usually, he's dressed as a turtle, Daniel the Turtle, to be specific. That's the character he created and voices for the web-based cartoon series, Supa Pirate Booty Hunt. Supa Pirate Booty Hunt is abo ... More >>

Drip.FM Is HBO for Music Nerds

[Editor's note: Jeff Weiss's column, "Bizarre Ride," appears on West Coast Sound every Wednesday. Be sure to also check out the archives.] It's hard to pinpoint the date when the music industry stopped speaking like a shell-shocked trench poet, but the sky quietly quit falling. Last year, album sal ... More >>

A Cheap, Portable Sous Vide Machine? Try Kickstarter

The sous vide method has proven to be a nifty science trick for modern chefs. Want to make a cheap cut of steak or bunch of carrots melt like butter? Throw them in a thermal immersion circulator for a half-day and revel in the results. Sous vide cooking using a immersion circulator is essentially ... More >>

Womanthology: Gender Is the Least Interesting Thing About This All-Female Comics Anthology

Last summer, Womanthology was big news across the comic book scene, back when the mega-anthology featuring an all female team of creators was only a concept, the brainchild of comic book artist Renae De Liz, inspired by a tweet from Jessica Hickman, who became one of the book's editors. The Kickstar ... More >>

Thank You For Coming Launches Restaurant Residency Program

Atwater Village's Kickstarter-funded "restaurant project" Thank You for Coming announced yesterday that it had finally received its approval from the L.A. County Health Department and plans to host its first open house on June 21, from noon to midnight. Thank You For Coming aims to become L.A.'s f ... More >>

Five Cheap Ways You Can Support Your Favorite Artists

Art shouldn't be intimidating, but when you walk into a gallery and note that even the low priced items are several hundreds of dollars, it can be. But fear not, art lovers. There are plenty of ways you can support the artists whose work you've reblogged on Tumblr or pinned to Pinterest even when ... More >>

The Roots, Hilary Hahn, The Urinals

Also, Barbara Lynn, Stalley, Active Child and others

Ze Frank, Online Video Pioneer, Is Back With a $146K Kickstarter Campaign. But What Is His New Show All About?

Ze Frank sometimes makes you feel a little stupid. But it's not on purpose -- he's pretty brilliant. In case you've forgotten, Mr. Frank was the occasionally singing, speed-talking, non-blinking (he edited out his blinks) online genius from the The Show, an early exercise in interactive internet vid ... More >>

Portlandia Spoofs Echo Park Singer IAMEVE's Kickstarter Campaign

See also: Portlandia Was Partly Inspired by Los Angeles Since Kickstarter launched less than four years ago, the "crowdfunding" site has become as ubiquitous as the hipster mustache. Who doesn't know a musician, aspiring filmmaker or underwater basket weaver who has concocted a clever video beseech ... More >>

Punk Rock Museum Opens Today: Our Exclusive Preview

See all our pictures from the Punk Rock Museum Opening. L.A. scenester icon Taquila Mockingbird made a heartfelt promise three decades ago to keep "keep punk alive," and she's been doing it pretty much everyday of her life since. It fuels her very existence. But this weekend, the writer/singer/arti ... More >>

Music Picks: Matthew Sweet, Summer Darling, Billy Childs Quartet, Rusko,

Also, The Aggrolites, Kris Bowers, Chasing Kings, Asher Roth and others

Win A Date With The Singer! Kickstarter Bands That Actually Deserve Your Money

By Ed Carrasco Christmas may be over, but lots of local musicians are still hoping for a little seasonal generosity. They're seeking help footing the bill for production of their albums -- remember those? -- and have turned to Kickstarter. You may be feeling tapped out at this time of year, but, h ... More >>

Atwater Village Farm: Now Open How To Farm in a Gold Lamé Dress

Patrick O'DonnellPiper Goldstein and products​There's a new wave of urban farmers, but Piper Goldstein takes it to the next level. She likes to farm in a gold lamé dress and work boots. A native to Los Angeles, she actually has Woodland Hills tattooed across her stomach. But she's not your ... More >>

Q & A with Mary Jo Pehl, Author of Man Saved By Condiments!: The Relative Joy of Arby's Horsey Sauce, Butter Conduits Being Haunted by Ketchup

In 2003, a security guard from Kermit, West Virginia, named Robert Ward was driving to work when he lost control of his 1985 Ford, plunged 150 feet into a snowy gulch and broke his hip. For the next six and a half days, he kept himself alive by eating snow as well as by some clever car foraging; for ... More >>

Long Beach Comic and Horror Convention: The Place to Go for Your Comic Book Education

Liz OhanesianClint and Dawn Wolf of Zombie Ranch​Two years ago, Clint and Dawn Wolf launched their comic, Zombie Ranch, at Long Beach Comic Con. The couple returned to the convention -- now called Long Beach Comic and Horror Con -- last weekend, where they sat on the "Tips and Tricks for Indy ... More >>

Toilet Papering Documentary About L.A. Vandalism Crew Needs Your Cash

Kickstarter​A filmmaker wants to make a documentary about a high school toilet papering crew that has existed in L.A. since 1979. (It replaces members who graduate and move on). It could be the feel-good vandalism film of the year. The doc by Whit Scott is to be called "Rolled," and he's look ... More >>

Atwater Village Farm Market Preview Tonight

Rachael Narinsjam and toast​ Tonight, July 28th, the Atwater Village Farm Market will be open for a sneak preview as part of the very charming Atwater Village's Summer Nights on the Boulevard from 5 to 10 p.m. at 3224 Glendale Boulevard. If you haven't been to one of these exceptionally well-o ... More >>

Allison Anders and Kurt Voss Kickstart New Rock Film, 'Strutter" -- Details From The Directors.

Strutter-ers Dante Ailano White and Ericka Clevenger​Don't Knock The Rock film fest creator Allison Anders has been celebrating rock n' roll, punk, pop and folk in film with DKTR events since 2003, but music has always played a major role in her own films (Mi Vida Loca, Border Radio, Sugartown ... More >>

Listen: Members of Minutemen, Rare Grooves, Sufjan Stevens' Band and Philip Glass Ensemble Collaborate for New Album by Chris Schlarb (of I Heart Lung)

Chris Schlarb, composer, I Heart Lung, collaborators​Long Beach player-producer-composer (and indie label head) Chris Schlarb is releasing what looks to be a bit of a magnum opus on Asthmatic Kitty Records this month. Featuring nearly 30 musicians, including the inimitable DM Stith (a solo ar ... More >>