Mark Twain

Mel Brooks: Make a Noise Makes 'em Laugh at Paley Center Premiere

Mel Brooks doesn't think he's an American master. That's someone like Mark Twain or Ernest Hemingway, says the creator of the funniest farting scene in the history of film. But Susan Lacy, executive producer of PBS' American Masters series, thought differently, and convinced Brooks to dispense wi ... More >>

Jay-Z's Great Gatsby Soundtrack Is a Failure

When the first trailer for Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby was released a year ago, it was set to the music of Jay-Z and Kanye West's "No Church in the Wild," from the sometimes duo's incredibly self-important Watch the Throne album. On the surface it made sense. Jay-Z -- who retired as a rapper i ... More >>

The Best Concerts in L.A. This Weekend

Friday, March 1 Morrissey and Patti Smith STAPLES CENTER The Staples Center has been making headlines by going all-vegetarian for Morrissey's March 1 visit, a request that even Paul McCartney has been denied in the past. A meat-free Staples deserves mention, but it still doesn't impress more than t ... More >>

Ryan Adams - Disney Hall - 2/17/12

Ryan Adams Disney Hall 2-17-12 See also: Why Ryan Adams Isn't Allowing Photos Better than... Listening to Love Is Hell in its entirety on Valentine's Day because Heartbreaker just wouldn't be depressing enough. Unless that's your thing. I guess I'd consider myself in the 90th percentile of Ryan ... More >>

Martin Olson's Encyclopaedia of Hell: Phineas and Ferb/Penn & Teller Writer On His New Book, a Satire of Satan

​Ever had questions about Hell, Satan or various and sundry demons? Then TV writer Martin Olson's Encyclopaedia of Hell: An Invasion Manual for Demons Concerning the Planet Earth and the Human Race Which Infests It will prove most edifying, as it sheds some much-needed comedic light on the da ... More >>

Ladies & Gentlemen, Funnyman David Sedaris!

Tales of the Cocktail: A Report from New Orleans

​It's Sunday morning, I am at Tales of the Cocktail in New Orleans, and I am scraping up the pieces of the week like a crumber on a tablecloth. (Tales, as I will heretofore call it, is the grand annual gathering of the nation's cocktailians, and as such is not for the weak.) Debris from last n ... More >>

True Grit Movie Review

Jeff Bridges stars in the Coen brothers' remake of the classic Western

Teens Worship in a Parking Lot After Venice Pastor Shuns the Skateboard Set

New pastor bars youth group at United Methodist Church

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 >>

Is This The Real Life?: Henry Rollins on Feeling Lonely in LA, His Utilitarian Hovel and the Respective Geniuses of Fela Kuti, Marnie Stern and Keiji Heino

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 >>

Guest Blogger: Letters from Rasputina, Part 1

Guest Blogger: Rasputina's Melora​ [Rasputina's Melora Creager, the undisputed doyenne of cello-based, kinda-goth, steampunk-avant-la-lettre indie music, has graciously agreed to guest-blog for West Coast Sound in anticipation of their upcoming LA gig at the Troubadour, this Saturday, August 1 ... More >>

Stage Raw: Summer Festivities

COMPREHENSIVE THEATER LISTINGSNEW THEATER REVIEWSSTAGE FEATURE on [title of show] and Dani GirlSUMMER FESTIVITIES Open Fist Theater Company launches its annual Fist Look Festival this weekend, with The Existents, a rock musical by Douglas Crawford and Jason Wooten, music and lyrics by Ty Taylor. T ... More >>

Stage Raw: Brewsie & Willie

COMPREHENSIVE THEATER LISTINGSNEW THEATER REVIEWSSTAGE FEATURE ON LINDA PURL'S FESTIVALBREWSIE AND WILLIE ​Poor Dog Group's adaptation of Gertrude Stein's novella, is among the productions being reviewed this week. Photo by Scott Grolier Check back here on Monday night for reviews of THE BAKER'S ... More >>

Live Review: Frankel at the Redwood Bar

Sandra VahtelThe elusive Mr. Frankel​Last night something magical happened at the Redwood bar. It was almost as satisfying as finding a double rainbow or riding a unicorn and just as rare. Frankel actually played a set. This doesn't sound like much, but Frankel (aka, Michael Orendy) doesn't ... More >>

Theater Reviews: Thurgood, As the Globe Warms, I'm Not Here Anymore

Also, Othello, Redhead Cuban Hausfrau Husband and more

Stage Raw: Two Plays by Yukio Mishima

COMPREHENSIVE THEATER LISTINGSNEW THEATER REVIEWSCURRENT STAGE FEATURE on KING LEAR​NEW REVIEW GO TWO PLAYS BY YUKIO MISHIMA ​Photo by Yukata Takeuchi Perhaps most notorious in the West for his sensational, 1970 suicide by seppuku, controversial poet-novelist Yukio Mishima was also a pl ... More >>

Gogol Bordello Tackles Immigration Reform in New Music Video, Eugene Hutz Explains Why and Shares Photos from the Set

Timothy NorrisGogol Bordello at The Mayan, June 2010​On June 29 gypsy punk band Gogol Bordello announced its plans to officially boycott the state of Arizona over the highly controversial SB 1070, the toughest anti-illegal immigration bill passed in America in decades -- one that requires auth ... More >>

Day 2: John Waters Is a Great Role Model for Young America (No, Seriously)

Gustavo TurnerStars! They have trouble with reception just like us!: John Waters backstage at Gossip's set​ [Report by Justin Jasper] Once Know as the "Prince of Puke", John Waters has become something of an elder statesman of fringe Americana. His one-man shows have repositioned him from cu ... More >>

Theater Reviews: Hot Pants, Cold Feet, Liberty Inn, Side by Side by Sondheim

Also, Rock 'n Ridicule, The Story of My Life, Tales of an Urban Indian and more

Stage Raw: Extropia

COMPREHENSIVE THEATER LISTINGSNEW REVIEWSSTAGE FEATURE on The Event and Kharmful Charms of Daniil Kharms THE 31ST ANNUAL L.A. WEEKLY THEATER AWARDSNEW REVIEW GO EXTROPIA ​ Photo by Keith Roenke Imagine how sonically colorless a world without traditional music would be. Actually, not very, accor ... More >>

Tiger Woods' P.R. Machine Hits Bogey After Bogey

Hollywood public relations guru Howard Bragman thinks sex scandal-plagued Tiger Woods and his media handlers have been screwing up royally.Tiger Woods​"The scandal wasn't about the scope of his transgressions," Bragman, who's widely considered one of the best crisis management publicists in the co ... More >>

This Ain't Your Dad's Sid and Nancy: Film Maverick Abel Ferrara Brings his Chelsea Hotel Documentary to LA

​About a year ago, cult NYC film director Abel Ferrara (Driller Killer, Ms. 45, the OG Bad Lieutenant, The Addiction, etc.) wrapped his indiepunk documentary on the legendary Chelsea Hotel. The film premiered at Cannes last year and is now being gradually unrolled across the US. Ferrara is com ... More >>

Stage Raw: Does Your Acting Career Have That Sinking Feeling?

COMPREHENSIVE THEATER LISTINGSNEW THEATER REVIEWSSTAGE FEATURE on Rachel Rosenthal at 83DOES YOUR ACTING CAREER HAVE THAT SINKING FEELING?​Captain Smith looks out over oceans of opportunity There's still hope of a rescue! Titanic Museum in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, seeks an actor to play the Titani ... More >>

Stage Raw: Getting Intimate With Michael Kearns

COMPREHENSIVE THEATER LISTINGSNEW THEATER REVIEWSSTAGE FEATURE on Rachel Rosenthal at 83MICHAEL KEARNS GETS INTIMATE​L.A. Weekly's 2007 "Queen of the Angels" Michael Kearns performs his solo performance piece, Intimacies, at the drkrm Gallery and Performance Space in Eagle Rock, 2121 San Fernando ... More >>

PRAISE GEORGE

Theater Reviews: The Bad Arm — Confessions of a Dodgy Irish Dancer, Alley Cat and Some Kind of Love Story

Also, Respect: The Girl Em-Powered, Sona Tera Roman Hess

Samantha Hunt's The Invention of Everything Else

Traveling through time with the world's most amazing inventor

Days of Mud and Coffee

Naturally moist waterfront homes, rustic charm, convenient to everything

Reincarnation of the Nerds

Rajiv Joseph’s bookish comedy

Burial in the Sky

Hunter S. Thompson goes up in smoke

Ears to You

Electile Dysfunction

When “south of the border” means America

Teaching Torture

Congress quietly keeps School of the Americas alive

Please, Sir, I Want Some Moore

Post cards from Cannes

Life, Literature and the ER

Life, Literature and the ER

Hole in the Sand

Still time for the U.N. to save Iraq

New York Marquee

Now playing in the big town

The Last Intellectual

Clive James, Renaissance man

In Between

Norman Mailer in L.A.: Battling the Armies of the Right

Sweet Smell of Secession

But Is He Good for Bingo?

Communion

Psychotropic Delights

Sadie Plant on Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde and the drug jones in all of us

How You Can Help the Janitors — and Your City

Divided We Stand

Putting the id into identity politics