Montreal

littlefork Review: If You're Craving New England in Los Angeles, Jason Travi's Restaurant Is the Place To Be

It's also a great place to get a drink in Hollywood

The Five Best Shows in Los Angeles This Week: Garbage, Nick Lowe, Culture Collide

Tuesday, October 2 Garbage WILTERN When they formed in 1994, future chart fixtures Garbage had the makings of a sterile vanity project. Created by veteran studio rats (including Butch Vig, producer of Nirvana's Nevermind), with a grafted-on unknown vocalist, their formula appeared better suited to ... More >>

Mozza's Chad Colby Au Pied de Cochon by Martin Picard

Chad Colby, the chef in charge of Mozza's Scuola di Pizza as well as the Thursday night salumi bar, could talk about books for days. He says he looks for two things in his food books. "The first is photos. I'm a very visual person. So I get frustrated if there aren't good photos. The second is good ... More >>

Heartbreak Supergroup

At least the members of Divine Fits have each other

The Five Best Concerts in L.A. This Weekend

Friday, August 24 Friends of Friends THE ECHOPLEX L.A. lad Shlohmo brings sample-based, song-oriented R&B turntablism to his recent Bad Vibes full-length, sautéeing lo-fi, hip-hop, dubstep and beautifully odd sound design. As for Salva, he's been known to jack bassy, jungly warehouse and ethereal ... More >>

The Five Best Concerts in L.A. This Week

Monday, July 23 The xx FONDA THEATRE These U.K. goth-soul ghouls haven't played in the United States since 2010, when The xx wrapped up support of their self-titled semi-hit debut and subsequently went into studio-hibernation mode. This summer, they're back on the road ahead of the Sept. 11 release ... More >>

A Consideration of Whiskey Dick

I might be oversimplifying here, but when it comes to sex, there are two kinds of people: the kind who like using a lubricant, and the kind who don't. If you are in the second camp, feel free to move on. If you're in the first, tell me this: to what extent is TASTE an important consideration? I as ... More >>

A-Trak: The Hipster's Hipster

A-Trak will have you know that he isn't just a DJ -- he's a turntablist. Raised in Montreal and now based in New York, he was just 15 when he won the DMC World Championship, the prestigious DJ battle competition. Now 30 and half of the dance production duo Duck Sauce, he's scored a pair of ubiqui ... More >>

Epic Meal Time's Waistline Expanding to Japan

Epic Meal Time has gotten big. The YouTube channel boasts almost 2.5 million subscribers. High school students wear shirts emblazoned with the fatty food gross-out mavens' "bacon strips" mantra. And now, Epic Meal Time is about to be big in Japan. According to Reuters, the Montreal-spawned show ... More >>

Trent Arsenault, Sperm Donor Extraordinaire, Also Happens to be One-Man Porn Star

XtubeTrent.​We tried to stay away from the story of Trent Arsenault. We really did. With both hands. It's an icky tale. He's the Bay Area guy who mass-donates sperm to women and couples who want to have children. He does so on his own, outside the white coats of sperm labs. And so he was rece ... More >>

LinA In LA Party Picks: SNL's Stefon Ain't Got Nothin' On Us

​Anybody's who's ever watched Saturday Night Live's "Weekend Update" and reads this column knows the flamboyant nightlife reporter, Stefon (played by Bill Hader), and yours truly have similar sensibilities when it comes to colorful clubbing. Midget pirate parties ... white trash drag queen hoe ... More >>

Cookbook Of The Week: The Art of Living According to Joe Beef's Testicle Pizza Theory A Vienna Sausage (!) Martini Recipe

When we first flipped through The Art of Living According to Joe Beef by Frédéric Morin, David McMillan and Meredith Erickson, we thought it was yet another pretty but also pretty lackluster restaurant cookbook (Joe Beef is Montreal's restaurant du jour). There's even the requisite foreword by a w ... More >>

"Niggas in Paris": Jay-Z and Kanye Will Perform It 13 Times When They're Here. Seriously.

Update: At Staples Center they ended up performing "Niggas In Paris" seven times on December 11, nine times on December 12, and ten times on December 13. See also: *"Niggas in Paris": How Many Times Have Jay-Z and Kanye Performed It In Each City? *Riding Dirty With Rothkos: Jay-Z And Kayne West's ... More >>

Good Neighbors Review

Don't Call It a Comeback: Red Hot Rio 2's Paul Heck

​Since the late 1980s the Red Hot Organization has released over a dozen music compilations to help raise funds for AIDS research with help from artists as varied as George Michael, Wu-Tang Clan, Nirvana and Alice Coltrane. This year the Organization will be releasing Red Hot Rio 2 - a star- ... More >>

Jonathan Gold Samples New York's Best Eateries During Beard Weekend

Ask Mr. Gold: Poutine in Los Angeles, or The Endurance of Boy Food

Anne Fishbeinthe invisible restaurant critic​ Dear Mr. Gold: Is there anywhere local that serves poutine? I have seen pictures of the dish, which apparently includes fries, cheese curds and gravy, but I have never seen it in a restaurant. Have you ever tried poutine? It looks like a french fr ... More >>

Top 10 Most WTF Band Names at SXSW

​ You'll be kicking up plenty of gravel waiting to see Cee Lo Green, Queens of the Stone Age and The Kills at this year's SXSW. Chances are, the lines will be much, much shorter for Go Back to the Zoo, Hungry Kids of Hungary, Amusement Parks on Fire or the dozens of other requisite oddly-name ... More >>

This weekend: HARD Haunted Mansion, Ninja Tune 20th Anniversary, KCRW Masquerade, Of Montreal, Stone Temple Pilots

Perou.co.ukUnderworld​Whether you're all about the costumes or just in it for the tunes, Halloween weekend offers some massive show-going choices ... starting with, well, something very close to a massive. HARD Haunted Mansion, with an eclectic electro lineup including Bloody Beetroots, Busy ... More >>

Subversion Meets Shawshank

Brick's Picks: The Brat Pack, Literally

Tonight: Arcade Fire, the Black Lips, Casiokids, Lissie, Dave Alvin, the Ruby Friedman Orchestra

Arcade Fire​Not much we can say here is going to change your mind about Arcade Fire. You're either a believer, or not. You've either dropped some paycheck/worked an angle/called in a favor to get a ticket to one of the next two nights' sold-out shows, or not. (Or, you'll wait for Coachella, w ... More >>

L.A. Troubadour Sea Wolf Sets Out on First Ever Solo Tour

L.A. Troubadour Sea Wolf Sets Out on First Ever Solo Tour

Stars Shine Over Double Set at the Troubadour

By Molly Bergen Last night Montreal's own Stars played a second sold-out night at the Troubadour and they owned the entire evening -- almost literally. Melissa Moore​With no opener to distract, main man Torquil Campbell DJ-ed under the moniker Dead Child Star for the first hour. Seated up fr ... More >>

How Not to Have Your Tour Van Robbed, or How Psych Rocker Imaad Wasif Lost It All

How Not to Have Your Tour Van Robbed, or How Psych Rocker Imaad Wasif Lost It All

Live in L.A.: Carole King/James Taylor, the Besnard Lakes, Crash Kings, Jakob Dylan

The Besnard Lakes​Loudest husband-and-wife team in music today? My vote would go to Olga Goreas and Jace Lasek of Montreal quartet the Besnard Lakes. The foursome crafts the kind of sprawling art-rock epics that you'd think could change weather patterns, warm and inviting in one passage, icy a ... More >>

Pothole Artists Find A Massive Canvas In L.A.

mypotholes.com​Montreal artists Claudia Ficca and Davide Luciano, known for their eponymous series of works on potholes in their hometown and in New York are in Los Angeles this month to continue their good work. The duo won't have to look far. As we reported Thursday, Los Angeles has the wor ... More >>

Hollywood: Local Incentives Trump Creativity

​The trend of local tax incentives luring filmmakers to shoot everywhere from Toronto to Tuscany is nothing new. And it's costing the Los Angeles film industry hundreds of millions of dollars a year. What is new is that producers are increasingly willing to rewrite scripts in order to fit a cost-e ... More >>

City Council OKs Cirque du Soleil Loan

The L.A. City Council today approved a $30 million loan to ensure that Montreal-based Cirque du Soleil will appear in Hollywood's Kodak Theater for a 10-year period, according to Associated ​Press. Pending approval from the mayor and federal government, the loan will be given to developers CIM, wh ... More >>

Is San Diego a Restaurant-Impaired City?

Looking for lunch

Ask Mr. Gold: Is San Diego a Food-Impaired City?

Dear Mr. Gold:   My friend Oliver says you would know where to get lunch in San Diego! Can you recommend a cool place? Merci! Gaelle, Montreal    

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 >>

Canadian Club: Dusty's Draws in Poutine Heads

Islands in the Afternoon, Th' Corn Gangg in the Evening

If you're a fan of Montreal art pop band Islands, who floored us twice this spring at various festivals, you may want to take a half day today, or at least take a long lunch in Santa Monica. The band, who are touring in support of their newly released Arm's Way, are playing at 1 p.m. today at the ... More >>

Rock Picks: Spoon, HorrorPops, Wolf Parade

For the week of September 6 – 13

Put Your Bra Back On!

How Cirque du Soleil made Vegas a family town

The World According to Hutz

Sufism, Chernobyl, Little Richard madness and other adventures in cultural fusion with Gogol Bordello’s mastermind

Rock Picks: Lee ''Scratch'' Perry, The Swell Season, Maximo Park and More

For the week of July 26 – August 2

Kind Hearts and Coronets

“This boy’s not quite right . . .”

Les Grands Ballets Canadiens De Montréal

Busking for Stardom

What matters for buzz bands these days is becoming the next blog thing

Satire, Punk and Politics

Or, black people don’t like George Bush

Foghat Does Quaaludes, Wille Does Reggae

Does Size Really Matter

The Fuzz and the Fury

What Would Genet Do?

Why I’m not the marrying kind

Still Kicking Clinton Around

Remix: Utopian Vision vs. American Dream

One hundred years of architecture at the Geffen Contemporary

Canada Steals the Show

Working-class jobs in film and television are hijacked north

The Green Monster

Tom Green, from the great wild North; plus, Dick and Paula, and Joe Bonanno