Moscow

Winner of Lay's Potato Chip Flavor Contest: Cheesy Garlic Bread

It's official: America loves cheesy garlic bread over Sriracha and chicken 'n' waffles. At least in potato chip form. Lay's announced Wisconsin native Karen Weber-Mendham's flavor as the winner in its "Do Us a Flavor" contest on Monday. The contest in one form or another has been around since last s ... More >>

Roxrite, an Angeleno Who Became a World B-Boy Champion

Two days after Thanksgiving Day 2011, hardcore b-boy fans poured into Moscow's Nikulin Circus for the annual Red Bull BC One Championship. The event is one of the largest and best-known international competitions, tagging itself the "Official Breakdance World Championship." Sixteen of the world's to ... More >>

Alexander Merman, Russian-born Artist Stabbed To Death in Santa Monica, Was Victim of Murder-For-Profit Scheme, Police Say

Updated at bottom: police believe there may be more victims out there. First posted at 10:54 a.m. on Mar. 2. Police believe they have identified the man responsible for the death of Alexander Merman, the Russian-born artist who was found stabbed to death inside his apartment in Santa Monica in 200 ... More >>

LinA In LA Party Picks: Have Yourself a Swingin' Triple-Xmas

Timothy Norris​A drink- and dance-filled little Christmas is assured with these pre- and post-holiday happenings! Even if you don't get what you want under the tree this year, these parties will bring you cheer ... and beer and beats. Seasons groovings to all, and to all, some good nights. Fr ... More >>

Top 10 L.A. Theater Experiences of 2011

Hipsters Review

Jonathan Gold Reviews the Tar Pit

Lina in L.A.: Nasty on the Floor

LinA in LA's Top DJ & Dance Club Picks for this Weekend (and Beyond)

Charissa Saverio​Coachella's but a quickly fading memory, Spring's in full swing and Summer is on the horizon. The club scene is definitely warming up right along with the weather, my friends. This week, we've got a grand re-opening, a sexy DJ whose sounds are as hot as she is and a fusion of ... More >>

Ask Mr. Gold: Maturity at Midnight at The Tar Pit

Anne Fishbeinthe invisible restaurant critic​ Dear Mr. Gold: Last night I wanted to take my friend out for a nightcap in a spot with yummy food and an older crowd. Well, older than 20s -- her prerequisite. We wouldn't have arrived until midnight. We were in Hollywood and could have driven anyw ... More >>

Food News Roundup: Breakfast With Stalin, Safe Sushi Eating Locally (With 100 Miles of Rope)

-- L.A. Winemaker Finds Identity In Graffiti Art. [Neon Tommy] -- Ways you can do more to eat locally. (Our favorite: "Tie one end of a 100-mile rope to your house and the other end to your waist to ensure that you only eat within that radius.") [The Onion] -- 9 Foods to Help You Sleep. [The Da ... More >>

Tonight: Odd Future, Faith No More, Eve 6, Train, John McLaughlin, the Grouch

Brook Bobbins via Village VoiceOdd Future with Mos Def in NYC earlier this month​The headline earlier this month in the New York Times read: "Young, Gifted and Outrageous: Can Odd Future Survive Popularity?" Which is a fair question. The outrageous L.A. hip-hip crew whose unabbreviated monik ... More >>

The Gospel at Saratov

Lee Breuer on the Volga

Dublab and Leaving Rec's Keep Cassette Culture Alive in Silver Lake (Plus: Lapti, From Russia with Fuzz)

Raid your own collection for cassettes to "spin" at Top Tape in Silver Lake.​On Friday night (tonight) at Silver Lake's Hyperion Tavern, Dublab and Leaving Records are asking cassette owners to help DJ a night filled exclusively with reel-to-reel music. Die hard tape aficionado and casual "ju ... More >>

DOING LUNCH WITH PHIL

Tonight: Menomena, The Chapin Sisters, Primus, Jennifer Knapp, Buddy Guy, Mark Kozelek, Brandi Emma

Alicia RoseMenomena​Danny Seim of experimental rockers Menomena jokes that the three-plus-year wait for his bands's fourth album owes to two years of touring, a substantial period making the new music and some time spent "arguing over it." So, Seims says, "in the wake of brutal disagreements ... More >>

Tonight: Ryan Bingham & the Dead Horses, Norah Jones, Tokimonsta, Jason Falkner, Jimmy Webb, the Morlocks

Anna AxsterRyan Bingham​Ryan Bingham ought to be a lot more famous than he is. The 29-year-old roots rocker has already won an Academy Award and a Golden Globe for "The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart)," as well as come up big in the scene he had in the Jeff Bridges movie. He's played Coac ... More >>

L.A. Subway Security Tightened In Wake Of Moscow Bombings

Metro​Extra sheriff's deputies and canine bomb-sniffing dogs were added to subway security in Los Angeles following terrorist bombings on Moscow commuter trains that killed more than 36 people Monday. The extra law enforcement was added as a precaution, with no indication that there was any p ... More >>

On Blast and Little Red Radio at Club Moscow: Take a Picture, It Lasts Longer

Only in Hollywood does an audience of 200 people get so fired up over the prospect of taking pictures that for brief moments it forgets about the band on stage. It happened not once but twice Wednesday night at Club Moscow at Boardner's. Jay OlignyOn Blast at Club Moscow​ The first inciden ... More >>

Stage Raw: Comedies About the End of the World

COMPREHENSIVE THEATER LISTINGSTHE LATEST NEW THEATER REVIEWSSTAGE FEATURE on Leonard Nimoy and Company of AngelsCOMEDIES ABOUT THE END OF THE WORLD​Poland's Theatre ZAR rehearsing Gospels of Childhood at the Barbican in London, where they performed last month. That piece is the first third of the ... More >>

Movie Reviews: An American Affair, Phoebe in Wonderland, 12

Also, Between Love & Goodbye, Toyo's Camera and more

Slapping Skins and Sins at Cinespace; Guitar Center's Drum-Off; Dragstrip 66

Pyrotechnical Playing

Retired Russian Army Colonel Criticizes U.S. Actions in Iraq Even as Tanks Roll in Georgia

Yuri Yuryevich, also a former journalist, says idea of Russian censorship was concocted by the West — investigative journalism no problem as long as president isn't criticized

Violence Is Golden: Timur Bekmambetov's Wanted

Director's stock rises with action-movie fans

Letter From Moscow: Back in the USSR

You can't rely on the official media to learn much of what's going on in Russia. The government owns all Russian TV stations, on which never is heard a discouraging word. Jon Stewart-style political satire has disappeared from the airwaves. Those pundits who dared to challenge government policy have ... More >>

Film Reviews: Get Smart, Guy Maddin's My Winnipeg

Also, Never Forever, Viva, Brick Lane

The Purpose of Theater in Absurd L.A.

The Glory of Living and Variation #50 : Slow birth on the killing floors

Matt Taibbi on How the U.S. Is Like Ike Turner

The dance of the Dead Elephants

Sacred Sounds

Russian Patriarchate Choir

Eastern Blockbusters

The Russians Are Coming

Indie Spin

Are you ready for this jelly?

Movie Reviews: Day Watch, Mr. Brooks, Paprika

Also reviews of Bamako, The Devil Came on Horseback, Golden Door and more

New Year in Moscow

Great American Garageland

Shower Power

While a few pals questioned the choice to have my co-ed baby shower bash at Boardner's in Hollywood, they soon saw that it wasn't quite what they expected. This place sure aint the rock dive of yore! First of all, owner Tricia Labelle has really classed it up, adding and revamping the art deco tou ... More >>

Tiara Girlz

Sex and the City

Snakebites

Nightranger

It’s All Happening!

Snake Bites

An Emotive Othello

Director Declan Donnellan crawls behind Shakespeare’s words

Russian Roulette

On election eve, should Putin’s power be feared?

Space(F)light

Sailing the solar wind to the stars

To Protect and to Spin

The ex–LAPD cop who became a 9/11 conspiracy king

Seeing Red

Joe Stalin comes to L.A.

Cruising for Zombies

A review of local arcade diversions

Soviet Blocks

A story of getting lost -- and found -- in pre-glasnost Kiev

Notes From Underground

The Red Elvises join the party