National Public Radio

Hilary Hahn in Recital

Low Cut Connie Is the Coolest Critically Lauded Band That You've Never Heard Of

Low Cut Connie is a band that basically defies all laws about how a band is supposed to make it in 2013. I know this because instead of sending me a CD or asking me to review a show, the duo's singer took me out to lunch and invited my band to open for them. Combustible frontman/upright pianist Ada ... More >>

The Corona Compromise: Budweiser Making Expansion Deal

We warned you of the attempted word domination bid by Budweiser by way of beer earlier this month. The Justice Department had filed a lawsuit to block a merger between AB InBev and Grupo Modelo SAB by way of the former's purchase of the latter to the tune of $20.1 billion. It seems this had some e ... More >>

Two & A Half Buck Chuck: Trader Joe's $1.99 Wine Days Are Over Does it Need a Name Change?

Trader Joe's famous (Infamous?) wine, Two-Buck Chuck, is getting a 50 cent price hike. As reported in the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, the Charles Shaw label wine has retailed for $1.99 for more than a decade. Sources cited say that price was attainable in part due to a glut of grapes (we shall refrai ... More >>

Hailing Cesar

Lil B Is the Most Important Rapper of the Decade So Far

Lil B, the heavily tattooed Berkeley, California rapper with a gleaming grill and oversized earrings, entered the hip-hop game in 2006 as part of Bay Area rap group The Pack. Over the last three years he's garnered a tremendous Internet following, popularizing the words "swag" and "based," the lat ... More >>

KPCC's Madeleine Brand Problems: Readers Respond

Los Rakas: Rappers From Panama, Proudly Hood

Oakland hip-hop duo Los Rakas spent the early years of their lives in Panama City, Panama before settling in the Bay Area and immersing themselves in hip-hop culture. Joining forces in 2006, Raka Rich and Raka Dun coined the term "PanaBay" to describe their music, a mix of the Latin rhythms of Pan ... More >>

DJ Douggpound Mines Pop Culture for Gold Nuggets

At gatherings with extended family, Doug Lussenhop has a hard time explaining what he does. They might be familiar with Portlandia, the show for which he's an editor. They may have even seen Tim & Eric's Billion Dollar Movie, which he edited and co-wrote, though he prefers if they haven't, if only f ... More >>

Five Artsy Things to Do This Week, Including a Terrorist in the Museum

This week, an artist deconstructs the pom-pom, two holes get cut in gallery walls and an exhibition suggests the wrong man took the blame for murder 83 years ago. 5. Wallflower whirlpool Jen Stark cut a hole the shape of a water lily into the northernmost wall of Martha Otero gallery, then built u ... More >>

Music Picks: Robert Glasper, Nick Waterhouse, Omar Rodriguez Lopez

6 Great Food Museums: Food as Art, Or Not

Last week, the Carpigiani Gelato Museum opened in Anzola dell'Emilia, Italy, just outside Bologna; the first in the world, it says, to "delve into the history, culture, and technology of artisan gelato." Inside, you'll learn about the history of the frozen treat, from an 11th century recipe for pom ... More >>

The Best Musicians in L.A., 2012

Our Best Of issue just hit stands! We found our fairy tale, and now we present it to you: 435 of the most fabulous things in all of Los Angeles. From the city's most amazing restaurants to its tawdriest dive bars, from its edgiest art exhibits to the top spots for live music, we've got it all covere ... More >>

Aloke Dutta Just Wants to Bang on His Drum All Day. By Himself.

Aloke Dutta, the world's foremost solo tabla player, lives in a tiny one-bedroom apartment in Studio City.By far the most important spot in the apartment is the one occupied by the rug on which Dutta practices, composes and teaches. In the 15 years that Dutta has lived there, the rug made a slow ... More >>

Top 5 Blues Rock Bands That Don't Totally Suck

The 20 Worst Hipster Bands Top 20 Musicians of All Time, in Any Genre Top 20 Sexiest Female Musicians of All Time Top 20 Worst Bands of All Time Top 20 Worst Bands of All Time One common theme recurred again and again about our 20 Worst Hipster Bands list: People are amazed that we don't like the B ... More >>

Sam Bacile, L.A. Producer Behind Innocence of Muslims, Pseudonym for Evangelical Zealots?

The Muslim outrage that led to the fatal attack on the California-native U.S. ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens, might have very well begun right here in Hollywood. The filmmaker who calls himself Sam Bacile might have made the source of some Muslims' ire, Innocence of Muslims (video after the jum ... More >>

The 20 Worst Hipster Bands: 20-11

Top 20 Worst Bands of All Time Top 20 Musicians of All Time, in Any Genre Top 20 Whitest Musicians of All Time Who are these hipsters we see each day in the streets, on our Tumblr feeds, and on the local news? And why are so many in bands? It's not the mere existence of hipster groups that distress ... More >>

La Vida Boheme: Venezuelan Disco Punks Perform Before the Dodgers Game on Sunday

See also: Viva Los Dodgers 2012 Lineup Announced: Ximena Sariñana, Ana Tijoux, More Henry D'Arthenay is psyched for this Sunday's Dodger game, and not just because it's only the second of his life. As he tells us over Skype from his home in Caracas, Venezuela, his band La Vida Boheme will also per ... More >>

No Puffin'

The Original Food Trucks

Loncheras are riding the food truck tidal wave

James Beard 2012 Award Winners

The James Beard awards are the food equivalent of the Oscars: prestigious golden whatsits, fancy dress event, silly acceptance speeches, requisite grouching about the whole thing being rigged. Oh, yes, and lots of highly talented people getting much-deserved recognition. This year's awards ceremony ... More >>

Coachella: Seven Lesser-Known Acts You'd Be Silly to Miss

Like a Velvet Glove in a Comic Bookstore

2012 James Beard Foundation Award Nominees Announced: The Mozza Edition

Yesterday the James Beard Foundation announced its 2012 nominations for book awards, journalism, design and graphics, broadcast and media, and restaurant and chefs. It is a very long list. There were also awards given for lifetime achievement (Wolfgang Puck!) and humanitarian of the year (Charlie Tr ... More >>

Food News Roundup: Chefs for Hire, Spice Table Recipes Passion for Cilantro

Technology: Why cook when you can hire professional chefs to make dinner via Kitchit. In L.A., choose among Neal Fraser (BLD, Grace), Mark Gold (Eva), Nyesha Arrington (Wilshire), and others. Food & Wine: Three Spice Table recipes (simplified!) from Bryant Ng, with photos by Anne Fishbein. Gilt Ta ... More >>

The Worst Moments of SXSW 2012

See also: *The Best of SXSW Music: Saturday 3/17/2012 *Ten Awesome Concert Posters at SXSW Spontaneous tattoo at the S.O. Terik-Filter showcase On Friday, Samantha Urbani from Brooklyn indie band Friends did something to a fan he might forever regret. At the S.O.Terik-Filter showcase, beneath a bl ... More >>

Drake Was Whispering Encouragement in My Ear While I Was Having Sex

The other night, my wife and I had sex. Now, this isn't an altogether rare occurrence. The odds are against us (we've been together more than 10 years; we work multiple jobs; two profoundly talented 4-year-old cockblockers patrol the house endlessly like goddamn sex sniffing dogs), but we're still ... More >>

Teebs: Flying Lotus' Former Roomie Speaks On Loss And Art

​Mtendere Mandowa, better known as the Brainfeeder's beat protegee Teebs, lives and works in a space that seems to be an extension of himself. It's a small, mellow little spot in Glassell Park, nothing flashy. In the living room there is a turntable, lots of art, and live harp music floating i ... More >>

Sarah Mason, TIME's Protester of the Year: More Photos, Details Behind Occupy L.A. Cover

UPISarah Mason, TIME covergirl sans beanie and bandana, far left.​Updated on second page with even more up-close shots of Mason -- these ones taken by Ted Soqui, the LA Weekly photographer behind the TIME cover. Originally posted December 15 at 4:40 p.m. Ah, the elusive Sarah Mason -- she of ... More >>

Moby, Milagres, Mariachi El Bronx - KCRW Masquerade Ball - The Legendary Park Plaza - 10-29-11

Molly BergenMariachi El Bronx hanging out backstage.​Moby, Milagres, Mariachi El Bronx KCRW Masquerade Ball The Legendary Park Plaza October 29, 2011 Better than...NPR member drives Hordes of revelers streamed into the Legendary Park Plaza Hotel last night for KCRW's annual masquerade ball. ... More >>

Cypress Hill - Troubadour - 8-6-11

Lainna Fader​Cypress Hill Troubadour 8-6-11 Better than . . . smoking at home. "This is our first time rockin' the Troubadour," said B-Real of Cypress Hill, speaking from the fabled club on the twentieth anniversary of the legendary rap group's multi-platinum self-titled debut. "It took us 2 ... More >>

Souleyman Transcends Oriental Tropes

Henry Rollins: The Column! The Brutality, the Humanity, the Tour

Timothy Norris​[The one and only Henry Rollins contributes 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 week and make sure to tune in to Henry's KCRW radio show every Saturday eveni ... More >>

Ben Westhoff Named LA Weekly Music Editor

Ben Westhoff​Ben Westhoff, a New York music writer and author of two recent books, has been named music editor of LA Weekly. He fills an opening created earlier this year when music editor Gustavo Turner decided to return to writing full-time, becoming a contributing writer. Westhoff has writ ... More >>

Can Music Critics Who Revere Dirty Projectors, Arcade Fire and Vampire Weekend Ever Begin to Understand the Genius of Tyler the Creator's Goblin?

​Just finished listening to the BRILLIANT Goblin by Odd Future's Tyler the Creator. It's a fantastic feat by a true artist who'll be around for a while. Solid, sober and soulful. A kind of stream-of-consciousness poetry up there with the best. Now, other reviews from the little fraternity of ... More >>

KCRW's Jason Bentley Breaks Raphael Saadiq's "Stone Rollin'"

Rebecca HaithcoatLike a rolling stone ​In Twitter times like these, we turn to the (by comparison) quiet calm of music. And who better to break up the barrage of Osama/bama opinion than the soothing voice of our very own Jason Bentley, ruminating and divulging little-known facts (Raphael Saadi ... More >>

Page Two: Night of the Living Death

Belarus Free Theatre, Free Speech and Thought Control

BFT’s Natalya Kolyada, and Tim Crouch’s The Author

Measure L: Porter Ranch Librarian Jane Dobija Says Slashed Funding For Libraries Limits Public's Access to Needed Information

L.A. Librarian Jane Dobija​When it comes to the harsh budget cuts that have shuttered L.A.'s public libraries two days a week, and reduced operating hours on other days, Jane Dobija thinks back to her time as a radio journalist covering the Polish revolution in the late 1980s. "When people l ... More >>

Book Review: The Great MoonPie Handbook (The Vending Machine Review)

flickr user bonita sarita​What to say about a book -- The Great MoonPie Handbook -- dedicated to a mass-produced "pastry" that's not even a baking book? We like to think of that as an oxymoron, though it would get us thrown out of many a MoonPie-friendly home. Actually, we love this book -- th ... More >>

Web Surfing: A Roundup of News from L.A. Food Blogs & Beyond

-- Hungry in America. [Food Woolf] -- L.A.'s Five Best Pork Dishes. [Grub Street] -- What some L.A. chefs (and one bartender) want for Christmas. [Feast] -- Sang Yoon on 4 Instant Asian Ingredient Upgrades. [MensHealth via Eater] -- Books for the holidays. [Ruhlman] -- Five Venison Recipes Fo ... More >>

Plagiarism Kerfuffle Shutters Cooks Source

Cooks Source Facebook page​ Updated: The plagiarism kerfuffle at now shuttered Cook's Source topped Regret The Error's annual list of publishing mistakes -- right above a photo in which an actor playing a Nazi was identified AS the Nazi. Oops. Writer Monica Gaudio's initial charge of plagia ... More >>

NPR Reports: The Man Who Celebrates Thanksgiving With Strangers

Norman Rockwell​ Once, an uncle, having consumed half his weight in Fetzer Chardonnay, switched to Sierra Nevada halfway through Thanksgiving dinner, and remarked, quite loudly, as he took an exploratory sip and jauntily contemplated the bottle: "This beer tastes like p***y." Thanksgiving ... More >>

The New Anchor Babies: Pregnant Chinese Women Fly To L.A. First-Class To Give Birth To American Citizens

GulfstreamChinese women head to LAX when they want to give birth to American babies.​What's the first image that comes to your mind when you think of so-called "anchor babies" -- children born in the U.S. to mostly illegal-immigrant parents? Right - "little brown ones," to borrow the immortal ... More >>

Coolio Raps About Cranberry Relish on NPR

​Coolio has a fetish -- for cranberry relish. The aging rapper showed up on NPR to sample the "sounds terrible, tastes terrific" relish recipe from Susan Stamberg's mother-in-law. As odd as that may seem, Coolio a.k.a. The Ghetto Gourmet, hosts a popular online cooking show, Cookin' With Coo ... More >>

This weekend: Best Coast, Stars, the Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Fistful of Mercy, Mayer Hawthorne, Junip, Pennywise, Ghostface Killah

Best Coast​"I went from being a college dropout to being NME's top-four cool list," Best Coast's Bethany Cosentino tells the Weekly's own Gustavo Turner in last week's cover story. "It's just bizarre the way life kind of turns and changes sometimes." Yeah, we'd say so. The L.A. trio's modest ... More >>

The Weirdest Lottery of All

14 people will win the chance to un-gerrymander California

Koreatown: Glitter Babies Vs. Thugs

Stylish throngs with dough pour into the area. So do muggers and killers

Taste Globally, Picnic Locally