Randall Roberts

Mexican Viagra?: Hilarious Video of Sex Pistol Johnny Rotten Driving Around L.A. with L.A. Times Music Editor

Lydon & Roberts: Coming soon to a comedy club near you!​ Our friends and colleagues at the L.A. Times are slowly dipping their toes into this "new media" thing and they somehow convinced John Lydon (aka Johnny Rotten from the Sex Pistols and P.I.L.) to drive around L.A. with music editor Rand ... More >>

Jane's Addiction's "Nothing's Shocking": The Word Cloud

​ Hey gang--guess what popular West Coast Sound feature is back? The Word Cloud! The 'Cloud has been M.I.A. for a few months, but we're restarting this Friday tradition with a great one--as per usual very suitable for making stencils and T-shirt iron-ons. For those of you with memories oblit ... More >>

Top 10 Rock Books of 2010

​With the year coming to a close, we're heading off the inevitable barrage of "best" lists coming your way with one that will actually be useful and problem solving (a holiday gift guide for the music lover in your life, that's not actually music... or a t-shirt). Buy 'em a book! iPad and Kin ... More >>

WATCH: Psych-Pop, Surfboards and Depressed Dads in 60 Watt Kid's New Masses-Directed Video [MP3]

Unicorns and toy pianos also..​You'll remember the Masses as the film collective that helped launch Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros, and also as the film collective that Heath Ledger helped launch. (Read about that in Randall Roberts' fantastic piece, "A Port in the Storm.") And you'll hope ... More >>

Tupac's 'All Eyez on Me': The LA Weekly Word Cloud [NSFW]

West Coast Sound has been analyzing classic Los Angeles albums for the past six months by creating word clouds from the lyrics. We've tackled Black Flag's Damaged, the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds, N.W.A's Straight Outta Compton, Guns 'n Roses' Appetite for Destruction and, most recently, just for kicks, ... More >>

Notes From the Music Blog: Louis Armstrong’s Pot Habit

Plus, Richard Branson’s foray into Above & Beyond

Last Night: Cold Cave, Abe Vigoda and Former Ghosts at Eagle Rock

Cold Cave, Former Ghosts, and Abe Vigoda at Eagle Rock Center For The Arts, Dec 4. On Friday night, Cold Cave fans leaning on the stage were violated like prisoners by the crowd forcing itself upon their backs. Somehow, though, they held their position just as destiny holds its keepers. While thin ... More >>

Movie Reviews: This Is It, Boondock Saints II, Gentlemen Broncos, The House of the Devil

Also, The Fall, Skin and more

Maestro! Film Composers (and One Director) Speak About Ennio Morricone's Impact

Legendary composer has still never played L.A.

Best of L.A.: Burgers

Rock Picks: Amadou & Mariam, Manimal Festival, Marianne Faithfull, Gil Scott-Heron

Also, Kylie Minogue, the Joe Perry Project, Teenage Jesus & the Jerks and others

L.A. Weekly: Why they’re still picking it up

Rock Picks: Riot Girl Carnival, Miniature Tigers, Death Cab for Cutie, Deer Tick

Also, Vieux Farka Touré, John Fogerty, Stacey Q, Watts Ensemble and others

Coachella Day 3: The Kills Kill It, Throbbing Gristle Force Me Into The Fetal Position, and The Clipse Cancel

Slowly, my brain is slinking its way towards sensible shape. Three days of Coachella are not for the faint of heart -- if nothing else it requires a quarter-ounce of weed, an array of narcotic edibles from potcorn to cannabis cakes, several brightly colored pills of indiscriminate origin, copious ... More >>

Ten Great Cover Songs from Coachella 2009 (and a few extras)

Timothy NorrisEven the machinery was flashing the horns. Nothing says "I love you" like a cover song. Artists at Coachella like to acknowledge their influences, love to thrill the crowd with a surprise singalong. This year bands drew from music of many genres, from ragtime to post punk to hip hop. ... More >>

Coachella Day 2: Sunday Morning Procrastinator Post

Randall RobertsFashion tip for those wearing headbands and/or Carrera sunglasses: Tinariwen had a better look. Updates coming. We're still in a sort worship mode. Tinariwen at sundown yesterday was a glory to behold. It carried us through the night, and this morning as we were drifting awake after ... More >>

Coachella Day 2: Tinariwen's Sunset Convergence is the Talk of the Festival

Timothy NorrisTinariwen: Nomads who now roam the earth delivering Tuareg music of Saharan North Africa. This is the 2009 show that's likely to build into a Coachella legend. Tinariwen's sunset set at the Gobi tent. Standing on the stage, the sextet, dressed in traditional Tuareg robes and headwear ... More >>

Ten Coachella Picks: Ariel Pink, Genghis Tron, Vivian Girls, Mastodon

Plus, A Place to Bury Strangers, Mexican Institute of Sound, Gui Boratto, MSTRKFT and more

Rhino's New Jane's Addiction Box: A Cabinet of Curiosities, Quite Literally

Randall Roberts It's pretty great, this new 3 CD, 1 DVD boxed set from Jane's Addiction. The highly anticipated set, which comes out Tuesday, April 21, contains some of the legendary LA band's earliest recordings -- marvelous Radio Tokyo studio demos -- and a ton of other out takes, as well as cove ... More >>

Over the Weekend: Puscifer at Club Nokia, Denis Leary at Nokia Theatre, Electric Cherry Blossom in Little Tokyo, The Masses Office Party

This weekend was definitely one you could call a perfect beach weekend, though that didn't keep us from heading indoors for more entertainment and nights that went much later than we'd planned. We counted curse words with Denis Leary, boogied with Puscifer, partied at Electric Cherry Blossom and cra ... More >>

Weekend Report: Mia Doi Todd, Carlos Nino, Gaby Hernandez, Grace Woodroofe and More Cram an Office Space with Music

Randall Robertsif you look closely, you can see a reflection of the party in the curve of the balloon. (not really.) We've just got one decent snapshot of Saturday night's party in Hancock Park at the offices of the Masses (or at least one that's not dark and blurry), and it was taken as we were si ... More >>

Live in L.A.: Prince's Three Shows at L.A. Live Provide Much Frustration for Many People (including Prince)

Randall RobertsPrince at L.A. Live (taken on dinky cell camera) There's a lot of responsibility to go around for the wildly uneven Six Hours of Prince gig at L.A. Live on Saturday night. You can blame AEG, the owners of L.A. Live, which is what Prince did during the final of his three performances ... More >>

Video Exclusive: Puscifer's Maynard James Keenan Handcuffs Reporter, Suggests GG Allin to Re-Kill Himself at Club Nokia Shows

Click here for photos of the arrest. Maynard James Keenan is a man of many pursuits: musician, vintner, and as it turns out, cop. The latter I discovered the hard way when Sheriff Keenan arrested me for trespassing after I tracked him down for an interview about Puscifer's upcoming performances a ... More >>

Tonight at 826LA East: LA Music Writers Hold a "Seminar," Discuss Amazing Opportunities in Journalism

Tonight at the ever-inspiring 826LA East in Echo Park, directly behind the Echo Park Time Travel Mart, a bunch of music writers will be discussing their, er, craft, no doubt addressing hot button issues in the ever-exciting world of music journalism, a profession that is growing by leaps and bound ... More >>

Indie 103.1: Tune In, Turn On, Shut Down

From Hollywood to Uruguay, on a one-of-a-kind L.A. music station

Beck, Arabian Prince, Dennis Wilson, Love: Four More Great L.A. Reissues of 2008

Diggin' in the crates

Pacific Heights: L.A. Weekly's Top 10 L.A. Recordings of 2008

No Age, Chapin Sisters, Mia Doi Todd, the Knux, Flying Lotus, Madlib and more

Over the Weekend: Dogtown Z-Boys, Detour Fest and Dodger Victory

This weekend was one of celebration in Los Angeles, packed with more events than we could scramble to cover. Friday night kicked off with a special VIP party at Crewest Gallery in Downtown L.A. where The Label Lab hosted the opening of the "The Z-Boy Show—Direct from the Source," featuring work fr ... More >>

Tonight at USC's Annenberg School: Music Writers Ponder the Life and Death of Criticsim

So tonight at 7:30 at USC's Annenberg School, I'll be participating in a forum on the future of music criticism. Organized by the L.A. Times' chief pop critic Ann Powers, the panel discussion features fellow L.A. Weekly contributors Ernest Hardy and Oliver Wang; Pulitzer Prize-winning music criti ... More >>

Over the Weekend: Beck at the Bowl, Man Man Taco Fiesta, and Anniversary of Gram Parsons' Death

I've never welcomed a Monday with more relief. Over the weekend, pre-Emmy parties on Friday and Saturday crowded Hollywood, while the actual ceremony on Sunday at the Nokia made living downtown a pain the ass for anyone like me who wasn't glued to a television. Plus, we got a shock Saturday morning ... More >>

F Yeah: Frickin' Yes in the Summertime

This weekend's fest offers a glimpse into the future of rock & roll

Missing Heath; on Randall Roberts' "Masses" Feature

Also, comments on Scott Foundas' "Bud, Wiser" and Daniel Heimpel's "Mold Rush" feature

Record Reviews: Lucky Dragons, Love and The Bug

Videos from The Masses

Below are a few videos mentioned in this week's feature on the Masses. (All text by Randall Roberts) The Masses in Marfa: Edited by Matt Amato In the first week of May, the Masses art collective gathered a dozen-and-a-half kindreds and traveled to Marfa, Texas for the first an ... More >>

Marfa Film Fest Dispatch: World Premiere of Heath Ledger-directed music video

(photo by Randall Roberts) Today's a travel day for me, having just experienced the best little festival I've ever attended, the first annual Marfa Film Festival, in Marfa, Texas. The second annual one is already on my calendar for next year (and in the interim I'll be trying to convince my bosses ... More >>

Good Times Never Seemed So Good: Snapshots From Coachella

From the express train to the Gobi Tent to the VIP and beyond

Rock Picks: Coachella, Lynda Carter, Hot Chip

And other shows happening April 24-May 1

Record Reviews: Gnarls Barkley, Evangelista, No Age, Destroyer

Also, The Knux, Ghost on the Highway, The Little Ones

SXSW Day 4-Pitchfork Party Gets a 6.4, Due to Highly Derivative Partying

A Pitchfork party without Sparks? That's like Eliot Spitzer without whores: fatigued, thirsty and miserable. And rest assured, Sparks flowed like the River Ganges, even going as far to sponsor the bash, which wasn't really as bad as it was boring. A bunch of people sitting in bleachers trying t ... More >>

SXSW Day 1-My Morning Jacket Prove That They May Be Invincible and Britt Daniel is Everywhere

If you do a Google Image search for "Austin" this is one of the first things that pops up. Two girls at the 1998 Austin Corvette Day. Granted, this probably has nothing at all to do with SXSW--yet judging by my first impressions of this place, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if by the end ... More >>

Siouxsie Sioux at the Fonda

Also, Grizzly Bear and the L.A. Phil at Disney Hall

Los Angeles area well represented at South by Southwest 2008

Want proof that L.A.'s in the middle of an astoundingly fertile period of musical expansion? See the list below. We're going to have our hands full this year. Expect around the clock coverage from Austin.

Radiohead: Rainbows in Curved Air

The analog pleasures of Radiohead's digital revolution by Randall Roberts (Photo by John Spinks) There are a few different ways to get to Big Sur from Los Angeles, but in the big picture it doesn't matter which route you take, because regardless, you're leaving Los Angeles and going to Big Sur. You ... More >>

Van Halen: Reunited (and It Feels So Good)

Van Halen at Staples Center, November 20

Van Halen, Staples Center, November 20

Van Halen Staples Center, November 20 By Randall Roberts Jack and Coke? Check. Bic lighter? You know it. Rocker passed out on sidewalk, girlfriend exasperated, before the show? There were a few of them here. This is Van Halen, after all, and them up there is Diamond David Lee Roth and Eddie Van Ha ... More >>

Program Notes: Hippies at the Phil, a Primer

In anticipation of Joanna Newsom's performance with a 28-piece orchestra, we offer a primer - and an homage to orchestral liner notes - for those of the symphonic persuasion

PJ Harvey Live at the Orpheum Theatre

PJ Harvey at the Orpheum Theatre, October 15 By Randall Roberts Polly Harvey waltzed onto stage last night looking like Emily Dickinson after a rough wrestle in the meadow, hair mussed, wearing a floor-length white Victorian gown, its poufy shoulders sprouting high above her frame. The word grow wa ... More >>

Letters: Of Humane Bondage

Our readers write

Arcade Fire, LCD Soundsystem and Wild Light, Hollywood Bowl, 9/20

Arcade Fire, LCD Soundsystem and Wild Light Hollywood Bowl, September 20. By Randall Roberts There was a moment about three-quarters of the way through Arcade Fire’s victorious show at the Hollywood Bowl last night – I think it was during “Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)” -- when lead singer Wi ... More >>

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