Rolling Stone LLC

L.A. Library's New Free, Netflix-Like Services, Explained

Broke L.A. twenty-somethings, rejoice! No longer must you feel a tinge of guilt for praising Emersonian self-reliance in your sock puppet performance art while secretly mooching off of your parents' Netflix, Hulu Plus and Amazon Instant accounts. The L.A. Public Library has arrived in the 21st cen ... More >>

The Best Concerts to See in L.A. This Week

Don't forget to check our constantly-updated Los Angeles Concert Calendar Monday, August 26 Courtney Love TROUBADOUR Musician, actress, writer, artist, designer -- love her or hate her, she is Courtney Love. Nothing can stop the 49-year-old icon from partying, guitar shredding and unconventional c ... More >>

Why is My Obscure, Vinyl-Only Band So Obscure?

Are you a musician? Is your group having issues? Ask Fan Landers! Critic Jessica Hopper has played in and managed bands, toured internationally, booked shows, produced records, worked as a publicist, and is the author of The Girls' Guide to Rocking, a how-to for teen ladies. She is here to help you ... More >>

Reach Out, Touch Faith

Kennedy, the MTV VJ Everyone Loved to Hate, Has a New, Salacious Memoir

You know you're a polarizing figure when Courtney Love takes a liking to you. For anyone who regularly watched MTV from 1992 to 1997 during the height of grunge and gangster rap there was no presence on the network more memorable (or more irritating) than the single-named Kennedy, she of the nerdy ... More >>

Michael Hastings Probed the CIA Before Fatal Hollywood Crash

Michael Hastings, the Buzzfeed writer who appeared to have died in a fiery Hollywood crash early today, had reported extensively on the CIA and was rumored to be continuing work on that beat at the time of his demise. See also: Michael Hastings Crash: Car Was Speeding, Engine Flew 100 Feet, Cops Sa ... More >>

Jerry Hopkins: Jim Morrison's Biographer Finds a Strange Kind of Bliss in Bangkok

Is Music Site Uncool Cool Enough to Get Funding?

Music writers David Greenwald and Daniel Siegal want to create a site for in-depth music reporting and criticism, and they want to pay writers a fair wage to do that work. Sort of like the L.A. Weekly's music section, but they want to do it minus the kind of pageview-driving clickbait -- listicles a ... More >>

School's Out Forever

Who knew? Alice Cooper actually had a great time in high school

Hot Cheetos & Takis: Why Junk Food Is Better For Kids If They Rap About It

It's not every day that a group of kids in an after-school program makes a music video that gets a million and a half views on YouTube and is deemed "the summer's final truly great jam" by, um, Rolling Stone. Even more unlikely: The video is about snacks. Well, maybe that does make a lot of sense. I ... More >>

Music Picks: Charli XCX, Polica, Esperanza Spalding and More

RIP Spin Print Edition (Probably): Why We Loved the Magazine

After being purchased by Buzzmedia last week, Spin Magazine looks to be on its last legs -- the magazine part of it, anyway. Though Buzzmedia representatives haven't said it's going digital-only, they haven't committed to maintaining the print edition, either. It seems likely that we won't see much ... More >>

The Eagles' "Hotel California": Why This Song Sucks

[Editor's note: Why This Song Sucks determines why particular tracks blow using science. It appears on West Coast Sound every Wednesday.] Song: The Eagles' "Hotel California" History: Everything. Rolling Stone said this. Guitarist said this. My dad said this. Your dad said that. Everyone knows it' ... More >>

I Wish They All Could Be California Bands

Rolling Stone Restaurant: Beer and Loathing in the Hollywood and Highland Center

Away from street performers dressed as sort of sexy cops and cardboard Transformers, the new Rolling Stone Restaurant faces the California Pizza Kitchen on the upper floors of the Hollywood and Highland Center. In front of the restaurant, tourists mosey around, mouths open, cameras out, photographin ... More >>

Ximena Sariñana: An Indie-Pop Star In Mexico, Anonymous In L.A.

Emily Shur​Ximena Sariñana grew up a child star acting on popular telenovelas in her native Mexico. She then moved to film, followed by a stint at Berklee College of Music. At 25, she's an indie-pop star living fairly anonymously in a new country. The bilingual Sariñana moved from Mexico Ci ... More >>

Ozzy Osbourne's New Book: How To Cure Athlete's Foot With Cocaine

​The Prince of Darkness' new book, Trust Me, I'm Dr. Ozzy is a collection of advice columns for London's The Sunday Times and Rolling Stone. It turns out that these publications were willing to employ a man who once tattooed smiley faces on his knees so he'd have something to cheer him up whil ... More >>

The Spazmatics - The Dragonfly - 9-4-11

Lina Lecaro Spazzing out ​The Spazmatics The Dragonfly 9-4-11 Better than... getting the high score on Ms. Pac-Man. Recently, nerdcore '80s band The Spazmatics have been bringing their cover song chaos to L.A. clubs including Playhouse, The Key Club, and Rolling Stone's Hollywood & Highland v ... More >>

Fanatics! Henry Rollins' KCRW Show Tomorrow Night: A Whole Lotta Hendrix

Timothy Norris​KCRW BROADCAST #122 for Saturday, July 9. Fanatics! Another week goes by and we find ourselves contemplating the sonic bounty of another Saturday get down. We approach this mountain of sound that awaits us, we must ponder this thought: what keeps bringing us back together ever ... More >>

Chuck Philips Demands L.A. Times Apology on Tupac Shakur

The 100% For Sure Top Five Worst Beatles Songs Ever (With Love)

timothy norris Our Broward-Palm Beach New Times colleague Ryan Burk recently stirred up quite a healthy debate in the reader feedback section of his blog post, "Top Five Worst Beatles Songs" with comments ranging from Snarfblatt's supportive, "This is a spot-on review," to Chris Clouston's "You sh ... More >>

Still Blowing Out Candles in the Wind

Bob Dylan Turns 70

An L.A. Weekly birthday tribute

Indianapolis Colts Star Dwight Freeney Sued Over Rolling Stone LA Restaurant

By Jeffrey BeallDwight Freeney​All-star NFL player Dwight Freeney is gonna need to lawyer up. A group of restaurant managers are suing the Indianapolis Colts defensive stud and several of Freeney's business partners over a contract to operate the Rolling Stone LA restaurant near Hollywood and Hig ... More >>

Are Rihanna's Booty Shorts Photoshopped on Her "Rolling Stone" Cover?

​Rihanna's Rolling Stone cover, which hits newsstands this Friday, got the internet gossiping today. No, not about the sidebar, which dubs her the "Queen of Pain," and promises dish on "sexting, bad boys, and her attraction to the dark side" (really, Rolling Stone?). Instead, the question w ... More >>

Was the Death of Guitar Hero Inevitable? Slash, Star of Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, Answers Here

Slash, guitar icon. And some dude, guitar hero. ​Our inner 13-year-old boy cried yesterday when news broke via Rolling Stone that video game company Activision was officially pulling the plug on popular music game franchise, Guitar Hero. The game that made plastic kiddie guitars cool and launc ... More >>

Guitar Hero, RIP (2005-2011)

The game that stunted the growth of a million actual-guitar hero careers: Guitar Hero​ Rolling Stone is reporting the impeding demise of guitar-with-buttons videogame Guitar Hero: The Guitar Hero video game franchise is officially dead. According to publisher Activision, which will close its ... More >>

Why is Armenia Anti-Emo?

Lauryn Hill Schedules Tour, Anti-Emo Armenia, Pearl Jam Makes Festival, Dylan's Lyrics Bring Big Bucks

MUSIC PICKS: Ruben Guevara, Buika, Bill Frisell's Beautiful Dreamers

Also, Combichrist, Papercranes, Simone White and others

Turnovers & Turntables: Taking A Spin at The Redbury Hotel

Lina Lecaro At Redbury, turntables come with directions, iPod docks don't. ​Chocolates on the bed, fruit baskets, iPod docks, free porn... yada, yada. Special little touches like these are nice when staying in a hotel, but after our tour of grand new Redbury in Hollywood last week, we think it ... More >>

Music Picks: Ooh La La Fest, Pavement, Beach House

Also, Kris Kristofferson, the Black Keys, Bettye Lavette and others

Music Magazine Covers Now Indistinguishable from Hardcore Porn Magazine Covers

Pssst... hey you ... wanna see the rest of the cover? ... (dirty old man laff)​ Once upon a time, Rolling Stone magazine was a respected music rag that occasionally featured hard-hitting political features, and was the most reliable source for what was going on with underground cultu... Oh, f ... More >>

Tonight: Lady Gaga, B.B. King & Buddy Guy, Alejandro Escovedo & the Sensitive Boys, Frazey Ford, Empire of the Sun, RUSH

​"If it's true that 'Alejandro' represents Lady Gaga's super-obvious bid at her own 'La Isla Bonita'--and there's no doubting that it does--then consider this: Where Madonna took four years to go from her first big hit to her Latin-crossover jam, Gaga's only taken two; that's a remarkably spee ... More >>

Al Jardine Reveals Grandiose, "Definite" Plans for Beach Boys Reunion; Brian Wilson and Mike Love, Not So Sure

Eternal optimist Al Jardine​Beach Boys guitarist Al Jardine recently spoke with Rolling Stone and confirmed that the Beach Boys are going to reunite for at least one concert next year to celebrate the group's 50th anniversary. Jardine tells Rolling Stone the lineup will include himself, Brian ... More >>

Should I Stay or Should I Go? Quandary at Literati Café

Ben CalderwoodColor-mixing: Literati's Eggs Florentine​ You might not expect such an astutely poached egg atop your Benedict at a commonplace all-day café like Literati, but that's what you get. Tender, uniform capsules of golden yolk that flood your artisan roll the moment you prod the white ... More >>

Holy Cosmic Anus!: Devendra Banhart's New Video Features MGMT, GZA, Space Suppository

So, Rolling Stone magazine declared "Freak Folk" over a couple of months ago. They might have been onto something, because Joanna Newsom is now on some kind of "19th-century-courtesan meets Janis Joplin's Pearl in a Betsy Smith bordello" trip and our boy Devendra Banhart trimmed his notorious facial ... More >>

MAKE US LAUGH, FUNNY BOY! -- EUGENE MIRMAN

Rolling Stone Magazine to Open Hollywood Venue Club/Restaurant in the Summer of 2010 (?!)

This just in: Rolling Stone Magazine, the once-venerable music behemoth, is spreading its wings and opening a music venue/restaurant/club in Hollywood, according to a press release we just received. The space is slated to open in the summer of 2010. We're assuming that this is the space formerly occ ... More >>

THE POLITICS OF DANCING

The Muppets Got It Right: Ten Great Freddie Mercury and Queen Moments

Every once in a while something happens that brings a band back to the surface, makes us reevaluate them and prompts us to scratch our heads and wonder, "Why now?" Take Queen. Their influence is all over Adam Lambert's new album, from the production and layered vocals to Lambert's slicked-back leath ... More >>

Afghan Star: Kabul Meets American Idol

British Director Havana Marking's Feature Doc on Singing for Fame in a Wartorn Country

Proud, Out and About

Phone Sex, Kiss-offs and Showmances

Hollywood starts new year with a bang

Nightranger at SXSW

Radio Ga-Ga

White Man’s Burden

Eminem’s Encore falls into the gap between his obvious talent and his elevated stature

The Back Story

Questions for my government

Rampart East

Media from the other coast bungle the story of LAPD’s scandal

Where Eagles Dare

Don Henley’s life in the diamond lane

Can Blue Men Play the Whites?