Tom Waits

West Hollywood Lesbian Bar The Palms to Shut Down

West Hollywood's The Palms Bar, a hangout for the local lesbian community since the '60s, will close on June 9. Located on Santa Monica Blvd. at La Cienega, the historic building that houses The Palms will be demolished to make space for a new mixed use development. In late April, the landlord told ... More >>

Merry Twistmas

The Best Concerts To See in L.A. This Weekend: Nov 2-4

Friday, November 2 Grace Potter & the Nocturnals THE WILTERN If anyone should be a star, it's Grace Potter. Commercial enough to sing duets with Kenny Chesney, she's also freaky enough to trip out occasionally with folks like Flaming Lips' Wayne Coyne and Black Keys' Dan Auerbach, who produced part ... More >>

The Best Clubs 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 >>

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 >>

Fanatics! Henry Rollins' KCRW Show Tomorrow Night: Original Songs Vs. Their Covers

KCRW Broadcast #169 for Saturday, June 16, 2012 See also: Henry Rollins: The Column! Joey Ramone's Legacy Is in Danger Fanatics! Take cover! If you check out our show for tonight, you will note we have a bit of a concept happening here. I have broken the two hours below, so you can quickly see wha ... More >>

Mark Dery's I Must Not Think Bad Thoughts : Is It a Book in the Form of the Internet?

If you're familiar with the writing of cultural theorist and freelance critic Mark Dery, you already know he writes in loop-de-loops and mazes, often embedding the meanings of his sentences in elaborate spirals of prose. His new essay collection, I Must Not Think Bad Thoughts, follows that pattern, ... More >>

Top 10 Live Music Venues in L.A.: The Complete List

Timothy Norris​California knows how to party. -"California Love" It's the unofficial state motto. But not only do we know how, we know where. Los Angeles is home to a wide spectrum of live music venues, from the teeniest Echo Park hole-in-the-wall only you and five friends know, to grand ol' ... More >>

Top 10 Best Live Music Venues in L.A.: #5-1

For all the best of L.A. music, download our free Best Of Mobile app. See also: Top Ten Best Live Music Venues in L.A.: #10 - #6 5. Music Box See also: R.I.P. the Music Box? Legendary Hollywood Venue Shuttered [UPDATE: Short-term?] News of the Music Box's overnight shuttering this month was met wi ... More >>

Fanatics! Henry Rollins' KCRW Show Tomorrow Night: Brand New Track from The Mark of Cain

See also: *Henry Rollins: The Column! The Time I Drank The Sweat From My Socks Onstage *Henry Rollins, Scott Ian, Mike Watt, Corey Taylor, Dave Navarro - Avalon - 11/30/11 KCRW Broadcast #143 for Saturday, December 3, 2011 Fanatics! What a week. Finally. We have arrived at our meeting place, Satu ... More >>

Film-School Students Try to Start 'Occupy USC' Movement on Campus

Online USC paper Neon Tommy isn't without a tinge of sarcasm today when it blogs of one student and his "solitary vigil" for Occupy USC: When asked if he was attempting to encourage others to join him in his protest, he responded, "I'm not telling people to come here, but if people, any friends or ... More >>

She Was a Punk Before You Were a Punk

WU LYF's Anti-Establishment "Heavy Pop" Hits L.A. Tonight

Jonathan FlandersThis BBQ's getting out of control​Leading today's pack of gnashing, anti-establishment wolves are Manchester's WU LYF, a quartet who play self-described "heavy pop." Formed in 2008, they are the latest followers in the Mancunian footsteps of Joy Division, the Buzzcocks and the ... More >>

Page Two: WU LYF

Fanatics! Henry Rollins' KCRW Show Tomorrow Night: Dinosaur Jr., Six Major Guitar Players

Timothy Norris​KCRW BROADCAST #120 for Saturday, June 25. Fanatics! Writing to you from the upper level of Terminal Five here in New York City. We are in night four of this amazing Dinosaur Jr. tour. The band has been raising the bar every night and the shows are getting more and more cranked ... More >>

Luis Arriaga: The Fiery Limerent

Music to Pick Up/Download

Silver Foxes and Silver Vixens: Top Ten Musicians "Of a Certain Age" That You'd Still Do

Pray you are this cool at 58​Sheila E.'s being just as hot as she was in Krush Groove at her recent appearances during Prince's 21 Nite Stand at the Forum sent us spinning fantasies involving other musicians who are just as hot (or hotter) with a little age on 'em. This is our list, though- wh ... More >>

Fanatics! Henry Rollins' KCRW Show Saturday Night: Kaoru Abe, Acid King, Pontiak

Timothy Norris​KCRW BROADCAST #111 for Saturday, April 23. Fanatics! It is Friday, early afternoon and I am just now getting a chance to write these brief notes up for you. One of these days I'm going to get some sleep. Just back from Ann Arbor, Michigan where we had a major blast at the Stoo ... More >>

Countdown to Record Store Day: An Interview with RSD Co-Founder Michael Kurtz

​We've been looking forward to Record Store Day (or RSD) for awhile now. For one, it provides a welcome diversion for those of us not going to Coachella. Also, we are looking forward to all of the limited-edition vinyl releases, in-stores, and sales that come along with RSD. We keep hearing a ... More >>

Pussy Galore!: Top 10 Cat-Themed Music Videos of All Time (Featuring Best Coast's Newest)

Top 10 Kitty Videos

Captain Beefheart (Don Van Vliet), Dead at 69

Captain Beefheart (1941-2010)​ Don Van Vliet (1941-2010), the genius surreal poet, painter and blues performer best known as "Captain Beefheart" died today. He was a month away from turning 70. Van Vliet had retired from music in the early 1980s and had lived a reclusive existence for the la ... More >>

Notes From a Bunker in New York City

A Free Man of Color, Notes From Underground and two Pinter one-acts

The Best of FYF Fest: Best Fashions, Surprising Bands to Watch, Biggest Bummers (oh, and Ariel Pink: Still Crazy)

Timothy NorrisThere's a thin line between hipster and furry, wethink​[See also Timothy Norris' slideshow "FYF Fest 2010 with The Rapture, Dead Man's Bones, Panda Bear and More".] Given that I refuse to pair a word as lovely as "summer" near detractors such as cruel "end" or the gentler "fade, ... More >>

Tonight: Everest, Rickie Lee Jones, Carina Round, Proximal Records party, Rumspringa

Everest​The sophomore album by L.A. quintet Everest, On Approach, bears little of the twangy Americana that flavored 2008's Ghost Notes, but that doesn't mean the working-class rockers are changing their style. "Oh, we still wear flannel shirts," frontman Russell Pollard says. "Because we're ... More >>

1642: A New Neighborhood Bar In HiFi (The Neighborhood, not the Sound System)

Robert TakataInside & Out: Two views of 1642, a bar in HiFi.​Some bars are neighborhood-themed bars (like Thirsty Crow), and some are actual neighborhood bars. 1642, opened in March in Historic Filipinotown or HiFi (is anyone actually calling it that?), is a quiet beer bar that's within stumbl ... More >>

Nightranger: (Art)Walk This Way

MY OH MY -- WHAT A WONDERFUL DAY!

MAKE US LAUGH, FUNNY BOY! -- EUGENE MIRMAN

Theater Reviews: Camelot, IN THE COMPANY OF JANE DOE, BAAL

Also, The Imaginary Invalid, Loyalties, Doctor Noguchi and more

Rock Picks: GZA, the Ettes, A.A. Bondy, Mose Allison

Also, the Kris Special, Jesse Sykes, Mamak Khadem and others

Once Bitten, Twice Fried: Best French Fries in Los Angeles, Part 2

Because we can't get too much of a good thing, here's the second installment of our quest for the city's most outstanding fries. This list (organized alphabetically) includes the pure, the gently garnished, and the heavily adorned in a world that's a vast, exciting terrain of Kennebec vs. Russet, pe ... More >>

Roky Erickson Teams Up with Okkervil River's Will Sheff for Rare Confessional Album

No More Mr. Zombie: Roky Erickson, Unfiltered​Local label Anti- has been steadily ignoring the prophets of doom who claim that the record industry is dead, quietly building instead a very impressive stable of alterna-classic stars. Anti-'s roster already includes Bob Mould, Tom Waits, Os Mutan ... More >>

Best Alt-Country Folk Records 2009: Willie Nelson is Still A Badass

ALT-COUNTRY/FOLK Meet the Folk-ers Noah W. Bailey slices the Americana pie and determines that, yes, Willie Nelson is still a badass. We spent 2009 sorting through piles of folk and Americana releases, revising this list in our heads till the bitter end and failing repeatedly to understand the hyp ... More >>

Brick’s Picks: the Real McCoy

The Black Heart Procession at Spaceland MP3

The Black Heart Procession unveils haunting songs from their upcoming album at Spaceland

Tuesday Night in LA: Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs (MP3), Delta Spirit's Matt Vasquez, Counting Crows at the Greek

Susanna Hoffs and Matthew Sweet On Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs' new Under the Covers 2, the pair tackle classic 1970s rock tunes by, among others, Fleetwood Mac, Tom Petty, Grateful Dead, Carly Simon and, in a daring maneuver, prog rock band Yes ("I've Seen All Good People"). The pair gig the Gra ... More >>

Top 10 Americana Albums of 2008

By Noah W. Bailey Picking the best folk and Americana records of the year isn't nearly as hard as discarding those great records that just didn't feel right stuck in the category.Releases by Calexico and DeVotchKa felt far too worldly to pigeonhole as folk or country, for instance, while Blitzen ... More >>

Music Sales Sink to 1985 Levels. Did 1985 Really Suck or Something?

Sure, the papers are full of stories of gas prices shooting up and housing prices plummeting, but those are new phenomena compared to the steady declines in the fortunes of the record industry. The latest sales numbers show a decrease of 11% over last year - and that includes legal digital downloads ... More >>

Music Picks: Black Heart Procession, Vandelles, Minnie Driver, Ronnie Mack

For the week of Jan. 11 - 17

Neko Case: Deep Red Belle

She's an auburn-haired Caucasian woman of Ukrainian descent. Is Case also the blackest woman in indie rock?

Social Suicide

In Wristcutters, the afterlife is just a lousier version of real life. Oh, and Tom Waits is there

Rock Picks

For the week of February 22 – March 1

Treat Her Like She’s Heavy

Eleni Mandell feathers you to the floor

Articulate Snarls

The return of protest rock

Robert Wilson on the Fly

The man of slow motion gets rushed to the airport

Breakfast With Jellyman

The Best of Sitegeist

Planes vs. Trains

Or, Seattle Death March vs. the Coast Starlight

For the Record

The life and premature death of Mary’s Danish

Burn, Li'l Debby, Burn