West Africa

Pan African Film and Arts Festival 2013 Spotlights Immigration, Civil Rights and Jazz

Duane Van Tuinen: L.A. Times Subscriber List Used For $1 Mil Burglary Ring, Cops Say

It all started with a call of a suicidal woman in Monrovia. But when cops arrived, instead of a basket case, they found "a large cache of cameras and other electronics," according to Monrovia police. That led them to sniff around and obtain search warrants that included a storage facility cops say ... More >>

West Hollywood Apartment Blast Blamed On Marijuana Honey Oil Extraction

For the second time this month in Southern California, authorities say suspects extracting "honey oil" from marijuana sparked an explosive blaze. This one happened over the weekend in the 1200 block of North Havenhurst Drive in West Hollywood, according to L.A. County Fire officials. Rescuers resp ... More >>

The Best Concerts in L.A. This Weekend

Friday, January 18 Femi Kuti EL REY THEATRE In 2009, the Nigerian government forcefully shut down the Shrine, the home base of Afrobeat originator Fela Kuti. By now, however, not only is the Shrine back, it's a government-endorsed museum -- a sign, Femi Kuti told one reporter, that the revolutionar ... More >>

5 Films People Will Be Talking About at Sundance

For the next 10 days, all Hollywood eyes--and those of many a filmgoer--will turn toward the frigid wilds of Park City, Utah, reportedly experiencing its chilliest winter in a decade. Their collective hope: to discover at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival (January 17 through 26) the next Beasts of the ... More >>

Marijuana Honey Oil Process Sparks Explosion, With 3 Burned In Monrovia, Authorities Say

When experts warn, don't try this at home, they really mean it. The latest example: Three men were badly burned in Monrovia over the weekend after, cops say, they tried and failed to convert marijuana into a potent and syrupy form of hash known as honey oil. The trio was using butane, authorities ... More >>

In-Chan's Little Secret

This family restaurant in Van Nuys delights with northern Thai dishes — as long as you ask for the special menu

The Best Concerts To See in L.A. This Week: Oct 29-Nov 2

Monday, October 29 The Monolators, et al. THE ECHO In a week already oozing with Halloween events, this particular Monday oozes very competitively with four decades of alt-classics via five much-loved local bands. Most intriguing is the warhorse indie-pop band Monolators' Bee Gees set. Will they do ... More >>

Music Picks: Lamb of God, Miike Snow, and Hanni El Khatib

Antibalas - The Echoplex - 8/14/12

Antibalas The Echoplex 8-14-12 Better than...outrunning the delirious coyotes in my neighborhood. I was asked more than once leading up to last night's Antibalas show, "Why would you listen to a band that sounds so much like Nigerian afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti when they could just listen to one of ... More >>

Free Windrose Farm Guinea Fowl: Backyard Squash Pest Protection

If you are in the market for backyard guinea fowl -- And really, who isn't? -- Windrose Farm has around 15 that need a new home. The pros: They're free and hilariously cute when running at frenetic speeds around the farm (or in your backyard). And as Bill Spencer of Windrose Farm says, "At times t ... More >>

Issa Rae and Awkward Black Girl Fill a (Tiny) Niche

Check out our entire YouTube issue here. In front of the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf at the Grove, someone is scraping lightweight plastic chairs across the pavement instead of picking them up, and the sound is akin to fingernails being dragged down a chalkboard. Issa Rae, the 27-year-old writer, direct ... More >>

Restaurant Openings: How Long to Wait Before Writing a Review?

I've had a ton of great mail since soliciting reader feedback in my first Fork Lift column, including an amazing letter that began "Dear Sir! Thank you for your article in the LAWeekly about working as an restaurant critic. I think you have the very right approach, when you go to test the food at a ... More >>

VIDEO: Bear Takes Memorial-Day Dip in Posh Monrovia Swimming Pool

Is a "Rise of the Planet of the Black Bears" playing out in northeast Los Angeles County? First there was Glendale bear, a strapping young dude who yielded for no pedestrian texter in his hunt for the mighty meatball. Then came Altadena bear, a mother of two who chose a residential sidewalk tree fo ... More >>

The Best Of Coachella: Sunday, April 15

See also: *The Best Of Coachella: Saturday, April 14 *Top Ten Awkward Coachella Dance Move GIFs Wow, that was fast! In a whirlwind of top-notch performances from legends and buzz bands alike, pool parties, and rain, Coachella's first weekend is over. Here are our scribes' favorite moments from Sund ... More >>

Shanghai Confusion Meat: Adventures in Canned Ham at Shanghai Dumpling House in Monrovia

One of the great things about the abundance of Chinese restaurants in the San Gabriel Valley comes in discovering unique menu items. These can range from hard-to-find distinctive regional dishes to the mundane that simply got lost in translation. When it came to our attention that a restaurant w ... More >>

Beating a Dead Bark

Trader Joe's Cookie Butter, aka Speculoos, is Back!

ProfessorSalt.comTrader Joe's Cookie Butter, before they ran out last year​If you've never experienced the creamy, crackalicious wonder that is Trader Joe's Cookie Butter, it might be because the shipment they imported late last year caught on like wildfire. They've been sold out since before ... More >>

Sundance Film Festival 2012: The Ambassador, and Experimental Methodology

Mads Brugger is sort of the VICE magazine version of Sasha Baron Cohen, as financed by Lars Von Trier. His last film was The Red Chapel, an exercise in hidden camera comedy with unusual socio-political stakes, which I put on my top 10 list for 2010. In Chapel, Danish journalist Brugger posed as th ... More >>

Fela! at the Ahmanson Reviewed

The life of a Nigerian Afrobeat legend

Fela Kuti's Lover and Mentor Sandra Smith Talks About Afrobeat's L.A. Origins, as Fela! Musical Arrives at the Ahmanson

Sandra Smith and Fela Kuti, when they were together in 1969-70​At the time of his death in 1997, Fela Anikulapo Kuti was known by many names: Afrobeat pioneer, a political instigator, husband to 27 wives, just to name a few. The Nigerian musician had spread his fiery brand of African party mus ... More >>

Elevate Review

Le Havre Review

A town rallies to help an immigrant in Aki Kaurismaki's latest

Your Weekly Movie To-Do List

Repertory paradise

African Rebel Soldiers and Their Eerie Obsession With Tupac Shakur

Haitian 2pac, a leader of an armed Port-au-Prince gang called Chimères, recruited by Haiti's former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide​Editor's Note: Tomorrow, September 13, 2011, marks the 15th anniversary of Tupac Shakur's death. To commemorate, West Coast Sound will feature Tupac stories all ... More >>

Toast: Food Fashion With Chloe Sevigny, Sort Of

For today's fashion-food mash up, we present Drew Droege as a perfectly deadpan version of actress Chloë Sevigny in a series of videos aptly entitled, Chloe. This Chloe predictably name drops art luminaries, party sponsors and all manner of fashion brands and high end designers. Not very differen ... More >>

Is Al Qaeda Planning Terrorist Attack on AeroVironment Inc? Here's the L.A. County Firm's 5 Coolest Spy Drones

strangecosmos.coWind turbines at the AeroVironment facility in Monrovia. Also pretty cool.​Reports abound this morning of a possible Al Qaeda attack plan against 11 officials at L.A. County's own AeroVironment Inc., a top drone manufacturer in the U.S. War on Terror. Employees of the Monrovia ... More >>

Who Loves Ya, Monday?

Tim Hetherington, Director of Oscar-Nominated War Doc 'Restrepo,' Killed in Libya

Tim Hetherington on the set of "Restrepo"​Update: Chris Hondros took these stunning photographs just hours before he died. More after the jump. Tim Hetherington, a wartime photographer and documentary filmmaker -- along with his associate, Chris Hondros, also a war photojournalist -- were kil ... More >>

An African Election

Rapper from Rebecca Black's "Friday" Video Speaks: Don't Blame Rebecca, Blame Me!

"No, you the man!"​ Patrice "Pato" Wilson, the Nigerian-American rapper who rather incongruously pops up in the middle of Rebecca Black's epically LULZy "Friday" video, just gave a super-serious interview to our friends at the LA Times. The local paper of record (no, really--they're supposed ... More >>

Sonic Nigeria

Kid Censorship Crackdown Spreads To L.A. County: Monrovia School Superintendent Bans Students From Performing 'Rent'

Don't let "Rent" happen to your kids: Here, Disney star Vanessa Hudgens falls prey to its deviant powers​There seems to be a recent spike in adults trying to keep Gen Y from all things sexy. First we saw Huckleberry Finn butchered a few days ago by NewSouth Books, who thinks replacing "nigger" ... More >>

In Search Of: KCRW's Jeremy Sole on Rare African Psych And More

courtesy kcrw.com​ Jeremy Sole spends Wednesday night from midnight to 3 AM spinning records for KCRW; Thursdays, he's at Zanzibar, co-hosting Afro-Funké with Glenn Red and Rocky Dawuni. He joins us now and discusses digging through records in Ghana and the popularity of African psych. Wha ... More >>

Live Review: Nneka at the Troubadour

Marguerite de BourgoingNneka at the Troubadour​You imagine Nneka was a quiet, serious child. If she deemed you worthy of a smile, it was a prize awarded. It still is. Not until three songs into her set last night at the Troubadour did she grin; when her dimples finally deepened, the crowd se ... More >>

Over the Weekend: Baaba Maal, Tinariwen and Yeasayer Play the Bowl

Fool's Gold (Andrea Whiting)​By Andrea Whiting Given that it was Father's Day and the dude half-responsible for my existence loves live music, I decided to bring my dad along to the season's first KCRW World Festival. And via this ploy to beat out my little sister for the Best Daughter Award ... More >>

(Vuvuzela-Free) World Cup Music Scandal: Ghana With the Wind

​[The LA Weekly's Calendar Editor, Libby Molyneaux, points us to the following underreported incident at the South Africa soccer World Cup:] "Here's a charming little story that shows that corruption is alive and well in the World Music business. The incident involves some top acts in Ghana ... More >>

West African Get Down with Polyrhythmic Songstress Wunmi

West African Get Down with Polyrhythmic Songstress Wunmi

MP3 Exclusive: Opolopo's Funked "Mothership" Remix by Portformat, Dudley & Georgia

Portformat's 'The Repeat Factor' repeated​Some things bear repeating -- especially when they're funked up to resemble a modern beat music take on Parliament's timeless space-groove. It's no secret that L.A. residents Dudley Perkins and Georgia Anne Muldrow are descendents of the P-Funk tradit ... More >>

Top Ten Musicians Who Cannot Tour Arizona Without Proving They're "Legal"

Carlos Santana: Papers please!​We don't know if you're aware of this, but Arizona has recently passed a little law demanding that every cop, security guard or random person in some kind of uniform and in possession of a Tazer stop anyone "suspected" of being an illegal immigrant and demand tha ... More >>

Pieter Hugo at Shoshana Wayne

Drivers Stop Your Engines: L.A. Marathon Street Closures Detailed

lamarathon.com​You know what's great about the Los Angeles Marathon? Nothing if you're trying to drive to Hollywood from the Westside to get your Thai food on at the same time streets are tied up like Quagmire on a sex bender. It can make L.A.'s one relatively traffic-free day -- Sunday -- fee ... More >>

HOORAY FOR NOLLYWOOD

Eclipsed

LOCALS ONLY

Lula Washington Dance Theater: Kwanzaa Celebration Concert

Doubling Up

Daring moves from two dance duo

At Nigerian Eatery Saaris, America Is Turning to Fufu!

Dunkin' dough

The Cheney Connection

Tracing the Halliburton money trail to Nigeria

Loco Moco and Other Delights

1998's best dishes