Results tagged “australia”

The Foothill Transit agency approved $259,141 of federal transit money for two automated wheel polishers from Australia, the Pasadena Star News found. Watchdogs are obviously not happy, but the agency said no U.S. companies placed a bid, that the polishers will "dramatically" reduce time spent on prepping buses, therefore streamlining operations, and $72,000 a year will be spent on polisher supplies from the U.S. "If we were to look at the highest-priorities for FTA, I don't know that this would fit," said Tom Schatz, president of Citizens Against Government Waste, to the paper. Foothill said most of the money they received went towards expanding programs.

When the Aussie rockers, the Lovetones released their debut album, Be What You Want, in 2003 through Bomp! Records the critics freaked out. Rolling Stone hailed Matthew Tow' as being worthy of wearing paisley on Caranby Street and hanging out with Ray Davies. Three albums later, the Lovetones haven't lost any of their magic. They will be bringing their classic, psychedelic, 1960s influenced sound back to Los Angeles. The Lovetones will be playing at the Spaceland tonight, and gracing the Redwood Bar tomorrow. Last weekend lead singer and founding member, Matthew Tow, was kind enough to give us a few moments of his time. Here is some of what was said.

Let it never be said that Youth Group are sissies. After enduring a fourteen hour flight from Sydney to LA, through untold horrors otherwise known as "customs" and "baggage claim," the Australian band still managed to put up with my meeting them at the Custom Inn Suites in Hollywood for our interview. If our places were reversed, I would have been a howling, drooling grump, refusing to talk to anyone as I crawled back to my room to sleep off the jet lag. But lo, Youth Group were bright and cheerful; a little slap-happy perhaps, but more than game for a stop at the Starbucks at the corner of Franklin and Highland to talk music. Bless them.

KGRL -- mentioned previously here -- is a local "...non-profit non-commercial internet radio station that plays the freshest and the best ALL QUALITY female artist / fronted acts in a wide variety of genres." Their "Top 10 Artists To Watch Out For In 2007" included local singer-songwriter Sara Bareilles (MySpace), who in 2008 experienced mainstream recognition due to "Love Song", which garnered Grammy nominations for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and Song of The Year.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced this morning that Austrlian actor Hugh Jackman will host the 81st Academy Awards on Sunday, February 22nd at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood. He's presented at the ceremony before, but this will be his first time as a host. "[Jackman] has style, elegance and a sense of occasion," the producers said of the star, who was recently named one of the sexiest men alive by People Magazine, in a joint statement. He's starred in Baz Luhrmann's Australia, the X-Men movies and the upcoming and most anticipated X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Jackman won an Emmy in 2005 for his hosting skills at a Tony Awards ceremony. He also won a Tony in 2004 for Best Actor in a Musical.

It is a rare treat to see masters at work in any medium, which is why you may walk the streets of New York City and encounter countless tourists taking pictures of overweight men behind counters flicking thin sheets of pizza dough. A luxurious craft, or particularly lucrative? No. But these men are good at what they do, plain and simple, and there is a sense of pride and honesty to their work. This is what brings out the cameras.

If there is ever a time to get people out of their house and into movie theaters, it is now. The weather is turning colder, Oscar season is fast approaching, and a large amount of turkey makes it hard to want to do anything besides sit in plush chairs with 40 oz. of liquid crack within easy reach. The problem, though, is that everyone knows this, from the big picture houses on down to the independent filmmakers trying to earn a living. And most people, like it or not, will go see the American film with star power and an 8-figure budget that gets wasted on sending plumes of smoke and fire into the air. It’s a tough season for the independent outsiders. Just ask Ron Paul.

                     

Last Thursday, Australian singer Lenka (MySpace) performed the second night of her month-long residency at the Hotel Cafe in Hollywood, backed by openers Emy Reynolds (MySpace) and New Orleans-based Theresa Andersson (MySpace), and locals Caitlin Crosby (MySpace) and The Ventriloquists (MySpace) completing the evening's lineup.

Kenny Smyth’s life is mired in crap. Literally. He’s a port-o-pottie distributor/sales rep with a passion for his job, but understands that the people he meets don’t necessarily share in the excitement of excrement. And poop is at the heart of the new Australian film Kenny.

Reports are surfacing this morning of a secret memorial service held last night in Westwood for Heath Ledger, who was found dead earlier this week in a New York apartment.

Before we all start shaking in our Ugg boots, rest assured that the mecca of trend and materialism known as The Grove has been spared from international threat. The LA Times is reporting that 20 year-old Jarrad Willis of Melbourne, Australia, has been arrested by authorities in his home country for allegedly threatening on a blog to cause some kind of harm to The Grove. He's been charged with something called "creating a false belief"...

New York you're bringing us down. One look at this weekend's Detour Fest lineup and it appears that Los Angeles, once again, is the center of all things rock. While dozens of acts will descend on downtown LA this Saturday, from as far as Australia, Sweden, France, Mexico, and Missouri, the NYC rock scene is MIA. Hell, even the two-headed Raveonettes are staking their claim to Hollywood, listed as hailing from "New York, Los...

A 16-year-old Australian teen, Tom Wood, found a work-around on the Australian government's porn filter that was released last Tuesday:His technique ensures the software's toolbar icon is not deleted, leaving parents under the impression the filter is still working. A former cyber bullying victim, Tom feared a computer-savvy child could work out the bypass and put it on the Internet for others to use. Tom, who spoke to Communications Minister Helen Coonan about cyber...