David Wild is one of those people who has the dream job that he imagined when he was a kid. His childhood was spent worshiping rock music and he grew up to find himself interviewing his icons and writing about their work. His new book, "He Is . . . I Say: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Neil Diamond" salutes Mr. Coming to America with a part tribute part personal memoir.......

Never before in Jenny Lewis' hyper-extended career has the ruddy-haired front woman sounded so affected. Her folksy, small-town image—which has been trumped by her larger-than-life affiliations—does give way to some semblance of musical authenticity. And, surely, the majority of her most ambitious effort to date, 2008's Acid Tongue, is performed with great gusto. But Lewis can not avoid giving the slightest impression that she is straining for her effects. Sometimes in the grip of great passion you fail to uphold your intent. ...

Elvis Costello and Isaac Mizrahi make their mark on classical music this week, in the west coast premiere of NIGHTSPOT. This week brings the immensely popular Miami City Ballet to town. NIGHTSPOT is the brainchild of world famous choreographer Twyla Tharp and Elvis Costello, with the costume design by Mizrahi. This is a must see for any music fans,. Also included in the program are Liturgy (choreographed by the popular Christopher Wheeldon), Tarantella, and......

On Wednesday, local band (and Cobrasnake favorites) The Like (MySpace) reemerged from nearly a year-long hiatus and performed at Club 86 in Hollywood, with a half hour set consisting entirely of newer songs (with the exception of "Release Me"). In attendance were the bandmembers' families (Tony Berg, Mitchell Froom, and Pete Thomas) and friends, which combined with the choice of venue, made this show feel like an intimate "living room" performance. Afterwards, Thomas and......

Los Angeles really can be an amazing place sometimes. Where else will an artist the stature and as experienced as Elvis Costello decide to play a secret, free midnight show? Very, very few places. Luckily, we are in Los Angeles and this exact thing did happen Wednesday night. Announcing the show at 7pm on Indie 103.1, Costello came straight from his performance in support of the Police, and proceeded to rock the El Rey for......

After a long hiatus, The Like are back tonight. | Photo by WishByNight via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr "I've never seen so many people dancing on stage throughout a band's set," described LAist News Editor Andy Sternberg, who went to the Foxboro Hot Tubs' show at the Roxy last night. "Billy Joe was loving it." Tonight, the Green Day side project heads down to Alex's Bar in Long Beach. The website says no......

Elvis Costello and The Attractions essential 1978 record This Year’s Model was re-released for the twenty-third time earlier this week as a deluxe 2-CD set. This year’s model of This Year’s Model includes a bevy of previously released bonus tracks, and a previously unreleased live concert. I was going to review it, but instead I decided not to buy it. On Tuesday, I found myself at Amoeba records. After an hour or so, I’d amassed......

First, some non-tonight news. This is for Sunday, but you should know now. The Police have added a second Hollywood Bowl show on Wednesday, May 28. They play with Elvis Costello. "General on-sale begins March 9 - that’s this Sunday - at 10am," says LosAnjealous. And how about some American Idol News? Despite local Samanta Sidley of Alex & Sam getting snubbed from moving on in the competition, another local, Chikezie, a 22-year-old from Inglewood,......

Thirty years ago today, Elvis Costello pissed off his record company and got himself banned from Saturday Night Live when he scrapped "Less Than Zero" several bars in and led the Attractions through this incendiary version of the then unreleased "Radio, Radio". Declan MacManus and Lorne Michaels have since made ammends, but this remains one of the greatest musical performances in the history of SNL.......

I am thankful for… Thanksgiving - even though I think it’s a stupid holiday, and I pretty much hate all the food associated with it - for giving me the opportunity to spend the day with family that I love and actually enjoy being around. I am thankful every day that I am able to make a living being creative and doing something I love. (Except for when I’m on strike) I am thankful......

1. The Obvious- My parents and sister are the most important people in the world to me. They support me in every boneheaded endeavor I partake in, and believe me, there are tons. It's astonishing how many, actually. 2. My friends. Once again, totally obvious. Once again, they're totally awesome. Much love to Porter House, SLC, Shalhevet, AU, and everyone who fits into all, some, or none of those categories. World rockers, each and every......

When you have a huge music collection and you listen almost all the time, there tends to be a few artists that you come back to over and over. In our house, full of CD's, concert DVD's, and iPods a few artists reign supreme: The Beatles, Elvis Costello, and Loudon Wainwright III. Loudon's music can make you feel, make you smile, and make you think-- he is a master storyteller. Often listed with the......

From writing to recording and producing, Joe Henry knows how to keep himself busy. This year he released his CD "Civilians", wrote the music for "Knocked Up" with Loudon Wainwright III, and produced several tracks for Todd Hayne's Bob Dylan film "I'm Not There". In 2003 he won a Grammy for producing Solomon Burke's "Don't Give Up On Me". Burke has said about Joe Henry, "He's an exciting young man, a talented gentleman, he......

Nick Lowe is the man who wrote Elvis Costello's greatest song. He's also a great producer. Will he be a great DJ? We'll see tonight at 11pm as he sits in on KCRW's Open Road. Open Road host Gary Calamar sometimes hands over the reigns during the last hour of his long-running late night show. Calamar is on from 8pm-11pm tonight, then Lowe takes over. Recent guest djs have included Daniel Johnston, Billy Bob......

It's black on the outside and as colorful as hell on the inside. It's sound system is perfect, it's Basement Bar is cozy, and the room always seems smaller than it should. A good thing. Notorious for a celebrity death and a famous former owner, the Viper Room is a jewel on the Sunset strip. The other night at the Donnas show we met Viper booker Melissa Renee Hernandez who's super hot and friendly......

Artist: Five O'Clock Heroes Album: Bend To the Breaks Label: Glaze Records Release Date: September 18th, 2007 I can't tell you how much I needed to get this record. I've been listening to and reviewing a seemingly endless series of shoegazey-type boys without a testicle between them. The Five O'Clock Heroes produce good old rock and roll with every bass note, guitar chord, and drum thump as real as real can get. Some mention the......

Rocket will play at the Knitting Factory tonight as part of IPO Jackshit @ The Baked Potato Harry Shearer @ House of Blues The Fuxedos, Quazar & the Bamboozled, Renfield @ Safari Sam's Ari Shine, The Slowtime Mondays, Rocket @ The Knitting Factory Electrocute, On Nova, Meals for Children, Nephews, Hank May @ The Troubadour The Stevenson Ranch Davidians @ The Echo You Am I, The Redwalls, The Wombats @ Spaceland Micah Wolf @......

Pete Thomas, a drummer since he was a kid in Sheffield, England, joined Elvis Costello to form the Attractions and continues as the drummer for the Imposters. He has also played as a session musician with countless artists including Johnny Cash, Sheryl Crow, Neil Finn, John Wesley Harding, Joe Jackson, Los Lobos, Joan Osbourne, Pearl Jam, Bonnie Raitt, Squeeze, Richard Thompson, Rufus Wainwright, and the Waterboys. In 2003, Thomas was inducted into the Rock......

After last season's excellent cliffhanger, on August 13th Weeds returns to Showtime for its 3rd season. LAist asked Creator and Executive Producer, Jenji Kohan about breaking into television, being a working mom, and what draws her to the flawed characters she has created. LAist: The new season of Weeds begins on August 13. How do feel going into your 3rd season? Jenji Kohan: I feel tired, but great. We took the finale of season......

A Word or 10: Intercity baseball rivalry tonight - check it. Have a great weekend! Tonight - Friday - May 18, 2007 Dodgers @ Angels (KCAL, 8:00 p.m.) That's the Way It Is: Celebrating Cronkite at 90 (CBS, 8:00 p.m.) The last great newsman turns 90. Dateline NBC (NBC, 8:00 p.m.) More exploitive garbage. The Henry Rollins Show (IFC, 8:00 p.m.) Joan Jett(!!); The Blood Brothers perform America's Funniest Home Videos (ABC, 8:00 p.m.)......

The House of Blues is Having the Most Surreal Week Ever It case you are nine years old or a closet fan, Britney Spears (billed as The M & M's) will be taking to the HOB stage tonight. Reportedly her set in San Diego featured lip synching and a whopping sixteen minute set. For all you pop culture junkies, this may be your night. When I was nine Elvis Costello's first album, "My Aim......

New Releases May 1, 2007 Dirty Dancing: 20th Anniversary Edition [Soundtrack] [Original Recording Remastered] [Extra Tracks] (RCA) Feist - The Reminder (Cherry Tree) Patrick Wolf - The Magic Position (Universal) Dinosaur Jr. - Beyond (Fat Possum) Joan Armatrading - Into the Blues (429 Records) Nine Inch Nails - Survivalism, Pt. 2 [Enhanced] Elvis Costello - My Aim Is True (Hip-O) Angelique Kidjo - Djin Djin (featuring Peter Gabriel, Carlos Santana, Joss Stone, Ziggy Marley,......

Money Mark -- cohort on keys and unofficial 4th member of the Beastie Boys -- walks a sunny and winding road on his latest solo effort, Brand New By Tomorrow, out today on Brushfire Records. Mark’s brand of Atari-Americana incorporates the sort of warm, mellow, tra-la-la, quirk you’d find on Wilco’s Summerteeth or Josh Rouse’s 1972 but dots it with arcade flourishes -- sometimes funky, sometimes punky -- over lo-fi, Beatles-esque melodies. The result......

Veteran's Day Weekend Edition Today "The O'Reilly Factor/Hannity & Colmes/On the Record With Greta Van Susteren" (FOX, 5:00/6:00/7:00 p.m.) Watch Fox pundits continue to spin Tuesday's election results "NBA Basketball" (ESPN, 5:00 p.m.) Miami Heat @ New Jersey Nets "College Football" (ESPN2, 5:00 p.m.) Watch red-staters pour their anguish and disappointment into the Friday night lights: Texal-El Paso @ Alabama-Birmingham "The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie" (Nickelodeon, 5:00 p.m.) Toddlers and college stoners rejoice "College Basketball"......

In the mid 80s LAist pumped gas at the Union 76 on Santa Monica and Beverly Glen right near Century City. Sony was right near there and one day this woman drives in and we fill up her tank and wash her windows and check her oil and when she signs the credit card receipt she says that she doesn't have a tip but has a few records she can give us. One of......

1. Superman Producer and former Studio Chief Jon Peters can't get his ex-wife to leave his Bel-Air home. She's been there 20 years after they seperated. He's now evicting her. The grass is always greener? 2. Fellow Scientologist Leah Remini says she has seen 3-month old Suri Cruise, the daughter of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes. "She's a newborn and normal size," she is quoted in US Weekly that will come out tomorrow. 3.......

Rocket, pictured, is an all-female party-pop group from Hollywood who are as cute as they are adorable. How you can resist a dual-guitar attack? But then add to that mix the lead singer whaling on the key-tar and then tell me you've seen it all. A throw-back to the girl groups who sing about it being their party and they'll cry if they want to -- without actually crying at all -- Rocket write......

After a week in which LAist sat on a panel, enjoyed immensely the panels of others, partied with our publisher, our co-conspirator from the north and the brand new baby of the family, caught Asobi Seksu with Neal Pollack, and ate ourselves into oblivion, it is finally time for us to head home. But not without a little music first. An interview with Elvis Costello turned unexpectedly into an expose about "The Killer" Jerry......

Though baseball appears to have overtaken America's sporting news, Vroman's Bookstore in Pasadena is hosting former Lakers coach Phil Jackson when he signs his new book, The Last Season, at 7:00 PM. If you missed the free (and packed) in-store at Amoeba on Tuesday, head to the Viper Room tonight to see Declan McManus—better known as Elvis Costello—at 9:00 PM. LAist suggests buying tickets now. The Echo and KCRW are presenting an early show......

Tuesday, as always, is new release day. Scroll down to see what's new on CD and DVD for your listening and viewing pleasure. CD Acid Mothers Temple—Magical Power From Mars Louis Armstrong—Complete RCA Victor Studio Sessions 1930 (3-Disc) Elvis Costello & the Attractions—Almost Blue (remastered) Elvis Costello & the Attractions—Goodbye Cruel World (remastered) Elvis Costello—Kojak Variety (remastered) Kimya Dawson—Knock-Knock Who? Kimya Dawson—My Cute Fiend Sweet Princess Daniel Johnston & Hyperjinx Tricycle—Alien Mind Control EP......