The Village People, Thelma Houston, A Taste of Honey, Peaches & Herb @ The Greek The Black Crowes, Hubert Sumlin, Kenny Wayne Shepherd @ Henry Fonda The Fratellis @ The Avalon Keith Urban @ Staples Strawberry Alarm Clock @ Malibu Inn Unwritten Law, Zebrahead, Mickey Avalon @ Queen Mary The Queers, The Methadones, The Manges @ Alex's Bar Chupacobra, Third Grade Teacher @ Mr. T's Bowl The Joshua Redman Trio @ Catalina Bar &......

Country music proved to be an Achilles heel for many of our American Idol contestants. The night started off on a good note, with baldiePhil Stacey doing a decent job on Keith Urban's "Where the Blacktop Ends" and Jordin Sparks doing an even better job on coach Martina McBride's song "Broken Wing" (which is a lot of chutzpah for a 17-year-old). Then came Sanjaya. With permed hair in a do-rag, he butchered a song......

Can we fast forward through the rest of the American Idol season? We already know the two finalists will either be Melinda Doolittle vs. Lakisha Jones (if America has its way) or Antonella Barba vs. Sanjaya Malakar (if the site votefortheworst.com has its way). It was boys' night out on American Idol and as a bunch, they were pretty bad sucked. Some of the lowlights included: >> Sanjaya with a new, straighter (more masculine???)......

Bowling for Soup - The Great Burrito Extortion Case (Jive) J.J. Cale & Eric Clapton - The Road to Escondido (Reprise) The Chelsea Smiles - Thirty Six Hours Later (Acetate) El Goodo - El Goodo (Empyrean) Europe - Secret Society (Sanctuary) The Evens - Get Evens (Dischord) Foo Fighters - Skin and Bones (RCA) Josh Groban - Awake (Reprise) Jim Jones - Hustler's P.O.M.E. (Product of My Environment) (Koch) Librarians - Alright Easy Candy......

News Busters sez "cheap slap at Catholics" to a feature in today's LA Times (reg. required), printing this quote from The Times' coverage of Erotica LA: Payne, who earns $250 an hour, was about to demonstrate the fine art of spanking, which — contrary to what you might think — is not as simple as it looks. The hand should be cupped, not flat, she explained, and positioned on the lower part of the......

Sly Stone gets on stage for the first time in 19 years. That made the Grammy Awards worth watching. Was there anything else that did? U2 and Mary J. Blige singing "One" together — that woman can put it all on the line. Matt Dillon saying that they were a tough act to follow. Kanye winning. Dave Chapelle. Jay-Z's John Lennon t-shirt. Bruce Springsteen. Sam Cooke. What could we have skipped? The cheesy black-and-white-ification of......

As LAist posted earlier this week, ready or not, Christmas is just around the corner. (See your local Starbucks baristas in their spiffy new red shirts hawking who knows what.) And so what if it's not even Thanksgiving? Does anyone really care? Well, we do. And we don't just have a bone to pick with retailers. We're also kinda ticked off at a few local L.A. radio stations. In particular, KOST 103.5 and KZLA......