Photo by Julia Brokaw via Robert Francis' MySpace profile Note: Robert Francis plays tonight at The Troubadour.You don't hear Robert Francis' name mentioned around Los Angeles that often, but when you meet a fan of his, they are not just a cheerleading friend of his, they're a true die-hard fan of his musicianship, his words and the hauntingly beautiful art he creates. NPR took notice last Fall and called him a "a young man......

Nam Le was recently in town to read from and sign The Boat, a wildly diverse and intense collection of short stories that did not immediately strike us a short stories and which prompted an interesting dialogue. While we make a point in our author interviews to ask questions that would be of interest to our readers, we found that in this case, we were compelled to ask some pointed questions about our own reading......

Janelle Brown will be reading tonight at Skylight Books @ 7:30pm | Photo by Margo Silver Janelle Brown's debut novel, All We Ever Wanted Was Everything, is just out and it's generating serious buzz for its funny, yet painful look at a family that can no longer keep up appearances. Brown will be reading tonight at Skylight Books @ 7:30pm. You moved from the Bay Area to Los Angeles not too long ago. Why......

Carlos Mencia is back at it and chances are you're either pumped or pissed about it. The loved/hated comedian's show, Mind of Mencia is back for a fourth season, his new Comedy Central special "Performance Enhanced" is now in heavy rotation on the cable network and he's hitting the road with the Bud Light Presents: Carlos Mencia at Close Range Tour, which hits the Gibson Ampitheater September 26 and 27. The comic who was......

Comedian Brian Regan has been on "The Late Show With David Letterman" an astonishing 19 times - if you haven't seen him there, then how about Conan/Johnny Carson/Dr. Katz/etc.?? The man that has been everywhere is coming to The Wiltern, this Saturday, May 3rd at 8:00pm. LAist had a chance to talk to the Las Vegas-based Regan about his recent Comedy Central Presents Special "Brian Regan: Standing Up" which is now on DVD, and his......

Big Business, Red Fang, The Cops @ Spaceland (Tho Cops reviewed on LAist, 3/20/06) New York Dolls @ House of Blues (Anaheim) Travis Sullivan’s Bjorkestra, George Sarah & String Trio @ Safari Sam's (George Sarah video below) The Riders of the Purple Sage @ Live at the Lounge (Hermosa Beach) Peter Himmelman @ McCabe's (Music for the kids) Sunday Residency (See all March Residencies) Alex & Sam, Liz Pappademas @ Tangier ($8), Los Feliz (Read......

Photo of Carter Tanton by Amanda Zee Carter Tanton of Tulsa always gets rave reviews about his voice like this one from Pitchfork: "Lead singer Carter Tanton has a spectacular voice... [he] could probably sing a recipe for chocolate éclairs and still make it sound good." And Rolling Stone said "his indie-seraphim voice is not of this world." Both reviews referenced the similarities to My Morning Jacket. And not to forget the band, the......

Sara Melson has been in LA for some time now after graduating from Harvard with a degree in English (she's shy about this fact). First it was acting, now it is music. She loves living in classic Los Angeles area neighborhoods, especially those with history, roots and the word "canyon" in it. Currently living in Beachwood Canyon, which she describes as a "true oasis," her past homes have been Topanga Canyon and Laurel Canyon, both......

It’s shaping up to be a busy year for singer-songwriter Cary Brothers. With the fourth annual Hotel Cafe Tour beginning in just a few days and his first full-length CD, Who You Are, getting great reviews, things won’t be slowing down for him anytime soon. Brothers first received nationwide attention when his song “Blue Eyes” was featured on the Garden State soundtrack four years ago, and his fan base has grown with the release of......

Samantha Sidley and Alex Silverman at their Silver Lake rehearsal space | Photo via their MySpace page Alex & Sam may be a duo in title, but their fairly large band, sometimes up to twelve-members on stage, is quite a force of music that just puts a smile on your face. You can't really corner them into a jazz-blues rock or straight rock category. All we can say is that on stage, they've got......

For those of you who don't know, Moistboyz are a politically vulgar Punk-Metal hybrid Featuring Lead Vocalist Dickie Moist (Guy Heller,) and Lead Guitarist Mickey Moist (AKA Mickey Melchiondo, AKA Dean Ween of Ween.) They've been playing and recording ittermittently since the early 90s, with increased activity during the 2000s. Their music somehow manages to combine methamphetamine levels of energy, and aggressively in-your-face politics that, frankly, defy all description. (It's true - I don't like......

Want to be a singer, a model, or maybe a comedian or TV Host? Then Big Shot Live is your chance to do just that. Simply go to the site, submit your video, and see if you're one of the lucky winners to get flown to LA (given that you're not already here) to pursue your goal and have it documented on the web. But unlike most talent contests, you get flown out right away,......

In yesterday's LAist interview with Hillary Clinton, we had to ask about public transportation. Clinton said she would increase federal funding for public transit by $1.5 billion per year, link funding to local land use policies that encourage mixed-use and transit-oriented development (discouraging sprawl) and invest $1 billion into intercity passenger rail (think high speed rail from Los Angeles to San Francisco, or more locally, the MagLev concept from Orange County to Las Vegas). Speaking......

Jim Wirt is a St. Louis native living in LA, but most people know him as Gay Bigfoot. The 42-year-old North Hollywood resident moved out to Los Angeles in 1996 and is a local artist who recently found himself in the middle of some online censorship when he tried to get one of his pieces printed on a t-shirt. Here's his story... You're an artist, you had some art you wanted to put on a......

To Catch A Predator is one of the more intriguing shows to come around in past years, and certainly one that's sparked its fair share of debates. A group known as Perverted Justice goes into Internet chat rooms posing as young teens and engages in conversation with potential pedophiles. After a while, the offer is made for the targets to come over and a meeting time is set. Unbeknownst to the subjects, the person that......

We always encourage you to press that little recommend button at the bottom right hand corner of every post if you enjoyed it. For one, it tells us what you want more of here it LAist. So here's this week's five most recommended posts, as recommended by you: 1. LAist Interview: Matt Reeves, Director of Cloverfield: It was nice to have so many Cloverfield fan sites point to this in depth interview. Who knew that......

New York author Jami Attenberg is in town this week to read from and sign her excellent debut novel, The Kept Man which examines the life of a young woman, Jarvis, whose artist husband is in a coma. It also curiously examines the life of the"kept men" friends Jarvis meets who are able to spend their days as they please because of their wealthy wives. Attenberg's tale is intense, as any novel about a......

TechCrunch reports that the viewing public is spending more and more time online with sites like YouTube and Crackle thus confirming trends that LAist reported on this last fall. YouTube has experienced an increase in traffic of 18% over the last two months while Crackle has doubled it's audience. An LAist interview over a month ago with StumbleUpon's VP of Marketing confirmed this trend was happening. Last year LAist had the chance to talk......

LA-based Manimal Vinyl Records recently released Through the Wilderness, a tribute to Madonna benefiting her charity. We discussed the concept of Los Angeles' burgeoning lo-fi/whatcha-call-it music scene taking on Madonna classics with Manimal's founder, Paul Beahan. LAist: Tell us about your label, Manimal. Paul Beahan: I started it in Los Angeles a little over a year ago. Our first release was the split Chapin Sisters / Winter Flowers vinyl-only 12” picture disc. Then we put......

At the end of each month LAist attempts to review some of the music and musicians that were covered over that four week period. Below is a mix of just some of the month's musical moments: Listen to the December 2007 LAist Music Medley here: Billy May - "Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer Mambo" (Malibu Remix) - cuz it's the season Jim Noir - "My Patch" CD Review by tomdog Pinker Tones - "Sonido Total"......

Though most film coverage focuses on the stars of a particular movie, there is a large legion of supporting actors who give shape and weight to the world of that film. Before Philip Seymour Hoffman was one of the stars of Charlie Wilson's War, he had a brief but memorable role many years ago in Scent of a Woman. Now, also in Charlie Wilson's War, Hilary Angelo jumps off the screen as one of the......

Not sure if you remember, about two years ago, about the young fellow who had this internet phenomenon in early 2006 by the name of Myspace: The Movie. Well, his name is Dave Lehre and since then, I've been seeing him everywhere – Esquire, Myspace (obviously), YouTube, 20/20, New York Times. His YouTube channel has over 4500 subscribers and he just directed a video for Pittsburg Slim. There have been many who have chased......

I have said it before and I'll say it again, the best designers on Project Runway this season are from Los Angeles. In my holiday wish, I see Rami Kashou, Sweet P, and Kit Pistol in the final three and visions of their collections on the runway in the finale. Christina Scarbo A.K.A. Kit Pistol created her alias during her time studying and working in Italy. You can find her designs at Jack Henry Couture......

This week Zach Behrens became the sixth editor of LAist. Behrens is no stranger to LAist staff or readers -- he was Co-Editor for nearly a year before taking the reins from Tony Pierce and contributed more than 1100 posts since 2005. We asked Zach a variety of questions to put in perspective how and why he came to be editor of the best city blog this side of the Hudson. Andy: When and why......

Joel McHale hosts The Soup, a celebration of the most embarrassing moments in pop culture every Friday night on E! From Tila Tequila to Yo Gabba Gabba you can count on The Soup to gather all the "best of" moments into one big pot of funny. LAist headed to the E! studios for a backstage tour, taping of the show, and one on one with the man who is not afraid to say Oprah's Va-Jay-Jay......

Washington DC based minimalist postpunk trio, Antelope, is hitting town tonight at The Smell along with Bad Dudes Mi Ami (ex-members of Black Eyes from SF) and Bipolar Bear. Since we love classical minimalism, we thought to ask the band a few questions before tonight's show: 1. First, you've gotta explain what minimalist postpunk is. It's difficult to talk about music, which is invisible. We just try to create songs that are simple and......

Ever tell a joke? Chances are that if it wasn't made up by Red Sandwich, then it's indebted to his work. Fact of the matter is, our modern conception of humor and pathos has its roots in the groundbreaking pantomimes of Red Sandwich. LAist sat down with the prognosticator of laughter as the best medicine on the eve of his perennial The Red Sandwich Christmas Hour to discuss the nature and evolution of pathos,......

Philly native, Beanie Sigel hit the road for Los Angeles to promote his new album, The Solution which dropped yesterday. The Rocafella representative took a little time in between radio interviews and a late night run to Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles to chat with LAist about his latest effort, his time locked up and the current state of hip hop music. How’s the response for the album been so far? Good, you know the album......

I was a bit skeptical at first, I knew nothing about chiropractics. But I kept having this pain in my neck that no amount of massage or yoga could take away. I was at a loss and then I met Dr. Robin Hawkey who explained, for the first time in my life, what exactly chiropractics was without any strings attached at a dinner party we both attended. So I decided to try it. My......

In business since summer and reviewed then by LAist, The York is a gastropub in Highland Park located in the same spot that once housed The Wild Hare and before that, The Dragon. Looking nothing like its more quaint predecessors, The York offers drinks and food to the Northeast LA neighborhood in an updated, contemporary style. When business partners/owners, Ryan Ballinger and Gabe Byer took over the space, they tore out the old wood paneling......