Local singer/songwriter Audra Mae played a highly impressive set Tuesday night at the Silver Lake Lounge. Simply put, the girl has heavenly pipes. The bio on the myspace describes her voice as a cross between Patsy Cline and Janis Joplin, which is no light praise, but it really is the best description. Having caught a good show a couple years ago, with just her and a guitar, it was fun to see the difference......

"It's so nice and quiet and beautiful in here... from here the lighting kinda looks like a Cylon from Battlestar Galactica." -- Neko Case, melting the heart of every geek in the house while taking in the mysterious angles and lighting inside the Frank Gehry-designed concert hall. Neko Case closed out the first half of Walt Disney Concert Hall's 2007-08 Songbook Series last Friday to a rapt, grateful, near-sellout audience of about 2,000. The......

ExperienceLA.com and Lonely Planet are running a community based Downtown photo contest. If you win, you're photo will be on the cover of the free guide that will distributed around LA and all over the world. And while you're Downtown shooting photos, drop by Pershing Square to go ice skating through the holidays. The tunnel on the 5 Freeway where a fiery crash killed three, shutting down the tunnel for over a month, reopened......

B-52's @ The Roxy Neko Case @ Disney Hall Lyrics Born @ El Rey Puffy Amiyumi @ Key Club Mutaytor @ Safari Sam's The Dickies, Orange, Civet @ Knitting Factory Six Organs of Admittance @ Amoeba Tiger Army, Street Dogs, Imperative Reaction @ The Wiltern Army Navy, Mellodrone @ The Echo Eliza Gilkyson @ McCabe's......

A.C. Newman and Blaine Thurier of Vancouver's finest supergroup, The New Pornographers, have issued a challenge: Translation: Make a better video than the band can, put it on YouTube, and win an iPhone... or something. (We're wondering if that "something" might include signed Neko Case undergarments, as recent history reminds us that even her used corset is worth as much as an iPhone. The New Pornographers admit that they're not OK Go when it comes......

(l-r): Billy Bob Thornton, Marty Stuart, Porter Wagoner, and Dwight Yoakam perform a surprise set before Neko Case @ The Henry Fonda Theatre. Photo courtesy Ice Cream Man. For the first time in recent history, Hollywood was rattled by bonafide foot-stomping. Many in the audience at the Music Box last night had no idea what was taking place when Neko Case announced Porter Wagoner's intention to take over Hollywood. But a historic buzz took......

Lifetime, Mika Miko @ The Troubadour Kristin Hersh @ Amoeba (2pm) Mana @ Gibson Dave Alvin @ McCabe's Aimee Mann @ Largo Camera Obscura @ El Rey Neko Case @ Henry Fonda Leo Nocentelli, Cyril Neville @ The Mint Everyday Stranger, The Moderates, Ride the Blinds, Modicum @ Lava Lounge El Ten Eleven, Whirling Dervish, Someday Assassin @ The Scene John Wiese, Captain Ahab, Flaspar, Kyle H. Mabson, Sky Pigs @ The Smell Destruction,......

Is Indio the new Austin? Over two back-to-back weekends this spring, scores of the best indie, rock, pop, electronic, and country music will play to tens of thousands outside Palm Springs. The last weekend of April will bring three days of Coachella, and the following weekend will see the first Stagecoach country festival. Voici: Saturday, May 5, 2007: George Strait, Alan Jackson, Sara Evans, Jason Aldean, Eric Church, Willie Nelson, Lucinda Williams, Neko Case,......

New releases! Now newer every week!! We begin this installment with a boatload of terrifying and perplexing tribute records, followed by noteables in every genre, including some promising rock offerings, a vault of soundtracks, fancy cello-ing, and more Frankie Valli than you can shake a stick at. Tribute Various Artists - Bluegrass Tribute to Modest Mouse (CMH) Various Artists - Bluegrass Tribute to the Shins (CMH) Various Artists - Can You Bring It? Sing......

Colin Meloy might look like just another guy in line at Radio Shack, but he knows no fear. After being called out by Stephen Colbert on the Colbert Report for utilizing his trademarked Green Screen effect, Meloy upped the ante -- and on December 20th on Comedy Central, we will all benefit from the “Decemberists vs. Stephen Colbert Guitar Solo Challenge.” Meloy also accepted LAist's dare of handing over a Top 10 best CDs......

James Ellroy (reading) @ Skylight Books A Tribe Called Quest @ Wiltern Willie Nelson, Ryan Adams, Neko Case @ Hollywood Bowl Tracy Lawrence @ House of Blues Polyphonic Spree @ The Henry Fonda Carlos Guitarlos @ The Liquid Kitty Jews & Mexicans @ Mr. T's Bowl La Traviata @ Dorothy Chandler Bonnie Raitt @ Santa Barbara Bowl Megadeth, Lamb of God, Overkill @ Hyundai Pavilion photo by the slow wonder via flickr......

Torontoist immediately wins our heart by using the word "Jackass" in a headline. In fact, we love their use of it so much that we're going to use it as much as possible throughout this post. For example, it looks like there are Toronto-area jackasses besides those who misuse the sidewalk: look at the crap on sale on Toronto's craigslist. But it looks like Toronto doesn't contain the kind of jackasses who pee in......

Gothamist posts on the capture of a NYC perv thanks to Little Brother and a camera phone. They also scour the city for vodka martinis and Shamrock shakes and spot the friend from the Wonder Years at a city law firm. New York police think that Littlejohn is their man. Houstonist is no stranger to megachurches or stripmalls or mega-strip-churchmalls. The children of Houston are under assault by unknown forces as this week a playground......