Photo by Andy Sternberg/LAist A posthumous tribute wall dedicated to singer/songwriter Elliott Smith sat defaced by graffiti for months on end -- LAist said enough, so did the fans and city council.SFist was surprised to learn that chronic presidential candidate Ralph Nader picked former San Francisco Supervisor Matt Gonzalez as his running mate.Phillyist explored the possibilities of green cleaning.In the latest edition of Reel Toronto, a bi-weekly feature looking at films shot in Toronto......

RocknRollDating.com is the creation of Eagle Rock resident and music industry veteran, Daniel House. He has created the free online dating site with music as the coming-together concept. Put in your favorite bands and concerts, your preferred genres and the normal dating profile stats such as heights, sex, etc. and go find your mate based on the tunes you share in common. Or maybe you'll find someone who will let you experience new music. Tonight,......

I've always been intrigued by other "best of" lists, but this year I decided to take it to a whole new level. I e-mailed a handful of bands that I've seen this past year in order to unearth what exactly captivated them in '07. As music listeners, it is our duty to take a keen interest in our favorite musician's influences. After all, they rocked our little world, might as well see what rocked their......

Hearts of Darkness is such a perfect complement to Apocalpyse Now that it's hard to watch one without thinking of the other. Though it's not the greatest print, the former is finally available on DVD. Now that the year is coming to an end, people are starting to talk about Oscar contenders. Why is the superb Rescue Dawn being left out of the mix? Live Free or Die Hard doesn't play like a Die......

Various Artists Kurt Cobain About A Son Music From The Motion Picture Barsuk Records, released 9/11/07 The loud-quiet-LOUD bipolarity and creepy darkness of Kurt Cobain's music comes across loud-and-clear in this excellent collection of grunge, punk, and blues that make up the music of Kurt Cobain About A Son. The fact that no actual Cobain material is used in this makes it even weirder, and if you ask me, better. It makes you miss......

A pretty damn good cd came out on Tuesday, the soundtrack to a film about Kurt Cobain called About a Son. The soundtrack has no music from Cobain or any of his bands, instead it's mostly music he was listening to from bands he was fans of. Very few bands had as much influence on Kurt than the Melvins, and very few bands had as much college radio street cred the years before Nirvana......

Today is what would have been the anniversary of Charles Bukowski's 87th year on this planet, had he not passed away in 1994. I really wish I had it in me to writing something amazing in honor of the man, but I'm not sure it can be done. What can you write about a man who revolutionized literature with a style that has yet to be rivaled? All I can think to do on......

After the amazing Redd Kross - Sonic Youth show at the Greek, we all headed over to an afterparty at El Cid. Thurston had asked punk legends Saccharine Trust to perform their classic album, Pagan Icons. The album thing was kind of a theme. If you want to know where bands like Nirvana got their inspiration from, in addition to Daydream Nation, you really need to add Pagan Icons and Born Innocent to your......

Remember when Sandra Bullock set aside her flourishing, if somewhat formulaic, Hollywood career to make compelling independent films that actually had something original to say? Yeah, me neither. Premonition continues a long slide that I predict will ultimately end in a USA series about a quirky female detective--Bullock to star, produce AND direct a few eps. Factory Girl also drops today. After seeing Sienna Miller in Interview and reading this, I'm renting it. Other......

You’ve heard it already, “Wow, they’re like 13 years old and in a band!” The Jack Bambis have gotten a lot of attention for their ages – guitarist Indio, bassist Jasper and singer Lia are all 13. Cash, the drummer, shies a few years behind. But the Jack Bambis sound better than a whole lotta crap on the radio being made by people 21 and up (i.e. old enough to know better). Cash graduated......

Aaaah, Beverly Hills - Los Angeles' beacon of wealth and privilege. I don't think I've been there in over ten years. But on Tuesday I had an entire day to just wander the streets. Normally, I don't trust popular opinion. Maybe it's because I grew up in the 80s, when popular opinion gave us big shoulder pads, bigger hair, the Star-Wars defense system, Hall and Oats and Chubacca-like eyebrows. But that mistrust caused me......

I decided this video couldn't wait, so today 9:20 A.M. is the new 4:20 P.M. A tip of the hat to The Documentary Blog for alerting us to the fact that filmmaker A.J. Schnack just posted clips from About A Son, his upcoming documentary about Kurt Cobain. The film features loads of audio clips from interviews with the Nirvana singer conducted by music writer Michael Azerrad, who was Cobain's "authorized biographer." About A Son is......

Juliette Lewis & The Licks Four on the Floor The Militia Group UK release date: May 28 US release date: July 24 When we were younger we never understood what being intimidated by a hot woman meant. We were like "how can you be intimidated by boobies?" But as we have grown up and been around the block a few times, we now know what it means to be intimidated by hotness, for if......

A collection of tunes from several of the bands/musicians reviewed or highlighted by LAist staffers during the month of April 2007. LAist April 2007 Medley: Iggy Pop – Nighclubbing Nirvana – Negative Creep Lily Allen – Smile Lemonheads – Hate Your Friends The Jesus and Mary Chain – Taste of Candy Sonic Youth – Silver Rocket CeU – Malemolencia Bombay Dub Orchestra – Feel (Thievery Corporation Remix)......

Before Nirvana there was Sonic Youth and this summer there will be nirvana at The Greek when Sonic Youth plays their entire Daydream Nation album. If June 20th isn't marked on your calendar you probably shouldn't enter this contest. We have a pair of tickets for this show. We also have two posters for the winner as well. To enter tell us a story about Sonic Youth. Tell us what the show is going......

For a little perspective on what lies ahead for the next 30 days for this season’s Lakers, let’s drift back in time to 1988, the year when Jerry Falwell and Larry Flynt were battling each other in court, Nirvana was formed and Paula Abdul was forever our girl. In the NBA, a young Michael Jordan was scoring 35 points a game and dragging his Chicago Bulls teammates close to the top of the league. So......

LAist is currently looking for a few good contributers. Do you have what it takes? Q. Why should I write for LAist? A. LAist is one of the hottest blogs in town. Just over the last twelve months our page views have continued to climb, increasing each month. This month we have quadrupled in popularity compared to last year at this time. This means that what you write will actually get read - one of......

LAist gets invited to a lot of cool events. We say no to way too many. It's not that we say no, we just never end up where we probably should be. When we were invited to the Courtney Love book signing at the Virgin on Sunset we were not only there, we were early, we had our batteries charged, we had extra batteries, we had voted, we were Ready. And secretly we hoped......

She's Miss World, Mrs. Cobain, Momma Bean, America's Sweetheart, and the Widow Courtney. While some of the punk and grunge icons of days gone by have faded out, Courtney Love's fire still rages despite the fact that so many just want her to sit still and shut up. But shutting up is one thing Ms. Love will never do. Thankfully. Just the opposite, in fact, as her memoirs Dirty Blonde: The Diaries of Courtney......

There used to be a time when MTV would go crazy for the latest Beck video, and they should've, his music and his visuals were always cutting edge. But then something happened a few years back and the golden boy decided he was going to follow in the moonwalk of Gordon Lightfoot and Don Henley and "keep it real" with the sad tunes. LAist liked the early experimental jet trash shit when he has......

This August they brought us a party with DJs Junior Sanchez, Colette, DJ AM, Stretch Armstrong and Junkie XL at the Avalon, and tonight, LA based BPM Magazine brings us 2 Many DJs at the Vangaurd. For those unaware, Belgian brothers 2 Many DJs, also known as Soulwax, are the dudes who made the mash-up cool, remixing Destiny's Child with Nirvana, Salt n' Pepa with the Stooges, and The Strokes and Christina Aguilera. Highly......

COOP doesn't play. If you tell him you're going to have a couple dozen questions emailed to him, and you shoot them to him, when you come back from your little party, there they are, answered, beautifully, honestly, no problems, no worries. The man is a pro. He takes his art just as seriously. Well, as seriously as you can take big-tittie devil girls and hot rods and demons and now Atari joysticks. He's your......

We’ll skip most of the Dilana drama that was used as filler at the beginning of Supernova. So what if she dissed a few folks she’s competing against? BFD. Isn’t that what reality TV and rock’n’roll are all about? And so she shattered a glass and a piece flew up and cut Magni in the head, they’ve all kissed and made up. Let’s move on to the music, which was picked out by the......

LAist managed to stop crying for a few minutes last night (over our girl Zayra’s shocking departure last week) to tune into the latest episode of Rockstar: Supernova. So Tommy Lee, Gilby Clarke and Jason Newsted are continuing their search for a singer to front their band. Here’s what we got left: Storm Large (yes, again, that’s the name she uses): Good singer, but a little too karaoke for our taste. She’s definitely the......

LAist has seen it all. The Jackson 5, The Police, every Beastie Boys tour, Gwar, Nirvana, Tsar, you name it... so sometimes when we go out to a club to see something we might arrive a little late or grumpy or not as stoked as the fan club, and annoyed about how theres seating infront of the stage, but pleased that theres Stella on tap, but generally we're not the best audience. The Hotel......

In 1985 Prince played there and they bathed the place in purple lights. Nirvana played there with the Butthole Surfers and someone threw a shoe at Kurt that almost hit him. Eminem played there with Mix Master Mike opening as snowboarders had an indoor exhibition. Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, and Kareem played there. Chick and the Laker Girls performed there. Paula Abdul got famous there. And now you can try to get......

Born in LA 33 years-and-a-day ago, June 21, 1973, it seems like Juliette has done it all. She's acted with De Niro, been directed by Woody, and is currently recording her second rock album with none other than Dave Grohl as her drummer. Yesterday's birthday girl emancipated herself from her parents at 14, dropped out of high school at 15, started banging Brad Pitt at 16 in a romance that would last almost four......

There were many repulsive things about Pearl Jam during the short yet beautiful Grunge Years. All of it had to do with their music. On paper they did everything right -- they were against videos, they took on Ticketmaster, they didn't hang out with model/actresses. But musically they were the worst parts of REM mixed with the worst parts of STP. Vedder posed like everything he was mumbling was soooo important, he fluttered his......

Politics, guitars and intelligent lyrics fuel the the St. Louis band of brothers known as Living Things. On their new CD "Ahead of The Lions," Lillian, Eve and Bosh Berlin pull on a myriad of inspirations, from the Ramones to Aerosmith. The band successfully meshes alternative, glam, metal and punk--somehow evoking nostalgia, but remaining fresh-sounding. Songs like "God Made Hate" and "Keep It 'Til You Fold," reveal that Living Things are capable of crafting......

As proud punks at heart, Green Day have never shied away from speaking their minds. Their new single Wake Me Up When September Ends is no exception. The Bay Area band and KROQ favorite is causing waves with an artsy, anti-war music video. [watch: Quicktime 7 | Windows Media] During a time in which MTV plays more Real World/Road Rules Marathons than actual videos, LAist was amazed to read that this video topped TRL.......