Remember this billboard in Rancho Cucamonga that went up, then went down after complaints and pressure from residents to the city to the billboard company? Well, they sued. The Freedom From Religion Foundation is suing the city because it says Redevelopment Director Linda Daniels, who is also named in the suit, contacted the billboard company telling it of the numerous complaints the city had received regarding the billboard and asked if the company could......

Today's LA Times asks a pressing question: "Should there be boycotts, blacklists, firings or de facto shunning of those who supported Proposition 8?" This question has surfaced in the wake of recent high-profile "outing" of Prop 8 supporters and the subsequent consumer and community backlash, like in the case of local eatery El Coyote. But the Times is making a rather pointed connection to the post-Prop 8 fallout, namely the relationship between "liberal Hollywood" and......

LA Observed has shared a new New Yorker story on legendary music icon Prince, who has been living in Los Angeles for the past two years. Recently the Artist Formerly Known as the Artist Formerly Known as Prince played Coachella, declaring as he left the stage: "Coachella will always be Prince's house." Lest he confuse himself or his fans, he actually now calls the "rarefied gated nouveau complex of Beverly Park" here in LA his......

Mark (last name unknown) from Stop8.org made these Barack Obama styled posters that reflect the mood of Prop 8's opposition. They're humorous in one way, but sadly true in another way.......

Over on Ron L Hubbard way at the large Scientology complex in East Hollywood, a videographer was filming on the sidewalk when he was all of the sudden surrounded by three alleged Scientologists with cameras who kept on cornering him. This follows city council action regarding the closure of the street on a weekly basis and a contentious video (below) taken on the street on July 4th, 1999.......

Photo by louisathomson via Flickr "I'm going to talk about the un-biblical stands that Barack Obama takes. Nobody who follows the Bible can vote for him. We may not be politically correct, but we are going to be biblically correct. We are going to vote for those who follow the Bible." That's Rev. Wiley S. Drake of First Southern Baptist Church of Buena Park in the LA Times speaking about the "pulpit initiative," which......

On Saturday May 10th, members of Anonymous took to the streets all over the world in protest of Scientology. Here in Los Angeles, Anonymous staged their gathering at 6331 Hollywood Boulevard at one of the many Scientology buildings in the city. LAist photographer Tom Andrews was on the scene this week, just as he was last week, to capture the events on camera.......

LAist Featured Photos contributor corsakti took this photo over the weekend. "I think this should be added to the list of proofs," he said.......

You won't be seeing the 21-year-old Valencia resident, Samantha Rothwell, for about 16 years because yesterday she was convicted of second-degree murder for the death of an 18-year-old man who made a comment about God. In 2006, a group of friends gathered at Hotel Huntington Beach for a birthday celebration and to go to the beach the next day. Then... As the evening progressed, several people, including Rothwell and 18-year-old Walter Rivas, were on the......

Today is Good Friday, the day Christ was crucified. It is a holy day of obligation for people like me, who were raised as strict Catholics. I always liked Mary, especially the poetic memorare prayer and the Queen of the May festival where we sang Bring Flowers of the Rarest and crowned Mary with flowers. But I never quite understood the church's obsession with blood and suffering. Hairshirts? Self-flagellation? Any sin can be forgiven if......

A new website posted this video documenting the alleged actions and threats taken by Anonymous against the Church of Scientology. The site, created two weeks ago, does not explicitly state an affiliation with the CoS but it documents what it alleges are "Religious Hate Crimes and Terrorism Directed at Church of Scientology."......

What killed a 33-year-old woman discovered packed in dry ice in the Newport Beach hotel room of a cocaine dealer this past weekend? "Everything that happened was for religious reasons," Stephen David Royds told The Orange County Register on Sunday reports the AP. Detectives found the body of Monique Felicia Trepp, 33, fully clothed and "well preserved" inside a large Rubbermaid container late Thursday after arresting a guest at the Fairmont Newport Beach for investigation......

The Hackensaw Boys | Photo via their MySpace Our brain is going to explode with all the great choices tonight. From friggin' amazing jazz (see, we're not swearing) at UCLA to folk-punk sensibilities of The Hackensaw Boys at Tangier in Los Feliz (video after the jump), tonight is a bounty of gold. Also, Jim Bianco will be at Amoeba and it's the first night for Wednesday night March residencies. Howlin' Rain @ Spaceland Jim......

Reeve Oliver plays Tuesday nights at the Key Club this month | Photo via their MySpace Tuesdays are usually slow nights in LA for music and as bands prep to head Texas-way for SXSW, we'll probably see even fewer choices like tonight. But fewer doesn't mean worse. Mountain Goats and Jeffrey Lewis (great video below) play at the Troubadour tonight (and tomorrow), Working For A Nuclear Free City is back with another concert, this......

Spaceland is A Place To Bury Strangers | Photo by Redboy via the band's MySpace. More great concert photos by Redboy here SambaLá @ Blue Cafe (Long Beach, Upstairs Room) The Ditty Bops @ McCabe's (Santa Monica) Pigeon John @ Malibu Inn (Malibu) Grizzly Bear @ Walt Disney Concert Hall (Downtown) Aceyalone @ Temple Bar (Santa Monica) Bad Religion @ House of Blues (West Hollywood) Holy Fuck, A Place to Bury Strangers, In Waves......

Liquid Kitty's annual punk rock BBQs have been such a success, this Sunday they are hosting a special Winter BBQ. What better to chase away the rain than with colorful drinks and hard-core thrash? Some dogs on the grill? Done! And all for the low, low, price of FREE. Liquid Kitty's BBQs are famous for reuniting long-lost 80s classics and this one is no exception. This year is marked by the return of old-school locals,......

For background and a photo essay on this protest, see our story from yesterday. "There was NO old media, anywhere, that I saw. And we spent an hour in front of the damned CNN building. Creepy," said Teague Chrystie (guy in pink hair in video), one of the hosts of the above LA based podcast called Geekza. "We don't represent Anonymous or Scientology, we're just some industry cats of various niches who dig activism,"......

On Monday night, local artist and Downtown resident Elizabeth McGrath (formerly of Tongue) and her gothic country band Miss Derringer (MySpace) performed as the headliners of Indie 103.1 (MySpace)'s Check One Two Mondays at The Viper Room in West Hollywood. Opening for Miss Derringer were James Wilsey (MySpace) and Linda Strawberry (MySpace), with The Idyllists (MySpace) performing afterwards. Later this month, Miss Derringer will embark on a West Coast tour, and open for Bad......

Glendale, home to IHOP, Nestle and a population that is more than 50% foreign born is now home to Jesus. Photographer Philip R. Cloutier took this picture and through some divine punishment... well, we'll let him explain:[This was the] last picture taken before I slipped off the back of the bus stop bench I was standing on to get the right angle for this picture. I busted my knee and my camera, shattering the......

While I deeply love many different kinds of Christmas music, this is one form that tugs hard at the heartstrings. Soul music is just a perfect vehicle for the kind of unironic SINCERITY that I want from a good Christmas song, that makes their heartwarming messages hit home completely. Here's a few to put your mind at ease. BIG DEE IRWIN & LITTLE EVA - I Wish You A Merry Christmas An oldie but goodie......

Nothing says Merry Christmas like mosh pits, sweaty fans and loud rock music, unless of course it is KROQ's Almost Acoustic Christmas. Night One, the more "edgy" of the two nights of KROQ's Almost Acoustic Christmas featured performances by rising stars Paramore, legends Bad Religion and chart toppers Linkin Park.......

The Holiday season is in full swing in NYC, with holiday lights in Brooklyn, a giant snow globe in Bryan Park and Chanukah specials for ham. One citizen decided to go vigilante on annoying car alarms, a murder suspect used a fake Asian accent on the stand and a video of a man being beaten up by teenage girls on a subway shocked the city. And we interviewed soon-to-be-leaving-Gawker editor Choire Sicha, who said,......

Black Friday has come and gone but there's one more killer sale that you shouldn't miss - the Obey Sale. For the last few years we have been lucky enough to learn about the sale, this year held in a warehouse The OC, and today we are very happy to share the dates with you. When: Friday, December 7th from 9a - 7p & Saturday, December 8th from 9a - 5p Where: 3500 West......

Last night Austrailian comedian Tim Minchin brought his act to Los Angeles and the ACME Theatre after performances in New York and Las Vegas. On the heels of being named Best Alternative Comedian at the 2007 HBO US Comedy Arts Festival, Minchin's act did not disappoint with a seamless blend of original songs, wry observations, and increasingly amusing audience interaction. Initially adopting a shy stage persona reminiscent of Mitch Hedberg, Minchin covered topics ranging......

Leah Kauffman's hilarious and scathing love song to Ann Coulter. A few lines of this satire had me rolling. Of course, Coulter makes it so easy.......

Gearing up for another War on Christmas, combative conservative columnist David Horowitz and the College Republicans are calling out to their hate squad and killing Halloween (not to mention a week of breast cancer awareness month) with what they've dubbed "Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week." Ann Coulter, recently listed as charging a $25,000 speaker fee by the Premiere Speakers Bureau (and now "call for fee") will speak in the name of Islamo-Fascism Awareness tomorrow night at USC.......

Who are these people who credit the controversial religion Scientology for changing their lives for the better? One of them is tv's Jerry Seinfeld who told the typically worthless Parade magazine that the church helped him communicate early in his career so that he could control his audiences. I last really studied, oh, it’s almost 30 years ago. But what I did do, I really liked, in terms of it’s very...it was interesting. Believe......

There’s certainly no shortage of seasonally creepy movies to choose from, from the cartoonish to the sickeningly realistic, whatever floats your boat. But if you prefer all your eggs in one basket - cartoonishly evil violence in documentary form – prepare to stay glued to the computer screen for half an hour. We all knew kids who were just a little bit TOO INTO heavy metal. Kids who wore Motley Crue make-up to class,......

This weekend fans of "The Big Lebowski" will gather for Lebowski Fest LA and Book Release Party. Followers of the religion Dudeism and of the film can be found wearing bowling shirts, drinking White Russians, and getting a little crazy "Dude" style. Known for his memorable interpretive dance scene in the film, I asked Jack Kehler who played Marty, the Dude's Landlord, about the cult status of this Coen Brother's classic. LAist: The film opened......

How an Evangelical Minister helped save My Yom Kippur It's a dark and stormy Friday night in Culver City. I sit in my car and listen to the rain pound all around me. I have 11 hours to solve a very large problem and do not know where to start. Understand that an hour ago I had 1,500 congregants very unhappy with me. You see, I am the head of the volunteer sound crew for......