The above undulating party pavilion will debut at Coachella, April 17. Sung just pointed me to this amazing-looking thing; come buy me a drink inside it in nine days’ time. Won’t you? We can toast the designers to a Beirut soundtrack.

The design that the students produced should hold its own. With an undulating lattice that supports a array of light fixtures, it will be unveiled on the festival’s opening day next week, April 17. We’ll update with pictures of the installation as we get them. (src)

» Coachella Debuts Undulating Party Pavilion Designed by SCI-Arc Students (Fast Company)

HEADS UP
KXLU Fundrazor @ Regent Theatre Sat Apr 11

KXLU, our very own Loyola-Marymount-based bastion of independent radio, needs your help now more than ever. Times are tough, sure, but your donation means more than you realize. This Saturday you’ll get the chance to have an absolute blast downtown, all while donating $10 to the station.

We also have a free ticket to give out. Yes, just one ticket, since this is a FUNDRAZOR. Fourth person to email me right here wins this ticket, a $10 value which should make you feel only slightly guilty for waltzing into a fundraising event absolutely free of charge. At the very least, go find Matt Strasser, KXLU’s Music Director, and put a quarter in his pocket you lousy cheapskate. (Just kidding about the lousy part.) Event details follow.

KXLU FUNDRAZOR
HELP KEEP FREE-FORM RADIO ALIVE!

Saturday, April 11th, from 5:00 pm until 2:00 am
The Regent Theatre
448 S. Main St. downtown
$10

What to expect:

• Live sets by Rainbow Arabia, Foot Village, vOICESvOICES, The Happy Hollows, Kill Kill Kill, Devon Williams, Meho Plaza, Blank Blue and Combat!
• DJ sets by Jimmy Tamborello of Dntel, Professor Cantoloupe, Fred of Demolisten and Michael Stock of Part time Punks
• Artwork
• Raffles
• Food and merchandise sold by independent vendors
• Record swap and sale. Bring 5-10 records to swap (for your own benefit) and get 5 free raffle tickets!

All that and much more. Keep eyes tuned to KXLU.com for updates, and we’ll see you there.

So what did you do last Friday eve, dear benighted homies? Let me guess: it was another joyless attempt at something like merriment, with the ingesting of the lite beer and the watching of low-end entertainments. Well, that’s all well and good for you hoi polloi, but DF is—as all well know—a class act all the way, and he prefers pursuits of a more refined order come the week-end.

And what, you are doubtlessly tearing your hair out wondering, is the high-brow divertissement of choice for DF? Well, I’ll let you Joe Six-packs and Sally Housecoats in on the secret just this once, in the limited hope of bringing some modicum of culture to your beer-besotted, clock-punching, watching-reruns-of-Roseanne-without-a-shred-of-irony lives.

To wit, DF spent last Friday at the Los Angeles Natural History Museum (NB, ignoramuses: “history” is the study of the past, and a “museum” is a place where the past is stored upon being extensively taxidermied) for the NHM’s “First Fridays” series. The LA NHM’s FFs are a feast for the enlightened gourmand, a gut-busting smorgasbord of heady lectures, edifying tours of the collection, and live music-related fun-havery. Here are the facts, in all their intellectually sophistimacated glory.

»continue reading Getcha Freaky Friday On: First Fridays @ Natural History Museum, 4/3/2009

HEADS UP
Dengue Fever @ Echoplex Thu Apr 9

Dengue Fever, everybody’s favorite Los Angeles/Long Beach-based ’60s Cambodian Khmer pop group named after a debilitating disease, hits the Echoplex this Thursday night. On tap, a screening of the documentary Sleepwalking Through the Mekong and a live performance. (By this point you undoubtedly know the doc focuses on the band’s journey to, and performance in, Cambodia.)

Lucky you! We have some DVDs to give out at this time. First three people to email [redacted] with a full name and valid mailing address win the goods.(UPDATE: That was fast. Never underestimate the power of a tweet) Everybody else, see you in Echo Park Thursday, where you can presumably pick up your own non-free copy right after the movie shatters your preconceptions about international travel, and just before the band shatters your preconceptions about Cambodian Khmer pop as filtered through the Port of Los Angeles and shaken, then stirred, in steamy Echo Park, the world’s melting pot.

Top photo by SUNG

» Three Questions For Dengue Fever (Just how long is Zac’s beard?)
» Dengue Fever @ Knitting Factory, 8/14/07 (by Sung)
» Dengue Fever (myspace)

ABOVE: A plateful of Austin BBQ tangentially but not directly related to the massive list of bands below

Now that it’s mid-April I think we’re nearly done rolling out our SXSW ’09 content. Just in time for Coachella. Huzzah! After the jump, a list of the bands I personally enjoyed in Austin this year, alpha by artist. (G’head click through, you know you’re curious.)

»continue reading The Big List of Bands Ryan Saw @ SXSW 2009

International Pillow Fight Day ’09 – Los Angeles

Holy flying feathers, Batman. Sean O’Brien effectively captured last Saturday’s melee @ Pershing Square with aplomb, and then set the whole thing to an appropriate cut by Does It Offend You, Yeah?
Watch for yourself and check out more of Sean’s work here.

» International Pillow Fight Day (official site)
» Does it Offend You, Yeah? + Yo Majesty @ El Rey Thursday May 2 2008

PICK OF THE WEEK
 
St. Vincent
Mon 4/6
Hollywood Forever Cemetery
Info
 
 
 

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THIS WEEK’S TICKET GIVEAWAYS

Alexi Murdoch
w/ Portland Cello Project
Wed 4/8
El Rey
Info
[ENTER TO WIN]
 
Los Fabulosos Cadillacs
Fri 4/10
Gibson Amphitheater
Info
[ENTER TO WIN]
 
 

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HEADS UP

James Pants @ Echoplex Tue 4/21
Craig David @ The Mint Tue 4/14
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart w/ Girls @ The Echo Mon 7/20
Abe Vigoda w/ The Intelligence & The Drones @ Spaceland Sat 4/18
a Sat 4/18
Cave Singers @ Spaceland Fri 4/17
Heartless Bastards @ Spaceland Tue 4/21
Ghost (Japan) @ Spaceland Thu 5/21
The Prodigy @ The Grove of Anaheim Tue 5/26
A Flock of Seagulls, Dramarama, When in Rome, Gene Loves Jezebel @ House of Blues Sat 6/27
Phoenix @ The Wiltern Sun 6/28
Metric @ The Wiltern Mon 6/8
Elbow @ The Wiltern Wed 7/22
U2 w/ Black Eyed Peas @ Rose Bowl Sun 10/25
The Vaselines @ El Rey Sun 5/10
Ben Kweller @ El Rey Fri 6/19
Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan Sun 5/31
Herbie Hancock & Lang Lang @ Hollywood Bowl Sat 8/8
Herbie Hancock & Lang Lang @ Hollywood Bowl Fri 8/7
Grace Jones, Of Montreal & Dengue Fever @ Hollywood Bowl Sun 7/26
Ray LaMontagne w/ orchestra, Jenny Lewis & Blitzen Trapper @ Hollywood Bowl Sun 7/12
Sergio Mendes, Eddie Palmieri, Poncho Sanchez @ Hollywood Bowl Wed 7/8
20th Annual MARIACHI USA Festival @ Hollywood Bowl Sat 6/20
Playboy Jazz Festival @ Hollywood Bowl (Wayne Shorter, King Sunny Ade & more) Sun 6/14
Playboy Jazz Festival @ Hollywood Bowl (Jimmy Cobb, Sharon Jones & Dap-Kings, Neville Brothers, Pete Escovedo & more) Sat 6/13
Femi Kuti, Santigold, Raphael Saadiq @ Hollywood Bowl Sun 6/21
Death Cab for Cutie, New Pornographers, Tegan and Sara @ Hollywood Bowl Sun 7/5
Beastie Boys @ Hollywood Bowl Thu 9/24
Passion Pit @ Glass House Sat 5/30
M83 @ Glass House Wed 5/20
The Black Keys @ Glass House Thu 4/16
Conor Oberst & the Mystic Valley Band @ Glass House Wed 4/15
The Strange Boys w/ Mika Miko @ The Smell Mon 6/29
 

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MONDAY
Henry Clay People @ Spaceland (Free Mondays in April)
St. Vincent @ Hollywood Forever Cemetary
The Bird and The Bee w/ Juliette Commagere @ Echoplex

»continue reading Losanjealous Concert Picks: April 6 – 12

Full photo gallery below.

»continue reading The Rakes, Troubadour, April 1, 2009

Central Presbyterian Church
Austin, TX
19 March 2009
730pm

Here I sit, front pew, center, balcony. I was here last night, lounging down near the altar in the children’s area, taking in St Vincent and Camera Obscura. This church, man, something about it. What a venue. Big ol’ stone church, stained glass galore. I’m not religious these days, but something about this venue is striking a nerve within. They’re booking the right acts for the venue, obviously no punk bands, no talking, no drinking…basically the opposite of the rest of the chaos happening all over the city outside and I’m into it, man. I feel this. I’m here an hour early for Grizzly Bear. Who are these Canucks playing first? Rural Alberta Advantage. The guy’s got a voice halfway between Colin Meloy and Stuart Murdoch. He’s playing the heart out of his acoustic guitar, literally driving the demons out and laying the money-changers to waste. One, two songs and I am fully into this. Sold. Solid. The set goes by way too fast and now they’re apparently going for an acoustic closer. “We’ve always wanted to play this in a church,” says (frontman) Nils Edenloff.

“Good night,” they sing, weaving through the crowd, all three of them now, halfway down the main aisle of the church, instruments in tow, “Good night.” This could go either way, it could be strong, it could be a mistake. Where’s it going? A couple of people giggle. Then the song fleshes out, and you realize they’re sort of saying good night to all of the crap that happens in life, and putting it all to bed. And then these words are belted:
»continue reading SXSW ‘09: The Rural Alberta Advantage @ Central Presbyterian Church

This joint, as all joints that you don’t know, is really hard to find first time out. It’s just a across the lot from the Anh Hong, the 7 course beef joint, and it’s also across the drive way from Di Vang 3. On the north side of Westminter Ave, right before Brookhurst.

I haven’t set foot inside this plaza in at least 5 yrs, the last time we were here for 7 course beef @ Anh Hong. Things are… well.. different. But not exactly that different. Di Vang is up to #3 now, and the $1.99 restaurants are now $2.99…

»continue reading $2.99 (!!!) Fried Chicken @ Song Huong, Garden Grove

6.45pm. March 28, 2009. An alley in East Hollywood, CA. Bem vindo, derby fans and adoring readers. How are you this fine week? Oh, not so great? Stock portfolio hurting? Bad economy got you down? Ha! Well, DF is doing just fine, so suck on that! What’s his secret you ask? Simple: DF was basically destitute and living out of the trunk of his magenta 1996 Chevy Monte Carlo with extensive body damage before the recession struck, so it wasn’t possible to sink any lower. It’s OK to be jealous.

7.01pm. But many of you have written in being all like, “Oh boo hoo, DF, we can’t go to the roller derby anymore because the bank foreclosed on our seventh mortgage and our HELOC got frozen and we can’t spend any more on non-essential items like roller derby.” Well, cut the whining. First, roller derby is hardly a ‘non-essential item’. Au contraire; there is, in fact, nothing more essential in the world. It’s a scientific fact. Second, fear not: DF will herein tap into his vast reservoir of derby knowledge to impart advice on experiencing the magic of LADD without breaking the bank in a multi-part series called “Derby on the Cheap”. Shall we?

»continue reading Derby on the Cheap: Fight Crew v. Swarm @ the Doll Factory, 3/28/2009

Cesar, David, Louie, Conrad and Steve were in top form last weekend at the Conga Room, entertaining a perfect slice of Los Angeles fans with two sets; one acoustic, one full-on electric. The cholo with neck-and-face tattoos blazing sang, danced and drank alongside the suit-clad businessman. The blues fan howled and hi-fived the jam band aficionado. The dancers went crazy with traditional numbers. And by the end of the night, I’d argue no fan left the establishment unhappy with the setlist.

Seeing Cesar take the stage in those iconic shades of his yet again, watching David lay the crowd to waste with his Panther accordion, catching a grin from Conrad as he plucked his guitarron with vigor and, most importantly, hearing Louie Perez sing “Saint Behind The Glass” all reminded me why I fell in love with this band so long ago. (N/B: Aforementioned song may have been the one thing that brought me back to life following a ridiculously lengthy stint of eating, drinking and walking in Mexico City and Austin, immediately prior to this gig.) After the jump, Louie takes to the drums and an official, albeit woefully incomplete, setlist.
»continue reading Los Lobos, Live at the Conga Room, 27 March 2009

It’s a quarter past high noon in the very midst of the San Fernando Valley. A futuristic high tech digital clock tells us so. But the clock isn’t as futuristic as the curvaceous creation it marks. This is the Tomorrowland of Van Nuys Boulevard.

A man and a woman pose together beside the flying nun-shaped awning shading the entrance to this outer space-age, science fiction style house of money. By any architectural standards before or since this is extreme. The design is simple. Part igloo and part flying squirrel. Really this giant steel, concrete and glass construction is as much a sculpture as it is a building. The two relaxed arched beams crisscrossing over the top remind me of the icing on a delicious hot cross bun or a cross stitch on a handmade patchwork quilt.

»continue reading Charles Phoenix’s Slide of the Week: Van Nuys Savings, Panorama City, CA, 1957

HEADS UP
Leonard Cohen @ _________ Thu 4/9

Pre-Nokia, pre-Coachella secret show details have officially been squeezed out of the holding parties. (Think 200 capacity, Los Angeles.) More details and link after the jump; tix on sale TOMORROW…
 
 
»continue reading Leonard Cohen Intimate Show Details Announced