You can tell straight away that David Bowie: Starman, out today in a U.S. edition hardcover and digital from Little, Brown and Co., is the real deal. Author Paul Tyrka is a former editor of MOJO and it is clear his detailed, lucid prose was a guiding influence on that magazine’s late 90′s/early 00′s halcyon days. He weaves annotated reportage, first hand anecdotes, academic insight and plain old fashioned fandom, all while minimizing judgment–no mean feat when it comes to the life of David Bowie. This one’s a keeper for the rock bios shelf in the home library.

David Bowie: Starman | Skylight Books | Facebook

Back in 1997 Anthony Lovett and Matt Maranian wrote and published what eventually became my favorite Los Angeles guidebook. That book’s name was (and is) LA Bizarro. A few years ago on this website I talked to Matt about the original book’s undertaking (fun interview with Matt here). Since that time the two authors have now revised, updated and significantly expanded that original tome, and their collective output was published by Chronicle Books just this fall. In the 2009 updated edition of LA Bizarro (available at the time of this writing and sitting right up there at #2 on the LA Times nonfiction bestseller list this week, no less) they talk about the new, they talk about what was, they elaborate on the “merits” of the Orange County-based Viacom/ Paramount/ Rusty Pelican Restaurants, Inc. international chain Bubba Gump Shrimp Company in sordid detail. (Write San Clemente today to find out how to open your own Bubba Gump!)

Alongside pearls of Los Angeles wisdom and hilarious anecdotes, the 1997 edition of the fabled book offered to the casual reader severe eye strain by way of its off-kilter typesetting and color palette (black-on-green, white-on-black). And, though that incomparable strained-eye feeling was perhaps a part of the appeal of the original volume due to the fact that full passages were on occasion very difficult to read – almost as if the authors didn’t really want to tell you what they were in fact telling you at the time – my aging, internet-scarred eyes are oh-so-thankful for the the cozy, old-fashioned, black-text-on-white-background legibility of the 2009 edition. I’m also thrilled because these guys clearly share our sensibilities, and vice-versa: numerous joints we’ve mentioned over the years here and there on our site also appear in this new book (Norwood Young’s House of Davids and the downtown Piñata District, to name but two); inversely, countless joints that first appeared in the original edition of LA Bizarro eventually showed up on our website a decade later, come to think of it. Guys, let it be known: You have an open invitation to blog, right here to our seven readers, any time you desire. Victor’s setting up your logins; your password is the two-word title of LA Bizarro, page 142, new edition.

Today we chat with both authors – nay, tastemakers – about the book’s recently-released revised edition and Los Angeles in general. In the below conversation, Tony’s answers follow the initials “ARL” (“A” as in Anthony, get it?) and Matt’s answers follow the initials “MM”.

Neither of you live in Los Angeles now (Simi’s close; Vermont may as well be Indonesia) and yet you felt compelled to return, research and release an updated guidebook about Los Angeles. Without repeating the intro to the new book verbatim…why is this?

»continue reading A Conversation with Anthony Lovett and Matt Maranian, Authors of LA Bizarro

»continue reading Devendra Banhart & Friends, Family: Photographs by Lauren Dukoff Signing & Exhibit, Space 15 Twenty, July 18, 2009

The Great Book of Los Angeles Locksmith Shacks is nearing completion, but our photography is still lacking. You can help! Have a photo of a Los Angeles-based locksmith shack to share? Send it to me, or upload it to the Los Angeles Locksmith Shack group on Flickr today. My five favorite submissions within the next two weeks will all receive one random, all-new cd (nothing cruddy – scout’s honor) from the Losanjealous music library. You will also be notified of compensation options, should your submission eventually be chosen for offline publication. Godspeed.

» What is a Locksmith Shack?
» Where might I find a Locksmith Shack?
» Locksmith Shacks: Are they dangerous?

The editors of Our Dumb World: The Onion’s Atlas of The Planet Earth will be at Skylight Books on Vermont this coming Saturday (1/26) at 5pm. If you haven’t yet had the chance to peruse the book, I can attest that it’s drop dead funny and, unfortunately, spot-on accurate more often than not (ok ok – relatively so). Don’t miss this once-in-a-lifetime chance to (a) have your breastbone signed, (b) monopolize the Q&A session with your inane questions.

» Our Dumb World Editors’ Los Feliz In-Store

Boozers take heed; this one is sort of important. It’s cocktail time. We would like to know the name of your favorite drink in town. This must be a drink you can purchase in a bar, restaurant or club, so we’ll need to know both the name of the drink, the name of the establishment and, if applicable, the name of the bartender.

NB Live Music Lovers: Best Venue will come separately; refer to our previous research for both polls if applicable.

UPDATE, 12/31: Polls closed; results now online.
»continue reading Reader Picks ’07: Your Favorite Cocktail

Set to take it’s rightful spot on your bookshelf, next to your Strunk & Whites and Funk & Wagnalls’s, comes the indispensable new reference guide to be penned by two authors, Hoffman & Rudoren’s COMEDY BY THE NUMBERS©. Published by McSweeney’s, this book catalogs almost 170 universal archetypes of Comedy. Each numbered entry includes examples, often illustrated, demonstrating appropriate usage so that you may check your own comedic usages. The book is sure to become an essential manual for homemakers, script puncher-uppers, eccentric know-it-alls of all ages and many others. Rather than “review” the book which would require actually “reading” said book, I conducted a hard-hitting Q&A with the authors. The frequently hilarious results are “cut and pasted” below.

If you wish to skip the Q&A portion and go straight to purchase the book, you may do so by clicking here.
»continue reading “Farts and Dwarfs–Does That Answer Your Question?” A Q&A with the Authors of Comedy By The Numbers