Tonight kicks off a nice run of holiday season benefit rock shows for good causes around town. Basically, you have no excuse for not coming out and digging some music and giving a little something back.

Tonight, Friday 11/20

When You Awake & The Fold Present A Tribute To Neil Young w/Delta Spirit, Ferraby Lionheart, Jason “Dead Meadow” Simon, Leslie and the Badgers, Stevens, The Parson Red Heads, Restavrant, Chapin Sisters & more @ Bootleg Theater. Proceeds benefit Children’s Music Fund.

Saturday, 11/21

Band of Horses, Tom Morello, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Tom Gabrel, Shirley Manson, Butch Walker, Jarrod Gorbel, Charlotte Martin & more @ Avalon Hollywood. Proceeds benefit the Pablove Foundation.

Sunday, 11/22

Slash, Ozzy Osbourne, Perry Farrell, Billy Idol, Travis Barker, Chester Bennington (Linkin Park), Andrew Stockdale (Wolfmother), Dave Navarro & more @ Avalon Hollywood. Layn Rocks: Los Angeles Youth Network Homeless Benefit.

Wednesday, 12/8

Winston Calling: A Rock and Comedy Benefit featuring for Baby Winston Bertrand hosted by Black Francis. w/ Black Francis w/ Flea, members of Pixies, Love & Rockets, The 88, Michael Penn & more @ Echoplex

Thursday, 12/9

Winston Calling: A Rock and Comedy Benefit featuring for Baby Winston Bertrand hosted by Black Francis. w/ Tim and Eric (music set), Bob Odenkirk, Brian Posehn, Dave Lovering (magic act) @ The Echo

HEADS UP

The Fiery Furnaces w/ Cryptacize and Dent May & His Magnificent Ukelele @ El Rey Sat 11/21

Nice triple bill going on at the El Rey tomorrow, Saturday 11/21.

Enter now for your shot at a pair of tickets.

Photo by Sung from Fiery Furnaces’s 2007 Troubadour show.

HEADS UP

The Juan Maclean w/ Anti Pop Consortium & Parallels @ Echoplex Sat 11/21

Anti-Pop, freed up in town from the cancellation of We The People this weekend, jumps on The Juan MacLean bill tomorrow at Echoplex.

PLEASE NOTE: You do NOT throw your drink at The Juan MacLean.

P.S. – You might have already won tickets to this show from us–check your email sometime before lunch.

HEADS UP

U2 @ Angel Stadium Mon 6/7/2010

Good luck.

Let us know if you make it into the GA inner circle on the field.
 
Photo by Lindsey from the October 25, 2009 Rose Bowl show.
 

News out of Manchester, TN. Bonnaroo 2010 now has dates you can touch-type into your iCalendars: June 10-13, 2010. (Was it always 4 days?) Ticket pre-sale begins on 11/27 and runs through 12/31. Handy layaway plan of five $50 payment is available. No word on the headliners or any of the line-up as of yet. Let the wild speculation begin.

Our heartiest congratulations go out to the following LA bands:

After Midnight Project

Atreyu

Evan Taubenfeld

In This Moment

Mozella

Nathen Maxwell & the Original Bunny Gang

Nations Afire

Resident Hero

Runner Runner

The Parson Red Heads

These are the newly announced LA-based winners of Taco Bell’s 2009 “Feed The Beat” contest. All of These LA bands will be receiving $500 in Taco Bell Bucks to feed them on their upcoming tours.

Full photo gallery below.
»continue reading Final Fantasy, Henry Fonda Theater, November 15, 2009

Full photo gallery below.

»continue reading The Mountain Goats, Henry Fonda Theater, November 15, 2009

PHOTO By Sung. Full gallery of Ray acoustic here.

Ray Davies returned to L.A. to debut his latest release “The Kinks Choral Collection” at capacity filled Orpheum Theater. Backed by a 28-voice choir and a four-piece band the former Kinks’ lead singer performed a mixture of songs from both his solo catalog and Kinks’ classics in a rousing two hour set. Davies started off the show intimately with an acoustic set accompanied by his guitarist Bill Shanley. The two played for much of the first half of the show with Davies interacting with the crowd frequently. The audience responded in turn, singing along to tunes such as “A Dedicated Follower of Fashion” and “Sunny Afternoon”, and with frequent cries between songs for their favorite songs, at which Davies finally remarked, “[What] an embarrassment of riches.” He was right as he and his ensemble would perform most of the requests as the night went on.

About forty minutes into the show the rest of the band joined, which included former Kinks keyboardist Ian Gibbons. Together they performed additional Kinks material from the earlier “Til the End of the Day” and “Where Have All the Good Times Gone” to the 80’s hit “Come Dancing”. After a twenty minute intermission the choir slowly made their way on stage. Davies announced that they would start with songs from the album Arthur. The choir contributed beautifully to the songs “Shangri-La” and “Victoria”. He then introduced “You Really Got Me” by saying, “If you don’t know this next song you shouldn’t be here.” During the song, Ray danced around the stage, even leaping into the air with his guitar at one point, showing that, even at 65, he still knows how to rock the room.

»continue reading Ray Davies & The Vox Society Choir Perform The Kinks Choral Collection, Orpheum Theater, November 14, 2009

It’s apparently cancelation day over here. Going from in doubt, to today, canceled. From the Troubadour website:

Canceled due to transportation problems. Refund at point of purchase. If you purchased tix via fax, you will be refunded today 11/17

If you have anything else that you would like to announce is canceled, feel free to send it our way.

UPDATE: Tour openers Those Darlins will play The Fold at Silver Lake Lounge at 10:30 tonight.

The festival, which was to have featured Bad Religion, Suicidal Tendancies and many others, this Saturday, November 21, has been postponed and will be rescheduled for “early 2010.”

From the Festival:

“As organizers, we are committed to presenting only the finest event possible for this important movement. Due to ongoing economic challenges, we decided our best option was to move the event to a later date to insure these standards are maintained for the benefit of our important, loyal audience.”

Refunds are available for those who have already purchased tickets via their point of purchase.

HEADS UP

Vampire Weekend @ Henry Fonda Tue 1/12/2010 (On sale Friday 11/27 at noon)

HEADS UP

The Slits @ The Echo Sun 12/13

Trapped Animal–the first new full-length LP by The Slits in 25 years–out now on Narnack Records.
 

Following up on covering The Velvet Underground & Nico and Songs of Leonard Cohen, Beck’s Record Club takes on Skip Spence’s classic Oar along with Wilco, Feist and Jamie Lidell. The first fruit from the sessions, album opener “Little Hands,” is up on Vimeo now:

Beck shares some notes on the session:

»continue reading Beck Record Club #3: Skip Spence’s Oar Featuring Wilco, Feist and Jamie Lidell

1) Them Crooked Vultures (Grohl, J.P.J., Homme & co.) will perform tonight, Monday, November 16 @ The Roxy.
2) Tickets @ the door, night of show, non-transferable, no ins-&-outs.
2a) No lineups before 2 pm.
3) Doors @ 8:30.
4) 2 hours of drinking.
5) Them Crooked Vultures @ 10:30.
 

Full photo gallery below.

»continue reading Ray Davies, Orpheum Theater, November 14, 2009

HEADS UP

Night One, Sat 12/12: AFI, Rise Against, Alice In Chains, 30 Seconds to Mars, Three Days Grace, Anberlin, Dead By Sunrise

Night Two, Sun 12/13: Muse, 311, Slightly Stoopid, Phoenix, The Bravery, Metric, Vampire Weekend, Cage the Elephant & White Rabbits @ Gibson Amphitheatre

Which band are you least looking forward to seeing?

Matt Muse photo by Carlie from San Diego Street Scene 2007.

PICK OF THE WEEK

Julian Plenti
(Paul Banks of Interpol)
w/ I’m In You
Thursday, November 19
El Rey Theater
Info
 

Royksopp
w/ Jon Hopkins
Wednesday, November 18
Club Nokia
Info
[ENTER TO WIN]

Snoop Dogg
w/ DJ Quik and Nipsey Hussle
Thursday, November 19
Club Nokia
Info
[ENTER TO WIN]

Eureka! West Coast, Left Coast
Festival Opening Event with
Kronos Quartet, Terry Riley, Matmos, & Mike Einziger
Saturday, November 21
Walt Disney Concert Hall
Info | [ENTER TO WIN]

Peter Bjorn & John
w/ El Pedro Del Mar
Saturday, November 21
Club Nokia
Info
[ENTER TO WIN]

The Juan MacLean DJ Set
w/ Parallels
Saturday, November 21
Echoplex
Info
[ENTER TO WIN]

Julian Casablancas
w/ The Strange Boys & The Growlers
Friday, November 20 | Palace Theater
November Residency through 11/27
Info | [ENTER TO WIN]

Passion Pit @ Fox Theater Pomona Sat 12/12
Grant-Lee Philips @ Largo Sat 12/12
St Vincent w/ Wildbirds & Peacedrums @ El Rey Tue 2/9
Magik Markers @ The Smell Mon 12/21
Fink (Fin Greenall) @ Spaceland Fri 12/4
Sea Wolf @ The Roxy Thu 12/17
West Coast, Left Coast: Songs of the Sun with Brian Wilson, Dave Alvin, The Living Sisters, and Harper Simon @ Disney Concert Hall Sun 12/6
Weezer @ UC Irvine Bren Events Center Mon 1/11
The Cribs w/ Jemina Pearl (ex-Be Your Own Pet) @ Glass House (On sale Sat 11/14 12 pm) Tue 1/26
The Album Leaf @ El Rey Sat 2/13
Medeski Martin & Wood @ El Rey Thu 2/18
Medeski Martin & Wood @ House of Blues Anaheim Fri 2/19
Sasquatch Music Festival @ Gorge Amphitheater (3-day Pass) Sat 5/29
U2 @ Angel Stadium (On sale 11/20 10 am) Mon 6/7
 

WEDNESDAY
Anglos, Kid Theodore @ Silverlake Lounge
David Garza @ Largo
Royksopp @ Club Nokia
Snoop Dogg “How the West Was One” with DJ Quik and Nipsey Hussle @ Grove of Anaheim
The Big Pink with Crystal Antlers, IO Echo @ El Rey
The Hidden Cameras featuring Gentleman Reg @ Spaceland (Club NME)

THURSDAY
Deftones @ Avalon
Dethklok & Mastodon @ The Palladium
Johnny Echols Turn featuring The Quarter After & Sweaters @ Spaceland (Classic-era Love lead guitarist)
Julian Plenti @ El Rey (Interpol’s Paul Banks)
Snoop Dogg @ Club Nokia
The Swell Season @ The Wiltern
The Whigs @ Troubadour

FRIDAY
Dethklok & Mastodon @ The Palladium
Fat Freddy’s Drop @ The Roxy
Jaguar Love @ The Smell
Julian Casablancas @ Palace Theater, Downtown
Mike Watt @ Redwood
Neon Indian @ Echoplex
Raphael Saadiq @ The Wiltern
Ray La Montagne @ Orpheum Theatre
Solomon Burke @ Club Nokia
Thao with the Get Down Stay Down @ Glass House
When You Awake & The Fold Present A Tribute To Neil Young w/Delta Spirit, Ferraby Lionheart, Jason “Dead Meadow” Simon, Leslie “and the Badgers” Stevens, Parson Red Heads, Restavrant, Chapin Sisters, much more @ Bootleg Theater (Children’s Music Fund Benefit)

SATURDAY
Band of Horses, Tom Morello, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Tom Gabrel, Shirley Manson, Butch Walker, Jarrod Gorbel, Charlotte Martin and more @ Avalon (Pablove Foundation Benefit)
Ben Gibbard @ The Actors Gang (Tim Robbins’ WTF?! Fest)
Blashpemous Rumours, Richard Blade, The Cured, Joshua Tree & Inx-sive @ House of Blues (Save New Wave II cover bands)
Elefant @ Troubadour
Eureka! West Coast, Left Coast: Kronos Quartet performing Thomas Newman w/ Terry Riley, Matmos & Incubus’ Mike Einziger @ Disney Concert Hall
Friendly Fires w/ The XX @ Henry Fonda
Peter Bjorn and John with Fool’s Gold and El Perro Del Mar @ Club Nokia
Ray Lamontagne @ Orpheum Theatre
The Fiery Furnaces w/ Cryptacize & Dent May & His Magnificent Ukelele @ El Rey
The Juan Maclean @ Echoplex
We The People Festival @ L.A. Center Studios (Bad Religion, Suicidal Tendencies, Madvillian, Flobots, Anti-Pop Consortium, Daedelus, Blu&Exile, Tomorrow’s Bad Seeds & more)
West Coast, Left Coast: Festival Opening Night @ Disney Concert Hall (Kronos Quartet, Terry Riley, Matmos, Mike Einziger)

SUNDAY
Baseck & Sonic Death Rabbit, War Tapes, John Carpenter, Pack of Wild Animals, free vegan food + Scoops @ The Smell (Food Not Bombs benefit)
Mental Head Circus @ King King
Ray Lamontagne @ Orpheum Theatre
Slash, Ozzy Osbourne, Perry Farrell, Billy Idol, Travis Barker, Chester Bennington (Linkin Park), Andrew Stockdale (Wolfmother), Dave Navarro & more @ Avalon (Layn Rocks: Los Angeles Youth Network Homeless Benefit hosted by George Lopez)

Massive photo gallery of the band below.

»continue reading Vampire Weekend, Hollenbeck Park, November 1, 2009

Kansas City’s The Pitch has the latest on King Khan & BBQ Show’s full band arrest in St. Louis last night. The band has been released but apparently the tour manager is still in the clink. What all this may mean for their show at the Troubadour with Those Darlins on Tuesday (tickets still available) is not clear.

Photo by Dan from The Echo, July 2008. Great review as well over there.