New 9-minute feature “Oil of L.A.” worth checking out went up on VBS.tv today. Directed by Joseph Patel and hosted by Nate Harrington, and sharply shot and tightly edited, it’s a great quick look at current and former oil wells that are hidden in plain sight right around town, including spots such as Beverly Hills H.S. (who knew?), the Farmer’s Market and the Beverly Center. The film doesn’t really aim to delve into the implications of its findings beyond just acknowledging the wells’ existences, but packs a lot in its 9-minutes–definitely a compelling pitch for some funding to support a longer piece on the subject.
Bruins go down in 2OT to CSU Fullerton at Pauley last night. I didn’t catch most of the game. How bad did the Bruins look in this season opener? Forget it, don’t answer that. I see Roll and Lee put up some numbers. But even Lavin never lost to CSU Fullerton. This does not bode well for the season to come. Next up are Bakersfield and Pepperdine, usually two automatic W’s to pencil in, but, now, maybe not so automatic.
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.”
“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.
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:
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.
Julian Plenti
(Paul Banks of Interpol)
w/ I’m In You
Thursday, November 19
El Rey Theater Info
THIS WEEK’S TICKET GIVEAWAYSRambling Boy: Charlie Haden
Family & Friends
w/ The Haden triplets, Josh Haden, Sam Bush, Dan Tyminski & Jerry Douglas
& Special Guest Jack Black
Tuesday, November 17
Walt Disney Concert Hall Info | [ENTER TO WIN]
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]
The Getty has a pair of great British cinema double-bills this Saturday and next in their Four Angry Young Men film series. Tomorrow, November 14, screens Look Back In Anger and Satuday Night and Sunday Morning (starring Albert Finney, above). Next Saturday, November 21 features This Sporting Life and The Loneliness of the Middle Distance Runner.
Any self-respecting Smiths, Decemberists, Belle and Sebastian or Arctic Monkeys fan no doubt knows these influential films well (or should) but it’s always nice to see them on a big screen in the dark with similarly minded, tastefully dressed fans. I only wish they would have dug a bit deeper and thrown in a film or two from this era that is a bit harder to catch, such as not-on-DVD The L-Shaped Room.
The series is free but you must to make reservations individually for each film online at the above link.
Three days in advance of Monday’s Los Angeles premiere screening of the highly anticipated, cumbersomely titled The Twilight Saga: New Moon at the Westwood Village Fox theater, a line of fans camping out in hopes of red carpet bleacher seats has begun. The obsessive, predominantly female fans, known as TwilightHeads, number about 100 as of press time, and have a line of full of folding chairs, sleeping bags, board games, Elmer’s glue, glitter, posterboards, battered books and laptops dotting Le Conte Avenue. The head of the line is anchored by some kind of Twilight sukkot, the ironic religious connotations of which, in this context, fairly appropriate given these fans’ fervor. While security is on hand, the many unintentionally homeless denizens of Westwood Village can be counted on to keep them company over the next three nights.
Because Christmas/Chanukah/Kwanzaa shopping for my mother can never start too early, I headed all the way down to the South Coast Plaza Williams-Sonoma on Thursday to get Chef Thomas Keller to sign a copy of his newest cookbook, Ad Hoc at Home.
I’ll admit to some butterflies in my stomach anticipating what I would say to the man behind French Laundry and the Beverly Hills Bouchon opening this Wednesday, November 18.
After a three hour wait (no joke) I finally got Chef Keller to scribble his name illegibly, so “Nancy” will be all impressed and shit. I said some stupid things that I don’t remember. He smiled.
Nearly one year after I first dropped the word of a pending Westwood Village Barney’s Beanery back in December 2008, a “Coming Soon!” sign has finally been hung on the former Good Earth, former Straton’s spot (and about 150 feet from the Westwood C.P.K.). Year-long delays, along with unexplained sudden shutterings, are unsurprising when it comes to the fickle zoning and real estate winds in the Village. Let’s hope that a) Barney’s can take root and stick around for a while; and b) that the village idiots will stick to O’Hara’s and not ruin the vibe at Barney’s.
For some strange reason, I get a lot of Las Vegas related e-mail. I mean, like, a lot. Could have something to do with the fact I’m there just about monthly, but who knows. This offer that hit my in-box was too good to not pass on to all of you–Have your photo taken with the Lakers 2009 Championship Trophy, today through Sunday at The Mirage just $299.
Or, if $299 and a drive to Vegas is too steep for you, e-mail us a photo and we will Photoshop the trophy in your hands for only $199–a savings of $100 plus the cost of going to Vegas.
Full trophy time and location details if you insist on going to Vegas below.
St. Vincent will pass Lykke Li for #1 all-time number of devoted photo galleries of a female artist on Losanjealous when Sung covers this show in February.
As the Clippers continue to underachieve under Dunleavy, the idea to bring B. Scott home to run that team–moving Dunleavy to full time GM–does have a nice ring to it. Even though the Lake Show Life is campaigning for him to take Rambis’s former spot on Phil’s bench in hopes of him eventually sliding to head coach, I can’t–nor can Fanhouse–see him waiting for Phil to retire, going back to being an assistant or usurping what seems like Brian Shaw’s inevitable turn at the Laker reins.
Bruins 
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.”
HEADS UP
1) 
Night One, Sat 12/12: 
Julian Plenti
Rambling Boy: Charlie Haden 
Royksopp
Snoop Dogg
Eureka! West Coast, Left Coast 
Peter Bjorn & John
The Juan MacLean DJ Set
The Getty has a pair of great British cinema double-bills this Saturday and next in their 
Because Christmas/Chanukah/Kwanzaa shopping for my mother can never start too early, I headed all the way down to the South Coast Plaza Williams-Sonoma on Thursday to get Chef Thomas Keller to sign a copy of his newest cookbook, 
Nearly one year after 
For some strange reason, I get a lot of Las Vegas related e-mail. I mean, like, a lot. Could have something to do with the fact I’m there just about monthly, but who knows. This offer that hit my in-box was too good to not pass on to all of you–Have your photo taken with the Lakers 2009 Championship Trophy, today through Sunday at The Mirage 
HEADS UP
As the Clippers continue to underachieve under Dunleavy, 
