The Guitar Center’s 2009 Championship Drum Off’s moved this year to the Wiltern and that wasn’t the only moving on up they did. The contest with the $25,000 cash prize also featured a Tommy Lee headlined Bezerk spectacle, including performances by Max Weinberg (from both Bruce Springsteen and Conan O’Brien fame) playing in tandem with … More Guitar Center Fell In Love With A Drummer
Nike Sportswear and Flux kicked off the new year with a special advance screening of Miguel Arteta’s Youth in Revolt at The Montalbán Theater in Hollywood. Based on the acclaimed novel by C.D. Payne, Youth in Revolt is the story of Nick Twisp (Michael Cera) – an awkward and precocious teen who prefers Sinatra and … More Youth In Revolt – The Anti Ferris
It started in September. I got email after email from publications asking me for my ‘best of the year’ picks and ‘best of the decade’ choices. And then there was an onslaught online, on TV, on the radio, and in print…what’s left of print, that is. ‘Best of the…’ ‘Top Ten’, ‘Top Twenty’, ‘Top Fifty’… … More 2010 – The Year in Review…In Advance
In a land far, far away, called Great Britain a yearly war wages every winter. In this magical Narnian Isle, music is still a viable commodity taken very seriously. Their denizens actually record new holiday songs every season in the hopes of having the top Christmas single of the year. We cynics across the pond … More A Very Raging Christmas – Crap Music Is Over, If You Want It
As another great installment of the CINEMA TUESDAYS, Flux and Nike Sportswear at the Montalban Theater held an exclusive VIP benefit screening of filmmaker Terry Gilliam’s The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. The event served as a benefit for the Australians in Film Heath Ledger Scholarship in honor of the late actor. As people gathered in … More Heath Ledger’s Last Trip Through The Looking Glass In The Imaginarium Of Dr. Parnassus
I really hesitate to open this can of worms because I could rail for HOURS on the sheer stupidity of many of my fellow countrymen who, much like lemmings, will blindly follow a flag waving harpy who has NO ideas and NO real discernible policy, because she is ‘realness’ and for ‘freedom’, ‘conservativeness’, and ‘stuff’. … More Sarah Palin’s Heavy Metal Parking Lot
I am lucky enough to be invited to lots of interesting events from the most rocking concerts to fringe to freak flag waving nights of hedonism. Sometimes, though it may be a bit off topic for me, I am offered a curiosity I just can’t pass up on. My friend, Harmon Leon, is the brilliant … More A Wolf In Ed Hardy Clothing – Behind The Scenes At The Pick Up Artist Summit
The crazy train has left the station…and either you were on it or you’ll have to wait until next year’s local trip. The Sunset Strip, long a place where spandex covered dinosaurs crawled between the Rainbow and the Whiskey has had a resurgence, mostly due to Roxy owner Nic Adler’s social media make over experiment. … More Getting It On & Taking It Off – Sunset Strip Music Festival 2009
Jim Carroll, punk poet and rock laureate of the Bowery, is dead. I am truly upset, though not entirely surprised. With his hard way of living on sex, drugs and rock and roll, 60 does seem like a respectable age. However, he was a talented writer and poet. Many people know his high school notebooks … More People Who Died 2009 – Punk Poet Jim Carroll Passes
Rock has a reputation for being a beer and whiskey kinda night. OK, maybe a rum and coke, then a shot of tequila, then eleventy beers kinda night. But somewhere along the way, I traded in my plastic tumbler for a wine glass. If I drink much at all, I strictly drink wine. It seems … More Sunset and Vines – Rock ‘n Roll Wine Uncorks At The Sunset Strip Music Festival
ALI MacLEAN 