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
The host hazy and dusty race tracks are not the normal habitat of wolves. No, I picture wolves living in the misty mountain hops of vampire infested forests up in Northern America. But I wasn’t interested in spotting your average wolves. I was jonesing to see the kind of hard rock wolves who are native … More Wolfmother Serves Epicenter Festival A Cosmic Egg, Sunny Side Up
At the sweaty, smoky dust bowl they call the Fairplex in Pomona, I hid out in the Epicenter artist tent, getting spoiled with laser tag games, free lip gloss and massages. It’s not that I hate music or anything, it’s that other than a curiosity about Street Sweeper Social Club and a burning desire to … More Talking Robots, Ace Of Cakes & Police Academy With Aesop Rock
ALI MacLEAN 