HOLLYWOOD SWINGING
Hollywood Boulevard in 1927 at the opening of Hells Angels at Grauman's Chinese
Hollywood is famous around the world as the one-time center of the American film industry. Although
Hollywood isn't the original home of the west coast film industry (nearby
Edendale in
Echo Park and
Sycamore Grove in
Highland Park both have stronger claims to that distinction),
Hollywood has for almost a century continued to serve as a metonym for that industry (and inspire portmanteaus like
Bollywood, Dollywood, Ghallywood, Kollywood, Mollywood, Nollywood, Tollywood, etc); even though that most of the film industry mostly long ago abandoned the neighborhood, primarily for the
San Fernando Valley. Hollywood has done an excellent job of branding though. After all, you don't have other countries referring to their film industries as "Bedendale," "Nycamore Grove", or "the Ghalley."
The Hollywood neighborhood has expertly continued to pimp its association with the American film industry that formerly called it home where the other neighborhoods did not. In Edendale, the oldest studio was torn down and is now a vacant lot where the 2 Freeway meets Glendale. The old
Mack Sennet Studio where
Charlie Chaplin and
Keystone Cops movies were made is now a public storage facility unceremoniously tucked behind a
Jack in the Box. Hollywood, on the other hand, continues to bill itself as "
The Entertainment Capital of the World" and adds industry-related tourist attractions like the
Hollywood Walk of Fame, which was installed long after the last pieces of tinsel in tinseltown had blown over the hills.
Today there are relatively few vestiges of Hollywood's cinematic past not installed merely to attract tourists -- of the film studios, only
Paramount remains. Of the major label music industry, only
Capitol Records remains. The aforementioned Walk of Fame -- to me, at least -- serves primarily as a testament to the ephemeral nature of stardom. Not to be hopelessly cynical but the first time I saw the names like
Bryan Adams, Sean "Diddy" Combs, and
Paula Abdul, I felt nothing but disinterest. However, for roughly ten million annual visitors it's presumably something terribly exciting and I honestly don't want to disparage that.
I would be very surprised, however, if much of Hollywood doesn't disappoint the celebrity or glamor-chaser because it really has little of either. Along a particularly acrid stretch Hollywood Boulevard, low-end shops hawk photos of celebrities alongside stripper-wear,
I Love Lucy lunch boxes, tacky cell phone cases, novelty license plates, T-shirts and other chintz. People dressed rather unconvincingly as
superheroes attempt to bully clueless tourists into tipping them for posing in pictures. I'm sure I'm not the only one who's saddened by the spectacle.
But that's only
Downtown Hollywood. Though a relatively small district of
Los Angeles County, Hollywood has about as much wealth disparity as your average banana republic and there are many diverse neighborhoods within the district.
Hollywood can generally be divided into three (or four) sections:
Hollywood proper,
East Hollywood and the
Hollywood Hills (which are sometimes further divided into
Hollywood Hills East and
Hollywood Hills West).The
Hollywood Hills neighborhoods nestled in the hills and canyons above Hollywood proper have long attracted the slightly bohemian wealthy of LA. Gritty
East Hollywood is home to two of LA's many officially-recognized ethnic enclaves,
Little Armenia and
Thai Town. The whole community boasts a diverse ethnic mixture, with large populations of
Armenian, English, German, Guatemalan, Mexican, Russian, Salvadoran, and
Ukranian-Americans. (Note:
North Hollywood is a distinct district in the Valley which neither borders Hollywood nor is considered part of it.
West Hollywood is an independent city and thus not part of Los Angeles.)
There are other bright spots too.
Amoeba Music, for one!
The Egyptian Theater is another treasure. The city's stand-up and theater scenes continue to be centered there still. It's also conveniently located geographically in
Central LA alongside its neighbors
Midtown to the south and the
Mideast Side to the east. In addition, the
San Fernando Valley lies to the north and
the Westside lies to the west.
*****
EARLY HOLLYWOOD
Hollywood in 1903
In 1853, a lone adobe hut stood in what's now Hollywood but was then known as
Nopalera. 17 years later the then-known-as
Cahuenga Valley supported a growing agricultural community. It was named Hollywood by the so-called "
Father of Hollywood,"
H. J. Whitley. The town grew into a largely
Mormon community in the 1880s although its population remained small and separated from Los Angeles by a two-hour train ride. Hollywood incorporated as its own city in 1903. The following year, a majority of 113 voters voted to prohibit alcohol, except for valid medical purposes.
Hollywood in 1910
Director
D. W. Griffith was the filmmaker to shoot in Hollywood with his film,
In Old California, released on March 10, 1910. No matter that it couldn't initially be seen in Hollywood, since the town squares had also seen fit to ban movie theaters. Later in 1910, the sleepy town was annexed by LA, primarily lured by their their reliable water supply. Once part of Los Angeles, movie theaters could open there too.
Nestor Sudios in 1913
Nestor Motion Picture Company was the first Hollywood studio to shoot a film locally -- an unnamed one, apparently -- on October 26, 1911, directed by
Al Christie and
David and
William Horsley. Nestor was started by
New Jersey–based
Centaur Company to crank out low budget
westerns. They established their west coast studio at the corner of
Sunset and
Gower, in what was nicknamed the
Gower Gulch, after a nearby roadhouse. The studio was demolished in 1936.
HOLLYWOOD'S GOLDEN AGE
By 1915, most
American films were made in
Los Angeles (displacing
New York City). From the 1920s to the 1940s it was the center of American film production. It continued to be the center of the
American pop music industry through the 1950s.
AFTER "THE INDUSTRY" LEFT
Hollywood and Vine in 1965
By the 1960s, both of those industries had for the most part completely abandoned the neighborhood. Nonetheless, even today, it still draws tourists hoping to catch a glimpse of its long-faded glamor, thanks largely to savvy marketing. The first stars on the Walk of Fame had been installed a few years earlier, in 1958. Also i
n the 1960s, in the name of modernization, most of the beautiful art deco buildings in the area were destroyed to make way for boxier, less-stylized, modern structures. This move did little to attract tourists. However, head shops moved into the neighborhood and attracted hippies, who had at least as much a part in keeping Hollywood vibrant as the destructive redevelopers.
YEARS OF DECLINE
Darby Back Stage Cut Up (1978) by Ruby Ray
By the 1970s, most of the old hotels had become flophouses. Newly arrived, largely
Latino, residents began to move in, attracted by the cheap rents as most remaining whites moved out. Around the same time, many of the sex stores, stripper-wear merchants and porn theatres moved in, followed by an influx of prostitution and drugs. The punk scene arrived not long after, centered around venues like The Masque.
CULTS, CRACK AND CRIME
The once luxurious Garden Court Apartments, later nicknamed Hotel Hell (demolished 1984)
In the 1980s, the cults arrived. First,
The Night People took over an abandoned bank, which came to be known colloquially as
Hotel Hell. Soon after,
Scientologists and
Screamers joined them on the increasingly dystopian scene. During the
Crack Era, community groups like the
Ivar Hawks, Cherokee Condors, Las Palmas Lions, Wilcox Werewolves, Whitley Rangers and
Hudson Howlers fought to reclaim a neighborhood that included areas known as
Crack Alley and a bar outside of which some two dozen people were murdered over a very short period of time. Hollywood suffered even further from looting during the
1992 LA Riots.
A COMEBACK OF SORTS
After decades of decline, the area has recently cleaned up considerably -- some would argue at the cost of its character. It is undeniably safer and more bustling than it has been in some time. Once vacant lots are now covered with parking structures, malls, apartments, high rises and restaurants. By the the mid-2000s, a number of nightclubs began attracting the
trustafarian/
hipster crowd and came to be known as the
Cahuenga Crawl. Old fixtures like
The Spotlight, Hollywood's last old school gay bar, have fallen by the wayside as gentrification and homogenization continues. In another sign of the times, some at the
LA Film School have waged an all-out war on the older, beloved, and arguably more useful
Hollywood Farmers' Market.
Although Hollywood today may have very little to do with its film history past, and although hallowed institutions are regularly demolished and shut down, it remains an vibrant region with diverse neighborhoods and thriving energy. And for every slick, hangar-sized sushi joint or chain restaurant, there's usually something more street level happening around the corner.
And now for the neighborhoods:
****
BEACHWOOD CANYON
Beachwood Canyon refers to a neighborhood nestled In the
Hollywood Hills at the lower end of the actual Beachwood Canyon. Though mostly residential, it does have a small area known as
Beachwood Village which includes a market, a coffee shop and stables. It has long been a popular neighborhood for celebrities, beginning with movie stars of the silent era. It's also home to the
Lake Hollywood Reservoir, created by the 1924 construction of the
Mulholland Dam.
BRONSON CANYON
The Bronson Canyon neighborhood lies beneath a Griffith Park-adjacent park of the same name. The nearby Bronson Caves have for many years been a popular shooting location -- primarily for low budget serials and films. The neighborhood itself is almost entirely residential.
CAHUENGA PASS
The
Cahuenga Pass neighborhood is located in the lowest pass through the
Hollywood Hills.
Cahuenga was a
Tongva village and the name means "place of the hill." It was the site of two
Mexican skirmishes, the
Battle of Cahuenga Pass in 1831 and the
Battle of Providencia or
Second Battle of Cahuenga Pass in 1845.
CENTRAL HOLLYWOOD
Less touristy than Downtown Hollywood to the north,
Central Hollywood is nonetheless home to
Amoeba Music and the
Cinerama Dome, built in 1963 and located across the street. It's also home to Hollywood's tallest building,
Sunset Vine Tower, which was featured prominently in the 1974 disaster film,
Earthquake. Later it was plagued with problems including the presence of asbestos, electrical fires and the popular perception of it being the world's biggest crackhouse. Nowadays it's been nicely, if expensively, refurbished. Central Hollywood is also home to the
Gower Gulch shopping center and a
Ross that continually looks like it was looted during a massive earthquake.
CRESCENT HEIGHTS
Crescent Heights is the name of a tiny, mostly residential neighborhood located just above West Hollywood's Sunset Strip and below the mouth of Laurel Canyon.
DAYTON HEIGHTS
Dayton Heights is a small neighborhood with a highly diverse scene, it would seem, as evinced by
Chilean food (
Rincon Chileno),
Caribbean food (
Cha Cha Cha),
Japanese institutions (
Bento Xpress and
Fujiya Food Market), a leather bar (
Faultline), a playhouse (
Moth Theatre Company),
Koreaninstitutions (
Garam restaurant and the headquarters of the
Korean Christian Press), the
Slavic Baptist Church of Hollywood,
Romero's Rotisserie Chicken-N-Donuts, and
Pizza Pauls.
DOWNTOWN HOLLYWOOD
Downtown Hollywood is centered around the intersection of
Hollywood and
Vine (aka
Bob Hope Square). At the other end is
Hollywood and Highland Center. Downtown is where most of the tourist traps are, including the Walk of Fame and
Grauman's Chinese Theatre, whose forecourt famously features about 200 handprints, foot prints and autographs left by celebrities over the years. Across the street is the
Egyptian Theatre, which opened five years earlier, in 1922.
FRANKLIN VILLAGE
One of Hollywood's several, nominal "villages," this one located at the base of
Bronson Canyon. Unlike
Virgil Village,
Franklin Village actually feels a
tiny bit more like village... or at least a cohesive collection of businesses and residents distinct from its neighbors. It's the home of
Upright Citizens Brigade,
Scientology’s
Celebrity Centre [notice the "r" before "e" spelling which is posh, OK?]
International,
Counterpoint Records and Books, the
101 Coffee Shop and
Hollywood Tower -- the inspiration for
Disney's
Twilight Zone Tower of Terror which itself inspired the first of Disney's based-on-a-ride films, 1997's
Tower of Terror (followed by 2002's
The Country Bears, 2003's
The Haunted Mansion and the
Pirates of the Caribbean franchise).
HEL-MEL
Hel-Mel is an
East Hollywood neighborhood named after the intersection of
Heliotrope Drive and
Melrose Avenue. It's home to
LACC. And even though
Pure Luck Vegan sadly closed (and is much missed), it still has the
Bicycle Kitchen, Scoops, and tattoo and tobacco places. Plus there are several art galleries and hip here-today-gone-tomorrow music venues and thus it attracts a certain element... you know, militant bikologists.
HOLLYWOOD DELL
Hollywood Dell is a
Hollywood Hills neighborhood that was home, at various times, to
Mary Astor, Charlie Chaplin, Roy Rogers, members of
The Rolling Stones, Minnie Driver, Marilyn Manson, Davy Jones, Goldie Hawn, Lindsay Lohan and
Doris Roberts. One of the residences was prominently featured in the film,
Double Indemnity, as the location of
Philip Marlowe's home.
HOLLYWOOD HEIGHTS
Hollywood Heights is roughly bounded by
Highland Avenue, Outpost Drive, Franklin Avenue, and south of the beloved
Hollywood Bowl. Within it is
Frank Lloyd Wright's
Samuel Freeman House,
The Magic Castle, Yamashiro Restaurant, and the
Highland-Camrose Bungalow Village. It's also home to the
Highland Gardens Hotel, where
Janis Joplin died. The
High Tower Apartments were featured in films including
The Long Goodbye and
Villa Bonita.
HOLLYWOOD STUDIO DISTRICT
Only one major film studio remains in the
Hollywood Studio District -
Paramount, which moved into the facility in 1926.
Sunset Bronson Studios, formerly
Warner Brothers Studios, are occupied by
KTLA, which was originally owned by Paramount. Other studios include
Nickelodeon,
EastWest, and
Sunset Gower.
HOLLYWOODLAND
Hollywoodland is home to the 45 foot tall Hollywood Sign mounted on Mount Lee. It was originally erected in 1923 to advertise Woodruff and Shoults's then-newly-developed Hollywoodland subdivision. The "land" part of the sign was removed in 1949 so that the remaining Hollywood sign could serve as an icon of the entire Hollywood district and entertainment industry. The Hollywood sign that stands today was erected in 1978 and quickly became popular in establishing shots for films set in LA. Because of its exposure, it attracts tourists eager to stand near a big sign. And the people living in the neighborhood, knowing this fact full well, often tear their hair and flesh, beat their breasts, and wake other pitiable demonstrations because of it.
KINGSLEY VISTA
Kingsley Vista is a small, residential neighborhood hemmed in between Normandie, the 101 and Santa Monica Boulevard. It's home to a couple of restaurants including El Nuevo San Salvador Restaurante #1, Maria's Ramada, and Sasoun Bakery.
LAUREL CANYON
Laurel Canyon came to life as home of some of the burgeoning film industry's key photo-players and filmmakers. Subsequent generations of hippies in the '60s, cocaine cowboys in the '70s and yuppies in the '80s later moved to the continually desirable location. To read more about Laurel Canyon,
click here.
LITTLE ARMENIA - Լիթլ Արմենիայում
Physically-speaking,
Little Armenia is one of the grayest, grimmest and grimiest corners of largely gray and grimy
East Hollywood. Boxy and outwardly undistinguished strip malls dominate the commercial corridors but close your eyes and open your nose and ears. Home to a large
Armenian-American population (and other ethnicities), it boasts numerous
Armenian restaurants and bakeries as well as other businesses. To read more about Little Armenia,
click here.
LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN
Above Laurel Canyon is the neighborhood of Lookout Mountain. It was formerly home of the Air Force-managed 1352d Motion Picture Squadron who used it to make films for the Department of Defense and the Atomic Energy Commission from 1947 to 1963.
MELROSE
The Melrose District (or simply, "Melrose") attracts tourists and shoppers in search of subcultural uniforms and vintage clothing. Behind the busy shopping district are streets of modest, attractive bungalows mostly built in the early 1920s. There are currently efforts to re-name the neighborhood "Melrose Village" ...everything needs to be designated a village.
MELROSE HILL
In January 2003,
Los Angeles Magazine named
Melrose Hill one of
LA's "10 Great Neighborhoods." With cultural establishments limited to the porn-showing
Tiki Theatre porn theater and the
Met Theatre, it wouldn't exactly rocket to the top of my list but it does have a healthy assortment of cuisines represented by
Bangkok Market, La Casita Colombiana, Catalina's Market, Choeng Wun, Cinderella's, Khun Dom, Lucky Grocery Market, Mi Lindo Oaxaca, and now,
Tid Lom Thai. There's also the
Lemon Grove Recreation Center and park overlooking the noisy, smoggy
101 freeway.
MOUNT OLYMPUS
Mount Olympus is a Hollywood Hills neighborhood developed by Russ Vincent in 1969. It was featured in the mercifully little-seen film, Hollywood Homicide. It's entrance is announced by a sign held aloft by faux-ancient-Greek columns that some want to destroy because they think it's tacky. And?
NICHOLS CANYON
Nichols Canyon is named after John G. Nichols, who served as mayor of LA twice and built the first brick home in the city, which he was also the first to expand the borders of. The Hollywood Hills neighborhood is entirely residential and is centered along winding Nichols Canyon Rd. One of the more famed residents was Father Yod, an ex-marine who founded the Source Family cult, which counted amongst its members, Sky Saxon of The Seeds.
OUTPOST ESTATES
Outpost Estates is a neighborhood in the Hollywood Hills centered along Outpost Drive. It was developed in the 1920s by by Charles E. Toberman. As with its neighbor, Hollywoodland, Outpost Estates also advertised itself with a large sign. Unlike Hollywoodland, whose sign (after the removal of the "land") remains a tourist destination, the once neon-lit Outpost sign lies in ruin, obscured by weeds.
SPAULDING SQUARE
Eight block
Spaulding Square's borders are
Fairfax Ave on the west,
Stanley Avenue on the east,
Sunset Blvd on the north, and
Fountain Avenue on the south. Almost entirely residential, it is nonetheless home to
Sam's on Sunset. It's named after architect
Albert Spaulding, who developed the area between 1916 and 1926. Many of the early residents were silent film stars and filmmakers. In 1993, it was designated a
Historic Preservation Overlay Zone.
SUNSET FLATS (aka HOLLYWOOD-SUNSET FLATS)
I'm not entirely sure about the location and boundaries of Sunset Flats - I think it refers to the neighborhood between Hollywood and Sunset, north of Spaulding Square. I'll add more when I'm positive.
SUNSET HILLS
Sunset Hills is a tiny celebrity enclave looking down from the western Hollywood Hills region onto West Hollywood. According to its Wikipedia entry, "Now [when?] Sunset Hills boasts the largest concentration of celebrities residing in Los Angeles [citation needed]."
SUNSET JUNCTION
Sunset Junction, originally known as
Sanborn Junction, is named after a
Pacific Electric Railway stop on the border of
Silver Lake and
Hollywood. Several neighborhood staples such as the
Akbar, El Cid, Solutions(with the "
Elliot Smith Mural") and the
Sunset Junction Street Fair are almost always considered to be within Silver Lake but according to both the
Silver Lake Neighborhood Council and the placement of the
City of Los Angeles's Hollywood neighborhood signs suggest otherwise. Further west in the neightborhood are the
Little Temple, Point-Point Joint and
Sheila Klein's outdoor lamppost installation called
Vermonica, which appeared fifteen years before
Chris Burden's similar and better-known
Urban Light sculpture at
LACMA.
SUNSET PLAZA
Sunset Plaza is a Hollywood Hills West neighborhood presumably centered along Sunset Plaza Drive which winds up just about the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood all the way to Wonderland Ave.
THAI TOWN - ไทยทาวน์
Los Angeles has the largest
Thai population outside of
Thailand. It is also home to the world's first
Thai Town which is the cultural, commercial and culinary heart of
Thai-America. Every year the streets are closed to cars for a large-scale
Songkran festival/สงกรานต์. To read more about Thai Town,
click here.
THEATER ROW
The film industry may have long ago abandoned Hollywood but
live theater continues to flourish there. Theater Row is home to
Artworks Theater,
Celebration Theatre,
Elephant Theatre Company,
Hudson Theatres,
McCadden Place Theatre,
National Comedy Theatre,
Open First Theatre,
The Blank's 2nd Stage Theatre,
The Complex Hollywood,
The Lounge Theatre,
The Village at Ed Gould Plaza,
Theatre East at The Lex Theatre, and
Unknown Theatre.
VIRGIL VILLAGE
Virgil Village is a neighborhood in
East Hollywood with significant numbers of
Pinoy and
Central American-Americans. It's located between
Hoover, Santa Monica, Vermont and
the 101 (bisected by
Melrose). It's home of
Amalia's Guatemalan Restaurant, Cafe 50's Hollywood, California Bowl, Wah's Golden Hen, Golfo De Fonseca Restaurant, La Luna Banquet Hall, and
Taqueria El Charrito. It's served by several tiny markets including
Lee & Oh Foodmart, Reny Market and
Virgil Market. It's also home to the attractive
Ukrainian Orthodox Church of St Vladimir and the well-known karaoke dive bar, the
Smog Cutter. The designation was coined around 1994 and soon after, Huell Howser filmed an episode of Visiting... with Huell Howser devoted to it.
cameo. Another longtime Bay Area hip-hop artist with a new release is the Quannum Projects' Gift of Gab who just relased 
best record swap meets, the 
Sunday with us!
This week the wonderful band 
In observance of the ongoing Amoeblog series honoring 
The funny, talented women of Wild Flag sat down with us recently for a 
Madonna's new album 
Branagh, Barbara Kopple, and Pierre Rissient—for Bay Area audiences.
(Jack Black) warns, “You cannot have grief tragically becoming comedy.” But can it be funny when someone dies and no one cares? A former evangelist who arrives in Carthage, Texas to take a job as an assistant funeral director, Tiede uses his magnetic personality, seemingly never-ending skill set and Harold Hill–style of confidence to become the most popular man in town. Tiede even manages to charm Marjorie Nugent (a maniacally frenzied Shirley MacLaine), the local rich widow whom everyone else despises and fears. Eventually, though, Nugent’s abuses become too much for someone in Carthage to take. Director Richard Linklater returns to the East Texas of his youth to showcase the strange heart of small town life, where, as one character puts it, “people will always suspect the worst, but they’ll also suspect the best.” Saturday, April 21, Sundance Kabuki Cinemas.
26th at the Herbst Theatre in San Francisco.
sale!
'70's and range from hard rock to punk rock. Topping this list of artists/videos is the pitch perfect 
1) Odd Future
Panabrite
music, art, and cutting-edge high-tech event, and one that was free thanks to sponsorship by Intel and Vice. Additionally, the Creators Project had gotten a good response when it traveled to London, Paris, Lyon, New York, Beijing, Sao Paulo, and Seoull on a global tour last year. 
The Chicago-born, Pittsburg, PA-based artist/activist recorded the song and its accompanying video in protest of and outrage over the unjust killing combined with the fact that Zimmerman, who did not deny shooting the unarmed youth, was not arrested at the scene nor has he been charged (at the time of this post) since the killing that took place over three weeks ago on February 26th.
1) Tracking Software (these track your laptop in case it is stolen)
case of a similar theft. This he did by posting online the list that is republished above here. Secondly he set about trying to raise some funds towards purchasing a replacement laptop by going online and seeking donations in exchange for new tracks of his music. The response was even better than anticipated which greatly pleased the artist born David Wang whose laptop is more than simply a device to send emails and update blogs etc. Rather Mochipet's laptop is one of his main musical instruments. It is also his mobile recording studio, and where he stores a lot of his music and music on his label,
hip-hop crew Sons Phonetic from their album Twelve Labours and featuring a cameo from Ireland's greatest emcee in its hip-hop history spanning past few decades - RíRá who in the years since his role in the pioneering Irish hip-hop group Scary Eire has built a strong solo career that includes collaborating with countless up-and-coming Irish hip-hop acts like Sons Phonetic, and the late great Dublin rapper Lunitic from his album Based on a True Story on the song 
anthem "Cush Cologne" and the cautionary tale on cheating, "I Got Caught" with guest vocals by Bay Area soul singer Martin Luther. 
directed video for "Paper Chase" by Truth Universal who is one of the countless hip-hop acts performing this weekend at the ever-expanding 
dug through Huey Newton’s archives at Stanford University, spent countless hours and thousands of dollars on eBay, and talked to rank and file Black Panther Party members, uncovering dozens of obscure albums, singles, and stray tapes. Along the way, he began to piece together a time period (1967-1974) when revolutionaries like Bobby Seale, Eldridge Cleaver, Angela Davis, and Stokely Carmichael were seen as pop culture icons and musicians like 
Black Power subsidiary label, Black Forum, released politically charged albums by Stokely Carmichael, Amiri Baraka, 
Kirk, 
defeated the S.F. ShEvil Dead 182-112.
on that short (often editorialized) synopsis of a much longer in-depth story many will embrace that opinion put forth and jump on the bandwagon of popular thought on said topic. A case in point I believe was back in mid - late January when singer Lana Del Rey suddenly trended (around the time of fellow trending items as Rick Santorum and Jeremy Lin) as one of the most talked about individuals of that week or so. The trend was all related to her reportedly bombing on Saturday Night Live during her January live concert performance on SNL.
This year's 
the Chopped & Screwed remix style to a whole other level (that style, associated with the late great Texas DJ Screw, would slow down the BPM of rap songs to about half the original speed & add in various effects) slows down the original by stretching it out to six or eight times the original time. Hence why Kate Bush's song, which originally clocked in at about 4 and a half minutes, is now almost 36 minutes long in the "Ultra Slow" remix. 
1) WZRD 
5th at the Herbst Theatre in San Francisco.
the BART tracks to get the message of the monumental mural to as many people as possible. “Decolonize is a universal message to all people of the earth to reconnect to their ancestry, the earth, to their traditional medicines and knowledge, and to a global consciousness that we are all related. Everyone on the planet has indigenous roots to somewhere,” said artist Lavie Raven - one of the ten contributors to the large scale mural that is 200 feet wide and 30 feet high and took two and half days of concentrated work to complete. The other artists are CRP regulars Mike 360, Release, Beats 737, Desi, Rate, Abacus, Pancho, Yesenia, and Dora.
The guitarist and co-founder of 
For its fourteen year anniversary show tonight at 10:30PM (7:30PM Cali time) on NYU college radio station WNYU (heard in NYC at 89.1FM on the radio dial and all over streaming online at 
all do like live stuff because to me that's when radio's at its best - when you don't know what you are going to get. But this year I decided to reflect on the earlier years of the show and I'm going back to the first two or three years of the show and pulling old freestyles from some of the acts that came through in those first years," DJ Eclipse told me recently when I stopped by his Queens NY record filled home. The veteran hip-hop DJ, who is a member of Non Phixion, and a longtime hip-hop industry insider, who has worked for Fat Beats NYC and before that Wild Pitch Records, has been with the radio show from day one with an evolving crew of fellow radio show producers/DJs including DJ Riz, Lynn Gonzalez, and DJ Skizz to name but a few.
My first record was 
I'm a little older than most of the bloggers, so I'm going back a little further. The first album that I bought was 
My family did not have much money. So whatever one of us got we all shared. When I was in first grade, my father took my sisters and I record shopping. I wasn't into music and I remember all the surfer/hippie freaks in the record store scared me. Together, my sisters and I decided on getting KISS 
release with a record release party/in-store performance at 
scientific discussion, and behind-the-scenes curatorial tours as part of the 
On Saturday, March 3rd we held our monthly 
Maybe it's because this is a leap year that 
Singles 2007-2010
Goodbye Bread
Melted 
Lemons (2009, Goner)
Ty Segall 
Horn the Unicorn (originally released on tape in 2008; reissued in 2010 on Captcha Records)
Mikal Cronin – Mikal Cronin 
White Fence – Is Growing Faith
