Thursday February 1st

L.A. Premiere China Blue @ The Skirball Center ~ 2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90049 ~ Following a pair of blue jeans from production to sale and the cost to individual factory workers of China’s transition to a free market society ~ 7:30 PM ~ $8, adv tickets @ 866-468-3399

Friday February 2nd

M. Ward w/ Victoria Williams @ El Rey ~ 5515 Wilshire Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90036 ~ 8:00 PM ~ $19

KRS-ONE @ The Knitting Factory ~ 7021 Hollywood Blvd. Hollywood, CA 90028 ~ 8:00 P.M. ~ $18

Saturday January 3rd

Chinese New Year/Year of the Pig @ Chinatown Branch Library ~ 639 N. Hill St. Chinatown Los Angeles, CA 90012 ~ Demonstrations of Tiger-Claw Kung Fu, Chinese cooking, knotting and book discussions ~ 10AM-5PM

African-American Arts Festival @ STAR Eco Center ~ 10101 Jefferson Blvd. Culver City, CA 90232 ~ Dance! Drum! SING! Rejoice! Paintings, sculpture, World-Class Capoeira, vendors, food, games ~ 10AM-4PM ~ FREE

1986 Allamacani Jr. High Dance Re-Enactment @ Art Share LA ~ 326 S. Hewitt Downtown Los Angeles, CA 90013 ~ The ultimate 80’s dance re-enactment. Be a part of the sweetest Winter Dance since MEatballs 3 and The Jane Fonda Workout. Featuring a Zima Bong, Boone’s bottle service, dance conests, hot lips contest, and more with live performances by Black Comets, Dolphin Force, El Magico y mas! ~ 9:30PM ~ $5 Adv/$7 at door

Tha Conclusion w/ ERule & Gel Roc (EX2) @ Westwood Brewing Company ~ 1097 Glendon Ave. Westwood, CA 90024 ~ $8/$10

400 Blows, Ninja Academy, and Horace Weintraub @ Old Towne Pub ~ 66 N. Fair Oaks Blvd. Pasadena, CA ~ 9:00PM

Sunday January 4th

The Blow @ The Echo ~ 1822 Sunset Blvd. Echo Park, CA 90026 ~ EARLY SHOW: 6PM ~ $10

Paul Weller @ The Avalon ~ 1735 N. Vine St. Hollywood, CA 90028 ~ 9PM ~ $20

Olive & Alameda ~ Burbank

6th St. alley ~ San Pedro

Court Proposed by MTA
The bus-wielding overlords of the MTA want a new weapon to deal with scofflaws– their own court system. Currently, the MTA collects less then $1m from those who get onboard without a ticket, a number they feel is far too low, as the vast majority get bounced and never pay their fine or show up to court. How do our friends at the Bus Rider’s Union feel about this? We’ll let you know as soon as we hear back from them.

Black Panthers Popped for 70’s Murder
Two local men are among 7 arrested in connection with the killing of a SF police officer in 1971. 36 years ago, members of the Black Liberation Army, an offshoot of the Panthers, stormed a police station, guns blazing. Sgt. John V. Young took a shotgun blast to the chest and died of his injuries. The men have lived normal lives ever since, holding jobs and starting families. Two of the accused live near each other in Altadena.

Covina Latest PD to Use MySpace to Catch Graffiti Writers
Three teenage boys in California were arrested for spray-painting a wall after authorities found pictures of the graffiti on the social networking website MySpace.com. This is why we don’t post the address of the best pieces we find anymore…

$50k Reward For Info on Top Doc’s Murder
Antelope Valley’s Esfandiar “Steve” Kadivar was murdered while tending to his livestock on his farm in the AV. Cops are offering rewards for information and for what they call “rare evidence”. $250,000 in rare Persian coins were stolen from Kadivar’s house, as well as a few rifles.

Aged Mother Scams Doctor to Get Pregnant
An LA fertility clinic is saying they were lied to by the world’s oldest mom. In an interview with a British newspaper, 67-year-old Carmela Bousada says she told the Pacific Fertility Center she was 55. That’s the clinic’s cut-off age for treating single women. Bousada was 66 at the time but says the clinic didn’t ask for any identification.

Photo from San Pedro Glue Stick on Flickr

“Yes, I am a pirate, two hundred years too late
The cannons don’t thunder, there’s nothin’ to plunder
I’m an over-forty victim of fate
Arriving too late, arriving too late

I’ve done a bit of smugglin’, I’ve run my share of grass
I made enough money to buy Miami, but I pissed it away so fast
Never meant to last, never meant to last.”

- Jimmy Buffett

Artesia Blvd. ~ Redondo Beach

Sadly, I don’t recall ever having a nocturnal emission as a yoof. Last Friday, just shy of my third decade, I finally seemed to be living out a wet dream, pressed to the very front of the Velvet Jones stage, not more than 250 people behind me in the semi-packed, tiny club. GZA AKA Maximillion AKA the Genius AKA Allah Justice, head to the Wu-Tang Clan Voltron, passed me the mic with a smile to rock out a few verses of the poetic, precise street-fire he spit on “Enter the 36 Chambers.”

While multi-millionaire ‘gangstas’ like Fitty and Game seek to rekindle bullshit beef between us Golden State Warriors and our ‘manos from La Manzana Grande, real artists like Soul Assassins’ DJ Muggs, born in Queens and most closely associated with South Gate’s Cypress Hill, teamed up with Do-or-Die Bed-Stuy’s GZA to cut up the intricate, impressive Grandmasters album, The GZA’s best since the classic Liquid Swords. The night was full of spirited love for hip-hop and high-energy fun, with no screwface expressions or tough-guy posturing, as real MCs representing South and Central Cali warmed the stage for the East Coast Gods, including Jurassic Five’s local hero Akil who introduced us to Los Angeles Unified Skill District, his camp of friends with Masters Degrees in mics.

(Continued)