Jonny Whiteside
Merle Haggard & Kris Kristofferson: A Country Music Battle Royale in Beverly Hills
Features • Published on December 2015
Several years before Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson kicked over the table to ignite the Outlaw movement, Merle Haggard and Kris Kristofferson, two…
Outlaw Country Icon Sturgill Simpson Foments Psychedelic Insurrection at Ace Hotel
ace hotel • Published on November 2015
Psychedelic Outlaw provocateur Sturgill Simpson has rampaged through country music with a stunning combination of old school hillbilly soul and an idiosyncratic hallucinatory perspective that’s earned a well-deserved reputation as country music’s…
Pop Alchemist Barry Manilow Casts His Spell at Staples Center
Barry Manilow • Published on April 2015
Barry Manilow is one of American pop music’s great paradoxes. An artist of such thunderingly bland style, character and tone, Manilow nonetheless carries an almost hypnotic appeal, one that elevated him to universally acknowledged…
Country Rock Renegades The Mavericks Storm Hollywood
Fonda Theatre • Published on March 2015
The Mavericks is an aptly named, gloriously unconventional country music anomaly. The group’s general attitude and stance—fun, rocking, unpredictable—always allowed a margin of spontaneous creativity that was resoundingly unusual. They also had lent a…
Psychedelic Shaman Roky Erickson Rips up the Sunset Strip
13th Floor Elevators • Published on March 2015
Roky Erickson is one of the most critically important figures in the history of rock & roll, with an oft criminally unacknowledged status and one for which he has paid a terrible price. As…
Outlaw Singer Billy Joe Shaver to Perform at the Troubadour
billy joe shaver • Published on February 2015
In the early 1970s, the Nashville formula for Country music had calcified into a stale combination of tried and true formula and tepid pop crossover fodder. There was a small troupe of artistic seditionaries hoping…
Ronnie Mack is Back and Paying Homage to Musical Legends
A Salute to the Legends of America’s Music • Published on January 2015
Ronnie Mack is Back! Legendary Impresario Salutes the Legends of American Music with new Concert Series When veteran showman Ronnie Mack retired from the music business in 2012, his departure left a small army…
All Shook Up: 80th Birthday of Elvis to Be Celebrated in High Rocking Style
Art Fein • Published on December 2014
In the spring of 1956, Cold War-era America was fixated on maintaining a strictly regulated, prim and painfully proper national pathology but when Elvis Presley’s “Heartbreak Hotel” went to number one on the Billboard…
The Reboot of Go Betty Go: An Exhilarating Return to Pop-Punk Form
Go Betty Go • Published on December 2014
Gaining respect has never been easy for any female rockers, but early 2000’s-era Latina pop-punks Go Betty Go not only established themselves as one of the most popular local bands in Los Angeles, they…
It’s Abbot Kinney Festival Time
Abbott Kinney • Published on September 2014
The Abbot Kinney Festival offers the greatest kickoff for an abundant fall season of frolicsome celebrations. A kaleidoscopic mixture of music, art, food, beverages and so much more, the Fest is an eagerly anticipated…
Sturgill Simpson on Exploring the Outer Limits of Country Music
Features • Published on September 2014
As mainstream country music drives ever further into a glossy, pop-fixated territory with increasingly stolid stylistic boundaries, there remains a handful of archetypal country disciples – rebels like Mike Stinson and Billy Joe Shaver —…
Ride Me Down Easy: The Ballad of Billy Joe Shaver
billy joe shaver • Published on August 2014
No one ever gave Billy Joe Shaver anything. The veteran country singer-songwriter’s entire life has been one of struggle and loss – he married and divorced the same woman five…
All Shook Up: 80th Birthday of Elvis to Be Celebrated in High Rocking Style
Art Fein • Published on December 2014
In the spring of 1956, Cold War-era America was fixated on maintaining a strictly regulated, prim and painfully proper national pathology but when Elvis Presley’s “Heartbreak Hotel” went to number one on the Billboard…
The Reboot of Go Betty Go: An Exhilarating Return to Pop-Punk Form
Go Betty Go • Published on December 2014
Gaining respect has never been easy for any female rockers, but early 2000’s-era Latina pop-punks Go Betty Go not only established themselves as one of the most popular local bands in Los Angeles, they…
Dr. John Brings a Dose of Voodoo Funk from New Orleans to Royce Hall
Cosimo Matassa • Published on December 2014
New Orleans pianist Dr. John is one of the most distinctive, liberated, prolific and well-schooled musicians in American music. A stylist whose pedigree runs from raw Rhythm & Blues, ragtime, boogie-woogie to intense psychedelic…
Macy Gray finds ‘The Way’ to Canyon Club Nov. 22
Canyon Club • Published on November 2014
Eccentric neo-soul pioneer Macy Gray will be taking the stage at the Canyon Club on Saturday, Nov. 22. Gray has always managed things her way, following a skewed, shadowy, glorious and catastrophic path.
Jerry Lee Lewis Returns with New Album ‘Rock & Roll Time’
Album Reviews • Published on November 2014
Jerry Lee Lewis, rock & roll’s most infamous wild man, has significantly slowed his live show schedules and recorded output in the last ten years but don’t for one minute think that it’s because…
Viva Cantina Presents Gender-Bending Troy Walker
Bruce Forman • Published on October 2014
Located next to the Los Angeles Equestrian Center at the Burbank-Glendale border, Cody Bryant’s Viva Cantina has made an amazing leap from a cherished neighborhood dining retreat to a vibrant live music venue with…
Festival Supreme: Tenacious D returns with a Stunning Tsunami of Comedy and Music
Comedy Corner • Published on October 2014
The second edition of Festival Supreme, mutant brainchild of Tenacious D’s Jack Black and Kyle Gass roars into the Shrine Auditorium & Expo Center…
Experience Hendrix: A Tribute to the Late Rock Genius
Experience Hendrix • Published on October 2014
It is wholly impossible to overstate Jimi Hendrix’s utter dominance over rock and roll, as no other single figure can match his musical influence over the genre. As a composer, lyricist, guitarist, vocalist…
It’s Abbot Kinney Festival Time
Abbott Kinney • Published on September 2014
The Abbot Kinney Festival offers the greatest kickoff for an abundant fall season of frolicsome celebrations. A kaleidoscopic mixture of music, art, food, beverages and so much more, the Fest is an eagerly anticipated…
Rosanne Cash Speaks About Spirituality and Her Musical Legacy
Interviews • Published on September 2014
Whenever Rosanne Cash takes the stage, she brings both a sweeping expanse of her own individualistic artistry and a distinguished country music pedigree. Cash has worked diligently to establish her own distinctive…
The Buzzcocks Will Take Over the Fonda on September 17
Buzzcocks • Published on September 2014
Inside the frantic vortex of 1977 British punk, Manchester’s Buzzcocks’ mixture of tight, bright pop-influenced ka-pow and deeply expressive, highly emotional messages immediately set them apart. As punk relied on a joyously aggressive disregard for…
Sturgill Simpson on Exploring the Outer Limits of Country Music
Features • Published on September 2014
As mainstream country music drives ever further into a glossy, pop-fixated territory with increasingly stolid stylistic boundaries, there remains a handful of archetypal country disciples – rebels like Mike Stinson and Billy Joe Shaver —…
No Shortage of Terror in Nicholas McCarthy’s Latest ‘At The Devil’s Door’
At the Devil's Door • Published on August 2014
With At the Devil’s Door, due on September 12th, director Nicholas McCarthy clearly aims to redouble the subtle, yet effective, mixture of atmospheric tension and jolting terror that distinguished his 2012 debut, The Pact. McCarthy…
A Conversation with Linda Ramone: Tenth Annual Johnny Ramone Tribute
10th annual Johnny Ramone tribute • Published on August 2014
When the Ramones first erupted in the mid-1970s, they were a lone voice in the wilderness of hippie rock & roll. Though they were cherished by the punk underworld when they…
Smokey Robinson to Perform at Greek Theater
Music • Published on August 2014
In the glorious hierarchy of American soul music stars, Smokey Robinson has long since ascended to the very highest degree. A towering paragon of individuated artistry, Robinson’s deft, low-key yet always emotionally arresting style is…
Album Review: Billy Joe Shaver Long in the Tooth
Album Reviews • Published on August 2014
Texas’ ultimate honky tonk hero, Billy Joe Shaver, returns with all his high, rumpled style intact on Long in the Tooth, his first studio album in six years. It’s a typically impressive Billy Joe release: a…
Ride Me Down Easy: The Ballad of Billy Joe Shaver
billy joe shaver • Published on August 2014
No one ever gave Billy Joe Shaver anything. The veteran country singer-songwriter’s entire life has been one of struggle and loss – he married and divorced the same woman five…