Released on July 1, 2008, John Mayer’s CD and DVD “Where the Light is: Live in Los Angeles” is a live musical journey through the career of an artist who has definitely seen his triumphs and failures in the industry. The DVD opens with John Mayer playing his guitar on a hill then cuts to him driving in his Mercedes driving through the same streets that were his backdrop just moments before. During this in-car interview Mayer states, “part of me doesn’t like it when everything works.” While he may like it when things aren’t working perfectly, the live performances on his DVD show how awesome it can be when everything does work.

The DVD and CD cover three different set list with three very distinct performances that comprise one awesome concert that took place December 8, 2007 at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles. The first is an acoustic set that begins the concert with just John and his guitar. The second is with the John Mayer trio consisting of John Mayer, Steve Jordan and Pino Palladino. The last is a set list with John Mayer’s full band.

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Released on July 1, 2008, John Mayer’s CD and DVD “Where the Light is: Live in Los Angeles” is a live musical journey through the career of an artist who has definitely seen his triumphs and failures in the industry. The DVD opens with John Mayer playing his guitar on a hill then cuts to him driving in his Mercedes driving through the same streets that were his backdrop just moments before. During this in-car interview Mayer states, “part of me doesn’t like it when everything works.” While he may like it when things aren’t working perfectly, the live performances on his DVD show how awesome it can be when everything does work.

The DVD and CD cover three different set list with three very distinct performances that comprise one awesome concert that took place December 8, 2007 at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles. The first is an acoustic set that begins the concert with just John and his guitar. The second is with the John Mayer trio consisting of John Mayer, Steve Jordan and Pino Palladino. The last is a set list with John Mayer’s full band.

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Opening night bumps made for a stormy journey for “Refuge from the Storm,” but it is an easy and interesting ride overall. The play seems simple enough. Bert (Austin Graham) and Martha (Barbara Keegan) work at a tavern on the sea cliffs of Maine. Todd (Seth Caskey), sitting on a bar stool beside his friend Joe (Rod Davidson), is mourning over his father’s recent death. The bar closes for the night and into the empty tavern enters Doris (Gretchen Koerner) and Tom (Michael Harrity), an unhappily married couple. Their boat has crashed on the rocks and they are lucky to have made it to shore. Throughout the night a series of characters come into the bar: Michael (Dane Bowman), a seaman; Eileen (Kassandra Woodley-Connolly), daughter of the owner of the bar; Jim (David Love), an accountant, together with Candy (Chase McKenna), a cheerful prostitute; and Father Gray (Steve Gunning), a priest.

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I have been waiting to write about this restaurant since my first visit there, and while it’s no longer a well-kept secret, this is still a destination for incredible food that will leave you and your wallet stuffed.

First and foremost, this place is byob and the corking fee is nothing! There is no corking fee, and if you’re anything like me you show up with a bunch of friends, each carrying a bottle of wine and the staff is always accommodating. They take it back and chill it for you, serve it, everything that most places charge you to do!

If the byob doesn’t get you there then the food should. They serve delicious tapas plates, and even thought they’re small, I always leave there swearing I’ll eat less next time. Last time I went, for instance, there were only four of us and we ordered 6 plates, plus a dessert plate. I couldn’t finish!

Cobras & Matadors has two locations, one in Los Feliz and the other, which is the one I’ve been to, in LA on Beverly. It’s small, dimly lit with a partially open kitchen exposing a wood-fired oven. The walls are adorned with old photographs, while the tables are bunched close together, but no one seems to mind being so close to their neighbors; everyone wants to eat some good fun and drink lots of wine so the patrons are always in good spirits. You have to walk through the kitchen to get to the bathroom, so after a few glasses of wine the bright kitchen lights and the dishwashers will jolt you back into reality.

Here are some of my favorite plates:

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I have been waiting to write about this restaurant since my first visit there, and while it’s no longer a well-kept secret, this is still a destination for incredible food that will leave you and your wallet stuffed.

First and foremost, this place is byob and the corking fee is nothing! There is no corking fee, and if you’re anything like me you show up with a bunch of friends, each carrying a bottle of wine and the staff is always accommodating. They take it back and chill it for you, serve it, everything that most places charge you to do!

If the byob doesn’t get you there then the food should. They serve delicious tapas plates, and even thought they’re small, I always leave there swearing I’ll eat less next time. Last time I went, for instance, there were only four of us and we ordered 6 plates, plus a dessert plate. I couldn’t finish!

Cobras & Matadors has two locations, one in Los Feliz and the other, which is the one I’ve been to, in LA on Beverly. It’s small, dimly lit with a partially open kitchen exposing a wood-fired oven. The walls are adorned with old photographs, while the tables are bunched close together, but no one seems to mind being so close to their neighbors; everyone wants to eat some good fun and drink lots of wine so the patrons are always in good spirits. You have to walk through the kitchen to get to the bathroom, so after a few glasses of wine the bright kitchen lights and the dishwashers will jolt you back into reality.

Here are some of my favorite plates:

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Gleaming from their first live show in the USA, at Tuesday’s KCRW’s Morning Becomes Electric, CIAM’s follow-up show at Tangier on Wednesday showcased a litany of intelligent rock songs taken from their album, Anonymous. For a band comprising of London based architects, CIAM thus made sense of it all with a multi-sensual and polished display.

London’s very own visual art rockers, CIAM, performed their first ever American show at KCRW’s Morning Becomes Electric on Tuesday. The following evening promised an electric multi-media performance at Los Feliz’s Tangier. CIAM debuted their stomping guitar and electronic violin melodies with a projected dazzling display of images and light by some of Europe’s top photographers and designers. It was a solid set taken from their album, Anonymous. Vocalist, Jeff Shapiro’s dark and brooding lyrics and elegant guitar riffs, took the audience on an eclectic journey from guitar rock to ethereal strings. ‘It Takes a Friend’ crawled into the skin with a haunting melody from violinist, Hadar Goldman. Programmer, Farrell London jabbed hypnotic synth into ‘Here I Am’ and ‘Misunderstood.’

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Ever since Toy Story in 1995, each new Pixar movie has opened to more and more anticipation and this year’s Wall-E is no exception. Though clever and touching dialogue from unassuming characters thrust into extraordinary situations like Toy Story’s Woody and Ratatouille’s Remy is one of the hallmarks of these films, Wall-E uses a similar scenario but boldly contains very little dialogue.

Wall-E is a robot whose role is that of a glorified trash compactor, tooling around an abandoned and post-apocalyptic earth collecting knick-knacks, compacting trash and watching Hello, Dolly! His existence is simple but futile on the massive planet that has been overrun with garbage. One day, a ship lands near Wall-E’s home and releases another robot - slick, white and focused on one directive: find life on earth. Wall-E is instantly smitten with the new companion, not-so-subtly named Eve, and his pursuit of her eventually finds the pair of them back on the ship, surrounded by humans who have been cruising aimlessly around space, waiting for a time when it is safe to return to earth.

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Last Sunday’s Warped Tour in Ventura left me with a wicked sunburn, sore joints, and a deep appreciation for the bands who distracted me from my discomfort with their infallibly upbeat attitudes and earnest performances.

At the Smartpunk stage, The Higher set the mood for my day with cheerfully energetic renditions of songs from their On Fire album. The catchy-as-hell “Histrionics” kept the audience dancing and singing along and put the lyric “One check, one love” in my head for the next half hour or so. An unexpected rocked-up cover of ‘N Sync’s “Bye Bye Bye” elicited a few boos from the crowd, although most people seemed to appreciate and enjoy the novelty. Undeterred, lead vocalist Seth Trotter kept things light afterward with a quick quip: “I think some of the metal crowd were mad that they knew that song.” The set ended with Trotter jumping onto the barricade during the crowd pleasing “Insurance?” to the delight of front-row fans.
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Last Sunday’s Warped Tour in Ventura left me with a wicked sunburn, sore joints, and a deep appreciation for the bands who distracted me from my discomfort with their infallibly upbeat attitudes and earnest performances.

At the Smartpunk stage, The Higher set the mood for my day with cheerfully energetic renditions of songs from their On Fire album. The catchy-as-hell “Histrionics” kept the audience dancing and singing along and put the lyric “One check, one love” in my head for the next half hour or so. An unexpected rocked-up cover of ‘N Sync’s “Bye Bye Bye” elicited a few boos from the crowd, although most people seemed to appreciate and enjoy the novelty. Undeterred, lead vocalist Seth Trotter kept things light afterward with a quick quip: “I think some of the metal crowd were mad that they knew that song.” The set ended with Trotter jumping onto the barricade during the crowd pleasing “Insurance?” to the delight of front-row fans.
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If you’re in the mood to be charmed by an old school, lighthearted, romantic comedy, Rene Clair’s Sous les toits de Paris (1930) is the film for you. The plot follows two working class Parisians engaging in a fickle love affair that is highlighted by cute French songs, sweeping shots of Paris streets, and some hilarious childish bickering.

The music of the film is quick and optimistic, an important indication to follow considering the characters rarely speak. Although Sous les toits de Paris isn’t exactly a silent film, don’t expect witty dialogue. For the non-French speakers in the house, this means that you don’t have to worry about reading subtitles the whole time. Rather, the body language and music will tell you all you need to know about love, working class-solidarity, and how to be scam on multiple prospects.

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It’s always interesting to be reminded of what you ignore everyday. It’s also interesting to look at how in a world full of revolving technology, humans have not changed. It appears that everyone is searching for their own way to live a “normal” life. As such, there are many comforts in life that allow people to trust the powers at be, but at what point are our own “comforts” detrimental to us? Tim Robbin’s version of George Orwell’s, 1984, currently playing at the REDCAT, is unshakably relevant. Days after seeing the play adapted from George Orwell’s “1984″ by Micheal Gene Sullivan, it continues to creep under my skin.

From the word play, the coercion, and blind faith - you can see how this work was relevant in 1948, is relevant today, and unless something huge happens, for our foreseeable future. For those of you who may not know, 1984 is where the idea “ignorance is strength” or rather “ignorance is bliss” was capitalized. Where “Happiness can exist only in acceptance.” Think you’re not a victim of this? Think again. It is used every single day in our vocabulary.

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I’ll be be honest with you, reader - I haven’t religiously listened to the radio since 2003. I have no idea what the latest hit is playing on the airwaves, but from my former life as a teenybopper circa 1998 I can tell you that this is peak time for capitalism in the form of cookie-cutter wrigglin’ and writhin’ music. Having thankfully grown out of that phase, I can also tell you that nothing quenches the thirst brought on by a summertime heat wave of same old candy pop hits than a talent- and passion-driven in-store performance by Martha Wainwright at Amoeba Music - a treat to those who prefer the smaller, more intimate venues that deliver as much punch as the standard stadium-sized event.

Martha has always been an accomplished artist, a living, breathing poster child for the credence “no man is an island”. With parents Loudon Wainwright and Kate McGarrigle, aunt Anna McGarrigle and brother Rufus Wainwright, her magnetism might as well have been written in the stars. At quarter after 6:00 p.m. Martha came onstage with her four-piece band, her blonde hair tinged with blue, and soft-spoken in demeanor until her fingers started strumming “Bleeding All Over You,” a song that features the title of her album and central lyric to make right-wing evangelists squirm in mild displeasure: I Know You’re Married But I’ve Got Feelings Too. The performance was ethereal, with accompanying vocals that seemed to symbolize the tumultuous feelings that come from a love complicated with too many cooks spoiling the figurative soup - a great first impression for the new listener, and a pleasant reminder for long-term admirers.

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