Email Author CHRIS ZIEGLER

2010 Stories by CHRIS ZIEGLER

• La Otra Conquista

  published December 30, 2010

  “I wish there were 50 movies about the conquest,” director Salvador Carrasco told the Los Angeles Times when his 1998 film, La Otra... More >>

• Tiltwheel

  published December 23, 2010

  A lot of Replacements, a little Crimpshrine and a nice piece of Jawbreaker (especially “Chesterfield King”) go into Tiltwheel alongside... More >>

• The Growlers

  published December 16, 2010

  The Growlers do best what Jonathan Richman loved most: create an atmosphere. And if you’ve ever wondered why the band’s greatest photos... More >>

• Silverlake in Pomona

  published December 9, 2010

  They’re calling it “Silverlake in Pomona”—a bunch of East-ish-side LA modern-indie-pop bands parachuting in to deploy the new... More >>

• The Red Onions

  published December 9, 2010

  Once there was this band the Red Onions, and they shamed all other bands before them. They were four tightly wound guys from Gardena, and they got... More >>

• Santa Claus Conquers the Martians

  published December 2, 2010

  We grew up on the original movie of Santa Claus Conquers The Martians, back when TV stations broadcast out of backyard shacks and kids ate nothing... More >>

• Death Hymn Number 9

  published November 25, 2010

  Once there was a band called the Gories, and there was a guy called Hasil Adkins, as well as a dude named Tav Falco, and they played like maniacs.... More >>

• Big Sandy and His Fly-Rite Boys

  published November 25, 2010

  This group cracked the 20-year mark a few years back, putting them closer to Bob Wills territory than Elvis Presley territory, but that’s... More >>

• The Legendary Pink Dots

  published November 11, 2010

  Edward Ka-Spel is a machine like the world has never seen—about 150 albums between his Legendary Pink Dots and his own solo work and other... More >>

• Sean Hayes

  published November 4, 2010

  San Francisco’s Sean Hayes makes sweet, sometimes sad country folk that sounds like Michael Hurley with the raw parts healed over. But the... More >>

• The MuerTones Come to Life

  published October 28, 2010

  There is a long, proud tradition in surf music of not actually being a surfer—worked for the Trashmen, worked for the Astronauts and... More >>

• Day of the Dead Presentation

  published October 21, 2010

  The Day of the Dead is just about here, and in case you’re curious about the story behind the sugar skulls, Long Beach Playhouse is... More >>

• Valient Thorr

  published October 14, 2010

  Valient Thorr came from Planet Rock—Hawkwind’s, not Bambaataa’s—and back up their hard-nerd prog punk with a late-night... More >>

• Jimmy Buffett

  published October 14, 2010

  No one really gets the chance to live like Jimmy Buffett anymore: jumping trains with a bottle of Wild Turkey alongside Jerry Jeff Walker, taking... More >>

• Cri-Cri Festival

  published September 30, 2010

  “Cri-Cri” is Francisco Gabilondo Soler, the singer from Veracruz who found stardom on Mexican radio in the ‘30s with adorable songs... More >>

• Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

  published September 30, 2010

  How close was Tom Petty to being Elliott Murphy or Dwight Twilley or even Chris Stamey? They were all nowheresville kids who got their expected... More >>

• The Byrds Collective

  published September 23, 2010

  The Byrds weren’t all things to all people but they made a ferocious try—the band blew from folk to psych to country rock and from... More >>

• The Greatest Year in Film: 1939

  published September 23, 2010

  The film history of 1939 looks like one of those top-of-the-pops charts people will sometimes dig up from late ‘60s just so us degraded... More >>

• AA Bondy

  published September 9, 2010

  Ex-Verbena front man AA Bondy goes Billy Joe Shaver by way of Black Mountain on his new-ish album When The Devil’s Loose, which is the kind... More >>

• Kissing Cousins

  published September 2, 2010

  Ex-OC resident Richard Swift makes a humble home studio sing and Silverlake’s Kissing Cousins sing songs that find the heartache in every... More >>

• Chicano Batman: Dark Caballeros

  published August 26, 2010

  The Chicano Batcave is off a La Mirada backstreet, and Chicano Batman are waiting there on the lawn at sunset. They’re out of their usual... More >>

• Colombian Cinema Showcase

  published August 26, 2010

  MOLAA and Colombian Cinema Showcase's Sunday series concludes today with its usual admirably diverse programming—stuff for the kids... More >>

• Men

  published August 26, 2010

  Originally the DJ/production duo of Johanna Fateman and JD Samson from Le Tigre—whose first album had ‘em dancing in the streets of... More >>

• Cuban Modernism

  published August 19, 2010

  Havana's Tropicana Club was the kind of golden-age-of-everything nightspot they couldn't make again if they tried—hangout and home to expats... More >>

• Pop Go Abe Vigoda

  published August 12, 2010

  In very early 2009, Abe Vigoda guitarist/singer Michael Vidal made a resolution: “Don’t suck.” In mid-2010, Abe Vigoda... More >>