Arts, Entertainment, and Media

World Star Hip-Hop's Founder Tells Us Which Web Videos Are Too Vulgar, Even For His Site

Lee "Q" O'Denat, founder of World Star HipHop.com, is an unlikely figure in the canon of modern hip-hop success stories. The reserved, 40 year-old Hollis,Queens native of Haitian descent is probably one of the first and most controversial examples of hip-hop's ability to create moguls out of tech wi ... More >>

The 10 Geekiest Metal Bands of All Time

By: Adam Steininger Geeks love metal more than the computers on which they listen to it. They yearn for heavy metal that was forged by Orcs in the mountains of Mordor, smuggled halfway across the universe on Serenity and then discovered by Silver Surfer while scouting for delicious planets. These b ... More >>

Geto Boys - The Observatory - June 16, 2013

There appears to have been a plethora of older hip-hop acts rushing to play the Observatory in recent months. It has been as if a faucet directly connected to hip-hop's Golden Era has been jammed to flow at its fullest and Santa Ana is its intended place to dispense. Some of these returning artists ... More >>

Who Stole the Punk Rock Picnic?

How OC's biggest backyard party went from mosh pit to money pit

Willie D of the Geto Boys Is Rapping to Stay Relevant

The Texan trio reprise its role as the vanguard of southern hip-hop

To Actresses on the Brink of 40: Go Bad or Go Home

Playing evil is more fun than playing good anyway, right?

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The Observatory

The Top 10 Male Rappers of All Time

By: David Thorpe Since the birth of hip-hop, male rappers have been bringing their unique viewpoint to the art of rhyme. Today, we're shining some long overdue light on their important contributions to rap. We're proud to present our list of the 10 finest male rappers, from the smoking-hot hardbodie ... More >>

Ink N Iron- Queen Mary - June 8, 2013

Ink N Iron (Day 2) Queen Mary June 9, 2013 Ink N Iron was in full swing by the time we arrived on Saturday afternoon. People were clearly excited to be there dressed up in their pin up outfits, showing off their tattoos or even getting some ink at the festival for the day that boasted punk icons Igg ... More >>

Ink N Iron - Queen Mary - June 9, 2013

By: Alex Distefano Ink N Iron Queen Mary Jun 9 , 2013 Sunday marked the third and final day of this year's Ink N Iron festival, a weekend event full of classic cars/ hot rods, tattoo artists, models and tons of punk and rockabilly bands. This year, closing the tenth annual event, were headliners ... More >>

Summer In the Dark

Movie by movie, here's how to get the most out of this summer without having to cake on sunscreen

OC Theater Summer 2013 Preview

Andrew Jackson Musical, Cannibals, John Waters and Shakespeare!

Bill Cosby Tells Us Why Having Openly Gay Athletes in Pro Sports Isn't a Big Deal

Bill Cosby's body of work is more recognizable and respected than most. You could say he's a bit of a legend--not every day you can talk to one of those. We're not bragging, OK, maybe we are a little, but with an upcoming show at the Cerritos Performing Arts Center on June 9th, we obviously jumped a ... More >>

Five Best Orange County EDM Shows in June

Summer is almost here and though to most in Southern Cali it means beach days, barbeques and bikinis, to the music lover, it means festival season is well underway. For electronic dance music aficionados, the biggest party of the summer will be at this years sold out Electric Daisy Carnival in Las V ... More >>

Revisiting the February 23rd Club as The Roots Go Platinum

This month came the somewhat surprising news that, 14 years after its release, The Roots' album Things Fall Apart has finally gone platinum. An album whose reputation as the group's most critically acclaimed has made it the go-to entry point for new fans as their popularity has grown, it's still kin ... More >>

Stephen Ludwig, Key Member of OC Storefront Theater Scene, Dies in France

Irony is a staple of theater, so consider the irony of an indispensable member of Orange County's playrighting community, Stephen Ludwig, traveling to France for a writing vacation,only to die in the place that inspired him so much. Yet, there is also something romantic about both dying in the plac ... More >>

Dance Craze Dance Party!

Art Theatre

Dirty Black Summer

Continental Room

Back 2 Basics Fest: The Pharcyde

The Observatory

10 Metal Albums to Listen to Before You Die

I have been a heavy metal fan for over 50 percent of my existence on this planet. But when you're talking about the all-encompassing musical genre known as "heavy metal," you might as well be talking about something as infinitely complicated as the Universe. It's that vast, and the amount of territo ... More >>

CinemAttack Turns Cult Film Screenings Into Crazy Theatrical Events

Tyler Jacobs is no stranger to show biz (aside from acting on TV as a child, he and his brothers work on the Aquabats! Super Show! and Yo Gabba Gabba!). But his latest project, CinemAttack, is all about being part of the audience. CinemAttack's goal is to essentially make people fall in love with ... More >>

Cold War Kids - The Fonda - May 24, 2013

Cold War Kids The Fonda 5/24/13 The Cold War Kids were blessed cursed with releasing an acclaimed debut album. Sure, 2006's Robbers & Cowards ascended the OC bred indie rockers to underground stardom with the snap of a few hipster music critics' fingers, but that's a lot to live up to, and in the s ... More >>

Top Five Underrated Reggae Bands, According to the Lions

By: Brittany Woolsey When people think of reggae music, Bob Marley usually comes to mind. But Dan Ubick--guitarist/producer of the Lions--acknowledges some possibly lesser-known names. While the band prep for Saturday's show at Alex's Bar in Long Beach, we ask Ubick to reflect on the top five underr ... More >>

'Arrested Development' Is Not Just One of the Funniest Television Shows Ever

It's also a metaphor for the OC-ification of America

Fast & Furious & Elegant: Justin Lin and the Vulgar Auteurs

Napalm Death and Cannibal Corpse - The Observatory - May 16, 2013

By: Alex Distefano Napalm Death and Cannibal Corpse The Observatory May 16, 2013 It's been a while since this many bodies were packed so densely for a metal show at the Observatory. But, when you have two of the most brutal bands on the planet--Napalm Death and Cannibal Corpse--performing back to b ... More >>

Is Killer Mike the Perfect Link Between Dr. Dre and MLK?

For Atlanta rapper Killer Mike, it has never been just about hip-hop. It has never been about preaching rhetoric over a beat. But his sharp-tongued lyrics and booming baritone carry enough ferocity to scare your social consciousness wide awake. It's a style that's both refreshingly informed and effo ... More >>

Duke Ellington Orchestra

Renee and Henry Segerstrom Hall

Mobb Deep 20th Anniversary

Yost Theater

FYF Fest 2013 Lineup Revealed!

The lineup for FYF Fest 2013 was just announced this morning. The two-day festival features Saturday headliners My Bloody Valentine and Sunday headliners the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. TV on the Radio, Flag, Deerhunter, MGMT, Beach House, Yo La Tengo, The Breeders, Devendra Banhart, Solange, Shlohmo and Toro ... More >>

Muckenthaler Jazz Festival

Muckenthaler Cultural Center

Armin Van Buuren Talks About Finding New Intensity in Trance

If you consider trance music a religion, then Armin Van Buuren is God. The DJ, producer, remixer, composer, musician, pianist and songwriter has taken trance to world renowned heights through his A State of Trance radio show, Armada Music record label and vast discography which spans over the course ... More >>

They Let Me Keep a Book of Keats: Poet Gregory Orr's River Inside the River

There's no real justification on this ostensibly Orange County literary-themed blog for me writing about the American poet Gregory Orr this morning except that the world is, thankfully, much larger than us, our region, our stories. And that I am feeling grateful, a bit humble after a week of some te ... More >>

Revolver Golden Gods Awards - Club Nokia - May 2, 2013

Golden Gods Awards Club Nokia May 2, 2013 The Fifth annual Revolver Golden Gods Awards show celebrating the heavy metal and hard rock community had some unplanned extra heaviness with the untimely passing of legendary Slayer guitarist Jeff Hanneman. At the opening of this star filled extravaganza, h ... More >>

One Last Lee Mallory Alert!

The 'Love Poet' retires, and OC will never be the same

Renée George, The Artist Crew Member, Sticks with the Silent Treatment for Le Petit Nuage

Renée George, whose short film Le Petit Nuage gets a repeat screening at the Newport Beach Film Festival tonight, sort of worked like Michel Hazanavicius in reverse. The Frenchman who wrote and directed the Oscar winner The Artist, came to Hollywood to make a silent picture set against the 1920s-'3 ... More >>

Manic Hispanic

The Observatory

Patton Oswalt

Irvine Improv

The Five Must-See Shows in OC This Weekend

Friday, April 26 DJ Shadow The Observatory Boasting one of the most extensive vinyl record collections ever--at a whopping 60,000 LPs--DJ Shadow's range is overwhelmingly impressive and his influence well-known. The Davis, California native rose to the ranks of DJ notoriety with London-based recor ... More >>

Newport Beach Film Festival: Punk's Not Dead--It's On Broadway

For the first time in its fourteen-year long history, the Newport Beach Film Festival kicked off the year's season with a documentary film that packs as much wallop and frenetic energy as a mosh pit circle. Director Doug Hamilton's Broadway Idiot follows world-famous punk band Green Day as their al ... More >>

Location 1980: Jesse Fortune and Brett Douglas' Missouri By the Sea

Two Shoe-Me Staters bring great art and a down-home work ethic to their Costa Mesa art gallery

News & Notes as Newport Beach Film Festival Opens Tonight with Doc Broadway Idiot

The greatest thing about last Thursday's Newport Beach Film Festival issue was that I freely said with pride that I was on the cover, the idea being people assumed that was a reference to the rock-hard abbed fellow holding the giant film reels, not the "By Matt Coker" type on the lower right.Those w ... More >>

16th Annual Pacific Playwrights Festival

South Coast Repertory

The Gibson Amphitheatre To Close Its Doors

The storied L.A. venue announced today that it will officially close in September following a special grand finale concert honoring its history. The full press release is available below...

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers

La Mirada Theatre for Performing Arts

Coachella Changes: The Stone Roses Swap Slots With Blur, Biffy Clyro Bow Out of Saturday Set

The European rock acts on the bill sustained a few injuries days before the second round of Coachella. For former Friday headliners The Stone Roses, it's a bruise to the ego--being forced to swap slots with Blur--whereas Scottish three-piece Biffy Clyro have a real medical emergency on their hands t ... More >>

Partying in Vegas With Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Vampire Weekend

While the masses flocked to Indio to scorch themselves at Coachella this weekend, I decided to die of heat exhaustion in another desert--Las Vegas. You see, all those festival bands have to kill time between weekends somehow, and what better way to skip up to Sin City for a show? It works out well f ... More >>

The Top Five EDM Artists at Coachella

Don't be fooled by the slew of hipsters and bros traipsing around the polo fields of Coachella - the festival itself has long been a pioneer of bringing electronic dance music to the states even dedicating it's own stage for EDM lovers for years. The Sahara tent has seen the likes of everyone from S ... More >>

Reel Big Fish to Headline Viva Ska Vegas

It's not often that we try to alert your attention to a festival that's going on across state lines. But given our county's undeniable ska roots, we'd be crazy to let you skip Viva Ska Vegas, a day-long deluge of third wave ska bands that represent an entire era of music that refuses to be blown awa ... More >>

Rihanna - Honda Center - April 9, 2013

By: Heidi DarbyRihannaHonda CenterApril 9, 2013Few recent pop stars deal with as much scrutiny and struggle in the public eye as Rihanna. But all of those woes felt so far away last night during her anticipated OC stop at the Honda Center on her anticipated Diamonds world tour. From the opening note ... More >>