Public Enemy

How to Defend Quentin Tarantino

What critics who attack the director's borrowings miss

Top 10 Rock Star Backup Vocal Collabortions

Every now and then, rockstars align to bring us a classic we never saw coming. No matter what the genre, you have plenty of examples of two (sometimes three or more) powerhouses coming together to back each other up with a set of voices that are usually so different that they sound like they were ma ... More >>

Flavor Flav is 53 Years Old Today AND Has a Chicken Resto in Vegas

​Today, Public Enemy member and star of the reality TV series The Flavor of Love is celebrating his birthday. We're posting this to promise Flavor Flav that we'll celebrate it by eating at his newest food venture: Flavor Flav's House of Flavor, at 3333 S. Maryland Parkway in Las Vegas. On the tak ... More >>

Megadeth at the Gibson Amphitheater, Feb. 24, 2012

​​MegadethVIEW OUR SLIDESHOW HEREGibson AmphitheaterFeb. 24, 2012 With Megadeth's recent success (they just received their tenth Grammy for Best Hard Rock/Heavy Metal Performance), the multiplatinum metal gods Megadeth returned to headline the critically acclaimed Gigantour, showcasing metal's ... More >>

3hree Things: A Box Full Of Cassettes And Shame

Watch out for 3hree Things every Tuesday, where Riley Breckenridge, drummer of Orange County's favorite local alt-rock band Thrice, gives his take on life in Southern California as an OC native.​I'm not gonna lie. I didn't spend my formative years as a music listener (late-80's/earl ... More >>

Eight Worst Hip Hop Collaborations

​Last week, Cypress Hill released their single "Roll It, Light It" with  dubstep sensation Rusko,  and it wasn't pretty. This is not what hip-hop needed. With rap trending on a horrible downward spiral, we thought it would be a good time to name our eight worst hip-hop collaborations.

Local Record Review: 'The Invisible Empire' by Beatnik

​BeatnikThe Invisible EmpireEcovox RecordsA little out of our usual coverage here given that Beatnik are over the hills in Corona (rather than Corona Del Mar, say), but given the continuing Occupy protests -- accompanied with various articles and comments about 'where is the music or anthem of ... More >>

Local Record Review: 'Captured American Flag Displayed Upside Down' by Kabong

​KabongCaptured American Flag Displayed Upside DownWild WarthogCall it Orange County's history of not-quite-mainstream when it comes to politics, call it a release perfectly timed for the moment given Occupy Wall Street is happening, call it a mixture of anti-authoritarian impulses over the pas ... More >>

Common: More Worthy of the White House Invite Than Sarah Palin

​As everyone knows by now, rapper Common has been the target of various right wingers, including Tucker Carlson's The Daily Caller, Fox Nation, and, of course, Sarah Palin after accepting an invitation to be part of the White House's "Poetry Night" this week.  As we talked about earlier this ... More >>

Top 10 Rockin' Songs By Black Artists

Jimi Hendrix​February is Black History Month, and we felt it the perfect time to do one of our patented lists. Today, we are naming Top Ten Rockin'-est songs by black artists. As much as white artists get criticized for performing "black" genres like R&B, hip-hop and blues, many black artists ... More >>

TGIF: ¡Aparato!, Exodus, the Mildreds, the Mormons and the D-Strutters Plus the Last Acrobatics Everyday This Summer

Little Teeth perform at Acrobatics Everyday​What's going on this weekend, you ask? There's jarocho rock courtesy of ¡Aparato!, '80s thrash metal care of Exodus (Kirk Hammett's old band), the Mildreds in Long Beach and the last Acrobatics Everyday set of the summer in Irvine, with Little Teet ... More >>

Miata-Driving White Supremacist To Latino: "Your Race Is A Bunch Of Pussies!"

The official car of Public Enemy Number One?​When he's not stealing cars, committing vandalism, using illegal narcotics or burglarizing property, convicted felon Jason Lee Fenstermacher likes to salute Adolf Hitler, yap about the supremacy of his race and assault Mexican-Americans. The 29-yea ... More >>

Show Announcement: Coachella 2010 Dates Confirmed

Beth StirnamanCoachella 2009: Day Two​The 2010 Coachella Valley Arts & Music Festival will take place Friday, April 16, Saturday, April 17 and Sunday, April 18 2010 at the Empire Polo Club, Indio, Calif. Pre-sale and layaway plans go on sale today at coachella.com. Three-day passes start at $ ... More >>

What You Missed: Street Scene, Los Cojolites, OC Beer Fest

Beth StirnamanBadass gramps.​We had quite possibly the shittiest weather for a weekend full of outdoor activities--with temperatures reaching into the triple digits, we spent our weekend, well, kind of constantly moist. But that's okay: We trudged on. For you, our readers. For. You.First up, on Fr ... More >>

Heard Mentality: Headed to Street Scene!

​Seeing as how we're the closest Village Voice Media paper to San Diego, we feel a profound sense of obligation to cover this weekend's Street Scene festival. Yes, that's right, obligation--not the opportunity to hang out in the Gaslamp District checking out awesome bands. It's all about obligatio ... More >>

Street Scene Favorites This Weekend....Any Thoughts?

​It's not much, but consider this meager post the first preemptive stitch to our coverage of the Street Scene '09 festival happening in Sand Diego this weekend, Aug. 28-29. Before you say anything, we know that San Diego is not in Orange County. Though it could be argued that some cities at the as ... More >>

Reefer Madness

Maverick Theater

With 'Reefer Madness,' Maverick Theater Has a (Bong) Hit On Its Hands

ADL: Orange County/Long Beach Remain Hotbed For Hate

He Knows NothingOrange County/Long Beach bigots painted Swastikas on a liquor store, middle and elementary schools, public park buildings and even a temple--signifying an increase in anti-Semitic activity last year, according to a report issued this morning by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).  ... More >>

Live(ish) from Coachella: Killers? Headliners? Sure!

It's late, and I should probably sleep (or something resembling it) at this point (big day tomorrow: Yeah Yeah Yeahs, My Bloody Valentine, Public Enemy, Friendly Fires, the Cure, PB&J, Lykke Li, Okkervil River etc. etc.!) but I thought I'd share the setlist (and some totally astute observations) ... More >>

(About to Be) Live from Coachella: The H is O

Get ready for the longest, hottest day yet! Forecast is for 100 degrees! The Cure will probably play for like three hours! What a time to be alive. If you can manage to stay alive, at least. Never a guarantee. Huge, huge day for shows: Cure, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, My Bloody Valentine, Public Enemy, Paul W ... More >>

Live from Coachella: The Body Says No (plus, Okkervil River, Sebastien Tellier, Lupe Fiasco!)

Hey, did you know it's hot here today? 98 degrees at last word. But it "feels" like, I dunno, a billion? Yep. Pretty awesome. Trying to summon my (in?)famous reserves of ENDLESS ENERGY, but not necessarily succeeding. The Cure are probably going to play like three hours today. That's pretty cool. Is ... More >>

Live from Coachella: Feeling the Earth Move Under My Feet (My Bloody Valentine, Public Enemy, The Cure)

I just excavated myself from what seemed like miles of Cure fans. That was a close one. Check out our Twitter for real-time Cure setlist updates for as long as I can maintain such a pace; so far we've had classics like "Lovesong" and "Pictures of You" mixed in with some lesser-known tracks. Most lik ... More >>

[Coachella 2009] Everything New Is Old Again--and Vice Versa

Videos come back to MTV

Well, kinda...For those who can stay up late, MTV has announced a novel concept called AMTV. The show, which airs from 3-9 a.m. Monday through Thursday, does nothing but air music videos for six hours. Call me crazy, but this might be the start of something new. I mean, I could even see this expandi ... More >>

Way Too Early Coachella Must-Sees

I wanted to be the first person in the blogosphere to comment on what bands you should see at Coachella. So here goes. The Aggrolites -- LA's best white boy reggae/soul/funk band. They wear cool clothes and know how to throw a dance party. Thievery Corporation -- Maybe you know them, maybe you ... More >>

Daily Coachella Update: Still No Lineup, but There is a Fake One

It's getting to the point where the idea of the Coachella lineup is actually more appealing than whatever the eventual Coachella lineup will be, even if the actual lineup is really impressive. It's like Spock said, "having is not such a pleasing thing as wanting."So yeah, still no official Coachella ... More >>

[Sprawl of Sound] DJ Frane's Heady Hip-Hop Goes Up in Smoke

Coachella, Day 1

The Top 10 Rap Songs White People Love. Yo.

Brian at catsandbeer.com has bestowed what he thinks is the definitive list of rap tracks that are closest to the hearts of honkies [he posted this in Oct. 2007, but it's just come to my attention through a friend's tip]. Bri's right on right on most of the time, but I have some bones to pick. For ... More >>

Slayer Give Good Head... Protection

Southern Cali thrash-metal legends Slayer are branching out into motorcycle-helmet designing. Working with O'Neal USA, the band known for classics like Reign in Blood and South of Heaven and being sampled by Public Enemy on "She Watch Channel Zero?!" lent their memorable artwork to the RockHard li ... More >>

Incredible Segues I Have Heard

Last night at Kitsch Bar in Costa Mesa, DJ aDJective (Steve Fisch) transitioned from the Kingston Trio's “Where Have All the Flowers Gone” (dewy, earnest folk song from 1962) to Public Enemy's “Public Enemy No. 1” (hard-as-nails, toughness-flaunting rap track from 1987). Damn. That's some ba ... More >>

Musical Trash Compactor

The Go! Team Create Funtastic Mash-ups for People Who Don’t Like Mash-ups

Cream of Elite

Sporting perhaps the greatest hip-hop bill ever, Rock the Bells enshrines rap's history—and foreshadows its future

OC White Supremacist Killer Avoids Death Penalty

Just before lunch today, the jury in the Michael Allan Lamb murder case announced itself "hopelessly deadlocked" on whether the Public Enemy Number One (PENI) Death Squad member deserved the death penalty. The vote was nearly tied after almost three days of deliberating. Six jurors wanted death; f ... More >>

Wednesday's Headlines & Surprises

Build It & Hope They Come: The Register reports that Irvine has approved a 5-mile, $280 million street car/bus plan that will link the future Great Park to the Irvine Spectrum and a train station by 2012. City officials, untrustworthy in the past, claim that each day 5,000 people will abandon their ... More >>

White Supremacists Jury Reaches Some Verdicts

White supremacists Michael Lamb and Jason Rump must have sighed in relief this afternoon. Despite a week of deliberations following their nine-week trial, the panel hasn't been able to reach unanimous verdicts on the murder and attempted-murder counts. But at lunchtime today, jurors announced they ... More >>

Rock the Bells Fest Venue Change

The talent-heavy hip-hop festival Rock the Bells (which we previewed here) will now take place at Hyundai Pavilion at Glen Helen Saturday, Aug. 11. Performers include Wu-Tang Clan, Public Enemy and MF Doom. All tickets for the originally scheduled National Orange Show Events Center will be hon ... More >>

Monday's Headlines

Protesting a pedophile's presence: Members of SNAP (the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests) picketed at Seal Beach Sunday, warning locals that Michael Wempe, a convicted pedophile priest, was on parole and living in Leisure World. Sub resurfaces: After a nine-year death, Disney's brin ... More >>

Rage Against Irrelevancy

Does RATMs left hook still have punch?

In Brief: The Official Will Swaim Playlist

I'm sure by now that most of you who read this are aware our editor-in-chief, Will Swaim, has resigned. What you may not be aware of, however, is our boss's penchant for singing—constantly. Seriously. Dude sings more than Rebecca Schoenkopf does. Which is A LOT. Anyway. In memorium, I'm posti ... More >>

VH1 Is a Joke

Public Enemy

Prostate Orgasm

GET OUT! Nightlife and more: Dec. 7 - Dec. 14

In the Know

DJ JFX

Black to Comm

Black Mountain, obscured by clouds

Locals Only

Psychedelicpsupper!

Know Your Rights!

Daedelus

My Elvis Weighs a Ton

Public Enemy: still angry after all these years

New Music