Los Angeles & Southern California - Andrea Schulte-Peevers [28]
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www.losangeles.com/nightlife has extensive listings of local bands, with descriptions and links.
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The Los Angeles Opera, under the direction of Placido Domingo, plays at Music Center in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.
FILM & TV SCORES
LA-born film and TV music practically defines American culture. John Williams, a frequent collaborator with Steven Spielberg, is perhaps the best known of legions of film composers, having created music for Jaws, Star Wars, E.T., Raiders of the Lost Ark and Schindler’s List, to name just a few. The 1950s through 1980s were a golden age for film scoring, including works by Elmer Bernstein (The Magnificent Seven, Airplane, Stripes, Ghostbusters, etc), Bernard Herrmann (Psycho, The Day the Earth Stood Still, the Twilight Zone TV series) and Ennio Morricone (The Good, the Bad & the Ugly, A Fistful of Dollars).
Present-day composers include Williams, Randy Newman (The Natural, Toy Story, Monsters Inc., Cars), Danny Elfman (Pee-wee’s Big Adventure, Edward Scissorhands, Men in Black, The Simpsons theme) Lalo Schifrin (Mission: Impossible) for starters.
ROCK, PUNK & RAP
The history of LA rock acts reads like a history of American rock itself.
It’s hard to say which Los Angeles band could be classed as the most emblematic of the 1960s. Cases could be made for The Doors and The Beach Boys, and The Mamas and the Papas, Joni Mitchell, The Byrds and Crosby, Stills and Nash are all essential LA music acts. The Sunset Strip and the legendary Whisky A-Go-Go were ground zero for the psychedelic rock scene.
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The cover image of the Eagles’ album Hotel California is of the Beverly Hills Hotel, but the group remains unspecific as to which hotel inspired the title.
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The 1980s saw the rise of such punk bands as X, Black Flag, Bad Religion and Suicidal Tendencies, while the more mainstream Bangles, Go-Gos, Oingo Boingo, Jane’s Addiction and Red Hot Chili Peppers took the world by a storm. Guns N’ Roses was the ’80s hard rock band of record. By the 1990s Beck and Weezer had gained national presence. Los Lobos was king of the Latino bands, an honor that has since passed to Ozomatli.
On the rap and hip-hop side of the scene, the ’90s West Coast gangsta rap acts included Ice-T, Cypress Hill and NWA, whose Straight Outta Compton was a watermark for the genre. NWA’s Dr Dre and Ice Cube went off to have their own solo careers, and Dr Dre fostered the careers of Snoop Dogg and Warren G, among others. Later, Korn, Limp Bizkit and Linkin Park combined hip-hop with metal and popularized nu metal. Another key ’90s band was No Doubt of Orange County (which later launched the solo career of lead singer Gwen Stefani).
Important local acts since the turn of the millennium include alternative metal band System of a Down (on hiatus as we went to press), indie rockers Rilo Kiley, Latin-fusion sensations Ozomatli, singer-songwriter Gary Jules and the post-punk She Wants Revenge.
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MUSIC FESTIVALS
A number of annual festivals host a mix of big-name and local acts. Buy tickets early for station-sponsored shows. Some highlights:
Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival – sweat it in the desert with indie bands, up-and-comers, and occasional top-name talent
KROQ Acoustic Christmas – similar musicians; see also www.kroq.com
KROQ Weenie Roast – (see www.kroq.com) summer punk and modern rock event
Stagecoach Festival all things country and western, from Willie Nelson and Emmylou Harris to BBQ
Sunset Junction – late August festival where Sunset and Hollywood Blvds meet
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Literature
EARLY 20TH CENTURY
Los Angeles has sheltered many illustrious 20th-century writers, among them William Faulkner, F Scott Fitzgerald and Aldous