Short Takes

All’s Fair at the Ren Faire
Brittany Menjivar forgoes turkey legs and opts instead for a taste of pulled pork and momento mori at the Renaissance Faire.
May 2
Melody from Noise
Copydesk chief A. J. Urquidi ponders urban doom loops, world peace, and sacred riffage at the Helmet and Cro-Mags show in Los Angeles.
May 1
Perfectly Acceptable Adult Rage
Emily VanKoughnett cuts through the exquisite bullshit and watches Mannequin Pussy create a kind of heaven at the Fonda Theatre.
Apr 30
IKEA Panacea
Emily Ann Zisko discovers a cure-all for commercialism, consumerism and c-loneliness at the Burbank IKEA residency exhibition.
Apr 26
Being Free, Being Faithful, Being Responsible for Extinction
Kate Sadoff, surrounded by fruiting L.A. bodies, ponders the fungus among us at Jennifer Croft’s “Extinction of Irena Rey” reading in Brentwood.
Apr 25
Voices from the Borderlands
The recent outpouring of literary works from Latin America leads Emily Quintanilla to unearth Dick Cluster’s profile of Texas’s own FlowerSong Press...
Apr 24
Who Does and Doesn’t Belong on Everest?
Your climbing guide Kate Sadoff offers you a “peak” at the release reading of Will Cockrell’s “Everest, Inc.: The Renegades and Rogues Who Built an...
Apr 23
Hello Gorgeous
Maya Chen attends “Funny Girl” to find the music that makes her dance, even with a sprained ankle.
Apr 22
A Network of Machines Speaking Only with Each Other
Office-core hyperobjects give Chase Bucklew the technocreeps at Katherine Behar’s UC Irvine solo exhibition.
Apr 19
Jazz Friends
Jazz group Outside World leads Tosten Burks to self-reflection at their Hollywood release show.
Apr 18
Modern Blur Is Not Rubbish
Woo-hoo! Brittany Menjivar gets her head checked by a jumbo jet at Blur’s pre-Coachella warm-up show in Pomona.
Apr 17
Are You Receiving Her Psychic Messages?
Brittany Menjivar will not rest until the whole world has fallen in love with Kenzy Peach.
Apr 13
Revisiting Girlhood
Amid a cultural re-embrace of “girlhood,” Emily Quintanilla revisits Sadie Shorr-Parks’s review of Elizabeth Acevedo’s debut novel, “The Poet...
Apr 11
The Fans Are Inhospitable (Are We?)
Mitski’s Friday show at the Shrine led rory hayes to question whether the audience had even gone through “Puberty 2” yet, misbehaving before their...
Apr 10
Next Time You See a Busker, Be Nice
John C. Reilly mistakes Sierra Ferrell for his buddy Will (no relation?) at the Fonda Theatre/dairy farm/honky-tonk, Kate Sadoff reports.
Apr 6
Innocent Until Proven Guilty of Shoegazing
In the musical justice system, shoegaze is represented by two separate yet equally important groups: the fans who brought earplugs and the bands who...
Apr 2