I had my birthday a few weeks back, which means now I can hang out with former A&E editor Jess Rodgers at Maloney’s (where everybody knows her name). Read more...

“Sweatshop labor exists,” said Suzi Feng. “People don’t know it exists, but it does, and things should be done about it.” Thus stands the foundational ideology of “Sweatshop Slaves: Asian Americans in the Garment Industry,” the latest self-published book of the UCLA Labor Center, which is slated for release on Thursday. Read more...

Students passing by the vacant Rieber Terrace stop and peer through the windows, eagerly awaiting the opening of the Hill’s mysterious new residential restaurant. As the days of Puzzles draw to a close, inquiring minds want to know: Will Rendezvous be able to measure up to or ““ gasp ““ be better than the time-honored tradition of pizza and chili cheese fries at midnight? Read more...

“Me Too” Stella Adler Theatre, Hollywood Through June 25 It’s hard to be against the fight for a cure for cancer. It’s seemingly such a safe cause to support that a new theater production has tackled the subject in “Me Too,” a two-act “dramedy” about the difficulties of falling in love with someone who has cancer, by Room 9 Entertainment (“Thank You for Smoking”). Read more...

It’s not an easy thing to do. Aerosmith pulled it off with 2004’s “Honkin’ on Bobo” by rockin’ out blues staples, but classic rockers covering a whole album of rock classics? Read more...

The balance between accessibility and inventiveness is a delicate one, especially in the world of music. It took the boys from Animal Collective four tries to make an album that could be deemed listenable, while The Mars Volta’s latest release, “Frances the Mute,” seemed, at times, to crumble under the weight of its own ambition. Read more...

As viewers tune in to watch the season finale of “American Idol” tonight, composer Vic Mizzy will be reminiscing about singers past. Mizzy and partner Irving Taylor appeared on a similar show called “Major Bowes’ Amateur Hour” almost 60 years ago. Read more...