Attention all concerned students: I am starting a donation fund. For the sake of humanity and the future of the music business, I am beginning the pop star college fund. Read more...

Although the oud is traditionally played with an eagle’s feather, eclectic multi-instrumentalist David Lindley prefers finger picking the Middle Eastern lute instead. For Lindley, who performs tomorrow night at Royce Hall in the Global Guitars concert, an unusual approach to music is his typical key to success. Read more...

In the time-honored tradition of busting windmills and head spins on sheets of cardboard spread over sidewalk pavement, the Hollywood Palladium will host this weekend’s Los Angeles Urban Dance Festival, showcasing brand spanking new styles by international and home-grown talent. Read more...

Most major record labels could learn a thing or two from British singer Jem about how to make a great album and save quite a bit of money in the process. Read more...

Even a sore back won’t keep this woman down. Ruth Price, UCLA jazz vocal instructor and owner of Los Angeles’s only seven-night-a-week non-profit jazz club, The Jazz Bakery, mentioned offhandedly that she is going in for back surgery soon. Read more...

A mountain of a songwriter came to UCLA last Thursday. Phil Elvrum, playing under the new moniker Mt. Eerie, strummed and sang his way through a warm, intimate performance at Kerckhoff Grand Salon in the early afternoon. Read more...

In English professor Mona Simpson’s novel, “Anywhere But Here,” 12-year-old Ann is forced to awkwardly adjust to her new Los Angeles surroundings. Unlike her novel’s protagonist, Simpson has had no trouble making UCLA her home. Read more...