It is becoming hard to defend one of the most talented entertainers of our generation. I continue to say to the naysayers that someone’s talent has nothing to do with their personal beliefs and views. There is something of an “it’ factor when it comes to polarizing figures in entertainment, and Kanye West exemplifies that trait.

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The comedy world lost a true legend this past Sunday with the passing of Leslie Nielson, at 84.

Appearing in over a hundred films and more than 1500 television shows over the course of his distinguished career, Nielson got his start (as many great people do) as a disk jockey in his homeland of Canada. He was 22 and the year was 1948 before he got his first real break in television, and a breakout performance soon followed in 1956’s Forbidden Planet, considered one of the early forerunners of modern science fiction films. Nielson’s dramatic roles propelled him through most of his early career, and he was widely considered an exclusively dramatic thespian — that is, until 1980 and Airplane!, still one of the funniest films of all time, made him a breakout star and coined dozens of quotable phrases that instantly made Nielson the hottest commodity in Hollywood.

Nielson, however, did not consider himself quite a comedian just yet. Much of his time was spent on the sets of gritty police dramas and Law and Order-type TV serials. Police Squad, premiering in 1982, changed all that, casting the actor as an oblivious cop surrounded by idiocy and incompetence. His stone cold, deadpan delivery was perfect for the role; and in 1988 a big-budget film adaptation of the show, The Naked Gun, was a huge box-office and critical success, spawning 2 sequels and grossing over $78 million dollars.

In 1995, Nielson received UCLA’s own Jack Benny award for his comedic talents. More recently, he was one of the few bright spots in the widely panned Scary Movie series in his role as the President. He continued acting right up to the end, appearing in films as late as 2009, though none as funny as his two all-time classics.

So thanks, Leslie, for Naked Gun and Airplane! Rest in peace, and don’t call me Shirley.

–Zach North, Adventure Time! M 10pm-12am.

We had Neal on “I’m in a Band..” on Tuesday and he blew us away with his short, heartfelt tracks. “Oh Brother” is one of his best.

Listen to the track and check out Neal’s new group “Our Orthodox” on the Our Orthodox Facebook Page.

And tune in this Tuesday for more of the BEST in Unsigned Music…

Putnam Hall @ Spaceland

Saturday, December 4th, 8:30 pm

$7, 21+

I’ll be there.  Will you?

Alex Dezen of The Damnwells and his wife, Angela, dropped by the UCLA Radio station yesterday, December 1st, for an exclusive live performance. Here’s one of the songs that they performed, “Feast of Hearts”, off of The Damnwells’ upcoming 2011 release. It was truly an incredible show.

Couldn’t tune in or just want to hear it again!? We’ll be posting more videos, songs and possibly a download link to get the entire set + interviews in the next few days here on UCLARadio.com

We’re not talking about Sylvester Stallone.

The surf-happy Santa Cruzians fondly known as The Expendables will be attracting many a dreadlocked head at The House of Blues Sunset, on December 1st. Can’t make it out on Wednesday? The band will also be playing at the House of Blues, Anaheim, on December 2nd.

The name sound familiar? Maybe you’ve seen them around — in the past decade, the band has toured with headliners such as 311, Pepper, Eek-A-Mouse, Slightly Stoopid, Fishbone, Less Than Jake, and G.Love & Special Sauce.

Hailing from Santa Cruz, CA, a college town known for its embrace of surf culture, hippie-lettuce and leanings to the very far-left, the band is living the Gen-X dream. I mean, when four laid-back dudes are writing songs about getting stoned, making love, and skateboarding, college kids everywhere feel like they can relate. The Expendables incorporate a host of styles in their music, namely reggae, dub, ska, and surf rock, giving it mass appeal to the college crowd. To date, the band has released five studio albums, including their most recent, Prove It, released in May.

John Brown’s Body and C Money will be opening for The Expendables at the Sunset HOB on Wednesday night. Tickets range between $17.50-$20. The event is open to all ages. Doors open at 7 PM.

So, if any of you guys out there are Deadmau5 fans, you all know that for the last four weeks, Deadmau5 has been releasing new singles every week. The first of these weekly singles was released on Halloween and is titled “Sofi Needs A Ladder”. Out of the four new singles that have been released, this one, in my opinion, is both the least exciting and will probably end up being the most popular (that’s never happened before).

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Alex Dezen of the Damnwells will be playing an exclusive concert tonight, December 1st from 6-7 pm at our very own UCLARadio station. Come down and check it out! Alex has been a SXSW mainstay over the past years and he and the Damnwells have opened for acts including Bob Dylan & The Fray. Alex has held down a residency at Hotel Cafe this entire month and he and the band are hitting the road in the next weeks for a cross country tour.

This will be an intimate performance that you will not want to miss! For more details check out the event page or if you can’t make it down, do yourself a favor and tune in!

The first time I saw Avi Buffalo was at a back yard FMLY party in Venice Beach. Back then Avi was relatively unheard and unsigned. After signing to SubPop and with the recent release of his self-titled album, Avi Buffalo is one of the premier up and coming indie pop groups. Last Saturday my friend Jessica and I went to see him play at the Echoplex. His use of layering guitar sounds and vocal noises give this show a special and different touch from the first time I saw him play. His new style resembled Sonic Youth’s long instrumental jam tangents, in which the bass player would fall to the ground in an indie pop epileptic seizure. I also noticed that this show brought a different type of crowd, generally older people. The most died hard fan in the crowd no doubt was Avi’s grandma, who was front row cane in hand smiling and waving. Although there’s was a older crowd present, there was still an overall good young indie vibe.

Thanks to all those who listened in last night! Here is the final playlist of the quarter/year.

Hour 1:

• Stand By Me – Ben E. King
• Suavecito – Malo
• Cupid – Sam Cooke
• Strawberry Letter 23 – The Brothers Johnson
• Baby I’m for Real – The Originals
• Just My Imagination – The Temptations
• Never Too Much – Luther Vandross
• Ooh Baby Baby – Smokey Robinson & the Miracles
• Mercy Mercy Me – Marvin Gaye
• Used Ta Be My Girl – The O’Jays
• What’s Love Got to Do With It? – Tina Turner
• The Great Pretender – The Platters

Hour 2:

• Nite and Day – Al B Sure!
• Knockin’ the Boots – H-Town
• Two Occasions – Deele
• Can We Talk – Tevin Campbell
• Teardrops – Womack & Womack
• Make It Last Forever – Keith Sweat
• Hello Stranger – Barbara Lewis
• Your Precious Love – Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell
• Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay – Otis Redding
• Just the Way You Are – Barry White
• For the Love of You (Parts 1 & 2) – The Isley Brothers

*Italics denote listener requests.

Stay tuned for updates about next quarter’s show!

A few months ago, a friend and I were talking about Weezer. Like a lot of people, we both love The Blue Album and Pinkerton with the fiery passion of 1000 suns and hate everything they’ve released since then with a similar intensity. The consensus was that seeing Rivers Cuomo and company live would be awesome, but only if they played songs from their first two albums exclusively. Sure enough, about a week later rumors started spreading that Weezer was planning a tour precisely meant to please fans like us, playing The Blue Album in its entirety the first night in each city and Pinkerton the second night. After exactly zero seconds of thought, my friend and I decided that we were going to the Pinkerton show.

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This Wednesday, bring your friends, family, alums and fans to cheer on Coach Neuheisel (alumni 1985) and the UCLA Football team before their huge game against our rivals from USC. The event is open to all fans and students. This is the time of year that all Bruin football fans dream of.  The Spirit Rally commemorates the brilliance of Bruin athletics and pride. Coach Lane Kiffin, who is 0-1 against Neuheisel, leads the USC Trojans.  Lets help the Bruins add another loss to the Trojans record by cheering our team to the fullest! The event will be held in Wilson Plaza, beginning at 7:30.

Performances by: Awaken Acapella, Scattertones, NSU Modern & Samahang Modern

Since 2004, UK trance trio Above & Beyond have been broadcasting their weekly radio show “Trance Around the World” (also known as TATW) to showcase their latest favorites in dance music. Now six years of age, the show garners a weekly viewership estimated around 30 million people and is globally syndicated to more than 237 FM, satellite, and internet radio stations worldwide such as KIIS FM, Sirius XM, di.fm, and as a podcast on iTunes. With the 350th episode of the show nearing, Above & Beyond has decided to celebrate the milestone by throwing an extended live DJ set at the Hollywood Palladium on December 4th.

Artists that will be playing alongside Above & Beyond are melody-masters Super8 & Tab, the famous German duo Cosmic Gate, and progressive house DJs Boom Jinx and Jaytech. With such an all star lineup, it’s no doubt that this will be one of the most well remembered events to be hosted at the Palladium.

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