My roommates and I have a ritual of watching Law and Order: SVU every Wednesday night at 10 PM for our weekly dosage of the couple that never was: Detective Benson and Stabler and also because we are too cheap to pay for cable.  We do not buy that brother/sister labeling and can easily see that shoddily hidden sexual tension. To our delight, we saw a commercial for another NBC show, Who Do You Think You Are? which airs on Friday at 8 PM and knew we had to add this show to our Must See TV lineup. I just finished my second episode of this wonderful show which is currently in its second season and unsurprisingly, this show is an adaptation of a BBC show by the same name.

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The Miami Heat are making headlines once again; this time, for all the wrong reasons.  After Sunday’s tough loss at home to the resurgent Chicago Bulls, Coach Erik Spoelstra indicated that a couple of the players were caught crying in the team’s locker room.  That’s right, crying.

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Trance Gathering started as outlet for a few friends to communicate the latest and greatest in trance and progressive. This gathering of friends soon grew to a few hundred friends that contribute by sharing all types of electronic music. Trance Gathering is currently located on Facebook and gives you your daily dose of trance and progressive. Ranging from types such of music such as unsigned artists, remixes, and the biggest artists in the genre; if you scroll down their page on any given day you’re sure to find tons of new material and a new favorite song. Check them out at here and contribute anything you want to share to this unique gathering of friends.

The latest and craziest phenomenon following the slinky is Twilight. Today tweens knows three things Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana, Justin Bieber, and Twilight. The Vampires and werewolves falling in love with a human? It’s like an eagle falling in love with a field mouse. Vampires traditionally just used their ridiculous good looks to lure humans into their most vulnerable state before draining them of all specialized bodily fluid. So I guess it would be interesting to see a vampire really fall for a human kind of taboo if you ask me but hey I don’t judge.

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“The show must go on” is probably not a new phrase to anyone, but it could not be more pertinent to Crystal Castles during their current tour. Lead singer, Alice Glass broke her ankle sometime in January in the middle of their world tour. This, however, has not stopped the group from travelling and performing these past 2 months. This dedication to putting on a good show no matter what was a major part of what made Crystal Castles’ performance at the Fox Theater in Pomona last Thursday such an entertaining and, to put it in my own words, SICK show.

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Parking in Echo Park sucked as always so I had to walk for about three blocks in the rain that night with my tacky UCLA umbrella while some annoying USC fans chided me for not sharing my umbrella. I wanted to use that release mechanism on the umbrella to “accidentally” hit them in the face but the calming effect of the rain persuaded me against that. I missed the first opening band, Death Kit, but I made sure not to miss Shlomo, an LA/SF-based electronic musician that sounds like he belongs with the Brainfeeder artists.

Shlomo’s set started off slow for the first half and was riddled by sound difficulties, not on his part, but more on the venue itself. It was as if someone had crinkled a Lindt  wrapper over a microphone for about twenty minutes. The second half of the set was a lot better and this was indicative by the annoying bag lady who kept swaying her body as her big ol’ bag hit me in the arm. This was also evidenced by the synchronized head shaking by the row of hooded boys to my right. They even called for an encore, but Shlomo did not oblige.

As I choked on a gust of artificial fog spewed by the weaksauce fog machine, Tom Krell, aka How to Dress Well inconspicuously came onstage. The moment “Lover’s Start” began, I wasn’t sure if my tears were chemically-induced, or emotionally-induced. Some arty clips befitting of Barney Gumble’s evocative art film graced the projector as clips of classical nudes and ancient women diverted my attention.  Like the midnight special on BET, he began to stroke himself as he uttered the RnB-tinged, sensual lyrics of “My Body,” before breaking into the forlorn lyrics of “Escape Before the Rain,” which was very appropriate for the night. A smooth transition was made into “Can’t See My Own Face,” with a hook that seems to borrow from Beyonce’s “Crazy in Love.” We were transported into a daze with “Suicide Dream 1,” and after a few more songs, he gave us an encore performance of the crowd favorite,”Ready For The World.” At the end of the encore, HTDW disappeared as quickly as he appeared, leaving the audience mystified at the arrival and disappearance of this beautiful, Nike-clad creature.

The Voodoo Fix recently came into the station this quarter and played a live performance on KLA Plugged (Saturday’s from 2-4). This five piece blues rock based out of Los Angeles recently returned from a shack in the mountains of Big Bear, where they spent over a month producing new material for their debut album. The Voodoo Fix are currently hitting colleges all over southern California in anticipation of their new record. Check them out online at http://www.thevoodoofix.com They have a distinct bluesy sound that incorporates a steady beat, blues guitars, and a funky bass line. These guys are pretty awesome, definitely check out their new record when it drops.

DJ Thor

Need a break or a easy excuse to break away from studying for your Finals? Log on and check out your brother from anotha, DJ jOKERpACE and the JOKERPACE RADIO HOUR…Sat. 3-12-11 Noon-2pm…an eclectic mix of music from all genres and up and coming musical talent plus a Wad of Funny bits will be on display as well…Log on and get some FINALS relief…Sat. Noon-2pm(pst)…March 12th ‘11

The men’s basketball 2011 Pac-10 Tournament got underway this week, as the Stanford-Oregon State match-up on Wednesday begun a crazy four days period of non-stop basketball.  Our Bruins squad is a number 2 seed in the tournament, and with the Staples Center located just 10 miles from the UCLA campus, Bruin fans can easily support their team, while also getting to watch some of the best teams on the west coast.  With an NCAA tournament birth on the line, the Pac-10 tournament is always a competitive event, with six different schools winning the tourney since it came back into existence in 2002.  To preview this year’s tournament, I will review the regular seasons of the top contenders , and also highlight the strengths and weakness’ of those teams.

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In Part 1 of my 2011 Pac-10 Tournament preview, I examined the seasons of Arizona and UCLA.  In Part 2, I will look at the 3rd-5th seeds participating in the tournament.

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Avant-groovers Medeski, Martin and Wood will grace Los Angeles with their propulsive and spacey jams at the El Rey Theatre this Friday, March 11th (doors open at 8 PM). With Billy Martin on drums and percussion, John Medeski on the keyboards, and Chris Wood on the bass, the trio draws on everything from funk to hip hop to soul jazz. MMW’s consistent experimentalism forges a category for them way beyond the confines of any old “jam band.” These improv heroes have toured with jam rockers Phish and collaborated extensively with guitar virtuoso John Scofield (who performed at JazzReggae Festival in 2006). Having been featured on soundtracks such as Grey’s Anatomy and The OC, MMW’s splendor of skills is neither spoiled, nor a secret.

Their critical acclaim in the jazz circuit doesn’t end with nearly twenty studio and live albums — MMW maintains their reputation for unconventional and offbeat live performances, often diverging from standard sets into extended bouts of improvisational jams. Yet despite the dubious nature of MMW’s live sets, it’s not a hysterical mind-melt – the trio always finds a harmony with which to weave structure into the unruly. Over a year since the release of Radiolarians, the three-album set was developed on tour before recording songs in the studio. Their current mantra, “Write > Tour > Record > Repeat”, means that whatever they play on Thursday is likely an embryonic version of their next album. Needless to say, it’s about time MMW is back in L.A. — these jazz fusion deviants guarantee an awesome show. Check it out!

March 23/Wednesday

Travie McCoy (3/30) on Random Thoughts, midnight-2 AM

Justin Bieber is perhaps the most influential youngster since little Michael. Much of his appeal comes from the tweens who love him. I don’t know so much if he is creating a sense of little girls toward sex because the whole idea of that is frightening, but more so that little girls and all young peers of the Biebster see him as an icon to represent their generation. Almost all women admit to liking his songs and even though men try hiding their true emotions you can still catch them humming “baby” every now and again. Personally I feel that the Canadian superstar has to be given credit, he is making bank and moving toward ruling the world. In comparison to his fellow Canadian star Michael Cera Justin Bieber is a dynamo that could probably kick Michael Cera’s scrawny ass, however, Michael Cera’s odd appearance isn’t the focus here, the point is Justin Bieber may very well be the first in history to challenge the throne of Wayne Gretzky as the official poster boy of Canadian and then….the world.

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March 2nd, 2011 – Dr. Gary Nabel speaks with UCLA Radio News Manager Laila Mohammad about the new possibilities and discoveries in the realm of HIV and universal flu vaccines. Dr. Nabel is the Director of the Vaccine Research Center of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health. He visited UCLA to present an IMED Seminar Series lecture – “New Vistas for HIV and Universal Influenza Vaccines”. More information about IMED Seminar Series can be found at http://www.imedseminar.com/.

March 1st, 2011 – UCLA history professor James Gelvin joins Khalid Seirafi, former UCLA Radio News anchor and host of “Voices of the Middle East”, on air for a special feature on Libya. Professor Gelvin specializes in the social and cultural history of the modern Middle East.