By: Sofia Cardenas

August 2022. One of the final hangouts of the summer before starting my senior year of high school. My friends and I are sitting cramped in a 2008 Scion XD on the way back home from a day at the mall. Out of the brief silence between talking about what we bought and what we were dreading about the incoming school year, my friend, the driver, placed a CD into the car’s head unit. It would be dramatic for me to say that I felt like I saw my world go from black and white to color, but there is truly no other explanation that could encapsulate what I felt at 17 hearing the opening guitars to “Honey, This Mirror Isn’t Big Enough for the Two of Us” for the first time. Then came the first pre-chorus:

“And you can cry all you want to / I don’t care how much / You invest yourself in me / We’re not working out“

By: Woobin Wang

A small glimmer of fall weather after L.A.’s scorching heat wave accompanied Mac DeMarco’s first show in North America, with a packed audience at the Hollywood Bowl. As I sat in my terrace box at the outdoor venue, I took in the vast size of the amphitheater, DeMarco’s biggest show yet.

Instead of an opener, I was treated to a video montage of DeMarco’s cat with acoustics from his discography. DeMarco came on at 8:15 P.M., starting his show with “For the First Time” and moving straight into “Sweeter” and “On the Level.” The stage was illuminated between the shells of the Hollywood Bowl, with shades of red and blue highlighting DeMarco’s band. Looking up, I was mesmerized by the crossbeam of light that was made with searchlights in the clear skies above.

By: Sylvia Ansley

The joke goes that people in LA will stand in line for anything, but as I stood on the sidewalk of La Brea Ave, I waited with purpose. Above me, in large varsity-font letters, read the words SYSTEM OF A DOWN. This year marks the 25th anniversary of LA metal legends System of a Down releasing their groundbreaking album, Toxicity, and to celebrate, the band put together an exhibition to memorialize the event. Partnering up with Beyond the Streets Gallery, the exhibition will run from 10/13 – 10/18. What kind of exhibition you ask? The kind with broken guitars strewn all over the walls, brutalized mannequin heads hanging from the ceiling, and piles of sunflower seeds. Chaotic yet calculated, the exhibition truly felt like an extension of the band. SOAD formed in 1994 in Glendale, California. Blending elements of nu-metal, thrash, and punk, their career has been devoted to the chaotic and anarchist education of the American people, and Toxicity is a great example of this.

By: Olivia Aerin Lee

New York Times bestselling author Lyla Sage imbues her stories with her favorite things: sunshine and big blue skies. Through the release of her Sweetwater Peak series, she’s adding ghost stories, antiques, and the people and things that hold up rural communities to that list. Her books are atmospheric; her stories radiate the kind of hope and humanity we all fundamentally need. I’ve been a devoted reader of hers since the summer her debut novel, Done and Dusted, showed me that a life filled with “love, support [and], purpose” (Sage, Done and Dusted) was not only possible but achievable.

By: Sofie Foster

I’ve gotten extremely lucky with seating at the past couple of concerts I have attended. As I made my way to the floor of the Forum, I took a look around, remembering my last visit: almost a year ago, for a wonderful Lord Huron concert.

Mumford & Sons came on at 9:15, and played a solid back-to-back two-hour set on an incredible stage decked out with a multitude of lights and pyrotechnics surrounding their talented group of ten. The band opened with the heartwarming “Run Together,” from their new album Prizefighter, before diving into classics like “Little Lion Man” and “Believe,” which fans joined in for.

By: Amanda Romankiw

For three nights only, Brooklyn rock band Geese took over one of Los Angeles’ most iconic landmarks, the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. The ambiance of Hollywood Forever encapsulated Geese’s inescapable presence and attractive cadence — the grounds were lined with majestic bodies of water and the spirits of Hollywood royalty loomed over the estate, from David Lynch to Judy Garland.