ENTERTAINMENT
April 25, 2014 | By Randall Roberts, Los Angeles Times Pop Music Critic
With spring arrives a fresh blossoming of seasonal metaphors to suggest new birth. A sprouting of unheard music arriving after months of cultivation. Proverbial butterflies crawling out of their cocoons. Bears stretching after deep sleep. In the immortal words of Peter Sellers' character Chauncey Gardiner in “Being There”: “In the garden, growth has it seasons. First comes spring and summer, but then we have fall and winter. And then we get spring and summer again.” So it goes in late April, with the arrival of young music throughout the marketplace, the best of which is gunning for song-of-the-summer punch, making early moves toward July ubiquity.
SPORTS
April 23, 2014 | By David Wharton
Michael Phelps will launch his comeback from retirement on Thursday, but the 22-time Olympic medalist won't make any promises about competing at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games. "I'm doing this because I want to get back in the water," he said at a Wednesday afternoon news conference. "I'm having fun. " Phelps will compete in the Arena Grand Prix in Mesa, Ariz., this week. He is scheduled to swim in only one event Thursday morning, sticking with the 100-meter butterfly after announcing that he will skip the 100-meter freestyle.
ENTERTAINMENT
April 23, 2014 | By Yvonne Villarreal
USA Network has its eye on summer, unveiling its summer slate of premieres -- including the launch of two new dramas. June is to be the month of returns, with "Royal Pains" making its sixth-season rollout on Tuesday, June 10. The following night will see the return of "Suits" and "Graceland. " "Covert Affairs" will be waiting a bit longer, getting its start on June 24. Once the veterans warm things up, USA plans to unveil a pair of new dramas on July 17. "Rush," a medical drama with a hard-partying, bad-boy doc (Tom Ellis)
ENTERTAINMENT
April 22, 2014 | By August Brown
Hard Summer may have temporarily moved from its traditional Chinatown locale, but that hasn't slowed down the fest's bookings for this year. The annual electronic music blowout has announced its lineup for 2014: Headliners include the Dutch EDM titan Tiësto, recent Coachella heros Disclosure, the Diplo/Skrillex side project Jack U and the Harlem rap crew ASAP Mob. The fest, which takes place at the Whittier Narrows Recreation Area on Aug....
ENTERTAINMENT
April 18, 2014 | By Chris Lee and Todd Martens, Los Angeles Times
INDIO, Calif. - Dee Dee Penny, lead singer of the Dum Dum Girls, is no stranger to performing at giant summer musical events. At the first of the two-weekend Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival events last Friday, her retro-rock act played before thousands of ecstatic fans. She was just one of an eclectic roster of female artists who galvanized Coachella audiences. Teenage provocateur Lorde dazzled amid a howling dust storm in her summer music festival debut. R&B diva Solange got a surprise assist from her superstar sister, Beyoncé Knowles.
ENTERTAINMENT
April 16, 2014 | By Gerrick D. Kennedy
Beyonce and Jay Z surprised festival-goers at Coachella last weekend with a few unannounced appearances . But music's most famous couple have a bigger trick up their sleeves: a summer stadium run. The married superstars will launch their first joint tour in June, a source close to the production told The Times. Page Six first broke news of a trek that is slated to hit 20 cities in the U.S., including a possible Fourth of July appearance in New York City. PHOTOS: Unexpected musical collaborations Expected to be named, aptly, the Mr. and Mrs. Carter Tour, according to our source, the U.S. leg will launch June 13 in Atlanta and wrap Aug. 6 in San Francisco.