Tom Morello

It's hard to imagine a more unlikely rock couple than Zack de la Rocha, a 22-year-old Chicano who grew up alienated in Irvine and cut his musical teeth on punk-rock and hip-hop, and Tom Morello, 28, a Harvard-educated African-American with a taste for aggressive rock. As the spearheads of the Los Angeles band Rage Against the Machine, they're dedicated to restoring angry social commentary to rock.

Rage Against the Machine's Tom Morello is one rock 'n' roll guitarist whose chief idol was not Jimi Hendrix and who didn't spend most of his late teens in smoke-filled clubs honing his craft. His early heroes were more along the lines of Che Guevara and Malcolm X, and his apprenticeship, if you will, was four years in Harvard classrooms.

It was an emotional roller-coaster at the 2013 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony Thursday night in Los Angeles, even more so than usual for the annual event. Consider disco queen Donna Summer , whose husband and three daughters accepted the award for her posthumously, 11 months after the singer and songwriter lost her battle with cancer. Or 80-year-old producer Quincy Jones -- the most nominated Grammy Award winner ever -- who said his induction into the Rock Hall made him feel “that finally, I have arrived.” Also enduring a long wait for recognition was Heart, whose founding sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson were finally admitted to what's historically been the boys' club of hard rock music after a decade of eligibility.

POP MUSIC L.A. Font The Echo Park four-piece tops a bill with Future Ghost, Kazai Rex and Two Guns. The Pavement-devoted band is headed by Danny Bobbe, an Alaskan with a penchant for spotlighting the grittiest, funniest details of his current surroundings and a frontman worth the admission cost alone. Silverlake Lounge , 2906 Sunset Blvd., L.A. 9 p.m. $8. foldsilverlake.com . ART Clive Barker The master of horror flicks and prolific visual artist presents a new series of oil paintings and ink drawings, many available for purchase.

There seems to be an unwritten rule that Los Angeles arts organizations can't have an awards ceremony or fundraising gala without a featured pop music star. Katy Perry is poised to sing at the Hammer Museum's annual gala on Oct. 6, and Florence and the Machine will help the Los Angeles County Museum of Art celebrate at its Art + Film Gala on Oct. 27. Now add Moby and Tom Morello to the list. Morello, who stoked the left wing political broadsides of the rock band Rage Against the Machine with his innovative electric guitar playing, will be both an honoree and the entertainment for the Center for the Study of Political Graphics' annual party and silent auction Oct. 21 at Professional Musicians Local 47 in Hollywood.

Several thousand people, led by a banner that read "Wal-Mart= Poverty," marched through Chinatown in downtown Los Angeles Saturday to decry the giant retailer's plans for a neighborhood grocery store and the chain's low-end wage scale and non-unionized workforce. "We believe small business will be hurt. Some will close down and there will be layoffs," King Cheung, a member of the Chinatown Committee for Equitable Development, told the crowd. "We just can't support a Wal-Mart who has no heart and no morals.

There's a track on Robbie Robertson's new album, "How to Become Clairvoyant," that's destined to generate buzz among guitar aficionados, not just for the sincerity with which Robertson pays homage to a litany of the instrument's great practitioners but for the company the celebrated musician chose to help out on it. That song, "The Axman," name-checks many who are no longer living, and one who remains: Robert Johnson, Jimi Hendrix, Django Reinhardt,...

Deftones bassist Chi Cheng, who been in a partially conscious state since a 2008 car accident, died this weekend, his record label has confirmed. He was 42. Word of Cheng's passing was made public via fan/charitable site One Love for Chi , started by fan Gina Blackmore to help raise funds for Cheng's medical expenses. Cheng's family had come to use the site to communicate updates on the musician, and his mother posted Sunday that Cheng's "heart just suddenly stopped. " "I know that you will always remember him as a giant of a man on stage with a heart for every one of you," wrote Jeanne Marie Cheng.

Tom Morello is perhaps best known as the guitarist for rock bands Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave, but the politically minded L.A. transplant has recorded as the Nightwatchman and has just created another band, Street Sweeper. His West Coast "Justice Tour," which benefits regional nonprofit PATH (People Assisting the Homeless), stops at the Music Box @ the Fonda on Saturday. -- You went to Libertyville High School in the northern Chicago suburbs. How did you like it?