Zack De La Rocha

Rage Against the Machine is finally entering the video age--and the hot L.A. band is bringing jailed American Indian activist Leonard Peltier with it. In a typically anti-Establishment move by the defiant rap 'n' rock band, Rage refused to release a promotional video for its late-1992 debut album, arguing that traditional videos have nothing to do with message or art.

Budding North moguls Marc Smith and Eddie Harrah are already hammering away at their next project: revamping Moguls nightclub. The former operator of the Hollywood venue, Phil Duff, fought City Hall and a neighbor to keep it open but finally gave the goods to Smith and Harrah. The young partners are aiming to create a live music space that's as comfortable as it is aurally stimulating. That's right, cushy seating and good sight lines.

Spaceland was struck by a pair of Red Hot Chili Peppers last week, who treated the jubilant crowd to Joy Division covers. Both Flea and John Frusciante played with their hearts on their sleeves to help raise money for a new Eastside children's co-op. A Clubland uber-vixen tells us Keanu Reeves kicked down a mighty six-figure sum that night, too. That's what I like to hear--a bit of '60s-style activism.

An image of Che Guevara and an upside-down U.S. flag on which had been written "you've been tricked" flanked the stage during Rage Against the Machine's homecoming show at the Universal Amphitheatre on Saturday. Throughout the set, which kicked off four local shows by a group that returned home last week after four months on the road, the visibly exhausted band members thrashed through sonic bombshells inspired by the motto, "Anger is a gift."

Rage Against the Machine is a band with an agenda. Its goal? To stun the placid, suburban upper middle class, ignite the underclass and infuse a razor-sharp political message into its volatile cocktail of metal, funk, punk and hip-hop. On Thursday, playing a sold-out show at the Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre, the group demonstrated why it has been able to touch a nerve with many rock fans who crave a combination of head-banging music and radical politics.

It hurts to report this, but Small's owner, Sean MacPherson, has sold the Melrose Avenue club and it's officially closing early next week. Memories, like the corners of that dimly lit joint, are all we'll have left of this great nightspot that for years was the neighborhood bar for Hollywood scenesters--the last-call pit stop. Expect it to reopen as the Gin Joint. . . . The Dragonfly's feeling a little nostalgic for the '80s these days, offering its fabulous stage to the L.A.

For many, the final day of Coachella was all about the reunion of Rage Against the Machine. But Sunday offered a kaleidoscope of ways to rage against the machine before Zack de la Rocha and company took the main stage with their political, revolution-minded music. Earlier on the same stage, hip-hop group the Roots mixed a potent cocktail of party and protest.

Rage Against the Machine is a band with an agenda. Its goal? To stun the placid, suburban upper-middle class, ignite the underclass and infuse a razor-sharp political message into its volatile cocktail of metal, funk, punk and hip-hop. On Thursday, playing a sold-out show at Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre, the group revealed that it has touched a nerve with many rock fans who crave a combination of head-banging music and radical politics.