Nine-year-old Will Magid had a trumpet and dream: to play like his idol Louis Armstrong. About 10 years later, with his friends Dan Marschak on keyboards and Aaron Leibowitz on saxophone, Magid would form The Goop with one mission in mind ““ to make instrumental jazz music understandable and enjoyable for the masses. Read more...

Regina Spektor “Begin To Hope” SIRE RECORDS Regina Spektor is that weird girl at your fifth-grade sleepover ““ shamelessly quirky and completely charming. Except that instead of lip-syncing into a hairbrush for her friends, she is singing pop songs she wrote herself for whoever is bold enough to listen. Read more...

Santa Barbara transplant Ross Flournoy cautiously maneuvers his way down Wilshire Boulevard’s rush hour traffic in true Los Angeles fashion: on a cell phone. However, the band he fronts, The Brokedown, defies many typical L.A. Read more...

The Walkmen “A Hundred Miles Off” RECORD COLLECTION Good things happen to people brave enough to limit themselves. Maybe using a well-defined set of sounds brings out a bit of creativity that open space intimidates away, or maybe it crafts a theme for an album as elements intertwine, reinforcing each other. Read more...

I spent this past holiday weekend out of town, like many people across the country and at UCLA. Instead of visiting family, however, I was in Keystone, Colo., for my friend Ken’s wedding. Read more...

As a professor of Roman culture in the classics department, Robert Gurval naturally cares about dates. But as far as his research interests are concerned, “B.C.” may as well stand for anything prior to 1963, or, in other words, “Before “˜Cleopatra.'” Gurval’s work, which is focused on the political problems of the early Roman empire involving the famous Egyptian queen, doesn’t end when the historical dates do. Read more...

Directed by Brett Ratner 20th Century Fox “X-Men: The Last Stand” has a lot wrong with it. So much, in fact, that the only feasible way to discuss the movie adequately is a laundry list of problems. Read more...