When Christina Amini and Rachel Hutton left their first 9-to-5 jobs in New York to head home and live with their folks, each realized they had a long way to go before becoming what the average post-college, pre-picket fence American would call “adult.” That transition from college to the “real world” was somehow not all cash and glory. Read more...

The Los Angeles Times Festival of Books is not the first place most UCLA professors go to find material for their research or the classes they teach. Read more...

The other day, a 15-year-old girl tried to add me as a Facebook friend. While this is probably some people’s idea of a good time (or a first-draft premise for the film “Hard Candy”), I already feel awkward enough in real life running into former campers from my summer at Camp Hess Kramer. Read more...

Once a guitarist, singer/songwriter and occasional drummer for indie-pop bands The Softies and Tiger Trap, Rose Melberg uses her second solo album to branch off in a different direction with a lush and humble sound that is all her own. Read more...

Some albums simply cannot be judged on an initial listen. The last album that really embodied this was Tool’s 2001 release, “Lateralus.” Its song structure was bizarre, with an opening track, “The Grudge,” written in 10/8 time and an overall structure that leaned more toward progressive rock than ever before. Read more...

Forget the typical rock trio. Forget the basic guitar, keyboard and drums set-up. With operatic vocal-lines and a chorus made up of “meows,” eight members including a cellist, a trumpet player, and two percussionists, Margot & the Nuclear So and So’s are bending the rules of folk-rock. Read more...

On April 30, 1975, Saigon fell to the Northern Communist forces and forever changed the lives of millions of South Vietnam citizens. One such individual was Quang X. Read more...