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Social Distortion started the week with the announcement that their drummer, Adam "Atom" Willard was calling it quits, after nearly a year with the band. He left on friendly terms "due to many foreseeable scheduling conflicts," with his other band, Angels & Airwaves, said a statement released by Social Distortion.

They're ending the week with a new dude to sit behind the kit. Fu Manchu drummer Scott Reeder is filling the spot for Social D's first-ever South American tour, which is set to begin April 17.

​Here's a fun fact for you: Did you know that before Fender became the world's most recognized guitar brand, it was founded in Fullerton in 1946?  More >>

​I've been bear-hugged by Gnarls Barkley's Cee-Lo Green. Talked politics with Toby Keith. Sat with Norah Jones just weeks after her multi-platinum debut dropped and killed a pint of Bushmills with AC/DC singer Brian Johnson. All of this went down during the past decade while writing for Florida publications including Creative Loafing Tampa Bay, the alt-weekly that employed me as chief music critic through 2007-08. In 2009, my artist interviews, record reviews, etc., have run in publications nationwide including OC Weekly sister papers Miami New Times, New Times Broward-Palm Beach, Denver Westword and Dallas Observer.  More >>

It's sort of last minute, but if you're chilling in front of your computer surfing music blogs today, then you probably have time to check out a repeat performance of RX Bandits this afternoon on Fuel TV's The Daily Habit (for those still rocking basic cable, you'll probably have to wait a week or so before they put it online). Their performance airs today at 2:30 EST/ 11:30 p.m. PST and 5:30 EST/ 2:30 p.m. PST. Consider it a post-Thanksgiving gift for those who didn't catch it when it originally aired last night. Not to spoil it or anything, but the band plays two songs from their latest album Mandala, "My Lonesome Only Friend" and "It's Only Another Parsec..."

It's always good to see artists get credit where credit is due. And in the case of LMNO, it's definitely past due. Luckily, with the release of his latest album Devilish Dandruff with Holy Shampoo this week, this heavy-hitting Long Beach emcee is getting some well deserved attention. You may remember his conversation with the Weekly a couple issues ago wherein he talked about everything from his collaboration with French producer Yann Kesz (who he still hasn't met by the way) to the message behind his alphabetically sound stage name. 

After the jump: Full tour schedule!
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​Mondays aren't usually known for being full of good news. But if you're a Cold War Kids fan, today is a joyous anomaly.

It's come to our attention that the band announced the upcoming release of their new EP, Behave Yourself, out on Jan. 19 (Downtown Records). And they plan to celebrate with a whopping four shows in January, one of which is a sure-to-be sold out show at the Wiltern on Jan. 23. It's only been a week since we talked to CWK drummer Matt Aveiro about his recently premiered short film Jen in the Painting.

And it appears that the band is turning out buzzworthy news on a weekly basis these days. That's alright guys, we ain't mad atcha.

 In fact, judging by the teaser trailer for their video "Audience", full of aimless antics that involve skate boarding, driving and bathing (yes, bathing) most fans ought to be fairly happy. Check out the video posted after the jump to see what we're talking about.

Oh, and in case you wanted extra incentive to start clicking onto Live Nation right away, the band has made a precarious promise, via MySpace, that all four shows will be recorded and distributed to ticket holders as a free download "if we can figure out the technology"--this coming from a band who gave us an interactive music video.
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First Zach Braff, now this? Yeah, as we type, right now the top two trending topics on Twitter are "RIP Kanye West" and "#LongLiveYeezy." Don't be fooled; this is another sad sign that the "microblogging" site is, as I've spent so long denying, sometimes kind of dumb. Or actually harmful. The infamously self-obsessed yet undeniably talented rapper is, as far as anyone can tell, most definitely still alive, probably at home writing something in all caps right now.

Misinformation tends to spread like H1N1 on Twitter; earlier this year, there were rumors that Miley Cyrus (it's Miley!) had died. No wonder she deleted her Twitter. Don't think, though, that the days of post-Taylor Swift Incident weirdness from Kanye West is over--first there was the inexplicable, Spike Jonze-directed We Were Once A Fairytale short film posted over this past weekend. Now it's disappeared form 'ye's website, saying simply "SORRY I HAD TO TAKE IT DOWN : (" Don't trip, it's still on YouTube--for now.

After the jump: some of the best "Kanye is dead" tweets from a recent round-up (there are a lot of tweets--and keep in mind that some of these jokes have no doubt been made multiple times, so the usernames attached to them may or may not deserve any real credit). People are gullible. (Read: dumb.)

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Chris Sansenbach via Flickr.

U2 in Anaheim, April 2005.

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There are going to be about 100,000 fans, from all around Southern California, this Sunday at the U2 show at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. 100,000 people driving in from across SoCal, converging at one public place--can't imagine any problems with traffic, right?

The fine people at the Rose Bowl and Live Nation are so concerned (rightly so) about what could be a clusterfuck rivaling the size of Bono's ego that they've released a series of recommendations to help ease the crunch. Here are the basic guidelines: arrive early (before 4 p.m.); if you have to park buy in advance (the last day to do so is tomorrow at 10 a.m.); take shuttle buses/public transportation if possible; carpool as much as you can. There's even something called "Picnic in the Park" with several area restaurants partcipating, if you're worried that getting there early means you won't be able to eat before the show; they've got you covered. Thanks, dudes!

Surely lots of OC peeps are headed up north for the show--are you? Let us know in the comments. More details are here. The full text of Live Nation's press release is after the jump.

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Big ol' congratulations are in order for Long Beach band Avi Buffalo, who have signed with long-standing, internationally renowned Seattle-based tastemaking label Sub Pop--y'know, the label that signed Nirvana and Soundgarden back in the day, and have continued to stay cool in the '00s with acts like the Shins and Band of Horses.

Really, it shouldn't come as much of a surprise--Avi Buffalo have been gaining a remarkable amount of traction (deservedly so!) around Southern California lately, including key slots on big shows like LA's FYF Fest. Their next show is November 5 at the Echo, also in LA, but hopefully they'll no doubt add a show closer to home soon. The full text of Sub Pop's press release--including details on upcoming music--is after the jump.
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