This morning's shooting outside Les Deux has the nightlife scene buzzing in alarm. WTF happened? According to the club’s co-owner Sylvain Bitton, Les Deux is “guilty by association.” He doesn't want to blame Element, the club next door, per se. But he did tell us that he feels Element attracts riffraff and says Les Deux's suffering because it's better-known. “Every single fight that’s been on TMZ has been from [Element],” he said before pointing out that the shooting happened at 2:05 a.m., a half hour after Les Deux had closed. When called for a response, Element owner James Sinclair was surprised. “It’s a weak attempt to deflect attention," he said, "and I refer you to the official LAPD statement.”



—Alexandra Le Tellier

I used to hate the mail. Between bills, KFC coupons, chinese take-out menus and issues of Redbook from a previous tenant, I spent years avoiding my mailbox.

But here in the glamourous world of Metromix, my mail has been transformed into a treasure trove of goodies that make me as happy as a schoolgirl with backstage passes to a Hannah Montana show. Like this super-fancy 7-inch single from our friends over at The Fader magazine:

Produced in conjuction with Southern Comfort (and who doesn't love whiskey?), it features a track from Daft Punk manager/Ed Banger label owner/international scenester Busy P on one side, and one from Baltimore bad boy Blaqstarr on the other. Super-fresh designer Tomoe Hayama whipped up that eye-popping cover. And yes, it does sound as good as it looks. 

After sloshing my way into the office this morning through the downpour (cue Zeppelin's "Fool in the Rain" here), any mood dampness was immediately wiped away when I found this little gem of a coffee table book waiting for me:

For those that don't know, CREEM was the greatest rock magazine the world has ever seen. Originally produced in Detroit (rock city, baby!) before moving up to the suburbs of Birmingham, MI, CREEM featured the kind of real, raw and truly inspired journalism that's sadly lacking in the pages of pretty much every music mag out there today. Just flipping through it, I found a piece on the Rolling Stones penned by Charles Bukowski, a Lester Bangs interview with Iggy Pop from 1974 and a shot of Jefferson Airplane singer Grace Slick baring a boob for the camera. While there might be all sorts of controversy behind the scenes regarding ownership rights and revisionist history, it doesn't diminish the tremendous impact between the covers of this brilliant tome. Any true rock fan should run over to Skylight Books or Book Soup and pick up a copy. It should be enough to send you to ebay in search of original copies from back in the day. 

-Scott T. Sterling