Beginning this weekend, Nic Harcourt will have a couple of additional co-hosts of sorts for his 88.5 FM Saturday afternoon program – The Guitar Center and Filter magazine. The focus will also shift more specifically to spotlighting emerging, unsigned talent.

Per a report by LA Times music writer Randy Lewis, the association with LA’s leading musical instruments purveyor means the show title will change from Connections with Nic Harcourt to Connections Made by Guitar Center. The tweaked program will also be syndicated and made available via guitarcenter.com:

“There is more good music being made today than ever before,” Harcourt said in a statement. He came to KCSN last year from KCRW-FM (89.9), where he had once been music director and host of Morning Becomes Eclectic. “If you don’t have the time to troll through the vast array of music blogs, YouTube and social spaces, Connections is a place where we’ll do it for you.”

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Well, it looks like Los Angeles isn’t the only media market that’s having trouble with the NHL playoffs.

According to WABC in New York City, the Los Angeles Kings are playing the New York Islanders — not the New Jersey Devils — in the Stanley Cup Final.

Feel better, CBS2, NBC4 and Fox 11?

[H/T Deadspin]

Good magazine is celebrating their latest issue with a party tonight at Atwater Crossing. Alas, it isn’t free, but it’s a pretty good deal – $10 gets you admission to the event, free beer from Golden Road Brewery, and a copy of the mag’s new migration-themed issue. DJs frosty (dublab) and Enorbito (Mas Exitos) will provide beats for the dance floor.

We haven’t seen the new issue, but we can tell you Good throws consistently good parties. This one starts at 9.

Leave it to the youthful and inventive host of Web program The David Pakman Show to turn today’s announcement into a viewer guessing game. Per the video below, Pakman (pronounced “Pack-munn”) shared a bunch of voicemails from Wednesday and overnight, in response to his request for viewers to surmise the identity of today’s “special guest:”

Several fans of the show were spot-on with their suggestion that Thursday’s drop-in would be Cenk Uygur. Together with his The Young Turks co-host Ana Kasparian, Uygur officially welcomed Pakman into the TYT YouTube fold.

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On May 14, LA Times reporter Rosanna Xia profiled Melissa Chan, the first accredited foreign correspondent to be expelled from China in more than a decade. On May 23, as a result of that article, Chan spoke to Grade 6 students at Suzanne Middle School in Walnut, CA.

It just goes to show what can happen when a newspaper article connects with an enterprising teacher. From a report on Walnut Patch:

Social Studies teacher Steve Cusson contacted Chan and asked her to share her story with his classes after reading the May 14 article… “The students were amazed that they got to meet her,” Cusson said.

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If you aren’t following @LAScanner on Twitter, you’re missing out on one of the most informative (and at times scary) sources of local news on the Internet.

The mysterious person behind the account was recently interviewed by José Martinez of OnCentral:

The person behind the popular @LAScanner Twitter account won’t tell you much about himself, although a phone conversation confirms that he’s, indeed, a “himself.”

Here’s what we know: He was born and raised in Los Angeles and resides “in the 323.” In 1988, when he picked up a scanner for the first time, he was a teenager.

And that’s about it – because that’s all he’ll tell us. Read more

Some of the liveliest content on rottentomatoes.com can be found in the comments to individual reviews as well as on the reader boards. Starting Thursday June 7, that same general flow will hit the airwaves of Sirius XM Radio.

Per an announcement first tipped to The Hollywood Reporter’s Paul Bond, the site’s editor-in-chief Matt Atchity (pictured) will host a weekly one-hour call-in show. It’s a natural brand extension and an indication of how Warner Bros. is focused on adding value to its Flixster-crowned property:

Atchity will host Rotten Tomatoes Radio from the company’s Los Angeles headquarters. “My staff and I love movies, and joking and debating about movies fuels a lot of what we do on our website,” Atchity said. “We look forward to sharing those discussions — and arguments – every week with Sirius XM listeners.”

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The Recording Academy announced Thursday the Grammy Awards will return to Staples Center on Feb. 10, 2013.

Outside of a 2003 stint at Madison Square Garden in New York City, Staples Center has been the home of the biggest night in music since 2000.

The GRAMMY Nominations Concert Live!! is also returning to CBS on Dec. 5, featuring your first look at nominations in several categories.

Wayne Gretzky isn’t the only former LA Kings captain getting a memory-lane media workout this NHL playoff season. So too is Bob Wall, the 69-year-old Ontario, Canada resident who served as the team’s original captain. Among the outlets he has spoken to are the LA Times and Sports Illustrated.

Wall will be a special guest at Staples Center next week for Game 4; current Kings players getting to meet their original captain promises to be yet another high point in this magical Kings spring. Wall tells yorkregion.com he has been greatly enjoying the team’s second romp to the Stanley Cup finals:

“Right off the bat, we knew it would be hard work to sell the product in Southern California,” said Wall, recalling opening the inaugural [1967-68] season in the Long Beach Coliseum while construction on the Fabulous Forum was completed. “It wasn’t easy, but I feel like I was one of the seeds or saplings planted, so I am kind of gratified to see what has happened.”

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In this 50th anniversary year of Marilyn Monroe’s death, the Hollywood icon is apparently being engineered to appear in the same way that the late Tupac Shakur did at Coachella. Per a report in the June 8 print issue of The Hollywood Reporter from senior writer Eriq Gardner:

The Hollywood Reporter has learned that a “live” Monroe concert is being planned to take place before year’s end with the working title “Virtual Marilyn Live – A Musical Celebration of the Birth of the Pop Icon.”

The concert, which has yet to secure a venue (organizers also plan to stream it on the web), will feature the projected blond bombshell singing and interacting alongside live music stars. Becky Altringer, managing director and co-founder of Digicon Media, the company doing the planning, says the event will employ the technology used at Coachella.

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