winni3, Flickr

A Staples Center eatery

Update (5:50 p.m., Headline changed): According to a statement from the arena, it looks like Moz and his public relations goons went a little too hard on the whole meatless Staples thing. While the venue will be serving vegan Sloppy Joes, a grilled vegetable sandwich, cheese pizza, vegan sushi, cheese nachos, and veggie burgers at the March 1 concert -- more of a flesh-free presence than usual -- Morrissey did not win "a victory for the animals." There will be meat and it will be eaten after all. We just hope no one has the audacity to blow any pepperoni-perfumed kisses toward the stage.

Original post: Influenced by his mother who refused to eat meat and demonstrated against lax hunting laws, legendary rock crooner Morrissey has been a vegetarian since the age of 11. He's always candidly communicated his distaste for animal flesh, whether singing "Meat is Murder" or stating, in a 1985 interview, that eating meat was "the most disgusting thing" he could think of, akin to "biting into your grandmother."

In an unprecedented move, out of deference to the former Smiths frontman's convictions, the Staples Center will make Morrissey's March 1 concert an entirely vegetarian one. This means that, if you like to chase a healthy portion of morose pomp with a fat sandwich, you're going to have to go with the tempeh.

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bravotv.com

Asa Soltan Rahmati from Shahs of Sunset

If you're following the L.A.-based reality show Shahs of Sunset, (and we're certainly not judging you if you aren't) you've probably become acquainted with Asa Soltan Rahmati. And if that's the case, you've probably noticed that her favorite things are music, gold and Persian food. In what we guess is her debut single, recorded in Farsi and first posted in 2009 titled "Fessenjoon," Asa raps an homage to her Iranian roots by highlighting some hallmark cuisines, which include -- you guessed it -- fessenjoon and badenjoon, pomegranate-walnut stew and eggplant and sun-dried yogurt dip, respectively. (Fresh green herb stew, ghormeh sabzi, did not make the chorus due to, we believe, rhyming complications).

OK, so the video is ridiculous and even uncomfortable to watch at times for obvious reasons: namely her brother lurking in the background as she dances and flings her hair around. And after a chorus of chanting the above-mentioned cuisines, she raps about the lost Iranian identity and the social, political and religious problems plaguing our race as she leans on her immaculate white BMW.

While it's not likely she'll be up for a Grammy anytime soon, this self-proclaimed artist is actually onto something.

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via VisitKoreatown FB

Gangnam Style, the restaurant

From pirate-themed bars to coffee shops shaped like the Titanic, Koreatown has always been known for it's gimmicky fads. But now it's been taken to a new, borderline litigious level with news that a Koreatown eatery has renamed itself after "Gangnam Style," the international mega-super-smash hit from K-Pop star PSY. And no, its not Kang Ho Dong Baekjeong, whose cherubic celebrity proprietor gets mistaken for PSY on a daily basis.

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via Nickelbacktv

We're not sure exactly what to make of Nickelback's music video for "Trying Not to Love You," which stars Seinfeld actor Jason Alexander as a bumbling barista trying to win over former Baywatch babe Brooke Burns with intricate foam art and "half-caff soy lattés."

Set at the recently closed Royal/T Café in Culver City, the short film features two things the Internet loves to hate -- crappy music by the Canadian alt-rock group and pretentious art-house baristas. Sure, it's a godawful music video, but it's somewhat redeemed by George Constanza (who is sporting a dubious-looking full head of hair) and the ridiculous portrayal of modern coffee culture -- even if most of the jabs come off as, well, a bit '90s (sort of like Nickelback's music).

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Flickr/@cdharrison

Chick-fil-A sandwich

Sick of talking about Chick-fil-A? Me too. Sick of very fast recipe rapping? Uuuhh, no, me neither. The recent controversy over Chick-fil-A's involvement in the anti-same-sex marriage movement has inspired Mac Lethal, a Kansas City rapper, to perhaps start a new trend: the recipe rap. Check it out (warning: PG-13 lyrics and dumb references to how gay love works):

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vh1.com

Two Scenes From Train's "Drive By" Video

Here's something to add to the list of unexpected wine pairings. The late-1990s pop band Train ("Meet Virginia") recently took over one of the top wineries in Napa, Shafer Vineyards, for the day to film a new music video for their new single, "Drive By."

Shafer is more the sort of place that you'd expect to read a press release about Dudamel conducting one of his Mahler renditions at the winery, or perhaps that the L.A. Opera is debuting a one-night traveling edition of Simon Boccanegra in Napa. (Sure, why not?) If for no other reason than a winery that produces $200 bottles of wine seems more like a $200 ticket pairing sort of place in today's Match.com theory of compatibility relativity.

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www.Hanson.net

Hanson are looking more dapper than adorable these days

The chart-topping reign of the three Hanson brothers with flowing blond locks was regrettably (for some) short-lived, and odds are you haven't had much of them in your life lately. But whether you remember their late '90s smash MMMBop as the brain-burrowing scourge of that decade or as a jam "remarkably like a great 1969 Jackson 5 single" as rock critic extraordinaire Jonathan Gold once wrote, there is no denying it is infectious as chickenpox and so bubble gum sweet it could wreck your teeth through your ears.

For their newest project, the three brothers are changing up their attack on your palate, this time swinging the bitter punch that only one thing can bring -- hops. That's right, Hanson announced at a talk/concert at Oxford this week that starting early next year they will be selling an India Pale Ale called MMMHop. And no, they're not joking.

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Mac Lethal Raps About Pancakes

We're not sure what's more impressive: that rapper Mac Lethal can cook pancakes while rapping over the beat to Chris Brown's "Look At Me Now" or that his spoof song, "Cook With Me Now," actually sounds better than the original version. Either way, it's impressive to watch a man griddle a perfect, golden-brown hotcake while dropping insightful culinary and life lessons like:

Yo, yellow cheese, eggs
White pancake batter
Put a little bit up on the skillet
When it starts to bubble flip it over with your spatula.

[Video after the jump.]

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Even with the world being a brutal, violent place and people generally malevolent and scummy, peace will always get more of a chance than wrinkly green nubs from the freezer. On his latest album, Give Peas A Chance, famous children's musician Tom Chapin (brother of Harry, father of semi-locals Lily and Abigail, a.k.a. The Chapin Sisters) lends his voice, guitar and storytelling acumen to the advocacy of good food, not least of which is the oft-maligned pea.

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He calls himself Fat Tony, and he's not fat. But just to let everyone know that, the Houston-based rapper wrote a song and made a video. As the protagonist of "You Ain't Fat" exercises and struggles with temptation, hallucinating that the grocery store clerk has spaghetti for hair, that his waiter's face is made of cheese-dripping pizza, that, over on the next treadmill, a sprightly runner's legs are fried chicken drumsticks, Fat Tony reminisces about his childhood:

"I was a chubby brat/chilling with my mom and buying jeans off the husky rack/skipping collard greens and beans for a Kit Kat."

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