Photo by Zachary Pincus-Roth

The popular Venice Beach Drum Circle has done away with the bongos and embraced the digital age. This week the group, which meets every Sunday just before sunset, announced that it has replaced traditional instruments with a collection of smartphones and Rock Band drum kits.

Ariel Coriander, who describes himself as the group's de facto leader, despite "not believing in the concept of leaders," wants to assure people that even though they've modernized, the circle's core values remain intact.

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Flickr/digitalbob8

Your brain on (virtual) drugs

Acquiring drugs takes a lot of effort. You've got to source your connect, arrange an exchange, drive somewhere inconvenient or sketchy, and then have a vaguely uncomfortable interaction with a dealer before handing them your money. And the stuff you get might be bunk. It's a crapshoot out there.

See also: Moon Rocks: The Best High on Earth

But there's another option for getting stoned, and you can download it. Binaural beats are precisely-designed audio tracks that claim to get you high by inducing the brainwave associated with particular controlled substances. It's totes legal.

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Cate Blanchett didn't say any of this stuff either

Last week it was revealed that New Yorker staff writer and bestselling author Jonah Lehrer made up a few Bob Dylan quotes in his new book, Imagine: How Creativity Works. "It's a hard thing to describe. It's just this sense that you have something to say," Lehrer fake quotes Dylan about the writing of "Like A Rolling Stone," following a lengthy anecdote (which he also invented).

Since these sins have been exposed, he's gotten lots of flack; his publisher yanked the book, and Lehrer resigned his New Yorker post. But we should feel bad for the guy, because it turns out fake Dylan quotes are everywhere! We've spent a week combing through the annals of written history, and here are ten even more egregious ones.

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Daniel Kohn

Ben Harper
Hollywood Bowl
7/1/12

On an idyllic night, Ben Harper performed to some 11,000 of his closest friends last night at Hollywood Bowl. The past few years has seen the veteran musician gravitate away from his trademark lap steel guitar in favor of a quieter, more soothing sound. Harper's explored many different genres of music, including folk, alt rock, blues, gospel and reggae.

A veteran who never quite became a household name, Harper's opened for folks like Pearl Jam, Dave Matthews Band and Neil Young, but can easily work a venue the size of the Bowl, as he showed last night. His current backing outfit, the Relentless 7, is more subdued than the band he played with during his most commercially-successful years, Innocent Criminals, but they complement the new Harper well.

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