Courtesy of the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium

For the last 55 years, the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium has had all types of boring conventions, cat shows and craft fairs. But it's also held some amazing concerts; truth be told, its importance to the local rock and punk music scenes cannot be overstated.

Due to a combination of obsolescence and budget cuts, the landmark venue -- located at Pico and Main -- is finished hosting concerts, though the auditorium will still have some city events.

This news has gone largely under the radar. But that's a shame, because artists like Iggy Pop, David Bowie, and Queen performed classic shows there in the '70s, and in the following decades the spot helped propel the national punk movement, hosting acts like X, The Misfits, The Cramps, Bad Religion, and Black Flag.

See also: Our GV 30 slideshow: Bad Religion, TSOL, Youth Brigade

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Shannon Cottrell

World on Wheels, the Mid-City roller rink that opened in a Venice Boulevard strip mall in 1981 and has long been a community institution, is set to close permanently on June 23.

The rink is owned by its upstairs neighbor, AMF Bowling Center, a national chain that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last November. The bowling alley will be closing as well.

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Stephen Bruner Jr., known as bassist Thundercat, isn't afraid to wear whatever the fuck he deems appropriate. Tonight, he's in a colorful poncho over what appears to be a chain-mail jumpsuit -- King Arthur meets The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.

It's the sold-out release show for Bruner's new album Apocalypse, which comes out today. (See also our review of the show.) Executive produced by Flying Lotus, Apocalypse is a trip through the Brainfeeder cosmos on the back of a phoenix that still hasn't fully emerged from the ashes of a tragedy, with song-titles like "Heartbreaks + Setbacks" and "We'll Die."

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Joe Lopez

Photo Credit: Joe Lopez

Ray Manzarek, co-founder and keyboardist for The Doors, died last week in Germany after a battle with cancer. He was 74.

See also: Henry Rollins Remembers Ray Manzarek

Manzarek's melodies were the musical backbone for many of the Doors' most classic tunes, and he was well-regarded as a producer as well.

But there were many sides to the man, and below, historians, players and Doors fans reflect on him.

Matt Sorum, Velvet Revolver, Guns n' Roses, The Cult
"I feel so blessed and honored to have known Ray and had the chance to play with him. The musical vibe was magical. The pure essence of loosing yourself in the music. He [once] said to other musicians on-stage during rehearsal, 'Hey man, there's no rush. It's only time, and you'll feel it when the time is right.'

It was an inspiring moment in my musical career. See you at the righteous jam in the sky some day Ray. Jim is going to be so happy to see you."

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flickr/edvill

Jeff Hanneman

Slayer guitarist Jeff Hanneman passed last week.

He died of liver failure, at the Hemet Valley Memorial Hospital. He was 49.

Although the rhythmic heart and soul of one of the heaviest bands in modern music, Hanneman was known as a soft-spoken, easygoing dude.

See also: Our Jeff Hanneman obituary

To pay tribute, we've reached out to players and peers he performed and spent time with for nearly three decades.

Below, members of Anthrax, Megadeth, Testament and others -- including Slash -- reflect on Hanneman and his contributions, and how he will be remembered.

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Celso Chavez

Celso Chavez was a mainstay on the Los Angeles music scene for many years, most prominently as guitarist for alt-rock group Possum Dixon, who were featured on an L.A. Weekly cover in 1998.

He died one year ago today, May 9, 2012, from a staph infection and pneumonia related to years of drug abuse.

For the most part, his death went unheralded. The family wanted to keep it quiet.

But he's worth remembering. Imagine if the Violent Femmes (with whom Possom Dixon toured) formed in Los Angeles in 1989 and you've got a good idea of what Celso's group was like.

Possum Dixon played lovingly crafted pop mini-masterpieces that drew from punk and new wave without being entirely beholden to either.

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flickr/edvill

Jeff Hanneman

Slayer guitarist Jeff Hanneman has died.

The cause was liver failure; he passed at an area hospital near his home this morning.

He was 49.

Hanneman has not been active in Slayer for the last few years, since suffering a flesh-eating bacteria from a spider bite. No word yet if that caused any complications leading to his death.

Though not the most famous member of the group, Hanneman was the real deal, arranging the majority of the songs on the group's masterpiece Reign in Blood.

Hanneman was one of the founding members of Slayer in 1981, along with front man guitarist Kerry King and drummer Dave Lombardo.

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George Jones

The King is dead. Country singer George Jones, who entered Nashville's Vanderbilt University Medical Center on April 18 with a fever and irregular blood pressure, checked out for good early this morning. Cause of death has yet to be made public, but it's amazing that the hard living honky tonk singer made it to age 81 at all.

Born September 12, 1931 in Saratoga, Texas, he endured a miserable, poverty stricken childhood but early on found significant spiritual refuge in the country music he heard on the radio. By age 11, Jones could be found singing on the streets of Beaumont, where he was surprised that people offered him money. As he said years later, "I would've done if for free."

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Angie Seegers

Austin Peralta

Twenty-two-year-old virtuoso pianist Austin Peralta died shockingly the day before Thanksgiving. Until now, details of the final hours of his life have been mostly a mystery.

See also: The Life and Death of Austin Peralta

His coroner's report, obtained by West Coast Sound, states that viral pneumonia was the most likely cause of death -- aggravated by a series of chemical depressants including alcohol, morphine, and sedative drugs including Xanax and Valium.

When all of those depressants entered Peralta's body on the morning of November 21, 2012, they reacted in tandem with the underlying pneumonia to stop his breathing.

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Lina Lecaro

The Key Club's last day is today! Ever since West Coast Sound broke the story of its impending closure, local music fans have been mourning the place. Personally, we've been to the venue hundreds of times, and worked there as a DJ during Metal Skool's heyday for about two years. We believe the venue's best shows happened under the Pressman family, who own the building currently and are working on a "new project" there. Sure, recently it had become mostly a pay-to-play space, and we knew things were bad when we visited to judge for the Raw Awards and Key Club security tried to make us pay (a couple hundred smackers!) to take pictures. But let's focus on the good times.

See also: Key Club to close

Earlier this week West Coast Sound counted down the five most iconic shows at the venue, but those included performances when it was still Gazzarri's. Two different clubs. So we wanted to focus on Key Club shows, and here are our picks for the best five, four of which we actually attended! RIP Key Club.

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