The Roots of Sandra Bernhard

MY Influences column in the LA Times always tries to be unpredictable, but this time I think we've really gotten there.

This installment on Sandra Bernhard -- whose REDCAT show last year was one of the highlights of the season -- begins with John Updike, for instance. The singer/comedian/Letterman mainstay is working a new show at REDCAT this month.

(By the way, in the last two nights I have seen former White Stripe Jack White and New Zealand punk band The Clean. White had the most confident stage presence I think I've ever seen, as well as a hot all-female backing band. But The Clean -- a group I expected I'd never see live -- were transcendent.)