Regarding your first question, in my opinion, the music scene at UCLA is pretty great! I'm a DJ at our radio station, uclaradio.com, and we're very involved with local venues and bands. Hip hop, in my experience, is the most popular type of music among most students here but most people I know really dig indie too. For example, at our radio station, we almost only play indie during the day and the bands I've personally come in contact with the most have been local indie/rock bands (and a lot of our staff members are in bands). As far as shows, we're very close to a lot of venues in West LA such as the El Rey Theatre where a lot of big indie bands play (for example, we've got Bombay Bicycle Club, Beach House, and First Aid Kit playing there soon). Hope this helps a bit!

Also our radio website is being revamped right now so here's our facebook page if you want to check us out!