Just dropping a line to let you know that I’ll be back at Club Underground twice this October and the first of those dates is coming up quickly.
Continue reading I’m Back at Club Underground for Depeche Mode x New Order Night and Halloween
This is an updated post. Originally, I said that I wasn’t DJing this week. As it turns out, I’ll be at The Mermaid on Tuesday night for Dolce Vita, so scroll down for the details. Otherwise, here’s what’s on my list of L.A. music events for the next week. The list might be updated later if I find out about some more events happening during the week.
One note about these event lists is that I try to make sure that they’re more-or-less affordable, so I’ve been using $30 as the cap on ticket prices and always try to include some free events. Three on this list have no cover.
Continue reading L.A. Music Events: Friday, September 29 – Thursday, October 5
I wasn’t planning to DJ this week, but a last minute opportunity came up to play at The Mermaid for Dolce Vita on Tuesday night. I really enjoy playing at The Mermaid, especially for Dolce Vita, so I dropped whatever Italo disco and Italo-adjacent folders I had on my hard drive into Rekordbox and played from 9 p.m. until around 11:15 or so. Here’s what you heard. I used the file names for artist and song title, just so you can find the tracks if you want. In the case of some of the edits, it’s definitely not the actual name of the artist or title, but you can probably figure that out.
Continue reading Here’s What I Played at The Mermaid for Dolce Vita on September 26
Vidéothèque is back! After moving from South Pasadena to Highland Park, the 20-year-old video store is open again for rentals from its catalog of 45,000+ releases.
I stopped by on Saturday night to check out the new shop, which is located on Figueroa, near where Cypress Park and Highland Park meet, and was immediately impressed by how spacious it is. There’s a front room dedicated to movie posters and store merchandise. In the main room, you’ll find Xenon set up towards the front window and there’s now plenty of room for you and your crew to hang out and play a few rounds of pinball. Behind the maze of DVDs and Blu-Rays, you’ll find an alcove with a jukebox as well as the store’s record selection.
If you already rent from Vidéothèque, you’ll enjoy the new space. If your reaction to this post is, “wait, video stores are still a thing?”, then you should make plans to visit and see what you miss when you stick with streamers.
Continue reading Vidéothèque is Now Open in Highland Park. Go Rent a Movie.
While eating a 1 a.m. Del Taco dinner, I thought about how amazing an opportunity it is to be able to DJ in the L.A. music scenes in which I’ve played for so long. Getting to connect with fantastic bands, DJs and other people through this world is a constant source of inspiration. So, I’m incredibly grateful that Taleen Kali asked me to DJ on Wednesday night for the shoegaze installment of the band’s September residency at Harvard and Stone.
Taleen Kali, Izzy Outerspace and Lux Lawless all played fantastic live sets. Given the theme of the night, I put together sets that included some classic and contemporary shoegaze, psychedelic and indie rock. Check out the set list here.
Continue reading Here’s What I Played for Taleen Kali’s Shoegaze Night at Harvard and Stone
I grew up in a family full of staunch Angelenos who love to dispense advice on crucial subjects like rush hour short cuts and where to get a good meal. When it comes to the latter, one of the best pieces of advice I heard from multiple family members was, “Get breakfast at Philippe’s.”
Continue reading Breakfast at Philippe’s Is an Affordable Way to Start the Day
Disco Matinee returns to Grand Star Jazz Club on Sunday, October 8 from 3 to 7 p.m. Special guest DJ Mr. Michel (Dolce Vita, Playback Fantasy, Æomega Lab Moda L.A.) joins resident DJs Liz O. and Jus’ B for an afternoon of disco classics mixed with Italo disco, hiNRG, freestyle, nu-disco and lots more. Stop by if you’re game to dance to anything from Donna Summer to Taana Gardner to Lime to Daft Punk to Purple Disco Machine.
Continue reading Disco Matinee Returns to Grand Star Jazz Club on Sunday, October 8
This coming week, I’ll be joining Taleen Kali’s residency at Harvard & Stone for a special DJ set before, after and in between the bands. More info on that below the jump. Plus, I’ve included a handful of other L.A. music events, including clubs, concerts and record fairs that are on my radar for the week. Keep reading and mark your calendars.
Continue reading L.A. Music Events: September 15 – September 21, 2023
For years, I used to post most of my set lists. Then I stopped because I figured if people were that curious about what I’m playing, they would actually go to the party and Shazam (or, like, come up and ask me about) whatever song they don’t know. Now I’m rethinking that because Shazam doesn’t catch everything. Plus, I like having an archive and want people to actually know what songs are played. So, this is the set from Dolce Vita at The Mermaid on September 12, 2023.
Continue reading Here’s What I Played at The Mermaid for Dolce Vita’s Italo vs. Goth Night
For one baffling moment, the thought of walking the 1.2 mile stretch of Sunset Blvd. between Spacedust and Bar Henry for Echo Park Rising on Saturday afternoon sounded doable. I quickly came to my senses and vetoed that option, though, on account of it being somewhere around 90 degrees, per the weather app on my phone. Plus, the list of things I wanted to do that day was out of control. So, instead, I stuck around Bar Henry long enough to see Nolune, Micah Preite and Datamaps play fantastic sets on the sidewalk as traffic whizzed past us.
Continue reading Weekend Recap: Echo Park Rising, Plus Dancing, Records and Trains