This Saturday night, July 27, I’ll be DJing in the new wave vs. darkwave room for Nocturno at Catch One. Elsewhere in the club, you’ll find Rock en Español vs. Cumbia, Corrido Night and Sad Bunny Night. Nocturno is always a blast and it’s a really good option if you’re going out with friends who have different tastes in music, so make plans and get your tickets now. (Click here to buy yours.) The address is 4067 W. Pico Blvd. in Arlington Heights. Party starts at 9:30 p.m. on Saturday, July 27, and is 21+.
Christmas in July continues at The Mermaid. (Pic: Liz O.)
It was totally last minute, but I filled in for Splash! at The Mermaid on Tuesday night, playing ’80s music from 8 p.m. until last call. I was in a Roxy Music, Japan and Duran Duran mood, which manifested in the set. Plus, I’ve had the Real Life song “Openhearted” stuck in my head on-and-off for a few weeks, so that made an appearance in the set too. Check out the set list below.
Low Leaf live at L.A. State Historic Park for Listening by Moonrise on July 21, 204 (Photo: Liz O.)
There’s a pocket in L.A. State Historic Park where city life almost fades away. It’s near the back of the 32-acre park, just beyond sculptor Anna Sew Hoy’s bronze arches, “Psychic Body Grotto,” between the track that runs around the periphery of the park and the small creek bed that fills during storms. Here, the trees are large, at least by the standards of downtown Los Angeles. Even though many of their leaves have already fallen and dried, there is still plenty of shade and a cool breeze rustles through them. The reminder that we’re still in L.A. comes every five to ten minutes, when A Line trains whizz past the park to and from the Chinatown Metro station.
L.A. State Historic is my local park, so I’m here often, but on this particular Sunday, I stopped by for music. A few times a year, around the full moon, the local arts and culture non-profit Clockshop, the same group that puts on the annual Kite Festival, hosts a music and sound event called Listening By Moonrise. For the July session, they teamed up with Living Earth, a fairly new collective that produces events that bring together performance and local nature. On this occasion, the performers are Salenta + Topu, a jazz duo that met in Brooklyn, but are now based in L.A., and Low Leaf, who makes impossible-to-categorize music with, primarily, a harp and synthesizer.
I’ve been juggling deadlines for the past IDK how long, so this is just a really quick post to let you know what’s happening in L.A. if you’re not stuck working or whatever. There is probably stuff missing, but that happens. Apologies in advance.
A few notes about this list. Most of the events are under $35, at least before fees. On the higher end of the spectrum are Fuck on the Beach at the Regent on Saturday night, which I feel the need to mention on account of the fact that I saw them play at the Cobalt Cafe (IYKYK) a gazillion years ago, and Sister Nancy at The Mayan on Sunday. The one legit high-priced ticket is the 24 hour movie marathon at Gardena Cinema, which I figure is justifiable on account of it being a literal day of movies, which would probably be a lot more if you tried to buy tickets for 24-hours worth of individual screenings.
I also added a couple weekday afternoon movie screenings to the list for those whose days off fall during the week. I’ll try to add more stuff like this in the future, although it seems to be getting harder and harder to find anything worthwhile happening on weekdays, which reminds me of the *long* lists of rants I’ve been meaning to write, some of which you may have seen referenced in my Instagram stories lately.
Tl;dr: Liz O. has a lot of complaints, but there’s a list of stuff happening in L.A. too, so let’s get to the list.
This Friday, I’m back at Club Underground with Larry G. for Yeah Yeah Yeahs x Siouxsie Nite. Both floors of Grand Star Jazz Club will be open and tickets are available now. Party starts at 9:30 p.m. and it’s 21+. Find the Grand Star at 943 N. Broadway inside Chinatown’s Central Plaza next to the Bruce Lee statue.
As for the rest of the weekend and into next week, your options include Pearl and the Oysters’s free show at Levitt Pavilion on Saturday. Also happening Saturday is Razorcake’s annual chili cook-off at Footsies and Décadanse’s tribute to Francoise Hardy at the Grand Star. On Monday, Ed Harcourt is playing at The Stowaway, which is a very intimate venue. Tuesday night, my favorite Schwarzenegger movie, The Running Man, screens at Vidiots in Eagle Rock. There’s plenty more happening in L.A. too. Check out the list below.
The Mermaid’s Christmas in July tiki mugs, including a Christmas tree, a sand/snow man and a gingerbread man. (Pic: Liz O.)
Splash! is Dolce Vita’s new Tuesday night ‘80s party at The Mermaid. You’ll still hear Italo disco in the mix, but you’ll also hear new wave, synthpop and more subgenres of the decade’s dance music . I played for the first time since the rebrand for the first half of the night tonight and it was lot of fun to get to drop some of my Italo favorites (Ken Laszlo, Pino D’Angio) with a few of the ‘80s night standards (OMD, The Cure, etc.), some tunes that I don’t get to play out so much (Olivia Newton-John “Twist of Fate”) and a few tracks from the era that are actually new to me (Angelyne “Sex Goddess,” thanks to the Dark Entries reissue). Oh, and I was able to work in the best song from Voyage of the Rock Aliens (Real Life “Openhearted”), a movie I’ve been trying to write about for a while, but I still can’t make sense of it, which might be the point. My only regret is not adding Pia Zadora to my ‘80s virtual crate. Next time.
Also, it’s Christmas in July at The Mermaid. The tiki mugs in the top photo are part of the promotion. You can buy one solo or with one of the drinks on the Cocktails for a Cause menu, all of which have Christmas horror names, like Santa’s Slay. The mugs were so cute— my favorite is the sand/snow man in the center of the photo— so I had to take a photo.
Disco Matinee hit its first anniversary. We celebrated at the Grand Star, who has kindly hosted us on the first Sundays of the month since July of 2023. The coolest people on the planet were there. One of them is a friend of mine who I’ve known since the days of dialup internet. She brought me the sweet disco ball pen seen in the above photo. You might notice the blur in the photo. That’s because the disco ball spins too! You might also notice that I haven’t done my nails in quite a while. That’s because I don’t care about your Instagram beauty standards dictating that hands should only be seen when they are freshly manicured.
Anyhow, here’s what I played. Thanks to everyone who came out and danced with us.
Set One:
Michael Zager Band – Let’s All Chant
Anita Ward – Ring My Bell (Pontchartrain edit)
Evelyn “Champagne” King – Shame (Mr. Turner edit)
Cerrone – Supernature (Ethan Wood edit)
Kano – It’s a War (Purple Disco Machine, Lorenz Rhode edit)
I brought two heaving bags of vinyl to play alongside DJ Felix for my pal Malvada’s night at Bigfoot Lodge. Of course, I worried that I didn’t bring enough music and, of course, I brought more than I needed. One of the records that made it onto the turntable, though, was Taleen Kali’s most recent album, Flower of Life. I played “Only Lovers Left Alive,” which is a terrific song that shares a title with one of the best ever vampire flicks.
Anyhow, I posted the record in my Instagram story, tagged Taleen and then, very shortly after that, there she was at Bigfoot Lodge. Turns out she was already on her way there when I posted. It was a fun coincidence, but also a good segue into this reminder that you should get Flower of Life. It’s a fantastic album and— I swear this isn’t sponsored content— if you head over to Bandcamp, you can get it on vinyl or cassette or CD or digital.
The scene at Grand Star Jazz Club for Decadanse x Underground on July 5, 2024
Decadanse x Underground was such a great time and I’m happy to have been a part of it. DJs Pierrot and Fifi LaRoux played French pop on vinyl downstairs. Larry G. and I brought the indie vibes upstairs. We switched off on the controllers about every half hour or so.
“Amour Ex Machina,” from L’Impratrice’s new album, Pulsar, did pretty well for my first time playing it out. “Digitalism in Cairo,” the Digitalism track that samples “Fire in Cairo” by the Cure, made a reappearance after many years. People probably don’t recall it was a big track back in the ‘00s.
Anyhow, I’ll be back at Underground next Friday, July 12, for Siouxsie x Yeah Yeah Yeahs Nite. Tickets are already available on Restless Nites, Dice and Eventbrite.
Check out my set list from Decadanse x Underground at Grand Star Jazz Club on July 5, 2024.
