Agender (Photo: Lindsey Byrnes) plays a free show to celebrate new album, Berserk, at Zebulon on 3/28/25
I made an executive decision to scale back on the event listings here, just to save myself some time. Going forward, I’ll post these on Thursdays and the list will include my top five recommendations for events happening in L.A. through Wednesday of the following week.
The top 5 will be in addition to my DJ gigs. (I’m not playing anywhere this week.) If an event is going on multiple days, like a week-long movie run, it will be listed at the top. After that, everything is listed chronologically.
This week’s recommendations include David Lynch movies screening in L.A. and Orange County. Lost Highway, Mulholland Drive, Inland Empire or David Lynch: The Art Life? Take your pick. There’s also animation studio Titmouse’s annual 5 Second Day shorts fest over Vidiots on Friday night. For shows, Agender’s free, album release gig at Zebulon will be a blast on Friday. On Saturday, consider Franz Ferdinand at The Wiltern or Vague Lanes and Darkswoon at The Goldfish. All the details are listed below.
It was the night before the inauguration and, somewhere in the distance, the Eaton and Palisades fires continued to burn. Needless to say, the mood was grim on the streets of L.A. that Sunday. Inside The Regent, though, at a little after 7:30 p.m., the vibe was dynamic. Agender was in the midst of their opening set for CSS. The floor level of the venue was already packed wall-to-wall. The balcony, where I stood, was quite full as well. Looking down, a mass of people bopped around the floor as the L.A. punk band ripped through one fierce song after the next.
“I think it was a moment of the city coming together and it felt special,” says Romy Hoffman, who is the singer, guitarist and songwriter for Agender. “I know I needed that outlet.” Hoffman, who has known CSS since a previous project of hers toured Australia with them in the mid-‘00s, notes that the Brazilian indie band has a “positive, infectious energy” that lent itself to the “catharsis” inside the venue that night. “It was the perfect band to play at that time just because of their energy,” she says. “We had a great time and the crowd was really responsive. It was wonderful.”
Near the end of CSS’ set at The Regent, singer Lovefoxx reminisced with the crowd about the band’s previous gigs in Los Angeles. There was their first show in the city, somewhere in the Fashion District. At least one person in the audience was there. There was some back and forth about a show where Lovefoxx lost her voice. As for this show, it was jam packed. But, Lovefoxx said to the crowd, the love for CSS in the room might not have been about the band itself.
“We were playing in the background of your life,” she said. “And I think that you’re all here because you just love your history and your songs. We’re just lucky to have been in the background on your MySpace page.”
