(Part Two of a Wednesday Night in Los Angeles)

What the DJ Wants, the new Wednesday night shindig hosted by sobriquet-bearing KXLU DJ Ned Lerner is one hell of a party. No, I'm not saying this because my partner in crime, Kid C., played a well-mixed set of old school hip-hop, or because I may in fact make a brief appearance behind those decks soon. The sign above the turntables best explains why this club is tops in my book.

"Please direct all requests to the traschcan."

Ned, you are my hero. You are a hero to every DJ who was ever threatened with violence because he/she was not going to play [insert heavily requested piece of crap here].

This may be the only club where you can hear anything from hip-hop to riot grrrl house to post-screamo or whatever. I think that the reason why this works so well is because Carbon is a barfly bar, not a hipster dancing bar. If you remember the Smell back when it was in North Hollywood, it is shaped in a similar fashion-- essentially, one long corridor (but without a stage blocking a direct route to the bathroom). There are approximately three square feet of space useful for dancing. I spent most of the night chatting with people I had either not seen in some time or just met. There's no cover, which is an added bonus, and the bartender poured my vodka tonics pretty stiff. Thus, this bar gets the PDP stamp of approval.

The next party is May 11, 2005 at Carbon (9300 Venice Blvd., cross street is Robertson). The line up is:
Dug Jones (Kittridge, kittnet.com)
Jean-Claude (Kxlu, Future Shock)
Chris Griffiths (Transistor)
Ned Learner (Kxlu, Instrumental)

I heard Jean-Claude spin a hip-hop set at his New Year's Eve party this year and it made me want to party a little too hard. He's also half of the Secret Name.