"Who is this guy? We fuckin' love him!" shouted the singer from Fifty on their Heels, a little Johnny Rotten for 2006 in his own right.
Carlos dubbed the man in question Drunk Dad, a fellow in his 60s who not only moved toward the stage when so requested by the band, but shimmied his middle-aged stomach in time to the thunderous beat. The more the San Diego band called attention to him, the more he would participate in the performance.
This is Fifty on their Heels.


This is Fifty on their Heels obscured by Drunk Dad.


I know somebody has better pictures because real cameras flickered left and right as Drunk Dad went on beer runs for the band, jumped on stage to play the drums and tried to hijack the singer's microphone to shout things like "The kids are just trying to bring you a good time! Have a good time!"

When the band finished playing, Drunk Dad requested another song. The singer said, "Only if you drop your pants." Guess what happened next.

I was in the DJ booth, so all I could see was a side view of a large bulge covered in bikini underwear. The comments on the smoking patio later on in the evening pretty much revolved around whether he was packing avocado or papaya, as Carlos had whispered to me in the booth when it happened.

But, that wasn't the only interesting event of last night.

After the Usual Suspects left (I think someone needed to catch up on sleep to be ready for that Sascha-headlined party tonight), I got up to head out to the smoking patio. After all of two steps I slipped. Because it wasn't enough that I managed to nearly burn down the house while making popcorn that afternoon and that I left the gas station after I payed for my fuel, but before I pumped it, I slipped in vomit. It looked like maybe someone had tried to clean it up, because I couldn't actually see a puddle on the floor, but there were chunks. I ran down to the bathroom and spent twenty minutes washing and re-washing my tights and my hand, wondering what disease I could pick up from this incident. Eventually I calmed down, although "calm down" for me means that I have stopped panicking enough to tell and re-tell the story to anyone who will listen: the other DJs; Vidal from Droid Behavior (check website for info on next Saturday's party); Anthony V., who is reopening Fusion in Downtown next month.
After Anthony went off to flyer, I sat down and this obviously trashed guy came up to me and tried to grab my hand. I pulled away. He started feeling up my leg, the side that landed in puke no less. I can take a guy giving me a line here or there, but there is a limit to sad sack club flirtation and this guy jumped over it. So, instead of giving him my usual, "Sorry, I have a boyfriend" routine, I stood up and stepped on his foot, with the sole of the shoe that landed in the puke pool.
I mentioned this to another club goer later and she asked which guy it was. I described him and it turned out that he tried to grope her at the bar earlier. If I had known that, I would have decked him on behalf of all the ladies at Diskoteka.
Anyhow, this is last night's set. Remember, next Friday is the last date of my month-long residency, so don't miss out on the fun.

Trans X-- Living on Video (85 Mix)
Afro Rican-- Give it All You Got (Doggy Style)
Miss Kittin-- Requiem for a Hit (GE*GM Mix)
Goldfrapp-- Train (T. Raumschmiere Mix)
Depeche Mode-- Personal Jesus (Pump Mix)
Human League-- Mirror Man
Mirwais-- Miss You (Unknown White Label Mix)
Munk-- Disco Clown (Digitalism Remix)
Inner City-- Good Life (Mayday Mix)
Lil Louis-- French Kiss (The Songbird Sings)
New Order-- Bizarre Love Triangle
Pet Shop Boys-- Always on My Mind (Extended Dance Version)
Kon Kan-- I Beg Your Pardon (I Never Promised You a Rose Garden)

I like my tempos fast, the sort of sound that makes you feel like you have been slurping Red Bull and vodka all night, even if you haven't. Plus, the fact that 1980s dance records have been really popular at Diskoteka just makes me want to bring in more. There will be some newer stuff too, but I'm going to lug some choice selections up to the second floor of the Airliner tonight. Maybe some stuff that you haven't heard in a long time. Maybe some stuff that you have never heard but will like.

Diskoteka@The Airliner
2419 North Broadway
Los Angeles, CA
9pm-2am
21+ Only

DJs:
Liz O. (um, that's me)
Saint Patrick (Club London)
Bobby M. (Diskoteka, Frequency 7)
Anthony (Diskoteka)
Playing Live: Fifty: On: Their: Heels

Yesterday, I was in Rancho Cucamonga buying an extended warranty for my computer when I ran into my old friend Joe (who happened to be purchasing an extended warranty himself). We talked for a minute, and he let me know that his band, The FLIR, were to be playing at Violaine this Saturday. Now, I've seen them play numerous times before, but never with their new singer, who from what I hear is their best one yet. As mentioned here before, SF's Love Like Fire is also going to play, and it's a My Bloody Valentine party, so you now have three reasons to get there. Violane is 18 and up, and takes place at Roberto's, which is at 686 N. Spring St in Downtown LA.

First things first, at long last H&M is coming to Los Angeles. Need I say more?

Oh, but wait, there are pics from last week's Diskoteka party up on the club's My Space page.

That should be enough to start your day, but there is still more!

Club London has just announced that Stacey Q will play live on April 9, 2006. I am so there.

The Rockit News is LA's only all-rock newspaper. If you're a local, you can pick it up today and tomorrow at your local record store. If not, you can read selections online.

Here are some of my contributions:

Taking Back Sunday
Dredg
Take Action Tour
Thrice
A Global Threat
Take Action CD review

If you were at Diskoteka the last two Fridays, then you know that the club is off the hook. If you haven't been there yet, now is your chance.

Diskoteka@
The Airliner
2419 North BroadwayLos Angeles, CA
9pm-2am
21+ Only

DJs:
Liz O. (um, that's me)
Saint Patrick (Club London)
Bobby M. (Diskoteka, Frequency 7)
Anthony (Diskoteka)

Playing Live: Fifty: On: Their: Heels

In the Valley, heavy usually means Angus Young's guitar at the beginning of "Thunderstruck," Glenn Danzig warning mothers not to send children his way or Lars Ulrich shredding drum skins throughout And Justice for All. Heavy is metal and metal has always been very big around my home turf. So, when I heard Sisters of Mercy for the first time, right after I started working on my beginner's collection of less popular music, I was struck by a heaviness that was, to me, alien. There was a drum machine, Doktor Avalanche (who now doubles as an advice columnist), offerring a cold, diabolical rhythm. There were few, if any, guitar solos. Then there was Andrew Eldritch, who didn't scream as much as he roared a menacing "Fuck me and marry me young."
Vision Thing was the first Sisters of Mercy album I purchased, but Floodland became the favorite. The cover of the album probably says more about its content than any review ever did-- black sky meeting with an oily sea, a full moon set between the faces of Eldritch and Patricia Morrison. It's an album filled with lengthy pieces. It's major single, "This Corrosion," comes in at just under eleven minutes and five others top the six-minute mark. The production is, overall, sparse, but there are bits of song (the gospel backing vocals on "This Corrosion" and the rainstorm effects on "Flood II") that seem to stretch for a big 1980s moment but, fortunately, miss that overproduced sound.
Floodland is the album that spawned the pseudo-goth nickname bestowed upon me by my closest friend. It is the album that helped me convince my metal-loving college roommate to start going to Helter Skelter with Kar3n and I. It is the album that just might make you want to see the band play in Los Angeles next month.
I would like to see Sisters of Mercy again, but, undoubtedly, I will be stuck doing something far less interesting that night. I had my chance to see the band in 1998. I went with a group of ten people in the worst rainstorm of the year. It took an extra two hours for everyone to arrive at my place and at least another hour to get from the LAX area to Hollywood. We stopped at Del Taco for dinner, where one member of our party was propositioned by a trannie while standing in line for the bathroom. We parked four blocks away and I tripped in a puddle, managing to rip my tights and bang my knee before the show. Given that this was the Palladium, who has the worst door policy in town, our matches, lighters, cigarettes, gum and pen were all confiscated. The guard tried to take my key ring and nearly ripped a fashion chain off my handbag because she thought they might be "weapons." I threw a fit and she caved. It was an incredibly fucked up night, to say the least, but Sisters of Mercy are worth that.

Before I left for Fresno, a friend of a friend sent me a list of recommended clubs, restaurants and record stores in the area. Unfortunately, due to our tight schedule and the book that I had to read for school over the weekend, I didn't get to check out anything, even though the party we attended ended at around the same time that LA parties start. That said, my only connection to figuring out what was happening in Central California was the tiny radio in my hotel room at the Clovis Cole.
Working the dial back and forth for a few minutes, I was only able to find one station to suit my purpose, KRZR 103.7. The first thing I heard was a Tool song that I didn't recognize (maybe it was A Perfect Circle). Then they played some Ozzy followed by Avenged Sevenfold. This is the "modern rock" formatted station for the area, but with ten times the metal-mania of KROQ after the demise of KNAC.
If you read this blog often enough, you probably noticed that my tastes lean towards what my childhood friends would have referred to as "wimpy," at best (actually, I think the term some of them applied to the Smiths was "totally gay," but then they were jerks). While I can handle some of the harder stuff and definitely give the station props for playing some tunes that aren't in regular rotation out here, KRZR made me miss LA. I wanted to go home basically from the moment I loaded into the hotel room just so that I could get in my car and flip my own dial, maybe catch Hard Fi on KROQ, the new Morrissey song on Indie 103.1, some killer dance track on KCRW or really bizarre scream-heavy keyboard punk on KXLU. While we might complain about radio in Los Angeles, the truth is that we have it much better than other cities.

To avoid last minute self-condemnation, I've put together a list of upcoming concerts you should attend. Plan accordingly:

• 2/14 - WOLF MOTHER, DARKER MY LOVE @ Cinespace (also @ Amoeba Music, 7 p.m.)
• 2/28 - EVERYBODY ELSE, THE MOJO FILTERS @ Cinespace
• 2/16 - POP LEVI @ Club Transistor
• 2/16 - DENGUE FEVER, EL TEN ELEVEN, PAPILLION, DJ SAUL GOOD @ The Fold
  
• 2/17 - ACEYALONE & RJD2 @ El Rey Theater (also @ Amoeba Music, 7 p.m.)
• 2/17 - THE AGGROLITES, CHOW NASTY @ The Echo
  
• 2/18 - SAINT ETIENNE, SILVER SUNSHINE @ The Avalon
• 2/21 - LES SAVY FAV, THE HOLD STEADY, THUNDERBIRDS ARE NOW, SWEARING AT MOTORISTS @ The Avalon
• 2/22 - SUPERGRASS, PILOTDRIFT @ The Avalon
• 2/22 - NADA SURF @ Henry Fonda Music Box
  
• 2/23 - DENGUE FEVER @ Tangier
  
• 3/1 - STEREOLAB @ Detroit Bar
• 3/3 - LOW, DAMIEN JURADO @ Troubadour
  
• 3/2 - DENGUE FEVER @ Tangier
  
• 3/8 - GOBLIN COCK @ Spaceland
• 3/9 - SHE WANTS REVENGE @ Henry Fonda Music Box
  
• 3/10 - TEST ICICLES @ Spaceland
• 3/10 - ELECTRIC SIX, ROCK KILLS KID, EVERY MOVE A PICTURE @ The Key Club
• 3/13, 3/14 - BLACK REBEL MOTORCYCLE CLUB, ELEFANT, THE MORNING AFTER GIRLS @ Henry Fonda Music Box
  
• 3/14 - OPETH @ The Wiltern
• 3/14 - THE SPINTO BAND @ Spaceland
  
• 3/15 - ARCTIC MONKEYS @ Henry Fonda Music Box
• 3/18, 3/19 - BELLE & SEBASTIAN, THE NEW PORNOGRAPHERS @ The Wiltern
  
• 3/19 - ART BRUT @ Troubadour
• 3/21 - WHITE ROSE MOVEMENT @ Troubadour
• 3/23 - THE SUBWAYS, THE GUNSHYS @ Troubadour
• 3/23 - METRIC, ISLANDS, THE END OF FASHION @ Henry Fonda Music Box
• 3/23 - CLAP YOUR HANDS SAY YEAH! @ El Rey Theater
• 3/28 - STEREOLAB, SAM PREKOP, ARCHER PREWITT @ Henry Fonda Music Box
• 4/1 - WE ARE SCIENTISTS, FOREIGN BORN, THE GRATES @ El Rey Theatre
  
• 4/29, 4/30 - COACHELLA VALLEY MUSIC FESTIVAL @ Empire Polo Field
• 5/19, 5/20 - MINISTRY @ House of Blues Sunset Strip

Hopefully we'll run into each other at a few of these. ;-]

Megan has posted some new photos of Jarboe and Red Sparowes on her website. Go look.