Last night, I headed out to North Hollywood to check out my friend Connor's night, Shadowplay. The party takes place at the Good Nite, which is a brand new bar on Burbank Boulevard. Frankly, I love this space. It's lit in blue and the decor is all art deco. It makes the perfect setting for the goth-tinged sounds that Connor is playing on a weekly basis.

Next week, Connor is going to be out of town and he has asked yours truly to fill in for the night. Naturally, I obliged. Check the Shadowplay MySpace page for the address and other assorted information and please stop by next Tuesday.

Labels: Clubs, DJ Gigs, Upcoming Events

Moloko covering "A Day in the Life" in 2000. Posted on YouTube by Absentmindedfriend.

Transistor is hosting its "I Love the Beatles" night at the Grandstar in Chinatown. It's free before 10 p.m. and $5 afterward. 21+ only.

Meanwhile, DJs Curt Barlage, Christopher Roman and Joseph Dutra are holding court at Carousel 1, which is a free party inside Mr. T's Barcade. Also, 21+. (Please note that the bar is cash only.)

Then over at now-internationally renowned DIY space The Smell, Anavan and Totally Radd!! are playing with K Records main man Calvin Johnson, Israeli group Monotonix and Pat Reagan.

Labels: Clubs, The Smell, Transistor, Upcoming Shows

Seems like the owners of the Abbey are thinking about taking the WeHo staple nationwide.

Here's a reaction to an article that initially appeared in Out. (Found via link at CurbedLA.)

I can't find the original article, but just wanted to add that I think that the 20-30% straight patrons that Sam Nazarian mentions were girls like me, who happen to hang out with a lot of gay guys. Does that actually count? (I'm saying this as someone who spent a good chunk of my youth hanging out at the Abbey.)

Additionally, the whole idea of straightening up the Abbey is as ludicrous as rebranding Ikea as something non-Swedish. That's the bar's identity.

Despite this, I'm not surprised by the situation. After all, it appears as though many of West Hollywood's clubs have gone to one of those pray-the-gay-away camps (examples: Spike is now Winston's, the Parlour, which was actually the only truly mixed gay/straight club in L.A., is now that trendy vodka bar). Hell, even the Tomkat has undergone a recent makeover and is now far less conspicuous.

And that's exactly why I no longer party in West Hollywood.

Labels: Clubs, Gossip, West Hollywood

Check out this piece on CurbedLA.

Labels: Clubs, Gossip

The past few weeks have been sort of insane with lots to report, but little time to actually sit down and type into Blogger.

I played Underground last night, did the whole evening on the patio with no breaks. Just building up my endurance level. Anyhow, here's the set list.

Armando Trovajoli-- Blazing Magnum
Stone Roses-- Fool's Gold
Lobster Disques-- Jesus Saves
Cassy & Dave the Hustler-- Her Dream
Star You Star Me feat. Erlend Oye-- Place in My Heart
Flunk-- Blue Monday (Jori Hulkonnen Mix 2)
Duran Duran-- The Chauffer
Visage-- Fade to Grey
Daft Punk-- Da Funk
Justice-- B.E.A.T.
Gorillaz-- Dare (DFA Mix)
Gina X-- Drive My Car
The Faint-- Agenda Suicide
Stereo Total-- Wir Tanzen Im 4eck (Bis Mix)
Digitalism-- Digitalism in Cairo
Dot Alison-- Substance (Felix da Housecate Mix)
Royksopp-- What Else Is There? (Thin White Duke Mix)
Feist-- My Moon, My Man (Boys Noize Mix)
Dntel-- This is the Dream of Evan and Chan (Superpitcher Kompakt Mix)
Hot Chip-- Boy from School
Le Tigre-- After Dark (A Touch of Class Mix)
Edwyn Collins-- Girl Like You (Youth Mix)
Rapture-- Wooh, uh-huh, yeah, alright (Simian Mobile Disco hip-house Mix)
Chemical Brothers-- Do It Again
Tok Tok vs. Soffy O. -- Missy Queen's Going to Die (Smash TV Mix)
Uffie-- Hot Chick
Buttshakers-- Soul Party Pt. 1
Marva Whitney-- It's My Thing
Curtis Mayfield-- Freddie's Dead
Stevie Wonder-- Higher Ground
Colourfield-- Can't Get Enough of You Baby
XTC-- Generals and Majors
The The-- This Is the Day (or, as everyone now says, the M&M song)
Ultravox-- Reap the Wild Wind
Goose-- British Mode
Mylo-- Muscle Car (Tiga's Nightmare Chord Mix)
Ladytron-- Sugar (Playgroup Mix)
Presets-- Are You the One? (Simian Mobile Disco Mix)
Big Audio Dynamite-- E = MC2
Audio Bullys-- Shot You Down
Munk-- Disco Clown (Digitalism Mix #1)
Stardust-- Music Sounds Better with You
Primal Scream w/Kate Moss-- Some Velvet Morning
The Knife-- We Share Our Mother's Health (Trentemoller Mix)
Golden Boy and Miss Kittin-- Rippin' Kittin
Zoot Woman-- It's Automatic (Cosmos vs. Zoot Woman Mix)
Daft Punk-- Aerodynamite
Depeche Mode-- John the Revelator (Tiefschwarz's Dave is in the Disco mix)
Fad Gadget-- Lady Shave
DMX Krew-- Come to Me
Playgroup-- Make it Happen (Zongamin Mix)
2raumwohnung-- Ich Und Elaine (Naughty Mix)
Goldfrapp-- Twist (Jacques Lu Cont Mix)
Who Made Who-- Out the Door (Superdiscount Mix)
A Guy Called Gerald-- Bodecka
Gossip-- Standing in the Way of Control (Le Tigre Mix)
Elastica-- Connection
Pulp-- The Trees (Felled by I Monster Mix)

Labels: Clubs, DJ Sets

There are two things I want to share about Bootie L.A.'s second anniversary party, which took place last night at Safari Sam's.

First, I got to see Smash-Up Derby, or a least a bit of Smash-Up Derby (I confess, I was talking to James for most of the performance). Smash-Up Derby is apparently the only band who plays sets that consist solely of mash-ups. I didn't really know what to expect when I heard about the group, but was pleasantly surprised by the performance. Most interesting is "Don't Stop Believin' 1979," which, if you didn't already guess, features the lyrics of "Don't Stop Believin'" on top of Smashing Pumpkins' music for "1979." This is the hands-down best usage of Journey that doesn't involve Family Guy. Unfortunately, it is not presently available for download on the band's site.

Second, I heard the best mash-up that isn't Bastard Pop's "Kylietron" or the "Where's Your Head At?"/"Living on the Ceiling" one. It's Placebo + Kate Bush + Pet Shops and is aptly titled "Love Comes Quickly Running Up That Hill." DJ Magnet put it together and you can find it here. I love the way Kate and Neil provide the backup vocals for Brian Molko.

Labels: Clubs, Remixes

I had never been to Zanzibar before last night. It's sort of posh. There were a lot of guys dressed in yuppie casual and girls wearing too much perfume. Plus, they don't have a smoking patio, which is really kind of awkward since I'm not sure if you actually are allowed to smoke at all in Santa Monica anymore.

A Touch of Class and Acid Girls were DJing at Shake and Pop, which is an awkwardly titled club given that it appeared as though none of the patrons would be familiar with the work of Green Velvet. Whatever. We had a good time.

When Acid Girls played, I ended up on the floor by myself, as Carlos and Mason stuck around the bar. I had spent too much time dancing by the bar when A Touch of Class played things like S-Express and my tied-for-favorite ABBA song ["Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)"] and Acid Girls were playing Daft Punk and Justice, so I really couldn't help but place myself in the middle of whatever little was going on inside the club. There was this blonde dude, a total Spicoli type that had to have started celebrated 4/20 a week ago, or maybe never stopped celebrating from last year. He grabbed me by the arm and started spinning me around until I would almost hit someone. Then he would grab the person I almost hit and add them to the line, until it was something between a conga line and a square-dance. Eventually, I had to excuse myself, but it was fun while it lasted.

Labels: Clubs, Random

I spent most of last night at Transistor, where I ran into my friend Xavier for the second time this week, which was kind of odd considering that we hadn't seen each other in a few months and I think he just kind of ended up at Transistor and the Dimmu Borgir party earlier this week by chance. Me, I was working, but I wasn't working as a DJ and that's all I will say for now.
Florian Pfefferkorn and Cathy Lara played tight sets. I can't really remember enough to provide a detailed account considering that I have slept maybe three hours since then. Woke up early this morning, interviewed another band. Started to freak out at the thought of four full or nearly-full mini cassettes that I really need to transcribe and turn into stories. Blah.
Worked all day. Sat in traffic to get down to Synergy Cafe & Lounge in Culver City, which was where we did the first of our monthly Rockit events at the venue. Scored a killer grilled cheese with gouda oozing out of it. Mmm, thinking about it makes me hungry again. Hung out with Carlos, James, Robert and the rest. Went through CDs we're going to review for the next issue of The Rockit. Watched The Weather Underground play unplugged. They covered "Alone Again Or," which I have seen them do before. "Alone Again Or" is one of my favorite songs ever. I didn't know that Love did the original until I was a teenager. I grew up on The Damned's version. I loved both. Now I love all three.
Best part of the evening was getting our copies of the new issue. You can pick it up in stores and see it online this Monday. Plus, we're doing another event at Underground next week, so you will be able to score some there as well.
So, for those who actually grew curious when I hinted that we had someone big for the cover, here it is.
Grandmaster Flash
Now I want to go on the record and say that getting the chance to interview Flash was the highlight of my career thusfar. I think most of the encounter is best described in the story, so you have to read it. For now, I will just say that I was honored to have to chance to talk to him about music and am eternally grateful to the folks at Reybee for making it happen.

But that's not all, we have equally awesome stories on the following:
Trans Am
Cherokee Studios
The Autumns
I'm From Barcelona
A Change of Pace
xDeathstarx
Vendetta Valentine
The Pacific
Distant Daze
Screaming Masterpiece (documentary film)
Tourfilter.com
Radio Perfik
Rhino Records
Shrine Clothing
Pacific Dining Car
Plus live reviews: The Lady Tigra and Electrocute, Lucha Va Voom, Low vs. Diamond, Sparta and Joe Bresler
Loads of record reviews
DJ Charts from Cody Wayne and Maurice de la Falaise
Oh, and a certain editor pretty much compared Nine Inch Nails to George Lucas

Labels: Clubs, The Rockit

...and to follow up on what Liz said re: my comment about Peter, Bjorn, and John, it just seems that in the past 6-8 months, I have not been to a club (techno and synthpop nights excluded) where I did not hear either the aforementioned Swedes' "Young Folks" or "Making Time" by The Creation. I don't know what it is, it just seems that these two songs are everywhere all of a sudden. It's not that they're bad songs (I do like them), it's just that they're overplayed.

I would like to call for a six-month moratorium on these songs being played by Los Angeles-area DJs.

That is all.

Labels: Clubs, Declarations, Moratoriums, Smoking Patio Chats

You should have been there.

Depeche Mode-- Martyr (Booka Shades Dub)
Sieg Uber Die Sonne-- Love is Okay (Villalobos Mix)
Felix da Housecat-- Silver Screen Shower Scene (Laurent Garnier Mix)
Digitalism-- Digitalism in Cairo
Madonna-- Let It Will Be (Paper Faces Mix)
Royksopp -- What Else Is There (Thin White Duke Mix)
Stardust-- Music Sounds Better With You
The Rapture-- House of Jealous Lovers
Nelly Furtado-- Man Eater
Scissor Sisters-- I don't Feel Like Dancing
Stevie Nicks-- Stand Back
Dot Allison-- Substance (Felix da Housecat Mix)
Gorillaz-- Dare (Soulwax Mix)
The Clash-- Mustapha Dance
Le Tigre-- After Dark (A Touch of Class Mix)
Pet Shop Boys-- Flamboyant (Hell Mix)
Smash TV-- Queen of Men
Bloc Party-- Like Eating Glass (Black Strobe Mix)
Nam: Live-- Church of Nam (Zombie Nation Mix)
Green Velvet-- Flash (Danny Tanaglia's Nitrous Oxide Mix)
Depeche Mode-- John the Revelator (Tiefschwarz Mix)
New Order-- Perfect Kiss
Madonna -- Jump (Jacques Lu Cont Mix)
Ellen Allien & Apparat-- Sleepless
Tok Tok vs. Soffy O-- Missy Queen's Gonna Die (Smash TV Mix)
Virgin Prunes-- Baby Turns Blue
Primal Scream-- Some Velvet Morning
Ultravox-- Reap the Wild Wind
Tears for Fears-- Change
The Church -- Under the Milky Way

Labels: Clubs, DJ Sets

Last night, I had to cover a show at Rusty's Surf Ranch on Santa Monica Pier. This was the second time in my life that I have been to the Pier. No kidding. This makes more sense though when you know that I'm adamantly opposed to that whole beach lifestyle thing. I'll be honest, I get queasy when I see guys wearing shorts and sandals (with socks, if it's cold) inside restaurants and/or bars. Last night, it seemed like the cold spell reared its second head, so there were no shorts inside the Surf Ranch.
When I got home, I received a text message from Robert stating that "apparently" Morrissey was at Underground. Maybe he will report later.
The rest of the week is too far gone for me to actually write something about it.

As for tonight, I don't know if I'm actually going out or not, but there is a hell of a lot of stuff going on:

Diskotec @ Roberto's
686 N. Spring Street
Spinning: Gomes & Dr., S & Him, Olie
Cover: $5
21+

Mindburger All Night Dance Party @ Il Corral
662 N. Heliotrope
Live sets from Anavan, Robin Williams on Fire & Kyle H. Mabson, Crooked Cowboy Bizzart
DJs: Captain Ahab, DJ BJ
Cover: $10
All Ages

Diskoteka @ The Airliner
2419 N. Broadway
DJs: Bobby M. & St. Patrick
Cover: Free if you mention Diskoteka at the door, unknown otherwise
21+

Labels: Clubs