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Author: Liz O.

  • New Stories on Repertory Cinema, Violeta Parra and More Out Now

    Premium Magazine art house repertory cinema story by Liz Ohanesian

    Just wanted to give you a quick update about some stories that I’ve recently written for other magazines and newspapers. 

    Now is a good time to watch a movie. At least it is if you’re in the greater Los Angeles area, where repertory and arthouse cinemas are experiencing a revival. I wrote about the resurgence of in-person movie screenings, focusing mainly on Philosophical Research Society in Los Feliz and The Frida Cinema in Santa Ana for Premium, which is the magazine Southern California News Group newspaper subscribers. Click here for a gift link to read the story.

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  • Cheech & Chong’s Last Movie Is the Road Trip Movie/Documentary You Need to See

    Cheech & Chong last movie promotional poster

    It’s pretty difficult to find coverage of Cheech & Chong’s Last Movie that’s not riddled with old weed puns. I guess that’s to be expected. Still, the wink-wink-nudge-nudge stoner references in headlines are a little trite when recreational marijuana is legal in nearly half the country and firmly embedded in the pop culture of all 50 states. As for the latter, much of that is because of Cheech and Chong. Without Up in Smoke, there would be no Half Baked or  Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle or Evil Bong. Cheech & Chong essentially invented the stoner comedy, but that’s only part of the story.

    Cheech & Chong’s Last Movie is a documentary framed as a road trip movie. The premise is that the influential comedy duo, who released a string of hit records and then movies, between the 1970s and 1980s, are on a road trip in the desert. As they head to a place called The Joint, they recount their life stories through interviews, archival footage and a few interjections from others who were there. Directed by David L. Bushell, who previously produced movies like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Dallas Buyers Club, the movie uses a few different devices to blur fact and fiction. This is all done to drive home one universal truth: No two people see the same situation the same way. 

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  • The DJ Set Where I Didn’t Play New Order

    Excetera La Cuevita flyer April 25, 2025 DJ Malvada, DJ Liz O.

    Even I’m surprised that I got through a two-hour DJ set without playing New Order. I came pretty close to dropping “Bizarre Love Triangle” into the set at La Cuevita on Friday night, but then I thought, “Liz, you’re at a bar, not a dance club, no one has requested ‘Bizarre Love Triangle’ and you played a New Order and Depeche Mode night last week. Give yourself a break.” So, I did. Also, I forgot to take photos

    Anyhow, here’s the set. Thanks to Malvada for having me play Ex-Cetera at La Cuevita. 

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  • Friend of a Friend Didn’t Intend to Record in a Haunted House, But That’s What Happened

    Friend of a Friend Claire Molek Jason Savsani press photo (Credit: Ashleigh Dye)
    Friend of a Friend (Photo: Ashleigh Dye)

    Claire Molek and Jason Savsani didn’t intend to record Desire!, their latest album as Friend of a Friend, in a haunted house. In fact, they didn’t know that the Illinois abode, once a home for spiritualists and said to be a site of demonic possession, had that reputation until a few days into their stay. 

    “I think when we share this tale, people might assume that we’re obsessed with this sort of stuff and we watch Ghost Hunters and we’re all about that lifestyle,” says Savsani. “We are not. We are not seeking that out.”

    In fact, he adds, “We weren’t thrilled about it.”

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  • The Smooth Socialist Soul of the Style Council

    Style Council vinyl including Introducing the Style Council mini LP, My Ever Changing Moods, The Internationalists (Photo: Liz Ohanesian)
    My tiny collection of Style Council vinyl (Pic: Liz O.)

    I was holed up in a hard-to-find shady corner of Grand Park, watching the crowd and taking nearly illegible notes during the Fighting Oligarchy rally when the familiar opening notes of a song caught my attention. Style Council? It was “Shout to the Top,” I knew that for certain before Paul Weller’s voice came in with the first verse. But, here? At a political rally in the U.S.? 

    That’s weird, I thought, but whoever added the song to the playlist deserves some props. “Shout to the Top” was a good choice, thematically appropriate with the lyrics, “and when you’re down on the bottom/there’s nothing else/but to shout to top.” Still, your average American has little-to-no-idea who Paul Weller is. They might have heard “A Town Called Malice” or “My Ever Changing Moods” somewhere in their lifetime, but they probably do not know that both come from the same guitar hero/fashion icon— the Modfather, as he’s often called—  and that he also has a treasure trove of songs about class politics. 

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  • Circuit de Yeux Live , Marcell Jankovics Film Screening & More L.A. Events for April 24 – April 30

    Excetera La Cuevita flyer April 25, 2025 DJ Malvada, DJ Liz O.

    This Friday, I’ll be joining my friend Malvada at La Cuevita in Highland Park for Ex-Cetera. Anything goes when we DJ from 10 p.m. until last call, so stop by and join us. La Cuevita is at 5922 N. Figueroa Ave. and there’s no cover, but it is a 21+ night. 

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  • New Wet Leg and Everything Else You Heard at The Mermaid for Splash on April 20, 2025

    Mermaid skeleton at The Mermaid bar in Little Tokyo, Los Angeles (Photo: Liz Ohanesian)
    Greetings from The Mermaid (Pic: Liz O.)

    One of the first things I learned as a baby DJ was that genres aren’t all that useful. On a very basic level, they can refer to stylistic conventions (dub) or specific movements (punk) or both (hip-hop), but then the terms get overused (post-punk) and are totally watered down (psychedelic) until they become a meme (goth) and, ultimately, meaningless (indie). 

    Genres define music for marketing or search engine purposes, but they don’t mean much for human ears. Whether or not songs fit together has less to do with metadata and more to do with qualities that are objective, subjective and pretty hard to describe. That’s all just a long way of saying that I really like when there’s no genre tagged to a gig, which is the case for Splash at The Mermaid, where I played last night. Here’s the set list, which includes new music from Wet Leg, Marie Davidson, Model/Actriz and clipping., classics from Max Romeo (RIP), The Smiths and The Delfonics, a holiday tune from I-F and more. 

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  • Depeche Mode, New Order and More of What You Heard at Club Underground on April 18, 2025

    Crowd shot from Depeche Mode x New Order Night at Club Underground at Grand Star Jazz Club in Los Angeles on April 18, 2025 (Photo: Liz Ohanesian)
    View from the DJ both at Club Underground on Depeche Mode x New Order Night (Pic: Liz O.)

    Depeche Mode x New Order Night at Club Underground was a blast. I played the opening and closing sets last night. Rose Knows and Larry G. played in the middle. The dance floor got going early, like before 10 p.m., and it just seemed to keep going, even after the house lights rose at the end of the night.

    I’ve posted my own set lists below. Underground is every Friday night at the Grand Star in Chinatown with DJ Larry G.. I’ll be playing there again in May, so stay tune for details. My next gig is Sunday, April 20, at The Mermaid in Little Tokyo for Splash. It’s an open format night and I’ll be playing from 8 p.m. until 1 a.m.

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  • Three Former Members of Chromatics Reunite on New Video Game Soundtrack

    Lost Records: Bloom and Rage video game soundtrack cover

    Lost Records: Bloom and Rage is a new video game from French developer Don’t Nod. Since I’m not much of a gamer, I can’t tell you anything about that, aside from that it’s narrative-driven and about grown women in 2022 reconnecting with a secret from their 1990s teenage past. What I can tell you about, though, is the soundtrack, which, like the game was released in two parts, the second of which dropped this week. And, really, the reason I’m telling you about the soundtrack is because 3/4 of Chromatics— Ruth Radelet, Nat Walker and Adam Miller— reunited to contribute five songs to the Lost Records soundtrack album. 

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  • Acidtrain Asks “What’s This Obsession with Cultivating Wealth?” in New Song

    Acidtrain live at Slipper Clutch on Sunday, April 13, 2025 (Photo: Liz Ohanesian)
    Acidtrain live at Slipper Clutch on Sunday, April 13, 2025 (Pic: Liz O.)

    Update (7/22/25): “Delulu” by Acidtrain is out now via Lollipop Records.

    It’s just before 9:30 p.m. on a Sunday night and red lights beat fast against the upstairs stage at Slipper Clutch. Acidtrain, aka Ryein Evan, has just launched into “Delulu,” a song, he says to the crowd, that’s about the billionaire class. 

    It’s the day after 36,000 people turned up for Bernie Sanders and Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez’s Fighting Oligarchy event at Grand Park, just a few blocks away from this downtown club. Plus, “fuck billionaires, fuck Trump” has been the general theme of club conversations for months, so “Delulu” is a good fit for the moment. The frenetic beat and a squelchy synth sound that comes and goes throughout the song captures the vibe of downtown Los Angeles. Evan dances and bounces across the stage, growling lyrics like, “what’s this obsession with cultivating wealth?”

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