At Underground on Friday night, it dawned on me that the most requested song of my DJ career, which, by the way, began before today’s 21-year-olds were alive, is “Blue Monday.” No question about it, the New Order dance floor classic, which I also want to mention was already an oldie by the time I started DJing, has been requested at just about every club night where I’ve regularly played, sometimes multiple times in the course of one night. I get it. “Blue Monday” is the best dance song ever. I’ll write more about that later, but the tl;dr is that it’s over seven minutes long, mixes well with multiple styles of music and never clears the dance floor. It’s perfect. 

But, the weird thing about “Blue Monday” requests is that they’re unnecessary. If it’s a dance club where some variation of indie, ‘80s and/or synthpop are played, there’s a 99% chance that “Blue Monday” will be in the mix. Often, I’ll get the requests at 10:30 p.m. and I’m like, “wait until midnight,” because one does not play “Blue Monday” until the floor is at it’s peak. Other times, I’ll get the request after 1 a.m, at which point, the song was already played. 

Last night, I got the post-1 a.m. “Blue Monday” request. Malvada had already played the and I said that. However, the requester had spent a good chunk of time on the dance floor upstairs, so I wanted to do something nice. “But,” I said, “I have the ‘Blue Monday’ mix of ‘Can’t Get You Out of My Head.’” The requester looked excited. I played the song. Everyone in the room seemed happy. Compromises can be a good thing. 

Keep reading for the set lists. 

This Friday, August 9, is the Joy Division x The Smiths dance party at Club Underground. Both floors will be open at Grand Star Jazz Club in Chinatown, where Larry G., Malvada and I will be dropping jams from 9:30 p.m. until 2 a.m. 

Click here to get your tickets now. 

As for the rest of the weekend, there’s a lot to do, including plenty of shows, parties and screenings that are budget-friendly, from Mohama Saz at the Lodge Room to classic Jamaican ska party Riddim ’n’ Brews to a screening of Caligula: The Ultimate Cut at USC. Everything listed here is under $30 before service fees and quite a few of the events have no cover. Check out the list below to see what’s happening in L.A. this week.

Disco Matinee, the day party that I do with Jus’ B, is now on third Sundays at Grand Star Jazz Club in Chinatown, so join us on August 18, 2024 from 3 p.m. until 7 p.m. for an afternoon of disco, funk, dance punk, Italo and HiNRG. Discount advance tickets are available now on Restless Nites.

Click here to get your tix on Restless Nites.

The Grand Star is located at 943 N. Broadway in Chinatown’s Central Plaza, right next to the Bruce Lee statue. There is both street and lot parking in the neighborhood, plus, the dance club is located across Broadway from Metro’s Chinatown stop on the A Line.

Check out my set list from Disco Matinee’s first anniversary party to get an idea of what you might hear.

This is a 21+ venue and the cover will be $8 at the door on the day of the event. See you on the dance floor on Sunday, August 18, for Disco Matinee.

I’m not DJing this weekend, but put together a really quick list of DJ nights, shows and film screenings that are on my radar. Also listed in here is an artist’s market on Sunday that’s organized by the Armenian LGBTQ+ group GALAS. I’ll probably be adding more arts events in the future too. 

In case you didn’t know, I also write event listings for Discover Los Angeles. 

Click here to read GET INTO THE LA GROOVE: AUG. 5-11, 2024

My list for Discover Los Angeles is cross-genre and focuses more on the big ticket events, but I try to get some of the smaller, hyperlocal events in there as well whenever possible. 

The Happening in L.A. lists that I post here on Beatique are focused on low and no cover events on nights when I’m not DJing. I try to abide by a $30 max rule for everything listed. It also includes film screenings. I do a lot of digging just to get the handful of events listed here on account of the internet being a mess. Then I narrow it down to what I would want to check out. However, there’s always stuff I miss because, like I said, the internet is a mess. You’re welcome to send me info on your band’s upcoming gig or your next DJ night for possible inclusion. Just be sure to email it to me because I miss DMs all the time and, frankly, the less time I have to spend on social media, the better.