Klub Nocturno is back at Catch One on Saturday night with five rooms for one cover price. This month’s lineup: Rock en Español vs. Cumbia, New Wave vs. Darkwave, System of a Down Night, Sad Bunny Night (old school vs. new school reggaeton) and Disco. I’ll be dropping the bangers in the New Wave vs. Darkwave room, so drop by if you want to dance to Molchat Doma, French Police, Boy Harsher, The Cure, Depeche Mode and more. Click here to get your tickets for Saturday, March 8 at Klub Nocturno. It’s 18+ and the party starts at 9:30 p.m. Catch One is at 4067 W. Pico 90019. 

As for the rest of the week, Molchat Doma and Sextile at the Palladium and The Altons and The Sinseers at Belasco, both on Friday night, are basically sold out, unless you feel like paying over $100 for resale tickets. Still, there’s a hell of a lot going on this weekend and next week that isn’t sold out. Confidence Man, who you’ve definitely heard in my DJ sets, plays the Fonda on Thursday night. Over at Catalina Bar on the same night, Mink Stole (!!!) And Peaches Christ will be debuting “Idol Worship” in L.A. 

On the movie front, Alamo Drafthouse launches its month of David Lynch programming this weekend with Blue Velvet and Eraserhead and Brain Dead has a bunch of Wes Anderson films on the calendar. Meanwhile, Allan Moyle has three films screening in L.A. this weekend. The Rubber Gun, from 1977, plays Los Feliz Theater on Thursday and Friday is a double feature of Pump Up the Volume and Times Square. He’ll be doing Q/As for both those events. 

For more info on these and more events, keep scrolling. 

Love zines? This weekend, L.A. Zine fest takes over The Broad. You can learn how to DIY print media or just see what’s available to read in the super-indie press at the afternoon-long event, which is free to attend on both Saturday and Sunday. 

At the cusp of the ‘00s and ‘10s, Mr. Black was the place to be on Tuesday nights. The soiree returns for one night only on Saturday, March 1 at Bardot in Hollywood. Also on Saturday night, Lotte Reiniger’s nearly century-old animated feature The Adventures of Prince Achmed screens at Philosophical Research Society with a live score from Elf Freedom. 

While I don’t typically post about the stadium concerts, it seemed worthwhile to note that, at the time of writing this, there were still a few tickets left for Deftones and The Mars Volta at the Forum on Wednesday, March 5. 

Scroll down for details on these and more events happening in L.A. between Thursday, February 27 through Wednesday March 5.

If you’ve been making your way through David Lynch’s oeuvre these past few weeks, you’ve probably noticed that Wild at Heart isn’t streaming. And that might be bugging you because perhaps you (like me) haven’t seen it in so long that you practically forgot half of the killer cast. Or, maybe you haven’t seen it at all and you want to know what’s so special about the 1990 film. Regardless, your best bet is to catch a screening in an actual movie theater this week in the L.A. area. At the time of writing this, there were still tickets available for showings at the Academy Museum, The Frida and NoHo 7.

If you need more Lynch this weekend, Fire Walk with Me is also playing at The Frida, which, btw, is a great theater and totally worth the trip from L.A. to Santa Ana if you can bypass traffic. (It’s almost exactly one hour from downtown if you ride Metrolink.) And, on Saturday, Vidiots is screening David Lynch’s short films. 

In case you were wondering, I’m not DJing this weekend, but there’s a ton happening in L.A. Like, too much happening, actually. This list just scratches the surface. I intentionally left out some of the weekend’s biggest events because if it’s a concert at Crypto where the resale tix for nosebleed seats are nearly $300 or a festival, you probably already know about it. I also made an effort to include shows at various price points, so some of these are definitely a Valentine’s Day splurge, but there are also a good amount of low cover shows and DJ events listed, as well as some free events. As of the time I wrote this (Tuesday night), everything listed here had tickets available. 

This Friday, December 20, Klub Nocturno presents a special new wave vs. post punk night at Catch One (4067 W. Pico, 90019, in the Noise + Tavern room) to benefit Refugee Children Center. This is an 18+ event for a great cause, plus I’ll be in the DJ booth with all the bangers from Joy Division to French Police, so click this link to pick up tickets for Friday night. 

On Sunday, I’ll be at The Mermaid (428 E. 2nd St. 90012) for Splash Sundays. Catch David Christian and I on the decks playing a cross-genre, cross-decade mix from 8 p.m. until last call. I’m playing the first half of the night and David will be closing. While you’re there, check out the Siren Who Stole Xmas menu with special holiday themed drinks benefitting Adopt-a-Family. There’s no cover, but this is a 21+ venue. 

Speaking of The Mermaid, the Little Tokyo bar will be open on Christmas Eve, which, as you likely know, is a rarity in Los Angeles. I actually stopped by their Christmas Eve karaoke party last year and it was a good time, so check it out if you’re in the area. 

As for the rest of the week, Ride, who released one of the best albums of 2024 (according to me), is playing The Fonda on Thursday, December 19. Tickets are still available. Maybe get one as a Christmas present to yourself. Meanwhile, The Monolators are at Scribble on Saturday night. The long-time local band has a smattering of seasonal jams to their credit like “Santa Claus vs. Dave Matthews” and “Hot Sleigh,”  so if you’re looking for something with super indie holiday vibes, this is the place to go. And, if you’re all like, “but I have kids and no babysitter,” bring them with you. The show is all ages *plus* there are discount tix for those 12 and under. 

Mostly, clubs and concert calendars are light between now and New Year’s Eve, but movie theater schedules are stacked. For the Westsiders, there’s a 50th anniversary screening of Phantom of the Paradise at the Aero on Thursday night. Across the city, you can catch holiday classics like Black Christmas, Die Hard and, one of my personal favorite, Tokyo Godfathers. Elf is screening on multiple days at multiple theaters, but I went to an Elf Movie Party at Alamo Drafthouse earlier this month and it was so much fun that I have to tell you to try and snag one of the few tickets left for Monday’s event. Also, although I didn’t list it below, Y2K is still showing around L.A. I caught it at Alamo recently and loved it. Go check it out before it becomes whatever the equivalent of a cable classic is today. 

Keep scrolling for details on these and other events happening in L.A. between December 19 and December 25, 2024.