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  • Why I Went to the No Kings Rally in Downtown Los Angeles, 10/18/25

    A balloon of Donald Trump as a scowling, oversized orange baby in a diaper floats over the crowd at No Kings events in downtown Los Angeles. October 18, 2025 (Photo: Liz Ohanesian)
    A balloon of Donald Trump as a scowling, oversized orange baby in a diaper floats over the crowd at No Kings events in downtown Los Angeles on 10/18/25 (Pic: Liz O.)

    Right in front of Los Angeles City Hall, a massive inflatable Trump, scowling, raccoon-eyed and decked out in a diaper, hovered over the crowd. “Dump Trump” read the sign just below the inflatable, a caricature of the former reality TV star as an Oompa Loompa positioned like a turd hanging from the big orange baby’s bottom. Not too far from there was an old, worn couch tagged with “JD Vance was here.” 

    In the crowd, there was a zooful of people dressed in inflatable animal costumes, hippos, bears, chickens and, of course, frogs, amongst them. People hoisted signs loaded with dick jokes and memes. But, it wasn’t all comedy. “If there’s money for a parade? Then there’s money for Medicaid,” read a sign posted on a trashcan. Refuse Fascism set up an installation with photos of those who have been disappeared.

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  • Bob Vylan Rages About Our “Sick, Sad World” on New Single

    Bob Vylan Sick Sad World single cover

    I’m trying to tell my friends about Bob Vylan. 

    It’s late. The club has ended and I’ve been in the DJ booth all night, so I’m both exhausted and loquacious. We’re talking music and the conversation jumps from Fontaines D.C. to Kneecap to Bob Vylan with a hundred different asides. My mind is a jumbled reflection of my Instagram feed, which is how the English duo came up in conversation. My friends don’t know too much about Bob Vylan, but they’ve been high on my timeline for months, so I get into the whole story about the Glastonbury incident and how they don’t have a tour visa for the U.S. now. It’s all documented in this story from The Guardian, but the details sound particularly absurd when you’re recounting them aloud. Then again, just about everything in the news sounds more absurd out loud these days. 

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  • Molly Nilsson’s Un-American Activities Is More Relevant a Year After Its Release

    Molly Nilsson Un-American Activities 2024 album on vinyl

    Last year, Molly Nilsson released Un-American Activities, which you could say is her L.A. album. The Berlin-based synthpop artist made it as part of a residency at Villa Aurora in Pacific Palisades and it’s inspired by a few specific moments where global events and local history come together. Moreover, the album, which is one of my favorites from 2024, really fits the mood in Los Angeles right now. It’s dark and, lyrically, she makes connections between European fascism of the 1930s, the Red Scare in the mid-20th century U.S. and contemporary politics. So, when I was pulling records to play at Bigfoot Lodge on Saturday, I immediately grabbed my copy of Un-American Activities and thought of the song “Jackboots Return.” 

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  • Molly Nilsson, The Clash and More of What You Heard at Bigfoot Lodge on July 5, 2025

    Bigfoot Lodge Los Angeles California July 5, 2025 (Photo: Liz Ohanesian)
    Inside Bigfoot Lodge

    For anyone who hasn’t been there before, Bigfoot Lodge is this bar on Los Feliz Blvd. that’s designed to look like a cabin in the woods. There are animatronic critters near the entrance and taxidermy hiding out in the corners. It’s a trippy bar that’s been around for some 25 years. Every once in a while, I pop in to guest DJ on Malvada’s nights there, which is why I packed a bag of vinyl and headed to Bigfoot Lodge last night. I brought some recent releases (Pulp, Optometry, Sextile) and some oldies that I picked up on recent digs (Freda Payne, Heaven 17). There were songs I haven’t played out in public before, but felt needed to be heard (Molly Nilsson “Jackboots Return) and songs that I’ve played many, many times, but should be heard again (The Clash “Police On My Back”), but there wasn’t a real theme or anything. There were three of us DJ last night, so we swapped off throughout the night. My set lists are below. 

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  • Director Christopher Bickel on Pater Noster and the Mission of Light

    Pater Noster and the Mission of Light directed by Christopher Bickel movie still
    Pater Noster and the Mission of Light (2024) directed by Christopher Bickel

    Earlier this year, while scrolling through Night Flight (the only streamer worth a paid subscription), I stumbled across a movie called Pater Noster and the Mission of Light. A horror movie about the hunt for a possibly cursed record made by a cult in the ‘70s, it was full of vinyl nerd in-jokes, references to the Source Family, the Merry Pranksters and Whipped Cream and Other Delights. I was smitten with it. 

    Directed by Christopher Bickel, Pater Noster is a wild ride through dusty record bins and into the strange, terrifying world of a fictional psychedelic cult. The film, made with a budget of just $21,000, is also an exercise in resourcefulness. “We do these movies on such a low budget, so when I go to write it, I have to write to things that I have access to,” says Bickel on a recent video call, “things that I think would elevate the production value, to make it look like we spent money on this thing or that thing.”

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  • Vinyl DJ Set at Bigfoot Lodge + Jean Cocteau Films and More Happening in L.A. July 3 – July 9

    Vinyl DJ sets Bigfoot Lodge Los Feliz Malvada, Lee, Liz O. Saturday July 5, 2025

    This Saturday, July 5, I’ll be at Bigfoot Lodge in Los Feliz, playing records alongside DJs Malvada and Lee from 10 p.m. until close. It’s 21+ and there’s no cover. This isn’t a genre-specific night, but you’ll probably hear a few tracks from Douglas McCarthy, the frontman of Nitzer Ebb, who died in June.

    Earlier that evening, just up Los Feliz Blvd. from Bigfoot Lodge, there will be Jean Cocteau birthday celebration at Philosophical Research Society. The event is a fundraiser for PRS organized by Sacred Monster, Surrealist Study Group and 7th House Screenings and will include a screening of Testament of Orpheus the final film in Cocteau’s Orphic Trilogy, which stars the director and features Pablo Picasso, Charles Aznavour and other luminaries. If you’re going, stop by Bigfoot Lodge after the event and tell me all about it. 

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  • Former Members of The Mae Shi Reconvene at HLLLYH For New Album URUBURU

    Photo of HLLLYH by Ezra Buchla
    HLLLYH (Photo by Ezra Buchla)

    Tim Byron wanted to get The Mae Shi back together. It had been about 20 years since the synthpunk band formed in Los Angeles and a decade since the original members reunited for a one-off show at Pehrspace. “It was the cliche of we’re getting the band back together,” he says on a recent video call. And, despite the fact that three of the members— Byron, as well as his brother Jeff Byron and Ezra Buchla— now live in the Bay Area while Brad Breeck and Corey Fogel are in L.A., he was able to do that. They recorded what was intended to be a new album from their old band. “But, at the end of the day,” Byron says, “it was different enough where we decided to give it a different name and have a separate identity from The Mae Shi.” The band morphed into HLLLYH and includes new members Dan Chao, James Baker and Burt Hashiguchi. Debut album  Uruburuis out on June 27. 

    HLLLYH played their first show, opening for Brainiac at Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco, last January. Throughout this past spring, they’ve released three singles, “Dead Clade,” “Uru Buru” and “Flex It, Tagger,” with a cover song B-side included with each release. Byron is right, the music is different enough from what they did in the ‘00s to warrant a different band name. But, the energy of The Mae Shi is still there. 

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  • Club Underground’s Bowie Night, Klub Nocturno and More Happening in L.A. This Week

    Club Underground Bowie Night January 10, 2025 Grand Star Jazz Club Los Angeles DJ Larry G and DJ Liz O


    It’s David Bowie’s birthday, which means that Friday night, January 10, will be Club Underground’s annual Bowie night. Both floors of the Grand Star will be open so ready for some sound and vision with Larry G. and me in the DJ booths and Miho ready to make you up like Aladdin Sane. Underground’s Bowie Nights do sell out, so click on this link to get your tickets asap. 

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  • Here’s What I Played for Splash! at The Mermaid on July, 23, 2024

    Christmas in July at The Mermaid on July 23, 2024 (Photo: Liz Ohanesian)
    Christmas in July continues at The Mermaid. (Pic: Liz O.)

    It was totally last minute, but I filled in for Splash! at The Mermaid on Tuesday night, playing ’80s music from 8 p.m. until last call. I was in a Roxy Music, Japan and Duran Duran mood, which manifested in the set. Plus, I’ve had the Real Life song “Openhearted” stuck in my head on-and-off for a few weeks, so that made an appearance in the set too. Check out the set list below.

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  • Here’s What I Played at Klub Nocturno (New Wave vs. Darkwave Room) on March 30, 2024

    New Wave vs. Darkwave room at Klub Nocturno at Catch One in Los Angeles on March 30, 2024
    View from the DJ booth.

    Klub Nocturno is the be exception to the “nobody in L.A. goes out in the rain” rule. Saturday night was the second time I played a Nocturno event at Catch One and, just like the first time, a storm hit. Yet, the crowd was still massive. And so much fun. Shout out to Kill for Kickz and Color Void, both of whom played fantastic live sets in the New Wave vs. Darkwave room. 

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