Oasus live at Harvard and Stone, October 13, 2023 (Pic: Liz O.)
On Friday the 13th, I DJed at Harvard and Stone in East Hollywood for a night that included live sets from Asi Fui and Oasis tribute band Oasus, plus a couple burlesque performances. Long Beach-based Asi Fui is a terrific band with a ‘90s alternative vibe. I wish I knew the name of the dubby song with the melodica that they played early in the set. They closed with a cover of Blur’s hit “Song 2,” which was a perfect good-natured troll for anyone who remembers the Blur vs. Oasis battles of the 1990s.
Jus’ B, Liz O. and Mr. Michel at Grand Star Jazz Club for Disco Matinee, October 8, 2023 (Pic: Sara)
Since this past summer, my pal Jus’ B and I have been throwing a monthly day party called Disco Matinee at Grand Star Jazz Club in Chinatown. We’ve been lucky to be able to bring in some amazing locals to guest DJ, like Mr. Michel, who played with us on October. We’ve also been lucky to have a good crew of regulars who have been sticking around on the dance floor until the house lights brighten and the dinner cravings get stronger.
On Thursday, I bought a pair of Sambas and then I broke them in that night on the dance floor at 96 Tears and, let me tell you, that was the best decision I’ve made in months. It meant that I could DJ from 9:30 until 1:30 upstairs at the Grand Star for Club Underground without my back killing me well before midnight. And I could actually dance while I was DJing too, which probably looks stupid, but it’s how I keep time, so whatever.
This weekend, you can find me at the Grand Star in Chinatown, where I’ll be playing on Friday night and Sunday afternoon. Aside from that, there are some very cool events happening around town, amongst them, you’ll find techno at the Lodge Room, Italo at Moroccan Lounge, Japanese pop at High Tide and more. Check out the list of L.A. music events below for information on my own gigs, plus my recommendations for this week.
Every Tuesday night at The Mermaid this October is Italo Horror Disco, the Halloween-friendly edition of L.A. Industrial’s Italo disco party Dolce Vita. DJ Manuelito and I had the chance to kick off the spooky festivities last night to a killer crowd at the Little Tokyo bar.
I have yet to drink my way through the cocktail menu at Golden Dragon in Chinatown. I’ve made enough of a dent in it, though, to tell you that the piña colada, with a kick of coconut in its frothy top, is my favorite. But, the mai tai, Singapore sling and scorpion bowls are all worthy dinner companions as well. Even better, all of the drinks mentioned here, and most of the cocktails on Golden Dragon’s menu, are $8.50*, which is a downright deal for a mixed drink in Los Angeles right now. In fact, it’s lower than what I’ve seen during happy hour at multiple places downtown.
I finally had some time to make a new Beatique Mix. This one is shorter than usual, but the tunes cross genre from Italo disco to dub, so it’s a fun one. At least, it was a fun one to make. Listen here or head over to Mixcloud, where you can check out any of the 80 (!!!) sets that I’ve posted over the past few years.
This is an updated post. Originally, I said that I wasn’t DJing this week. As it turns out, I’ll be at The Mermaid on Tuesday night for Dolce Vita, so scroll down for the details. Otherwise, here’s what’s on my list of L.A. music events for the next week. The list might be updated later if I find out about some more events happening during the week.
One note about these event lists is that I try to make sure that they’re more-or-less affordable, so I’ve been using $30 as the cap on ticket prices and always try to include some free events. Three on this list have no cover.
I wasn’t planning to DJ this week, but a last minute opportunity came up to play at The Mermaid for Dolce Vita on Tuesday night. I really enjoy playing at The Mermaid, especially for Dolce Vita, so I dropped whatever Italo disco and Italo-adjacent folders I had on my hard drive into Rekordbox and played from 9 p.m. until around 11:15 or so. Here’s what you heard. I used the file names for artist and song title, just so you can find the tracks if you want. In the case of some of the edits, it’s definitely not the actual name of the artist or title, but you can probably figure that out.
