October might have been stressing me out this year, but I felt an instant sense of relief inside The Mermaid last night. I was there to DJ another week of Dolce Vita’s Italo Horror Disco, this time with DJ Alex Arias. The first thing I noticed is that the Halloween display in the bar has grown larger and more detailed since I last played there earlier this month. The centerpiece is a mermaid skeleton, who is surrounded by a bounty of odds and ends, from crystal balls to eyeballs to skeleton hands. The glow-in-the-dark paints and swaths of fabric help give the impression that you stumbled upon this altar while underwater. It’s super cool. Stop by The Mermaid and check it out this week if you have a chance.
Other than that, it was great to play with Alex for the first time. I loved his set. Plus, some friends stopped by, which made the night all the better. Here’s what I played in my sets last night. Also, a reminder that I’ll be playing Underground’s Halloween party on Friday, October 27 and there’s a low ticket alert for the party, so get yours as soon as possible.
This week, you can catch me playing a few records at Vidéothèque’s Opening Party on Saturday evening, sometime between 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. Plus, I’ll be at The Mermaid on Tuesday, October 24 to drop an even spookier Italo Horror Disco set than the one I played earlier this month. But, there’s still a lot more than that happening in the next handful of days. Keep reading to see what my L.A. music event recommendations are for this week.
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.
I forgot to take pics while I was DJing, so here’s a mermaid skeleton at The Mermaid that I saw right before the night started. (Pic: Liz O.)
For years, I used to post most of my set lists. Then I stopped because I figured if people were that curious about what I’m playing, they would actually go to the party and Shazam (or, like, come up and ask me about) whatever song they don’t know. Now I’m rethinking that because Shazam doesn’t catch everything. Plus, I like having an archive and want people to actually know what songs are played. So, this is the set from Dolce Vita at The Mermaid on September 12, 2023.
Last Tuesday, I played a last minute, fill-in set at Dolce Vita and recorded the full two-hours that I played. Then I chopped the set down to a more reasonable one hour and ten minutes, which you can now hear on Mixcloud.
I’ll be back at Dolce Vita on Tuesday, February 21 to play from 9 p.m. until last call. There’s no cover and it’s 21+. Hope to see you there.
