Tag: Yoko Ono

  • Beatique Mix June 2026

    For the June Beatique mix, I decided that I would just play music for an hour or so and post the results whether or not I flubbed any airbreaks or mixes. The whole point of that is that I think it’s really important to keep the imperfections as a sign that there’s a real person making stuff for no real reason other than to just do it. We’ve been in this creepy, brand-centric cycle of culture for so long, where everything we share is supposed to function as a commercial for the next hustle, and it’s really easy to forget that we should do things just for the hell of it. DJing is my job- or, one of my jobs- but I also listen to a lot music because I like it. And sometimes I work out sets at home because I want to know how to songs fit together. It’s kind of practice, but it’s also just kind of how my brain has worked since before I realized that DJing was a job that I could do. 

    Even though this was made on the fly, there’s a flow to it. A lot of the songs relate to each other in ways that won’t make much sense to anyone who isn’t me. The first part is mostly related to stories I recently wrote or am in the middle of writing. The second half is club stuff, although not all of the songs have made it into my club sets yet. None of them are transitions that I’ve practiced prior to recording this. I’m just kind of figuring them out here. (The Angelé/Justice song and the Slayyyter one I played in reverse order the previous night and, tbh, I prefer that flow.) This is all background stuff that nobody really cares about, but, whatever. We’re living in the dead internet era and I have no illusions that anyone is actually reading or listening. But, because it helps me think things through, I made an annotated set list with links back to references. 

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  • Imagine Peace with Yoko Ono: Music of the Mind at The Broad

    War is Over If You Want It Yoko Ono and John Lennon The Broad Yoko Ono Music of the Mind Photo: Liz Ohanesian
    Inside Yoko Ono: Music of the Mind at The Broad (Pic: Liz O.)

    Right before the press preview for Yoko Ono: Music of the Mind began, we were invited to add wishes to one of the olive trees in the plaza outside the entrance to The Broad. I picked up a small white tag and a pen and wrote a single world. Peace. Simple and inoffensive, I thought. Or, maybe not. Peace is complicated according to the politicians who say we need to bomb our way to it. And peace is offensive according to the people who get completely bent out of shape when you suggest that our tax money might be more wisely spent on— IDK— education and health care instead of constant war. But, I know for a fact that I wasn’t the first person who tied a hope for peace onto the Wish Trees for Los Angeles installation and it’s safe to assume that many more will do the same before the exhibition ends in October. 

    Yoko Ono: Music of the Mind, which began its tour at London’s Tate Modern two years ago, is a career retrospective of the avant-garde artist that takes visitors from the mid-20th century to the fairly recent past. The exhibition’s stop at The Broad marks Ono’s first ever museum solo show in Southern California, so it is a landmark event and one that shouldn’t be missed. 

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