Future Shipwreck » Night Life

Inspired by 20 years of the highly reputable MIX NYC festival, Rudy Bleu, Kent Martin and Irinia Contreras have taken it upon themselves to establish MIX LA, a festival of queer experimental short film. The festival itself will be taking place next spring, but the group is throwing a warm-up event next Saturday: the MIX LA Summer Picnic!

Hosted by queer hip hop artist Deadlee and local artist Xochitl Brown, the schedule includes performances by artists Ian MacKinnon, The MOVEMENT movement, Cucci and select recent films by Erica Cho, Matt Johnstone, Sean M. Johnson, EMR, Chris Vargas, Patrick Stephenson, Paula Cronin, and Julia Snapper.

Come on out and have a picnic with your video art-loving pals– it’s free! And there’s an epic dance performance, and a sex toy fashion show. What more could you ask for?

A still from Sean M. Johnson’s “Boyhood Play” video series, and Mecca from The MOVEMENT movement

4 comments | Art, Los Angeles, Night Life | posted on August 7, 2008 at 9:21 pm

The First and Best Mika Miko Cover Band: Frisco Dykes

Mika Miko is one of L.A.’s biggest bands, and one of the fastest rising punk acts in America. Three years after their formation, they put out their first full-length album on Kill Rock Stars in 2006. You wouldn’t think one album would be enough material to inspire a tribute band, but two of my boyfriend’s teenage nephews would beg to differ.

At its formation, Frisco Dykes played exclusively Mika Miko covers, but they have since branched out and written their own songs. They’re some serious young’uns– the oldest member of the band, Mark, just graduated high school. Last night, they piled all their equipment in the family minivan and convinced one of their uncles to drive them into the city for a show at our house. They played a short but sweet set to a crowd of about thirty enraptured guests, who had come over for our post-Thanksgiving vegan pot luck.

These kids are rad. The town they herald from– a remote Los Angeles suburb called Chino– doesn’t seem like the type of environment that could foster such talent, but they’ve somehow found inspiration in the empty space between its taupe stucco box houses. Their skill level is pretty impressive. The lead signer, Joanna, sings rhapsodically through a hair dryer– an homage to Mika Miko’s signature rotary-phone mics. Mark plays bass like an old pro, and 17-year-old Paul is a force to be reckoned with on drums.

Watch a YouTube video of Frisco Dykes performing and check out the rest of the pictures from the show after the jump!

7 comments | Music, Night Life, Photo | posted on November 24, 2007 at 6:15 pm

Jens Lekman Live at the Troubadour

I finally got to see the indefatigably brilliant Jens Lekman perform at the Troubadour last night, and it was well worth the wait. Next to Patrick Wolf, this was perhaps the best show of the year. He had the help of six adorable Swedish-girl accompanists (all wearing matching white dresses, in a tasteful, non-Polyphonic Spree way) playing flutes, trumpets, saxophones, drums and violins– and a DJ for all the requisite samples. The venue had been sold out for a week and the whole audience was happy to be there– everyone sang along at the appropriate times, no one made an ass of themselves, and there the whole evening had a vibe of excitement and communion.

He performed an extended version of “Nina”– the song about a lesbian friend with whom he pretends to be engaged for the sake of her Catholic parents– with breaks in between each verse to further orate the tragicomic story of that unexpected family dinner. “Sipping On The Sweet Nectar” included a dance break in which everyone on stage flew around like airplanes, in reference to the music video. He even did a cover of Paul Simon’s “You Can Call Me Al,” which he preceded by saying he’d found the song silly as a child, and had always wanted to punch Chevy Chase’s stupid grinning face in the music video. He then apologized to Chevy Chase, in case he happened to be in the crowd.

After the show we waited around for a while for a chance to say hello, but before we could he decided to perform an impromptu acoustic encore for the twenty or thirty people who’d stayed behind (as seen in the above picture).

My friend Darin, who’s been to at least half a dozen Jens concerts including a couple in Sweden, asked Jens if we could take a picture, but he was in the middle of putting everything into his tour van. Just after they closed the door and got ready to take off to the next show in Vegas, Jens jumped out of the car and joined us for the picture he’d almost forgotten. That type of kindness really goes beyond the call and duty of the ordinary musical savant! It was a fantastic evening, all in all. I highly reccomend checking out Jens Lekman the next time he’s in your town!

2 comments | Music, Night Life | posted on November 11, 2007 at 2:21 pm

Hella Gay Miscellany

Media Cruiser is an addicting new blog written by my iPhone Line-cutting friend Andrew. It’s a symposium of articles on vastly incongruous matters of pop culture and politics, addressing the inane and the sublime from a queer perspective.

From the politics of pedophile-hunting to female rappers singing about their pussies, Media Cruiser weaves together a unique image of the gestalt of our era.

Oh, and also you can listen to original songs from “Golden Girls” episodes, like Sophia’s classic, “Thanks for the Medicare”.

The hypnotically handsome Rudy Bleu (who also happens to be my boyfriend) and his sultry co-DJ Cody Wayne throw a monthly party at Pehrspace in Echo Park. It’s called Outré, and it’s for sure the most un-pretentious fun music kick-back homo-friendly dance party in all of L.A. County.

This month they celebrated Rudy’s birthday with a 70’s porn-themed party and guest DJs Jeremy Scott, Daniel Pineda of Laco$te, and DJ Total Freedom. Check out the pictures on Sean Carnage’s blog, and come out to dance with us next month. Friday, September 21st!

Speaking of Rudy’s birthday, the picture at the top of this post is an image of the rad gift he was given by CalArts wunderkind Patrick S. It’s a hand-bottled “creature of unknown origins,” floating in a sea of paprika.

Cody Wayne, Rudy Bleu, and Jeremy Scott looking fierce at the turntables.

Listen to “Everybody’s Talkin’” by Nilsson [download]

I finally got around to watching John Schlesinger’s classic Midnight Cowboy recently, and fell in love with it. It’s so epic and stylistically ahead of its time, and simultaneously so encapsulating of its era. The performances are stunning, and it makes my heart weep to think of the strange old man Jon Voight has become, now that he’s taking supporting roles in Bratz: The Movie.

The music is also amazing, most notably the theme song performed by Harry Nilsson, “Everybody’s Talkin’”. I can listen to that song for hours on end!

In other news, I’m going to be putting up some photos on the walls of uber-cool downtown venue The Smell this Friday. I’m not sure how long they’ll be up, so come check them out this weekend!

3 comments | Movies, Night Life, The Internet | posted on August 27, 2007 at 10:53 am

Upcoming Events in L.A.

There’s a lot of fun shit going down in the next couple of weeks, and I’ve got it all laid out for you in a handy table right below the jump. Miranda July, Patrick Wolf, Brian De Palma, apocalyptic movie screenings, rockin’ dance parties, and more!

2 comments | Los Angeles, Night Life | posted on May 9, 2007 at 12:49 pm

Ariel Pink @ Family

Last night I saw Ariel Pink for the third time at one of my favorite stores, Family, on Fairfax. The first time I saw him play was at The Echo, and it was a disappointing affair. He didn’t have a backing band that time, so he was constantly fiddling with a highly complicated series of analog playback hookups, wearing an ammo strap loaded with cassette tapes. He took so much time fiddling with tapes and knobs that the audience eventually lost interest (with the exception of a few drunk hos who decided it would be a good idea to take the stage and dance drunkenly behind him) and he became visibly despondent, before eventually storming off stage.

4 comments | Los Angeles, Music, Night Life | posted on April 30, 2007 at 1:18 pm

Outré Pictures!

Outré is the name of the new monthly party that my boyfriend, Rudy, is putting on with fellow superstar DJ Cody Wayne. The first installment of this much-anticipated event came last Saturday, and it was a veritable blast. Unlike the nights Rudy ordinarily puts on, Outré is held not in a bar or a club but in a new space for events that also serves a record label office and art gallery, Pehrspace.

Each month, Cody and Rudy are having someone different redesign the gallery entirely, and this month they called upon our roommate, Mary-Ann, a geology enthusiast and art teacher. Her decorations included a forest-bed of balloons, some filled with blue LEDs, a series of crystal cave-esque stalagmites carved out of enormous chunks of Styrofoam, and elaborate silhouettes ornamenting the walls. Team Andrew performed spontaneously, and a dance performance was scheduled but failed to materialize. Overall it was a hella rad time. Come check it out next month on April 21st! Here are some pictures I took throughout the night:

2 comments | Night Life, Photo | posted on March 29, 2007 at 7:21 am