Every Wednesday at Akbar, nine 'til midnight.

2 drink minimum and a little donation is appreciated ot this group of locals who teach crafts from the kindness of their hearts. They also encourage to BYOS (Bring your own scissors).

Tomorrow night's craft is still TBD but I'm guessing they'll bring their usual supplies for making paper bag puppets.

Make mom happy and make her a pretty frame on May 7th.

All the info on their website and blog.


Akbar
4356 Sunset Blvd.
Silver Lake, 90029
323.665.6810

Labels: bars, DIY, events

I survived Oktoberfest in Torrance last weekend. Next weekend I'll be dining on Brats once again at Nunchux: The Wine Toast VII's Oktoberfest themed event. Santos, the fearless founder behind The Wine Toast, brings the goods to this monthly speakeasy. He pours the wine at Silver Lake Wine and puts on the sommelier hat at the acclaimed AOC Wine Bar. Rest assured, foodies will not outnumber Oktoberfest fans at this wine event. Alternatively, Nunchux brings the best of both parties. Like the tastings at Silver Lake Wine there's bound to be some very delectable wines and beer along with eclectic and boutique pours. In this case the selection is all German. Santos has also made some tasty munchie selections. (He's promised high quality sauerkraut). Food prices stay around $5. Beer and wine is sold by the glass $4-$12. A cover of $4 ($2 if you RSVP in advance). All in all it won't set you back too much. As this is a true speakeasy - Cash Only.

Oh and did I mention the band I Make This Sound will do a live show? Their dreamy rock vibe pairs with a vibrant red quite nicely but I hope some Oktoberfest enthusiast requests the chicken dance.


Sunday, Oct. 14 7:30pm
Nunchux: The Wine Toast VII
2000 N. Figueroa (San Fernando & Figueroa)
Downtown, 90065
RSVP: nunchux@mail.com

Labels: bars, events, food

Great Northern plays a super secret show tonight at Silver Lake Lounge. They're the "special guest" on The Fold's website.
Why: They're hosting some big A&R New Yorkers in our 'hood.
How: Thanks myspace.


Wednesday, Oct. 3 8:30pm
Silver Lake Lounge
2906 Sunset Blvd.
Silver Lake, 90026

Labels: bars, events, music, random

Meet comic book artists John Pham. Video gamer girls love him and you can too. His superbly hip drawings have been seen in his fan favorite Epoxy. While John has not updated his online portfolio since 1995 he has been working on a new sketchbook-style collection called Sublife. Pre-release copies will be available at Secret Headquarters tonight and John Pham might sign it when he stops by around 8:00pm. His original work will hang on the walls until July 15th. It wouldn't be a Secret Headquarters party without the beer and ChaShaw so get your drink on and your browsing on in our hood's finest comic shop. I've named the 4100 Bar for the unofficial afterparty.


Friday, Jun. 15 8:00-10:00pm
John Pham reception
Secret Headquarters
3817 Sunset Blvd.
Silver Lake, 90026

Labels: bars, comics, events

This Saturday night it's like an old fashioned ice cream social except with beer and bruise stories and probably the majority of the peeps will be on skates. It's still as good time as ever to get up close and personal with your favorite Dolls, especially since the league schedule is on hiatus. Not only is it the break in the Derby season but the LA Dolls have recently lost their track space at the Little Tokyo Mall. After every event had hastles with city code inspectors, the man has finally shut them down. They're still looking for partners to come in and help especially those of the deep pockets and real estate know-how. Please come out and bring your Daddy Warbucks. Have no fear, the first match of the season will resume July 21 no matter what. Rain, shine, or inner-city council bullshit, the Dolls will get their bruise on this summer. See the LA Derby Dolls website for official messages and updates.

Here's a recent promo video from the Dolls of last season's Greatest "Hits":





Host bar for the 1970s themed event, The Airliner seems like quite the party space. Sports fans will appreciate their wide selection of TV sets near the multiple bars. They haven't updated their calendar since March, so I don't know if we should expect their usual line-up of classic rock inspired hip-hop house bands. I expect hot wings and PBR served by tattooed. Try to dress up.


Saturday, Jun. 9 8:30pm
Derby Dolls Sleazy '70s Social
18 over show, $12 cover
The Airliner
2419 N. Broadway
Lincoln Heights, 90031

Labels: bars, events

I was going to spend the weekend pouting that I didn't get Coachella tix and watching the recently released Twin Peaks Vol. 2 DVD but then my Friday took a turn for the more social with these three happening events.

Enlightened Development + Crosswired - A & D Museum
6:00-10:00pm
Not even my architect buddies knew there was an Architecture & Design Museum in LA. But there is, a small gallery with a lovely courtyard space near Wilshire's museum row. Friday nights until May 21 DJ's take over the courtyard for vodka fueled mingling over new architecture models. Even if pre-fab is not in your vocab, free drinks and techno beats is not a bad way to kick-start your weekend. Like any gallery reception, show up on time. Shop promptly closes up @ 10pm.

A&D Museum
5900 Wilshire
Miracle Mile, 90036
323.932.9393


Not For Tourists Party - Footsie's Bar
6:00-9:00pm
Another FREE party with beer - print out the invite for a complimentary PBR. This time the folks at NFT (Not For Tourists) City Guides opens up Footsie's Bar in Highland Park to celebrate their new 2007 Los Angeles edition. I'm a big fan of their pocket city guides. The New York City guide really saved my bootie when I was in desperate need of the closest subway or latte in Manhattan. Their neighborhood maps of LA's burroughs make attractive and informative office decor too. Giveaways at the door while supplies last.

Footsie's
2640 N. Figueroa
Highland Park, 90065
323.221.6900


Dirty Found - Steve Allen Theater
8:00 & 10:00pm
The adorable Davy, Jason and the gang of FOUND Magazine reach new heights off the grounds of decency and privacy with a very special DIRTY FOUND Outreach Show. Pulled from the pages of the 'zine, which collects found objects of the risque nature (homemade cartoon porn and pervy Polaroids never meant to see the light of day) the multimedia show will feature slide shows, readings, songs and more. Tickets are still available for $12 at the box office or add on $3 for an online ordering charge.

Steve Allen Theater
4773 Hollywood Blvd.
Los Feliz, 90027
323.666.4268

Labels: art, bars, books, design, events, freebies

Favorite local art listing/website A Little Birdy Told Me celebrates its first year at favorite Chinatown dig Mountain Bar this Saturday Night.

Labels: art, bars, events

Once upon a time I moved to Los Angeles without a care in the world and no idea where anything was. Thank goodness for Citysearch to point the direction to a lunchtime bite or a dingy dance club. But which site would I turn to for dentist suggestions, bikini wax confessions, or really how long you had to wait in line to get into The Short Stop and is it worth it? So thank you, thank you Yelp.com - one of many new sites based on reader reviews. Also, reader submitted pictures give you an idea really what somewhere looks like when often a restaurant's webpage can make a mini-mall corner spot look like the Bellagio, and quite possibly just as tacky. You still have to read between the lines to really get the scoop on one Pinkberry versus another, for example. But so many new reviews are added each day - more than I can say for the cobwebs hanging on Citysearch.

The biggest discovery today: Tiki Ti has a calendar. Here I was thinking my favorite summertime bar kept the regular hours of half past whenever we feel like it to time to get the hell outta my bar. Well, the later time I guess is still true. Their website also has a pretty amusing gallery of the regulars - People to think about next time you see the drones of westsiders lining up outside on some weekend waiting to get in.

Labels: bars, reviews, shopping, www.internet.com

With a long weekend to look forward to, what better way to wrap up the Monday night than booze and bingo?
After a rockin' time at Bigfoot Lodge's Sunday night Bingo last week I realized that Bingo hangovers are much better than the usual Monday morning hangover. So to be faithful to my favorite Bingo callers, Bingo Boy and the incomparable Smokey Lounge, I am re-posting their invite to Bingo this Monday night at Akbar. I've also re-printed their presidential facts, in case you haven't gotten enough President's Day trivia.

Dear Bingo Freaks,

HAPPY PRESIDENT'S DAY! For your enjoyment, a bit of trivia about George Washington and Abraham Lincoln:

GEORGE WASHINGTON
Washington was the only Founding Father to free his slaves.

He was the only president who did not live in Washington D.C.

As a farmer, Washington grew marijuana on his farm and promoted it's growth.

As a farmer, he is credited with introducing the mule to America.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN
Lincoln had a cat named "Bob," a turkey named "Jack," and a dog named "Jib."

He was the first president to be photographed at his inauguration. John Wilkes Booth (his assassin) can be seen standing close to Lincoln in the picture.

Lincoln was the only president to receive a patent, for a device for lifting boats over shoals.

Abraham Lincoln was shot while watching a performance of Our American Cousin at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. The same play was also running at the McVerick Theatre in Chicago on May 18, 1860, the day Lincoln was nominated for president in that city.

Lincoln's favorite sport was wrestling. (Hence all of those "Lincoln was gay" rumors).

In honor of these two great presidents, AKBAR, the coolest bar in Silverlake is presenting CLUB LUCKY BALLS- an evening of Martini-scented Bingo (don't bring the kids).

Hosted by BINGO-BOY and SMOKEY LOUNGE, the night will rock with ten games, ten prize packages (including top shelf booze) and will benefit THE LIFE GROUP L.A. The Life Group LA is a coalition of people dedicated to the education, empowerment and emotional support of persons both infected and affected by HIV/AIDS so that they may make informed choices and decisions regarding their healthcare and personal well being.

A great cause and a great way to round out your three day weekend. Give a little, get a lot!

Love,
Bingo Boy

Monday Feb. 19
Club Lucky Balls Bingo @ Akbar
4356 Sunset Blvd. & Fountain
Parking in back
Bingo starts at 9:00pm
Suggested donation $20 for 10 games - that's double down cards for each game!

Labels: bars, events, games

That's really what Saturday should go by now thanks to The Inaugural Irregular Tequila Tasting at Malo this Saturday night. Boasting to serve you the planet's top eight agave delights plus Malo's delicious tacos plus prizes and goody bags all for $30. And if that wasn't enough to ignite your hedonist fiesta, Pier Paolo Pasolini's Teorema will project in the background all night long. Grab a bar stool while you can still stand. Fiesta kicks off at 8:00pm.

Malo Restaurant & Cantina
4326 W. Sunset Blvd.
Silver Lake

Home James will be around to provide designated drivers for you too.

Labels: bars, events

Vice Magazine, known for promoting global hedonism (not to mention their dos and donts page I'm re-obsessed with) is coming out with a new DVD this month. The Vice Guide to Travel. It's not a lonely planet guide on film by any means, more like a primer to where the largest illegal arms dealers are in the world, or where drug lords go to party in Rio de Janeiro, or what really is going down in Chernobyl right now. Johnny Knoxville and David Cross round out a group of celebrity and daring journalists' journeys to the center of these non-vacation destinations. The mini-trailer is enough to scare me away from Pakistan for a while longer.
I Heart Comix hosts this FREE screening at Safari Sam's tomorrow night. Get there early for a seat or show up late for the bands that will play afterwards and stand wherever you can.

Vice Guide To Travel Advance Screening
Tuesday, Nov. 21
Safari Sam's
5214 Sunset Blvd.
7:00pm doors, 7:30pm film
Music afterwards by
Eastern Conference Champions,
The Rinse and DJ Paparazi

Labels: bars, events, film, music

Jon Brion at Largo: Friday Nov. 17.
Firstly, Largo has a lot of rules. In order to see Jon Brion (famed music producer of Fiona Apple, Beck, Kanye West, etc) play at his club you either have to A.) make a dinner reservation: which you can get by being music business connected or tracking the online reservation list like a desperate eBay auction or B.) wait in line to grab a seat at the bar. It's first come first serve, which the doorman enforces by handing out playing cards to the first 12 people in line. They are guaranteed bar stools and they usually start lining up at 5:30pm for the doors to open at 8:00pm. Everyone else gets standing room. Once inside it's like being on an airplane: no cell phones, no cameras, no recording, no electronic devices of any kind, and keep your arms and legs out of the aisles. Do not talk once the show begins and please abide the two drink minimum. Friday night was also $15 cash cover at the door. Exact change will get you a smile, saving spots in line will get you the hairy eyeball.
The card method is good for those of us fortunate to leave work early on a Friday night and beat traffic. Then you and your party can forgo the line outside and enjoy the local eateries on Fairfax the come back when the doors open around 8:30. That is, if you and your party can't get a dinner reservation at Largo. And beware: those parties that don't fill their dinner reservation will be forced to forfeit their table. So you will see the line of reservation people asking the standing room only line people if they would like to fill the empty seat at their table. Jon Brion usually starts the show around 10:00pm once everyone is seated. Last Friday he was unhappy with his sound check and spent a while fine tuning the drum kit. I was exhausted by the time the doors opened around 9:30 and the rules exhausted me more.
But once the show got under way and a cocktail was in front of me, the dark walls of the Largo drew me in. All that waiting and rule following led up to one amazing show: You are in Jon's world now and everything here from the pasta menu to the antiquarian upright piano is genius.
Girls with pretty haricuts and short dresses turned to their dates with I-can't-believe-it gasps on their faces every time Brion sampled once, twice, and thrice loops of drums, piano, bass lines and then played guitar along to his one man band creation in a melody too perfect for words. Brion's perfectionist attention to the meticulous musical details is what sets him apart. You can picture his years of recording experience behind a mixing console as he makes each track come alive on stage. He makes a killing here at Largo among faithful fans. You'll meet a lot of regulars at Largo and a lot of people now swearing they will soon be regulars. They love that they're invited to Brion's playground. His hits from soundtracks like "Knock Yourself Out" was barely played towards the audience. Other times he looked like Elliot Smith with a craned neck at the microphone earnestly singing every line from "That's Just What You Are". Usually his sets consist of all requests or attempts from the audience to stump him. He's more than a pop music dictionary, more like a sideshow freak who can name fifty songs for every three-chord progression. His covers are legendary here. I was giddy when he mixed "Gigantic" by the Pixies into "Jessie's Girl" and then morphed seamlessly into the Beatles "Taxman" which took the night into a Beatles medley unlike any supergroup could dream of.
Set list below courtesy of the Jon Brion Tendinitis Report (he had to stop doing shows for a while to rest an ailing wrist and even now cuts the shows back from the usual 4-5 hours to a mere 2 or 3)

Setlist for November 17, 2006

Jill Sobule, opener
--Bitter
--Bobbie Gentry*
--Now That I Don't Have You*
--Ring Them Bells*
--Victorious*

* = with Greg Leisz (slide guitar)

Jon Brion
--guitar instrumental
--pedal demo (genius!)
--Girl I Knew
--The Way It Went
--"Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind" theme
--That's Just What You Are
--Knock Yourself Out (from "I heart Huckabees")
--I'm Further On
--Strings That Tie to You (from "Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind")
--Someone to Watch Over Me (jazzy/rock cover of the Gershwin standard)

with Benmont Tench, piano and Greg Leisz
--Isn't It a Pity (George Harrison)
--It's All Over Now, Baby Blue (Bob Dylan)
--I'll Be Back (Beatles)
--I Don't Hurt Anymore (Hank Snow)
--Day After Day (Badfinger)
--Why Do You Do This to Yourself
--Gigantic (Pixies) /Jesse's Girl (Rick Springfield)/Taxman/Within You, Without You (Beatles)
--Tomorrow Never Knows/Day Tripper/She Said, She Said/I Want You/Ob La Di, Ob La Da/Dear Prudence/Baby You're a Rich Man + hundred other Beatles riffs + She's So Heavy

Largo Supper Club
432 N. Fairfax
Reservations & Info line 323.852.1073

Jill Sobule next plays @ Largo Tuesday, Nov. 21
Jon Brion plays @ Largo Friday nights TBA

More Jon Brion info on Fairfax-avenue.com

Labels: bars, music, reviews

Wednesday - Jamie Lidell @ Safari Sam's $20. He plays acoustic this time. Too much for an acoustic set? You're right.

Thursday - Regina Spektor @ Avalon. Show sold out. Tickets available on eBay. She won't be back in L.A. til next year.

Thursday - Moving Picture Show @ Spaceland. $6. Get your hispter fix with the local version of early Talking Heads inspired rock-pop with high school marching band homage. I think they have moving pictures in their show?

Friday -LoveLikeFire @ El Cid. $8. How to describe the new San Francisco outfit? Their lead singer is very pretty, Death Cab For Cutie loves them so you should too. They go on at 10:30pm after other rock acts.

Saturday - Bootie LA @ The Echo. $10 cover. Monthly rauckus mashup DJ night. This Saturday features the Kleptones, known for being British bootleg DJs and their Queen mashups. Get there before 10pm and its two for one cover price. Another early comer perk: Free Mashup CD. The biggest perk: Don't get stuck waiting outside the Echo.

Labels: bars, events, music

Last night one of my girls called me out to Dirty Bingo at Akbar and I couldn't think of a more fun way to drink away a Monday night. Did you know gay bars and Bingo go hand in fabulous hand? Remember that one Sex & The City episode where the girls played drag queen bingo? Legendary Bingo hosts games every Wednesday night at Hamburger Mary's with all the card money going to charities. No drag queens at Akbar last night, but we did get Club Lucky Balls Bingo with the charmingly sarcastic Bingo Boy calling the balls and the dapper lizard Smokey Lounge entertaining the crowd. With East-sider pride, proceeds went to the Silver Lake Conservatory of Music and some prizes were donated by Living Room. My table of hags got to be known as the Charlie's Angels with yours truly taking the Farrah Fawcett nickname. Everyone got to yell Bingo expect me - so I'm bringing the game next time. If you sign up for legendary email list you get double game sheets - that's 20 chances to win for $20.


Akbar
4356 Sunset Blvd. at Fountain, Silver Lake
Happy Hour all night Mondays - All well drinks $3
(Stay tuned for the next Lucky Balls Bingo night)

Hamburger Mary's
8288 Santa Monica Blvd. at Sweetzer, WeHo
Wednesdays
Classic Bingo 7:00pm
Bingo-tini 9:00pm

Labels: bars, games

Mateys! In Honor of Talk Like a Pirate Day, the Redwood Bar will be hosting all sorts of scallywags and buccaneers tonight. The owners, responsible for the decor of favorite Fred 62, call their new renovation "more of an Amerigo Vespucci bar than Pirates of the Caribbean." God love 'em. And since we know pirates don't quit after last call - the bar will stay open 'til 4am tonight.

The Redwood Bar & Grill
316 W. 2nd Street
Downtown
(213) 680-2600

Labels: bars, events, random

You have been a leading venue on the indie rock scene for over 20 years. Your bare wooden walls are charmingly inviting and your bartenders and bouncer staff friendly. But please. Hire a new lighting designer. Last night I was thoroughly enjoying the show, that is I was loving the acts I came to see but hating the blinding blue gobos in my eyes. During an unfortunate lighting cue that turned smoke machines on intermittently, loud enough to drown out the singer on stage, and then crawled egg like shapes in jagged steps on the back wall, my friend turned to me and asked "Is a cat walking across the lightboard?". It is horrific to think those were deliberate choices. Could there be talented and tasteful lightboard operators in a city based on the industry of entertainment? Hire one of them.

Labels: bars, music, reviews

Lindsay Lohan and underage posse talking loudly at Malo. Malo has a great tequila selection, nice ambience, and a taco bar serving food 'til midnight.

Labels: bars, celeb sighting