The Art of Clubbing Makes a Comeback
Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear, when people would go to L.A. clubs . . . just to hang out!
But wait--those days are back.
Sure, there are plenty of music-oriented hot spots around town (the Cathouse, Bordello, etc.) for the late night, loudness and leather crowd. But if that’s not your trip, you’ve been out of luck for a couple of years: Clubbing has been pretty much restricted to going to see specific bands rather than making the scene.
Now, though, that fine old art is making a comeback at several locales, including the likes of Molly Malone’s (a Fairfax bar frequented by industry types), the Breakaway (a Venice Boulevard eatery spotlighting acoustic performers) and 8121 (a small room downstairs at Coconut Teaszer in Hollywood featuring acoustic acts five nights a week with no cover charge).
The best of the bunch just might be King King, a former Chinese restaurant at 6th and La Brea that is drawing a clientele of Hollywood’s casually (and not annoyingly) hip. Among those who have lain low there are Tom Waits, Dennis Hopper and Katey Sagal, and Jane’s Addiction singer Perry Farrell was seen skateboarding through the door recently. But mostly the club is attracting a regular crowd of music fans looking for a respite from the crazy city.
“People need good live entertainment, roots stuff, music from the industrial era rather than the technological era of now,” said Joe Altruda (known as Tupelo Joe), who books the live acts at the club as well as plays bass with the regular Tuesday night salsa band and spins records on Wednesdays. “This is a break from the trendy dance clubs that have a funky name but turn out to be just a big disco.”
Open seven nights a week, the 105-capacity King King has been able to maintain a steady flow of regulars with such house acts as Blue Shadows--featuring Blasters Bill Bateman and Smokey Hormel, with Dave Alvin usually sitting in--and the Tuesday salsa shows. Thursdays are designated as jazz nights, with Fridays and Saturdays reserved for acts drawn mostly from the local underground and alternative scenes. This week singer Julie Christensen is set for Thursday, the Nervous Brothers on Friday, and a special salsa show featuring Cuban conguero Francisco Aguabella.
Shows are at 10 and 12 each night, but a lot of regulars like to get there between 8 and 10 to sit and chat or play backgammon. Or before or after the show, the Pick Me Up espresso bar next door also serves as a nice place to mingle, or just sit and watch the world go by.
GRADUATION DAY: Not only are Mary’s Danish singers Gretchen Seager and Julie Ritter about to graduate, but so is their band. The two are just finishing up as French majors at UCLA, while the group--one of L.A.’s more vibrant club acts--is “graduating” in a manner of speaking with a debut album, “There Goes the Wondertruck,” due next month from Chameleon Records.
“I’ll finally have all my time to devote to the band,” said Seager, who met Ritter while both were students at UC Berkeley a few years ago. “I’ll probably have to get a job, but at least it won’t be like running home from rehearsal and having to read 100 pages of Proust or something.”
The big boost for Mary’s Danish has been its high rotation status at KROQ, rare these days for an unsigned band. Its song “Don’t Crash the Car,” the lead track on the recent “L.A. One” compilation CD, has been a KROQ favorite, and now the station’s playing the new single of “Shanty Pig” and “Hey There, Man.” They’ll play the John Anson Ford Theatre May 27 with Wall of Voodoo and the New Marines, and in July, the group plans to make its first venture out of Southern California in order to perform at the New Music Seminar in New York.
The start of big things? Maybe. But as Seager explained the album title, she made it clear that she hopes not to get swept up in the rock ‘n’ roll star trip.
“My sister thought of the name,” she said. “We were watching MTV, watching all these people making tons of money, like Lita Ford and Poison. They’re basically the wondertruck, and we’re not on it . . . not to say we want to be on it. It’s that glamour MTV life, which is repulsive.”
BUZZWORDS: Parthenon Huxley has finally gotten his “On the Road and Around the Block” tour of L.A. under way. Using a Thomas Bros. map book as his guide, the clever popster is playing as many local venues as will have him. He and his sharp band will be at the Palomino on Saturday. Meanwhile, he’s finished demos for an album to follow-up his 1988 Columbia debut, “Sunny Nights.” . . .
Ex-X drummer D.J. Bonebrake has officially signed up with Jimmie Wood & the Immortals, but with a clause that he’s allowed to go back to X if the group reforms. Chuck Plotkin, known for his work with Bruce Springsteen, has produced a couple of songs for an Immortals demo tape. As for D.J.’S X-mates, John Doe is recording his Geffen solo debut, while Exene Cervenka is preparing an album for Rhino. . . .
Title of the month goes to “Only 39,999,999 Behind ‘Thriller,”’ a compilation of songs recorded for the now-defunct Down There records, the label run by the Dream Syndicate’s Steve Wynn. Among the highlights drawn from the label’s seven-year, nine-album tenure are unreleased songs by Divine Weeks and Russ Tolman, with some rare and/or worthy cuts from Green on Red, the Romans and Wynn’s now-deceased band.