By now, you’ve almost accepted that it’s 2024 and either stayed on or fallen off the Dry January bandwagon. While you contemplate forking over a small fortune to see Peso Pluma and Ice Spice at Coachella this spring, don’t forget about all the local talent at home. Round up your artsy friends and head to the L.A. Art Fair featuring graffiti artists, zinemakers, DJs and more. Take part in a marathon performance from L.A., East L.A. and Valley community college students taking over the Latino Theater Company stage. Or catch a rising mariachi opera singer in Highland Park. In this city, there’s always something to do.
LIVE MUSIC
Ozomatli’s Temple of the Monkey Residency: L.A.’s own funky rockeros Ozomatli are in the midst of a Friday night residency at the Venice West, a new music venue and restaurant opened by two locals who wanted a consistent place to hear live music. The always outspoken band that formed in 1995, at the height of their activism, blends salsa, hip-hop, reggae and cumbia and has won several Grammy awards and a U.S. Cultural Ambassador designation. In 2010, April 23 was officially declared Ozomatli Day in L.A. in recognition of the band’s cultural contributions that have reached a global audience.
When: 8 p.m. Friday; doors open at 6 p.m.
Where: The Venice West, 1717 Lincoln Blvd., Venice
Admission: Tickets $58
Y La Bamba at El Rey: Formed in Portland in 2008, Y La Bamba is best described as indie/experimental, but it is so much more. Lead singer Luz Elena Mendoza sings from a deeply soulful, enigmatic place that transcends borders and genres. Born in San Francisco to Mexican parents of indigenous Purépecha descent, she blends the regional Mexican music she grew up listening to with bilingual ballads that borrow from oldies and alternative styles. The band’s seventh album, “Lucha,” released last year, is a pandemic project that explores growth, queerness, Chicanx identity, family, intimacy and loneliness. Catch them with Mexico’s Cancamusa and La Cosecha Internacional.
When: 9 p.m. Saturday; doors open at 8 p.m.
Where: El Rey Theater, 5515 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles
Admission: Tickets $25
Kali Uchis discusses pregnancy, breaking industry barriers and new Spanish-language album ‘Orquídeas’
Kali Uchis is pregnant. The Grammy-winning artist discusses becoming mother—literally—and how she pen palled with Latin music’s biggest stars to make her new album “Orquideas.”
Omar Alejandro, “Alma Mexicana”: On a mission to make opera more accessible, Los Angeles’s Pacific Opera Project moved to Highland Park to reach a wider audience and showcase its diverse talent. Its new Artist Recital Series kicks off with mariachi opera singer Omar Alejandro, who was born and raised in Watsonville and worked in his family’s strawberry field until he took a voice class in college and fell in love with singing. A regular backup singer for opera great Andrea Bocelli , Alejandro mixes classical with contemporary (think “Cien Años” and “Remember Me”) while always showing love to his Mexican roots. He’s accompanied by a pianist and the L.A.-based Mariachi Folklore.
When: 7 to 9 p.m. Friday
Where: Pacific Opera Project, 125 S. Avenue 57, Los Angeles
Admission: Tickets $25
ART
Los Angeles Art Fair: Santa Ana’s Shadowbox Gallery curates this art extravaganza featuring today’s most talented artists spotted on the streets and gallery walls. This year’s lineup includes Angel Once, whose pink elephants are on everything from dumpsters to canvases; visual artist and DJ Ed Gutter, known for his cholo-style sexy lady drawings; and Stan Nuñez aka Saints, the old-school b-boy-loving graffiti master. Snatch up some collectibles from 20-plus artist vendors and check out Valerie J. Bower‘s photo zine swap meet featuring more than 40 local photography zine makers. The Los Angeles Record Fair is slanging records, Beat Swap Meet DJs are on the ones and twos, Los Supreme Car Club exhibits lowriders and SELA Art Center hosts a free costume life drawing with resident artist Shadia Elise. Craft beers and paint and sips by Artistry Park are on tap.
When: 12 to 5 p.m. Sunday
Where: Arrow Lodge Brewing, 950 E. 3rd St., #1A, Los Angeles
Admission: Free
Queerteñx: Trans Fronterizes/Cuir Transnationalism: Loyola Marymount University’s Laband Gallery hosts this exhibit featuring Jalisco-born, Laredo-raised artist and educator Salvador de la Torre and El Paso-born artist José Villalobos, who redefine norteño culture. Curated by CuratorLove founder and UNDOC+Collective co-founder Erika Hirugami (a Mexican Japanese immigrant), Queerteñx (queer norteño) deconstructs masculinity and honors rancho subcultures like morteño (emo norteño) and rancholo (rancho cholo). Through photography, sculpture, drawing, video and performance, the artists use traditionally masculine objects like cowboy boots and hats to depict the undocumented queer and trans diaspora living on the frontera.
When: Opening reception 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday
Where: Laband Art Gallery, Burns Fine Arts Center, 1 LMU Drive, Los Angeles
Admission: Free
THEATER & BOOKS
A Mexican Trilogy: An American Story: Students from East Los Angeles College, Los Angeles Valley College and Los Angeles City College take to the stage to perform one part of Chicana playwright Evelina Fernández’s award-winning trilogy. Directed by José Luis Valenzuela, the play follows several generations of a Mexican-American family, from a remote mining town in Arizona during World War II to Los Angeles circa 2005 after the death of Pope John Paul II. Enjoy all three plays in a six-hour marathon that includes two 15-minute breaks and a 45-minute dinner break with food and beverage for purchase or catch a single show.
When: 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday
Where: The Latino Theatre Center, 514 S. Spring St., Los Angeles
Admission: Tickets start at $10
Stanzarama: Join New York-based poet and spoken-word artist George Wallace in this meeting of words featuring L.A.’s own Latinx wordsmith and renowned political poet Matt Sedillo and Bronx-bred Tía Chucha Press editor Luivette Resto at Highland Park’s independent bookstore. In its first year, the shop has hosted readings by “Creep” author Myriam Gurba and “Our Migrant Souls” author and former L.A. Times journalist Héctor Tobar. Hosted by U.S. Beat Poet Laureate Rich Ferguson, tonight it’s all about the group of lines that make up a verse and the writers who are here for it.
For the record:
6:06 p.m. Jan. 18, 2024Myriam Gurba did not write “American Dirt,” as was stated in a previous version of this story.
When: 7:30 p.m. Friday
Where: North Figueroa Bookshop, 6040 N. Figueroa St., Los Angeles
Admission: Free
“Maestra” & “the eaters of flowers” Book Launch: One of the hardest jobs on earth is being a schoolteacher, and those who had to transition to Zoom at the height of the pandemic have battle wounds. Enter “Maestra,” the newly released poetry book by former LAUSD teacher and L.A. native Angelina Sáenz, who meditates on 23 years of teaching in the country’s second-largest school district. Set during a pandemic and in a rapidly gentrifying neighborhood, Sáenz recounts stories of students struggling with poverty, racism and incarcerated parents, mirroring much of her own childhood. Meanwhile, 2023 Texas State Poet Laureate, essayist, novelist and comic book writer ire’ne lara silva releases her fifth book of poems, “the eaters of flowers,” about the loss of her brother (and adopted son) and how she navigates grief, loss, loneliness and the reemergence of joy. Check out the poetas as they read from their works and celebrate with MC David Quiroz, GFunkTrece and fellow poets including Bridgette Bianca at this family-run Paramount coffee shop, which makes a mean horchata latte.
When: 5 p.m. Saturday
Where: Horchateria Rio Luna, 15950 Paramount Blvd., Paramount
Admission: Free
Across the U.S., dancers are making the Latin dance genre more inclusive, creating spaces and increasing visibility for same-gender dance couples and nonbinary performers.
GET MOVING
Queerchata Bachata and Salsa Class: There are many benefits of dancing, including improved physical health and reduction of depression and stress, but dance also has the power to redefine gender norms. Queerchata is doing just that. The local queer Latinx dance crew is part of a movement making the Latin dance scene more inclusive by creating space for same-gender dance partners and nonbinary performers. Bex Nitti founded Queerchata in 2020 while living in Seattle. Today, they regularly host beginner-friendly bachata and salsa classes at queer bar Precinct DTLA, which starts with a warmup and ends with alternating partner dancing. Join the welcoming class for an evening of movement, socializing and, most important, acceptance.
When: 8:30 p.m. Saturday
Where: Precinct DTLA, 357 S. Broadway, Los Angeles
Admission: Tickets $20 plus tax
L.A. Roller Workshop: Tap into your inner niñx while joining the skate revolution at this all-ages and levels workshop taught by L.A. Roller Entertainment, a leader in teaching everyday people and celebrities alike how to roller skate. Since 2015, founder and pro roller skater Crystal Alysia has enlisted professionally trained skaters to help aspiring skaters of all levels improve their skills and build confidence on the rink and the street. This workshop is the perfect place to start if rollerskating has been on your bucket list since it became all the rage during the pandemic.
When: 5 p.m. Sunday
Where: Moonlight Rollerway, 5110 San Fernando Road, Glendale
Admission: Tickets $65
L.A. is too big for us to know about all the events happening this weekend. If we missed something you think we should know about, let us know.
Kamren Curiel is a fourth-generation Xicana born in East L.A. and raised in Monterey Park and South San Gabriel. She’s written for the Los Angeles Times, L.A. Taco, Latina magazine, LAist, KCET, Alta and the Huffington Post, and was the senior editor at Remezcla and Sí TV.
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