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Los Angeles Times
03-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
L.A.'s answer to Tiny Desk is hiding inside Mercado La Paloma
Yesi Ortiz has been chasing a sense of home ever since her mixed-status family was forced to bounce between Southern California, Las Vegas and Baja California, Mexico. Now, the former radio host of L.A.'s hip-hop station Power 106-FM and cast member of VH1 series 'Love & Hip Hop: Hollywood' is building that home herself — by transforming a Historic South-Central food hall with a Michelin-star pedigree into a DIY concert venue. There, she hosts what's known simply as 'The Rehearsal.' (Because it must be said: No, it's not related to Nathan Fielder's HBO series of the same name.) The Rehearsal, which opened its sixth season last month at Mercado La Paloma, is a live showcase for young musical talent hoping to be seen and for seasoned musicians who want to try out new material in front of an audience. It's also streamed live on Twitch and YouTube each Friday night. Ortiz and her team describe it as the kind of show 'you go to find the real ones before they break.' 'I love the Tiny Desk comparison because that's what Tiny Desk used to be: a place to find undiscovered talent,' Rehearsal co-founder Levi Downey explained. 'I still love it, but it's not that anymore.' Downey said NPR Music's flagship video series has increasingly catered more to established talent, like gospel singer Marvin Sapp, and superstars such as Bad Bunny, Sabrina Carpenter and Billie Eilish. For Ortiz, the Rehearsal represents something even deeper: a culmination of decades spent navigating survival, sacrifice and ambition. 'I spent a lot of my life basically chasing jobs because I had a family to take care of,' recalled Ortiz, who adopted her seven nieces and nephews when she was in her early 20s. 'I had seven kids, my mom, my sister, my brother, my stepdad and my dad, who was in a nursing care facility, who all depended on me. If I need to go work a red carpet so I can get a check, I'm making that happen. If I need to move to Tijuana, I'm making that happen.' After almost 20 years raising a family while hosting radio shows, reality shows, talk shows and red carpets, Ortiz said the Rehearsal finally feels like she's gotten to where she was meant to be. 'I love music,' she said. 'I want to represent my community. I want to represent my people, and that's all I want to do. I get to do that with [the Rehearsal].' According to Ortiz, the idea to create a space for 'real ones' was born in the spring of 2022 as a counter to L.A.'s notoriously predatory 'pay-to-play' live music scene. Pay-to-play is a custom where fledgling artists are given a set number of tickets they have for pre-sale in order to perform at a venue. Any tickets they don't sell come out of the artists' own pocket. In these kinds of deals, artists hardly get a share in any ticket sales. 'I was managing this musician and she was like, 'I just want to perform onstage,'' Ortiz said. 'But the way live music in L.A. works for up-and-coming artists is you have to essentially pay venues to perform there.' Ortiz partnered with music producer David Tam to turn her Boyle Heights backyard into a showcase for undiscovered talent. 'That first show was a disaster,' she recalled. Yet from that show, Ortiz and Tam connected with like-minded musicians, such as Downey and Shani Gaines-Bernard, the niece of disco legend Donna Summer, to create the Rehearsal. 'It feels like a watering hole,' Gaines-Bernard said. 'Artists come to [the Rehearsal] to drink and to showcase their stuff. Industry people who are looking for new artists come to this watering hole to discover that. There are people that come because they love the vibe. Everyone's coming to be nourished from this watering hole.' In the summer of 2023, Ortiz and her team partnered with Mercado La Paloma to premiere the revamped Rehearsal. In 2024, Mercado La Paloma became best known for its Michelin-star-winning ceviche counter Holbox — and rightly so. Chef Gilberto Cetina Jr. and his brigade of talented line cooks make an uni-topped ceviche tostada that make the finest caviar blinis seem like Cheese Whiz on Ritz crackers. But Ortiz pointed out that Mercado La Paloma has always been a place to find community. The Mercado was founded some 30 years ago by Mexican immigrants who missed the beloved open-air markets of their hometowns. These days — at least on Friday nights — the space offers musicians an equitable spotlight. Ortiz is no stranger to chasing stardom herself. After moonlighting in the music world while working full time as a nurse, Ortiz got her first break hosting a Latin hip-hop show in Las Vegas, then worked stints on music radio stations in Tijuana and San Diego. She eventually landed a hit show on Power 106-FM, L.A.'s No. 1 hip-hop station; for several years, Ortiz led the midday airwaves with her 'New at Two' segment, where she would introduce new music from established artists and underground artists that had not broken into the mainstream yet. 'My first day on Power, the music director comes in and he's like, 'So I know it's your first day. Congratulations. You're interviewing Sean Paul in 10 minutes.'' Ortiz recalled. 'I was like, 'Wait, what? Hold on!'' She parlayed her radio success into TV notoriety, starring in the first season of 'Love & Hip Hop' and hosting an entertainment segment on 'The Talk.' Ortiz said she was on a mission to be 'the female Ryan Seacrest, because he had lots of jobs.' Yet these days, she is much more comfortable working with her team to foster the next generation of talent with the Rehearsal. And she hopes it grows to multiple venues, cities and even countries. 'That's the goal. Just to make a bigger space for more artists. But without losing the intimacy of it,' she said. 'We like how it's small and mighty. But hopefully we can scale that organically.'
Yahoo
14-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Soulja Boy Begins Trial on Sexual Assault Allegations
Soulja Boy, the Grammy-nominated rapper, appeared in a California courtroom Thursday for the first day of his civil trial involving allegations he beat and raped a woman while she was working as his personal assistant for nearly two years, ending in late 2020. The 'Crank That' artist, whose legal name is Deandre Cortez Way, denies the allegations. In opening statements, his lawyer said the evidence will show Way never hired the woman, who sued anonymously as a Jane Doe. He said the two had a consensual romantic relationship that overlapped with the three months Way spent in jail for a probation violation linked to his 2014 conviction for possessing a loaded revolver in a car. More from Rolling Stone The GOP's Spending Bill Is a Nightmare. Democrats Might Help Pass It Anyway Sean Combs' Lawyers, Government Clash Over Jury Selection and Trial Start Date Judge Orders Trump Administration to Give Federal Workers Their Jobs Back In the lawsuit at the center of the trial, Doe claims that just weeks after she started living with Way at his Malibu mansion, purportedly earning $500 a week, he sexually assaulted her for the first time in February 2019. Her lawyer told jurors Thursday that Way forced himself on Doe after they ran into a bathroom to hide during a raid of the home by law enforcement. 'She was told she had to get rid of guns because Mr. Way was concerned they were after the guns that would have violated his probation,' Doe's lawyer, Ron Zambrano, said in his opening. 'This was the first time he sexually assaulted her, in the bathroom, because he thought he was going to prison and was never going to be with a woman for a little while.' Zambrano said his client was dragged into a vicious cycle of 'violence and abuse' that was complicated by what he described as a highly toxic romantic relationship that also developed between Way and Doe. He said Way manipulated Doe with apologies and proclamations of love, and that his client also felt' isolated' and dependent on Way until someone in Way's inner circle passed along a number for a lawyer that helped her finally 'build up the courage' to leave. Doe, who filed her lawsuit in January 2021, is suing Way with claims he subjected her to sexual battery, assault, false imprisonment, emotional distress, unpaid overtime, and a hostile work environment. She claims Way punched her in the head on at least ten separate occasions. She claims one incident was so brutal that she lost consciousness and woke up in a locked room with no food or water. Way, 34, has also been accused of physical and sexual assault by former girlfriends Kayla Myers and model Nia Riley, the daughter of musician Teddy Riley. Way appeared on the reality shows 'Love & Hip Hop: Hollywood' and 'Marriage Boot Camp' with Riley. In 2021, Riley sat down with YouTube vlogger TashaK and said Way threatened her with a gun and kicked her in the stomach while she was pregnant, causing her to suffer a miscarriage. A lawsuit filed by a Jane Doe in May 2021 mirrors the allegations made publicly by Riley. That case initially resulted in a default judgment, but the order was later set aside, meaning the lawsuit is back on course to reach an eventual trial. In a separate lawsuit, Myers claimed she had an on-again, off-again romantic relationship with Way that ended when the rapper allegedly held a gun to her head, threatened her life, and assaulted her at his home on Feb. 1, 2019. A civil court jury found Way liable for the assault and kidnapping of Myers at a trial in 2023. On Thursday, Way's lawyer, Rickey Ivie, said his client never agreed to hire Jane Doe as an assistant. He said they lived together as boyfriend and girlfriend, sharing the household responsibilities until they broke up. 'The plaintiff's claim is not supported by reliable evidence,' Ivie said. 'The claims are driven by the ulterior motives of jealousy, revenge, and financial gain.' He questioned Doe's credibility, claiming she said during a deposition that she was prevented from leaving Way's home because on one occasion when she tried to run away, 'she was chased by a mountain lion.' He said the Doe also told investigators that photos of her alleged injuries were linked to an alleged assault by Way that would have occurred after a date on which she sent the same photos to Way's manager. The trial is set to resume Monday in Santa Monica. Best of Rolling Stone The 50 Greatest Eminem Songs All 274 of Taylor Swift's Songs, Ranked The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time
