Latest news with #WhiskyaGoGo
Los Angeles Times
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
A nostalgic vinyl fair takes over the Sunset Strip on Saturday. Here are 5 things to know
At Whisky a Go Go, the Doors were the house band during the summer of 1966. Guns N' Roses and Bob Marley and the Wailers recorded live albums at the Roxy. Van Halen got their start at shuttered nightclub Gazzarri's. It's undeniable that West Hollywood's Sunset Strip is a legendary music mecca — particularly when it comes to rock 'n' roll. To celebrate the rich history and lore of the iconic 1.7-mile strip, the Sunset Strip Business Improvement District is hosting a free vinyl fair called Spinning Sunset on Saturday from 1 to 7 p.m. Part of the district's annual Summer on Sunset initiative, the free, family-friendly event will feature vinyl DJ sets, brand activations and about 55 booths from local record stores and vintage vendors. Businesses like Hotel Ziggy, Andaz West Hollywood and Book Soup will also be offering discounts, vinyl-themed specials and pop-ups throughout the day. With so much to see and experience at Spinning Sunset, here are five things to know before you visit. It's no secret that vinyl records have been having a moment. According to Statista, 43.6 million EPs/LPs were sold in the U.S. in 2023, up from less than one million in 2006. With the surge in popularity, it's only natural that vinyl fairs are also popping up more frequently. At Spinning Sunset, you can expect to find more than 40 record vendors including In Sheep's Clothing, Vinyldigs and Helix Sounds. Serious diggers may want to arrive on the earlier side to secure rare finds. If you're still on the hunt for a particular record, try checking out VinylCon, a massive music event taking place Aug. 23 and 24 at the California Market Center in DTLA. Founded in 2023 by record enthusiast and event producer Kobi Waldfogel in Philadelphia, VinylCon is coming to L.A. for the first time and will feature more than 80 vendors from some of the nation's most sought-after collectors, as well as professional shops and dealers. There'll be vinyl DJ sets too. There's a reason why people still prefer to listen to vinyl records. The sound is fuller, the bass hits you deep in your bones and there's just something electrifying about the imperfect scratchiness that makes you feel like you are actually in the room with the artist. As you're crate digging, you'll be able to experience that feeling firsthand at the fair, where DJs will be throwing down live vinyl sets throughout the day. Among the curated lineup of sound selectors — all of whom will be playing various genres — is Dino Soccio, El Decomicio and Chulita Vinyl Club, an all-vinyl DJ collective that is made up of women, nonbinary, LGBTQ+ and self-identifying people of color. Other performers include Adrian Younge, an Emmy-winning composer and co-founder of the Jazz is Dead record label and live concert project, and Grammy-nominated musician Mayer Hawthorne. Decades before it became the Andaz West Hollywood, this high-rise hotel earned the nickname 'Riot House' due to the rambunctious behavior of its famous clientele. It was here, in 1966, that Doors frontman Jim Morrison was spotted hanging from the balcony by his fingertips, which led to him being evicted from the hotel. A few years later, in 1972, Led Zeppelin took over the entire 11th floor and 'flung beer bottles and furniture out of the windows, aiming for billboards across the road,' according to Harper's Bazaar. These are just some of the hard-to-believe, wild stories that came from this iconic building. Although rock stars aren't wreaking havoc there anymore, you can still feel their spirit at the hotel's Riot House restaurant, which will be hosting the official happy hour for Spinning Sunset. So if you need a break from the festivities, stop by the restaurant to order from their specially curated menu, which includes guacamole and tortilla chips for $12, wild shrimp tacos for $18, a Paloma cocktail for $14 and specific wines for $12. Yes, access to Spinning Sunset is free, but you'll want to RSVP for the chance to win an array of prizes including a one-night stay and breakfast for two at the Mondrian, along with drinks for two at the hotel's Skybar. Other prizes include gift cards to WeHo restaurants like the buzzy Dialog Cafe and Katana, and complimentary bottle service and entry to Keys nightclub. Guests will be required to take a photo at the fair and tag @thesunsetstrip to complete their entry for the giveaway. Winners will be selected via the Instagram page within 24 hours of the event. Attendance is required to claim your prize. But even if you don't win a gift at the fair, there will be other free offerings including complimentary Dippin' Dots ice cream and samples from West Hollywood Edition's signature restaurant, Ardor. The fair ends at 7 p.m., but the party doesn't have to stop there. Head over to the official after-party at Hotel Ziggy, the music-themed boutique hotel that takes its name from Davie Bowie (a.k.a. Ziggy Stardust). Grab a $10 margarita or a $5 draft beer and enjoy a vinyl DJ set by Dirty Dave. Entry is free and the party goes from 6 to 9 p.m. Afterward, the hotel will be hosting Zap Sessions, a free live music show featuring emerging artists powered by Beach Party Records from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. This function is also free, but RSVP is required. If you'd like to explore more Sunset Strip hot spots, check out Darci at the Roxy or Thorslund and the Stellar Bandits at the Viper Room. Also, Nico Bones, Velicious, Rev It Up and more will be performing at Whisky a Go Go.
Cedar News
10-05-2025
- Cedar News
PHOTO: Dump truck driver crashes into iconic ‘Whisky a Go Go' music venue in Hollywood, CA
BREAKING – Dump truck driver crashes into iconic 'Whisky a Go Go' music venue in Hollywood, California
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Dump Truck Crashes Into Whisky a Go Go Prior to Boy Hits Car Concert
The post Dump Truck Crashes Into Whisky a Go Go Prior to Boy Hits Car Concert appeared first on Consequence. A dump truck driver plowed into the legendary Los Angeles music venue Whisky a Go Go music on Friday afternoon, just hours before the band Boy Hits Car was set to take the stage. According to Fox 11 LA, the truck barreled into power poles and multiple vehicles in the parking lot before smashing into the building itself. No injuries were reported. In an Instagram post, Boy Hits Car said the crash left Whisky a Go Go without power, and it was unclear whether their show would be able to proceed as planned. Popular Posts Ghost Become First Hard Rock Act to Go No. 1 on Billboard in Four Years Beyoncé Hit with Cease and Desist Letter Over Video of Her Picking Up Sphere Drummer Chris Adler Opens Up on What Led to Firing from Lamb of God Stephen King's The Long Walk Movie Gets Long-Awaited Trailer: Watch Lady Gaga Plays Biggest Show of Career for 2 Million People at Copacabana Beach The Rehearsal's Latest Episode Had Us Literally Screaming at the Screen Subscribe to Consequence's email digest and get the latest breaking news in music, film, and television, tour updates, access to exclusive giveaways, and more straight to your inbox.
Yahoo
28-01-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
How Pamela Des Barres Finally Transcended 'The Band'
Hearing wild tales of rock n' roll's past will always have appeal because, as Pamela Des Barres says, "people weren't there. They like to say they were there, but they weren't." The New York Times best selling author of I'm With The Band: Confessions of a Groupie, Take Another Little Piece of My Heart, and Let It Bleed: How To Write a Rockin' Memoir was not only there, she's been chronicling it all for most of her life. She's one of the most inspiring storytellers in L.A., a woman who's frank, honest and real retelling and sharing of her mind-blowing memories evokes a magical time in Southern while the word "groupie" may ever shed its carnal connotations, the author, performer and feminist cult figure has helped us all understand that devotion to rockstars, especially in her day, was so much more than sexual."We inspired these people," she asserts. "They wanted us around. Some people think of groupies as hangers on, or you know, as submissive. I've had to fight that battle like I've been out in a boxing ring— with the the public and the press... and I still get called a slut." Her books, recent speaking engagements and stage appearances serve up plenty of backstage debauchery, but they also delve into music's evolution and how its magnetic personalities, inter-personal relationships and power shifts reflect political and social changes in our world. "We have photos up in the huge screen behind me," Des Barres says of her new stage show, which comes to the Whisky a Go Go on Feb. 9. "And I use music clips from throughout my life, ones that inspired me, like Dylan and Dion and Elvis, of course. Also people I dated and the GTOs, Zappa and all kinds of stuff." Of Frank Zappa's influence she says: "He was my mentor. He we produced our album, but he kind of helped invent my persona because I was developing it as a teenager, 18 years old, and we became dancers for him— the Laurel Canyon ballet company. But he saw something in each one of us and it gave me some kind of confidence I never would have had. He was always trying to save moments. He wanted to get our lives on record, so we wrote about our lives." If Zappa put Des Barres on her path as a cultural chronicler, she had to find her own voice and inner strength to share many of her stories — including relationships and trysts with Jimmy Page and Mick Jagger, to name a couple— in a shameless way. She pioneered a sex-positive perspective long before younger generations advocated for sex workers and against slut-shaming. She opened minds about life choices and going for what one wants and it clearly resonated. She was just celebrated by revered music journalist Jessica Hopper and producer Dylan Tupper Rupert on the KCRW Lost Notes podcast Groupies: The Women of Sunset Strip, From the Pill to Punk. Reframing Des Barres and the women who came after her as empowered figures and muses in a male-dominated world, it explores how these young women paved the way for females to take agency over their bodies and to make their own music (which she did with the Frank Zappa produced group, Girls Together Outrageously aka The GTO's). Especially in the punk scene that followed, L.A.'s early groupies provided a daring DIY blueprint for making an impact, pursuing and partying with one's idols, which led to fanzines, friendships and ultimately, its own kind of notoriety. Produced by her manager Polly Parsons (Gram's daughter) her latest presentation sold out shows in NYC, Portland and Seattle. She's planning on making the Sunset Strip event special— after all it's where she reigned. She'll have special guests join her and she'll be selling a rack of her "top notch" vintage clothes, plus new merch including "long lost wood nymph shots for Playboy 55 years ago." The effortlessly chic look of the iconic 60's and 70's groupie has become, once again, in vogue especially for today's rock chicks. The platforms, the sparkle, the faux furs and the little dresses... it's a combination that's become timeless, recreated in films like Almost Famous (yes, Kate Hudson's Penny Lane was based on her) and TV's Daisy Jones and the Sixx."It was hippie child, gypsy chic," she describes of her style. "We were wearing 20's and 30's clothes, turn of the century stuff... I love dressing people up. That's part of my whole thing selling the vintage clothes. I like to style them." Beyond the alluring aesthetic, admiration has come from younger followers and music "stans" who view fandom differently (ie, the Swifties, Beyhive, the Beliebers). Still, Des Barres acknowledges that the stigma of the "groupie" may never be banished. All she can do is continue to share, provide context and encourage others to tell their own stories, which she does in a hands-on way via writing workshops. "All it means is someone hanging around with groups," she says of the "G" word. "But it quickly became a slur, because mainly, it was women. There are male groupies, of course, but mainly it was women and women weren't allowed to express themselves sexually.""Every generation gets a hold of I'm With The Band, so I get all these new young fans," she continues. "It's so great. They definitely see me as an empowered woman doing what she wanted to do against a lot of odds at that time. And by the way, there was no word "groupie," then. There was always more to it, because in the earlier days, people would wait around to get Elvis's autograph. We wanted more than that but it wasn't just sex. We just liked hanging out with them. We just liked being with the people that made us feel the music. Because that art was and is transferable... You know, it goes right into your being, as any great art does. So I always wanted to show my appreciation any way I could." More info on "An Intimate Evening with Pamela Des Barres" at the Whisky here.
