Hot and Bothered

Punk-rock summer camp, a.k.a. The Warped Tour, came to our backyard this year — Dodger Stadium, to be precise — which, along with the presence of Joan Jett, was just enough reason to brave the 90+ temps and the slimy/sweaty/shirtless ’hawk jocks Wednesday! Of course, our fave babe with a Bad Rep didn’t go on till the end of the day, but there were some scorching performances — NOFX, Anti-Flag, Underoath — to tide us over. And while the fest may be punky, it was all about gettin’ funky in the Dr. Mad Vibes Medicine Cabinet tent, where jam band Trulio Disgracias were joined by their boys Fishbone’s Angelo Moore and Norwood Fisher. Talk about hot. In the shady backstage area, artists and crew got their grub on while being entertained by a nerdy dude singing lounge-style Ramones covers. Everybody was chowin’ with cutlery made from sustainable agriculture (potato and corn) as part of Warped’s new “eco-friendly initiative” — which also includes bio-diesel fuel for its tour buses and a small solar-powered stage sponsored by Hot Topic. Who knew the black-nail-polish set could be so PC?

Primped Out

Shaquille O’Neal returned to L.A. last Thursday to host the King of Bling custom-car competition, a General Motors event at Paramount Studios’ “New York” lot hosted by party boys extraordinaire The Alliance. There were lots of tricked-out rides with big rims and even bigger egos behind the wheel — and, of course, sexy, skimpy-frocked ladies. More where they came from on Friday, when The Alliance hosted the grand opening of the new-and-improved club Les Deux, attracting the likes of Joaquin Phoenix, Ryan Seacrest, Nick Stahl, Crispin Glover (who looked sharp in a perfectly tailored pinstriped suit and slicked-back hair) and the Hilton gals. The new Deux, now owned by Lonnie Moore (Dolce, Geisha House), Sylvain Bitton and Mike “Boogie” Malin (currently on CBS’ Big Brother) is pure class, with cushy black-leather couches and crimson candelabra-style lighting. When we left, there was a cluster of fiendish fashionistas clammering to get past the velvet rope, which you can bet will be a nightly occurrence with the place’s new menu of French pastry edibles and club kings such as promoter Tommy Alastra (Privilege,The Lobby)sweetening the spot soon.

Lofty Ambitions

Never thought we’d be partying on Hollywood and Western again, but the corner that used to house the original, infamously smoky Hollywood Billiards served as the loftlike hub for the birthdays of promoter Stephen Hauptfuhr,Club Planet’s Julian Leuthold and a handful of other cool Cancers last Saturday. The bash was also a screening for guerrilla filmmaker Burke Roberts’ latest, Insult to Injury, a surrealist art flick shown in his new mobile screening room, the Engine.Things were even more revved up in the adjoining room, where Black Eyed Peas’ DJ Poetpacked the dance floor along with David Orlando & Jason Mason of the Dub Club.We soon realized the very same room used to be a cheap Chinese clothing store where we’d bought some Lycra gauchos only a year earlier. Now that’s surreal.

Advertising disclosure: We may receive compensation for some of the links in our stories. Thank you for supporting LA Weekly and our advertisers.