Kick-ass bartender Rachel Shaw (Malo, Wurstkuche) has two obsessions: great cocktails and great live music. Having long felt frustrated these two seemingly symbiotic worlds weren't meeting – “My bartender friends have an appreciation for music but work nights and my musician friends are into drinking but aren't getting Sazeracs at Spaceland” – she decided to take the matter into her own hands.

Like a bourbon-fueled shadchen, Shaw will introduce the music world to that of cocktails with a contest. Inspired by Marcos Tellos' Downtown Sub District Cocktail Competition this past February in which entries were chosen to represent seventeen of L.A.'s downtown neighborhoods, In The Drink asks entrants to submit cocktail recipes based on their favorite song from a CD compilation that includes local L.A. bands such as Le Switch, Adaline & The Philistines, Radar Bros. and The Afternoons.

Winners will have the satisfaction of seeing their recipes printed alongside the song in a CD booklet with the CD. “I'm gonna take (the CD) to Tales of the Cocktail in New Orleans next month and hand them out as a way to get people excited about what's going on in the L.A. cocktail world.”

Winning recipes will be selected by Shaw, members of the various bands, and a handful of L.A.'s cocktailians.

“Originally my goal was just to get bartenders to listen to my friends bands and my friends to try drinking something besides a Jack on the rocks. But now I'm hoping to generate enough interest to hold a fundraiser at a venue where the bands can play and the winning cocktails, drunk.”

So take a hint from L.A. local gal rockers The Go-Gos:

Make up that face

Jump in the race

Life's a kick in this town

Contact Rachel Shaw at rhachel@sbcglobal.net for a CD and prime your shakers. The deadline for entries is June 20th.

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