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Wanna New Drug

Valentine’s Day was meant for lovers, but this year it was all about the haters and the players: Anti–V Day parties — playing “Love Stinks” on repeat, we’ll bet — were the place for lubricated liaisons. But it was hip-hop heartbreaker The Gray Kid — at Club NME at Spaceland — who offered the most club bangers for your buck. After all, nothing says Valentine’s Day like psychotropic antidepressants. The Kid wrote recent YouTube hit “Paxilback” (a parody of “Sexyback”), and though he didn’t end up performing the song, characters from the video were everywhere — including a man in antlers and high-waisted leather pants. The show was co-presented by the digital-arts collective People Food, whose mustachioed leader, Daniel Stessen (also in the clip)held court, dancing amid a sea of crimson-clad cuties with sparkly letters on their chests. (Everyone received a letter on entry.) The idea, Stessen told us, was for people with matching letters to hook up. We never ran into our “D” mate (we got a man, anyway), but after giving a gal in the bathroom our letter so she could fondle her crush out on the dance floor, we felt like one stupid cupid. He was hot! (Just kidding, honey.) Even hotter was the Kid himself, who gyrated over some fierce rock-tronica beats, his flow going from falsetto croons (“Lonely Love”) to hardcore rhymes (“Soothsayer”), all with his fly partially open. Yup, the Kid definitely raised the temps — or maybe it was the Axe hygiene products everywhere. (You know — that men’s body spray with those silly girls-attacking-guys commercials. Axe was a show sponsor — something we don’t think we’ve ever seen at Spaceland.) Needless to say, the wait for the free photo booth was a long one thanks to all the smooching scenesters crammed inside…

There was way more than that goin on’ at Lust for LACE, a Valentine’s vamp-a-thon at Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions on Hollywood Boulevard last Saturday. The creative-arts space hadn’t had its annual bawdy bash for almost a decade, but it brought it back full-force this year, with naughty spoken word (we walked in as some butch chick was talking about her overly vigorous masturbatory practices . . . ouch!), erotic fetish videos, a whipping presentation, and a set from The Trash Band (giddy rockers who use garbage as instruments and sound like, according to one member, “a trash truck colliding with a school bus full of children singing folk songs”). Our favorite amusement was the Kinky Crafts table featuring free Toys in Babeland vibrators and supplies to make “cock cozies” from Julianna Parr (a.k.a. J.P. the Craft Captain). Parr also holds a nifty — and clean — craft night Wednesdays at Akbar, which we’ll definitely be checking out soon, ’cause like the Beastie Boys said, “We’re crafty!”

{mosimage}Gotta New Drug

The music at the Indie 103.1–sponsored night Club 82 — Calling All DJs at Avalon was surprisingly electro-fied early in the eve — like Saturday’s Avaland only with better haircuts — but it didn’t stay that way for long. The club, from promoters Sean Patrick and Keith Wilson, boasts biggie band guys deejaying, and Friday’s line-up included members of Louis XIV, We Are Scientists and The Secret Machines. We stayed for Jason Hill and Brian Karscig of Louis’ set, which — unlike the ADD-song splices of “real” DJs — boasted whole tracks that rocked. Their set included Rod Stewart, David Bowie and the New York Dolls — the latter of which were apparently too obscure (!) for some of the weekend warriors who’d wandered in. A posse of dress-shirt types literally stood still in the middle of the dance floor, looked up at Karscig and Hill, and held their hands up in a “what the fuck?”–like gesture during “Trash.” Poor, pathetic creatures. As for their own tunes, the Louis XIV guys tell us they’ve gone in a new direction on their latest, which they’re currently finishing, using E.L.O.-style production and ’80s pop elements, though we’re pretty sure they were joking when they said, “It sounds like Huey Lewis and the News minus Huey.” Is it still hip to be square? (Glam-rock masters Chinn & Chapman produced some of Huey’s best shit! — ed.)


Yo Majesy's a Pretty Nasty Girl

Echo Park Records head Alexis Rivera celebrated his birthday at The Echo Friday night… and let’s just say the headliners — Florida hip-hop femmes Yo Majesty — were, uh, boobalicious.One of the members was so overcome with excitement she took her top off as she rapped — braless — which definitely added more bounce to the ounce during the trio’s J.J. Fad–ish numbers. S.F. bad boys Chow Nasty also got their freak on andDJsrocked real old-school booty beats, like “Egyptian Lover,” which had the crowd busting out some mean cabbage-patch and robot moves. Rivera, who many might know as a former co-owner of downtown’s Little Pedro’s (now Bordello), is a busy boy these days. He’s currently managing Yo Majesty, Los Super Elegantes and Mickey Champion as well as supervising music for film-and-arts collective The Masses, whose members include director Matt Amato and buddy Heath Ledger. (These “collectives” must be the thing right now, eh?) He’s also partnered with Spaceland to throw shows under the moniker Dokie Dokie at both The Echo and The Ex_Plex. Speaking of the highly anticipated space below the Echo: It didn’t open as planned last Saturday due to fire-marshal concerns, but we’ve been assured it will definitely be ready for the Chocolate Bar grand reopening this Friday night. See Dance Club Pick for info.

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