On with the dance! let joy be unconfined;
No sleep till morn, when Youth and Pleasure meet
To chase the glowing hours with flying feet.

-from Lord Byron’s Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage

After wrapping up a nearly-two-week long west coast @Lewdite tour (aka the $#*%hole-in-the-wall-barstravaganza tour) culminating with a late show in Long Beach last Thursday, I was stoked to return to my sunny home in Los Angeles where I expected to curl up and die for the weekend (in order to put a dent in my decade-long sleep deficit). Its true what they say though, “there is no rest for the wicked,” and after being made aware of the fact that Brick City’s very own DJ Sliink would be in town (and a brief struggle with the old-man inside me), I did what every 20-something should do in my position: I smashed a Red Bull, threw on my fly-as-**** Run The Trap snapback and headed out towards Hollywood.

And I’m glad I did.

The Avalon Hollywood has been THE venue for EDM in Los Angeles for several years now with CONTROL Fridays, the 19+ night started by Whiiite, consistently eclipsing just about every other competing Friday event. During my two month hiatus from the Los Angeles club life, the Avalon had remodeled yet again in order to better accommodate a new full bar in the lobby and of course, more incredible lighting. Now,  I’ve been kicked out of some classy establishments in my day and aside from the borderline grotesque display they have running over at Light Las Vegas, I’d say that Avalon might have one of the best lighting set ups of any venue on the west coast… and certainly the best in LA.

I arrived late, as usual, just in time to catch the end of the #Been Trill# set which was pretty much what one should expect from an opening set: a little bit of a warm up but nothing too heavy or noticeable to detract from the headliners. To be honest, my Red Bull had already started wearing off and in my exhausted stupor I was distracted by own internal dialogue…

“hey– was I just talking to Sweater Beats? Shit, I was. You idiot, you should have talked to him about music…dumb– is that Kennedy Jones? ****!, who else is here?” *breaks out smartphone and begins googling producers to see what they look like* “Why can’t more of these guys be ugly and easily distinguished like Deadmau5? This isn’t going to work… I’d better start drinking”

Thankfully as I was getting something to sip on, it became apparent my situation wasn’t so uncommon as I overhead a conversation between two promoters:

“Hey man, you know Whiiite? You kind of look like him”

“Yeah, that’s me” *laughs*

Now with a drink in hand and my self-confidence partially restored, I made it back on to the floor to catch Heroes x Villains fresh off their tour with Datsik. The duo was dawning futuristic threads, including some pretty villainous-looking leather gloves, which was a subtle but appreciated part of the performance (and something I tend to take note of… little things like that are demonstrate an elevated awareness of how the performance is delivered). The duo’s act was reminiscent of some DnB shows I’ve been to with one man on the decks and another on the mic hyping the crowd; at this point the place was packed and Friday night at Avalon was in full swing.

As Heroes x Villains finished up a hot set trapstyle bangers and Kennedy Jones (aka Kenny J: Man of Many Hats) changed his hat for the third time that night (pshhh, no, you‘re the creeper, I’m half ginger, the man is a ****ing Celebrity, OKAY?) the infamous DJ Sliink made his way to the booth surprisingly armed with nothing but a book of CDs. CDs! I have a lot of respect for DJs who know how to use nothing but native hardware so to see Sliink hitting the 1’s and 2’s like a man (and damn, did he hit ’em), it just reinforced the fact that I had made the right decision in coming that night. Of course, the crew here at RTT knows that Jersey Club is taking over in 2014 so it was an extra special treat for me to be able to witness a genuine part of that movement here on the opposite coast in such a premier setting.

So the next time your friends are complaining about nothing to do on a Friday night in LA or how the “club scene” in Hollywood is too pretentious, check out whats happening at The Avalon Hollywood. It’s got all the best Hollywood has to offer without the attitude or the dress code. Besides, they’re hosting Kennedy Jones, Bare, Calvertron, Loudpvck, GLadiator, Branchez, and Milo & Otis in the next two weeks ALONE.

What do you have planned this Friday?

Special thanks to Oh Dag Yo for yet another incredible set of event photos. This dude is probably the best DJ photographer in the game bar none. Check out his website for more great photos of last Friday and other events.

Heroes x Villains

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DJ Sliink

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Avalon Hollywood

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Favorite pic of the evening (How can you not love this guy?):

Recap: CONTROL w/ #Been Trill#, Heroes x Villains, and DJ Sliink