This flyer is just a thing of beauty. MJ's has been hopping lately. Thumping bass bleeds through the walls, and I catch glimpses of glistening shirtless man-flesh dancing on a tiny stage as I walk to Trader Joe's for bread and cat food like the 80 year-old lady that I am. Still, I thought it was just another Silver Lake gay bar without a sense of humor. How wrong I was:

According to this, MJ's hosts "L.A.'s only gay punk rock tiki night" every Wednesday.

And here's the remix version. Also $1 drinks from 9 - 10. Sure, we'd normally focus on flyers for bands, but I felt this patriotic sentiment of soldiers clinging tightly to their guns at a local watering hole was worth a look.

On the other hand there's this: Without a doubt the worse flyer I've seen in a long time.

I suppose worse crimes have been committed in Photoshop, but I'd be hard pressed to come up with an example. Laser printed for extra curled-up edges and with an ocean of blurry, pixelated lost souls clapping for something (Maybe Redd Kross two years ago?), this just makes me glad I'll be out of town next weekend. This is the part of town where artists are supposed to live? Criminey. Ask anyone sitting in front of Intelligentsia to design a poster and it'll be better than this.

Here's a fine one from 2003:

Oh well. We are still very sorry about Isaac Hayes, but we love that he had the pleasure of being interviewed by Rena Kosnett before he died. She talked to him for LA Record. Read that here.

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There are many different approaches to the art of the flyer, as many as there are mediocre photoshop hacks and "artsy" fonts. One glimpse of the flyer wall at Amoeba Records offers proof: between the cheesy rave flyers, half-assed Pen & Pixel ("Your music sounds hot, so now what?") ripoffs and artfully done mini-productions, it's sometimes hard to see the trees for the forest (and what a waste of trees).

But then, of course, one specimen shines through the four-color glossies, and it reads like a secret message:

Read on...

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Well, his foundation at least...

If you are lucky enough to have the David Lynch seal of approval, you can't do much better than to slap his face on your poster and put your own band names below it - not too big either.

Wed. July 16th sees Nico Vega, Gods and Monsters, Bangkok Five, and 8MM (Someone else too, but the name got covered) all playing at the Key Club and presented by the David Lynch Foundation.

Still, if you go, you can always walk up to someone and say, "We've met before, haven't we?"

Photo by Mark Mauer

My guess is none of them will sound like Bill Paxton "playing" saxophone in Lost Highway.

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It's not until August 1, but The Chase at the Mountain Bar in Chinatown is presenting Jacques Renault:

Mountain Bar is at 473 Gin Ling Way. Check out The Chase's blog for updates: thechaseparty.blogspot.com/. (This flyer was posted on the window of Millie's which was closed and had the bars across the windows, so that's why there's a weird angle... )

Want something a little more immediate? Tonight at Echo Curio: The Pity Party

The crazy monster drawing is by RONALD DZERIGIAN, whose art is currently showing there. Check out more at www.echocurio.com/Cabinet.html

Here's The Pity Party at the Hammer last summer

And a gallery of photos of the band playing at their February residency at Spaceland:

Click the photo to see the rest. Photo by Timothy Norris.

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That's some nice 80s style, cold war, nuclear apocalypse, punk rock, Repo Man, Reagan hatin', flyer work right there.

And Saccharine Trust to boot! It's like SST never went away!

Of course Very Be Careful doesn't sound much like an early 80s LA punk band, but they're well worth seeing:

Tonight at Cafe Mariposa with Level 99

And one that's already come and gone:

which was part of this little gem:

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