On Friday November 18, I got the chance to check out “Lounge 111” at the Walt Disney concert hall. The KCRW event was the opening of a new late night LA experience that was described as an attempt to give a more wide range people a chance to enjoy the concert hall.
While there were three live acts, what really stole the night was the lighting and architecture of the building. The outside looks very much like a Disney fantasy. The twisted, circular metal design laughs in the face of the art deco that characterizes so many large East coast cities and would probably look more in place in a Marvel comic book than down town LA. The indoors were painted with beautiful soft colored light that gave a surreal dreamlike quality to the entire evening. Away from the Douglas Fir dance floor was a small exhibit on music in cinema that had a TV display showing clips of “The Good The Bad and The Ugly” and what may have been “‘Oh Brother Where Art Though?” While both of the movies banked heavily on their musical scores, no better example can be found than “The Good and The Bad”of how a movies sound track can become part of the public consciousness.
The music set the mood appropriately for the night by contributing to the otherworldly feeling. DJ Nobody probably had the most pleasant sound while Steve Spacek & Troubleman gave a preview to the techno elevator music of the future. James Lavelle of Unkle headlined the event by spinning until 1:00am.
