Live review: KCRW's Masquerade with DJ Shadow, Sea Wolf and more

What could be better than dancing to DJ Shadow, spinning live from a crate of vinyl in a small ballroom at L.A.’s Park Plaza Hotel with an almost-full moon pouring through the patio windows? Doing it with that room full of people in outrageous Halloween costumes.

L.A. came out swinging for Masquerade, KCRW’s Halloween Ball, filling the neo-Gothic Park Plaza with thousands of epic costumes such as matching luminous jellyfish, a giant blue “Yip-Yip” from “Sesame Street,” a human marionette, an iPhone and a “missing” face on a milk carton -- all of it proof that we live in a town full of prop shop folks. 

Of course, there were also miles of sexy Spartans and schoolgirls and Bo-Peeps and whatever else you were looking for. 

The five opulent and differently themed rooms were hot (despite the cool evening) and nearly packed, and Shadow had his fans jumping up and down from the very first wild outburst of scratching. Minutes in, he laid into an inspired mix of “Bustin’ Loose” from Chuck Brown and the Soul Searchers entwined with the Zombie’s version of “Time of the Season,” with the phrase “Who’s your daddy” hiccuping out every few bars. 

“Y’all ain’t ready for this next one,” Shadow dropped enigmatically, saying his next piece was “where Kanye West meets Metallica.” It wasn’t nearly as well received, but like he said, we obviously just weren’t ready.

Upstairs in the Terrace Room, KCRW’s Liza “Diva of Death” Richardson held it down in a gorgeous white tangle of corsets and what she called “rehearsal skirts” for doing Shakespeare and Moliere, topped with creepalicious face paint, as she turned over a good-size crowd to a live performance by Sea Wolf. 

DJ Shadow to headline KCRW Halloween party

The L.A. musical landscape is thick with options over the rapidly approaching Halloween weekend.

Beat-crazy dance aficionados can choose between the 12th annual Monster Massive at the L.A. Sports Arena and the expanded two-day HARD Haunted Mansion event at the Shrine. Indie rockers can check out stalwarts Built to Spill at the Echoplex and/or new heroes the Dirty Projectors at the Jensen Rec Center.

Public radio powerhouse KCRW has entered the Halloween party fray with “Masquerade,” a costume ball and dance party at the Park Plaza Hotel in downtown L.A. that now boasts Bay area legend DJ Shadow as the headliner.

DJ Shadow joins a lineup that already includes Swedish indie urban rock outfit Little Dragon alongside such local acts as mod folkie Sea Wolf and sunshine-poppers Edward Sharpe and  the Magnetic Zeros. A who’s who of KCRW DJs, including Liza Richardson, Jason Bentley and Garth Trinidad, will spin at the event too.

Tickets are available at KCRW.tix.com

-- Scott T. Sterling

Photo: DJ Shadow performing at the Mayan Theater. Credit: Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times.

Henry Rollins will debut new show on KCRW next month

Well, it's started. One of the few other destinations for progressive radio in L.A. has scooped up Henry Rollins, who will air his new show live at KCRW on Saturdays from 6 to 8 p.m., starting March 7. Next question: Who's taking Jonesy?

When Entravision folded Indie 103 last month, Rollins diligently followed other DJs such as Joe Escalante and Jose Galvan to the Web version of the radio station, but it always seemed like a stop-gap measure. The Black Flag rager-singer isn't anti-technology -- he deejayed from his iPod for MOCA's Target Video night last summer -- but, as he writes on his website in an announcement for the new show, "the pre-tape thing was better than nothing but live is best." His show won't have an official name (KCRW only has "Morning Becomes Eclectic" as an officially titled show), but he'll have a DJ page on KCRW.com where his audience can send him e-mails.

Rollins is scheduled to appear as a guest DJ on "Morning Becomes Eclectic" on Thursday, so listeners who worry that the passionate vinylist and raconteur will have his tastes suddenly streamlined by his new home can try this out as a test-run. And Jason Bentley, KCRW's marquee DJ and "MBE" host, had this to say in an e-mailed statement about Rollins joining the team:

“I feel Henry’s tastes and perspectives are a good fit because he has a strong point of view and there are ideas behind all of his music selections. He plays songs he is passionate about, and that makes great radio. It is also something he shares with other KCRW DJs. It’s not so much that he will cater his program to us, but that we will be giving a passionate voice a forum.” 

It should also be noted that Rollins isn't new to the station -- he worked with revered DJ Deirdre O'Donoghue on her KCRW program "Snap," which showcased countless cutting-edge acts, and also nurtured Bentley. O'Donoghue, who died in 2001, also originated and hosted "Breakfast With the Beatles."

-- Margaret Wappler

Photo by Lori Shepler/Los Angeles Times

KCRW's Jason Bentley wakes to a new day

On weeknights, as Jason Bentley sits in KCRW's basement studios, building a city of the mind out of music, he often gets feedback from listeners tuning in around Southern California and across the globe. Some are artists engaged in their own solitary labors. Others are weary night-shift workers and jazzed-up club kids, floating down the freeways on a river of sound. A few are restless souls on the other side of the world, where the sun has already risen, firing off electronic messages in bottles from Shanghai, Guam, Europe.

Most are strangers, tapping out communiqués on their iPhones and laptops, but a number are friends and colleagues who say that "Metropolis," Bentley's popular show of electronica, dance music and whatever else he decides to stir into the mix, has remapped their aural horizons. "He doesn't like this part, but sometimes when I'm driving at night I'll text-message him because I'll be literally dancing in my car," says Johanna Rees, who programs special concerts and presentations for the Hollywood Bowl and Walt Disney Concert Hall.

Then there are the lovers, making after-dark confessions to the smooth-voiced man behind the mike. "For some reason, people like to tell me that they've had some sexual encounter," Bentley says. "They're like, 'Dude! We just had sex in the back of my car to that last set!' "

Bentley laughs. "Music is powerful stuff. People are looking for inspiration, and that really makes me happy because that's what I'm trying to do, is inspire by music and be inspired by music."

For the last 16 years, Bentley, 38, has been delivering countless hours' worth of syncopated uplift via KCRW's Santa Monica-based signal (FM 89.9). With "Metropolis," a beat-rich concoction heavily influenced by his long tenure spinning records in clubs, he has constructed a soundscape that resembles the L.A. evening skyline: angular, futuristic and pulsing with nocturnal energy. On those occasions when the tempos all come together and the moods segue seamlessly, listeners might feel that, stepping into the night air, they've become characters in some ultra-chilled-out 21st century film noir.

He has come a long way with the station since joining as a phone volunteer in the summer of 1988. But soon Bentley will face a new challenge. This month, KCRW announced that on Dec. 1 he would be its new music director and host of the station's signature "Morning Becomes Eclectic" program, succeeding Nic Harcourt.

UPDATE: KCRW taps Jason Bentley as music director

The new voice of “Morning Becomes Eclectic" will be familiar to fans of KCRW-FM (89.9), if they like their evenings eclectic, also.

Jason Bentley, host of the public station's nighttime music show, will take over as music director at KCRW and as host of its signature music program when Nic Harcourt leaves both posts Nov. 30.

"I'm excited by this opportunity to grow personally and help grow the station," Bentley said. "It's a place where I've grown up."

UPDATE: KCRW's Nic Harcourt steps down

Nic Harcourt, the music director of Santa Monica-based public radio station KCRW-FM (89.9), tells The Times he will step down Nov. 30. Harcourt has presided over KCRW's nationally known "Morning Becomes Eclectic" music program for 10 years.

Harcourt won't be completely splitting from the station -- he will continue to host a three-hour music program on Sunday evenings. "As a parent of two young children, I believe it’s time for me to explore new career opportunities and expand upon my other activities in movie, television, voiceover work, advertising and the Internet," Harcourt is quoted as saying in a statement released today.

Reached by phone in the midst of Monday's "Morning Becomes Eclectic," Harcourt says he will host the show through Thanksgiving. After that, he will concentrate on building his own business, Samluna Media. 

"It’s not the politician’s thing, like, ‘Oh, I’m spending more time with my kids'," Harcourt says. "The bottom line is I’ve been in public radio for 10 years, and regardless of how great my job is, I make public radio money, and I have two 5-year-olds. I have to think about their future ... I’m going to be busy. I’m looking forward to building some equity for myself."

Outside of KCRW, Harcourt has been active in music supervision roles in film and television. He was behind the music on the short-lived CBS series "Love Monkey" and has worked on such films as "Ice Age," "Igby Goes Down" and "Anchorman." Currently, Harcourt is serving as a music supervisor on The CW's "90210."

"It’s expanded my musical palate, to be honest with you," Harcourt says. "You can sort of get known as the cool guy at KCRW, but at '90210,' you have to find songs that will turn on an 18-year-old girl. So what we’re doing with that show is featuring artists like Rihanna, Pink, Lady Gaga and people like that. At the same time, we’re putting cool stuff in where we can. We had Stereolab in last week’s show."

With Harcourt at the helm, "Morning Becomes Eclectic," which first aired in 1977, became a nationally known brand, one that's attached to concerts, compilation CDs and music events around the country. KCRW, for instance, is one of the most prominent brands featured at the annual South by Southwest Music Conference in Austin, Texas.

"Morning Becomes Eclectic" has been instrumental in supporting the careers of a number of developing and independent artists. In this morning's statement, Harcourt himself takes credit for "introducing artists" such as Coldplay, Damien Rice, Dido and Norah Jones to a wider audience. Even before Harcourt took over "Eclectic" hosting duties from Chris Douridas in 1998, the morning show was known for helping launch the career of Beck.

Harcourt does not have a debut date for his Sunday program, which will be a three-hour show beginning at 6 p.m. It will replace the syndicated "Sounds Eclectic," which currently airs Sunday evenings as a two-hour mix of the best of the past week's "Morning Becomes Eclectic." Harcourt says there are no plans to syndicate his new Sunday show.

"It’s been a labor of love," Harcourt says of the syndicated "Sounds Eclectic." "It never really picked up that much traction."

Harcourt and "Morning Becomes Eclectic" have won praise from music industry executives. "It gives a stamp of approval that is unimpeachable,"  Jason Flom, former chairman/CEO of Capitol Music Group, told The Times last year. "People know that you can't do anything to influence Nic, other than have great music that he responds to. It's watched by lots of people throughout the industry."

In the same story, Jeff Antebi, founder and CEO of the Waxploitation label and management firm, credited the station for giving crucial exposure to his client Gnarls Barkley, whose "Crazy" became the biggest hit of 2006. "Very few programs have as big an impact as 'Morning Becomes Eclectic' on the film and TV industry, which is one of the few growth areas for music," he says.

KCRW General Manager Ruth Seymour says the non-profit is "in the process of choosing a new music director." An announcement, according to the station, can be expected in the coming weeks.

-- Todd Martens

Photo: Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times