We are so happy to put 2020 out on the curb with the rest of the garbage for the toilet bears & trash pandas to feast upon.

To usher in the Year of Damballah in the most legal way possible, we will be playing a selection of songs that honor the number 21, the legal age for doing the camel walk. Wade in the water, walk on the wild side, or walk don’t run, but what some ever you do, keep on moving!

Our annual “Year In Review.” Before we blindfolded this grueling year, give it one last cigarette, & send it to the firing squad, we’ll play new (vintage) acquisitions, actual *new* 2020 releases, & honor the fallen music heroes (Toots Hibbert, Spencer Davis, Candido, Bill Withers, Betty Wright, & Morricone, just to name a few). With Middle eastern electronics, a ghostly groover from Duke Pearson, a well-dressed garage grumbler, Funky breaks, & 007 double-takes! 

This evening our seasonal Molotov tradition is when we yule your log, egg your nog and revoke our annual Sanity Claus! Yes, the Soulstice of Soul visits to raise and imbibe some spirits while putting aside the stuffing and doing the mashed potato. With this episode, we attempt to waylay the anxiety, the tension, and the melancholy that can come with the holidays – especially in this most crappiest of years. How about letting James Brown and Marvin Gaye serenade your soul and turn your kitchen into a dance floor? With two hours of JB and MG, consider your stockings stuffed!

Special Agent Lotus corrects her record on predicative adjectives vs. postpositive adjectives AKA postnominal adjectives, while Cyrano & Señor Amor battle it out for Bocci Ball supremacy in the sub-basement.

“Where Wez Live,” the first episode of our 4-part mini series, THE WORLD IS IN A TANGLE, a program focused on Blues & Gospel.

Duke, one of Molotov’s favorite guest selectors, sent prime picks from his collection to us via the US Post, then added long-distance color commentary and history. It’s almost 3 hours long, and worth every penny!

St. Paddy’s Show​

Remembering McCoy Tyner. We pay tribute to the late, great pianist, McCoy Tyner. Having anchored the music of John Coltrane as a member of his “classic quartet,” Mr. T was also an exceptional and elegant leader in his own right with a treasure trove of albums for Milestone, Blue Note, and Impulse among others. 

It’s a super, duper Tuesday with lots of new resolutions and some old propositions. Introducing candidate “Leve Leve,” a collection of tunes from The African islands of Sao Tome and Principe, that combine wonderful elements of African rhythms and European melodies into a raucous caucus. Also on the ballot, classics from Discos Fuentes, jazz from Zoot Sims, snarling garage, Shaft in Africa, and low budget surf from The Frogmen. 

Live performance by Molotov Cocktail favorite Zander Schloss! 2 hours with musician, songwriter, punk elder, and Lion of Los Angeles! From his time with the Weirdos, Thelonious Monster, and The Circle Jerks, to his collaborations with Joe Strummer, and his reinvention as a timeless troubador, he may be the best-kept secret of the singer-songwriting world– though we’re doing our darndest to let the cat out of the bag. 

The Molotov Cocktail Hour is swelling with tunes and we are out of belt notches to loosen! We tuck into 4 hours of Fried Funk, Sassafrass Soul, and R&B Remoulade from New Orleans. Survival of the Fattest: Plus Size Edition. (Cyrano jumps the gun on our Special Mardi Gras show by one week. But, you know, the locals eat their King Cakes early because next week is overrun with tourists).

Lots of fun new finds, including vinyl biscuits from Antibalas and The Menahan Street Band hot off the press. Also in the mix, exotic love songs from 60’s Egypt, Italian Thrillers, Garage killers, and classic rocksteady from Treasure Isle. The star of the show may just be a record out of our wildest dreams. Harryhausen. Hitting every subject from religion, racism, the cult of fame, and Donny Osmond, don’t ever say we didn’t bring you the weird.

Friend of the Molotov Cocktail Hour, writer, director, producer Julien Nitzberg is back with another fever dream that’s moonwalked out of his brain for an unsuspecting world to witness. Mr. N, aka The Earl of Echo Park, brought you documentary The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia, and operetta, The Beastly Bombing, among other crackpot works of genius. He’s back with For the Love of a Glove, a Michael Jackson musical — as told by his glittering glove, (actually an alien from outer space.) Ok, not crazy enough you say? Add dancing (with dancers that worked with Michael), uproarious songs, and puppets – 20 glorious life-sized puppets – created by puppet designer Robin Walsh who has worked for Jim Henson, Disney, and Ray

To no one’s surprise, this show with Phast Phreddie Patterson was a barrel of sweet jumpin’ catfish. Tons of great stories and even more great tunes were unfurled including the best songs in the world, “Shrimp and Gumbo,” and “That pizza sure is good!” How could anyone in their right mind argue with any of that? 

On the Molotov hoo-ha our buddy Martin Wong returned with good tidings and plenty of info on his 20th (!!) installment of Save Music In Chinatown. This long-running series of benefit shows for the music program at Castelar elementary hits this milestone. Always a barrel of monkeys.

Another great show, even without S.A. Lotus.

Meet the New Year, same as the Old Year, only older.

The terminal show of the year: Erzuli Freda.

Yet another Sensational Soulstice of Soul. Joining forces with Yolanda Che and soiree musicale, we’ve unwrapped 4 hours of gifts exclusively from Marvin Gaye and James Brown. With JB and MG, it’s the sweet and the spice, the naughty and the nice and we urge you to offload all the drama of the season onto the capable shoulders of these two gentlemen. It’s both a welcome break and a crucial addition for all the elves in the workshop.

HO, HO HO… a-Whoa! We’ve unwrapped all manner of holiday delights for this evening. From Esquivel to Tom Waits, from Sherlock Holmes to Charles Bukowski, it’s all mincemeat to us.

December 3rd, as we’ve kicked off the holiday season with one of our favorite guests to brighten the flames of the Mahi Mahi Room. The Captain of Cosmic Karma, the Poet Prophet of Peace, Super-Sonic songwriter, prolific painter and all-around favorite uncle you never knew you had, Stephen J. Kalinich. An evening of stories, songs, sonnets, and pre-holiday soul-stirring with the one and only SJK!

On your marks, get set, gulp! In this transmission, we’ve ladled out a 4 hour, beast of a feast when we play an entire show hand-selected by The Duke of Musical Mailorder. In what could be the world’s first DJ set of food songs sent through the U.S. Post, 70 dolphin-safe, line-caught 45’s were packed on ice and shipped overnight for freshness. Dig in for a hearty repast of eating, drinking, and overindulging on our annual sonic smorgasbord!‬ It’s bound to be a culinary cluster cluck.

This transmission we welcomed the return of gee-tar slinger and journeyman twangologist, Mike Vernon. We’ve peeled off some slices of the new album from his group “M-Squad,” an instro-combo that embodies the golden age of Hollywood Noir, Space Age strategies, Mysterious Exotica, and the Suavest of Secret Agents. Mike presented the reissue project and upcoming show of “Prophetic Spirit.” Known only in legend from its performance on a 1967 NBC primetime special, the lost Prophetic Spirit album by The Moon Express finally arrived 50 years later.

Tonight on the show, we are delighted to have up Grammy winning composer and gentleman guitarist, Laurence Juber! Among his seemingly endless number of solo records, film and TV compositions, Laurence has played on such scores as varied as The Spy Who Loved Me, The Muppet Movie, & Ladyhawke, and with such artists as Charles Aznavour, Ringo Starr and Sylvie Vartin. Oh, and LJ was also lead guitarist for a band called “Wings” you may

Back in the saddle tonight, We’ve got the goods to thrill and delight! Just feast your eyes on the delish-shuss-ness that is “Synthesize The Soul,” new on the ossum Ostinato Records label. As much a history lesson of immigration and integration, as one that resonates with the politics and headlines of today. The story of these tunes from Cape Verde is also one of musical adaptation and innovation. Add some Pakistani Pop, Shadowy surf, Classic

Do you want to start off the year of the Rooster doing something awesome? Yes, you most certainly Molotov-Cock-A-Doodle-Do! Join us this week as once again, Martin Wong, the guardian angel of music for kids and grown-ups alike will present his benefit to Save Music in Chinatown 11: Rikk Agnew Band, Ford Madox Ford. Chinatown was one of the crucibles of punk rock in LA and Martin’s shows both honor the past and acknowledge the