A Night Out With Desperately Seeking Serious at Spoke Bicycle Cafe
by Lana Fleischli
Lana Fleischli and Claire Sand in front of the Maya Hawke ice cream truck that stopped at Spoke Cafe to promote new single “Sweet Tooth!”
I had just finished my junior year of highschool, and I needed something to focus on for the summer. I wanted a project.
Grace Inspace and Lana Fleischli (me)
About a year ago, I DJed for Madi Diaz and Charlie Hickey at Spoke Cafe in Frogtown in Los Angeles. That was a great night and Spoke was the perfect place to host a small show like that because it is outdoors and right next to the LA “river” (if that’s what you wanna call it). I reached out to a man named Kyle who led the production of Madi’s show last year and told him what I wanted to do. We talked on the phone and after that, I started searching for bands.
Public Transit: Anton Hense, Sylvie Staley, Gavin Giammarco, Felix Broggi-Hendryx, Max Frissen
I had met Grace Inspace a few months back when she was meeting with my mom. I remember that I thought she was really tall (only to find out that she is quite petite like myself), and that I thought her demos were incredible. She has that classic slower, lyricisist energy, but there’s something else about her music that packs a punch. I think she is great and already knew I wanted her to headline.
Also about a year ago, I hosted a concert in my backyard for Ella Woolsey (and wrote about her EP on DSS, so check that out ;)). She was mesmerizing with her acoustic set and since then I have had the chance to see her play more shows with a full band. She is off to college so I figured she would be gone by August 19th, but turns out, she was in town and it worked out! I love Ella’s music, so I knew that she would be great to have as part of the lineup.
About a week into my summer break, I went to see my old friend’s band, Public Transit, play in someone’s backyard. They were having a great time and really attracted a crowd. Everyone was dancing and moshing and you could feel the immense energy that they provided. I texted my friend in the band, Gavin, the next day and asked him if he would play my show. I got a resounding “yes!”
Lastly, I work for It’s A School Night; a music discovery platform. Every week, School Night brings up and coming artists to play on their stage at Bardot in Hollywood. In early July, I saw Morgen play at School Night and went to congratulate her after she finished. We ended up talking for a while and exchanged information. We hung out a few days later and I asked if she would play my show. She has an immaculately animated yet beautiful singing voice that just pulls the listeners in.
Morgen and guitarist Kurt Cavalhiero
photo credit: Dahlia Kim-Levy
So, at that point I had my lineup and figured I would DJ under my moniker DJ Chocolatebarbangs. Next up, I called on my friend Collette and asked her to design a poster. She is an incredible graphic designer who also designed the logo for DSS! She’s amazing and I knew I needed her on this project.
Ella Woolsey (middle), Fifi Scott (right), Lana Fleischli (left)
photo credit: Piper Ferguson
Then I asked her to help me with merch. While we were working on design ideas, I reached out to Misha Lindes of Sadgirl (there is also a music review about Sadgirl on DSS, so check that out!). He offered to help Collette and I print. Collette made two incredible designs. I wanted a floral pocket tee and something else big and cute for another shirt. She went above and beyond to create some amazing designs!
We printed with Misha on thrifted tees and basic black tees, tanks, and cropped tops. We used pink puff-ink to further exaggerate the design. I also just think that pink and black go very well together.
At this point, we had released the show on DICE (a platform for selling concert tickets). I was doing everything in my power to promote this show. I went and printed 50 flyers of the show poster and drove around for days with friends to hang them up in countless places. I made funny TikToks to get people’s attention. I even got my friend Dahlia, a wonderful photographer, to take pictures of my friends and I wearing my merch. I had a great time promoting the show. It was invigorating.
DJ Chocolatebarbangs
photo credit: Dahlia Kim-Levy
Then came the day of days– August 19th, 2022. I got to Spoke around 1:30 to make sure that things were going smoothly and oversaw some production. My friend Claire showed up around 2:15 and we went back to my house so I could eat and put makeup on. Then we went right back to Spoke around 3:30 where we would be spending the next seven hours. The artists began showing up and doing soundchecks. We did run behind on the final soundcheck due to technical difficulties, but it worked out and I began DJing. After the tech issues were handled, the show went better than I thought! We got a great turnout and everyone was just having a nice summer night! I DJed between sets and just milled around to make sure that everything was going smoothly. I also made sure I had some time for dancing!
I am incredibly grateful to everyone who helped in making this show possible. I could not have done this alone and I have so much gratitude. I cannot wait for the next one!