DJ Don “Glampa” Bolles spinning 45's
JOIN don “glampa” bolles AS HE BREAKS OUT HIS PRIVATE COLLECTION OF JUNKSHOP GLAM AND BUBBLEGUM 45’s!
EVERYONE’S INVITED
THE LP VINYL BAR IS THE PERFECT VENUE FOR DON “GLAMPA” BOLLES
A Hidden gem in Los Angeles, LP Vinyl Bar has a state of the art sound system, a built-in DJ booth, and KCRW's Raul Campos' collection of over 25,000 vinyl records. Mixologists craft cocktails that make the perfect listening partner.
friday
november 21ST
8.00PM - LATE
1704 VINE ST, LA 90028
DON “GLAMPA” BOLLES
Join us FOR A special night of music and a very particular
Los Angeles EXPERIENCE.
Press on the image to hear the playlist
THE LAB MAG: How do we find you for those who can’t come to the LP Vinyl Bar on Friday night?
DON “GLAMPA” BOLLES: Here are links to my two weekly radio shows on WFMU. org, on their “Sheena’s Jungle Room” stream (there are 4 different streams), and that’s the one that both of my shows are on. So you have to make sure that you choose that one, cuz I have no idea what’s on any of the other streams, and don’t want anyone to be sad with the content of whatever incorrect stream they pick, and definitely don’t want people thinking I was playing whatever boring thing was on the bogus stream.
Press on the image to listen to the playlist
The top one is the page for this Saturday’s WIRED UP! Show (12pm PST - 3pm EST). That show is 2 hours of wall-to-wall Junkshop Glam and Bubblegum 45s, with a sprinkling of Power Pop, Ye Ye, Freak Beat, etc. That’s mostly what I tend to play at live DJ gigs, although my sets are fairly unpredictable, even to me.
This link is to the Archive page for my other show, The Fantastic World of Kitten Sparkles, which is usually much more abstract.
Press on the image to listen to the playllist
One comment on a pic of me that somebody posted on Instagram said it best: “Dude - have you heard his bat shit crazy radio show?”
I do it all live, mixing 20th Century Avant Garde records, SFX lps, field recordings, bedroom cassettes, and mini-discs of shortwave radio static - sometimes playing up to 6 things at once - to make what we call “Glambience” (like “ambience” but not so boring.). 2pm PST, 5pm EST.
I’ve also had some amazingly weird, super fun and very popular club nights. Fuzzyland in the late 80s /early 90s, Club Screwball in the 2000s, and Club Ding-a-Ling and Ye Olde Hushe Clubbe in the late 00s and most of the 2010s. Then my big Glam night Velvet Tinmine named after one of the first Junkshop Glam compilations.
Press on the image to access the archive
LAB What is junkshop glam?
DON BOLLES It’s all the bands that wanted to be like the Sweet, Slade, T Rex, or Gary Glitter but weren’t as successful, for whatever reason. These artists often packed it in after a couple of singles, and hardly any got to do an entire album.
There was a huge amount of this sort of thing all over the UK and Europe, but when punk and New Wave came along and killed the whole glam scene (doing pretty much the same music with snottier vocals and leather jackets and ripped up clothes instead of Lurex and sequins), all these 45s by all those failed glitter bands were relegated to the thrift stores and Junkshops. Where most of them languished for two decades, despite their 50 euro cent price tags, until a few intrepid collectors began to discover that some of these forgotten 45s were REALLY GOOD!
Phil King (Lush, Felt) and Tony Barbor (who coined the term “Junkshop Glam”) started putting out compilations of the best of these records, and mega-collector Robin Wills (Barracudas) started putting these records and info about them on his influential “Pure Pop” blog.
THE LAB: When did you discover Junkshop Glam?
DON BOLLES: The US never even got much of the big-time glam, let alone the less successful stuff, so very few people here knew any of this music at all until those compilations made it here starting around 1999. Which is when I first encountered it when I heard my DJ friend Jimi Hey play 45s by Iron Virgin and Kenny.
And shortly after that I started collecting that stuff like a fiend. It’s so good, a lot of it, that you can DJ it to people that had never heard any of these records and they would instantly love it. That’s rare in the DJ world.
A bit more about Don “GLAMPA” Bolles :
Don Bolles has been serving the Greater Los Angeles area since 1978 Although he’s known more for playing drums in seminal LA Punk bands The Germs, Neevous Gender and 45 Grave, Don has been in lots of other bands - Celebrity Skin, Vox Pop, the Seeds, Steaming Coils, and 3 Day Stubble, to name a few.
Image courtesy of Don Bolles
Bolles, who recently turned 69, leads what he calls an “Active Senior Lifestyle”- besides his 2 weekly radio shows on WFMU.org’s “Sheena’s Jungle Room” stream, producing records, doing Music Supervision for films and TV shows, and live DJing.
Fancy Space People. Image courtesy of Don Bolles
Bolles is currently performing and recording with psychedelic space glamsters Fancy Space People, 70s style Glitter Rockers Hammered Satin, and Phoenix-based acid pop outfit Astrologer.
Hammered Satin. Image courtesy of Don Bolles
Don and his fiancé, costume designer Dawn Ritz, are the proud owners / servants of 2 wondrous 1 1/2 year old rescue kitties - Lucifer Sam (a flame point Siamese) and Valkyrie (a Sphinx).
And finally, not to be forgotten, Bolles did the Public Access TV show for 10 years, The Threee Geniuses.
Join us for what is sure to be an unforgettable evening.
Don has quite a show planned!
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very laboratory