When House meets Electro meets bamboo earrings meets rope chains meets conspicuously- dressed high fashion gals and guy-gals channeling the likes of Richard Avedon in a basement club, you’ve stumbled upon one of the most eclectic nights of the week! Hosted weekly by Nacho Biz, “self expression” means to turn up the volume – and by this I mean until the neighbors complain!

If you’re looking for another facet to L.A., then Mustache is sure to provide a cultural gathering of oddity and amazement. Homosexuals, heterosexuals, drag queens, androgyny, vogue battles and a great DJ rotation is sure to welcome you. The permeating sounds of Santogold, Yelle, Estelle and Fedde Le Grand waft through the downtown alleyways by DJ’s Victor Rodriguez, Josh Peace and Dino Dinco. Please note, spread like the red sea once the cat walking queer shenanigans begin.

This underground scene, literally, is a place to revel in the synergy of other like-minded cultural creators. Nestled in the historic downtown Los Angles district, this gathering of artists, dancers, singers, and oddity is surely worth a visit!

The weekly performances at midnight are certainly captivating and quite enough to keep coming back. Past performances have included Jonté, Le Tigre and resident club socialite, Fade-Dra, who continues to deliver every week — in about seven inch heels nonetheless.

More information here.

Following up on the success of MG1 Brazil, Mexico-born artist/graphic and apparel designer Marka27 has recently released his new limited edition minigods, called MG2 Mexico. Inspired by the pre-Columbian gods of his motherland, Marka’s mini g.o.d.s — i.e. Givers Of Divine Sounds — are true works of art with a function.

Boasting an even larger and more impressive 17-inch shell and equipped with a working speaker that you can hook up to your laptop or iPod, the new MG2 even comes with an AC adapter so you don’t have to worry about recharging your batteries.

Marka27’s trademark style of combining symbolic elements from ancient indigenous cultures with futuristic aesthetic no doubt will impress die-hard vinyl toy collectors and contemporary urban art aficionados alike. I’ve already got my hands on his Gold SDCC Exclusive Minigods, and all I can say is that even if you are not a collector of vinyl toys, any one of the minigods will be worth all your investment.

When Marka is not busying himself with apparel and product design, you’ll find him channeling his creativity into more hands-on art projects, such as large-scale graffiti pieces, installations and fine art paintings. His work has been shown at the Museum of Fine Arts (Boston), Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston), S.M.F.A Grossman Gallery (Boston), Boston Center For the Arts, Orange County Center for Contemporary Art (L.A), 33 1/3Books and Gallery (L.A.), Crewest Gallery (L.A.), Meltdown (L.A.), S.D Visual Artist Guild, Union 237 Gallery (Philadelphia), among others.

Peep his work here.

For French hip hop connoisseurs the name Kery James means talent, fierce lyrics, militant, controversy but also longevity. Alix Mathurin a.k.a. Kery James started his career at the age 13 with his friends Teddy Corona, Alter and DJ Mehdi of Ed Bangers fame with whom he started the group “Ideal Junior” — yes, Mehdi was and still is one France’s most innovative rap producers.

Together they released two critically acclaimed LPs “Original MC’s sur une mission” (1996) and “Le Combat continue” (1998) which turned them into one of France’s most respected hip hop acts. And then suddenly, after the tragic death of his best friend, James’s life took a radical turn; he converted to Islam and decided to put an end to his promising career. But not for long, it seems that the call of the mic was too strong to resist and in 2001 he put out one of his most personal and accomplished works to date.

On “Si c’etait a refaire” (2001) Mathurin is honest, direct but also extremely vulnerable. He talks about his new faith, his inward struggle, his mistakes as a youth and does what he does best: he chronicles the life of young banlieusards.

Since then, his style has continually evolved, paying homage to his Islamic faith with the compilation “Savoir & vivre ensemble” (2004). On the following album, “Ma Vérité” (2005), he teamed with his old posse, DJ Mehdi and Teddy Corona.

Regardless of the ups and downs that the majority of artists face, the fascinating aspect of Mathurin’s career is that there seems to be a invariable struggle between his old style and his newfound values — something that he balances successfully on his newest album, “A l’ombre du show-business” — literally, “in the Shadow of Show business“.

On his first week of release, the album was ranked 3rd on the French charts; this is an outstanding achievement for the French hip hop movement and, on personal level, for Mathurin whose song “Hardcore” was heavily censured by the French media.

After a memorable performance yesterday at Montreal’s Club Soda, Kery James will be playing tonight at Quebec City’s Dagobert at 8:30 pm.

Click here for more info on the show and here to check out Kery James’s updates.

Monday, May 19, 7:00pm
McNally Robinson Booksellers (52 Prince St. between Lafayette and Mulberry)
Language for a New Century: Contemporary Poetry from the Middle East, Asia, and Beyond

The title of this collection of poetry is a little boring, but the subtitle and guiding principle are exciting. Edited by Ravi Shankar, Tina Chang, and Nathalie Handal, Language for a New Century is a selection of poems from fifty-nine countries and territories in the Middle East and Asia, areas that are often over-simplified and grouped together in our politics in America. They are organized thematically, not geographically, and this results in an exciting variation. Editor Ravi Shankar and the poets Timothy Liu, Sarah Gambito and Vijay Seshadri will read from their work and discuss the role of poetry abroad.

Wednesday, May 21, 7:00pm
McNally Robinson Booksellers (52 Prince St. between Lafayette and Mulberry)
Ed Park, author of Personal Days (Random House), in conversation with his Random House editor, Julia Cheiffetz

I know I already mentioned Ed Park (founding editor of The Believer magazine and publisher of New-York Ghost) once on here, but if you missed that one, you might want to go check this one out. Park’s new novel follows a group of co-workers in an office as their company comes apart. He’ll talk with his editor Julia Cheiffetz at this event. If you’re not a New York reader, then go to the New-York Ghost’s website for a complete listing of readings.

Thursday, May 22, 7:30pm
Word (126 Franklin St. in Greenpoint)
Music Writing Event

If you’re a fan of music writing, or just music, and haven’t yet heard of or read anything from Continuum’s 33 1/3 series, which features pocket-size books by well known music writers and musicians writing about key records, then it’s high time you get on it. Thursday writers from the series Matthew Stearns (Sonic Youth’s Daydream Nation), Michael Fournier (The Minutemen’s Double Nickels on the Dime), and Amanda Petrusich (Nick Drake’s Pink Moon) will read and discuss their work. The evening will be moderated by Rolling Stone’s Jenny Eliscu.

Friday, May 23, 7:00pm — 9:00pm
KGB Bar (85 E. 4th Street between 2nd and 3rd Aves.)
Drunken Boat: Launch Party, Issue # 9

Drunken Boat is an international online journal of the arts, and Friday it will be celebrating the launch of its ninth issue, which focuses on Poetics and Mis/Translation, enquiring if poetry can still matter today. There will be a multimedia performance and reading by writers and artists Sandra Beasley, Rand Richards Cooper, Sean Thomas Dougherty, Alena Hairston, Karla Kelsey, Steve Langan, Hermine Meinhard, Terese Svoboda, Peter Yumi and Jonathan Zalben.