The weekend's top shows.

Thursday

Corinne Bailey Rae @ the Avalon. A Grammy darling after the bouncy coffeehouse soul single "Put Your Records On" introduced her to the world in 2006, Rae returned this year with a far deeper, complex and less comfortable album in "The Sea." Jazz and soul are a jumping off point, but Rae's exploring emotional torment here. Songs such as "Diving for Hearts" resist easy classification, packed with late night pianos, unexpected phrasing and jarring surges of guitars. The Avalon, 1735 N. Vine, Los Angeles. Tickets are $27.50, not including surcharges. 

In deciding to merge the July event with an August concert instead, Hard Events’ Gary Richards cites extra rules and costs created in the wake of a death after the Electric Daisy Carnival.

In the wake of controversy after the death of a 15-year-old girl at a rave held at the Los Angeles Coliseum on June 25, the annual Hard L.A. concert, scheduled to take place Saturday at downtown’s Los Angeles State Historic Park, was abruptly canceled Monday.

The concert was to feature beat-based acts including M.I.A., Die Antwoord, Flying Lotus, Sleigh Bells and others and was drawing extra scrutiny because of its location at the park, just east of Chinatown.

The cancellation arrived a week after the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors appointed a task force to “enhance rave safety” after Sasha Rodriguez died of a suspected drug overdose after attending the Electric Daisy Carnival. Establishment of the task force came after the Coliseum Commission announced a temporary ban on new contracts with rave operators as they review such events. 

Gary Richards, the promoter of Hard L.A., denied the cancellation was caused by the Coliseum incident but acknowledged that in the wake of Rodriguez’s death, city officials forced the producers to add “a lot of extra stipulations and requirements” that “resulted in unforeseen costs to the event.” He said his company, Hard Events, plans to go ahead with an Aug. 7 concert at the park and that some acts scheduled to appear Saturday would be shifted to the later event.

“I don't want anyone to think that this cancellation had anything to do with the events that occurred at Electric Daisy Carnival, because it didn't,” Richards said.

In the wake of a teenager's death at the Electric Daisy Carnival last month, the electronic-centric HARD L.A. concert at downtown's Los Angeles State Historic Park has been canceled due to security concerns.

James Valdez, a state park ranger and the lead coordinator for events in the Los Angeles sector who was overseeing Hard L.A., confirmed that the July 17 date is no longer happening. Valdez said the Aug. 7 Hard event, also set for the park, was still planned as of this morning. “From what I hear, yes,” Valdez said when asked if the Aug. 7 was scheduled to go off.

Valdez said he received an e-mail from Gary Richards, the festival's promoter, that stated the July 17 date was “postponed,” but he had no further information.

Documents from sources connected to a number of the acts scheduled to perform at the July 17 concert indicate that the promoters behind HARD L.A. have canceled the show in light of the new scrutiny and logistics demanded of large-scale electronic music concerts in Los Angeles.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to establish a task force to examine and "enhance rave safety" after last month's Electric Daisy Carnival led to more than 100 hospitalizations. A 15-year-old girl died last week of a suspected drug overdose after attending the two-day dance event at the L.A. Memorial Coliseum and adjoining Exposition Park, which drew between 80,000 and 100,000 people per day. 

The motion to establish the task force follows a call last week by Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky to establish a rave moratorium. Coliseum officials announced last week a temporary ban on new contracts with rave operators as they consider whether to allow another such event.

"While the Coliseum Commission has taken steps to temporarily stop these events from being held on its property, the county must work with other key community stakeholders to look at the larger public health risks posts by raves and other similar events," the motion reads.

The motion defines a rave as "musical events" that "tend to be held over ... long periods of time -- sometimes days -- in large venues on both public and private property." Among the issues the task force seeks to investigate are the location, hours and size in "which these events can legally be held," as well as education efforts to "raise awareness about the potential dangers of rave parties."  

 
Another day, and more tales of a beleaguered concert season emerge. This time, its former teen sensations the Jonas Brothers, whose summer tour was shuffled to include more international dates, yet about a dozen fewer North American ones (the act's local appearance in Irvine was shifted from Sept. 23 to Sept. 19). 

But there is one instance in which slow ticket sales might put the minds of local officials at ease. Ticket buys for M.I.A.'s headlining July 17 appearance at Hard L.A., slated for a 36-acre plot of land at the Los Angeles State Historic Park, which is just east of Chinatown, are trending far below the capacity of 25,000 people, according to event organizers. 

The July 17 concert, also featuring noise act Sleigh Bells, African rap act Die Antwoord and hip-hop group N.E.R.D., is the city's first major electronic event to follow June's Electric Daisy Carnival. That two-day dance event drew 185,000 people to the Coliseum and adjoining Exposition Park but came under fire after reports of injuries and gate-crashing, as well as the tragic news that a 15-year-old girl died of a suspected drug overdose after attending the event. L.A. County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky went so far as to call for a rave moratorium.

The fallout, as noted in this weekend's Calendar, has brought heightened attention on Hard L.A.

"There's a concern, and I've heard from multiple agencies," said James Valdez, a state park ranger and the lead coordinator for events in the Los Angeles sector who will be overseeing Hard L.A. "Will we reevaluate our plans and logistics? Yes. In light of Electric Daisy, we will increase our numbers all the way around."

Cut from the story, however, was the off-handed comment from Valzez that "there may be more staff than people" at Hard L.A. Exaggeration or not, Gary Richards, a veteran dance music promoter who is hosting Hard L.A., noted in a separate interview that "we could use some more ticket sales."

A few years ago, the majority of kids turning out for DJ A-Trak shows were what he called “uber DJ fans” who preferred to film him for YouTube clips, as opposed to doing what his mixing suggested: dance.

But more bodies have been moving in the last couple of years, according to A-Trak, the 27-year-old DJ born Alain Macklovitch in Montreal. The wunderkind turntablist began winning international DJ awards at age 15, making him one of the youngest, greatest masters of the decks. He will bring his ever-evolving mix of rap, breakbeat, techno and house to the HARD New Year’s Eve DJ party on Thursday.

The Brooklyn-based DJ has a new look (think maturing hipster: Beard and fedora have replaced baseball cap and sunglasses), and he's pushing his sound further into the realm of the international dance charts in an attempt to further blur genre classification.

“This time is reminiscent of the mid-'90s, where hip-hop guys were making house music," he said during a tour stop in Mexico City. "That’s what allows me to play this Jeezy record or this Gucci Mane record next to some weird German techno record,  because to me they make sense together.”

A-Trak started his indie imprint Fool’s Gold Records in 2007, toward the end of his 4-year run as Kanye West’s official tour DJ. He’s always kept busy with dance-worthy remixes, most recently of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ “Heads Will Roll," but his latest focus is on planning his next album.

Do not be alarmed; the image at left boasts one very big and obvious falsity: French electronic music duo Daft Punk is not playing at this year’s HARD Haunted Mansion event, happening at the Shrine over Halloween weekend in downtown Los Angeles (although according to actress Olivia Wilde, the duo will make a cameo appearance in the movie “Tron Legacy,” for which they’re also crafting the soundtrack). 

Upon closer inspection, the flier also states that the event is happening at a location called “The Hudson.”

This ambitious forgery is just one of many rumors swirling around the Internet regarding the dance music event, including claims of a location change to San Bernardino and that the show is already sold out.

The popular HARD series of dance events garnered a whirlwind of notoriety after HARD Summer 2009 at the Forum was canceled as a result of raucous fans crashing the main floor area.

“HARD Haunted Mansion will take place Friday, October 30 and Saturday, October 31 at the Shrine as planned,” insists promoter Gary Richards via e-mail. “There are many rumors flying around that are false. All correct and up to date information and links to purchase tickets are available at www.hardfest.com.”

After more than 18,000 concertgoers discovered that the Forum was not the ideal locale for an electro-powered dance party at the semi-disastrous HARD Summer party, promoter Gary Richards and the HARD team have announced the long-awaited details for the upcoming Halloween event.

The 2009 HARD Haunted Mansion party is now set for the Shrine in Los Angeles, and has expanded into a two-day event beginning Oct. 30 and continuing on Halloween. The Shrine was actually the location of the HARD Summer event in 2008, which featured N.E.R.D, Spank Rock and Amanda Blank.

The Friday night line-up is topped by controversial dance music upstart Deadmau5, alongside 2 Many DJs, DJ A-Trak, the Bloody Beetroots and more.