Fourth Fridays

Parallel Attractions

Originally from Brooklyn, New York, Irena Azovsky, aka Parallel Attractions, has been spinning records professionally at various venues and bars on the East Coast and now West Coast for over 10 years. She plays everything on vinyl—from popular 80s hits, to deep cuts, to obscure new wave synth tracks, to dreamy retro dance remixes and contemporary electronic music singles. Previous recurring gigs in Los Angeles include Melody Lounge in Chinatown; Blind Barber, ETA, and the Off Beat bar in Highland Park; The Holloway and Bar Henry in Echo Park; The Friend and The Black Cat in Silver Lake; Gold Diggers in East Hollywood; Club Tee Gee in Atwater Village; Bar Franca, Mezcalero, and High Tide in downtown Los Angeles. She has also played Echo Park Rising, as well as sponsored events for brands, such as Doc Martens and Lomography. Her set is about having a fun time and getting people engaged, grooving and dancing.

Rostam

One of the founding members of Vampire Weekend and producer of their first three albums, Rostam Batmanglij has had an astonishingly varied and intensely busy few years, which has seen him take on everything from producing albums for HAIM (2020’s Women in Music Pt III, nominated for Album of the Year at the 63rd Grammy Awards) and Clairo (2019’s Immunity), to soundtrack work for film and television, as well as collaborative work with Hamilton Leithauser, Lykke Li, Maggie Rogers, and many others. 
 
Fusing his baroque sensibilities with newly introduced elements of jazz and neo-psych, Changephobia (his first LP since 2017’s Half-Light) utilizes the latter’s improvisational nature to reflect the constant shifts, both cultural and personal, that people experience throughout our lives. It touches upon global warming (“These Kids We Knew”), sex (“Unfold You”), and the intimate beauty of everyday spaces such as the automobile (“4Runner,” “From the Back of a Cab,” “Kinney”). Jazz players, such as sax player Henry Solomon (Haim, Big Sean, Mon Laferte), intertwine with Rostam’s pop background and lofty voice, forming a tender, lush collection of songs.

Norbert De La Cruz III

Norbert De La Cruz III is a Filipino-American freelance artist, choreographer, and dance educator. He was born in the Nueva Vizcaya, Bayombong, Philippines and raised in Los Angeles. With a BFA from The Juilliard School and a MFA from Hollins University, he has earned a Princess Grace Award, a Jerome Robbins Foundation N.E.W. commission, a Winning Works recognition from Joffrey Academy, the YAGP Outstanding Choreographer Award, and featured as Dance Magazine’s Top 25 To Watch.  

He has danced with Aszure Barton, Ballet Torino, Aspen Santa Fe Ballet, and Complexions Contemporary Ballet, and was recently cast in the film adaptation of Tony-winning musical In The Heights. Since then, Norbert has been commissioned for new works from The Juilliard School, Hubbard Street, Aspen Santa Fe Ballet, Ballet X, Joffrey Academy of Dance, Tulsa Ballet,  Olympic Ballet Theatre, and Grand Rapids Ballet among others. Learn more at www.NorbertDeLaCruziii.com and follow @Norbert.DeLaCruz.iii.