Moby Gets to DJ at a KCRW Halloween Event Instead of Monster Massive

MOBY: FROM MASSIVE TO KCRW
You remember how Monster Massive got canceled a mere two weeks before the event was going to be held because it didn't have a venue? Well, Moby got over it. He's now deejaying at Masquerade: A Halloween Costume Ball & Dance Party benefiting KCRW, to be held the same date as Monster Massive was to have been, Oct. 29. So if you bought tickets to Monster Massive specifically to see Moby, don't despair. You can still catch him, along with Dengue Fever, Mariachi El Bronx, Milagres, Rac and 17 KCRW DJs, circus troupe Lucent Dossier, and live art from Aaron Axelrod. Tickets for the event at the legendary Park Plaza in Downtown LA are sold out, but VIP cabanas were reportedly available at press time. Visit www.kcrw.com/masquerade. From an Oct. 21 Heard Mentality blog post.

NO AVICII AT UCI?
UC Irvine's Student Services was apparently seeking to host a huge, paid-admission concert at the UC Irvine Bren Events Center with the artists Avicii, Steve Aoki and Dev, but its request to use the association's $170,000 in emergency funds to foot the bill was denied. The appearance of the 22-year-old Swedish DJ Avicii, currently ranked No. 6 in the world, has polarized students. Some say the price tag is too hefty without a 100 percent guarantee that the student's association will profit. Students who are fans of electronic music, on the other hand, claim the university is "in dire need of something like this" and have put up a "Bring Avicii to UC Irvine" page. Tickets would've cost $30 to $40, but legislation to approve the release of the funds for the concert—which some students said would sell out due to the huge number of ravers at the school—didn't pass. From an Oct. 21 post.

DESTRUCTO TALKS ABOUT HARD ORIGINS
So it really has sexual connotations! We asked Destructo, one of HARD's founders, where the festival series' name comes from. He replied, "You know, I really need to come up with a good story for this. But the real reason is that Steve Aoki was like, 'Why don't you call it hard-on? Like, I got a hard-on for LA.' And I was like, 'Eh, hardon.com—that sounds like a gay porn site. Why don't we just call it HARD?' And it stuck." HARD Halloween will be at the Shrine Expo Hall in Los Angeles. Tickets can be purchased at www.hardfest.com. From an Oct. 24 post by Neda Salamat.