Photos: First Fridays with Little Dragon

All Photos by Jeremiah Garcia and review by Taryn Olsen, KCRW volunteer extraordinaire.Video by POP-AUT.

Who knew the Natural History Museum could be sexy? I guess that’s what you get when you mix giant dinosaur bones, Little Dragon, and KCRW.

The 2011 season of First Fridays at the Natural History Museum arrived on the scene with a boom – thanks in large part to Anthony Valadez, resident DJ for this year’s series of swank-worthy get togethers. Always a mad man on the turntables, Anthony provided an impressive soundtrack amid the huge replicas of elephants, ostriches, and cheetahs in the Hall of African Mammals. The museum does such an excellent job of transforming this hall with bar setups, plush lounge chairs, and low, blue lighting.

The special First Fridays set up of the museum has the same sexy ambiance elements on the entire first floor with the main entrance lit up in warm reds and blues with tons of happy party people mingling. The entire museum is open all night so attendees can roam, beer in hand, in all the rooms – next time you go, be sure to check out the brand new hall of mammals that is utterly beautiful.

Little Dragon drew a sold out crowd and the overflow gathered to catch a glimpse of the show on the projected screens in the main rotunda. Playing a mix of songs from both of their LPs, Little Dragon did what they do best and a very happy crowd soaked it all in.

— Taryn Olsen