News

Friday, May 18th


Casey’s Irish Pub – Gods of Macho
They wear pink. And they fucking rock! It’s true, some dudes can wear pink and still kick your ass. Don’t worry, The Gods of Macho won’t literally beat you up but they will wear pink. And might call upon the power of Satan to give them the power to to rock harder than any other band, in the world! I was just thinking, what would Lemmy from Motorhead look like in pink? Anyways, about The Gods of Macho…They are a hard rock band from Los Angeles who play it loud and heavy. And it’s the perfect chaser to your shots of Jameson. It doesn’t matter if you likes glam punk, metal, even did the humpty dance once or twice in your lifetime, you will love The Gods of Macho. I guarantee it. And if you’re not sold at the end of the show I won’t refund you anything. It’s FREE all month! Get used to it!

Caña Rum Bar – Native Wayne
Tonight Grammy-winning reggae luminary Wayne Hobson, also known as Native Wayne to his Indie 103 fans, will be behind the wheels of steel bringing us the good vibes via an eclectic set of classic reggae, dancehall, afrobeat, and whatever else he deems worthy of your listening pleasure. It’s Friday night, so if you’d like to ensure yourself a table or bring more than three guests, reservations are necessary. Right near the beach… Boyyyyyyyyyy!

Las Perlas – Kapsoul Records
What does Jazz, Funk, Soul, Rare Groove Disco have in common with Tequila? Las Perlas!!!! That’s right Kapsoul Records presents every Friday at Las Perlas with DJ Kap, Ohmae & Chikaramanga. Come in and get drunk…. Or stay sober depending on what you’re in to.

Broadway Bar – Broadway Bar Welcomes DJ B-Mix & DJ J-Cru
Making a rare Friday night appearance: Coldfusion Live’s DJ B-Mix & DJ J-Cru. Bringing live Video Mixing to the Broadway Bar.
Casey’s Irish Pub – NBA Playoffs: Lakers vs. Thunder
Come and support our local Lakers as they take on Oklahoma City Thunder tonight @ Casey’s Irish Pub. What better way to spend this evening than watching the Lakers on one or all of the many flat screen TV’s in Casey’s. Don’t forget to order a drink first. It will help them win. Go Lakers!

Saturday, May 19th

Casey’s Irish Pub – Animal Raps
A good friend of mine called me and said, “Dude, you have to check out this guy who raps in a bear suit!”. So, like a good friend I listened to “the guy in a bear suit.” And I have to say, the dude has rhymes! He calls himself Animal Raps. And he raps about animals! Duh! Check out Animal Raps every Saturday at Casey’s with a special guest each week. No Cover. Just rhymes, and a bear suit.

Las Perlas – DJ Darren Revell
Las Perlas welcomes DJ Darren Revell from 103′s Big Sonic Heaven tonight. Darren will be spinning everything from Post Punk to New Wave to Eighties so grab your head bands and leg warmers and get on down here. We’ll see you then!

Caña Rum Bar – Music Selector Jose Galvan
Its time for you to stop living and start winning! What better way to do that than to join us @ Caña Rum Bar for Jose Galvan. Tonight and every Saturday night Jose joins us playing Latin Alternative, Funky Beats and Caribbean Rhythms. We will also be serving some of the most delicious rum cocktails ever to have touched your tongue. Get in here and get some!

Sunday, May 20th

Casey’s Irish Pub – NHL Playoffs: Kings vs. Coyotes
The Kings have been playing their asses off and doing a lot of winning because of it. Show your pride and come on down to watch them take on the Coyotes. They are one of the best teams in the league and Casey’s is the place to watch. We will be showing the games on all of our huge flat screen TV’s. Come on in, get a drink and some food, watch the game and make a night/day of it. You will not be disappointed!

Casey’s Irish Pub – NBA Playoffs: Clippers vs. Spurs
Calling all Clipper fans! Casey’s will be showing the game tonight as the Clippers face off against San Antonio. Come on in and watch on our one of many flat screen TV’s. If you show up it’s sure to be a Clipper win. Don’t forget to buy a beer. Go Clippers!

213 is honored to be amongst the Spirit Awards finalists at Tales of the Cocktail! Congrats to our fellow Angelenos on the list. Read below for the categories that we’re in:

Following a rigorous evaluation of hundreds of nominees, ten finalists for each award category have been chosen for the 6th Annual Spirited Awards®, recognizing the year’s best bars, bartenders, writers, experts and more. American and international judging committees comprised of the most respected minds in the cocktail industry selected the finalists for the 17 award categories. Winners will be announced Saturday July 28 at the Spirited Awards® ceremony being held at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, as part of the Tales of the Cocktail® 10th anniversary celebration.

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American Bartender of the Year
Eric Alperin
Jamie Boudreau
Derek Brown
Marcovaldo Dionysos
Charles Joly
Vincenzo Marianella
Ivy Mix
Jeffrey Morganthaler
Joaquin Simo
Naren Young

Best American Cocktail Bar
Anvil Bar & Refuge – Houston, Texas
Bourbon & Branch – San Francisco, California
The Drawing Room – Chicago, Illinois
Dutch Kills – Long Island, New York
Clover Club – Brooklyn, New York
Columbia Room – Washington, District of Columbia
Harvard & Stone – Los Angeles, California
La Descarga – Los Angeles, California
Mayahuel – Manhattan, New York
The Varnish – Los Angeles, California

Best High Volume Cocktail Bar
Beretta – San Francisco, California
Clover Club – New York, New York
Craft & Commerce – San Diego, California
Eastern Standard – Boston, Massachusetts
Flatiron Lounge – New York, New York
La Descarga – Los Angeles, California
Macao Trading Co. – New York, New York
Sable Kitchen & Bar – Chicago, Illinois
Seven Grand – Los Angeles, California
The Tippler – New York, New York

World’s Best Cocktail Bar
69 Colebrook Row – London, United Kingdom
Black Pearl –Melbourne, Australia
Callooh Callay – London, United Kingdom
Clover Club – New York, New York
The Connaught Bar – London, United Kingdom
Drink – Boston, Massachusetts
Eau de Vie – Sydney, Australia
Mayahuel – Manhattan, New York
Nightjar – London, United Kingdom
The Varnish – Los Angeles, California

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213 Partner Mark Verge is the new CEO of Santa Anita Park, and this Pasadena Star News story reveals that his passions for horse racing trace back to middle school…

Racing is in their blood – Pasadena Star News
Track fever hit O’Neill, Verge a long time ago

Long before there was I’ll Have Another’s win in the Kentucky Derby for trainer Doug O’Neill (pictured), and long before there was a gig as CEO of Santa Anita Park for Mark Verge there was a March 22, 1981, trip to the Arcadia track for the last race of the day. The crew: O’Neill, then 12 years old; Verge, then 13, and their grade-school basketball coach, Mike Amodei. The means to get from Santa Monica, where O’Neill and Verge lived, was Amodei’s old, beat-up, green Toyota Corolla.

“I had told them that I loved going to the track,” Amodei said. “Especially in high school at Temple City, we’d cut out after lunch and go place bets (at Santa Anita).

“I was telling those guys about it and that I would one day take them to the track. So one day, that’s what finally happened.”

So there they were, O’Neill, Verge and their basketball coach dashing across town to make the bet and subsequent score that would help set in motion two racetrack careers that will go down in history.

When Crimson Commander crossed the wire first with Joe Blot a head back in second, O’Neill and Verge won $60 apiece for their $5 investment.

The race? Nothing more than a $32,000 claimer run at 6 1/2 furlongs with a purse of $20,000.

“I gave coach Mike five bucks and Doug gave him five bucks, and we had Joe Blot/ Crimson Commander and Crimson Commander/Joe Blot, and it hit,” Verge said. “We got $60 each and we were just rolling. I remember Doug and I had three 20′s each. We were set.
“It was the most fun I had in my entire life.”

Added O’Neill about the double-digit score: “It was a Derby-like moment. It was like `Oh my God, we just got rich!”‘

The win spawned a love fest with the track O’Neill and Verge still have to this day.

Following their windfall, the urge to get back to the track was so strong that relying on Amodei’s Corolla or O’Neill’s father, Patrick, for rides soon wasn’t enough. The duo took to the city’s bus system.

O’Neill estimated it took three buses and about 90 minutes to get from Santa Monica to Santa Anita. Hollywood Park was a tad easier, two buses and about an hour. But just getting to the track guaranteed nothing.

The under-aged boys needed fake dads to get them under the turnstiles at the admission gates and even more help to actually get their bets down.

Verge, whose smooth-talking skills still are very much on display today, handled that without fail.

“Mark would always ask somebody in the parking lot `Could you be our parent so we can get in?”‘ O’Neill said. “And then once you get in there, you just go up to a stranger, befriend them and say `Hey uh, my parents … are … I’m not sure where they are … uh, but can you get me $5 on the two?’

“And then you’d get that speech like, `You kids shouldn’t be betting … but why do you like the two? Did you hear anything about the two?”‘

Rides back to Santa Monica on the bus often were entertaining, especially after Verge gave many of the regulars nicknames and struck up friendships.

O’Neill recalls one such regular named Frank, who stood up about 45 minutes into the ride home from the track and let out an expletive.

When asked why he was so upset, Frank answered by saying he had forgotten he drove to the track that day and that his car still was in the parking lot while he was on the bus headed home.

There was no doubt which way O’Neill’s life was headed after the pair graduated from St. Monica High. He was offered a job walking hots for former trainer Jude Feld at Del Mar just months after graduation and eventually rode the backstretch ladder up to where he is today – a Kentucky Derby-winning trainer.

For Verge, entrepreneurism was his calling. After graduating from UCLA, Verge started a series of successful business, including WestsideRentals.com.

Verge also owns horses O’Neill trains and has parlayed his involvement in the industry into becoming Santa Anita’s new CEO in March.

But in true O’Neill/Verge fashion, neither friend can forget those who played important roles in their journey. That’s why Amodei, now executive editor for Ave Maria Press at the University of Notre Dame, and his two children were front and center last weekend for the Kentucky Derby.

Upon arriving at Churchill Downs, Verge greeted Amodei and his children at the gate and got them in. From there, O’Neill joined up with them and they hung out in an air-conditioned area near a snack bar until O’Neill needed to disengage so he could saddle I’ll Have Another.

“Doug was with us basically from about 11 a.m. until about 3:30 p.m. and we all just hung there,” Amodei said. “It was a great day at that point, no matter what the outcome. Then, everyone went their different ways. Mark got us a box. Doug went somewhere else. And then the race unfolds.

“As that horse came down the stretch, I kept feeling that this was really a flashback because Doug and Mark have always had something in them where they were just winners. They never changed. Either one of them. They were winners. It was one of the top-10 moments in my life.”

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