Forming Wednesdays @ The Cha Cha Lounge With Dirty Preston

Preston is one of those kinds of guys that inexplicably has five people around him at all times. He's a  guy that looks not unlike how you might think Ignatius J. Reilly might look like in real life; yet he carries himself with the same kind of joie de vivre that wins elections.

It's was his night Wednesday at Cha Cha Lounge - the Silverlake dive bar that serves not only as a place for drinking till your wits end but for the kind of urban art-school dirty kid buzz that the city of Los Angeles so often glosses over in favor of the over-fashioned Melrose crowd.

Whatever the hot social wankery club is on the West side (Hyde, Area, Foxtail, Prive), it's the East side's very own little version of that. You might see Chloe Sevigny here the same night you see the bassist for your favorite local band do a bump in the bathroom.

Preston's Wednesday night residency has become pretty fucking successful since just a few months ago when he teamed up with ex-Black Flag and ex-Circle Jerk's front man Keith Morris and band mate "Matzah" to form 'Forming'. Between them, they take turns DJ'ing and socializing - at times becoming the unofficial greeters for the place, at other times simply having a blast playing two minute punk songs very loudly to the very mixed crowd. It would take an almost superhuman effort not to have a good time here.

Beers are two dollars to five dollars while well drinks might cost you a little more. It's probably the best Wednesday night in the city if you're on any sort of budget. It's not the kind of place one would come to meet the Queen Of England, most definitely, so if you have an Uggs-banging fetish I'd stick to WeHo, although I hear at Cha Cha if you say the cryptic ancient phrase "Ah Nih Muhl Coh Leck Tives Lah Stalbum Wahs Oh Vehr Ray Ted" or "Sihl Ver Layke Ihs Sew Gen Tree Fied Thee Sdays" you'll probably at least turn some heads, for better or for worse.

More on the author, Ned Hepburn, HERE.