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Brendan Mullen, Club Promoter, Author, Musician, and Visionary Bids Us Adieu
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Hey my LAist peeps , i covered the Lingerie Football League Los Angeles Temptation game at the Sport
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That really is a shame - I remember seeing Brendan at many shows from the mid-80s and on. A true icon of originality: LA should spend a few million on his funeral and not complain about it.
A huge, huge loss. RIP Brendan
Brendan was the angry Scottish uncle I never had...whenever I saw him at a gig or a party, I always made sure I said hello to hear one of his zingers. Two things stick out in my mind...in a fit of nostalgia I gave Brendan my hip flask as a birthday gift, which had been my father's, that I'd snuck into about a thousand clubs. I remember he gave me a look, somewhere between confused and embarrassed. Later on a friend told me he was in AA! Oops. I got the same look from him, a bit more sternly, some years later when I showed up drunk to Mark Gash's funeral.
My favorite memory of Brendan, however, was at a party in the Hollywood Hills that same year, 2000. Wilt Chamberlain had died and they couldn't sell his house, the most expensive one-bedroom in LA, a giant pyramid straight out of the 70s, with a hot tub in the Stilt's room and a pool that came under a wall into the house. To make extra cash the estate rented it out for parties, not bothering to remove some of Chamberlain's possessions, like the piles of vintage "Oui" magazines tucked in a cabinet. The party was full of kids who didn't have a clue who the house belonged to, but just wandered around tripping on it. I knew hardly anyone, and was surprised to see Brendan Mullen DJing at the turntables, between the indoor pool and the giant rock fireplace.
"Good grief," I said, "man, what are YOU doing here?"
"Taking a living from these little monkeys," he said sadly. Just then a fight broke out, and Brendan assumed the most polished, subtle look of disgust I've ever seen. I've tried to duplicate it ever since.
I wish I could have been alive during the early years of The Masque. All I know about Brendan is through whatever bits and pieces I can read online and through books. I'll always be thankful to him for giving many of my favorite bands a venue to show off their talent.