The Brief

What does it take to make it in music? In Los Angeles, it's a competitive and challenging industry to figure out.

From booking a concert venue to building a fanbase, young performers often have to do it all themselves. That’s why on a recent Tuesday, Queer LA explored what it was like to navigate L.A.’s music scene with LGBTQ+ indie artists at the Crawford, our events space in Pasadena.

We had live performances and an honest conversation. Follow below to meet our special guests and watch the recording.

Watch the performances

Mermaid

Brittany Campbell and Candace Quarrels are the engaged couple behind Mermaid, a Los Angeles-based music group that isn’t tied down to a particular genre. Their music dips into quite a few, like soul, R&B and a combination of alt-rock and jazz.

The pair have been all over the country. Campbell was raised in New York and Quarrels grew up in West Memphis, Arkansas. While they met in the Chicago production of Hamilton, L.A. was calling their names.

Candace Quarrels and Brittany Campbell of Mermaid.

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Courtesy Mermaid

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In 2019, they moved out here to see what could happen for them with the television and film industries. But there was another motive to the move: music. In that same year, they started getting their feet wet with Mermaid by putting out a few songs and playing at open mic nights in L.A.

Lately, they’ve performed at popular LGBTQ+ music events, like Queersound and Out of Mind Fest. They recently released a debut album called Iridescence.

Quarrels had only done Broadway before Mermaid. Campbell is a signed songwriter under Warner Chappell Music who writes for artists and shows like Rise of the Pink Ladies on Paramount+. While Mermaid isn’t a signed band yet, they enjoy the autonomy that creates for their musical identity.

“I think it was important that we were like, ‘no, Mermaid is Mermaid,’” Campbell said. “There's really no input you, anyone, could ever give us except for signing a check.”

That confidence is clear in Iridescence, which crosses multiple genres, while keeping tone and voice distinctively defined. Campbell even creates custom animations for their music videos.

“The doodles, the animation, it ties stuff together,” Quarrels said. “It's like with the genres. Even though we’re bouncing through these genres, we always, always sound like us.”

Campbell and Quarrels joined LAist on Jan. 30 to perform new songs and give us a larger peek into their musical ethos: To leave no stone left unturned and break out of societal boundaries.

“You were born into this vessel, and yeah, that comes with lots of things because of many different gazes on you, but it’s important to push out of that so you can really reach the fullness,” Campbell said.

Danielle Lande

Lifelong Angeleno Danielle Lande is a crooner at heart and creator of Queersound, a monthly queer music showcase at the Silverlake Lounge. They first got into music as a choir kid, but as they got older, it became an avenue for navigating life.

“It’s like a journal entry equivalent for me,” Lande said. “It’s helpful for sorting out my emotional life.”

While they’ve been writing for years, Lande began performing live in 2018. Part of the late-blooming is because growing up, Lande says artists couldn’t self-release music in the same way that they can now with streaming.

Danielle Lande, an artist and creator of Queersound.

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Courtesy Danielle Lande

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“One really cool thing I think especially for queer artists — and other artists who might not be cherry-picked by the old men on top —it's cool that we can [self-release], without anyone telling us what we can and cannot do.”

Lande wants their style to be soothing to others, just like it is to them. They do ballads, explore jazz (with some scatting) and dig into that crooning music aesthetic.

“People started saying Carole King a lot when I first started playing out,” Lande said. “I do think there is a little bit of a quality to my writing that evokes like the ‘70s singer-songwriter.”

Lande wears multiple music hats as the creator and producer of Queersound. When it began in 2018, there were only a handful of recurring LGBTQ+ events that were not geared toward gay men. It stopped for a bit and came back in 2023.

“The return of Queersound has come at a time when there's a very different queer scene than there used to be. I think a lot of it is just that we were so starved for community,” Lande said, referring to the rise of LGBTQ+ events after COVID-19 closures.

They make sure talent is booked, venues are safe and that social media gets the word out. While it keeps Lande very busy, they enjoy creating a way for LGBTQ+ musicians to get stage time without the stress that comes with it.

“Every artist is expected to produce their own shows every single time, so it’s a relief as an artist to be asked onto a show,” Lande said. “Normally, an artist is doing a million things and it’s a steep learning curve.”

But the idea for Queersound goes a little deeper. At one point, they wished for a music night to go to where they would meet other queer artists and play for a room of people who would be more excited about what they’re doing. Lande joined LAist on Jan. 30 to perform and explore the makings of Queersound.

DJ Funky Caramelo 

For Graciela Lopez, who goes by DJ Funky Caramelo, music has always been a safe haven. She immigrated to the U.S. from Mexico City at 11 years old and settled in the Historic Filipinotown area. Music has been a part of Lopez’s life since she was very young.

“I always grew up with the love of music,” Lopez said. “My mom used to always work and I used to always listen to the radio. And that’s how I learned English, through music.”

Graciela Lopez, whose stage name is DJ Funky Caramelo.

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Courtesy Graciela Lopez

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Lopez grew up listening to stations like Power 106 and watching the music channels of VH1, BET and MTV. Lopez fell in love with music so much that she dropped career plans to become a lawyer, and eventually took a 6-month class about DJing and music theory.

She says her different identities — encompassing her life as a DACA recipient, family and sexuality — come together to guide her work as a DJ. Lopez describes her sound as global beats, but she believes in curating her set lists to bring unrepresented sounds to the front.

“Female-identified DJs were very rare. And then when it happened, at least for me, I was like, ‘hey, I can do that,’” Lopez said. “I feel a sense of responsibility to pay it forward.”

For Lopez, DJing is more than just playing sounds while everyone else dances. When she puts events together, she makes sure to invite other women Djs and makes a point to play sounds emphasizing artists of color and LGBTQ+ people.

“I have the power to command the room and I have the power to play the voice that people are not used to hearing,” Lopez said. “I want to be able to use that time and shout out other artists that other people would probably not listen to because they're not mainstream.”

Lopez joined LAist on Jan. 30 to perform and explored more of how she got started.

William Contreras hit a tying homer in the fifth and singled home the go-ahead run an inning later as the Milwaukee Brewers defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers 7-4 on Monday in Game 2 of the National League Championship Series.

Four relievers combined to retire the last 15 Dodgers batters in order as the Brewers took a 2-0 lead over the two-time defending World Series champions in this best-of-seven series, which heads to Los Angeles for Game 3 on Wednesday.

The Brewers are chasing their second pennant and first in the NL. They made their lone World Series appearance in 1982, when they were in the American League.

Los Angeles is trying to become the first NL team to win three straight World Series. The Dodgers last rallied from a 2-0 deficit to win a series in 2020, when they beat the Atlanta Braves in a seven-game NLCS before going on to win the World Series.

The Dodgers will need more punch from their lineup to have a chance at getting back to the Fall Classic. They mustered just three hits Monday and went 0 for 4 with runners in scoring position to drop to 2 for 26 in those situations this postseason.

Los Angeles couldn’t even get a boost from Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who entered 8-1 with a 2.14 ERA in 11 career playoff appearances. Yamamoto lasted just 2 2/3 innings for his shortest postseason start.

The Dodgers took the lead on three occasions in the first five innings. Milwaukee responded each time, the last coming when Contreras tied the game with a 436-foot homer to center off Kris Bubic in the fifth.

That turned the game into a battle of the bullpens, where the Brewers again had the edge.

Dustin May, JoJo Romero, Abner Uribe and Aaron Ashby combined to shut down the Dodgers after Logan Henderson’s early exit.

The score was tied 4-all when Milwaukee’s David Hamilton was hit by a pitch from Brock Stewart to lead off the sixth. Stewart attempted a pickoff throw that went off the glove of first baseman Freddie Freeman and into foul territory for an error, advancing Hamilton to second.

After Jackson Chourio grounded out, the right-handed Stewart walked the left-handed-hitting Brice Turang to face the right-handed Contreras, who had homered in his previous plate appearance.

Contreras singled to left this time to bring home Hamilton with the go-ahead run.

Turang and Jake Bauers added RBI singles in the eighth to extend Milwaukee’s lead.

Neither starter lasts long

The anticipated pitchers’ duel between Yamamoto and Henderson didn’t work out according to plan.

In three previous playoff starts following Dodgers losses, Yamamoto had gone 3-0 with a 1.23 ERA. When he faced the Brewers in last year’s NLCS, he threw the first playoff complete game since Justin Verlander did it in 2017.

This time, Yamamoto couldn’t even make it out of the third inning before leaving with the Dodgers behind 3-2.

Henderson entered Monday having not allowed more than three runs in any of his 24 career starts (including the postseason). That streak ended when he allowed four runs over four innings.

Because Henderson committed two errors — matching his previous career total — only two of the runs were earned.

Milwaukee trailed 2-1 in the third when Bauers capped a 12-pitch plate appearance by taking a 3-2 offering in the dirt to load the bases with a walk. Christian Yelich followed by lining a single up the middle that brought home two runs and knocked Yamamoto out of the game.

Los Angeles bailed out Yamamoto by scoring twice in the fifth.

After Kyle Tucker hit a leadoff double, Tommy Edman sacrificed him to third. Henderson fielded the bunt and made a wild throw to first, enabling Tucker to score and moving Edman to second.

Edman advanced to third when Mookie Betts grounded out, and scored on Freeman’s sacrifice fly.

Henderson also had made a wild throw to first on a pickoff attempt in the third inning that allowed Edman to score from third.

Up next

Robert Gasser (5-5, 3.87 ERA) is expected to start for Milwaukee in Game 3. Gasser allowed one run over five innings when the Brewers won 3-1 at San Diego to clinch their NL Division Series.

The Dodgers hadn’t announced their Game 3 starting pitcher.

Actor and disability rights advocate RJ Mitte, who brought a lifetime of experience with cerebral palsy to fictional family struggles in an essential role on “Breaking Bad,” died Monday at age 34, authorities and his representatives said.

Cameron County Justice of the Peace Cyndi Hinojosa told The Associated Press she declared Mitte dead at about 1:30 p.m. at what she believed was his home in Brownsville, Texas. She said she was unable to provide a cause, but an autopsy will be performed.

Mitte played Walter White Jr., the son of Bryan Cranston’s chemistry teacher-turned-meth dealer Walter White on nearly every episode of the five seasons of the AMC show, which recently ranked as the best of the 21st century in a New York Times poll.

Diagnosed at age 3, Mitte told the AP in 2014 that his disability and the surrounding struggles with physical therapy, family problems and exorbitant medical bills — all key subjects on the show — made him better at his job.“You develop a different mentality and you develop a different look at how the world sees you and how you see the world,” he said. “You’re able to use that. And I think it’s an asset instead of something that would hinder.”

Mitte was born and raised in Jackson, Mississippi.

He landed small guest roles on sitcoms after moving to Los Angeles to act in 2006. Like his character, he was in his mid-teens when he began his work on “Breaking Bad,” starting in 2007. The show ran from 2008 to 2013.

“Mitte brought authenticity to the role and built a platform on disability awareness and inclusion,” the actor’s representatives said in a statement announcing his death. The statement said he used “his platform to challenge stereotypes and promote greater representation.”

His later credits included the ABC Family series “Switched at Birth” and the superhero satire series “Guardians of Justice.”

He was also a producer of several independent films.

As an advocate, he served as an ambassador for United Cerebral Palsy and Shriners Children’s. He was also president of his own Mitte Foundation supporting philanthropic and community initiatives around disabilities.

The drumbeat of monster hurricanes in the Pacific has broken a record for nasty long-lasting storms east of the international date line, turbocharged by nature’s supersized El Niño, scientists said.

“Since September 20th, when Odalys formed, it’s been berserk,” said Colorado State University researcher Phil Klotzbach, who forecasts and studies storm activity. “This year just everything that forms is just lasting a long time and getting really powerful.”

One of the key measurements meteorologists use to judge hurricane seasons is called accumulated cyclone energy, or ACE, which includes a storm’s wind speed and longevity. On Sunday, a section of the Pacific east of the date line, which brews storms headed for Hawaii, Mexico and the U.S. West Coast, passed the old mark set in 2018. The area is still going strong with Hurricane Simon and appears on the verge of spawning another one that will really ramp up in strength, Klotzbach said.

On Tuesday, the Pacific will tie a record for most days with a hurricane spinning and is likely to break it soon after that, Klotzbach said.

“It feels like almost everything that can spin up does spin up,” said University of Arizona atmospheric scientist Kim Wood.

El Niño and warm water are boosting Pacific hurricanes

Several meteorological factors have come together to supercharge the Pacific, chief among them the El Niño, Klotzbach and other hurricane researchers said. An El Niño weakens and shifts the high altitude vertical winds that otherwise can dampen or even decapitate storms. In the Pacific, that wind shear runs east to west, generally with the direction storms travel, so it’s like riding a bicycle with a tail wind, Klotzbach said.

Meanwhile, the weather pattern has dampened hurricanes in the Atlantic, where the ACE is less than 18% of what’s normal for this time of year. El Niño makes the wind shear in the Atlantic like riding into a headwind, he said.

Another factor is warm water, which serves as hurricane fuel. By definition El Niño is a warming of the equatorial Pacific that changes weather worldwide. In the Pacific storm basin, it’s several degrees Fahrenheit warmer than normal, said Kristen Corbosiero, a professor of storm atmospheric sciences at the University at Albany in New York.

Usually in the Pacific, the extra warm storm-friendly water doesn’t run as deep as it does in the Atlantic. So when one storm goes over a patch of water, it brings up cold water and makes it hard for a subsequent storm in the same area to stay alive, Wood said. But not this year.

Hurricane Rachel, whose remnants swamped Las Vegas over the weekend, didn’t suffer as it went over, churned up by Category 5 Hurricane Polo, Wood said. She said the waters are warm from both El Niño and climate change from the burning of coal, oil and gas.

Another factor in recent storms was a counterclockwise atmosphere spin over Central America — called a gyre — that spits out seeds of stormy weather that can form into hurricanes. It spit out both the Atlantic’s Isaias and the Pacific’s Simon at about the same time, Corbosiero and Klotzbach said.

Five major hurricanes in a row

The last five Pacific hurricanes — long-lasting Nolo, Odalys, Polo, Rachel and Simon — have all reached major status with winds of at least 111 mph (178.6 kph). Nolo, Odalys and Simon hit Category 4, while Polo set the record for time spent at Category 5 at two-and-a-half days.

When Klotzbach made those calculations on the record-breaking activity of the eastern and central Pacific, he looked at all storms east of the date line.

That’s a slightly different approach from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which breaks that broad area into two regions. Neither NOAA-defined region is quite at record levels for ACE yet; put together they are.

Part of that is because often when one of those subregions is more active, the other isn’t quite as crazy, but in 2026 they both are hyperactive, Wood said.≠

“This is the first year that both sides have been this active together,” Wood said. “Usually it’s kind of focused more on one or the other, so that speaks to just the wide extent across this region of where there’s been that lower shear, those warmer waters, and that higher moisture.”

Off the Mexican coast is a disturbance that the National Hurricane Center gives a 90% chance of becoming Tropical Storm Trudy, which then could power up to something big, Klotzbach and Corbosiero said.

“It seems like that area is just one after another. So I would not be surprised to have another storm,” Corbosiero said. “This year, because of the El Niño, we do have very favorable conditions. So as long as there’s some sort of the seeds either from the gyre or from remnant ends of cold fronts, it seems like this is going to continue for a bit.”

California students enrolled in public colleges and universities are now eligible to apply for CalFresh, the state’s food benefits program, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Friday.

Students enrolled in a degree program at a California Community College, California State University or the University of California may be eligible for up to $300 a month to spend on food at grocery stores and farmers markets.

“We can’t expect students to learn if they’re hungry, and in California, there is no reason for them to be, whether they’re in kindergarten, high school, or college,” Newsom said in a Friday statement. “You shouldn’t have to jump through hoops to get the food benefits you’re entitled to, and now you don’t have to.”

Those who are enrolled in an associate or bachelor’s degree program, at least half time, can apply here. Newsom said that the state expects more than 200,000 additional students to enroll in CalFresh after program expansion.

“This is what government is supposed to do: help the people we serve. It is my hope that these changes will continue to make it easier for students to access CalFresh, the largest anti-hunger program in the country,” California Department of Social Services Director Jennifer Troia said in a Friday statement.