It’s a Wednesday evening in downtown L.A. and while most people have left the confines of the city shadowed by the Union Bank building, Lysander De Vega, a.k.a. Lee, is just getting started. Lee is the founder and host of The Piñata Hour, an online radio show hosted by Skidrow Studios in downtown L.A.
“We do anything we like,” says Lee of the show. “It’s called Piñata Hour and the logic is that a piñata, you never know what’s going to come out.” Lee and his co-hosts live up to that ideal every week in each two hour broadcast.
Lee started The Piñata Hour with his friend Locura in May last year. Co-hosts Frank Leopold and The Grate Moog joined months later following Locura’s departure. Every episode of the bilingual broadcast comes loaded with plenty of tunes in every genre in both idiomas with lots of chistes and chisme interspersed throughout.
There are also a number of special guests and co-hosts each episode. Lee and his crew has hosted artists such as members of The Specials, Mariachi El Bronx, Mike Watt, Las Cafeteras, comedian Julio Gonzales and many others.
The show’s combination of music podcast and talk radio-style programming has been a hit globally. “We’ve been picking up a lot of listeners lately,” says Lee. “My show has lots of listeners in Mexico, in Germany, in Spain, in South America, here in Texas and New York.”
“You can think of The Piñata Hour like a jukebox,” adds Leopold. “We’re playing it by ear every Wednesday.”
The show’s diversity and cultural juggling reflects Lee’s upbringing. He grew up in Peru listening to Soda Stereo, Peruvian afrobeat and Led Zeppelin. He immigrated to San Pedro, CA in his late teens where he discovered punk and became involved in the Spanish rock scene. Since then, he’s been devouring new music as a DJ, radio host and drummer.
Tune in to the The Piñata Hour live every Wednesday at 7pm PST.
This week’s special guest is Remezcla’s very own Afroxander who will preview songs by a couple of Remezcla’s favorite artists who’ll be at LAMC in a few weeks.
