Meet Ari DeSano | Artist and Marketing Manager

We had the good fortune of connecting with Ari DeSano and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Ari, what principle do you value most?
What matters to me most is that people treat each other with respect and humanity. Over many years working at various jobs from retail to website development, the presence or absence of respect is what has made my working experiences either positive or very difficult. When I look back at the jobs that have made me happy, it was those in which there was mutual respect and a sense of humanity throughout the company or organization, and it didn’t matter the salary or the perceived status of the position.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I write humorous, nihilistic songs and perform them while accompanying myself on accordion or banjolele (combination of banjo and ukulele). I usually perform as my drag character, Odious Ari, a 103-year old, failed Vaudevillian who believes that his merely having stayed alive so long proves that quantity is better than quality. I also make humorous videos for my songs, especially during the pandemic when I couldn’t perform. I also write fiction and humor pieces. The subject matter I gravitate to is existential and philosophical and usually in the form of satire.

I started my creative career writing “serious music”, but it left me feeling unconnected to the audience. When I started doing what I wanted to do all along, I started connecting with people. It took me a while to find my voice, but since I did communicating and creating have been so much easier. It’s now a pleasure, instead of a chore. There are still blocks, but knowing who I am and what is important to me helps me to move past some of them.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
My favorite places in Los Angeles are places where I have found my community. Not a lot of them still exist, unfortunately. My favorite club was Bricktops at the Parlour Club (now Bar Lubitsch) which was hosted by Vaginal Davis (now in Berlin). But still standing is Akbar which is my favorite bar in the city. A lot of queer bars and club nights have closed over the years, especially during the pandemic, but Akbar has survived. It’s more than a bar–it’s a theater (I would take my guest to Planet Queer), community center (Craft Night is on Wednesdays hosted by JP), and used to have a piano bar/cabaret night (hosted by Jose Promis, who is now also in Berlin). I would take my guest next door for dinner at the Kitchen, or maybe down the road to Casita del Campo (where there is also great campy, drag theater), then to Akbar for reasonably priced drinks and the friendliest and most fun people you’ll meet.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I give a shoutout to all my musician friends and theater friends, most notably Rod Cumming and Ian MacKinnon. Rod has always been encouraging me to create music since we met in 2008. He organized a “Song of the Week” project and it caused me to have to grow quickly as a songwriter. Ian has been encouraging to perform since I started doing Planet Queer, which he and Travis Wood have produced for 10 years. In addition to Planet Queer, Ian has collaborated with me on a number of projects including a play that he directed and a musical that I wrote.

Website: http://works.odiousari.com

Instagram: odious_ari

Facebook: http://facebook.com/odiousari

Image Credits
Richard M. Johnson Travis Wood