For Erin

At the top of the page is link that says Next Blog - if you click through that you get the randomest things. And they are all in different languages. Awesome crazy.
Here is one where Jesus, (Christ not Madonna's new boytoy) is crying while looking at the earth, with the moon looking at Jesus. It's so beautiful. Oh I forgot to mention - Jesus is crying - its your fault.
http://toneraideniodasos.blogspot.com/

On this page the person writes like a 19th century poet. In alternating languages.
http://ipauper.blogspot.com/

I liked this one just cause there were cool pictures on it.
http://shellam.blogspot.com/

I found this insano video on this blog. The blog seems really interesting, if I could read spanish, even after 9 years of spanish classes. I don't know what the city is in the first picture (Puerto Noruoego) but it looks super frio.
http://tonionblanes.blogspot.com/

null - Watch more free videos

Flight of the Conchords Premier on Funny or Die

Season 2 Online Premiere - Flight of the Conchords (US Only) - watch more funny videos

LA's Version of Santa Clause

The movie theater was in an upscale mall called the Beverly Center and while walking to the theater there was a big hullabaloo going on one of the lower floors of the mall. I look down and next to the open air bar in the middle of the mall there is a woman on stilts and a bunch of dancers, dressed in Santa type clothes dancing around her. I watch them for a bit, finally I keep walking and realize they are in front of Santa. But not typical bearded, fat Santa. Hunky Santa. Shirtless, with kids on his lap. That is totally not normal at all. And the dancers dancing around the mall in front of him. I find out later they are called the Candy Cane Dancers. Oh and the DJ too. And they supposedly have other street performer type acts. The whole thing is supposed to be like a - "Get Healthy" campaign. But, really, that would never happen any where else but it image obsessed LA. Santa really does have pretty much a ten pack though.









I absolutely love how crazy it all is.

What kind of Micky Mouse Blog Is This

Today I began my yearly quest of seeing all Oscar nominated movies and actors and attempt to see all Golden Globes nominees. I went and saw Burn After Reading & The Changling.
Burn After Reading was really good. Brad Pitt is really funny in it, as is Frances McDormett. George Clooney was good as well, he played a character that is unlike alot of the characters he plays - so I liked that. I did not like the last Coen Brothers movie AT ALL. And I was pretty annoyed that it won the Oscar - but I really really liked this. It still has a dark, violent side to it - but still very funny.
During the movie it was only me and some other chick in the theater. She was very into laughing hysterically at only mildly funny parts, making comments throughout and picking up her cell phone. Though I am glad she did. She freakin got a call to say that someone in her family died. She left the theater and screamed and cried. I felt so bad for her. Because I like to analyze, I wondered - will she ever see the end of Burn After Reading or will it always remind her of that. I will never know.

The Changling was incredible. It was so sad and sick. I cannot believe that this is a true story. If you don't know - a quick overview is - Kid gets kidnapped, corrupt police cover it up, mom fights back. It is shocking. I cried like 4 times during the movie. Angelina gave an awesome performance. Very, very subtle and subdued. The sets were very realistic since it was supposed to be the 20's & 30's. And I really like how Clint Eastwood (dir) ended it very much like alot of the older movies from the "golden age" of film. So, I thought I was seeing a Jolie Pitt marathon, but it ended up being a John Malkovich marathon. He was good in both movies, but really good in Burn. I definitely recommend both movies.

PS The title is an altered quote from Burn After Reading

Vanity Plates

25% of the cars driving around LA have vanity plates. I just made up that statistic, but there is alot. I have never seen so many in any other state. It is so crazy. But then again LA is unlike any other place. Yesterday I saw one that said "KISSSS 4U". Why thank you. When Laura was here - I counted 20 in one day. I know 10 million people live here, but come on.

Today I saw one that said my last name. My last name isn't Smith or something. It's pretty rare. My grandpop went to Slovakia and researched and we all come from one family in Slovakia and when searching the entire United States you only get like 100. Though I just searched Myspace and randomly there's a bunch in Egypt, Slovakia, PA, Ohio, Canada, Russian Federation & UK. Its fun to learn about distant relatives on Myspace. One is a really cool photographer in the UK. I did find some of my actual 1st cousins on there too.
So I was pretty shocked when I saw that plate. I freaked. What are the odds of that? Right in front of me driving a BMW. So I obviously tried to stalk, but couldn't cause there was a ton of traffic and I was late for my movie. But I saw her and she looked like a trashy, fake blond, smoking a cigarette, cutting across 4 lanes of traffic. Hey cuz!
For the longest time, I wanted a plate with my last name and then thought that it was a bad idea because of safety reasons. But either way I can't have it now. So here's to me finding her and stealing her plates! Cheers!

Favorite Songs of 2008

Top Ten Songs Submitted to XPN -

1. Portishead - The Rip
2. Uh Huh Her - Wait Another Day
3. The Airborne Toxic Event - Sometime Around Midnight
4. Vampire Weekend - The Kids Don't Stand A Chance
5. Santogold - Lights Out
6. Kings of Leon - Sex on Fire
7. Kate Nash - Foundation
8. No Age - Eraser
9. Dr Dog - The Old Days
10. She & Him - Why Do You Let Me Stay Here


Others I Couldn't Fit:
Rachael Yamagata - Elephants
Fleet Foxes - White Winter Hymnal
Sigur Ros - Gobbledigook
Death Cab - I Will Possess Your Heart
Estelle - American Boy
Bell X1 - Rocky Took a Lover
MGMT - Time to Pretend
Vampire Weekend - Oxford Comma
Coldplay - Lost!

Favorite Non XPN Songs:
Beyonce - SINGLE LADIES
Britney - Womanizer
Kanye - Love Lockdown
Pink - So What?
Madonna - 4 Minutes
Leona Lewis - Bleeding Love
Sara Bareilles - Love Song
Rihanna - Every single song that comes out of her mouth
Timbaland - The Way I Are
Carolina Liar - I'm Not Over


And Now A Sampling of my Faves:

And how do I even mention Beyonce without displaying this fabulous video. I heart this so much. I also heart dance offs to this video with Bean & Pat Keenan. Ahhhhhh danceoffs :(

My XPN Top Ten Albums of 2008

Top Ten Albums of 2008

1. Death Cab for Cutie - Narrow Stairs
2. Rachael Yamagata - Elephants... Teeth Sinking In To Heart
3. Coldplay - Viva La Vida
4. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
5. Phantom Planet - Raise the Dead
6. Santogold - Santogold
7. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
8. MGMT - Oracular Spectacular
9. Uh Huh Her - Common Reaction
10. Aimee Mann - @#%&*! Smilers

Those just bubbling under:
The Walkmen
The Airborne Toxic Event
The Felice Brothers
Britney Spears
Madonna
Keane
She & Him
Kanye
Bell X1
Portishead
The Breeders

I still need to figure out my top songs, which I am having a big problem with. There were so many awesome songs in 2008! But I have to do it by Friday, that is the last day for submissions. Also I am so excited to be in Philly for the countdown. Yah!

The Tale of Despereaux Red Carpet

On Friday I got an email from one of my catering companies asking if I wanted to work a movie premier on Sunday. I knew I couldn't because of my foot, but wondered what movie it was. It turns out that it was the new Emma Watson movie where she does the voice of the little girl. Now, like a 14 year old girl, I am obsessed with Harry Potter and the actors. Especially Dan and Emma. Unlike a 14 year old girl, I am almost 30, and that makes me more of a molester. So I was so bummed to miss it. Then later I thought hmmm maybe I will just go to the red carpet and see if I can see anything.

So on Sunday I rode over to the Arclight Hollywood, which is a super nice theater. It has a restaurant and bar and you can drink in some theaters. It was open to the public for the other movies they were playing. So you had to walk over the red carpet to get to the theater. There was this whole roped off section for fans and I just kind of walked pass security and hung around with the people on the red carpet who actually had tickets to the premier and nobody said anything to me.

So after awhile Buster from Arrested Development passed. Nobody had any idea who he was. Which is unfortunate considering that is one of the greatest comedies of all time. Then Emma came out and all the fans started screaming for her and she went over and signed stuff. The she went in to the theater lobby and stayed there until she signed something for everyone who wanted it and got pictures with everyone. She kept on saying "Anyone else?" She was really sweet and super cute and super skinny. So me and the 5 years olds were able to meet her and get her autograph. So I was excited, clearly.








After that I went back to the red carpet and Tracy Ullman came out and she went over and signed stuff for people.

Then Matthew Broderick (no SJP) & Dustin Hoffman walked out and they were super short and didn't stop for any fans. Matthew Broderick looks almost as old as Dustin in this picture.



Then Sigourney Weaver came out and she didn't stop for anyone either. Some guy screamed, as if he were burning "Please Sigourney, we've been waiting for hours". She just walked by. It was pretty funny.



I think alot of the people behind the rope were pro autograph hunters though. But there were some kids and parents and stuff too.

So the moral of the story is - the brits are really nice and american actors suck. Just kidding. I can't really judge based off of that.

But all in all it was a pretty cool day, sneaking on a red carpet, seeing one of my fave celebs and then going home and sleeping.

Fun Weekend Off

Due to my foot injury I was unable to work at Starbucks this weekend, which I wish I could do every weekend. Of course I will probably think differently when I have no Christmas gifts for anyone. But because of this lack of work I had a really relaxing, fun weekend.

On Friday night I went to Koi for dinner for a going away party. Koi is a super trendy celebrity ridden place, unfortunately I did not see any. It was so delicious. I have not been able to stop thinking about the green beans I had. I don't love sushi, but I ate some and loved every single thing that I ate. They had some delicious martinis as well. It ended up being kind of expensive, but not as much as I thought it would be, and it didn't have to be as expensive either. My meal was only 18, but with drinks, several appetizers and desert it was a lot more. I can't wait to go back.

On Saturday I went to a Christmas Festival in Tujunga Village, which is the neighborhood next to mine. I thought it was going to be more fun, but it was still cool. They had an antique car show, snow, a ride for kids, free food and drinks, Santa, street performers, etc.. There was supposed to be carolers and I didn't see them, though I wanted to see them the most.

Fake Snow


Car Show


Bat Mobile from the old TV Show



After that I went and saw Milk and Four Christmases. Milk was great and will definitely be nominated for an Oscar and Sean Penn will definitely win the Oscar. I think he is the most amazing actor alive. He is phenomenal in every movie he does. Four Christmases was funny. A little outlandish at times, but still really funny. There were so many name actors in it.

I will create a separate entry for Sunday - Ya-yeah!

New Jim Hanft Video

He's playing tonight down the street from my apartment in Studio City, I don't think I can make it, but I wish I could. I love his shows.
I really like this video for Down - its pretty cool how the whole thing is same moment, different angles and magnifications.


Jim Hanft - "Down" from Lawnmower Sounds on Vimeo.

Left Footed Driving

So I broke/sprained/tore tendons in my right foot while participating in a dance off. Not sure which one. I had been doing a triple lutz and landed on my dancing shoes the wrong way. So alas I am limping around in a boot. This makes it very difficult to drive, so I am learning to drive with my left foot. Which is very scary, easy, weird. It is like learning to drive again - kinda. I always end up putting to much pressure on the gas or brake. It is actually quite dangerous. Has anyone has experience driving left footed?
On side notes - I spoke to a writer of one of my favorite movies, Crash, on the phone today. And my boss smoked pot on the outside patio of my office. It is completely bizarre. Cheers!

Prop 8 Musical

Hilarious and so true!

See more Jack Black videos at Funny or Die

Perezzies

In case anyone was wondering what my picks are for the prestigious awards - The Perezzies

Hottest Hookup	Biggest Breakup
Scarlett Johannson a...	Madonna and Guy Ritc...
Favorite Jonas	Breakout Star of the Year
Joe	Robert Pattinson
Baddest Bad Girl	Biggest Scandal
Amy Winehouse	Madonna and A-Rod's ...
Best Dressed	Worst Dressed
Angelina Jolie	Mariah Carey
Hottest Hottie	Cutest Celebuspawn
Robert Pattinson	Suri Cruise
Most Improved	Worst Trainwreck
Britney Spears	Amy Winehouse
Most DVR-worthy Series	Biggest Box Office Blowout
The Office	The Dark Knight
Celeb of the Year
Heath Ledger

Who would you vote for?
Go to PerezHilton.com to vote!

Whenever I Feel Like It Music Blog - No Age

No Age, is an LA based band that I discovered through watching their video for this song Eraser. I loved the video and the song, so I downloaded the album. I think they are great. They are an indie rock band that classify themselves as punk, experimental. They remind me of a few difference bands but I can't quite put my finger on it. It consists of two guys a guitarist and drummer, the drummer is the vocalist. They are really in to performance art and they got got their start at an LA community center type place called The Smell which has a very artsy, trendy underground following. They also like to perform in obscure places like - the LA River, the LA library, an Ethiopian restaurant in Philadelphia...
Here is a video for the song I dig. I love this video. It is so interesting and random. Definitely check out their songs on Myspace like Teen Creeps and Cappo.

Whenever I Feel Like It Music Blog - The Breeders

I started this blog to talk about musicians for my friends who like to learn about music, whether they be new artists or artists from another time. Clearly I have not done that in quite some time. So today I am going to talk about the Breeders. I saw them play on Mondy at one of the most beautiful venues I have ever been in, The Wiltern. If you are in LA and into live music, go to a show there. It is really old (1931) and cool.

Pretty much everyone knows the most famous Breeders song, Cannonball. But their music is so much more original and eclectic sounding then that song portrays, I think. I first started to get in to the Breeders when XPN (it always goes back to XPN) woke me up like 4 random days, for 4 weeks in a row by playing Divine Hammer (the other Breeders song you know), about two years ago. Of course that didn't stop me from being late for work, but ever since then I have kind of been really into them.

The Breeders started out as a side project for Kim Deal, who was the bassist for The Pixies. The Pixies are a hugely influential band from the 80's who some critics credit for being a harbinger of alternative rock in the 90's. Kurt Cobain said multiple times, that Nirvana was just trying to rip off the Pixies when they wrote their songs. He also said the best song by the Pixies was Gigantic which Kim Deal wrote and sung. Kim Deal started writing songs with her sister in high school but nothing ever came of it. After getting married and moving to Boston, she joined the Pixies in 1986 by answering an ad in the newspaper looking for a bassist. She was the only person who responded, but she didn't know how to play the bass. They gave her $50 to fly from Boston to Ohio to get her sister's bass. After that, she learned how to play and the rest is history.

So Kim feeling creative stifled in the Pixies, and Tanya Donnelly (Throwing Muses, Belly) formed the Breeders. The Breeders is a they took from the band Kim and her sister, Kelley Deal, had together in their teens. The Breeders had success with their first album, Pod and later an EP and then Tanya left to form Belly. Later, Kelley Deal replaced Tanya and it has most consistently been the two of them since the then, with other players switching in and out through the years.

They had huge success after their album Last Splash came out. They opened for Nirvana and joined the Lollapalooza tour. After that they were pretty burnt out and Kelley was busted for drugs and then went in to rehab. Their break ended up lasting 7 years. During that time they had lots of smaller side projects, but the original group that created Last Splash never regrouped. Their next album, Title TK, didn't come out until 2002. And after another long recess their 4th album came out this year, Mountain Battles. It is great and will definitely be one of my top ten end of year albums.

Their music is alternative rock/pop. I pretty much love everything about them. I tried to see them at Coachella this year, but was a slacker and missed them. Their influence was evident though, because Glen Hansard, Mark Ronson, Rilo Kiley and My Morning Jacket had mentioned on stage how excited they were to meet, see, hear, watch Kim Deal and The Breeders.

The show the other night was great, though a little short. But still longer than my 5 song concert from the other night. I met some guy who was a crazy Breeders fan, you would have thought he was a little girl seeing the Jonas Brothers. But he was cool and I got his card and am going to go see his band play at some point. The two Deal sisters were really funny together - they fought on stage and pushed each other and laughed hysterically at each other. It was really cute. I also liked how they lined themselves up logistically. They were all in front, in a line. Even the drummer. I thought that was really cool and democratic.

Below is a video from the concert I was at. The song is Drivin on 9 from Last Splash. Kelley Deal who is on violin, actually doesn't know how to play the violin, she just learned for this song. Also, I put together a little Breeders/Pixies/Belly mix for you to indulge in. Cheers.

Concerts This Week - Uh Huh Her, The Avalon, Los Angeles

I went to see Uh Huh Her on Friday with Laura and unfortunately we only saw 5 songs (Laura was sick and I grossly over-estimated the time they would go on) But boy were those 5 songs good. The show was at the Avalon, which is a pretty big venue, the biggest I have seen them play at, and it was pretty full. I don't think it was sold out though. The Fashion played before them which sounds pretty electro punk rockish, and I am sorry we missed them because I like a few of their songs. But they brought in a pretty diverse crowd, which is good for Uh Huh Her. The crowd was really in to it, so there was an awesome vibe in the room. Below - a pic and someone's semi OK video of Not a Love Song (until the sound gets muffled half way through).

I Can NOT Stop Watching This

Hmmm - Lost marathon on my 10 hour flight home next week. I think so!

Fires

The fires here are devastating and I feel so bad for these people that are losing their houses. I couldn't imagine having to pack my stuff and leave everything I own with the chance of never seeing it again. I have seen smoke all day and in the afternoon you could start smelling the smoke really bad. Eventually I shut my windows, because it was getting so bad. Here are some pictures from my roof of the smoke blowing in to the valley. Hopefully they stop soon before more property is lost and people are killed. This fire has already destroyed more homes than any fire in the past ten years.



The hills are right across from my apartment so normally they are crystal clear.

Sunset

After being here for almost 7 months, I finally saw a sunset on the beach. As you can see it was beautiful.

Trip to Joshue Tree

This is the third time I have tried to go to Joshua Tree and didn't make it. Incident 1 was when me and Kim drove cross country and almost pulled off the road to go and at the last minute didn't. Incident 2 was when I went to Coachella and had time to go after, but ended up getting sucked in to being lazy at the pool. Incident 3 was Thursday.


Me and my friend Laura from Philly who is visiting took a day trip out to Joshua Tree. It was a beautiful day, about 85 degrees, perfect road trip weather. We are about 20 miles away from Joshua Tree and we stop for gas in a little town called Morongo Valley. We get gas and then notice that my car has steam coming out of it.
This guy tells us to go down to Leo's Automotive which we do and we end up being at Leo's for the rest of the afternoon, never making it to Joshua Tree.




Leo's was like the Twilight Zone. The mechanic's daughter were sitting in waiting room watching Mickey Mouse cartoons that I haven't seen since I was 25, I mean 5. We met an 88 year old Cherokee Indian named mom. And then we perused the cactus shop next door which had three roosters.



Eventually we found out we wouldn't be able to drive my car anywhere and Leo couldn't get the parts for 4 days. So we had to call AAA who towed us 120 miles back to LA. Only after a brief 2 hour detour to Palm Springs to drop off another car. It was lunacy. But my car is fixed now and all is well.

My Past Few Weeks of Non Blogging

Since I have been slacking with posts I will do a quick picture summary of my past few weeks.

World Champions!!!!!! The Shack. Philly bar in Santa Monica.


Celebrating Franklin Style


ROAR! Cat Hands!


"Excellent"


A Touch of Home.


Halloween Party at one of my neighbors. They had a gift exchange and someone gave a live cochroach as a gift. This is the Halloween tree.


Drinks at the Velvet Margarita after seeing the Michelle Williams' new movie "Wendy & Lucy". Michelle Williams did a Q&A after. She seemed cool.


My co-worker Loretta.


Protesting Prop 8.


After protesting, I saw Paris filming her BFF show. She was very, very skinny, with alot of makeup, but she ate the food that she ordered.

My Night Working the Red Carpet

Video of the red carpet event that I helped one of my bosses with a few weeks ago. It was a fashion show/birthday party for my boss, Face, at AREA nightclub. I was in charge of the VIP guest list on the red carpet. People will seriously do and say anything to get in to a club on a random Thursday night. I had a woman screaming at me - "Don't you know who I am, I am a recording artist." Oh really what song did you sing? "Oh well I worked with Beyonce once" It was hilarious. Or the publicist that was trying to get his client on the carpet by saying "She was on Days of Our Lives once." It was all very amusing. I talked to the bouncer for awhile and he told me all about his job and dealing with stars and getting them whatever they want. It was very interesting. Paris Hilton was supposed to show up for the fashion show, but of course she didn't. Oh well. Check out the video - my roommate did the makeup for the show.

VOTE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

5 More Friends

I Can't Wait

I can't believe we have to wait till July. This looks awesome.

Life is a Fortune Teller

This is so random. This was the cover of Life Magazine in 2004.
Tina Fey and John McCain. What? How ironic!

A Word from the Wise Winehouse

"Nelson Mandela and my husband have a great deal in common -- both of them have spent a great deal of time in prison."

Much like Nelson Mandela, Blake Fielder-Civil is a shady shady character who lets his wife beat him and is in jail for obstructing justice. Some how the young man is not is jail for drugs, which he has been addicted to since he dropped out of school in the 6th grade.

Hollyweird

Over the weekend I hung out with a friend of mine from high school who was in town. We went to Skybar, which is such an awesome place - but I have never actually had fun there. LA is such an odd place. In the middle of bar there was this couch and in front of the couch was a red velvet rope. This was a so called "VIP" area. It was like sitting in your living room and putting a rope in front of yourself between your couch and your coffee table and then saying - "No you can't come in here, it's private." And people were waiting in line for the staff to prepare the area to get in. The couch could fit maybe 4 people. It was so weird and funny.

After deciding it sucked there, we left and on our way out - we met Mr Rawazeva. He said to our friend, Kaz, "Sir I can see you are with two lovely ladies, I do not call ladies B-I-T-C-H's in my songs. I respect ladies. Please take my CD and check out my music. I do not need you to give me anything, just listen to my music. I just want to get my music out. But I do accept donations" So Kaz gives him $1 and Rawazeva says "What? a dollar forget it" and takes the CD back. So clearly it wasn't about getting the music out. In the end we paid him $3 and got 2 CDs. I am listening to it now and surprisingly I think it is OK. Its sounds like any ghetto rap that you hear on top 40 stations. I expected much worse. I have not heard him call ladies b-i-t-c-h's, but he does call lady's "mommies" and "shorties". I think I'd rather be called a bitch. This guy will probably end up blowin up we were doggin on him(rap speak). That will compare to the time when me and my friend Kim were on South St in Philly and one of the Strokes came up and gave us their first EP and I said - "I am never going to listen to this no name band". Now they are one of my favorite bands.

We went to the Stone Rose which was in Brenda's hotel and we had a really good time there except for the 3 inch roaches that hung out with us that I crazily kept checking for.

Then I met this lovely lady in the bathroom.

And I don't really have much to say about that.

I stayed at my friends hotel and we were woken by the LA Aids Walk music, which the hotel was playing right under our window, and the 4 people clapping at the walkers as they passed. While I walked to my car in the opposite direction of the AIDS walkers (in my clothes from the night before) it was fun to see the people get out of their walk and go to Taco Bell for a mid walk 500 calorie snack. A burrito is alot like a powerbar. And it was fun to see the 2 protesters on their megaphones shouting to the walkers, who spent their morning raising money for people with AIDS, that gay people are the reason why there is war, famine, tsunamis and hurricane katrina. My goodness, those gays are awfully powerful people to cause all of that.

But it was really cool, there were soo many people and it ended up raising over 3.1 million dollars. Go Walkers. I wish I wasn't a scrub and participated.

Vintage Madonna

Unreleased Madonna recordings made by her boyfriend at the time when she first moved to New York and got in to music. Her biographer spliced together the early recordings with her acceptance speech when inducted in to the R&R Hall of Fame this year. Also if you have never read a Madonna biography, it is such an interesting read. She moved to NY at 19 with only $35 and a bag full of ballet tights, did not know anyone and supposedly ate out of trash cans.

Phillies Going to the World Series

So I get an email from my friend's husband, Jayson and he tells me that I better be at the Phillies game because tickets are on sale for $15. I go online and sure enough - tickets starting at $13. Clearly the super faithful Dodgers fans could see that their team was going to lose - so they were getting rid of their tickets. The game started at 5:22 pacific time, but I have work till 7. Which was fine I just wanted to see the end when the Phillies won, but my boss let me leave at 6:00 and I hit all this traffic and the lot was super full and it took forever to park, but I finally made it to the game by the 6th inning. Just in time for stupid Manny's home run. I had no time to get any Phillies gear or my camera, but I took pictures with my phone.



When I walked in Dodger fans were already leaving and two guys said "Don't go in there unless you're a Phillies fan" and I said "I'm a Phillies fan" and they booed me. The fans were chanting "Phillies suck" and trying to engage some Phillies fans in some verbal sparring, but nothing really came of it. They booed Shane when he was up and I cheered really loud and I got alot of dirty looks and curses thrown at me. And after I heard about the knife flashing at Phillies fans at other playoff games in LA I decided to simmer down. So in the 9th I went down to lower level where all the Phillies fans were waiting for the win.


All these pictures are pretty blurry, but you get the gist.


And when it happened all the Phillies fans started jumping and running around and we were all slapping each others hands. And all the Dodger fans cursed at us and someone curiously said "Ryan Howard has Aids". Not really sure what that means. Then all the Phillies fans gathered by the visiting dug out and waited for the team to come out and one by one they did. They came in and out of the dugout for the next hour. Along with Harry Kalas. It was so awesome. Also awesome when the Dodger fans threw cups and trash at us from the upper deck.



Shane Victorino is so freaking cute. He came out and ran towards his daughter and just hung out with her during the whole after party thing on the field.


Some random Philly came over and poured champagne all over the fans and So Taguchi jumped into the stands gave his NLCS t-shirt to some girl in the crowd then bowed to everyone and slapped all of our hands. Then the guy from "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" walked by. Rollins gave beers to the fans which they opened and poured all over themselves. The trophy finally came out and they gave it to Rollins and Burrell. Then we were asked to leave and of course people got belligerent, but I only saw one Phillies fan kicked out, but that was earlier.



It was pretty awesome. Thank you Dodger fans for being so lame that I was able to go the National League playoffs for $13 dollars. Which was actually less than it cost to park. That's disgusting and that would never happen in Philly. Could you imagine Phillies fans selling their tickets day off and leaving in the 5th inning? I feel bad for the Phillies that it didn't happen at home, but it was good for me. Cheers and GO PHILS! But I must say, the Rays scare me a bit. They are annihilating the Red Sox.

My Week at My New Job

So after my first week of work, I really like the job. It is pretty long hours, but I like what I am doing, I am learning a ton, and they are super laid back. It is a mid size talent management company that has been around for awhile and they also run an indie record label too. They don't have any big stars, but they have some recognizable people that you have seen in movies and TV. I think I am going to learn alot and it will be a good building block for the future. Being as they have been in the business forever they know a lot of people and have a ton of celebrity stories, which is awesome. I randomly met Britney's 30 second first husband the other day, which was just strange. So that is that, and GO PHILS!!!!!!

My Week With Rachael Yamagata

Picture from Rachael's residency last year at Johnny Brendas in Philly.


Rachael Yamagata tickets went on sale around August at this really cool venue in Hollywood called the Largo. I tried to buy them when they went on sale, but it was in the middle of my identity theft crisis so I couldn't swing it. So I when I was ready to buy them, they were completely sold out. So day of the concert comes along and I stalk Craigslist all day trying to get tickets that people were selling at the last minute. I end up getting a call from this guy who is like I have an extra ticket and I'm on the list plus one, I will give it to you if you pick me up. I asked him if he was a murderer, he said no, and I started to consider it.

I work around the corner from the venue so I figured I'd do some investigation to see if he really was on the list, he was but without a plus one. I call him he apologizes and we end our negotiations, so since I'm there I stalk for tickets. I end up getting front row tickets from some guy for $20. This random girl sees me buy them from this guy and we start talking and it turns out she is good friends with the opening act - Kevin Devine, who I have seen when the Jealous Girlfriends opened for him in Philly. She ended up being from the east coast and went to Fordham where a couple of my friends went.
She introduced me to Kevin Devine and he was sooo nice and humble and just seemed like a really cool guy. His show was really thought provoking and intimate. Though I didn't love him when I saw him in Philly, I like him a whole lot better now. He also plays for Rachael and he is the red head in the video below.

Anyways, Rachael went on and she had a little cold but the show was awesome. There were rose petals through out the entire theater and she had a whole string section. It was cool. It was the CD release concert and she dressed up for the event in a metallic gold baby doll type dress, it was pretty interesting and flashy looking. She had alot of personal supporters there and she even got a little emotional at one point when she was thanking one of them. It was a great time and I am glad that I was able to go.

So to bring this full circle back to the random Craigslist guy... He emails me on Friday saying that he had tickets for that nights show and if I wanted to go. We ended up emailing and becoming facebook friends so I found out he wasn't a crazy maniac. So I ended up picking him up and taking him to the show. It turns out he used to be a music exec who was one of the first people to discover Rachael and he tried to sign her to his major label, but his boss said no --> Idiot. Now he does community betterment projects and it was all really random, but he was very interesting and I wasn't killed. I did bring a butcher knife with me just in case though and when we parked the car the valet had held my door open and I was really scared the knife would fall out.

The Friday night show was great, I wish I would have gotten there earlier because it was a kickoff for the Hotel Cafe tour and there were a few other artists I'd love to have seen. But here is video of Rachael from that night. She was even sicker this night, but still awesome and still drinking Coronas on stage.



So anyway - Elephants...Teeth Sinking Into Heart, Rachael's double album, came out last week and it took forever. She recorded up in Woodstock before she moved down to Philly and she basically just holed up for a year in the woods writing and composing. After that she had record industry political problems and had to switch labels and it took her 2 years to finally get it out. When she did her residency in Philly last year, she played most of the songs from the new album, but she still had to wait all this time. That sucks. But either way - it is awesome and worth the wait. One disc is slow songs and the other are more rock and roll. Here are a few treasures from the double CD. But check it out, it's a great CD and Ray Lamontagne even makes a special appearance.