I went to LACMA last weekend because I wanted to see the Vanity Fair magazine exhibit before it went away. It is a history of Vanity Fair with alot of the magazines and original pictures. It spanned 1913 through to today. It was really cool. There was a ton a Annie Leibovitz photos, who I love. They had another really good photography exhibit as well, which I feel is lacking in alot of art museums. The place was huge, and I definitely did not have time to see everything. So I will definitely be going back. Here are some pictures. I took it with my phone, so they are not awesome -
Outside of the museum.
I thought this was cool.
This reminded me of an album cover, but I can't remember which one.
This is a cool BMW from the 30's.
This was just a cool VW I saw out in Hollywood later.
In honor of Coachella announcing its lineup and me really wanting to go, but not being sure if I can make it, I give you - The Gaslight Anthem from New Jersey. They will be at Coachella with an awesome lineup of artists. Click here to check out that lineup. This song is "The 59 Sound". Its a fun rock and roll song. You can definitely hear the Bruce influence up in here. The song also kind of reminds me of "And We Danced" by the Hooters who are right across the river in Philly from Gaslight.
In case you haven't noticed over to the top right hand corner I have added a blogs that I follow link. If F U Penguin is not the funniest blog, then I'm a monkey's great aunt. It was introduced to me by my friend Gigi via facebook and this guy facetiously berates cute animals in pictures for no reason. It's hilarious. Every time I read it I picture Andy Samberg playing Mark Wahlberg talking to animals on Saturday Night Live. I love it, Check it out F U Penguin NOW.
I know that this is just a second rate Since You've Been Gone and she basically sold out to the record label when making this CD since she was trying to go in another direction and that the lyrics are a little awkward. But I don't care, I love Kelly Clarkson. And I love anything that sounds like Since You've Been Gone.
This band is going to be huge this year, but the reason I love them is cause it sounds like Scrooge McDuck in another life when he started a band in his younger, more friskier years, with his friends, before he was a stingy old duck. This is their single, Geraldine. I can't put the video up cause BMG disabled it, but you get the point.
Also know as Fire Rainbows are one of the rarest nature phenomenas and only occur in certain regions, with the sun at a certain height, with only cirrus clouds when they have certain ice crystals in them. I think its awesome looking.
So in true hollywood style I am doing a detox. How will I fit in unless all of my cells and organs have been cleansed? I am on day five and it is kind of crazy. It's just crazy because its amazing how hungry I'm not. I am only drinking a crazy lemon, maple syrup and cayenne pepper mixture and then tea. Don't get me wrong I am definitely starving alot of the time, especially when I see all of the food commercials, and there are so many more of them than I realized. And when people talk about food, which also seems to be all the time. But so far so good. I have so much energy and I am waking up earlier which is a miracle. So 5 more days to go and I am done. Woo hoo!
Its kind of ridiculous how many awesome female British singers have come out over the past few years. Joining the ranks of Amy Winehouse, Lily Allen, Kate Nash, Adele, Duffy, Corrine Bailey Ray, Joan as Policewoman, etc... is Florence and the Machine. One music blog that I frequent, NME, is raving about her and she recently one won a Brit Awards Critic'c Choice award, which is the British version of the Grammy's and the Critic's Choice award is given to someone they think will be big in 2009 and the year their first album will debut. Past winners of this award are Adele, and that's it, since it's only its second year for that award. So Florence kind of sounds like a poppier version of Chrissie Hynde. She's off the hook. I heart her.
Jules freaks out at the paps. Being a paparazzi in theory should be the perfect job for me since it combines all things I love, celebrities, photography and stalking. However I hate them and feel bad that celebrities have to put up with them. But what would I do with myself if there was no Perez Hilton?
Today I took the subway in to Hollywood and went and saw Theresa Anderson play at Amoeba.
Amoeba is an awesome, huge, independent music store that has new and used music in all different formats and every genre. They also gives free music performances. So Theresa Anderson played today and since she was on my artists to watch list, I figured I check it out. It was pretty crazy. She is basically a one woman band. She played like 6 different instruments in the short 5 song set. During one song she played a mandolin (I think), an acoustic guitar, drums, violin and sang. She did live sound looping, which looked really confusing. She had bare feet so she could switch all the looping buttons with her feet. I met her after and she said it was confusing at first and she would fall over sometimes, but now she's used to it. The show was really great, the CD has some not so great songs, but I have to give it a few more listens. But, clearly she is super talented and she is older that what I expected from her voice. Her voice is absolutely amazing, but at times I felt like I was a little distracted from how great her voice was, by all the sound looping and instrument swapping happening on stage. However, still a great show and I am going to predict her song will be on Grey's Anatomy or a commercial this spring.
Here is a video of her doing all the crazy sound looping and instrument swapping in her kitchen in New Orleans. She actually recorded the whole album in her kitchen. She is a pretty cool chick.
I think Joaquin Phoenix is a great actor and he has recently quit acting to begin a musical career. When I heard that I thought, it would be a genre in the rock and roll vicinity. But then I found out yesterday that he wants to be a rapper. Now I know he is crazy, he threw out a lot of disturbed interviews during the Walk the Line press, where he talked like a crazy person not making any sense and speaking gibberish, he clearly was on drugs. But this is taking it too far. What surprises me the most is the professional backing he is getting. Casey Affleck who I consider to be a pretty serious actor/artist, is documenting Joaquin's switch to Hip Hop and Puffy is producing his record. Don't these guys know, nobody is going to take him seriously?
Here's him quitting:
Here's the rapping video:
After this incredible performance, he fell down the steps leaving the stage. Its sounds and looks like me when I rapped and danced to TLC's "Hat to the Back" when I was 12. Actually I take that back - I was way better. Perez said he hoped this is some kind of Borat thing. I really hope so. Get off the drugs Joaquin.
As I listen to my neighbors drunkenly singing, Shout, Unchained Melody and Informer, I am reminded that today was a horrible day for music in LA. I basically listen to two stations out here. Indie 103.1 and KCRW. KCRW is mostly talk and news but for a few hours each day they play some eclectic, singer songwriter, indie music. Like XPN, but much more international and well, eclectic. When they weren't playing music I listen to Indie 103.1 which was rated the #1 radio station in America by Rolling Stone in either 2007 or 2008. It was all indie rock and alternative rock, but not annoying emo crap. Plus they played alot of cool old alternative rock like the Pixies and Joy Division, etc...
They were a commercial radio station, but they did not play commercial music at all. They were being pressured into playing more commercial stuff and they would rather close shop then give in to corporate radio. The DJs said goodbye and then played My Way by Frank. Then for the rest of the day you heard their message and loop of The Clash, Sex Pistols and a few more. I agree with them, but it sucks. So they are now an internet radio station. Click here for their official announcement.
Theresa Anderson - She is America's answer to all the awesome British female singers out there today that sound like they are from another time (Amy Winehouse, Adele, Duffy). Check out Birds Fly Away. I think I am going to see her this weekend - if so, I'll let you know how it goes.
Glasvegas - Hmmm how to describe?. This band is from Scotland. If you combined 60's R&R with late 70's punk, this would be their bastard child band. Plus, they are awesome because they have a girl drummer.
The Boxer Rebellion - This is probably my favorite new band to watch this year. These guys are based in London, but one guy is from PA (the singer Nathan Nicholson), another from Australia and the other two from the UK. They remind me of Radiohead or Keane. I think they are absolutely amazing. They are unsigned and doing everything independently. You can buy their album on iTunes for like $6. I really like Evacuate, Watermelon & Flashing Red Light Means Go.
evacuate-
Little Joy - Fabrizio Moretti's (drummer from the Strokes) side project. They are very interesting and are getting alot of airplay in LA. Each song has a completely different sound so I have no way to describe it.
next time around -
Matt and Kim - This is a really cute couple that have been around for the past couple years. The girl is on drums and the guy is keyboard and vocals. I guess they are indie pop. Their first CD is an awesome exercise CD but most songs sound the same. Their new one has a lot more variation. I like it. Check out Daylight, Good Old Fashion Nightmare and Yea Yeah.
daylight-
Also some albums coming out in 2009 that I am really excited about: U2 Yeah Yeah Yeahs tegan & sara Lily Allen Kelly Clarkson No Doubt Outkast Franz Ferdinand DMB The Decemberists Dr Dre Amy Winehouse (unless something horrible happens first) Neko Case Peter Bjorn & John Imogen Heap
I had the wonderful experience of flying to and from home on US Air. The flight to Philadelphia went completely fine. We even landed early and I got my bags in 2 minutes. It was the best experience I have ever had with them. Every other time I have flown with them I have been delayed, waited on the tarmac for hours, waited for luggage for hours, arrived much later, etc.. And those things aren't even that bad considering people lose their luggage and have had much worse delays that I had. I hate using them, but with holiday travel as expensive as it was, I kind of had no choice. So I was surprised when things went so well, especially on Christmas Eve.
It seemed US Air was saving all the fun for the way home. It seems someone broke the toilet on the plane and they were trying to fix it and after continuously postponing departure, they finally said, it's going to take 3 hours we are putting you on a different flight. But of course that meant everyone would miss their connection. So everyone freaked out and we stood in customer service lines for two more hours because they didn't know what to tell us so they just kept saying "Wait". After awhile they told us to get on another plane that will take us to Phoenix and we'll figure out what to do there. So we get to Phoenix at 10:00 which was 12:00 Philly time and wait in more lines. They give us hotel voucher and ticket for the next day, then tell us to go get our luggage, then they tell us if we want our luggage we have to wait 2 hours for it. So I just went the hotel. After running in to two people who were like "Screw US Air, we are driving to LA tonight just to spite them" They offered me a ride, but I just wanted to go to bed. Then I ran in to someone I went to college with - who was on the same flight. It was really random.
The next day the flight went off without a hitch, well besides the fact that you have to buy even water on the plane now for $2. At least other airlines give you water for free. Crazy. I actually sat next to a guy who flies US Air on the west coast all the time for work and never has problems. Interesting. I have never heard that. I have heard that there is a website about US Airways horror stories.
Anyway, I listen to a few travel podcasts and here are some links to interesting travel sites I have heard about on them.
www.airfarewatchdog.com - These people just sit and search websites all day for the best deals on the web. There is a really good Q&A section that gives really good info as well.
http://www.avoiddelays.com/ - This site gives you statistics on airlines and airports and their delays. Last time I checked this PHL was number 3 for the most outbound delays. I am happy to see they have gone down to 8. Funnily enough - US Air doesn't even seem that bad on here.
http://fabsearch.com - This is cool because its a travel aggregate and you just click on your destination and it will show you the latest magazine, newspaper, web article about cool places in that destination.
www.vayama.com - For international travel. It includes smaller airlines that you may get a better deal from, that aren't available on the travelocitys of the world.
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/
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/
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.
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
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!
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 :(
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!
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.
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!
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.
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!
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
