pop-up store

only a few days left of Grey Ant, who is one of my favorite local designers... and for those of you who missed Brian Lichtenberg, you can find some of his clothes at Sirens and Sailors in Echo Park.

we are anonymous

this was posted on youtube yesterday & it's spreading quickly. funny thing is last night, i was in a cabana at the Viceroy (yes yes i was on the West side again) with a few cool ad folks, including Alex Bogusky who just happens to be a scientologist. i don't get it. i can't explain it but i'm always intrigued & puzzled when i meet a scientologist. it's not like it's even brought up or pushed on me, but it creeps me out a little and makes me wonder. oh well, for some it's god & the bible or the torah, for others it's allah & the qur'an or buddha & the kamasutra or something (arrr arrr), and then for some it's xenu (?)... what kinda name is xenu anyway! right?! just the sound of it doesn't make me want to know more than i already do, which is very little. to each their own... still, i find this fascinating. kinda like that weird church this guy Oral Roberts started in Oklahoma. in Tulsa i once saw his strange college campus called the city of faith. it was like being in star trek or something. really, i just don't get it. maybe the neurotic control freak in me wishes i did. all i know is at the end of the day, fiction is fiction, and black is the new black!
i'm grateful my chosen path to enlightment doesn't require me to fork out $300K to be referred to or classified as a high initiate or some "closer to the supreme being" within a strange organization. shit, does writing this & posting the video on my blog mean that aliens & their earthling descendents or followers or disciples or whatever scientologists consider themselves to be are now putting me on their naughty list??? great, they're watching my every move and ready to come after me anytime now to fuck my shit up or lobotomize me against my will or something crazy freaky spooky sick. holy shit, i'm kinda sorta scared now... oh well, i'll take my chances. bring it on bitch!!!
just in case you're reading this & you're with the church of scientology, i don't mean any of this mmmKay!

winter sunday

today, we braved the roads going up the desert mountains around LA, for a nice cold walk in the snow. it felt like Belgium while driving through the rain, like high up in the Andes while driving through the hail, & like Utah while walking through the snow. all that in one day! i'm exhausted!!! i forgot my camera but took these on my mobile:

TONIGHT

i'm going with Trevin to the silent movie theatre for some good old stoner fun... on the program:

THE VISITOR
The holiest of all Holyfuckingshits, The Visitor has the highest JDPM (Jaw Drop Per Minute) ratio of any film of its era, Italian ripoff or not. It's a wonderful mishmash of The Omen and Close Encounters, but that barely hints at the whacked fervor with which director Giulio Paradisi hurls his hastily assembled all-star cast (John Huston, Glenn Ford, Shelley Winters and, yes, Lance Henriksen) into the cinematic void, showering them with what Austin, TXs revival cinema gem The Alamo Drafthouse has called "a blackhearted blowout of interplanetary
possession, telekinetic avian assault, exploding basketballs, and ecclesiastical laserstorms." Just when you think you've nailed down which direction the film is heading in, it completely shatters your notions of the time-space continuum with enough force to rival a thousand screenings of Zabriskie Point. If you miss out on this one, then you have enough regard for cinema as you do for a discarded toenail clipping. Shown in a rare uncut print!
Dir: Giuilio Paradisi, 1979, 35mm, 101 min.

Trevin told me they tore off the 1st 3 rows of seats & replaced them with comfy couches, so get there early to comfortably slouch on one of the couches for a more pleasant experience...
just in case you'd like to go as well:
- more info on late saturday evening screenings
- info on purchasing tickets in advance

last night...

at the Au Revoir Simone show:


(Erika, band member, setting up)


(Vanessa, Debbie & me)


(the girls taking the stage)


(i went all zz top on these legs)


(Erika, who had kindly put us on the list)


(looks like they use my favorite brand of lip balm: labello)


(trois jolies filles)


(winter white shoes)

we then left West Hollywood to drop off Vanessa, who is staying at the Viceroy, where we stuck around for a late bite & a drink... can u believe it??? i ended up in Santa Monica on a Friday night!!! the crowd was super lame, which really is a given, considering it's the West Side, but we kept to ourselves which is all that matters, and the staff was quite nice to us, maybe due to the fact that Vanessa cast one of the doormen in one of her commercials, and he remembered. Vanessa managed for us to order food even though the wait staff told us the kitchen was closed & clearly didn't want to bother making an exception (we get it, they're all actors & have a chip on their shoulder for having to serve drinks & food for a living blahblahblah)...
anyhew, here are more pix:

this is the best

So these two people raised this lion cub who they named Christian, and sadly he got too big for them to take care of so they decided to release him to live as a wild lion. Well, in this footage, a year has passed and it looks like Christian's adapted to living with a pride of lions when his old friends come back to visit him. Watch closely and you can see the look of pure disbelief that dawns on his muzzle- it's awesome. ^_^ Next thing you know, we have a heart warming reunion. Not long after, members of Christian's pride approach and even they seem to accept Christian's human friends.

Again, THIS IS NOT MINE! This footage from Christian's documentary was also kleptoed from www.kimbawlion.com - a FANTASTIC website about Kimba the White Lion. ^_^ So send all Kudos where it belongs!

FRIDAY NIGHT

LA is being hit strong by a rain storm & i love it. feels just like Belgium... it's rare enough around here i actually enjoyed being caught in the rain as i was walking chicho. with water pouring down my face, i caught myself walking with a smile... anyhew, driving under the rain in LA is another story. it's a mess. still, it's no excuse to stay in & miss a good show. AU REVOIR SIMONE will be at the Troubadour this Friday night. i've had the pleasure of meeting Erika, one of the girls, last time i was in NYC (there's a pic of us there). anyhew, Au Revoir Simone is back from a European tour opening for French band Air & i can't wait to see them live...

here's CD-length playlist of songs from ARS and a few other artists:

BONJOUR SIMONE - MP3 downloads

i threw into the mix a few tunes from The Teenagers since i saw them on Tuesday night. a few more from the extraordinaire Klaus Nomi. my favorite Bat For Lashes song. and my new favorite song at the moment, "Avalanche of Stars" by the Devastations.

C U AT THE TROUBADOUR :)

marijuana news

anytime vending machines (AVM) selling medical marijuana!!!
I LOVE LIVING IN LA IN THE 21ST CENTURY. check this out:

Most of your essentials are already distributed by vending machines: condoms, electronics, luscious 1-calorie Tab... But now, you can finally get what you really need: medical marijuana, from Anytime Vending Machines.

Available at:
- Melrose Quality Pain Relief, 4906 Melrose Avenue; 323.957.7777
- Herbal Nutrition Center, 1435 S. LaCienega Blvd, Ste G; 310.855.9484

AVMs are 24/7 machines housed in standalone rooms, abutting two dispensaries and protected by round-the-clock security guards -- like ATMs for people combating psychological withdrawal with a physical one. After cinching up your doctor's consultation, hit an AVM location to get your prescription approved, fingerprint taken, and a prepaid credit card loaded with your profile: dosage (3.5 or 7 grams, up to 1oz a week) and strain preference (choice of five, including OG Cush and Granddaddy Purple, the mildly hallucinogenic forebear to Prince). Then day or night, all you do is hit a machine and walk away with enough vacuum-sealed, plastic-encapsulated cheeba to adequately treat your illness, and guarantee your car never smells like new leather again.

The AVMs are already in place at their respective dispensaries and will be fully-operational by Monday, though their vestibules are still under construction; future plans include machine-vended pharmaceuticals like Vicodin, Viagra, and Propecia -- for when the excessive chemicals in Tab have wracked you with pain, limpness, and baldness.

Check out one of the dispensaries that's stocking the AVM at HerbalNutritionCenterLA.com

remembering heath ledger

i can't recall being so saddened by the death of a talented celebrity. i didn't know Heath Ledger personally; i just had the chance to interact with him briefly, as well as with his entourage if you will. extremely kind, professional & talented artists or producers who became friends, sometimes even co-workers. i partied at the secluded tree house Heath Ledger shared with Michelle Williams in the Hollywood Hills before their break up. Heath & Michelle looked like the happy couple, with their baby daughter sleeping in a quiet room. Heath was such a humble, genuine & talented guy. in "Brokeback Mountain" he was awe-inspiring, touching, breath-taking, vulnerable & sexy all at once. he was in all of his work. i respected the chances & the challenges he took on as an A-list actor, as well as the music videos & other short format projects he took on as a director... i remember bumping into him at American Rag on LaBrea Ave, right before the Oscars when he was nominated. he was wearing an old pair of Vans, Bermuda shorts, a simple white t-shirt & his staple beanie hat. YUM! while he was going through the racks, i was trying on some shoes. the woman next to me kindly congratulated him on his nomination & told him how much she admired his work. Heath was so polite & poised in response. last time i was in New york, i bumped into Michelle again, who is very sweet as well. it was in an art gallery, but that was after the break up. Heath Ledger was in London working on the new Batman movie... it's surreal to me. he wasn't one of those crazy out-of-control Hollywood hacks. anyhew, here's a really nice article about Heath Ledger:
WHAT MADE HIM IRREPLACEABLE

last night...

Peymon, Trevin, myself & Kamran making the band!!!

the lead singer of THE TEENAGERS has a nice shoe size:

and he's fucking sexy:

here's the rest of the band:









see them tonight at Spaceland if you missed them at The Echo!

TONIGHT

THE TEENAGERS are playing at The Echo...
and tomorrow at Spaceland! don't miss them...
although tomorrow we're suppose to have a rain storm so i would go tonight if i was you. i'll be there! anyhew, i have a crush on the singer:


AU REVOIR SIMONE will be performing at The Troubadour on Friday Jan. 25th. how could u miss these 3 beautiful & talented girls?!

C U THERE:)

HEATH LEDGER R.I.P.

this is really sad: heath ledger found dead at 28

snow in los angeles...

friends & i shared a snow mobile at the smuggler party:





here are a few more taken over this past xmas break:

and a few more taken over the course of 2007:

I HAVE A DREAM

DOCTOR MARTIN LUTHER KING SAID IT BEFORE ABBA EVER DID! HERE'S THE SPEECH HE GAVE ON AUGUST 28, 1963:

sunset junction etc.

the New York Times has a decent article on Silverlake's SUNSET JUNCTION, a 5 to 10 minute walk from my pad, where i often eat... i like Town & Country, Flore & Pazzo Gelato very much. it's such a little detail, but i love that Town & Country still serves coca-cola in the glass bottle, and other sodas you can find at Highland Park's Galco's Old World Grocery Store (the best selection of glass bottled ginger ales & ginger beers). all sodas still bottled in glass & sweetened with sugar cane instead of the bad stuff. sodas only taste good when you drink them out of a glass bottle. Galco's also has a great deli, and has racks of candies you can't buy anywhere else anymore. it's only a 10 min. drive from Silverlake...

this New York Times article is cool but doesn't mention the following, right there as well on Sunset Junction:

2 super cheap Mexican/Salvadorian eateries that have withstood the test of time & the neighborhood's rapid gentrification:
- TACOS DELTA (i go there for huevos rancheros or chilaquiles)
- RINCON SALVADOREÑO (their pupusas are always freshly made)

2 average prices Mexican restaurants:
- ALEGRIA where they don't serve alcohol but you can bring your own. if i was to describe being in Mexico, having a good healthy dinner at someone's house, this is what it would be like. this is my favorite Mexican restaurant in all of Los Angeles!!! when i don't feel good, their tortilla soup (ask them to add chicken to it) is just the cure i need. as for their mole, it's amazing! their fresh papaya juice with lemon & ginger does miracles! i could go on & on...
- EL CONQUISTADOR where i never eat; i'm not so impressed with the food, but they make the best margaritas (even when just virgin), and the kitschy atmosphere is kinda fun, especially when Mexican Elvis is around at the bar!

one slightly fancier restaurant with a gorgeous back patio:
- CLIFF'S EDGE. when Hollywood's hot spot Les Deux closed a few years ago, after the French owner/manager embezzled tons of money & took off for the French Riviera, never to come back, some of the chefs & staff moved east & opened Cliff's Edge. shit, that bitch had it all right. i should give her a call & figure out how to embezzle some LA money for myself!
between Cliff's Edge & Alegria, a good breakfast spot is:
- MADAME MATISSE. get the blueberry pancakes. for lunch, the red beat salad is real good! and their peach ice tea is always refreshing, free refills. it's even better when you order the arnold palmer.

and just a little further east, about 500 feet down the hill from my pad:
- DUSTY'S for some good bistro type food & atmosphere. i particularly like their burgers, and their fries are almost as good as in Belgium, where fries where born, even if the Gringos call them French. after all when it comes to Americans, isn't French & Belgian all the same?!
- EL SIETE MARES food stand & patio for delicious fish & seafood & the best shrimp cocktail; at 3131 W Sunset Blvd.
- CAFE TROPICAL for their Cuban cafe con leche, their croissants & their Cuban pressed sandwiches, their fresh natural juices, the delicious guava cream pie, and the free wireless internet whenever mine is down or for meetings in a casual place with good food...
- PHO CAFE for healthy Vietnamese pho (great for when you're sick) & bom (the lemon grass steak is delicious). and i always love the Vietnamese lemonade or soy juice.
- RAMBUTAN THAI for fancy modern Thai inspired concoctions. they make a mean lychee martini. i sure wish i could have some but...
- MAE PLOY for more traditional Thai dishes, my favorite thai place in LA; their papaya salad is the best & i'm a sucker for their simple dishes of red curry beef & green beans. when i get the flu, their lemon grass soup is a godsend. and that's where i get my jasmine green tea.

and finally, LARK CAKE SHOP. it's my favorite desert place, smack in between my pad to the Sunset Junction. before we know it, the Sunset Junction stretch of shops & restaurants will be continuous as more & more stores & eateries are opening up where spaces are left, between the junction & Silverlake Blvd. lets just hope this never turns into another Melrose!

cicciolina mix (playlist)

this picture was taken from a poster dedicated to Serge Gainsbourg, my god & hero, the sexiest dirty french man to bless my consciousness & visit me in my dreams... "the man who brought an erotic note to French pop music." at #32 in this new playlist, his song "Black Trombone" is one of my favorites.

69 songs, over 4 hours of music:

CICCIOLINA MIX - 69 tunes: MP3 downloads

i dunno if it's the valentine shit showing up everywhere (in stores, on restaurant menus, etc etc.), but i was in more lovey dovey mood when i put this playlist together. a little gospel is appropriate with Martin Luther King Day coming up, some cumbias, some folk, pop songs, a little yéyé, new music thrown in with tracks that go as far back as the fifties...

my new favorite quotes from a song is at #9, when Aiden John Moffat says:
- "and i hate Dirty Dancing with a passion."
- "how long did love last once Grease Lightning landed?"

enjoy & share the wealth!

ps - for easier folder of MP3 download (instead of doing it song by song), just get your own box.net account (it's free) and then request a connection to mine.

happy birthday damaris!

we celebrated Damaris' birthday, Jan. 18th, at R BAR in Koreatown, just 5 minutes drive away from Silverlake. Under R Bar's finely hammered tin ceiling and amid warmly glowing blue & orange lights & chandeliers, the dark setting creates an ideal setting to chill and even do a little dancing, although not ideal for taking pictures with my treo phone that doesn't have a flash...
here's a pic i took of Damaris Dragonas (i love her name!):

it was great to see Damaris since she's either always working as an art director & set dresser, or then traveling around the globe. i don't get to see her enough. it was great to see danielle & marcy, the 2 hottest sisters there is, davon, rita, justin, etc etc... here's an older pic of Damaris & i, at Barcade, a speak easy with old school arcade games wall to wall...

DOGS

this is a great program:
PBS: DOGS THAT CHANGED THE WORLD

rock'n roll

Among others, this British rock chronicler's first US show features never-before-seen photos of Kurt Cobain, Elliot Smith, and Jeff Buckley -- a tragic 90s trio a la Hendrix/Morrison/Joplin, except Buckley sang like a girl... OPENING PARTY - Sat. 19.I.08 - 6 to 9 pm
it's going to be a rock'n roll scene i'm sure, but it's a 10 minute walk from my pad...
anyhew, here's Live Good, a Naive New Beaters song i like:

happy birthday chicho!

recently, i found an old "lost" poster of Chicho, with the very 1st pic taken of her the day i found her along with my contact info, which i had posted all over the neighborhood. till now i couldn't remember the day i found her in front of the Resource office. it was January 18th 2002, and according to the vet she was between 3 & 4 months old:

when i caught her sniffing around the front door, detecting the odor of Sid & Mattie, Raquel's pooches, i noticed this puppy had no collar and i was immediately concerned, so i walked into Resource (i worked there) - to drop off my shit. as i went back out to take a closer look at the puppy, i saw her running across the street, fortunately a quiet residential one, and she disappeared. i then took Sid & Mattie with me for a walk to look for her. up the street, she jumped out of a bush & joined us. Sid, Mattie & i were able to lure her back to the house. then i panicked, i had no idea what to do with a lost dog. Raquel was out of town, in Paris i think. so i called Ned, whose dog Duncan i took care of when Ned & Brien went to Italy. Ned came over from his office & took this picture of her by my side, gave me advice, and i called her Punk at some point... when i found out the pound usually kills dogs that haven't been claimed after 5 days, i took Punk home with me. we've been a pair ever since.

in our 1st month together, i got Punk spayed, and interviewed a few candidates willing to adopt her, grilling them with questions about their lifestyles, how athletic they were, if they had a yard, etc. i wanted my freedom back & i didn't think i could handle the responsibility. finally, a pilates instructor on the west side seemed like the perfect match. i was free again to party hardy, crash wherever i crashed and not feel like i had to get home before the sun rose. i was free from worrying about the creature's well being.
the next day, i got a call from a lady who told me she knew the puppy. i told her i'd be happy to get Punk back from the pilates instructor who had just picked her up. the lady then told me she ripped off all the posters i had left on poles & pet stores in the neighborhood, which really threw me off. she then explained that she didn't want this puppy to be returned to the owner, her neighbor, who already had 2 other akitas that were completely neglected, living in a concrete patio enclave on the side of the house, in the middle of their own poop. this lady told me how happy she was that i had found the puppy & placed her in a better home. she gave me the address where the 2 adult akitas lived so that i could go see for myself...
3 days later, the pilates intructor called me back to tell me they hadn't made a good connection. Punk, who had never taken a pee or crap inside my place, and always waited for me to let her out to do her business, had peed on his couch several times & would keep him up at night, wining. he couldn't handle it and asked me if he could bring her back or take her to the pound. urgh! so i told him to bring her back... when he pulled up to the front of my house, Punk leaped out from the open window of his truck, ran to the gate of my house, ran passed me up the stairs straight through my door. after thanking the pilates instructor for bringing her back, i walked back inside to find the puppy fast asleep by the side of my bed, where she had slept every night since the day i took her home, on January 18th. fuuuuuck, i understood right then & there that we were stuck together.
a few days later, i renamed her Cicciolina, but i just call her Chicho. for those of you who don't know, Cicciolina is a famous porn star who became a member of the Italian parliament. i've always loved Cicciolina, who starred in her 2 last movies while she was already in office!!! back in the 80s, she was often uncensored in the evening news, and everyone knew who she was. anyhew, Cayce & Sara who worked together at The Directors Bureau suggested the name to me, which made perfect sense... in a matter of weeks, Chicho more than doubled in size & weight as she took over my life, for the best. i spoil her rotten and am not firm enough of a parent. to her credit, she's not a brat. just a big clutz. Liza nicknamed her Mag Wildwood, the southern bell in Breakfast at Tiffany's who yells out "timber" & falls flat on her face!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHICHO!!! cheers to many more!!!

Mag Wildwood quote: "You know what's gonna happen to you? I am gonna march you over to the zoo and feed you to the yak."

TONIGHT

first you have to listen to this:
JIMMY “DYING SONGS” THEME STREAM

ok, so tonight:

TUESDAY, January 15th

DUBLAB & PART TIME PUNKS present…

GIVE UP meets A SAD, SLOW DANCE PARTY

sink into sorrow again with your selectors…

Ale
BennyShambles
frosty
J.Mendez
Michael Stock
Jimmy Tamborello
Ben Barnes
Anh Do
+ other sad sounding souls

inside = tear soaked slow dancing, all-night long
patio = a deeply depressing sound session

FREE / 21+ / 9pm-2am

La Cita
336 S Hill St, Downtown
Los Angeles, CA 90013

dublab.com
parttimepunks.com

...stop dancing & cry then start slowly dancing again...