Saturday, September 30, 2006

LAZY BUSY WEEK

special entry to say that i know i'm lagging. i've been lazy and busy at the same time. it makes sense to me. quick recap since the last update. i think this is how my week went. but, like i've mentioned to a few of you... i started this blog so that i could retain the memory of my adventures, since left to my own devices i have little more than 24-hour frame of reference for anything. back to what i was saying, quick recap...

sunday 9/24
stayed home (finally)

monday 9/25
stayed home (finally again)

tuesday 9/26
well into my third night in a row of 'taking it easy' i am kidnapped by pete, he wants to go to lil joy. he was on his way already with ace and neuhues when he got irritated by the too loud stereo, so much so that he jumped out of the moving car as they approached parkman (my street). he drinks a schlitz at my house, i get dressed and we head out. without cars we walk to the liquor store. pickd up two tall boys of miller lite and start walking east. about half way there pete rings iron duke, let's him know of our dilemma and within minutes the duke pulls up in his broken egg. we climb in, all the while sipping on our paper bag wrapped tall boyz. the motley three of us toss our tall boys at a phone booth and stride on into the sweet lil joy. once inside the sparsse crowd we meet up with jack and rachel, ace and andy neuhues, bryce, and few others. special guest djs tonight are zooey dechanel, devendra barnhart and meg white. between the three of them we were entertained by some sweet tunes and one of the first real dance parties i've seen at lil joy... well the first in a long time at least. it was splendid.

wednesday 9/28
memories from this night are hazy. all i know is that alexi, cory and i have made plans to go to the stuff style awards. my main memories from this evening were chris holmes saving the day and getting me an artist pass; being denied the ray ban glasses because i arrived with a celebrity-less mob in the gifting suite; knocking a whole tray of empty glasses off a fellow jayhawk waiter's grip; finding out that after all these years julian casablancas still hates me; eating a mcdonalds hamburger over a slice of pizza hut pizza; hugging lloyd (entourage) and quickly realizing i was cradling the lil asian man's face in my bosom for a few uncomfortable seconds too long; getting some very real sexual innuendo from eagles of death metal singer from stage; holding cory's hand a lot and still confused whether i was guiding her or she was guiding me; seeing chris pastras so out of his element i had to smile; accidentally making way too many eye contacts with a very aggressive looking jeremy piven; dancing on the dancefloor sandwiched in by a bevy of waifish ladies - i was the hamburger, they were the lettuce; holding alexi's hand a lot and still confused whether i was guiding her or she was guiding me; having three drinks in my hand at once (the open bar was never going to end but i still felt the need to be resourceful); escaping the arclight rooftop at the first sight of multiple uniformed cops; wanting badly to slide my hand across the wall of cop butts but resisting; piling into rickett's car and heading to teddy's; thinking while inside teddy's 'how did i get here'; hanging with peter katsis at his lair-like booth stocked with multiple bottles of grey goose and multiple siliconed grey goose consumers; falling on the ground when liz's friend gave me a powerful hug; arguing or constructive conversing with franki (still not sure which it was); knocking said franki's drink onto the ground and buying him a new one; once again making too much eye contact with jeremy piven; realizing cory is missing; realizing cory has gotten a ride home (she's got high school in the morn); hailing a taxi with alexi and laughing how both words end with an 'i'; taking said taxi to 101 cafe; eating something that i still have no memory of; seeing previously mentioned eagles of death metal singer and possibly also nuzzling his head in my bosom for a few seconds too long; leaving 101 cafe and realizing we didn't drive; creating a self-imposed fear of the open street and full fledged sprinting, hand in hand with alexi, from the 101 café to her house past cahuenga in the hollywood hills; waking up on alexi's couch completely confused.

alexi and i sippin' on some

cory stage humping

piven totally avoiding my stares

the brady's

cory and her mom


photos from shadowscene.com

thursday 9/28
wearing the same clothes to work all i want to do is go to sleep. luckily, sitting on my desk at the office is my bag of new morphine generation gear i got when i visited their new offices the day before. with my unplanned outfit and fierce headache i still manage to have a stupid productive day, one of the more productive days i've had in a while... hangover in tow for the whole day. as the day winds down all i want to do is go to bed. ltaf calls, she's going for dinner at cliff's edge, i accompany her. we order too much food. i get dropped at home and am right again picked up by scott to accompany him to the echo. i am one shower short for the day but happy to be hanging with my favorite human scott ford. we catch the bands at the 'hell ya' night put on by heather peggs. jack is there. i love jack too. i can't stop hugging him or playing with his hair. he's just too adorable. jack orders a long island iced tea and upon the last sip makes the unwise decision walk home. we go to lil joy to end the night. a few drinks later we go home.

friday 9/29
another productive day gone by i contemplate taking the night off again. but i don't. nate and luke gilford come by the office and we head to laurel canyon to go to hugh from flaunt's house for a party. over wine and cheeses i meet some interesting folks. sal, hugh's roomie, had just premiered his new short. i missed the screening at afi but from the chatter i picked up at this the after party, the film sounds like it's pretty fucking amazing. looking forward to seeing it. it was nice at hugh's. he's got just about the most amazing view i've yet seen in la. the house is nestled atop laurel canyon. i felt like i was at the world's edge. supposedly you can see to lax on a clear night. it nice to get away from the sometimes vapid monotony of hollywood and the dingyness of the east side. nate is tired, we leave around midnight. nate drops me off at lil joy. i meet up with scott and jack and jonathan and pauline. it's hip hop night at lil joy. too much for my ears. i go home not drunk and get to wake up early today.

good times

Sunday, September 24, 2006

POMONA, RATATAT

POMONA
i did nothing yesterday. well mostly nothing. ran a few errands and then just full on solo time relaxing. i love when i get to do that. it's rare for me. i bought some fish ceviche from the 7 mares fish stand by my house and lounged on my couch for a few hours... i saved up my energy to meet up with nate, cory, alexi and jack. they all came over to my house around 8 and we kicked it to pomona to go check out ratatat's last show in socal before they head out. we arrive in pomona and meet up with the band dudes. they don't go on for another hour so we hop across the street for dinner. i guess it was 'the' fancy restaurant on the pomona strip. i ordered the penne arrabiata. it was decent. we got holy bread. alexi was excited. we wrap up dinner and head across the street to the venue.

RATATAT
i was the only one of us five who had seen the band before so i knew the kids were going to be blown away -- i think they were. alexi and cory were dancing queens, jack snapped away, and actually nate was a dancing queen as well. i will say it again. go see this band on tour. so damn good. we met up with mike's girlfriend andrea, she has got sweet energy. we all dance. dance. dance. dance. the show was packed. the smoke machines were a ruling. mike's hair defied gravity. over all an incredible show. we all hung out back stage after the set. then headed back out to the emptied club and had a full on dance party on the open floor. just us. i didn't have a single drink. impressed myself. we bid our farewells to mike and the ratatat dudes. andrea is in town a couple more days. she's hanging w/ jeremy scott today (another small world there). anyway, then we all head back to la. we had delusions of grandeur by thinking we could go out more. soon as we passed the buildings downtown on the 101 i knew that the only party i could do was a party in my bed -- solo. i'm going to bed before 5am for the first time in a while. happy.

good times.

ratatat live at glasshouse in pomona



mike stroud of ratatat

i smoke too much

alexi and jacob checking themselves out

cory hallway texting

(photos from theskullset.com)

Saturday, September 23, 2006

BEN KWELLER, CHATAEU MARMONT, NYLON PARTY, LES DEUX, PASH, ADAM LEVINE, ALEXI WASSER

BEN KWELLER
my friend dan has strolled into town. he's on tour withe ben kweller. they just played on conan o'brian last night. thus the tix sales went up for the avalon show later. i make plans to meet up with dan after his soundcheck. dan has about 40 best friends so i wanted to get some face time with him before his over-sized entourage shows up. i meet dan and we go to his bus. i get introduced to the band, all sweet fellas. it was all in all a short and awkward visit. temporary situations are tough. i think dan and i are better friends when he's not here.

CHATEAU MARMONT
alexi comes to my office to meet me. we make plans to have dinner with cc and scott at the chateau prior to the nylon party next door. alexi and i pull into the bar marmont parking lot. scott covers the $18 valet fee for me and we proceed to try and get a table at the "no entry without reservation" restaurant at the chateau marmont. alexi sweet talks the guard and they give us a table. we are seated next to brent bolthouse dining with incubus. haha. it was a very nice dinner with good friends. scott, like i've said before is my favorite human on earth. too nice. too cute. too good. alexi and cc are also won over. we talk about cc's burgeoning acting and music career and how she's been confused for the mom from the oc in the tabloids this week. cc's boyfriend is actor shane west and i guess she kind of looks like that actress but 20 years younger, the gossip dudes got them confused. funny. she's amused. so are we. scott gives us all advice on everything. alexi and i share a salad and some lasagna, cc orders the artichoke (smaller than magnolia's), scott gets the caesar with shrimp. yummy food.

NYLON PARTY
we all finish up dinner quickly and head over the nylon party next door at bar marmont. it's a few minutes past 9 and there is already a long line. we rush past and get in. we were given a small guestlist to invite some cool kids to the party, my phone had been ringing all day. i think as soon as everyone realized it was the only thing really going on this friday the open bar and kirstin dunst and jason shwartzman hosting became very appealing. i turn my phone off. the bar is at capacity and there is nothing i can do to squeeze anyone else in or add to the list. i always feel bad when this happens but i have no control. scott leaves us to go to ben kweller (he's one of dan's 40 best friends too). lauren and ryan, melissa and parker, alexis, cory, misshapes, graham, chris, cortni, marvin, jacqlynn and chris nylon, mark are all there. there lots of big faces too, in attendance i believe are a pete wentz, an olsen sister, sofia copola with some of the actresses from virgin suicides, stavvros, nick stahl, dave navarro, benji madden and his adorable new gf sophie monk, ben lee, jared leto, amber tamblyn and more i'm sure. it ends up being a successful issue launch. it's for the la issue, the one with our photo. as the night starts to wind down some more friends show up then my new crush deck and the phoenix dudes. deck and i sit and talk for a while. he's pretty fucking awesome. i'm excited to hang out with him again when they come back in january. the party winds down and we all caravan east.

LES DEUX
sucks.

PASH
after the debacle that was les deux we all head over to vine bar for pash. it was promoter david heath's last night at pash so everyone was out to give him a good send off. i don't know why i ever think of going anywhere else on a friday. pash is really a sweet night. always all the best of the faces i see in la. all of them here. all of them dancing. i say goodbye to the misshapes kids. i have loved hanging out with them so much this week. i'm going to miss them. now it's time for the after party, but gotta hit taco bell for some eats first. a 15 minute drive-thru wait and 500 sauce packets later we are on our way to the after party.

ADAM LEVINE
once again the after party is at adam's house. this time there are a lot more people there. we pour our stiff drinks and park ourselves above the pool outside. more and more people show up... including nylon party hosts jason schwartzman and kirstin dunst. kirstin and james franco totally getting cute on the couch. all kinds of pizza shows up. cory gets lectured to by adam. alexi and i chat up randoms. james valentine (also of maroon 5) is one of my new favorite people in la, super sweet dude. my good friends pete and bryce show up. pete makes me pee in front of him in the bathroom. weird. we drink and drink and leave late-late. i wave to pee wee and head down the hill.

ALEXI WASSER
cory, alexi and i head to her house. cory was going to stay there. but soon as i realize how late it is and how not sober i am, i figure i should stay too. we dodge the la wild kingdom of a skunk, two coyotes and some wild/domestic cats and jet into alexi's house. alexi turns on the tv and i pass out. woke up to cory feet in my face.

good times.


bryce and chris holmes


cory and luke


our nylon pic


deck phoenix and james maroon 5


deck and me (swoon)

don't leave deck


marvin scott jarrett and leigh misshapes


alexi & cc


(photos from thecobrasnake.com)

Friday, September 22, 2006

MAGNOLIA, THE SOCIAL, ADAM LEVINE

MAGNOLIA
do you ever make so many plans that you almost just want to stay home. it's thursday night i have plans to meet up with lauren and ryan, they gave me tix to the phoenix show at the wiltern, have plans to go with the misshapes to hyde where they are djing today, have plans to go with cory to paris hilton's party, have plans to go the us weekly party, have plans to hang with mike and andrea for dinner, have plans to hang out with luke for fun times. in the end i combine what i can and meet up with cory, nate, luke, mike and andrea for dinner at magnolia. it was nice. we order two bottles of champagne, i order a burger and andrea and nate order the most enormous artichokes ever and we then discuss all the wonderful things six people with moderately interesting lives can. luke asks the beautiful andrea if he can photograph her, she abides. looking forward to see how that shoot turns out. nate and cory happen to be big fans of ratatat. it was funny watching mike squirm at the compliments. we all makes plans to go the the next show in pomona. i decide to skip paris' house for some cocktails with mike and andrea at the social.

THE SOCIAL
mike, andrea and i head to the social. we instantly run into melissa an her sweet boyfriend parker. they are playing pool and loving up on eachother. andrea happens to know chris holmes. they met new year's eve 2000 in iceland of all places. small world. we run into har mar, myles, sarah, james, sean patrick, the davids, mike runion, and more. we all drink our overpriced cocktails, play some board games (i suck at jenga), dance a little, smoke too many cigarettes, then the bar closes and we all convene onto sunset blvd. mike and andrea want an after party, i do too. chris invites us to a party at adam levine's house. we oblige and all head for the hills.

ADAM LEVINE
the after party happens to be at adam levine from maroon 5's house. we wind up beachwood canyon hills to the very top and at the end of a dead end road sits this gorgeous solid iron wall. and behind that wall sits levine's sweet lil bachelor pad. fifteen feet over resides the one, the only pee wee herman. i giggle silently to myself thinking that a few mere feet away a sweet lil pee wee herman is probably in a pee wee lil slumber. chris informs us that pee wee has been a wee pain to adam. he's called the cops on him a few times for his late night soirees. oh pee wee. we get into the house which is decorated in a very contemporary masculine vibe. adam is sitting guard in the kitchen with a case of budwiser cans nestled in his arms. as we enter we are each handed a can. he's a gracious host. i feel like i'm at a fancy frat party. adam is cool. the tables in the kitchen are littered with half drank bottles of grey goose, patron and johnnie walker and half eaten plates sushi of all kinds laying about. andrea and i pick the at the raw fish. not sure how long it was sitting there but we're still alive so i think all is good. the phoenix dudes show up. lovely french boys. i am instantly drawn to deck d'arcy the bass player. he is gorgeous and the french accent just throws it all over the top. i introduce them to mike. they exchange words about being fans of each other's bands. i suggest they all tour together, and bring me along of couse. we wind down the evening and all go to our prospective homes around 5AM.

good times.

mike and andrea

me and luke

Thursday, September 21, 2006

CAR RENTAL, RATATAT, MAGNOLIA/FARMERS DAUGHTER

CAR RENTAL
this week is kind of busy so i figured i'd rent a car to get from place to place. i have jacob the intern (paid intern - our first) take me to a cheap car rental place in burbank yesterday. super sketchy place. two armenian dudes at the counter. while i'm trying to rent a car one is trying to sell me a car and the other is asking me about my real estate needs. i politely decline both and just ask for the car. when my bright red hyundai accent pulls up i go to inspect it. i circle some scratches on the paper. one of the dudes comes over and yells 'what is that!' i tell him i see a slight scratch on the car there and don't want them to think i did it. he writes down "1 inch scratch". then i get blocked on both sides by the two dudes and am kind of strong-armed into not checking the rest of the car nor given back the paper to write more faults. i bet you all by saturday i'll be owning that car after all. i'm scared.

RATATAT
with my shiny new red car rental i go to the drugstore and buy hooker red nail polish and bright red lipstick. i figure a girls gotta match. my lovely friend mike stroud is in town with his ridiculously amazing band ratatat. they are playing a sold out troubadour show. his beautiful girlfriend andrea is also in town. i get crushes on couples like you wouldn't believe, jack & rachel, hilary and joel, mike and andrea, alexi and chris, ryan and lauren... too cute for words. these two have been going strong for like three years. andrea and mike met in iceland i think. andrea was working with bjork, mike fell in love. anway, the show was amazing. i was blown away. so fucking good. i highly suggest everyone go out and see the band on tour. amazing. mike, evan (other member of ratatat), andrea and some of evans friends and i all hang in the backstage drinking jameson and eating pinkberry yogurt. it was lovely.

MAGNOLIA/FARMERS DAUGHTER
i get 1000 text messages from geordon saying to come meet him and leigh and cc vogue and jacksonn for dinner. it was on the misshapes corporate credit card. they invited ratatat too. we are all heading there when mike and crew get sidetracked to their hotel. i didn't hear from them again until 4am. sidetracked by some potent joints i think. anyway, lovely late dinner with the crew at magnolia. geordan and crew grab their limo/driver and head back to hotel. i grab my rental and follow. we all climed into bed together and watched school of rock. i passed out in the first minute of the movie. sweet slumber party.

good times.

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

VELVET MARGARITA, CINESPACE, DIM MAK HQ

VELVET MARGARITA
so the lovely the misshapes are in town do dj some parties and we invited them to take part in our weekly cinepsace night. we decided to theme it ny vs. la and brought in misshapes and oxy cottontail to represent ny and then we had steve and jason 'them jeans' stewart reprezent the wessst side. prior to all the festivities we had to get our eat on. i try to make reservations for us at velvet margarita on cahuenga and they say it's best to show up and have drinks at the bar to get seated faster. so i drag mark with me to the restaurant at 8:45PM since we had already told everyone to meet us there at 9PM. we get there and some total over-aged frat party is taking place and taking up half the restaurant. i dubbed them the "yacht club". so obnoxious, and so just sitting there... they weren't eating, they weren't drinking, they weren't doing stripteases on the tables... so not only was the manager's advice way off but he was kind of rude too -- plus, they almost didn't let mark in b/c he was wearing shorts! our dinner friends arrive geordon, leigh and greg of misshapes and their cutie-as-pie entourage of one, jacksonnn, marvin of nylon magazine, roxy "oxy cottontail", and steve. we all squeeze into a tiny table once one finally opens an hour later. marvin brought a copy of the new nylon. it's got the photo we (mark, cory, steve, maggie, myself and boppy) did little while ago at mark's grandfather's house. i think they photoshopped eye makeup on me. or it may be shadows. i'm sure my mom will be proud that we are referred to as 'hollywood night crawlers', oh well. we all dine on our overpriced mexican food and cocktails and converse over our big huge halloween spectacle we are all putting on in nyc. it's going to be ridiculous i tell ya. somehow i get stuck with the bill managing. which i hate doing. especially when it's not sure if anyone was 'invited' or if we were all just eating together. i never assume someone else is going to pick up the tab but i have been witness when someone though i was going to pick up the tab. breaking their little hearts and asking them for $20 is hard. anyway, we end up $50 short and steve comes to the rescue. it's off to cinespace for the party-party.





here is the article in nylon.


CINESPACE
cinespace was crazy, walked in with misshapes crew so we could let in their massive la entourage. i swear, they must have collections of kids all over the world. i escort them back to the vip/backstage and we pretty much stay there the rest of the night. steve, (r)oxy cottontail, misshapes + jacksonn, them jeans all dj awesome sets. i sat in the back room and smoked 2000 cigarettes and chatted with pals. the lovely hilary duff and joel madden showed up. i really love those two. so sweet. i haven't seen them since benji's bbq. i was in a totallly different situation then and have since 'recovered' so it was nice of them to inquire and be concerned. i love when friends you kind of know show love that some of your closest friends can't. big love to hilary and joel, two of my favorite la people again. dj am showed up too. nicole richie's ex-fiance. he's a swell fella. really nice and very funny and kind of hot. hmmm....

DIM MAK HQ
as we do every tuesday we had an after party at the dim mak hq. the after parties usually consist of the drinking of svedka and rockstar energy drinks, drinking of red stripe and playing of poker and socializing. i had mentioned to steve that we really needed a decent conference table. he instead bought an enormous poker table with lid on it. conference table that coverts into vegas like that. some pretty big ballers have come to our dingy offices for late night poker matches. this night's big spenders were steve, dj am, jason stewart, mark cobrasnake, matt and a few other fellas. i think jason was the winner, but i was too wasted to notice. hanging with misshapes crew, cc vogue, chris, jacksonn and more.

fun times.

Monday, September 18, 2006

BANKSY, TAIX, THE ECHO

BANKSY
i have been waiting since thursday to go see the banksy exhibit downtown. sans car, it's tough to get to that part of town. so i had to wait until kristi could go and yesterday was the day. we both slept in super late. went to pick up our free asics tiger shoes from celeste (thanks celeste) then headed downtown. we pulled up to where the exhibit was being held and there was an enormous line down the street and around the block. we parked the car and then parked ourselves in line. about 45 minutes and ten million hot dudes later we get inside. this exhibit has brought out all the like-minded folks of los angeles to convene upon the scary blocks of downtown east. the exhibit was magical. anytime you incorporate a live elephant into your show, you're a winner in my book. beyond having to wade through endless video cameras from all major news stations licking at their chompers to cover the exhibit that ironically criticizes america's love of sensationalism, i was touched. i guess even having those news stations there added to the whole experience in general. i think banksy has just about the best sense of humor of any artist today. dark humor, but good humor. banksy is not afraid to make fun of, challenge and exploit our way of thinking... i think i'm in love with banksy. even seeing a white haired dennis hopper hopping around totally talking to himself made it all the more the experience. what a wonderful wacko he is. what a wonderful wacko banksy is too. photos below of some of my favorite pieces.









TAIX
after the banksy exhibit myself and nate and kristi and chris meet up at yummy french restaurant taix for some dinner. it's nice to hang out with chris again. he's been m.i.a. for a little while now. he's also on the wagon and totally still the same guy. i know it's ridiculous to think that sober people are weird, but yeah, i think it. i am an inherent hedonist. always have been, most likely always will be. i have never understood when people don't do what they want, eat what they want, drink what they want... i understand that the borderline exists though, the disease part, the violent part but i've never seen it in chris so is it bad for me to want him to get wasted? i know that's horrible ana, be kind... i guess, if you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen/bar... ok, back to dinner, over fine dining we talk of cowboys football, pinkberry yogurt and aggressive masturbation. i got poured the most enormous johnnie walker on the rocks ever (only $6) and had a sweet time hanging with good pals.



THE ECHO
after dinner i hop across the street to meet up with pete at the echo. his band die princess die are playing at awesome club part time punks. ptp is another one of my favorite nights in la. the djs are incredible and they get some really impressive bands to stop by. some of the best music ever to be heard in an la club is played here. pete feeds me a bud e (budwieser energy drink) in the parking lot. for as long as i've been friends with the die princess die fellas, i have always known them to pre-party in their cars before a show. always. this is where they get their crazy on. if you've been to a die princess die show you'll understand. i run into cc sheffield totally nerded out. i didn't even recognize her. bottlecap glasses, oversized hoodie and knit gaucho pants. she looked like such a nerd, so cute that i wanted to pinch her cheeks. also ran into sweet baby kelley brooks. i love this girl. she always brings the positive vibes. met nandi's new boyfriend. nandi was looking hot in her new haircut and smoking red hair. miss mary and her sister were also in attendance. mary is one of the sweetest and most gorgeous girls in la. we talk about hair and boys and life. lovely. myself, david heath, mariko, kelley, mary, iron duke, danny, jamie, cassie, scott, yenni, selena and more all rocked out to die princess die. before the first song had even ended the dpd dudes had already racked up a $100 in damages. dpd is the band most feared by every soundman in la. a few flying microphones, guitars and beers later the band wraps up their explosive set and returns to the party. serious dance party ensues, i get a little rowdy with bryce and pete on the dance floor. i think we may have knocked over a few peeps (sorry all). chloe sevigny was there dancing like a hot freak. she was kind of dance-hitting-on pete. pete was clueless. finally when he realized who she was, chloe was over it. way to go pete. thanks for the ride home mariko, your wise words make life nice.

good times.

Sunday, September 17, 2006

HOUSE, SHATTO LANES, LIL JOY

HOUSE
i woke up with the most ridiculous hangover yesterday. it lasted all day. which means i stayed home all day. didn't see daylight or put on clothes. just me, my couch, a&e channel and some popcorn. even though the day was completely non-productive, i finally got a chance to just chill. totally chill. got a call from my friend dan on the road. he tells me a story about mr. k getting a nosebleed on stage at austin city limits festival. sounded fairly disgusting and totally rock-n-roll. guess they still played on as blood squirted from his nose for three songs. someone threw him a tampon. he plugged the bleeding. totally killer. kristi was so late getting off work. we were supposed to be at nate's bday bowling party at 7:30. she didn't get home until almost 9. rush.

SHATTO LANES
kristi and i hurridly head to ktown to hang with good buddy nate on his bday. shatto lanes is by far the coolest bowling alley in la. you walk in and are totally time shifted to 1987. everything just looks like the late 80s there. the decor, the booze prices, the employees' attire and it smells like it has a good 20 years of grease wallpaper from the minimal-menued hamburger/hotdog cafe. totally lovely. i'm starved. all that i ate the whole day was 12 almonds, 4 glasses of water and a bag of popcorn. so of course i order a burger and french fries. mmmm... shitty food tastes amazing in trashy-looking places. always. also, the one-drink maximum bar at the alley has johnnie walker on tap, seriously! i didn't see any bottles and this little asian man wearing a hawaiian shirt and oversized hat holds up this tap with 20 buttons. i say 'right-on' and he pours me a nice thimble full of scotch. it's $3.50 so can't complain. yes, we went bowling --but, i didn't bowl. too exhausted from the previous night plus the thought of bowling shoes... oh man, can't do it. jessica (nate's girlfriend) bought two cakes. one enormous store bought chocolatey concoction and these super vegan cupcakes from m cafe (nate's new fav restaurant, totally macrobiotic, totally vegan). i honestly wish i would have lived in la as opposed to kansas during my five years of veganism. these cupcakes were insanity. so yummy. vegans in la have got options. chris is at the party. it's so good to see him. he's been a great friend for almost two years now. i actually met nate thru chris and nate is probably one of my closest friends, so thanks mr. pastras. beyond being a pro-skater, chris also has his own clothing/skateboard company called stereo. smart and funny guy. i haven't had a chance to hang out with him much lately. our schedules are opposites. so i am taking advantage of the hangtime. nate and chris decide to have a bowling battle competition. chris wins the points challenge but i gotta say nate wins for style.

LIL JOY
we all head over to lil joy for nightcaps. lil joy in echo park is my stand by, my rock. it was really the first bar i frequented when i moved to la 4 years back. the bar reminded me of so many sweet spots back home in kansas. the staff was always super cool and joe the manager actually lived in kansas at one point. cheap drinks, great patrons, and for a while you could even smoke inside. my kind of place. myself, nate, chris, kristi, brittney and peter walk in to the crowded bar. instantly run into jack and rachel, my new favorite 'it' couple. they are the cutest things in the world. always smiling, always hugging. love them. while chatting away i see a familiar face. it's neil, former bass player from trail of dead. he's just moved to la. he's got a new band and new hometown. looking forward to running into him again. nice guy. also run into anthony, yenni, chris, joe, and more. we close out the bar and convince everyone that we should not have an after party at our house. too tired.

good times.

Saturday, September 16, 2006

THE BUS, MYSPACE, VINE BAR, HOLLYWOOD HILLS

THE BUS
i've been riding the bus to/from work lately. it's a straight trip down sunset blvd from silverlake to hollywood. every day is an adventure in the serious oddities of los angeles. like being in a ghetto john waters movie. my ride yesterday involved a dirty, smelly dude passed out in the back and an unidentified liquid flowing down to the front of the bus making a river around our shoes. like a game of telephone from the front to the back and in our many languages we communicate 'what is that?' the messenger in the back let us know it was just the passed out bum's tallboy can of miller spilling over. if you know me, that's a good thing. had that been piss, well, i'd most likely have been the passed out freak on the bus.

MYSPACE
it was a late start to the evening. got home around 8 but rather than go right out i decided to make my friend dan a myspace page. he's been on the road with ben kweller and has wifi on the bus. i've since convinced him to get IM and a personal myspace page. but he's a lil' too cool to make it himself so i obliged to make it for him. making someone a myspace page is like knitting them a sweater. it's so personal. there are little time consuming delicacies you have to take into consideration... like their style and how they want to be portrayed on the information super highway. grandma ana decided to go with a bbq and sf giants theme. i think it's genius. go be his friend. www.myspace.com/danhornes

VINE BAR
kristi waited patiently for me to finish my online goofing off and for my friend scott to come over so we could all go to pash at vine bar. i love pash. it's hosted by lovely sarah, myles and david. myles is one of my favorite djs. he plays all the great classic rock songs along with perfect mix of 90s indie rock and current hits. always a dance party. we didn't roll in until almost 1am so we only had an hour to fill up our bar tabs. scott is just about the nicest dude i've ever met in my life. he's like this little pillow of sweetness that you want to fold up and put in your pocket. i want to eat his cheeks everytime i see him. that's a good thing. scott and i get our drinks and smokes on. i introduce him to some friends. scott tends to stay on the eastside so it's nice to have him in hollywood. finally ran into alexi and her birthday celebrating boyfriend chris. chris buys me a drink on his birthday, such a crazy guy. his energy is intense. i love it... i miss alexi. her acting career has been swooping. she's going to be huge. mark my words. she just wrapped a feature, she's also in factory girl (edie sedgwick story) coming out later in the year, gorgeous girl with such awesome spirit.... i love her. we dance around and i get drunk fast (didn't eat dinner i later realized). lovely megan my former roomie comes to meet us and i make her my surrogate dancer so that kristi could have a partner on the dancefloor. i was consumed with consuming as much johnny walker scotch as possible. i think i had two full glasses at one point. fun times, run into myles, sarah, kristin, jason, and a very stressed out david. the bar closes and we somehow convince alexi and chris to host the afterparty.

HOLLYWOOD HILLS
chris, with his flow from being in the huge rock band jet, has bought the most spectactular hollywood hills home. it's so incredible, like the kind of house you could get lost in. there are so many rooms and the way they lead into each other and are separated by random staircases reminds me of an adult treehouse. the hang-out room features a ginormous beanbag big enough for 10, a plush couch, a sweet pool table, a dj booth and the walls are plastered with incredible photos alexi's father photographed, the stones, jack nicholson, beatles... amazing. i get my glass of wine and head for the record collection. chris has an killer record collection. i pull out some beefheart, bowie, paul mccartney, etc and we kick out the jams. i did some pretty poor 'technical' djing but i played great songs. sarah, myles, xany and some other sweet peeps are hanging... most of the rest of the eve is blur. i remember coming close to passing out on the previously mentioned plush couch and that must have been the green light to go home. scotty foof's thanks for driving us.

good times.

Friday, September 15, 2006

CLIFF'S EDGE, THE SOCIAL, VANGUARD

CLIFF'S EDGE
last night was an accidental ladies night out. left the dim mak hq around 7:30. was picked up by the lovely ltaf freshly recovered from her john legend video styling hangover. this girl has got style like you wouldn't believe. i love when she takes off a jacket or puts a scarf on the table to reveal the fabulous designer tag you would have never guessed. she likes simple and classic and dark. marc jacobs, lanvin, chloe, dries van noten, etc... i miss her. looking forward to our din-din.

we ride in her wardrobe stuffed audi station wagon east from hollywood. we're hungry for good food. we pass bowery, magnolia, malo, stella, on our drive east on sunset blvd and settle on cliff's edge in silverlake because of the appealing thought of the 'garden dining experience' and smoke at your table allowance. it's so rare to have a waiter at a restaurant deliver you an ashtray. feels kind of wrong. a good kind of wrong though. mariko and tita come to meet us and we have full-fledged impromptu ladies dining experience ala sex and the city. i'm totally the samantha, nerd. i embarass ltaf when i pronounce bitburger like bittenberger to the waiter. we get the french fries with gorgonzola dipping sauce for starter. a couple beers and a cigarette. i shouldn't eat cheese. bad for me. but so good going down. order the mussels for dinner. great conversation. great friends. i need to go see the banksy exhibit downtown. don't forget.

THE SOCIAL
we bid our farewells to tita and mariko and meet up with my roomie kristi to head out to 'le partie' at the social. it's one of my new favorite nights in la. put on by the sweetest of all dudes, david & david. ltaf needs to change, she's been working all day. we run her home, wait in the car for literally only 3 mins and she returns looking like anna wintour. dries scarf, new chloe ballet flats, etc... and she brings me this yummy marc jacobs cape to make me a lil fancier. we stroll in and order our ridiculously expensive cocktails and totally boy-watch to the max. serious eye-candy at 'le partie'. so many lovely, handsome, stylish fellas. we run into pete, rickett, alex ima robot, david & david, sean patrick, see melissa my long lost friend for a quick flash, chris holmes, cc vogue, living things bros, sweet shayne, and a few others. i really need to make friends with more ladies. the social got me sufficiently wasted. i went from calm and conversational to wasted and dance party by the time i filled up my $67 bar tab. kristi has a crush on this dude who drives a jaguar. i make fun of her all the time for it. anyway we decide to give her the rest of the eve and find out where he's afterpartying. we get invited by alex, chris and crew to the first afterparty, her crush is said to make an appearance.

THE VANGUARD
kristi, ltaf and i pull the car out of valet and head east to the vanguard. i really despise this club. we used to do a night there last year in the upstairs vip lounge. it was a nightmare. even though our weekly event was supposed to be private, sleezy bro-dudes would constantly grease the bouncers with $100 bills to get upstairs. i would defeatedly fume when some total dickbrains would come up and non-ironicly dance to britney spears and or hit on me or my friends. but vanguard is hosting soul wax tonight and an all night rave is to ensue. we slip past the door dude and run to the dance floor. total rave. strobe lights, people wearing glow sticks, seriously loud techno-techno. i usually hate that shizz but tonight i want to dance. i hop around like batman in my cape. dancing dancing when this lil fella comes up to me and i see that it's super awesome buddy dave p from philly. he's on tour with soul wax. excitedly we dance away the rest of the set with him. kristi's crush is a no-show so i try to get her and mr. p to fall in love on the dance floor. kristi has got some serious moves. it didn't work. she loves jaguars. oh well. dance some more with apple ron, devon, dave p, shane, maroon 5 dude and others and chris holmes invites us over for the afterparty to the afterparty. it's so late. we head to his house. park in front and realize that we need to call it a night. but, not before paying a visit to 7-11 for some snacks. i wake up on the couch this morning hugging a bag of potato chips and my shoe.

good times.