The first frightening hints of infidelity

Katie came upstairs today with a not so welcome addition to the laundry. What is a woman to think when she suddenly finds a pair of women's underwear in with her husband's clean laundry? Justin, being the honorable man he is, fessed up to having the Granny panties in his jean pockets and has sworn to call the affair off.

More LA Mannequins

Off for an early morning at the farmer's market for some veggies. YAWN!
But then, a quaint little stroll down Hollywood Blvd. The nice thing about this stretch of Hollywood is it's where the strippers go to get their accoutrements. You can browse all the lovely clear heels and just think, won't Cinnamon look smashing in these...
As a side note, I've never seen such gigantic hooters on a mannequin before, or, even one freshly handed some crisp one dollar bills. Note the artistic reflection of the Hollywood star on the gal in the last shot.

LA Tourists

This family was hysterical. I could only imagine the conversation at the hotel before they went out. Dad's saying, okay fine, we can wander Hollywood blvd, but I'm wearing my short shorts, and none of you kids can say boo. And then Mom and little Bro formed their protest by rocking matching hats.

Girls just wanna have fun

So Trish lined up some great tickets for Cyndi Lauper at the Greek Theatre up in Griffith Park. How Psyched was Trish? She laughed afterwards that she couldn't believe she remembered all the lyrics to the songs. I have to say, Cyndi Lauper isn't on my Ipod playlist, but it was a real treat to see her perform, which by the way, she did a fantastic job. Amazing seats up front. Some Video too.

Trish and Cyndi Lauper

In addition to our great seats, Trish got us backstage passes, so we were able to meet Cyndi, Wanda Sykes, and the B-52's. Here's Trish talking with Cyndi abut an upcoming movie they may be working on.
Added Bonus: Cyndi talking about growing up Catholic, and how Madonna is now a nice girl that goes to Shul.

Elliot Smith Memorial

Street Dogs

Outside 4100 Sunset, our almost final destination after 3 or 4 places on Sunset, it was time for a street dog (Big hot dogs, wrapped in bacon, covered with onions and peppers and all sorts of gooey goodness.

Cafe Stella

We wrapped it all up at a great little French Bistro in Silverlake called Cafe Stella with a nice glass of port just to cap off the evening. Trish, who's categorically incapable of passing up an opportunity to mess with bartenders, cajoled him into bringing a little desert even though the kitchen was closed. As he went back to see if he could find a piece of cheese, she shouted after him, "No, I changed my mind, I want chocolate." So out he came with a little pot de creme, but the chef saw it and said, oh no, that won't work, grabbed it, took it back into the kitchen, and returned with whipped cream and raspberries on it. Turns out, he went to NYU and lived in Alphabet City for years.

Moon over LA

After a long night, and closing time, a good long walk through Silverlake with a perfect quarter moon for navigation purposes.

Banana Daiquiri Seance

Things aren't always as cut and dry, and technically planned out as you might suppose at a Banana Daiquiri Seance. I mean, yeah sure, it's not all that complicated, you've got to somehow "appeal" to the Daiquiri Guru through feats of strength or other forms of obeisance, and then you get a Banana Daiquiri. But on this particular evening, it wasn't as easy as a quick tap dance. Oh, no.


For instance, here we have Jesus and his pals trying out their new cheerleading routine and patented human pyramid finale; but was the Daiquiri Guru impressed? Not so much. That kinda crap might cut it in the sticks, but here in the Big City, we need a little more. No daiquiri for you guys.


This young lady here, left disappointed after her failure to score a frosty beverage. "What kind of shit is that? I take an evening off from the coliseum, haul my ass down here to Chinatown, kill a lion and maim a few gladiators in front of this guy, and what do I get to show for it? Bupkiss, that's what. Screw this, I'm swinging by Starbucks."


But then, in a cruel twist of fate, you get hipsters like this guy, who non-chalantly stroll on up with a banana tie like they own the joint, and with a knowing wink, the Guru just lays one on them.

The intricacies involved with actually scoring one of them Daiquiris

Techniques varied, but the gist of it, was to enact the old slip on a banana peel routine. Here we have some footage of a successful young go getter and her can do attitude being rewarded by our mix master, Hawaiian Vacation Ringo Starr.

Chinatown

So after the opening, we crossed the street and checked out a few places. They were ok. Highlights included 5 girls panicked and crowded around some drunk guy who was getting sick, insisting they needed to call an ambulance but instead flagged down a passing cop car (no photo) and a lit dancefloor, a la Saturday Night Fever.

What's the big deal about Mondays?

I don't know why everybody hates Mondays so much, they're just like every other day of the week, except maybe there's a little less nightlife than usual.
P.S. In response to the many questions- Yes, this is a poke at all you people with jobs. I've gotta do something to feel good about being broke.

Thievery Corporation

Live at the Hollywood Bowl. This was an absolutely amazing show. Thanks to Daron for introducing me to them. The Hollywood Bowl is definitely one of the coolest venues I've ever been to without a doubt.

That's LA for you...

This lady was practicing her cat walk, balancing a water bottle on her head, all the while saying, "I am a model".

Brandy and Paige

Summer Solstice at the Griffith Park Observatory

Did you know that Solstice means sun stands still? Huh? Did ya? Well it does. This device marks the sun at around noon every day. The winter solstice would be on the other end, all the way up towards the top, because the sun would be much lower in the sky. But this one marks the sun at its zenith. That's as opposed to it's nadir, you nerds.

Mr. Brainwash and his lovely spectacle

The MUCH hyped show, Mr. Brainwash: Life Is Beautiful (Note the cover of LA Weekly, so unironically matted on Katie's Warhol table cloth) at the old CBS studios on Sunset, was packed with a huge line wrapping all the way around the block. We stood on the last third piece debating whether we'd go in or not. I'm not a big fan of lines, and was leaning towards bagging the whole idea. I walked the line to see if anything was going on, and there were people that had been on line for three hours before opening. (The first 200 people were given free signed prints of Elvis holding a pastel Fischer-Price Toy Machine Gun) We'd gotten to talking with a young Pregnant girl who'd just moved out from Florida with her family, when Mr. Brainwash himself was making his way down the line to greet everyone who came out. He was scooting along (on some modified scooter wheelchair with his foot in a cast) shaking hands and taking pictures with fans, when he noticed our friend Lola was about five months pregnant. You and your friends go up to the front of the line he said. Tell them I sent you up.
Et voila! Merci Monsieur Brainwash!
The line stayed there for hours, towards 11 pm, until some of the crowd started hoping the fence and otherwise scamming their way in. At one point, an alarm got set off and security guards went rushing past to grab the people who'd snuck in. You got the impression the last helicopters were leaving the embassy.

Once inside

So we walked around front and one of the videographers pointed us out and let us in. Thank you, Brainwash and Lola!
The first part was a courtyard, with a live jazz band (who killed it by the way, playing Clifford Brown and other lesser known standards) bar, and some other big pieces, like a huge Rubic's Cube (meh, not so interesting. More kitch than provacative) After maybe a 45 minute wait, we were able to get inside the gallery where his best pieces were.
He was able to get away with the reworking of some of the pop pieces, and sometimes quite well, like Warhol's Marilyn, but he also failed sometimes by overdoing the same image, or attempting too many mixes or references that didn't fit (like "Hirst"izing a Warhol Spraypaint can) His best pieces I felt, were his reworking of the classics, like American Gothic. It was on these canvases that I think he really brought in his own creativity and style. These were the ones that showcased his work the best.
Link to the show, here:
http://www.artshow2008.com/beautiful.html

Cop cars in pink "blood" and Nighthawks at the Diner...

Quite the spectacle once inside too. A full sized cop car dowsed in pink paint, a thirty foot robot made out of TV's and a fullsize recreation of Hopper's "Nighthawks at the Diner". This last bit left me puzzled. Why, and for what end? He didn't even really seem to do anything with it, unless I just missed it. I got the impression it had already simply been there from a previous shoot and he simply left it up. It had no context, and no narrative. But as a whole, the room worked.

American Gothic and other classics

So I guess the real question here is, can you redo Pop art? On what levels was Mr. Brainwash successful?
American Gothic? Yes. he took a traditional painting and "popped" it with paint rollers, masks, and other implements of grafitti. Well done.
Brittany Spears and Leonard Nemoy reimagined as Warhol's Marilyn? Funny. Inventive. Especially noting Britanny's head shaving incident.
R. Mutt's (Duchamp) Urinal? I'm going to say no. The actual piece isn't "worked" there's no investigation into the "ready made", the surface is covered in grafitti, but the form is missed.
Love by Indiana? No on this one too. Changing the word to punk, doesn't make it punk, and it doesn't see the original piece.
So sometimes he pulled it off and brought the work to a new level, and sometimes he only managed to ride the coat tails (or try). In the end though, I think even when he fell short, it informed the whole show, it made the pieces that worked, that much better. I give the show a yes as a whole. Worth seeing.

Ghetto Vader

Look, it's Ghetto Vader! You just never know who you'll run into at one of these gallery openings.

Halfway around the world

My math was a bit off. It seems the Circumference of the Earth is 24,901.55 miles, I thought it was closer to 28,000 miles. So, now that I've driven 14,105 miles so far, it'd seem my halfway round the world mark was hit about 1,500 miles ago. Probably somewhere between LA and San Francisco. Maybe it was Paso Robles.