drivin thru the summer

Ok, got about 2 months to get down here, and it’s time to do it now.

Start out…. July 23rd. Heading to ye olde Comic Con. Get outta work and drive down to San Diego. We hit the Tractor Room for some great food, and then hole up in our little Holiday Inn.

 

 

 

24th ComicCon mad rush – we gots one day and a whole lotta stuff to see. We run into Carl, then Karen, and briefly, sorta like some kind of Comic Book Drive-By, Steven. We meet up with Legion and Elsie, chat briefly with Roman, look at stuffs, take pictures, run around, and then drinks and dinner and drinks with K, L, and E. Then back to LA.

 

          

     

 

Saturday the 25th meet up with L & E, show them some sights – Clifton’s, Hollywood reservoir, In ‘n’ Out Burgers, Sunset – we have dinner at the Rainbow, and coffee at Hustler.

         

    

      

 

The next day a couple more sights – Griffith Park, the Tam O’Shanter, then they head off to Vancouver, and I head off for a haircut.

Thursday July 30th, meet up with Jonathan and his girlfriend for a nice dinner at Kiwamis.

August 6th we continue with our seemingly endless “newsworthy” deaths, as we say good-bye to John Hughes and remember all the wonderful movie memories he left us.

On the 7th, Fluevog’s and a brief vist with Carl.

The 8th hits, and it’s off to Disneyland for the Haunted Mansion Shag event and Cocktail Party, which was a little fun, a lot of waiting, and mostly kind of generally disappointing.

       

   

 

August 9th, we relax, very nice and wonderful California sunny Sunday, sitting outside in the backyard with coffee, champagne, and fruit. A very pleasant valley Sunday.

 

 

August 11th and I hit 39, with a nice dinner, just Shelley and I, at the Tam O’Shanter.

 

The 13th, Stephanie takes out to a joint birthday dinner at McCormick & Schmick.

August 14th, and Shelley hits 39, with a nice dinner, the 2 of us, at the Blue Bayou in Disneyland.

 

The 15th, Dinner at the Valley Inn with Karen & R.J.
A Little jump ahead to August 22nd, I start taking some driving lessons, ‘cause it’s been a long long time, and I’m going to need to do some driving here in little Los Angeles. Then we head off to the Nokia Theatre to see the Cult perform their “Love” album, live, with Tina and Nathan. Pretty cool… last time I saw this band was on the actual “Love” tour in, I think, 1986. Time flies…

   

 

 

After the show a nice late night post-Cult breakfast at the Pacific Dining Car.

August 23rd, Dinner with Nancy and her boyfriend at the Odyssey

August 29th, off to see Patton Oswalt and friends at the Largo… a lotta laughs, which is nice, especially with all the fires burning the hills around us. Can’t go anywhere without seeing huge clouds of smoke, and every morning a new dusting of ash on the car.

 

 

Then we are into September. Driving lessons pass, and now it’s time to start thinking about taking the actual test. Alright… soon…. Really.

September 4th, outta work early.
The 5th, we go to Clifton’s, head over to Josiah’s recording studio to hang out with Paul and Laura, as Paul lays down some groovy guitar, and then off and take some small cemetery shots.

   

    

    

    

 

Labor Day, the 7th, and we have dinner with Amy at 4 ‘n’ 20.

09/09/09 and it’s Disney time again, for another merchandise spectacular, and we can’t handle all the waiting and the lines and the people and the chaos, so we just get our stuff and gooooooooooo…

 

But those haunted mansion shoes are sweet!

Friday, September 11th, and we leave work – hit the airport – and off to Nashville.
Get to Tori’s house where we are staying until Monday, hang out, then crash.

And also, RIP Jim Carroll:

::from “While She’s Gone” by Jim Carroll…

Conscience is no more than the dead speaking to us
It’s hard to find comfort
In this world.

You brought that to me
That’s hard to let go.
Only you and I know only you & I

See

You have always been so far away
You have always
Been right here

 
 

Tennessee, September 12th.
Morning coffee at the Portland Brew, Drive to Memphis –

 

We hit Graceland, the Cemetery, and the wonderful Earnestine and Hazel’s – with it’s Soul Burgers and old haunted ex-brothel upstairs complete with old piano and empty bar… and then I drive the 200 miles back to Nashville.

   

   

   

       

 

   

   

 

Meet up with Tori and Betsy and have drinks at the Red Door Saloon.

   

 

13th, meet up with Tessa, Maurice, and the kids – Benecio and Estella – at the Loveless Café. Biscuits!

 

Hang out with them, head back to their place, have some coffee, and then downtown Nashville to wander, drinks at Past Perfect, then dinner at Bar-B-Cutie with Betsy, back to Past Perfect where Tori joins us, and then drinks, talks, back to the house, and bed.

   

   

 

14th… run some last minute Nashville errands, get our Portland Brew coffee, breakfast at the Pancake Pantry, back to Loveless to get biscuits to go, so we can bring ‘em back to work on Tuesday.

Stop at Third Man Records to pick up a couple of things, then off to the arena to get our updated passes, which takes about 2 hours. We pick up Betsy and head back for some Metallica, Nashville style.

 

Great concert, but at this point – not really surprised.

   

      

The big surprise this night, however, is the special guest appeaance, for 2 songs near the end of the set. On to the stage comes Lemmy (!!!)

  

Together they played “Damage Case” and “Too Late Too Late”, then the band and the entire audience said good-bye to Mister Motorhead, and Metallica finished off their set.

 

After the show we said thanks and farewell to Tori, who was off to the next stop, and then ended up at the Sunset Grill with Betsy, and had a great late night  meal with K. and friends before saying “goodbye and see you soon”.
A definitel interesting and fun experience – learned how to “Gargoyle the Keg” from someone who was in Kid Rock’s band. L. wanted to continue the party at some Nashville strip joint, but we declined ‘cause we felt we should attempt that thing called sleep before leaving in the morning.

We finally make it back to our last night airport motel room with about 45 minutes where we can pretend to lie down and sleep before heading to the airport at 5 am for our flight – Nashville, to Chicago, to Los Angeles, to work, and we are running on empty…
But make it through to 6 pm and head home for dogs and bed and sleep.

Now it’s almost the weekend again, finally, and in a week – off to Hawaii to hang out with K. and family, celebrate Angel’s 3rd birthday, and swim, eat, drink, snorkel, and relax.

like a walk in a scary metal park

Long time no say…. But that’s just because I’ve either been too busy or too lazy. Sometimes I just need to do nothing, y’know?

But here I am, trying to get this little bloggy corner updated before the summer hits too hard…

We’ll pick up way back in May Time. May 9th – it was off to see Keane at the Palladium, where we met up with Carl and rocked out in that mellow Keane kind of way. Actually, there were a couple of moments when Carl and I were rocking out a little harder than we should’ve been, which caused some people to glare at us in a disapproving manner.

Shelley and I also checked out Vicious Dogs, which wasn’t that great, and Cupcake Central, which was.

Sunday, the Mother’s Day, we drove down to Shelley’s aunt’s house for a little visit, and then all of a sudden it was Monday…

Thursday the 14th, and it was off to hang with the Weezers when they did some sort of mobile phone party thing along with that blink band at the Paramount Lot. Crazy crowd, crazy people, but definitely a cool place to hold a party… and there was some free alcohol flowing, and free cupcakes as well. Weezer and cupcakes actually go together quite nice.

May 22nd, and we get out of work early thanks to that Memorial Day thingy, so – off at 3 pm and over to Laurel Tavern for some early burgers and beers with Nathan.

We spend Saturday doing some garage cleaning, and sushi eating, and then on Sunday the 24th it’s off to Orris for a great dinner with Tina and Nathan.

Monday…. No work! We have a nice brunch with Karen & RJ and drop off our photos that will be sold in the Pasadena Animal League (PAL) auction “Artistic License”. We’re thinking that they are pretty nice photos, and we’re hoping they will raise a little $$ for PAL. Then for dinner it’s off for a Japanese meal with Holly & Jon. Much fun.

Thursday May 28th we check out the Coop preview at Corey Helford gallery in Culver City. Look at the little devils and drink the wine.

May 30th, Shelley does some side-job work on Melrose, and I buy some records, and then we head over to Chris’s birthday party at his and Bo’s home. Talk to friends, drink some drinks, eat some eats, play some Wii.

Sunday the 31st a really nice brunch at Figaro with Steven, Tomi, and Ben. A charming little café / restaurant that brought back some nice Paris memories…
And then it was June…

I’ll try and keep this short and sweet. This is why I should update more often. Sheesh….

June 5th – of to La Luz to see the Krys Sapp show with Jon Holly Steven Tomi, and then we all ventured off to gorge on Korean BBQ.

The 6th – a great time at Stuart’s birthday party, talking to some very interesting people, and then off to meet up with Tina and Nathan at New Image Art for Dave Ellis’s show.

June 10th, Shelley and I went to the beautiful Los Angeles theatre to see a screening of Cabaret, with Michael York in attendance, giving a nice and charming introduction to the film.

Friday the 12th, we gather, along with the S & T & J & H crew, for an outdoor drive-in double-bill showing of Suspiria and Phantom of the Paradise. It was brilliant. Beautiful weather, great movies, good friends, sitting in the car, drinking beer, cracking jokes – and between the films there was a little indoor Q&A with Jessica Harper.

Sunday the 14th – brunch with Karen & RJ at Mijare’s

Then finally some down time, hanging at home, going to work, watching the DVD’s…. drinking the lambrusco…

Until the 24th, when Shelley takes off to Hawaii… without me…. For little Enzo’s first birthday. So she’s off hanging with sharks and champagne, and meanwhile, I’m bussing it to work.
Damn – I really do need to learn how to drive….

On the 27th I meet up with RJ and we head off to the Buccaneer to see his friend play in the Defendants, followed by Pat Todd and the Rank Outsiders. That was a fun night. Dive bar, rock ‘n’ roll, and perfectly cheap beer…. Yeah.

The 28th and it’s a nice early dinner with just me and Karen and RJ at the smokehouse and Shelley is back home on the evening of the 29th.

The PAL event took place over the weekend too, the Artistic License auction, and all 6 of our photos sold. Which rocks! So, encouraged by that success – we start planning a photo show – more details on this coming later….

And, finally, July…

July 4th weekend. We get out early on the 2nd, no work on the 3rd, Dinner w/ T&N at Buddha’s Belly, and then on the 4th we head off with K&R to their friend’s BBQ – somewhere in Whittier. We stay for a bit, drink for a bit, and then leaving we decide to not go to someone else’s party and have a good dinner at Roy’s instead. Nothing like spending a 4th of July evening at Roy’s.

Saturday the 11th,
Damon’s with K&R
Sunday the 12th,
SLAYER

Well, first, Shelley and I attend a funeral service for Peggy’s father, condolences and respects.
Then home to rest a bit, and try to shift moods and modes.
Drive down to San Bernardino and the San Manuel Amphitheater, we’ve got our passes and we’re good to go. Rock, Metal, Fire, Slayer, and then we say some good-byes and take off before we get trapped between Slayerlings and Marilyn Mansonites. It was like a walk in the park…
A scary metal park.

July 17th, kind of the opposite of going to Slayer, we go to Disneyland.
After work, drive down, pick up our passes, have some dinner, watch some Nightastic event, avoid the strollers, and then head for home, stopping by Jerry’s to drop something off and then stopping at Donut Man to pick something up.

Sunday July 19th – we pick up Tina and Nathan and head over to Rutt’s Hawaiian Café for dinner, and then dessert at Yougurtland. I wish yogurtland was more like Disneyland, but still, it was pretty good.

Tuesday July 21st, we head over with Peggy to the best buy to hang out with the Sugar Ray boys and their in-store CD Release show. It was kind of cool to be standing in the back room beside a $6000.00 TV screen drinking a corona….

Wednesday July 22 and that’s where we are…. Leaving tomorrow night to head down to Comic-Con – and meet up with Legion and Elsie – and whatever else ends up happening. It might be an interesting weekend. We get back from San Diego on Friday night, so it’s just a short little trip, but we’ll be hanging with L&E until Sunday…

over and….

Out!

Family Anvils and DJ Dogs

Ok – catch up time.

It’s almost Mother’s day, and it’ll be the middle of summer before you know it.

So, let’s skip back with a spring in our step to the pre-Europe days of March 2009.

I had been hinting at some black kites changes, and I hate to say that my paranoid mind was right on the money with that whole little ))there’s still a black kites, ol’ buddy, it’s just gonna happen without you(( thought…

Yup, got word upon my return that singer-dude had decided to keep the black kites going but decided it was best to do it without me, and for whatever reason, couldn’t figure out a way to tell me. I’m not going to get into it here, but I have to say – every time I think about it, I get really angry. Almost hulk-like angry. But I’m taking the high road, and just trying to let it go. It kinda sucks though, but – I’ll move on.

So – March 6^th – my sister arrives in LA for a brief visit. We take her to Daichan, and introduce her to Flight of the Conchords.

Saturday, she heads off to see LACMA with some of her other LA friends, Shelley heads off to Necromance, and I attempt to get some music reviews written. I love writing ‘em, but sometimes it’s just so hard to focus.

That night we head over to Damon’s to have dinner, the three of us, Karen & RJ, and Shelley’s sister.

Fine family fun time.

Sunday – it’s brunch in Malibu at the Beachcombers, my sister relaxes at the house while I get a haircut from Amy, we do the Fred 62 for dinner, and then a brief hi hello to Steven and Tomi at Malo.

Monday morning, my sister leaves, back to canadaland, and it’s back to work for Shelley and I.

Friday the 13^th, Valley Inn with Tina and Nathan, Saturday, Daichan again – with audra & brennan, who are making a short LA visit from San Francisco, and Sunday – we try the nearby Sushi Park, and discover it’s both good and cheap. Hooray, a nearby joint for our sushi-to-go cravings….

St Patrick’s day – I attempt some other music, a little AMP studios jam with the same band I played with in February.

I cannot even tell you how great it was to just play drums.  Unfortunately, it seems as if this has fallen flat, and once again, nobody bothered to tell me –

How hard is it to just say “thanks, but it’s not working out.”

Or “I think we need someone with a different style.”

I mean, it’s not like I signed a contract or anything – it was like two “practices” – and then nothing.

Ok, whatever.

So – The week moves on, and then on Sunday the 22^nd, we get together with Karen and RJ, and Paul and Laura, for a nice little Brunch at the Tam O’Shanter.

Monday the 23^rd, and it’s off to the Scene to see my former band, Black Nite Crash, play. It was great to see Jim again – and the new songs were great, and it felt kind of cool being in the audience as BNC played songs that I helped build. I’ve heard us before, but never while in the audience. Kind of a thrill.

::BNC @ The Scene::

then the 27^th hits, and we are off to London…..

…. And then you read the previous post, and we are back.

April 7^th. Shelley and I are off to the Egyptian to see the premiere of Anvil: The Story of Anvil.

First, Keanu Reeves steps up in front of the audience to “present” the movie, then the Director says a few words, then …  Brilliant film, and after the movie, Anvil appears and plays a few songs, and then a couple more when Scott Ian comes up to join them, as does director Sacha Gervais, who gets behind the kit for a song, and Shelley and I are in the movie theatre, bangin’ our head, goin’ “Metal on Metal!”

Easter hits, we have ourselves a nice dinner, and I give Shelley a little Elizabeth McGrath Easter present which kinda matches the previous little V-Day present.

Then on the 17^th, it’s off to the Academy to see a screening of 8 ½. Very cool seeing that film on the big screen, and a very kind of upscale Hollywood artsy crowd in attendance. So we had to balance that scene out with a late night dinner at Carney’s. Hot Dogs and Hamburgers, hooray.

April 18^th, Record Store Day. So – it’s off to Necromance for Shelley, and off to Amoeba for me, where I pick up a few nice circles of vinyl and leave a little poorer, but happy.

Sunday, we stop in at Porto’s for a nice little brunch, and then It’s hanging out with Tina and Nathan fro dinner at Fab’s on the 21^st.

The 23^rd, we stop by The Pass studios, where a certain rock band is recording, meet up with K. who takes Shelley and I out for dinner down the street.

Sunday the 26^th, it’s Pet Adoption day – the big Best Friends Pet Adoption at Westchester Park. We get there close to 7 am, drive the little cart around, loading and unloading crates and pets and boxes and dog food… lots and lots of dog food… and then leave, exhausted and aching and happily satisfied, by 7 pm.

April 28th, we try out Umami Burger, and man – them burgers are good!

The 30^th, and it’s off to Damon’s – dining for a cause. Proceeds of the meals go towards Project Angel Food, so our steaks and chi-chi’s are even more enjoyable.

May hits, and on Saturday the 2^nd, I get to play DJ at Meltdown Comics for Steven’s “Gag Me With A Toon II” show. Some great art, some great people, and I did my best to throw down the great tunes. Tunes for the toons. It was all pretty much revolving around a demented 80’s theme, so I did a good job, or so I’ve heard.

It’s always fun playing DJ – hopefully I’ll get to do it again, somewhere – sometime –  we’re there from 6:30 until just after 11, and then meet up with Tina and Nathan at Fred 62 for the late night mac ‘n’ cheese balls.

By this point, I’m almost actively searching for new band possibilities, and there are mutterings and whispers, but nothing definite, but after going back and forth, I’ve pretty much realized that I am not yet ready or willing to call it quits. I need the music, and I’m not going to let some idiot convince me that it’s over. So – more on this as it happens, but I’m actually feeling some good positive feelings about some of the possibilities… we’ll see. I just want a band that will make me feel as good as playing with BNC did….

May 7^th, and Mister Black Nite Crash, my friend Jim, is a brand new father. So happy for him, and on that birthday note, we are all up to date.

Future posts will include: Hawaii, Nashville, Jarvis Cocker, Las Vegas, and, of course, more Metallica.

And now, some random pictures of our dogs. Just because.

sometimes kites can crash

so it’s been about a month since the last update, and some things have happened, some things haven’t happened.

same as it ever was, eh?

First off, i mentioned some “band drama” last time i wrote about things going on. well, in a quick little nutshell, since it’s been over a month and nothing seems to have been said or unsaid or reconciled or talked about, the black kites – as far as my involvement in the band goes – is over. There was a sudden and unexpected hiatus called, right after we finished recording 2 songs (which are actually quite good), and because of that we had to cancel a couple of shows that we had coming up, and that’s that.

it’s kinda strange. like i said, nothing has been really talked about, and he who called the hiatus has not spoken to me directly since it happened, so all the info i get about this is second hand. i’ve been fired from bands, i’ve quit a few, and i’ve had them just fall apart. i’ve never had it happen like this though, and my paranoid mind keeps whispering things like – ))there’s still a black kites, ol’ buddy, it’s just gonna happen without you(( – but, you know, i’ve learned to not really listen to mister paranoia.

i felt upset, angry, hurt, disrespected, and sad. now – well – honestly – i don’t care. i had a fleeting thought that it was the end of my attempts at being a musician. i’m getting older, and it’s getting harder to start again. i’ve had a good run, played many shows, been on tour, recorded albums, but still – i really wanted to go out with a bang, not this sad little black kite whimper.

so – hell with it. i go again – jumping into the unknowable future. have drums, will travel, yeah? i know i’ve got some good and strong beats with me, and i know i want to be playing on the stage again – so – time will tell, but i think that there will be another.

ok, so that’s out of the way. on with my life.

January 24th. the black kites could have been playing in san diego, but that was cancelled. so – shelley and i had a very nice dinner at Matsuda. Next day, nice little haircuts from Amy, and the great Costco adventure.

January 28th, we could’ve been playing at Echo Curio, but… nope. It’s just work, some meetings, some royalties to distribute, some files to file and folders to create. and then dinner with Tina and Nathan at Damon’s, which is always fun, good, and affordable. It was nice to hang out with the T&N team again. The next night it was off to Gyu-Kaku with Shelley’s mom, finally taking us to our belated birthday dinner.  we had fun, so it was all good.

I struggled with one of those never ending colds for almost 2 weeks, even staying home for a day, but it finally went away, which was very pleasing. it’s so hard to concentrate on anything when your head feels like a wet pillow stuffed with aching sand.

And we’re in february.  on the 6th, we went out with T & N again, and Raul, to Daichan. Then they came over and hung out, and it was good conversation and watching our crazy dogs. we went to 4’n’20 with Amy on Sunday, and then it was back to the work week.

Feb 14th, valentine’s day – i got Shelley a nice little personalized hatched made by Elizabeth McGrath, and she was very pleased about that…

Then it was off to Christine’s Birthday party, saw some friends, played with dogs, ate food, then off home to have our quiet valentine’s night sushi and cuddle up with the pups.

Sunday the 15th, off to brunch with Karen & RJ at the Tam O’Shanter, always good times there, and always good times with them.

Tuesday the 17th, well – i got to play drums again. finally. felt so good, i almost forgot.  more on this as it develops…. but my fingers are crossed and my drumsticks are ready.

February 21st we went to Natalia’s gallery opening – “Hooker Dreamscape” – hung out with Amy and friends, met up with Nicki and Sonia, and holy crap that gallery was packed. It’s so nice that Natalia is getting such great attention, and it was kind of surreal seeing the huge painting of Amy sitting in our bedroom. the detail was fantastic. I don’t have a picture of that here, but i will post the portrait that Natalia did of us and the dogs…

after we left the gallery, Nicki and Sonia joined us for a great dinner at the Galley – we’d never been there before, so we weren’t sure what to expect, but it was pretty good food, and the decor was very cool.

now… it’s wednesday the 25th. Ash wednesday.

we’re heading into March soon, and that means, for now, i’m done.

38 is the magic sum for the Magic Hexagon.

well – today i’ve been here (on this planet) for 38 years, starting now into my 39th. kinda the same, kinda strange, and kinda like new year’s eve, it’s a time i start looking back on my life. what i’ve done and what i haven’t. unfortunately, while new year’s i kinda take stock of my year, on this day it kind of hits with a whole life sort of thing.

i don’t know. maybe i’ll never be satisfied, never be done, never accomplish everything. there is death within completion, so perhaps it’s for the best. There’s been a hell of a lot of living in the past 38 years, that’s for sure. bad memories, good memories, great memories… good times and bad.

38 – Strontium. i’m a Strontium Dog.

The Number 38 is essential to understanding the Grace Manifest Holograph. It relates to Christ’s Glory, His Sufferings, Wounds, and Gologotha through the meaning of the Number 19 and the Nineteenth Letter Quph.

No Idea what that’s all about, but it’s kinda interesting – even taken out of context. If we are to be heirs of God, we inherit all, and we partake of all, including the sufferings of Christ. – but 38 = His Glory…. so maybe it’s gonna be a good year. There’s also 38 slots on the Roulette Wheel, so maybe it’s a good year to attempt gambling. i did that once, lost a dollar, never bothered again.

so, yeah –

as far as my life goes, i’ve got a whole lot of past, but even more future, and my present – well – it’s pretty darn good. so i shouldn’t be down about it.  So let’s just look at the past month, ’cause i’m not about to start going on about the past 38 years quite yet…

July 17th – got some hip new fluevogs. stylin’. The next day Shelley and I went to the Shawn Barber art opening at Billy Shire – some very nice artworks – portraits of tattoo artists, and their hands, their arms… and our friend Paul was one of the artworks, well – his arms were. Then off to Daichan to meet up with Audra and Brennan.

July 19th – met up with Karen and RJ – had a great dinner and conversation and good time with them at Mijares.

Shelley started getting some of her tattoos retouched, on an almost every 3 week schedule to get the faded ones brightened and the way old ones slightly changed to make it all flow into something new. Band practices, Work, then on the 24th we went to see the premiere of the new movie our friend Christine is in – Route 30 – and it was pretty good. funny, cute, interesting – and definitely worth watching.

25th it was dinner at Barone’s with Tina and Nathan, 27th – the Black Kites got played on KROQ, which was a kinda cool thing – even though i don’t think we’re really a KROQ band – it still made us all happy.

sushi, angel on DVD, and some Shark Week shows.

on July 31st, we went to Malo to celebrate amy’s Dirty Thirty Moustache Party – where everyone sported a moustache, and i even wore a Fez – there should be pictures sometime. i made some little new wavey moustache pins for everyone, and… i got to play DJ for a rew hours. felt good to be behind the decks, spinning the vinyl – DJ Justin Crash back in action.

August hits. some more Daichan (always good and always affordable, can’t beat that!) and on the 2nd the Black Kites play at Crane’s Tavern. A strange show – but we all had fun, until the end of the night, when Shelley got a little sick, but it wasn’t serious, thankfully, and was pretty much recovered the next day.

August 3rd – it’s off to the Egyptian to see…. War Of The Gargantuas.

all i can say is Awesome. If you like the old classic godzilla style monster movie, the Japanese special effects and miniatures – it was wonderful to see on a large screen.

And now, it’s august 11th – and tonight – it’s Damon’s. Shelley’s birthday hits on Thursday, and our joint party is on Saturday, so – off to a good start for the middle of summer.

Boston By Telephone

So there are other things to mention between last post and next post – but for now, just so i can get this out of my head before it all fades away – i’m just gonna talk about our recent Boston Trip. Wicked Awesome.

We start out June 4th heading from LAX to Boston. Early everywhere, since they aren’t making it easy to travel these days. High gas prices, high ticket prices, extra charges for bags, no liquids, no nothing. it’s like someone said “War on Terrorism!” but the airlines heard it as “War On Tourism!” – pretty soon our vacations will be a bike ride to the park, and that’s about it. Anyhows, I rant – on with the tour…

we get to Boston – after not being able to watch episodes of Lost on Shelley’s computer due to lack of battery power – around 1 AM Massachusetts time. Then – about 2 hours later we finally get our rental car… hundreds of people flying in, one person working. Just our luck we are flying in at the same time the Celtics are Playing the Lakers. That’s some kinda sports thing… a legendary rivalry. I kinda get it, but still – those Boston Fans are… Dedicated!

So – car got, and off to our late night short motel stay at the Rodeway Inn.

(just so you know – there will be a bunch o’ better pictures coming to the Flickr Page – just have to do some editing – but for this – it’s just a little cellphone diary – )

Thursday morning. Checkout. Dunkin’ Donuts. There’s barely any Starbucks here – compared to like, LA, Vancouver, Seattle, The Rest of the World… But there are Hundreds of Dunkin’ Donuts. Bostonians and their fanatacisims extend to donuts as well as basketball… oh yeah – and the same weekend we were there, along with the Celtics and the Lakers – the Red Sox were playin’ as well. That city was wicked overflowin’.

We dropped our stuff off at Jamie & Angie’s house – who were gracious enough to let us stay with them for a few days. Beautiful house… wonderful people…. fun and crazy kids.

Oh yeah – this is Wakefield… Not Boston. we didn’t spend a lot of time in the city… just a bit. Before we hit the town, to check out Newbury Street and thereabouts, we stumbled across the first of many Cemeteries. So – photo time!

Then, after wandering thru the headstones, we found ourselves in Cambridge, and found a funky cool little cafe called River Gods. and we ate. The food was really good – and the waitress was nice – she wasn’t too sure about us at first, but warmed up to us quickly.

– I’m already a little iffy on the dates, as there were a few days just filled with Thriftstores and graveyards and driving around the counfusing MA streets… Shelley did an amazing job of navigating though – we did rely on a GPS, but still – those Mass. Drivers are a bit wacky. We hit Newbury Comics, Fluevog, Johnny Cupcakes, and ate at the Parish Cafe on Boylston. We saw lots of old houses and old statues and everyone wandering around looking like crazed versions of Ben Affleck and Matt Damon wearing way too much green. and saw some Hollywood style filming going on in front of one of the old old buildings. We found a cute little cupcake shop – Sweet – and brought cupcakes back to the house for everyone – and we found our way to the Warren Anatomical Museum – at the Harvard Medical School – no pictures allowed, but this was amazing. A room full of display cases – showing old ancient disfigurements – conjoined twins skeletons, skulls with strange growths, fetus bones, civil war surgical kits… like an Addams Family Playground.

We had dinner with Jamie and the boys at Kelly’s World Famous Roast Beef – but we just had Chowder… so i’m not sure how good the famous beef was. I was impressed with the huge fish tank – the five of us sat and ate and stared at li’l fish and hermit crabs. Also impressive was the Huge Scary Clown Face on the wall. Nightmare style.

Saturday (i think) we went off to Yarmouth Port, MA – because that’s where the wonderful house of Edward Gorey stands. It’s now a museum and gallery that holds the life and the art of Mister Gorey, and it’s kind of quaint, kind of creepy, and kind of fantastical. We both were kind of childlike giddy happy, getting a little tour and listening to stories about the man, his art, his life, his eccentricities. If you’re at all interested in Edward Gorey – this house is a place to be. The surrounding area is also so wonderful and quiet and old-timey – we had such a great time even finding the place.

Traffic back to Wakefield was pretty bad – Highway construction, rush hour, boston drivers – it all adds up to a lot of time spent sitting on the freeway. It was nice scenery on the sides of the road, though – a nice kinda lush west coast feel, but hotter. Oh yeah – much hotter. High heat, high humidity – heatwave. Coming back to LA where it was only 80 degrees was very refreshing. So – on the way back, we stopped in Saugus to have dinner at Kowloons – a sort of Chinese / Polynesian / American Tiki bar restaurant – with full on tiki stylin’ decor inside – pools and palm trees and statues and the obligatory wall of celebrities… (like Phyllis Diller and Sha Na Na, to name a couple). This place was pretty fantastic. Had some cocktails and finger foods and watched kids throw pennies into the fountains.

Saturday night – was our last night vacationing in the Sciarappa Household – so we sat around talking, chatting, watching James and Mike get all over-excited about showing us their home movies of when they were kids… i mean – they are kids – but time moves different in your youth – things that happened 2 years ago are a lifetime away – so we watched a couple of birthdays and of course – hilarity ensued. Then the kids begrudgingly wandered off to bed, and the four “adults” sat at the kitchen table and discovered the joys of combining Mike’s Hard Lemonade with Vodka (Absolut New Orleans) and… (well – just me for this one)… Banana Schnapps (or liquer, or something… Banana alcohol, regardless). All was great, until morning hit us…

the only cure for a banana alcohol hangover? Dunkin’ Donuts! Now i understand!

Then – Sunday to Fall River. Driving through places like Sandwich, MA – all around the Cape Cod area – such intense scenery – from the strange juxtaposition of the slightly low-income families and shops against the beautiful victorian houses and east coast greenery. Picture a lavish 1800’s mansion with overflowing gardens and a bunch of white gangsta wanna-be’s cooking hot dogs on the front lawn.

But – Fall River – to our home for the evening… The Lizzie Borden Bed & Breakfast. The first reason for our trip was to hang out with the Sciarappa fam. The second reason – was to spend the night here. The house where Lizzie Borden and family lived – where her father and step-mother were murdered – fairly brutally for the times – not quite 40 whacks – but there was an awful lot of axe-play for 1892. The current owners of the house did an amazing job of restoring every room to as close as possible to the original layout – all antiquey and victorian – and we weren’t sure how many people would be staying there, but it turned out it was just us.

We got our stuff into the room we were going to be staying in, and then drove around Fall River – checking out the neighbourhood. We found the old Fall River Cemetery, and paid our respects to the (hopefully) resting Borden family – we figured if we were going to be staying at their house we should at least say hello… no need to be rude, even to dead people.

We got back to the house in time for our own private tour – where we were shown every room, told of it’s history, and stories about the people involved and the house and the area. Very cool, and definitely worth doing. I think we were both kind of freaking ourselves out about being there, and then before we went to bed – we watched “The Legend of Lizzie Borden” starring Elizabeth Montgomery… I’m sure that didn’t help put us at ease.

So we tried to sleep, locking all the doors around us – and hearing strange sounds every few minutes… it could’ve been the house, it could’ve been something else, all i know is that sleep did not come easily that night.

Monday morning – we were up at 6 am – in order to get ready to leave, and for our 8 am breakfast – cooked just like it was in olden times. Melon balls and Johnny cakes. A wonderful, filling, huge breakfast cooked by Dave – who has been the Lizzie B. B&B cook for 12 years – and he was great. Good food, good stories, then a stop at the gift shop (of course) and off to Salem. This was one Gothy Holiday…

We even managed a quick stop at Plymouth Rock. All Pilgrims and Mayflowers and 1620 and all that. I kept thinking about Fraggle Rock for some reason. We couldn’t even see the actual rock, but we saw a big Mayflower boat. The rock was actually under some Under Construction monument… we did see a whole bunch of crazy cars and young hipster types mingling with the tourists and the old East Coast rednecks. not what you would expect from Ye Olde Plymouth… it actually does rock.

Evidently causing a little controversy – the Salemites and the Witch fans not sure how to feel about a statue of Elizabeth Montgomery as Samantha the witch on proud display in the center of Salem, i found it a little charming… The whole town is overflowing with both a solid and real history, as well as a cheezy and quite possibly thriving tourism industry – all based around the image of the witch – both in fantasy and reality, spooky scary and new agey (also – some Pirates too).

we wandered around the town – checking out the places and people. Getting a few gifts, for ourselves and others, and of course – little salem shirts for the li’l dogs back home. We were going to meet up with Jamie after he got done with some classes – must be strange doing the school thing in Salem… it’s almost like living at disneyland, but with more witches and less rides. But before we met up with him – we had to make one quick stop… at the Bunghole. I have to say, hearing the GPS voice say “You Have Arrived At The Bunghole” is really quite amusing.

So we did that, met up with Jamie for a little late lunch – and then we were off to our last night – staying at the Rodeway Inn again before our early morning flight home. Dinner at Legal Seafoods in Boston, which was vey nice. A slightly fancy and fun way to end our trip.

I think i’ve skipped over some details here – but that about covers our Massachusetts Journey… we woke up early – flew back home, and passed out in bed with three very happy dogs.

Internet Kite Flying

It’s been a fairly hectic and busy week – or even month… here we are – almost at the end of april. Blink your eyes and it’ll be summer.

right now, it feels like Friday, and that’s a good thing.

Tonight it’s dinner with Karen & RJ – tomorrow, it’s Shelley off to Tax Class and I’m hoping to get some things cleaned up and organized at home, and then Sunday we are volunteering all day at the Best Friends Super Adoption Pet Festival. Driving a cart around, loading and unloading gear and to-be-adopted-hopefully dogs. we did this last year, and it’s fun, exhausting, and very worthwhile. it feels good to be helping.

i’ll probably post more about this after it’s done – maybe (maybe) even with pictures… but now, let’s take a look backwards.

it’s been almost a month since the last mocha-update… so – lessee… the video is coming along nicely. very very nicely. we got a first look at the “rough draft” – still needs a bit of editing and color correction – but it looks awesome – and final version will be – i think – fantastic. considering all that went in to it, and the budget we were on – it’s great. we are so happy with the work the director and DP did for us. hopefully it will be seen by a whole lot of people, and enjoyed.

April 2nd… Shelley and I went off to see the Gutter Twins perform. Greg Dulli & Mark Lanegan. Two of my favorite vocalists – together in one band. it was beautiful, wonderful, and i love that band.

April 5th, we went to Meltdown Comics to see our friend Steven do his art show – he was curating the exhibit, with a couple of his pieces – the show was called “Gag Me With A Toon” – we met up with Ben and Amy – had a few drinks, chatted with Steven & Tomi, Roman, and other friends and artists – and ended up with a little photo of us on the Juxtapoz website. Not sure if it made it into the magazine, but it was kinda cool… (see here)

April 12th we went off to the Scene – to see our friends The Invisible Humans play – Paul playing guitar and some singing, Ted playing keyboards – and theremin – It’s a new wave outer space punk rock romp – and a fun time was had by all. think Devo / Cramps / Gary Numan – all rolled up in a nice little garage punk package –

April 18th – it was off to the Temple Bar after work to see Paul Freeman play – the band’s called “Freeman”. I like the Temple Bar – I like Paul – I even dig the music… just not so into the crowd that gathers there, and whoever the band was that was playing after Freeman – well – they left me feeling a little unwell. I think it’s great he’s playing live shows, i just really think he needs to do something about the scene he’s playing in… i’m sure good things will happen, but it would be nice to see them happen sooner.

 

 

 April 22nd – the Black Kites took the stage with the Hectors – playing at La Cita (see above phonePhoto) – a strange little mexican bar, with a tiny stage – the picture from inside the club was taken with my phone – so it’s not really the best lit pic – but Evelyn and Alan stood on the floor, and there was barely enough room on the “stage” for me and my drums – the amps along the wall, and Nicki hitting the bass beside me. We had fun, but we have no idea how it sounded – it was pretty much like a live practice – but i think it ended up ok – friends came and seemed to like it – so – that’s good.

 

 

Shelley wasn’t feeling well – so we left pretty much as soon as we finished – and then whatever was affecting her just got worse – so we were up all night – her not feeling good – me trying to help her feel better – and then first thing wednesday morning we went off to Kaiser hospital to see if we could figure out what’s going on…

we still  have no clue, but the pain is now moved down to discomfort – which is better – and she took the day off yesterday, and we are both at work today – so – hopefully she will be getting even better, and we will be getting some test results back on monday. it’s kind of not knowing anything that’s the worst part.

So, yesterday – Shelley was in bed, and i rushed off downtown to meet up with the band to do a little live set & interview on killradio.org – it was good, i think – we played three songs – the very acoustic version – me doing tambourine and shaker and stuff – acoustic guitar – harmonica – and then Jon interviewed us, and played songs off the CD – and it can all be heard right here.

 

and then – i had to take a few busses and get to work in Santa Monica, while the rest of the band went off and did an online interview (which will be posted at a later date) for radiofreesilverlake.com

so it was a very interwebby week for the Black Kites – and i’ll be posting more on the interview later. i just missed it, thanks to bus schedules, but Nicki says it went well.

 

now, i’m just going to go and do work.

yeah.

 

Photo Friday!

a couple of random cell phone images  – just because…..

 

photo fun friday

From the “Paper Heart” Video Shoot (photos taken by Orly Olivier)…

In Some Strange Video Daze

So, it’s Monday – February 25^th – and the Black Kites just finished shooting our first video.

 The video, however, isn’t finished.

I think we’ll have to wait a month or so to see the final product. There’s a little bit of post-production special effect type stuff going on, as well as the all important editing process – but from what I saw during the actual filming part – we’re in good hands. 

It was definitely a long weekend though, starting on Saturday around 6 pm – filming some dinner party house party band playing in the living room scenes at Alan’s next door neighbor’s house. Alan and Nicki had switched out a lot of the neighbor’s interiors with odds and ends from Alan’s place – there were Christmas lights strung out along the walls, and empty bottles of wine and candles all about.   

So we had about 25 or so extras being the party people – Shelley and Amy included, and they were wonderful – rocking out and dancing – or kinda not rocking and just swaying – depending on the shot – everyone in the band brought a couple of friends – and then some other random “extras” to fill the place out – some of them possibly playing the part of “party goer” a little too well – taking full advantage of the beer and wine we had supplied… easy there youngsters, that ain’t grape juice….   

 

But it’ll all come out great in the end, right?  

So on top of the cast, and the band, there were about 9 or 10 people on the crew – so it got a little crowded at times, but amazingly everything seemed to move pretty smoothly – we definitely were a bit off schedule, but considering some video shoot horror stories I’ve heard – we didn’t too badly at all.  

It was definitely great working with Director Michael Grodner (http://www.myspace.com/rondohatton) and Justin Coloma as the Director of Photography (http://www.myspace.com/bornonhalloween)   – they definitely knew what they were doing, they knew what they wanted us to do – and they worked hard, and made us feel good about working with them – so that was great.

We had wardrobe and make-up, the Producer was on hand, there were assistants to help everyone out and people to take care of the equipment, and people to take care of the talent. And everyone worked together to make it all go as smooth as possible.   

We didn’t get out of there until about 1 am on Saturday – I was feeling like I’d been hit by a bus, and even though we didn’t really play that hard – just kind of lightly playing along to the song – over and over again – and then again some more – it’s still pretty draining. It’s almost harder to look like you are totally playing hard as opposed to actually playing hard.

Shelley and Amy decided we should go to the Brite Spot – so we took off into the suddenly rain filled early morning streets while the camera filmed the last of the dinner party scenes – and had slightly Seattle reminiscent breakfast before heading home to crash – and crash we did – 

 Sunday hits, and I’m still feeling pretty under the weather – which is pretty bad outside, and I make it out and down to Union Station to meet Alan at 4pm.

Most of the filming on Sunday was Evelyn and “the Angel” – Very “Wings Of Desire” touched – but hopefully it will come across as more of a nice artistically respectful tip of the hat to rather than an obvious influence. 

So we had a few shots of Evelyn floating down the hallway, floating up in front of a green screen – curious how that will come out – and a couple of shots of sparse party goers – moving from the neighbor’s house into Alan’s for a change of scenery – with a quick Pizza run to Masa to provide some sustenance for the cast and crew – Saturday’s meal was comprised mainly of chips and pretzels for most of us – and it’s eat and film and nibble and film and have a cigarette and film and then it’s getting close to 11 –

so we caravan in five or six cars down to the empty streets and bridge for the last shots to be filmed – thankfully the rain that was hitting earlier has long since vanished, and the clouds and slight puddles on the street only serve to add to the look of the scene – a nice unplanned touch thanks to the weather. 

Evelyn and the Angel on the bridge, exchanging wings, or something – this is where Alan and Nicki and I sat in Nicki’s car against the cold, listening to music and waiting for our turn in front of the camera outside. 

 It was around midnight, the streets were empty, except for the random truck driving into it’s warehouse home, and right beside the bridge we set up in the middle of the street, single shots on each of us – and it was pretty surreal – playing drums by myself in the middle of downtown LA at midnight.

Then Nicki and her bass, Alan and his guitar… 

And then we’re done – waiting for some animated snow to fall over us, waiting for the wings to appear on film, waiting for the song to come together after being broken up into a hundred moving visual digital snapshots.

And we wait to see if we will see what we heard.