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.

london, budapest, paris, london.

So there’s more words to fall before the trip, and a few from after, but for right now, we’ll take a little step out of time, like it’s an episode of Lost or something, and hit just that one week where Shelley and I shoved as much as possible into a week long European Vacation. And not a single Chevy Chase sighting…

And all pictures included here were from the phone – there are hundreds (and hundreds) of real camera photos between the shootings of Shelley and I, but those are still in the editing phase… but they will be coming soon to a flickr page near you.

3.27.09
So, here we go… wake up, grab suitcases, off to work on Friday March 27th. Leave a couple of hours early and head straight to LAX for the requisite waitings in lines, airport hassles, and our traditional airport lounge pre-flight bloody mary. It ain’t real ‘till the vodka touches the lips…

Then we’re on the plane, with leg room (thank god!), and a long long flight to London. Shelley’s been there more recently than me, as I haven’t traveled to merry olde England since I did the transcontinental broken hearts cruise about 20 years ago. But I was excited. Excited to be there with Shelley, excited to be traveling again, and excited to see Paris for the first time.

So initially, we were heading over to meet up with my parents in Budapest. Turns out that around the same time period, wouldn’tcha know it, Metallica were going to be playing a few European shows…

We did some timetable schedule updates, contacted K. and crew, and there it was… some nice rock ‘n’ roll added into the equation.

The basic plan of “Budapest with the Feldmars” suddenly transformed into London and Metallica, then Budapest with the Feldmars, then Paris and Metallica, then back to London, with a last minute fine dining hook-up, and then back to L.A. – and we had just 9 days…

Again… here we go:

3.28.09
Heathrow, Underground, hotel. We hit wagamama for lunch. Japanese noodle house big with the English families. Hit Camden Market, pictures and a little shopping at the Black Rose for some gothabilly kid’s clothes, a quick stop to buy me a nice shirt and tie, and some black shoes, as K. had called and said we were going out to a nice dinner the next night and I would need something a little… dressy. Then it’s back to the hotel to get ready and get out to the 02 Arena.

Heavy Metal England.

Then we meet up with K. and friends to have a late meal at some nice but private dining club that I cannot remember the name of, but it was a long and winding drive after midnight in the back of the car. There were 6 of us in the back, and a bottle of champagne.
After the dining we were almost thinking about heading back to the hotel, but we suddenly caught a 5th or 6th wind and Shelley’s enthusiastic little “what’s next?” inspired K. to keep on going. So a couple of phone calls and back and forth and what’s up, and we end up at some Bullet For My Valentine afterparty going on at Bertie’s Bar, a small classy looking establishment connected to the Royal Garden Hotel on Kengsington High Street.
Definitely some moments there. Shelley and I hanging out, getting steadily more and more… tipsy… at this little nice bar that was suddenly overflowing with punks and rockers, from old school (Saxon) to new school (Machine Head). It was a little overwhelming, but it was nice that we knew a couple of people. So we hung out, a little with our new Sword friends, talked, drank, laughed, and were introduced to the art of moustaching… and made it back to the hotel by 5 am.

3.29.09
After waking up (a little late, but thankfully not too hungover, we headed for Portobello Market for coffee, brunch (sausages…), and wandering. Shelley found and purchased a very nice and wonderfully vintage dik-dik (which is also really fun to say… dik-dik) and I sighed sadly in front of the very closed Rough Trade records shop.

Then a little later, off to meet K. again – this time for food, not metal. We ended up having a great and relaxing almost four hour long leisurely meal at Claridge’s. Shelley and I got there a little bit early so we had a couple of very nice drinks in the fumoir. Then, when K. arrived, it was a pick up our drinks and a walk around the corner to our table at Gordon Ramsay’s.

A Little luxury can go a long way.

At the end of our meal, as the three of us were getting ready to start digging into the desserts… a little stinking bishop anyone? Not for me, the chocolate mousse will do… we were joined by T. and R., chatted a little, and then left the by then empty restaurant.
Hotel . sleep . early morning flight to Budapest .

3.30.09
Budapest. The fatherland. We make it to our little hotel, the Hotel Panda, to meet up with my parents. We dropped our bags off and then went straight out to have coffee with Balazs, a friend of my father’s, before going to climb up the nice, big hill, long stone staircase, to the Citadel up above the Danube.

Then an early dinner at some crazy little Hungarian restaurant,

and wandered around, photographing, listening to crazy Hungarian speak, and then some wonderful coffee and dessert at Gerbeaud.

I loved the coffee, and Shelley found her new fave – the Eszterhazy Torta.
We then finally make it back to our hotel, only to find that while it might be nice and cheap, it wasn’t really comfortable at all. The feeling was way more youth hostel and not at all relaxing vacation, so very quickly, a little embarrassingly, and with my dad’s help, we got our bags, got out and ended up at the K&K Opera Hotel. Perfect. Much more what we had in mind, closer to the metro stations, and the city we wanted to see.

3.31.09
wake up and wander. We find a nice little café across the street from Budapest’s Moulin Rouge, manage to order some coffees with very broken English, and then wander a little more before meeting up with my parents again in the courtyard/market are in front of Gerbeaud.

Andrew went off to do some work related stuff, while Mer, Shelley and I headed off to the Kerepesi Cemetery, wandered, took tons of pictures, and came across a crazy little Hungarian squirrel. It’s interesting to note that many of the things we encountered in Budapest can be nicely described by putting the words “Crazy little Hungarian” in front of them.

After the delightful graveyard romp we met up with Andrew and then a little snack and coffee at Muvesz, and then dinner at the Komédias Kávéház.
4.1.09
morningtime – we head out into the cool and grey Budapest daylight. The little pub across the street from the hotel all closed and lonely.

We hit the public transportation and make our way to the Ernst Galeria to look at some poster art, everyone being pretty helpful and friendly.

We find the Hotel Astoria with its fancy and proper décor and excellent coffee, have a little snack, and then a little shopping at Retrock.

Then it’s across town to the Vajdahunyad Castle, which is now the Museum of Hungarian Agriculture.

I know, it looks cool, but doesn’t really sound that exciting. The thing is, inside this castle / museum is the fabulous Hall of Antlers.

So impressive, fantastic, surreal. It was like we were suddenly captured and placed into some dark fairytale scene.
We left, and wandered up the street a little and suddenly we were at Hosok Tere, or “Heroes’ Square”

We made it back to Gerbeaud after that, to meet up with my parents, more coffee, then off to an apartment that was temporarily set up to be part of the Feldmar Institute (http://www.feldmarinstitute.hu/), and a slide show / talk by my mom, translated into Hungarian by Kata.

Afterwards, Shelley and I said goodnight & goodbye and headed for our hotel home. We passed the crazy little Hungarian Moulin rouge, all night lit, managed to do some late night corner store shopping for drinks and snacks, and then bed.

4.2.09
Early morning to Budapest airport, another short flight, and we’re in Paris. We make it through the metro connections, suitcases in tow, to our hotel. The Holiday Inn Paris Republique. With a view of a distant Eiffel Tower.

We drop our stuff off and find a nice nearby café to be our daily coffee stop – the Café Republique.

Then the metro, transfer, underground French life, on to Bercy Arena, and once again, Metallica. K. was busy running around before and after the show, so we managed a brief hi hello, we had a few drinks, chatted a little with B., watched a little guitar hero metallica showcase a la francais, and then, well, metal.

The Parisians rocked, possibly harder than any crowd we had seen so far, with the possible exception of Vancouver. (yay Canada)
Then feeling very very tired, it was back to the hotel and up and out early the next day. Catacomb time.

4.3.09
Off to Les Catacombes Des Paris, which was breathtaking amazing.
We could have spent all day wandering around down there, but we didn’t. some beautiful photos came out of this, and probably a hundred or so underdeveloped ones. There were plenty of annoying tourists who were prattling loudly and ignoring the “no flash” rule, but Shelley and I stuck to our basic lowlight exposure knowledge and felt better about the great pictures we did get.

You would think that we would be all deathed out by this point, but no… it was a little more café coffee, and then off to the Cimetiere Montparnasse. Meandering through the tombstones, stopping by the resting places of Serge Gainsbourg, Baudelaire, Simone de Beauvoir, and others. We had gotten a little lost at one point, looking for Baudelaire, when some strange cemetery dwelling French man starts yelling at us for a distance. We weren’t sure what he wanted at first, but as he was coming closer, it turned out he had spotted us, figured us for the Baudelaire types, and was telling us which way to go to find the grave. Bien! Merci!

Then… it was off to have the perfect Croque Monsieur at Les Deux Magots, coffee, and Notre-Dame.

It was too crowded to make it up to the top of the cathedral, but we did circle the ground floor, inside and outside, and smiled back at all the happy little gargoyles.
We made an attempt to visit Pere Lachaise as well, but ended up getting there just as they were kicking everyone out. Everyone alive, that is. We knew we could still make it there the next day, so all was well.

We did make it over to Rue de Bac to visit Deyrolle, the Paris Taxidermy shop that’s been around for about 170 years. They had been the victims of a bad fire about a year earlier, but the majority of their collection was still thankfully intact. There was a display of photographs of the aftermath of the blaze on display, which were simultaneously haunting, surreal, sad, and beautiful.
I managed to take a picture before noticing the no pictures sign, so apologies, but here it is.

As the day turned to Paris night, we decided to take a walk down through Pigalle, the Parisian red light district, also known as Pig Alley.  A neighbourhood in Montmarte, it was nicknamed Pig Alley during World War II when all the soldiers would flock there for the good times…

It’s the home of the Moulin Rouge, much larger than the Budapest version, and various other places of adult themed entertainment. There was an interesting mix of activity all the way down the street. From sketchy French men to tourists with little kids, to a film crew doing some night shoot.
We wandered down a little side street, trying to capture some more neon glow, and got yelled at by some lingerie-clad lady for taking pictures. Shelley managed to translate it as being something along the lines of “Stop Taking Pictures and just come inside.”
We didn’t, though, and continued on our short risqué neon voyage.

4.4.09

first thing, early morning, café republique wake-up shot. Then straight to the cemetery. Pere Lachaise. It was immense, amazing, layers and layers of tombs and graves. Truly a city of the dead.

We could’ve spent days in there, but instead, trying to be good and conserve time and our camera batteries, we kept it fairly short and sweet.

Getting hungry and craving the Croque, we left the tombs behind and went back to Les Deux Magots. We could eat there every day…

Then a little more meandering photographing along the Seine, then to the metro, the airport, and again, London, for one more night.

We arrive in London, make it to our pre-booked hotel, where we had just stayed earlier in the week, only to be told that the hotel was overbooked and there were no rooms.

Yes, we were mad.

Fortunately, the hotel managed to get us rooms, at what turned out to be a hotel that looked a little nicer, right around the corner from where we had dinner reservations, and a ride there with our luggage – at no extra charge. Darn right they did.
So, it all worked out, but it would have been nice if they had let us know a little in advance that we had no rooms… as it was, there was barely enough time to get to the hotel, do a quick change and clean up and look nice, and get to Nobu on time.

Ahhh, yes, Nobu London. We had a nice drink at the downstairs bar, then were seated upstairs. Thanks to some quick connections and phoned in reservations, Shelley had managed to score us a nice table in a great restaurant. A couple of London Celebrity spottings, and a “Hey, is that The Rock?” along with some very good sushi, and we had another Nobu Notch in our collective belt.

Then it was a little London just before Midnight window shopping, then hotel, sleep, airport, LAX, home, dogs, bed, sleep, dogs, sleep, and back to our regularly scheduled workweek on Tuesday after a day of doing absolutely nothing at all on Monday.

-m

they’re getting a little too close to home….

so… i just noticed the whole “Coffee Loves Music” thing going on at Starbucks… it’s not a bad idea, though i wish the muisc would improve, but at the same time – it’s a little close to my whole MochaLouder concept… which i have had for decades, at least. ah well, it’s not a big deal… but it deserved a mention. besides, the concept behind mine (which i may explain at some point) is still much cooler.