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!

metallica, madonna, mayhem

Time flies when you’re, you know, busy doing stuff….

It’s almost the end of November, and I thought I’d get some words and pics up here, now, before this holiday season hits too hard.

October 17th Shelley and I drive up to San Francisco to meet up with Audra and Brennan and hit the Cow Palace for the official Metallica friends & family rehearsal show. On the way, we drive through smoke, then fire on both sides of the highway, then a road full of carrots from an overturned truck.

So after that – it was smooth sailing, right?

Actually -after that, a passing truck threw a pebble from underneath one of it’s tires, which flew up and hit our windshield with enough force to cause a quarter-sized star-shaped crack, which slowly started to spread across the glass as we drove. So Shelley was driving carefully as I was trying to contact some windshield replacement people we could meet up with in SF.

after that, it was pretty smooth… for the most part.

we got to the show, met up with our friends, and then – it was time to rock.

Great show, and for a Metallica concert, pretty darn intimate. We said farewell to A&B, and then went off to meet up with Kirk, and then out into the San Francisco night to drink Champagne at Bubbles, then off to the SF house to crash, before waking up early to meet the windshield replacement people, and drive back home, after a failed attempt to have lunch in Carmel, ’cause everything closes there way too early.

A couple of days later, it’s off to Arizona to see the first official show of the tour – it’s pretty much the same, but a lot bigger… and a whole lot more lasers and fire and crazy people. Rawk… what can i say.

We get up to the stage for a little bit, but for most of the show we watch from above it all – at the light board – which gives us a nice unobstructed view of all the Metal that’s going on below.

We fly back too early on Wednesday morning, slightly hungover after hanging out all night with Mark, Eric, and JB at some strange Arizona middle-of-the-desert mall, eating and drinking and talking… and go straight to work.

thankfully there’s a couple of days of quiet before Halloween hits. We get our wonderful portrait from Natalia on the 28th, which is also my dad’s birthday (Happy Birthday there!) – and hopefully I’ll have an image of the portrait to put up here soon – before Christmas. Really. I think.

So then it’s Halloween, and Shelley and I are Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett – and we feel good, look good, and win a prize at work.

Then, still all dressed up, it’s off to the Halloween Haunt at Karen & RJ’s – which is a blast – thousands of kids coming through, and great people to hang out with….

Then November hits…

November first Shelley and I head over to the Hollywood Forever for the Day of the Dead celebration, wander, looking at graves and altars, taking lots of pictures (which aren’t edited yet – soon, i think…). Then it’s Miceli’s for dinner, and off to the Egyptian to see a screening of “Curse of the Werewolf” – which is Excellent.

A very spooky weekend, which is all we wanted.

November 3rd, Lunch at the Counter with Shelley & Stuart, the 4th – I had my Canadian fingers crossed, Shelley went to vote,  and we witnessed a historic moment in the evolution of the United States of America.

Thursday November 6th – the Black Kites play at the Scene. small crowd, but it’s still a great place to play.

The night after, dinner with Audra & Brennan… and Pie!. They’re heading off to SF soon, so it’ll suck not being able to do our Daichan dinners, but – on the plus side – it means people we can visit in San Francisco.

Saturday November 8th, it’s quick travel time again, Driving to Vegas to meet up with Karen & RJ and have a nice dinner…. and hit the Madonna concert – we got soundboard seats – so it should actually be alright…

And we had a blast. First, it was an old school steak dinner at Hugo’s Cellar in the 4 Queens Casino, and then off to the show….

Then Alcohol, Vegas, Hotel, Sleep, Hangover, Home…. and lie in bed for the rest of the day.

November slides along, band practices, work, and then Friday the 14th we meet up with Carl for a nice sushi dinner (Cafe Sushi) and then we all head to Molly Malone’s to see Paul Freeman play – or i guess it’s just “Freeman”… it was fun, good to hang out with Carl – and Paul’s getting some good songs into his set.

Sunday the 16th the Black Kites do the practice thing, and then head off for some quick photos to be used in an upcoming video – created and designed by Kathryne Layne Paxton. It should be pretty interesting when it’s all done and together…

Wednesday the 19th, Shelley and I have a nice just-the-two-of-us dinner at Lawry’s. I’ve been living in LA for just over three years now, and that’s pretty crazy…

November 21st, and the Black Kites hit Spaceland – playing with some other interesting bands and surrounded by a strangely into-it Silverlake crowd. It was us first, followed by the Human Value, and then Shiloe and the War Tapes were playing as well. Spaceland. It can go either way there, but i think we pulled it off nicely.

Then Saturday night, Shelley and I, along with Peggy and Patrick – were out with the stars – hanging at a bungalow at the Chateau Marmont for Lucy’s birthday party. It was actually quite fun – i felt a little awkward, but a few drinks – and i was dancing alongside everyone else. Go with the flow, y’know, and i ended up with a good story to tell, and Shelley got to talk to Danny DeVito, so – it was definitely a night to remember. maybe that’s just the kind of place it is – only been there twice, but both times were pretty intense.

Then, slightly buzzed, slightly star-struck – it was a late night sushi bite, and then off to home.

Now – it’s now. Thanksgiving Dinner on Thursday with Amy & Ben, and then off to see my parents (and, again, Metallica), and back to work.

Onwards we go…

retarded joy

Brain Damaged Basket Case ( A Movie Memory)

 First off, just so you aren’t totally confused, this here is my official post for what is, as far as I can tell, called: 

HEY, INTERNET, STOP BEING SUCH CYNICAL EFFING DOUCHEBAGS BLOG-A-THON! DAY 

So, here’s what the assignment was:

Write about something in the world of film that fills you with complete and total unbridled fucking retarded JOY. 

From one of my new favorite blogs, Final Girl 

 So – I thought about it – mostly my retarded joy comes from that one album or that one song that hits even after the expectation and build-up, or sometimes even without warning. Few and far between these days – even in my world of choice – music – so finding a film I thought would be a little more tricky. 

The music side – since I brought it up – I do have to mention that there have been very few albums that hit me amazingly brilliantly wonderful in the last couple of years, so I was thrilled and filled with that ecstatic moronic stupidity that just makes you quiver with delight when I heard both the brand new Bauhaus and the new Nick Cave offerings – Dig, Lazarus Dig is superbly back on track, and “Go Away White” by Bauhaus is sublime. I am so so so happy that Bauhaus is not fading out in some tired slide down, but exploding out of here with an energy and urgency that hits as perfectly right now as it did like 28 years ago (28 years!!! Holy Death Cow, Batman!).

Yeah – so far, a good year for music.  

Now then, about the cinematic point of this particular writing project here. There are a couple of movies currently playing or coming soon that might fill me with joy, or I could possibly write about that joy that comes when you share a movie you love with someone you love and they love it just as much as you do and it’s just fantasticness all around – like watching movies with Shelley like The Stuff, or Motel Hell… well, okay, so maybe she didn’t actually love The Stuff as much as I did – but she did watch it, so there’s a sign of true love right there…  or maybe sitting in the darkened theatre holding hands waiting for the beginning of Peter Jackson’s King Kong – and the lights start to dim – and you have no idea if it’s going to be good or not, but still you feel your heart beat all giddy and your palms a little sweaty and goose-bumps hit your arms like you’re ten years old and sitting in the theatre waiting for the Empire Strikes Back to start….  

But then I thought – that might move into a direction that was a little too mushy romantic for the writing I wanted to do. So… where do I go for non-romantic unbridled fucking retarded joy?  Off to somewhere in the past.

There are a couple of movies that I’ve seen that could be good contestants for the topic at hand, the high school sleepovers that included nights being creeped out by The Howling, The Hunger, Flowers In The Attic… The first time I saw Sam Peckinpah’s “Wild Bunch” was definitely a thrill (DC Cab, however, wasn’t). Then the times hanging out with my friends and watching films by David Lynch and Dario Argento.

We would listen to music by the Bad Seeds, The Birthday Party, the Virgin Prunes, and Andi Sex Gang.  We would love the Good, the Bad, and the Cheezy in horror. “Michael Moriarty is a genius!” We would say. Maniac Cop and Child’s Play! Prince of Darkness and Santa Sangre! Bad Taste and Meet the Feebles! The Lost Boys and Nightmare on Elm Street 3! Stuart Gordon’s Re-Animator and From Beyond! Night of the Hunter, Evil Dead, Dr. Phibes, Phantom of the Paradise… Rosemary’s Baby, Hellraiser, Suspiria, and, of course, They Live!

“I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass… and I’m all out of bubblegum.”

And on and on and on…  

And then there was Brain Damage.

Two words, one movie, and 86 minutes of fucking retarded joy.

There.

We have a winner. 

Directed by the amazing Frank Henenlotter, Brain Damage is a film that my friend and I were so excited about and looking forward to seeing, partly because any movie with the tagline of “It’s A Headache From Hell” would be a movie worth watching, but also because we had just gone on a little horror film kick that included a few Larry Cohen treats, like It’s Alive, It’s Alive Again (It’s Alive II), and Q; The Winged Serpent (Michael Moriarty Rules!) – but we also included Basket Case – and that was it – we were hooked. Frank Henenlotter forever. 

So when we heard about this Brain Damage thing – we were in horror-geek heaven. Of course, we managed to miss it in the movie houses – and there was a little bit of a wait until it came out on VHS , but that only served to heighten the anticipation for the film (and, as a side note, I still have Brain Damage on VHS), but, anyhows, back to the story… 

My friend lived right across the street from a huge cemetery. Many nights were spent wandering the pathways and around the graves. Looking for something just strange and supernatural to happen – hoping for a ghost, a spirit, a psycho killer to fight, or – more likely – run in mortal terror away from. I think the closest we came was when we (literally) stumbled over an open grave at 2 in the morning – that was a little freaky.

We would sit in his basement apartment, the walls and windows draped in red and blue Christmas lights and strange voodoo scrawlings and artifacts of bone and feather. We would read comics like Creepy and Eerie, drink Old Crow or Southern Comfort, perhaps throw on Two Thousand Maniacs, play some Nurse with Wound, and then we would head out into the night in a slightly surreal slightly tipsy daze, and then after sufficiently creeping ourselves out in the shadows of the graveyard, we would make our way back in to the basement den of iniquity, pour ourselves a couple more stiff Bourbon and Cokes, which were weighed a little heavy on the Bourbon side, and settle back into the couch to watch whatever offering had appeared from the earlier trip to the nearby video store. These nights were always good – even if the movies were horrible – we would be just so into it, and so happy to be somewhere that was safe as all the demons and zombies prowled the night outside, captured by the consecrated grounds right across the street.  

This was Brain Damage night – and we were anxious and excited and ready to go. We had our drinks, we had our red licorice, the phone was unplugged, the red lights were on, the trees swayed, and leaves were flying by the window in a bitter cold northwest winter wind, and we’re grinning big. 

I don’t know if you’re familiar with the film, but it’s definitely one of your cult classic low budget late 80’s horror films. It’s awkward and a bit clunky, and there are definitely those people who just write it off, or just don’t like it at all. We weren’t those people. We were more like the kind of people that movies like this were made for.

 

We were watching a movie about a guy, Brian, in New York, who gets attached to a strange brain / creature / parasite named Aylmer. Not like high fashion or hipster or funky New York – this was like dirty seedy New York, the grime of the subways, the slums and cracks in the sidewalks. The city filled with tired people, the poor people, the struggling people… and the brain parasites.  

So, basically, our parasite pal, Aylmer, gets Brian hooked on his blue juice, which is a pretty intense hallucinogen, and Brian then has to keep Aylmer supplied with fresh brains in order to keep getting his fix. A pretty obvious metaphor for drugs and addiction, but told in this way, in Frank Henenlotter’s particular style of gore and humor – it’s just brilliant – and you can’t help but feel like the little pusher-parasite is the hero of the story –  

We loved every minute of it – the fights, the electric hallucinations, the blood, the sexual innuendos, the Slayer poster in Brian’s room… sometimes it’s those little things you notice that make the whole movie just a little bigger.

Then in one of those scenes that you see and you just get all over the top excited and jump up off the couch pointing at the TV screen going “Yeah!” (I know – I’m a geek…)  We see our old friend Duane! Duane, as you may remember, is the young man with the creature in his basket from Henenlotter’s 1982 smash hit – Basket Case. Played with style and grace by Kevin Van Hentenryck (see also Basket Case 2 and Basket Case 3…). Here, however, he is just “Man with Basket”. We were so, may I say “retardedly”, overjoyed by seeing Mister Basket Case and Mister Brain Damage on the same subway, that we almost spilled our drinks.

That’s a moment I adore. That’s a moment that I will always remember, and regardless if I’m watching some epic motion picture, some hipster indie flick, or some Oscar wanting slice of life, the level of my enthusiasm and appreciation will always be measured up against that one scene where our guy with a hallucinogenic brain eating parasite meets a man with a monster in a basket on the subway. 

The viewing of this film was sort of, if I may stretch out some semblance of a metaphor all plastic man style, kinda like listening to Soft Cell’s Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret if it had been written by Trent Reznor after he drank some cough syrup and listened to “Nail” by Foetus. (I can’t help it – I kind of compare everything to music, somehow… ) 

That excitement seems to be harder to come by in movies as I get older – and sometimes I can’t tell if it’s because I’m a little more jaded, or if there’s just a lot more crap being filmed – and it’s the same with music – but I still hope, I still want, I still need to have those truly unexplainable moments of joy that hit me in moments of cinematic viewing, and here’s to many more in the films I have yet to see.  

Then, kind of coincidentally in between bouts of writing this little entry, Shelley and I are at a store looking at some cheap discount horror DVD’s – and we both spy a title on the shelf, simultaneously we both shout out “It’s Alive!” and grab the box –  Sold! 

So I’m looking forward to another nice retarded moment of horror movie joy in the very near future. 

-m

(images lifted with sincere apologies from

Decapitated Zombie Vampire Bloodbath )