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.
mochaLouder 