BBQ BLUNDERS

Sundays are the best BBQ day. Well, any day is really. But there's something great about hanging with some of your closest pals and just drinkin', snackin' and eating all day long. And it seems, this happens more frequently on a Sunday. Of course, this past Sunday I didn't have the joy of that. Instead I was counting...and adding. And filling out lovely sweet tax forms. But done...over...complete!! Aaaahhhh!!! But still, take a look at the first Travel Bits album...it's a lil' Shadowscene hidden treasure. Click the photo for more!

Speaking of hidden treasures, today is the first offical afternoon of the URB Scavenger hunt. You get to win tickets to COACHELLA!!! More details to come...but maybe you should start with a visit to URB.com.

CARRY IT ALL
Here's the rad video for the week. This is one of my all time favorite videos. It's amazing. They're amazing. Adorable in fact. Check it:

THE SUN
"Carry It All"

HOLLYWOOD SNOW
Whoops...someone lit a match, in the hills. And set half of Burbank on fire...
Today I went out and started walking down the street for lunch when I saw flames across the street. Hmm, interesting. Next, ashes were landing in my lunch and frosting my hair. Yummy. Then the damn sky turned bright orange and gray and now total white out from all the smoke. The craziest part is that it's completely moved to the other side of the hill, which happens to be my backyard. Good times! There goes the Hollywood sign, and my damn hiking trail!

Photo contributions by Dirty Dave & Mitra and The LA TIMES.

SLEEPWALK BOT
I did not do drugs, I did not have much to drink and I did not pass GO. However, I did apparently end up outside on the sidewalk in my pj's last night at 4:30am calling my cat's name. I remember Pickles running all over me while I was sleeping...then I remember a cat howling. Next I remember waking up outside under a tree looking for my cat. The thing is, he's done this before, the whole 'somehow manage to get outside in the middle of the night and howl like a madman.' So, subconsciously I guess I thought it was him. Needless to say, I went back upstairs and both of my cats were staring at me. Dummys.
But sleepwalking 'eh. That's a new one for me. Which isn't technically the best thing when you consider the fact that I live in Los Angeles in the heart of Hollywood. Ouch. However, maybe I could manage this to my advantage, sort of a workout in my sleep sort of deal. The Sleepwalker's Workout. I could wake up being all svelte and stuff. But yeah, I still don't know about that. No more sleepwalking for me please.

GLUM MONDAY
I've never written a glum blog. But I'm glum and it's gloomy. I hate being glum, even when there's lots of greatness going around. Yesterday I bbq'd and got a great sunburn. Ouch. I somehow forgot to put the sunblock on my back which makes it pretty rough to sleep at night. It's hot, it's cold, it's sensitive. Pffft! But yesterday, I was also contacted by a lovely editor in Egypt who will be using some of my photos for a fashion spread in some big Cairo Magazine. Sweetness. Plus, Playboy and Jane will be putting photos from SXSW up on their sites...stay tuned for that feast! And, I was asked today to shoot the STREET style for Nylon. Pretty fantastic. Get out your fashionable funk so I can take photos of you!! But regardless, I need to get out of gloomdom and pep up. My coffee isn't working. I wish it would just rain already and get it over with. Sheesh. Oh...BOA tonight, GET FAMOUS and apparently win $50. Nice deal 'eh! And tomorrow, it's the Deadly Syndrome at Boardners and DATA ROCK at Check Yo'. Wheee.

HOLLYWOOD HUMORINGS
So last night, I really wanted to go to see Cheeseburger, but my car's a piece of crap right now and I was sitting at home when Cuso called to see if I was going anywhere. So, I ended up going to Teddy's...yeah. Oh boy. I've never gone to Teddy's just because, well it's super LA...super hoite toite or whatever. But I went for lack of anything else to do and at least I could hang with some friends. And oh...the amusing fun it was! First off, I ended up running in to Cisco again when I heard someone yelling "Airport!!" at me. Seeing how we saw each other about 10 times on the way home from SXSW, my nickname is now apparently 'Airport'. Next, while sipping on my $13 cocktail, which fortunately I didn't pay for, Amy Winehouse walks by and I chat with her for a second. Next thing I know, some girl brushes by her and says her music sucks. And damn, Winehouse smashed the broad on the head!! I really thought chaos was about to break out but someone got the madness under control and Winehouse got to stay and play. Next, Kaps showed up with my friend Jana and then a second cocktail was in session, especially after I discovered another chap was practically my high school neighbor back in Boston. Dang! Now it's getting really good....the place is packed...people are tipsy and Holmes is spinning. I go to a separate patio and have a bunch of people I know run up to me asking me if I 'got in.' I'm confused until I realize being at Teddy's and getting in to Teddy's is a Hollywood 'big deal'. I go back inside with my fancy invisible hand stamp. I've now moved onto third cocktail and am running into a bunch of friends I haven't seen in a while. Next, I notice a guy who really thinks he must be Jason Biggs, he looks like him and even takes it to the next level of dressing like him. I point it out to Kaps and he agrees. But 30mins later we're still baffled by this guy. Maybe it is Biggs? I sit down next to him to find out. 2 minutes later he introduces himself as Jason. Damn it! It is Biggs...and this whole time we'd be mocking him as a poser, of himself. But the best part is he was hamming it up with Eva Longoria. Weird. I chat with Maria and Cisco tells me I'm the DJ's muse. I don't know what to say to him. Next I notice the dude from American Pie who gets it on with Stiflers Mom. This is hilarious because I can only picture him on the toilet. Biggs is drunk and I'm trying not to laugh and then all of a sudden, he sneaks out through the crowd with Eva. Yep...Biggs and Longoria off together. See how long it takes for that to make it US Weekly. Ouch.
The rest of the night was pretty entertaining, fancy fashion and pricey drinks. Chandeliers and dungeon decor. I headed out early and walked what I guessed to be about 10 blocks home...needless to say it was more like 75. I treated myself to some 3am french toast and passed out before my head even hit the pillow. That was enough Hollywood for me.

CHEESEBURGER and SKATEBOARDS
If you're in LOS ANGELES...go to this tonight!!

Friday, March 23rd
SURPRISE GUEST BAND
400 Blows
Cheeseburger
ADDITIONAL SURPRISE GUEST BAND
@1269 E. 6th Street (A.K.A. Dave Young's Warehouse)
Los Angeles, CA.
FREE ADMISSION
DONATIONS FOR BANDS ENCOURAGED

Cheeseburger "Tiger"

IT'S FRIIIDAY!
Yep yipper. I'm finally all rested up from last weeks chaos and ready to start things up again here in Los Angeles. April is already getting jammed up with amazing events and hooray because it feels like summer! Today I had the joy of receiving a goodie. The guys got me a robot lamp.....(a robot lamp!) for my dark cave of a desk area and this thing is sooo damn cool. It's kind of ridiculous. It pretty much takes the cake. Icing and all. Other than that, I walked out to get a sandwich...and decided to take the get-a-long gang for a walk. However, the walk turned out to be 2 miles...hot damn that sub shop was far! But sooo worth it. Yummy banana pickles make my world go 'round. Tonight...well who knows what's up. But tommorrow it's an afternoon with WhiteStarr in Malibu. Oh the adventure!

BOT-TASTIC!
So on my way back from Austin, I was a couple cocktails deep and a bit chatty...and came to realize the gentlemen sitting in front of me was reading an article entitled, "20 Things You Didn't Know About Robots". Yeah...you can only guess how excited I was. And the best part was everyone on the plane was looking at me like the biggest nutbag. Regardless, I immediately went to the airport magazine stand and paid triple the price for this magazine called DISCOVER. I honestly think I sunk to a new level of nerd brain at this point. Because now, a couple of days later I'm flipping through this magazine and realizing just how interesting, in a scientific sort of way, it is. The entire thing is about autism, brains, dog language, mathematics in other dimensions, Earths twin planet and growing new limbs. Wow. The good thing is, it's sort of nice to see something like this considering I live and work in such a heavily artistic and entertainment focused environment, the realm of science only rarely pops in. Except of course...when it somes to my absurd fascination with bots!!! So...last page and there you have it, '2o Things You Didn't Know...' And here are my top three favorites:
1) Apparently, in 5th century B.C., a pal of Plato's created a mechanical bird driven by a jet of steam which is arguably the world's very first robot. Hi, that's B.C.
2) Futuristic love fashion...no strings attached. The robotic expert Henrik Christensen predicts humans will be having sex with robots within four years. Wow, talk about scheduled maintenance.
3) And finally, everyone needs a winebot. Imagine him on picnics!! This little guy, built in Japan, can ID any type of cheese and hundreds of different wines. But keep your fingers away; he once mistook a reporter's hand for a piece of pepper jack.
Three Cheers!

AUSTIN MAYHEM
There's so much to even break down when trying to explain what felt like two months crushed into 6 days. Austin was amazing...non stop fun with sleepless nights and daytime adventures. Our week started with a 25 hour road trip...which we had planned on breaking in half, but instead, went straight through the night. Ouch. But somehow, by the time our crew landed on the doorsteps of the Oh No! Oh My! house, we were good to go. Those 1o minute naps along the way had successfully added up. We played hours of Wiii before passing out in masses on the floor and couches. And then, it was Wednesday morning and we were off, awakening to what wouldn't cease until the following Tuesday. Eeek!
More or less, I spent my week touring around with Scanners, Oh No! Oh My!, The Deadly Syndrome and Pony Up. Most of the crew all crashed together in the same house so within a day we were one big happy family. Up by nine, to sleep by six...drinking by noon. And now to follow, a rundown of Austin SXSW highlights...because otherwise, I could fill up this entire site, and besides, that's what the photos are for.
Monday: Driving, driving, driving.
Tuesday: Driving, driving, Wiii.
Wednesday: Scanners play Convention Center, drinks at noon. Prep for the DIM MAK and TBA showcase party, eat sandwiches...ensue partying. Get free schwag, get free drinks, photo marathon...shots at midnight for DSO's birthday. Shots at 12:05. Clamor into the van and head to the ONOM house at 2:30. No sleep til 4am.
Thursday: Head to Hank Sinatra's house with ONOM for their show. Drink 40's and eat free BBQ with absolutely amazing barbeque sauce. Absolutely. Hot heat, goats, roosters and chickens, cats chasing field mice. Tacos and junkyard soundstages. Port a pottys and wooden swingsets. Get 2 free cases of 40's and head to the NYLON/DIESEL party where all 4 bands play again. Free ice cream and vodka. More free schwag. Lots of stickers and jumping around and two free handle of Vodka. Group split up...I rest for an hour and then recharge myself for the Playboy party. Playboy party = Whitestarr madness, plush pillows, free anything and everything, Bloc Party, Ghostland Observatory, Illinois, more BBQ, playboy bunnies, Rascal Flatts attacks, last minute shots of jagger at 3am and ends with knocked over dumpsters and a man with a rifle chasing us down the street. Home to the ONOM house for additional 40's and tamales.
Friday: Sleep 3 hours and rush to the Jane Magazine party. Sit on rooftop for 3 hours with ONOM and Pony Up. Bloodcat Love stumbles in...stumbles out. Love them for their cheeriness. ONOM play another amazing show. I leave and head to the Pig with Deadly Syndrome for another show. Charley and I eat horrible pizza. Drink fantastic beer. Scanners and Pony Up are amazing. Boys on E make out in the corner and then play kick the can. Har Mar degrades the college boy audience, then flings his sweat on them. We all go home...for more 40's on the porch.
Saturday: Roll out of bed, brush my teeth. Jump in the tour van and go straight to the URB/PUMA party at Beauty Bar. Tom and I eat breakfast. Dave and Anne Lee show up full of giggles. Hearts. I leave and go to the Flaunt Party and have a frosty mango punch drink. Then I have an ice cream. Free. Back to Beauty Bar for the Scanners show...too good. Port-a-pottys tip over and the street is flooded in blue. I photograph the Scanners television interview under a tree. Back to the house for a nap. And off to the VICE party.
And this is the real cap off for the entire week. Against Me lose their shit at the VICE show...bottles are busted, flags are disabled, shirts are torn off, and the building collapses. Yes...no more rooftop patio and west side wing. That Elk's club is demolished due to I don't really know what. I take a rock from the rubble....and then eat 4am treats with Scanners. And this is the end of SXSW. I'm still awake...and eager for more.

CONTRIBUTIONS
I love feedback...and funnies. And this is both. Thanks to you...(you know who you are) for sending in this lovely photo observation. I love look a likes...they kind of freak me out! And yes, contributions are highly welcome...especially if they make me giggle. Hoo Ha!
On a sidebar note...The Deadly Syndrome play tonight!! Head over to El Cid if you're in LA and catch these guys before they head off to Austin! Maybe you can cuddle with a ghost while you're there. This is my last weekend in Los Angeles before heading off to Austin for shindigs and shenanigans. The list of parties, store events, bbqs, and shows is growing to the point where I think I can just make a quilt out of flyers...or maybe the world's largest slip n' slide. Beware paper cuts. But really, talk about information overload!! For certain, I will be at a couple of showcases, the NY2LON party, PUMA event at Beauty Bar, JANE Magazine party and Playboy C3 event. And that's just the batter of the batch. Plus, we'll be giving out fun stickers and the latest Shadowscene button...Austin edition!! I'm gonna say it again. HOO-HA!

KNOW YOUR BEAVER
Did you know...that beavers were once the size of the average US Black Bear? I mean seriously, have you seen the teeth and claws of a beaver...I think it would be considerably more terrifying to run into a 10 foot beaver than just a regular Black Bear.
And furthermore, I'm just realizing that the beaver is considered a rodent. Great, so once upon a time there were rodents standing on two feet who could pummel me in an instant. I guess you lovely ladies standing on tabletops in your skirts and heels couldn't really get away from that nasty lil' bugger. The good thing is they have horrible vision, so they probably couldn't see you so well, but they'd still sniff you out. And maybe even try to drag you to their self--made landscape and community for decoration. Can you imagine running into that 10 foot tall beavers' dam? Damn.

Oh...and you've got to love those random google finds...

TOILET TEE STROBE
So...last night was yet another Check Yo'...and even though one of the bands got somehow caught up on the border and had some kind of issues with their Visas...well, Lo-Fi FNK still made it over and put on a great show. An interesting performance as well, with just a single strobe light. Just one. No house lights. Utter darkness with a single 1987 strobe light, non colored, allowing for a systematic sheer periodic light blast. Ouch.
I couldn't really tell if I was moving, the floor was moving, the kid standing next to me was pushing me, or maybe I just fell down? *Note: Don't stare directly into a strobe light. Other than that, I was thoroughly entertained by someone who shall remain anonymous for sharing with me the story of:
- having a full cranberry vodka cocktail spilled on his "nice white fluffy shirt"
- not knowing immediately what to do other than run to the bathroom
- encountering a full bathroom so hurrying into a stall
- removing shirt
- dipping shirt...into toilet
- cleaning the cranberry juice off the "nice fluffy white shirt"
- wringing out the shirt
- putting the shirt back on, followed by a jacket to top it off
- zipping jacket all the way up over his crisp white, now nappy, wet shirt.

The rest of the evening continued and by the end of the night, I kid you not, this guys shirt was dry, clean...and fluffy. Three cheers for innovation!!!

F-u-C-K
I love history lessons! Turn it up...and listen, 'ehem, watch proudly:

SARCASTIC TEASINGS
Bigley likes to smack me on the head and yell "McFly!" I am starting to get sick of my coffee. Ho-Ho gets drunk on free drinks and then asks why. We tell him...'the how is they why'. Yeah. Late night drinks make you crave early morning treats. Somebody doesn't want a cupcake. They'd prefer hot and steamy. Taters? Precious. When really drunk, try saying 'Sexy Steaks, Savory Snakes..." and see just how cracked up you are.
Last night, I slept. Barely.
Lady LA leaves for Argentina today. Mmmm nice. I head to Austin in six. Long nights, hot daze, skinned knees and boo-boos. Skate parks and tumbleweeds, here we come. It's time to ride 'em dirty.

GO NINJA, GO!
So......it's yet again another incredible Monday. And I'm sooooo excited! I just discovered the East Coast dog and deli down the street...and it's amazing. I walked inside and felt like I was in Martha's Vineyard or something. Yum Yum delicious fun. This past week was completely crazy, filled with non stop laughter, comic creations, superhero animations, and weekend movies. Go see ZODIAC if you haven't already. Holy dang, such a great film! This month is crazy good for this stuff...and especially the fact that TMNT comes out in a couple of weeks! Oh man...I can't wait! I'm totally sneaking a full size pizza into the theater somehow just for kicks. And I can only imagine the hundreds of folks in costume for this..at least, there better be! Ah...and here's a novelty tribute for you:

WOLVERINES PIE
Wow. wow. Seriously. Last night was the long awaited dual CD release party for Los Angeles' The Little Wolverines and Piebald. PIEBALD! Needless to say, the night was absolutely kick ass. Both bands are amazing...and the crowd was pretty stellar as well. Best of all were all the new fresh merch goodies I was adorned with from those lovely Wolverines for shooting pretty much what I love already. And I got to meet Curtis' dad and talk about ear plugs and a young Curtis. Too cute. For a while. I was running around photographing and next thing I know, hair is whipping around, stickers are being stuck, someone's being 'that guy', there's a photoshoot in a dark bathroom, more Hefe's, lots of Jager shots for Anderson and DSO, more hair whipping and head swirling, a good variety of friendly thumbs ups, screaming Boston antics, bent over laughter, ass slappings and an eventual high-five before heading to the afterparty.
I then got myself over to BOA by 1am for the tail end of what was a crazy night. Champagne was spraying everywhere, blunts in the back, makeouts in the front, the biggest crowd GET FAMOUS has had to boot...plus E from Entourage ended up making an appearance and Kamikaze shots were in abundance. Bigley was excited. By the time I left, I think I looked as if I'd crawled through a whirlwind tunnel laughing the entire way through, oh...and I somehow ended up with a shot glass in my back pocket. Don't...know...where...that...came from... Oops.
The Little Wolverines Photo courtesy of the amazing Day19

OH YEAH! OH MY!
So this weekend was pretty fantastic...a couple of shoots and a lot of Wiiii. Oh No! Oh My! are in town through the week and they played an amazing show on Saturday with The Deadly Syndrome and Adrian Grenier's band at The Echo. And man, was it awesome...even better was the fact that the shows stared at 7pm which means everyone was pretty blitzed by 10pm. Orlando Bloom was hanging out, supporting Adrian's show, and both were pretty cool about sticking around, schmoozing and watching the second band. Adrian sipped his Pale Ale...and was tipsier than I've ever seen him...so much so, he insisted on me going to his after party at his house. I declined, seeing how it may have been a bit of a surprise if I showed up with 20 dudes...and maybe 2 chicks. We headed out from The Echo and moved on to The Brite Spot for what felt like a 2am late night dinner...but it was barely 11pm. And from there...off to Jesse from The Deadly Syndrome's house for a fireplace afterparty.
Sunday...we all got together again and had a poker tournament during The Oscars, which I pretty much never watch. But this year was an exception seeing how there was a pool involved, which I lost, and lots of drink and snack...and about 6 hours of poker. Plus, endless amounts of Wii bowling and tennis which I've decided is pretty hilarious whether you're playing or just observing. Talk about painful tennis elbow the next day. Gotta love that Wii!! Tonight's the LITTLE WOLVERINES CD Release Party with PIEBALD...super amazing!! Check out the flyer for more info and I better see you there!!

EVERYONE'S ASKING!!
And everyone wants to know...where the heck are those gold toilet booth pictures from Check Yo' Tuesday? Well...here you go. Check out the amazing work by Polite In Public & The Bohemian Society. They cease to amaze me:
Polite In Public - Check Yo' Photos

ONE LINERS and SURPRISES
So last night it was pouring...and I was aching to go out somewhere seeing how the day was full of computer explosions and sour endings. So I hobbled down to Cahuenga with Dirty Dave, Anna and Mancuso. It was sort of refreshing to hang out in a not so crowded venue for once and listen to rock. Mmm. Rock! But the best part was the random one liners that kept keeping me giggly.
First of was the "Smile...it gets better" that was tossed out to Anna as she was walking down the street. I said, maybe he knows you're gonna have a gin and tonic, so therefore, he's right?
Next was Anna after she had her gin and tonic: "One drink and it's the Anna show!" And boy was she right...Anna kept us super entertained for the next couple of hours. And the bestest was the intern, celebrating his birthday. "Tonight's my birthday, I turn 19...well, according to my ID, I turn 23." I cheers'd to that for sure. Sillyness ensued but I bolted out a bit early...headed home to get some more work done.
And then, this mornings' surprise was brilliant...I was sent a you tube video...basically some EXTRA coverage of the whole Spears' shaving her head thing, but with an interview by the lovely Emily of Safari Sam's. Hahaha. Amazing. And the greatest part is that she's in a ton of them...lucky you Emily...getting to commentate on the tattoo and buzz buzz of Britney Spears! Yeah...have at it!

MEAN AS SHIT
This week is draaagging on by. Although, that doesn't mean it hasn't been full of treats and surprises. Monday was pretty terrific. I spent the afternoon running around and then hanging out at the studio with The Deadly Syndrome while they recorded a new track. An amazing new song!! It was quite the rock n' roll time with hot tea, fluffy pillows and a drum line to boot. Some of the recordings are unbelieveable...'mean as shit' as Jesse likes to say. These guys are nutty good. Then I grabbed some dinner, and some new DVD's and watched 'The Descent' with Anderson and the gang. Movie's awesome...until they decided to tack on a second ending which just blew it as far as I'm concerned. But it was worth it just for the spook of the gooey little Orc creatures. Tuesday I got to see Laz which was pretty great and then there was the best photobooth ever at Check Yo'. A booth with toilets...and graffiti walls...and therefore, gnarly antics ensued. The Bohemian Society adorned us with some killer clothes and Polite in Public snapped away. I've never had so much ridiculous fun in an open photobooth...with a gold toilet. Strangely, it was definitely the highlight of my night.
Last night Uffie was in town...rocking out at Social, but I passed. Instead, I wrapped myself up in a blanket and watched movies with Mancuso and a veggie pizza. yum yum. And now, the real chaos begins, three days of Oh No! Oh My! with a bit of TDS...oooh goodies.

BALLS AND TEES, WEEKEND GLEE
Holy camole weekend. There's something sweet about getting out of work early on a Friday that really just enhances the rest of your weekend experience. I had an early dinner with friends on Friday, read some comics and saw Little Ashley's slimey new pets that pretty much scared the crap out of me, especially the way they stared at me through the uncovered glass tank, just waiting to jump out and suction cup their sticky fingers to my face. Ugh! A few hours later I lounged around at Bigley's and then headed to Cha Cha for some Cha-riffic excitement. Ryan Gosling stopped by, so we all sat in the corner wondering if Ms. McAdams would make an appearance as well. She didn't. By the end of the night, I considered taking a lamp home but thought better about it. Then Ally and I bounced down the sidewalk in 1am glee.
Saturday was even better, sushi and fruit berries, LA Girl and Devony, Melrose and lots of coffee. A quick nap, and it was off to shoot in downtown for Blow Up LA! Von Iva, an amazing band from San Francisco, performed and totally killed it! Sooo amazing. At one point we all sat around staring at the now famous photo of Britneys Spears shaved head. Amazing. Simply amazing. From there, the glowsticks and sweatbands took over as well as girls' thongs somehow managing to pop out, or well, their pants seemed to keep falling down and dresses slipped up. A few more photos and I was out the door...and nestled in bed.
Sunday, Sunday Funday! Brunch and driving ranges! I went with Bermonster to hit some balls seeing how it was super warm outside and I needed a hearing break from all the weekend running around and ruckus. The best part was, we ended up with a ton of free balls to hit and then found some tees floating around which we returned and ended up making a few extra bucks. Sweet deal!! I hit golf balls and the course tips me! Later that night, I bumbled around Amoeba with Anderson and found the long awaited "Creepshow 2". I've been dying to add this to my collection!! Oh sooo good. I love that lil' skelly crypt dude.

PLEN, THE ROBOT
Is pretty amazing...how cute is he! Plen...please come hang out with Shadowscene. We need you.

BOOM, BOOM FALL DOWN
Biscuits and triscuits...have you been craving your bits!!!? Friday's Pre-Grammy party and weekend madness left me in a bit of rough shape...so much so that I think I'm finally standing on my own two feet again. Charley, Tom, John and I got silly at the Pre-Grammy party. We were a bit excited about hanging out at the Chaplin stage with Kermie and friends..and also pretty excited about the abundance of free booze. We didn't know what to do other than stock up...and that pretty much explains why it was a night of boom, boom, fall down. I was also thrilled to run into Robert Randolph whom I haven't seen in years since shooting hoops in NYC...and of course my hula-hoop contest buddy Tila Tequila and the lovely Afrobot! Oh fun... The rest of the weekend was bowling, golf, ginger ale sippin', french fry eatin' recooperation mode.
And tonight..back in action at Safari Sam's with ACID GIRLS and SWITCH!! Holy moly magnific! Wear your sweatbands, cuz it's gonna get dirty.

STELLA-RIFFIC BANANAS
Damn today has been hectic...only a few more hours, wait, minutes, until it's time to Check Yo' Ponytail!! It seems this month may be a head spinning time, which is cool with me. But tonight, it's going to be 'riffic. Stellastarr and Monsters are Waiting are performing at Check Yo'...but, there's also some interesting dance mania I'm excited to see. And it's been a few days since I've been super piped up for a good time. So bring the good times on!
Oh...and speaking of interesting...why the hell is this so popular? It completely freaks me out...

BERRY CRUNCHY MONDAY
It's Monday. Blah. Lots o' work. Lots. O'. Work.
There's so much going on in the next two months it's a bit of catch up prep time...or something. I woke up this morning to Bobby Brown's 'My Perogative' which is sort of a great wake up tune. I was kind of hoping that MC Hammer would come up on rotation next...but it didn't. But it was still exciting! Plus, the fact that it was about 85 degrees out when I woke up kind of tricked me into a super happy wake up mood. I was ready to pack up and go play outside. Of course, then I realized it was get busy time. Get busy! So, I've been gettin' busy all day long, sort of. I dawdled out, got my coffee...and then realized the shoppe was out of bagels. Pew. So I ended up with a 'nana muffin. Love those breakfast treats! One time when I was younger, my friend told me I was going to turn into a blueberry muffin. He even wrote this long story about how I did turn in a blueberry muffin. All of course, because I ate two a day. One in the morning and one on the way home in the afternoon. Sometimes if I had enough change scrounged up I'd even be prone to stopping by Blockbuster for a bag of cotton candy (I don't really know what was wrong with me) that would be divided up and finished within thirty paces down the sidewalk. But damn boo-berry muffins were so damn good. If he were hanging out with me now, he'd end up writing a story about how I turn into a goldfish cracker, seeing how that's now the snackage of choice. I guess that's better? Crunchy...or soft and spongey. Eww. I'll go for the crunchy. Happy Crunchy Monday!

SHADY SHENANIGANS
Last night was absolutely insane...I don't know how this happened considering, well, I figured it would just be a quick shoot and hop, skip and a jump over to another show for a chill evening. There was some shooting, lots of it, a bit of jumping, maybe a skip, and a bunch of hops. Here's the rundown:
Anna Girl came with me to the Key Club to check out The Grand Marquee...Shys and Wildbirds. The bands started earlier than expected so we missed a bit, but still got to catch the whole TGM set and a bit of The Wildbirds which was awesome. We somehow got lost in the stairwell at one point and ended up on stage in the middle of The Wildbirds show, but that was pretty rad as well. We finally found our way back out and to Sunset Blvd., watched a homeless dude play a diddy and then swung over to On the Rox. Peter, Bjorn & John were having their afterparty there so it was a definite required pit stop, especially considering it was pretty much right in front of us. We bounced upstairs, had a few drinks and mulled about. I spent most of the night getting the death glare from some chick who had a bit too many martinis and decided I wasn't her friend. So I took her picture. Twice. I then continued to hang out with Holmes and Adam 12 for a bit, heard some amazing Bostonian stories from Eric, ran into Bradley, possibly had another drink, and played pass the hat with my lil' knit beanie. At this point Anna and I realized our parking meter was pretty much expired. We had a few minutes to dash over and fill it up but we decided to bite the bullet and hoped for some good karma instead. PB&J did some DJ'ing and then we were off! And holy crap...no ticket on the car! Of course, the night didn't end there. We then headed over to some lovely crib in the hills to hang out with all the bands and rad folks from the Key Club show. And oh the excitement! Ping pong tables! A Gino dressed all in white looking daper. A dog named Milo. More Coronas. Lovelies dancing to rock n' roll. And then...I got hungry. And Anna Girl got the craving for some burrito as well...so after a few more shenanigans and ping pong balls flying past my head, we scooted over to the taco stand. For a delicious 3am breakfast burrito with all the fix'ns. Sometime after that I clambered into sleepville...exhausted and weak limbed, smokey and foggy ill brained.

TWEENER, TWEEKERS & TOWS
So I've actually been following the news a bit more lately, something I rarely do since I don't have television and rely on conversations to fill me in, which isn't really the best idea I suppose. And it's amazing some of the things you hear or read on the news, like last week when they took all the guns away from the Tijuana police. Eek...talk about potential for some serious uprising and chaos. The best part is, they ended up arming themselves with slingshots and a bag of ballbearings. Slingshots!! You've got to be kidding me! That's amazing...but this is even crazier. I just wrapped on a "Prison Break" special for FOX and this morning heard on the radio how Lane Garrison, who plays 'Tweener' on the show, was arrested and is being charged with vehicular manslaughter, driving under the influence and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Yikes! The 26 year old crashed his Rover into a tree killing the 17 year old he was with and injuring the two 15 year old girls also along for the ride. That's pretty shoddy. Crappy. No fun. There's a million things I could poke about on here, but I'll just say I hope he took some good notes while sitting on set...or else the next 10 years aren't about to be so pretty.

On a non-media news note, Mokey is getting better, now that he's all poppin' pills and such. Fatty is a happily balanced diabetic. Although, now the car has broken down. And is sitting on the street waiting for a tow and repair. Man oh man, quite the week. Thankfully, tomorrow is Groundhog Day. Thus, tomorrow I'll be funnier. Promise. Go see The Grand Marquee tonight at The Key Club. It's free and all ages!!

'TIS WHAT IT 'TIS
Wednesday was mad. Lots of delirious ramblings and a catch 22. Long discussions on blues and too intense reds. Damn cameras. All because it's a "wiki" some said. Ian found it amusing that I wanted to go to CPK...just for their bread and butter. "That's a prison meal." I decided I could throw in some garbanzo beans too. Yep yep. Then there was Awesometown, where most of us rolled around on the floor like monkeys and piggies. "Pig pile!!" First Presto and Filip, then Johnny Love and Lisa. I tumbled to a knee...some girl tumbled all the way down. Shenanigans. There was lots of silliness and I dig it. I also like to play ball.
Mokey won't stop drinking. He drinks over a big bowl a day. So Thursday I took fat cat to the vet. Diabetes they say. "Again?" I ask. Yes, apparently. Fatty has relapsed into his diabetic nature. Oh good times, a pill twice a day!! Way to go fatty!! No more slim jims for you!
Yesterday was finally warm and I spent all day driving, minus the 40 minutes I spent eating with Creeksta and Mike. Yummy cafe's are delicious!! Driving all day...is not so delicious.
JJ has a big bruise on his arm. From snowboarding. Tis' the season. Creeksta has a little sunburn on his nose. Nice.
Saturday is the return of BLOW UP LA!! This one's seriously going to get nuts...GRAY KID, 8-BIT, GUNS & BOMBS...we're gonna get explosive. Let the games begin.

CAT BOOBY TRAPS
So this is the deal...I'm sick again. But not as worse as before...just a wee bit of a sniffle stuffy cough hiccups kind of cold. Which makes you drowsy. And walk around in silly stupors when sober as vinegar spritzer. The weirdest part is I think my cats get a kick out of my foggy brain days as they like to team up and create booby traps all over my apartment. These consist of rolled up throw carpets creating a mound effect in the middle of the floor, a few dried up leaves carried into the main room and sprinkled about that really sort of freaks you out when you hear a crunchy crackle under foot, and the ever so popular stretched out bedskirt which allows for a tangled foot or toe and then face down plop on the floor (or in a best case scenario wobble to the bed). Thanks cats.
So, lots of sleep and bbq's were the gist of my weekend, besides the Hang the DJ's at Echo on Saturday, which was super rad as usual. But this week..oh boy!! It's Awesometown week which means freak out time..plus it's the return of BLOW UP LA on Saturday and holy crap...we have performances by both The Gray Kid and 8Bit not to mention a slew of DJ's. And double hooray, because by tomorrow I'm going to be super ready for some dance mania drunktastic action.
Today however, has been mostly tea sipping and work and although it's been lacking in adventurous travels, oh boy the sightings::: James did a bit of the Electric slide at work which was entertaining, mostly because I still have no idea how to do it and don't really want to, but it's pretty great to see. Then later, I went to get more tea at the shop and saw the greatest crew of oldsters hangin' out with their coffee mugs for 2 o'clock tea time. The best part was they all had matching mugs with their own photos on it. Wow...now that's commitment. And thirdly, the bulky dressed gentleman who stooped outside my window for a few minutes looking for I don't know what but only coming up with a pebble.
Plus, today the new February Paper Magazine issue came out which is sort of fantastic. Our lovely Silver Lake crew was in the 'Neighborhood' section and it's great because we all look clearly hungover and dazed. Thank god for the pillow Ben and I got to sit on for an hour. And the vitamin water. Thanks Paper Mag...we love you and your fluffy pillows.

THE GRAY KID
Is Amazing. Check more out here: The Gray Kid

FAT CATS!

Everyone knows Mokey, my cat, is a fatty. The poor bugger's been at least 15lbs ever since he was a kitten...and now he's pushing 22. I like to proclaim that it's purely muscle mass, he's just a big boy...but it's typical for someone to see Mokey and just stare, saying "whoa, that cat is huge. That cat is seriously huge." However, it seems someone, other than Garfield, may have him beat. Oh you pesty kitties...plump lil' felines just hungry for a nibble. This is hilarious from the AP News...dang those pet doors!

"Tiffany Noreuil, an animal care technician at the Oregon Humane Society, holds temporarily-named feline Goliath, Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2007, in Portland, Ore. Goliath, a 20-pound stray whose girth got him stuck in a pet door while trying to plunder some dog food, is back with his owner. His name isn't really Goliath, but it's close. It's Hercules, says owner Geoff Ernest, who was reunited with his tubby tabby Thursday at the society. Gresham, Ore., resident Jadwiga Drozdek found the feline stuck in the dog door of her home a few days ago, helped free him and gave him a plate of food on her patio."
(AP Photo/The Oregonian, Benjamin Brink)

SPIN ME ROUND' ROUND'

So...the other day I was randomly flipping through the January issue of Spin Magazine...the Best of 2006 issue...and came across coverage from CMJ in New York. And oh boy...I was looking and said oh hey, there's my friend Banana...and there's Mark. And even Creeksta. And wait, that's me. Ohh boy! Yep..good ole' Shadowscene workin' hard in the front row at the NY2LON party with Oh No! Oh My! Fun fun fun...Thanks, Spin...for sending me round n' round.

LAZY DAZY
I had quite the lazy weekend...with an extra bonus holiday thrown in for kicks...which really just threw me off a bit on what day it was and what the heck I was suppose to be doing. But I did get to run around with friends, play darts on Friday, drink 4 too many brews on Saturday, sleep late on Sunday, drink lots of coffee on Monday and watch a ton of great films. I also lounged under mounds of blankets no matter where I went considering it's colder in LA than in Boston or New York...what the heck is that all about?! Seriously freezing out here! So I embraced the lazy weekend and did just about zero work and basked in a thousand laughs. The closing of my weekend was a recap of Napoleon Dynamite which I haven't seen since it came out. And of course there was Clerks 2 which was just amazing. And the inevitable annual screening of Dazed and Confused...at least twice a year for good measure. I've also decided after my round of lackadaisical behavior and brainless movie watching, we should all own a pair of moon boots...most definitely. Those things are amazing. Let's get 'em! And speaking of shoes...check out Kelly:

MONKEYS & SQUIRRELS
I somehow lost yesterday, I don't really know where it went...but I think I skipped a day, or else two just blended into one. First off, Dirty Dave's bday bash at Awesometown on Wednesday was unbelievable! I've never seen so many people wearing BK hats all at the same time...the madness! Plus, there were tons of guys in the ladies room and ladies in the boys room and who the heck knows what else was going on. There were oversized hats, stacks of hats, belted hats, a kissing frenzy and even a birthday tearing off of the shirt. Oh what a slap happy time! Then...last night was the skater park party at Safari Sams. Lots of young'ns tearing it up on their boards, guys pulling tricks with a beer in one hand, spaceships, the 8-Bit robots, the Wylde Bunch covering freakin' Bobby Brown and tales of squirrels and monkeys. No seriously...one of the best conversations I've ever had with Julie was last night where she attempted to tell me about how Squirrel was trying to hump Monkey all day. All over the apartment, romp, romp, romp. Squirrel, being a bunny, and Monkey being a cat really made this quite interesting to listen to and try to interpret all at once. But trying to visualize the scenario was even worse. A bunny...squirrel..monkey...cat? Whatever will happen next?

WEDNESDAY RAMBLINGS
Bigley bought Odouls for the band last night, Trouble Jr. didn't find it funny. Until he realized there was real beer as well. The Deadly Syndrome were amazing, of course, and a horse is a horse. They wore Emily ski masks and it was pretty damn insane. Especially tongues in eyeholes. There were beer waterfalls and hugs galore. Does anyone say galore anymore? I wish I ate a quesadilla, but my bed hit me first. This morning, I ate apples and cinnamon and still needed a breakfast fix. So I dipped into the pretzels. James sings Fat Bottomed Girls in the morning so we listen to it at work. It's amazing. It's pure genius in fact. Kick drums in the early afternoon. I keep dreaming of bumper stickers. Someone tell me what this means. I think I need another cup of coffee...to make my rockin' world go 'round...with Joan Jett and goldfish crackers.

QUAKER--TIME

OATMEAL LOVIN'
Yesterday was lots of work...lots. And by 11:30pm I called it quits and was about to pass out on that amazing blue couch of mine when Bigley and Mancuso stopped by telling me to get out of my "bot cave". So...I did. And off we walked, across the street, to the cafe for some midnight snackage. Oatmeal for me. With yummy brown sugar and raisins and some bronzed banana thing. This has been my random midnight snackaroo since I was a tot. Except then it was just a bit of sugar on the top and last night I had all the fixin's. But apparently...not as many as this guy...check out this crazy poem by Stephen Dobyns:

Oatmeal Deluxe

This morning, because the snow swirled deep
around my house, I made oatmeal for breakfast.
At first it was runny so I added more oatmeal,
then it grew too thick so I added water.
Soon I had a lot of oatmeal. The radio
was playing Spanish music and I became
passionate: soon I had four pots of oatmeal.
I put them aside and started a new batch.
Soon I had eight pots. When the oatmeal cooled,
I began to roll it with my hands, making
small shapes: pigs and souvenir ashtrays. Then
I made a foot, then another, then a leg. Soon
I'd made a woman out of oatmeal with freckles
and a cute nose and hair made from brown sugar
and naked except for a necklace of raisins.
She was five feet long and when she grew harder
I could move her arms and legs without them
falling off. But I didn't touch her much -
she lay on the table - sometimes I'd touch her
with a spoon, sometimes I'd lick her in places
it wouldn't show. She looks like you, although
your hair is darker, but the smile is like yours,
and the eyes, although hers are closed. You say:
But what has this to do with me? And I should say:
I want to make more women out of Cream of Wheat.
But enough of such fantasy. You ask me
why I don't love you, why you can't
live with me. What can I tell you? If I
can make a woman out of oatmeal, my friend,
what trouble could I make for you, a woman?


Thanks, Stephen!! But I think I'll stick to my little cup of oats.

PIRATE PLEASURES
Another weekend come and gone...and what a fuzzy blur it was. Too many antics to remember and lots of naps on the blue couch in between sets of said 'antics.' Friday night I went to the Short Stop for the PUMA New Year kick-off party where Lazaro Casanova had his first DJ set in Los Angeles and teamed up with Flosstradamus and Franki Chan. The best was wandering around in the early portion of the night with Travis after our shots of Goldschlager which I haven't had in a looong time. It seemed everything was amusing to us for a few hours until our minds were too faded to make sense of anything at all.
And then...Saturday...amazing!!! I went to the Wiltern to shoot the My Morning Jacket show. It was super fantastic, talk about putting on a show. I had no idea how great they were. Plus I had my favorite run-ins with Luke, Mark and Airin. It seems it's a guaranteed bonus that they are at the Wiltern for any rad show. From there, it was off to the long awaited Pirate Party for Anne Lee and Dirty Dave. I don't think there was a single person there with less than five drinks in them...considering the girl who passed out in a booth and one who hurled three times on the carpet. Apparently the 4 month old venue wasn't too proud. I wonder how they felt about the frosting drippings from the cake. Or the wax that spilled everywhere from lovely Birch dancing with a candle on his head. Not to mention someone sitting on their "antique chest." And the running around of over 300 people in costume with toy parrots and eye patches, plastic swords and bandanas. Holy calamity! Oh well...you can't have a pirate bar and not expect shenanigans to get a wee bit rowdy. Aaargh!
(Photo courtesy of Rony)

AMAZING MYSPACE
Ok, so seriously...I've heard more than once from various people about getting those weird messages on myspace, or plugs for adult sites, or invitations to private viewings of photos, or the classic late night 'I really want to get to know you' email. My original favorite was "hey baby, you look hott, wanna smoke a fatty with me?" at about 4 in the morning. But better yet is leaving a treasure like this as a comment..not a private message. And so, here is the greatest comment ever left for me today from the magnificent Rob Gnarley...Thanks Gnarley. You're the best! I haven't stopped laughing since...

Jan 5 2007 2:27P

WHATS GOING ON HOT PANTS? WHY DONT YOU DO YOURSELF A FAVOR AND CHECK OUT MY TUNES? LEMME KNOW IF YOURE FEELIN' ROB'S VIBE, I MAY GET DARK BUT MY MUSIC IS IRE. IT'S ALWAYS 420 ON MY WATCH SO YOU KNOW IT'S GONNA BE A PARTY WHEN I COME THROUGH HOLLYWEIRD ON TOUR. LET'S GET A ROOM AT THE RIOT HOUSE AND GET WEIRD HONEY. I'LL THROW YOU AND ALL YOUR SKINNY NERDY ON PURPOSE FRIENDS ON THE LIST AND YOU CAN WATCH ME POUND CHICKS AND BEERS LIKE METALLICA DID ON THE JUSTICE TOUR IN 89! I'M KINDA LIKE HETFIELD BUT INSTEAD OF A WHITE EXPLORER I CARRY A WHITE BEER BONG! SHIT YEAH BABY! HELL BRING THAT LITTLE CAMERA OF YOURS ALONG AND LETS MAKE A MOVIE! YOU KNOW WHAT I'M SAYING! LET'S GIVE YOU SOMETHING WORTHWHILE TO UPLOAD TO THE NET! MAKE US SOME MONEY AND START A LITTLE ROCK N ROLL NEST BABY! HIT ROB GNARLEY BACK AND LEMME KNOW WHEN YOU WANNA GET THIS PARTY INTO FIFTH GEAR!

NEW YEARS BOOZE SCHMOOZE
Um...whoa...yes. It's now 2007. And the antics of 2006 have ended..or well, simply moved on into the New Year. This was definitely one of my craziest New Years Eves...spent at Little Radio and cruising around in a fully stocked limo all evening. The greatest was the endless amounts of champagne bottles. I'm not even sure how many we eventually polished off, but I do know for the second half of the evening I was passing them out and carrying one around like my own personal 40oz.
The limo ride was ridiculous, especially after Anne managed to uncork the first bottle of champagne and it sprayed the entire interior, complete to filling up someones heel full of foam and fuzzy bubbly, and to then drip-drip off the ceiling until we realized we should maybe clean that up. Ooooh bubbly! Then, off to Little Radio for the AutoLux, Dead Meadows and Bloodcat Love show. Little Radio was packed with only a little room available for a shuffle. I spent a lot of time in the side rooms, snacking on apples and cheese, lounging on bean bag chairs, and then racing around like a rocket. We all had full intention to head down to the Brother Reade show, but all of a sudden it was 4am, and we were passing out, crawling around, collapsing in the limo. And eventually, we all staggered home. Mmmm. We love you Little Radio...and all the pals that made 2006 an absolutely amazing year!!
See all the New Years photos on Shadowscene.com!!

STICKER-IFFIC
Everyone knows stickers are fun...ever since my first scratch n' sniff I've been a huge fan, especially the bubbly stickers, velvet touch stickers and extra large window covering decals. And finally, the first of the Shadowscene stickers arrived last week, so what better thing to do than hand them out at Shadowscene events!! And oh the fun that can be had with stickers...the joy of wondering where to stick this sweet little stickiness. Apparently, anywhere and everywhere...next time, I'm bringing more stickers!!
This week has been short it seems seeing as it falls between two holiday Mooondays...and the best part was it was another Awesometown week!! This week A-town was nuts, packed with a crazy dancefloor. Daniel Ledisko and Chris Holmes had a bit of a DJ off as I would call it, and got the dance action to full blast mania. Talk about a blissful buzz in the air. I didn't do as much photoboothing as I would have liked too, but there was a little appearance by that dude from that show Felicity...you know the one. Well, at least some of you do. Plus, I did get to see the amazing Gray Kid again, and he even demonstrated a trick with his bubble yum. Shake and pop people, shake and pop.
See all the photos from this weeks Awesometown on Shadowscene.com!!

'TIS THE SEASON
For lots of movies, nog, giving and goodies...
Finally, the one day of madness, Christmas, has come and gone, and now we all get to look forward to the New Year...or better yet, New Year's Eve!!! I've spent yet another holiday season in sunny LA, although this year I really missed the East Coast mania. I haven't spent much time at home in the SS headquarters this past week; most of it's been spent working and racing around for last minute nifty nifts, and of course, doggy sitting!! I'm getting my yearly dose of canine by pet sitting for two woofs this week and helping with a third. I think my cats are pissed off. But oh well. Christmas was a hodge podge of greatness, with a amazing brunch and falafel dinner. The most interesting Christmas to date, where all traditions are tossed aside for once. And it was pretty awesome. One of my favorites was over doing the gift wrap...which Joe and I decided to do with bow mania this year...an entire package of bows on one gift...a glorious case of Guiness. Don't try it at home, and I wouldn't recommend it if you want to make your gift look fancy. Too many bows kind of looks like an alien growth on top of your gift box. Hmmm, not so yummy.
Of course, now I can't believe it's already Tuesday and back to Check Yo' and Awesometown time!!! This week Myles from Bloodcat Love is DJ'ing at Awesometown and starting now DJ Paparazzi is our new head resident DJ at Check Yo!!! Sooo rad, so if you're in town, or back in town, or lounging around...I better see your sweet faces soon.

ROBOT RIGHTS!!
Holy crap, I think I woke up today and a bit of the sci-fi dreaming I was having was pulled into reality with me. Yeah, yeah, so I'm a robo-nerd. But apparently, I'm not the only one. The lovely British are in anticipation of developing robot rights...no seriously. This is crazy because not only does it liken a robot more to a human, but it would also give them the same freedoms and rights as humans. Um, freaky. Can anyone say I Robot? I'm all for Johnny 5 and lovely Rosie from the Jetsons...but it's kind of nuts to think of the possibilities if any of these guys are actually finalized into development. I mean naturally, they should be created to be our little buddies, not to run a country. Robo rights! Haha, who knows, maybe someday we'll have the Cyberdyne System's model 101 (T-800) as Governor. Wait...

Read the full story here: Robot Rights!!
(Thanks Honaker!)

F..F..F!!!
It's been a while, and I'm still trying to catch up and recoop from the past weeks activities. Last weekend was the FLAUNT party, FILTER party and Paul FRANK party!!! All open bar...all nothing less than sheer madness. Check all the photos up on Shadowscene.com!! The best was the Paul Frank party where I had my photo taken with a damn camel. The strangest part was that he was pretty damn cute for a camel, what with the hump and funny hair and all. But the poor thing was outside in the rain and fake snow...desert animal? FRANK's party also had free photobooths and Wolfmother performed which was pretty damn awesome. I ran amuck with Dan, Preston and Har Mar and I meant to go sledding, since they had a little snowhill, but ran out of time at the end of the night. So much fun...and the weekend really led up to a week of continued mania.
Tuesday was super amazing at Check Yo' with the long awaited performance by SPANK ROCK! The show was insane...sooo damn good. We also had Brother Reade and Pearl in the same evening. From there, Wednesday was AWESOMETOWN, which is seriously, just awesome. Thomas came out in costume, I'm not really sure why, but it was pretty fantastic...and we sipped on Hefe's all night. The dance action was quite fantastic as well.
After the 10 straight days of madness, I took a couple off from shooting just to hang out at a couple holiday parties, yet again, with lots of free booze. How does this happen to me!? Saturday I went to the Deadly Syndrome Christmas sweater party. Holy hilarity. John and DSO had some great sweaters, which more or less resembled Easter eggs, but they were rad little sweaters nonetheless. It was so funny seeing a ton of people in ridiculous sweaters. I felt like I was in a little holiday gift box, or a gingerbread house wrapped in tinsel. Mmmm Holiday fun. And seriously, no downtime...this madness just keeps on going!

SWEET BREAKFAST
For about two years now, I have been spending my early mornings, or in some cases the early afternoons, at a little coffee shop outside my apartment. Mary's donuts, as I call it, technically Alex's donut...has been amazing. Apparently, they even have the best donuts in LA according to the LA Times. But the other week, I strolled in for my coffee and snack and Mary wandered over and whispered that she was selling the joint. I was baffled. Why? How? My morning routine was shattered. Where was I to get my coffee fix? What was I to do with those extra ten designated minutes. And wait, no more Mary morning conversations!
However, after getting over the realization that things were about to get a little mixed up, I met the new owners, who are just as adorable as my little Mary, and the good news was they decided to keep the shop open for coffee and donuts. And it gets even better!!! I went in this morning and there was a new sign hanging...Breakfast Sandwiches. First of all, this is amazing, because so many mornings, especially after a rough night, I tend to crave that darn breakfast sandwich, and it's soooo out of my way to get one. But not anymore! And the new shop even has muffins! Holy crap...such a great place, and such a sweet breakfast. Check out the Donut Shop...at Franklin and Dix. I'm not sure what the new name will be, but it's still good ole' Mary's to me. Best Breakfast Sandwich in town.

SHADOWSCENE COMICS
Have you checked out the Shadowscene comics lately? Here's one of the latest (Turbo 1.5)...and you can see the rest of them on the SS myspace page in the blog section!! Our newest releases tomorrow so check back for the updates. Plus..more good news...the Shadowscene comic book is planned to come out next year! Yay!!

SOUNDS AND SUNSHINE
Today was awesome, especially since we got a break from the chill and had some sunshine on a Saturday. Speaking of sunshine, tonight is the afterparty for The Sounds with Tommie Sunshine!! This guy is a sick DJ..and the Sounds will be laying down some tracks as well. I love those guys. Check Shadowscene for some photos in the next couple of days. Tonight's going to be insane!!
I also realized that today is December..2nd...and what the hell. Are you kidding me? Because I swear it was just yesterday that it was July 4th and Halloween. Daaamn time flies. I spent my afternoon with Ho Ho eating sushi and mangos, busting jokes and rhymes and worked on some new robo art stuff. And then we had some cranberries and coffee and perused the magazine stand. Oh...and if you catch this month's issue of URB...HOT DAMN...there's a full page photo of MSTRKRFT and JUSTICE by Shadowscene along with a dozen other random party shots. Check it out!! We also caught an article of our friend Matty who has been doing some rad shit. So grab this issue, it's pretty awesome. Other than that, I think it's time to bust out the dreidels and mistletoe. Maybe hang some lights. But tonight, it's hang the dj's!

THE SADDEST...HAPPIEST GIFTS
So this is hilarious, I was nearly in tears today checking these out online. I don't know if this would be a good or a bad gift..but if you know me, you just may get one for the holidays. The boyfriend/girlfriend pillow. What a deal! They've honestly thought of everything at this point. Even if you don't find the concept funny, the website alone is plenty humorous: Pillow Interview
Bermonster and I were chatting about it online and trying to think of just how these could be improved; possibly a fuzzy chest pillow, silky thigh, hourly gas passing, tummy growling...oh the possibilities are endless. Comedy at it's best this season. Boy oh boy oh boy. It's cuddle time!

CRAZY SILLY ACTION
So this week I had my photo shoot for PAPER Magazine. An upcoming issue is featuring a few of us West Coast eastsiders. And hooray! I was included with a really rad grouping of people, including Leyla from HeartsChallenger...the wonderful ice cream, musical sparkling gal. Yummy treats. We also had Franki Chan, Brooke from White Trash Charms, the owner of the Cha-Cha (love that place!!!) and a ton of other cool folk. Then, I got to listen to Anne Lee and Joe on Little Radio. Apparently Joe stopped by and dropped a few jokes on the air. And I requested only a dozen jams. Hilarious! Finally, it was naptime, followed by snack time and then off to Check Yo' for an amazing show by The Gray Kid and some dance action with Guns N Bombs. Sooo rad. Both performances completely blew my mind. The funniest part of the evening was when a dude grabbed me and said I had to take someone's picture, that it was a great photo opportunity. Then he asked if I liked rock stars. I tried not to laugh. And for a while, as he introduced me to his friend, I went along with the fact that they were pretending he was the guitarist from The Strokes. Needless to say, I pulled the chain pretty quick when I realized it was The Shys...being I guess a bit bashful? Drunken rock stars...pretending to be other rock stars..what? Huh? Oh well, it left me with a few giggles.
But of course, it appears I'm a bit stretched thin and decided to take today to chill, especially since I'm pretty much suffering from borderline strep throat, if there is such a thing as borderline. Oh well, all good things must have rest periods, or something. Ech. Someone bring me tea. Or ale, with ginger. Please.

GOBBLE GIBLIT DRIBBLE
Mmmm...what a week. A week that seemed to feel like only two really long days. Lots of taters and pie, movies and drinks, festivities and sleep. I took the last week to really catch up on things and set some things in motion for next year. All fun!!
Thanksgiving was great, fifteen people stretched out across a long table eating and passing a bottle of tequila along in a series of rounds. I'm not sure if it was the tryptophan or Jose Cuervo but we all passed out about 20 minutes after the big din-din. Who's to say? But it was amazing nonetheless. The best part was that instead of bringing food to the party, I brought my microwave...and a few cases of beer. Nothing funnier than lugging a huge ass microwave down the street for Thanksgiving. Three cheers for innovation!
The rest of my long weekend consisted of lots of naps, numerous brunches, The Burbs and attempts at making apple pies. I got to spend time with a lot of people I haven't seen in a while which was awesome and even managed to hang out in my apartment for more than the usual 4 hours a day. Now, it's back to craziness, with three killer nights back to back!
If you're in LA, check out BOA tonight for a Thanksgiving family-style DJ showcase rock out session with free Svedka. Magic words...my open bar.

WEEKEND RECAP, NIGHTCAP
What a weekend...after all the chaos of losing the wallet and losing lots of sleep last week, I decided to embrace the weekend with minimal work. Friday I checked out the last Deadly Syndrome show for a while. And it was awesome!! The whole Jackass gang stopped by to support all of the Syndromicus-ness. And stuff. From there, we headed to the BFH for some old school metal rock out before walking to Thomas' where the first house party was already in full gear. I busted out the Shadowscene mix to get the dance floor started and quickly traded my Miller Light for a Sparks with the Bermonster. It was an awesome night, full of broken beer bottles, doggies, rock out sessions and couch sitting. Oh yeah, and stumbling, yes stumbling home.
Saturday was another adventure! Sleeping, sushi, meetings and then a last minute call to rescue Tom and Charley out in Malibu where their radiator exploded. Oh pew. But I did get to sip on a Dew Big Slam which I probably haven't done since high school. Yum. From there it was dropping folks off, quick nap and off to The Echo for Hang the DJ's. I photographed away at all the silly antics and then stole Chan's drink and shared it with Trouble Jr. (shhhh). You know whats nuts is that The Echo has hidden cameras and records everything. It was pretty insane. Mancuso was followed by one of the security dudes just for urinating in a stall. Damn. The night ended quickly and with a quesadilla.
Sunday was definitely a lazy day. Creeksta tempted me into a beachy afternoon and we stopped for a mangorita brunch with Shalanna and Bboy followed by a cruise out to Zuma beach. They swam in the ice water and I wrote a short story. yay! We watched the sunset in fragments and then stopped at Dudes, Dales, Dukes...something like that, for a snack on the way home. Snackaroos are great before an hour long drive...seriously. At that point, I decided maybe a little work should be done. I cracked down on the Shadowscene frontier while the others made their way to Howl at the Moon. Damn. And tonight...oh boy...it's The Rapture and The Presets in Hollywood...with an afterparty at Starshoes. Talk about dance mania.

FINDERS KEEPERS
So here's the closure on the missing wallet. This is fantastic. So Wednesday sort of sucked just because I was at a loss of money, ID's and more, but Thursday I moved on, got a new license and closed out any sort of accounts that may have been foiled with. I kissed that moolah goodbye and case closed. But then, Thursday night I get home and check the mail, and alas, a mysterious little plump white envelope is in my mailbox. No return address, skewed writing and two little stamps...postmarked in my own neighborhood. Huh? I open it and surprise!!! My ID, debit card and Arclight member card. What the...? Of course, no money and no Barcelona wallet. But first of all, it really threw me for a loop. Because at this point I'd already moved on and had no need for these materials anymore. Secondly, who bothers to even send these things if you're gonna steal the rest of the stuff? Guilty conscience, anyone? Maybe they just felt like doing the right thing?
Regardless, I now have some lovely duplicates and I do feel better knowing they are not just floating around Hollywood. I was sort of bummed they didn't include a note. Maybe I'll get a holiday card seeing how they know my address...that would be kind of rad. But I guess I'll stamp this one case closed. And now, the ancient question of what to do when you find a wallet with cash on the sidewalk (or parking lot...or taco stand window) has been answered. Simple! You keep the cashola, maybe keep the wallet if you dig it, and then send the cards back in a blank envelope. It's a done deal.

Tidbit: Oh...and don't dress up as a burglar for Halloween...apparently, this plan will somehow backfire.

LOSING IT
So...yay. Good times this morning when I awoke and realized my wallet was gone. Hooray! lost wallet! But the ultimate kicker of this was last night I was carrying a lot of cash, which if you know me, you know I pretty much never carry or have cash. But for random reasons I did, and I even left it in my car for most of the day and night. But, on my way home from Check Yo' I stuffed that wad of cash right into the wallet and made a quick stop at the Cactus. And poof. Vanished!! Aaaargh! And to think, it could have been a lost empty wallet. But rather, it was probably the fullest wallet I've ever had. Gone.
So, needless to say, today is sad. I'm missing my little Barcelona red knitted wallet full of a months hard earned savings! As soon as I realized it was missing I ran out, jumped in my car and drove back to the burrito stand. The little chiquita at the Cactus this morning who was sweeping the parking lot said she hadn't seen it. But maybe someone will...
That poor pouch traveled far, only to end up in a greasy parking lot at 2am in dark alley gutter punk central. I'll give you lots of cookies and goodies if you find it. Even the empty wallet would be sweet, as it's got lots of sentimental value. But even so, it looks as if I'll be spending an afternoon at the DMV to get a new license. I love Los Angeles...the only place I know where I need to make an appointment to visit the licensing clerk. And with my luck lately, I'll be pulled over for not coming to a complete stop on my way to the motor vehicle office.


:( pew.

Sooooo Kooool
Tonight it's the long awaited show at Check Yo' of Kool Keith...Dr. freakin' Octagon!!! I have to say, the entire past month has been ridiculous for Check Yo' Ponytail with MSTRKRFT, Justice, The Horrors, Totally Radd and now this. Amazing. Plus, we received a bit more press in SPIN Magazine too...check it out!! And in other news, the Hear Gallery is relocating, which means there's a bit of a hold on the radtastic underground sub-culture dwelling we all loved so much. But...that also means there's some new stuff in store. While the crew was running amuck in New York, we decided to coin our lovely hotel room "Awesometown". And it truly was awesome; the crash pad for many vodka chugging, freshly tattooed, laptop lipstick lovers. Thankfully Thomas declared himself Mayor of Awesometown, although that didn't really keep things any more under wraps or in any sense of order. But maybe that was the point....hmm. Regardless, what I'm saying here, is that "Awesometown" is now in Los Angeles!!! Starting tomorrow night, our crew is throwing a new event at the Short Stop. And who doesn't already love this place? Now you'll be able to get great hook-ups on booze, gloat at photobooth drunken mania, partake in pool sharkage-ness, and rock out with fun resident DJ's. Oh, how we love little off the beaten path bars...and making them even just a bit more fantastic.
The Short Stop
1455 Sunset Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90026
Every other Wednesday, starting November 15, 2006

PAPER, PAPER
Um...yeah. So I've only been back in LA for about two days...and it was back to the madness of free Svedka...free drinks, all night long for Day 3 of PAPER Magazine in LA. Last night was insane! Madness! Awesomeness! DJ Franki Chan tore it up, photographers galore, crazy hairdos and body paint, dance freak fantastic-ness, masked masqueraders, booze-booze-booze, happy, happy joy time. From there it was off to Vine bar to continue the crazed antics. Joe and I pretty much annihilated Rony's Photobooth by somehow managing to appear in almost every photo he took, or distracting a pictorial in progress. Sorry Rony!! We love you! Awesometown NYC was back in action, and has now apparently relocated to Los Angeles...oh boy! This basically means, the chaos will now be full-force...for quite some time. There's no downtime when Awesometown's around.
Keep up the mania, get out and check out the rest of the Paper Mag events if you're in LA; they all promise to be wildly fulfilling. Tonight...The Adored & The Deadly Syndrome at the Storefront Open. And yes...more free drinks and magazines. Yay!

HOW LAME! HOW FUN!
Yeah...so this is my travel bits...and I just spent a week traveling, without updating my bits!! Lame! But regardless, you're still getting the update on the Shadowscene NYC adventure, which pretty much started Halloween night and ended this morning. Aargh. I'll just start by saying that the LA Justice/MSTRKRFT Halloween bash was beyond insane...a night that never ended. We pretty much went nuts until 4am at Safari's with the danceteria madness, headed home, kind of packed and then raced to the airport at 6am. The best part was meeting up with everyone who was still intoxicated from a few hours before. And of course, no sleep leads to a bit of fuzzy brained confusion, trouble in the security check-ins and stumbling to catch your plane. Joe went through a full search and I was robbed by security. Oh the harshness of watching them rummage and thieve. No liquid treats for me!
After the crazed airport we all nestled into our seats on the plane and attempted to sleep, which didn't really happen. Five hours later we landed in NYC and headed straight over to BED for the Zombie Prom party...ah the chaos!! Creeksta and Thomas both broke in their flasks while poor Joe struggled to chit-chat with a lost voice. After an hour we were all back in slightly tip-top shape, being chased by Pac Man and a Ghost, pillow fighting, and beer spraying. Brooklyn's Matt & Kim were amazing...and so was the free Monster and vodka. Talk about a savior after being awake for 42 hours straight. Our night ended at "Awesome-town"...our amazing hotel in Soho, where we found ourselves cuddled up and passed out, eager to awake to more Manhattan madness.