Happy Saturday!!! I've spent my afternoon wrapping up some finishing touches on the beta edition of the Drunk Bot Botwear...whee!! And tonight, it's off to hang out in Chinatown to catch The Black Palms first show followed. And if possible, over to Vine Bar for BEER with Har Mar Superstar, The Strokes and more. Wicked.

RANDOM !!!
So today I received a surprise when Shadowscene's Botwear was listed as one of the top features in upcoming fashion!! Botwear was grouped with Morphine Generation, Corpus Denim and Saddlelite Jeans...all amazing designers. I was super thrilled to see my little robot tees aligned up with the others. Hooray!
In case you're not too familiar with the Botwear line, you can check it all out in the Shadowscene store. On average, a few designs are launched each season and there's a TON of new stuff coming soon. Plus, there's a bunch of limited edition hoodies coming out and a couple more giveaways and contest before the years end. Holy smokes!!

STELLAR!!
So..tonight, it's Motorcycle Boy..vrooom, vrooom, at Safari Sams! Hell yeah! The week has seemed to sort of been slipping away. In a sense that well, damn, it's already pretty much over. Today I spent the afternoon running around the park shooting my friends headshots. It was pretty darn stellar to say the least. And of course it was 40 percent headshots and 60 percent playtime. I hope some of you made it out to the Matt & Kim show last night and if not, well you can still catch them this coming week at Check Yo' Ponytail!! Yay!! These guys are amazing. Other than that, it's crazy over on the Shadowscene front...I may be heading down to San Diego tomorrow and but I'll be back in to LA for Saturdays shindigs. Plus...this Saturday is the Har Mar party with Fabrezio of The Strokes...seriously, what!?
Today's word of the day is stellar. Use it.

IT'S WEDNESDAY
Wheee. On my fifth glass of iced tea today, I decided, hey, I don't want any more of this. So now it's on to Gatorade and other finer tasty beverages. It's hot, too hot, again here in Hollywood. This whacky heat wave has got to go. I think it's even got my neighbor on edge as she was screaming off the balcony today ridiculing a squirrel, who in turned just chimped back at her, mockingly. Mocking Squirrel. Heat makes you delirious, and sometimes slow. I've come to the realization that on hot days I develop a minor case of A.D.D. Hot Wednesdays with a.d.d are no fun. At least not yet.

GIMMEE SOME TEA PLEASE
I don't know what it is, but the past two weeks I've been dealing with a new grown fondness, slight addiction, to iced tea. I've even gone to the point of exploring different venues for the drink, deciding where the best tea is. And is it wrong to even call in a pick-up order of iced tea..to go please? In case your wondering, Cafe 101 has some pretty great tea, but nothing beats the Iced Concoction at Birds. Straight up, Iced black tea...mmmm. Or if you want something a bit "healthier", you can always go to the Solar de Cahuenga for some iced green goodie tea. I'm sure there's a ton more I'm missing out on, but I haven't made it there yet. I have however, began the attempt at making the homemade "sun tea." Interesting at best. I think I'll stick to the local neighborhood, a walk down the block, at any hour, for some good to go tea.

SOUNDS like a PARTY
Last night I spent the evening photographing my friend Jessie's birthday bash at Vine bar. However, it ended up becoming the official after party location for The Sounds who are in Los Angeles. Yay! I had the pleasure of running around a swarm of people, observing poor Joe lock himself inside his hoodie after taking one too many shots of Jager, then pouring a bottle of water completely out for photo effect, and eventually crawling up a flight of stairs to nestle into a bean bag. Oh Joe Joe. The funniest part was the birthday present that showed up for Jessie...I'll just leave it at that. And the mad rush of energy that flooded the club 15 minutes before closing. It seems everyone's drinks hit at once. It must have been the excitement of everything bundled in too tight.

Rock & Roll BINGO and Sweet SAFARI!!
First of all, let's just say I was completely drenched from the course of the evening, literally from head to toe and reeked of various booze concoctions. (Thanks to lovely Travis...Franki... and Joe, and all the randoms who partook, partaked, in the spilling of the libations.) Yay!! I'm loving it. And talk about an amazing night. Holy BINGO!! Thursday night I was part of a great crew of sponsors who helped put together and host this month's Rock n' Roll Bingo which ended up being completely awesome and ridiculous!! Tons of giveaways from White Trash Charms, Iheartcomix, Wolfmother Concert tickets, Botwear...and tons more and all proceeds went to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund and the Big Brother/Big Sister Program. Hooray!!! We raised $800 and all had a rockin' time.
From there I headed to the GRAND OPENING of SAFARI SAM's where there was FREE BOOZE all night long! Along with live band KARAOKE!!! Thanks James for putting on the best Karaoke show and dance ever. And the cover of Kick out the Jams really put a bowtie on my evening. Yes! Fucking yes!! Sorry Joe for knocking the glass of (free) beer out of your hand during the mosh pit ruffian'ness. But it was worth it. You know it.
Make sure to check out all the photos from each event on Shadowscene's Fiesta page!!!

Cheers, to good times....

If you are reading past this point...well, ok, but damn, this is archaic.
ELLEI'S VISITING BOSTON!
That's right, folks. Ellei will make a visit to Boston on November 9th...it'll be here before you know it! From the smog filled city to the windy city, the journey continues.

on September 8 an important moment in history was made. Vanilla Ice held his finale concert to unveil himself after months of Remaking for a new VH1 documentary. And lucky me, i got to photograph the entire event. Who'd have thought when i was a young'n listening to "Havin' a Roni" that I'd some day be receiving hugs from the man himself, minus the MC Hammer pants and mile high hair, but nonetheless, an evening of water spraying, jaggermeister shots and zaniness with Rob Van Winkle ensued.
Be sure to check out Remaking: Vanilla Ice on VH1 when it airs this winter!

Alas! I have returned to my wonderful world at VH1, where I am now Supervising & Coordinating Post-Production for their very 1st reality show...documentary...special...thing. Look for Remaking with Vanilla Ice & Vince Neil. Yes they were at one time official rock stars and after we're through with them, hopefully they will rock again.
But on another note...well there's not really any other notes.
But there have been journeys! This past year has been filled with a bit of exploration in the mountains. And just last weekend, a bit of fun in Ensenada, Mexico. Whee. Good Times.

Pics to come!

This is the most sad upkeeping of a blog i think i've ever seen. However, it's nice to know it is updated enough that I can remember my own login.
Times in Los Angeles are a-changin'! I've moved on from VH1 & Mtv and into the wonderful world of game show television. Let me just say, working with a bunch of comedic writers and hanging around on a game-show set is quite fun. I was the wonderful Script Supervisor and had all the fun tasks of editing, and making sure Martin Mull was happy with what the teleprompter read. But the wonderful world of Cinemania! will not last long, only a week I'm sad to say and then who knows...

Back from Boston and in LA, fortunately in one piece! ATA has some of the worse seating arrangements I've ever seen. And Boston really is a rainy city. Of course it's pretty gray out here in LA as well.
No complaints from me though. As of now I am a certified H2 driver as well as 350HP Corvette enthusiast. I spent the one sunny day in Boston driving a few of the newest cars on fresh man-made courses. The best was the vette, pushing the pedal to the floor and feeling the back end of the car just drop out, 0-60 in 2 seconds. A week ago I would never have expected to have that under my belt! And pushing the H2 up a 90 degree hill so the only thing in site was the sky straight above. Hooray for gravity!
Speaking of gravity and cars, my big-bad pug Waldo was hit by a truck while deciding to chase it down the street. It's okay, he's fine. Actually he's great. He banged up his chin a little and is now as good as new! Unbelievable! A black cloud chasing the fierce tires of an F-160 only to bounce off, tumble across the pavement, hobble around and transform back to himself in a matter of hours. Of course a little vet assistance goes a long ways!
Three cheers for Waldo-Lucas! And three more cheers to Mokey for holding up the fort while I was away!

For those of you who are still waiting to see some wonderful images of the European Trek 2002, check out these photos taken by Ian Grant during our journey in Paris: the first night in Paris began with a journey to the famous Louvre Museum at night. This place was spectacular and absolutely massive. I returned to it a few days later with Ian and got to check out the Mona Lisa. They apparently keep it behind glass for protection and to keep those flashes away from it, but it doesn't stop people from relentlessly shooting it with the flash cameras. Of course its the smallest painting ever and you can only see it for about 5 seconds before being shoved out of the way.
Another wonderful moment in Paris - The best thing was the Eiffel Tower. So beautiful at night and day. We ran down at the last minute to see the glow of the structure. It was like a carnival below with men chasing us around trying to sell us glowsticks and flags. And I was for some reason too nervous to ride to the top of the tower. Fortunately the view from below was grand enough.
And the highlight of the night, the beginning of a week living on sugar crepes and a wonderful pizza shop in the Latin Quarter. I soon became a regular...

Okay, so I am working at my typical speed, posting an update every 4 to 5 months. I am still living in West Hollywood and have come to the realization that street people in Los Angeles are not as friendly as those on the East Coast. My main encounter with the village of people under the bridges in downtown turned ugly when a homeless man turned on me with his trusty pair of scissors and charged. I felt like one of those fools in the horror movies that just stands still and you are screaming at the television for her to run! And eventually I began walking, quickly. Once in the car I noticed that hordes or them were coming out to see the intruder. That was the end of photographing the streets and people in downtown LA.
I'm still focusing on the band work and designing a few album covers here and there. I'm also working my tail off at VH1/MTV so look at the credits when you watch those shows! Also, don't forget to check out MTV's summer movie special of Movie House airing June 28th where Reese Witherspoon tells eLLei she's cute. More on that later...
As of now, I am packing my bags for a 6AM flight. I leave tomorrow morning to return to Boston, checking out the rainy city for a week and hopefully getting some good shots of the friendlier street folk. Stay tuned...

Hahaha, I am now in Los Angeles and yet again attempting to keep you updated! Of course you are looking for all those wonderful stories of the journey across Europe, the travel log of a cross country trip and the joys of living in the crazy city. And where are they!? I'd love to say look for the book on newstands coming this June but unfortunately-not yet. I am of course, not the laziest fool in the world, simply the busiest. But, as a brief update, not to let you completely down: I am living in the sunny city of West Hollywood, shooting photography for bands, continuing on the street photography collection and expanding my digital horizons. My fat kit kat Mokey has joined me in LA transforming from a squirrel spine-smashing feline to a whacked out indoor cat who now slams jingle socks off the walls at night. And of course he's getting fatter, hooray!
I've also been keeping myself up in the loop of commercial making by starring as a top notch background chick in about 5 dentist ads-so be on the lookout! And in the meantime...stay warm, stay cool and don't get lost in the blur.

It's not really May is it? No way. This is insane. Where have the days gone? In less than 25 days I will be hitting the road again. eLLei in the Jeep driving across country, stopping every 10 minutes I'm sure to take a picture of some hidden mystery in the shadows. No more midnight alley photos in the streets of Boston. I'm moving up in the world, photographing the inner streets of LA.

Patience people, patience. The REAL factual account of my journey is coming....

Hey guys! I am officially half way through my journey and my brain is definitely freaking out from sensory and language lingo overload. I've made it through Paris, Versailles, Bayeux in Normandy, checked out the beaches, Eiffel Tower, Louvre Museum and ate lots and lots of crepes and pizza from the Latin Quarter. By the end of last week I was relaxing in a sweet little hotel room in Madrid, and finally trekking up and down Las Ramblas in Barcelona. I got to check out the real original "Guernica" and Picasso stuff as well as the hugest aquarium in Barcelona where I got to walk through an underwater glass tunnel with sharks everywhere!
Today, after a 22hour train ride, I am in Rome Italy and hanging out at the laundromat while spending a ridiculous amount of euros for the internet. I should be here for a couple of days, filling up on pasta, good breads and lots of historic sights. I met so many cool people on the long journey here and i need to say thanks to all of them for keeping me company, making me laugh, and helping me find my way around! Thanks to all you guys sending the supportive emails! I wish i could share some pictures with you, they show alot more than my words can explain.

So this is where I'm at. I made it, jet-lagged and all. Security at Logan was insane-they made me take off my hat and sneakers! And then six hours flying overseas was great but only because I got to watch two flicks and eat three meals. But arriving in Amsterdam at 7:30 in the morning, not speaking a word of Dutch and trying to find bags and trains is crazy. No sleep, very tired and now I'm lounging back at a twelfth century castle for the night (shhh, thats hush hush) and trying to refuel for an eight hour bus ride to Paris in the morning. Lots of fun, great small houses and gingerbread looking homes. It's like a miniature Vermont with lots of ducks, oh and two moats. Miss you guys!

Okay, guys! Only two more days left before the big flight! I'm taking off around 6pm and should be landing in Amsterdam at 7:30am on 2/14. I'm sure it will be quite interesting. I'm definitely a bit nervous but also excited for the challenge. Make sure you check back to see where I'm at No comments: