HOLA, MOONDAY
It's Monday. But in my world it feels like a Sunday afternoon. It could pretty much be any day as far as I'm concerned. What I do know, is SXSW is in a couple of weeks. I feel like this year the Austin musical summer camp may step it up a notch and actually be reminiscent of fun levels circa 2007. I'm talking real parties, late night dancing, surprise secret bashes galore, legit free food and drinks, warm weather, country farm style shenanigans and some solid bands. Let's get it!
In other news, I'm hypothesizing that winter is over. Spring is a couple weeks away. In fact, I don't think there really was much of a winter to begin with. Hooray?!
I'm also going to give a hooray shout out to this dude in the middle of the street. He looks just like Bob Ross, is wearing a fluorescent orange vest over his flannel, and is painting diagrams on the street. But he seems to be having a real hard time understanding the detailed spec sheet. So, his happy little X's are probably all in the wrong spots. I wish he were painting a Where's Waldo in the intersection. I love that dude...Waldo was hilarious. Cool ass dude with a little cane, just time traveling and hopping around the globe, no big deal.
Did you know there's a Where's Waldo movie? What a devastation. All I can say, is this thing better be super bad ass. 2015...the world of wandering Waldos.

OH HOLLYWOOD
So I've been back in Los Angeles for a couple of days and already it's right back into the world of the bizarre. Where anything goes, all is acceptable and it's a boring day if you...well, it's never really a boring day. Spiderman was arrested today while loitering around on Hollywood Blvd. I'd like to say it was because he was spinning webs in the traffic but alas, too many outstanding warrants or something. I told you those folks in costumes were up to no good! What better place to hide than in a circus or under a mask right out in plain view!? Other than that, I realized Monkey's favorite toys are all bananas. Anne says it's cause he's Monkey. And of course, there's the ever random postings on craigslist that never get old. This guys just wants a companion. And no worries ladies...no personality or age requirements necessary. Ah, Los Angeles: the land of opportunity.
On a different note, everyone is still full from last night's soup party. Yes, SOUP Party. 6 soups, 30 bottles of wine and 20 people. I immediately went into a soup coma. I'm not kidding. After the full afternoon of prep and cooking and about five bowls of soup I laid down and past out right in the middle of everyone. I woke up this morning...still full on tater leek and brazilian beans. Oh my!

MILKY MISERY
I love ET. I also love Mr. T. So obviously...I pretty much love this. It's beyond weird, beyond freakish, and beyond uncomfortable but somehow absolutely enticing. I now want a Mr. ET doll. I also wanted a milkshake this evening; seems pretty legit, easy to get, fulfilling. So I head out with Rog to get a milkshake and we are floored and in high anticipation of housing these milkshakes. Plus, we did the ultimate and decided to get fries to go with them. Score!
So there we are, all pumped and literally pulling into the driveway when...boom! What happened? I don't know what happened! Except Rog was saying "oh shit, it's on the floor." Oh, naturally the cup fell out from the ever so famous knee grasping cup holder. But then it progressed to "oh my god it's all over the floor." Now, that's not sooooo much of big deal except for when we were ordering I got the small size. And Rog said, "a small, that's nothing." And then when his large came he realized the large could pretty much knock you unconcious for three days with a milkshake dairy-coma-buzz. So, that being said, a three day large milkshake was all over the floor. And...there were no car floormats. I couldn't really do much other than laugh, and of course shoot a video of the soppy mess.
My weekend kicked off with getting my tattoo at Inkwell which I won over a game of pool followed by treking to Delaware for a Scion party...at Klondike Kate's. Arch and I came up with a lot of silly songs about that name and I witnessed a lot of sloppy drinking behavior. Come on college kids, learn to juggle those five vodka redbulls (or as Eric of Wallpaper calls them, Redka Vodbulls). Even if they are $3 a pop, you gotta stock up, right? I also hosted the premiere in Philly and Los Angeles for Men Who Stare At Goats. Amazing. I thought the movie was peculiar and hilarious, especially watching George Clooney really let go and show off his dance moves. And of course the goats. Goats are so underrated. I think I would like a pet goat. I will name him Goat-T. Maybe I'll get three. Goat-T, Mr-T and ET. Now that's a trilogy.

GROGGY ROBOT
So I had a dream about aliens last night, so naturally it's all I can think about first thing when I wake up and for about the first couple hours of my morning. Now, keeping in mind I have yet to have my coffee, I am just gonna throw it out there. My sleepy little head came to the concept that aliens are simply a futuristic human. Am I moving from robots to aliens? I'm talking light years ahead, metamorphasized and shit. Or maybe not. But that was what I woke up thinking. Then I also thought, how could people not think they existed. Um, hello UFO conference and ancient Mayans. And not to mention, if we still don't even understand or aren't even aware of over half of what is in our ocean alone, how will we ever fully grasp what is in the galaxy or space when it's a million times larger than our little bodies of water. Maybe aliens are gooey robots? But...I guess all in all, robots and aliens sort of go hand in hand. At least in this little 48hour movie...haha. It's so ridiculous I have to watch it again. "Robot, quit fooling around!"



On another note, I'm ready for my coffee. And I'm all over Lisa Loeb's Stay and The Knack's My Sharona. Hello Best Buy...cuz I'm about to pick me up some Reality Bites or A Life Less Ordinary. Someone send over some UFO photos...maybe throw in a little Lochness too.

TATTOO LOO HOO
Let's be random. Here are some things I am entertained or amused by: the sounds of a jingle ball, kitty feet creaking in a wicker basket, the smell of winter, rain and snow (yes, they have scents), cotton balls, blue walls that look green, pets in windows, mismatched socks, tin robots, falling down, text written on dirty cars, insect antics, honest street folk signage ('why lie, i need a beer'), finger puppets, goofy glasses, food fights, silly putty, kool-aid mustaches, clouds, riot rock and oh...free tattoos. Free anything is pretty awesome. I mean, even if the shoe doesn't fit you know we'll wear it.
But in the terms of tattoo-ville and hoo-ville...little ellei loo hoo is getting a tattoo new.
Tomorrow I get another tattoo...and this is exciting for many reasons, one of which being I won the tattoo over a game of pool. Hustlin! Ya put the ball in the corner pocket and you turn yourself around...ok so NEXT.
In addition to that, I decided to give away a few freebies of my own. So...for the rest of this week, if you purchase any tees in the shadowscene shop, you get one of our limited edition posters for free! Kind of a great opportunity...get some gifts or just stock up on botwear and stuff.
Maybe you can put on some goofy glasses and mismatched socks, chug some kool-aid, cause a food fight and run around tagging cars with a finger puppet. Just saying, some things have yet to be done.
P.S. Los Angeles next week!

WEIRD FU
Today has seriously been an exhausting, strange, yet exciting day. I'm all over the place, getting things done but still struggling to really focus. I ran around Philly, hit up Deli Mag, chilled at Rocket Cat and scoped out some premises. I even discovered a new bit for laughter; the FU Funnies as I have coined them. Little stick figure comics cracking jokes on the weird shit that pesters all of us. This one is definitely top five for me. The funniest part is I've always had shower doors but lately have been experiencing the shower curtain and why the hell does that steamy shower seem to devour the curtain!? Or more or less, why does that curtain feel the need to devour you when showering!? Gettin bored at the office...check out some more FU Funnies to enlighten your day.
The other bit of excitement was prepping for the launch of a Shadowscene weekly event in New York starting this week! I've teamed up with a good pal from Los Angeles and we'll be kicking off Lewd Thursdays at the Orchard Bar which, hooray, is re-opening! What's even more rad is we get to start off with Womanizer (the members of IAMSOUND's Telepathe) and Kap10Kurt. And yes, Philly, you are next in the big scheme of the party scene. I also jet back to Los Angeles next week, New York this weekend and maybe Miami for Art Basel next month! And tomorrow night is Islands in Philly...yarg! If you're not familiar with this Montreal act, definitely get into it. More bitty bits on this tomorrow.
For now, I'm sleepy. I'm too headwrapped up in design work and this entry is laggin on the humor. I'll be funnier when I wake up. Promise.
This is the end of my weird day. And if you don't like it, FU.

SMASHED BASHINGS
Welcome to the Shadowscene recap of this years CMJ. Okay, it's really not all that formal. I'm just going to lay it out and tell you what bands you need to be watching. Oh, and I might bitch a little bit about having my window smashed in. Let's start there.
Two weeks ago in Philly Carney told me to get my damn pennies out of the tray; because I may as well be asking for it. Pennies. Threw those things into a "give a penny, take a penny" jar and moved on. A week later in New York I park the Shadow-mobile in Brooklyn. Bresnitz helps me clear it out of anything remotely important (robots, cardigans, box of almonds) also enforcing the "smashed window shenanigans". 48 hours later I have a smashed window. And the typical thoughts ensue: wtf!? why!? and why didn't they bother to take anything?! I mean seriously. If you're gonna go the mile of busting in a window and causing all that mess, at least take something. Even the rearview mirror. An air freshner maybe? Make it worth my time. The loose pieces from the console were strewn about on the sidewalk and all we figured was they broke in because the shadow-mobile came with a stupid garmin sticker on it. Thanks pre-owner. Bresnitz and I decided to just cut that piece of the dashboard with the sticker on it right out and then half heartedly attempted to tape a garbage bag to the window...with tape that didn't want to stick. Naturally. After a year of the worse car luck ever, I may as well start leaving my keys in the ignition with the windows down. Maybe even a sign...take me, please.
Now take this. Moving on to the real point of CMJ...bashes with smashed people and music clangs. I hit up the IAM Sound showcase which was listed by Stereogum as the best showcase of CMJ, the High Rise PR fiesta with Via Tania and Midnight Juggernauts, Dovecote Records bash, Green Label Sound with Chromeo and a bunch of random running arounds including the Santos Party House, Fader Party and Brooklyn Bowl. I fortunately rolled a strike in my Dr Martens. I got drenched in the rain and was completely content with it since it was 78 degrees. I ate way too many pork chops thanks to Bobby Flay. I watched the mural for Dinner With the Band take up a wall in Brooklyn: step by step. Drank a shitty chai latte. Drank way too many screwdrivers.

After a week of nonstop music and car repair here are Shadowscene's picks for the top artists to watch based upon my galivanting: Restless People, Apache Beat, Suckers, The XX, Yacht, Duchess Says, Sleigh Bells, and Fools Gold.

But the best part is, I spent the week defrosting and ended it with a nice even thaw.

Check out this video from The XX:

OH, HELLO
I was tired. I am tired. Now I'm sleepy. Had the music on repeat. Now it's on repeat through headphones. Neighbors prefer alarms buzzing to my late night rhythms.
I realize most people put headphones to secretly listen to that...well, wait. Apparently, whenever you are listening to headphones it's to privately zone into your own world. So whether you are 9 or 90 you wear your headphones for a reason. Otherwise, we would all be on level 20 LOUD.
What if we had our songs on full blast. And in the middle of a metro station or a store, or on a bus or in a school yard, or in a grocery store aisle 3, or in the kitchen next to Mom...we just took them off and pulled the plug so everyone could hear? What if we took them off and placed them on the head of the stranger next to us? And then we just stared at everyone...waiting for a reaction. What if we actually got one that mattered?
Hopefully...no punches would be involved. Hopefully, just wide eyes and open ears. Open mouths and big ass dreams.

EYES
So tired...my eyes are actually burning. All day and all night. So tired...but I can't sleep at all. I don't know why. My pillow doesn't hug back. My blankets don't wrap me up the same way. So tired, but I can't sleep at all.
My mind works like an auto-bot. A mind of it's own really. Trekking around, building new paths and creating new lines of existence. My mind is a mind of it's own. So tired, but I still can't sleep.
Conjuring up concoctions called meals but they're really a diabetic heart attack diet. Mac n cheese with jalapenos and hot sauce. Someone throw some broccoli on there; now we'll call that a snack. Rambling late nights and hitting up heavy metal stage sets. Booing and hissing like a wounded speaker. And that's a so called good time.
So tired and I still can't sleep.
Got taxes but don't wanna file receipts. Got love and it runs way too deep. Got expectations and guarantees and a funky plee for a paycheck. Got donations and nothing to spare. No cares, just wear and tear.
Next month I'll record an album. Next month I'll disappear. And if you follow it won't be on twitter; because the brown noses know what is clear. So tired but I still can't sleep.
Tomorrow I'll write something basic. Perhaps it'll be a review.
Tomorrow I'll go outside and reflect. Relax. Recline.

Sometimes no sleep is divine.

NO MORE TAT FREE
I love all of the ridiculous parties in LA and NY. Why? Because of all the free stuff! What’s insane is that half the people living in these cities can barely pay rent but it’s super simple to go get drunk every night and even snag a full meal without dropping a cent. It’s not rare that you come home with a new t-shirt or album or maybe even something you drunkenly swiped from the bar. But the YRB Magazine party I went to last night in LA takes the cake on freebies for the poor, and rich. How about free double sized drinks, Pinks Famous hot dogs and no lie, free freakin’ tattoos. Talk about an amazing party.
Up until yesterday I've been tattoo free...and all it took was the right moment and the option of "free" and I closed the deal. Other than the tattoo mania going on, there were some intense games of ping-pong, hot dog ravishing, red carpet flukes, WWE dudes and Rae and I even got to model our vintage inspired and revamped outfits for the YRB Spring collection. Of course...the fun didn't stop there. We left around midnight and plopped onto Cahuenga with C-star where we danced in giddyness at Pash with Classixx and The Sounds. I’m happy to say I woke up with a full tummy, fuzzy hangover, and a new inked adornment. Now if we can only get parties to give away free lofts or something.

SEATTLE SHOCKER
Cold...desolate...Capital chaos. Seattle has lots of crack. I thought Philly had crack. But I guess that's just in the bell. Well Seatown's got it on every corner, every nook and cranny, every doorstep and doorway and sidewalk bench. There's also lots of rusty bikes. And yes...it is gloomy. Rae and I finally ditched the coffee shops and napped on couches curled up like little kittens because we were freezing even under the blankets. I think that's because I somehow used the biggest blanket as a pillow. Oops!! And then the dismal daytime turned into funtime with Champagne, Champagne! Tigerbeat, Hoop Dreams, Hi-Deaf and Case One played some awesome sets and the best thing was people actually danced. Not just a little shuffle, shuffle sway. Motherfuckers in Seattle can get down.
Pearl and the guys put on an amazing show and even flaunted the mic around a bit for me rhyming about Champagne and Shadowscene. Ooh the hits to come. The best was the surprise of The Lashes boys coming out and getting to see them all. Eric and I played with pumpkins and stuff and then I somehow ended up having a pumpkin photo shoot in the bathroom. How these things happen I'll never know. I blame it on aliens. Photos may tell the story better so check 'em out!

IMEEM and MORE
Apparently, I now am on Imeeeeeeeem...
joyriding around Chicago. Oh JTI, posting the lovely late night dawdling of Ellei J at 4am. Those Comfort Suites have some great coffee....and cheers to some of those Illinois boys for crack-a-lackin' with me.
Today...a fuzzy joy came in a box. Oh stop it! It was a stuffed Gizmo...and he wooos and waaahs and gurgles. He's the damn cutest thing I've ever seen. I think I'll pass out now.

LIKE WHOA
So...like whoa. Last night I was photo shoot free, and rather than sit at home and edit the same ole' shit, I went out to see two bad bands, and one rad band simply because of the singer (gotta be honest here). Hung around eatin' fries with Dirty and Lee and then sent them packing cause they were sick as in ill, and somehow took to the stage...for two hours. DJing, rapping, freestyling, irish jigging, whatever to keep the few roamers entertained. I don't know how it got started really, other than the fact that Sam's was gettin' a bit quiet...and I was feeling a bit dismal and creatively frustrated. Plus, Stevie had thrown out the suggestion of some ghetto karaoke...so, well, I guess that's how it all got started. Although, apparently, this two hours of sassyness with Stevie has now evolved into a weekly 'non' karaoke event. Yes, hosted by Shadowscene and Stevie. Oh so dysfunctional. But...what isn't? So...now you can come out and see a couple of folks make some amazing...aka bad karaoke for you...and you'll love it. It's practically a stand up comedian routine...and if you don't love it, you'll beg to get on stage and show us up. Cause damn it...apparently we never went to Computer Camp...and if you were there last night...you'd know what I was blogging...ahem' rapping about. Rap this out...go next week...and listen...laugh. Maybe free yourself up a bit in the presence of strangers. And don't be surprised if I frown on your tootsie roll dance or make you give it up on stage. It's nice not being quiet for once.