the heart of rock n' roll

i haven't felt like taking the time to string words along, although things in los angeles have been gaining speed & hue.

i suppose that i could offer a summary of my weekend, as it was quite varied in activity!

friday night seamus & i attended one of the opening concerts for the silverlake film festival at the newly remodeled & vastly improved echo plex. the lineup was sharp: sea wolf (who we missed!), the bird & the bee, the little ones, & dengue fever! solid performances all around, although i must say i am super partial to the cambodian psychedelia of "the fever" as it forever causes a swank 60s lounge blossom brightly in my mind's eye, sweetly smoky opium den in the back room.

we met the majority of radars to the sky there & enjoyed libations & free ASCAP schwag like rhythm eggs, earplugs, & filter mags. the incomparable joe fielder was there, too, along with mr. kevin bronson & some gents from kxlu. there was much excellent conversation on coachella, stagecoach, & the local state of music, how los angeles bands are once again hitting a great stride.

we snuck out just before the end of dengue fever to avoid any crowd & headed back to our place with regina & her friend from boston. there we shared drinks & very small exchanges in farsi. a good evening.

on cinco de drinko, seamus & i enjoyed margaritas at the house, cleaning as we sipped. we decided that we would see spiderman 3 at the arclight & perhaps catch some lunch at citizen smith. well, we were smote by the smith as it was closed (although it has a giant banner on the outside saying "LUNCH") and instead opted for a sports bar called big wangs whose mascot is a 'roid filled chicken with a tat.

we watched some of the nba playoffs - you did know that i like sports, right? - and proceeded to have several three dollar calzadores margaritas in beer steins. :)

i don't review movies. i don't care to, but i will say that i found spiderman 3 to be overpacked with villains. i liked the second much better. a positive: the special effects were amazing. topher grace as venom was ridiculous. he weighs 85 lbs & no amount of black space goo is going to make him intimidating. i don't want to get into a big discussion about comic books. i am just offering my humble opinion. (by the by, seamus didn't like it as much either and he is a comic king).

after we stopped at amoeba where i purchased the new 120 days album. we brought it home, popped it in, and marvelled as we prepared ourselves for dinner at taiyo sushi on franklin. our friend anna was celebrating her birthday in their private party room & the next day her and her lovely man left for france! oh, lucky ones!

we didn't follow them to akbar for much much swervage, but instead went up to the hill to party at our friends' place the hollywood castle. yes, a castle. check out the myspace page. flickr search it, too. it's amazing. moat? check. drawbridge? check. views of downtown los angeles & the hollywood hills? check. period furniture? check. turrets with torches? you betcha.

i will have photos, soon. needless to say, whenever we go up there we have a great time. this time there was some sort of bizarre japanese film in which an alien gets hooked on coke by an evil little street nymph who breaks into his apartment. during the interludes, scantily clad women danced to bad synth. i want this film. if you know anything about it, please let me know.

we were home just before sunrise.

& for brevity's sake, i will just say that sunday we were in a music video for our friends' band the airborne toxic event & the playback looked great. they shot it at our local dive bar, the white horse, & after we all dined together in celebration.

wow, i hope that wasn't too boring. i have performed my civic duty.