face to face in a dried up, waterless place

don't vote for president grandpa.

2008-08-19T18:28:00.000-07:00

femme a la kirchner

2008-06-02T16:03:00.001-07:00

meanwhile, in better news!

2008-02-10T02:29:00.000-08:00

it is a free show if you message me at myspace or through email at triciacat at yahoo dot com.

also, i am so proud to report that radars to the sky will be playing the april residency at the echo every monday night the month of april! co-headliners include: the parson red heads, western states motel, & current echo headliners - the henry clay people.

i cannot express how wonderful this is for my husband. when i met him four years ago he dreamed of playing spaceland & the echo; now, he has a community cherished residency!

in which the author divulges the spectre behind her mercurial mood

2008-02-10T02:21:00.000-08:00

perhaps you have known me for four years, maybe you have not? regardless, if we have met more than a few times (say, six to ten nights or lunches) you will have heard me speak about my grandfather, donald albert bisher.

sparing you the sound bite, dr. philiian details, when i was growing up my grandparents played an intrinsic role in my character development. that statement reads cold & analytical to me, but i don't want to divulge into an emotional odyssey & cry at amoreena's computer. in summary, my grandfather took me to the museums of cincinnati four times a month, imparted to me our family history, instilled in me a sense of history, helped me appreciate art history, roman history, and meditation at the young age of eight, put himself through night college to obtain a degree in philosophy in his early forties with a family to raise, and provided me with an early ibm at his & my grandmother's house with which to write my first fantasy novel on floppy disk. his tenacity for all of the diverse spheres of knowledge & his evident conviction for the intersection of all cultures has played a heavy role in the development of my personality. he is, in short, one of my heroes.

during the christmas of 2002, when i was contemplating leaving the doctoral program at ucla, when my long term relationship with my boyfriend was disintegrating, i came home to have my parents tell me that he had colon cancer. the tumor was 23 cm and the doctors advised him against surgery, instead opting for chemo. even in the path of this challenge, my grandfather remained optimistic & took on this disease with the utmost positivity. he reduced his tumor to 4 cm through an act of meditation & faith. two years later the doctors said he was okay.

shortly after, he discovered that he had spots on his liver and would have to continue a type of "maintenance chemo". he asked his doctors to suspend his treatment so that he would be able to attend my wedding with seamus without pain. he was tired for the duration of the trip, but at our wedding he roused the strength to dance to dub reggae. it was wonderful.

now, last friday, my mother informed me that regardless of his top-of-the-line treatment regiment, my grandfather's cancer has spread. it infects his lungs & his bones.

it is due right to opt to cease chemo & he has decided as such. he deserves a quality of life that each human is privy to. rather than feel sick for the remainder of his days, my grandfather will live his life to the fullest & die in a state of grace.

though i understand this logically & accept this with my heart, i am in a state of duress.

i have the chance to see him at the end of this week & will cherish these future moments.

in respect of him, please keep my grandfather in your thoughts.

his bravery in the face of sickness is inspiring. i may lose him physically to cancer, but he will always be here, ever present in my life convictions.

thank you for reading this. i wanted to put into words, so that some of you i have not spoken to explicitly will understand what is happening now in my life.

best,
tricia

sourire

2008-01-29T15:51:00.000-08:00

shit, am i ever longwinded?

2007-06-30T00:54:00.000-07:00

i feel so lazy. i have succumbed to the chaleur. this is an affliction that attacks the productive with sweltering temps trapped in poorly vented apartments - so, too, with the carnal enticement of thin, sweat veils.

why must everyone appear to be more attractive when glistening? seriously, if you have ever needed a reminder that we are animals with special thumbs - that is it.

i haven't updated this journal with a real, content driven post in some time. i could blame this on a variety of factors, but really it is due to the los angeles summer malaise that has never forgotten to wash over me these past six (six?!) years. of course, this malaise or desire to live like a beggar king isn't just limited to summer - anyone who has lived in l.a. for some time (even a few weeks?) can be expected at some point to lament: "does anyone in this city work? NO REALLY? does ANYONE in this town work?"

however, since i spent the day at burke williams bathing in milk & spices i feel ready to post.

so, without further ado:

as of last week, i am a free agent. my show has wrapped. k., what have you gotten me into? television life is an addictive circus, not so different from my past polyamorous friends. it is always exciting & fluid, yet rife with drama & murmurings.

after our show's premiere, i tried to refrain from reading the forums & blogs. it is impossible! i put so much into a script & now the same people i consulted are lambasting it?! oh, you cannot have a fragile ego in this business. shit, son.

what i have learned albeit in this short post production time is that most critics don't affect ratings. they shit on you because it makes them feel important. however, our perecentage was respectable. my mom is not reading the l.a. times' review & neither are her many friends. i expect a second season.

on sunday, we had our wrap party at le merigot in santa monica. cast & crew were arm in arm in drunkeness reminiscent of the carmina burana. no, not the revamped baroque mini opera but the true, raunchy pub songs of medieval academes in the pres. seamus & i ended up at the house of a production member with a technicolor hottub. thank god the tequila ran out. ;)

i look forward to working with my boss again & he has assured me there will be film projects for me to work on this summer. i feel respected & happy. thank you, dear k., for introducing me to such a masochistic world. you knew i would thrive.

however, the wrap party was preceded by quite the weekend.

friday night i had the chance to attend the opening night of hamlet at the hollywood forever cemetery. yes, it's the cemetery at which the tinsel town elite are interred. shakespeare is a new endeavor at the graveyard; typically summers and early fall involves the cinespia screenings. if you are in the l.a. area, cinespia is highly recommended. one cannot beat blankets, wine, cheese, & a classic film screened on the side of one of the most iconic mausoleums in the states.

for its first performance hamlet was well enough recieved. my friend suzy does the graphic design for the cemetery & we had the chance to sit with one of the owners & coterie in the VIP section. it is a cordoned off area of astroturf and classy pillows, situated in front of the reflecting pool. we sat with smoking critics who bemoaned another patron who so painfully fanned her face from the offensive smell of nicotine. mon dieu!

though i prefer the acting of the independent shakespeare co. at the barnsdall park close to our apartment (it really is astounding!), the freshman cemetery production of hamlet was incomparable in setting. to see ophelia tip into the memorial reflecting pool, floating facedown for what seemed fitting to death by drowning, was perfect. the gent who plays hamlet is charming in the youthful, angst ridden but not quite assuredly sinister manner; david melville's hamlet is, comparatively, spot on in ways that make me blush. independent shakespeare co.'s ophelia, played by melissa chalsma (wife to david & very apt artistic director) is masterfully played in that her hysteria is not limited to the recitation of symbolic herbs, but something that is tangible & bacchanalian.

if a bit long, i would highly suggest seeing the cemetery production for atmosphere alone. in august, they begin a midsummer night's dream.

is that you, titania, behind the grave?

not to mention: due to the graces & generosity of the owner, my friend & i had the chance to attend the afterparty which was hosted in the masonic temple on the grounds. yes, masonic temple. yes, on the hollywood forever cemetery grounds.

i had read about the owners' purchasing of the dilapidated cemetery in a recent issue of the weekend supplement to the l.a. times. they were rumored to be turning the temple into a night club, redesigned by tom ford!, which would be premiered as a members only spot. when reading this i shrieked & promptly proclaimed to seamus - "i will be there."

luckily for me, jay was kind enough to extend the opening night reception invitation to seamus & i and we previewed the amazing building. four floors of temple: the ground floor, the congregating room, broad and open with wooden floors and exposed ceiling beams carved ornately like some cathedral in burgundy avec renowned dj, open bar, appetizers, & movie projection; the second with a mediterranean tiled shower (yes, i was tempted!) and office with great art; three, a balcony overlooking the property; & finally, a cupola with rare buddhist art.

it was phenomenal. thank you, suzy & jay.

saturday was the castle evening. a group of twenty or so traversed to the magic castle in hollywood to see michael morena perform his wonderment! if you have yet to go to the castle, do anything you can to do so! morena is a true showman & a kind heart! i had a wonderful time & was offered a return pass by a member. i believe seamus & i will be celebrating his birthday there in late august.

sleight of hand was followed by the hospitality of the hollywood castle. no weekend would be complete if there we didn't cross a moat & a drawbridge. if you have yet to see photos of our friends' home, please direct yourself to their myspace page. it is listed in my top friends for good reason. as previously mentioned, it is the castle at which spinal tap was filmed, a place of true freedom & debauchery. "what happens at the castle, stays at the castle."

no, that is too trite. really, though, i love all the memories i have so accrued thus far at this place. adam & boyana are dear to me in their sheer willingness to offer others a truly magical experience.

fuck, this is long. i apologize. i wanted to be faithful & honest to you. i needed to update & let you know that all is in flux.

as for now, i am sitting at the computer with the merciful fan blowing in my face. living in l.a. without air conditioning is hell. thank god, my circulation is so poor that i am cold in 78 degree weather. sitting in the eucalyptus wet sauna at burke williams today i realized how unnatural it is for me to feel at home in such a heated environment.

drinking some vodka with diet coke - "the skinny bitch" as we have dubbed it - listening to snowden on itunes, & hoping that everyone will show tomorrow at seamus' headlining gig at the echo.

if you are in the l.a. area, seamus' band is playing with other, local indie phenoms tigers can bite you, the henry clay people, & molecules at the echo (see my myspace profile for links to their respective pages). this showcase is being sponsored by the incomparable radio free silverlake, the rock insider, and kxlu! it's five bucks with the flier (find it on my flickr or my main profile page) for four sonically amazing bands.

i am offering vouchers for a free haircut, a lawn cutting, or a palmistry session for those who attend and say hello.

in closing - did you really make it this far? - i am in love with all of you. thank you so much for offering fine examples each day of what it is to be an intriguing citizen of this world.

who knows how long our welcome has been extended? let's party & create great things.

another list, not franz.

2007-06-27T18:57:00.000-07:00

the next post will involve:

a party in the masonic temple in the hollywood forever cemetery
seeing hamlet in said cemetery
a trip to the magic castle
the afterparty at another castle
my very first wrap party
a technicolor hottub

&

incentive to see my husband's band play at the echo this saturday.

it will come laterish?

right now, i need to set up a casting interview.

listmania: the revenge!

2007-05-31T17:45:00.000-07:00

1. little radio's summercamp: the best party in town!
2. my beloved little sister's two week los angeles romp!
3. the woxy.com vintage channel!
4. first fridays at the natural history museum with autolux & deerhoof!
5. radars to the sky, airborne toxic event, & the happy hollows at the troubadour!
6. the beauty of the deep sea (requires log in)
7. professional ladders
8. stuff on my lohan
9. the love of one's life

random nancery

2007-05-30T17:19:00.000-07:00

it still kills me that alan couldn't simply come out to me.

ground control to major tom?

i already knew.

i didn't care.

dream brother

2007-05-29T14:10:00.000-07:00

you have made my heart more mysterious. ten years today.

further wisdom on dick

2007-05-24T12:38:00.000-07:00

kenneth patchen, fellow ohioan

2007-05-22T18:38:00.000-07:00

As we are so wonderfully done with each other
We can walk into our separate sleep
On floors of music where the milkwhite cloak of childhood lies

O my lady, my fairest dear, my sweetest, loveliest one
Your lips have splashed my dull house with the speech of flowers
My hands are hallowed where they touched over your
soft curving.

It is good to be weary from that brilliant work
It is being God to feel your breathing under me

A waterglass on the bureau fills with morning...
Don’t let anyone in to wake us.

forty lashes

2007-05-18T11:11:00.000-07:00

i posted this video because i am in love with prince poppycock. i like my gents in wigs. there is something about a barechested man in powder. eff.

i think my coffee was spiked with horny.

the hills are alive with the sound of fire

2007-05-08T20:41:00.000-07:00

coming home tonight from hawthorne i could see the ominous plume. the smoke is traipsing its way downtown & beyond.

my house is five degrees warmer than usual. the helicopters, they circle.

i believe that civic arsonists should be expelled from the city. they should be exiles. why should they have the right to enjoy a city they tried to destroy? especially when the area is the largest park in america, adjacent to the zoo, the recently revitalized observatory, & the site of our wedding?

i live in rome.

i am going to take a walk down the street to peer up vermont to los feliz blvd. & see how bad this is.

sleeping tonight is going to be awful. the air quality is so poor & our apartment is thick like new orleans in summer to walk through.

anyone up for a beer at safari sam's? they are half priced on tuesdays now as it locals night with local bands.

the heart of rock n' roll

2007-05-08T10:39:00.000-07:00

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.

habeas schmabeas

2007-05-03T11:19:00.000-07:00

i know that i have been waxing political as of late in my bulletins & blogs, but i cannot help it. we are living in a turnstyle time.

when i am forty, the world will have changed drastically. from the looks of south america and the renationalizing of gas & telecom companies, there will be a new hybrid breed of capitalism. the gap between the economies of china & the states will have either lengthened or closed (due to outright merger) at the expense of our local economies.

when i am sixty there will be a generation of americans my age who fought in the iraq war & are missing limbs, suffering from ptsd, etc. it will be a strange time.

so, listen to this edition of this american life. it is free to download & discusses gitmo & habeas corpus. it is important to be informed to how the people we have "elected" are running the so-called show. i had to stop listening to the program at one point because i was so upset.

just think of how it is going to take us as a community to fill in the grave george bush, jr. has been digging for america.

[also, i found out about this cool site www.densho.org that has an archive of all the internment camp papers from japanese communities during wwii. check it out.]

The right of habeas corpus has been a part of our country's legal tradition longer than we've actually been a country. It means that our government has to explain why it's holding a person in custody. But now, the War on Terror has nixed many of the rules we used to think of as fundamental. At Guantanamo Bay, our government initially claimed that prisoners should not be covered by habeas—or even by the Geneva Conventions—because they're the most fearsome enemies we have. But is that true? Is it a camp full of terrorists, or a camp full of our mistakes?

Prologue.

Joseph Margulies, a lawyer for one of the detainees at Guantanamo, explains how the detention facility there was created to be an ideal interrogation facility. Any possible comfort, such as water or natural light, is controlled entirely by the interrogators. (3 minutes)

Act One.There's No U.S. in Habeas.

Jack Hitt explains how President Bush's War on Terror changed the rules for prisoners of war and how it is that under those rules, it'd be possible that someone whose classified file declares that they pose no threat to the United States could still be locked up indefinitely—potentially forever!—at Guantanamo. (24 minutes).

Act Two. September 11th, 1660.

Habeas corpus began in England. And recently, 175 members of the British parliament filed a "friend of the court" brief in one of the U.S. Supreme Court cases on habeas and Guantanamo—apparently, the first time in Supreme Court history that's happened. In their brief, the members of Parliament warn about the danger of suspending habeas: "During the British Civil War, the British created their own version of Guantanamo Bay and dispatched undesirable prisoners to garrisons off the mainland, beyond the reach of habeas corpus relief." In London, reporter Jon Ronson, author of Them: Adventures with Extremists, goes in search of what happened. (6 minutes)

Act Three. We Interrogate the Detainees.

Although more than 200 prisoners from the U.S. facility at Guantanamo Bay have been released, few of them have ever been interviewed on radio or on television in America. Jack Hitt conducts rare and surprising interviews with two former Guantanamo detainees about life in Guantanamo. (20 minutes)

Song: "The Clash," Know Your Rights

we miss you, o'riordans!

2007-04-26T23:13:00.000-07:00

my socal philosophy

2007-04-25T13:49:00.000-07:00

things, swimming

2007-04-23T23:15:00.000-07:00

1. citizendium
2. segolene royal
3. rhodia stationery
4. wanderlust
5. death
6. the tourists
7. los angeles' times' bookfair
8. jesus & the mary chain at the glass house
9. self-image
10. new orleans' voo doo
11. script anxiety
12. [yours to determine]
13. geneaological mortality

penis power & long john silver's

2007-04-17T17:15:00.000-07:00

rachel, i do believe you will enjoy this particularly fresh piece of public television from atlanta.

let's independent!

2007-04-12T00:30:00.000-07:00

in other, exciting news: come to the next let's independent show at boardner's! eagle and talon, radars to the sky, & the prix are playing tuesday, 24 april for free. of course, it is 21 & over. 9p.

for more information go to: radiofreesilverlake.blogspot.com

if you were not with us last weekend, you missed out. i told you to come.

next time, will you listen?

xo

the humanist joke

2007-04-12T00:11:00.000-07:00

it has been two weeks & now kurt vonnegut is dead.

i just read it when i logged on, pages of streaming bulletin banners of r.i.p kurt.

[could you imagine if myspace had been around when the other kurt passed?]

of course vonnegut's death upsets me, pulls my satirical safety blanket from my hands. he was always paired with mark twain in my literary patheon. mustached & sharp, putting the truth down on paper one stark, yet eloquently shaped letter at a time. he never rubbed ignorance in another's face, but set a potent example with his humility & his ability to ask / address questions without shame. rare qualities, those.

i am grateful for his writings as they have offered honest laughter & comfort to the world for the past sixty years or so & will surely continue to do so in times to come, when things perhaps become stranger still.

kurt is up in heaven now.

be a good bunny, won't you?

2007-03-30T18:53:00.000-07:00

this year marks the third annual el compadre's easter: tequila, the resurrection, & you! since seamus asked me to marry him after many margaritas at this restaurant, u2 blaring in the background, we commemorate this happy day by revisiting this special spot.

early dinner begins at 4p and meanders. it is our luck that our dearest, most talented friend alexandra gibson is having her gallery opening of erotic photography that evening at the normandie room in weho. all photos will be custom framed & for sale. there will be women on small stages for immediate enjoyment. festivities there begin at 8p.

come & join us! it is the happiest time of year. for once, i have put the past to rest.

no, really. i have. i may be a historian, but the person i am now doesn't reference my past. it just happened one day. strange, that.

fuck.

2007-03-27T16:36:00.001-07:00

fuck.

silent mutton

2007-03-20T17:05:00.000-07:00

tomorrow night @ the silverlake lounge, the fold presents: radars to the sky with the press fire! come, support local music!

jessica & i will be there along with an amazing assortment of people.

now, back to work! cripes!

making love to my ear

2007-03-14T15:41:00.000-07:00

120 days
land of talk
the happy hollows
snowden
the arcade fire : neon bible

thank you woxy.com & littleradio.com for streaming great live music today.

tomorrow at 9a pst snowden will be on woxy.com!

thank you, sarah, for my psychedelic memories

2007-03-09T13:04:00.000-08:00

a couple of months ago, a good friend from gradeschool & highschool left a comment saying that she had found a copy of the psychedelic writings a small group of us used to self-publish.

the series was called "return to the coffeehouse".

if i remember correctly, there were four or five of us. stephanie, sarah, angie, myself, & perhaps carla? we would write train of consciousness bits in class & i would type them up on my grandfather's black & green screened computer, saving them to floppy disks - mortarboards, really, and printing them out in dot dot dot letters. how primitive! the pages would be secured in three prong folders. i think we even sold them to other students a few times.

this was the sixth or seventh grade. i had thought all of these were lost. i actually forgot about them in more recent years. however, sarah was kind enough to make a copy of them & mail them to me in hollywood. thank you for giving me a part of my childhood.

so, without further ado:

i am lost in the woods with elvis when this lady from church comes in and says, "spank your leprechaun monkey with french lapel and shiny shimmering sequins. then go to the highest mountain in india and meet princess jasmine and abu the monkey dressed in bell bottoms and in a halter top not once questioning your shoes." then praise and you shall be praised for your magnificent jeri-curl fro as you sing o canada to the beat of neatniks high on benadryl chanting the barbecue, the barbecue and eating catfish tails while stepping on smeckios. with your armpit hair a furl you climb outside and say, “long live john lennon and yoko ono alike.” then you pass out in a pile of cappio bottles.

you wake up with the smell of funny cigarettes stuck in your dreadlocked nosehair and you see hans christien andersen and the little mermaid singing a duet of "i got you babe". you shove a french fry vigorously up your nose and your body begins to vibrate to the beat of "jeremy". your eyes shine a beastial green and the barbecue sandwich in front of you stares at you with such magnetism that you turn away for the lust has devoured your senses. then the barbecue shrieks, “bite me!”

then you wake up and you realize it was only a ream and you are margaret thatcher in the land of claudehoppers and gondorrah. the crisp christmas eve bells ring and you look out the window and say, "i have seen the light of a continuous off the air channel running all night, and I know the cure of gorbachev’s yoplait yogurt stain. i met my spiritual animal cooney cow in the land of oz. dorothy did my hair up in pigtails and put eyeline freckles on my face. glenda the good withc said to meet princess jasmine and abu the monkey but not once did I question my shoes!" then you suffer a sever breakdown and you blurt, "cappio, smeckio, gondorrah, i see the answer now! i read the spit in the pond as the flying fish ferdinand ate it! i am the queen of el salvador, the land of cheese wiz! my prince is mrs. burke as she rubs her pot belly and says, "ho, ho, ho, green giant."

apparently, I have always had an active imagination.

the abandoned hospital

2007-03-08T17:46:00.001-08:00

we have officially moved in & i have gotten lost three times today.

my office has two blood pressure machines, a wall of mystery buttons, & a window to nothing.

i bought a plant & a candle today at ralph's in hopes of combatting the smell of open-rear gowns & analgesic.

we start shooting in two weeks!

in other news: i am in love with ian mcewan & his prose.

tonight: saunter to jumbo's for a quick hello or, the echo for the accoustic show. tough call!

on the wonders of hobo cooking

2007-03-08T17:46:00.000-08:00

warning: if you are about to eat something delicious, do not read. if you have a mouth filled with soda, water, or wine, do not read.

last evening as i was going to our rite aid to procure some of gallo's finest wine-flavored water, i happened upon one of the local bums.

now, i don't have a problem with transients at all. in fact, i liked to believe that i had a fair understanding of their politics & plumage while living in west l.a.

however, what i do have a problem with is public defecation. it is never a crowd pleaser.

so -

after crossing the street, i stepped onto the sidewalk, passed a few buses waiting departure, and looked to the bench. my eyes find a bum, cleaner than most, placing ever so gingerly a turd between the crevice of what seems to be a fresh hotdog bun.

???

to be sure, rachel ray shed a tear wherever she was. i gagged but for a second & then began giggling to myself thinking about hobo iron chef. "today, we fight the battle of the shoestring! the battle of the pigeon! the battle of the cigarette butt!"

[bad dubbed voice] "oh, isn't that splendid - lefty is making shoestring spaghetti with butt sauce. quelle technique! no, is that a breast of pigeon i see? surely he isn't risking pigeon beak mash as his desert!"

witnessing this definitely made the cheap wine go down better. that is for sure.

the ghost of jeff buckley

2007-03-06T15:48:00.000-08:00

oh, dollar dewar's drinks at the echo: be damned, be damned.

of course, this was one of the first times i have ever had the "pleasure" of drinking dewar's. i had no idea about its mixology. all i could see was a dollar bill dancing in front of my eyes with an super-inscription flying on a banderole about the pyramid that read: "united under dollar drinks". diet coke + dewar's = "the cheap bitch".

my hangover implied, instead of taking my lunch hour walk along illustrious olympic blvd. (now i remember exactly why i left the westside - & no, it had nothing to do with the spectral stench of my previous relationship!) i have decided to write in this blog.

the show last night was excellent: the lineup - radars to the sky, low vs. diamond, the airborne toxic event, & the happy hollows - near pristine; the aforementioned drinks, cheap. it was the last show for radars' keyboardist kate as she is officially on maternity leave & the band did a solid job of sending her off. on a bigger stage with brighter accoustics, the radars thrived. joe from one of my favorite music blogs & i took in the show side by side. seamus mounted the speakers in the front, guitar flailing. andrew's voice has never sounded clearer - even martin was bounding about the stage, bass in agile hand. kenny kicked out the jams on the drums; kate had her sexy whisper. i was impressed. having dated seamus much before he joined this band, i have had the pleasure of watching their dynamic shift, their confidence build. the new song "victoria" was indicator of this band's brilliance & projection. the crowd clapped & cheered.

we stepped outside for a few camel no. 9s (damn you, too, camel for pandering to the fashionista) and found tatiana & maddox. much chat ensued with the lovely crowd of people who came to see the show. because of this socializing on the back patio, i have to admit that i missed the majority of low vs. diamond. what i did hear was good, however, & i will definitely seek out their cd. little birdies have been telling me that they are going to blow up!

we rushed back in for further refreshment & airborne. if you have yet to see them live, do so this month. the airborne toxic event are playing every monday at the echo for free thanks to kxlu. the lineups vary each time, so check the echo webpage. mikel is quite the lyricist & the songs will lodge themselves in your mind for a week, at least. the band moves as fierce as the ocean on stage with instrument changeups & a lovely violinist who gets on her knees to rock. i fell in love with them all over again & had the chance to dance with becky lou & junia from junia & the hymns. excellent times!

the final band has quite possibly the most adorable, sass-filled lead singer i ever did aspy! the happy hollows kick so much ass. i had heard them compared to the pixies & i must say i can hear the aural resemblance. though i caught but a few songs, as my bedtime was quick upon me, i would see them again. besides, how can you not like a band who sells their cds out of a bunny filled diorama? really, now. you simply cannot.

that is my lunch time review.

now, listening to amy winehouse & no longer jeff buckley. here are the things on my dance card:

tonight: dinner with the lovely mila! i cannot wait to listen to neon bible, eat lentil surprise, & see the painting that she did of me.

wednesday: lost! followed by trash&diamonds at social hollywood?

thursday: perversion at the ruby. yes, seamus said he was coming. no, he wasn't held at gunpoint.

friday: dinner with julian & zhogchen buddhist master khenpo.

saturday: naked saturday! woo! dj tatiana at spundae.

then, the next week - la fashion week! kitten* magazine fashion week @ the standard! dinner at elf cafe! haircut at purple circle! certainly some concerts, drinks, etc.

now, back to my research!

friday: e>k>u>k & radars to the sky

2007-03-04T17:51:00.000-08:00

t & a: taxidermy & ass-shaking

2007-03-02T11:08:00.000-08:00

tonight, join us at the natural history museum.

the season of first fridays hosted by club spaceland is upon us. this evening: matmos & ghostland observatory perform in the mammal hall of the museum.

two years ago seamus & i saw autolux in this venue. let me just say, it is impressive. bands as dynamic as ghostland & autolux throwing themselves into instruments or dance steps, surrounded by stuffed wildlife, extinct or no, is surreal, near perfect.

come, come, come.

we will be arriving around 9p due to the wonders of public transport. there are far more foolish things you could do with nine dollars.

!!!

flirting with photoshop

2007-02-27T16:36:00.001-08:00

fresh from the kexp live show, the airborne toxic event begins their monday night residency at the echo!

this week: radars to the sky, the happy hollows, & low vs. diamond! for free?!

rachel, what do you think?

aren't you glad you joined us, ginny?

2007-02-27T08:39:00.000-08:00

this is how seamus and i ended up singing abbey road at ten am sunday morning, heads cast out of julian's tenth floor loft window, out in that patently clear los angeles morning light:

on saturday evening our dear friends mila and suzy q celebrated their birthday at the redwood bar and grill downtown. three bands played: franklin ex, wake up incinerate, and go betty go. one deejay spun: dj chrimp. [or at least that is what i believe his name to be. all i remember is someone telling me his millieu was supposed to be a mixture of early punk, art rock, and funk. i can deal with that.] when we arrived with the dazzling leutholds - julian and allegra, near apollo and diana - the bar was crowded and loud. we grabbed drinks and made the rounds, finally settling upon the smoking patio to take our usual catalogue of flickr photos.

when the majority of the partygoers had migrated outside, we caravanned to julian's apartment at the old gas co. building.

wait, i got ahead of myself.

as we were walking to our cars, we passed a group of young bucks loitering in front of the typical "hollywood via regentrified downtown" bar nextdoor. one of them, demure in stature, said hello to julian as if he knew him. julian replied hello and continued to walk past.

then someone - shelley? - said: "do you realize that was david faustino?"

me: "what? bud bundy?"

all: "yes."

me: "david faustino is coming to the afterparty."

[note: dialogue not to scale]

yes, bud bundy did come to juilan's apartment. he brought his posse, too, including corin nemec or, parker lewis who seemingly can't lose. something happened to my childhood that night. it shifted. bud bundy was standing next to me, deep in my shadow, talking about sex and drugs. mr. nemec was flirting with rastafarianism and playing it cool.

they ended up leaving an hour into the party. we simply did not have the types of illicit commestibles for which they were honed. bud gave me a hug, handed out his business card, and walked out of our lives perhaps for ever?

with julian, ginny, and allegra falling asleep like dominoes, seamus and i escorted the night out.

and so, as the sun came up, after drinks were spilled and cigarettes tossed out the window, seamus and i ended up singing abbey road at ten am sunday morning, heads cast out of julian's tenth floor loft window, out in that patently clear los angeles morning light.

i love monty python

2007-02-22T13:33:00.000-08:00

today is a good day. work is wonderful, i am over-dressed, & i am in love with life.

this snippet is the icing.

who wants to go dancing tonight? my feet, they are a' itchin'.

i am a negative creep

2007-02-20T23:25:00.000-08:00

this may sound cheesy, but you can kiss my lily white:

i cannot believe kurt cobain would've been forty. forty? as in, forty?

really?

how old does that make me?

...

shit.

well, what can be said about this?

for me, a lot. it is a big deal. as silly as this may read: i learned how to play guitar because of nirvana. fourteen & picking up a friend's accoustic to hammer-mimic smells like teen spirit & a bit of bleach.

it was sonically different from anything i had heard - and before you say anything, i simultaneously listened to: en vogue, judas priest, kiss, alice cooper, jesus christ superstar & nwa - so, i wasn't totally in the oft imagined "midwest-dark".

it changed things. everywhere.

anyways, i suppose i should get back to the point - kurt cobain being forty. it is hard to imagine what would have happened to him otherwise. what would have happened to the band? their sound? would they have had to get piercings like metallica? or, would they have self-altered as frequently as wire?

what if?

whatever.

nevermind.

silly, silly me

2007-02-19T10:01:00.000-08:00

i came to work today.

guess what?

we are off.

sorry, tiffany, your dog has died

2007-02-18T17:41:00.000-08:00

before i officially woke this morning, i was having the most sensational dream!

tiffany of kidviskous fame & i were hanging out at her apartment. she had locked herself in the bathroom. we were rolling. it was her birthday or mine, i can't remember which and we were shitcanned high.

she's screaming in the bathroom & freaking out. something about her dog.

i bang on the door & finally it opens to reveal tiffany, neck thick with necklaces. she has 200 of her necklaces on and is covered in glitter. she pointed to the toilet and said that she had flushed her dog down by accident. dream dog was some poof of white, a furry marshmallow. something yappy.

& then i woke.

you know, those mixed drinks at two a.m. really serve you well.

in the grand tradition of non sequiturs

2007-02-15T23:21:00.000-08:00

after reading earthtorachel's post on valentine's day, i thought i would mention mine.

the video above has nothing to do with it, really - i just had to post it as i laughed like an asshole when i watched it.

on the eve of lupercalia & the feast day of st. valentine my husband & i were drinking a few beers. once he noticed i was a little tipsy, he told me that he had innocently misplaced his wedding ring. i wasn't even the slighly bit mad as i could read his expression & it claimed absolute contrition. he was quite possibly the sweetest thing i have ever seen in that instant. seamus was worried that he had ruined our first valentine's day as a married couple. [!!!] that means: i love my husband.

the next day at work he searched all over, later finding it on the package weighing scale & thus, saving the day!

we celebrated with a baby cheese pizza from pink elephant & a bottle of pinot noir. this life, this life is good.

& that was my st. valentine's day. i curtsey.

researching the vena cava

2007-02-12T23:07:00.000-08:00

oh, this weekend was a full one.

friday was my last day at the dragon. it is finished. i maintained my composure & was met with little resistance. i have yet to hear from my old boss - somehow i am not surprised. though this sounds cheesy, my melancholy while dimming the lights upon close was real. i will miss working with books. however i know i made the good move.

[the new job is great, by the way. will write more about it later - thomorrow?]

the radars to the sky / thailand / the hard to get ep release show was at el cid on friday. thanks to everyone who showed - it was crowded! thailand played a solid set as ever & after andrew recovered his guitar from a bum downtown, radars conquered the stage, too. the buzz band reviewer for the times was there. he pogos quite nicely. i also had the chance to meet joe from radio free silverlake who is great & laughed at my plot for kinky wizards.

on saturday we went to lisa g & simon's black & red party. to celebrate, i bought a flapper dress from iguana vintage on hollywood blvd. i paired it with gloves, a cigarette holder, & a communist pin on my tweed jacket. it was ncie having the chance to catch up with everyone. seamus & i spent most of the evening with some excellent people, chatting &amp; debating, rocking out to led zeppelin, & drinking keystone light by sunrise.

oh, i just remembered the after party the drunk 19 year old who picked a fight with seamus. you should ask him about it.

now, i am exhausted. to bed with me as i have another new, long day as a writer's researcher.

ch-ch-changes or, how i learned to love the bomb

2007-02-09T00:04:00.000-08:00

the big news is: i got a new job.

yes, i am leaving the bookstore. sadly, i need more money & emotional stability within the work place.

i will miss working there greatly. i know that i am good with books. i foresee the store doing very well in the future. however the timing is not right. i suppose the cheese that applies to intimate relationships applies to business ones, too.

that said, i have recently been hired as a writer's researcher / assistant on a buzz television show. this is a wholly new realm of work for me, but i am excited. i needed this. challenge is a large part of inspiration & lord knows i have been as creative as a louse. here is to all things unexpected & wonderful!

so - that is it.

NO: i am not pregnant; i have not won the lottery; i did not release a sex tape; we are not moving to france, though we will one day.

all good guesses, though.

thank you so very much for looking out for me, ms. karin. you were the impetus!

a veritable list rodeo

2007-02-06T23:03:00.000-08:00

things i did today:

read choke by chuck paluihnik
drank at least six cups of coffee
chased said coffee with two amstel lights
smoked a cigarette - menthol
thought about a professional proposition
redyed & polished a first edition oxford english dictionary
researched jean cocteau
drank three liters of water
peed seventy-five times
thought of my grandparents
loved

things i need to do before midnight:

brush my teeth
trim my toenails - SLOTH-WOMAN!
watch the weather report
finish my beer
kiss my husband
wash my face
plan my day
smoke another fag?

things i like to list:

silly imaginary band names
medieval dates
reasons why i hate dan brown
reasons why the italian renaissance sucks
my theories on lost
jorge luis borges' qualities
victor pelevin's, too

ode to pinkberry

2007-02-05T20:55:00.003-08:00

sweet jesus, you delicious, slightly sour yogurt!
why must you tempt with your tang?
much like this girl i knew in highschool,
who tried to get me to don a wang.

i finally had it. small plain yogurt with fresh raspberries.

goodbye cocaine, hello tasty.

i am a grizzly in bed

2007-02-05T11:15:00.000-08:00

weekends are for lovers.

after the psycho drama at work this week - peter quit! - & general money woes, i somehow managed to get the ENTIRE weekend off & enjoy quality time with my wonderful husband. sweet jesus. perhaps i haven't been so forthcoming with the fact that i work all the time? no joke. sixty hours a week. mondays off. it is insanely frustrating, spirit crushing, & insulting. why don't i quit, you ask? oh, how i wish i were independently wealthy! wouldn't that be a greasy feather in my hat? sadly, in this overtly consumerist society, my masters in medieval history is as good as confederate scrip.

so, where was i?

friday: i met my man at the bus stop, sunset & western. though i have no glasses, i can tell his shadowy figure by the signature gait. "oh, that is most certainly seamus." we laugh & smile, board the bus to the echo. our friend mikel's band - the airborne toxic event - played with the deadly syndrome & another local band. both named were tight. deadly syndrome singer has a preened falsetto that pays tribute to jeff buckley; they also have an accordion player. nice evening. heffenweizen & lemons.

saturday: woke in the early morning light & lounged in bed. seamus & i walked through los feliz, stopping in stores, holding hands. he bought the shirt from y-que that reads: "pluto: never forget". we petit-dejeunered at le figaro on vermont: cheese plate with walnut & apricot bread; a parmentier of garlic mashed potatoes, sauteed spinach, and mushrooms!; two glasses of vacqueyras.

in search of a haircut we went to rudy's. of course, the wait was long so we just sat there and enjoyed fugazi's repeater. it was lovely to be together in the afternoon.

last night we went to our friend jenny's miami vice birthday party at mj higgins. i came as miss conduct & wore a velvet leopard print mini dress, black pumps, red lips, & big hair. seamus donned a lovely pink collared shit and paired it with a black blazer & pants. he looks wonderful in pink; violet, too. i participated in the pageant & threw a handful of flour into the hair, spinning in my faux-coke storm. i was winona ryder dancing in a sea of nicaraguan snowflakes. pictures, soon.

today: after awaking in the late morning, seamus & i went down to safari sam's for a beer & the game on a jumbo-tron. we realized that we were not in the mood to be in public and returned home. much snackiness ensued. veggie corndogs & amstel light = happiness.

also, poor zz manked in her own house today after being accidentally denied access to the litter box. manky cat!

now: i am making good on my self-promised increase in post production. so!

it would be wonderful of you

2007-02-02T16:35:00.000-08:00

after receiving a lovely write up in a few music blogs, radars to the sky will be playing their ep release show at el cid. come one, come all. drink & dance. show me what you are made of.

&, if you have nothing to do this evening - you should come down to the echo to see our friends the airborne toxic event. catch a glimpse before they explode.

isn't this shiny?

2007-01-24T18:09:00.000-08:00

i jumped off the bridge.