Here are a few things this weekend that can and should keep you busy and entertained.
First off is the City of Glendale’s Summer Night in the Plaza Friday July 31st from 6-9pm. Not exactly LA but LA County nonetheless. This 6th Annual festive gathering features an impressive food and dessert “taster” from many of Glendale’s best restaurants and bakeries, live entertainment and an eclectic array of silent auction items. I attend this event every year and have an absolute blast.
Saturday morning, Mayor Villaraigosa’s Million Tree Initiative will be handing out free 15 gallon citrus trees at Home Depot in West Hills to LA City residents beginning at 9am. Only 100 trees will be available so get there on time.
Also Saturday is the Historic Filipinotown Festival and 5k Run on Temple and Alvarado. Cool event with a lot of local LA history and resources. Check it out!
Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon the Shakespeare International Renaissance Festival LA (SIRFLA) in conjunction with the US Veterans Artists Alliance (USVAA) and the Veterans Center for the Performing Arts are producing Midsummer Nights Dream at the West LA Civic Center Bandshell. The atmosphere is excellent for this play which stars several US Veterans in key roles. I must say that I have seen this play several times already and highly recommend this production. LA Weekly even gave it a “GO”. Check it out! Saturdays at 6pm and Sundays at 4:30pm after the WLA Farmers Market.
Today I’m going to start a new segment in the blog called WITHIT (What in the Hell is That?) Basically its things I see and manage to photograph and then ask you fine people what you think.
I have no problems with the Church of Scientology. I learned to be tolerant of other religions a long time ago. I believe in a persons freedom to have faith in whatever they see fit so long as they don’t try to shove their faith down my throat but when I saw this the other day I was a bit startled. We all know how big of a presence Scientology has in Hollywood what with all the buildings they own and on Sunset, Hollywood and Franklin and they have signs making their presence felt but this sign felt a little too big, bright and out of place.
What are they trying to prove with this sign? Is it meant for identification or recruitment? Is the sign up to city codes? What do the neighbors think? What do you think?
Both pictures taken from the corner of Santa Monica & Heliotrope in East Hollywood one late and eerie night.
Los Angeles State Historic Park, formerly known as The Cornfields, offers 32 acres of green open space right next to Chinatown with Downtown Los Angeles as a great backdrop for a quiet picnic with family or a couple of friends, but recently it has been taken over by demons, clowns and villains.
Sunday night, a friend of mine and I made our way down to The Cornfields to catch the circus that is in town. Except this isn’t your typical circus. You wont find any elephants balancing themselves on giant red balls or a couple dozen clowns squeezing into a Gremlin or even a rabbit being pulled out of a top hat. Quite the opposite. You might find a top hat being pulled out of a rabbit instead. Basically its like walking into hell with a visitor pass while the devil is having a tea party.
Cirque Berzerkis a netherworld filled with phantasmagoric visions that will grope at your senses and oddities that are bound to scorch the very tips of your soul. Everything from a stilt-walking fire-breathing demonic clown to a contortionist and harrowing high flying acts that will leave you breathless and begging for more.
So gentlemen, dust off that top hat and ladies, stretch out those corsets and head on down to Cirque Berzerk and have a little Villain with your Vaud.
Due to popular demand, Cirque Berzerk has been extended through July 26th so don’t miss out!
*I encourage you to take the metro. The Chinatown Station on the Gold Line is just a short and pleasant walk through the park. Just walk towards the Big Top and the fires.
Downtown LA will have several street closures tomorrow (7-7-09) due to the massive crowds expected to turn out for Michael Jacksons Memorial at the Staples Center. Please plan accordingly.
One thing that I would like to say however is I do not like double standards. A couple of weeks ago the City was outraged at the thought, possibility and eventual reality of having to front the cost of police and security for a Lakers Victory Parade. Today, I hardly hear anybody complain about having to front the cost of police and security for Michael Jacksons Memorial. Maybe the Staples Center needs to help front the cost of this event and not have Councilwoman Jan Perry hustle on the phone trying to get donations.
Yesterday a couple friends and I drove down to San Diego to watch Manny Ramirez make his return to the Dodgers after serving a 50 game suspension for violating the leagues drug policy.
Droves of Dodgers fans made the trip to support Manny. Legions of Dodgers fans marched the streets of San Diego chanting “Lets go Dodgers!” Padres faithful were….. nowhere to be seen. I stood in front of the ticket gate on 7th and K Street behind the Western Metal Supply Company building and marveled at the inundation of Dodger Blue waiting their turn to pass through the turnstiles and said “Dodgers Home Game!”
Indeed it was just that, a Dodgers home game in our southern most suburb known as San Diego. My friends and I took our assigned seats in the “Left Field Pavilion” and noticed the ratio of Dodgers to Padres fans was easily 10 to 1. After a careful survey of the rest of “The Litter Box” aka Petco Park, the attendance was easily two thirds Dodgers friendly. Some called it Dodgertown South others were confused to see so many Padres fans then realized they were actually in San Diego while others complained about the lack of Dodger Dogs at the concessions stands. Either way, the home crowd vibe made for a fun night.
Of course the star on everybody’s mind was Manny but I was sure he wouldn’t be his typical Manny-being-Manny self. What I wasn’t ready for was the 5 run offensive outburst in the 1st inning as the Dodgers batted around. Manny’s first at-bat was greeted by the few and lonely Padres fans making what noise they could being almost completely drowned out by “Manny” chants.
The rest of the game was pretty quite offensively for the Dodgers but that doesn’t mean I couldn’t find something to have fun with. After all this was a home game right?
Chase Headley. A career .252 hitter in 173 career games was my target. I figured if Harry the Heckler was going to give my guys a tough time, I was going to make sure whenever he opened his mouth nothing but “lets go Dodgers” chants would be heard and when his player, in this case Chase Headley was playing left field, I would give him a taste of LA.
It started with a very sincere ‘Hey Chase! Welcome to LA!” heckle. No reaction. Then after a couple of doubles, that any decent LF would have caught, got passed him I said “You do a great job shagging our batting practice, Chase!.” and so on.
A few of my favorite heckles of the night include:
“I came to see you Chase! I’m very disappointed! I’m hurt!”
“Why do you wear #7? Is it for luck? Its not working for you Chase!”
“Chase! Can I have a souvenir? I promise to be nice!”
“Look at me when I heckle you Chase!”
“CHAY-ACE! CHAY-ACE!”
Chase Headley eventually started to turn around and look at us. I always waved at him making sure he knew who it was. I plan on getting LF Pavilion seats next time the Padres are in town and waiting for Chase with a very emphatic “Remember me Chase!?” I have a few more heckles I didn’t get a chance to try out on him.
A few other notable chants during the night:
“Mannys on deck! Mannys on deck!”
“Rus-sell Mar-tin! Rus-sell Mar-tin!”
“Juan P-air! Juan P-air!”
What can I say, I’m way too much fun to go to baseball games with.
One thing that fueled my heckling was that for Saturdays game they would be giving away free Beach Towels. As Joe said “You can always use another towel.” but a towel that says “Beat LA” on it? All I have to say is, that’s the true sign of a classy organization. Way to fail Padres. Way to fail.
I lost my voice last night. I think Chase Headley stole it.
This is why Dr. Frank Jobe should be in the Hall of Fame. (ouch)
In baseball “50 up and 50 down” would normally mean you are a mediocre team but in this sense its ironic. Ironic that after serving a 50 game suspension for violating MLB’s drug policy, Manny Ramirez, arguably one of the greatest right handed hitters in history, returns to a team that has won 50 games and holds the best record in baseball. 50 games ago I suggested that the Dodgers might be able to pull off a .500 record (25W – 25L) in that span and maintain a 6.5 game lead on the Giants. I was close but underestimated the team a little. Instead the Dodgers went 29-21 in that span maintaining the same 6.5 game lead over the Giants (depending on Thursdays Giants vs Cardinals game) and continue to have the best record in baseball as I already mentioned.
One of two things will happen now; The Dodgers will go on a tear of epic proportions and finish the season with 120 wins which would establish a Major League record, or they could struggle to reaquaint themselves with Manny Ramirez cause a rift in the club house due to his lack of presence during the suspension and the displacement of Juan Pierre who filled in amazingly during the suspension and the Dodgers implode. I’m guessing the former.
The Dodgers were 21-8 with Ramirez in the lineup. If they play at that same pace for the remaining 83 games (wishful thinking) they will be 60-23 (or in that neighborhood) leaving them with a 110-52 record. I think its definitely possible for me to be wrong and they add another 6 – 10 wins to that considering they won 4 more than I had expected during the suspension. By the way, 116 wins is the major league record for wins in a season established by the Chicago Cubs of 1906 who played a 154 game season and had two rain outs that were never rescheduled or played and the 2001 Seattle Mariners who also won 116 games but played a 162 game season. Coincidentally the 1962 Mets lost 120 games establishing a dubious record. (That ones for you Scoot)
Manny Ramirez will play his first game back from suspension July 3rd in San Diego. I will be driving there with a few friends to support the often misunderstood left fielder and to cheer him on.
