Today I tried to catch up on emails and work on the Slam. I had over 400 unread emails sitting in my inbox. While most were informational that required no response or were newsletters containing articles that I already knew their content based on tweets, it still tool a very long time to sift through everything. I also have three months of the Slam booked. I can’t wait till we start.
I have spent the last couple of weeks fighting a cold which has been harder than usual because I have been quite busy with rehearsals, neighborhood council, and have been forced to go outside in the cold at night. It has slowed my recovery time but I feel like I may be over the hump soon.
I had a dream the other night that i found interesting. Usually fever dreams tend to be pretty intense but this one was just strange. I went to sleep very early that night because I had a debilitating head ache but when I woke up early the next morning all I could do was chuckle at my dream. I was sitting on my front porch when two snakes slithered by having a conversation with each other. They were speaking in English in the truest form of the definition; British accents and all. I asked the snakes if they were really British when they turned to me and said, crooked fangs and all, “And we know Harry Potter.” At this point my cat Anakin, having seen the snakes from afar, decided he wanted to pounce on the snakes except his claws became red lightsaber claws and he mauled the snakes to hell. No word yet on how Harry Potter feels about the death of snake friends of his.
I promised myself I would write every day in here, while I’m not sure what I will be writing about I figure it will be just about anything I can think of which means I may be getting creative which might be a little painful to read at times.
I suppose I should start with an update of the last six months. Most importantly, I was laid off December 1st from my job at theLos Angeles Neighborhood Land Trust. Its no secret that non-profits all over are struggling to survive in this down economy and especially in Los Angeles with thebudget crisis what it is. I feel I am fortunate enough to have a strong background and have a wealth of knowledge in both the day-to-day operations of parks and the creation of parks from the, no pun intended, grass roots on up. Okay maybe a little pun. Its this knowledge and experience that makes me an attractive option to consult in parks and particularly community based organizations. We shall see what comes of it. For the time being I will be dedicating my time and energy to other projects that I have, perhaps, not focused as much attention as I owe them. Such as…
I have agreed to stage manage a play at the USVAA Theater which I am currently a board member of. I also produce a monthly improv show there called “Nation of Improv presents the Culver City Slam“. A mouthful I know and I wish I could say the name wasn’t my idea but it was. The play is called “Bug” which was written by Tracy Letts. Its about a possible AWOL Gulf War Veteran who holes up with a cocktail waitress in some motel in Oklahoma and is a little funny in the head. The dude not the chick. I highly recommend everybody go see it and I’m sure I’ll be writing and tweeting about rehearsals and stuff along the way. It opens February 26th and will run for four weeks which means…
I’ll have to miss a few shows because I’ll be in Washington DC for a week in March to advocate for the creation of a 44 acre park in the heart of Hollywood. A project many of you know is very near and dear to my heart. This trip is a chance to get the required money to build which will be far less than the $2.25 million the Federal Government granted California to build a high speed rail system from Los Angeles to Anaheim and Los Angeles to San Francisco. This trip will be my very first to our nations capital and while I know I’ll be busy going from meeting to meeting which includes the Capitol, White House and other offices I would also like to visit historical monuments and such. Exciting for me and you can be sure I’ll have my…
I recently got very serious about my photography inspired by my friends Dana Arak, Alex Thompson and a few other online community friends. I began to bulk up my camera bag with better, more appropriate lenses for work and pleasure. For example, I will be taking promo shots for the above mentioned “Bug” which I won’t be getting paid for but could lead to work if somebody sees and likes what I take. I plan on using my “brand new” minolta 58mm f1.2 lens for this occasion. (look it up. Its legendary.) I say “brand new” because while I haven’t used it more than a couple times to test it, the lens is actually older than I am and of course Minolta no longer makes camera lenses. I’ll also try and leave you with samples of my photography at the beginning of every post.
Now, while I’ve only just touched on what I’ve been doing I didn’t have a proper lead to another project I’m working on so its just going to have to wait until tomorrow or another day to update on other stuff. But, for now, I think I have fulfilled my self imposed quota of writing for February 1st even though we are now well into February 2nd.
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.
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.
I don’t write food reviews often and by no means do I consider myself an authority on food but after being recommended to eat at “Street” by Council President Eric Garcetti last week and actually eating there, I feel like this deserves a review because you all need to try this place. Once again Hollywood shows us why its the most diverse neighborhood in Los Angeles.
After a thorough viewing and then a reviewing of www.eatatstreet.com I came to two conclusions; 1. Street is not a restaurant, its a culture and 2. I needed reservations. I made online reservations for 8:15pm… good thing too because I was hoping to get reservations for 7:30pm but was denied. I assumed it was because there was no room. Turns out I was right. As The Demon Kitten and I walked in to Street at 8:10pm, located at 742 N. Highland just North of Melrose, we noticed the place was packed. “Good thing you made reservations.” said The Demon Kitten, or so she thought.
I immediately went to the hostess and gave her my name and reservation time. She apologized for not having a table ready and said it would take about 15 minutes. Okay, this didn’t make me too happy but it didn’t put me off either considering it would only be 10 minutes after the actual reservation time was made… totally understandable. She invited us to go to the bar, which was also packed and had people waiting to get their drinks so we passed and decided to wait patiently. Not five minutes passed when the hostess approached me to say that a table had just opened up and we would be seated as soon as it was cleaned. Ten minutes later we’re still standing at the bar waiting to be seated and the hostess is totally avoiding eye contact with me. I approached her again to find out how long it takes to clean a table, she apologized again saying the table was given to other people. I remained calm and just walked away. I told The Demon Kitten if we didn’t get a table in two minutes we would leave and get dinner at The Hollywood Corner a few blocks North on Sunset where I could guarantee the service would be impeccable; she agreed. Seconds after making that statement a waiter asked if we would like a drink while we waited and brought is a drink menu. We decided to order drinks. The Demon Kitten ordered a Cantaloupe and Beet Agua Fresca which was very tasty and I ordered a Julep which seemed to be the beverage of choice at the bar and I was not disappointed. It was very minty and had just the right amount of sweetness to mask the alcohol but still leaving the bite a good adult beverage should have. Minutes later we were seated.
Upon being seated any and all feelings of sketchy service disappeared. Our waiter, John, was very knowledgeable about the menu; he was very thorough and informative even telling us about a couple of items that were not on the menu. Upon reviewing the menu and highlighting a few items that sounded amazing John returned. We had a few questions regarding the “Globe Trot” which was a series of selections chosen by the Chef. John knew exactly what the selections of that day were and even pointed out that one item was made with beef after The Demon Kitten explained she only ate vegetables and seafood. We settled on the following four dishes.
The Chinese Sesame Cakes which are rice floured cakes filled with a homemade red bean paste, rolled in toasted sesame served with a peanut sauce. The only thing we both could say was that the sesame was very overwhelming.
The Ukrainian Dumplings stuffed with spinach served over a yummy cheese and a citrusy sauce were absolutely amazing. My mouth started watering as I typed this. If and when I go back I will definitely be having those again. In fact we asked John what he thought of them and he said “Probably my favorite dish.” We liked John.
The Japanese Shizo Shrimp rolled with nori seaweed and a light crispy dough served with ponzu, grated radish and wasabi was good but it was served at the same time as the Malaysian Black Pepper Clams which drowned out the taste of the shrimp.
The Malaysian Black Pepper Clams came in a medium sized bowl with about 25 clams. They are simmered in oyster sauce with cracked pepper, palm sugar, soy and lime. D-Licous! It also came with a piece of rye bread that goes very well when dipped in the remaining sauce at the bottom of the bowl.
I totally recommend trying the Ukrainian Dumplings and the Malaysian Black Pepper Clams. I would be willing to give the Shizo Shrimp another chance if served with a different dish and would only suggest trying the Chinese Sesame Cakes if you really like the taste of sesame.
For desert we shared an Egyptian Basbousa Cake which is a lime soaked semolina cake with macerated blueberries, lime curd and whipped cream. Very delicious especially with one of the many varied types of teas “Street” has to offer. We had the Argentinian Yerba Mate and the South African Chocolate Mint Tea.
The ambiance is a little loud but not so much that you cant have a conversation about how delicious your food is with a friend. Street offers indoor as well as patio seating with heaters on chilly nights. Good music adds to an already cool atmosphere giving you a warm fuzzy feeling inside.
Looking past the foul up with the reservations which I’ll give the benefit of the doubt to, this place is definitely a place I would like to return to soon, perhaps during a lunch break to see how they handle business at other times of day and to try some other items on the menu.
I hope you find this review helpful and will eat at Street. Don’t forget your reservations. 323.203.0500
A couple of days ago I was hanging out with my friend Malik Diamond when we decided we wanted some Vitos Pizza. Always the philosopher Malik pointed out that he had never really been to the heart of Hollywood, the heart being the residential neighbrhoods that house the people we depend on. These are the poeple that flip our burgers, drive our busses, cook our meals, haul our trash, connect our calls and drive our ambulances. They guard us while we sleep. He pointed out some psychodelic mural the corner of Willoughby and Gower saying this is where the beauty of Hollywood lies.
This reminded me of the Hollywood Shadow Project.
Completed in October 2001, the Hollywood Shadow Project was a series of seven installations dispersed throughout production areas of Hollywood. The designs were derived from stills of familiar and iconic movie scenes. At sunset, the sun passes through these sculptures and casts shadows on adjacent buildings. The intention was to evoke memory, as it is constituted through pictures and movies, and re-present this memory on the site of its invention: Hollywood. All of the sites incorporate buildings and businesses involved in making movies. It is also significant that the sculpture silhouettes were captured via optical means and are then reprojected here via the sun, which offers both light and motion. Solar powered public art if you will. The movie scenes included The Wild Bunch, Warlock, North by Northwest, The Magnificent Seven, 1 Million Years B.C., Easy Rider and “The End” credit from Casa Blanca.
Sadly, only two remain. I don’t know why they have been removed but its really a shame. We visited both sculptures
