Weekend (and a song)

Alright fans of Eric,
My memory is going. I can't remember much of anything these days.
I spent Friday rapping into my computer making a song called "Let's Get Ridiculous". I'll post the mp3 as soon as I am in a sharing mood. It's not so-much a hip-hop song as whimsical rhymes over a prefabricated beat... Garageband is a really fun program and although I'm no musician, silly songs are coming out of my computer... silly songs that i love...
On Friday Night, Alex radioed in to tell me that his classmates were down the street at the Good Luck bar. I put on my new ipod and walked (i know, walked. in l.a. ridiculous, huh?) to the bar. I know the name's of about a quarter of alex's classmates, so i just smile and nod to the ones i don't know. anyway, i started telling b-nas about my day and how i was rocking out to the song i made, which she then listened to on my ipod. it made her laugh, then katie listened to it. She laughed and enjoyed too. B-nas insisted I was ripping off the "brown guy's act" but that i was better. After the initial confusion, I realized she was making a paul barman reference and not talking about whiteboy appropriation of a black music genre... Anyway, after getting my ego boost and seeing the lovely K-Von, BJ, Mo-T, and Cha-Cha-Chase and others, I ran out of there, jumped into a waiting car and sped away into the los feliz night for some dinner... A-Scards was at the helm... We couldn't find parking near Fred 62, so we drove into Glendale for dinner. Afterwards, she dropped me off at my house... I put on some music and sang/danced/performed for the mirror... Then Alex called. Classmates were all at The Smog Cutter, a nearby bar... I drove over there and it took over 15 minutes to find a parking place. One time driving by, I saw Alex and some classmates outside... I gave them a wave... By the time I went inside I was pretty tired, so just abandoned ship and headed home.

Saturday was a fun day.

Sunday, I slept in. My wake up call from Alex to get brunch sounded good to my ears. We went to Eat Well. We ate well. Later, we went to the gym. At home, we made protein shakes. My job interview today got moved to Wednesday so I've been applying for jobs all morning. Not much else to report, Eric

Alright, I'm in a sharing mood. Here, in its unfinished glory is "Ridiculous": http://s30.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=3T5EZ64KG4LZS1D6XPF77G3ITS

P.S. More Songs to Come.

Coming straight ill like a Yanni cassette...

Eric to Base. Eric to Base.

Saw & Heard Beck last night. He said the above after "Guero".
Cat Power opened and people talked loudly during her entire set,
so it was hard to hear her. I like some of the songs on "Moon Pix" quite a lot... Most fragile
stage persona I've ever seen. I was hoping Beck would come out and duet with her.
His cover of the Stones' "No Expectations" with Beth Orton during the Midnite Vultures tour was/is amazing.
If you can find it, download it. If you don't enjoy it, you are wrong.
Will fill-in this post later.
Apparently the rain comes back this afternoon.
This post is gonna grow. Mark my words, Eric

Just got back lunch. Trying to find the energy to go to the gym. I'll probably head over there soon.
Things are well. Have been playing with Garageband on the new ibook, which has yielded a 3 minute
mp3 I'm hopefully gonna finish with this weekend. It's M.C. Nuggets doing the old crowd favorite "Let's Get Ridiculous".
I have no keyboard so all of the music is from loops that came with the computer. That being said, I've listened to it a few times and think it's coming out well.
Favorite lyric:
"All the women in the chat rooms know who I am,
I'm the one who backs up dirty words with a diagram.
Venn Venn Venn Venn Venn Venn."
Anyway, I'm trying to get brave enough to post the mp3 for everyone here to hear.
Just got a call. Another job interview on Monday. Good times.
Alex and I went for spicy tofu soup for lunch. Next time, I'm ordering it spicy, and not medium spicy,
'cause I want my throat to close up, I want my nose to run, I want to cry tears and be in pain when I eat
spicy food, and today's soon tofu didn't make me suffer enough.
A live recording of last night's beck show is up at purelivegigs.com so I'm downloading it while I write this post.
Last night was fun, but really, I don't know if I need to see every Beck show he does in L.A. This was my 3rd in 3 weeks and as much as Beck is my favorite musician, if there are any more shows in the next couple of weeks, I might not go...
There was no guitarist so Beck was on guitar duties last night, which was fine. The songs are so minimal that I think this album might have a chance of going platinum by end of summer. At least I hope so. People went bonkers for "Hell Yes" and "E-Pro". Black Tambourine didn't fare as well. The bassist was good but in one of the songs near the end, his vocals were off-key. But whiny me didn't let this ruin the show. Oh, no. It rocked. People were dancing intensely in my area. The girl on my left for half the show (with her sugar daddy) was a fake-boobed real-tanned girl who made out with her sugar daddy for a lot of the songs. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing I like more than seeing a girl who dresses like a stripper making out with a guy who looks like a ringer for Larry Hagman, but come on, these aren't make out songs (Are they?). Anyway, Ms. SiliconeSaline and Mr. Old enjoyed themselves. I was there with my high school friend, who enjoyed the show but like a lot of people who go to Beck concerts these days, was hoping for "Debra". Despite a Debra-less show, high school friend didn't leave disappointed. He liked the new stuff a lot and thought the kick-ass "Nicotine and Gravy" was as incredible as I did. Beck's backup band is getting better. The onstage dancer is enjoyable to watch, but it feels like a side-act. I mean, he's fun to watch, but I'm there to see Beck and his backup band create awesome rock. Anyway, after the show which had the best sound mix I've heard in a L.A. venue thus far, Peter and I went to a bar between Hollywood and Sunset. There were only 3 people there and we drank our beers while listening in on their conversation, about how asses have gotten bigger in women in 15 years, and how great this is. They didn't have a lot of support for their thesis, but they were all in full agreement that no ass can be too big. Guess we stumbled into L.A.'s version of the Algonquin Round Table. Peter and I drank the old-tasting beer, left and parted ways. I drove around Silverlake aimlessly. The Tiki Bar on Sunset was open. It's supposed to be a fun place (especially for people like me who love drinks with umbrellas) Might join Alex for a drink there later tonight.

My ipod shuffle came in the mail today. It's tiny and weighs nearly nothing. It's gonna make workouts a lot more fun, I think. Little will the people on the other ellipticals know that I've got M.C. Nuggets blasting through my headphones.

High hopes for a weekend of wine and song, Eric

Ted Leo & The Pharmacists put on a great show... Even when you've got a stomachful of ache...

Faithful reader,
You're only days away from an mp3 being posted here for your pleasure. It's Nuggets dropping words onto pre-fabricated beats. You might enjoy it. I made it with my new computer. More on that soon, Eric

Sunday Night. I got back from the desert. Went to dinner with Mo-T. Mo-T and I then moved on from Chevy's (which in Glendale made the worst food I've eaten in Los Angeles, hands-down. Come on, Chevy's. Step it up, motherfuckers. Or I'm taking my business to Chili's.) into west Hollywood for a Ted Leo & The Pharmacists show at the El Rey. Lemme just say, "Shake the Sheets" is wonderfully produced and has some amazing tracks on it. There's some sort of magic in the drums on the record. I can't explain it, but this record has a fucking pulse. Machines can't make music this good. Anyway, I was in the mood for some anti-Republican indie-rock and I got it. But before I speak of Mr. Leo and his compatriots, lemme tell you about the opening acts. By the way, Neighbor Nat met us at the show.

Opening Act #1. Usemusic.com is their website. Infectious shit. Makes you want to learn how to play an instrument and start singing songs. They’re making dance electronica hipster rock and are on the verge of vocoder overdose. I mean, most songs have robot voiced vocals from the dancingmachine/keyboardist. I scratched my head. There’s music this European being made in America? The show was sloppy and the band lacked cohesion in their live show. And honestly, there’s a lot of shit to dislike about their set. However, there were moments when they were on the stage that I wore a giant smile on my face and felt super happy. Lots of fun filled the room. Go to their website and watch the videos.

The concert was packed with teenagers. I felt old. They were like, "Oldtimer, can I ask you a question? What was it like when dinosaurs roamed the earth?"
Opening act #2. I don't know the name of this band. The lead singer looked like Kyle Mclachlan circa Blue Velvet. People went crazy for this band. I don't know if it was the detuned guitar (a white Gibson SG) or the guitarist who sang not doing such a hot job, but for whatever reason, this music was torture to my ears. Most unenjoyable music I've heard in a long time.

And my stomach began to hurt. I moved away from Neighbor Nat and Mo-T. Ted Leo & The Pharmacists hit the stage. The Pharmacists both have giant beards now. Ted was clean-shaven. He started doing his songs. There were a few I didn't know, but he did a lot off of Hearts of Oak and Shake the Sheets. The bassist seemed emotionless for someone rocking out. Ted talked to the crowd a lot. He came across as the coolest authority figure you've ever had. There's a wholesomeness to the guy that's nice. At one point, he introduced a song, saying he doesn't play a lot of stuff off the newest record, but that this one sounded good in sound check, so they'd try it. They launched into my favorite song of theirs, "Criminal Piece". Despite the stomachache. the concert was a great time. In the car ride back home, I drove in the rain with the window down. I had a lot of gas. Thanks Chevy's. Nothing I like more at a concert than trying to dance and hold-in farts at the same time. Mo-T gets my respect for not complaining too much about the gassy ride home.

It's been a good week. I went on a movie studio lot yesterday. Met up with some people to talk about job stuff. Saw A-Scards. Then wandered over to C-Marsh's, where we ate cookies and hung out. Haven't heard back yet about my job interview from last week. Hope I get it. The company seemed like a great place to spend my time from nine through five.

Going to another Beck concert tonight. Should be fun. Cat Power is opening. Meeting up with a high school friend. Might even wear earplugs. Oh, I'm going to be in New York for Passover (someone's gotta rock the pesach!) but more on that as it approaches. Monday is my half birthday. My mom used to get me half a cake when I was a kid. Awesome, huh? Have an amazing weekend wherever you are, Eric

P.S. The rain's been ridiculous(dare I say biblical?), but today was all sunshine so it's a nice break from Los Angeles trying to be Seattle.

I LOVE NEWSPAPER

Just spent a couple of hours reading the paper and it was fantastic, one of the best nights in recent memory. Upstairs, rain sloshing up against the roof and walls of the HOTEL, self reclined on the couch snuggled under a comforter, one hand in madras pant pocket massaging meat: what's not to love? It's been a while since I've read through the Tuesday Times straight through: classes seem to get in the way of my education (har har). For a good while last year when I was living in Brooklyn and commuting to Midtown, I took great pride in reading every sq. inch of the Times, even the boring ass Thursday supplements (Circuits: ZZZZZs). I'd start the commute off with the World Business Section, then move onto Sports and the regular Business section. You know, save the juicy violent stuff for later. By the time I'd get to checking how my mutual funds performed the previous day, I'd find myself about to get off at 57th st stop. During lunch, I'd read the Arts section---sometimes I'd do the crossword, but more often not---and start up on A1. The train ride back, I'd usually be asleep, drool pooled at the corner of my lips and a protuberant knob of a thing sandwiched between thigh and pantleg. I'd somehow wake myself up a few stops before my stop and read the A1 jumps before getting off the train, newspaper positioned in front of crotch so as to shield the eyes of the subway passengers from the blinding eminence of said protuberant knob of a thing. At home, I'd finish section A and the supplemental before heading off to bed. For some reason, I was really proud of being able to polish off the whole paper each and every day without fail.
But, now that I'm in LA and in classes and/or working late into the night, I find it harder to finish the paper straight through and I'm sorta ashamed to admit that when I'm too busy w/ school, I sometimes don't even take the paper out of its blue plastic baggie. If I were a cutter, that'd be a good reason for me to cut. I haven't had TV for some time now so the only way I know what's going on in the world is through the paper---I can't stand reading the news on the internet; I need to touch the news---and on those days when I barely make a dent in the Times, I feel like, I don't know, a dickhead. So today was a good day because I read the paper straight through and now I don't feel like a dickhead, speaking of which, the front page picture of Bush made him look like a dickhead. Dickhead dickhead dickhead: that's coming back big time in 05.
LOVE
ALEX

LOTS OF MOVIES: THANKS RAIN

So what a surprise, it's been raining 4 days straight and I'm not talking about no kind of priapic piss drizzle I'm talkin' gobs upon gobs of warm precipitate. Heavy. Unrelenting. Clouds don't seem to want to budge despite my sincerest protestations (i.e. "Please stop."). Land is sliding in the neighborhood and God's felled some trees for sure. I'm amazed that HOTEL LOS FELIZ hasn't sprung a leak yet (though I can sort of mold a veritable dune in my bathroom). The other night, before going to bed, I went outside onto the deck and watched lightning strike Hollywood. A lot. It was a lovely sight, but I'm sure someone got deepsixed.
The only thing to do when it's raining like this is to see lots of movies so instead of doing work---I did have my last day of filming on Sunday out in the desert; went well and sated my thirst for the desert for like maybe forever---I went to see 4 movies over the weekend: Constantine, Nobody Knows, Band of Outsiders, A Woman Is A Woman. A nice variety of shit, art, and history. Keanu was pretty great and Eric and I stayed through the credits hoping to see who designed his suit, but no such luck. I'm assuming it was Prada. Nobody Knows is a must-see: cute little japkids get abandoned by their moms and have to deal. The 12 year old lead won the top acting prize at Cannes last year: Bresson would've been proud. Saw it w/ my boy GK and winnes and Liz who was visiting from HK and her friend (we went to "The Abbey" in WeHo afterwards which is a post in and of itself) The 2 Godards I caught at the New Beverly which may be my new favorite theater (despite the lumpy seats). There isn't a place like it in NYC: 5 bucks for a double feature. The crowd reminded me of those you'd see outside Film Forum or Anthology: young, skinny, German military jacket wearing dudes in dire need of a shave, and greasy haired honnies in all their busty glory. Cans. Size: XL. Anyway, I went with two SC friends who hadn't seen any Godard except "Breathless." I don't know why, but it made me happy to hear that they enjoyed the movies. Cathing up with Godard again, I was reminded that no matter how quirky or creative some of the new American directors are, their films don't amount to jack next to JLG who was busting out into song and dance back in the 60s.
Back to serious business: can someone locate Greenspan's spine? What a pussy.
LOVE
ALEX

ERIC REPORTS: Beck Show in Hollywood on Thursday...

It's Saturday Morning. I drank 2 BUCK CHUCK of the gnarly beaujolais variety last night. Last night was poker night. Friends came over. A great time. I started dancing silly when Raspberry Beret came on. So yeah, it was a lot of fun last night, drinkin' and gamblin' in my house. But now it's morning. Thanks for the headache Trader Joe's. Appreciated, Eric

P.S. Just to report for those who want to see BECK in concert this week:
:::::: 02.18.05: Beck on Human Rights Benefit ::::::
INTERNATIONAL FOUNDATION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS AND TOLERANCE BENEFIT

Beck and Filter Magazine have teamed up for a charity event to benefit the International Foundation for Human Rights and Tolerance this coming Thursday, February 24th at the Henry Fonda Theatre in Hollywood. With Special Guest Cat Power.

100% of all net ticket proceeds will go to support the International Foundation for Human Rights and Tolerance efforts for the Orphans of the Tsunami.

Tickets will be $25 each (plus applicable charges). Tickets will be available at Ticketmaster.com beginning Saturday, February 19th at 1pm at the following link

Henry Fonda Theatre
6126 Hollywood Blvd

Doors: 7 PM
Show: 8 PM

For more information on the International Foundation For Human Rights and Tolerance, go to their website at www.humanrightsandtolerance.org

ERIC asks: Um, what's this? - http://www.humanrightsandtolerance.org/scientology.html

And what a motley crew they are...

Eric here with an unfortunately umlaut-free post.
Below is the cover of Motley C's greatest hits album. I wonder what the other album titles in consideration were?
My guesses:

1. Mostly Crue
2. Fly Me To The Crue
3. Room with a Crue
4. Horse of a Different Crue (Get it? Horse. Heroin. Hilarious!)
5. Winnie the Crue
6. Motley Through
7. New Crue Revue (New Zoo Revue references will never fly, will they?)
8. Darling, I Love Crue
9. J. Crue
10. Why Don't We Get Drunk And Crue?
11. Knock, Knock. Crue's There!
12. It Takes Crue (this one admittedly sucks)
13. A Crue Good Men (In the accompanying wonderfully shitty video, before the rocking begins, Vince Neil can be all like: "You can't handle the Crue!")
14. Elmer's Crue (this one also is sort of horrible, but I feel the need to get to sixteen.)
15. Crue-La-La
16. Give The Devil His Crue!

P.S. Didn't even make the list: LMNOP-CRUE-RSTUV

a small white man took the stage and dropped musical pyrotechnics...

Eric here:
1. In my links to the right, I reference a movie called "Outlivers".
For your enjoyment, A few minutes of Outlivers for those of you with Windows Media Player

2. I JUST GOT HOME FROM A BECK CONCERT. AMAZING!!!

More news on the Beck show tomorrow. Goodnight, Eric

Building My Ikea Desk or alternatively The Hardest Thing I've Ever Done

Ambitious Outsiders reports that there is going to be a secret Beck show tomorrow night at 1650 depending on how many people show up. As soon as I find out more, I'll let people know, Eric

No, the desk isn't finished, if that's what your asking. Eric, your faithful narrator, is taking a break. 3 of 4 legs are affixed to the desk. The 4th is awaiting the cessation of my laziness. This desk has me cursing and cussing like a madman. I hurt my hand and actually yelled out "dicktard". Then I started laughing but felt like I had no one to share it with. Well, while I'm taking the break, I figured, write for the blog and share...

Yesterday was Valentine's Day. I spent most of the day assembling an Excel spreadsheet for a short freelance job I have. I got a call yesterday. A production company is interviewing me for a job on Thursday. I'm excited for that. The job sounds like a lot of fun. Last night, Alex and I walked over to the Nat and Matt's and watched The Grammy's. Good laughter.

Today was sort of a waste, which I'm upset about. Went to the gym and then ate an enormous quasi-healthy lunch of egg white omelette and tofu dogs. Spent the afternoon writing and starting to clean my room, which needs some serious cleaning. Gotta get organized again. Gonna try to do my taxes tonight. That's always a good time.

Last night I couldn't sleep and wrote a terrible song about alligators in a lake in wisconsin. the song is awful but i'm hoping to record it on my new ibook and put it up here for everyone to enjoy. - Eric

P.S. I've been having the worst dreams. In the one on Saturday night, I was staying in a hostel in Europe. I've never actually been to Europe. Anyway, me and all the American dudes in the hostel are playing with a ouija board. It quickly becomes apparent that the witch-ghost residents of the building want me out. Oh, and they think my name is Sarah. The dudes all think this is funny. I'm a little scared. The next day (in the dream) I'm outside with my laptop, using Instant Messenger, and one of the witch-ghosts starts IM'ing me, saying "Sarah, we hate you. Leave now or die." I turn off my computer and am then being chased by the witchghosts, who look like ET when he has the long hair wig in the movie. Dream ends. I wake up, convinced that one of these witch-ghosts is in the closet. I turn on the lights and throw the closet into disarray. Luckily, no witch-ghosts to be found. I of course, decide that a movie about a hostel where the ghosts are hostile would be the best movie ever and start writing in my notebook. The movie will be called "Hostel". I woke up the next day, upset I'd taken the time to try and turn this particular nightmare into a movie idea.

P.P.S. I don't usually remember my dreams, but I had another one that I should share. For one, it was in 3rd person. Fanucci (the badass from Godfather 2) is a musician in WW2 Italy. He plays the upright bass alone on the street for money, but is frequently heckled and chased by facist gangs made up of children. Fanucci starts throwing rocks at the children (yeah, nice image of this dream is kids getting hit with rocks.) Anyway, Fanucci feels terrible 'cause kids are crying so he comes out and starts playing the bass for them. They are mesmerized, but he's so nervous he makes a mistake. The children notice this and start yelling at him. Fanucci takes off running. He has to drop his bass. He escapes the children, looks back, and the children are kicking his upright bass. Fanucci goes for the rocks again. He throws a rock which lands on the neck of the bass. The strings break loose and fly up to slap a kid down the face, yielding 4 red lines down his face. The kid is in shock. Fanucci was super happy but his bass was broken.

Music as I choose it...

Eric here. I’ve been sent a “meme” by FAB . In her post, FAB spoke well of my music taste/knowlege. Which made me feel nice. The "meme" was sorta a bunch of answers I wrote to questions concerning music I listened to and was a lot of fun to fill out. I’m going to post it quickly and make some changes later. For now, I hope you enjoy it...

1. What is the total amount of music files on your computer?
22.64 gigabytes, once I add the old songs from my laptop onto my new laptop.

2. What is the last CD you bought?
The Talking Heads’ “More Songs About Buildings And Food”. “Thank You For Sending Me An Angel” has always been a favorite song of mine (based on the version in “Stop Making Sense” and its accompanying soundtrack. It’s a little goofy but completely sure of itself. I still prefer the “Stop Making Sense” version. The song is fun. Buy some Talking Heads, put the song on your ipod (If I wasn’t ipodless, I’d do this) and go dance in public. Sometimes when I have headphones on and something rocking in my discman, I get nervous that I’m rocking out too hard and look like an idiot/schizophrenic. Conversely, I sorta hope there was a way that the world around me was all listening to the song I was. Unfortunately, most of America is listening to music I don’t particularly like. Who are these people who buy Hoobastank records? Are they filler people? You know, the people you ride in a bus with and never see again and wonder whether they really live complete lives (friends, family, work and leisure) or just exist when you’re on the bus. Anyway, I’ve never owned a record by Hoobastank, Fuel, Train, Korn, Incubus, Limp Bizkit, Creed, Papa Roach or Puddle of Mudd. But a lot of other people have. America, just start reading Pitchfork. Follow the number ratings and you’ll be fine.


3. What was the last song you listened to before reading this message?
“Leslie Anne Levine” by the Decemberists. I don’t love The Decemberists but sometimes the singer’s words fills the void when I need something like Neutral Milk Hotel. Speaking of Neutral Milk Hotel, go download “My Dream Girl Don’t Exist” if you can find it. It’s a song about the idea that you’re true love died as a child and now you’re alone in the world, with no perfect love to find out there. Does Jeff Magnum, lead singer and Wizard behind the screen for Neutral Milk Hotel really believe that everyone has only one soul mate out there or is he making fun of that idea? I have no idea. I don’t understand his songs, but this one is pretty great.

Write down five songs you often listen to, or that mean a lot to you.
Uno. Don McClean, “American Pie”
“But the levee was dry”. I hear you, Don. Totally. When you sing, “This will be the day that I die”, do you mean, “This is about the day a few musicians died on an airplane”. I don’t really listen to this song anymore, ‘cause it brings up tears. It brings up a lot of memories about a girl I went on one date with who I met on the internet. She loved America. And she also loved pie. In retrospect, why’d we only go on one date. Maybe because when at the end of the night, as we stood on the dock leading to her houseboat, and she asked me if I really thought she was pretty, I answered, “For a lobsterhanded Cyclops, you’re okay looking.” The date ended with a hand/clawshake. Never end a date with a handshake. Always seal the deal. With a hug. A long hug, where you tap morse code into your date’s back to tell her what you really feel. Um, anyway, Monocle Maureen and her houseboat have since sailed on to another harbor. Man, that girl loved pie. And levees.

Enough silliness. More heart.

Dos. The Shins , “Girl On The Wing”
Yes, The Shins are on too many soundtracks. But there’s something about their first album “Oh, Inverted World” that is really fucking great. This CD has been one of the 6 discs in my Car stereo rotation since I got a car. Alex and Alex’s brother introduced me to this album in 2001. It’s been a favorite since. As for “Girl On The Wing”, I listen to it and enjoy it. Does it worry me that Garden State is how a lot of people were introduced to The Shins? Not really. As many people as possible should be listening to good music. And I like that music supervisors & film directors are using bands off of indie and quasi-indie labels. Yeah, Sub Pop is quasi-indie. Time Warner has a stake, I remember hearing. Anyway, "In Good Company" also had The Shins on the Soundtrack. As did Spongebob's first cinematic debut (outing, some would say). Anyway, "Girl On The Wing" is straight-forward wonderful.

Tres. Beck , “One of These Days”. For Mutations,Beck sort of released Cold Brains as as a single/ep and Nobody’s Fault But My Own as a Japansese-Only single. Both CD’s had “One Of These Days” and “Diamond in the Sleaze” on them. Both tracks are very good. “One Of These Days” has Beck singing against superslow guitar strumming with Nigel Godrich blips and spaceage sounds lending some atmosphere. It’s all so simple, and even though it seems similar to VU’s “Candy Says”, it’s pretty great on its own. It’s a Beck song less about reflection, and more about moving forward, although not yet decided about falling in love or giving up. Read lyrics at Whiskeyclone
There’s something I really love about how simple the song is.

Catorce. Vashti Bunyan, “Love Song”. Vashti Bunyan is a british musician from the ‘70’s. With the popularity of Joanna Newsom and Devendra Banhart, journalists started namedropping Vashti Bunyan, who a lot of people didn’t hear of until this year, as someone who was doing similar sort of music to these two. “Love Song” is available on itunes. Buy it. Her voice isn’t perfect for the song, but you buy the emotion 100%. It’s about being loved and not being loved back. Don’t smirk. It’s great stuff.

Johnny (as in Johnny 5). Dead Milkmen , “Silly Dreams”/ They Might Be Giants, “Twisting”. “Soul Rotation” is not the most popular Dead Milkmen album, but it was my first. “Silly Dreams” is about dreaming about an ex-girlfriend who comes back, but only in a dream. As for They Might Be Giants, do you remember the first time you heard “Flood”? My dad played it for me and said, isn’t this great? I told him it wasn’t, put my headphones on and kept listening to my George Michael cassette. Dad doesn’t read the blog, but he should know, sometimes his musical taste is really great. I gave “Flood” a 2nd chance pretty soon thereafter, and it helped me impress a pretty girl from Washington D.C. at sleepaway camp. (Her favorite band was EMF! In a word, she was “unbelievable”.) (My sleepaway camp should be a post of its own. Run by the people who run Nature’s Classroom, Life Tech Ventures (yes that’s the name of the sleepaway camp I went to) was half-science camp, half-performing arts camp. The coolest kid in the camp was called “Puffy” but really didn’t like how he earned his nickname. A story for another time.) Both of these songs are great silly songs about ex-girlfriends. Fun way to listen to songs about heartbreak.

Lyrics to “Silly Dreams”:
“I had a dream you came back to my house
You changed your mind
I had a dream you came back to my house
To spend some time
You said you'd only stay a week
You brought two cats for me to keep
And told me not to feed them tuna or they'd throw up
I fed them tuna and they threw up for hours and hours

I was amazed at all the stuff that came from those little bodies of theirs
It was puffy like a sponge
The color of the sidewalk
And it smelled like the dirty rags beneath the sink

I had a dream you came back to my house
And robbed me blind
You took my stereo, CD's, cassettes and books
You left nothing behind
I woke up you were next to me
And I knew it was just a dream
I woke up again and you were a thousand miles away”


6. Who are you going to pass this stick to (three persons) and why?
Nobody. I’m a killer of chain letters, I guess. Anyway, this was a lot of fun. Thanks to FAB for sending it my way, Eric

Happy Valentine's Day

It's my favorite holiday of the year mostly because I get to "do it" with the one I love the most: myself. Hollatchaboy! No, seriously though, as much as people like to bash Valentine's Day, I think it's a wonderful holiday. Last year I took my girl out to dinner and got naked afterwards. That was fun. It was even more fun b/c it was Valentine's Day: we got to play dress-up; I got to blow a wad of cash on food that came out our asses the next morning; we listened in on other couple's conversations, conversations that were not very funny or not as funny as ours was; we exchanged edible gifts. That sort of stuff is just plain nice. Not necessarily romantic, but nice. That relationship ended a few weeks later. It happens. Anyway, the fact that that happened doesn't diminish the funness of the holiday.
This year, Eric and I are going to watch the Grammy's on TiVo across the street at our neighbors. Excited to see Kanye West. GKirsch, my bro, his girlfriend and I saw him in a run down theater in Asbury Park last year. Transfixing stuff. "Through the Wire:" I still can't get over how moving and brilliant and head-boppable that is.

Foosball on my Mind, Burrito in my Belly

A week of great eats.
Adelaide and I ate sushi in Little Tokyo. Alex somehow found a place that really feels like my favorite not-fancy
sushi place in the world, Tomoe (on Thompson Street in NYC). After the raw fish and rice, we had Starbucks (3rd time I've had Starbucks in L.A. which is more than I had it in 3 years of post-college life on Waverly Place).

Then last night, I met up with an old high school classmate for dinner at Pace on(in?) Laurel Canyon. Great restaurant. When I start going on more dates, I'll take 'em to places like this. Unless of course, they want me to drive them into Austin Texas for BBQ at the Salt Lick (when I meet the girl who asks me to drive her to the Salt Lick, I will probably marry her.) It was great to see someone back from the old stomping grounds, and I'm glad we're in touch. We weren't super close in high school, but he's a wonderful guy and it was fun to gossip about high school classmates: "i heard rehab didn't work so well for him", "she's pregnant? Again?" and the always wonderful "i'm so glad that guy's in jail". these aren't actual quotes from last night's dinner, mind you, (except for the jail one) but along those lines... (P.S. JC Chavez was with a date at the restaurant. Also, Demi Moore was there with her kids (no A-Kutch in sight))

Yesterday I interviewed for a job to be an assistant to a BILLIONAIRE. The woman said I was charming and easily smart enough for the job (which paid mad bank, ya heard?) but that having met she, she thought it'd be a waste if I didn't keep pursuing the creative path. then she dangled the carrot, "would you like to have this job?" but she'd pretty much talked me out of it in a way that makes a lot of sense. that being said, can you imagine being a personal assistant to someone who has thousands of millions of dollars? I said it sounded like it'd be exciting. But anyway, the woman was incredibly nice and is going to ask her industry friends if they know any directors looking for assistants (she's placed a few assistants with directors in the past). It was great to go into a job interview and just meet a really nice person who thinks you're great. it makes you feel so good about yourself.

I've had a few interviews this week and they all went really well. the temp agency says they should have stuff for me the week after next in glendale, which means a short drive to an office building where i'll do office stuff in exchange for rent money.
Might be freelancing for a musician next week for a few days which will be sort of a fun google search sort of project.

I'm finally seeing M-Lawr's show tonight and partying at A-Scards B-Day Shin-Dig. (BTW, Have you used a hyphen yet today?) Going into the desert this weekend to help Alex again with his shoot.

Had a burrito for lunch at El Gran Burrito on Vermont and Santa Monica. They do very good work with tortillas there.
Everyone have a wonderful Sabbath, Eric

P.S. Try to listen to this mp3 in its entirety: a song from "short circuit" (which of course, stars guttenberg)

Beck plays songs for Eric and his friends...

Eric thinks you want a way-too-long post about last weekend's adventures. Okay.. I mean, you're the one asking for it...
My weekend began strong, stayed strong, and ended strong.

Friday Night, Greg K and I went to dinner, then to the El Rey theater, where Luna put on one helluva show. I’d seen two of the guys from Luna open up for Beck when he played New York’s Town Hall during his mini-Mutations tour. Maybe it was the funny smoke in the air, maybe it was because someone needed to “rock the Shabbat”… Whatever the reason, Luna put on one of the greatest shows I’ve seen in awhile. For a goodbye tour, the concert was a lot more upbeat than expected. The crowd was full of pretty girls, pretty boys, hipsters, and dorks.
Play by play: Greg and I eat chicken for dinner. We get to the theater. Out comes the opening act: Midnight Movies. Los Movies de Midnight are a trio. Two dudes on guitar (is there no bassist or was one of the guitars really a bass guitar? My memory and disinterest of details affords you/me with no answer) and a girl on drums and vocals. Drums are front and center as she sings the songs. What do they sound like? Sorta futuristic-arcadefireish with her Nico-esque voice making it something very unique… The songs sometimes don’t have clear choruses to my ears. “Strange Design” is the track I’ve been listening to most. “Mirage” is my favorite, though. The crowd went cuckoo-for-cocoa-puffs over it. Greg and I both enjoyed Midnight Movies. Greg bought the CD. Having listened to the CD, I can say the CD is different than what they do live which is rude raw rock. On CD, the songs have a cleaner prettier sound. Don’t know which I enjoyed more. On stage, the lead singer had a very modest demeanor that earned my heart. She was ruling the stage, and when she talked, it was just to say, “are you guys excited for Luna?”. Midnight Movies is an L.A. band that captures the empty late nights of Los Angeles well. A California of orange fluorescent glow and traffic jams; not of surfboards and convertibles.
Luna came out and sang song after song after song. They did their cover of Serge Gainsbourg’s “Bonnie and Clyde”. I’ve considered learning French just so I understood Serge Gainsbourg songs. I’ve also considered learning Brazilian for the same reason with Caetano Veloso (His 1968 album has “Alegria, Alegria”, a track that might be the best song I’ve ever heard. Then again, Brian’s (we’re on a first name basis ever since he talked to me in a dream) “Don’t Talk, Put Your Head On My Shoulder” is still fuckin’ gold. While we’re off the subject but discussing Beach Boys, Check out the Smiley Smile/Wild Honey 2-albums on a CD. Wild Honey has a song called “Aren’t You Glad” that makes me more than glad. Look, Listen, Vibrate, Smile, y’all!)
I can’t say I’m super-familiar with Luna’s music. I own Romantica and don’t think it’s great. But this concert really made me want to give them a chance. ‘Cause in concert, these songs sounded wonderful. A lot of their songs sound the same, but then again, a lot of R.E.M. songs sound exactly the same but I like them. A drunk girl bumped up against me and Greg a lot while she was dancing/collapsing-sideways. There was another girl who looked the girl from the muppet band (Janice) but with a fedora. There’s a lot of Janice-lookalikes in California. Going to a concert not knowing the songs always seems to put me at a disadvantage. It’s nice to go to a concert and hear music you know from albums/mp3’s created anew for an audience. Anyway, I had a good time, even if I didn’t know a lot of the songs. Greg drove me home. P.S. The bar at the El Rey ran out of Miller High Life. This made me happy. All Schlitz aside, Milwaukee IS famous.

Saturday, I woke up tired. Alex and I jumped in the car to drive 8 blocks. (Yeah, Los Angeles!) We went to Eat Well on Sunset for Brunch with Alex’s high school friend, Jason. Good to see Jason.

Later on Saturday, my favorite rock star had a show (thanks to FAB for giving me the very very very appreciated heads-up). If you don’t have patience, here’s my quick write-up of the show:
The sound mix was off at first, but some of the songs sounded amazing. "Girl"and whichever one was "Nazarene" on the leak sounded great to me. Also, for those not there: "Guess" was a great version of "Guess I'm Doing Fine". My ears are buzzing. Gotta start wearing earplugs to shows 'cause my hearing's only getting worse. The drummer was excellent tonight and the keyboardist was very good, 'though for background vocals, his mic was turned up too high. And they turned down the bass a little which helped. Great to see Beck playing live. The new songs fucking rock. It's been too long since a Beck tour. Looking forward to this summer immensely. The opener was Har Mar Superstar, who is a really fun (and funny) one-trick pony. The crowd treated Har Mar very very nicely. More tomorrow... It was also fucking cool to see Beck in such a small venue. I wore my old Beck t-shirt with a rainbow on it (I think from '94).

Long write-up:



Greg K. and I stood in line for hours during the afternoon to get tickets to a secret (‘though at that point on Saturday not-so-secret) BECK show. At around 4pm, Greg and I started the line. The line stretched down the street and around the corner. When the guy from the club 1650 came out to announce the 4-ticket limit, I couldn’t help but recognize his resemblance to Rick Bayless, a cook who has a show on PBS and I believe on the Food Network as well. Anyway, seeing a Rick Bayless lookalike did not make my day. No, it was the excitement of seeing my favorite musician of all time play a set of all new music. Greg and I told stories to each other of our youth. Some guy in line said he heard the opening act likes to perform in his underwear (at that point, I had a feeling the opener was Har Mar. In retrospect, I would’ve liked to have told Greg so he would have been impressed when Har Mar Superstar turned out to be the opener. At 5:40pm, Greg and I each bought two tickets (a total of 4 for the non-math majors out there in the audience) so that E-Mags and A-Scards could join us for some rock. At 6pm, Greg and I ate Thai. By 7:35pm, we were in line to get into the show. In full dork mode,We debated with some guy about what the greatest Beck album is. E-Mags and A-Scards showed up. At 8:20 pm, the doors opened. We walked in, and stood for over an hour. Even though a dj was playing an awesome set, nobody really danced. Lots of good hip hop (Sadly no nuggets) including some Jurassic 5 I haven’t heard before. Everyone was eager for Beck. Before 10, the opening act came out. Indeed, Har Mar Superstar. He had recordings of instrumentals backing him up. Let me describe Har Mar. He’s short, with long hair (bald on top) and a lazy physique. He undresses as he sings to the crowd. He kept his pants on Saturday Night. Har Mar sings soul songs really well and raps really well. Unfortunately, it comes across as a one-trick somewhat humorous way-too-ironic pony at times. However, he got the crowd going and between songs would remind the audience how amazing he was. “I’m fucking awesome. Gimme some applause.” He got sweaty, kissed girls in the audience, and had a great time doing his act. A-Scards’s jaw was dropped for most of it. She thought she was there to see Beck and didn’t realize getting to see Har Mar’s hairy back was part of the deal. Har Mar dances pretty well and with a lot of energy. At one point, he made the most vulgar gesture I’ve seen anywhere in a long time. He reached down the front of his pants with his hand, then pulled his hand out and proceeded to flick out sweat, I presume, at the audience. I laughed, but the hardest laugh of the weekend came on Sunday. The setup for Beck took awhile. (Can’t they tune guitars before they let the audience in?). Beck and his new band took the stage. I haven’t seen Beck in concert since 2003. What was the night to bring? Here’s the setlist:

SETLIST/Play-by-Play:
1. E-Pro – E-Pro is the first single off the new album. Beck was playing his guitar on this. I don’t know why, but his guitar (the black Silvertone with the RUSH sticker on it) sounded gnarly & raw. The bass was too loud in the mix. I’d heard the song before and I like it. It’s a great song to lift weights to, by the way.
2. Not on the setlist, but thought it should be mentioned, Beck performed “Que Onda Guero” at some point during the set. This is a cool fucking song. Beck raps in half-spanish, half-english and it’s good cheer-up medicine.
Black Tambourine- Black Tambourine is going to be the second single off “Guero”. The tambourine wasn’t close enough to the mic at times. Other than that, it was good.
Scarecrow - Fine.
Guess I'm Doing Fine – A song from “Sea Change”, it sounded beautiful. Sound mix got a lot better during this song. Also, Beck’s acoustic for this sounded so pretty, it made me mucho happy.
Girl – Holy Shit, if the lyrics weren't so frightening, this song would be a single. The “hey’s” which were so/too loud in the leaked version sounded great live. It sounds a lot like “Electric Music and the Summer People” an older Beck song (from the Odelay B-side area, but also re-recorded as a B-Side during Mutations (it’s on the Cold Brains single, which is fucking amazing from stop to finish. “One of these Days” and “Diamond in the Sleaze” are fantastic retro songs that are amongst my top 25 beck songs. I’ll list the top 25 on here sometime. “New Pollution” and “Tropicalia” are probably the two most notable omissions) “Girl” is a little retro love song that's just as much about hate... check out the lyrics at whiskeyclone.net/ghost for an idea of what I mean... such an upbeat song about sadness... wonder if this song is really about the catharsis of creating "Sea Change".
We Dance Alone – I hadn’t heard this song before. I guess it’ll be a b-side. Cold mechanical rock, as I remember.
Rental Car – Silliest Beck sample on this song since “Mellow Gold”. Couldn’t help but dance to the sample, which is a “la la la” song also sampled in the movie “Fight Club”. People enjoyed this song.
Emergency Exit - previously titled “Nazarene” on the leaked album tracks, this song is gorgeous drenched with Faulkernesque imagery, not to mention religious overtones I enjoy.
Broken Drum – Sounds good.
Hell Yes – “Hell Yes” for some reason felt low on energy and that Beck was trying to be laid-back cool, but it just came across as tired.
Knock Out – I’d never heard this before. It should be on the album. It is a great Beck rapping song. And the chorus felt cool. At least, I hope it’s a B-Side.
Remain – Don’t remember this song much.
--
Get Real Paid – Didn’t sound like the “Midnite Vultures” version. The keyboardist sang his part of the song into a vocoder, so it sounded like Beck had a robot echoing his voice.

Photos of the Spectacularness at : this website

Anyway, the sound mix got better as the night went on. Couldn’t tell how into the crowd was into the new music. Interested to look at the lyrics and see what sort of religious allusions are being made in some of these songs. Greg, E-Mags, and A-Scards really enjoyed the show which made me happy. I wish I could describe more about how and why the show was so wonderful. Maybe I'll come back and edit the post with more info so you can know what it's like to stand in a small room and listen to your favorite musician play spectacular all-new songs with his all-new band. Thumbs up.

SUNDAY
I joined Alex, E-Mags, M-Lawrs, Mo, and Johannes in a drive to the desert to help out on Alex’s film shoot. Little did I know that we’d be hiking up into little mountains of rock. Little did I know it was going to be 39 degrees when we got there. Despite the cold, it was a great day. At lunch, Alex made everyone turkey avocado sandwiches. They were wonderful. The scenery was beautiful and it was great to get out of Los Angeles for the day. Lots of young kids riding around on 4-wheelers/ATV’s. While eating lunch, a pack of ATV’s went by. About a minute later, an ATV pulls up slowly and follows the group of ATV’s into the hill. Seeing this ATV so far back from the pack, elicited an insane amount of laughter from me. Maybe I could relate to the sadness of being in last place. In any case, there was something endearingly pathetic about the kid on an ATV who could just get abandoned by the group who he couldn’t keep up with. At first, I’m just smiling when the kid pulls up on his ATV, but then I make eye contact with Mo, and the laughter starts. I felt bad, like I was laughing at last-place-rider, but not too bad, ‘cause it felt good to laugh until I cried.

Sunday Night – E-Mags and I sat in a restaurant/bar in Glendale and watched the superbowl. Paul McCartney was super. Feel bad for Philadelphia. Well, at least they have the Mutter museum. And the cheesesteak. (By the way, I won’t argue Pat’s vs. Geno’s. Tony Luke’s all the way, in my opinion (And yes, word is that Tony Lukes is coming to New York. Apparently there’s a dearth of heart attacks in the tri-state area). What a great fucking weekend. 2 wonderful concerts, a day in the desert, and 3 dollar margaritas during the Superbowl. Over and out, Eric

It’s Tuesday now. At 1pm, I head off for an interview with a temp agency, which would be a good way to make some money while I keep trying to find my way into my desired career path…

Assault on my ass!

Saw Assault on Precinct 13 the other night and liked it a whole lot. Probably the most violent film I've seen since Irreversible, which you should only see if you want to vomit a lot in your mouth. Ethan Hawke was great. He's starting to take after Cassavetes which is a good thing though he'll probably never make the sort of movies Cassavetes did. Speaking of which, Eric got the DVD box set so one day at the Hotel, we'll do a Cassavetes marathon.

So my crit. studies class is held in Lucas 108 which has the worst theater seats in the whole wide world. I'm a squirmer by nature so I like a little legroom. I mean who doesn't right? But 108 gives you no legroom. After 4 hours of class, I hobbled out with a majorly sore lowerback, a pinched nerve, crushed testicles, and to top it off, a hip flexor. Theaters should be designed so that the viewer is allowed to melt into the seat and take in whatever's being projected. Examples of well designed theaters: Arclight, Walter Reade, AMC. Lucas 108: sucks sucks sucks! The only consolation was that the sexiest girl in the class sat next to me (unsurprisingly she's French). She even borrowed my pen. Which I fumbled. Intentionally. So we'd touch fingers. I haven't washed my hands since.

Great celebrity sighting today at lunch: Richard Grieco (sp?). I was really tempted to introduce myself and let him know that at the lowest point in my life, I decided to buy his biography which helped me suck it up and realize that people such as himself have had it much worse than I. But, I froze up. Then I laughed inside. Which caused me to vomit sushi back into my mouth. A first.

Smelly Undies & Palmdale

First, did anybody catch that hilarious NYTimes Sunday Business section piece on that women's underwear designer's newest invention? I can't find the link for it but basically, this entrepreneur had this idea to imprint cartoons of her ex-boyfriends on the front of women's panties...there's "BBQ guy," "handyman," "carnie," "mower man," etc. The cartoons are cute but the best thing about'em is that they're scratch'n sniff! So if you scratch the "BBQ guy" you'll smell BBQ sauce, the "carnie" cotton candy," "handyman" cedar, etc. Man, imagine you're like getting all hot'n heavy with someone you just met and, you know, you've had some cocktails and laughs and shit and you're like mad horny and've wanted some for some time and she's mad horny and has wanted some for some time too so soon enough buttons are being unbuttoned and zippers being unzipped and you're in the moment and you wanna get things goin' so you're like fuckit let's get it going with a little oral so you start sliding off the couch and your mouth starts inching its way down from her nose to her chin, her neck, that lovely nook at the center of her collarbone, her breasts, her gut...and down...and down...and then you see something you can't quite make out b/c you're in the moment and gobs of sweat are dripping down your face and she's writhing and her legs are spastic w/ ecstasy but you need to know what that is so you hold those legs steady and look a little closer but then you do a doubletake b/c that can't be what you think it is but upon reexamination it is. A cartoon? A cartoon of a fucking dude? A dude wearing an apron and holding a spatula? A cartoon that smells like BBQ sauce? I don't know about you, but that's not funny. Imagine that.
Check out her website.

Sunday was Day 1 of "Sisters," my two sisters go hiking and get hurt and lost in the desert hills project. We---two actors, Mo (my partner), Eric, and John (AC)---left the Hotel @ 6AM. Early calls aren't new to Eric and I, but they still suck. Drove out 1.5 hours to Palmdale which is way east of LA. It's desert country. Why do people put down roots in the desert? It's so strange.
Anyway, the shoot went well. The only thing is that we must've hiked a thousand vertical feet or so. It was pretty grueling exercise but the shots Mo and I got I think were pretty hot and well worth it. I feel pretty strongly about this project b/c it's a real collaborative effort not just production wise, but also in terms of narrative. I didn't write a script per se, but rather worked with the two actors who also happen to be friends of mine in order to come up with characters and some sort of story...it's an interesting way to work and makes it a bit more challenging for all of us. We'll see how it ends up.

Love
Alex

It's Official

I've somehow managed to get sick here in sunny LA. Last fall, I had a couple spells of the mysterious 24hour stomach flu, but ever since Monday, I've been in the shitter. Especially today. Which was sunny, in the 70s.
I rubbed my nose raw with bathroom paper towels, Starbucks eco-friendly napkins, and my fingertips. I thought about snagging a few coils of tp from the men's restroom, but I decided against it considering each time I went in to get more absorbent material, I could actually smell shit which meant that for someone who wasn't sick, the gross violation must've been unbearably unpalatable. Whenever I'd have to cough or sneeze, I did so under my shirt which after a long day of nasal hemorrhaging got pretty damp'n gross. My being sick probably explains my overall p.o.'ed attitude this week. Patience: zero; Bitterness: 7 out of 10. So if you found yesterday's post excessively bitchy/whiny, apologies.

On the way back from home I purchased at Albertsons:
3 Family Size Campbell Soup cans of Chicken Noodle Soup
1 Robitussin Maximum Strength Cherry Flavor
1 Blistex Medicated Lip Ointment
1 Mini-Boboli 2 pack
1 24 pack of Arrowhead Water
1 Bag of "Mexican" Sargento's Shredded Cheese
I tried downing a Family Size can of chicken soup but I only made it halfway. Which meant that I had 3 servings. Why is chicken soup supposed to be good for you when you're sick? It sure is salty.
I had planned on going to small group and then meeting up with some SC friends at the Big Foot Lodge tonight, but instead, I'll be home praying I get better before the weekend.
Love
Alex

Ladies singing to me...

Eric writes:

I'm writing this quickly. Leaving the house in a matter of minutes to attend poker night at casa de J4/S-Brahms. Should be a good time.

Been listening to a lot of Nico, Carole King, and Laura Nyro. Laura Nyro's cover of "Ooh Child" feels like a hug. It's a great song to begin with, but there's just something about Nyro's voice...

Last night, E-Mags and I went out for Chinese Food. After the tofu, After the vegetable dish that featured pork as one of its vegetables, After all that, the fortune cookies came out. My fortune: "Your Career Plans Look Bright". This fortune made me feel good. And now I've got a whole new set of lucky numbers. Drove with E-Mags for a long time. I might sign up for an acting class she takes. Have to give her a call and find out more about it...

Awesome movies I've seen at the Arclight this week: "Back to the Future" (which still remains awesome and having Biff actually there for the Q&A was pretty great); "The Big Red One: The Reconstruction" is a Samuel Fuller WW2 movie from 1980 that is hard to describe. Reminded me of Altman's "Mash" in how episodic it made war seem. The comedy too was pretty good. And Robert Carradine, the lead nerd in "ROTN" who isn't Anthony Edwards was in it. He's also in Mean Streets for a quick killing.

First draft of the pilot is completed. It needs a lot of work but that's why it's a first draft. DM wrote the 1st act (it's a 4 act one hour drama) and there's some stellar dialogue in it. Hope it becomes a tv show, only 'cause it's the sort of thing I'd watch.

There's a smell in the air. I know it's only February but it smells like spring outside. Any other LA'ers notice this?

Adam, a high school friend called today. He put me and Alex up in Ohio for one night of our cross country Cannonball Run reenactment. Adam had me laughing so hard I thought I was gonna throw up. That's some serious laughter. So good to hear from him. He's taking flying lessons and drives a vintage BMW motorcycle through snowy Ohio. I gotta start having some adventures out here... So inspiring to hear about everything he's up to. He says he might fly out to L.A. and visit, which will hopefully make for the most exciting blog post of '05.

Gotta run. There's cards to be dealt. -Eric

P.S. In Beck News of the day:
Cover of the upcoming beck album -

McDonalds & Sundance

It's been a couple of weeks since my last post. I would've on Monday but I got sick. The night before, I felt a little hot so I didn't think the heat needed to be turned on nor did I think I needed to wear much clothing to bed. Big mistake. I got the crazy shakes/shivers and a nice fever after I got back from my morning class. Growing up, whenever I'd get sick, I'd crave McDonalds b/c for some reason, that shit would always make me feel good. Eric graciously drove out to McDs and bought me my palliative K-cals for lunch: 1 Quarter Pounder w/ Cheese, 1 Filet-O-Fish w/ Cheese, 1 large fries. He also got an extra Quarter Pounder w/ Cheese. I ate my meal then half the extra cheeseburger. I felt like a fucking champ. Then I passed out. And died.

So Sundance...oh the stars the stars the stars (Best: Crispin Glover/Evan Rachel Wood (too made up!)/DJ Squalls/Tobey Maguire (at a screening of my film no less!) Worst: Elvis Mitchell (that guy is still the biggest bitch bar none)). I don't really wanna go into a day-by-day recap b/c that's pretty boring but I will say that my film played really well, I got to meet a slew of cool folks, went to some fun parties (scored a free snowboard!), and was very happy that so many friends and family came out the first weekend. There's so much to say about my experiences there but at the same time, there's nothing really significant about what took place there. I mean, it's a film festival. Sure, careers are launched there but for the most part, it's just a film festival. For every Hustle & Flow that gets picked up for a kagillion dollars, there are 20 smaller truly independent films that don't get distributed and are sort of forgotten. It's a tough game. Having said that, I did leave inspired to continue on w/ this ridiculous endeavor and not wait for things to happen, but at the same time, I got pretty tired of the film world and really for the first time came to grips with the fact that, in the end, the industry's so unimportant and stupid and boring. Sure there are some cool creative nice folks but the people who make things happen are for the most part ossified pussies who're full of all sorts of shit. It's been a while since I'd met so many dummies! (if any of you know me at all, I sorta can't stand those w/ paltry IQs.) And what's worse, is that these are the people who get movies made! It's incredible to think that these hucksters are the agents/execs deciding what gets the go ahead and what doesn't. Yes, I'm bitter about it, but at the same time, I've come to accept that filmmaking is first and foremost a business and that the creative folk have a great deal of responsibility to their investors which in a moebius-y kinda way then determines the kind of stories you're gonna tell. So, screw all this artsy bullshit: I'm in it for the cash and the hoes and the conflict diamonds and shit.

Roomies 4-ever: Director of Swim Test & Star of Swimfan

Robert Redford Goes For the Pick