Inside looking out

Our Garage

Cleaning and packing of the garage begins today.

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Jess and Damon's xmas eve partay.

Gingerbread house

Fire house Studios

IMG00401-20111210-1723.jpg

Pigface

Favorite Little Secret

Trails Cafe, griffith park.

Throwing Stones

The other day I was mildly stoned and running. I had a thought, and it was pretentious. I thought that if someone I knew were struggling in life and looking for cheap wisdom I would tell them this: Find something difficult to do and learn to love failing at it.

The Crazy Horse Saloon

So I'll try now to catch up on what happened in Paris.

On Wed 11/16/11 Angela and I had tickets to the Crazy Horse. Having scouted the location earlier we knew to take the metro 9 to the Alma Marceau station. From their we went the the George V Cafe and had a lovely relaxing dinner.
This was the coldest night during our stay. After dinner Angie and I walked around to kill some time and wait for the Eiffel Tower to light up. It sparkles wicked crazy every hour on the hour. At 20:00 it went off and we attmpted to pose for photos. It was foggy though so our photos didn't come out exactly as we would have wished. Here are some blurry approximations.



The Crazy Horse Saloon
Was the main attraction for Angela. She has spent a great deal of time in the last 5 years studying burlesque and cabaret and so many things lead back to the Crazy Horse. It was with much excitement that we walked into the lobby. We had purchased the medium level ticket package at 100 Euros. This included admission and a 1/2 bottle of Champaign. After we had purchased the tickets Angela wondered weather it might have been worth it to throw down another 20 Euro each to get first tier seating. It's not like we'd have the opportunity to go again very soon. I had soothed her by telling her there would be no bad seat in the house.
Once inside we were ushered down stairs and led to a coat check. After the coat check we were lead to the management table, where we had been informed the manager would assign our seats. I had a good feeling that Angela's look would go over well, and it sure did. As soon as he saw Angela in her flowing red formal gown he exclaimed "Oui, Oui, Oui!" he examined our tickets then and said, "You are getting complimentary upgrade, for style!"
We were led to the front of the seating with no one between us and the stage. Our adorable bottle of Campaign awaited us.
The waiter came and opened our bottle and a pushy photographer tried to sell us ugly keepsake photos of ourselves. We annoyed her greatly by not buying them. C'est la vie.
Soon the show started and it was stunning. The show consisted of tits, lights and bodies moving on conveyor belts. They have elevated cabaret to something spectacular. I would love to go back, it was easily worth what we paid and more.
After the show we were happy and enjoying the champagne buzz. We hoped on a couple of metro lines and wove our way to a gay bar which we thought was called Raid with and extra D, or Raidd, which we found out later translated as Stiff. Smack palm to forehead, of course. Devin and Dylan were already inside waiting and drinking. It felt like such an achievement to meet at a destination in a foreign city after not seeing each other all day and no cell phones to guide us. Apparently people used to manage such feats all the time.
We had a couple more drinks then soon grew tired from the long days and odd hours. Gay dance clubs it would seem are not much different in Paris or Los Angeles.
We headed back to the Metro and to Vincennes. We stopped for Pizza and Crepes on the way back to the apartment. It was a chilly walk but it felt nice to be alive in it.

And then eventually we were asleep.

This could be the start of a beautiful

Sunset

Anderson the turkey

Orange you glad its a holiday

Sleep was deep and delicious last night. We arrived here at Angie's grandma's house just after 10. We ate cold fried chicken and drank beer. We both fell asleep in our reclining spots at opposite ends of the couch.

We woke up early and started cooking. The turkey is in the oven and grandma is down for a nap.

Fun

Sneaky blurry

Not sure banjo and G-ma would pose for a photo so I'm being sneaky! The turkey just went in.

Angie and G-Ma!

Turkey day begins!

Time ticking down

I walked through the chatue de Vincennes yesterday afternoon. It's quite a large compound with a moat, castle and keep. It was cold so I didn't stick around for the tour. We have a large tub in the timeshare, so I had a bath to warm up after my walk. Angela was already in the process of prepping her self fabulous. Last night was my first chance to dress up so it was exciting. Angela wore a formal gown and I had a sparkly purple bow tie. It felt nice.
Once ready we shlepped it down to the metro line one and transferred to the 9. The metro exits with a nice view of the Eiffel tower. We found a little cafe near the crazy horse saloon where we had a nice dinner. Or waiter was lovely and very kind and very interested in angela's tattoos. Angela had ravioli and I again had a croque mosiuer (sp).
After dinner we wandered around some and waited for the Eiffel tower to pop. Once it did we went to the crazy horse, I will talk about that and raidd bar later, we are leaving.

Morning off, big night tonight

Angie and I decided we would take the morning off and catch up on rest and just enjoy "being" in France. Devin set his alarm for 8, and then it went off every 10 minutes until 8:45 or so. Angie got up and made coffee so the boys could get up and make good on their plan to hit the town early. Angie and I walked to the market and the bakery to get breakfast. Its been surprisingly cheap to shop for little bites in Vincennes. After eating we laid back down and promptly fell back asleep. It's now afternoon here and I'm starting to really perk up and get excited for tonight. Angie and I have tickets to the famous cabaret crazy horse tonight, it has been a big dream of angela's to go there. We plan to have a nice dinner on our way to the crazy horse and then meet the boys at a gay bar called Raid afterwards.

Yesterday we started off by visiting laura at her office, we had a late start though so we missed having lunch with her. After a brief stop for photos at the arc de triumph we went to the crazy horse box office so that Angela and I might buy tickets. We then spent a couple of hours shopping on the champs de élysées.

We were hungry, as a tourist gets, and stopped in for a bit of pizza and beer. The beer was nice so we had a couple. Wile eating and drinking we made a plan for our next activity, though it was late in the day we thought we would go to the catacombs. We hopped on a metro that ended up being an elevated train as opposed to an underground tube and it ran the closest we had been yet to the Eiffel Tower, truly stunning to see from the train, we appeared to be the only people on the rush hour train that cared to look as we went passed.

When we finally found the entrance to the catacombs they were closed sonwew stopped into a cafe for beer and cocktails. It was happy hour which was fortunate for our pockets. The little cafe was rather cute.

We were beat from a day of tramping about so we headed back to our room. I picked out a random cheap bottle of wine at the market which turned out to be very good. We drank our wine and soon fell asleep. I woke up wide awake at 4am and my tossing did the same to Angela. It took hours to get back to sleep, and as soon as I did devins alarm started up. Oh boy!


I just cleaned the apartment and now i'm feeling like a quick walk through the Bois de Vincennes.

How to say yesterday in French

I don't know.

Yesterday we woke up a touch hungover from our first night out. We met a local named dero who owned 4 hotels on Sunday night. He bought us a beer and took us back to his house where he gave us expensive wine and then turned into an asshole. When he told Angie she should not talk because she was annoying we decided to leave. Good wine though.

So we woke up yesterday to a breakfast of leeks and eggs prepared by Devin. Delicious! We took the metro to the chatelet les halles stop and walked along the seine to Notre dame. We walked through Notre dame and took many pictures for mom. It was big but didn't make me the so much about god. After Notre Dame we bought croque monsiurs and ate them on a pont over the seine. Devin had a hot dog. ;)

After breakfast we ate some famous ice cream and walked and walked. We ended up at a museum of modern art with a name I can't recall. We paid three euro to take an escalator to the top where we could watch the sunset. We stayed until the light show at the eiffel tower went off, pretty!
We were pretty beat so we had Indian food and called it a day.

We woke up late this morning, I woke up first. I went to the market and bought bananas, grapes and cheese. I then went to a bakery and night croissants and a baguette. Angie was up making eggs and potatoes when I returned, Dylan and Devin woke up shortly there after and we all ate.

Now we showered and prepped and we shall head to meet Laura Conrad, who was in devin's class at natoma, who was briefly my girlfriend in the 6th grade who now lives in Vincennes per chance just one block or so from our time share.

Au Revior!

Also yesterday is hier

Arrived and rested

The super shuttle picked Angie and me up at 6:20am and uneventfully drove us to LAX. It was overcast and Los Angeles was damp from a nice overnight rain, as if we had given the city a bath so that it would be nice and clean when departed. I'm sure we can trust Angelenos to keep it that way while we are gone. Security and bag checking was a simple affair and we then had plenty of time left to have a sit down breakfast. Fence toast for Angela, of course, and a breakfast burrito for me.
The first flight was to Chicago, after boarding Angela sussed that our flight wasn't totally fully and that we should grab the empty row in front of us, we did and it was a bit a fight to hold on to our empty seat while a group of stragglers boarded but it proved to be very much worth it. We had a row of three seats which allowed us to lay across one another and really spread out. The flight to Chicago was even faster than advertised so we arrived in Chicago in just over three hours feeling pretty spry and excited.
The chicago airport is good as far as Midwestern airports go. It's large and has plenty to look at on a lay over. We ate a snack and then walked laps for the duration of our time there. Angie has never technically been to Chicago so I was trying to find views through the window to give her a glimpse of what she's missed. I think I found sears tower, do they still call it that or is it like the Verizon tower now? I know those corporate types are big on buying up naming rights and I can't imagine sears still has that type of weight to throw around.
Our flight to Paris left on time, and was sadly full. Our row was perhaps overfull as we had a rotund rita sitting in our third chair. I was a little relieved that this woman spilling over her chair was French, and not a typical overfed American tourist, at least I didn't have to grapple with my sense of national embarrassment as well as a strangers back fat. Angela rode next to Rita for the first few hours, till the leaning had killednher back, I then switched with her. I was mad at Rita for the first half hour, but then I decided it wasn't her fault, after all my legs don't really fit in the allotted space either, so I forgave the fatty on my row and blamed the airline in my mind, after that she just became a nice comfy pillow to lean against. On the flight I watched parts of mr poppers penguins, which was pretty stupid. I had rented "the change up" through iTunes prior to leaving, which turned out to be extremely funny. I watched it nearl 3/4 of the way through the trip while everyone else slumbered and it made me feel a touch awkward to be convulsing with stifled laughter while everyone else around me slept. The flight was a touch long and uncomfortable, but not unbearable and finally at 8am (11 pm la time) Paris time we arrived.
We got our bags and made our way to an info counter where we learned our train was under construction for a couple of days and not running. We would need to catch a shuttle to a different platform, this was confusing and a bit stressful but not as hard as it could have been. While on the bus and the train a couple of different American sought out our council on how to get were they were going so I suppose we gave off a false sense of confidence.
We switched trains at the chatelet les balled station and soon found ourselves in vincennes.

Ok my dinner is on the table, which through a strange turn was prepared as a brunch by my girlfriend from the 6th grade. More on that later.

Chicago loves america!

One flight down

Walking around the chicago airport mentally preparing to not hardly move for the next 8 hours.
Watched larry crowne on the firs flight and actually really enjoyed it. Rare to see a decent film on a flight.

Coming Clean Before Leaving

I heard on the radio the other day that there are only two stories to be told. Someone comes to town and someone leaves town. I don't much care for the over generalization of the arts but I pass it along from the comfort of a hollywood laundry all the same. I have one more day of work before I leave for a week. I'm ready to get a break from my job and my co-workers. I'm ready to sit somewhere foreign and picture a map of the world and think about how far away I am from my daily life.

Short/Long

I'm waiting for a bus this morning but I'm really waiting for a plane.

Bookmark Mining

I'm always leaving things in books that I used as a bookmark while reading a book. Our book club is reading "A Farewell to Arms" a book I happen to have already read. I dug out my copy to brush up and found the two scanned items above.

Boarding Passes are a very common item to find in books. I come across them in a lot of used books in book stores even. I am always tickled though to find one of my own because it gives me a very specific date when I happened to be in a certain place.

Using the ticket as a reference I found a blog I wrote about the trip. I wrote in great detail about the event leading up to the sound check without even talking about the show. If I recall the show was fairly good and there were people there. Our friends from Hays, KS. Dennis and Ingrid were in attendance.

What I found most funny about this ticket stub though is what is not mentioned in the blog entry. The ticket is from our return trip to LA, and it's a flight that we missed. I'm not sure if this is the original boarding pass or the boarding pass for the flight we missed. We should have known better then booking an early morning flight for a group of degenerates. I'm not sure exactly what happened with missing the flight. I remember Devin realizing it was going to be a problem getting to the airport, and I believe his plan was to stay up all night to be sure he could rouse everyone. Somewhere involving alcohol and sleep deprivation that plan fell apart, probably something to do with me and my ex. Luckily we manage to get out of town on the next flight and home safely to LA.

The other item I found in the book is Devin's sequence notes for the SG song "Static Cling". I find these items a lot. I can only partially read what it means. On the left under the title it lists all the different sections of the song, with the number of where that portion is saved in the Korg Electribe Sequencer. To the right of that is a listing of the different sounds on the Electribe. Below and corresponding to each part of the song is a list of the actual sounds that occur in each sequence. for example, the first one saved sequence B43 is the pre chorus to static cling. The chart on the right shows that in that part of the song there is a bass drum, a bass synth a piano and a lead synth. At least I assume that is what L means. Devin always had to make these charts because when recording these songs onto our 16 track we would have to hook the two machines together using midi, and then solo each individual sound in the sequence and play the song the entire way through. Since we were using the 16 track as the master and the electribe as the slave it would then line up perfectly(K, if you are reading this you know that perfectly is a relative term and that on the sample level this actually gave us some problems down the road) and give me final mix control.

It's funny to me that these two items are in the book, because Static Cling contains the line "The only new york you brought with you". I like every thing about this song except how ridiculous the story behind it was. It was basically a fuck you song to a "rival" band who didn't think twice about our band. It was total an imaginary story line about people we didn't hardly even know and certainly had no rational reason to have a beef with. I actual met the to girls from this band years later in a totally new situation. I didn't at first even recognize them. One of them remembered me and we had a great talk about old times and I got to know them for real. They were great and it made me laugh to think about this song.

Massive Unexplainable

My life in the present is difficult to relate to in blog format. Or maybe it's difficult to explain or express. I realize though that the point of this blog has never been to explain at all, but merely to attempt to express and hopefully later recall.
After my neck injury I have have started to rebuild a new push up routine. I have decided to do it a bit more safely this time and take two days a week off, plus the weekend. This morning is the first morning where I have started to feel the exhilaration of power come back. It's a nice feeling to do something stupidly physically during a day of staring at a computer.

In three weeks I will travel to Paris. Angela and I will be meeting Devin and Dylan there for a week. I am so excited. I've started taking a crash course in french using Rosetta Stone. At this point it feels like a fun game, I don't know how helpful it will be in the long run but it's fun for now. In a couple of days though I feel as though I've learned as much french as I did spanish in 2 years of high school.

The move is coming along. we put the first coat of yellow paint on Angie's room last night. It's bright and lovely. Another coat will get applied in the next couple of days.

Angela had a burlesque prop custom built by ex Invis Matter Bass player Ben. It's a giant inflatable swan with an ego box. the ego box contains a power cord and pump and wheels for portability. It's very well made. It's an exciting time to see Angela pulling so much of this together. She has spent years researching and studying, and budgeting for costume and props. Now she will move into the final stages of decoration and costume and planning a new routine. She has selected a secret new song to dance to. I can't wait to see it performed.

Turbo Sunshine is coming along in a most surprising way. Angie and I have been going to our rehearsal space downtown twice a week working on our parts. Devin and Elene come along when time permits. For now Angela and I have the most work to do anyway. each week Angie picks up a new layer of intricacy, it has me most excited. I want turbo to be a very concise deliberate band, and we are well on the way to becoming that. I have some re-writing to do on early turbo songs, and at least one new song dying to be born. I think we will be ready to gig early in 2012.

I'm excited for the holidays coming up. Thanksgiving I will make a turkey for Angie's family in San Diego and on Yuletide my family will be here.

Huge shout out to Devin for having another Delicious Documentary this past weekend. He made yummy food and we enjoyed the film "Cropsey"

A couple other docs I've recently loved:

American: The Bill Hicks Story

Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson

I just finished reading David Brin's Kiln People. I wasn't as in love with the end as I was the whole book but it was such a fantastic journey that it doesn't matter one bit. Now that I've read the entire Brin Catalog I'm pleased to see he has a new one coming out next year.

Fresh dumpster at craig's

It's showtime.

Bomb shelter highway

Progress computing

My new computer on the table.

Staging area

I've just finished a 12 minute nap. Laying in bed with the cats, hopeful about my evening and all the nice things in store.

Dog is dead

Bye bye silver spoon

Nugget horses

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I'm a mutation

Going through some song files on the computer and came across a couple of recent tunes that were further along then I recalled. A fun feeling no doubt. Then my computer crashed and I ended up taking this picture of my hand.

I'm glad its friday night.

I have been hearing some far out sounds lately and it reminded me that I need to allow myself to play around more. I decided that tonight I was just going to make a weird sound, now I find myself taking a picture of my hand.

Computer is now back to life.

The future of my computing

Straddle

I believe that the new world and the old world meet. No one lives totally in the new world yet, the best you can do is have one foot in both the new and the old. Many people have taken this first step while many people remain totally, firmly planted in the old world. I believe this is how it has always been.

Once Again Under Ground

720 am and I'm back in transit. Massive transit. It takes 11 minutes of fast walking to get from our place to the hollywood and vine stop, a fun fact.

I enjoyed the 11 minutes walking though Hollywood, the city actually appears to care on a weekday morning. People replace billboards and clean sidewalks. The glow of the light between the buildings holds forgiveness for the night before. Even the homeless deep in sleep seem ro have staked out a tiny temporary peace.
Here underground no says anything, just echoing silence and the breeze of my approaching train.

Subway Tunnels

Dropped my explorer off at the mechanic. After a re-registration fiasco I learned that my car needed smogged. My car passes smog on all points but due to the check engine light being on I need to have it repaired for it to pass. Annoying. So I just left it in the valley and I'm now taking the subway home.
I'm deep under ground in north hollywood, at my most visted redline stop. This used to be where I got off every morning and on every afternoon. Good memories actually. I have plans to get a bike in a few months so that I can ride to the subway, take the subway and then ride to work, skipping the annoying bus ride on the north hollywood end. I think that would feel rather nice.

My weekend was good. We bought some items needed for our house and painted the dining room, as those of you who saw the pictures might have guessed.
Think good car repair thoughts for me. I do not know how much this will cost yet. Cross fingers, pray, whatever you feel works best when wishing for a good petty outcome.

Saturday night we saw "contagion" at what we call Dylan's theater, which is actually the TV academy theater, here they show movies as a part of a film group. Its always fun to see a film there. "Contagion" as scary, and moving and all sorts of other things. An experience to say the least.

I don't know what this fella pictured is all about but I passed him on the way to the train. Seemed like a nice thing to include in my subterranean blog.

Pink plunge!

Dining room before pt 2

Dining room before.

For the record

Living room and dining room pink, fashion room and hallway yellow.

The painting begins!

Its been a good weekend. Today we decided to take the pink plunge and get busy! Perhaps updates to follow.

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Oddie guitar.

Feed the man

Airport bar!

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if it keeps me warm at night

Simone is Angela's best friend in the world, because of this he is now one of my best friends. He hates when she is away, he meows at me everytime I see him. He suspects it is my fault that she's not here. Still he gets over it long enough to sleep with me and for this I owe him a great bit of gratitude.

First Transmission from a Brand new home.

Yesterday was hell, perhaps I will write about it when it's more than just yesterday's news. Let us just say that Devin and Dylan saved the day!

Here is a webcam view from the window just behind the desk in my room. I'm in love with my new space.

Done ug. Dead

Brothers to the rescue. Thanks. Dead.