Dumb Nostalgia

man, is that how I feel today...

2011-07-14T13:22:00.001-07:00

here sometimes

2011-07-05T19:19:00.000-07:00

sure did have fun with blonde redhead last week...

summer came

2011-06-01T20:40:00.000-07:00

for now

2011-05-11T20:42:00.000-07:00

a low point

2011-04-17T00:19:00.001-07:00

vacation. badwater basin. 282 feet below sea level.

things are happening

2011-03-16T20:20:00.000-07:00

happy

2011-01-05T21:53:00.001-08:00

a lot of potential

2011-01-05T20:05:00.001-08:00

Things new and old

2010-08-16T15:01:00.000-07:00

famous for a day

i feel like a morning star

2010-07-03T08:50:00.000-07:00

It's been a bit quiet here lately. I guess that I've been away, swimming and adventuring away from this big, old city, and generally getting certain things in order, and relishing in the disarray of others. I'm here sometimes when there are things to say. Lately not.

this happend in 24 hours in Toronto

2010-06-21T21:28:00.001-07:00

another weekend away

2010-06-16T16:09:00.000-07:00

far and few between

2010-06-08T15:13:00.000-07:00

I spent the better part of last week soaking up the Midwestern summer in Indiana. I was faced with a long, sleepless night of travel, and greeted by the smiling face of a great uncle who I had never known. I stood on the grave of my great-great grandmother. I walked through the grass on the old family farm. It was both deeply meaningful and eerily psychedelic all at once. These are some thoughts without words since those are often the best kind.

After a flood of family history I found myself in Ohio to frequent both the local swimming and watering holes, and watch my little sister graduate, with honors, from college. This world moves fast sometimes.

honestly

2010-06-08T15:12:00.000-07:00

a rather fine book as well

2010-06-08T15:00:00.000-07:00

lovebuzz

2010-05-26T14:44:00.000-07:00

It was a good day filled with ripe avocados, abundant sunshine, terrible horror movies and excellent bookstore finds. In spite of that, I'm off to the vacant Midwest to take some pictures and give my little sister a high five. Back soon.

falling face first into the new age movement

2010-05-17T15:21:00.000-07:00

I'm back in LA after being here and there for a few weeks. It was nice to be away. It's been nice being back. I'm not really moved either way. Last week we drove up to Big Sur to see Yo LA Tengo at The Henry Miller Library. Nothing is ever bad in that magical little spot off the 1. The show itself was a little slow and low for my liking, and most of the golden oldies that I happened to be in the proper psychological mindset to enjoy were confounded by the addition of an avant garde horn player from San Francisco who honked his way across some of my favorite musical memories. Alas.
I segued my visit into a week-long stay in Big Sur as the fulfillment of a belated birthday present from my dad. I ended up staying out at Esalen which (if you'll excuse my brief, and unqualified history) is a former Indian (Essalen Indian) holy site because of it's natural, hot mineral springs. White man came and built hot tubs, and then Aldous Huxley taught us about human potential, Hunter S. Thompson worked the night gate and everyone made sweet sweet free love (mostly in aforementioned hot tubs) until the bitter end of the 1960s. These days Esalen is a bit of a new age paradise with lots of workshops centered around art and creativity, a meditation center, a working farm which provides the food for each meal, and an outstanding view of The Pacific.

On the way down through Big Sur I ran into an old friend of mine who had been playing a show with his band somewhere between SF and LA. He's a bit of a psychedelic warrior and totem of good times, so I took our chance encounter to be a good omen. I won't give it away, but his first name is "Farmer."
So, I checked into my room, and sank into my surroundings. I was there for a photography workshop with a heavy-handed dose of zen meditation.

All of these things, from the names of various yogi, to the identification of particular sprouts, to the homeopathic remedy for priapism are pretty unfamiliar to me, in fact, as you can tell, I frequently mock certain new-agey exploits with such vigor that it wears me out sometimes. It was a tough, hacky-sack strewn line to cross, but it ended up being a really remarkable experience. And why the hell not, it was the most amazing place on Earth after all.

The classes themselves turned out to be pretty rigorous. Six hours per day of class time, plus added exercises and assignments in the down time kept me pretty occupied, though I found just the right balance between "work" and sitting on the rocky beach or lying in the hot tubs for hours and hours each night.

I met some really great folks, and learned a thing or two (I think). It was quite a place, and quite an experience.

I left feeling bittersweet and sunburned and drove the six and a half hours back down to LA with just a few minutes to spare before my old pal Steve's new band went on at The Echo. They were great and amazing and all of those things that happen when your friend's band plays a really good show, and they're a little drunk and bubbly and climbing back into their van to drive to the next show and it's all good times. Go see Hurricane Bells because its the right thing to do.

The next day I was right back into the swing of work and traffic and stress and nonsense with a tacky fashion show in Orange County (or 'behind the orange curtain' as I've been told). It was the antithesis of a drunk and bubbly night in Echo Park with friends. More like a hot day in the parking lot behind an art school, but bar a few power outages and a little sunburn it all worked out well in the end.

Saturday we pulled double duty and stopped by a friend's annual 'spring fling' which occurs, without remorse, well after the start of Spring. It was nearby to our house, in fact just over the mountain, and featured lots of long hair and beards, several live bands and one very large margarita.

Then we tore over to The Hollywood Forever Cemetery just in time to catch the start of The Wizard of Oz projected onto a big, white wall. It was the first of many movies of the season, and it's just what you do in the summer in LA. I paid my respects at the grave of Johnny Ramone on the way out, and called it a night. I am now back in the swing of things.

minor oversight

2010-04-29T19:31:00.000-07:00

The brown angels are a gang of miscreants with a keen knowledge of photoshop, access to affordable sticker printing, and lots and lots of frequent flier miles. The black angels are a psychedelic rock band from austin, texas. Last week two worlds collided, and fun was had. That's really all that needs to be said.

north, again

2010-04-29T11:12:00.000-07:00

I'm freshly back from Mexico, but I'm heading up to Big Sur for Yo La Tengo, Henry Miller, some hot springs and some photography. Not a bad collision of events at all. I'll see you in a week or so.

full moon, dirty heart

2010-04-29T11:09:00.001-07:00

Some friends and I hiked up Coldwater Canyon last night to check out the full moon. It was well worth the death-defying drive down Mulholland, and the stumble through the woods. Just a little wind in the sails.

on the edge

2010-04-26T19:10:00.000-07:00

how to make a baby elephant float

2010-04-17T20:16:00.000-07:00

Shit goddamn, how the days go by. It's been over two weeks since I've even had occasion to look at this thing, and I'm not even a little bit sorry. I've had my head pretty buried in work lately, and not the intellectually fulfilling kind at all, so nothing really much to report other than time spent earning money, and therefore time wasted unless said money is spent on something silly like renting a bouncy castle for an afternoon or spending the weekend smoking cuban cigars in a bathtub filled to the brim with warm tapioca pudding. Both, and neither of these things sound appealing to me, all at the same time.
Coachella weekend is currently coming and going for me. I have mixed feelings. It's hot and dry out there, generally bad for my skin, and an affront to my new-found distaste for loud music (with a few exceptions). Many of my friends are out there this weekend though, and while the urge to drive out to the desert most likely won't outweigh me sleeping off Saturday night well into Sunday morning, and then making pancakes, part of me wishes that I were there. Just a little bit.
Home for good has been pretty nice. I'm finding the gentle balance between over-stimulation and sheer boredom to be a challenge at times. I joined a gym. I bought a bike. I do fucking yoga. I have hobbies. I like to attend trivia night at the local bar. I walk the dog around the lake once a week. I am becoming an old man.
I'm getting a little break from the routine next week, and heading down to Mexico, up to Chicago, and then down to Austin for some shows. I'm actually looking forward to them. The band are old friends, the places familiar. Next month I'm disappearing into Big Sur again, but his time with a little bit more structure, and for only a week. Hopefully it will give me something to talk about. Thanks for being there.

I'm not saying it's anything

2010-04-01T16:30:00.000-07:00

I'm just saying it's there.

idle hands and down time

2010-03-25T10:30:00.000-07:00

I've got some, it's true, and it's making me a little bit crazy, but not nearly as crazy as, say, not working at all, which is how I spent my last week after a few things fell through. I've been wrestling with being under-stimulated and generally being in one place from day to day. It's not going so well, but somehow with rather spectacular results. I've been gardening like a bastard, and decided to harvest and dry some of the herbs that had been threatening to overtake the back half of the house. Take that. In the event of the looming apocalypse, I've got us all covered for Rosemary, Mint, Cilantro and Parsley.

I also decided to make some garlic and herb olive oil from aforementioned herbs.

Get some (in 2 to 3 weeks).

And then came the bacon infused bourbon. I found a recipe here, and ran with it. It's all pretty simple, and unless you've got more than five years of sobriety under your belt you'd be a fool not to try it.

Fry bacon....

Procure bourbon (I prefer Trader Joe's $10 'Rebel Yell' mostly because it's $10, but also because it's called 'Rebel Yell), and cheesecloth (which has very little to do with cheese).

Decant (that means pour into a thing, right?) bourbon.

Mix with bacon grease/drippings/pig sweat.

Let it all settle, put it in the freezer for a few hours until all the fat separates. Spoon out said fat, filter the bourbon through the cheesecloth, and then shazam...

Success!

and cheers....

Just about there, but I wanted to make some meatballs and sauce to go with the bourbon and olive oil.

Oh, and some peanut butter cookies just because. And then I slept for 3 days and woke up not knowing where I was or why I smelled so strongly of garlic. The I remembered that I'm a crafty little fucker when I want to be.

those were them days

2010-03-17T18:08:00.001-07:00