Hamburger Larry's

Slept in nice and late; Dylan and I were both feeling better when we finally got up. Dylan had bought cereal but not milk which was irritating. So after we got up and around we decided to walk down the street and get some brunch. There is a new place below the Trader Joe's in West Hollywood on Santa Monica Blvd. that we wanted to try called Plaisir. I think that's French or Italian for "pleasure" maybe? Anyway, they specialize in sweets - baked goods, custards, ice cream etc... but they have some savory items too. We each ordered Quiche - we got a slice of ham & cheese, and a slice of spinach, and shared them. We were still hungry after that so we ordered a Belgian Waffle to share. A little bit of trivia about Belgian Waffles, via Wikipedia: "Belgian waffles were popularized in the United States during the 1964 New York World's Fair[1] at Flushing Meadows Park, USA. The waffle was introduced by Maurice Vermersch of Brussels, Belgium. Originally called Brussels waffles, Vermersch decided to change the name upon observing the poor geographical skills of Americans.[3]"
So if it weren't for our stupidity when it comes to locating um, the Iraq, and like such as other countries, we would call them Brussels Waffles.
The guys that work at Plaisir were very, very sweet and friendly so I highly recommend giving them a try. All their deserts looked amazing and they let us sample several of their ice cream flavors, including Blue Moon which reminded me of this ice cream I used to get when I was a kid at this place in Hays called "Around the World" which also sold wigs and rented costumes if I remember correctly. In fact, I think their ice cream was called Blue Moon also. Anyone remember that?
We went upstairs to Trader Joe's to get some groceries. I was going to get stuff to make my vegetarian dish for Joe's Oscar party tomorrow, but I wasn't sure what I was making so I didn't know what to get; I ended up just buying milk, and artichokes for brunch tomorrow.
We walked back home and it started sprinkling a little; it's been raining so much this year but you know I love that.
I worked for awhile on my remix for Naked Highway of their song "Pop It Drop It" and pretty much finished it. I'm really happy with it so I sent it off to Sy and I hope he likes it too.
The colors for the Shitting Glitter show tonight were brown and blue so I had pulled out some blue fabric for Coco. Dylan is really good at just making a dress out of a big piece of fabric so I knew he could so something with it. Then, I suggested he use our brown furry throw blanket as a shawl. It ended up working so well and looking really good.
We left for Long Beach around 7pm after I got the PA speaker and all my stuff loaded into the car. Traffic was kind of hellish so we didn't get there until around 8:15; we had been planning to sound check at 8pm.
I have to take this opportunity to say how much I loathe Hamburger Mary's in Long Beach. The one in WeHo is nothing to crow about because their service sucks and prices are way high, but at least the ambiance is usually fun there. But the one in Long Beach is just horrific. Of course, this is only from the viewpoint of a musician performing there; I've never gone there to eat or hang out. But, we have played there twice before and every time it's just awful. The "staff" who work there, specifically the security guys, are just the worst. Not only do they not help at all, but they actually get in the way. The sound is amazingly bad, so we actually brought our own PA and the ONLY thing we used of their was their wireless mic for Amy's vocals. Well, they must not have bothered putting in new batteries or checking them because the mic cut out about 1 minute into the first song. So, Amy went to get another mic and they had this one turned up so loud that it created ear-shattering feedback every few seconds. Of course, they didn't seem to realize that they needed to turn it down, so the feedback just continued throughout the entire song. The crowd there was apathetic as usual, as it always feels like we are "inconveniencing" them by being a band that is performing songs there. They just get further away and clap less as the set goes on. We did of course have people over on our side of the bar cheering us on and being nice, but the people over in the tables section obviously couldn't have cared less - actually, they probably didn't want us there at all. But the truly disgusting things happened after we were done. A DJ started playing, and OF COURSE suddenly everyone wants to dance! They couldn't have possibly danced while we were playing, you see, because we're a band and apparently these people can't dance unless it's hip hop coming from a DJ booth. Then the security guys are of course being assholes and telling me to move our stuff out of the way. These big, burly, presumably straight guys standing around watching three small females and myself carrying heavy equipment and not one of them bothers to offer any help; on the contrary, they just get in the way and demand that we move our stuff "faster." And tell us that we can't use the door that we came in, or the back door; no, we have to haul all our shit through the entire bar, out through the patio where everyone is coming in through. And then, as I'm hauling stuff to my car and coming back in to get another load, a girl at the door actually is about to tell me that I have to pay to get in.
I hate feeling like I'm not wanted after I've just spent an entire night of my life setting up equipment and performing a live show with all my heart but that's what's happened every time I've played at Hamburger Mary's in Long Beach so you can be sure I will not be playing there again. The only reason I agreed to do it this time was because it was supposed to be a Fuse event, and our friend Cathleen booked it, but it was just like the other times we have played there. Ugh.
After that, I was just so drained that I came home and unloaded the speakers and then laid on the couch to watch TV. Dylan still wanted to go out because he wanted more people to see his outfit so he went to meet Eddie at Gold Coast but I stayed in and watched the Always Sunny in Philadelphia marathon on FX until he came home and then we went to bed.

Hello 2010, goodbye junk!
NEW YEARS RESOLUTION LOG ENTRY 64
99 Cents Store Tinkerbell Pen. I tried to use this pen and it didn't work, so guess what? I threw it the heck away!

Comments

swivek said…
I've heard the most horrible stories about the Long Beach Hamburger Mary's. Ryan won't go there anymore and it has a lot to do with the bouncers.

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