leftovers

Brandon and I had planned a trip out to Hoagie's for a BBQ since we hadn't seen him in a long time, and haven't been out there since we finished recording Open For Business . Brandon and Angie picked us up on their way, which was nice. We all stopped at the Pavilions on PCH, and Hoagie was there at the same time! We were all getting food for the BBQ. Ben and Roxy were already there waiting for us when we got there. They had never been out so Brandon thought it would be fun to invite them along but unfortunately they were on time and the rest of us were all late. Tiger came out and joined us later. Hoagie's birthday was coming up soon so it was sort of an early birthday celebration for him. It was nice being back out at his place, especially since it was just for fun and there was no work to be done. We never even entered the studio which was silly since we really should have shown Ben around. Hoagie made turkey burgers with bing cherries and walnuts, and goudy ch...

Today I had my first board meeting for the Hollywood Entertainment District which was a good experience. I commented to my new co-workers that it seemed so calm in the office right before the meeting, whereas usually before a board meeting I was running around like crazy, sweating, trying to get everything put together. Since I was pretty much a one-man show there, I'd have to get the food and water bottles, copy the meeting packets, get the sign-in sheet and all the supplies gathered and then carry everything over to the Musicians Union and set the room up; now that there are 5 of us, everyone has their job to do and it's much easier. As they said, it's a well-oiled machine. After the meeting, I went home and got ready for the Shitting Glitter show at the Joint. It definitely felt weird knowing this would probably be the last time I'd be getting ready for an SG show for the time being. It was sad but refreshing at once. I found this silly crystal tattoo that I...

It was sad waking up and knowing that we had to exit the beautiful country of Canada. We set the alarm early to the point of naivety. Considering all that we had done, and what little sleep we had done it on, obviously we should have known we were not going to rise and shine. We were sort of hoping that maybe we could take R up on his offer of giving us a more in-depth tour of Winnipeg, but after I hopped in the shower, he called and said he ended up having to work today at the pub where we had gone last night. The girls were getting ready next door and told us they were all going down to the Elephant and Castle for brunch and they wanted us to join them for one last meal together in Canada, but Dylan and I really wanted to go hang out with R one last time so we got a taxi over the river. Remembering the record store from last night, I decided I wanted to go check that out first, to hunt for a rare Voice of the Beehive "best of" album which was only released in Canada and ...

In the morning we finally got to go to a Tim Horton's, Canada's version of Starbucks (but much better of course) and the R showed us some of the sites in Peg City. Shitting Glitter had sound check at 11:30 at the Forks, which is where Pride was, so Dylan rested in the hotel room while we went and did that. Our driver was a really funny Russian guy who we all adored. The sound check went pretty well; I thought everything sounded great from my corner of the stage, but apparently some of the girls had trouble hearing everything. The band had brunch together in the fancy hotel restaurant where Dylan and I had dinner the night before. I had Eggs Benedict which were delicious! R texted me for us to meet him at the Pride Parade but I texted back that the band was eating at his restaurant so he told me to tell the waitress 'hi' and for her to meet him after she got off work. She seemed surprised when I told her. It took me nearly an hour and a half after th...

I woke up to the gentle Winnipeg morning light shining in through the front windows of Chad's house. Dylan and I had slept on a mattress in the living room that was SO comfortable I completely drifted away and forgot all about last night's troubles. Dorothy came to pick up AJ and Laura (Red had stayed at her place overnight) so they could go to Mother's Music to rent guitars, bass, and to buy drum sticks. She also had Canadian cash for us so we could exchange our money. I gave Laura some cash to get me a tambourine if they had one for rent. Dylan and I watched Canadian TV and were surprised to see their version of 'Cash Cab' which we often watch when we get home from work on the rare days we have nothing else to do. Soon, Dorothy and the girls came back and we decided to walk over to Perkins for brunch. Most everyone ordered breakfast stuff, but as usual I was feeling more like lunch so I got a french dip sandwich. After that, Dorothy drove Dylan, Red and I to ...

I've had some crazy days but this was one of the craziest. Amy and AJ came to pick Dylan and I up around 9:30 in the morning, which wasn't that bad - we were actually ready to leave by the time they pulled up. I had packed most everything before so I just had to take a shower, get dressed, and throw my toiletries in the suitcase. We got to LAX behind Red and Laura, who had already gone through security by the time we checked in and printed our tickets from the automatic kiosk. I had been worried about the tickets because one of them had Barb's name on it instead of mine, but it turned out to be fine as well all got checked in with now problems. The line for security seemed infinite, but we made it through in an hour or so, from beginning to end. Then, Dylan and I met Red and Laura in the McDonald's by the gate because we were starving; AJ and Amy went to a different restaurant where they could drink (I didn't want to waste my money on alcohol before getting to C...

I felt pretty rushed considering everything that was happening today at my work, as we were interviewing 5 candidates for my job, and we were leaving for Canada the next day and I hadn't even started to pack or figure out what I was going to wear. The interviews didn't start til 3pm so that gave me time to get caught up and tidy my office. We decided to do the interviews in my office so we could at least use the conference table once - the fate of the office here is up in the air as they kind of want us out here so they can rent it to someone. So the office is probably going to move to another studio but that will be for the next person to deal with. I moved the office from CFI right before they demolished it, into Ren-Mar Studios, 5 years ago. Out of the candidates, one of them was a friend of mine who I know well from working in the Hollywood Community who is looking for a career change (she's been a makeup artist for years and years on many different movies). The oth...

Journal Entry May 8, 2010 I slept in pretty late, thinking that Amy or AJ was going to call or text when they were going to brunch at Hamburger Mary's since we had made plans the night before. When I finally got up, I hadn't heard from them so I texted them. Still no answer, so I just decided to cook brunch at home which was fine since I had milk, eggs, and veggies. Finally when we were almost done, Amy texted saying they were at Hamburger Mary's but they were already done eating. So much for that I guess. Then I started working on the computer and got pretty deep into editing on one of my songs. Sometimes I get on a roll and today was one of those times, so when Amy called later to invite me over to Rich's (from Chachi) to jam with them I had to decline. To continue our weekend with Revenge Club, we were playing with them again tonight only this time in San Diego. Dylan didn't want to go down there and back in one day, and Marc was dog sitting for Princessa ...

Shitting Glitter had a show tonight at Mr. T's Bowl in Highland Park. We had put the whole night together, and when I say we, I really mean Amy and AJ because they did the work. Amy's friend from high school, Sean, is in a band in San Diego called Revenge Club and they wanted to come up and play a show with us, so Amy and AJ put the night together which also included Rough Duchess and Chachi, both bands we have played with before and really like as people and as bands. So, even though Mr. T's Bowl wasn't really a place I wanted to play again, it turned out to be pretty fun since all of us bands get along so well and we all watched and supported each other. Brad came with Dylan and I so that was fun too. I thought that a couple of the members of Revenge Club were going to crash at our place so we had cleaned the whole apartment before we left for the show, but they ended up going back to San Diego and we ended up with a clean and organized apartment for the rest of t...

Mayday! It's the holiday where we used to go put flowers on people's doors, and then run away after knocking. I think that's a midwestern thing 'cause no one out here has heard of it before. I made brunch for me, Dylan, Marc, and Viktor. I made beanie weenies with veggie hot dogs and a BBQ I made from scratch, and Soyrizo and Egg burritos. They were all yummy! It was so cute because Viktor brought Princessa, his tiny little chihuahua over. Shitting Glitter had a gig at Whittier College for Psychedelic Circus, put on by the Poets Society or something like that. It was an outdoor afternoon show on the upper quad. Marc rode with me, and we picked up Robert on the way. I totally missed the exit for the 60 East and ended up taking the 710 all the way to Long Beach! I was already running late, but that set me back even more, and then when I got to Whittier my directions were really bad and I ended up going in the wrong direction again. I called Laura and luckily he...

I woke up as early as I could because I had to load up the car and get to Loyola Marymount University, where Shitting Glitter was going to perform at a Marriage Equality Rally. I had to get there early though because the opening act, two high school girls from Santa Monica, needed to borrow my keyboard. The campus is beautiful and it was a perfect day, but I was slightly disappointed with the turnout - I thought there would be way more people on a college campus, especially considering that there had been a good deal of controversy around the event as it is a Jesuit College and the administration had threatened to cancel the event, sparking accusations of homophobia which turned out to be false (suposedly) as the concern revolved more around the volume level than the purpose of the event. The rally got off to a very late start and there were quite a few bands and speakers, so before we even played our set was already cut down to 15 minutes, and Red texted that she wouldn't be able...

I had a lot of stuff going on today. First, I got up and around so that Dylan and I could go get his bike from my office since he had left it there when we went to Tiger's show on Thursday. Rick and Melodie were working on some cut-away shots for the Invisible Material video and they needed my bass drum so we went there first, as Brandon was already there with his guitar and amp. They were up on the roof filming the shots. When they finished, they invited us down to their apartment to see a rough cut of the video. It was amazing! I can't wait until it's finished and we can show everyone. Then we went to my office and I got his bike, riding it down the sidewalk to where Dylan was waiting with my car. I'm pretty sure that's the first time I've ever ridden it. It was pretty fun, actually. From there, he biked home and I went to Guitar Center on Sunset. They were supposed to be having a big grand re-opening of their drum shop, and I desperately need a ride cy...

I forgot to mention that when I got home on Sunday night after the gig, I checked my e-mail on Dylan's phone and saw that our tickets to Winnipeg came in! So, now I am finally believing that we are going to Canada - I never believe anything until it's absolutely official, and having plane tickets bought is pretty official. So I put together a bunch of press kits to mail up to Canada, and I was going to mail them yesterday but I realized I didn't have any more CD's! So today I went and picked up 2 boxes from Amy and then went to the post office and had to fill out all the damned customs forms, which are new and more complicated then the old ones I was used to. Also, yesterday before I went to Runyon, I stopped at Beauty is Pain/Ad Nauseam Records and dropped off some CD's and records of Shitting Glitter for them to stock. I was going to go to the TV Academy after work for the Community event, because as my blog readers know, Community is one of my new favorite show...

After work today, we had a gig at Palihouse, which is a fancy-shmancy hotel in West Hollywood just up the street from Marc's place. So I loaded up my keyboard and drove over there, but there wasn't any easy parking so I just parked at Marc's and walked. When I got there, Red, Laura, Amy and AJ were already there so we got set up and did a quick sound check. This was our acoustic show because they have acoustic acts there on Monday nights. It was also Red's parent's 30th anniversary so they were there with some of their friends, and Red's brother Jeremy, and quite a few of Red's friends. Because of the family members, and the acoustic setting, Amy seemed a little uncomfortable and ended up dropping a lot of the lyrics out, most notably an entire section of Slut Buffet. We also didn't end up doing all the songs we rehearsed, but it was a good set anyway. I really like doing acoustic shows, although this wasn't truly acoustic since we were plugged...

When I was a kid, Easter meant going to church and talking about Jesus being reborn (sometimes we even had to go to the "sunrise service") and then we'd go home and get baskets full of candy. When I was really young, we'd go to the Paradise Park for an easter egg hunt put on by the 4-H club members who would hide plastic eggs full of candy and, if you were lucky enough to find them, money. As I got older, I was in the 4-H club so then I stuffed and hid the eggs. Full Circle. Nowadays, I'm an atheist and don't have any kids so Easter is the one holiday that I usually forget about until the day of, and therefore forget to even put up the decorations (yes, I do own Easter decorations). But this year we were invited to Dylan's Aunt Renee's house for Easter Sunday and we were excited since there would be kids there (and free food). It was really fun, we got to watch the kids color easter eggs and then the adults hid them and the kids had an easter egg ...

Dylan and I went down to AJ's house in Fullerton for brunch and a band rehearsal. We have two shows coming up - an electro gig at a new 80's club downtown tomorrow night called Erotic City, and an acoustic gig at Palihouse, where Red works, on Monday in West Hollywood. Red couldn't make it to rehearsal so it was just the four of us and we rehearsed the electro set first without Laura because initially she thought she might not be able to make it. Then, after we talked about it, Laura decided she could make it, so we rehearsed it again with her. Then, we rehearsed the acoustic set with Laura using brushes instead of sticks, and me using the piano sound instead of the electronic sounds on my keyboard. After rehearsal, Dylan and I drove up to Echo Park for Tiger's art show at pLAyLAnd, a new gallery/space that was having it's first event. It was really interesting. Quite a few artists had work there, and many of the pieces were conceptual/interactive, such as the...

The day started on a very bizarre note. I had gotten a phone call while I was still asleep and heard the voice mail alert. So when I got up, I played the message. It was Amy, saying that AJ had gone in for a Doctor's appointment because she had stomach pains and that the office had called Amy and said it was serious and that they had to take AJ to the hospital and she would probably need to stay overnight. I was, of course, very worried about AJ but I was also pretty uncomfortable that I was probably going to have to call Ad Nauseam records and tell them we would not be able to play tonight. We had already rescheduled the gig once because Amy's shoulder surgery had been scheduled for the morning of the date we were supposed to play there the first time. Anyway, I got to work and called Amy back and she said she was about ready to go down to Orange County to be with AJ in the hospital and find out what was going on. But then, just a few minutes later, Amy IM'ed me to s...

The dogs woke me up a few times in the morning, as Daisy tried to get up on the bed with Forrest and I a couple of times, but she was very good about getting down when I would yell "no!" Finally, around 11am, I did roll out of bed. I hung out for a little while petting the dogs out back by the pool but then I wanted to get home. On the drive back over Laurel Canyon, I stopped first at CVS to get some household stuff and called Dylan to see if there was anything we needed that I was forgetting about. When I got home, I proudly told Dylan how I had driven right by Weinerschnitzel, a hot dog chain that has become a guilty pleasure of mine. Instead, I cooked brunch. I was going to make this recipe I've done before, Baked Eggs with Creamy Leeks, but it turned out I didn't have any leeks leftover like I thought I did. What I did have was kale, so I used that instead. And, I didn't have any cream, but I did have a can of evaporated milk. So, they ended up being OK...

Ugh! Getting up in the morning was not fun! I actually had quite the St. Patty's Day hangover. Aren't I too old for this? I tried my best to get up early enough to make it to LMU - Loyola Marymount University - by 8:30, which is when Charley (Stauber, the student producer) asked us to be there. I was making good time, flying down the 405, which made me feel a little vindicated from all the times I sat there in morning traffic on my way to CKL. But then I took some wrong turn after I exited the freeway and then ended up north on the 405 somehow! So much for living in LA for ten years - I still can't get around properly. I was a little late, but still the first of our gang to arrive. Charley met me outside so I could unload my car, and he even helped carry everything in. Shortly after meeting two Jons who were also going to be helping Charley out in the studio, Amy, AJ, Laura and Carrie arrived, with Red Fox not far behind. While they LMU students set up the microphon...

I worked from home most of the day, so I had my laptop with me and I was preparing for our Advocacy Committee meeting at 4pm. I had a message on the work phone from Susan that her dog, Forrest, had been attacked by some wild animal and she was taking him to the vet, so she didn't think she could make the meeting. I had already made arrangements with her assistant, Diana, to have her make the meeting packets since I couldn't access my copy machine. So, Diana drove down to my apartment to give me the copies. At 3pm, I went in to my office to see if the carpet was installed, and to get ready for the meeting. As I walked in, the carpet layers said "all done" so I walked inside and sure enough, both rooms of my office were filled with new carpet and that new carpet smell! I was so happy, but I only had a little while before the meeting so I had to rush over to the Musician's Union to get set up. The meeting got off to a bit of a late start but once we got going i...