leftovers

Since the beginning of the new year, I've been doing a great job taking care of myself and making my health, both physical and mental, a priority.  To this effect, I haven't drank any alcohol, I've abstained from fast food and "junk food," and I've been working out almost every day, whether that be running or doing a "boot camp" style work out to a record.  On the weekends, Dylan has joined me for some hikes. This Sunday, our day was wide open, so I decided to surprise Dylan by taking him to Culver City park for a little hike.  It turned out to be quite serendipitous, because in addition to the regular park, there was now a whole new section of trails open adjoining the main park, with a huge staircase leading up to the Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook. We had a great hike and enjoyed the beautiful view all the way from the ocean up to the mountains. But what hit me the most was my own memories of 12 years ago, when I worked down the street from the ...

Check out my 2012 in Review over on my other blog, It's Never the Way You Imagine It.

General Delivery by mannifredlacroix

It's time again for my annual countdown of the top ten songs that worked their way into my ears this past year.  2012 was an interesting year, as unlike past years, there were not a lot of new albums by my old standbys.  So much of the songs on this list are by new artists, or artists I've just discovered.  Even though I love nothing more than one of my longtime favorite bands putting out new music, I also recognize that I should make a conscious effort to embrace new music, and I think I've done a lot of that this year. 10. "Live While We're Young" - One Direction I think I first saw One Direction on Saturday Night Live and I thought they were pretty good.  I've always had a soft spot for boy bands, although none of them have ever really entered my upper echelon as far as favorite bands go.  I like 1D's sound, style and look, but it wasn't until I went to England this fall that I really started to appreciate them.  Their single "Live Whil...

What a time it is to be me!  The past couple of months have been a crazy whirlwind.  Let's start with October. Last year, Dylan and I agreed that we were tired of going to the West Hollywood Halloween Carnaval.  For those who don't know, it's a huge street festival that takes place just about a mile west of where we live.  Hundreds of thousands of people show up for it, many of them (although seemingly less each year) arrive in costume.  There are stages with performances, food vendors, and it's a lot of fun although it's also kind of a hassle and can be really irritating since there are so many people there.  It's easy to lose your friends in the crowd, and cell phones usually don't work because of the sheer number of people trying to use them.  We had a great time there in 2011, though, and we had tentatively planned on not living in West Hollywood by the time Halloween rolled around in 2012.  We did look around for a new place, but ended up s...

Here's an interview and song clips from the Turbo Sunshine show last night in Hollywood.  Thanks to the guys at www.thatotherwebshow.com and the folks at club Kitty Kitty Bang Bang!

So much has happened since the last time I posted here (which was 5 months ago! Yikes!) but I guess I have learned to parcel my life out over various internet platforms in addition to this one, including Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, YouTube, Flickr, Instagram, Google+, etc.  My job title now includes "Social Media" manager so I've been embracing all the new forms of social networking available.  In addition to performing at Portland Gay Pride in June, I also was back home in Kansas for a family reunion, which was very nice.  Last night, I completed a new song, "Stomping Ground," which is my entry into the Summer of Music original song contest sponsored by Visit West Hollywood.  I tried to incorporate the energy and excitement of West Hollywood's vibrant night life into the song, representing all the great fun I've had here in the past decade.  There's no way to sum up that many years in 3 minutes, but I tried. Here is the link to the conte...

This is my favorite house in all of Los Angeles. I've always been a fan of old-fashioned, Victorian architecture and I would love to live in a house similar to this, if not this one. I just happened to stumble upon this abode one day while driving around town and since then I've been obsessed with it. If I'm anywhere near it, I will go out of my way to drive by it. After the first few times I did that, I decided to look it up and found out it has a lot of history. First, it was used as the Addams Family's home in a 1970's reunion television special which I used to own on VHS so it's no wonder that this house instantly spoke to me! It's also been used in several other television shows and films over the years, including Beverly Hills 90210, Willard, and Ben. Perhaps my favorite story about the house, which is now known as the Higgins-Verbeck-Hirsch House is from back in the twenties, when the home was moved from it's original location to it's cu...

Today my new single, "Tape," is released featuring a new video and b-sides. I had originally planned to release this last year in August (then pushed back to October), on a limited edition cassette tape format, with a video directed by Shawn Sagen of www.thestrangerpage.com who directed the "Alien Nation" video. I had been on a roll at the beginning of 2011 having released my debut solo album and single in April, and the follow-up single/video, "Winnipeg Beach," in June. Then I ended up just being too busy with other things, concentrating on my next album, and thinking no one really cared if I put out another single anyway so I just kind of forgot about it, and then resigned to the fact there would be no more singles off "It's Never The Way You Imagine It." It can be very difficult, and often discouraging, being an independent artist living in a commercial art mecca like Los Angeles. It's tough to get anyone to take any notice of you o...

2011 was quite a year for new music! Of course, the biggest happening was that my fave band of all time, The Human League, released a new album, "Credo," in March. But so much more awesome music was made too - Aqua dropped their comeback album "Megalomania," the full edition of "All You Need Is Now" by Duran Duran came out early in the year, Blondie's long-awaited "Panic of Girls" hit the streets, and Tiffany released her first country album, "Rose Tattoo" shortly after her SyFy movie "Mega Python vs. Gatoroid", co-starring Deborah Gibson, was aired. Several other past favorite artists of mine released new material too: Melanie C (aka Sporty Spice), Scritti Politti, and CSS. It was a difficult process to compile, but here's my top 10 of 2011! 10. "A Day Late And A Dollar Short" - Scritti Politti This song is great and sounds like a good mesh between the more poppy, electronic 80's Scritti and the more...

Mom by our front door on Christmas Day. I may have mentioned this before, but technically the Twelve Days of Christmas begins on December 25th. In this day in age, most people are so relieved once Christmas is over, it's unfathomable that you would want to then celebrate the holiday for 11 more days! That's why I decided to end mine, rather than starting it, on Christmas Day. We woke up in the morning and immediately I had to start getting everything ready. Dylan had set his alarm to wake me at 7am so I could put the breakfast casserole on in the crockpot, and luckily I got to go back to sleep for a couple more hours. Once I woke up, I had stockings to stuff and cookies to bake! Mom, Dad, Adrienne, Brandon and Angie came over shortly thereafter and joined Dylan, Robbie and I. We all finished up our last minute stocking stuffing and gift wrapping and had brunch together. Then we all started our Secret Santa opening. Borrowing from the method we used at my work's Secr...

Christmas Eve began with us intending to go horseback riding at Sunset Ranch up in the Hollywood Hills, but we were unable to figure out if they were open, and it turned out that dad had worn shorts (they do come to Hollywood in December for a reason!) so we decided it just wasn't in the cards. Instead, we went to have lunch at Kabuki in Hollywood and then to see Brandon and Angie's new apartment (the first time my parents or sister had been there). When we got back to our place, Dylan and his mom were there and then we all started wrapping presents while we visited and I started making the oyster stew. We had an awesome dinner with all 8 of us around our dining table, with Bootsy anxiously watching us after he finished his own special "Fancy Feast" dinner. The oyster stew turned out great and Robbie brought some turkey since not everyone is in love with oysters, so I made stuffing and had some cranberry sauce to go along with that. After dinner, the "kids...

Today was a very crazy, fun-filled day! Several years ago, we started a new holiday tradition of spending a day with Dylan's nephew, Connor, and Connor's mom, Jennie. We get together to help Connor build a gingerbread house, while we visit and sip champagne. It's so much fun and it's great to be able to have some holiday time with someone much younger than us. Everyone knows that the holidays are much more fun with kids around. This year, we had a hard time figuring out when everyone was available to get together and one of the only times we could do it was today, even though it was the first day my family was going to be here visiting, so we just decided to make it one big celebration. In the morning, Dylan, Adrienne and I got up and went to the valley to pick up my parents and we went last-minute gift shopping at the Fashion Square mall in Sherman Oaks (where I finally finished my shopping) and then to the grocery store to get almost everything we'd need for th...

There are several stages of holiday anxiety, from the minute the decorations start appearing in drug stores and the songs start playing all over the place. Then's there the shopping, the cooking, the party-going. And if you're like me, and you live far away from most of your family, there's anticipating the reunion - either of them flying here or me flying there. This year, my parents and sister are flying out to California, as they have done many times before, to spend the holidays with us. I'm so excited! The apartment is ready, I have the main ingredients for the traditional Yuletide Eve stew, my presents are all bought and wrapped under the tree, and the fresh pine wreath is hung on the front door! Tonight my parents land at the Bob Hope Airport in Burbank around 11 p.m., which is in less than an hour! My brother is going to pick them up and then we'll meet at our friend's house who is kind enough to let my parents stay in her home while she's away ...

So, the title of this post is pretty dramatic. However, looking back, I can't really remember anything dramatic ever happening on December 25 in my experience, and for that I feel very fortunate. Obviously, it's a day of the calendar just like any other day of the year, and disaster or tragedy can strike at any time. I do know of friends who have lost loved ones on Christmas Day, but luckily I haven't. If you just google " tragedies on christmas day " you'll find that there are people who report on and catalog all kinds of horrible holiday happenings. Really, aside from receiving some unwanted gifts, or not receiving the gift I wanted the most, I've never had something awful happen, and generally the holidays have always been great because I've always been able to celebrate them with family and/or friends. There have been a few Yules after I moved to LA when I didn't get to see my family at all, but at least I was able to be with Dylan and his ...

With such high hopes and expectations, it's only natural that the holidays are often marked by let-downs, disappointment, and heartbreak. Leading up to the arrival of my family and the excitement of the impending holidays, I'm going to bring it down a notch for the next few blog entries and focus on the darker side of the holidays. When you're a kid, you're pretty specific about what gifts you want for Christmas. Usually, you have put a lot of work into your list, double checking the catalogs and aisles of your favorite stores making sure you've selected only the most desirable of toys and presents. I would carefully dole out my wishlist, making sure to assign the low-price items to those who would be giving me gifts for the school exchange or the 4-H secret santa, reserving the moderately priced ones for close friends, siblings, and cousins, and of course requesting the finest ones from my parents and ol' St. Nick. I thought making things simple and direct ...

When the holiday season rolls around, my kitchen usually starts rocking. However, due to numerous blunders and flops in recent years, I've decided to minimize my pre-holiday treat making. I have no problem with the meals that I like to cook for the holidays, but it's the candies that have always given me trouble. My mom used to have a seemingly never-ending list of candies and treats that she would make each year for the holidays. Maybe she rotated them out and only did a few, but to me, it seemed like she would make all of these. Every year! My grandma Strecker had a few of her own that she always made too. Here are the candies of Christmas that I remember the most! Peppermint Bark - My mom now claims she had no "recipe" for this (much like other dishes and confections I ask her about) but I remember her making this once in awhile. The main reason I remember is because she would buy the big chunks of white chocolate - and I LOVE white chocolate! Cherry Mash - ...

Yesterday I wrote about all my first cousins on my father's side of the family. Today, I will be writing about the cousins on my mom's side, which is a much shorter list, but also is the side I have been more close with growing up because of our proximity to each other. In general, the cousins on the Hendershott side of the family were at almost all holidays and family celebrations, whereas on the Strecker side, it was only the really big ones. The Hendershott side was much smaller, closer in age and miles, and thus more tight-knit. In fact we all lived about 2 miles from each other for much of our childhood, and when the youngest, Caitlyn, was born, we moved to Hays which was where she lived so then we were very close to her. Here are my cousins on my mom's side: Brian A. - Brian was a few years older than me and I always looked up to him. He was great at sports, good-looking, always had a girlfriend, and had a great sense of adventure. He used to always try to scar...

The holidays were always time when I got to see a lot of my relatives; some that I saw often already, but others who I rarely got to see. Most of my cousins were older than me, and they seemed so cool, mature, and smart to me! So I always liked getting to hang out with my cousins and have great memories of the games and shenanigans some of us would get up to. Here is a tribute to each and every one of my cousins and what they mean to me! Beginning with my father's side: Steve A. - He is definitely the cousin I am least acquainted with, most likely because he's the furthest removed in age from me. I know he was sort of the golden boy when he was young because he was the first grandchild on the Strecker side. By the time I was born though, he was already an adult and I didn't ever get to see much of him. I've heard that we have very different political and sociological viewpoints. Jill R. - I do remember Jill being at holidays at Grandma and Grandpa's but again...

Trees are the ultimate symbol of Christmas. I don't want to get into the history of it, but suffice it to say, in my lifetime, the holidays have always involved a decorated tree in the home. When I was little, our first tree was a fake plastic one. The branches and needles were this thick green plastic that I still remember vividly. It was quite a process to assemble the whole thing. We would put it up in early December and had the decorations stored in the Amana Microwave box. The earliest lights I remember were multi-colored and were surrounded by clear plastic "flower petals." I loved that tree even though it was very cheap looking by today's standards what with those thick plastic "pine needles." Eventually, we bought another fake green tree that was slightly more realistic looking. That was probably when I was around 10 or so. Through the years we collected more and more ornaments, but Brandon and I developed a rivalry over our favorite ornament...