Friday, March 26, 2010

LA Shows: The Deadly Syndrome

My friend Laura invited me and a few pals out to the Echoplex last night.  Her friend's band was headlining.  They're called The Deadly Syndrome.

The show was the following things:
  • a release party for their new album
    • go here to find out more about them and their music.
  • a fun time with some great friends, listening to some pretty good live music.
  • a reminder for me of just how old I actually am... which in all reality is not very old at all, but I find myself getting winded with a mere head bang.
The aforementioned single head bang, led to the traditional consecutive string of head bangs that excels at making one look like a complete asshat... especially if this is being done at a pretty mellow indie rock show. 
However, I feel strongly about the following:
  • Indie rock show or punk rock show... it doesn't matter - if it's a show with some rockin' music, I'm going to get into the music and enjoy the opportunity to get in some head bangs and shove some people around.  This is primarily because:
    • I actually do enjoy music a lot and can appreciate a band's execution of the music, and believe strongly that the best way to show this appreciation is to dance your itty bitty heart out.  And since the only way I know how to dance is to violently swing my head back and forth and throw my body around like a possessed sack of potatoes, this is what I do.
    • This activity helps me to stay on my feet and fight the urge to lie down and fall asleep because, sadly, I am:
        • a corporate whore by day and this exhuasts me
        • lazy and could fall asleep in almost any environment including a punk rock show. 
        • a poser.
  • LA crowds are a snore.
    • For the past decade, I've attended a variety of shows in LA from punk rock to a night out at Dorothy Chandler for a healthy dose of classical music, and I think the folks watching a performance of The Magic Flute are more enthusiastic of the performance happening in front of them than the douchetards that go to an indie rock show at the fucking Echoplex.  
    • Nobody crowd surfs anymore.  I want that back.  I don't care if I'm at a Cowboy Junkies show.
  • Due to the lack of enthusiasm displayed by the LA crowds, I find it necessary to amplify my enthusiasm to make up for the dullards in attendance.  
  • I find people's reaction to my obtrusive dancing intriguing.  A few interesting examples:
    • shushing me in the middle of a rock show
    • yelling "is this your first show or something?!" at me.
    • shoving me back, which I think is a good reaction and I tend to encourage them with a "That's the spirit! YEAH!".  At which point they generally tend to ignore me and walk away.
and lastly
  • I'm an asshole.


The variables:
  1. good, fun, friends
  2. booze
  3. good music
  4. decent venue
  5. firmly established desire to remain 25 years old forever
  6. and the belief that rabble rousing is a healthy activity
1+2+3+4+5+6 = a good night out.

Friday, March 19, 2010

EuroTrip 2010: Day 7, adios London

Day 6 actually ended with Wiseman and I catching Waiting for Godot at the Theater Royal Haymarket:
I realize this isn't the most exciting play to go see, but c'mon, it's Sir Ian McKellen and Roger Rees.  They're like celebrities and shit.  
And I have to say there were quite a few similarities between Estragon and Vlad's adventures and ours:
  • tired sore feet
  • pointless diatribes about things only we would find the slightest bit interesting
  • a desire to eat food
  • trying on hats:
    • both Carl and Wiseman tried on a variety of hats
    • Carl got a new one
    • As did I
      • mine had ear flaps.
    • Wiseman looks funny in hats due to his ginormous head
    • none of these hats could be considered "thinking caps"
  • a veritable circus act of communication 
    • I tended to reply with Spanish rather than French.  Often times an exuberant "si!" or a timid "por favor."
  • an encounter with a very colorful character who made us do things like drink shots and run towards her and then jump and straddle her in mid air.

Wiseman nearly fell asleep during the play. 

On Day 7, we planned to see Wicked.
Unfortunately, I did not realize the following:
  1. Day 6 was a Saturday
  2. Thus making Day 7 a Sunday
  3. Theatres are all closed on Sundays with the exception of a few that offered matinees.
1+2+3= No Wicked

We ended up walking around aimlessly.  I noticed there were a tremendous amount of cranes... everywhere:


I did a little research and found this particular company, London Tower Crane Hire and Sales ltd.
I would imagine they're starting to build and construct for the Olympics.
GO USA!

 

Her Majesty is in the Hause...



Alright, that was the last day.
The next morning we woke up to catch the train to Heathrow and fly back home.
To LA.
To work.
To four cups of coffee a day.
Voila!

Thursday, March 18, 2010

EuroTrip 2010: Day 6, au revoir Paris... cheerio London

Day 6 begins at 6am as we prepare to leave Paris.

Carl is heading back home to the states, while Wiseman and I get ready to head to the rail station to take the EuroStar to London.

Au Revoir Carl!  Merci for the fun times!

 

Look how sad Wiseman looks...
He misses the ex-patriots.  Or my presence is really starting to get to him:

I don't remember the chunnel cause I was fast asleep.
But here's London:

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

EuroTrip 2010: Day 5 - Redemption

  • Technically, Day 5 started at the medieval cave bar of ex-patriots and the Irish lesbian, Anne Marie, boozing us up with what I think was the nectar of the gods.  But, I'm going to say that Day 5 started with Carl, Wiseman, and I waking up at noon to find Carl's camera missing.
  • We searched high and low, and several possibilities ran through our minds:
    • Anne Marie was in cahoots with the ex-patriots and running a complicated scheme of luring unsuspecting tourists and herding them into a medieval cave bar to booze them up to have a fun time and distract them while the 20 year old bartender from Iowa lifts our belongings.
    • Anne Marie's groping and accosting was actually a really slick camera lifting technique.
    • or Carl was drunk and just left his camera at the cave bar.
  • We found all options potentially possible, and we were convinced whatever had happened,  we would probably never see Carl's very expensive camera ever again.
BUT WAIT... it occurs to me:
  1. I am a communication super star and can become fast friends with just about anyone I meet - with the exception of the old, crazy, french graffiti-ing man.
  2. Lesbians love me - Anne Marie doesn't seem to have been an exception.
  3. and OMG, she gave me her email address!!
  • Wiseman emails her about the camera
  • Also we find her on facebook and try to friend her.  She really seemed to want LA friends.
Whil we wait in anticipation for her reply, we decide we should go out and explore.
To my delight, we come across some familiar graffiti!


I sure hope it's him.
Anyway, we move on to the Museum Quai Branly:
  • The museum was creepy on the inside
  • but quite nice on the outside.
  • much like myself
 They had an exhibit on Sex, Death and Sacrificial Rituals: Hhhhhot.
There a bunch of old sculptures, but I failed to take pictures cause I'm not very good at documenting, and this blog thing is kinda exhausting.
Anyway - it was spooky, but interesting.
On the way to the museum, we did the stereotypical touristy crap and looked up at a giant steel structure:

So by this time, we ... RECEIVED A REPLY FROM ANNE MARIE!!! AND OMG, SHE HAS THE CAMERA!!!  We schedule a meeting time and a place.

  • She tells us to meet her at a place called Les Jackasses, or at least that's how I read it as.  The Jackasses.
  • We think this is intentional.
  • it is a Lesbian bar.
  • She's late.  Anne Marie is late.
  • We think it's another set up.  We think she's watching us.  
  • I think we're going to get jumped by the ex-patriots
  • Carl and Wiseman think they're going to get accosted by some lesbians
  • I wait outside and do some reconnaissance
  • And I get the piss scared out of me when Anne Marie comes up behind me and shouts "HEY!"
She got there late, but oh my googly moogly goodness, she brought the camera.
She's swell.  I now wait for her to accept my facebook friend request.  My new Paris friend: an Irish, ex-patriot, lesbox, crazy, crass, awesome, friend.  Go to Pure Malt and say Hi to Anne Marie.   
THE PURE MALT SCOTTISH PUB
4, Rue Caron
75004 Paris, France
+33 1 42 76 03 77




Later that night we took a boat tour.  This is where I found my camera to be:
  • awful in low light
  • awful in moving boats
  • has awful menu items to help with these awful things.
However, I still took pictures and consider them to be:
  • artistically blurry
  • tastefully exposed
  • beautifully framed

After the tour, we were fucking cold and starving.  So we walked around until we found a little hole in the wall Chinese restaurant that was full of Asians, which we found reassuring.
So we walked in to find ourselves being escorted to a private room!
This room had these pictures hanging in it:
 and we had this to eat:
So, here's what we thought about this:
  • Initially we thought that we scored with the private room
  • The dumplings and soup was good, so we were looking forward to our meal
  • As we started digging into our meal, it started dawning on us that maybe we were seated in a private room away from others so that we couldn't compare our meal to other people's... because:
    • Carl and Wiseman's chicken dishes were more bones than chicken.
    • Carl and Wiseman both considered their dishes very dangerous and could have caused:
      • internal bleeding
      • severe esophageal damage
      • death
  • The meal was stressful and unsatisfying
  • I had pig knuckles, so they couldn't really fuck that up too much... it's already kind of fucked up.
After the potentially deadly meal, we headed back home.  We stopped by a crepe stand to get something soft to eat.
  • Carl had a cheese 
  • Wiseman had something... I can't remember
  • and I had the Critrusy Lemony goodness one.  It was delicious.  And safe to eat.
Day 6 was going to have to start early, so we got home to pack and hit the sack.

Saturday, March 13, 2010

EuroTrip 2010: Day 4 - food and DRINKS

There is a very good reason why I haven't updated this thing - it involved a Irish ex-patriot lesbian bar owner by the name of AnneMarie.  Wiseman used his handy iphone to find a bar nearby, and we came upon "Pure Malt".
I'm just going to do bullet points... this should be sufficient enough.
  • The day starts with a visit to the cemetery:
  1. There are cawing crows at the cemetery.
  2. A stray cat also seemed to reside in the cemetery.
  3. The church bell seemed to ring incessantly.
1+2+3= totally cliche atmosphere that still freaked me out. 
    • I will not be returning to the cemetery.


The Louvre:
  • was giant
  • crowded
  • annoying
  • we got lost and I desired to exit the building very soon after we got there.
  • The Mona Lisa is over rated.

The Musée d'Orsay:
  • was a bit more pleasant experience than The Louvre.
  • found the interior architecture beautiful and the layout of the museum great.
So far the day is going well, and the museums are a hoot... and we're fucking tired.


  • The Monoprix


  • A Parisian street
  • we passed it by while heading towards Robert et Louise
    • Wiseman and I got the steak for 2
    • some mushrooms
    • some wine
    • Carl got the tripe filled sausage
      • tripe flavor is not Carl's fave.
    • All in all, the dinner was nice and the restaurant was cramped and awesome.





  • No more pictures were taken after this point for the following reasons:
  1. Carl, Wiseman, and I went into the closest bar which turned out to be an Irish pub called "Pure Malt"
  2. We ordered drinks with the intention of having a quick cocktail and continue home.
  3. There was nothing quick about our cocktails because the bartender and manager turned out to be a crazy Irish ex-patriot looking for a good time. Her name is Anne Marie. She:
      1. served us free shots of caramel vodka which was poured from an unlabeled bottle
      2. kept serving us shots
      3. then gave us some beer
      4. talked to us about how much she hated Parisians
      5. asked us what we were doing and asked if we wanted to go with her to a bar.
      6. we said yes.
      7. we closed down her bar
      8. cabbed it to a bar with her, where we realized she was taking us to a gay bar.
        1. first bar was closed.
        2. probably to the relief of Carl.
      9. we go to another bar.  This bar is:
        1. owned by an ex-patriot from South Africa
        2. attended by all ex-patriots from places such as:
          • Finland
          • Iowa (this was the bartender)
          • Ireland
          • and god only knows where else.
        3. Looks like a medieval dungeon.  We walked down a small flight of stairs into a dark, dimly lit, cave, fully stocked with a great bar and a Karaoke stage which came in handy towards the end of the night.
        4.  Anne Marie buys us all more beer.  This may be the point where things got super duper fun.
      10. Carl, Wiseman, and I have all been accosted and groped by Anne Marie multiple times.
        1. This is not the type of action Carl or I were looking for.
        2. However, Wiseman seemed to enjoy it.
      11. We've all become fast friends, and Anne Marie and I exchange contact information and we head back home at 4 am.
There are pictures of some of this, I would just have to get them from Wiseman's camera.

Unfortunately, the next morning, Carl realizes that he's lost his camera.  We end up suspecting the worst.  We think of the possibility of having been duped by Anne Marie and her crew of ex-patriot friends who are all in cahoots with each other,  luring in unsuspecting tourists into the medieval cave bar to steal their valuables!

However, I realize:
  1. Anne Marie has given me her email address and her full name.
  2. I think Anne Marie liked me.
  3. So we decide to email Anne Marie in hopes that she might have picked up Carl's camera.  While we wait for her reply, we roam the streets...onto day 5...