Get on the Boat with Harbor Party

So you’re out on your Yacht again and you’re decked out in your anchor print scarf, boat shoes and khaki shorts.  All your friends are there and it’s a beautiful day but there’s something missing.  Where’s the music?  What soundtrack will get this party started?  Enter Harbor Party: the band committed to bringing the party from the mainland to the ocean.  They play all the songs you want to listen to on your Yacht - The Doobies, the Eagles, Michael McDonald, Loggins and Messina, Hall and Oates.  If it’s yacht worthy, they’ll play it.  And they’ll play it good.

No exaggerations, the highlight of my week, every week, is Tuesday nights at 10PM at Rockwell Table & Stage where my friends put on the let-loosest, good time with Harbor Party, a yacht rock extravaganza. Talk about Throw Back Thursday!

If you're a long time reader of this blog, you may recognize the captain of the yacht rock movement, Mr. Landon Beard. We've worked together on every show I've ever done and hung out all over the world. Love the dude. You may also remember some late night drunken Michael McDonald impersonations on instagram. Basically, he's a natural at the smooth sailing jams defined as yacht rock. 



Yacht Rock: Another name for the adult-contemporary musical movement in the late 1970's and the early 1980's. It was defined mostly by its smooth sound. Popular Yacht Rockers include: Kenny Loggins, the Doobie Brothers, and Steely Dan. — Urban Dictionary definition

It's such a good time, the thing is catching on. In just three weeks, they've gotten featured on California public radio and increased their following from about 10 the first night to a solid 70-100 people. At 10 PM on a TUESDAY. 

Get on the boat with me. I promise you, it is not possible to have more fun on a Tuesday night.

Get $5 tix online or show up at the door!

(While you're at it, snag yourself some tix to our other Rockwell events-- Haviland! Comedy Night! Jagged Little Pill!)

Lattes With Latte

On Saturday, McC and I did what seemed only right to do: We took the best Latte in America to get "The Best Latte in America." (according to the New York Times.)

It was a glorious day in Larchmont Village-- even though much of Hollywood was blocked off due to a parade, a high school graduation, palm tree pruning, and perhaps the Daytime Emmy's preshow. It was unclear. But when we finally made it to the adorable strand of shops, Latte was out in full force, making friends with every man, woman and child and cute-ing up the place royally.

He met his shaved pom twin, and like all doppelgangers, it was full hate coming from both sides (but mostly the other guy, because, let's face it, Latte is pretty secure in his cuteness.)

We decided we would have this almond-macadamia nut milk iced-latte no matter how much it cost. And we took bets on just how much we were going to throw down. When we walked in, my eye immediately went to a $13 beverage. "Thirteen dollars," I said out loud to McC. "That's gotta be it. I bet you that's it." 

Luckily, that was a 5 shot extravaganza and the latte we desired only ran us six bucks each. 

Of course, the drinks came in ball jars. And various other products ranged in price from expensive to very expensive, including a small ceramic tumbler that said go get em tiger and cost $43.

Okay, but was it the best latte in America, you want to know? I don't know because, while I have had many lattes in both America and abroad, I haven't had them all. But I'd say it was worth six bucks. And Latte thought so too. The first thing he did was try to steal a sip of McC's.

go get em tiger
230 N. Larchmont Blvd.

You're Not The One

I promise I'm getting to the stories from Ghana. Seriously. But it was an emotionally dense trip. And it didn't help that almost as soon as I returned, I got struck down by some kind of Dengue Fever/ West Nile hybrid plague. (It was perhaps only a common cold, but nevertheless, I was down for the muthaeffin COUNT.) 

In the meantime, I will sadly leave you with this teaser courtesy of Sky Ferreira and good old Mr. Strickland, on whose recommendation it entered my world. 

Milkshake, Boys,Yard Friday Links

We have officially entered crunch time for NYC trip/Nicholas & Alexandra reading extravaganza. I don't have much else to say besides that. This time next week, I'll be in NYC. In between now and then, I have to show a reel, finish editing a pilot, figure out my place, where I'm staying in NYC, hang with Scottish pals in LA, pass off my car, rewrite a song, go to therapy (bless) get a wedding gift, and come to terms with that fact that (other than that one time where I drove Kiki Vandeweghe's Mercedes SUV without a license) I'll be driving in Manhattan for the first time ever. 

Also, I have placed the milkshake in the yard. So far, no boys. 
Your links:

- Brides Throwing Cats. You're welcome. 
- Pretty cool NY story about a theatre & the rent controlled apts that go with it
- Alice Munro, ol' girl! Way to win that Nobel!
- Old movies more creative than new ones. No shit?
- Walter White's getting a real funeral
- Everything my Franzy currently hates
- I can't wait to read Michael Hastings' novel!
- I finished Dave Eggers' The Circle in less that 48 hours. 
- I love this Guardian review of it. 

Schneider-Studio Photography

Just when I think it's impossible for me to have another talented photographer friend.... way to go, Eric Schneider! He's been building up to Schneider-Studio for a few years now and I'm so happy he's got his own studio now for whisky-fueled late night photo sess-- I mean, his moving, meaningful, professional work. Or both! 

Check him out! I love that he mentions his golden doodles in his bio. I have personally met them and I can assure you, they are both sweet and dumb. And cuddly!

ERIC SCHNEIDER
ERIC {at} SCHNEIDER-STUDIO {dot} COM
+1.323.333.2747
LA|NY

A Surrogate Trip to Italy By Way of the Getty Villa

One of the first fun activities Brie and I got up to on the coast was a trip to Malibu's Getty Villa. It was like a quick trip to a small coastal Italian village. In fact, if you ever miss Italy, you should make the trip out to Malibu. And while there's not actually all that much to see in the way of interesting antiquities, tickets to the Getty Villa are free and there's some truly epic jewelry. That alone is worth the effort of the trip. I wouldn't have minded bringing a good book and parking on one of the benches for a few hours with huge shades and a sunhat.

Stillwell At Rockwell - TONIGHT

An exciting night awaits me -- and all who care to join me!-- at Rockwell TONIGHT for the latest concert from the lush and luxurious Haviland Stillwell. All of Haviland's concerts are a treat as far as I'm concerned, but tonight will be extra special since Haviland is singing one of our new songs from Nicholas & Alexandra, "Release Me." (AKA my anxiety anthem. For a preview, here's the first time it was ever sung in public. Did I mention that was at Lincoln Center? I blush.) 

You can also rock out to Haviland's new singles. Both songs are written by Haviland Stillwell and produced by Mike Schlosser, with cover design by Heather J. Weiss and photos by Sabrina Bringuier. Buy them on iTunes ("MKE"; "Infinity") or stream them on Spotify ("MKE"; "Infinity") and pump yourself up pre-show. I know I will be!

Get your tickets now if you don't already have them and hope to see you tonight! McC and I will be clapping loudly and gettin' rowdy in the front. Shoes will be thrown. 

Haviland Stillwell & Amir Levi perform live at Rockwell: Table & Stage, 1714 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA on Tuesday, April 23 at 8pm (Amir Levi) and 9pm (Haviland Stillwell). Haviland and Amir will be performing with Anthony Starble (piano), Alex Vega (drums), Kristy Hanson (guitars and vocals), Ed Goodman (guitar), Julia Davis (vocals) and Lauren Lograsso (vocals). Tickets are $12 and can be purchased on Rockwell's ticketing site.This is the Facebook invitation.

And here's a little ditty we wrote just for her awhile back. With my signature lyric!

Want to See - I Give It A Year

Self-deprecating British rom-coms! Though I'm not sure how I feel about Rose Byrne as a Brit.... I mean, I know she's Australian, but still... it doesn't sit well... other than that, I can't wait to see this with my hetero life mate, McC. It came out in February in the UK and I don't see much in the way of info about when we sad Americans (who just can't have nice things) will also get to have it. Don't make we who miss Britain wait, please. 

Scenes from The Churchill

Much to my chagrin, I pulled out my camera at The Churchill to start taking perfectly lit, ambient photos, only to realize that I have left my memory card in my computer at home. Disappointed. So here at the few photos we took. I was really happy with my costume. I was even happier with my Caol Ila. 

Guess Who's Seeing Frightened Rabbit Tonight... THIS GIRL.

Please forgive the lack of words on this blog as of late. The amount of writing and editing projects I'm committed to lately have left me with more desire to simply share, rather than do much commenting. But tonight I'm too excited to contain it-- I'm seeing Frightened Rabbit in LA at the Fonda Theatre with Kade!!

All day long, my interior monologue has been in a thick brogue and I may even start speaking to strangers that way. I love how thick Scott Hutchison's brogue is even when singing. And I think Pedestrian Verse has earned its place in my heart as one of my all-time favorite albums. 

This video is a delight. Who doesn't love funky old janitors gettin down on the dance floor at the junior-senior prom?? Get into it. Yay, tonight!

SMASH Season 2 Premiere - The Fall Out

Hi. I'm back again with the SMASH recapping. No, not the funny ones. That's Rachel Shukert. I'm the painfully earnest one. But I just can't help myself. You can read my thoughts on Part One of the premiere here. Or any of my Season One Recaps from BroadwaySpotted here. Now, onward to part two: The Fallout. 

And indeed, that's what this was. Particularly when held up against that first hour. 

The best thing about the second part of SMASH's season 2 finale was all the Broadway people. In addition to Jeremy Jordan, Andy Mientus & Krysta Rodriguez, this episode gave us Annaleigh Ashford, Mara Davi and the lovely Brynn O'Malley. Not to mention...The Fierstein. 

Tied for the best thing in The Fallout is Megan Hilty's performance of "They Just Keep Movin' The Line." I say her performance and not the song because, the song is just ok for me. And leads me back to a statement I feel I make again and again which is that Bombshell has two of every song. Each song should serve an individual purpose in the show and Bombshell doubles up on all of them. "National Pastime" does the same thing as that Wolf Howl song, and for that matter, also "Let's Be Bad." There are 22 songs in Bombshell-- a musical with basically no book! That's at least a seven too many, as far as I'm concerned. "They Just Keep Moving the Line" feels like one more Marilyn desperation to make it song-- and way more appropriate for Ivy to sing than Marilyn. That being said, I'm glad Ivy sang it. Which is to say, I'm glad Megan Hilty sang it. Because Megan Hilty = butter.

There are also two things tied for the worst thing about The Fallout. (There is also a long list of honorable mentions including the "Would I Lie To You" hallucination number and any moment in which Karen tries to seduce anyone, which we were tortured with again this ep.) 

The first worst is that as bitchy as theatre gets, the president of the American Theatre Wing would never kick Tom, Julia and Eileen out of a dinner. As in, order them to leave. Though, if you're going to portray the woman as a judgmental battle-ax  might as well go straight to Margo Martindale who has never played anything but a snakey, sad, judgmental battle-ax in her entire career. Kind of a weak move. And I was personally offended on behalf of the theatre community. I don't think we'd ever do that. (Anyone with stories to the contrary, please feel free to correct so I can lose that final shred of hope I had for humanity.) Worst thing number two isn't just a problem with The Fallout though. It's a long running problem. Even more than my Julia problem. I mean, at least I HATE her. At least she elicits a response with her unprofessionalism and constant wallowing victimhood. 

But Karen is the dullest thing ever served on white rice. I feel like a broke record with this. Everything with her is a case of show don't tell. They keep on and keep on telling us there's something special about her. Well, I've watched every ep and I sure don't see it. Like when they tell us a song is very good. Nope, you gotta just play the song and let us decide. Everything she sings, every line she says, Kat McPhee just drops it on the floor. She is wasting Jeremy Jordan's sizzle. I hope he continues to make fun of her for the rest of the season. She is walking particle board. Or, to just go ahead and quote Rachel Shukert,  she is "the human equivalent of one of those grocery store peaches that looks like a Cezanne but tastes like the inside of a mattress..."

But on that note, the worst worst thing about The Fallout was its ratings. Only 1.1 million viewers. Let's hope there's no yanking the show. Because I can't wait to see how Jimmy Collins thinks anything will ever happen to his music without the help of actors, directors, producers or audience members. And because what replacement masochistic method could I ever hope to find of this caliber and high production values?

First Annual Ferguson Burns Night, USA

The First Annual Ferguson Burns Night Supper USA turned out not too shabby. I had my doubts leading up to the event with its ever-changing roster of guests. But as the food prep began, I started to feel better because everything was tasting pretty good. There’s something sort of counterintuitive about the idea of vegetarian haggis. But as I started to add in all the ingredients, I consoled myself that, at least in this situation, taste was more important than authenticity. (After all, real haggis is illegal in the USA.)

Not that I was comfortable with authenticity being sacrificed. At one point, I almost cried when everyone seemed reluctant to participate in reading and keeping with the traditional order of events. (They were warned!) But then again, it is nerve-wracking. I’ll admit that I was nervous doing Address to the Haggis. Whisky fixed that. I practiced a couple of times because even though no one else would know if I was pronouncing the Scots wrong, I would know.

There’s great slang in Scots. Sonsie, Scunner, Skinking. I think I’d like to try to find a way to incorporate more of it into American daily life. And more of these recipes. 

I substituted half red lentils and half quinoa in this recipe for vegetarian haggis, and ricotta + whipping cream for double cream on the cranachan. In addition to Talisker (Isle of Skye-- holla!) for toasting, I had ingredients for refreshing, jazzed with candied ginger Presbyterians.


Man, it made me miss Scotland. But thanks to my friends for helping to celebrate the cultural richness of the place I love most.

Hollywood Baby

She hiked all the way up with us. Like a boss.

Christmas at The Churchill

When it came to Christmas dinner with Dad, I had two plans: 1. cook (rosemary roast chicken and braised Brussels sprouts) or 2. get out and explore of Los Angeles restaurants while I can. Turns out, I might always miss Britain at the holidays, so after some investigating as to what our options were, I chose The Churchill on West Third. The menu and feel just felt a bit British, even in a  very LA hood. 

And even though I had heard it was very 'scene-y' and crowded, we chose the right evening to try it out because it was just the right about of bustling. Reviews of the food range from mediocre and under seasoned to delicious. Being rather fond of food in the British vein though, I quite enjoyed the glazed Christmas ham, carrot, ginger and coriander soup, spiced squash, escarole and-- in a twist-- yuzu persimmon cake for dessert. 

I also broke away from wine to try one of their much-discussed cocktails. I was torn between several. But finally honed in on either the Amelia (Kettle One, lemon, St Germain, violet & blackberries) or The Statesman (Famous Grouse, apricot, lemon, baked apple bitters, sparkling). Being a whisky girl, and missing Scotland, I ordered The Statesman and was quite glad I did. 

One of the true luxuries and true joys of my life is the dinners I have with my dad. I think of all the cities and all the funny Christmases we've had together-- including the one where we were stranded in Yosemite with only cinnamon raisin English muffins, tuna, and packaged apple cider. Though that one goes in the books as the funnest in its own way, this one had decidedly better food. 

Happy Birthday, Iona! Friday Links

After a week spent working, learning the ropes, wrong maps directions and hours and hours in traffic, putting together a very complicated bed myself, getting a parking ticket on street cleaning day TWO MINUTES into the window this morning, (they don't actually clean the streets in this neighborhood. Just give out tickets) and trying to adapt to/build my new life schedule, I have to tell you, I am mentally and physically exhausted. Now that I have a princess bed, all I want to do is hibernate in it. Too bad I have a weekend full of editing. 

The only thing I really have energy to say is HAPPY BIRTHDAY, IONA!! Oh, how I miss that girl. Bring a bit of Scotland to LA, would ya?

Links!

- Here's the NYTimes Notable Books of 2012. I'll have mine out soon. 
- 2012 was Broadway's Best Year Ever. Sad I missed it. More of these, please. 
- I still dream of the black version of this Perroquet wallpaper for my entryway. 
- Good one, Jezabel. 
- And this. You're hot this week, Jezabel. 
- The definitive Bill Murray character matrix. 
- This is just deeply depressing. Royals. Sigh. 
- This guy entered a design contest and basically just copied Timorous Beasties. 

Happy Thanksgiving! A Readable Feast

My second favorite holiday! Sending love your way on this great day of thanks from Los Angeles, Oceanside, Las Vegas. 

If you had asked me this time last year, when I was cooking a big Thanksgiving feast for all my Scottish friends (I think I'll forever associate them with giving thanks & also my ability to cook a meal of that scale), where I thought I'd be today, a year later, I don't think I would have imagined all the places I would have gone in one year. 

But I'm thankful for this past year--- it was sort of like an out of body experience. 

Meanwhile, I'm off to drive down the coast to see my mom's family. Wish me luck.

For this lovely holiday, I can't think of any better pairing than food and poetry. Check out The Hungry Ear, a collection of food poems. 

Getting Away Scot-Free

Over the weekend, a cash machine for (my Scottish bank) Bank of Scotland in the Burnside/Rutherglen area of Glasgow started "mis-dispensing" twice the cash requested by customers, but only subtracting the amount requested from their balance. Free money!

News quickly spread via twitter and soon, lines (queues) were wrapped around the block. Even though the amazing glitch quickly got shut down, Bank of Scotland has said it most likely won't seek to regain any of the lost cash. In fact, the bank issued an apology for "any inconvenience this may have caused customers." Classic Scotland right there. Man, I miss that place.

Small Girl Builds Large Furniture

I'm exhausted. Things are coming together, but I've been hauling furniture upstairs, lifting large slabs of glass and dealing with way more wooden dowels than I'm really interested in. But the good news is, all I'm missing is all the the things to sit and lie down on: my chaise, my bed, my mattress, and my chair! 

Oh, and all my stuff from London (remember when I lived there?!?) the delivery of which keeps getting pushed back. 

Sorry if my decorating story is on the more quotidien side of things for a blog, but I'm just too tired to think of anything interesting that doesn't pertain to this apartment. On the upside, today, Dena taught me how to switch out lamp harps to make sure the bulb holder doesn't show. Also on the upside, I have a large bottle of wine and I'm seeing Anna Karenin tomorrow with McC. Woo! See you tomorrow!

Groom's Cake/ Birthday Cake/ I'm a Film Editor Now

Sometimes the skills you pick up on accident while you're peddling your own wares pay off! I've been honing my film editing skills for for years now-- largely in my quest to promote our musicals and through osmosis from having so many film maker friends. Eventually, I realized it was becoming a skill I could probably and should probably get paid for. And now I am! 

I'm excited for my first big project, Birthday Cake, which is the feature length follow up the hit indie short 'mockumentary' Groom's Cake. It was written by my pal Chad Darnell (one of Haviland's first life friends: they met when she was 10!) and has won pretty much every film festival it entered. 

Now, the team is getting back together to make Birthday Cake and I could not be more thrilled to join the gang. We had a read through last night while celebrating Chad's birthday at Hamburger Mary's and I was in love with this script. I wholly support the message and spirit of everything they're trying to do up in here. It's a really lovely, heartfelt story and the main character's name is Ferguson! 

See, there are places in the arts where being anal retentive, detail oriented and obsessed with precision are calling cards and I'm just glad I'm finding my place in those places. We're also raising a few additional funds for the feature via indiegogo. Check it out!

Have Jetta, Will Travel

Will you forgive me, dear readers, if today I'm kind of boring and just post a picture of my new car? At least it's not some pretentious car.... like some people have been known to do... RIGHT?? 

It's been a big day. And I'm happy to report that I have regained my driver's license after the worst administrative nightmare of my life and am the prouder owner of an adorable candy white Jetta with tan interior. I'm really exhausted from the anticipation, really. And very very thankful for family and friends who support me, who've housed me, and chauffeured me around. Hollywood is really happening now. But first, I'd like to pick some friends up and just drive.