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. 

Fire & the Romance on Alt 98.7

This Sunday will be the mash up of two of my favorite things... and none of them will be the Oscars, so sorry about that. Nope, I'm talking about two of my oldest friends from opposite coasts and sides of my life gettin together to broadcast some new music. 

Dion Roy, one of my oldest friends in NYC (you might remember when I spoke at his and Aly's wedding in Aug 2012) has a new music project, Fire and the Romance. It's a pretty huge and ambitious departure from his previous (and super successful, I might add) efforts in the singer/songwriter genre. And I gotta say, I am loving the results!

He and Pete (of subway friend fame and awesome photog skillz) made this baller video for the first single, "Way Down Below." 

And NOW, THIS SUNDAY, Dion will pair up with one of my oldest friends from the Vegas days and my current LA partner in mischief and mayhem, Kade, to premiere "Way Down Below" on Kade's New Music Discovery Show on ALT 98.7, LA's Alternative (aka the only radio station I listen to.) 

It's at 7PM Pacific time. So make sure you tune in during the boring speeches and endless awards. 

Tune in on Sunday, support Kade and Dion and check out all the offerings from the King Of Tacos, Dion Roy aka Fire and the Romance. Tweet the guys (@fireandthemusic @alt987fm @kadeshow) when you hear “Way Down Below” for a chance to win a ONE of a kind hand-pressed Vinyl of the song!

Keep.Com Friday Links

This was a week of rebalancing for me, and it felt good. I normalized some routines, switched some up, made chili and baked an almond apple whisky crumble for friends and neighbors that was delicious, got locked out of my apartment and hung out with my neighbor Camellia who turned me on to some new music, decided to seriously shake up my bedroom (turns out it's gonna be like zero work,) deleted my okcupid profile (again) and started to allow myself to get excited about the workshop of Nicholas & Alexandra later this month. Huzzah!

Each changing of the seasons is a dual re-set, renew. Both normalizing and radicalizing, if necessary. Duality is good. 

Here are your links.

- The Painted Ladies of LA
- Even more reasons to love it here: Taco Day!
- I'm a fan of almost all of these 20' slang terms. "Bank's Closed, Guys!"
- This chair.
- Bullfighting in France
- Did I already post this? It's the scariest thing I've ever read about being a mother in the US
- Scottish children portraits! (I'm kind of tempted to buy these??)
- Writers on failure.
- Subscribe to this amazing Vimeo channel
- This is amazing. How Rhett Butler was the original Silver Lake Hipster.

- This has been making the rounds. And I super agree. Hocus Pocus is the best! And I'm not just saying that because I'm going to Vinessa's house later. Hey, girl!

- Keep.com. I love it! It's like pinterest, but with a built in purchasing mechanism like luvocracy. My bank account might not love it as much as my brain does. 

Nils Frahm: Live in concert from Louisiana Channel on Vimeo.

Giada - Inaugural Issue FREE

Hey everyone! So part of why I haven't been around as much these days is that I've been working on some other projects that are similar, but far more lucrative and have way more readers. (Props to you, core group of awesome ones, though.)

And one of those things launches TODAY! The inaugural issue of Giada, a digital weekly is available for FREE for your ipad in the itunes store. It's coming soon to other digital platforms. But for now, if you have an ipad, please give it a try. 

There's tons of amazingly delicious Giada recipes, music playlists, style and beauty tips, and tons and tons of travel stories so you too can live the good life. I've tasted these recipes, I've seen these tips in action, and I can tell you... WORTH YOUR TIME.

I want to be Giada when I grow up and this emag will make you want to as well. Super thanks to everyone involved for the opportunity to be a part of this. (Especially you, Ashley Reed!) 

Launching things, being there when it all starts is my most favorite part of life and especially of any sort of artistic/professional experience. With all your help, this can be the start of something really fun and special. We'll keep working hard; you keep reading. 

Celebrating McC

Last week, we had a massive two-day celebration of McC's 30th. Her whole family was in town and we feasted at Eveleigh (can you say #chickensalmonsteak?!?) where I successfully ran the gauntlet between tequila, wine and bourbon. We also bobbed and weaved through samplings of chicken, salmon, AND steak-- as well as jalapeno peppers, radishes, salads and potatoes. AND. Donuts AND Cookies. 

If we've learned nothing in our 30+ years, McC, I think we can all agree it's this: More is more. 
(Well, and wait & see, please don't murder me and SIGH.)

Thanks for driving that point (and all those points, actually) home, Eveleigh. I could have eaten those donuts until I died from a diabetic insulin spike. 

We continued the next night in our own fire pit enclave of The Roof at Hotel Wilshire with one of the most beautiful views I've ever seen. No one even threw McC in the pool! Let's do this every year!

Wedding!

Let's get Pete & Suzie married!

Shaping Sound's Jaimie Goodwin & Derek Hough on DWTS

A lot of my work with Shaping Sound has been focused on the four co-director boys, but it's time I give a shout out to at least one of the ladies. They are all beautiful and amazingly talented. Last night provides an apt opportunity to show off the leading lady of Shaping Sound, Jaimie Goodwin. The entire tour show is based on the idea of Jaimie's dream. But last night, she danced in a crazy, topsy-turvy world with Derek Hough on Dancing With the Stars to Kerli's song, "Walking on Air."

Le Sigh. So good. Happy hump day. 

Bringing Your Pomeranian to a Silver Lake Wine Tasting

Considering just about every hipster, aspiring starlet, and jogger in Los Angeles has a dog  they bring along almost everywhere you go, McC and I didn't think it would be a big deal to bring Latte to this wine tasting/fancy food truck extravaganza at Silver Lake Wine on Monday night. I mean, I brought him to a bar in NoHo on Saturday night and that twink was a hit! 

Much to our dismay, we may have picked the one place it wasn't cool to bring a pooch. wWhile there was outside seating, there was no wine outside and no puppies inside. Latte was still as popular ever with other dogs and humans alike, so at least his feelings weren't hurt and his reputation as the life of the party is still intact.

As a work around, we ate our fancy food truck food (well, some of us had fancy food like brisket and lamb ragoo lasagna 'cupcakes' from Heirloom and others, ie me, had cheap and extremely spicy tacos from the other truck) taking turns watching Latte and then grabbing wine. We sampled two extremely mellow (bordering on boring) wines first-- a rose' and a tempranillo before partaking in an amazing Merlot I meant to get the name of. McC bought a bottle though, so I hope to taste its deliciousness again soon. 

I also cleansed my pallet with a red velvet raspberry cake-let from Cake Monkey. Evening = success. God Bless Silver Lake...where even the fancy food trucks get parking tickets while trying to make a buck.

New BBC Drama - Shetland

I'm one episode into the two part series set on the Shetland islands and based on a series of Ann Cleeves novels. Shetland is not getting great reviews, but man is the scenery pretty! And man do I miss the sound of those voices. I like a good murder mystery though. Even if this one is a bit on the nose. 

Hollywood Hike Friday Links

After the editing/sequestered (should I not say sequester?) week I've had, I didn't do much trolling of the internet for links. So there's only a few. But I did go on a hike with Haviland up to the Hollywood sign this morning and I prepped for my trip to NYC... tomorrow! I can't wait to see everyone and get lots of work done. Weeeeee!

- This Makers documentary about women in America was AWESOME.
- An interesting take on MacFarlane's Oscars hosting job.
- I wish I'd encountered this hot hat maker during crush week. His hats, however, are not hot.
- Sigh. Sequester.
- LA-centered reading list for March.

Monday Music - Cillie Barnes - Hey Hi

Vanessa Long, aka Cillie Barnes, is an awesome LA folk-pop outfit that I so wish would make an album. I heard about her through a friend of mine who manages one of my faaaaavorite bands. I loved "Indian Hill," I love this song, I love 'em all, really. In the mean time, follow Cillie Barnes here. And get a little "Hey Hi" going on for your Monday. She wrote this song about being open to engaging new people and I'm definitely working on being in that frame of mind myself. So, Hey... Hi! Happy Monday.

Save The Byre

A St Andrews cultural hub is closing its doors today, but hopefully not for good. Though the Byre Theatre is home to St Andrews' annual poetry festival, StAnza, and many sold out theatrical performances, piano nights, and bar hang outs, it has faced financial difficulties for some time now. As of today, I'm told, the theatre will shut its doors to cut costs with a hoped-for reopening later in the year. 

I've seen so many wonderful things at the Byre. It is a beautiful space. My lone straight play was performed there in 2010 during the scary era of 10 X 10.

In the meantime, local patrons and devoted St Andreans are doing their best to spread awareness and activism on the issue. Even if you don't know the Byre and just love theatre, or the idea that there should be venues to host cultural events and dialogues, please consider signing this petition. There's also a facebook page devoted to keeping the space open, along with sustaining the jobs it provides students and locals. 

This Is Martin Bonner Wins Sundance Audience Award!

Every now and then, something really nice happens to the little guys. Every now and then, it pays off to live out of your car in order to make your thing happen. That time is now for Chad Hartigan, who won the Audience Award for NEXT at Sundance this weekend. Way to go, bud. 

Extra bonus points for This Is Martin Bonner taking place in Nevada. 

THIS IS MARTIN BONNER Official Teaser from Chad Hartigan on Vimeo.

Kinetic Edinburgh

Heavens, I miss this beautiful city! From the initial success of professor Walid Salhab's first Kinetic Edinburgh video, featured on BBC, to his latest effort-- a new time-lapse video of Edinburgh in winter-- Salhab shows why Edinburgh is hands down one of the most beautiful cities in the world. He calls the newest video a "Christmas present to Edinburgh's residents and those around the world that love Scotland's capital."

I'm not sure about his music choices, but oh, those views! And under the snow! For more click here and here. 

Photo is by my friend, George Ferns. 

Become You. The NPR version of You.

Pretty much all of my adult life, I've been looking to make my life circumstances align with my deeply-held idea about myself as an avid NPR listener. Only one other-- brief, beautiful-- time was I able to make it a real fabric of my day. That was when I was working my worst job to date: as studio assistant to a world-famous lighting designer in New York. 

For the months I had this part time gig (before she flipped out and called me incompetent for not reading her mind) I came to associate the morning pleasant lull of WNYC with the lighting designer being in a good mood. When she was travelling, I'd flip it on just for my own pleasure while I watered her ficus plants and cacti. Before that, in my childhood, I associated it with night driving and my father and laughing to Prairie Home Companion. Now, I equate it with the mental state I'm after. 

But Los Angeles. Oh, Los Angeles and my sunny Hollywood spot. My home now was made for NPR. Just today, my best friend Emily said, "Don't you love the NPR in LA? KCRW?" And I do! It's one of the few realities that live up to my fantasies of it. In my mind, I'd flip on an old radio to KCRW on misty Los Angeles mornings while I make coffee. I sit at my little kitchen table in my robe, taking my sweet time, and I laugh and am enlightened on all foreign policy and art issues I care about, but feel sometimes overwhelmed by, and I learn about all kinds of new things to hold my interest. The only difference between my fantasy and the reality is that I listen on my NPR iphone app. Sometimes I pick and choose stories and sometimes I flip to WNYC when I miss New York. But I am utterly happy when I do this. 

One of my favorites is The Moth. True Stories told live by artists and interesting people ranging from relative obscurity to relative and/or fading fame. Storytelling. Mmm. "Storytelling for everyday raconteurs." You go, Peabody judges. 

It's like a dream come true. They're all very real and basic and often simple and always poignant while revealing some mono no aware thing about living. Recently, I laughed in every room of my house while writer Walter Mosley told a wonderful and very real story about identifying language and its meaning. It is a delight. I cannot recommend enough. 

Also check out my old friend Suzanne Vega on Stage Fright. 

Sometimes, I lament that we have no BBC. But then I remember NPR and I am soothed again. 

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.

A Nomad Finds a Home in Historic Hollywood

You guys. After nearly six months of this year spent living out of a suitcase, schlepping via over night bus, etc etc, on Tuesday, I will move into my very own adorable vintage Hollywood one bedroom. Complete with original 1920's fixtures and all the charm of Old Hollywood, I could not be more excited than I am to get in some space of my own and feel truly settled. 

The view from my front door is the Hollywood sign. And I'm six blocks from Paramount, where my little townhouse was built in 1923 for Paramount workers. In addition to some original period features, it's been suped up with a bit of history, such as doors from the famed Ambassador Hotel: former home of the Cocoanut Grove Nightclub, the 2nd & 12th Annual Academy Awards (Where Gone with the Wind won 10 awards including Best Picture !!!), and tragically, the 1968 Assassination of RFK. It was demolished in 2005, and one of the room doors is now my front door. On top of all that, it's light and airy and even has a dishwasher. I didn't think I could afford to live alone, but sometimes, you just get lucky. 

And! And! I'm feeling even more lucky because the fabulous Dena is so very generously helping me decorate, so I can pimp the place out in the Hollywood splendor it deserves. Lots of whites and beiges and metallics and mirrors. A big cream Chaise and a mirrored desk. A regal upholstered bed-- the only thing that will end up fitting in my cubby bedroom. Even all my belongings from London will be delivered right to my doorstep next week! Happy girl right up over here.

When I Look Back On Those Neon Nights - Miss Atomic Bomb

Almost every song ever written by The Killers carries a kind of inescapable Vegas about it. They aren't just from here-- they radiate the ambience of here. A perpetual nostalgia. They also seem to understand the significance of their origin. They lean into it. Sam's Town. And this latest effort, our state motto: Battle Born. I wonder if that Vegas palate they paint with is detectable to anyone not from here. Once, in the radio station here, I told Kade that "When You  Were Young" was what growing up in Vegas sounded like. He thought about for a minute, and then agreed. 

"Miss Atomic Bomb" sees that feeling and then raises it with so much local specificity and ambience, it puts a squeeze on my heart a bit. My hometown band still has the same sound they've always had (there's a guitar homage to "Mr. Brightside" on "Miss Atomic Bomb," as if Mister & Miss were a couple) but I do think they've grown. Brandon Flowers has never sounded better. And this is one of the most beautifully shot performance videos I've ever seen. 

Citizenship - While My Favorite City is Underwater

It's strange to see your favorite city dark and underwater. I'm not sorry I'm missing this business, but I do miss the collective way New Yorkers behave when the chips are down. It goes back to that word I like so much, "Citizenship." 

I remember very vividly the spirit of camaraderie during the MTA strike of 2005. Everyone got so scrappy. While harboring McC as a fugitive from Queens, we super bonded in my 4th & B womb room. That's probably when we subconsciously became friends forever. I'm wondering what 4th and B looks like today. 

Thinking about citizenship, and what we all do for each other, I have to say I'm terribly sorry so many people have such a Darwinian attitude about what happens to America's cities after natural disasters. That the country would pull together to help another city in time of need seems like the opposite of immoral to me, Mitt. 

Sorry that people don't think climate crisis is any way involved in the increase of storms like this. The most sorry that there seem to always be insane extremists who'd--rather than look to science-- look to bigotry and blame this on gays and Muslims. There's no sigh in the world big enough to express my feelings. 

Mostly, I am terribly sorry it's caused so much damage to my favorite place. I like the optimist who said that maybe all the severe subway flooding would wash away the smell of pee. I hope they're right. But aside from that, I hope nothing else has been irreparably washed away from New York. 

Freaky Friday Links

Today, I'm working on a future hit TV show with the lovely Miss Autumn Withers and tonight, I'm going to a haunted house extravaganza with Kade. I don't really do costumes, but I'm down to pretend to be scared with friends. Other than that, this is the first week where things feel like they're genuinely coming together for me here. I'm going to feel great once I'm finally sticking in one neighborhood and have a set of wheels. Hope you have a great pre-Halloween weekend! Here are this week's links. 

- Time Magazine's list of Top 25 Best Blogs of 2012 (Hint: I'm not on it.)
- Taylor Swift's analogies in order of incomprehensibility. Since McC and I ARE a Taylor Swift song
- New Milo Green video. Glad the UK is finally getting a taste of them.
- My favorite new show of the season. Yeah, they all look the same: HOT.
- Mitt Romney as Fifty Cent (or 53 Per Cent) = Genius. 
- Well, this website exists.
- So does this. Luminosity.com. Heard of it? It's brain training.
- The 15 Boyfriends You Break Up With: complete with snazzy names like Cilantro & Palm Pilot
- The Tom Hanks Matrix. I agree with this except for the placement of Gump & Money Pit. I mean...come ON! Money Pit is GENIUS!