"The rhythm of the weekend, with its birth, its planned gaieties, and its announced end, followed the rhythm of life and was a substitute for it."

  ~F. Scott Fitzgerald

"In the hopes of reaching the moon men fail to see the flowers that blossom at their feet."
 

~Albert Schweitzer

Saturday Happy Song - Li'l Red Riding Hood - Sam the Sham and the Pharoahs (1966)

I came across this on Sur La Lune Fairy Tales Blog today and just had to share.
I love that this person edited it together with a Betty Boop video, I frickin love Betty Boop (I just can't stand all the crappy souvenirs that she get's stuck on in Hollywood.)

Rundown of the month gone by

So, in the interest of continuing to keep my sanity AND not allow this blog to be entirely consumed by Robert Plant (although that could be totally worth it, but I have other interests) I'm gonna ramble off another post. July flew by, the entire month was a win; I had SO much fun! We had fireworks, bonfires, drunken escapades in Long Beach and Hollywood, Hot Tubs, Bike rides on Venice Beach, and 100 year old Balsamic.

August has been more, trying...We did a great photo shoot in the beginning of the month, and it left me quite inspired.
 
The Man and Ms. Jillian modeled in an engagement style shoot cause Richie is gonna be shooting a wedding in November and I always look for excuses to work on my photographs cause...well if I don't force it a little right now it doesn't happen. I hate to say it, but it's true.I hope to have the whole set finished on Monday night now, there are so many other projects....

Last Friday we went to The Getty Villa which also left me itching to work on the post production of my photography. I am also trying to make a dent in my dept however, and that has taken up a lot of my thought space lately. Working from home has presented a whole new set of challenges and the art has suffered, again. I am working out the bumps, stay tuned.


(Richard Castaeñda)
In other news, last Sunday we went up to Santa Barbara and saw Primus. It was one of the best shows I have been to in a while, Les Claypool is always a good time. I have never seen Primus. Les Claypool yes, 5 or 6 times now, but not Primus. It was a good show. Mr. Claypool was not very talkative, and they ended abruptly after a spirited encore of Southbound Pachyderm and Too Many Puppies; but still totally worth the drive AND the sweaty shirtless hippies! Richie had the great forethought to bring the perfect camera and got some amazing pictures. Do make sure you read the accompanying review.

Got lots of belly dance practice in last week! I am can almost completely roll my belly now!
That's about all the good news I have...I am gonna go read, have lots of that to catch up on too. I'll be back with some other random stuff later, and lots of pictures as they get edited. Have a great Saturday!

~Hell

Happy Birthday Robert!

WOW.

Just one really big wow. I am in awe in so many ways. So, so many ways. I can't believe it's been over a month since I said anything here, I can't believe how fast this month has flown by, I can't believe how fast this WEEK has flown by! It's already Friday again! I really can't believe it's Robert Plant's birthday and I totally forgot! What the hell?I needed the radio to tell me, and that didn't happen till an hour ago when I went out to take my father home and buy ice cream. What the hell man, I have been so...out of touch.

I got this job, and I am working form home, and it rocks. But, I am having a hard time getting enough hours in to live comfortably because, some weeks are just freaking hell. This was one of those weeks...But I digress. The point is I am totally obsessed for some completely unexplainable reason to Robert Plant, and on this day 62 years ago he was brought into this world from some amazing portion of heaven to forever change music by singing in one of the most powerful rock bands in history.
Yes, I realize that he is only 2 years younger than my own father, it's creepy for some of you, blah blah blah. Well get over it, Mr. Plant is still an amazing singer and that makes him sexy. Very Sexy. In fact, look how great he looks in his very recently updated home page photo:

He just finished a one moth tour of the mostly southern portion of America and will be touring Europe and the U.K. starting Sept. 2nd.

No other dates in America are planned. Neal Preston was misinformed! Drat! Well, that's ok. We still have youtube!
Here's Robert singing one of my favorites Tall Cool One in Austin Texas last month:



The audio doesn't rock, but Robert's still got it. The Man found this great one of Robert having to excuse the bands horrible confusion of songs on the flu, I ove the way he smiles in this one, I love that he calls NyQuil and Dayquil the "Night Nurse and Day Nurse", EEEEK! So fricken cute!

♥ Happy Birthday Robert! ♥

(Neal Preston)

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

 (RobertPlant.com)

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

 (RobertPlant.com)

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

  (RobertPlant.com)

I ♥ you SO much! Rock on!

Band of Joy

(photo)

Mr. Plant was honored with a star on the Orpheum Theater's sidewalk in Memphis Tn. this morning! Such a great picture of him too! Tonight he will play there, kicking off 12 show tour, only lasting for the month of July, only in the south. Boo! The closest he gets to me on this tour is Phoenix Az. I wanted to go, but have been so broke it's not funny. Also, when I met Neal Preston in April and got my copy of Led Zeppelin singed he told me not to worry, Robert wouldn't completely avoid Los Angeles.

(Cynthia Fox from KLOS, Neal Preston, and I @ UCLA Festival of books)

Well, it looks like this tour, I'll be missing out. I can't wait to read the reviews and see the bad cell phone video on youtube, and really, I'm not that worried. The album is out in September, I'm pretty sure this is just the warm up part of the tour, and who wanted to drive two states away?..I did.

Please, please Robert announce more tour dates!

I don't think I posted this, I wanted to scan some of the pages to give you a look at what an amazing book of photography this is. Neal Preston is freaking gifted, and the nicest guy! It reads: "To Sydney, give my regards to Culver City" right over Robert's beautiful silhouette.

The Dark Master, in his youth

Image via Wikipedia

Those that know me well could probably ramble off the short list of my all time favorite bands because I am so very, very obsessed with them. I like music from all over the world, however, if I were to narrow it down to music I couldn't live with out; music that I would require to keep me sane on my proverbial desert island it would come down to about 5 bands. Sadly or not most are rock, I realize Led Zeppelin is a given here seeing as I have sung loudly the praises of one Robert Plant. I also realize, startlingly in fact, that you wouldn't be able to claim to know me so well without one vital piece of information I have neglected to mention in this space: I love, LOVE, LOVE...Oingo Boingo.


In the earlier days of seeing each other, The Man and I realized we were having one of those I'm really gonna like this person moments when I asked if he liked Oingo Boingo and it happened to be the CD he had grabbed to put on.


The music of Oingo Boingo shaped my youth and may be a very good indicator as to why I am so...unique.


Anyhow, you can imagine how surprised and delighted I was to find this as I was going through my fathers slides:





That is an approximately 20 year old Danny Elfman, in approximately 1974, on the beach in Venice California. EEEEEEK! What a fricking find!


The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo formed in 1972 by Danny's older brother Richard Elfman as a performance art group that toured large parts of the world. In 1976 Richard retired the group to Danny who turned it into the Punk/New Wave wonder that took over the 1980's and toured for 17 more years.

Incidentally I also happen to have a photo of Richard taken on the same day!!


Double Eeeeeeek!

Both Elfman brothers in one day! I nearly fell over when we found these. There are a few more, of the band in costume, with instruments. I haven't photoshopped those yet, so I'll post them later. Till then you can just bask in this rare and amazing Boingo find.

Love

"The hardest-learned lesson:  that people have only their kind of love to give, not our kind."


~Mignon McLaughlin, The Neurotic's Notebook, 1960

Happy 100!

It's my 100th post!
Yay! I can't believe I have stuck with this silly little blog for 100 posts. It's turning out to be a pretty great little outlet actually. It's still a little all over the place, but, it's turning into a tiny shrine of all the things I love.

To those that read this, thanks for sticking with me. It's one long commentary on my life, all the things that make it so great. I started here, a year and a half ago, and I gotta tell you looking back on this I have a much brighter outlook on life! I remember this day, but, I don't remember many like it lately. Starting during that same time back in November I also started reading How to Win Friends and Influence People, Happiness Project, Think Simple Now, and The Positive Life. I actively started looking for the best part of every day and focusing on that. Counting the blessings each day holds is a very powerful mood enhancer. I have of course followed amazing people like:  Gala Darling, Nubby Twiglet, Richard Castaneda, Hunter S. Thompson, and Violet Blue for awhile. People doing what they want with their lives and loving it can teach you a lot.

A year and a half, and 100 posts in I am having a great time and loving my life a lot more than when I started. I still have off days, but we all do. I have resolved to learn from it and do better in the future, creating a stronger, wiser person each day.

Here's to the next 100 posts!

Zucchini Bread @ Midnight!

I figured since I was on a posting roll I'd get one more in before I hit the ol' hay. Almost 2 weeks ago Jillian brought over a bunch of food that she wasn't going to be eating while she couch surfed. This plethora for the senses included 6 squash, 3 zucchini and 3 yellow patty pan. We don't really eat squash. It's good and all, but I prefer the big butternut squash, or pumpkin to summer squash. So, I had to use it up, can't let food go to waste right? So of course that means...Zucchini Bread!!

Yay!

It's actually summer squash bread since I used all the squash in it. I used this recipe from 101 Cookbooks. I reduced the curry to 1 teaspoon instead of the tablespoon, got sick of chopping crystalized ginger and added a teaspoon of ground to make up for the last bit I didn't chop and added a teaspoon of cardamom cause I didn't have any lemon to zest.

It's Soooo Goood!

The depth and complexity of flavor is amazing. I wish I had more nuts than just the little sprinkle on the top, and really I can't wait to try it with actual lemon zest cause I really love lemon. But it's gonna rock my breakfast world in about 5 hours.
Goodnight!

Rush, Rush!

Friday we went and stood in the hot sun to watch one of The Man's favorite bands, Rush receive their star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame! I have never been to a star dedication before, now I know why...so many people! 




I never did find Jason Segal, so either he wasn't there or...I don't know I couldn't see anything!!

Thank the goddess for a 300mm lens 'eh?

ESPN, Must Bar, Father's Day

I love the weekend. I know I am either out of work or working from home lately, but, magical things happen on the weekends. This past weekend rocked just as much as any have this last month, but this time my dad was in tow and that always makes things more interesting.

Saturday night I belly danced at The Key Club in Hollywood! I had a great time, even though the crowd was expecting a different night...I danced for Rebelle Jacobs, a punk witch thrown into a rap showcase at the Key Club. She and her band made the best of it though, I closed the set with a dance and we all had a great time!

I have one crappy picture because I parked several blocks away and wasn't sure if I could bring in a camera. Apparently I want to be the queen of horrible cell phone pictures on my blog. Or maybe, deep down I want to confuse the fuck out of all of you because either I pay no attention to if the pictures are good, or I put so much damn work into creating a magnificent photograph that it's all I post. Either way, it keeps you on your toes, no? Also, Viza played on the main stage that night and even though I only got to hear 2 songs they both rocked!

Sunday we got up way late cause we're lazy, and went to ESPN Zone in the Nokia Center downtown. It's...loud. They were all really nice people, but the NASCAR race we wanted to see was on one of the super small screens across the room. We did drop a hefty dime on beer (because I didn't know they were quarts, he just said "large") so during the last 10 laps the bar tender switched it to a screen closer to us, but we still didn't get any audio. Jimmy Johnson won in case ya missed it.

We then walked like, 14 blocks to The Must Bar. We passed through The Biltmore Hotel, and if you have never walked through you totally have to! It was breathtaking! No photos, cause I knew I would just frustrate  myself and I was gonna do that anyway at dinner.

I won a Citysearch raffle at The Grilled Cheese Innovational for a free dinner at The Must Bar and went to see if it was still good. After a call to the owner they said they would honor it and we were off! Our eyes were bigger than our stomachs and we ordered a ton of food. And several Raging Bitch Ale's (we didn't know till I just looked it up that it was special 20th anniversary issue...no wonder it was so pricy....), everything amazed and delighted. We chose Connect Four out of the large stack of board games by the door and had a seat.

We started with a lovely wine and cheese plate, Fiscalini Bandaged Wrapped Cheddar and Roaring '40's blue accompanied prosciutto, bread, grapes, walnuts and dried fruit. IT all went really well with our beer choice, and really I would come back just for this portion of the meal. That cheddar was amazing! We then had the tater-tots ( I neglected to photograph these), they come with a creamy melted cheese sauce and a smoky ranch. Really good, not...heavy or greasy, these were light and tatery. I also ordered the happy hour portion of grilled cheese, (which was delicious but unnecessary after the cheese plate and tot sauce) and the Green Goddess Salad. The salad was very good also, my only lament being there is some sort of mustard in the dressing I was not aware of from the description and I don't really care for it. It was not offensive, but I would have chosen something else. Have I mentioned I am a weirdly picky eater? Yeah, there's that too.

The Man had the Steak Frits and loved every bite, I can't comment as i didn't taste it (in addition to being all picky about what I eat I am also vegetarian due to some deep guilt laid on me in my youth). Dad had the Mac & Cheese and the Portobello Sliders. His only complaint being the portions were too small, but he doesn't understand gourmet dining, which is exactly what it was but at a much more reasonable price. Had we not ordered the fancy beer we would have had money left over!

We finished our meal based solely on the Yelp recommendations and got the Fluffernutter, a grilled peanut butter, marshmallow cream, and banana sandwich with melted chocolate dipping sauce. Oh! Eeep! Soooo good! Over the top, totally unnecessary, I was SO full! But, I had to try it....

And now, here's a really bad picture! 

Then, cause we were all busy being drunk gluttons (except for dad, he doesn't drink) we completely lost track of time and came back to our car to find this: 

They had locked the gate! This is my father trying to pick the lock. After about a half hour and all kinds of crazy ideas about how we could get the car out that didn't work we...took the bus home! 

Happy Father's Day Dad! Aren't you so glad you hang out with your crazy daughter and her crazy boyfriend? 

(I am working hard to get post about my weekend up before the following weekend! Wish me luck on that and all those other things that pile up all over my life!)

Gus G.

Ozzy has a new guitar player on the tour he kicked off tonight at House of Blues Hollywood tonight.

He's CUTE!

Swoon!
Guitar World Feature

Ozzy Official Site

I'm Back!

I have internet again! Hurrah! Things have been a bit...flustered this last week or two and we forgot to pay the internet bill...oops!

I will go on and on about the amazing weekend I had later, I have errands to run in a minute. I am waiting for The Man to finish shaving and thought I would post my Happy Father's Day now. Two days late.

Happy Father's Day!
We grabbed my dad and had an adventure downtown! It was so much fun! Again, details later, gotta run. Here's a picture of my dad at the nitorous Hyatt House (Riot House) in Hollywood waiting for the elevator. This one is also stamped 1974.

All that you touch
and all that you see
All that you taste
All you feel.
and all that you love
and all that you hate
All you distrust
All you save.
and all that you give
and all that you deal
and all that you buy,
beg, borrow or steal.
and all you create
and all you destroy
and all that you do
and all that you say.
and all that you eat
And everyone you meet
and all that you slight
And everyone you fight.
and all that is now
and all that is gone
and all that's to come
and everything under the sun is in tune
but the sun is eclipsed by the moon.

"There is no dark side of the moon, really. Matter of fact it's all dark."  -Roger Waters

The great catch up

(Yes those are my funky shoes)

Welcome to Sunday night, the last trickle of weekend before the dreaded Monday.
Guess what?

I have a job to go to tomorrow! I am so excited! It's something totally different too, which makes it even more exciting. I can't wait! I need work so, so bad and I haven't really applied myself as much as I should to looking for a job in billing cause...it's boring. I'll do it if I have to but, it's way more fun to work on dance or photography, or work out. So, cross your fingers this thing goes really well tomorrow and they ask for me back! I need this!

So, in the interest of getting some posts done that I have been slacking on this one is gonna be a mixed bag.

♥ First off, you have to check out my darling Jillian's new blog Getting Illegal with Segal 
It's all about her quest to smoke a joint with actor Jason Segal, and it's fricken hilarious! It's mostly a joke, but it's a serious joke and if you have any degree of separation from Mr. Segal help a sister out and point Jill in the right direction!

♥ I want to fly KLM airlines just for the food! This post from Baking Bites made me drool. maybe if Jillian and Jason Segal fall in love we'll all fly to Amsterdam on KLM and roll around in all the marijuana.

♥ Thursday night I happened upon Things That Aren't Here Anymore on PBS (It was totally destiny, we almost never watch PBS anymore and nothing was on and The Man had mentioned this show earlier), after I retreated to my google reader and there was a post telling me to watch it on Punk Turns 30!! I love this blog, Theresa is so inspiring, and she was interviewed for the show!

♥ The woman behind all that amazing Barbie Jewelry I want so bad, Margaux Lang, shared an amazing post/link to art made from everyday things like staples, packing tape and push pins. It will blow you're mind.

♥ My friend Mia introduced me to the amazingness of Amanda Palmer last June and I have been an addict ever since. HERE is some of her wonderful poetry. Read. Laugh. Cry. Love.

♥ My childhood idol, Cyndi Lauper has been immortalized in Barbie form! (I have been on a Barbie kick this week, blame Margaux Lang who is blogging all about her new jewelry line for Mattel). In fact I spent  quite a bit of time at the Barbie Collector website the other night. They have SO MANY cool new dolls! I always loved Barbie and now I guess I have grown out of the phase where I out grew Barbie and now I am moving into the old lady that collects dolls phase...anyway LOOK at all the great new dolls! Eeeep!
I also love the Debbie Harry doll, the Joan Jett doll, the Lucy and Ethel dolls from one of my favorite episodes of I Love Lucy ever, The Rockabilly upright bass player doll they are saying was inspired by The Hardrock Cafe, and THIS great new retro inspired Wicked Witch of the West!

I guess that's it on this post, the links took a bit longer than I thought...and I am gonna post some of my dad's photos in separate posts in the interest of keeping things sorted, cause I'm anal retentive like that. Have a great night and a beautiful, blessed week!

-Syd

The Great Art Revival, with wonderful friends mixed in for good measure

 

(Photo stolen off the Artisan Venice website HERE)

Last Friday night rocked! Actually, all my weekends have been pretty great the last month. I love the warm, beautiful sunshine! I have spent a lot more time in my hometown too (I've only moved 5 miles away, but it's still a whole different world sometimes) and had a great time soaking up the art, sand and general insanity that is Venice California.

Friend's of friends had opened a great little art spot right on the fricking corner of Windward and Pacific (major foot traffic, huge have to pass through artery of Venice beach). It used to be a Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. Before that it was a pizza place, and WAYYYYYY before that it was a smoothie place and health food store. I had never heard of the magical properties of wheatgrass juice before that little health food store...anyway!

Artisan Venice is a wonderful little spot that I must return to when I have spendable money (sometime in about the year 2020). The owners/designers/runners/bosses of this gem are Darren Hall and Steve Avila. Boy have they got a great little shop on their hands! The featured artist of the night was Jules Muck, a graffiti artist who works in large canvases for gallery exhibits. Great work, some rather haunting, but, I still like the stuff she does on actual walls. Exceptionally well done wall art in this constantly over tagged world is a breath of fresh air. This was my favorite piece:

Other delicious tidbits on display and up for sale included this case of silver rings I kept coming back to and drooling over:

(the photos don't do it justice, and also the crappy cell phone pictures suck in general but it was the same day the truck took a crap all over the streets of Burbank and I forgot to get my camera). I really want the one with the peridot gem (second from the right on the bottom) , it's so...I don't know, words fail me, I just need it.

The ring would go so well with this blouse I also feel I need.

It's hard to tell in the picture, but it has heads of woman all over it. They all have these great hats on and are dressed in a 1940's style...it's lovely. And really, I need it cause I had one (a hand me down from my older sister? Or something my mother bought from a thrift store? I'm not sure...) almost like it when I was very young. It was blue, and the ladies were wearing red hats, but this reminds me of it.

There was an open space for bands to play.

After the band was finish people that play grabbed instruments just picked them up and played! Here is Artisan owner Darren playing guitar and singing:

Our friend Colin and The Man tried to play Led Zeppelin:

And of course if your in Venice and partying there is the obligatory group of homeless that drop by, some of them sing too!

Then we all hung out and drank wine!

My poor cell phone photos just don't leave the right impression. I had a crappy afternoon, and was swept up and taken to a place with art, music and friends in the place of my rearing. Life is blessed!

In short words, GO THERE! NOW! Well, no...they are probably closed...it's 9:30 at night now...GO TOMORROW!