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

That doll

This is New York Dolls frontman David Johansen. I'm not really sure where or when this was...the slide is stamped March 1974, but it could have been earlier cause dad sometimes couldn't develop his film in a timely manner due to financial restraints. I'll ask him what show this was and get back to you.

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!