4.27.2006

three cool things happened last night.

1. we enjoyed margaritas and free nachos with some friends.

2. we bought os mutantes/ flaming lips tickets.

3. we saw hurley from "lost" walk his dog into his house down the street from our place, after we'd just finished discussing our disappointment that "lost" was a rerun.

4.25.2006

like darren's list.

FOOD AND DRINK
Best Burger – Fuddruckers in Burbank

Best coffee shop-ish / bakery-ish place: Coffee Table
Runners up: the place by my house, starbucks, am/pm, the teacher's lounge at east whittier

Best Place to eat a weasel – Chuck’s coffeeshop (LBC)

Best bar – Cha Cha
Runners up: Red Lion, my kitchen, my living room, Chasers

Best German Bar That Is Not The Red Lion – NA

Best selection of beer – Rite Aid
Runners up: Ralphs

Best Afternoon Bar – Cha Cha

Best Restaurant - Flora Moreno/ Ikea meatballs (seriously)
Runners up: that lowery's place in loz feliz where walt disney hung out, the pig, Philippe’s, Canter’s, Gumbo Pot (Most of Farmer’s Market actually), Fred 62, Pink’s, the thai food place by my house, the mexican place on hyperion down from trader joes a bit that's not burrito king (but i like burrito king), Rick's, KFC, Arby's,

Best Buffet - Grand China

Best Breakfast - Backdoor
Runners up - the Pantry, Mani's, McDonald's

Best service – Flora Moreno

Best Fast Food: In n Out, El Pollo Loco
Runners up: Rick's

ENTERTAINMENT

Best place to see a movie – at my house with Netflix
Runners up: Universal backlot, New Beverly

Best movie theater for under $10 – New Beverly Cinema
Runners up: Los Feliz 3, Academy 6.

Best movie theater for over $10 – Cinerama Dome

Best show – the Longshoes
Runners up: jon brion, free things at silver lake lounge and spaceland, sweet metal shows Ryan has yet to take me to

Best place to listen to music: Hollywood Bowl
Runners up: at my house from my ipod, El Rey, Largo, Henry Fonda, Hotel Café, Troubadour, Tangier, Silverlake Lounge, Spaceland, Greek, Echo

Best Radio Station: my ipod
Runners up: 790, 103.1, 570, 101.1, 640

Best TV Station - AMC, comedy central, oprah (seriously inspiring), TMC, TV Land


STUFF
Best Store – Amoeba
Runners Up: Amazon, ebay, farmer's market, ralphs

Best Bookstore – Amazon
Runner’s up – little old bookstore

Best Freeway – 2

Worst Freeway – everything else
Runners up: hell

Best road – franklin
Runners up: colorado (with the cool bridge), olivera

Worst Road – santa monica blvd
Runners up: sunset in hollywood

Best park – griffith
Runners up: neff

Best river – LA River

Best Beach Community – Ventura

Best Place to Live – Sweet Silver Lake with our beautiful lake, tasty restaurants, good bars, and fancy music joints.
Runners up: Jewish places

Best Non-LA city – Altadena
Runners up: la canada,

Worst school to sub at – everywhere ever
Runner up: NA

Worst thing on this list – talk radio

Best place in LA – anywhere with my wife and good music and good people and good food and drink.

4.25.2006

i jogged. i played with dog. i played music. i wrote on blog.

4.22.2006

from jonatham lethem's website. i liked this.

The Drew Barrymore Stories

1. I was riding in an elevator in London hotel with Alfred Hitchcock and Drew Barrymore. Alfred Hitchcock said, "Do you think he's opened the box of poisoned chocolates yet?" Though I knew it was only one of Alfred Hitchcock's deadpan jokes, I grew nervous. Drew Barrymore smiled and laughed, so infectiously that I couldn't help laughing myself. She said: "I took the poisoned chocolates out and replaced them with chocolates filled with sympathy and affection." Even Alfred Hitchcock began laughing now.

2. John Coltrane and Miles Davis and Drew Barrymore and I were backstage at a nightclub in Chicago. Miles Davis was berating John Coltrane for playing a twenty-minute solo. I was trying not be noticed. Drew Barrymore was picking through a box of chocolates an admirer had sent backstage, biting into several of them to examine the filling. John Coltrane said: "I don't know how to stop playing." Miles Davis said: "Just take the damn horn out of your mouth." Drew Barrymore said: "Or if you wanted to you could just begin playing very softly, until you were so quiet that the others could play over you." Miles Davis said: "That would be fine too, yes."

3. Ernest Hemingway and Howard Hawks and John Coltrane and Drew Barrymore and I were in a fishing boat on the Snake River in Colorado. John Coltrane and Drew Barrymore were baiting fishhooks with whiskey-filled chocolates an admirer had sent to Hemingway. I was trying to make coffee on a bunsen burner. Howard Hawks said to Ernest Hemingway: "I bet you I can make a good movie out of your worst book." Ernest Hemingway said: "What book is that?" Howard Hawks said: "That piece of shit known as 'To Have And Have Not'." Drew Barrymore said: "Look over there!" We all turned, and Drew Barrymore pushed Howard Hawks out of the boat.

4. Gertrude Stein and Jack London and F. Scott Fitzgerald and Jack Kerouac and Truman Capote and Drew Barrymore and I were in a large outdoor hot tub in Sausalito, playing a drinking game called "What's Your Secret?" Gertrude Stein said: "Small audiences." Truman Capote said: "It's not your turn, Gertrude, it's Scott's." F. Scott Fitzgerald said: "There are no second acts in American lives." I started to ask him whether he meant that American lives skipped straight to the third act, but the others ignored me. Jack London said: "If you put some eggshells in with the coffee grounds it leaches the acid out of the coffee and it tastes a lot better." Jack Kerouac mumbled something nobody could make out, and Truman Capote said: "That's not writing, Kerouac, that's typing." Drew Barrymore got out of the hot tub and put on her robe and said: "Does anyone want hot chocolate instead of coffee? I don't have any eggshells, but I do have marshmallows."

5. I was running in the New York Marathon with Lawrence Olivier and Dustin Hoffman and John Coltrane and Drew Barrymore, only Lawrence Olivier was riding a banana-yellow moped. Drew Barrymore was accepting orange-slices and dixie cups of chocolate milk from the crowds at the police barriers and laughing infectiously but Dustin Hoffman and John Coltrane and I were too out of breath to join in. By the time we crossed the Koskiosko Bridge into Long Island City Dustin Hoffman looked terrible and I was concerned he wouldn't be able to finish the race. Lawrence Olivier said: "What's the matter?" Dustin Hoffman said: "I was up all night last night because I wanted this scene to look realistic." Lawrence Olivier said: "Why don't you try acting, my boy?" We all looked at Lawrence Olivier like he was an asshole. Drew Barrymore said: "I know a shortcut." Dustin Hoffman said: "To acting?" Drew Barrymore said: "No, a shortcut," and she pointed past the police barriers at our left. We all turned our heads and when we looked back she was gone.

Another, 2005

4.21.2006

very tired. new song on myspace. nothing else.

4.20.2006

things i've done lately...

two dodger games. both good, both won in late innings. hung out with andy. making music tomorrow. got some gigs- hotel cafe may 4, knitting factory july 30, and maybe a few more, maybe. have been busy. need time to sit and write and not do anything. but we do things every frigging night. which is fun. but probably irresponsible. justified because i'm going into teaching- but i will never have the opportunity to not teach if i am not writing. i teach- substitute and regular soon- so that i may someday not teach. i hate it. but it gives me time off and i believe i'd hate crappy desk jobs more. i like substitute teaching, but would like to make more money. people diss subbing, often, but i believe it's much more a rewarding job than people think. i'd rather sub and make more money in a day than most people sitting behind a desk kissing someone's posterior from 10-6. at least if i teach, i'm my own boss, sort of. and i can write and travel on breaks and in the afternoon. and i can work anywhere. and affect kids sort of. so all you sub dissers-- when i'm getting home at 2:30, and when i'm making as much money as you-- well, most of you, remember to not diss. eat it. i'm in a rock band and i write movies. these are two things that rule stupids.

4.17.2006

boo to work. boo to not easter break.

4.16.2006

happy easter! we're eating ham.

4.13.2006

hello readers.

i am in ventura. soaking up the sun. watching the dodgers in the morning. writing a movie. planning on taking in the beach. ate amazing mexican food last night in santa b. planning on brushing my teeth. and jogging. jogging is the new black.

4.11.2006

i am everything that bothers me about los angeles. sitting at the coffee table, wearing a wilco shirt, and writing a movie. if they only knew i hated kcrw (save for elvis mitchell). if they only knew i hated all of them. except for taye diggs. i only don't hate taye diggs because of his cool name. i'm not even going to go to imdb to correct myself on the spelling of his name. it may in fact be spelled correct.

i'm taking the cset.

i'm listening to some field recordings.

i miss the rolling golden hills of montana and the smell of campfire soaked clothes the morning after a long day off. the calm whip of the line. letting the dry fly bob in the ripples. letting the little son of a bitch float down stream past the fallen tree stumps rotting and giving home to my prey. prey that i will catch and release, being sure to wet my hands before the touch. i catch and release not out of moral conviction.

the fiddle and the smell of damp wood make me think of the south. missouri. i never did fly fish much in missouri. there was the bass in the pond that hadn't been fished for a decade. where stories of six foot long catfish fell to the bottom with the sediment. warm tobacco. the mixing smell of cigarettes and pipe, distinguished by the age of the men that sat on the back steps of the menonite church with their asses on the pavement and their feet in the gravel. gravel that used to be mud. mud that held the hollowed out faces of the men kissing bullets with blood on their lips. the men who knew jesse james and cole younger too well and fought for the wrong side. to see bull run and die at the hood of a car.

my grandpa's drunk father had his body cut in three by the steel of a train at the mercy of the jug. that's the truth. that's why i hate los angeles. not the city, rather the people and the places you have to be if you know what's good for you. long beach and ventura are not excempt. same fog. same rain and oil slicked streets.

4.7.2006

i saw bob dylan on wed. here is the set list. robyn got me tickets.

it ruled.

1. Maggie's Farm (Bob on keyboard)
2. She Belongs To Me (Bob on keyboard and harp)
3. Lonesome Day Blues (Bob on keyboard)
4. Queen Jane Approximately (Bob on keyboard and harp)
5. 'Til I Fell In Love With You (Bob on keyboard)
6. It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)
(Bob on keyboard, Donnie on violin, Tony on standup bass)
7. Shooting Star (Bob on keyboard and harp)
8. Highway 61 Revisited (Bob on keyboard)
9. Tears Of Rage (Bob on keyboard and harp)
10. Honest With Me (Bob on keyboard)
11. Girl Of The North Country (Bob on keyboard and harp)
12. High Water (For Charley Patton) (Bob on keyboard, Donnie on banjo)
13. Just Like A Woman (Bob on keyboard)
14. Summer Days (Bob on keyboard)

(encore)
15. Like A Rolling Stone (Bob on keyboard)
16. All Along The Watchtower (Bob on keyboard)

4.3.2006

i just finished watching "hoop dreams." it had been a bit of a marathon seeing as it was a three hour film and seeing as i had been watching it on my lunch break. it was really quite fantastic, though. quite.

I'm Doing This Tomorrow...

’Hurst aid
BENEFIT SHOW

FEATURING THE ROCK ‘N ROLL
MUSICAL STYLINGS OF…

• THE RED WEST

• Jesse Gloyd and the Longshoes


Saturday, April 1st
6:30 PM
Elmhurst Elementary School Cafeteria
5080 Elmhurst st, Ventura, ca

$10 admission
$5 admission for VUSD students (with ID)


BAKE SALE • POPCORN • CHOCOLATE MILK • GUITARS


ALL PROCEEDS BENEFIT THE ELMHURST 5TH GRADE
OUTDOOR EDUCATION PROGRAM FOR 2006


For additional info call (562) 652-3644 or visit www.foerecords.com

3.26.2006

watching "nine lives." it's cool. i spend too much time wasting time.

3.22.2006

i'm watching the fantastic john sayles film "men with guns." it is very good. i've had half a pot of coffee and it's not even ten in the morning. my only job for the day is driving robyn to school. i'm also planning on writing and planting strawberries.

i've got a new sweet lime tree on our balcony. it's pretty cool. um... people should go see "american gun." a friend of mine wrote it and it's coming out this weekend in limited release. i've not much else. reading: the last great season. writing: kinetivision, my name is earle spec, according to jim spec. outlining: untitled bounty hunter project with goss. singing: songs for the benefit concert. watching: men with guns, glengary glen ross.

that's all.

'HURST AID AGAIN!

’HURST AID
BENEFIT SHOW

FEATURING THE ROCK ‘N ROLL
MUSICAL STYLINGS OF…

• The Red West (and or members of)

• Jesse Gloyd and the Longshoes


Saturday, April 1st
6:30 PM
Elmhurst Elementary School Cafeteria
5080 Elmhurst st, Ventura, ca

$10 admission
$5 admission for VUSD students (with ID)


BAKE SALE • POPCORN • CHOCOLATE MILK • GUITARS


ALL PROCEEDS BENEFIT THE ELMHURST 5TH GRADE
OUTDOOR EDUCATION PROGRAM FOR 2006


For additional info call (562) 652-3644 or visit www.foerecords.com

3.12.2006

watching the wbc usa v. japan. it's fun to watch baseball. i'll be going to the game tonight and i figure i'll be rooting for s. korea, seeing as they feature three dodgers. i can't think of much else.

3.10.2006

today is the day of the great fantasy baseball draft. i will most likely win again but there are reasons the games are played. i am watching ken burns' baseball to warm my soul as i pay bills and clean the house. it should be good fun with good people. i am about to start reading "the last good season," a book about the dodgers 1956 season. it comes with high recommendations from mr. bethancourt. i am quite excited.

3.9.2006

no work today and no work tomorrow. i must tcb today, though. i must. i am about to make robyn a bagel and eggs to start her day. me, i will have a bagel and toast. and tea, seeing as i'm out of coffee. it's been a nice change. coffee to tea. i now will take the dog to poop, finish updike, grocery shop, write, wash clothes, tidy up some, finish house of games, mail amazon books, meet robyn's sister and brother in law at disneyland, come home, and go to bed.

3.6.2006

i am watching coppola's commentary on "the conversation." it is my favorite film of his and just plain one of my favorites in general. my belly is full of cooked spinach, asparagus, garlic bread, flank steak and wine and i'm feeling good. funny thing is, i would venture to guess that coppola's belly is full of similar items. as is his big brown beard.

i really like the way he talks. like a contemplative chef or a neighbor of ours. he's a very thoughtful guy who might expound in similar honorable fashion on a myriad of topics. a few topics that i might like hearing ff coppola wax poetic on include: street musicians in sf, time travel, naval oranges, ron howard, a flat sales tax, white shadow, and monk (the jazz musician and television show).

i am becoming more and more ocd. everything in it's place. my life must have order. i have note cards now telling me when i should do things and how i should do these things throughout the week. it helps me cope. with what? i'm not sure. i get scatterbrained and have trouble focusing. maybe sentence structuring. when i focus, everything seems to fall apart. the pieces blow away like trash in a parking lot. i have made quotas for myself.

my album should be coming out soon. i have no clue how it will sound. no clue at all.

if you live in silver lake, you should eat at flora moreno. it is a very good joint.