In Defense of Hollywood

My friend Patrick has done it again.  That is, re-named his band.  (Band names post here.)  Nerds & Jerks is the new name and it's lasted for a few months - I think this one is official.

The newly-ish christened Nerds & Jerks has entered a songwriting contest to win a trip to LA.  Excellent.  The song had to be about West Hollywood. In it, Patrick sings that Hollywood is "dirty and bleak."  While he has a point about a certain stretch of Hollywood Boulevard that contains the Walk of Fame and is perpetually flooded with tourists and all the "low-lifes" who prey on them, that is not all my neighborhood has to offer.

CLICK HERE to see the video of their song and I suppose, if you must, click the vote button to show a little support - for the band, not their dismal view of my neighborhood.  Sigh.

I must admit that Hollywood does not have the best reputation as far as LA neighborhoods go.  When we were first looking to move out of downtown, Hollywood is the one place I was sure I wanted to steer clear of.  So, of course, that is where we ended up.  However, it turns out Hollywood is fabulous and I absolutely love living here. 

I spend just about every day exploring Griffith Park, Runyon Canyon, and the Hollywood Hills - all without ever having to get into my car.  I can also walk to a ton of bars, restaurants, retail shops, the post office, the farmers' market, and the all-important Trader Joe's.

So, aside from the nightlife, which is always "poppin" as the kids these days may or may not say, Hollywood is a land where, as evidenced by my phone, morning workouts and afternoon walks look like this:

and this:

And grocery shopping looks like this:

Nothin' but love.

Top 5, All Time Favorite... or so

I just watched High Fidelity for the first time in a long time.  Ah, John Cusack.  No one does strung out better.

High Fidelity is all music and lists.  So many lists in that movie.  My favorite list (although not itemized and only a list of 3 instead of the movie's standard "Top 5 All Time Favorite" lists) is Jack Black's character's 3 band names at the end of the movie: Sonic Death Monkey, Kathleen Turner Overdrive, and Barry Jive and his Uptown 5.

My friend Patrick has a similar "problem" deciding on a band name.  In his last 3 shows he performed as Skinny P and the Destroyers; Skinny P and the Birthday Bash; and Skinny P and the Handicaps. (See My Talented Friends Part One.)

Band names are fun, but so darn hard to choose.  You want the name to reflect the music, but also the personality of the band members while making sure that it is memorable and of course, clever in some groupie-procuring way. 

Do you remember being asked how many kids you wanted when you yourself were a kid?  Your answer would be directly correlated to the number of baby names you thought were cool.  "I want 6... Peter, Parker, Posey, Punxsutawney, and Bob."  If I could start as many bands as I have cool names to name them, I would have 4 bands:

1. The Sister Karamazov
2. Fifths and Giggles
3. Color Me Wicked
4. Whole Notes from the Underground

Originally, I had 5, but the 5th was "Tequila Mockingbird" which I thought was so clever.  Yeah.  It turns out that there are bands, restaurants, bars, and design companies with the same name.  Not so clever after all.  Thanks a lot, Google.  I was feeling pretty good about myself today.

My Talented Friends: Part One

During my time in LA I have met a lot of talented people and have been lucky enough to become friends with a few of them. 

I met Patrick (also known as “Oh, That Patrick” or “Skinny P”) about 5 years ago when he arrived as a drummer in shining armor at my hour of need. I have to be honest; I don’t really remember much about the first months of our friendship because they were filled mostly with stressful rehearsals and anxiety-ridden shows.  Despite all, we became and remain friends.



{ Patrick playing last night at his Birthday Bash }



So, how talented is Skinny P?  Very.  And why does he deserve the prestigious honor of being the very first friend featured in the My Talented Friends series?  Because today is his birthday. OK, and maybe because he turned out to be a super musician who can write, sing, and play any instrument he touches. 

I was not privy to the extent of Patrick’s musical prowess until a former girlfriend of his came to one of our shows at The Pig’N Whistle in Hollywood.  She bitched me out (literally) for relegating such an amazing pianist and guitarist to the drums.  I slowly backed away and tried to explain that I didn’t know!  Soon after that episode I moved Patrick to the guitar and found Christopher, an exceptional drummer, to replace him.  (You can expect to see Christopher in an upcoming My Talented Friends post.)

Although Patrick still plays with me occasionally, he has his own project called Skinny P and the _______.  

{Skinny P and the Huh? }


It was once Skinny P and the Destroyers, but I have been informed that the name will change with every show.  At yesterday's show they were Skinny P and the Birthday Bash.  I’m sure that won’t get confusing at all.

Abby, Patrick's wife, is in the band too.  Like Patrick, she is talented... just prettier.

Patrick’s music very much reflects his personality: cerebral, candid, playful, clever, and just a little rambunctious.  A former SAT tutor and current LSAT tutor, he writes songs titled "Serpentine Machinations", "Shitty Philanthropist", and "Reductionism", yet manages to keep them light and unpretentious.  You can check out some of his work here and here.  Everything you will hear is written and performed by Patrick himself.  And I mean everything - all instruments included.

Happy birthday, Patrick.  You rock.

Starry, Starry Night

When I look up into the sky on any given night in LA, all I see is an orange glow.  No stars.  No nuthin’.   Joshua Tree National Park is a 2 to 3 hour drive outside of the city and my favorite place to stargaze. 

Last year I drove to Joshua Tree with a few friends to watch the Orionid meteor shower. “Orionid” just means that during this particular annual shower, the meteors appear to be emanating from the Orion constellation.  Most meteor showers occur when the earth travels through a comet’s debris path (Haley’s comet in Orionid’s case).  As the debris crashes into earth’s atmosphere we see bright lights streak across the sky – as a kid you knew them as shooting stars.

I had such a great time last year that I was hoping it would become a tradition.  As with most hopes, I took it upon myself to see it fulfilled.  Tuesday night/Wednesday morning I drove out to Joshua Tree with my husband and friends Patrick and Rachel in tow to watch the Perseid meteor shower.  Constellation: Perseus. Comet: Swift-Tuttle.

After a few unexpected adventures (a note to California roadway engineers: you make it easy to get off the freeway; could you try remembering that we must eventually find our way back on?) and lessons (did you know that it is creepy to whistle in a rest stop bathroom in the middle of the desert in the middle of the night? I didn’t.) we made it to the park.  The feeling you get when you step out of the car, look up into the sky, and see millions of stars where a few hours earlier there was nothing but an orange glow… ah, that is a good feeling.

We blew up a couple air mattresses, laid back, and watched the sky fall.

Patrick made a valiant attempt to fuel our adventure with coffee.

Black and Decker fell through on this one, so I drank Red Bull and whiskey instead.

{ Cup reads: Best Meteor Shower Ever }



The sun came up fast and hot.  The feeling you get when you look around and know that there is no one else around for miles… ah, that is also quite a good feeling.

Joshua Tree offers more than just stargazing.  Another favorite activity is rock scrambling or bouldering.  Before heading back to the city, we did a little scrambling to the top of this nearby rockpile...

We did not want to leave, but alas, it was over 80 degrees before 7a.m.  It was back to LA for the 4 of us.



What were you doing yesterday morning at 3am?  Well, officer, I was laying on the desert floor in the middle of Joshua Tree National Park watching a meteor shower.  What were YOU doing?