I think I deserve a night off, don’t you? I’ve been doing pretty well with getting posts up on a variety of topics for the last couple weeks in spite of being slammed with work (both at work and at home), having a relative and an old friend in town, and continuing my regular routine of trivia night and drinking and taking day trips. What’s more, my new car is so cool I haven’t even had to fill up the thing with gas yet since I got it almost 3 weeks ago. Better mileage = sweet bonus.
So, what’s new over here? Well, I had a great time in Joshua Tree with Z. (visiting from New York), Ken, KT and Nicci two Thursdays ago. I took them on the Lost Horse Mine hike, we killed a bottle of Strawberry Andre as we looked out over the desert. Then we climbed some rocks and had a cute little lunch with a giant bottle of Barefoot wine. Went out to lunch at this greasy hell-hole in Joshua Tree and were stared at by locals. It was a good time. Z. hung around for a few days so I took him up to the top of Runyon Canyon, took him to eat at Pure Luck, and had a little send-off drinking session Saturday night at the Surly Goat. Z. left early with his posse to visit a 24-hour spa, but the rest of us (Ken, KT, Nicci, Erin) continued raging across West Hollywood, finally ending up at Bossa Nova as the bars were closing. They don’t serve liquor so I had to race across Santa Monica Boulevard to Pavilions in order to buy a handle of Makers for us to consume with our Brazilian food.
Trivia night last Wednesday was pretty bad. Mark came up with the team name “Too Bad My Online Girlfriend Is From Egypt,” and we (Mark, Ben, Louise and I) were staying pretty close to the front of the pack until the last couple rounds. The beer round was a total embarrassment. You had to list the names of 40 songs from the ’80s after hearing 5-10 second clips of each tune. I think I only got 10-15 right, and the team that won a free round of beers nailed 35 out of 40. And I call myself a music scholar. Bah! Louise treated me to a shot of Jager at the Dresden afterwards and read me a poem she wrote. Aww.
I’ve been taking a lot of solace in reading reviews of Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark lately. The LA Weekly reviewed it last week and said the visual effects are stunning but the show basically sucks. Then today The New York Times reviewed it, and their reviewer posited that it may “rank among the worst” Broadways musicals ever. He went so far as to call it broken beyond repair. He says the music by Bono and The Edge is “like a persistent headache.” Oh God, I love it. Another reporter, for Newsday wrote, “More dispiriting is the music. It was hoped that Bono and The Edge would transform the old-fashioned conventional musical. Instead, perhaps intimidated by the challenge, they transformed their sound into stock Broadway schlock pop – sentimental wailing from the early Andrew Lloyd Webber playbook, winnable lyrics and the kind of thumpa-thumpa music that passes for suspense in action films.” Ha! Fuck you Bono! You’re a douche!
Sorry, where was I? Oh, right. My life. I was surprised at work one day last week by a documentary film crew — headed by a regular customer — who asked if I would like to be interviewed on camera on the subject of private-press records and collecting in general. I agreed to do it, even though I hate being on camera. I think I managed not to stutter, but I definitely lost my train of thought and stared into the camera once or twice. Oh well, hopefully I don’t sound like a moron and maybe I gave them a soundbyte they can actually use.
I was also surprised at work yesterday afternoon to hear that I was allowed to leave early to catch the second half of the Super Bowl. And I didn’t even drink! I just ate a slice of pizza and some taquitos and hung out. Seriously, working Sundays is the worst. I got to watch one Giants game all year this season and it only worked out because I was on vacation in New Jersey. I want my weekends back.
Oh, and worst of all, Nate’s taking a month off from heavy drinking. Fuck that guy!
February 8th, 2011
I think you deserve as much time off as you need bro. You do a kick ass job on this blog – its become a favorite of mine – and no doubt work too hard.
Was a little surprised to not see a mention of the passing of Gary Moore. A fine guitarist with Thin Lizzy as well as on his own. I first saw him in Savannah, GA of all places at the Savannah Civic Center in prolly’ 1982. He was part of a triple bill with Krokus and Def Leopard. (We went to see Krokus… as teenagers we were enamoured with their Hardware album and such gems as Smelly Nellie and Mister 69. We actually met and partied with their axeman Fetnando Von Arb back at the hotel and he played Mr 69 that night at our request… a song that wasn’t on the setlist!)
Anyway, Moore had a minor hit with The End of the World, a fine tune and grim reminder that all of us were paranoid about nuclear war with Russia back then… a paranoia that is no more but which was with us every day back then. Here’s the tune from around this time. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNsBwC8DU8M&sns=em
The intro solo dumbfounded many a guitar player back then.
Moore was a great musician who’d been playing blues of late but his attempt at jumping on the NWOBHM bandwagon in the early 80s is where I feel he excelled.
February 8th, 2011
That spa was TOTALLY awesome, you should get over your fear of germs and check it out! It’s actually cheaper to sleep there than it is at a hotel or hostel.