Le What?

Hey, can anyone tell me what's happened to the Le Bar on Glendale? I had reported some time ago that It had been sold and was being converted into a hipster bar. Recently I've noticed some revisions to its facade that suggest a lack of its previously merry and gay clientelle.

Skunks Alive and Stinkin

So, I've noticed its been a mild year for skunks in Silver Lake. I was concerned that the noxious (but kinda cute) beast I had deamed our neighborhood mascot may have been dissapearing from our fair town. But in the last few days the scent has been hanging in the air like a moldy tent. This morning I awoke to, not the sound of song birds (its winter for gods sake) or the scent of Pancakes and Coffee, but the intense odor of Skunk. I mean, it was like the critter had snuck in my house and lifted his tail right over my nose. Horrible, yet oddly reassuring. The stink is back in Silver Lake people, a fine sign for the New Year. It's gonna stink good i tell ya!

Stinkcast Best of 2005 pt.1

Oh yeah, what's potentially geekier then premotting your own blog? That's right, premoting your own Podcast. Thats why I prefer to call mine a Stinkcast.

Regardless, I thought it might be a good way of trying to disseminate some of the compilations I like to put together at the end of the year.

So this is the first of a series of Podcast's that will encompass my favorite new albums of 2005. To start downloading these puppies, you must first sign up for the cast by using iTunes or iPodder or the like. Those of you who have the latest version of iTunes, open the sucker up, click on the Podcasts icon to the left. Then click on Advanced/Subscribe to Podcast...in the top menu. In the dialogue box enter this address:

http://www.actiondynamics.org/podcast/pt1.rss

This should automatically prompt iTunes to begin downloading the first set of songs and will check to see if there are any new feeds periodically.

This first download is around 25megs and contains 5songs mixed together.

The set list is as follows.

1. Warlocks: Come Save Us
2. The Wedding Present: Interstate 5
3. The Soundtrack of Our Lives: Trancendental Suicide
4. Spoon: Sister Jack
5. The New Pornographers: Twin Cinema

I'll keep you updated whenever I add new additions to the series. If anyone has trouble downloading, please give me a heads up.

Surfing the Bowl

Man, this rocks. I need to track one of these down. Props to Boingboing again.

Back from the Holidays

Excuse the hiatus.

Just got back from the Maryland/D.C. area where I spent some laid back quality time with family and a few friends.

Friday Jenny and I walked the newly revitalized 14th street corridor. Walking up P street from Dupont, we hung a left on 14th and meandered through a variety of house wares and furniture stores as well as funky gift shops and a few clothing stores. Although 14th street still has blocks or half blocks of dilapidated seediness, it’s definitely growing. We cut down U Street where we checked out an Asian oriented house wares store and the old faithful Millennium Furniture that’s been there since the first U street boom back in my day.

On Christmas Eve Jen and I managed to have a quality lunch with Debbie, Bill, and their new one Olive at a delish Burmese place called Mandalay in Silver Spring. Good to see you guys. Olive is adorable.

For the holiday we stopped by my grandmothers to visit. Although physically frail and showing her age, at 95, she's still smart as a tack. Props to grandma for being able to keep it real in body and mind for so long. Then off to my brother's place for some quality time with the little one's. Paige and Evan are quite the pair. We gave them a Karaoke machine to share. Which worked for about 15minutes of joyous duets between them. I'm telling ya, they did this amazing Frosty the Snowman bit that could have competed with Marty and Elayne for the funniest act this side of the delta. Afterwards the whole thing broke down into a battle for the mic (even though two were supplied). For the rest of the evening, the two nippers were at constant odds. Regardless, the day was a blast.

Friends Bill and Shelly recently moved to Silver Spring, so the day after Christmas, it was back to SS to check out their new digs and a quality chat for a while. They are expecting a child in the next month or two. Congrats in advance.

The Rents, it goes without saying, were as accomidating as ever. Great food and hospitality. Thanks guys.

The visit was topped off with a viewing of King Kong in Bethesda. Had hoped to make it to the Uptown for the viewing, but we were too lazy to make the trek. The theater was filled with obnoxious people who seemed to be more interested in hearing themselves talk. Regardless, the movie was a blast. At three hours, you might imagine that it may lag in areas...but strangely it almost felt like any nuance had needed to be cut to keep the whole story within the time frame. This movie had a mission and it kept to it. No dilly-dallying. I had read of Peter Jackson's mission to revive the "spider pit" scene that had evidently been deleted from the original. It was definitely one of the creepier scenes in the movie. I'm no movie reviewer so I won’t attempt to mess with a full review.

Well, that’s about it. So I’ll try and get back to giving you the west-side scoop. Have a safe New Year's in the mean time.

Clarity

So the LA Times wrote today on a subject that too few in this town have had the balls to even mention. Scientology. And even better about Mr. Tom (I'm truly insane) Cruise's connection to the pulp fiction religion.

Check it out.

The Amoeba Syndrom

So some people at work and I had recently been talking about the pros and cons of Amoeba Records.

Any non-Californians may be unaware of Amoeba. Amoeba is an insanely well-stocked Indie Music Super Store.It started in Berkeley, made its way into SF proper and now has a two-floor store in Los Angeles.

One can't deny that if you're looking for something, you'll probably be able to find it at Amoeba. And it is a nice alternative to Virgin or Tower. But it does have some major drawbacks.

Since Amoeba opened, over two years ago I believe, the small specialty record stores have been suffering. Arons records, a place I frequented religiously for the first few years I was in LA, is closing its doors. Upon Shop in Silver Lake, a thinly stocked DJ store is also closing. Although you may figure that things such as Digital distribution may be at fault as well, you might be slightly right...but the aforementioned places were where music shopping just wasn't about the music, but the objects as well and maybe even the process....hunting "crates" for that unexpected album, CD, DVD, what have you.

Although Amoeba doesn't try and put these places out of business; my friend Spencer who worked there previously says they even "support" the idea of small specialty shops, their size and selection just makes it silly to drive to different parts of town looking for stuff.

When I shop these days...I try and visit the small shops like Don's or Sea Level. But I tell you the truth, I like iTunes as well.

There is hope though, a new shop has opened on Fairfax called Turntable Lab. I'll give you a heads up when I've had a chance to check it out.

Indie Mornings

When Indie 103.1 first hit the airwaves awhile back I wanted to hate it. I had heard that at its core it was owned by ClearChannel, a mega-corp that has been gobbling up radio stations nationally and turning them into lifeless souls. How could something owned by these farts be called Indie?

As well, at the beginning, there were no dj's and way too much Violent Femmes and Beastie Boys being played ad-nauseum. I really didn't know what to make of it.

Well, the station has found its feet in many respects and I'm not sure about the ClearChannel thing, but I have to say that when KCRW becomes too pathetic for me, I now check Indie before flipping to KXLU (still probably the most "Indie" station in town).

Everyone here knows that Jonesy's Jukebox is a great listen. For those of you not in town, Jonesy is no other then Steve Jones from the Sex Pistols. He's hilarious.

But the show that I've really grown to dig is the Mighty Morning show featuring Dicky Barret. Dicky Barret used to be the front man for the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, a band I had great hatred for back in the day. MMB were Jock Ska to me and my friends. We were all into The Specials, Selector, Bad Manners, and The Toasters. But the Bosstones were a style of Ska we just couldn't get behind.

Many years later, Dicky is the host of a pretty damn good morning show. He's funny, plays decent music and has good guests on. Give it a try.

As for the Clearchannel thing, someone give me the scoop.

Poo Row Update

Woohoo, no poo. I didn't experience one defication on my way to work today.

Sadly, I was actually looking for it. Last week, it would unintentionally catch my eye.

Oh Jen had mentioned that my work is just a few blocks away from skid row...so maybe
my name for this part of Alemeda should be Skid-mark Row.

O.k., I promise. No more entries on the subject.

Keepin' It Fresh

Hey there boys and girls, I would like to introduce you to Free Assembly's first foray into the world of Olfactory Life Style Accessories. The Keepin It Fresh brand of air fresheners. There will be two themes to start with. The Neighborhood series and the Revolutionary series.

The Neighborhood series takes off where the Silver Lake Skunk shirts left. #1 is the Silver Lake branded air freshner to show the world that you're a hipster with a sweet smelling ride. Right now, these are available in Vanilla scent. I'm not a big vanilla fan typically, but these actually smell pretty good and so far it doesn't overwhelm my car.

The Revolutionary series begins with Mexican Revolutionary Pancho Villa. Whether you're of Mexican de-scent or not, you can still show your devotion to standing up for your rights and beliefs with this badass freshner. Pancho comes in New Car scent.

If these sell, we'll continue to create new versions of each theme. Echo Park or Boyle Heights maybe for neighborhoods, Emiliano Zapata may be our next revolutionary.

Order yours directly from me for around $3.50 each. We'll hopefully be getting them in stores around town so I'll keep you updated.

Poo Row

So I feel as though I must share an observation that I made this week.

I work in what I believe is called the Wharehouse district of downtown LA. During this week, consistently, at least once during my morning commute I witnessed a homeless person deficating publicly by the side of the road. Just simply dropping trousers on the sidewalk or even in the street and letting it loose with no sense of descretion or privacy. Friday took the cake when a man riding his bicycle stopped, unzipped, and began peeing while still mounted on his bicycle. Every freaking day! I'm not kidding. Even today, saturday, when my friend Huey and I drove down to the factory to pick up some free threads, a trucker (o.k. not homeless....but i think he fits into my general series of observations) began peeing in between his truck and a car.
And i'm not just talking about numero uno, I witnessed on at least three seperate occasions this week, a man doing the doo on the sidewalk.

I know this is a rather fowl topic to be reporting...but it just goes to show you how bizarre a typical day or series of days can be while simply driving into work.

Some other time I'll describe some more endearing subjects I witness from time to time on my way to work. But for now, I must simply bid you adoo.

Cute Overload

Cute Overload brings us the art of insanely adorable. Images so cute, they would crack a smile out of any Grinch. They exceed general cuteness though, they're cute in an almost rebelious manner. Rebel against the faulty world for a minute or two and let the goofiness ease your soul.

Via BoingBoing.

Cash as Medium

Acquired Art Crusade prints images on cash. Not a new concept but nice execution. Our currency could certainly use an artists touch.

Via Cool Hunting.

Monkey Business

So I've hacked togethor some shirts featuring a cleaned up version of the Bush with Fez design displayed last weekend. Shop my Cafe Press shop if you'd like to display both your distain for our president and your appreciation of silly sentaments. The shop is actually the last remnants of a project that my friend Rob and I developed during the 2004 election year. Check out some of the silly illustrations I did of Kerry and Dean.

A Few of My Favorite Things

With the Ipod fad, there have been a rush of headphone designs that have flooded the market. The majority of them suck. Some comprimise sound for size or ergonomics. Then there are those in-ear headphones. The best reviewed of course cost over a hundred bucks. And even though they are small and fit into your ear canal, they can be uncomfortable and any movement in amplified through the wires.

Well, I mostly listen to music at work...sometime when I'm walking my dog. When walking the dog, I use a pair of crappy Sony headphones, I guess I don't really care about fidelity then, just something to keep me walking. At work, on the other hand, I want good sounding stuff. And to be honest, I just haven't found it from those tiny headphones. My phones of choice are the Grado SR60's.

Grado is a small company based in Brooklyn NYC. They focus on headphones and record needles.

The SR60's are the lowest model of headphones that Grado makes, but they sound incredible. Style wise, these things look like something Radar from MASH might have worn, but they sound incredible. No, they don't cancel out noise, but they sound incredible. No they don't fit in your pocket, but they sound incredible. Did I say.....yeah I did. Snooty terms like Soundstage and warmth of sound really make sense when you listen to these. The headphones are comfortable as well. These puppies aren't sold in your local Best Buy. You'll need to either check your local high-end stereo retailer or find them online. The image featured is of the R1 series, a significantly more upscale version. I can only imagine what they sound like.

My Hedonistic Company

American Apparel made a cameo on the Daily Show last night. If they had wanted to do it right, I think we would have happily mocked up the scene using the appropriate Helvetica Neue (T1) Heavy instead of their obviously hacked rendition with some other inferior font. Regardless, the spirit seemed right.

Clown Thrash

This last weekend, I rented the movie Rize. If you haven't seen it yet, my god, rent it. Its one of the most bizarre things I've seen in a long time. An underground dance movement started in East La by a Clown! Its the most punk-rock thing I've seen in ages. The fact that dancers who paint there faces up into something like a Graphed Clown face can gain acceptance and respect in the hood seems amazing to me. I can't even begin to completely describe this movement, let alone the film. Rent it and decide for yourself.

Bush Is A Jack Ass

So I've avoided overtly political blog entries untill recently. The casual inuendo, but nothing severe. Even the Scanlon entry isn't terribly partisan. The guy basically stuck it to both sides. But I guess everyone knows that I detest our current President. Anyway, I guess the only reason I'm creating this post is to publish this image I had created a while ago. I had thought of creating T-shirts with this image during the last election, but never got around to finesssing it. If you think it has merrit, give me a heads up and at the very least, I'll do a Cafe Press edition of it. If not, no big deal.

An aside

For some reason, I feel compelled to inform you that the last three entries have been added under the influence of a Manhatten with a base of Jamesons whiskey and to nosh, some roasted hot green peas.

Butterstick Unwrapped

So, as a child, i think there were two significantly dissapointing events in my life. One, was waiting in line to see King Tut. When I was a kid, we stood in line for hours to see the Tut, and left frustrated without getting in. Well, King Tut came back and arrived to LA. But tickets were insanely expensive, and the politics seemed silly. So I still haven't seen King Tut. Another event that was rather dissapointing, was going to see the Panda's at the Nation Zoo. I think I can remember attempting to see them at least twice, and at the most seeing a hairy mass in the distance. Well, now Butterstick has made his (her?) debut at the Zoo and people are going ape-shit. Jenny and I are planning on trying to see the little guy when we're back in town. Will it be worth it? we'll see.

Ephemerist Watch

More goofy stuff to waste time checking out.

some good goofy media. Plus the moderator seems to use the image of Percy Dovetonsils as his icon.

O.k., most of you may have seen this, but it must be linked to. Pure and simple, stuff on cats.

Again, a link that some of you may know about. But man, I was so into these things when I was a kid. I can remember a particular liquor store that my mom would take me to get them. For some reason, I decided to stick them on a dresser that my grandmother hand-painted. Wacky Packs.

Just Plain Stinks

So several months ago, I corresponded with probably my oldest friend Geoff (we've known each other since kindergarten). Anyway, he dropped this story on me that cracked me up about a guy we used to go to high school with. I barely remembered the guy, but recalled him being a real prick if nothing else. Geoff and I were both kids who played baseball and got along with pretty much everyone, but in junior high and high school we got turned on to the Punk Rock. Punk Rock and Jocks just don't mix. As much as we tried to maintain our interest in both areas, the real jocks as well as the "popular set" started to ostracize us and show there anger against our new lifestyle.

Shawn Scanlon was one of those kids. Again, my memory isn't great, I don't really remember him much, but when I see his face I can remember it in perpetual scowl towards our peg-jeaned, shaved head, alternative music interests.

Anyway, the story Geoff hipped me to, kind of slipped my mind for a while and was just re-ignited when my friend Maya happen to mention an update on the same story.

O.K., so all of you high school friends of mine have probably heard about this already. But maybe there are some tid-bits you might have missed. And for the rest of you, it might be amusing because this is National News.

Our old bully Shawn Scanlon, is now known as Michael Scanlon. Mike has found himself linked to the Tom Delay scandal as well as being in the shitter for his own sleazy Indian Tribe bribery scandal.

I'll do my best to succinctly describe mikes tribulations, but as I say, I haven't been following it as closely as some. So please feel free to comment on any details you might be aware of. Regardless, you'll find that as Geoff said "I mean how often does the asshole psycho-jock from high school come back into view later on in life as a total slime ball high rolling ultra-right lobbyist about to go to jail for fraud. Once a p**sy sociopath always a p**sy sociopath I say."

So Mr. Scanlon is a former aide to Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Texas) and a lobbyist who is currently under investigation together with his partners Jack Abramoff, Grover Norquist and Ralph Reed by separate state and federal grand jury investigations into lobbying performed for Indian tribes running casino gambling businesses. In addition to the allegation of dishonest dealing arising from the consulting contracts themselves, Abramoff and Scanlon are accused of illegal giving favors to senior Republicans Tom DeLay, Conrad Burns and Bob Ney. This quick overview via Wikipedia. Oh, this give me a chance to say, if you're not familiar with Wikipedia, it rules.

The Indian Gambling scam goes something like this. Scanlon and Abramoff assured Indian tribes that they could persuade members of congress to not pass various bills that would close gaming institutions in various Indian reservations. They called it Operation Open Doors. For a price of 4.2 million dollars Scanlon promised just such an influence to a member of the Tigua Tribe who had gaming establishments in El Paso. Both Republican and Democrat senators were said to be influenced. Little happened after Scanlon and Abramoff were paid off and the Tigua tribe were forced to lay off 700 employees and were ordered to close the casino. S & A blamed the senators, and the senators refused knowing of the promises. Most of this comes from an Indianz.com article that Geoff sent me.

On November 21, 2005, in proceedings before Federal District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle, Scanlon pleaded guilty to conspiring to bribe a member of Congress and other public officials. Under the plea agreement, Scanlon will repay $19.6 million to his former Indian tribe lobbying clients. He is expected to testify against Abramoff and anyone else indicted in the case, according to Justice Department sources. In addition, one friend of mine mentioned that pressure is being put on Scanlon to fess up to any information on Delay that Scanlon might have.

One comment contained in the Wikipedia entry attributed to Scanlon, I think is classic, goes as follows:
"This whole thing about not kicking someone when they are down is BS - Not only do you kick him - You kick him until he passes out - then beat him over the head with a baseball bat - then roll him up in an old rug - and throw him off a cliff into the pounding surf below!!!!! Scanlon seems to have contempt for everyone. You just can't deny this guys sleaziness, despite reports otherwise.

An entertaining story about Scanlon pathetically hiding out in his house from Federal Marshals can be found here.

Scanlon’s list of contributions to the Republican Party can be found here. Check the Wikipedia listing for a variety of other links. Also, do your own research and continue this thread. This is why growing up in the D.C. area has it merits. What city can mould characters like Scamlon and Link Wray. Maybe LA?

Oh yeah, so Debby got in touch with a reporter from New Republic who wrote a story about Scanlon being a well liked guy and he said if anyone would like to set the record streight, to contact him at mcrowley@tnr.com . Request anonymity if you like.

Missing Link

Link Wray, who'll go down in history as the inventor of the Power Chord (the basis of punk rock) passed away last month.

Link honed is craft after moving to Washington D.C. in the 50's. He released the song "Rumble" in 1958 which contained the signature power chord. His music was banned by some stations and eventually his lable dropped him for attracting the "wrong element". So Link released his own albums. Yeah, link was truely punk-rock, and he started it all in my home town.

Ephemerist Watch

More fun sites of ephemera.

Animation Archive is a project with the goal to document artists who stand to be lost to the test of time.

Imaginary World libraries objects from our childhood.

Happy Palace is a portal to the oddly entertaining.

Freaks of nature, or silly hoaxes...you decide at Cryptomundo.

Vintage LA at Yesterday LA.

Glutton, No Doubt About It

My god, this weekend was a blur of food, drink, and holiday shopping.

Friday night, I started the weekend off with a Wine Tasting at the Colorado Wine shop in Eagle Rock with a bunch of friends (probably half of my audience, so this should simply be a re-cap for many of you). $15bucks for 5 half glasses of prime vino. I'd say there were at least three of them that I really enjoyed. Hey, If any of you that attended managed to grab the menu, please send me a list of the wines we had, cause I'd actually like to pick one of em up at some point. Cheese was supplied by the new Auntie Em's specialty foods store. Afterwards we sobered up at an Italian place within walking distance, it served its purpose and we closed the place down.

Saturday Jen and I hit the aforementioned Pottery sales and snagged some presents. We hadn't eaten breakfast so In between sales, we hit Dinah's Chicken on San Fernando in the Glendale/Atwater area. I had driven passed the place several times and had wanted to check it out. Both Jen and I had a two piece chicken lunch that came with a side (mine Mac and Cheese, Jenny's Pineapple Slaw) and a roll (with apple-butter, oh yeah). Chicken was delish. Moist with a thin but crispy coating. The mac and cheese, I liked but Jenny thought was sub-par. The Slaw was good, sweet but not too sweet. Apple butter was a nice touch. All for 4.50. A primo deal. Boxes and Tubs of chicken are available for carry out, so stop by for your next party. After lunch we hit the Atwater Pottery sale. I had no idea that the stuff was created by Adam Silverman, a good friend of my old bosses from my video game days. His stuff is really impressive. Interesting textures and whatnot. His stuff is available at OK on Third St. but its fairly pricey.

To even the grease out, we had salad for dinner while watching the end of Chinatown. Had never seen the whole thing before and got a kick out of seeing Echo Park play a substantial role in the movie.

Sunday, again a minimal breakfast in preparation for the potential of another epic lunch. We hit the Self Help Graphics print sale. Pretty damn cool. A good selection of work that included a Raymond Pettibon print for a quite reasonable price of $250 as well as works by Paul McCarthy, and Ed Moses (all out of our price range, but maybe next year). Prints ranged from $10 to $1000, so there were a few pieces within our reach. All proceeds benefited Self Help, which ironically is in much need of help.
Next weekend is another sale, check it out.

After the sale, we meandered looking for a few different potential spots for lunch. One with a long line that we didn't feel like braving, another was closed. We finally landed at Teresitas at 3826 First St. This was probably the farthest east I had ever ventured in Los Angeles proper. Teresitas is a nice place with nice staff. We had read that the Chilaquilles were exceptional there, which was fine by me. I love the chili killers. I ordered it with egg (never knew there was a choice) and a side of Carne Asada (I know, I'm outta hand). The ubiquitous chips and salsa were serve. The salsa was exceptional. A roasted chili salsa, smoky and salty. A yellowish spicy one that we couldn't quite figure out, but liked. Jenny ordered Taquitos. So eventually our food was delivered. My chilaquillas and asada was awesome. Really, the best I've had I think. Jenny wasn't blown away by her taquitos but I thought they were pretty good. Quite a hike for most of us, but I highly recommend the trek and Boyle Heights has some neat areas. Wish I had my camera with me.

So that was my weekend. I'm still full, I think I'll bike to work tomorrow.

Holiday Rush

So, excuse my lack of entries, but I've been mad busy. But let me take a quick minute to mention a few unique events this weekend that might assist you in your capitalist gift giving needs.

I know I've said it before, but I think its for real this time. Self Help Graphics is having its print sale this sunday, from 1 to 5p.m.
SELF HELP GRAPHICS 3802 CESAR CHAVEZ BLVD LOS ANGELES, CA 90063

Bauer Pottery is having a big sale at its wherehouse at 3051 ROSSYLYN ST., LOS ANGELES, CA 90065. The sale is Saturday and Sunday from 9am to 5pm.

Atwater Pottery is having an Open House and Holiday Sale this weekend. The studio is at 3609 EDENHURST AVE. The sale is on saturday and sunday from 10am-7pm.