Adam’s Avenue Street Fair: 9/25-26/2010

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The hottest weekend of the year happened to fall on one outdoor event that our family never misses: Adam’s Avenue Street Fair. Musicians were melting and turnout was low, but that didn’t stop us from sweating the limited shade and dancing on the scorching asphalt. We came out to celebrate our fourth anniversary of the day Roger proposed to me in the back of the Ould Sod. The day also happened to be the fifth anniversary of the first time we kissed/made out in the same location. Although the Ould Sod is no longer part of our destination, the Street Fair holds a particular warmth in our hearts. Plus we have the new luxury of cooling our heels and filling up on good beer and food at the recently expanded Blind Lady Ale House. While we were there, our favorite reporter from the UT, Nina Garin took in a couple of words from Roger about our celebrations.

We had a few acts we wanted to check out while we were there, one being the ever-so sexy Smart Brothers. This harmonious trio (then duo, now back to trio) changed up their act a bit going from beautiful ballads in a southern old-fashioned barbershop style to a straight-up rock n’ roll group that prompts you to move your feet in more than a top-tapping sort of way. Different but still good. 

Citizen Band rocks my world. The most Americana band in San Diego hands down. Only slightly sad Jeff Berkley didn’t wear the Derby Dolls hat I gave him. But seriously… this guy wears that hat nearly everywhere.

Exene hit the spot on Saturday. Her vocals sounded better than previous shows and I had second and third motions on that fact. Combined with the vocal power of Cindy Wasserman, her acoustic set really did make my day.

Dead Rock West features my two favorite vocalists, Frank Lee Drennen and Cindy Wasserman, who belt out their emotions from their hearts. Love, love, love these two.

I stood in the shadows as Peter Case took the stage. The sun and beer had fried my brain by this point in the weekend.  

Here is one of my favorite photos taken of Thomas at the Street Fair. It’s the color, composition, shadows, the heat you can feel radiating off his cheeks and the dude dancing in the street. Justified.

LA Times Celebration of Food and Wine

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We stumbled upon this little gem of a festival when we found out that She and Him were going to be playing at the festival at the Paramount Studios Backlot on the same weekend we happened to be there. We were originally going to pay for just the concert but the price difference was only $15 and since we had nothing else planned for the day, we bought tickets for the full day (but not the $125 VIP tickets). So far this has been one of my favorite events of the year…

For its first year, the LA Times Celebration of Food and Wine was a huge success. After talking briefly to LA Times’ Food Editor, Russ Parsons, we discovered that they predicted to sell only 2,500 tickets but they sold out the event at 8,000 people. Even with 8,000 people there, it never felt crowded, the toilets weren’t over-flowing (or even dirty) near the end of the event. Since this post has taken over two weeks to compile, I’m going to save you the details and give you a bit of a photo tour of the event.

Hip and with the times, Twitter signs like this one were posted everywhere. This one was my favorite:

The event felt almost like a street fair with fake buildings and much narrower streets. Lot of wine choices, some liquor and sake available too. There was even options for soda tasting. Restaurants were few and there was about 15-20 food trucks with 45 minute to an hour-long lines. Yep, food trucks are not really made for making mass quantities of food.

I am a sucker for ice cream sandwiches. We shared an orange chocolate Cointreau ice cream on a chocolate chip cookie from the Cool Haus food truck. Divine… although steep at $4. I would rather have less odd choices (brioche ice cream sandwich?) and pay $1.50 like at Diddy Riese in Westwood.

Russ Parsons, Food Editor for the LA Times did a little Q&A session; answering questions like “Where is the best farmer’s market?” to “what is the best place to get fresh fish?” The primary answer to the questions the crowd posed was “It depends on what you like.” Cool part… if you asked a question you got a copy of one of his books or Dodgers tickets. I asked a question about “What food blogs does he recommend?” and I got the typical answer of “It depends what you like.” But I did get a copy of his book, How to Read a French Fry. Roger’s loving the read.

She and Him took the stage with a request that no photos be taken and to just sit back and enjoy the show. I managed to take a couple but refrained from any more out of respect. The stage was set inside the studio’s backlot where there would normally be water (horizon scenes are filmed here). Comfortable and not packed, we watched the couple perform some of my favorite from both albums: Volume One and Volume Two.

The ambiance was perfect. And then hearing them sing their rendition of the Beach Boys’ “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” was heart-wrenching. I wish you could have been there. This was one of those musical acts I needed to “check off” but would gladly see them again if the timing fell just right.

I feel slightly bad that this post was rushed since this event was totally awesome. I wish we could have something like this in San Diego. I definitely plan to bring some of the components into the North Park Festival of the Arts‘ Craft Beer Block and the Taste of North Park… well, not this year since the event is on Oct 2, but next year.

2010 FYF Fest: comedy

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After a number of years in Echo Park, F’ck Yeah Festival (also known as FYF Fest) moved to the LA State Historic Park near the Chinatown station. There didn’t really seem too much that was historic in this gravel pad with patches of browning grass. With the new location, came a new name for those attending: Clusterf’ck Fest.

Lines were long (1-hour was a short wait) and the basic human needs were pretty much ignored (shade, bathrooms, food and water were all in shortage). The photo below was taken on our way out of the venue (aside: we had a hard time finding an exit too). The end of the line is indicted by the arrow circled in red. Poor kids, whose parents wanted to catch up on the newest bands on the scene ,were melting in the sun; heartbreaking. We were only able to stay a few hours, so we made the best of our free tickets (thanks, Kevin!) and enjoyed the little bit of festival that we could.

After our short hour wait to get our tickets and pass through security, we snuggled down in the “comfortable” rocky ground in the cool shade of the comedy tent as we hydrated ourselves with four-dollar waters and a dose of hilarity. As much as this festival was about the hottest new indie bands, the selection provided in the comedy tent

Erik Charles Nielsen, who has made his mark as Garret on NBC’s Community,  rambled through his set, shouting with comedy-filled rage at his audience. The disjointed jokes made his set hard to follow and the anger only made the crowd uncomfortable. A few laughs parted my mouth, but over all I wasn’t impressed. I understand where he is trying to go with his comedy, but I also know that most people will not follow along on his rampant path. Oh, and check out the Christmas wrapping paper stage skirt!

Good female comedians are hard to come by and I’m not quite sure why… lack of self-esteem really seems to only help. Joselyn Hughes does not lack self-esteem in any way, but still lacks hilarity. Harsh, I know. I don’t care much for blue comedy (vulgar, potty humor for those who are unfamiliar with comedic terms). Joselyn goes there nearly every time. I again understand this is a personal preference, but based on the audiences reactions, they would have rather had more thought-provoking humor. She is the one in the shorts and cowboy boots above if you want a visual for judgement.

The best laughs of the day came in the form of Matt Braunger. Good clean fun, akin to a monkey with an organ grinder. Seems like a bad comparison, but it really is true. Matt’s expressions and antics made it hard to tear your eyes away from. His poetic style is less intelligent and more along the lines of “I only wish it were real.” Topics of tigers, ninjas, unicorns and drunks are cornerstones to his set. Love. Love. I may have to take a trip to the Upright Citizen’s Brigade Theatre to see him perform. 

The intensity of Matt Dwyer shines through in his set. An average intellectual Matt delves into the humor in everyday life. The crowd can relate to his awkward moments of reality and stories of his life. Apparently, Matt Braunger and Matt Dwyer have a sort of podcast/internet radio show called Matts Radio. Highly entertaining combination of interviews, comedy and music. Take a listen sometime.

The Sklar Brothers, the only comedians I had seen previously, banter like no other performers I know. Finishing each other’s thoughts and rhetoric questions with straight-faced hilarity and quick-witted timing. The dual vocal delivery style give particular emphasis to key points of a joke’s set up and punchline forcing you to laugh twice as hard. I believe my math is correct. You can always check my work by checking them out.  

This was just one set of three hosted at the FYF Fest. Later acts included Brent Weinbauch, David Koechner and Janeane Garofalo.

Short Story: Sole Mates

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Sole Mates
 
The honeymoon was over. Merona and Merino were headed to their new home nestled together. The two were pretty much inseparable since birth and now were opening the next exciting chapter of their lives.
 
As the two snuggled into their roomy top drawer apartment for the night, the neighboring couples – a colorful bunch – greeted the newlyweds with a variety of sentiments.
 
“Congratulations!” said a youngish couple with enthusiasm, “I’m sure you will love it here.”
 
A raggedy old pair agreed. “Get some good sleep. You two have a long day ahead of you. Carine plans to hike through the valley with you before cleaning up for a dinner party.”
 
“Ooh, a hike!” said Merona. “We were made for those,” feeling slightly silly for stating the obvious. Carine had purchased the wooly couple from the nearby sports store specifically for the occasion.
 
Merona and Merino bid goodnight to their neighbors and settled in, dreaming of beautiful sunrises, dusty trails and breathtaking scenic views.
 
The morning hike was all that they visualized and more. The surly-voiced hiking boots turned out to be a great tour guide, sharing stories of the valley as well as highlighting the various critter sightings from previous trips.
 
As Merona and Merino returned home, they sighed with gratitude for their fortunate life after hearing some horror stories from passing couples while residing in the store. Couples separated all the time, or were mutilated and adorned with buttons for childish purposes. There was no doubt from either of them: they would be together forever.
 
Once home, Carine stripped them from her feet and tossed them towards the hamper. Merino landed safely on top of the pile, while Merona flew past and landed just behind the bin.
 
Knowing Merona had separation anxiety, Merino shouted down, “You’ll be alright! Carine is cleaning up the place, so you’ll join me in a few minutes.”
 
Relaxing a bit, Merona waited and waited. Tired from the hike, she dozed off.
 
Rousing hours later from her hidden spot, she looked up saw the hamper was empty! Her mind raced as she imagined herself old and graying, warning other young couples of the same fate. Shaking herself from the vision, Merona decided not to take this laying down. She had to find her soul mate.
 
Peering out from the back of the bin, Merona scanned the room. Carine was no where to be seen, but the door was cracked open. She slinked over to the door to discover a pile of clothes on the other side next to a large white, noisy machine. She called out for Merino, but he didn’t answer.
 
A dusty pair of shorts recognized her from the hike. He shouted back, “He’s in the machine!”
 
Immediately and instinctually, Merona hooked one end of herself on a nail in the door frame. She backed up as far as she could stretch, and let go, catapulting her up onto the ledge of the machine, where she found a vast swirling pool of water.
 
Merona looked across the milky grey waves frothing with potential danger. She knew she must brave the waters if she ever wanted to see her love again.
 
After a steady countdown in her head, the word, “Jump!” escaped her before she slipped beneath the waves.

Spinning through the watery vortex, Merona scrambled now to save herself. Other clothes had met a similar fate but seemed oddly calm considering the terrifying experience.
 
From the swirling water, they all were transferred into a heated blower machine. Already dizzy and seasick, Merona was losing hope of ever finding her husband alive again.
 
Exhausted from all the swishing and tumbling unlike any she had ever known, Merona lay limp on the bed next to the other socks, pants and shirts. She still had not found Merino.
 
As Merona sobbed mourning the memory of her lost love, Carine moved methodically, pulling another pair of pants from the pile of laundry and onto the ironing board. Suddenly, Merona noticed a familiar texture peeking out of the front pocket. Unable to vocalize, Merona felt helpless as she saw the hot iron approaching what had to be Merino.
 
To Merona’s (and Merino’s) relief, Carine noticed the bulge just before she set the hot black iron to work to smooth out the creases. Carine snatched him from the pocket, then scanned the pile for Merona.
 
Reunited, the two curled up together in a ball. As Carine escorted them back to their cozy apartment, Merino promised, “I will never let that happen again.”

LA Vacation Weekend

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This long weekend started out as a simple trip to LA for a  wedding, but turned into a full on baby-free vacation complete with a relaxing hot tub, derby, bar nights, and touristy fun.  We had a wonderful weekend away from home… and of course some great photos. Here is a little about the reason why we went to LA this weekend in the first place.

The wedding couple, known as by the derby community Suzy and Mike Snakeyes had a beautiful, kick-ass wedding in the LA Derby Dolls’ Doll Factory in Little Filipinotown. There was heartfelt and comical vows as well as a few dolls singing some Taylor Swift.  I was not able to take many good photos during the wedding since we were sitting far away, but I did manage to catch a cute photo of them during the reception as they announced a “Brides vs Grooms” scrimmage bout. 

I love these two! The card I created symbolizes their love and I couldn’t resist posting it.** Suzy, I hope you have opened your gifts already.

Outside:

Inside:

Stay tuned for upcoming posts from my awesome LA weekend including reviews of:

  • FYF Fest: LA indie rock festival we managed to drop in for a couple of hours
  • Clifton’s Cafeteria: Historic cafeteria-style restaurant in the heart of downtown LA’s old theatre district
  • Los Angeles Times Celebration of Food and Wine: Awesome new festival on Paramount Studio’s Backlot