One Sentence Review – Dave Grohl at the Greg Proops Chat Show

When: Wednesday, March 18
Where: Largo

Fuck. That man is magnetic. Whether it’s sharing Amsterdam stories, reciting Manawar lyrics with Jon Brion accompanying him, or WAILING on the drums to an awesome cover of Frankenstein the man is fucking magnetic.

One Sentence Review - Beck

When: Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Where: Echo

For a benefit show that was announced just 5 days prior, it was a great concert – super tight set, great energy from Beck (and the band) - it made me like him even more than I already did (despite the fact that he's a crazy Scientologist); plus I noticed that Beck and Kate share the same hair stylist.

One Sentence Review - Michael Gira

When: Sunday, March 8, 2009
Where: The Echo

He plays with a pain that's achingly familiar.


Sean interviewed him a few years ago, you can read the interview here.

Two Mensches' Day in L.A.

Sean and I decided to take this past Friday off so we could head up to LA and basically enjoy a day away from the office.

The day started off with a visit to the Skirball Cultural Center to visit the Zap! Pow! Bang! Superhero exhibit. The exhibit focuses on the golden age of comics (1938-1950), while the Skirball’s mission is to explore the connections between four thousand years of Jewish heritage and the vitality of the American democratic ideals.

In case you didn’t know, the early beginning of comic books (and super heroes) has its roots deep in the Jewish art of storytelling; most of early artists and writers were sons of Jewish immigrants. Since the Skirball focuses on Jewish culture and its various permeations into our lives, it’s a great fit for the museum. The docents there are wonderful – think of an entire docent staff made up of the sweetest bubbes you’ve ever met. We took the 10 minute docent tour of the exhibit, just for kicks, and it was surprisingly funny (imagine having your grandma teach you about the history of comics and then throwing in some really cheesy jokes).
The exhibit itself was informative, but a little on the small side. Lots of original artwork, informative bios on the main players, some interactive displays (which were geared more towards little kids, like a ‘draw your own superhero’ area and a telephone booth where kids could change from their clothes into Superman or Batman costumes.
The highlight of the trip was seeing Jerry Robinson, curator of the exhibit, being interviewed by the LA times. Jerry Robinson helped name Robin (of Batman and Robin) and co-created the Joker, among other superheroes and villains. As we all slowly realized who this elderly gentleman was that was being interviewed, we slowly made our way over to him and this hush came over the entire exhibit. (Well, except for the two tiny terrors who couldn’t care less about him and just wanted to try on costumes and run around the entire exhibit banging on tables.) As an aside, Jerry had quite the entourage of lovely ladies with him.

The next stop on our tour was Greenblatt’s Deli. You haven’t lived until you’ve eaten at Greenblatt’s. It’s a great deli that has an excellent wine store attached to it. The wine store’s something else: on one shelf you’ll see a 92 point $600 bottle of wine and right next to it you’ll find an equally good wine for only $10. Crazy. And no trip to LA is complete without a star-sighting. (You think I kid, but 90% of the time we head up to LA we run into an actor/actress.) This time, Ethan Embry came into Greenblatt’s right after us. I never get tired of seeing people I see in movies/on tv in real life; never. And at this point, we’ve turned it into a game to see who can spot the first actor of the night; and then who can spot the most.

The third stop on our tour was Amoeba. Also known as the abyss in which Sean will lose himself for hours at a time. We’ve never been able to get out of Amoeba in less than two hours (I’m only slightly exaggerating). Luckily, with my well-honed shadowing abilities, I was able to keep us both on target and get us out of Amoeba in a fairly decent amount of time, while still giving Sean time to wander around absent mindedly.

The fourth stop on our tour was Secret Headquarters, a comic book store on Sunset, where we picked up a few items.

The fifth, and final, stop on our tour was seeing Candice and Jeremy. They showed us their sweet new scooter and then we were off for some crazy-good Japanese food at Haru Ulala.

More Kudos for Santa Ana

Thursday night we went to the Grand Central Art Center in downtown Santa Ana for a yelp event. Downtown Santa Ana's awesome - lots of great restaurants and bars, cool-looking lofts and almost everything's within walking distance. After helping ourselves to appetizers from Memphis, wine from MAWL , random interpretations of reviews by Improv Schmimprov, and some raffle prize booty, we weren't ready to call it a night quite yet. So we went across the street to Lola Gaspar.

I've gotta say - that place is awesome. If I were still in the dating game - Lola Gaspar would be my go-to first date place. It's such a great place, I was surprised it was in Orange County, it belongs in LA. Great music, great atmosphere, and wonderful food. It's a small, darkly lit place with a long wooden bar and intimate seating. They have a great wine and cocktail menu - I went with caipirinha with strawberries. And their food - holy crap. We had a duck feast - duck confit french fries that were covered in cheese and green chili sauce and some spicy pulled duck tacos. So, take the advice all of my single friends - go to Lola Gaspar on your next date; what with the low lighting, cozy seating, super strong Brazillian drinks, and enough food to put you in a coma - you'll walk away willing to kiss anybody:

View from a Window

Seeing mountains in the distance never ceases to amaze this flatlander. I'm starting to understand why Sean says he'd miss the mountains so much if we ever move to Chicago.