Love the Game, Pt. 2

I got invited last minute to a Clippers game (vs. Memphis Grizzlies!) by Ez with his bro. Hanging with the Woods... Yes, I was in for a sweet time. OMG, what a freaking treat! There were so many fun dance performances in between breaks, not as transcendent as the Jabbawockeez but I'm so into dancing right now... Everything is happening the way it should be right now.

Awesome seats right?


When the Clipper Spirit Dance team threw out tees towards the end of the game, I requested the new friend I made in the front seat to make sure he got me one but I ended up getting one all by myself!!! It bounced off Ez's shoulder and landed perfectly into my palms. This is a first in all the games I've ever been to in the last decade. "Fan Patrol." How appropriate is the tee for my blog?

And the best thing? The Clips won.

Special Treatment

Was requested last minute by the sis to install all her window treatments and to rearrange her office. Yeah I was flown up to do some manual labor, some feng shui consultation, the usual. I'm pretty good with tools, especially with the electric drill (while on the step ladder too!) Yep, I'm pretty handy. A day of work and a day of play. It was totally worth it... I even had time to go to my favorite shop, the Painted Bird, and scored some really nice duds. Here are the "play" pics:


Met up with Will who I haven't seen in ages. He was once a fancy tie wearing BMW kinda serious guy. Still serious, he's all about "sexy" bikes (seriously, wtf does that mean?) and hypochondriacing on being a hypochondriac these days. Will, you're not manorexic, you're just really fit.


Will seriously pondered whether or not to purchase a bottle of the Green Fairy.


On Easter Sunday, the sis and I drove through bucolic Napa Valley. In the background against the clear blue sky, you can see a faint cross, we're in God's Country now.


Indian Springs, Calistoga. The hot springs, that geyser-fed mineral pool has magical healing powers. Massage, Buddha Pond, perfect 80s degrees sunshine. Complete relaxation. Nothing bad to say about this place except for the less than stellar customer service which is not surprising for this country bumpkin sort of town. JK :)


And the highlight of the trip was our dinner at Bouchon. The Maine lobster, pork belly with grapefruit frisée salad was absolutely D E L I C I O U S.


Made it back to the city just in time for my rock'n'roll nite with Jens at BOTH (my current fave, he blew me away back in LA a couple of days before). Sound guru, Mickey, with his new longboard he scored at SXSW. So sweet.


Yoshi with Jens. When he played this Arthur Russell cover (which I suggest you listen to while reading this entry) with his kalimba, that was it for me.


It was Easter. The Easter Bunny was at the show of course. I was thinking whether or not I was going to have Easter egg hunting dreams or Alice in Wonderland nightmares that night.

Too Many Kims?

Can there be Too Many Kims? I think not. I had the pleasure of spending some quality time with 4 tonight. Now that is something that might never ever happen again. Thank you Folkhands, Woju, Souri and lovely Olivia...

The birthday soiree. The big 4 0. The start of a very distinguished decade. I know all about it. Happy Birthday Mark. I love your Lautner house. The Mulholland drive home was a nice night cap.

Mama You've Been on My Mind

Seeing Bourdain's recent Romania show made me look back on my trip there exactly three years ago today. On a short break from tour in Europe, I flew to Bucharest to visit friends who were residing there on a 3-year post for the American gov't. I knew this was my one opportunity to visit a country that isn't exactly on the top of my all-time essential places to go to in my lifetime.

But Eastern Europe conjured up a magical, mysterious and darkly romantic visual for me. I was thinking more of a classical antiquity, medieval and Byzantine feeling rather than Cold War imagery here. I mean, I was going to get to go Dracula's Castle. How cool was that?

A beautiful and tragic mix of decrepit old and shining new, it felt like Prague 13 years ago.. on the cusp of a major commercial, economic, tourist and cultural boom. I felt like I was at a tiny gig watching a brilliant band right before they broke and you knew that the next time, it wouldn't be as intimate, raw or brilliant. Yes that's what it felt like.

***

Descending into the freezing unknown. I was broken down from touring, dead tired from days of sleeplessness but the extreme cold excited me as to what was to come. First stop, Dracula's Castle!



After a flight, then a taxi, then a train, then finally a local bus to Bran where Dracula's Castle resides.



Perhaps I was wrong about Dracula (I can be you know, it's rare but it happens). Tourism was definitely in full effect with this tacky banner. Watch Tony's episode on Dracula's Castle. Deftly funny and depressing. It's a total sham! I've been played like a fool!



Who cares that Dracula never lived here? There's proof that he at least visited it once. Always in denial, one visit from the "Vlad the Impaler" justified MY visit. It's what I had imagined. So gorgeous. I remember taking the deepest freshest breaths of air.



With Bryan, one of the nicest hosts and friends one is ever so lucky to have.



Moi.



My friends posing in front of Romania's national (yet reliable) Dacia automobile and the Communist block cement building where we rented an apt for a day. Lovely isn't it?



I love this photograph. Back in Bucharest, also known as the "Paris of the East," or "Micul Paris," in the Old Center. You know how I LOVE Paris. Dude, I will go to every "Little Paris" that exists in this world.



I don't even want to show you the new parts of Bucharest or Ceauşescu's tacky tyrannical parts. I just love the old parts, the parts that seem like they will fall apart any second but won't. Those are the best parts.



I like to obsess on the cold and this was the coldest place I've ever been in my life. NY in the dead of winter seems like summer to this place. I still loved it though.



My hosts, Nam & Bryan with their dog, Devi, whom they adopted when they first moved to Bucharest. This is where Nam first introduced me to Yoga Nidra. Their next post begins this fall in Chennai, India! I guess I'll be going there sometime in the next few years as I've been fortunate enough to visit them at their every assigned post.

UWS

A last minute getaway weekend to the Upper West Side.


The view from Thomas Keller's Bouchon Bakery in the Time Warner Center. Their tomato soup and accompanying grilled cheese are on par with mine which is to say that it's delicious, just exquisite.


I had hoped that it would snow and I got my wish Friday night. What a treat for a Californian. Perfect little fluffy snowflakes...


One of the only three friends I saw was... Matt Wolf... He just made this awesome Arthur Russell documentary. All he could talk about was his big zit (see left side of his forehead) and not about how we had madly fallen in love with one another at Jeremy & Jamie's wedding last September. Insensitive bastard. I hope that zit scars.


A little bit of California in the Big Apple...


Went to the New Museum to check out My Barbarian's video installation, "The Golden Age." You HAVE to go. The New Museum is what all new museums should aspire to: gorgeous roof-top panoramic views of the city (which itself was worth the price of admission), perfect sized galleries, good looking bookshop and okay art. Hell Yes!


Dolcetto and yummy artichoke dip at Freeman's with Gigi.


The other friend I met up with was Arthur at the Met. It was just so easy to just hop across the park from UWS... F*** downtown... The new photography gallery and the Courbet exhibit are a few of the many new things there. It's just one of the best museums in the world.


Damien Hirst's iconic shark. I mean the new shark. I mean the new preserved shark.


The one of two supposed highlights of this trip was to go see Keren Ann at the Bowery... Hmmmm. Let's just say her t-shirt said it all (C A S H). It was underwhelming, too casual, too short, random song selection... For a modern day chanteuse, there was just a general lack of flair. BUT her voice sounded amazing, the guitarist/bassist offered lovely harmonies and I scored a nice table upstairs! I'll still buy her records though.

The Unbearable Boredom of a Blog

Venice on a Saturday nite. The Rob Stoner show at Mollusk. My surf friends. The rain didn't bother me. Nope, it didn't. Neither did the dogs and the drunk girls.



So rad. Awesome. Let's all scream out "Tequila!" at the same time. Drunk people having a good time. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that.


Mason, his gf and TED with some nice looking dogs. TED wanted to take the b&w one home with her. I was hoping she was kidding as she was the chauffeur for the night and I didn't want to be stuck with a dog in such close quarters driving back home to the eastside. Dude, me and pets (as in living non-humans) do not go well together... I'll have to recount the story when my sister got rabies from a puppy my parents got for her when she was 5... Not good. Not good at all.


Drew and I decided to bbm each other while standing one foot apart... in the rain...


Two Owley fans humming "Sara," the live version.


Kenny with his Sparks energy drink... otherwise he was going to pass out as he started out way way too early in the afternoon. Kenny, I didn't think you would go that route... Très très dommage. Kenny, you may put all those "monstrous" pics you took of me up on yours if you like now. Thx.

On the cutting edge of...

Here's me being edgy this evening at Family Bookshop, part of the Dublab crew doing our usual edgy thang. I tore it down on the mic and my playlist was so edgy, so funky, so groovy; totally out of the box in every sense. Afterwards, I had a nice chat with David, the proprietor, and ended up with these two books: Joe Boyd's "White Bicycles" and Georges Simenon's "Dirty Snow." Both are for research; part of my continuing education on being a tastemaker in all things edgy.


It was so edgy, so daring, so provocative that no one got it yet. We're so ahead of the game, it's ridiculous. Being edgy can give you an edge. Be edgy. Be fresh. Be sensational.

Have you voted yet?

If not, there's still time! This is what it means to be an American.

I got rhythm dude.

Played Rock Band on xbox360 tonight for a few hours, nonstop. It was the best thing ever, especially after my favorite quarterback lost today. I just had to let it out; sung to the top of my lungs to Blink 182 and Yeah Yeah Yeahs songs (I got a perfect score on the latter!) and beat the shit out of the kit to Chili Peppers and Rush songs. I can never go back to just plain old Guitar Hero now.


Doesn't this look like a kick ass band you would want to see?

Mom's Year

This year is going to be the Year of the Rat. I visited the folks this past weekend in Little Saigon to check out the Tết festivities. The market was already congested with local and visiting Vietnamese families (a lot of my relatives are coming into town starting this weekend and there'll be a new addition to the family(!), I'll explain in another post). There was an air of excitement, it was absolutely festive. Tết is a time of excess. I love this time of year. It gets super busy the week before Tết. People are stacking up on food, fruit, candy, flowers, trinkets and firecrackers in anticipation for the holiday.

I remember as a child, I didn't have to go to school on Tết. It was my parents' idea. So cool. And I couldn't wait to get those red envelopes. No school and you are rewarded with money? WTF? That's like the ultimate as a kid. Total dream. These days, it's the other way around now that I'm an "adult." Now I have to save up months in advance to give to the little kiddies. They expect a lot these days.

Vietnamese take great care to start the New Year out just right which means wearing new clothes, having heaps of food at home, getting rid of old debts, ill feelings, etc... My mom said I can't even clean as that's bad luck; I'll be sweeping out any good luck. This will be very hard for me to do since I love to clean. It's a compulsion of mine. Luckily, I just cleaned my place so it'll be good until after Tet. Goodness.

The flower market gets bigger with each year. There's even going to be parade on Bolsa Avenue this New Year! Little Saigon is all you need during this time of the year. It's even better than being in Vietnam. I was gorging on everything; the food, incense, the flowers, the treats, the colors, the culture, the tradition. I love it so.




Yum yum rambutan. Yum yum muffin top.


Yum yum banh beo. The best may be found at Quan Hy.


Updated, these one dimensional paper clothes have gotten more stylish and modern; cool frames, mobile phones, flashy trainers... People burn these paper clothes as an offering to the dead so they too can celebrate with new duds for the New Year.


My family is going to attend this big cultural event NYE and my mom suggested I wear an áo dài. I'm down with that but really can't fit in any of my old ones so I was thinking of getting a new dress. Somehow I really can't really see myself wearing any one of these on the mannequins. I might have to try to lose weight so I can squeeze into an old one from like a decade ago. These are a bit hideous no? Could I rock it?



Went in for a spontaneous haircut. Told the lady to just chop it all off. Who cares. It'll grow back. Out with the old, in with the new.

Tunes I've been digging this past month.
1. Destroyer's Trouble in Dreams (OMFG, it's awesome. MY FAVORITE)
2. The Magnetic Fields' Distortion (I love Steven Merritt, so much beauty can be found through the noise.)
3. The Explorers Club's Freedom Wind (This is as pure pop as it gets and I love me some good pop music.)
4. Vampire Weekend, s/t (they're ready for grad school now.)