kalen michael and I just finished a two day stint at a bad ass recording studio in santa monica. annie even came down to lend her touch on synth and microphone. she doesn't know how to play the keys, yet she managed to come up with a synth part for two songs ! the end result is 11 tracks of michael's songs. he writes these brilliant simple, catchy tunes you feel like you've heard before somewhere. because we've had no mic in the house, and also from my loud drumming, this is really the first time I've listened to his lyrics - they're amazingly clever and catchy and it makes me even more proud and humble to be involved with this project. he had great vision in the studio and was steadfast in his ideas, yet was completely open to experiment with it all. then there is kalen, who had to basically learn how to play the bass in a very short period of time - as well as learn some of the songs he didn't know. he did beautiful work. it would have been more than enough for him to accompany the melody, but kalen laid down creative and complex bass lines for every single song. the engineer, producer, and cheerleader was Kieron, a 20 year old self-taught recording master who was patient, fun, supportive, creative and willing to try anything. what a great experience. the intial mixed tracks should be ready thursday or so. I'll get a track or two posted on here or somehwere. look out matador, here comes our band, which , by the way will either be the galactic lady killers or the mo green preservation society.

dash blank dash has a new and excellent creation. Due to the respect I have for what must have been hours of tedious work on this latest brilliant vision ( with a little help from an unnamed soul, who may or may not have a spot on this page dedicated to them, as well as the great new flaming lips album about robots falling in love), I shall refuse to call them cartoons anymore, as the title belittles the emotional investment and artistic integrity. Instead I'll call them divine etchings.

think of it not as a phone number, but as a lifestyle.........number.

could someone explain to me why some people choose to make their motorcycles so fucking loud ?

yet another LA Weekly article. this one's on being a safe and responsible doobage smoker. it's in cartoon form, too . whoa !

here's an interesting LA weekly article about former X member exene cervenka. I ran across her name just yesterday researching her former husband, actor viggo mortensen.

have I told you hollywood is a shithole ? I have? ok.....just checking. the place stinks of old cheese. the only thing good about this part of town is amoeba, arclight cinemas and the Y. theres a chance I could land this super kick ass pad in silverlake for september. I'm keeping my stinky fingers crossed. if my frustration with this part of town continues and I'm unable to find another place, I'll be forced to use my eye lasers to demolish any perceived threats in my path, whether plant or animal. I don't want to have to use my eye lasers, but frankly I'm running out of options. I haven't used them since i blew up Ms. Pearce, my 6th grade teacher. she crossed me. simple as that, so I eliminated her with my precise and destructive eye lasers after she sent me out into the hall for making "gassy" noises.

be kind to me and I'll bend over backwards for you, but cross me and feel the wrath of my eye lasers.

the hamotam page is up ! with music ! hey who's the snappy drummer ? he should be rewarded with a world tour of some sort, the kind with big busses and jets and hummers everywhere. no not those hummers. well, just a couple. put him on a double bill with PEACHES.

Five Months of Nicotine Freedom this week. Mat's almost at a year ! woo- hoo !

toothy mcgee

like the pixies and other punk - postpunk groups ? learn some 'punk' history here with this mission of burma interview

The Onion is hilarious as usual. headlines include this one about Dick Cheney caught Moonlighting as a host at Denny's. I like the stoner uncle article and picture too.

when naked people attack. mat loves nakidity

some lame trivia from the latest shit-bomb film: the bachelor. it stars that all-american kid we love - chris o'donnell. but first, some trivia about cast member ed asner:

Ed Asner lists his year of birth as 1929, but he served in World War II, which ended in 1945.

now back to crazy man o'donnell. check out this whacked out quote from the guy who's liable to say just about anything -

(on batman and robin)
"Robin's got a pretty good gig, but he's gotta get himself a lady. And he's gotta get his own gear, like some kind of cool motorcycle. I'm not talkin' just a side car here, I'm talkin' full-on hog."

that dude know what time it is. he just entered my dream party list, right below the frase.

can you believe I've lived in this town for a year and I had never heard of Botox? it's a wonder drug-injection, that comes from magical portugese pigs. wait ( my assistant is whispering in my ear....) the pigs don't have to be magical ? they don't have to be portugese either? wait...... it' s not even really from pigs? it's a form of pig - based botulism ? that's pretty gross, and yet this town is swarming with recipients, all of whom look like drones. they say it's extremely painful to have the procedure done. there are numerous needles that are stuck into your face. seems like a a bunch of shite-- until the sweet sweet feeling of paralysis kicks in and smoothes out those wrinkles. that's something to long for, isn't it ? two to three month facial paralysis by potentially deadly bacteria grown from swine. here's a quote from the cdc: "All forms of botulism can be fatal and are considered medical emergencies." fuck it though -- you look MARVELOUS ! thing is those people who've received it may look younger but aren't geting work in hollywood 'cause their face can't successfully emote anymore. it's all mouth and nose movements. doesn't that sound freakish ? if you see someone who has it, it looks freakish, like an alien. wow - this town just gets better and better.

wilco is on conan tonight.

one of watt's musical incarnations here is hellride - a 3 piece with watt , stephen perkins from jane's addiction and porno for pyros, and peter di stefano, also from p4p they're playing at the three of clubs in hollywood next saturday in a benefit to start up a new pirate radio station in LA called black beard radio. - warning: pop-up ads abound. there was a pirate station when I first moved here that kicked ass . It had been around for 6 plus years but the young feller ( 23 yr. old) took it down to "move on with his life." jerk.
I kid. I kid.
the ladies who are starting the station look kind of sassy, too - temporarily disproving the ugly-people-in-radio phenomenon.

episode 4 in the continuing saga of Captain Jim Overpeenus is now online. it's one of the more insane and beautiful epidodes you'll see. I think it's brilliant. mike and jenny should be immortalized on the big screen. until then, I hope they continue to make me scratch my undercarriage in disbelief and awe. how I like catching myself doing that. oh - this episode also has a cameo by my former roomate ( and lovaaahh ) skirt wearin jim issa.

new drawing up today on dashblankdash . if you haven't been to the site yet, go and see. it's like a game of old skool kickball for your brain ! it's also fully endorsed by sarah baker - which means it's safe and fun for the whole family!

lord of the rings two
towers trailer

I forgot to mention on friday's post that on the kid stays in the picture site is a robert evans quote generator with the voice of the Producer himself. go, and you can hear one of a few patent evans sayings -- like
"forever is a Hell of a long time."

"creating new and intelligent ways of thinking"

great wilco interview / discussion / live songs. it's a real player streaming archive.

so the new dancing spiderman is apparently "creepy" and "feminine." i'll tell you this you jealous fools: that bastard can dance, dammit. he can DANCE. furthermore it is a heartfelt and sincere gift to the sarah baker shrine, where it can dance and be free.

I am still buzzing after one of the best LA experiences yet. last night I went to a preview screening of THE KID STAYS IN THE PICTURE, the autobiographical documentary on the life of late 60's - 70's uber-producer Robert Evans. this guy has led an extraordinary life. he is also one of the most larger-than-life characters you'd ever hope to come across. he's like the elvis of hollywood producers. you have to see this when it plays in your town. he attended the screening and did a Q & A afterwards, where he jokingly called the director a "prick," and when asked about his romantically fateful introduction into hollywood: "I jumped into a pool and came out a movie star" ( he was a clothes salesman from new york in LA when he skipped out on work to take a dip in the beverly hills hotel swimming pool, where he encountered an older hollywood starlet. within an hour he was asked to play opposite her and james cagney in a film.) he answered -- " it's actually a dick story."
wes anderon and gwyneth paltrow are just a few of the lucky bastards who get to hang out at the house and soak up the war stories of the man who commissioned films such as rosemary's baby, the godfather, and chinatown.
gimme a year or two - I'll be there too - sipping martini's, catching rays and laughing in a new and obnoxiously loud way.

I was in a fender-bender the other day. right in front of my house. this clown tried to zip past me on the right at a stop sign to make a quick right turn. problem was I also was turning right and I turned right into him. so yesterday I found out it is actually my fault. the slick mercedes driver, jacked up on chai and no doubt in fear of being more than the standard 15 minutes late for his shoe fitting at fred seagal tries to zip past my blinking right turn signaled truck and the fault is mine.
that makes sense.
only in LA can you get rewarded for being in a hurry for no reason. how do I know there was no real reason for his haste ? well he kinda looked like this. no one that looks like this is on any important time schedule. it doesn't matter what you do, you just can't be this pretty and have a life or death situation at hand. just can't happen.
so my insurance premiums should go up because griff mcswifterman needs to step on it a bit to make his al-anon meeting, which he attends solely to 'network.'
any wonder why this is the greatest town in the world ?

that Andrew WK review from pitchfork monday is pretty damn funny. so is this review of the new oasis. craptacular.

Brooks was here.

hey its a new acoustic-y beck song from his new album.

mat sent this yeah yeah yeahs song and it is damn fun goody good music. the entire ep is dandy. I love living so close to amoeba, where, by the way, tomahawk is doing an in-store tonight. next week is the flaming lips. don't hate me folks, just come and visit. stay on my couch. eat my food. really, it's ok.

star athena is the name of my band. it is myself and star seifert, who is an established singer / songwriter / bass playin foo. she hails from the left coast - most recently olympia, wa., home of K records, where one of her bands, The Subdebs, put out an album a couple years ago.
I am humbled and giddy as a schoolgirl to be playing with her. she has a boatload of fun and firey punk-pop tunes. she kicks ass. we will be playing out in LA as a bass and drum duo soon, playing her songs, or rather bass and drum interp's of her songs. this is her site. you can check out some songs here too.

the big question: a tour of japan with hamotam ? hmmmmmm.......

I am having a torrid love affair with caffeine these days.
tons of it.
like 4 or 5 strong cups-o-joe a day.
sometimes getting jittery is just what the doctor ordered.

my fellow whole world theatre cronies in atlanta were invited on sunday to go on CNN and do their thing in front of the world ! here is a transcript of what happened. (I wish there was video) sarah baker, yes, THE sarah baker, played news anchor as bob and phil played 'on the scene' reporters ( the stories they are reporting on are takes on actual events, with something silly thrown in, or just something silly all together.) as sarah would ask them questions about what was happening, a dialect or impersonation is called out, and the reporters have to immediately adopt that dialect or impersonation, and continue the story like nothing has changed.

at the end of the bit, the cnn anchor called them "crazies". I just call them "friends."

I never really felt holiday anxiety -- that odd tension of having to DO SOMETHING on holidays - something significant maybe, something exciting, something grand. I never felt that pressure. maybe because I was in atlanta forever where I had offers to do things -- the lake, a BBQ, some random party, whatever.
tomorrow is the first post-9/11 Fourth of July. It's also my first 4th in the land of West-World -- and there is a feeling that I should be doing something Big, Grand, Exciting, Momentous and Memorial. Thing is I don't know many folks out here yet -- and those I do know have called to ask ME what's happening for the 4th.

There is also that feeling to stay indoors, order food, and isolate myself from the world where I can nestle in the comforting glow of the TV and my small selection of DVD's.

But if I get lonely at home, can I call you? just let me listen in on your party for a while ? please ? I won't bother anyone, promise. just set the phone down in a central party room and It'll be like I'm almost there. Thanks.

touted as 'your favorite new webpage' to me by a friend who asked to remain anony., 'dashblankdash' is brilliant and understated, much like the person who made it. he's also cute and cuddly - wink wink. oh yes and the groomed head on the bottom right coolage is one of my roomates , michael sweeney.

I miss the shit out of yardwork. I hated it as a kid. couldn't stand it. now I long for it. to get out and sweat and cut grass and spread pine straw in little islands - I can't wait to buy a house and get a yard. I even miss weedeating for chrissakes. what's wrong with me ?

The poor bastard "just wanted to work on a fire crew," is that so wrong??

spooky