18.6.08

Dress Right @ the California Mart

Dude.  ALL OF US had tracks glued into our hair.  After the show was done, it took the hair dressers 15 minutes to get one track out of the homie Warren's hair - po' thang had his hair and scalp yanked repeatedly.  That was a first for me, and I hope they never do it again.  Aren't there clip-ins that can be used?  It made us look great, tho...

11.6.08

Hey Black Celebrities!

I mentioned in my previous post that I went to the CalArts grad show at the Chinatown galleries to complete a day of art-ing.  My homegirl wants me to let the world know about my interaction with David Alan Grier (two snaps and a head-roll, haaaaay!).  It was nothing, really.  I promise.  He was there that night - we think that either he's a patron of the arts (I saw him at Kara Walker's puppet show at the Redcat in 2005), or he has a son or daughter who goes to CalArts (the Redcat is affiliated with that school).

Anyway, me and my friends were standing in a group, and my homegirl Amanda was pointing out this really tall guy with a small head.  I think she said something to the effect of "Wow, for such a tall guy, he has a really small head."  I followed her gaze, pointed (subtly) and said "That guy?  Yeah, you're right.  He has a really small head."  Unfortunately, the tall guy I was (subtly) pointing at was standing behind D.A.G. (btw he has great skin), and later my homegirls told me that he saw me pointing and kept looking at me weird the rest of the night, unbeknownst to me.

So when he left and passed by me, I let him know that I wasn't pointing at him, there was a guy standing behind him with a really small head that my friend pointed out and I was pointing at him.  I have to show clarification, you know?  I wasn't raised any old kind of way.  He said he didn't notice, and my friends were all like "I can't be-LEEEEEVE you!", and I'm all like, "What?  What did I do?".  Yeah, what did I do?  I just wanted to let the guy know that I have manners, ya know?

Before I got into my most recent accident (not my fault this time!) this past last Thursday, I was at Saddle Ranch fellowshipping with my friend Lynnise who's in a band called Swivel - they were playing at the House of Blues that night so a bunch of friends met up there.  The Lakers game was on the TVs, and Spike Lee was sitting behind us, watching with Elise Neal.  I had met him before in the summer of 2003.  I had made friends with a man named Ralph Wiley who was a writer.  He died in the summer of 2004 of a totally out-of-the-blue heart attack.  He was a very decent man - not once did he even try to hit on me, and if you don't know how it is out here with older successful men, then be glad you don't (ew).  He was friends with Spike, and once took me to the set of Sucker Free City, which was shooting at the time.  Since my breathtaking meeting with Mr. Lee was negligible at best, I didn't try to reintroduce myself while he was so fixated on the game last week.

Ralph Wiley was a great guy, and I hope he rests in peace.

1.6.08

Art Snacks

berber_wine21

 

I'm noticing more and more that Tecate is gradually replacing traditional red/white wine at art openings in LA these days.  Why, man?  What about those of us who don't like beer?

Corey Helford Gallery still serves wine.  Actually, I really enjoy the openings there because even though the work exhibited is usually quite commercial, the parties are catered with an open bar and a variety of hors d'oeuvres.  In fact, the first time I ever went there they had a cotton candy vendor there, matching the theme of the artist's work.

But seriously; yesterday I did the Culver City Art Walk, and attended the CalArts grad show at the Chinatown galleries, and it was Tecate everywhere, with a little Budweiser thrown in from time to time.  Hate to sound like a lush, but some of us non-beer drinkers have the right to get our buzz on in order to better pontificate about how the work shown is utter BS, too.