Coachella/LCD Soundsystem

I’m way too excited too early.

If you’ve been peeking in on this blog… okay, I’m not even gonna pretend like I have a returning audience.  If this is your first time visiting my blog, then let me tell you something – I love live music, I love Coachella, I’m going for all three days next month, and for the past 10 days or so, I’ve featured Devo in my little Coachella box over there ---------------------------------------->

I really hope they play this!  With all the jerky movements!

 

Next featured artist – LCD Soundsystem.  I didn’t really get into him until the release of The Sound of Silver, and it’s such a groovy CD.  Yes, I still buy CDs.  What?

This right here is my favorite song, can’t wait to experience it live!

Bars

Speaking of nightlife, there are a lot of great bars in LA that are pretty fun and cool.  I come from a bartender’s/avid dancer’s point of view, so my personal favorites are coming from that angle.

Shortstop

There’s no sign out front because they don’t need one, you square.  Shortstop is up the street from Barragan’s on Sunset in Echo Park, and it has a mixed crowd.  Every time I go, there are hipsters (ripe for me to make fun of), locals, glam types, gay, straight, in between and undecided.  The DJs there play a lot of old school soul, rock, Nancy Sinatra and James Brown era music, and it’s wonderful!  Complete with a dance floor and disco ball, smoking patio for you damn cancer-stick addicts, pool table, and arcade games.  You’re welcome.

 

 

 

 

Bar 107

So their sign doesn’t actually say “Bar 107”, but that’s the name of the place.  It’s on 4th Street downtown across from Rocket Pizza.  The bartenders have snarky attitude – which I absolutely adore – and there’s a dance floor in the back.  The DJ plays the most random, un-thematic music in town.  I dropped in before meeting a friend last week for St. Patty’s, and they played James Brown, Tupac, Appollonia 6 (Sex Shooter, you know I went crazy), some new wave 80s song, and Heart, in that order.  Makes for uneven dancing, but that’s cool, right?  What I like about this bar is that it has this local, dive-y feel but without being sleazy.  And whoever is in charge of their Facebook status updates posts some off the wall ish.

Las Perlas

This place actually just opened a few weeks ago.  I applied for a bartending spot – no luck.  Oh well.  They more than make up for it by being exclusively a tequila bar.  You heard me – tequila and mezcal are the only liquors in this establishment.  And their cocktails are amazing!  There’s one I tried called “Paloma”, and since words can’t describe it’s goodness, I won’t even try.  Besides, I’m tired of describing everything that’s awesome as awesome.  All the drinks are carefully measured and poured, leaving you with a positive tequila inebriation experience.  Las Perlas is run by the same guy who runs Cole’s across the street, and I just have to say that dude had a great idea.

Broadway Bar

OK, OK, I know, it’s the third downtown bar in a row.  Sue me and see how much you get.  Broadway Bar is one of the first bars I ever went to because I have been more of a nightclub person.  It’s two levels and classy with a mostly late twenties, early thirties crowd.  The bar forms a circle!  Ooooooooo!  The bouncers are nice, the bartenders are friendly, and the crowd is always happy.  What else do you need?  Nothing.

There are other bars that are okay, but nothing to write home about.  I hope you didn’t think that Saddle Ranch or Cabo Cantina would end up on my list you damn tourist.  That’s cause for harsh correction.

Follow-Up

Damn, I need another kick in the pants.

The aforementioned Saturday night – I’m SO GLAD my friend called me – hereafter known as La Gay (more on that later) – I went to Bardot alone to see a band, but the DJ was playing tame music and it was taking for.eh.VER for the band to set up.  I’m fearless and all, but I don’t like being in that kind of restless setting without a companion.  I’ll go back one day, but with a good friend in tow.

So I joined my good friend La Gay at The Abbey.  And I’m starting to realize that I’ve probably never mentioned The Abbey on this blog yet, and for that, I should be flogged.  Yes, flogged.  By Naomi Campbell.

I EFFIN’ LOVE THE ABBEY!!!  There are plenty of other super-enjoyable gay bars in Los Angeles, but for me personally, The Abbey is the best.  There’s never any door trippin’, their martinis are the best martinis in the history of martinis (I have yet to finish one straight up), the DJs are always on point, and the food is awesome should you get a hankering for some.  I joined La Gay and a guy he had met and a couple of his friends for some great fun and partying – I swear, I had never seen that club so packed.  But I didn’t let that stop me from dancing like I usually do.

How do I usually dance?  I’m glad you asked, and I will tell you how I usually dance:  as if I had lost my mind.  I flail, I get up in the air and on the ground, I grind, jump, throw elbows, headbang, and don’t even get me started on when my favorite songs come on.  I’m a machine, a black hole of energy sucking all into my sweaty singular point.  I’m an animal, I have no coherent thought – only a primal impulse to move.  Oh yeah baby.  And that’s how my 3/13/2010 turned out, praise God. 

All By Myself

I’m a loner.  I have been introverted my entire life – it will never change.  I have many close friends who I adore, but I live alone, I rarely date, and I love to go see films and try new restaurants alone.  It’s who I am.

I used to be really shy.  Like really shy.  It’s something I started to overcome during my latter high school years, but I still have a few traces of social anxiety in me.  To this day, whenever I have a job requiring me to answer phones, I have a small panic attack whenever it rings.  I hate it when people look at me or ask me questions out of the blue.  I can’t bring myself to hardly say “Hello” to people I admire so much even though I see them all the time.

I have never been straight anti-social, however.  I’m usually the life of whatever party I’m at, and I’m soooooo much better at socializing with new people.  In fact, I’m a little too adept at talking to strangers at parties, bars, and nightclubs.  In fact, I tend to get a little too feel-good and impulsive, to where I might take rides to unknown places with said strangers.  And this usually leads to super-weird situations that could be potentially life-threatening or could get me in trouble with the law.  My first such adventure happened during the first semester of my freshman year at USC.

It was a campus party thrown by the NPHC and everyone was going.  I walked over alone, though, because my roommate (who was black, much to my relief) was out of town, and I hadn’t made a whole lot friends by that time.  I will now compress for you the trajectory of events for me that evening:

1. I danced and danced

2. Some dudes got into a fight, someone pulled a knife, and the whole event got broken up

3. I spotted this dude from UC Riverside that I had gone on a date with and didn’t want to talk to anymore, and he kept trying to get my attention so I pretended to look for friends on the other side of the room

4. Everyone was herded outside, and then people started running, so I started running too.

5. I ended up running next to these two guys who were talking about another party and asked me if I wanted to come.  I saw the unwanted past date nearby looking, so I jumped in the car

WHY THE HELL DID I DO THAT?  Anyway, I think I ended up in Compton that night.  I didn’t know the city yet, and I know that we had driven for a while before we got to the house where the “party” was at, so I think it was Compton.  They drove me back to my dorm around 3 that morning, we had had a nice time chillin’ and thangs.

God is with me.  That’s all I have to say.  Because even after my conscious efforts at behaving myself in a way that befits a young lady such as I, I keep getting into the same situations.  It’s even harder recently because I absolutely LOVE dancing, I’m absolutely feeling SO good, and I can’t wait to cut a rug tonight, but there’s no one to go out with me.  All of my friends are out of town, or they already have plans, or they’re posted up for the night.  And that young, tender, wonderful guy – the only guy I’ve ever been so compatible with, who shared the same tastes in music and nightlife with me - broke up with me because he was “feeling stagnant”.  Which is code for he met someone else, because anyone will tell you that there’s no such thing as stagnation with Alexia Denyce Lewis.  It’s not a boast; it’s a fact.

So the point is, I don’t want my having a great time dependent on whether or not one of my friends is able to join me, but I’m getting too old for my old impulsive shenanigans.  I’m going out tonight, yammit!  I’ve been getting these Facebook invites for Bardot Saturday nights in Hollywood, and there’s supposed to be a good rock and roll band there tonight, so why not?  It’s something new for me.  I resolve to not make any eye contact with anyone, to keep all new social interactions to a minimum, to not give anyone my phone number and/or real name, and to go straight to my car when it’s all over.  I will emerge triumphant, ready to face Sunday with the knowledge that I have the power to overcome my spontaneity!  Besides, I have bible class in the morning, I can’t be out at all hours like I used to do, I’m no spring chicken…

The Somewhat Yearly Coachella Post

It’s time!
This year, I’m going for all three days, sharing a rental property with some friends, and (insert Orange County inflection) I’m so stoked, bro.  I was so excited because Grace Jones was originally in the lineup, and anyone who knows me knows that when I grow up, I want to be Grace Jones.  But, alas, her name isn’t on the website anymore.  BOO.  But, for the first time, there are performances on all three days that I want to see.  Here’s who I’m looking forward to:

• LCD Soundsystem
• Benny Benassi
• Ceu
• Muse
• Faith No More
• MGMT
• Devo (yesssssssssssss!!!)
• Orbital
• De La Soul
• Infected Mushroom

I LOVE LIVE MUSIC.  You can refer to previous posts here and here to get a sense of my previous Coachella experiences.
I’m going to start a video feature of the my favorite Coachella artists this year under the "Coachella 2010" box over there ------------------------------------------------------>

Related – I was musing over facebook about how wonderful it would be if Soundgarden got back together for one last tour.  They’re another band I was really into before they broke up, but I was too young to go to their concerts.  My homie directed me to their website:  apparently, a reunion is in the works.  DUDE, if they were a last minute add to Coachella the way Prince was a couple years ago, it would more than make up for Grace Jones not being there.  I’d freak out!
Here’s some Chris Cornell sexiness for your afternoon.  Men – look, and be jealous.  Ladies – salivate.

Awwww yeeaaaahhhhh!!!

 

We LOVED this song back in high school!  I didn’t really like No Limit, but I was such a fan of Mystikal!  And then he had to go and be a rapist, smh…

but for real this time

It wasn’t writer’s block.  It’s not that I don’t have enough time.  I have no explanation for why I’ve not posted in FOR.EH.VER.  Maybe because having a Facebook account is a lot like blogging anyway.  I don’t know.  I’m gonna switch it up.

I have a smartphone now (drrrooiiiid), and I can upload video direct to YouTube.  Plus, I’ve started contributing to my friend’s YouTube channel, FrenchTele.  I’ll start featuring that stuff here.

What I’ve been up to:

• A pretty intense relationship that lasted for seven months.  That’s huge for me – I don’t do the boyfriend/dating thing.  And I’ve never stayed with anyone for longer than 3 months.  Yaaayyyy, new record!
• A two-month artist’s residency in the countryside of France (see below).  I ate SO MUCH DESSERT, I’m only just now losing weight!  And I’ll never eat another croissant again unless it’s there.
• Applications:  for the RedCat NOW Festival for performance art and for the CCF Fellowship.  I think I have a better chance with the festival than with the fellowship.  If I get both, I’ll freak.
• Parties!  Although it’s hard for me now since my boyfriend broke up with me.  I have a policy of not going out alone:  weird and potentially dangerous stuff ALWAYS happens.  Without fail.  And it was so great that I was with someone who shared the same tastes as me.  This isn’t true of most of my friends…
• Teaching a high school art class from 11/08 until 6/09.  Ay ay ay…  A full post later on that, but let me just say this:  I was a total fish out of water.  I tried, though.  I developed an Urban Art curriculum and taught it the best way I could.  My brief experience as a teacher could spawn volumes of written material.
• More performance art for Brody Condon.  This one was called ‘Without Sun’.  It was a really challenging experience.  Allowing myself to be directed by others has given me a lot of inspiration for directing my own pieces, and I hope I get the chance to realize my project with RedCat.
• I started a subscription to a farm co-op service.  It’s called Abundant Harvest Organics, and every week you get a box of pre-selected fruits and vegetables in season.  I just got through eating my first dinner – mashed potatoes, artichoke and pea tendril salad, and collard greens.
• I finally finished my artist site after months.  Click here.  Constructive criticism welcome.  There’ll be a few more changes, and I’ll get my own domain name once I finally get my car fixed…

There will also be a few slight changes to this blog.  Okay?  I know no one reads this, but whatever, maybe a few people will.  I’m just sayin’, I’ll be here.

How To Prevent Rape - UPDATE

(See update below)

A lot has been said about how to prevent rape. Women should learn self-defense. Women should lock themselves in their houses after dark. Women shouldn’t wear short skirts. Women shouldn’t leave drinks unattended. Perhaps they shouldn’t dare to get drunk at all.
Instead of further curtailing women’s freedom, how about:
If a woman is drunk, don’t rape her.
If a woman is walking alone at night, don’t rape her.
If a women is drugged and unconscious, don’t rape her.
If a woman is wearing a short skirt, don’t rape her.
If a woman is jogging in a park at 5 am, don’t rape her.
If a woman looks like your ex-girlfriend you’re still hung up on, don’t rape her.
If a woman is asleep in her bed, don’t rape her.
If a woman is asleep in your bed, don’t rape her.
If a woman is doing her laundry, don’t rape her.
If a woman is in a coma, don’t rape her.
If a woman changes her mind in the middle of or about a particular activity, don’t rape her.
If a woman has repeatedly refused a certain activity, don’t rape her.
If a woman is not yet a woman, but a child, don’t rape her.
If your girlfriend or wife is not in the mood, don’t rape her.
If your step-daughter is watching tv, don’t rape her.
If you break into a house and find a woman there, don’t rape her.
If your friend thinks it’s okay to rape someone, tell him it’s not, and that he’s not your friend.
If your “friend” tells you he raped someone, report him to the police.
If your frat-brother or another guy at the party tells you there’s an unconscious woman upstairs and It’s your turn, don’t rape her, call the police and tell the guy he’s a rapist.
Tell your sons, god-sons, nephews, grandsons, sons of friends it’s not okay to rape someone.
Don’t tell your women friends how to be safe and avoid rape.
Don’t imply that she could have avoided it if she’d only done/not done x.
Don’t imply that it’s in any way her fault.
Don’t let silence imply agreement when someone tells you he “got some” with the drunk girl.
Don’t perpetuate a culture that tells you that you have no control over or responsibility for your actions. You can, too, help yourself.
If you agree, repost it. It’s that important.

- Author Unknown

I saw this when I followed a link from Susie Bright’s blog, and I had to share it on Facebook.  Say what you will about it, but it can be used effectively.  Anyway, I received many positive comments with promises to repost, and then some random dude said this:

Adam you post some great stuff but this is lame.

Ex-squeeze me?  For now, this guy shall remain anonymous – I don’t know him – but if I see anything even remotely douchebag-ish from him in the future I’m putting him ON BLAST.

I shared this:

There's a movie theatre that I go to sometimes to see off the beaten track-type films. One month, a few years ago, on two separate occasions there was this guy who sat near me and would jack off while looking at me.
A friend of mine told me I shouldn't have gone to the movie theatre. HOW ABOUT THAT MAN SHOULDN'T HAVE BEEN PUBLICALLY JACKING OFF INSIDE A MOVIE THEATRE WHILE WE'RE TRYING TO WATCH "I'M GONNA GET YOU SUCKA"??
Good friggin' Christ...

We spend so much time concerning ourselves with putting the responsibility of preventing sexual assault on potential victims.  How about we teach everyone – men especially - that sexual assault, harassment, and abuse is NOT OK.  I don’t care if it’s some Maxim tart wearing nothing but a thong and some postage stamps flinging herself at you, and then she changes her mind.

* * *

UPDATE – the guy who made the insensitive comment had the guts to send me a message apologizing.  Not an “I’m sorry you were offended”, but an “I’m sorry I offended you”.  So for this reason, there will be no All Points Bulletins on him.  And using it as a Teachable Moment, I accepted his apology and explained why his remarks are out of line given the fact that he finds rape reprehensible.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again – it’s all about dialogue, folks.  I just hope he took to heart what I wrote to him.  A lot of men have no idea just how many women – women that they personally care for and know – have suffered sexual harassment/assault and/or physical assault.