I don't get it really.. and the link, while an actual website, doesn't match the picture? But it got my attention, so I guess that's the gimic. And made me think of this blog.
Showing posts with label los angeles. Show all posts
Showing posts with label los angeles. Show all posts
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Eating and Drinking our way through the City
Because I am entirely too far behind to write a single blog about everything that's been going on, here's a photo post with extended captions. This isn't everything, but just a sample of a few things Dre and I have been doing. Notice how most of it centers around food.
We were both craving dim sum and finally woke up early enough on Sunday to do it. We trekked to Sea Empress in Gardena because that's the place I like best. We ordered way too many dishes, like we always do at chinese restaurants, and happily ate mini plates of yummy yummy goodness.
Afterwards, we both needed a caffeine jolt and decided to head to Intelligentsia in Venice. Like many places, we talk about going there, but it takes awhile for both of us to get together to go there. In between our schedules, our random "not eating out" purges, and life, we make a little bit of time for our adventures.
It's cool and hip and coffees are $5, but it totally makes you want to be one of those people who just sit around in a coffee shop all day "working" on your laptop. I'm not quite sure I could afford to sit there all day, because I would just chug their drink and try every dessert in their dessert case, but maybe one day. Below is Dre's "excited to have coffee" face! Look at their cute sign in guest book and cakewiches? YUM.
When you want to keep in touch with people, it's all about "let's do lunch" or "let's grab drinks". In this case, lunch was Big Jo's. Big Jo's is a hole in the wall burger stand in Santa Monica with some of the best burgers and fries ever. It's not fancy or processed fast foody, but real grilled diner like burgers and you can put this amazing seasoning on their fries, which are so good. It's kind of like Steve's in the South Bay, but a tad bit different. But basically was an institution in Friday lunch plans when I used to work. Now it's a novelty for me. But my favorite is the bacon cheeseburger with mushrooms, french fries and a pepsi, because you know, if you're going to go down, you might as well go down in flames of glory.
With the total burst of food trucks, we've been trying to try as many as we can. That doesn't always work out so well because sometimes you aren't hungry or have time to stop when you pass by them on the street, and then when you really crave them, you're not near where they're at. And then since they're mobile, you say "oh, I can get that next time" Dre and I went to the "opening" of the Nom Nom truck - serving vietnamese sandwiches call Bahn Mi and the Fishlips Sushi truck. Both were super excellent, and although the wait was a little long, I think that's the benefit of parking at the Brig. You walk in and get a drink while you're waiting for your food, eat, get hammered, have more food. It's so simple, and so effective.
Another lunch date was set at the new cafeteria style place lemonade. There are a few other locations, but this location set on the corner of Venice & Abbot Kinney is hoppin'. There's always a line when I pass by, and I didn't get to actually try their various lemonade flavors, but I had the pot roast mac 'n cheese sandwich and it was kind of amazing. Also, the cream cheese brownie (not pictured) is to die for.
Last but not least, the Dodger game. (Go Doyers!) Friday nights in the summer, they let the crowd on to the field and shoot off fireworks. It's pretty cool and we all ran around like little kids once we got onto the grass. They cordon off the infield (of course), so I'll somehow in my lifetime find a way to play on that, but it was fun nonetheless. And you know, I pretty much love fireworks of any kind.
What's next? Likely a Halloween post, possibly a concert post, and hopefully at least some pictures from some more food trucks. And we still need to go on the Xiao Long Bao adventure. (Yes... more eating...)
We were both craving dim sum and finally woke up early enough on Sunday to do it. We trekked to Sea Empress in Gardena because that's the place I like best. We ordered way too many dishes, like we always do at chinese restaurants, and happily ate mini plates of yummy yummy goodness.Afterwards, we both needed a caffeine jolt and decided to head to Intelligentsia in Venice. Like many places, we talk about going there, but it takes awhile for both of us to get together to go there. In between our schedules, our random "not eating out" purges, and life, we make a little bit of time for our adventures.
It's cool and hip and coffees are $5, but it totally makes you want to be one of those people who just sit around in a coffee shop all day "working" on your laptop. I'm not quite sure I could afford to sit there all day, because I would just chug their drink and try every dessert in their dessert case, but maybe one day. Below is Dre's "excited to have coffee" face! Look at their cute sign in guest book and cakewiches? YUM.
When you want to keep in touch with people, it's all about "let's do lunch" or "let's grab drinks". In this case, lunch was Big Jo's. Big Jo's is a hole in the wall burger stand in Santa Monica with some of the best burgers and fries ever. It's not fancy or processed fast foody, but real grilled diner like burgers and you can put this amazing seasoning on their fries, which are so good. It's kind of like Steve's in the South Bay, but a tad bit different. But basically was an institution in Friday lunch plans when I used to work. Now it's a novelty for me. But my favorite is the bacon cheeseburger with mushrooms, french fries and a pepsi, because you know, if you're going to go down, you might as well go down in flames of glory.
With the total burst of food trucks, we've been trying to try as many as we can. That doesn't always work out so well because sometimes you aren't hungry or have time to stop when you pass by them on the street, and then when you really crave them, you're not near where they're at. And then since they're mobile, you say "oh, I can get that next time" Dre and I went to the "opening" of the Nom Nom truck - serving vietnamese sandwiches call Bahn Mi and the Fishlips Sushi truck. Both were super excellent, and although the wait was a little long, I think that's the benefit of parking at the Brig. You walk in and get a drink while you're waiting for your food, eat, get hammered, have more food. It's so simple, and so effective.
Another lunch date was set at the new cafeteria style place lemonade. There are a few other locations, but this location set on the corner of Venice & Abbot Kinney is hoppin'. There's always a line when I pass by, and I didn't get to actually try their various lemonade flavors, but I had the pot roast mac 'n cheese sandwich and it was kind of amazing. Also, the cream cheese brownie (not pictured) is to die for.
Last but not least, the Dodger game. (Go Doyers!) Friday nights in the summer, they let the crowd on to the field and shoot off fireworks. It's pretty cool and we all ran around like little kids once we got onto the grass. They cordon off the infield (of course), so I'll somehow in my lifetime find a way to play on that, but it was fun nonetheless. And you know, I pretty much love fireworks of any kind.
What's next? Likely a Halloween post, possibly a concert post, and hopefully at least some pictures from some more food trucks. And we still need to go on the Xiao Long Bao adventure. (Yes... more eating...)
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Time Traveling
Okay, time for a real post about our adventures, because there have been a few.
Last year, there was an 80's Prom Party and I missed out. Partially because I was working like a fiend, and partially because I avoided it. I HATE dressing up in themes and I HATE costumes. It's all this effort to look stupid. Or Awesome as my roommate would like to call it, but really, along with Karaoke and not wanting kids, these are things that she and I will disagree on. This year, she made 80's prom her birthday party, so I "had" to go. We went thrift/online/Urban Outfitter shopping for all the neon, sparkly, outdated but currently in, huge poofy things we could find. Andrea came over, helped me crimp my hair, poured half a water bottle full of vodka in her "starter" drink and we amassed ourselves with bracelets and rings. And this was only the beginning.
After the shady cab driver - we finally arrived on the scene. We were greeted by Finding a Way Back into Love and Alex P. Keaton... or what he may have started out as... The 80z All Stars are a band that plays at Disneyland and I hired them to play at a Halloween Party and it rocked. Andrea found out they were playing here, and my roommate (who looooves the 80's and dressing up) decided to make it her birthday party - and that's how we find ourselves here. and Andrea being too cool for school.
You want to know why Drea thinks she's hot shit? Cuz she is. And she's wearing a GIANT BOW on her ass. You might not be able to see it too clearly here, but it's totally awesome, for sure.
I posted pictures of the night and Andrea comments "wait, I drank that?" - yeaaaaa... that probably led to the picture on the right. And my shoddy shoddy framing of it as well... which, to be honest, I barely remember taking this picture... and the other 5 like it.
= 
There was good music, lots of dancing and singing, people's fun outfits, vodka shots in honor of Dorina's birthday, more dancing, photobooth pictures, late night cabbing to Denny's (the disappointment of no potachos was an EPIC FAIL), and the day after - trying to regain composure from the night before and get the hairspray out of the hair. You want to know what Andrea remembers?
Thank goodness for cameras.
Last year, there was an 80's Prom Party and I missed out. Partially because I was working like a fiend, and partially because I avoided it. I HATE dressing up in themes and I HATE costumes. It's all this effort to look stupid. Or Awesome as my roommate would like to call it, but really, along with Karaoke and not wanting kids, these are things that she and I will disagree on. This year, she made 80's prom her birthday party, so I "had" to go. We went thrift/online/Urban Outfitter shopping for all the neon, sparkly, outdated but currently in, huge poofy things we could find. Andrea came over, helped me crimp my hair, poured half a water bottle full of vodka in her "starter" drink and we amassed ourselves with bracelets and rings. And this was only the beginning.
After the shady cab driver - we finally arrived on the scene. We were greeted by Finding a Way Back into Love and Alex P. Keaton... or what he may have started out as... The 80z All Stars are a band that plays at Disneyland and I hired them to play at a Halloween Party and it rocked. Andrea found out they were playing here, and my roommate (who looooves the 80's and dressing up) decided to make it her birthday party - and that's how we find ourselves here. and Andrea being too cool for school.
You want to know why Drea thinks she's hot shit? Cuz she is. And she's wearing a GIANT BOW on her ass. You might not be able to see it too clearly here, but it's totally awesome, for sure.
I posted pictures of the night and Andrea comments "wait, I drank that?" - yeaaaaa... that probably led to the picture on the right. And my shoddy shoddy framing of it as well... which, to be honest, I barely remember taking this picture... and the other 5 like it.
= There was good music, lots of dancing and singing, people's fun outfits, vodka shots in honor of Dorina's birthday, more dancing, photobooth pictures, late night cabbing to Denny's (the disappointment of no potachos was an EPIC FAIL), and the day after - trying to regain composure from the night before and get the hairspray out of the hair. You want to know what Andrea remembers?
Thank goodness for cameras.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
to keep you occupied
there are few blogs that need to be written, but for now.. this one is the easiest. hopefully it will entertain you and tide you over as we get those other posts rolling.
i volunteered for this film festival in LA for the last week and a half. it was okay, i learned things from it, met a few people and hopefully somethings can pan out from it. i got to semi-produce/edit daily pieces of festival coverage. as much as i tried, i couldn't quite control what or how things were being taped, but i think i did an okay job on a few pieces, which hopefully shows my strength as an editor. i find myself wondering if my previous yearning of editing full time is still 100%, but the situation wasn't ideal, so it may not have been the best test for it. regardless, here are some of my favorite ones that i worked on.
this one is my was my favorite because i felt like it was the most well put together.. but then someone tinkered with it after i finished and i don't love what they did, but i think it's okay overall, i'm just not 110% about it. :/ like the guys say at the jungle cruise, if you like it, that's what i did, if you don't, it's the other guy's fault!
i worry about this one being cohesive, but i like this one because i translated the entire interview and then edited and added subtitles for all the pieces that are in spanish. yup, i'm a bad ass.
this is one of the earlier ones we did, so most noticeably the titles aren't as fancy. i didn't have the best b-roll either which contributes to some lacking of cutting to the right shots, but i didn't want the interviews to drag on either. but i like what they are saying and mostly i like it because of jordi laforge & luke wilson :P
there you go! the earlier one we turned around that night mostly.. so edited in a few hours. the later ones we took a little more time on because we would get the footage so late at night it was impossible to turn it around that night, plus we realized we didn't have to, so we allowed ourselves to wrap it up the next day.
(shameless plug: we edited these on a mobile editing bay CONFIDENCE BAY - a RV gutted and outfitted to be used as editing stations! pretty neat actually. any filmmakers/commercial producers out there should consider it for your needs! confidencebay.com)
tell me what you think!
i volunteered for this film festival in LA for the last week and a half. it was okay, i learned things from it, met a few people and hopefully somethings can pan out from it. i got to semi-produce/edit daily pieces of festival coverage. as much as i tried, i couldn't quite control what or how things were being taped, but i think i did an okay job on a few pieces, which hopefully shows my strength as an editor. i find myself wondering if my previous yearning of editing full time is still 100%, but the situation wasn't ideal, so it may not have been the best test for it. regardless, here are some of my favorite ones that i worked on.
this one is my was my favorite because i felt like it was the most well put together.. but then someone tinkered with it after i finished and i don't love what they did, but i think it's okay overall, i'm just not 110% about it. :/ like the guys say at the jungle cruise, if you like it, that's what i did, if you don't, it's the other guy's fault!
i worry about this one being cohesive, but i like this one because i translated the entire interview and then edited and added subtitles for all the pieces that are in spanish. yup, i'm a bad ass.
this is one of the earlier ones we did, so most noticeably the titles aren't as fancy. i didn't have the best b-roll either which contributes to some lacking of cutting to the right shots, but i didn't want the interviews to drag on either. but i like what they are saying and mostly i like it because of jordi laforge & luke wilson :P
there you go! the earlier one we turned around that night mostly.. so edited in a few hours. the later ones we took a little more time on because we would get the footage so late at night it was impossible to turn it around that night, plus we realized we didn't have to, so we allowed ourselves to wrap it up the next day.
(shameless plug: we edited these on a mobile editing bay CONFIDENCE BAY - a RV gutted and outfitted to be used as editing stations! pretty neat actually. any filmmakers/commercial producers out there should consider it for your needs! confidencebay.com)
tell me what you think!
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
I'm Your Huckleberry
Okay.. cheesiest title ever. Sorry. But it seems... fitting. Plus - this place can be my Huckleberry anytime it wants. I'm okay with that. What is this place? Huckleberry in Santa Monica. (brought to us by the people behind Rustic Canyon, which is another place I've been meaning to try...) Way back when on some drunken night, Andrea, Kirk and I had noticed that "hmm.. this place is new" and pondered what exactly it was, and thought "maybe it's a furniture store".. or something like that. But then I found my UrbanDaddy emails and saw a new breakfast food place in town! They don't just do breakfast, but they're a day cafe, and for some reason, I feel as if they were advertising it that way. So I excitedly email them and say that we need to try this place. 2 months later, we actually did - but it was worth the wait. I wouldn't say that the food was OMGSOAMAZING, but it definitely was good and not something that you just say "oh.. I could make it better", because while food is really hard to get amazing, it's really easy to screw up.
The second we stepped in we ogled over their decadent display of sweets and pretty much said "yes" to one of each, in our heads. We ended up having the bread pudding and the coffee cake, both of which were great. (*Side note, my frame of reference for bread pudding isn't great because I'm actually not the biggest fan, but Andrea seemed really happy about it and is probably more of a bread pudding expert.. so we'll stick with "both of which were great".)
The greatest part about eating with friends [who like to share] is that you get to try more than just your dish. This is why you have to be choosy about who you go to eat with as well. Friends who don't like to share food generally don't get invited back - unless it's by other people who don't like sharing food either. That's not me.
So, for Sunday (not particularly Easter) Brunch, I had a Turkey Meatball sandwich (with gruyere cheese!), the Fried Egg Sandwich (mm.. niman ranch bacon) and the Green Eggs & Ham sandwich (the green was pesto). All three dishes were quite tasty and I wouldn't hesitate to go back, for breakfast, or lunch, or to stop in to get one of their take home shepherd's pies or $4 cinnamon sugar croissants or MONSTER donuts. I've heard only stories about how crowded it can get, but we went on the late-ish side, so it was actually really nice. Too bad it wasn't warm enough to eat outside, but we've got a whole summer [of next day brunch post late night drinking nights] ahead of us.
Huckleberry www.huckleberrycafe.com
1014 Wilshire Blvd, Santa Monica CA, 310)451.2311
Wed-Fri 8am-7pm, Sat/Sun 8am-5pm, Open on Tuesdays starting in May!
The second we stepped in we ogled over their decadent display of sweets and pretty much said "yes" to one of each, in our heads. We ended up having the bread pudding and the coffee cake, both of which were great. (*Side note, my frame of reference for bread pudding isn't great because I'm actually not the biggest fan, but Andrea seemed really happy about it and is probably more of a bread pudding expert.. so we'll stick with "both of which were great".)
The greatest part about eating with friends [who like to share] is that you get to try more than just your dish. This is why you have to be choosy about who you go to eat with as well. Friends who don't like to share food generally don't get invited back - unless it's by other people who don't like sharing food either. That's not me.
So, for Sunday (not particularly Easter) Brunch, I had a Turkey Meatball sandwich (with gruyere cheese!), the Fried Egg Sandwich (mm.. niman ranch bacon) and the Green Eggs & Ham sandwich (the green was pesto). All three dishes were quite tasty and I wouldn't hesitate to go back, for breakfast, or lunch, or to stop in to get one of their take home shepherd's pies or $4 cinnamon sugar croissants or MONSTER donuts. I've heard only stories about how crowded it can get, but we went on the late-ish side, so it was actually really nice. Too bad it wasn't warm enough to eat outside, but we've got a whole summer [of next day brunch post late night drinking nights] ahead of us.
Huckleberry www.huckleberrycafe.com
1014 Wilshire Blvd, Santa Monica CA, 310)451.2311
Wed-Fri 8am-7pm, Sat/Sun 8am-5pm, Open on Tuesdays starting in May!
Saturday, April 11, 2009
News at Blu Jam Cafe
I have some good news, and some bad news, and some more good news!
The good news is, Jean and I got together this morning and had an adventure!
The bad news is, at some point during that adventure, Jean admitted that she was terribly pissed off that I didn't blog at all the entire time she was in Ireland! She knows I was having adventures without her, and I didn't share any of them, which is, frankly, incredibly disappointing.
The rest of the good news is, she's not actually pissed at me! She's mad at Kirk. (Hi, Kirk!) Because, naturally, this is ALL HIS FAULT. Naturally. Because he makes me "boring." Right? Right. That is how that works. (Mission: Be not boring.)
To make up for it (because of course I don't want Jean to be mad at Kirk) I picked up our brunch at Blu Jam Cafe on Melrose. And I even took pictures so I could blog about it. I fucken love brunch, by the way. It might be my favorite thing about weekends, even more than drinking a lot (mostly because I like to do that on weekdays) and sleeping in (mostly because I sometimes wake up really early for no Goddamn reason, like today.)
Jean had the Kamil's Breakfast (Kamil being the chef de cuisine) on the left. It was eggs scrambled with bacon, cheddar cheese, garlic, chives, and elbow macaroni. Whoever thought to throw pasta into their egg scramble is a genius. Or was incredibly hungover that morning. And a genius. I had the Eggs Bohemia, which was 2 eggs fried over bacon and black forest ham and topped with chives, served with their home potatoes and [wheat] toast. Sometimes I forget how good eggs and bacon are. And, because of that, I amretarded stupid. Also, the potatoes? Really good. I hate it when you go to a breakfast place and the potatoes are an afterthought.
At some point or another during the meal, I found myself asking, "Nice brunch with my workBFF? Could this get any better?"
GUESS SO. Crepes with strawberries, bananas and Nutella. Don't you get dessert when you have brunch? No? Well, do you get a third entree for two people? Again, no? Never? In that case, WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU. Let's make it a point to never have brunch together.
Well, three entrees for two people is a lot of food. Per Jean: "You win, breakfast." (And that was before the complimentary teensy chocolate chip cookies.)
Blu Jam Cafe
www.blujamcafe.com
Open daily from 8:00am - 4:00pm and
Friday nights from 7:00pm - 10:30pm for various "International Bistro Nights"
7371 Melrose Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90046
(323) 951-9191
The good news is, Jean and I got together this morning and had an adventure!
The bad news is, at some point during that adventure, Jean admitted that she was terribly pissed off that I didn't blog at all the entire time she was in Ireland! She knows I was having adventures without her, and I didn't share any of them, which is, frankly, incredibly disappointing.
The rest of the good news is, she's not actually pissed at me! She's mad at Kirk. (Hi, Kirk!) Because, naturally, this is ALL HIS FAULT. Naturally. Because he makes me "boring." Right? Right. That is how that works. (Mission: Be not boring.)
To make up for it (because of course I don't want Jean to be mad at Kirk) I picked up our brunch at Blu Jam Cafe on Melrose. And I even took pictures so I could blog about it. I fucken love brunch, by the way. It might be my favorite thing about weekends, even more than drinking a lot (mostly because I like to do that on weekdays) and sleeping in (mostly because I sometimes wake up really early for no Goddamn reason, like today.)
Jean had the Kamil's Breakfast (Kamil being the chef de cuisine) on the left. It was eggs scrambled with bacon, cheddar cheese, garlic, chives, and elbow macaroni. Whoever thought to throw pasta into their egg scramble is a genius. Or was incredibly hungover that morning. And a genius. I had the Eggs Bohemia, which was 2 eggs fried over bacon and black forest ham and topped with chives, served with their home potatoes and [wheat] toast. Sometimes I forget how good eggs and bacon are. And, because of that, I am
At some point or another during the meal, I found myself asking, "Nice brunch with my workBFF? Could this get any better?"
GUESS SO. Crepes with strawberries, bananas and Nutella. Don't you get dessert when you have brunch? No? Well, do you get a third entree for two people? Again, no? Never? In that case, WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU. Let's make it a point to never have brunch together.
Well, three entrees for two people is a lot of food. Per Jean: "You win, breakfast." (And that was before the complimentary teensy chocolate chip cookies.)
Blu Jam Cafewww.blujamcafe.com
Open daily from 8:00am - 4:00pm and
Friday nights from 7:00pm - 10:30pm for various "International Bistro Nights"
7371 Melrose Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90046
(323) 951-9191
Addendum...
Yay for adventures! And here is Andrea being a Bohemian, and cute coffee designs in our lattes. Let me just clarify... I wasn't really REALLY mad, but I can be if that involves more people picking up checks. (Thanks Dre!) *Also... boring = not hanging out with me - so let's rectify that ... constantly. It's not just a one time thing, but an eternal thing you are striving for. And this isn't just to Andrea, but everyone. Got it?
*And lastly, breakfast made a really good dinner. Nuking it a little bit took some of the liquidy grease out of it (or maybe it was just draining on the bottom of the leftover container).. but it tasted really good a little drier. Oh, and leftover crepe was AWE.SOME. God I love Nutella.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
It's Been Awhile
Hi world, what's going on? It's been awhile, and Andrea and I haven't been on many adventures lately.. so there hasn't been too much to say. At least not in coherent sentences. I'll try to pick a few shots from Europe to post, but I took over 1400 shots, so when I pick a "few" it ends up being a few hundo. But let me tell you about something more current.
Last Wednesday I went to Hotel Cafe, which for those of you that don't know is a really great music/cafe/bar venue in Hollywood. It's really good it you like seeing the acoustic/folky/singer/songwriter types, and very often have people they play on KCRW and what not. Back in San Diego at the height of my coffee shop heyday, I would go to Twiggs or Lestats all the time to see certain people play, or sometimes to just hang out with friends. Yup, I made friends through the internets. Mostly through my love of Jason Mraz - right before he blewed up. It nice to see some of these people at Hotel Cafe, and that's really the only reason I go now... I don't know why I didn't keep up my whole indie streak in LA. Maybe it's just too hard to follow every aspiring artist out there cuz there's so damn many. And it, for some reason, seems harder here. ANYHOO.. this is not about that.. this is about people I like. Lots.
This very talented girl is Annie Bethancourt. I "discovered" her in my college dorm (sounds kind of like the start to a really "fun" movie).. but this isn't that kind of show.. keep moving people. We're friends from college, but that's not the only reason I like her. She's kind of got a voice like an angel, not that I'm biased or anything. The best description I think was I look at you and then think "how does that voice come out of there?!" And it's kind of true. I hear her sing and I'm always blown away. Apparently now she's living in Portland, OR for part of the year and in Costa Rica for the other part (see: adventurous), but working on her 3rd CD and playing shows throughout. Actually one in San Diego tomorrow and one in Fullerton on the 18th. Here's a snippet - check out more on her site! www.anniebeth.com
I got a double dose of goodness that night as I discovered that Tristan Prettyman was playing that night, along with every Wednesday this month. Whee! Tristan isn't a friend, but someone that I started listening to in San Diego and she's gotten moderately big. She's had songs in several TV shows and most recently (that I've heard) in He's Just Not Into You. I think she has a really infectious songs and her voice can be really soulful. She's also really cute, and funny, has great stories on stage (last week she talked about going on a date with the guy she lost her virginity to... where else are you gonna get that?) and I always really love her hair. I wish mine did that.. but uhhh.. anyways. www.tristanprettyman.com
See.. the place is cute right? (Sorry picture quality is not super fantastic...) You have to be 21+ because they are a bar now, but they also have food which is pretty tasty. Except if you order the Pastrami Panini, they put mustard in it too (doesn't say that on the menu!), so get it without if you're a mustard disliker like me. The roomie and I might check out the show tomorrow - along with another guy Tavis that I saw once and enjoyed. Should be for a fun time and then maybe we'll hit up Big Wangs afterwards or something. Or come home... but definitely NOT go to the Beauty Bar. haha.. I'm boycotting that place. But that's a story for another blog.
Last Wednesday I went to Hotel Cafe, which for those of you that don't know is a really great music/cafe/bar venue in Hollywood. It's really good it you like seeing the acoustic/folky/singer/songwriter types, and very often have people they play on KCRW and what not. Back in San Diego at the height of my coffee shop heyday, I would go to Twiggs or Lestats all the time to see certain people play, or sometimes to just hang out with friends. Yup, I made friends through the internets. Mostly through my love of Jason Mraz - right before he blewed up. It nice to see some of these people at Hotel Cafe, and that's really the only reason I go now... I don't know why I didn't keep up my whole indie streak in LA. Maybe it's just too hard to follow every aspiring artist out there cuz there's so damn many. And it, for some reason, seems harder here. ANYHOO.. this is not about that.. this is about people I like. Lots.
This very talented girl is Annie Bethancourt. I "discovered" her in my college dorm (sounds kind of like the start to a really "fun" movie).. but this isn't that kind of show.. keep moving people. We're friends from college, but that's not the only reason I like her. She's kind of got a voice like an angel, not that I'm biased or anything. The best description I think was I look at you and then think "how does that voice come out of there?!" And it's kind of true. I hear her sing and I'm always blown away. Apparently now she's living in Portland, OR for part of the year and in Costa Rica for the other part (see: adventurous), but working on her 3rd CD and playing shows throughout. Actually one in San Diego tomorrow and one in Fullerton on the 18th. Here's a snippet - check out more on her site! www.anniebeth.com
I got a double dose of goodness that night as I discovered that Tristan Prettyman was playing that night, along with every Wednesday this month. Whee! Tristan isn't a friend, but someone that I started listening to in San Diego and she's gotten moderately big. She's had songs in several TV shows and most recently (that I've heard) in He's Just Not Into You. I think she has a really infectious songs and her voice can be really soulful. She's also really cute, and funny, has great stories on stage (last week she talked about going on a date with the guy she lost her virginity to... where else are you gonna get that?) and I always really love her hair. I wish mine did that.. but uhhh.. anyways. www.tristanprettyman.comSee.. the place is cute right? (Sorry picture quality is not super fantastic...) You have to be 21+ because they are a bar now, but they also have food which is pretty tasty. Except if you order the Pastrami Panini, they put mustard in it too (doesn't say that on the menu!), so get it without if you're a mustard disliker like me. The roomie and I might check out the show tomorrow - along with another guy Tavis that I saw once and enjoyed. Should be for a fun time and then maybe we'll hit up Big Wangs afterwards or something. Or come home... but definitely NOT go to the Beauty Bar. haha.. I'm boycotting that place. But that's a story for another blog.
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