Take Action! 2008

As I am writing this, I just want all of you to know that I am deaf.  That’s right.  I can’t hear a goddamn thing.  My eardrums are killing me.  You will see why in a moment. 

I have just returned to The Hotel after another killer Take Action! Tour up at the Sunset House of Blues.  Before I go into the line-up, let me tell you a little bit about what Take Action! does. 

In 1999 Hopeless Records founded Sub City with the mission to make a positive impact that goes beyond music. With over 30 charity releases and counting to go along with the annual Take Action! Tour, Hopeless & Sub City Records has recently passed over one million dollars donated to charity.

Take Action was founded by Hopeless & Sub City Records with the mission to create a better world, one voice and one action at a time. Take Action strives to educate people about the positive difference that can be made by each of us in our community through activism and charitable work. To date over $450,000 has been raised through the efforts of Take Action.

I got involved with Take Action!  four years ago when I was still living in Philly.  I believe Hawthorne Heights, Taking Back Sunday, Senses Fail, and Coheed & Cambria were on the bill, but I could be totally wrong.  Anyway, I went b/c it was a good line-up, but when I got there, all of the bands kept thanking everyone for coming and having fun, but also to remember why we were all there.  The last couple of years, the big charity the Take Action! was donating to was 1-800-suicide due to the fact President Bush cut all funding to the National Suicide Prevention hotline.  Last year it was the Youth Suicide hotline b/c he cut the funding for that as well.  This tour is what brought the suicide problem to light for me.  Suicide prevention and awareness is very important part of my life.  I’ve dealt with it a number of ways in my own personal life, and although personally it hasn’t completely affected me on a family level, I’ve seen 1^st person the affect it can have on siblings and children. 

A few quick facts about suicide in general:

• An average of 32,000 people die each year in the United States of suicide.
• Suicide is the 4^th leading cause of death in the US with people btw the ages of 18 and 65 with 26,500 people.
•  Overall it’s the 11^th leading cause of death in the US.
•  Each day, approximately 80 people take their own life, and another 1500 attempt to do so.  That works out to one death by suicide every 16 minutes, and an attempt about every minute.

Youth suicide:

• Suicide is the 5^th leading cause of death for kids btw age 5 and 14
•  It’s the 3^rd leading cause of death of 15 to 24 year olds
• The suicide rate of 10 to 14 year olds has doubled in the last 2 years

Sorry to bring the house down, but it’s a huge problem in the United States.   This year, the tour took a more large-scale approach and was sponsored and backing DoSomething.org which is a site people can go to and find out how they can volunteer and donate and (literally) take action in their neighborhoods.  This tour has been a very positive influence on me and on my generation as a whole. 

Now for the good stuff. 

So I park my car in the cheap outdoor lot up on Sunset Blvd. and like a complete idiot, I walked nine blocks in the wrong direction before I realize I am walking away from the HOB instead of towards it.  So I had to turn around.  Due to my stupidity, I missed THE HUMAN ABSTRACT perform and only caught the last two songs of AUGUST BURNS RED.  From what I caught, those guys could throw down.  Wish I could have caught more.  I knew it was a good show though b/c when I walked in the door, security was escorting a guy with a bloody mouth to the medic room.

THE BLED took the stage next.  Killed it, of course.  The lead singer, James, reminded me of Daryl Palumbo of Glassjaw.  (If you don’t know who that is, hit yourself.)  He spent most of the show standing on the barrier btw the stage and the crowd making sure they were part of the whole BLED experience. The guitar-work reminded me a lot of At The Drive-In with their screeching guitars, but had the heaviness of a classic hardcore band. 

While I was watching THE BLED, I ran into good ol’ Joe Hursley.  I worked with him on Punk’d; he was one of the punkers.  Since then, he’s been in all kinds of movies like Accepted and he told me he recently did a little piece in Fast and Furious 4, and been in commercials for Doritos and VW, and apparently will soon be the new face of the “Got Milk” campaign. 

Next FROM FIRST TO LAST took the stage.  The first time I saw them play was back in 2004 opening for BAD RELIGION.  It was a really weird tour for them to be on.  It was one of their first tours and no one really understood them.  Tonight, I kinda got the same feel.  I do, however, think that since they got rid of the whole “emo” (I fucking hate that word) look and went for a more traditional rock look they are much more everyman type act.  Also, I think FFTL is a much better band without Sonny Moore.  There I said it.  He is a great lyricist, but he’s only like 19 years old or some shit, and I remember seeing him on stage, and I felt like he didn’t really do much.  The rest of the band did all the talking.  No stage presence at all.  Matt Good did an awesome job as front man and fits the roll much better.  He pumped the crowd up and I felt the band, as a whole, were more connected to the audience than before.  I remember telling a guy four years ago when I saw FFTL they were going to become a huge band, and I believe I called it.  I feel they are still a highly underappreciated act and their best stuff is yet to come.

Finally, the act I went to see, EVERY TIME I DIE.  These guys destroyed the stage.  I mean, they have to be the best southern rock/metalcore act out there.  The kicked so much ass, my fucking testicles are sore.  That’s a fucking show.  I always loved their albums, but now I have a brand new kind of passion for ETID.  These guys knew how to put on a show.  I don’t think I’ve seen too many acts have as much fun as they did on stage.  I mean, I know a lot of the bands I go see are doing what they love, but these guys become like the little kids dancing on the stage during Charlie Brown’s Xmas play rehearsal when they plug in.   During the third song, guitarist Jordan Buckley got a huge running start, and like mother fucking Jesus Christ, ran clear off the stage and crossed the crowd like he was walking on water.  He made it out into the middle of the pit before he lost any momentum. I don’t know if he flew, or walked on shoulders and heads, or the guy is literally a rock god, but he did it.  And didn’t miss a note.  Andrew Williams, the other guitarist, has the best beard I have ever seen in rock.   He puts ZZ Top to shame.  ETID was all about getting the crowd involved.  During the last song, Keith invited everyone up on stage with the band b/c it was “our show, so come join us in the fun.”  Only about 50 people made it on stage.  Security kept pulling people off.  Jerks.  So instead, Keith came off the stage and crawled along the crowd’s pumping fists to become one with his fans.  

I can’t really think of a good ending for this except EVERY TIME I DIE is now one of my favorite live acts and I suggest, like the type of music or not, you need to go see these fuckers play.  It’ll fucking rule. 

Yes, that, and more important, go Do Something!  Get involved.

Parents Weekend

I finally have a moment alone.  I’m sitting here watching the bonus features on The Aristocrats DVD.  And may I make a little recommendation:  If you have a couple of hours, and love stand-up comedy, check this little documentary out.  Totally worth it. 

Anyway, this past Thursday my parents made their annual trip out to see the Tour of California bike race. (FYI: For those of you who didn’t check it out, Levi Leipheimer won it again, 2 years running. BONG!).  They met me at MTV for lunch around one and we did a little catching up.  After lunch, (about 2:30) my parents made their way up to Solvang, which is a little Dutch town about two hours north of Santa Monica. 

Well, it was supposed to be two hours.  My dad made it a point to call me at like 5:30 to tell me he STILL was not in Solvang, he still had 60 miles to drive, and “goddamnit, why is there so much fucking traffic in Los Angeles.  Both directions, I don’t get it.”  It ended up taking them about 4 hours to get there.  Sorry Dad. 

On Friday, still in Solvang, my parents did a little a shopping up there, watched the race in between little spurts of rain, and I found out later my mom managed to have two drinks, which apparently did her dirt and she was tipsy the rest of the day.

While all this was going on, I had my own little adventure.  It was Friday, and it being my last day of Parental Control and all, I wanted to get a little drunk.  I had every intention of getting a little festive early, passing out and taking a couple hour nap before I had to meet my parents at 6 PM for dinner.  My day began at the office at 10:00 AM.  At 11:20, after packing all my office supplies and my mini-fridge, I made my way home, an unemployed man.  I got home, planned on taking a little break, then heading down to The Whaler for my mostly-weekly lunch with Devon.   Well, when I got home, I became instantly bored, so I grabbed my headphones and made my way down to The Square early. 

Upon arrival, I found Jackie Dos making an early stop as well before she went in to work.  She had French Toast; I had a Stella.  Jackie departed around 1:00 PM, I remained, and was soon joined by Desiree, Nicole H., Maura, Josh M., Tomas, and Jon B.  Well, to keep things PG, let’s just say I proceeded, along with my cohorts, to get drunk.  Yes, that’s right, I got drunk.  At the Whaler. How odd?  Also, my parents ended up getting lost in Culver City, and I was too drunk to give them proper instruction on how to get to their hotel.  Sorry guys.

At the end of my venture, I made a little stop over at Mercedes Grille (go eat there, food is awesome, and the staff rocks) to see Jackie.  She decided to finish me off by handing me (from what I can remember) two frosty glasses of Sapporo.  It might have been more.  I don’t remember much from Mercedes except winking at myself in the mirror behind the bar.  Jackie told me I kept getting loud, but that’s nothing out of the ordinary.  I just felt bad b/c she was working and I was a total idiot.  Sorry Jackie.

I don’t remember the bike ride home, or coming in the door, or passing out on the couch.   I was totally blacked out.  My parents were trying to get ahold of me for like a hour to go to dinner, but I didn’t hear one ring on my iPhone.  Eventually, my parents just walked over and banged on the door until Johnny let them in.  Oops.  I woke up though, and we went to dinner.  I was still a little buzzed, but what can you do.  I pretty much drank a small wading pool’s worth of booze.

Dinner was good.  We went to C&O Trattoria.  My dad loves that place.  It was good eating.

Saturday it kept raining on and off all day, so it was tough to really do anything.  While the sun was still out, we had breakfast on the boardwalk at the Sidewalk Café.  We tried going on a bike ride down to Manhattan Beach, but it got really cold and overcast, so we pulled a U-y and came back.  We watched a little of the bike race on TV, then took a little trip down to Hinanos to have a quick beer.  As I expected, my dad loved the place; he said it reminded him of a bar in Shenandoah (the little coal region town in PA her grew up in).  We then walked to 26 Beach and had a nice, sober, family dinner.  Saturday night we watched Michael Clayton which was surprisingly great.  Movie recommendation #2 of the post.

Sunday was the best.  The weathermen were calling for rain all day, and b/c those guys are always spot on, it ended up 70 degrees and sunny all day.  We began the day having brunch at the Whaler where my parents finally met Ms. Devon Steigerwald.  Also, her boyfriend Tony made an appearance.  And the coup de grace was Jackie making it out of bed to join us!  Brunch was a lot of fun; my parents loved Jackie.  But who wouldn't?  On a side note, Jackie’s family owns like 110 acres on an island in North Carolina called Currituck (Google it).  My dad always wanted to retire in North Carolina, so he kept asking her to put his name on the list buy some of her family’s land.  When were getting ready to go, I walked Jackie out b/c she had to go shoot the UCLA women’s gymnastic meet, and somehow we missed the guy proposing to his girlfriend in the middle of the street.  How crazy is that?  Dude just proposes right there.  And all his friends and family were on the Whaler deck watching the whole thing and cheered the minute she said yes.  Good thing too, b/c it would be kinda awkward having everyone you know see you life go down the shitter.

After the Whaler, we walked around the Venice boardwalk a bit and snapped a few photos.  Came back, mom watched the episode of Lost she missed, and dad watched the final stage of the bike race, which we skipped b/c it was calling for rain.  My dad wanted to go swing by the Apple Store, and I hadn’t been there is almost a week, so I took them.  To my surprise, my mom bought he first computer: a white MacBook. YAY!

My dad’s weekend highlight happened when he went to pay.  He gets in line, and the gentleman in front of him, with his daughter, offered to allow my dad to go first.  My dad, who had already been helped, said not to worry about it.  The man ahead of him on line: Alec Baldwin.  No shit.  Of course, my dad has to double check with me to make sure he isn’t seeing things.  The guy’s getting old, he wanted to make sure.  He then ran out to grab my mom, who was standing outside on the phone with Steph.  After he paid, we walked out and my dad proceeded to relay the story to my sister, thus beginning the embellishment of that story for months to come.  He was really proud of himself too for not fawning over the actor.

After our star-studded Promenade experience, we walked back to the Whaler, had an afternoon cocktail (or three) and I gave them a quick tour of Anchorage, where we ran into Jackie coming back from UCLA, and my dad made sure to remind her again to save him half an acre to retire on.  I never realized how much my dad likes his real estate. 

After the quick tour, despite Jesse’s best efforts at Mercedes, we ended up back at Hinanos and had burgers for dinner.  After our meal, we walked back to The Hotel, hung out for a bit, said our goodbyes, and they walked back to their hotel. 

All is all, I couldn’t have asked for a better weekend.  Luckily it didn’t rain much.  I got to show them all of my local haunts.  They got to meet some more of my west coast friends.  It was an all around great vacation.  I think my dad summed it best when we he said, “This place is like a party all the time.”  Bingo.

One Last Time

Last night was the end of an era.  If that doesn’t get your attention, I don’t know what does.  For the last time (and the first time for Johnny) we sat down on the purple velour benches, cracked open a cold brew, and clinked glasses at probably the best bar in Hollywood: the Coronet Pub. 

To my dismay, I got a rather disturbing email from J-mar on Monday saying the Coronet was closing it’s doors, and I damn well better come out Tuesday night to celebrate the shutting of the big black door.

Situated across the street from Girls Girls Girls and next door to Trashy Lingerie, The Coronet is probably the most comforting bar you can ever walk in to.  The minute you walk in the door, you feel at home. There is one television and it’s always on ESPN.  The whole place is no bigger than my living room, but you can always get a seat at the bar.  Hell, a lot of the time, we were the only people in there, even on a Saturday night.  The music is at an ideal level, where you can carry on a conversation without raising your voice, but it’s loud enough that you can sing along if the mood struck you. 

I am not only going to miss this little piece of paradise, but all the good memories and the great atmosphere.  It was a place where the minute you walked in the door, you knew there would be a friend there waiting for you.  So let’s all raise one last pint to The Coronet, may it live on within each of us, our own little spot of heaven.

Songs (And Ultimately Albums) That Changed My Life [Part 3]

5. Foo Fighters by Foo Fighters

I wasn’t sure what album to talk about next, but I was watching bits and pieces of the Grammy’s last week at Mercedes Grille while Jackie was working. She is a huge fan of the Foo Fighters, so when they took the stage to perform, Doser made a point to take a little break and watch.

Not that interesting of a story, but it brought me here.

It was another weekend growing up. Alex and I were at Coconuts music, again. We were inquiring about the new Stone Temple Pilots’ album, and for the life of me, I don’t remember which one it was. Since it wasn’t on the shelves yet, he purchased the Foo Fighters self-titled, debut album. I don’t think I even bought anything that day. It was just another weekend at the music store.

Again, not that interesting of a story, but that story leads to this one.

My best friend Alex died in a car accident on Sept. 19, 2001. He was driving back from our friend Dave’s house, lost control of his car, and hit a tree. This happened about a mile from our houses. It was a road he’d driven thousands of times before. It was a road we road our bikes on who knows how many times. Yet, it still happened.

When Alex died my head was cloudy for a long time. I didn’t sleep for about two weeks. The only time my head was straight, or rather distracted, was when I was rowing. Music didn’t help. I tried. It was weird listening to music knowing Alex wasn’t somewhere listening also. I figured it would maybe help to go buy an album which had a stronger connection to Alex, rather than trying to find some solace randomly in what I already owned.

I went to Best Buy, walked around for about an hour, but I kept coming back to the same album. The Foo’s self-titled. Once I got the album home though, everything changed. I tried to play the album, but two songs into it, I turned it off. I couldn’t listen to it. I didn’t really see it as a mistake (buying music is never a mistake), but it didn’t help like I thought it would.

What makes this album special is the fact that once I turned it off, I didn’t play the album for five more years. I never really got over Alex’s death. I know I had nothing to do with it, but I felt guilty because I never got to see him before he left. Alex and I were supposed to go see STP in concert, but instead I blew him off to go on a date with a girl who ended up being pretty lame. That was the last time I would talk to him.

I guess when I finally listened to the album, it gave me a little closure on the whole experience. I’m still not over his death; the fact is I may never be. I have a lot of great memories, and all I can do is live my life to the fullest since my friend can’t be here to do it with me. As Dave Grohl says: “I’ll stick around, and learn from all that came from this.” That’s something I know I can do.

6. Strait Up by Snot (and friends)

On December 11, 1998, the lead singer of Snot, Lynn Strait died in a car accident. This album was meant to be Snot’s sophomore album, but due to Lynn’s death, things obviously changed, and the recorded music became Lynn’s epitaph, instead of his legacy. Friends of the band were asked to write lyrics and contribute vocals to the musical tracks the remaining members had laid down.

I bought this album because I liked the song “Angel’s Son” which is sung by Lajon from Sevendust. The rest of the album was metal, and at the time, I hated heavy metal. I didn’t like how the rest of the album sounded, so I never finished listening to it. So, when Alex died, I never thought to put this album on my turntable.

Once Foo Fighters “failed me,” I was stuck again trying to make sense of what happened. Needing some kind of aural sustenance, I went back to my record shelf, only this time, I decided to give Strait Up a second chance. It was an “In Memory Of…” I pulled it out and played it. All of a sudden, all this loud, nasty music made sense to me. Their aggression towards losing one of their peers; they felt what I felt: angry, confused, let down, disappointed.

Strait Up was the only album I listened to for the next month. I couldn’t tell you how many times I spun it. Of course, I still listen to that album today. Every time one of the songs comes across my iPod, I seem to scream, to sing, to dance, to work, to do everything harder and with more passion. All I think in Alex’s memory. Also, it’s a constant reminder to enjoy everyday I have here, to always follow my heart, and always go big, or go home.

And Then The Kid Came To Town...

Let me tell you, the last two weeks have been pretty awesome.

It all started two Saturdays ago when my old friend JC met me in Venice for some beers. JC and I were PA’s together on our first paying gig, the TV show Hack. He recently moved out to LA and wanted to catch up; I haven’t seen the guy in about four years. It was a good time; we caught up here at The Hotel, then made our way down to Hinano’s to continue the reunion over many, many Pabst Blue Ribbons. Devon, her boyfriend Tony, and their friend Jackie Dos met up with us to help finish off the night.

Now, there was a little event that occurred that Saturday, which led to one of the best Sunday nights I’ve had in a very long time, but at the risk of jinxing everything, I’ll save that little tidbit for another post. (Or you can just ask me in person.)

The following week was pretty chill. Nothing much of interest except for a little dinner action with Brandon W. up at Busby’s in Santa Monica where we discussed his impending movie premiere coming up Saturday night. Brandon’s roommate and friend (and friend of mine now as well) Josh bartends there, so he hooks it up. The highlight of the night came when we witnessed some dude call a chick chubby, which led to her tossing a full drink on the guy. It was pretty rad.

Friday night was the beginning of the end. Joe Child landed at LAX and made his way to The Hotel around 9 PM that night under everyone’s radar (except yours truly – hey someone needs to be in on it). I think our group of friends who never let each other know when we are coming to town. We just blow in, surprise the shit out of everyone, and upset everyone’s delicate schedule which is followed by a week of catch-up from all of the sleep deprivation.

Friday night we made our way back to Busby’s and proceeded to get a little toasted thanks again to Josh. Brandon was there again, of course, along with a bunch of our other friends, and Jared S., who flew into town for the premiere as well. (Brandon produced the movie and Jared wrote and directed it.)

Saturday was the big premiere: THIS MODERN LOVE. And I have to be honest. The film was amazing. Seriously. Funny, a little touching, brilliantly written, shot gorgeously. It’s going to go places. I can feel it. Also it was good premiere b/c I got to see a lot of my old friends whom I worked with on Punk’d. I’m really proud of those guys (and the rest of the guys who helped: Josh starred in it, Casey helped produce too, I think) for accomplishing what they did making the film. Also, it prods my fire to get something going of my own. I really need to get the script written I’ve been talking about this last year.

After the showing, I made my way back to Venice to meet up with Joe Child. We teamed up with Johnny and Bruno and went to Baja Cantina for some Mexican styled drinks and food. The happy couple dipped out after eats, and me and Child made our way to Hinano’s (where I tend to spend most of my Saturday nights getting plowed with the help of the bartender Brian). Joe was feeling a little sluggish, so we stepped outside for some fresh air and somehow ended up at The Whaler where a couple of ladies thought we were cute and proceeded to buy us a lot of shots. I think we went back to Hinano’s for last call, but everything after The Whaler was nothing more than a major blur.

Super Bowl Sunday ruled. Not only b/c the Giant beat the Pats, thus ending their perfect season, but allowing the public to see just how much a little bitch Bill Belichick is when he walked off the field, embarrassed and demeaned before the game clock hit zero. Fuckin’ cheater. We had a full house btw the Hotel staff, their girlfriends’ sans me, Child, Jade, Victor, Monty, Blitsch, Abby, Colby, and good ol’ Darren who made the drive all the way from Lake Elsinore. God bless that guy for always making the drive up here. Oh, and Bruno made so much good food. Johnny let me break my diet and I had a little bit of everything: sweet BBQ wings, spicy-chicken skewers, corn bread muffins, steamed veggies, two difft’ kinds of vegan cupcakes, and vegetarian chili. She also made her world famous guacamole, but I don’t eat that. Not just hers, I don’t like any kind of guac. After the party thinned out, The Hotel Staff hung out til about 11 at night just bullshitting and taking dirty photos.

This week marks my second to last shoot week on Parental Control. It went pretty good. The daters were really good, and the boyfriend was too, so that made filming really smooth. That and Katie (my producer) and I make a really good team so we kill it out in the field every day.

Tuesday night Joe and I stayed up late having some beers, catching up, which was followed up by a nice bro-mantic breakfast at the Sidewalk Café overlooking Venice Beach Wednesday morning before I went to work. Roger, Johnny, Bruno and I went out for one last drink with Child before he flew home. I dipped out early due to a 6:30 AM call, but I got to see Joe one last time when I woke up to head to work b/c he was fixing to leave (late) for his flight back to NYC.

It was good to spend a week with Joe Child. I love hanging out with that kid, reminiscing about the old days of West Chester (especially b/c he’s so in love with Bam). And getting drunk with that kid is even more fun. Doesn’t happen to often since we live of diff’t coasts now, but it makes those nights we meet up that much better.

Thanks Joe. Good times, as always. Can’t wait for the next go round.

2008 is turning out to be a great year.