Adventures in Hollywood

I spent my last two nights hanging out in Hollywood.  More specifically, I spent the nights seeing a pair of concerts at the Avalon, a concert venue north of Hollywood Blvd and Vine.  The bands performing were Pelican, Circa Survive, and Thrice. 

Thursday night I stayed and watched all three acts.  I have never seen Pelican perform, but I must say I was pleasantly surprised.  I have read about them in Alternative Press; they were a band who, despite the norm, have no lead singer (of course the articles mentioned more than that, but you can track down and read the articles yourself).  When I heard they were the opening, I was curious to see how it was going to go.  They were great.  Their set was more along the lines of a laser light show accompanied with metal-ish music.  I can’t really describe their sound so much, but it’s along the lines of Between The Buried And Me without the growling and a little more melodic, almost Pink Floyd-ish.

The next act needs no introduction (well maybe a little one if you don’t know who they are): Circa Survive.  With the force of one the most beautiful sounding band names and probably the best front man of the new generation Circa Survive tore down the stage and had people screaming their lyrics in droves.  Anthony Green (the band’s infamous vocalist) danced around the stage like a possessed demon while belting out Circa mainstays such as “Act Appalled” and “Kicking Your Crosses Down.”  I highly suggest checking out this band.  Ever since the first time I saw them play back east (they are from Philadelphia – BONG!) I have been a huge fan.  It’s really hard to describe their music also except that it’s awesome.  I tried explaining them to Brian down at La Cita last weekend, but I found it really difficult, so just go their myspace or something and take a listen. 

Thrice was the headliner.  Now, I can remember the first time I saw Thrice play.  It was at the Electric Factory in Philly.  They played along side Coheed & Cambria and Thursday if your head can wrap itself around such a bill.  Thrice was born in the southern California punk scene and played punk fused with a little speed metal.  I think Vic Carreno turned me on to them, an old friend from college.  Anyway, recently, Thrice released an album entitled The Alchemy Index. It’s four smaller EPs, each with eight songs using the four elements as inspiration.  I’m not a fan.  I mean, it’s not a bad album, it’s just not a Thrice album.  I miss the old days when the show was a mass of mosh-pitters and loud vocals with the occasional acoustic jam.  I was disappointed with their performance Thursday night, as it was all over the place and not what I’m used to.  Now, I’m not entirely opposed to an band “growing up” a little, but Thrice changed it’s sound a lot and they don’t feel like the same old band.  Most of the show was the new stuff.  They opened with a couple tunes from Artist In The Ambulance and closed with “Deadbolt” from Illusion Of Safety but I feel like book-ending the show with hits just doesn’t make for a good show, especially when it’s little teeny-bopper emo chicks screaming “DEADBOLT” b/c that’s probably the only song they know.  I’m sure they have no idea what Identity Crisis even is.  All in all though, it was a decent show. 

Now Friday began like any other Friday, with an afternoon at The Whaler.  I came home, took a quick nap and made my way back to Hollywood.  Why? B/c if Circa Survive is playing, I’m there.  I went back to the Avalon like I did the night before.  Parked in the CNN building lot like I did the night before.  Walked up Sunset to Vine, then north on Vine to the venue, like I did the night before.  However, as I got closer to Hollywood Blvd, I noticed something different, unlike the night before.  Police cars kept buzzing by me.  Some guys I was standing next to noticed it as well and said something to the affect of “Something big must be going on.”  That’s when I noticed three, yes three, LAPD helicopters circling the intersection of Hollywood and Vine.  As I crossed over to the north side of the crosswalk, I turned to see an ocean of cop cars heading west on Hollywood.  Cars on Vine screeched to a halt as a white Ford Escort missing half of the front fender weaves through the traffic, tries to pull a u-turn, but instead breaks the front axle, slides up onto the south curb and smashes into the traffic light pole.  It was surreal seeing the crowd disperse like water after a fat guy jumps in a pool.  Especially b/c seconds before I was on that same corner.  Now dead where he stood, cops enveloped the car, guns in hand, and pulled the bloodied assailant from the vehicle, slammed him on the trunk of one of the black and whites, cuffed him, and threw him in the back of the car.  It… was… AWESOME!

After the police dispersed us onlookers, I went and watched Pelican and Circa Survive for the second time.  Circa played a completely different set, which was pretty dope.  It was the last night of the tour, so while they were playing, a whole mess of people (who I am assuming were techs and the other bands) crashed the stage during Circa’s last song, all dressed up like bandits and robbers and a horse and covered them with about five Costco toilet paper packaged full of TP.  It was pretty great.  I didn’t stay for Thrice b/c I’m sure their set was the same, and had no real desire to watch them again. 

My Friday ended like it tends to do from time to time with a trip to Busby’s with my friends from Punk’d. Brandon and Jared M. went out to meet Josh, who bartends there a couple nights a week in between acting gigs.  Nothing too special about last night at all; just a good time with friends. 

I found out this week my cousin Melissa went and got herself pregnant.  Way to go and get knocked up.  Just kidding.  She’s married and her and her husband Jake were planning on starting to try to have a kid this summer, but apparently when they threw caution to the wind on their trip to Jamaica… well let’s just say first time’s the charm in this case.   Look out people, the first of the next generation of Mallick’s will be here in December and if he/she turns out anything like the rest of the family, he/she is going to be a total riot.  Congrats to them, they deserve it, those two crazy kids. 

Tonight is Oki’s birthday, so for a third night, I will be heading into the ‘hood.  Different venue though.  I plan on stopping by to give the birthday boy a big kick in the nuts and catch up with Joe Montalbano and a few others who will probably make an appearance, stay for a bit, then make my way back down to La Cita. Why? B/c I have nothing else to do. 

Monday I finally go back to work.  I am doing the pilot with Dakota, so wish me luck.  Should be fun. 

I want to leave you with one last piece of inspiration.  To quote the amazing unrivaled Anthony Green: 

Nothing you ever planned on turns out the way you planned.

Who Watches The Watchmen

Ladies and gentlemen, we’re entering week number five of unemployment.  But there’s a little beacon of hope on the horizon.  AJ called me Friday and Dakota has a project lasting a couple weeks I may be able to jump on.  I would only have to miss one day of work b/c I am going on Warped Tour with the Rad Girls. 

OH YEH! Guess what? The Rad Girls are going out to do a couple dates on this summer’s Warped Tour.  We’re gonna screw around with the fans all up and down the Golden State.  We are hitting up three spots in June and a couple more in August.  I’m really pumped b/c I get to shoot.  DVX in hand, I will follow around three hot ladies at one of the biggest, if not the biggest, summer music festival in the country.  I’m not really a huge fan of large concerts, and in fact haven’t had a desire to attend Warped Tour in a long time.  Yes, I am fan of a number of the bands who participate in the show, but I enjoy seeing the band up close and relish the intimacy of a smaller venue like the El Rey on Wilshire, or even a medium size venue such as the Avalon in Hollywood.  But hey, honestly, who can turn down a free trip to San Francisco with the Rad Girls?  I sure as hell couldn’t.

Memorial Day weekend has been going good so far.  Friday (b/c my weekend starts the same way each and every week) I had my mostly-weekly lunch at The Whaler with Devon.  It was interesting to say the least.  I met her brother David who was in town visiting.  He coaches a trampoline gymnastics team back in Ohio.  Really nice guy and it was good to meet another member of Devon’s clan.  I ran into Jackie who was having a quick cocktail before work started at Mercedes Grille.  I don’t want to dwell on the subject for any length of time, besides, those of you who know and care about the story already know it.  Anyway, it was good to see her. 

Friday night, the Hotel Staff and their respective women, sans my own, went and met Bruce for drinks up at The Daily Pint in Santa Monica.  Love that bar; great little spot right near MTV.  Bruce was my producer on Viva la Bam and my co-EP on Parental Control.  GT and his wide Jen came.  And Abby came to visit too.  And J-mar.  (Man, I keep forgetting people.)  Blitsch and her new man, Gabe, even made an appearance.  It was a lot of fun and good to get a couple of the old faces together. 

Saturday night, while I was waiting for Jessica Cohen to get back from dinner with her sister, I did a little video chat with a bunch of my buddies from back in Philly.  Todd and Jamie had a bunch of people over their house, so we caught up.  On the east coast side of things was CW and Alair, Bill and Marie, Kyle and his new girlfriend (which apparently we all found out at the same time they were dating, so even 3000 miles away I was in the loop on that gossip) and of course Todd and Jamie.  I gave them a quick little tour of my apartment since none of them have come to visit yet (jerks).  I was telling them about this really funny and ridiculous tattoo Johnny wants me to get on my back.  Todd wanted me to show the crowd back home where I was gonna get the tattoo, and mooned the whole room from the opposite coast.  It was brilliant. 

Todd wasn’t paying attention this morning, and he went to video chat with me at 9:30 AM Eastern Standard time, forgetting the three hour time difference, so my computer started ringing at 6:30 AM Pacific Time.  Lame.  I was like, you gotta be kidding me.  And the best part was he was only hitting me up to give me his rendition of Numa Numa.  What a total boner.  I would have killed him had I actually gotten out of bed to answer that call only to find out he was screwing with me. 

Jess Cohen was in town visiting from Ohio (was everyone from Ohio on vacation this week?) after her twin sister Lindsay and her returned from a trip to Israel.  Jess worked with me on Punk’d.  I ride my bike over to Lindsay’s place.  I beat the two of them there, but once they arrive we go inside, put on Purple Rain and the girls fall asleep.  Party animals.  After about an hour, I dipped out.  I hung out with Jess the day before for a bit, so I didn’t feel awful leaving them passed out on the sofa. 

Since I was wide awake, I decided to head downtown to see my buddy Brian who bartends at La Cita.  Great spot on a Saturday night.  Inside, Rachero music blasts from a band on a little makeshift stage and two hundred middle-aged Hispanics dance around while out back, on “El Patio,” the same eight people are always hanging out, is where I spent my night.  Brian tossing Tecate in my face all night, Tommy, the bar-back, cleaning up after me, and iPods playing old-school punk made for a very relaxing night. 

My weekend ended the same way it always does, with a trip to The Whaler. (I should just have my mail forwarded there I spend so much time at that place.)  My dear, old friend Nicole Havre made the trek down from Hollywood to join me.  I haven’t seen her in like a month.  I met Nicole while I was running around the western states doing Bull Run.  She was living in Phoenix working at a bar called Rula Bula.  Joe Child happened to driving across the country at the time to go back east for Bam’s Unholy Union and was in PHX.  Nicole answered a Craig’s List ad I had posted for PA’s, and she mentioned she was working that night, so me and the boy-toy wonder went and met her.  Long story short, we kept in touch, I told her to hit me up when she was moved to LA and I would help her get work.  She did, and a week after moving, she was a production assistant at MTV.  We had a great Sunday.  We walked back thru the canals, which she didn’t know existed, and capped off a good Sunday Funday. 

Later, James swung by for a night cap.  We hit up the Townhouse for a 16 ounce Boddinton’s Ale and met the staff of Hama Sushi.  So random. 

As for the rest of my “holiday,” I am going to hit up the gym, and then continue reading DMZ and see where the 2^nd Civil War is going next.  Obviously since I am back on DMZ, it means I finished reading Watchmen.  I must say, as a whole, it was a great graphic novel.  Now (SPOILER ALERT), unfortunately, the last chapter ruined the whole experience for me.  Up until that point it was one of the best books I have ever read, but all of a sudden there’s this giant alien destroying a city.  I mean, why not drop a bomb or something.  You have to suspend some believability through the whole book to believe in superheroes, but that instance just went too far.  I understand what the author was trying to do, and the character’s justification for using this plot device makes a ton of sense, but the author probably could have substituted anything else in there and it would have made a ton of more sense than a giant alien creature.  Maybe it’s just me.  Now, don’t get my wrong, I still like the book.  Great art, great story, I recommend anyone who enjoys reading to give it a once over, even if you’re not a fan of comic books.  It holds up and is worth the time it takes.

I think that is about it, I’m gonna finish watching 25^th Hour then hit up some Gold’s Gym action.

Hey Todd, don’t forget: three hours time difference.  You’re as bad as my mom.

I Like To Call Him Malik...

Hello folks.  So I’m going onto week three of unemployment and it’s starting to get a little old.  As much as I love having all the free time in the world to work out, play Mario Kart Wii, and read comic books (just started reading The Watchmen), I kinda would like to start having an income again.

The one major positive to the whole not-working is I finally had the time to shoot the inaugural episode of my podcast, Venice Music Project.  The VMP has musicians stopping by The Hotel to play a couple songs acoustic, then going out in Venice to show off any one of the awesome spots that make up Dogtown. 

My friends’ Rios and Shahram brought their band Capulet (www.myspace.com/capulet) to town and rocked it out last Saturday afternoon.  Colby came by to help out and brought a twelver of Stella with him, which by the time the band showed up (two hours late) he was a sixer deep.  And unfortunately, since I had no other help on the shoot, he got stuck holding the boom mic all afternoon.  All in all it was a good experience.  I don’t want to give away too much, so please go check out the video for yourself.  Here is the link to the MyspaceTV page:

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=33870663

It’s getting a great response so far.  In fact, I want to share with you all Dooner’s shining review (FYI: I called Dooner out in my first email b/c I assumed he would give me some bullshit like we tend to do to each other like “suck donkey balls you shit stain”, so hopefully that explains his response):

 

Now see...you HAD to call me out as the one who would write something non-PG, there-by forcing me to become the A-HOLE (sorry, Mrs. Mallick) everyone hates..."the guy who REPLIES TO ALL".

If you had NOT called me out, all I would have done was reply to JUST YOU saying something along the lines of: "Good stuff Malik (i know his name is Mallick people...I like to call him Malik, after the great Drexel Dragon/San Antonio Spur Malik Rose, OK?). Now, back to me complimenting him..."good stuff, Malik! way to start making it happen out there and keep up the good work!! I wish you all the best in your VMP endeavor...way to stop sucking".

My hope is by the end of the week to have at least a partial website up and running to host all of the videos.  Once that is done, I can officially put the podcast on iTunes.  Also, future episodes will be on Youtube (the running time on Ep. 1 was too long) and eventually on a myspace page of its own. 

Friday night I went down to Irvine to see Capulet play a show and they killed it.  It was a little benefit show at UC Irvine.  While I was there, I also booked a band to do Episode 2.  After the show, we all went out to this dive bar in Newport Beach called Goat Hill.  One hundred and forty-one beers on tap, and what do I get a pitcher of?  Pabst Blue Ribbon.  That’s right.  I got my Stella for Sundays, but my old friend PBR is always there ready to party every other night of the week.

This most recent Saturday I made my first excursion out to the Staples Center in downtown to do a publicity type photo shoot for the Los Angeles Avengers, the city’s arena football team.  I’ve never been into area football, but if that’s your thing, go for it.  I didn’t pay as close attention to the game as if I was just watching it, but from what I did catch, it seemed a little slow for my typical Philly Eagle weekends.  Fans did fill the seats, and cheered and screamed as loud as any obnoxious drunk I’ve seen line Broad Street, but for me, I didn’t feel the same die-hard, live-and-die-by-your-team feeling I experience not only in Philly, but also the little sweaty church called Sports Harbor I attend on Sunday to watch the games now living in California.  I haven’t gone through the pictures yet, but I’m a little nervous I didn’t get what I was looking for.  I was supposed to be getting shots of players in front of sponsor signs, and I got more wrapped up in getting great shots of plays being made than framing up the wall logos.  I’m gonna try to dive into that wading pool tomorrow and hope for the best. 

After the game, I made my way down to La Cita bar in downtown to hang out with one of my favorite bartenders Brian (don’t worry, Devon, you’re still #1), have a couple pints of Tecate, and bullshit about not having any money.  The owners were there hanging out, and we spent the night playing this card game called “Apples to Apples.”  I’m not very good at describing this game, but I’ll give it a shot.  Basically, there is one set of green cards with a description like “high and dry” on it, and players select one card from their hand, the red deck, which they feel has a object on it which best displays what “high and dry” means.  Now, like a rotating dealer in poker, there is a judge who is completely subjective and his decision to pick which red card wins can be based on reasons ranging in spectrum from the best literal definition, to the one that is the most random and makes him or her laugh the most.  First person to win seven cards wins the game.  Very entertaining and a lot of fun.  I must make it back to La Cita more often. 

Quickly, my prediction for the NBA playoffs:  LA vs. BOSTON, Boston humiliates the Lakers in five games.  That’ll teach Kobe Bryant to skip college.

If any of you guys out there are into taking risks on the good ol’ NASDAQ, or you just piddle around with a little Marvel stock like me, please check out Johnny’s new website www.stockmarketjunkies.com.  I’ll also have a link to it on the left there under “Links.” (If you’re reading this on myspace, go to mallickisking.blogspot.com to see the “Links” section of my blog.

That’s my post.  Please please PLEASE check out Venice Music Project.  Episode 2 is coming next month.  Shut your windows and lock all your doors.  Choke on this!

For The Greater Good

So the Mega-Bitch got her way.  I got fired last Monday from Mobile Home Disaster.  It was all a bunch of bullshit and lame excuses.  Basically certain people don’t think I work hard enough or plan things the right way.  All I know is that everything got done, it got done well, got done on time, and it got done right.  Something was definitely going on behind the curtain.  I mean, when I got canned, no one, not even the Executive Producer knew about it.  It just seems shady that the guy who runs the whole show is shocked (and is actually considering promoting me) and somehow I get fired.  I couldn’t have been doing that horrible of work if the entire crew thought I was the most reliable worker out there, sans one or two people.  Whatever, from what I hear, it’s a complete cluster fuck over there now, so it might actually be a blessing I got my ass out of there when I did.  The DP James sent me a message last night at our AC Mark’s birthday party saying you’re not “the man” until you get fired, so now I’m officially “The Man.”

Getting kicked to the curb did leave me time to finally shoot the inaugural episode of the Venice Music Project.  My friends Shahram and Rios brought their band Capulet (www.myspace.com/capulet) over to the Hotel and we rocked it out all afternoon.  The band, despite not having practiced, sounded great.  For those of you who don’t know, I began VMP in the hopes bands would come perform acoustically in my apartment, followed by the band hanging out in Venice showing off all of the gloriousness which is my home.  The bands gets the final cut for their myspace and website, and I put it up on the VMP website and myspace, as well as Youtube, and it’s becomes a promotional piece for the bands.  And it’s a lot of fun for me to produce.

The guys from Capulet, rounded out by Eric Silva and Danny, instead of doing one specific activity, gave a overview of all the major spots in Dogtown.  I have yet to look at the footage, but the content I shot out on the street is gold, I just hope the sound was okay.  Also, I’m a little nervous about the performance footage, but it’s just a simple podcast, so it doesn’t have to be perfect. 

Having all this free time has also allotted me plenty of minutes to waste playing the new Mario Kart Wii.  Pretty awesome.  I’ve been playing all week and I must say, it’s a lot of fun.  I’m about halfway through the game, and I just unlocked myself as a character.  I can drive around using my Mii character, so I am now part of the game.  It’s pretty funny.

Last night DarrOn and I went and saw stand-up comic Brian Regan perform in concert.  Dude is hilarious.  We both almost fell out of our seats laughing.  I have never been to a real deal stand-up concert before.  I’ve been to The Imrpov and The Comedy Store, but this was a totally different experience.  Check out a little spring-smidge for lunatics right here:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8kThoZpF_U

After the show, we skeedaddled over to the Hotel Angelino in Brentwood for Mark Gamsey’s birthday.  The Lounge there is a little high class for me, but we all had a good time having some drinks and sharing in the merriment of Mark’s night.  I didn’t want to spend to much money, so DarrOn was nice enough to grab the first three rounds, which probably cost a lot b/c I had three straight Crown Royal’s on the rocks, and I think his first three rounds consisted of five Captain and cokes. 

To wrap this up, I want to leave you with this one piece of advice: GO SEE IRONMAN!  Without giving too much away, at 12:01 on Thursday night, I witnessed the greatest superhero movie of all time.  Ironman hit every note right on the head.  It was funny, exciting, the acting was spot on.  Robert Downey Jr. is Tony Stark.  Hands down.  The casting could not have been more perfect.  Gwenneth Paltrow, Jeff Bridges, and Terrence Howard were also brilliant.  Jon Favreau also did an amazing job directing.  This movie should easily win awards somewhere.  I mean, Johnny raved about it, and he rarely raves about anything.

Oh yeh, also, if you go see Ironman make sure you stay and watch through the end credits.  Trust me. 

And It Would Take A Good Goddamn Long Time Too

It’s been a while.  I know, I know.  A lot has happened though.  I will try to keep it as concise as I can since I have a lot to fill you in on.

First off, I got a new job.  I work on a show called Mobile Home Disaster.  Basically it’s Extreme Home Makeover but we redo mobile homes.  I get to spend every week in a trailer park.  It’s pretty funny sometimes.  I am the On-Site Associate Producer.  Basically it’s my job to support all of the producers, be they Trade-Out, creative, or Executive, and make sure whatever they need to happen, happens.  It’s a little vague, but it’s the simplest explanation. 

The job is getting better.  I spent the first three weeks of it in the office, where every producer kept handing me work off their plates because their APs are either lazy or just not that good.  Plus they know I get it done, get it done fast, and do it well. 

We just finished our 2^nd week of filming.  It went 100 times better than week number one.  The first week was such a big build that we had to extend an extra day (which by the way, we began shooting on a Wednesday, so that meant I had to work on a Sunday.  Fuck me.)  Plus each one of those days was at least a sixteen-hour day.  Saturday I began working at 3:45 AM.  How ridiculous is that?  Sunday night (or should I say Monday morning) I got home at 5 AM and I started the morning before at like seven.  Twenty-two glorious hours.  We were all destroyed physically and mentally by the end of it, but we all made it out the other side alive.  I have a great team of PA’s (production assistants for you lay people) and we made the best of it. 

This past week was a smaller build and we actually got out at decent times each night.  Even last night we left set at 11:30 making it a fifteen-hour day.  The rest of them were like twelve or thirteen.  And I learned how to drive a forklift, so that was pretty badass.  Very macho. 

The worst part of the job is this fucking’ moron of a production manager we have.  Her name is Beth, and she is nothing short of an idiot.  She’s inconsiderate, she doesn’t listen, and it seems as if she has never stepped foot on a set in her life.  She discovered she lives like 2 blocks from me, so she made me drive her to work two mornings; one of them, she walked out her front door twenty-five minutes after I said to meet me, and made me late, to which the Assistant Director, made me feel like a total ass.  The other morning, she talked to me about inane bullshit the whole way to work and criticized the talk radio (Adam Corolla mornings) I was listening too.  Just shut up and thank me for picking your sorry ass up.  The woman refuses to drive herself (part of why she is inconsiderate) to work.  The one morning I “forgot” to pick her up, she called up our make-up artist Deanne to drive her in, putting her out.  There where two nights where she got to work and made her drive her home b/c she didn’t have a ride and I had to sit and wait for ninety minutes after I was done for her to finish her work before I could drive home.  One night I told her I couldn’t take her and made her take a cab home.  That woman will never step foot in any of my vehicles again. 

Okay, I need to talk about something else b/c I am really starting to get angry, and it’s my day off. 

A few weeks back I went to a show up at the Avalon in Hollywood.  Pretty decent show.  Silverstein was the headliner, and they put on an amazing post-hardcore show as always.  Got myself involved in a few circle pits and sang along the whole time.  Got rid of a little of the frustration I had.  Silverstein is one of those acts that always seems to put on a solid show, so I try to see them each and every time they come to town. 

Opening for the Canucks (oh yeh, SS is from Canada) was The Devil Wears Prada and A Day To Remember.  TDWP is a Christian metalcore act, who had a pretty rockin’ set.  I didn’t know much about them, and their albums are on my “To-Buy” list.  ADTR at first sounded like every other post-hardcore/metalcore act out there.  All I really knew about them was that Victory was pushing their debut album really hard b/c it was supposed to be out of this world.  They weren’t bad, but I must say, the highlight of their set, for me, was when they covered Kelly Clarkson’s “Since You Been Gone.”  They of course growled and screamed thru the whole thing, and honestly, it’s better than the original.  All in all, it was a great concert and I had fun. 

And speaking of awesome music.  I was walking down the boardwalk Saturday afternoon on my way to The Whaler for a little lunch on another one of my random days off.  All of a sudden, I look up and who do I see but Scotty, Corey, and Chris from Norma Jean hanging out on a deck in Venice.  Of course, I saluted with the traditional devil horns and after a nice 10 minutes convo with Corey, I discovered the band is in town to record their new album and they recently began preproduction.  I pointed them towards the local hot spots for boozin’ and offered to buy the first round if they could track me down.  Norma Jean is an amazing southern metal band.  Check them out:

http://www.myspace.com/normajean

If any of your haven’t seen the Mega Fairy website yet, please check it out here:

www.megafairy.com

I’ve got a lot of positive responses.  So I hope you found it as funny as the Hotel Staff did.

Sadly, I am going to take you out on a somber note.  Our friend Keoni passed away last week.  I only met him once or twice, but he worked with Johnny and Joe Child on their show in Hawaii.  Joe actually worked with him a number of times, and basically took him under his wing and taught him everything he knew about cameras and made Joe the great Assistant Camera he is today.  From the little time I spent with him, and from what everyone told me about him, he seemed like a really incredible person and I wish I got to know him a lot better. 

Here’s to you Keoni.  We’ll see you on the other side.  Mahalow.  

Your Anger Is Not A Gift

This is a little addendum to my post about Take Action! b/c the following incident happened at the show.

First though, what I came across an article today where last month a fifteen-year-old Oxnard, CA student came out and said he was gay.  After his epiphany, he began to wear make-up and more feminine clothing.  Then he was shot at point blank range in the school’s computer lab.  He died a few days later in the hospital.  Another student shot him.  The shooter was fourteen.  He was charged with a hate crime.  The fifteen-year-old was killed for being diff’t from the other boys in the school.

I know I am probably a hypocrite for writing this piece. I use the word “faggot” and “gay” all the time.  I don’t use it hatefully though.  I don’t see people as black, white, gay, anything.  Not sure if it’s just my generation or my tolerance level, but I think everyone looks the same.  Words are just words, but when you put hate behind them, that’s when words begin to take shape and turn into something horrible and painful.

When I was at the show last week, I saw words become more than just words.  And it made me mad. 

I was at a rock concert.  Bands are always telling the fans to take care of each other in the pit, look out for one another, how they are happy we are there together sharing the experience, how we’re all equals.  We’re all there to enjoy the music and have a good time.  In between the sets, there was this guy who was dressed a little diff’t from the guy standing behind him.  And by diff’t I mean the guy was wearing skin-tight jeans, a white t-shirt, a black vest, and had his hair teased out like one of the guys from Dirty Penny (these guys rule by the way).  Seriously, not really out of place.  Well, the guy behind him, this drunk fucking prick, fucking meathead, started calling the guy dressed a little off, a “fucking faggot.”  And did it a number of times trying to get his attention.  He told him to “get his faggot ass and get out.”  The “funny looking” guy ignored him and went on having fun with his friends.  The meathead was a total fucking asshole in every sense of the word.  Is that necessary? 

I feel if you catch someone calling someone else a faggot in a hurtful way, b/c of how he’s dressed or otherwise, you should be able to kick the living snot out of him.  Right then and there.  No consequences.  What a total fucking prick.

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.