Beers and Sharpies.
I have the ominous feeling that some of these are going to end up on MySpace… :-/
The first thing I wanted when I got to L.A. was fresh tortillas, natch. Chair and I went to a cute little neighborhood near Union Station and had veggie fajitas and margaritas. Delicioso.
We then walked, bussed, and metroed forever in the blazing hot sun and finally made it to Josh’s house around 6:00. We had quick showers and were then on our way to the Troubadour.
I checked the website first before going to make sure cameras were allowed. When we got there I asked Josh to drive around the block for a second while Chair went up and made sure cameras were allowed. They said yes, so Josh went on his way and we got in line. Once we got up to the door, guess what suddenly wasn’t allowed? My camera.
We were so upset. Chair had to call Josh and beg him to come back to get it. As we were standing there, the bouncer pointed me in the direction of the tour manager and said to get permission from him. I went up and talked to him, Joel, explained our situation, and he allowed me to go in but I had to agree that they were the owners of all the pictures. Sure, whatever. He then gave me his card and asked for mine and I kinda chuckled and explained to him that I am not a professional photographer. I just like to take pictures.
So we finally got in, camera and all. Plus some V.I.P. pass, but we didn’t know what it was for, ahhaha.
The Troubadour was a lot smaller than I expected. About a third the size of 9:30. We got some $7 Coronas from the bar and decided that that was the last time we would ever pay $7 for a Corona. We got our spot up front and waited for the show.
The opening act was a guy called Naim Amor. He was sooooo french loungey. Fun group, but no one I would give my heart to.
DeVotchKa was their usual wonderful self. Chair and I found much amusement in the L.A. crowd. There was a metal headbanger guy totally getting into it. And some little girl with bright red lipstick literally drooling on herself. At one point she pulled Nick to her and started kissing him and wouldn’t let go. Ewwwww!
After the show, two of Chair’s friends from the Orange County Starbucks days, Khang and Brian, picked us up and we went to another friend’s birthday party. It was totally packed and crazy and drunken. Quite an interesting time. I loved being outside at night and not being hot or getting mosquito bites.
We left the party to continue our own party at Josh’s. I was texting with Rob and Jared the whole time. They were being super late night boys. Chair. Brian, and I stayed up as late as our non-chemical induced selves could before crashing on the floor watching Gondry videos.
The next day we went to Josh and Shaunette’s work to get our $20/day, unlimited miles rental car (thanks guys!) and head down to San Diego. We met up with Brian and Khang (we talked them into going) in Orange County area and then stopped through Huntington Beach to visit Chair’s friend Anna. We had lunch at a vegan vietnamese (?) place and had yummy fried bananas with coconut ice cream for dessert.
We arrived in San Diego about an hour before the show, so we walked around their Little Italy area looking for a drink. We ended up just going back to the club after our unsuccessful search and waited for the doors to open.
The Casbah is definitely one of the best little bar/clubs I’ve been too. It’s so tiny and dark and laid back and reasonably priced. Chair and I knew we in for a treat.
There was an extra opening act in San Diego, Bunky. They were soooo cute. Naim Amor did the same set as the night before, but it sounded much better at The Casbah.
The DeVotchKa set was exceptionally good. Chair and I were front and center and the stage was only about 2 feet high. I could see all the fillings in Nick’s teeth, ahahah. They played a different setlist than the night before, everything sounded wonderful, they played “Something Stupid” during the encore, and Chair and I were completely in love.
After the show, Brian took us to the Gaslamp District for last call drinks. He was our designated driver - such a trooper. It was a really busy area, very frat boy-ish. Think Bar Norfolk. We squeezed into an “irish pub” and had a drink then got the hell outta there. We stopped in at some 24 hour porn store, but it was crap. The everyday, boring stuff. Nothing exciting.
Chair and I got home around 4:30 and we were sleepy faced little girls, we passed right out.
The next day was Robyn and Tal Day! We stopped on our way to Pasadena at Paquito Mas for some fresh tortillas for a car snack. Yum yum.
I was soo looking forward to seeing my little Winnie-face.
I just love that face. Robyn and Tal are doing well. They live in a resort like apartment building. It was cute. Tal drove us around a bit of Pasadena, and took us to the top of a mountain in Altadena, where they eventually want to move to. We had lunch at a yum, yum, yum Indian restaurant called Akbar. It was ridiculously delicious and we all got soooo stuffed.
That night Chair and I had our own quiet date night. We made “Not So Clean Pauls”, our version of a “Dirty Ho” - Paulaner with Cassis or Kriek Lambic. We laid around on the couch watching silly movies ’til we fell asleep. Love Actually, which was by the far the weirdest thing I have seen in a long time. And I watch a lot of movies. We then watched Dazed and Confused. I had forgotten how horrible Wiley Wiggins is. He is even worse than Keanu Reeves, and that’s a tough part to beat.
The next day was a day of joyous airplane traveling. I was looking forward to getting home and seeing my kitties, and my Jareds, and my Wob. I missed them so.
Happy Birthday, Chair. I heart you. See you in Hawaii.
Polaroid is discontinuing the 80 series films. Damn it. Now I have to stock up. I hate the death of film.
Speaking of cameras, Nikon just introduced a slew of new Coolpixes - the S7, S7c, S8, S9, and S10 (plus two new L’s).
The S7c sent me into a fit of late night drooling excitement.
I was so close to buying a P3 the other day. I love my S1, but the 400 max ISO really bothers me. I hate that all of the Coolpixes have a 400 max ISO. What’s a girl to do in low-light situations? The P3 wasn’t ideal, but it was an improvement. It has the new Coolpix Vibration Reduction feature, and it’s wireless, but it’s also a chunk bigger than the S1, and not nearly as sexy.
Rob asked me that same night my opinion on the S5 because he was thinking about getting one. I told him I would go home and look it up because I wasn’t too familiar with that model.
And then I saw it. The glorious S7c. The point and shoot I’ve been waiting for. 1600 ISO. Vibration reduction. Wireless. Email pics directly from the camera. It’s a half inch wider than my S1, but other than that… perfect.
Now it needs to hurry up and go on sale.
Melissa’s Art
Originally uploaded by Chairhead.
I’ve been here for a month and I finally got to play dress up with mom. I love her closet.
