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Older Maybe, Not Mature

I was pleasantly surprised when my friend, who works for G.E. Aircraft Engines, informed me that she could no longer read my blog during her lunch hour. Their web filter classifies it as Mature, Adult/Nudity. Yippee!! Hmmm, I wonder why it is just now that they are filtering it. Could it be because the slumdance homepage has a picture of a naked REPUBLICAN Ah-nold? That's been up there for a while - guilty only by association. Is it because of my pictures of Satan? Of cocktails? Because of my bashing of television? Maybe my paintings of puppies and flowers... And it makes me wonder - and happy.

Overheard At A Bar In N. Hollywood

"Why doesn't everyone stop watching reality TV and just go to bars - then we could get programming back on TV."

It might work. Gotta start somewhere.

Me, Pining In The 70's

August 30, 1976
Went to West High to get my tennis uniform. Got #1. Went out with Julie, Lisa and Hilarie. Went to Nan Wendling's party. It was great. Was with Chris all night. It was the best night out of all of them, except that Julie got mad at me.
Extended entry:
I had a great night with Chris. It was the best. I like him so much. Julie got mad at me though cuz she was supposed to stay over night, but I still like Chris!!

August 30, 1978
Didn't do anything all day but miss Tony. He hasn't even left yet. Went out with Tony at night. Met his mom.

Opening Night

Hollywood Hell House opened Saturday night to a soldout crowd. They added two tours to total 14 to accommodate the masses.

-a demon tour guide-

Pastor Keenan Roberts, the creator of Hellhouse was there, looking stoic but overwhelmed. His cronies however, could not hide their sneers and disapproval. Word on the street was that there was a reporter from a Dallas paper that was out for blood, so to speak.

-Jonathan Schmock(demon tour guide) & Claudia Lonow(abortion girl)-

Maggie, the producer of Hollywood Hell House was hardly fazed, the New York Times having just featured an expose' on the show in Saturday/Sunday's paper.

Besides which, it is an apparent fact that Pastor Roberts is a media whore, and deep down knows any publicity is good publicity. And there can be no argument that Maggie's troupe of sinners is going word for word from his script.

Bill Maher showed up just in time to get "into character" and play Satan for about six of the fourteen tours.

While I had a photo session with Satan and Jesus (Andy Richter), Bill said that if he had to choose just one topic to cover and discuss for the rest of his career, it would be religion. I think it's possible if that were to happen he would never run out of things to say, besides which it would still encompass politics which has been his soapbox for a decade now. Needless to say, he made a good Satan.

When I was leaving the venue, Pastor Roberts was driving off in his convertible rental car. (When in Rome) He called out to me, in his very monotone utterance, "Did you get some good shots?" I replied that I did and as he left the lot, he said, "Make me proud!"

-Pastor Roberts and the Demon Tour Guides-

Me, Going Out In The 70's

August 28, 1976
Went to Lake Geneva today with Lisa and Julie. Had a picnic and swam in the lake. Had a lot of fun. Came home and went out again. Later I went with Lisa, Cris and David. He said he'd call tomorrow, we'll see.

August 28, 1977
Worked all day. Debbie and Robin came in and visited me. Went to a party at Mike Miller's house. Had fun. Went with Debbie, Robin and Joy.

August 28, 1978
Had my physical this morning. Went out with Deb & Nan for a while. Went out with Tony. Had an excellent time. It was fantastic. I'm going to miss him like crazy.

On the Rocks

There they were at the Steak Joynt on a Friday night. He was Robert, she was Audrey.

He drank Ten and Tonics. She drank Kettle One and Cranberry with a splash of soda.

The damned lightest Kettle & Cran she ever did see.

Then Robert went to the little boys room, they got separated and Audrey was left to walk home alone.

ME, BUMMING AROUND IN THE 70'S

August 27, 1976
Went to band from 9-12. Yuch. I'm so sick of it. Went swimming all day. Dave H. and Brad L. came over today, and Bill H. called and asked me out. Went to band (again). Dave came over again to see if I wanted to do something. Said no. Oh well.

August 27, 1977
Went to Geneva to shop with Lisa, Debbie & Robin. Went to a party for Angel at night with Lisa, Julie, Debbie, Elaine and Lisa Columbo. It was pretty fun.

August 27, 1978
Bummed around all day with Debbie and John. Went out at night with Debbie, Nan & DeDe. Went over to Patty's.

Me, Juggling In the 70's

August 25, 1976
Mary and I rode our bikes to band, 9-12. Went to tennis practice 1-2. Played C. Dickson. Worked at the pro shop from 3-5. Band rehearsal from 6:30-9.

August 25, 1978
Went to tennis and to the Y to talk to Mrs. Brown. Went over to Angel's with Joy. Went out with Tony at night. Played tennis. Went to his house.

Author's note:
How did we do it all without cell phones?

Quote Of The Day

Heard in the parking lot of the Toluca Mart:

"You wanna do, like, your best version of bad Skakespeare."

Me In The 70's

August 24, 1976
Went to band in the morning from 9-12. Then went to tennis practice from 1-3. Julie called then I went to band again from 6:30-9:00.

August 24, 1978
No practice, it rained. Got my car today! Went to the Van Halen, Black Sabbath concert with Joy, Steve, Debbie, Lisa & Robin. Had a real good time!

Author's note:
With Ozzy Osbourne's recent fame and fortune I didn't ever remember seeing Black Sabbath, but apparently I did. However, just last weekend Van Halen was in town at the Staples Center. I ran into several people that were going or had just gone and all I could think was 'been there, done that'. I will say I did approve of one friend taking his 14 year old son to see them even if they were fronted by Sammy Hagar again. Cabo Wabo, dude.

You Heard It Here First

Or maybe not.

The Boys Of Summer

Mary Jane got a fifty cent an hour raise and a pair of Dodger tickets. Which of course ends up costing us about ninety dollars in beer, water and peanuts. Dodgers lost 10-1(do I care?), but it was more about the girls sitting out in the summer sun, people watching and shooting the shit.

And getting a shot of a guy with a serious mullet.

Jesus Hearts Hollywood Hellhouse

This Saturday, August 28, at the Center For Inquiry-West's Steve Allen Theater is opening night for Hollywood Hellhouse. It guarantees laughs and "eews". Nothing like a few scare tactics to get teens to accept Christ.

A few pics from the dress rehearsal that make me go "ha":

Jonathan Schmock as one of the demon tour guides.

Jeremy spoke in class today.

Reverend Ron Zimmerman

Sexy Satan (Who will be played by Bill Maher on opening night)

Andy Richter as Jesus.

Only Ten bucks to get into Hell. C'mon along!

Me, Swingin' In The 70's

August 21, 1976
Went out to West Wind for the tournament. Played singles and doubles first round matches. Chris was out there. Julie stayed over night and Bill, Steve and all those guys came over.

August 21, 1977
Worked all day then went over to Debbie's house. Stayed there for a while then went out.

August 21, 1978
Went to tennis practice. Spent the day with Joy. Tony called. Slept all night.

Hell House In Hollywood

I'll be taking photos over the weekend of the dress rehearsals and the opening night of HELL HOUSE. There will be an article in The Sunday New York Times and also visit hollywoodhellhouse.com.
The following article was picked up by yahoo via the AP:

'Hell House' Spoof to Be Staged in L.A.

Tue Aug 17, 1:54 PM ET

DENVER - Hell House, the controversial morality play first staged at a suburban church for Halloween, is set to be spoofed in a new stage production in Los Angeles starting Aug. 28.
 
With Bill Maher playing Satan and Andy Richter as Jesus, the play will use the original play's script and special effects "to lampoon (Christian) fundamentalist beliefs about hell", producer Maggie Rowe said Monday.

"It will be a parody of itself. It will be very funny. We're having a hoot," said Rowe, who represents the Center for Inquiry-West, a group which says it promotes and defends reason and science.

The original Hell House, created by the Rev. Keenan Roberts in 1995 at an Arvada church, depicts scenes in which teens fall into hell by choosing abortion, drugs or homosexual activity. The play generated lots of interest, which led Roberts to sell $200 packages including scripts and stage instructions to about 550 churches around the world.

Rowe bought a package after telling Roberts that she was working with a youth group. The name of the play's production company is "The Youth Group."

Roberts, now the pastor of Destiny Church in Broomfield, said he was misled but still sees an opportunity in the production.

"People have been trying to damage this message since they crucified the founder of the movement," he said. "It's exciting. Hell House is going to another state of exposure."

Roberts said he plans to travel to Los Angeles for the play's opening night.

The Boyz Are Back

Filmmaker and fellow blogger Brian Flemming has started the buzz on Brian and David's next project. Take a look at the masterful website, trailer and discussion boards at thebeastmovie.com.

Me, Swimming In The 70's

August 20, 1976
Went to the pool today with Julie. Sat around with Julie, Mary W., Steve S., Mike Cearlock and Roger Dooley. (Yum) Went out with Lisa and Cris and went to Ronnie Watson's party.

Me, Hoppin' In the 70's

August 19, 1976
Went to Oak Brook with Mom and Ann all shopping. Bought a suit and two sweaters. I got pretty tired of walking around all day. Lisa came over at night and we listened to records.

August 19, 1978
Went over to Nan's all day. Went out w/Wendi, Nan & Debbie. Went to Morrow's then to Jerry Harris's, then to Ernie Ellis's, then to the Office then back to Ernie's then to Jerry's. Had an ass-kicken time.

We're No Angels

Every so often David will pick up his actor's bible True And False by David Mamet to refer to it and more often quote from. He no longer has to remind me that Mamet speaks not just for the serious actor, but for writers, artists, etc.

As I am currently unemployed per say, and spending most of my time making art and worrying about bills... and getting ready to go back to my 25 year (!) high school reunion, David read this passage to me as inspiration for the day:

"You will encounter in your travels folks of your own age who chose the institutional path, who became the arts administrators rather than the actors, the casting agents rather than the writers. These folks chose to serve an institutional authority in exchange for a paycheck, and these folks are going to be with you for the rest of your life, and you actors and writers and people who come up off the street, who live without certainty day to day and year to year are going to have to bear with being called children by these institutional types; you will, as Shakespeare tells us, endure "the spurns that patient merit the unworthy takes."
It is not childish to live with uncertainty, to devote oneself to a craft rather than a career, to an idea rather than an institution. It's courageous and requires a courage of the order that the institutionally co-opted are ill equipped to perceive. They are so unequipped to perceive it that they can only call it childish, and so excuse their exploitation of you."

Nuf said, Dawg.

Speaking of dogs, Oscar had his own creative bout while I was at the gym...

Inspired.

Me In the 70's

August 18, 1976
Went to Excellence 8-10. Went out to West Wind with with Julie all day. Steve came out there. Went out with Julie and Lisa. Went to the creek and Dave, Bill, and Steve came out there. Had a lot of fun.

August 18, 1978
Went to Woodfield with Debbie, Nan, Paula, Joan, Patty & DeDe. Went to the Office with Debbie and Nan. Left with Tony. I love that mother fucker.

Author's note:
How rude! Sorry, mom & dad. I guess I wasn't sick of guys after all. Just made crazy by them. I'm afraid I wasn't the last girl Tony made nuts... R.I.P. Tony R.

Me In The 70's

AUGUST 17, 1976
Gail and I won our final round in the tourney. Yea. Ate lunch at the Country Club. Terrible night. Went out with Lisa till 11:00. Woopie. Talked to Chris. (hardly) I'M SICK OF GUYS!!!!!!!

AUGUST 17, 1977
Wow. Went to Blackwell and talked to Ken. Sob. Said goodbye before he goes to school. Worked at night then drove around. Boring. Debbie got a new car today.

August 17, 1978
Worked all day. Went over to Nan's at night. Went to the movie Revenge of the Pink Panther.

All I'm Losin Is A Little Mascara

I guess it had been a couple months since I checked into Tommy Stinson's website so it wasn't till I was browsing iTunes for reunion music that I saw he had a new album out called Village Gorilla Head. I was just about to click "download" when I realized I wouldn't have the artwork/liner notes if I bought it on line. So I scurried down to Amoeba and purchased the CD. Essentially I paid six dollars plus tax for the pictures and lyrics.

Well, I couldn't be happier for Tommy. Maybe the frustration of being Axl's bass boy for the last I don't know how many years, gave him the motivation for this sweet record. It makes me sniffle - our little boy is all growed up! This is definitely his best effort since post Replacements endeavors.

Playboy magazine called it "an ambitious soulful outpouring...one of the most genuine things we've heard all year." I concur.

I just want to know one thing - Tommy, have you learned to drive yet?

Whole Lotta Love

Mothers, don’t let your daughters out of the house! I finally watched “Song Remains The Same” last night. Led Zeppelin at Madison Square Garden in 1973. Five stars, baby. 139 minutes of pure fun and rock ‘n roll.

The movie opens with the band members in their various fictionalized lives, all eventually getting their orders to go play. I said, “So it’s like The Blues Brothers.” David says, “Yeah, we’re on a mission from Satan.” However, the vision of Robert Plant singing “Stairway to Heaven” is pretty damn angelic.

I was living in San Diego in 1982 and listening to 91X FM when the DJ came on the air and pronounced, “this is the last time you will ever hear this song on this station,” and proceeded to play “Stairway to Heaven” and then changed their format to alternative rock. At the time I thought that I’d heard that song enough also, but dammit, they are the gladiators of rock ‘n roll.

My recent fascination with Zeppelin started when I began putting the play list together for my 25 year (!) high school reunion and realized I had no Zeppelin in my collection. What’s that about?! I used to have some on vinyl but nothing on CD. I asked around and was able to borrow the double CD of Remasters and copied it. I couldn’t possibly show up with six hours of music and not have any Zeppelin in the mix.

I never saw Led Zeppelin live, though I did see the Page & Plant tour at the Hollywood Bowl about five years ago. Truly amazing, but the boys don’t look as good as they used to, so if you want to get the full visual effect of what real rock Gods are like, rent “The Song Remains The Same” and make sure your TV is hooked up to the stereo speakers, warn your neighbors and lock up your daughters.

From the Shizzle to the Shiznet

Bert sent me the funniest link - Ask Snoop.
You can enter any URL (I tried it with both my blog and my art site) and Snoop Dog will translate it into Snoop Speak, know what I mean? It's da Shizzle, McDizzle!

Me, Bored In The 70's

August 14, 1975
Golden Fox Tourn. Lost in the Semi's. Going out with Lisa.

August 14, 1976
Sat around all day and listened to records and then Lisa came over. Steve called and then picked me up to go to the airport for Julie. Came back to her house and then came over here. I'm glad she's back.

August 14, 1977
Worked all day till 5. Went out at night with Debbie and Nan. Sort of boring. Talked to Steve Sauter after work.

August 14, 1978
Worked all day. Went to Meister's for a while. Visited Debbie & then went to Jeff & Dave's. Learned how to play backgammon. Sort of.

On A Clear Day You Can See Forever

Some choice pictures from my trip downtown on Friday with Sacha. We had lunch at Cafe Pinot and toured the Central Library.

Of course the real highlight of the day was going to the Fashion District and shopping on Santee Alley where I found an orange "Prada" backpack for 20 bucks. All in all I'd call it a perfect day.

Me In The 70's

August 13, 1976
Went to register at school and got my yearbook. I got a terrible schedule. Rode my bike to West Wind. Went out with Lisa at night. Bob Spiers had a party. Talked to a lot of people and Chris took me home. I got in a little late. Got questioned.

August 13, 1977
Went to Soldiers Field at 6:30 AM with Lisa, Elaine, Debbie & Robin & Angel & Bob & some others for the Frampton, Segar, Derringer & UFO concert. It was great! Went to Gino's after. Had a lot of fun.

August 13, 1978
Worked all day. Went to the drive-in with Debbie. Robin and Leigh went too. Saw "Lucky Lady" and "An Unmarried Woman".

August 13, 1979
Leaving with Lisa for Arizona.

Author's Note:
So this is the date in history that I moved away from the burbs of Chicago. Started out on my first cross country road trip to move my friend Lisa to Arizona and I would go on to Texas for school and then three years later Lisa and I would hook up again and move to California. This is also the date in the present that I was supposed to have an art show on Melrose but my co-presenters cancelled on me. August 13 seems a very eventful date for me - I'm going to have to remember this in the future and plan accordingly - or not...
"I like that old time rock 'n' roll, that kinda music just soothes the soul, I reminisce about the days of old, with that old time rock 'n' roll!"

Poolside at the W

A good way to celebrate your 44th birthday is to rent a cabana by the pool at the W Hotel in West LA and have champagne and cocktails with your friends. It was a treat to join Coop on his day and not only wish him a happy birthday but celebrate the fact that I have been his friend for twenty years.

Even Spidey was impressed with all the fun and spun down to get a closer look at the party.

More birthday party pics at my buzznet!

Act 1, Scene 2

I was hanging out at Barbara's talent agency the other day while she was on quite a roll. She had booked two commercials, someone on Joan of Arcadia and another actor on Cold Case. She gets another call from a pretty well known casting director who wants to book an actress on an independent film starring Peter Green and Sherilyn Fenn among others. Barbara worked for that one. She had pitched this girl to the casting director who finally agrees to see her and ends up loving her.

Barbara read me a one page side from the movie which is a pretty graphic sex scene between Peter Green and this girl. Obviously the girl has already auditioned and knows the scene. The casting director tells Barbara he's sorry about the money, but everyone including the stars are only making scale on this one. Not uncommon these days in the world of small budget indie films.

Well, the girl calls in and Barbara has to spend the next fifteen minutes talking her into accepting the roll. Babs went from playing the agent roll to the friend roll to the mothering roll and back to agent. I was seething. Don't these actors want to act? Don't they know how many actors never get a call like this one? A special aside is that the girl tells Barbara she's had a crush on Peter Green for years since she was a teen.

Meanwhile, the phone rings so I answer it and its Malcom In The Middle wanting to book another actor. I have to tell them Barbara will call them back after she is finished baby sitting. Okay, I didn't say that, but whatever.

The addendum to this story is that I happened to be in her office again yesterday when the girl calls in after her day on the set. Lo and behold, Peter Green has the power to say, "You know, I like you and we aren't getting paid enough to do that scene so we're not doing it." The girl still gets paid, still gets to act in the movie with her teen heart throb and she doesn't have to tell her parents about a nude scene. The perfect Hollywood ending.

Is there A Shrink In The House

She:
Why do I feel so good today?

He:
Yeah, I often have that false sense of happiness too. Yup, then reality starts setting in.

Me, Rockin' In The 70's

August 8, 1978
Went out to West Wind with Nan. Fred called. Went into Chicago Fest to see Journey with Nan, Patty, and Laura.

Author's Note:
We were having a wonderful dinner last night at our friends' the Puffer's house.

Chuck Puffer and I found ourselves at the same place in history in 1977, at Soldier Field on August 6 and again the following week. The first occasion was for the Super Bowl of Rock headlined by Ted Nugent. It is a story I've told many times over the years and Chuck isn't the first person I've come across that was there as well. It was a blazing hot Chicago day, the stadium held about 90,000 - 100,000 people, all general admission. In those days, each person was allowed to bring in two gallon plastic water bottles a piece. I am certain that most of them didn't start out holding water, but when emptied they were filled at the fountains. Nugent finally took the stage late in the afternoon and when he played "Stranglehold", with the 20 minute instrumental, the crowd was throwing those water bottles high in the air - 150,000 water bottles. It was like a giant popcorn popper and we were in the middle of it. Nugent loved it, he participated. It was beautiful.

The very next week, same place, same crowd, this time headlined by Peter Frampton. Everyone was prepared, they knew what to do. When Frampton began his twenty minute anthem "Do You Feel Like We Do", the crowd began tossing the plastic bottles. Frampton was no Nugent. He whined for it to stop. Nobody wanted to stop, they'd been waiting all day to do it. Frampton basically threatened to stop playing so the crowd begrudgingly stopped and 90,000 people never looked at Frampton the same way again.

Unlucky In Luck

Gabriel Byrne says with his thick brogue in Into The West, "Murphy - it's the most common name in all of Ireland!"

In Brannigan, John Wayne-this time as "the Mick" instead of the Duke- says referring to being tricked, "They pulled a Murphy on us." "What?" the officer asks him. "They pulled a Murphy!" Brannigan snears over a bag of newspaper that was supposed to be laundered money.

Murphy's Law...
Luck of the Irish...
What's it supposed to be?
Lucky or screwed?
Common or tricky?
Oh, the conundrums.

In Bloom

Started a new series, which can be seen on the new page of my art site.

Me, Rockin In The 70's

August 5, 1975
Went out with Chuck, Sheryl, Julie, Lisa, Mary, John, Joe & Wendi. Glenda called.

August 5, 1976
Went to Excellence4 8-10. went to the dentist. Lisa had the operation on her nose. Ha. Sat around all day. Went to the store. Went to Lisa's house to visit her and I went to the fair with Chris Zabka. Julie called from California.

August 5, 1978
Went to Comiskey Park with Brenny, Debbie and Jon Pifer. Saw Aerosmith, Foreigner, Mahogany Rush, ACDC & someone else. Great!! Went to Nan's party at the farm. Had a real good time. What a day.

August 5, 1979
A day in the park with The Loop.

Author's note:
Chicago was and still is a great music town. I do believe I came home from that concert at Comiskey with a "Foreigner" visor. Cool/Ugh. I can't believe they had these concerts during baseball season! The grass had be fried! I suppose they squelched all that after the "Disco Distruction" in '79. And correct me if I'm wrong, but The Loop - 97.8FM - was the hottest radio station in the world but they now play classic rock. So basically, they've never changed their format in thirty years.
"...you're as cold as ice..."

Me, Boy Crazy In The 70's

August 4, 1976
Went to Excellence 8-10. Went to the hospital with Lisa for her tests and visited Margaret. Then we went out to West Wind. Watched TV for a while at night and then rode over to Wendi's. Thought about Chris all day!

August 1978

Subway Subordinates

As I was taking photos of the wonderful subway art at the Universal station, David was encountering a somewhat dirty fellow carrying a large duffle bag who spotted David and said, "Don't look at me. I ain't done nothin. Just go away..." Then the guy nearly knocked me and another lady out with the luggage when the train came. We ducked, he decided on another car and we rode to Hollywood. Had a nice visit with Reuben at Musso's.

Me In The 70's

August 1, 1976
Julie went to California today. Went out to West Wind. Wendi and I went to Wes's and took a canoe ride. Then went out to the park. Wendi left and I talked to Chris, Jim and Brian. It was sort of boring. Came home and found out Margaret got in an accident. Terrific. I hope she's okay.

August 1, 1978
Picked Debbie up for lunch. Had my senior pictures taken. What a joke. Went out with Debbie. Met Patty, Laura & Nan at the park. Went to Brian's & then to Kim Eglasius.