WTF?

Sickmas

2008-01-04T15:42:00.001-08:00

Once again my wonderful and lengthy Christams break has been poisoned by the flu bug. Over the past two weeks, I've watch countless movies and tons of World Series of Poker reruns. Even my Christams beard has only been visable to those who have braved to enter Apt. 189.

I'm going to nap.

My train ride

2007-07-30T22:40:00.001-07:00

I flew up to Seattle a couple months ago to ride this steam train charity special. It was an amzing time. It was also the same weekend as the Seattle Cheese Festival. I discovered cheese butter. Not sure for my better or worse in the long run. It was great seeing Ed too.

This is a picture some guy took of our train as it steamed along the Puget Sound. If you look close enough, you can see my head out of the window.

This is where I live.

2007-07-30T22:27:00.000-07:00

These signs popped up in my hood lately. Makes you wonder why I chose to live here, but I love it. I guess that's just life, right? Sometimes you have to live in a tsunami zone if you really want to live. Or maybe it's a reminder not to take things for granted. Beats me, but I keep my records in water proof tubs any way.

I'm the Phil Jackson of Fantasy Basketball

2007-04-21T13:41:00.000-07:00

Despite a season where the scoring was totally screwed up in one league and I lost many of my draft picks to injury, I still went off the hook like Latrell Sprewell.

Despite many accusations over the years of “You win cause you’re the commish.” This year I refused to create and commish any leagues. I told all you fools, to set it up and I’ll dominate. They did their job and I did mine.

I might be as ugly as Anthony Mason, but I won son.

I think I’ll take next season off. Get a good draft pick in ’08.

SXSW Day 4 - WTF?

2007-03-19T00:22:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I can't explain it, I can only report it.

This plus a stirring discussion with Chuck D of Public Enemy (EXCLUSIVE!) and The Walkmen, once I find my M.I.A. Firewire video cable and get some rest. Stay Tuned.

The Good, The Bad & SXSW Day 3

2007-03-17T00:58:00.000-07:00

It turned out to be a very british day...

The day started with a laugh at a panel dicussion on stand-up on the indie music show scene. David Cross led a discussion about how how all indie rockers look the same, yet think they stand out and don't look like they're enjoying themsleves no matter how funny he is.

Then I ran off to see New Rave Hipsters get their dance on @ Emo's JR with Fujiya + Miyagi and Simian Mobile Disco (This was not their live show, it was only a DJ set)

Simian Mobile Disco
New Rave Hipster Kids (Very Nice)
This guy's Nike Dunks weren't limited edition enough to get into Simian Mobile Disco.
Next year pal.

Sara and I went off to see The Fratellis @ The Spin / Yaris party and were in for a bit of Rock N' Roll history as Pete Townshend shocked the crowd when he burst onto the stage to join The Fratellis for a couple songs. I was one of the few (if only) one who got it on film.

Check it out ---->

Then it was of to the Little Radio day show to check out the MUCH HYPED El-P performace. I was very unimpressed and left early. I blow the doors off an El-P perforance around 7:30 AM every weekday mornign in my shower. Come by anytime, free drinks and apps.

Paul and I think of an excuse to tell El-P why we have to bail.

After a quick dinner, we went back to Stubbs to see Badly Drawn Boy and The Good, The Bad & The Queen, who I was excited to see perform above anyone else at SXSW... here's a look at their first song.

SXSW 07 Day 2

2007-03-16T09:16:00.000-07:00

One thing I forgot before I came here, and I should have known better, was my beard. Luckily for me, every one else brought theirs (ladies excluded of course). Beardos have taken over the city in force.

Day two was difficult due mostly to the fact that many performances didn’t start on time, meaning I was walking all around the city all day missing artists left and right.

One of the day shows I did see was The Fratellis, who are shaping up to be one of the biggest British bands of the summer.The Fratellis @ The Fader party

I also had time to pop into a panel discussion with “Tom” from MySpace, who insightfully declared “running MySpace is hard.” I have since removed Tom from my friends list.

Everyone's friend Tom

After seeing great performances by X-Wife, The Cold War Kids, The High Street Robbers, the night came to an end with a 2 AM to 3 AM performance from Albert Hammond Jr. Enjoy some video below.

SXSW Day 1

2007-03-15T08:14:00.000-07:00

Despite the soggy weather, SXSW continues to amaze me and this year is shaping up to be even better than the last. The whole point of the festival is to expose people to undiscovered bands you wouldn’t normally get a chance to experience. You may think that would lead to a lot of disappointing shows, but nothing could be further from the truth.

The very first artist I watched was Joshua James, a young songwriter from Nebraska. Being that it was 11 AM on the first day of the music festival, to a crowd of about 15 people, I expected James to be predictable. He was anything but. James reminded that SXSW showcases the truly talented, undiscovered artists and in a small way inspired me for what the rest of the week has to offer, despite the lack of big name artists.

Joshua James @ Emos

Canada @ Emo's Annex

I spent the afternoon at the Ioda day party and was really impressed by the artists they showcased - especially The Twilight Sad. They’re from Scotland and have a loud, amazing sound that falls somewhere between Joy Division and Ride.

The Twilight Sad @ Emos Annex

A close second to The Twilight Sad was the tamales made by an old Mexican woman that Ioda brought in. You can hand out all the free schwag you want, but if you want to see people happy, make them tamales.

Little Radio and Good magazine also had a day party with Peter Bjorn & John. Thank you Good magazine for letting little old me into a “list full” party.

Peter Bjorn & John @ Little Radio

Rock icon Peter Townshend from The Who gave an interesting keynote interview where he described the current state of the record industry as “Rome is burning” and stomped on the idea of watching music concerts “on demand.” Townshend feels that people need to connect “live” over the web to experience the magic of artistic performance.

Pete Townshend Keynote Interview

Later, Toyota and Yaris hosted a special event featuring The Rapture, who were amazing live. While no video cameras were allowed, I snuck one in and captured this....

I ended a long day by attended an Afro-Punk showcase at exodus featuring Saul Williams and Game Rebellion. Good stuff, more tomorrow.

Game Rebellion @ Exodus

Initial list for SXSW

2007-02-25T22:21:00.000-08:00

Below is a short list of artists I'd love to see at SXSW (schedule permitting). Naturally, the fun parts come from bands you've never heard of before. Hopefully there will be tons of them again this year.

If you have any suggestions on who else I should (or shouldn't) see, the full list of bands can be seen here.

Here's my list so far...

A Band of Bees (AKA The Bees)
The Apples in Stereo
Architecture in Helsinki
Asobi Seksu
Blonde Redhead
BORIS
Cold War Kids
The Dears
dios
The Enemy
The Fratellis
The Good, The Bad & The Queen
Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton
I Can Lick Any Sonofabitch in the House
Junior Senior
Willy Mason
Mexican Institute of Sound (MIS)
Money Mark
Alexi Murdoch
Panda
Peaches
Simian Mobile Disco
The Stitches
The Stooges
The Sunshine Underground
Tokyo Police Club
The Walkmen

It's the most wonderful time of the year... blogging from SXSW

2007-02-24T11:11:00.000-08:00

Since I told work I would blog from SXSW, I needed to start my own blog, separate from this one, to avoid imagry like the one seen above from last year. Work is, after all, paying for the whole trip. ( I love you guys! )

Starting March 13 you can see all the beer I'm drinking at SXSWing.

Hopefully I can get some video uploaded while I am there too, all starting in just about 3 weeks.

Maybe I can mirror my blogs on here too, we'll see.

Wise cows

2007-02-05T20:23:00.000-08:00

These are a couple of cows I ran into on my road trip over the holidays. They live a wonderful life eating grass on the hills somewhere off PCH, around 100 miles north of San Francisco, along side the most beautiful coastline in the entire world.

With no McDonalds in site and bunch of Prius driving hippies for local residents, these ladies have little to fear.

As I got out of the car to snap this photo off them, they stopped munching their fresh green grass to give me a piercing, brown-eyed look which roughly translated meant, “What the fuck are you doing?”

These cows post an interesting question for me. What the fuck am I doing?

Merry Christmas!

2006-12-23T00:24:00.000-08:00

No one says Merry Christmas anymore, so I'm bringing it back.

Growing up and living in LA my whole life, I never understood how people who have moved here from the Mid-West or East Coast could honestly say they "miss the seasons." For me, 50 degrees is freezing.

After spending some time in New York City during the holiday season, I can see how one could miss that. It was beautiful. Freezing, but beautiful.

I also now have much love for the people of New Jersey. Those are good people.

So with all of the holiday shopping, eating (you see how well the diet is going) and drinking I have to do I will leave my 4 or 5 readers with these pictures I took in NYC.

I actually feel in the mood this year.

Merry Christmas people. Evan out.

Top of "The Rock"... it's freezing up there.

Battery Park

Been in NYC / NJ, will blog soon...

2006-12-08T22:59:00.000-08:00

I was on the East Coast for the better part of a week and just got back Wednesday. +12 hour days of working and flying with no day off have left me brain dead, but I have tons to blog about. So gimmie a couple days and I'll get back to it. Plus work is hella nuts right now.

In the meantime I'm hitting up Beck @ The Echo in Silverlake tomorrow. Pictures to come....

Enjoy the picture I took from Battery Park until then.

I've decided to start my diet... NOW

2006-12-02T10:04:00.000-08:00

My work homies and I stumbled across Harold's New York Deli in Edison, New Jersey last night. Needless to say, this will be a meal that will never be forgotten by all that were present. I finished barely half of the the 13 oz. pastrami sandwhich... Kevin and Mike pretty much polished off the whole thing. Meanwhile Don drank a half-gallon chocolate milkshake while sampling pickles from the "World's Largest Pickle Bar." Still burping up pastrami today. Mmmmm yum.

Here's Don and his MONSTER shake.

Cubs sign Soriano, Jesus prepares for return.

2006-11-22T11:44:00.000-08:00

Dear God,

How’s it goin’? So I noticed that you finally got around to answering all the baseball prayers you’ve been neglecting for about a hundred years… Red Sox, White Sox, and you even gave Detroit a little love this year. I know, I know you’re busy with the Middle East and helping people win elections.

Getting back to baseball, you may have been distracted for just a second there when it came to the Cubbies. Everything was looking good in 2003, in the playoffs, five outs away from the World Series, and then… what happened? Was that our chance? I’m not blaming that little dude with the radio headphones but come on…

Anyway, Soriano. I’m excited. But I’ve been excited before. You know I get all worked up in April and by July / August, I feel like it’s never going to happen in my lifetime.

So Big G, if you can give it to one side of Chi-Town, give it to the other side too.

Thanks,

Evan

Midnight Taco Trucking

2006-11-11T15:26:00.000-08:00

Mark, Rizzo and I hit up the secret taco truck somewhere east of LA last night. Usually late-night taco truck eating is for post-alcohol munchies, but last night we had even more reason to eat more, the Lakers got their asses waxed by Detriot.
I can't disclose the location of the truck, but what I can tell you is if you find it, get the green sauce and ask for light onions.

Here's proof Mark ordered at least five.

Raise your hand if you're in Modest Mouse

2006-11-11T15:12:00.000-08:00

Remember when Modest Mouse had four guys in the band? Now there’s seven, sometimes eight, including Johnny Marr and some guy that looks like Matt Jones wearing a coal-mining helmet. Regardless, I went to see them play Thursday mostly because, being a life-long Smiths fan, I have never seen Johnny Marr in person.
It was a decent Modest show, but it was really trippy seeing Johnny play with them, basically replacing Dan on guitar. He brought his sound to a couple old songs and you can really him on the new stuff they played. Should be an interesting album when it comes out. If you should ever find yourself at The Grove, the security guys are Nazis.

"Johnny Maaa pray guitaaa." - Cornelius

The Game is back - Doctor's Advocate best album of 2006

2006-11-08T10:06:00.000-08:00

I got a copy of the new album... WOW! Homeboy is bringing it all back to the West Coast. This album is going to be huge, it's the best hip-hop album I've heard in FOREVER.

Compton in the house. 50 ain't got shit.

Laura's birthday in Palm Springs

2006-11-06T19:35:00.000-08:00

I had an amazing weekend in Palm Springs. It's been a long time since I really chilled the fuck out and focused on fun for two solid days. Drining, golfing, drinking, eating, poker, drinking, eating, poker, drinking... you know the drill.

Seeing everyone was so great, but mad love to Iain, Laura and Lisa for being the coolest ever. Happy 29th girl!

PS I can't golf for shit.

Beasties @ The Henry Fonda. Don't act like you didn't want to go.

2006-10-25T00:34:00.000-07:00

I hit up the “secret” Beastie Boys show tonight. This is my second secret Beasties show this year, but we’re tight like that so you know.

I HAD planned on taking a shit ton of video but the Nazi bouncers in the front were kicking out anyone with a camera. I did manage to get Sabotage though, although I had to hide my camera most of the show. I grabbed a couple shots seen above.

I did see Sayid from Lost there… didn’t get to ask him what the fuck with the numbers and the million other questions that never get answered.

Here’s how it went down at the Henry Fonda:

Root Down
Alright Here This
Pass The Mic
Sure Shot
Posse In Effect
Triple Trouble
No Sleep Til Brooklyn
Shake Your Rump
Groove Holmes
Sabrosa
Body Movin’
Super Disco Breakin’
High Plains Drifter
Egg Man
Skillz To Pay The Billz
Brass Monkey
3 MCs + 1 DJ
So What Cha Want?
Intergalactic
Gratitude
Sabotage

I don't have that good of a memory... I grabbed a set list after the show. Yup.

DirtyDirtyDancing

2006-10-15T16:23:00.000-07:00

I don’t dance. Especially if the DJ is playing soul and funk. I will however get down to It Takes Two by Ron Base & DJ EZ Rock. If someone drops that then watch out cuz it’s gonna get crazy!

This past Friday I had to wing it cause the DJ at Goodfoot kinda blows. I imagine I looked like Peter Brady falling down some stairs, but everyone else looked good out there. Mmk...

New high score; Espee kicks ass!

2006-10-15T16:05:00.000-07:00

I named my car Espee (figure out why and I’ll buy you Lakers tickets). I set an all-time new high score for a tank of gas on the Prius consumption screen in my car.

48.2 MPGizzles mofuckaz!

Between passing millions of people stuck in traffic with my carpool sticker and saving mad cash on gas, saving the planet has never made me this stoked.

Don’t let the 428 miles fool you, I had two gas squares left in my tank but, I had to drive to Long Beach and gas is cheaper by my house.

Don’t act like you don’t want one now.

WTF? - RIP Tower Records :(

2006-10-11T13:42:00.000-07:00

I might as well go dance on the freeway and let the cars run over me, my life is over. Tower Records is going out of business forever. As a teenager, I spent as many hours as a could in Tower, sifting through CDs for something that looked interesting or rare Smiths Japanese import singles or other stuff i really didn't need to buy. Usually the thing that drove me out of Tower was the need to pee.

This just means there's one less place to murder time, get caught up on culture (they had THE BEST magazine rack), and spend my retirement fund.

I miss you already.

The Dodgers are out; soul food before Mr. Brightside

2006-10-08T21:20:00.000-07:00

Saturday was an interesting day. The Dodgers got eliminated from the playoffs, which bummed me out because they haven’t won a post-season game since 1988. Ramzey asked me why I care so much. I can’t really give her a straight answer, but I do care an awful lot about baseball. I also had tickets to Game 4, which never got played.

So to make myself feel better, we had dinner at Flossie’s on Sat. night and then went off to see The Killers at The Wiltern. They put on such a great live show. Once I figure out how to upload all my videos to YouTube, it’s on. For now the three of you that read my blog will have to settle for still photos.

Basketball starts in two weeks. I have a feeling this season will require a lot more soul food to get through.

JAWS

2006-10-06T15:04:00.000-07:00

Damien Hirst is one of my favorite artists and the New York Times has written a brilliant article on how he is re-vamping his work at The Saatchi Gallery in London.

This has given me a great idea for our lobby at work.