the other day

I was flying up the 110 from work and noticed the 10 was worse than actually continuing through the slot, so I risked it. Coming up towards the four-level, a woman with some Midwestern (does it matter?) plates merges right and then back into my lane realizing the 101 wasn't where she wanted to be. Now in front of her I see that she is suffering from traffic depression. She looks around for an escaping faster lane, fiddles with knobs, strangles the steering wheel, nails digging into the gummy rubber underside.

What she doesn't get is traffic is pretty darn good today.

My Zen of commuting requires clarity of mind, sunglasses, air conditioning, and a fresh from the burner CD as I'm iPodisabled.©™ Turn on, Zone out.

next

Felt overdressed walking dogs in Atwater Village, but dogs do need to be walked before us humans eat dinner. I would love to live here, but would driving through downtown to the south bay take less than my current hour commute?

Sitting at Burger King on San Fernando Blvd eating the free whopper I won and talking about crushes and who is cute with an ex-girlfriend. I tell all, sort of.


then

Los Feliz to Western to Sunset to Orange where there was no parking due to the BET Awards. Late as usual, but with easy five buck parking at the Knitting Factory, I came in for most of Underwater City People's amazing set.

Up since 4.30 am, I started to slow down by the middle of the show, too tired to be super social. Instead I eavesdropped on conversations and observed people under the guise of having a staring problem. This amused me until a friend called me on it by blowing me a kiss which made me laugh and look away.

Silly.



tags: iPodisabled

just so you know

Blogging is like a black eye.



Go ahead and ask questions.

But expect either a honest answer, a made up answer, or none at all.

Crazy time for shows

Tuesday 6.28.05: [you missed it]
Kiss or Kill Club at the Knitting Factory - 6 bands -- 3 bucks
Midway 12:15
Silver Needle 11:30
The King Cheetah 10:45
BANG sugar BANG 10:00
Chromosome Tea 9:15
The Underwater City People 8:30



Thursday 6.30.05: Two choices:

No.1) Niki and Andi's Taste Sensation at the Mint: see flyer above

I've wanted to see Lisa Mychols ever since I found out she had a solo project going on before her recented stint as the Waking Hours bassist. Expect power-poppy greatness - listen here. **** If I read the flyer I would've mention that Bang Sugar Bang was playing too!

No.2) Mr. T's Bowl for the Pu$$ycow reunion show, with Underwater City People, Midway, The Oxford Set, and Blockage. 21+, Free.

From picnic no.1

Saturday 7.02.05:
KorK Playa's Picinc No.2 at the Old Towne Pub in Pasadena 1-6 PM 21+
The New Fidelity, The Rainman Suite, Get Set Go, New Maximum Donkey, plus Special Guest Band
Five bucks, FREE Hot dogs and Hamburgers. Yum.

And then Warped tour craziness:
Fresno 7.04.05: The Randies
Pomona 7.06.05: Midway, The Randies, The Dollyrots among others of course.

A Friend's Wedding

So an old close friend sent out pictures from her wedding. Weird, I didn't know a date had been set.

It's been a long time since I've talked to her so I was a little "huh?" when the email arrived. As I said before, I miss her friendship.

Feels almost like snooping through a stranger's Flickr "wedding" tags, trying to guess names of the guests, comparing her cake with others I've seen.

This ceremony was simpler and smaller than her first wedding many years ago, with just immediate members of both families. I'm guessing her planned Ireland ceremony didn't work out and New York state would have to do, but it was still a very pretty garden setting though.



To someone who encourged, positively criticized, and believed in me when many gave up, I wish her and her husband only the best.

NYC bands on myspace

These are a bunch of bands that I've been watching from afar since last year and didn't noticed that they were on myspace now.

Those East Coasters are lagging behind the West Coast bands in regard of Myspace, but are slowly catching up, which is good for everyone.

Most of them haven't made it out to Los Angeles yet as far as I know, save for the IO's, but they were playing a crazy 6 or 8 PM early show at the Alternit early last year, and I couldn't make it.

Most of it is indie pop, the last two more indie rock, so if you like, you like.

More to come.
The Hong Kong
The Hong Kong on Myspace
The Hong Kong website


The IO's
The IO's on Myspace
The IO's website


Man in Gray
Man in Gray on Myspace
Man in Gray website

Looker
Looker on Myspace
Looker website

Crushes

Back in the early 90s, I had this major crush on a fellow co-worker. I was 20 and she was about 23 having moved to the Bay Area recently from Boston.

So we flirted for weeks and slowly became friends while working shifts together. Then one day I had this strange dream where the both of us were being mugged while hanging out in Berkeley. So vivid, but knowing it was dream I wondered if I had a rough vision of something bad happening to her that same night. I couldn't shake the feeling and decided to drive down to work to see if she was okay. My concern for her flattered her enough to make out with me for hours at the next co-worker party. Afterwards we made tentative plans for another night and life was swell.

Two days later she stopped talking to me and quit. Quit!



This started my famous "I'm Fucked Week", short for I just got fucked over. I had no idea what was going through her head and wasn't getting any reasons from her or our mutual friends as to why she was avoiding me. I was bummed, but not broken hearted at all. I just could not believe that she had quit. Was I rock bottom?

"Hey Robert, how's it going?" --- "I'm fucked"
Walking past open doorways and offices saying "I'm fucked"
"What wrong with Robert?" I yell across the lobby, "I'm fucked"
"Can you hand me that box over there?" I would hand it to them, they'd thank me, and I say with no expression "I'm fucked."

It was quite amusing the lengths I took it. I think I was even signing off on papers with that phrase too. So this gets back to her of course and she was a little nervous when she came back in to get her final check a week later. I chatted her up for a bit like nothing had happen and she seemed relieved that I wasn't going to get all weird about it. Why would I? All we did was make out. Gees.

Just one crush story of many.


tags: crushes

From the IE to the OC now

Looks like I'll be driving out to Rancho Santa Margarita a whole lot in the future.

It's better than having to hang out in Riverside like I use to every other weekend. Now it's a longer drive but a nicer area where everything looks the same.

I wouldn't like to live in either place even though one could enjoy a good life in each city. They're just too far from LA proper for me. I live in the San Gabriel Valley (LA county) btw.

At least you can park on your lawn in Riverside. ha ha. More IE bashing at Valley of the Dirt People

Midway, The Mormons, 8 Bit @ The Scene 6.21.05

I should explain the last post a little first.

no gloves

During the 8 Bit set I was laughing at Le Frost who was pretending to rub her crotch area (over her robot suit) in such an exaggerated (and amusing) manner. She saw me laughing and on her next verse she came over and tried to grab me. but with her thick gloves on it looked worse than it did.. Some of the crowd next to me thought it was quite amusing though. Wasn't trying to make it sound like girls fondle me all the time, that never happens of course. Oh the phrase "grabbing my nuts" is also a title to a 8 Bit song. I would normally refer to them as P + 5E + 3H.

OG Plans

My plans were to hit Kiss or Kill for Helicopter Helicopter, jump over to Glendale to catch Midway and then back to Kork for the Randies and Blockage at the very least. They fell apart on me when first I looked up and noticed it was already 9.20 and I lived 25 miles from Silverlake and later at the Scene when I noticed it was already after midnight and I missed the Randies and Blockage.

Went straight to the Scene to see Midway, with the Mormons and 8 bit also, making it there by 10 PM. They didn't start until 10.45 and I had to talk to my friend about some things which took a good 30 or 40 minutes, missing most of the Mormons in the process. With everything running late, Kork wasn't going to happen for me that night so I stuck around to see the Mormons, who seemed surprisingly sober and played a somewhat professional (for them) set.

I apologize to everyone I told I would be there, and more importantly I feel bad for missing the bands.

The Randies vs. 8 Bit

By now many of you have heard the rumors of the near brawl at the LA Weekly music awards between these two bands. The reason the fight started was completely fucked up and 8 Bit is to fault for that [as told from 2 sources]. Talking smack about the Randies hating KorK wasn't cool either, but some members of 8 Bit think saying shit is amusing. [Sometimes it is: The attacks on 8 Bit, the English wannabe DJ was brilliant]

Some bands like to go it alone, some need the community that KorK offers and some lay somewhere in the middle. 8 Bit loves being on the outside, and the Randies love KorK. Really just a difference of opinion.

Me, I like most bands even if the individuals are or become jerks. As long as the music is good I'll listen and see your shows, but it's hard not to let crap like this not affect my opinion of some groups.

Last night - a brief conversation

She: Hey, we haven't met yet.

When she came up to chat to our group I knew this was going to happen.

Him: You know Robert...

I gave him my "See, this is what I was talking about" face.

Me: We have met. Five...Six...Seven times before actually. You always forget meeting me.

I smile.

She smiles.

Me: Oh, and thanks for grabbing my nuts.

She laughs as she replied: Oh right, that was you in there. Sorry.

Me: Don't worry, I didn't mind.

Me: It's just that I've never been molested in front of a crowd before.

A post of no importance

Big surprise: I'm not working but blogging.

I've started a second blog to move all my "Leaving" posts to, since they didn't quite fit into this one. Apparently I love myself sooo much I need two blogs. Sad you might say, but I need to organize my thoughts and keep the ultra personal out of the social personal stuff. I debated making Lorange Blog strictly a promotional blog about the things I like but risked losing the appeal to my fellow voyeurs. I like snooping into stranger's thoughts as much as you do so some of this junk in my head will stay.

Thought# 1: Not looking forward to the new server we have to set up today. I know very little of actual networking, so I'll stand back and watch. Why do I stay at this place? Bigger question than I can answer.

Thought #2: Been thinking a lot lately about an old friend of mine that I've lost touch with. To be fair, she stopped keeping in touch with me and it needed to be done since I wasn't in good shape to keep our friendship healthy. Only in the last 6-8 months have I been able to be the person I was eight years ago. Many wounds almost healed and I've wounded many trying to work through my issues. I'm quite sane, really!

It was always our standard operation procedure to talk every three months, but since the talk about meeting up in Vegas I haven't heard from her since. I sent an email to the only address I have, and in the signature was a link to this blog. No response, but a couple of possible IP addresses matches. It sucks losing old (since 1991) friends.

Thought# 3: Thought about publishing a book. Not of my writing, but a book on something. Anything. Just another of my "I should do that ideas". My strength is in ideas, sadly not in self motivation. This thought rests safely on top of other random, uninspired daydreams.

Writing is some thing I actually motivated myself to do even though I'm horrible at it. Just felt myself losing that spark in my conversations, my once quick wit and confidence in what I spoke about. I felt grayed out and it wasn't because I moved into the imagined wasteland of Los Angeles from my idyllic vision of the Bay Area though it was a major shift in my surroundings.

Photo by El Frito used under CC license.

So much was happening (mostly great) that I lost that part of me somewhere in the four moves in one year and many years living in LA. I figured writing would help in many ways.


Without details: Writing, great bands, a social network of friends, and inspiration of new family has marked this new chapter in my life. I feel much better now.

Huh?

Midway - Live video @ Knitting Factory

I love this band enough to marry it. There I said it.

Mix fun, silliness, with down to earth, extremely talented musicians who play to have fun first and you got Midway. I'm horrible at reviews, but there are some great blurbs about them on the main website.

Honestly some of the nicest people I've ever met.

The next few shows locally are the best to experience Midway for the first time, with big sing-alongs, audience interaction, and you can also see their crazy merch table boutique selection.

6/21/2005 - The Scene Bar - Glendale, CA $ 5 21+
6/28/2005 - Knitting Factory - Main Stage ALL AGES - Hollywood, CA $3 Kiss or Kill Club
6/30/2005 - Mr T's Bowl - Highland Park, CA Free 21+
7/6/2005 - Warped Tour - Pomona Fairplex, CA - Shiragirl stage
7/16/2005 - CLUB BURN @ The Rock It Café - Hawthorne, CA
7/23/2005 - Warped Tour - Tweeter Center - Chicago, IL - Shiragirl stage
7/24/2005 - Warped Tour - Metrodome - Minneapolis, MN - Shiragirl stage
7/30/2005 - Universal City Walk - Universal City , CA - Under the big video screen - Free

Listen to some songs on their myspace page or watch some footage from the Kiss or Kill Comp. Vol 2 CD release party recorded at the Knitting Factory 5.6.05. here Click on PLAY NOW.

When you're done check out the rest of the Music Plus TV. They have been very supportive of the Kiss or Kill scene and there is even a show hosted by Rob Z, the emcee of KorK.

He will be interviewing Midway live this Wednesday (June 22, 2005) at 8pm, on his show "In the Garage." Click here for more information.

tags: midway

A bunch of random things

1)

The Muffs are playing at Kiss or Kill on August 2nd. Five bucks instead of the normal three. This should be fun. Ssshh, I've never seen them live before. Walking around in person, yes. Playing live, not yet.


2)

If you follow my blog, I finally received my replacement stove on Sunday and guess what? Same problem as before, but I now know it's a wiring problem. Adventures in not being able to bake a damn thing - Week 4. Grr.


3) Photo by Alayna Morris - www.grid-9.com

Sara Radle is looking for a female viola player for her new project. See her myspace page for details.


4)
I finally sat down and watched the last two movies of Lord of the Rings even though I've owned the trilogy for months now. Two Towers was pretty darn amazing, huh?


5)
I'm a big old fat flake.

Midway and Punk Rock Social feel free to kick my ass. Sorry.

Feeling Old

I'm feeling sicky today, but it's Midway, and So Unloved, and Blockage and a great line up, so odds are I'll be there. Always good to see little kids at an all age show so I can feel old and decrepit.

Ha, Corey is older than me, bet that will make him feel good.



For you cheap bastards there is 8 bit and the Mormons at Mr T Bowl.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Speaking of getting older, my friend is having her next birthday party at Hollywood Park during the races with musical guests Tone Loc and Coolio.

Well, sort of.

Hollywood Park has Friday night races with one dollar beer, sodas, and hot dogs with various old bands playing., so if you see a whole group of people with party hats on, you'll know why. Come say happy birthday to her.

Information at the Hollywood Park site.

I needed a good laugh

click for larger image

I don't know who created it, but I love it.

Sometimes a joke or comic will strike you as the funniest thing ever at that moment, at which point you realize how wound up you must've been beforehand.

happy happy quake quake

That was a nice little quake, wasn't it?

I was at a Taco Bell drive-through thru in Gardena when the quake started. My car was shuddering and I vainly looked for a new self destruct countdown gauge on my dashboard, thinking my engine was ready to implode. No, I just got a tune up last month.

Glanced up inside the take out window wondering if an employee and I were going to acknowledge our mutual looks of "Was that an earthquake?". They didn't seemed to notice the shaking at all, so I start searching my mirrors looking for those punk-ass kids rocking my car. Nope, nothing.

The sensation of a quake felt while sitting in my car was a new one to me. I.m normally used to standing in my house or work saying things like, "Oh thats just a 4.3" and laughing at quake virgins.



Reminded me how the movie LA Story offered those universal and timeless stereotypes of living in Los Angeles with personal quake size estimates and not caring, and the hip again subject of freeway shootings.

A good night, I thought

[I had a much better post written but firefox crashed on me, so you're stuck with this one. I'll prob rewrite it later so it makes more sense]


Pu$$y Cow. What can I say? I believe.

A great little show put on by Joe, Flaco, Schnee, and Danny and surprising how tight they sounded, as it was only their third and final show...well until the reunion show at Mr. T's Bowl on June 30th. My favorite parts were the use of kazoos, video projection of a Cal Worthington on the wall and Pu$$y Cow's version on his TV jingle: "Go See Cal, Go See Cal, Go See Cal."
Brilliant.

The Letter Openers / Chromosome Tea / Porterville

What seemed like an strange line up ended up in a perfect combination of musical styles from the local bands and topped off with the very impressive Volunteers from NYC.

I got the impression that when each band finished like the fourth to last song or so, the crowd seemed be sucked into whatever band was playing. Saw it happen with the Letter Openers and Chromosome Tea especially. They each closed off strong with the song most people knew off the Kiss or Kill Comp Vol 2.


Bounced around to Porterville like a crazy fool that I am. Finally got to see a full set and hear my favorite song "Overfloatin". Sweet.

Meet some more of the usuals for the first time, and quoted facts from their myspace accounts to their horror.

I should really stop doing that.

Mama in Echo Park

If you live out in Echo Park (which I don't) you might already know Mama, well I think she goes by Mama. I only see her on my Kiss or Kill nights patrolling the public lots in the back, which I assume is paid for by the Echo. She'll put an Echo flyer on your window, give you a little greeting and hang out with homeless who camp out in the open alley next to the lots keeping the parking lot relatively safe until 2 am.

Last night, while we watched a helicopter leave the roof of Citi-Bank building at Sunset and Glendale Blvd., she told me that the city was coming in today to clear out the six or so homeless and their belongings. Apparently one of the females from that little encampment had die during the night when her 'liver exploded' as Mama put it. The other homeless had call Mama over when they knew something was wrong and it was clear that she was already deceased. "I came and one look at her and I knew she was gone. I called 911...no way was I going to mess with her" Mama told me. The look on her face telling me this story was of something I think she has seen before in her life.

Mama had given some of her own money to help get the body back to Mexico and for long distance calls informing relatives of the lady who passed away. For her trouble Mama was slightly nagged by her husband for spending the money, but beside some food, Mama had never giving them a few dollars to drink away. She told me wanted to do it for the good karma it possibly would bring back to her but mostly she believed that is what should be done, had to be done, for the another resident of Echo Park.

So say hi to Mama when you're out there and while you’re at it, also congratulate her on going back to school on a grant to boot.

Amusing (to me) links for the day

Read/Submit the crazy stuff you overhear. Yeah don't tell me you don't evesdrop!

Overheard in New York

and the sister site Overheard in the Office

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Triumph the Insult Dog - Talks to Micheal Jackson fans outside the courthouse, (pre verdict) from Conan O'Brian. Watch it here

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Guy scares the crap out of his girlfriend in the middle of the night dressed as Darth Vader (very funny)
watch it here

Pie

All I want to do is bake a pie.

My landlord was nice enough to buy a new stove and hood to replace to the original lovely mustard color 1970s no longer working oven/range with a shiny white deal. He was also nice enough to raise my rent a month ago, so I'm still a little bent by that.

Back to the oven. When it was dropped off a week ago, I asked the delivery crew if they were going to take the old one out. Oh no, a seperate company would later install it for me they said. I knew the owner had paid for installation so this made sense at the time and my old stove-top (not the oven) worked, so no big deal other than a wasted Saturday I figured.

I peered inside the large cardboard box and thought: Apple Pie. Yes, apple pie with a sugary crumb crust. Drool.

The installation company didn't contain a record of my stove (that would be too easy), so this thing sat in place of my kitchen table as I straighten out paperwork mishaps at Sears. Now the installers are say that they are only installing the range hood.

What? The delivery schmucks totally lied to me.

This Sunday the old stove was taken away and the new one put in place. New problem: the new stove only half worked. Brand new stove and the friggin' control panel is shot. Can't bake, can't use the timer, can't even tell if I accidently left the burners on. Grr.

So I'll be sitting at home this weekend waiting for a replacement stove on Saturday and then for the installers on Sunday. Another weekend lost.

Midway @ El Sereno Street Fair - 6.11.05

The good people in the band Midway will be playing June, 11 at the El Sereno Street Fair. It should be a nice weekend weather-wise and come explore another part of Los Angeles while you're at it.
@4800 Huntington Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90032
Cost: FREE

Street Fair with Fireworks and great bands!!! Midway goes on at 7pm on Saturday, June 11th. ----- http://la.com.socialdomain.com/info.php?id=15607


Afterwards head down to Downey for the Punk Rock Social - Live, then the Viper Room on Sunday for Underwater City People.

Tonight (Friday) the Powercords, New Maximum Donkey and others at Mr T's Bowl (free).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


On another note, while I googled more info about El Sereno, found an older site proposing a Metro Silverline lightrail route from Silverlake to El Monte via Union Station.

Yeah, it's old news, but new and interesting to me.

http://www.metrosilverline.com/home.htm


tags: midway

Stuff from Tuesday

I started this and forgot to post Wednesday morning. Boring stuff, but with pretty pics.

Midway

Power napped before heading out to KorK late, so I missed the Underwater City People, but arrived just in time for Midway. Unlike last week, I gave my 100% for my audience participation merit badge and the crowd came along too. Used the bubble gun that Theresa had left on the stage and annoyed people with it. Midway is a band that just leaves you feeling happy like you just got off a roller coaster and while it's better if you sing along, it is also just as much fun standing back and watching the crowd enjoy the silliness.


Did the social thing out in the Echo's patio during the Chromosome Tea set. I'll catch them for the rest of their month long residency at Kiss Or Kill, so should you.

As requested, I gave some suggestions to a friend to out-snob someone with a few passive aggressive comments. They came up with a better one on their own which was used to great effect. Wish I could go into more detail, sorry.


Bang Sugar Bang came on and I was still drinking against my original plan of having just one. I jumped on stage as part of the sing along for the first time even though I hardly had a reason to be up there, but with beer in hand (& a few in the bloodstream) I had to do it at least once.


Drag were fun to watch and ended with a nice cover of the Stones "Symphony for the Devil". Interesting facts about the singer: She was the voice in that 80s dance single “The Dominatrix Sleeps Tonight” (I wonder if she was also the little punker in the video?), starred in the indie film "Salvation!" and had a #1 hit in Belgium.

Listen to “The Dominatrix Sleeps Tonight” here (sorry Real Player).

I loved this song when it came out.



tags: kiss or kill

Weirdo with bloody chainsaw, Come on down!

(pic WHDH-TV via AP)

Theme from "The Price is Right" plays.

You just been allowed to entry into the United States! Just check in your homemade sword, hatchet, knife, brass knuckles and that chain saw with those, um red stains on it and you're good to go.

Upside: It really is the land of the free (to be as weird as you want)

Downside: well, read the AP (via sfgate) story:

Man With Chain Saw, Sword Is Let Into U.S.
By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN, Associated Press Writer

Come out for Sat BBQ Fun in Pasadena

June 4, 2005
Kiss or Kill's Playa's Picnic
At THE OLD TOWNE PUB
66 N. Fair Oaks Ave, Pasadena, CA 91103
12noon-5pm
21+ $5.00 gets you in the door for bands and bbq. Dogs and burgers. You can also bring your own stuff to grill up if y'all want!

1pm Underwater City People
1:45 The O.A.O.T.'s
2:30 The Randies
3:15 Silver Needle
4:00 The Letter Openers

Check out the write up in the Pasadena Weekly.

Visqueen @ Punk Rock Social - Live 6.2.05

This was my second time seeing Visqueen and they plowed through something like 20 songs in slightly over an half hour set, knocking four or five out back to back. Amazing.

When I ask my friend Corey, the music expert, what bands they reminded him of, he immediately said the Fastbacks, but I could only narrow it down to "they had that Seattle sound going". Since we were both ignorant of the band's recent history, this email just verifies what I always said about Corey; He knows his music.

From: Corey XXXXXX
To: Robert XXXXXXXX
Subject: I'm just THAT good....
Date: Fri, 3 Jun 2005 12:46:24 -0700

Hey Robert, remember last night when I said it reminds me of old bands like the Fastbacks, here you fuckin' go:

[taken from the visqueen website]

Okay, so if Kim Warnick is Obi-Wan to Rachel Flotard’s wide-eyed Luke, this is the part where Flotard howls a slow-motion, "Nooooooo!" and then, with steely determination, sets off alongside Ben Hooker (umm, Han Solo with a lame haircut, I guess) to restore goodness to the universe. Oh, right, you came in late: Flotard’s the coppery coiffed, Gibson-wielding, sweet-but-foul-mouthed front woman of Seattle’s power-poppy Visqueen; drummer Hooker’s her longtime compatriot. And Warnick? She’s the bassist, having walked away from 26 years as singer of the Emerald City’s ragged malt-punk heroes Fastbacks to round out the outfit. Or, rather, she was the bassist. Last month, Warnick decided to walk away from Visqueen—and the world of music making—for good. "If I was doing this for 26 big ones, I would probably get a little tired, too. She just needs to rest," says Flotard.

I'm so damn smart but NO JOB, no fuckin job

Corey's parents must be very proud.

visqueen