Whistling a Happy Tune - LA Phil & Volunteering Excursions

**soundtrack to this post: - Starlight - Muse - right click & open in new tab **

Ok so...remember how I started this blog to fill my Sunday night HBO programming void?  Well let me explain the hiatus by saying True Blood and Curb are officially back and in full swing-- apologies!

LA Phil preps for the "Brahms Unbound" program

Summer is in full swing here in LA with the Royal couple visiting and next weekend's Carmageddon with the 405 closing.  Fortunately, I was able to cross off one of my to-do items before the craziness at work set in - specifically, visiting the Walt Disney Concert Hall.  I waited and waited and finally made the executive decision to brave the downtown drive the afternoon of Sunday, June 5th for the final show of the LA Phil's 10/11 season with Dudamel conducting Brahms' Fourth Symphony.  I scalped tix for the last row of the first mezz (still a great view) and the show was unbelievable.  What was especially cool was that the concert was broadcast live to movietheaters nationwide and John Lithgow introduced the program.  You can even download the live recording on itunes!

Outside Walt Disney Concert Hall

The concert was completely sold out and it was pretty cool to see the space at full capacity (2,265 people).  I've been excited to go here since I first moved out to LA but kept putting it off because I absolutely HATE going downtown *shudder*.  I became a fan of Frank Gehry's work since visiting the Guggenheim in Bilbao back in -oh, 2005? - and the concert hall is equally stunning.  A few building facts for you trivia enthusiasts:

• The project was launched in 1992, when Lillian Disney, widow of Walt Disney, donated $50 million (Gehry completed the designs in 1991)
• Upon completion in 2003, the project had cost an estimated $274 million, including the parking garage which had solely cost $110 million.
• The walls and ceiling of the hall are finished with Douglas-fir while the floor is finished with oak. The Hall's reverberation time is approximately 2.2 seconds unoccupied and 2.0 seconds occupied. (Note: I respect wood)
• The organ is a gift to the County of Los Angeles from Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc.
• The first ever movie premiere at the concert hall was in 2003, when The Matrix Revolutions held its world premiere.

So that's that...which still leaves pretty much a month in which I've left you all high and dry wondering what I've been up to.  Biggest adventure was a trip to Springfield, MO ("The middle of everything" is their town motto - I kid you not) for work during which my team volunteered in Joplin, MO to assist in the tornado disaster relief efforts.  There really are no words to describe what it's like to see that kind of destruction in person...certainly incredibly humbling to come back to my life in LA afterwards.  So how it works there is having the debris on your property is considered a public safety hazard and if you don't dispose of it, the government organizations will do it for you and charge $3-5k.  As volunteers, we moved debris to the side of the road where it became public property to help homeowners avoid these expenses.  Whole system still kind of baffles me.  I mean - you can see the destruction from the picture to the right and this is a month after the tornado hit.  


And that's pretty much that depressing note I'm going to leave you on this Sunday evening.  Exciting posts to come though, including the long awaited family visit to LA and seeing Eddie Izzard at the Hollywood Bowl next week.  Later Gators!

CTOWN OUT!

Ciao Ciao again, Los Angeles!

**soundtrack to this post: - Wilson Phillips, Hold On in honor of Bridesmaids - right click & open in new tab **

After an amazing week in Bellevue full of kayaking through houseboats, making fun of bikers at Red Hook Brewery, learning how to play quarters and befriending 11-year-olds who were creepily interested in my dating history it is GOOD to be home!

And look what I came home to **drum roll please**.... LA MAGAZINE's 10 GREAT WALKS ISSUE!  Only the perfect compilation of ideas for future blog entries and neighborhoods to explore.  Challenge accepted, LA mag...challenge accepted.

Which is why I woke up this morning on a mission to visit the Venice canals!  They'd actually been on my mind prior to my reading LA Mag since they were featured in the travel channel premiere of "Off Limits."  While in Seattle I watched back to back travel channel shows pretty much all weekend and kept seeing trailers for this show and the first city featured was Los Angeles.  Obviously I DVR'd it and learned all about the LA river, LA aqueduct and this hidden Nazi hideout in the Hollywood Hills.  Outrageous.

Anyway, I always like being in the Marina Del Rey / Venice area of LA since I lived in Marina Del Rey when I first moved here **memories**.  Back in the day I could never go out without inevitably coming back to my apt with 20 bags from the local Venice whole foods (aka the most AMAZING whole foods!)  but I haven't been back there ever since I heard they do "adopt-a-thon" puppy events.  I don't trust myself.  Instead, today I got a picnic brunch at my fave Santa Monica hotspot Huckleberry!  Resisted the temptation of the amazing baked goodies and got quinoa with peas, carrots & scrambled eggs.  So nommy!

Picnic bag in hand, I hopped back in Debbie and drove aimlessly towards Venice.  Rumor had it that street parking around the canals is notoriously shitty on the weekends but once I got my bearings I found a spot on Ocean Ave & Linnie no sweat! Oh, and FYI I'm a parallel parking master now.

So, what's so great about the Venice Canals?  Well Venice, CA was founded by tobacco millionaire Abbot Kinney back in 1905 as a beach resort town.  Name sound familiar?  That's because Abbot Kinney is the super popular street in Venice named after its founder where first Fridays and art walks are held.  But back to the canals -- Kinney had dug several miles of canals by 1905 to drain the marshes in the area so residences could be built and he turned the town into a Disneyland-esque amusement center ("Venice of America").  Unfortunately, a fire burning down the amusement pier and prohibition affecting the town's tax revenue meant that by 1925 Venice's roads, water and sewage systems were a mess and it was proposed that Venice be annexed to Los Angeles.  Venice became part of LA in November of that year and the city felt the town needed more streets, not canals, so many of them were paved in 1929.  By 1940 the remaining canals were in disrepair and it was not until over 50 years later, in 1992, that they were finally renovated with the canals being drained and new sidewalks and walls. The canals re-opened in 1993 and have become a desirable and expensive residential section of the city.

Pretty neat place, right?  Took that pic above on my picnic-stroll.  A mini-Italy complete with palm trees right here in Los Angeles!  And for you film buffs out there -  remember all those scenes in "Valentine's Day" where Ashton Kutcher's character is standing on a bridge all melancholy and with Mario Lopez or Jennifer Garner?  That was filmed at the Venice Canals!  CHECK!

In other news, I also saw Kylie Minogue at the Hollywood Bowl this weekend - but what happens at the bowl, stays at the Bowl *wink wink*

CTOWN OUT!

Apollo! Apollo!

**soundtrack to this post: The Head and the Heart - Lost in My Mind  -- right click & open in new tab **


**note: this was in fact last week's entry which I decided to postpone posting until I watched Apollo! Apollo! again or finished reading Bossypants.  About halfway through Bossypants...so....**

Not a 30 rock fan?  Let me start by saying get your life together - buy a Netflix subscription with instant viewing and figure it out.  You can thank me later.

Now that that's out of the way...exciting news!  This past week, I spontaneously attended a "Talk with Tina Fey and Steve Martin" promoting Tina Fey's new book - Bossypants.

To those of you in California interested in buying said book, be forewarned that Borders has pretty much died across our great state because as of the beginning of last week, nobody had given ME the memo!  The night before the "talk" I typed Borders into my GPS and drove to three separate abandoned buildings in sketchy neighborhoods (Compton, I'm looking at you) and slowly came to the realization at the third building that it couldn't be a coincidence all these GPS Borders locations were dead-ends...

My powers of deduction amaze even me sometimes.

So that's how I ended up at Nokia Theatre Tuesday night bookless while surrounded by 4,999 other fans who had the foresight to not only buy but READ Tina's new book.  I was looking pretty lame with my copy of Anne Lamot's Bird by Bird that I bought after my high school graduation because Tina Fey praised it non-stop.  That's right all you fans who think you're better than me!  She was my graduation speaker and that's a bond that goes deep! BAM!

But I'll get back to that....  As for the main event - it was great!  Reminded me of when I went with my mom to an event at Radio City Music Hall a few years back where John Irving, Stephen King, and JK Rowling all read excerpts of their work...pretty amazing.  Just fun to be in a space like that with readers ... what I'd like to think of as a special type of fan.  

Read what LA times had to say on the event HERE.

Then there was the audience Q&A session at the end of Steve & Tina's witty banter where one fan asked the inevitable question of what Tina's favorite 30 Rock episode is.  I swear to god as soon as I heard the question  all I could think was "Apollo! Apollo!" Am I psychic?  Well, Tina Fey stating Apollo! Apollo! is her favorite episode 5 seconds later would suggest so, so YES!  I am definitively psychic. 

So why Apollo! Apollo! ?  It is not my favorite episode despite it having the typical crazy ties to my life which keep me watching 30 rock -- friendcest, 24 references, Liz failing to take up running... But having said that, the episode is great in that it's arc focuses around Alec Baldwin's character throwing a 50th birthday bash for himself and finding an old video of himself opening birthday presents as a boy and getting so excited over his birthday gift that he vomits.  Determined to find out what the gift is, buy it, and be that happy again he has experts come in to decipher the video and it's finally a deaf woman who identifies what Jack's saying as "Apollo! Apollo!" (Click here for proof I'm not lying) See, the gift was a Apollo rocket ship figurine.

Boring plot summary aside, I do love this episode in it's own way because it's about recapturing the wonder and joy you had as a child.  Now...I have an AMAZING photo of myself on the steps of the MET wedged between my sister Steele and best friend at the time Emily Baldwin where I must be about 6 or 7 and have this REDICULOUS look on my face like I'm so excited I'm going to vomit (or start "lizzing").  That has never in fact happened to me but I think it's the closest I ever came to it.  So while I couldn't find THAT photo for this blog, dear readers, the below photo - my favorite family portrait - is a close second:

This is the one photo I have framed in my apt that I take with me wherever I go whenever I travel.  I have NO idea what Steele and I are doing (other than totally rocking our hipster p-jam matching sets)  but it's amazing.  I also love this photo because it proves that I'm a natural blonde.

Rewatching Apollo! Apollo! reminded me of the things which still keep me this happy and connected to my younger self through the years.  Between re-watching the episode and reading my amazing signed copy of Bossypants (that Tina signed post-the event) and bonding with Steele over it (she finished the book in like a day and has already given away all the funny parts)  I have felt pretty content this past week.

Thank you new iphone and your LiveNation app for finding that Nokia Theatre event for me.  I love you now more than ever even if I still don't quite know how to use you as an actual phone.

CTOWN OUT!

"Maybe LA was a Big Mistake" -- The Jamie Oliver / CTown Story

What can I say peeps?  I've been keeping so busy these past few weeks I haven't even been able to take 5 minutes out of my schedule to update you all on my amazing 2011 goal progress and activities and things!  That or... nothing has happened I feel is worth writing about.  Guess what - it's the latter.

But that stops THIS WEEK because as I scrolled Hulu recently uploaded TV episodes over the weekend I came across the season premiere of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution season 2... an episode aptly titled "Maybe LA was a Big Mistake."

Now those of you who know me well know that when I make mistakes I lovingly refer to them as "HUGE mistakes" (aka "epic fails") so when I read this it caught my attention.  Wasn't it just - oh, 8 months ago - when I was asking myself if "Maybe L.A. was a huge mistake?"  And this got me thinking about the ties Jamie Oliver has had in my life since my West Coast move ... and that is what I will be sharing with you all this week if you'll allow me the pleasure (note: I have no idea where this is going but if you bear with me you'll see how it ties into me making my AMAZING iphone 4 purchase this afternoon and as far as weekly events go, everything pales in comparison to the joy this phone is giving me).

Flashback to moving into our new LA office last year ... memories.  The office is on Sunset Blvd so we are surrounded by people "in the industry."  Sadly, snooping has gotten me as far as an awkward fbook friendship with a guy who works in a cube outside our office and that's about it (other than the juicy tidbit that Jason Bateman works on the top floor of the building).  I did however notice a huge Jamie Oliver poster in one of the offices by ours while exploring  (see pic to the left) so since move-in I've been wondering about the imagined abc-honcho working in said office. The poster also kept Jamie Oliver top-of-mind in the months to follow (the office it's in is right by the coffee machine) so much so that when I heard Jamie was filming season 2 in LA I knew I HAD to participate!

Ryan Seacrest kept promoting the Food Revolution on his radio show (not that I listen to it *SHUDDER* - I'm a Joel McHale fan - ...Travis, my partner in crime, listens) but it never seemed to work for the two of us to head out to support Jamie.  Seriously - first Travis and I could never get out to Jamie's Kitchen in Westwood and then I got stuck in traffic in Santa Monica with a co-worker last year for hours only to find out AFTER the fact that the traffic was being caused by a massive cook-off Jamie was hosting on 3rd street promenade.  HOW could I keep epicly failing at supporting the food revolution??

Jamie working the drive-thru

That's why when Travis told me Jamie was taking over operations of a fast food joint in the boonies of Los Angeles in February I was determined to go- and go we did! 40+ min out of our way later, we arrived at Patra's to taste Jamie's fare!  Travis and I signed our release forms and chowed down on two "Revolution burgers" (extra spice on Travis').  They were AMAZING!  Not to mention Jamie chatted us up as we were sitting at the bar and called Travis his "brother" in true Jamie Oliver fashion - novelty!!  And while Ryan Seacrest did not end up making an appearance that evening much to Travis' dismay, the two of us still cling to the hope that footage of us will be used as B-roll in upcoming food revolution episodes LOOKOUT - I'm famous!!


So you see, quite honestly..Jamie inspired an amazing LA excursion I shared with Travis pre-blog and so to see him associating LA with a mistake just doesn't sit right with me!  Granted...I haven't been fully honest with you.  Last year when Travis first told me Jamie was in LA and he wanted me to track Jamie down with him I may have asked Travis if it was for Food Revolution and he denied it... prompting me to threaten that if Jamie WAS in fact here for Food Revolution tapings and Travis and I inadvertantly landed on TV in filler footage as a narrator spouted off depressing facts about the obesity epidemic in LA that I would actually kill him.  Ha ha that's the truth.  But see I came around and since then have met Jamie, signed the food revolution petition (read about it and sign for yourself HERE!!), and excitedly downloaded and watched his AMAZING 20 minute meals app on my new iphone 4.  Seriously...this app is amazing AND on sale this month.

So I'll end this post with a quote by Jamie seeming especially relevant given the nature of these ramblings:

"... all I ever wanted to do was to make food accessible to everyone; to show that you can make mistakes - I do all the time - but it doesn't matter."

CTOWN OUT!

Parks & Recreation - The fallout of not winning Mega Millions

**soundtrack to this post: Tales of Coming News - The Avett Bros  -- right click & open in new tab **

Ever since not winning $319 million in the lottery last Friday despite feeling "really positive" I have been in a slump.  Even my amazing trip to the Getty Villa on Saturday (one of my 11 things to do in 2011!) was overshadowed with thoughts that "if I had won mega millions, I too would buy acres and acres of land in Malibu to build a Roman-style house and fill it with my vast collection of Greek and Roman artifacts."

It didn't help that then on my way back from the Getty I accidentally found myself in a puppy store.  It was like those scenes in movies where the person is all focused on driving home and zones out and when they come to - they're surrounded by puppies! ....exactly like that, actually.  And this wasn't just any  dog store - there were ST.BERNARD puppies in the window.  That's right - two of them.  Absurd.  What is my life turning into? A Beethoven sequel? *REFERENCE!!* - up top!

Note:  I would be remiss if I did not take a moment here to say that my dream dog is a rottweiler named Caleb.  Rottweilers are perfect.  Not to mention that Caleb would be a girl (yes, like me my dog would have a boy's name that started with a C) and her name comes from the Hebrew word Kelev which means dog/loyal.  Not that I've thought about it much.

 Also note: If I didn't get a rottweiler I'd most likely get a teacup pomeranian named Fatty that looked like a little bear.

THIS POST HAS A POINT! 

All this thinking about dogs got me wondering about the park right by my apartment - Plummer Park - so when I got back home I walked over and finally checked it out!  

According to Wikipedia, the east side of West Hollywood (aka the classy place I live...let the stalking begin...) is dominated by Russian immigrants, and the park is a popular gathering place for Russians. In 2005, a controversial monument to Soviet Army dead in World War II was built in the park. While supported by many local residents, it was criticized as being inappropriate given that some might interpret it as honoring the USSR under Joseph Stalin. .....also, there's a farmer's market every Monday.  

Most importantly - there have been rumors of the City of West Hollywood turning Plummer Park into the city's second dog-friendly park!  According to Curbed LA, the long-planned Plummer Park improvements will now include an off-leash dog park.  The Fiesta Hall will be renovated and expanded and a new childcare center will be built. Outside, a pedestrian promenade at Lexington Avenue will stretch across the park, and an interactive water feature, a playground, and gardens will be added. The park will also get a new 179-space underground parking structure to replace one of its existing surface lots. Phase I will include Fiesta Hall, the childcare center, the Great Hall/Long Hall demo, and the parking structure are expected to kick off in June 2011. Those will be open during Phase II, which includes the promenade and outdoor amenities, and which is expected to wrap up in January 2013.

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What're my thoughts?  Well from the Fountain Ave entrance you have to walk through 8 sets of tennis courts to get to any sort of park area.  It's kind of sketch but also...kind of amazing.  All the courts are in use on the weekend!  There are old Russian men playing chess by the basketball court and the Fiesta Hall is HUGE and the smell of something delicious was in the air from some sort of private event being hosted there.  It's definitely in need of a renovation and is a bit run down but what great history - and right by my apartment! Leave it to me to find the prime-est real estate in WeHo after ignoring everyone's warnings that there had been a triple homicide in the area months prior to my moving.  Take THAT everyone!

CTOWN OUT!