jams, surf boards, and palm trees

okay, i'm gonna talk about the me portions of the la trip now, i'll prob'ly post the rock aspects of this very very rockin' trip in the artpunk community so stay tuned in there for that, it'll prob'ly be more interesting than what i have to say here...

so thursday night, before we left, i got called in to work...i had forgotten about it as i was going out to David's, from where we were leaving the next morning and didn't bring a work shirt...but i had my Camy's jacket w/ me to cover up my Atari shirt even though it was pretty warm...but after an hour and a half i got an extra $20 for the trip...

after 2 hrs of sleep we left for the airport...a stop in Dallas/Ft. Worth then it was L fuckin' A...we wandered around for a little while trying to find the shuttle company the hostel uses, first waiting at all the wrong places...but then we found where we were supposed to be and made it out there...taking a nice "scenic" route...(we also circled the airport once, i guess he was looking for more ppl going to Hollywood, but no one else joined aside from the lady who got on a few stops after us...we spent a half hour in the bus before we left the fucking airport...) we checked in and walked around a little while, in the direction we thought was towards UCLA...we ate at this cool restaurant (russian/greek/romanian or something...) then we got on the bus...when we end up downtown we realized we got on going in the wrong direction...i didn't remember the map as well as i thought...so we got on LA's very limited subway and made it back to right about where we started from in the area of the hostel (as it doesn't go further in the direction we need) and took the bus again the right way...we missed the first act, but it was just Quix*o*tic...they've opened for SY before and are OKAY...Unwound was the best show of that night...as it turns out, it was their third to last show...:( they will be sorely missed...Asheton, Mascis, and Watt was a nice surprise...i was expecting Mascis and Watt to over-wankify the Stooges songs (as it was a Stooges "tribute") and i knew it was gonna have Ron Asheton, but Scott Asheton was on the drums as well...and it was REALLY good...they just did songs from the first two albums...more on that when i do my artpunk rökk post...okay, saturday is now gonna get its own post...

a saturday in Los Angeles

we woke up all early, once again not getting very much sleep and being tired all day, but it was still a rocker of one...we went to meet Nikole at the Chinese Theatre...a few notes on that place: Steven Segal has his foot/hand prints in it...if HE has one it can't be too hard for Pauly Shore or Carrot Top to get their deserved slabs of concrete in the giant tourist trap of the stars...and for Bruce Willis' he wrote "yippie kiyay" in the pavement...that's funny...Nikole first took us to that small record store i was talking about and then Amoeba...which ruled...my only complaint is that they KNOW what they have and can tend to overcharge on the used stuff...but it's huge and has a ton of cool stuff...i had to restrain myself more than the NY trip 'cuz i didn't have nearly as much money so i was more half-assed at looking through everything than i normally would've been (still, i spent over a hundred dollars counting both times we went there...) then we went to Rosco's House of Chicken and Waffles...dear lord that place is the godhead...and then we drove to UCLA...for Aphex Twin i was up towards the front and by the time he came on it was fucking packed...i was litterally up against ppl on all sides...but this had a few advantages...1) i was damned tired by this point, as well as having sore feet...and it was hot...a few times i felt like i was on the verge of blacking out/having a heat stroke or something...but at times i could shift my weight to the side so i'm semi-resting on the person standing up against me and take some weight off my feet...not totally leaning against them, a subtle shift, but it was still pretty sweet...2) w/ Richard D. James' groovin' beats some ppl couldn't resist the urge to dance...this including several girls standing next to me through various points throughout his set...towards the end i was standing behind this girl who started dancing w/ her ass right up in the area between my crotch and my waist...so i got a sort of pseudo-vertical lap dance...it was pretty cool, aided me in the not-passing-out effort...(in case you can't tell, i don't come into contact w/ girls very often...sue me...) afterwards we went to this Denny's...it being the evening that turned into St. Patrick's day, i got the coolest meal ever: the Shamrock Slam...i think Nikole found David and me odd for finding the word "slam" to be one of the funniest things ever...but it can't be helped...and "scram slam" c'mon! then back to the hostel w/ us...

things i've just forgotten to mention:

getting into the shows on friday almost proved to be quite the bastard: the first shows we went to were at Royce Hall...i had my camera w/ me but cameras weren't allowed, i didn't have any film in mine and when the guy tried to stop me i told him and opened it up and he let me in...but when we went over to Ackerman for Bardo Pond they fucking wouldn't let me in...i was not very privy to the idea of not getting in and let them know this and tried what i used in the previous venue but they were more bastardly...i asked 'em if there was any place i could put it "in your car" "oh, hey i'm from Memphis, i flew here, i'm staying in a hostel in Hollywood and came here by the fucking bus it'd take like 2 hrs before i got back..." then some cops nearby said if i went downstairs and inside the building there there were some lockers to rent...so we went but the information desk informed us that the lockers were taken out in september...i informed them of our situation and asked about anywhere else and they were kind enough to hold our cameras there for us...(David has a small camera and while they didn't detect it before, he didn't wanna take a chance and risk not getting back in...) also, our hostel was right across the street from this gay/lesbian center...how appropriate for us! and there are signs all over the Sunset strip saying "no cruising"...bollocks! waiting for the bus in LA at night sucks ass...especially when it was that fucking cold and you don't bring a jacket 'cuz hey it's LA and hey we looked at the weather forecast and saw it'd be a little chilly but hey we'll mostly be inside anyway...we waited at least a half hour that night...

saturday, in line for the show we started talking to this guy next to us who'd been waiting at the same shuttle stop as we had at the airport who was wearing a Helium shirt that day...he asks where we're from "Memphis" oh what's your names? "David" "Robert" to which he responds "Traxler?" which i found very odd...it turns out it's Chris Lawrence...guy from SY newsgroup that has the SY concert chronology and i've talked to a bit online and is a cool SY geek like me...he also did the Sonic Youth tribute we're gonna be on (which he informed me he just finished and we should get a copy soon...) and he also helped his girlfriend w/ the Free Kitten tribute we were on too...he was w/ her (Amy) as well...it was weird and quite the wacky freak coincidince that we met...so that was really cool...he still wants us to get our cover of "XXX" for the Helium tribute...

also i forgot to say how cool it was meeting you, Nikole, sorry if i seemed a bit distant, i just have 3 nights of not enough sleep in a row to thank for that (well, as well as my typical social skills...)

ALSO, the first night i bought a US Maple shirt (it sucks i had to miss their show...) and i got an Unwound shirt...it rules, it's black on black text like the new album cover...i bought it from Justin himself...and another minor detail, Sara Lund's gained a bit of weight which is kind've weird...she has an enormous ghetto booty now...i'd still do her, she's like the third coolest drummer ever...of course, she still wouldn't talk to me...i wonder what the members of the fourth greatest band ever will be up to now...or at the end of the month when they've become no more...

Sunday

when we woke up we went to this little place we saw near the Chinese Theatre that has gyros...it was quite quite tasty...then we returned to Amoeba for reasons mentioned in a post yesterday...next was the FUN task of catching a bus in LA on a fucking sunday...we waited like half an hour and a bus on the route we need came, we started to get on but it was only going to Fairfax (a few blocks down) and turning around...WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT!? so we wait a while more and finally a fucking bus comes and we get to UCLA only a little late...we were able to catch the end of the first band's (Black Dice) set...they were quite good, a bit like Flying Saucer Attack...i had planned on getting there quite early to maintain a spot right in the fucking front so i could lean against the barrier for 8 hrs or so for Sonic Youth...we were able to get pretty close, by the time SY was on i had worked my way up to only having 2 ppl in front of me...oh well...public transportation in LA is partly to blame, i guess as us taking too long doing crap is as well...another surprise was Mike Watt's Secondmen, as you can guess, a bit of a Minutemen "tribute"...they were REALLY fucking good...they did some other covers as well ("Three Girl Rhumba," "Ex-Lion Tamer," "Caroline Says Pt. 1," and "Venus" as well as others i didn't recognize...old LA punk i guess...) and finally, of course, was Sonic Youth...my favorite show of the festival...they were just fucking great...they mostly played their new stuff...it's REALLY REALLY REALLY good...i guess i'll do more detail in my artpunk post, but i'll also mention they did "She Is Not Alone" for the encore and it was one of the best things ever...i'd heard about it doing it live a little while back and having changed it some, but finally hearing it...holy fuck! it's even better than the album version...fucking amazing...while waiting, i belive before The Dead C came on, David went to the merch table to get shirts while i saved his spot (which is a sucky thing to do standing), i got 2 SY shirts...he also got red cherry "licorice" stick things so we wouldn't starve in the hours to come...sweet...we didn't have to wait so long for the bus that night...

going and being home...

we barely made it up in time for our 5:55am shuttle back to the airport...(we actually stepped in the bus right at 6:00am...) and we left the ATP posters we had gotten in the hostel...doh! we stopped in St. Louis where we boarded our next plane: a fucking prop plane...so the ride back in that was super-fun! bouncy bouncy bouncy...on my way back home i deposited my last $26 of cash, in hopes it'll help my account not get overdrawn when all the purchases/withdrawals go through...oh yea, and breakfast at fucking Burger King in the airport: $10...ain't that quaint...very late last night i finally got to my models of comp hw...got too little sleep, class, more sleep, class again...now here i am...and to wrap it up: prob'ly the best fucking trip ever...LA sucks a lot more than New York (well, i mean NYC fucking rules...) but that was the most amazing set of shows i've ever seen...unbelievable...and even apart from that trip fucking ruled...not that there was much apart from the shows, as there were so many and took so much of the time...but yea, it was worth it many many times over...

some more

today there was a postcard sitting on the stairs from Toledo...gracias, señorita...also, i took a bunch of pictures in LA...i managed to borrow a camera from my mom and w/ it came 2 rolls of film...i went out and bought a 4 pack as well...David bought a 4 pack too, but it was the wrong kind of film for his camera so he just gave it to me...so i had 10 rolls of film...i used 6...one thing though, the camera is a fucking bitch when it comes to position...like, almost all the time it won't take if you're not holding it perfectly upright, so if you try to hold it at an angle it won't take and you have to move it around 'til it's perfect for the little bitchy camera so i don't even know how good half the pictures are...we'll see, maybe chance was kind to me...but it wasn't kind've pissing me off...we'll see...i might post some...so keep an eye out for tons of palm trees...