jamming in the san bernardino sun

Most people who hang out with me know that I despise the Forum and I hate Dodger Stadium, each for various reasons that inconvenience me. And there are a very select few musical acts I will go to those places to see in concert. Yet there is one single band I've seen at both places... and that fact should explain why I trekked to god-forsaken San Bernardino in October when it was a billion degrees outside for Cal Jam 17 at Glen Helen Amphitheater.

That band had an idea... and I and 65,000 other sweaty people joined in...



The parking was a nightmare -- we ended up on the other side of I-15 and had to walk a mile each way to the venue. (How about some shuttles next year Dave?). And I already mentioned it was a billion degrees outside in October. But other than that, for an outdoor, all-day music festival, the event was actually pretty well organized. There were tons of food and beverage stands, water stations to fill up water bottles, and a bit of shade here and there.

We arrived around 2:30 so my friend Lisa could see/hear Royal Blood on the main stage while we cooled down with shaved ice. Then we went in search of cooler temps and found them (after waiting in line for 20 minutes) inside the air-conditioned tent housing the Foo Fighters Rock n' Roll Museum,  which was packed with two decades of memorabilia -- everything from the "footos" in the "Big Me" video to Dave's throne from the Sonic Highways tour and the cast that necessitated said throne...



                     

Dave's motorcycle throne from Love Ride 2016

The "White Limo"

The knitted band name from the "Run" video

Wigs that aged the band in the "Run" video

"Best of You" lyrics

"Big Me" video's famous "Footos"

"Wasting Light" recording chart

My favorite guitar in the world :)

Photos from the Sonic Highways recordings/shoot.

Dave's original post-op drug-enduced sketches for the "throne"

After spending an hour in the air-conditioning, we went to get dinner, then settled into seats for the night's top three acts: Cage the Elephant, Queens of the Stone Age, and my beloved Foo Fighters, who played until past midnight with many, many special guests.

Enjoy this sampling (and be thankful I spared you the train wreck of Liam Gallager trying to sing "Come Together" with the band and Joe Perry -- that was almost 3 months ago and my ears still hurt)...

Foo Fighters "La Dee Da " w/ Dave Koz and Allison Mosshart @ CalJam17

 Foo Fighters and Rick Astley "Never Gonna Give You Up" @ CalJam17

 Foo Fighters "Dirty Water" w/ Inara George @ CalJam 17

 Foo Fighters and Joe Perry "Draw The Line" @ CalJam17

a rockin' afternoon in... thousand oaks??

Thousand Oaks is my California hometown. The first place I lived after moving here in 10th grade. The place I learned to drive a car. The place I got my first job. The place my parents still live.

Every spring, Thousand Oaks holds Conejo Valley Days. There's a chili cook-off. A 5k run. And lots of carnival rides that, as a teenager, equaled a majorly exciting weekend in boring T.O.

I haven't been to Conejo Valley Days in more than 25 years... until yesterday.

Last year, I learned after-the-fact that Chevy Metal, a cool '70s cover band led by Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins (who lives nearby) had played "CVD"... and his Foo friend Dave Grohl showed up. So this year, when I saw Chevy Metal would be playing CVD again, I convinced my Foo Fan friend Lisa to join me in the hot afternoon sun to see Taylor and his Chevy-crew, and in hopes that history would repeat itself... 

Once the techs came out and started tuning guitars, I knew it would. Dave Grohl plays very distinctive guitars, and I saw his gold Gibson being tuned. But he didn't come out right away. So then I started watching the guitars Chevy Metal's other guitarist was playing as the set went on. They played some Motley Crue, Billy Squire, Queen, Van Halen and AC/DC. (Full setlist is here.)  But the guitarist never played a gold Gibson. 

Then about 40-45 minutes into the set, Taylor started calling, "Dave. Dave. DAVE!!" And out came Dave Grohl.... with his gold Gibson guitar. Apparently he was late, and Taylor blamed him for having to switch the entire set list around. Dave said he was off winning goldfish and puking on the tilt-a-whirl. :)

They ended up playing three more covers from the Rolling Stones, Faces and then ended with David Bowie's "Under Pressure" which I love. Taylor, Dave and Chevy Metal bassist Wiley Hodgden trading vocals. Enjoy... 

(And sorry about the feedback noise. I don't know if that's because of the wind, how I was holding my phone, the fact I was situated in between Wiley's amps and two giant speakers on the side of the stage, or a combo of all three. Just don't turn this up too loud. You've been warned.) 

storytime with dave (and his mom!)

If there's one thing I've learned from being a Foo Fighters fan for almost 20 years, it's that Dave Grohl likes to talk... a lot. But that's okay, because he's Dave Grohl and he tells great stories.


Today, at the LA Times Festival of Books, I had the awesome experience of hearing Dave and his mom, Virginia Hanlon Grohl, tell stories of his early years -- like how she dealt with letting her 17-year-old son drop out of school to go on tour with a punk band called Scream -- and the similarities and bonds she's formed with the other moms of now-famous musical artists she interviewed for her new book, "From Cradle to Stage: Stories from the Mothers Who Rocked and Raised Rock Stars." (I've started to read the book already -- going through all the Dave stories first - shocker! -- and it's a great read.)

Here's a snippet of their LA Times Main Stage "Conversation" Saturday afternoon, posted by Muse.

   

 And here's a bunch of my photos of animated Dave interviewing his mom and telling stories (while wearing a flannel shirt in 90-degree-heat without breaking a sweat!) 

UPDATE 5/14/17: Here's the full video of the session, posted by Muse 

downtown adventure day

Last Saturday turned into one of my favorite kinds of days... wandering around downtown exploring! My friend James' sister Karen was in town from Austin to watch her favorite hockey team, the Boston Bruins, lose to my LA Kings. So along with Daryl, we set off downtown with the 7:30pm puck drop as our only scheduled activity.

Stop #1 was at my second favorite place to hang out downtown (after Staples Center, of course), the amazingly delicious foodie paradise on the corner of 7th and Grand, Bottega Louie. It was 1pm and the weekend, so the brunch menu was still in effect, and we took full advantage!

Daryl and Karen had Bloody Mary's, I had a Bellini.
Dessert was the caramel butterscotch parfait on the lower right, with a salted chocolate macaroon.
We also, of course, made Karen try the famous portebello mushroom fries! (Sorry, no photo. They were gone too fast ;)

Our brunch meals were (clockwise from top left): My lemon ricotta pancakes, Karen's smoked salmon benedict, James' salmon millefeuille with soft boiled egg on the side and Daryl's lobster hash.

After brunch, we were walking back to my car to put stuff (ie: my Bottega Louie sugar cookies and raspberry beinget, which I had for breakfast on Sunday) away, when we spotted R2D2 and some storm troopers. Now, I've seen a live cow wandering the streets of downtown, but seeing an actual celebrity like R2D2 had to be investigated! Turns out, they were there to promote the 24th Annual Art of Motion Picture Costume Design at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (aka FIDM), which is a block from my go-to DTLA parking lot. The exhibit was free, so we wandered in and saw all the costumes nominated for Oscars this year, plus the wanna-be's (Jem and the Holograms anyone?). It was a welcome surprise on our Downtown Adventure Day!

The Force Awakens costumes, official exhibit greeter R2D2 and a combo land cruiser/back to the future prop car (it had a flux capacitor inside, along with a mini-BB8). Check out the cool "Kenobi 2016" bumper sticker and the "Yoda" "fish" :)

My fave movie surprise of the year, Brooklyn, Academy Award Winner Mad Max: Fury Road, and the Cinderella princess dress

After the stop at the car, we wandered to LA Live. Karen wanted to check out the Grammy Museum (which -- tip! -- only costs $10 with your AAA card). They had exhibits on Otis Redding (4th floor), The Supremes (3rd floor) and a Bob Dylan photography exhibit (2nd floor). But my favorite thing on the 2nd floor was found in the hallway on the way to the restroom... framed photos of Adele and the Foo Fighters. Apparently 2011 was an excellent year for the only two music acts I've listened to on the iPod in my car for the last four months (with the exception of an experimental week, which I'll be blogging about here soon ;)

After the Grammy Museum, we hit up Rosa Mexicana for their famous pomegranate margaritas, guac and a mini-dinner.

Then it was time for Karen and I -- well our hockey teams -- to go into battle. Luckily, the good guys prevailed so Karen got a ride home ;)

random thoughts on the grammys - 2016 edition

For the first time ever, the Grammy Awards are LIVE on the West Coast! Yay!

However, I'm working on a hour-long Tivo delay because I was signing refi docs for my house at 5, which means I should catch up around 6:45 as I skip the commercials and rap categories.... here we go:

First up, to set expectations, here's what I care about:

• When is Adele singing?
• When is Lady Gaga doing her Bowie tribute?
• Since they've been posting pix from all over LA this weekend, does that mean U2 is going to make a surprise appearance?
• And most importantly, is Dave Grohl there? Because Dave Grohl makes everything better.

Look it's Taylor Swift opening the show. Shocker. She cut her hair. I wish she'd sung Bad Blood. Then the cameras could have found Kanye in the audience... or John Mayer... or a JoBro .... or Katy Perry and created a fun awkward moment.

LL Cool J is hosting again. Does no one else know how to host this show?

And there's the Adele/Lionel Richie "Hello" joke. Took all of 3 minutes...

Rap category. Fast forward. (aka ff)

It's some guy singing with Carrie Underwood. She is very tan. (Sorry.. that's all I got. I was making dinner reservations on Yelp during that performance.)

Arianna Grande introduces The Weekend singing the song from "50 Shades of Grey." Somehow my Twitter feed already thinks he won something for this song. This is also the song that made "50 Shades of Grey" an Oscar(c) nominee. I really preferred the Ellie Goulding song...

That song wasn't that song...

Ooh speaking of Ellie Goulding, here she comes singing with Andra Day. I saw Ellie at the Bowl at the Katy Perry concert charity show a year and a half ago. And I saw Andra open for Lenny Kravitz at the Greek in September. She is AMAZING. Mark my words and remember her name....

Yay. They are singing the good "50 Shades of Grey" song. (Did I just say that?)

So they're saluting Lionel Richie. What do any of the people LL and James Corden just introduced (with the possible exception of John Legend, who's also a pianist/singer/songwriter) have to do with Lionel Richie? Demi Lovato and Meghan Trainor?? Umm well at least they can sing I guess. But Meghan Trainor looks like Nia Vardalos with brown hair... and that's all I can think about right now.

Tyrese is doing "Brick House." Was Bruno Mars (who's sitting behind Lionel Richie in the audience smiling like a dork) not available for that?

Is there ANY network Ryan Seacrest is not on? (Note: I do NOT want to see him host the Grammys instead of LL Cool J.)

Fancy in-the-round camera work on the intro to the Little Big Town "Girl Crush" performance. Love the acapella start followed by the strings.

Those are some snazzy bright sneakers Stevie Wonder is wearing.

Ahhh... so instead of one super depressing "In Memoriam" segment, they are doing musical tributes to those greats who passed away in the last year.. and by "the last year" we mostly mean the last 45 days. :(

AHH Dave Grohl is there!! (audience shot) YAY!

Taylor Swift is more excited for Ed Sheeran beating her for "Song of the Year" than I think she would've been if she won. He's so cute in his suit and Chucks... and thanking his parents for coming every year even though he never wins... til now. And saying he can't believe Stevie Wonder just gave him a Grammy. I heart him. And way to cut off his fellow songwriter Amy with the Glenn Frey clip as she started to speak... oops.

Now the Eagles' first performance without Glenn Frey. Don Henley looks like he's going to cry. I am too.

Great duet by Tori Kelly and James Bay. I love when people just sing with some stringed instrument.

Yay! Hamilton! This is probably the only time I'll see this cast perform live.

Kendrick Lamar. I feel I should watch this. Normally I would ff the rap.  That's a damn big fire inside Staples Center... I hope it's far above my Kings' ice. Way to bleep out a good 10 seconds of the song there censor with your finger on the button. That was pretty intense.

Look it's Seth McFarlane to present Best Musical Theater Album. Gee.. I wonder who's going to win this.... OMG! It's Hamilton (shocker). Lin Manuel wrote a rap for his acceptance speech. Of course he did.

Ooh. And now the live Gwen Stefani Le Target commercial. No pressure. She's like Alice in a Cruella de Vil Explosion... in a Barbie hair salon... in a speakeasy. And wow. She can roller skate. Or maybe not. What just happened. I'm so confused.

And the Foos lose "Best Rock Performance" to Alabama Shakes!?!?!?! WTF. No.

Yay! Bruno Mars! But wait. Why isn't he singing??? Oh, he's introducing Adele. That's allowed then. YAY! Shhh.

Why is the piano louder than she is? Sound guy... you SUCK. Oh. My. God. She looks pissed. Someone is sooooooooo getting fired. She looks and sounds beautiful though (now that I can HEAR her). Her dress is what I refer to as a "good red." And there is no doubt she sang that live. Wow. Such power and emotion. Love.

Bieber. I want to ff.. but I can't look away. Wait. He won a Grammy? So Bieber now has as many Grammys as David Bowie??!?!? Shoot. Me. Now.

Time to go get a glass of wine and some frozen Thin Mints. This has been a very traumatizing last 10 minutes since that Gwen Stefani Target commercial came on. Oy.

Nia Vardalos.. I mean Meghan Trainor just won Best New Artist. Okay. Stop crying. As anyone who isn't Christina Aguilera will tell you, this isn't necessarily a good thing. #bestnewartistcurse

Here's "Academy Award Nominee Lady Gaga"... the Bowie tribute. She's just about the only person other than him who could pull that performance off. Wow. And we thought her Sound of Music tribute was amazing at the Oscars. Now I miss him all over again. Aww. Nile Rogers is playing on "Let's Dance." Love.

Now a salute to the incomparable BB King. Miss him too. Geez the last year really sucked for losing great musical talent.

Alabama Shakes is performing. ff out of spite. #foofightersforever

Whoa stop! It's Dave Grohl... "the leader of Foo Fighters with FIFTEEN GRAMMY AWARDS!" Aww. He's talking about Lemmy. #riplemmy
(Ed. Note: They've actually only won 11 Grammys. And Nirvana only won one. So Dave only has 12. Some Grammy fact checker just got fired too.)



Alice Cooper, Joe Perry, Johnny Depp, Duff and Matt Sorum.... The Hollywood Vampires. I love that this is on CBS right now. All the old people who watch CBS are like, "What is this scary man with black circles around his eyes and blood on his shirt doing on my television and why is Johnny Depp playing guitar with him?" Hahahaha.

"Ace of Spades" tribute to Lemmy. Dave needs to be playing with them. Run out there!

Oh, it's the little piano prodigy I saw on "60 Minutes"... Joey Alexander. He's 12. He has talent. Right now, Justin Bieber has more Grammys than he does.

Now the dreaded "In Memorium" segment. It's packed with so many greats gone. So much amazing music. Nice extra long moment for Natalie Cole at the end since she didn't get a tribute segment. Unforgettable indeed.

This show is now officially too long.

Lifetime Achievement Award to Earth Wind and Fire. Another loss. Maurice White.

T-Swift just won Album of the Year. She's the first woman to win this award twice. Nice #girlpower speech... as she's surrounded by her male producing squad. Le sigh. 

Beyonce doesn't need an intro apparently. 

Bruno wins Record of the Year for "Uptown Funk." I support this decision. Geez Bruno Mars is short. 

That means it's over now right?

Wrong.

Pitbull still sings? Is this necessary? This sounds like the Macarena. ff. Wait. Why is Joe Perry participating in this? Oy. More wine....

Oh thank god it's over. That was SO not necessary. 

Okay. Break down the stage so my LA Kings can come back home....

PS: U2 never showed up. :( I guess Adam was having too much fun at The Getty today....

my favorites of 2015

Quotes 

I'm sure this quote is not from 2015, but 2015 is when I saw it on the Word Porn Facebook feed, which I also love...



And for my new personal mantra... expanded this year as I've become of lover of more teas than just chai (shocker, I know, but "Mauritius is delicious" ;)

Memories of loved ones lost, in my happy place (aka my garden)

Lucky's painted rose

Granny's Cactus' Flowering

Entertainment: 

Music...

Truth. It's the thing this introvert goes to when I need something no one else can give... time with my thoughts.

... or when I need an amazing communal experience. I saw a lot of concerts this year. But these three by my two fave bands were the most amazing.

U2 i+e Tour live @ The Forum 

Foo Fighters #brokenlegtour + Love Ride 32

Adele "25" 
The new album I (and the world) had been waiting four years for made me feel happy, sad and sassy. It's amazing and has been on repeat in my car and office iTunes for weeks. And her promo appearances on SNL, her NBC special and this Tonight Show Classroom Instruments performance with Jimmy Fallon and The Roots made me love her and the album that much more.

Movies...

Brooklyn
I new very little about this film when I put the screener in the DVD player. It made me laugh, cry, swoon and cheer. Great performances. Great screenplay by Nick Hornby. A great emotional movie experience. 

The Martian
I didn't see this in the theater, but rather on my TV via screener on a sick day, months after everyone I know had already told me how great it was. I wish I had seen it on the big screen. It's big, bold, exciting and magnificent. Great performances. Great special effects. And a great STORY. I haven't seen everything yet, but right now I think this is my pick for Best Picture.

Most 

Most Pleasant Surprise ... (in that this was really good, but most definitely not pleasant)

The Revenant
I had no desire to see this movie. Every time the trailer came on in a theater I counted the minutes till it was over and a "better one" came on. But about week ago, I started to read the reviews. Then one night I decided to put the screener in to see if they were true. Wow. It's brutal, beautiful, sweeping, sad, enraging and excellent. Leonardo DiCaprio could finally win his Oscar for this amazing, heartbreaking performance (as long as the Academy refuses to give Eddie Redmayne two Best Actor Oscars in a row... he's Leo's only competition in my mind right now.)

TV...

This is the year I became a true binge-watching aficionado. I started the year finishing Breaking Bad, started summer with Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, and have spent the fall and winter with Mad Men -- I have four disks left with Don Draper. As f'ed up as he is, that makes me sad.

This is the year I also decided to no longer waste time watching shows I don't love... so I added exactly one half hour of new television this Fall, and deleted "How to Get Away with Murder," "Sleepy Hollow," Once Upon a Time" and "New Girl" from my Tivo season passes. My "Should I add a new show?" rule this TV season was: "Will I enjoy this as much as or more than another episode of Mad Men?" If not, then I didn't bother.

In the New Year (after Don and I say farewell), I will be focused on reading the pile of unread books I've accumulated in the last two years. (Anyone want to start a Book Club so I'm forced to do this? ;)

foos in the afternoon

Okay, first things first. I am not a biker. I do not ride motorcycles.. never have, never will. 

However, I AM a huge Foo Fighters fan. So when it was announced that the Foos would be performing at the finale of the 32nd Annual Love Ride event at Castaic Lake -- a mere 30 minutes from my house -- there was no way I was not going to go see them and my favorite baby blue Gibson guitar on the planet. (Especially since riding a Harley there was not required for entry.)

So early this morning -- in order to beat the caravan of motorcycles cruising up the 5 North -- I headed for Castaic, and then waited and waited and listened to opening act Social Distortion and then waited some more before Dave Grohl -- still on crutches -- along with Taylor Hawkins, Pat Smear, Chris Shiflett and Nate Mendel took the tiny stage in front of the lake and start rockin' out.... Taylor on a pink Andy Gibb-adorned drum kit, and Dave on a motorcycle-modified throne. (I love these guys!)

Since this was a special event, the band played around with their (shorter) set list, opening with "Learn to Fly" and "The Pretender."

Then they got into a pattern of a Foos song, a cover song, a Foos song, a cover song. The covers included Van Halen's "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love," Queen's "Tie Your Mother Down," David Bowie's "Under Pressure," and Tom Petty's "Breakdown"... enjoy a #snippet ((c) Dave Grohl, September 21, 2015) here:

Dave was his normal chatty self, still dropping f-bombs here and there, even with his 6-year-old daughter "Harps" dancing around on the side of the stage, with giant lime green headphones on. (He also informed the crowd he would be paying her in lots of jellybeans later for all the bad words he'd said.) Towards the end of the show, he also hilariously spotted a guy out "by that tree," dancing up a storm, doing the "sprinkler" and "running man." So, Dave Grohl being Dave Grohl, he pretty much stopped the show to call attention to him.... and then started calling out wacky dance-move requests.

While it was a shorter set than the Foos' normal 3-hours of awesomeness, and it was really hot when the sun wasn't behind a cloud, (and the bikers will complain that the event ran out of beer..whatevs), it was a super fun show! And best of all, it was for a great cause... all proceeds from the Love Ride go to the Wounded Warrior Project. Feel free to click that link and make a donation if you are so inclined :)

More Foo Fighters Fun:

• A night of foos, thrones, legends and the demise of my favorite baby blue gibson guitar
• My You Tube Foo Fighters concert playlist