is the word 'diary' better than the word 'blog'? probably not.
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On Loving the Nothing-Doing Wherein A Lot Seems To Happen Anyway. Plus: There Is No Explaining Some People.
On Loving the Nothing-Doing Wherein A Lot Seems To Happen Anyway. Plus: There Is No Explaining Some People.
Last week I had all these great aspirations and ambitions. I would catch up on some diary writing that has been rolling around in the back of my head. I would get my course syllabus for the fall all done, and begin revising the paper that has to be revised by August 1. I would take care of signing a contract with a mover and start doing some packing. Etc.
You know what I did instead? I went to Los Angeles with Fountains of Wayne! Ha.
However, as you already know, I am, unlike Pamela Des Barres, not with the band. At least not in that way. I had my own room, OK? I just really wanted to hang out with my friend Chris and see Adam and have a few days of nothing-doing wherein lots seems to happen anyway. And that is precisely what I did. The band played in San Francisco at Du Nord on Tuesday. I was hanging out after the show and someone suggested I should come to LA. Being no hardsell in such matters, I declared that if I could find a ticket that cost less than the amount of cash I had made selling CDs that day, I would see them TOMORROW! And that�s what I did.
(By the way, the Sacramento-based band called Deathray opened for FoW in SF, and they are excellent. You should see them if you get a chance. Great lyrics, good musicianship, and an insta-crush lead singer. I spoke briefly to the also-cute lead guitarist and came to attest on first impression that he is a gentleman. I mean that as praise.)
In Los Angeles the band played two dates at Largo, and also did a guest spot on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. It will air on July 15, and that, my friends, is the night on which my lovely DITA sunglasses will finally achieve the semi-fame they deserve. Just to show that one can wear one�s sunglasses at night, Chris wore mine while singing the song �Maureen� on Craig Ferguson. I sat in the �green room� stuffing as much free food into my head as would fit, and reading Cloud Atlas when there was nothing else to entertain me. For some reason five-minute segments take like five hours to tape. (Though nothing, ever, will top the day I had to hear �Pictures of Matchstick Men� by CVB over and over again for thirteen hours as a video was taped.) So we also took a break and walked over to the Farmer�s Market, where I had some well-earned Prosecco at about 2pm. On the way back to the Ferguson area we walked by the Price is Right area, and that is when I learned that Jody (lead guitar player) is a huge Price is Right fan. Later, on the way out of the building, the Price is Right taping was done, and Jody, in a very excited state, got to spin the big wheel thing.
The shows were good. My only star-sighting was Rickie Lee Jones, who looks very good. I also saw some bare breasts at the pool at The Standard. And I ate at a restaurant where Elimidate often films, where you can buy drinks larger than your head and then ride a mechanical bull to impress your intended-mate-for-the-night. As you well know, Jill has had no luck at all finding any intended-mates lately, so, having no one to impress, luckily I didn�t have to, as they say, ride the bull. I did almost get in a fist fight with a drunk guy who jumped up on our table and then spilled three huge glasses of ice water all over my clothing. Jill lost her temper! Chris and Kevin calmed her down, and then she shivered all the way home wearing everyone�s jackets at once. Then there was more liquor, and dry clothing, and good people-watching.
About Evany sitting on a gorilla�s knee. Friend of Evany and mine, the novelist and publishing magnate known as Dave, is currently somewhere far away in an exotic locale with his wife, but he wanted to do something special for Evany�s birthday. So with my help he managed to get a singing telegram to arrive during her party. It was funny. Evany was made to dance and sit on a gorilla knee and eat a banana, etc. Later on, I kept correcting everyone who mentioned the singing ape by saying, �Um, excuse me. It was a GORILLA.� Because I am hilarious.
In other news, as I was looking through more old photos recently, I found a photo of an old friend of mine hanging out with me and a bunch of other friends at my mom�s house in the suburban SF bay area. The thing about this particular guy is that I have run into him twice in the last few years and both times he has insisted that he does not remember me. It made me feel CRAZY because he used to be a very good friend of mine. We used to hang out late into the night and play records (you know, the vinyl kind� it was the 80s) and talk about songwriters and the like. (Yeah, he�s a musician. Surprise.) He was in my longterm group of friends, and even dated one of my roommates at some point. I have letters from him! And yet he thinks he does not know me? (He�s also an artist. Is this some kind of performance art bullshit he�s pulling?) Anyway, I saw him sitting there on my mother�s living room floor and felt vindicated. Only those who were truly my good friends ever ended up finding themselves in freaking Concord, CA, eating pizza on a condominium floor!
There is no explaining some people.
Also, the friend I mentioned recently, the one who wouldn�t attend the big party with me because he couldn�t commit to committing that far in advance: he now says he wants to attend the big party with me. But I was so put off by the form of his response (yes or no would have been fine, but ambivalence wrapped in bacon is bullshit� and my is that an odd equation or what?) that now I don�t know if I want to take him!
There is no explaining some people. Myself included, perhaps.
5:39 p.m. - July 04, 2005
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