CoYB at CMJ

Choir of Young Believers stop by KEXP for a truly memorable in-studio while in town for the CMJ festival. We caught their 3pm showcase and loved, loved, LOVED...

U2ube Video of the Week; U2360 Tour LIVE from the Rose Bowl - ENTIRE SHOW

Ladies & Gents...

For those of you who missed out on seeing U2 this time around, check out the rebroadcast of their recent show in Pasadena. The band were filming the show for a future concert DVD and decided to allow online fans to join the 97,000 who showed up at the Rose Bowl for this amazing performance. The setlist is below. Oddly enough, my least favorite song on the album has become my favorite moment on the tour. At 1:20:29, check out the reimagined "I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight". Tons of fun. ALSO, the "Amazing Grace" lead-in to "Streets" at 1:18:10 is pretty chill-inducing.

Enjoy...



Main Set: Breathe, Get On Your Boots, Magnificent, Mysterious Ways, Beautiful Day, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For - Stand By Me, Stuck In A Moment, No Line On The Horizon, Elevation, In A Little While, Unknown Caller, Until the End of the World, The Unforgettable Fire, City of Blinding Lights, Vertigo - It's Only Rock and Roll, I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight (remix), Sunday Bloody Sunday, MLK, Walk On - You'll Never Walk Alone

Encore(s): One, Amazing Grace, Where the Streets Have No Name, Ultraviolet, With or Without You, Moment of Surrender

Ha. Yet another good case for the public option...

On the Occasion of Our 4th Wedding Anniversary

The past few months have been a helluva stretch for the IMBA/Chrysalis household. As we mark our 4th wedding anniversary (and are just shy of celebrating 12 years of couplehood), I find myself in a particularly reflective and appreciative state.

I spent the morning reflecting on our wedding and, in particular, our vows. At the risk of being romantically exhibitionist, I've decided to post my half of our vows below. As a reminder, as a celebration and as a benchmark for where we find ourselves four years later.

xo, baby.

K,

Today, as part of God’s plan for us, I become your husband.
It is an honor that I accept wholeheartedly and with great joy.
One that I will always relish and will never take lightly.
It is the role I’ve been preparing for my whole life.
*

Today I pledge my eternal fidelity. Of heart, of mind, of body, of soul.
That regardless of circumstance, our bond and the stewardship of our marriage will never be forsaken.
That from this day forward,
Whether you are at your best or at your worst,
You will never be alone.
*
I promise that you will always be cared for.
That I will always try to be your best medicine.
A rock.
An oasis.
Shelter from the storm.
And a warm place to call home.

*
That no matter how loudly the world may bark at us, you will always find solace in my arms.
*

I promise that all the work we’ve done in the past 8 years is merely the beginning.
That in me you will continue to have a partner in crime, and an ally in the good fight.

*
I promise never to lose track of myself.
That in the intervening years, you will continue to get no less than 100% of me.
That through the most joyous or most trying of times I will be…

*
Myself.

Always.

A friend.
A clown.
A muse.
A mirror.
Your biggest fan.
*

I promise never to forget what a jewel you are. And I promise to remind you when you forget yourself. When you’re feeling dull, I will be there to make you shiny again.

*
I make these promises to you today, with clearest mind and deepest heart,
In the presence of our friends, our family, our minister and our Creator,
That they may be witnessed and blessed.
Not as tokens of appreciation, but as my pure and earnest vows.
*
And today I thank you.

For introducing me to my truest self.
And for showing me that life and love have a potential I would not have known without you.

*

-IMBA, 10/02/05

Giggle of the Week

Alyssa makes me laugh as usual in this fab, faux-PSA re: the healthcare debate.

Ode to L.A.

How are you today, my L.A. Friends?

Are you bathed in sunlight
and draped in orange blossoms?

Are you starting the day with a run?
Shirtless, sweat-dappled and
obnoxiously fit?

Are you having lunch at the Farmer's Market?

Are you eating fish tacos?

Are you tackling the 10,
stuck in first
and wondering why
you didn't just take Olympic or Pico
(even though
they probably wouldn't have been any
faster)?

Are you taking the Laurel Canyon shortcut back over the hill?

Are you talking shop at the Coffee Bean?

Are you drinking solo at Frolic Room?

Or with friends at Delancey?
Sitting in the early evening breeze,
smoking a cigarette
and watching the sun set over Sunset?

Are you playing tennis in Griffith Park?

Are you tearing up a parking ticket in Silver Lake?

Are you wandering a supermarket in North Hollywood,
lamenting that you never learned Spanish?

Are you leaving the bar two hours earlier than you should have to?

Are you sitting in line at the Taco Bell drive-thru at 2am?
(And taken aback by the
inexplicably friendly service?)

Are you driving tipsy?

Are you praying for rain?

Are you dodging dog shit in Runyon Canyon?

Are you at the Arclight?
(Oh, the Arclight…)
And did you pick your seat?
(Oh, the Arclight…)
And having an utterly pleasant movie-going experience?
(Oh, the Arclight…)

Are you topping it off with some In'n'Out?
And doing it animal style?

Are you at Amoeba?
Spending more than you said you would?

Are you driving all the way to Culver City?
Just for Honey’s Kettle biscuits?

Are you cruising the PCH?
Listening to rock and roll,
windows down,
singing at the top of your lungs?

Did you stop at a crab shack on the side of the road?

Are you ending the day on the Venice boardwalk?

Are you drinking Tecate and lime over ice?

Are you taking the beach for granted?

Are you meeting people you'll never see again?
Are you meeting people you may one day call “friends”?

Are you flirting with a bass player?

Are you missing New York?

Are you full of hope?

Are you tan?

Are you calm?

Do you have troubles like the rest of us,
but everything's still pretty much
all right?

Is this you?
Was that me?

Sitting on a porch in Queens,
Weeks and miles removed,
it's hard to tell.

You were only supposed to be a
mistress.

You were only supposed to be a
fling.

You turned me upside down
because I asked you to.

And left me on my head.


-IMBA, Sep. '09

Since MTV Doesn't Play Music Videos Anymore...

...I WILL.


Oh, ELBOW. You do give me the shivers...

Muse - New Music - More Music Videos

The Missus and I have been Muse fans for some time now and it looks like they're finally ready to take the U.S. by storm. Saw them open for U2 last night. AMAZING.


This was a particular high-point from last night's U2 show. A song I don't care for on the album, but the band gives the song a re-think live. Much prefer this version. (Audience footage)


I have found the whole Black Cab Sessions idea at times brilliant and at times silly. Here, Fanfarlo gets the BCS treatment.

Fanfarlo Tonight

When I was a younger man, going to a show on a Monday night was no big.

I am no longer a younger man.

These guys better BRING IT....

THANK You

Robert Reich breaks it down REAL SIMPLE-LIKE for the SIMPLE FOLKS who think that the public option is the same thing as socialized medicine. Here you GO, dummies. Listen REAL CAREFULLY...



And THIS is just hysterical...

R.I.P., Ted

Ted Kennedy

"The Lion of the Senate"

1932-2009

"The more our feelings diverge, the more deeply felt they are, the greater is our obligation to grant the sincerity and essential decency of our fellow citizens on the other side. . . .

...

In short, I hope for an America where neither "fundamentalist" nor "humanist" will be a dirty word, but a fair description of the different ways in which people of good will look at life and into their own souls.

...

I hope for an America where no president, no public official, no individual will ever be deemed a greater or lesser American because of religious doubt -- or religious belief.I hope for an America where the power of faith will always burn brightly, but where no modern inquisition of any kind will ever light the fires of fear, coercion, or angry division.

...

I hope for an America where we can all contend freely and vigorously, but where we will treasure and guard those standards of civility which alone make this nation safe for both democracy and diversity."

...

-TK, 1983

Coolest Thing Ever...? PERHAPS.

GOGOL BORDELLO - LIVE FROM AXIS MUNDI

Releases October 6

This is cool on a number of levels:

A) Because it's a concert DVD and I LOVE concert DVDs.

2) Because there are few live bands on the planet more thrilling than Gogol Bordello, and...

D) Because we were THERE.

-

Irving Plaza, July 2007. The Missus' and my first ever Gogol show. Captured for eternity. Feel like we should have a viewing party and give the home theater system a genuine workout. I apologize to our neighbors in advance...

Had Enough/Can't Get Enough - Revival Edition

This feature - originally designed to come in weekly installments - last appeared in September of '08 (and before that, April of '07). I am a complete and total slacker.

Here's a rundown of my hits and misses for this week...

HAD ENOUGH

• Humidity. - I KNOW it's been the mildest summer we've had in years, but that doesn't make my armpits any less sticky. L.A. spoiled me.
• Pandering to right-wingers in order to come up with a bi-partisan (" ") health care bill. It's never going to happen without the end result turning into some bullshit, milquetoasty, Frankenstein piece of legislation that doesn't address the people who are struggling under the current setup and ultimately fails because it tries to serve two masters. The American people voted definitively for CHANGE. The guy who wins the election gets to set the agenda. Time to stop giving lip service to the flat-earthers and GET THE FUCK ON WITH IT.
• Douchebags who think it's cool to bring an assault rifle to a political rally "because [they] can". Ahhhh, the Second Amendment. "Building Self-Esteem For Men With Small Pee-pees Since 1791."
• Nightmares. - Don't know what my subconscious has been trying to work out lately, but... damn.
• $2.25 a ride.
• Michael Vick signing with the Eagles. Fuck him, fuck them AND, in case you're sitting there thinking "Hey, listen, the guy made a mistake but he paid his debt to society blah-blah", then howsabout I come over to your house, hang, beat and electrocute one of your pets, and then see if you can muster that same response when I'm out of jail in 19 months. Oh, and by the way... Calling a wrong number or not putting a stamp on an envelope is a MISTAKE. Murdering a fucking DOG isn't. Idiot.

That said, I simply...

CAN'T GET ENOUGH

• Mad Men season premiere. - So cruel to make us wait a whole week for the next one.
• Thunder and lightning. - There are few things sexier than a crazy summer downpour.
• Pizza from Apicius.
• TimeOut New York. - LOVING getting caught up on the issues I missed while I was gone.
• U2360 video teasers.
• My wife. - She's awesome, right? I know.
• "Synecdoche, New York". - Pure genius. The Missus and I are still talking about this one.
  
• The new Jack Penate. - Album's available on eMusic, iTunes and at your local independent record store. Just go buy it. Have I ever steered you wrong before?
  
  
  

And this. I mean, it's a bird petting a cat. What's not to love?

Bird Pets Cat @ Yahoo! Video

R.I.P., Most Important Person in Rock'n'Roll History

Les Paul

1915-2009

L.A. Epilogue

Made it out of L.A. on the first flight Friday with no problems. Go figure.

Didn't book "House", which was no surprise given what they were ostensibly looking for. But, again. The call itself was the main win and as Yogalia pointed out, it takes some people a really long time to get an audition in L.A., let alone a network audition. So, I'll take the experience for what it was and hope it means there will be more calls down the road.

To those of you who I missed this round (Dup, Hil, Spacepants, etc.), I'm sorry we didn't get to connect. But if there's one thing I know for certain, I will be back in your neck of the woods for one reason or another some time soon.

I'm sure I will be digesting this trip for some time to come. As my NY life begins to officially take back the reins I'm sure I will be fighting to keep the experience from floating away, but for right now the sensory elements of it are still very fresh in my consciousness.

So there you have it. After almost 6 action-packed weeks, I am home.

What's next is anyone's guess.

Thanks for taking the ride with me.

-IMBA

L.A. Dispatch - Addendum

Um, yeah... So... I'm still here.

I'll give you the nut of it as succinctly as I can. Tried to leave on the first flight out of LAX on Monday. Got there at 4:30 am. Trying to use a Delta "buddy pass" which involves flying standby. Could. NOT. Get on. ANYTHING.

At 4:20 PEE EM, I'm about to finally make it onto a flight to Salt Lake when I get an e-mail from Actor's Access with an audition request from the CD's for "House". For the NEXT DAY. Much scrambling ensues. And of course my luggage had managed to make it out on the first flight of the day.

The audition went well, though I don't think I'm completely right for the part. And given that it was ONE LINE, they were probably looking more for type than chops anyway. (Conservative business executive? REALLY?) BUT... they CALLED ME IN. An unrepresented actor who'd only been in town for a month. (Cue the scene in Breakfast Club where Anthony Michael Hall gives himslef a congratulatory punch in the arm after writing the letter.)

So, here I am.In absolute limbo. Broke, exhausted and only recently reunited with my luggage. BIG thanks to M.J. and Tera for letting me extend my stay unexpectedly. Total saving angels. AND to Drew and Michelle for graciuosly lending me their rad Toyota Yaris for a few days.

So, um.... Yeah. Your guess is as good as mine as to what the hell's going on. Monday was a clear reminder of the old joke: The best way to make God laugh? Tell him your plans...

Can. Not. WAIT.

It Might Get Loud Trailer
by wallyz75

Final L.A. Dispatch - 8/2 - Last Thoughts

Seems hard to believe we've arrived at the final L.A. dispatch.  A full month. Might as well have been a week. Or an hour.  Again with the whole mutability of time thing.  

Given that it's 11:30pm and I have to get up at 3am to head to the airport, I don't have a full-blown post in me. Just a few final thoughts on my time here....

• My last day was spent returning my rental car and packing, followed by sushi dinner with M.J. and Tera in Marina del Rey. After, we grabbed some Cold Stone in Venice and took a sunset stroll along the pier. Perfect way to end the month. 

• To be honest, I'm having pretty mixed feelings about heading back to my NY life right now.  L.A.'s really been making a case for itself in the past few days.  I think I've just started adjusting to the SoCal lifestyle and am finding myself enjoying it in a way I hadn't expected. As M.J. put it, "It looks good on you."  I think a month away from my job, NYC summertime humidity, rain, noise, antagonism and crowds has had more of an effect on me than I've realized. 

• I've met some really cool people out here and have found myself much more at ease meeting new people than I usually am.  One of the cool people I met is a friend of Eion and Raf's named Dave. Dave is a photographer and music producer with a super sweet studio space on Hollywood and Cahuenga. (His website is pretty rad.) I mention him in particular because he produced an album by an artist named Kerli, a young, Estonian, Bjork-tinged,  emo/pop starlet whose music (for the most part) is totally not my cup of tea. However, I got COMPLETELY HOOKED a song of hers called "The Creationist" which has been stuck in my head for two weeks now and has become the defacto theme for my entire trip. Two versions of the song are below: the studio version and an adorable webcam video made in Dave's studio (and featuring Dave in the background) that Kerli made for a sick fan whose sister wrote her a letter.  There is NO LOGICAL REASON FOR ME TO LIKE THIS SONG. But for some reason, I DO.

• I have come to really enjoy the weather here. 

• I got a haircut from someone other than my NY stylist for the first time in about 12 years.

•  I did not get to explore L.A.'s donut culture in the way I had hoped. I'll put it on the list for next time. 

• I went to Amoeba Records twice.  I found three out-of-print albums that I'd been looking for for years.  In the USED section. For $5-$7 each.  If heaven has a record store, I can't imagine it being much better than Amoeba. 

• I am fairly dreading returning to my job at the American Express Company, BUT am VIGILANTLY attempting to reframe my approach to that situation and the feelings surrounding it to avoid falling right back into a Pavlovian pattern of knee-jerk despair. 
  

• I deeply value the chance I had to reconnect with my L.A. friends. I will miss them dearly.

• I very much look forward to reconnecting with my NY friends.  I have missed them dearly. 

• Beyond anything else, I need some face time with my wife. Right now, each of us is a table with a missing leg trying to hold a lot of heavy shit. 

In the end, I'll simply say THANK YOU, Los Angeles.  Your charms did not go unnoticed. Nor did your shortcomings.  But in the end, the person who leaves you is not the same person who landed 33 days ago. 

And that's a very good thing.

-IMBA

L.A. Dispatch - 7/30: Winding Down

All evening long I've been trying to shake an impending feeling of melancholy as I'm trying to process the fact that the L.A. Experiment is coming to a close. The opening strains of "One For My Baby (And One More For The Road)" have literally been bouncing around my head all night. (The live mid-70's Sinatra version with the Nelson Riddle arrangement, of course. The one he sings, cigarette in hand, playing drunker and sleepier as the song goes on. A Channel 13 fundraising drive classic.)

First: a recap of the past few days. 

• Been getting in fairly regular runs, which feels great. 
  
• Did some pro-bono consulting for Eion and Raf last week re: a potentially ridiculously cool opportunity for their project. (Will expand on that down the road if it comes to pass, at which point the "pro-bono" pun can be fully appreciated.) 
• Played tennis with Willis in Griffith Park on Sunday. Haven't really ever played, but... I have to say... as it turns out... I'm not very good. But I had a blast and it was fantastic exercise. 
• Sent my laptop rental back on Tuesday, followed by a drive up the PCH to Zuma Beach. One of the most perfect marriages of drive and soundtrack ever. 
• Second workshop with Russell Scott (Lie to Me, Breaking Bad) last night. Mock producer's session. Put my sides up against three other guys and was chosen as the guy who'd ultimately get the part. Second experience with the whole "mock producer's session" setup and the second time I was chosen. Not tooting a horn, just taking the info and running with it. 
• Second workshop with Todd Sherry (Chuck, Human Target) tonight. Really amazing teacher.  Tons of nuggets.  Aced my scene. No adjustments and an enthusiastic verbal thumbs-up to my work. 
• Ending the night at Darkroom with Lindsay Lohan and John Hamm. 
  

So, yeah. Here I sit. Musing, replaying, digesting, questioning. Recognizing all the while that evaluating this experience before it's even concluded is akin to writing a review of a play based on a tech rehearsal. I'm fully convinced that the nut of the L.A. Experiment won't be sussed for some time to come.

Would I have LIKED to have gotten a meeting with a legit agent within the 4 weeks I was here based on the mass mailing I did a week prior? Yes. Would I LIKE to get a call from one of the 13 CD's I've now met for an audition BEFORE I LEAVE? Of course. Do I wish we had the funds to keep me here a couple more weeks to sow more seeds and tend the ones I've already sprinkled? Well, sure. These would all be more readily measurable ways of evaluating the efficacy of this trip. And yet... I don't know how valuable that line of questioning is. Especially since I'm STILL HERE. And ANY one of these CD's could call me at ANY time. Tomorrow, three months, two years. Not a supposition, just the nature of the business.

While I have no ultimate summation of what the past month has "meant", I will simply say that the basic idea has been served...  The idea of rebooting myself. Of physically lifting myself out of the rut I'd carved in NY.  Of putting myself in front of industry folks and DELIVERING. Of investigating Los Angeles and all it has to offer.

I have a new lens.  I have a fresh attitude about the pros and cons of both L.A. and NY.  I have renewed confidence in my own work.  I got a BREAK from the grind.  

And right now, that's feeling okay...

-IMBA