Well, according to the New York Times, some USC students jet to Bali for spring break, while some of their classmates work overnight shifts to pay for books! Instead of inequality, think of it as diversity. So now it’s a good thing! The Times for some reason writes USC as U.S.C., even though nobody does that. I’ve noticed the Times always measures life outcomes in terms of money, like that’s the only possible criterion. What ‘s so great about jetting to Bali anyway? What are you going to do, lay on a fucking beach? There are 50 beaches within two hours of USC. It’s the same sun up in the sky. You’re the same person with the same problems in Bali as you are here. You jet to Bali, you jet home, absolute waste of time. Read more →
EppsNet Archive: Los Angeles
Angelino Heights
The “Charmed” house: [ Scheerer House, Queen Anne cottage: Out of place amongst the Victorians: Heim House: Sessions House, 1889: The gardener said the house was used in a DiCaprio movie but didn’t know which one (Pretty sure it wasn’t Titanic.): The Michael Jackson “Thriller” house: Read more →
See You in Hell: Fake News Edition
[See You in Hell is a feature by our guest blogger, Satan — PE] Greetings from the Underworld, my friends and foes! I’m reading about a hostage situation, including a fatal shooting of one of the hostages, at a Trader Joe’s in Los Angeles over the weekend. It was covered nationally and even internationally. Here’s a photo from a British news site of the suspect being taken away: I looked at the major US news sites — CNN, NBC, CBS, ABC — and about a dozen smaller sites . . . no one mentioned the race of the suspect, no one gave the suspect’s name, and no one ran a photo. I could understand a media policy where, in reporting shootings, we consider race to always be relevant, or we consider race to never be relevant, but not a policy where race is only considered relevant when the victim is… Read more →
Everyone’s a Critic
A Visit to Stahl House
Tom Petty, 1950-2017
In December 2016, Tom Petty talked with Rolling Stone about his then-upcoming 2017 tour, which just ended last week at the Hollywood Bowl here in Los Angeles: I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was thinking this might be the last big one. I have a granddaughter now I’d like to see as much as I can. I don’t want to spend my life on the road. Sad, as President Trump would say. Big life events can kill you . . . RIP Tom Petty Read more →
Indignities
I was at the Japanese American National Museum in Little Tokyo over the weekend. Had to use the men’s room and the only stall available had a broken door latch. In order to keep the door closed, I had to press on it with my foot. Unfortunately, I pressed a little too hard and the door broke through the restraint and flew open in a forward direction. Granted, the Japanese had to put up with indignities at internment camps but that was in wartime . . . Read more →
A Visit to LACMA: Picasso, Rivera, Modern Art, Renaissance and Reformation
Here are some photos from a recent trip to LACMA . . . We started at the Picasso and Rivera: Conversations Across Time exhibit: From there, we visited a modern art exhibit — The Serial Impulse at Gemini G.E.L — a celebration of the renowned Los Angeles print workshop Gemini G.E.L founded 50 years ago in 1966. For example, here are some black rectangles by Richard Serra: Josef Albers also painted a bunch of rectangles (squares, actually) but took things a step further by using different colors: Ellsworth Kelly really pushed the envelope by using not only different colors but different four-sided shapes (e.g., trapezoids and parallelograms). I had a couple of thoughts on the Gemini G.E.L. exhibit juxtaposed with Picasso and Rivera: Some people need to get serious. Some people should be ashamed of themselves. Rather than end on that note, here are are a couple of pieces from… Read more →
PANO | LA
MOCA and the Broad
My niece and nephew were visiting from Texas . . . my niece in particular wanted to see the Infinity Mirrored Room installation at the Broad, so off we went. (Scroll down for photos.) Unless you reserve tickets well in advance, entry to the Broad is handled via a standby line, which, when we showed up Saturday morning, was about an hour wait, i.e., the museum opened at 10 a.m. and we got in about 11:00. Because the standby line is in direct sunlight, Broad staff thoughtfully hand out umbrellas to anyone in the queue who wants one. (They do ask for the umbrellas back when you enter.) The Infinity Mirrored Room is an experiential artwork . . . one visitor at a time enters the room for 45 seconds. It requires a separate reservation which you can make, pending availability, after entering the museum. Once you get signed up… Read more →
Wasteland
And those that had money looked good but weren’t too happy And those who didn’t have money didn’t look so good And weren’t too happy either and in a city of three million two hundred and sixty nine thousand nine hundred eighty four Everyone was lonely — Dan Bern, “Wasteland” Read more →
USC Drumline Plays with Questlove
This would be a better video without Fallon but you take the bad with the good and Fight On! Read more →
A Day In: Los Angeles
Rickie Lee Jones at the Coach House
We saw Rickie Lee Jones at the Coach House Sunday night. I’ve been an RLJ fan since . . . I think it was 1979, when this young woman I’d never heard of showed up on Saturday Night Live and sang “Chuck E’s in Love”: It might be possible to watch that now and say, “What’s the big deal? I’ve heard women sing like that.” Not in 1979, you didn’t. In case you’ve forgotten or blocked it out or you weren’t born yet, in 1979 we were listening to Olivia Newton-John, Debby Boone, and similar lame-ass bullshit. (Or Christopher Cross, Barry Manilow . . . the male singers were equally uninspiring.) I couldn’t have been more electrified if she’d capped off the performance by whacking the Captain and Tennille across the face with her beret. RLJ’s style influenced a lot of singers, including some who’ve been much more commercially successful,… Read more →
That L.A. Sunshine
Also featuring the USC Marching Band horn section . . . Read more →
Neil Young Acoustic Show at the Dolby Theater
We were lucky enough to see Neil Young’s solo acoustic performance at the Dolby Theatre in LA last night. I say “lucky” even though we paid for the tickets because they did sell out rather quickly. Here’s the set list, to the best of my recollection. I may have some of the harmonica instrumentation wrong. He had the harmonica rack on for the whole show; some songs he played it and some he didn’t. First Set From Hank to Hendrix – guitar, harmonica. A good opener for this kind of a show: From Hank to Hendrix / I walked these streets with you / Here I am with this old guitar / Doin’ what I do. / I always expected / That you should see me through / I never believed in much / But I believed in you. On the Way Home – guitar, harmonica Only Love Can Break… Read more →
Geoff Edwards, 1931-2014
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Geoff Edwards, the hip-looking 1970s and ’80s host of TV game shows including “Jackpot!” and two incarnations of “Treasure Hunt” died Wednesday, his agent said. He was 83. “Geoff was one of the cleverest, funniest radio and television personalities I’ve worked with,” said fellow game show host Wink Martindale. The two were DJs at pop radio station KMPC in Los Angeles. — Game show host Geoff Edwards dies at 83 – MSN TV News Shocking, shocking news . . . Wink Martindale is still alive?! RIP Geoff Edwards Read more →
Neil Young in LA
Neil Young is playing a couple of solo acoustic shows next month at the Dolby Theatre. Tickets went on sale Monday morning, but somehow I missed the fact that they’d been available via “pre-sale” since last Friday and were all gone by Monday morning. What a heartbreaker. Fortunately, thanks to the wonders of technology and social networks, Mr. Young and his team were able to inform me via Facebook that a third show had been added and I was able to log in and get tickets for that one. The sold-out shows are on a Saturday and Sunday. The new show is on a Tuesday. Am I looking forward to driving in to LA and back on a Tuesday? No, but on a list of solo acoustic shows for which I’d be most willing to knock over my own mother to get a ticket, Neil Young would be second, behind… Read more →
More People I’m Sick Unto Death Of
The mayor of Los Angeles, Eric Garcetti, said this the other day: “Some of the monies that will come from that will go to other parts of the city too that connect in with that . . .” OK, that’s out of context and it doesn’t make any sense, but — “monies”?! “Hi, I’m Eric Garcetti. I have a dollar bill so I have a money. If you give me another dollar, I’ll have some monies.” No. You can have a dollar or a billion dollars. One word covers all the possibilities and that word is “money.” “Monies” is a word used by politicians and academians and other posturing pricks who’d like you to think that they’re doing the Lord’s work and not soiling their hands with anything as grubby as “money.” Read more →
Japan, Day 0: Floyd Mayweather at Panda Express
We saw Floyd Mayweather at LAX . . . Actually, my son saw him. When the boy pointed him out to me, all I could see was the back of a smallish man in a black hoodie surrounded by half a dozen of the largest human beings I’ve ever seen. You have to get past those guys to get your shot at Floyd. They were all standing on line at Panda Express in one of the food courts. Normally, I don’t envision famous, wealthy people eating Panda Express, and if they do, I don’t picture them standing on line for it. I picture them sending someone to fetch it while they hang out in the first class passenger lounge. Good advertisement for Panda Express. Better than those ridiculous goddamn talking pandas. In other close encounters with boxing legends, I once saw Sugar Ray Leonard and his family at Juice It… Read more →