The Chicago Metblog is having a get together so the bloggers and the readers can meet. It’s a great idea, and I’m unabashedly stealing it. So we’re having a party. And you’re all invited:

Blogging.LA End-of-’04 Social
When: Thursday, December 30, 8:00pm->???
Where: The Millennium Biltmore Hotel Bar, 506 South Grand Avenue
Why: Because Dec. 30 is the new New Year’s Eve

Hope to see you there.
Love,
Julie, Your Cruise Director

Tonight we’re going to see our friends at GMCLA perform their annual holiday performance, definitely one of our favorite holiday traditions.

The program tonight is called Swing, Santa, Swing! and the program description is:

Get on the A-Train for a rollicking, rhythmic holiday ride with standards, show-stopping production numbers and songs of the season to warm your heart. Jump-start your holiday spirit and become part of L.A.ís holiday tradition.

For anyone who has never had the pleasure of attending a GMCLA concert, they aren’t kidding when they say “show-stopping production numbers.” If you go to their concerts expecting to see the Gay Men’s Glee Club, you’re in for a big surprise. Yes, you’ll hear a stage full of hundreds of men (not all gay, in case you’re wondering) singing, but also a performance beyond “just a bunch of guys singing.”

Last year, they staged (for the last time) the popular “12 Days of Christmas” using almost 30 puppeteers and over 100 large foam puppets, “The Foamettes,” and black light (conceived of by the amazing Phil Hettema). Here is a behind-the-scenes look at becoming a Foamette from Kenlin. I’m totally excited to see what they have planned instead this year.

If you go to this concert, leave me a comment and let me know what you think!

Swing, Santa, Swing!
Fri, Dec 17, 8:00 PM
Sat, Dec 18 8:00 PM
Sun, Dec 19 3:00 PM

Special One Hour Family Matinee
Sat, Dec 18 2:00 PM!

Alex Theatre
216 N Brand Blvd, Glendale
Box Office Tue-Sun 12-6
(818) 243-2539

I’m still in Florida with no internet connection at the moment but I’m using Mars Edit and NetNewsWire to pass on some info like this:

“Franklin Avenue puts out the word that KCAL Channel 9 will adopt a New York television tradition by airing a crackling fireplace on Christmas morning. From 6 to 9 a.m., the Yule logs will burn with holiday music in the background. KCAL got the idea from WPIX-TV, which started the tradition to bring a little cheer to apartment dwellers without…”
[via L.A. Observed.]

Being embarrassingly out of the loop in most news San Gabrielian, when I heard on KPCC yesterday that Pasadena’s world-renowned Ambassador Auditorium was grandly reopening, I was more than pleasantly surprised. Closed since the mid-’90s and long thought to be doomed to redevelopment, I was thrilled to discover that the prestigious performance space had been saved and was beginning its resurrection last night with a glorious performance of Handel’s “Messiah” by the Pasadena Symphony and the Los Angeles Master Chorale.

Eager to know who or what had raised the 1,200-plus seat theater from the dead, I hopped online and googled around a bit. Turns out its savior is a 10-year-old Pasadena-based organization called the Harvest Rock Church, which, in partnership with Maranatha High School, concluded the sale last summer with the place’s previous owners, the Worldwide Church of God, for an undisclosed amount and a whole bunch of hallelujahs. I just love it when various apostolic religions can come together to spare such a work and place of art.

Hang onto your fire and brimstone… I’ve got nothing against the ownerships past or present, and on the surface the new kings seem very enthusiastic to have had the duly ordained ways and means to salvage such a world-renowned stage. In addition, they say that though the building is going to function primarily as its new church, they’re genuinely eager to share it with the community at-large. But for those of us envisioning its return as “the Carnegie Hall of the West,” and hosting an eclectic mix of performance and art in such an acoustically perfect envionment, hold on to your horses of the apocalypse…
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Occasionally we find someone special in the blogoschmeer, a writer that not only stands out from the rest but who really puts the silly sturm und drang stuff into stark relief.

One well-known example is Kevin Sites, a freelance journalist who has been covering events on the ground in Iraq (facilitated by blogging.la and BoingBoing diva Xeni Jardin).

I’d like to offer another name, one from Los Angeles who you may or may not have heard of already. Bryan Frank has been posting on his beFrank site since last May. He is a news photographer with a local television station. This is from his very first post:

There’s nothing more hateful, than killing a child. Today I covered the murder of 11 year old Bryan Lockley. Freaks me out that his name and mine are the same right down to the spelling. We talked to his sister and she showed us the trail of blood that led to where the body was found. I can’t imagine the pain that something like that happening to one of my family members would cause….

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If you never saw the Fabulous Monsters’ Ramayana 2K4 in one of its many L.A. (or NYC, for that matter) incarnations, I feel for you. However, you can still get that Monsters vibe and maybe come away with a piece of something Fabulous this season if you show up at the 1st Annual Fabulous Monsters Art Party this Saturday (that’s TOMORROW), December 19th.

According to the email I got, there will be FREE (as in, no cover) “music, fun, food & shopping.” I can’t believe they’ll be giving away food and I’m pretty sure they’ll make you pay for your items but damn, those Monsters know how to party.

Items for sale include masks & clothes by Sheryl Schaeffer; hoops (sic) by Dawn Light Amora, art & clothes by the extraordinary costume designer, Robert Prior; and hip huggers & fudgee shoulder bags by someone named “Mikiko” who’s probably cool, too. Plus a bunch of art & stuff from over 30 artists from Electric Grasshopper in Silver Lake. Proceeds benefit the individual artists as well as Fabulous Monsters, an outrageously inventive L.A. theater company.

From 2-7pm, Saturday, Dec. 19 at Abundant Sugar (in the Brewery Arts Complex) 618 A. Moulton Ave, Los Angeles, CA. Music by Rara and friends (the Monsters & Co. are super-into electronica).

Be there or be, um, square. For reals. These cats are supah-cool.

Last night, I crawled out from behind my laptop to go hear Handel’s Messiah at the Frank Gehry-designed Walt Disney Concert Hall, with a few friends. The performance was beautiful, the architecture of the space was beautiful, but the coolest part of the evening by far? Geeking out over the awesome, gigantomongous, french-fry-esque pipe organ at the back of the hall. It’s comprised of more than 6,000 pipes, only a portion of which are visible. Some are conical and made of metal, others are shaped like long, slender boxes and are made of wood. The pipes range in size from ballpoint pens to palm trees. The organ wasn’t played last night, but I’m told that when it debuted privately to a group of pipe organ professionals earlier this year — they all removed their shoes so they could feel the deep bass vibrations in the floor. Image: a phonecam snapshot I took of the organ: Link to full-size. Here’s an organ FAQ, from the LA Phil’s website: Link. NPR did a cool segment about the organ’s construction and sound, here: Link. And Link to a San Diego Union-Trib article. (thanks tons, Shawn, Michael, and Cynthia!)

While it doesnít bother me personally, as I am independently wealthy, I imagine it must bother some of the lesser privileged that the venue ads in the LA Weekly donít include admission prices/cover charges. The latest to submit to this peculiar LA custom is local fave, The Echo. (canít wait to find out who amongst the blogging.la denizens bit the bouncer at The Echo). What prompted this tradition and why, oh, why would an Eastside haunt succumb? Is this some sort of reverse psychology marketing ploy? If we donít know how much it costs, thereís nothing to stop us from going? Or is it another building block of the Los Angeles fantasy that everyone should be as rich, good looking, and famous as I am? Used to be I knew if I arrived at The Echo before 10:30, Iíd save a few bucks which Iíd promptly exchange for a refreshing beverage. Now, who knows if early arrival prompts a discount? Who knows what to expect at all? Especially considering recent George Clinton ticket prices above forty dollars, shouldnít the ad give the public some frame of reference to avoid embarrassing cash shortages? Now, to be fair, the Echoís calendar listing (as opposed to their quarter page ad) and their website do feature prices; many other venues donít. Props to Spaceland for maximizing my time by indicating prices in their ads. A quick perusal of this weekís Weekly reveals that theyíre the only one.

Just as the sun was setting last night, the power went off in my neighborhood. I was on the phone, which went dead….and suddenly the canyon was bathed in silence. It takes a moment to realize just how much noise the steady hum of electricity in the house and outside affects you. In the absence of all that miscellaneous power, there was a wonderful peaceful feeling. Without the computer, the phone, or anything else to distract me, I walked outside to a truly amazing pink sunset. My neighbors had the same idea, and I met someone new who had just moved into the area. For just a moment, I got that great feeling of being right here now and enjoying the comraderie of silence in a canyon full of people.

You know that feeling in the pit of your stomach when your car plunges down a big drop in the road? I just got that when I read Mariners sign 3B Beltre to five-year deal.

Between Adrian leaving, Lima Time leaving, Steve Finley going to the Angels, not to mention last season’s Paul LoDebacle, these Moneyball freaks have just about worked my last nerve.

As The Lakers Turns is getting so that I can’t bear to watch, my Cowboys and Raiders are auguring into the dirt, and scandals keep cropping up like weeds.

Of course I haven’t been right since hockey season was cancelled.

Maybe I need to wean off sports for a while. :)

My better side rides his bike to work as often as the weather will permit (which is often). It’s a ten mile ride each way, and he does it as a way to stay in shape. What I’m concerned about isn’t so much his shape, well, it is, since I don’t want him to end up flattened on the sidewalk (that would be the worst shape yet). I’ve always thought of LA as a pretty accepting and accomodating city, but now that I hear his horror stories about his daily ride I’m begging to wonder why bike riders got left out of the equation. Not that there aren’t plenty of nice places to ride a bike in LA, but as far as riding for practical purposes, it seems pretty tough. For instance, did anyone know that Los Feliz Blvd. has no ramps on its sidewalks? That’s right, no handicap access and no place for bikes to go besides in the street (unless they like jumping curbs every five seconds). For people like my hubby that is the only way to get to work, and that’s a scary thought for both of us. So, I guess my point is to ask if anyone else has the same problem, or maybe a solution? Or an idea that can be turned into a solution?…

If you work in the Advertising / Public Relations industries (which I do) here’s the email that you really don’t want to get from your client (which I got today):

Hey, guess what! I’m going to be on The Jay Walking Battle of the All Stars tonight and tomorrow night!

Um… Any publicity is good publicity?

UPDATE: Well that wasn’t as bad as it might have been. He’s in the lead, so I guess that ‘s good. He did burst into song, and Jay accused him of being on drugs, but all in all not a disaster. The plug for the ex employer was an interesting choice. As far as competition, guy #1 has a “will break your knee for a nickel” shtick and the girl in the middle has that 1,000 mile stare going on. So if you have it on during sex tonight, pause for the final tally.

If you haven’t had a chance to check out the Griffith Park Lights Festival (or don’t feel like dealing with the traffic), you can watch a short, video version on the L.A. Times Christmas page.

This is my first L.A. winter. I love not having to worry about icy roads or bundle up every time I leave the house, but I did get a little weirded out this afternoon when I was walking to the bank in a T-shirt and I passed a parking lot full of Christmas trees.

I wish I could stay here and experience the kind of Christmas in that Corona commercial with the palm tree, but tomorrow I head back east for a few weeks of snow and ice and family. Cold weather is always hard for me to deal with, but at least this time I’ll know it’s only temporary, and that I already have a plane ticket back to this magic land of sunshine and palm trees.

I’ve been living in Culver City for six months now and I just now looked up Culver City on Wikipedia. Aside from the usual “Roots of Hollywood” context, there’s some good news:

Looks like Culver City might get some light rail! The MTA’s Mid-City/Exposition Light Rail Transit Project will run from downtown LA, through USC/Exposition Park, to downtown Culver City (check the map). That is totally totally awesome – public transit I can take from my house to USC, where I’m going to school!

Groundgreaking is in 2006, delayed by noise protests from nearby Cheviot Hills (according to Wikipedia). The light rail line is predicted to be finished by 2010, just 3 years after I am set to graduate.

It’s officially awards season here in L.A. No, they don’t start doling them out until 2005, but the solicitations have begun. At the bottom of the newspaper ads for every movie that believes it has even a remote chance of being nominated for any award, there is abundant mousetype inviting the members of various organizations who give awards to present their I.D. cards for free admittance for themselves and a guest to any show.

I, on the other hand, am being solicited for a different sort of nomination. Yes, for the second time in ten unlucky years I have been invited not to be on the SAG film nominating committee, but its bastard stepchild, the SAG television nominating committee. So while the lucky film nominators run off to free screenings of The Aviator, Ray and The Incredibles at the plush theater of their choice (The Motorcycle Diaries…free…at the ARCLIGHT!!!), my mailbox is filling up with such exciting free-screener fare as “Two and a Half Men” and ESPN’s “3.”

I’m beside myself with holiday joy…