Nom!

We’re here at the diner counter at Canter’s Deli. I am about to order. Wish me luck.

The Blogathon from Canter’s deli will still be happening all day, and the Donut Summit must go on! Have no fears, my pets. All the powers of Hell itself could not stop the donut (or bagel) train when it’s a’coming. Stop by Canter’s today, tonight, or tomorrow before 12pm with a can of food and a hug for your Metblogs laborers. We’re all a little weepy, but it’s been such a fantastic privelege to write for you all. Wouldn’t have traded it for the world.

But maybe a dozen strawberry-filleds from Donut Man will fill this yawning writer’s hole in my chest.

The Very Special Classic Eats Blog-a-thon at Canter’s Deli and Bakery starts tomorrow at noon with Lucinda Michele to kick things off for us. Look for the LA Foodbank donation box and the LA Metblogs Classic Eats Signage (same as what you see here.) Stop by, say hello, drop a few dollars in to the collection box or drop off some canned food.

We will be updating totals on what we’ve collected every hour or so. Help us get to $1000 in cash and 200 pounds of canned foods to help the LA Foodbank feed people in need in our City of Angels.  For every $1 donated, the LA Foodbank is able to acquire and distribute 4 meals. $1 = 4 meals. $1 = 5 pounds of food. Even if all you can spare is 25¢, that is still going to go far. Anything you bring to put in the canned food box will be welcome. The most needed foods are: canned fruit, cereal, dry pasta, canned meats, rice, peanut butter, canned vegetables and tuna.

Big thanks to Canter’s for letting us do this and to Verizon Wireless for donating Mifi Mobile Hotspots so we can blog on site. And if you bring in your laptop, you can blog too!

There has been a slight shift in our blogger schedule (in bold):

Squee! Mifis donated courtesy of Verizon Wireless. Thank you!

Saturday:
noon – 2:00 Lucinda
2:00 – 4:00 JozJozJoz
4:00 – 6:00 Alexandra
6:00 – 8:00 Travis
8:00 – 10:00 Julia
10:00 – midnight Kevin

Sunday
midnight – 2:00 Janna
2:00 – 4:00 Queequeg
4:00 – 6:00 Kevin
6:00 – 8:00 Julia
8:00 – 10:00 Alexandra
10:00 – noon: Will

We really look forward to seeing you all there!

See The National play their unbelievably beautiful music for two nights, Fri & Sat, at The Wiltern.

Swing by our 24-Hour Blogathon at Canter’s Deli, from noon on Saturday to noon on Sunday! Phew!

Learn about Rube Goldberg machines at Dorkbot SoCal on Saturday!

Take in some rare Opry in rusty dusty SoCal style at the End Times Opry Friday night, featuring music, comedy, poetry and spoken word.

The Silver Lake Jubilee promises over 40 gourmet trucks, a metric shit-ton of fantastic local bands (including Foreign Born, The Like, Voxhaul Broadcast, The Monolators, Dios and more), art, eco and children’s villages, and more.

Clem Snide plays their literate and clever Americana at Spaceland on the 21st.

Frightened Rabbit lights up the Henry Fonda with a warm Nor’Scottish glow on Sunday.

On the night of the 22nd (get there early for reasonable parking) Cinespia at Hollywood Forever Cemetery screens “The Thing”, which, if you didn’t know, features a score by Morricone.

Tonight American Cinematheque at the Egyptian has a Kurosawa double feature with “Rashomon” and “The Hidden Fortress”;  Sunday is “Yojimbo” and “Sanjuro.”

There’s a secret(ish) show Monday night with Band Of Horses at the Hollywood Forever Masonic Lodge; to get in, you have to tweet at the radio station 98.7fm @987LA with your favorite BOH song. Disclaimer: I work at the station. (I know, I know, Mr. Indie Music Snob and All Of My Ex-Boyfriends–save it.)

What else did I miss? Leave ‘em in the comments.

They weren’t able to make it to SoCal for Coachella, but it took a volcano to foil their plans.

Rendering up a chiming, lo-fi sound with a driving rhythm section, they make spare use of Mogwaiian soundscaping & noodling to contrast with their wailing Kermitty vibrato, irresistibly danceable tambourines and snares and…is that a flute? It’s a distinctly Northern-British-Isles sound (they remind me of new Biffy Clyro or Idlewild, with some of the more orchestral tendencies of The National).

Though the past year has seen Frightened Rabbit finally step into public view, with more extensive touring and three full-length albums now publicly available, the past few years have largely been about the band quietly, committedly honing their sound, and cultivating their art. Now a five-piece comprising Scott, Billy, Andy, Gordon and Grant, the origins of the band are rooted in 2003, when Scott began playing solo shows under the name Frightened Rabbit.

Wanna go? Tell me your favorite rabbit or bunny. Bugs? Pat? Roger? Hazel? That little schmuck Peter? We’ll pick a couple lucky winners to go.

Info for this show, Sunday at the Henry Fonda, is here.

Sorry for the last minute posting. Didn’t want any intrepid souls to think it wasn’t happening, so to anyone considering/planning on joining me for tomorrow’s fourth of my five Bike Every (Satur)Day In May rides: tomorrow’s Two Rivers Ride is indeed on. I’m expecting attendance to be unlike past weeks not only because of the 65-plus mile distance involved, but also because I’ve ratcheted the start time to seven o’clock in the morning.

Why the gawd-awful early start? Well, what better way to conclude our long-distance roll than to enjoy some of the 7th stage of the Tour of California, whose 21-mile boomerang time trial course stretches between Bunker Hill south to the Coliseum and back.

The main difference with this trek is that there won’t be any of my usual stop & blah-blah (I’m saving my vocal chords for May 29′s Black Dahlia/Historic West Adams Ride). This is strictly a journey for the love of biking. From Silver Lake we’ll get downtown and from downtown we’ll get to the Real Eastside via the 6th Street Bridge and cruise Whittier Boulevard all the way across it to the San Gabriel River and its bikeway. From there we’ll roll downstream unhindered by cross traffic or door zones all the way to Seal Beach, work our way up into Long Beach to experience the joy of the 2nd Street sharrows before enjoying the serenity of the LBC’s beach bike path to get to the Los Angeles River where we’ll head inland back to the Arts District and lunch at Wurstkuche.

The route is mapped here. We start and finish at SilverSun Plaza (Sunset Boulevard & Parkman Avenue, Silver Lake). I’m estimating that without problems it’ll be approximately a five-hour tour, so if all goes well we’ll be lunching before 1 p.m. and  marveling at the time trials about an hour after that.

PS. Wanna join me but don’t have the time or the inclination to go all the way?  Then hop the Blue Line around mile 40 when we get near downtown Long Beach.

The city which many believe to be the birthplace of the state’s first drive-through hamburger stand had planned to take a vote yesterday to temporarily ban new drive-through businesses. The ordinance would have placed a moratorium on new drive-throughs in Baldwin Park for 45 days, but would have no effect on existing drive-throughs. The council postpoined the vote but will take up the issue again at the June 2 meeting.

Though Baldwin Park was the home of the first In-N-Out Burger in 1948, which the company claims was the first drive-through hamburger stand in California, city officials said they are now looking in a different direction. The moratorium would allow the city to study the issue prior to updating the zoning code later this year, Baldwin Park Mayor Manuel Lozano said. [full story]

If you have spent anytime in Venice you’ve seen Bill skating around, and maybe falling into things. He’s a venice staple, yet everyone I’ve ever asked about him doesn’t know more than “he’s just this older guy on a skateboard.” Luckily local filmmaker Jay Zaretsky has taken it upon himself to create this short documentary which sheds a little insight.

This is kind of embarrassing to admit, but for the first 9 years that I lived in Los Angeles whenever I heard “Venice Art Walk” I just assumed it was another neighborhood organized thing where people walk from small-ish art gallery to boutique store with art on the walls to bar. I assumed it wasn’t unlike the handful of other art walks that happen around the city on a regular basis. I assumed since I didn’t hear about it that often it must not be that good. I say that is an embarrassing admission because as someone relatively involved in the art world of LA and into community things, I couldn’t have been more wrong.

Turns out the Venice Art Walk & Auction is a yearly event (not monthly like many other art walks), that is the main fund raising wing for the Venice Family Clinic. This is important because the VFC is the largest community free clinic in the entire country. The country. Not the city or the state. It’s got over 2,000 volunteers and has close to 25,000 patients who all receive care and prescriptions free of charge. And this yearly Art Walk and action helps make that possible.

I had no idea.

So the 2010 event is right around the corner and it seems well worth checking out. It’s happening May 22nd and 23rd. The auction itself has works from over 400 artists (Including some favorites like Shepard Fairey, David Flores, Retna, Chat Robertson, Ed Ruscha, Saber, etc..) but there are also several walking tours of local stand out architecture, artist studios, and more. Tickets to these events are available here, but the clinic was nice enough to give us a few pair to give away as well. Chime in in the comments if you want them, first come first serve.

Think you can sing? If so bring your musical talent this Friday, May 21, to help kick off the American Idol finale week. Former contestant, Alex Lambert will perform and host a “Car-eoke” (their name for the event not mine) a cappella singing competition where the grand prize is a pair of tickets to the show’s season finale on Wednesday, May 26.

All participants of “Car-eoke”  will have the chance to face the judging panel comprised of Kara Killmer from the ground-breaking global entertainment platform “If I Can Dream”, and two, LA-based Ford Fiesta agents. (Yup…as a key sponsor of AI they will have a new Fiesta there).  The winner of the competition will be selected by the judges on site.

Date:Friday, May 21, 2010
Time: 12:30pm – 2:00pm
Location: The Hollywood Blvd. sidewalk located in front of the Hollywood & Highland Center Grand Staircase and Kodak Theater Arch (in front of the Kodak Theater)
Street: 6801 Hollywood Blvd, Hollywood, CA

If you read this Washington Times article LA’s sticking its nose into AZ’s business with a threatened boycott one would think so.  Did you know that one  AZ lawmaker has openly encouraged the utilities, nasty coal burning plants to be precise, to take that into consideration and renegotiate the rates charged LA for its power?  Did you know that some 25% of LA’s power comes from AZ?   Should we even care?  Is anyone willing to have an electrical brown out during heat waves or pay higher rates to prove a political point?  Debate it.

The Very Special Classic Eats Blog-a-thon at Canter’s Deli and Bakery is this weekend! From noon Saturday to noon Sunday, your LA Metbloggers will be live-blogging all the hot nosh action from within Canter’s.

Here’s the line up of bloggers so you can meet us all in person:

Saturday:
noon – 2:00 Lucinda
2:00 – 4:00 JozJozJoz
4:00 – 6:00 Alexandra
6:00 – 8:00 Julia
8:00 – 10:00 Travis
10:00 – midnight Kevin

Sunday
midnight – 2:00 Janna
2:00 – 4:00 Queequeg
4:00 – 6:00 Kevin
6:00 – 8:00  Julia
8:00 – 10:00 Alexandra
10:00 – noon: Will

There may be some special guest bloggers and the occasional doubling up of the team just for fun. Look for the Classic Eats sign (like the one above) as well as the LA Foodbank poster. Again big thanks to Canter’s for letting us do this and to Verizon Wireless for donating Mifi Mobile Hotspots so we can blog on site. Remember, this is your one chance to have free wifi while you eat your matzoh ball soup at Canter’s.

Most importantly, please come and help us achieve our goal to raise $1000 in cash AND 200 pounds of canned food for the LA Foodbank. For every $1 donated, the LA Foodbank is able to acquire and distribute 4 meals. $1 = 4 meals. $1 = 5 pounds of food. You can eat 5 pounds of rugelah? You can donate a $1.

“I wonder if getting a PhD in American studies is going to prove I’m an American?”

– Tam Tran, quoted in an article in the Los Angeles Times

I suppose death is the time to reflect and celebrate a life – but what of the black void leading up to accepting the fact that a life should be celebrated because of a death?  Shrug.  I knew of Tam Tran for quite some time before I finally met her, at a party in which we bantered about the best way to serve cheese.  I also met Cinthya Felix then, and I snapped a few photos of both her and Tam with their best friends.  The picture still lingers in the electronic halls of Facebook like a Post-It reminder waiting to be appreciated, if only I were brave enough to look at it again.

Tam Tran and Cinthya Felix, both graduates of UCLA and from Southern California, died in a fatal car crash over the weekend.  Both were undocumented immigrants, brought here as children.  As they went on in their academic careers, they discovered they were ineligible for financial aid thanks to a myriad of statutes barring the release of such funds to undocumented individuals.  Private loans were not an option so long as applications required proof of legal status.  Heck, without proper ID, the pair would have had problems proving they were of age to watch The Hangover.  And so, Tam and Cinthya had to figure out some way to pay the bills in cash.  Cinthya came up with a pretty great website straight up asking the public for donations towards her graduate tuition at Columbia (she wanted to be a doctor).  Tam juggled as many jobs as she could (she wanted to be a filmmaker).  When they didn’t have enough funds, both took off entire quarters until they could re-enroll with the requisite price of admission in hand.

Recognizing they were not alone, the pair advocated tirelessly in support of the as-yet-unpassed DREAM Act, which would grant a carefully defined class of undocumented students residency in this country.  Tam testified before Congress in support of the legislation; her efforts drew the attention/ire of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), who, out of sheer coincidence I’m sure, arrested her parents and brother three days after her public stance.

I didn’t know either well enough to presume that I know how they would want to be honored, but I do know that they wanted others to understand their cause, even if one, in the end, did not completely agree with their stance.  To that end, I’m posting a pretty great video Tam created called “Lost and Found (Story of a DREAM Act Student)”.  It was screened at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific American Film Festival in 2009.  It’s after the jump.

For those struggling with the loss of such honest-to-goodness great people, I suppose the best we can do is trust that the void won’t always be so dark.  And when we’re ready, the Post-Its will still be there to remind us all of Tam and Cinthya, and of our dentist appointment tomorrow at 3pm.  Don’t be late.

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Photo courtesy of Pho King Delicious's Facebook page

Thanks to Councilman Eric Garcetti’s Twitter feed, I now know that there’s a new restaurant in Northridge called Pho King Delicious*. And people say the city government can’t provide services anymore.

I haven’t been there yet, but it just made my list, if only for the name. It’s been open for about two months, and already has a Yelp page with predictably mixed reviews (“OH MY GOD I LOVED IT SO MUCH” vs. “OH MY GOD WORST RESTAURANT EVER, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE INTERPRET MY EXTREME DISDAIN AS UNREACHABLE LEVELS OF HIPNESS”) and a Facebook fan page which you can use to let everyone who’s ever been even remotely associated with the Internet know you like it. I’m definitely going to visit it sometime in the near future, but bear in mind I’m no pho aficionado and so my opinion should be taken with a grain of MSG. Unless MSG does not come in grains, in which case you’re on your own.

* This is only truly funny if you bear in mind the correct pronunciation of “pho” is “fah,” as in “a long long way to run.”