The Wrecking Crew will be screening at the Grammy Museum this Thursday, February 12 at 7:30. Music and LA history buffs will especially love this documentary about the most famous musicians you might not have heard of.

From the Grammy Museum Website:

The GRAMMY Museum presents a special screening of “The Wrecking Crew,” an intimate, insightful and often humorous documentary about the legendary group of session musicians in 1960s Los Angeles who earned wide acclaim by backing dozens of popular singers including The Beach Boys, Frank & Nancy Sinatra, Cher and Sam Cooke. A panel discussion with filmmaker Denny Tedesco [son of legendary guitarist Tommy Tedesco], drummer Hal Blaine and pianist Don Randi, moderated by GRAMMY Museum Chief Curator Ken Luftig Viste will follow the film.

Elvis Costello said of the film, “A wonderful, touching and hilarious film about the unsung stars of so many records that you carry in your heart.” 

Tickets are $10 ($5 for museum members) and are on sale now. This will sell out! Doors open at 7pm.

Tickets can be purchased at the box office, at ticketmaster or by calling 213.480.3232.

The Grammy Museum is located on the campus of LA Live.
800 W. Olympic Blvd., Ste. A245
Los Angeles, CA 90015 USA

For more details about the film, visit The Wrecking Crew website.

Go see how the music of the 60′s was really made.

Most of us know about the “not-so-secret” secret menu at In-N-Out. But, did you know that Poquito Mas also has a secret item that is not well publicized? The catch is that you can only take advantage of it when we’re having the wet weather we’re currently enduring here in L.A.

When it’s raining and with any $5 purchase, you can get a free bowl of their tortilla soup. They even ring it up as “Rainy Day Soup.” It’s a tomato broth chock full of veggies with chips and cheese on top. In other words, perfect for a cold damp day. You’re welcome.

So I guess I have one less reason to hate on LA. A little piece of NYC is setting up shop in Echo Park: Two Boots Pizza, a NYC institution, opens tonight on Sunset, practically cheek-to-cheek with the Echo. And people, it’s a place where you can order by the slice if you want– essential to pizza lovers.

As another NYC institution, Liz Lemon, would say, “I want to go to there.”

During my time here, I’ve managed to scout out other worthy pizza joints, in the same mold and even in the same general area. Nicky D.’s on Rowena in Silver Lake is one of them. Their wood-fire oven has provided me with many a tasty pie.

And then there’s Cheech’s on Hillhurst in Los Feliz, where I’ve been rewarding myself with innumerable slices after making the trek by bike up to Griffith Park Observatory. Walking into this little gem of a pizza parlor is like stepping back in time– which is why Cheech’s needs to rethink (and remove) that large flat panel TV they recently bolted to the wall, oddly encased in Plexiglass. Read the rest of this entry →

As part of its First Fridays program of events, LA’s Natural History Museum is celebrating the 200th birthday of Charles Darwin, as well as the 150th anniversary of the publication of his seminal book, On the Origin of the Species by Means of Natural Selection, this Friday, Feb. 6th. (His birthday is Feb. 12, 1809– the same as Abraham Lincoln.)

It starts with guided tours and lectures on evolution in the early evening hours and then evolves (get it?) into music performances later that night by Jukebox the Ghost and The Bird and the Bee; with DJ sets by The Phatal DJ and DJ Michael Stock in the African Mammal Hall.

Join in as a show of support for evolutionary science as a respected field of study– and also probably some robust razzing of “intelligent design” and “creationism.”  Photo: public domain/Wikipedia

Photo by Eric Shin, used with permission

I’ve been AWOL here for about a week as I prep to move just a little bit further west, but I had to take a break from packing to tell you about this great upcoming event…

Kogi BBQ, the hottest restaurant in L.A. without a fixed address, is going to be joining Colorado Wine Company to create a fantastic food & wine tasting.

This is going to be a hot ticket, so follow me past the jump to get all the details you’ll need…

Read the rest of this entry →

45 year old Susan Szegedi has been missing since January 20, 2009. LAPD is asking the public for help.

Susan Szegedi was last seen on January 20, 2009, when she left her residencin the 400 block of North Gower Street in Los Angeles, (LAPD Olympic Area).

Szegedi requires medication, which she has been without since she vanished.  Her family believes she may be distraught over the recent loss of a friend.  Szegedi has uncharacteristically not made contact with her friends or family.

Szegedi is a forty-five year old Caucasian woman with brown hair, brown eyes, 5’7” and approximately 145 pounds.  She is known to wear a pearl necklace.

Szegedi is believed to be driving her 2001 gray Honda Civic, California license number 4KYW571.

If you have seen or have any information regarding the whereabouts of Susan Szegedi, please contact the Los Angeles Police Department, Missing Persons Unit, Detective Bruce Kuehl at 213-485-5381.After hours or on weekends, calls may be directed to a 24-hour, toll-free number at 1-877-LAPD-24-7 or by texting CRIMES (274637) and beginning the message with the letters LAPD.  Tipsters may also submit information on the LAPD website  www.lapdonline.org. All tips are anonymous.

Next Tuesday through Thursday (January 27th, 28th, & 29th), you can volunteer to help count the number of homeless people in the Greater Los Angeles area. The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) is an independent agency set up by local government in 1993 with the mission “to support, create and sustain solutions to homelessness in Los Angeles County by providing leadership, advocacy, planning, and management of program funding.”

The Count takes place at night. All participants will receive training and no one will be out on the streets alone. More information on the organization and event is available here. Teams of five or more are encouraged to sign up and commit to helping out for at least one of the dates.

Growing up in L.A. in the late-70s was a glorious time for a young sports fan.  The Dodgers won back-to-back NL pennants (’77 & ’78,) we still had an NFL team (the Rams played at the Coliseum until ’79,) the Aztecs played soccer at the Rosebowl, and every Saturday morning channel 9 broadcast Roller Super Stars featuring the Los Angeles Thunderbirds.  Although I (still) loved the Dodgers, I was a nerdy kid and could (still) not care less about the NFL, and only went to one Aztec game. It may have been a glorious time for a young sports fan, but that wasn’t me. One thing I looked forward to every week, though, was roller derby.

Of course, that was 30 years ago.  L.A. hasn’t seen a pennant in 20 years, the NFL has long since departed, and seriously, soccer? Did anyone else remember the Aztecs? The bright spot in this story is that the L.A. Derby Dolls have revitalized roller derby over the last five years, and the first bout of 2009 is this Saturday night at the Doll Factory between the Fight Crew and Tough Cookies.

Follow me past the jump for details on the most fun you’ll have Saturday night with your pants on**.

Read the rest of this entry →

On February 12th, Los Angeles will be joining over 100 cities in Twestival, an international event to benefit charity:water, a nonprofit organization bringing clean, safe drinking water to people in developing nations. I met the local coordinator at last night’s L.A. Geek Dinner and became very interested about this opportunity for our community to come together and help affect far-reaching social change. The L.A. Twestival organizers are working feverishly to put together a spectacular happening, but they can still use dedicated volunteers to finalize plans, as well as publicize, and attend the event.

The idea for Twestival was launched by a London collective of twitter users who gathered to raise money for a local charity. The overall intention of the worldwide fundraiser is to tap into the power of twitter to spread the word and gather participants ready to help improve the lives of those in need.

Click for more event and contact info

Classic Eats Event #2 is this Saturday, January 24. It’s up to you decide where! Please click right here to go to the poll, read more info and get links to all the options. “Downtown Delights” is in the lead but please remember that Metblogs will be having a Classic Eats event every month, so if you don’t get your choice this time, it will come up in the future. 

The poll closes at 6pm today and when all the chads are inspected, we’ll put out the specific times and meet up places.

Happy Inauguration Day!

Want to own a piece of Battlestar Galactica? Geeks everywhere, including myself, are already mourning the fact that the series will be wrapping up for good very soon. A company called Propworx has teamed up with Universal Studios to auction off props, costumes, art and more from the show. You can bid online or check out some of the “less expensive” items on eBay. For those of you in the Los Angeles area, you can attend the event in Pasadena this weekend, January 17th and18th.

Personally, I don’t know many people who can afford to purchase the Arrow of Apollo or Six’s First MiniSeries Costume, but wouldn’t it be cool to at least get a close-up look at the items for sale? The exciting news is that there is a Preview Day on Friday, January 16th, which is free to the public and includes panel discussions with various production crew members.

Event details after the jump

If you were lucky enough, you got to know Glenn Goldman, owner and mastermind behind the notorious Book Soup on Sunset.

We were all shocked to learn that Glenn passed away on the afternoon of January the 3rd, 2009, after a battle with pancreatic cancer.

A memorial for Glenn is being held at the store this Friday, the 16th of January, at 7pm. Show up and see what all the fuss is about. This is absolutely the best bookstore in this city (and many others), and Glenn will be sorely, sorely missed.

Book Soup
8818 Sunset Blvd.
W. Hollywood CA 90069

If rubbery, artificially bloated lips and a smooth, expressionless mask that is actually your paralyzed facial muscles is your cup of tea, then women of Los Angeles, (and some of the men, too,) rejoice! Allergan, the company that brought you Botox (and raked in $600 million from it in 2007 alone) has a new product that will make your eyelashes burst with growth, causing people to ask, “Have you ever thought about getting into therapy?” “Are you wearing false eyelashes?”  At least according to one of the human guinea pigs (a pharmaceutical industry VP, no less,) in the trials conducted for FDA approval.

Today’s NY Times has the story, but this being Los Angeles (and I include you too, Orange County,) our sprawling city, recently reclaimed by the Prince of Plastic Surgery, will surely see the fruits of Allergan’s most recent labors, generously peopled as we are with self-adoring, yet fragilely insecure types who aspire to “reinvent” themselves on the outside in an attempt to conceal, if not drive a stake through the hearts of, their emotionally crippled inner selves.

The stuff is being marketed under the name Latisse, but really, it’s just Allergan’s glaucoma treatment drug, Lumigan, repackaged and marked up “slightly” in price.

During my time in LA, I’ve gotten used to seeing the boob jobs, puffy porn lips, strangely placid faces and perky little nosejobs. I suppose I will get used to the overgrown eyelashes too. I keep telling myself, in the latter case anyway, anything that makes the world a little more like Liza Minnelli can sometimes be a good thing.

Photo: Chameleon/Wikipedia; public domain.

I might be a bit of a latecomer to the newbie party happening here at L.A. Metblogs, but I’m really excited to join the crew! I’m usually running a little behind anyway, so it’s fitting. My name is Jodi and while not a native, I have called Los Angeles home for the past 14 years, which is longer than anywhere else I’ve lived. I took to L.A. right away and never found that I needed to ‘get used to’ it.

Having resided mostly in small towns and cities on the East Coast and in Texas, the move here was a big change for me. Not only is L.A. the most expansive place I’ve lived, but it is by far the most diverse. The people, geography, lifestyles, and cultures fascinate and energize me. Sometimes I feel like I’ve learned more from my time here than in most of my years of formal education.

A health care professional by day, I pursue crafting, writing, and photography in my spare time. Nature and my pets are often an inspiration for my creativity. I also attempt to take advantage of all that Los Angeles has to offer from music to art to hiking to film to geek-centric gatherings and beyond. There is always something to do, which is one of the reasons why I don’t get enough sleep.

I appreciate the opportunity to write for Metblogs and am looking forward to sharing my love for and my unique perspective of life in L.A. My musings can be found elsewhere online and yes, they often reflect my unhealthy obsessions with tote bags and rodents.

Hello!  My name is Victoria Lane.  I am yet another new writer impishly adding my words to the mix.  As seems to be the trend, I am a native Californian.  I grew up behind the Orange Curtain and presently live in the Hollywood area.  I’m a professional creative, working primarily as an actress and a writer.

I am madly in love with Los Angeles and cannot wait to share that passion with all of you while discovering yours in return.  I tend toward the dark corners, glamorous occasions and imagination-driven sandboxes.  Even after so many years there are always new discoveries to be made because of the scale of this place and the simple fact that inspiration never dies.  This town is replete with frequent births and many a phoenix rising from the dirty ashes of a fiery fall.

I am addicted to the world-class people watching that borders on salacious voyeurism.  I adore the wild interactions that come with living in a place where artistry and shooting star dreams converge in a bizarre (and sometimes scandalous) parade of human behavior.  Merely going to a coffee shop or hitting the gym at 2 am can be an escapade worth writing a novel about.

I am thrilled to have been invited to contribute to Metblogs.  I cannot wait to begin a sordid little valentine to the City of Angels.