Metal Skool

What do you get when you take an over-the-top 80s hair metal cover band on the Sunset Strip and add in the band Disturbed coming on stage to play a song, Bam Margera and his parents singing a song, strippers pole dancing, and Steve-O and Ron Jeremy running on and off stage on a Monday night at a small club with less than 1000 people? You get Metal Skool! It's a must see!

Fox Friends and The Chicas

Spent some time at happy hour this past weekend with some Fox employees. It's always interesting hanging out with people from work, I always feel that I need to hold back at a certain point and not go too hard. During my review a few weeks ago my boss mentioned that I need to be careful and not get too comfortable with people. I took it as I need to not be so social and nice to everyone so I am scaling things back with people in my department and being a little less friendly, which probably isn't the best way to go about things, but I want to prove a point, what that point is I'm not entirely sure.



































































Then I hung out with the Chicas on Saturday for Lydia's husband's 40th bday. Everyone dressed in white and they had waiters and a dj at their house. Although a lot of people there were in their late 30s and 40s, not a single person in their crew has kids. You can't when you're doing this every weekend.

It Doesn't Seem That Hard

A few things. First, why can't bands be cool like this anymore? It doesn't seem to be that hard in my opinion. And second, why can't they make videos like this anymore? We need more wife beaters and old guys playing pool in videos.

Outside Yourself

I was thinking earlier today about one of the dumbest things I have ever done. It was one of those moments where a childhood memory slips into your mind for some reason. I am never sure why or how these memories come to me, but they come, sporadically. I was thinking about the time when I was in first grade playing with my good buddy from down the block, Matt Ariano, whom some of you might remember. My parents had just bought a new refrigerator and had left the cardboard box that it was delivered in on our driveway. I assume it was left there so we could play with it/ in it. Although much of the experience is blurry in my mind, I recall Matt climbing into the box and me pushing it to an upright position so he couldn't get out. I then started throwing things into the box on top of Matt to joke around with him. I threw in a basketball, the newspaper sitting on the driveway, a bunch of rags sitting in our garage.

Being a young kid, I then let my imagination get the best of me. I vividly recall believing I was in a cartoon. I suddenly felt like nothing could hurt Matt and I could throw anything I wanted into the box, like he was a cartoon character and I could throw in a kitchen sink and it would bounce off his head after going "boink." Basically, I lost it. I completely ignored reality and put myself into my own fantasy land. I picked up a heavy metal shovel that was sitting in the garage and tossed it in. It cracked Matt in the forehead and he had to get eight stiches. I had literally taken myself out of reality and had let my mind wander into a land of cartoons and kitchen sinks where there are no consequences to dangerous actions. I don't remember being reprimanded or even feeling bad about what I had done.

I think everyone has imagined flipping out while at school or at work at one time or another. Sitting there in class and thinking, I wonder what it would be like if I ripped off my shirt, started screaming, and starting throwing things around the classroom. Do people ever actually go through with these extreme thoughts? I think it happens everyone once in a while.

Recently, as I have been crusing the highways of southern California, I have found myself completely removed from reality. With the music high and the sun low I have once again experienced the feeling of my imagination running wild and forgetting about my real life and what truly exists. It is refreshing to feel that way again. It can be difficult to imagine as an adult the same way you imagined as a young child, but it feels like such a natural and healthy thing to do.......as long as you aren't throwing metal shovels at people.

The Coolest and the Most Uncool

This weekend I went for a bike ride up to Hollywood to do some shopping. It was over 90 degrees outside, which is pretty damn hot for LA (everyone that is from here was incapable of even being outside) . I stopped at the 7-11 a few blocks down from my house to grab a drink on my way back. As I sat outside drinking my slurpy, I closely watched this bum that was sitting outside the 7-11. Every time I have been to this 7-11 I have seen this bum there. As I watched this guy, he really started to annoy me. He wasn't one of those guys that you look at and feel sorry for, he was completely functional; he could walk and talk and didn't look that old, he couldn't have been much more than 40. He also had a mean look on his face, not a look of desperation like many homeless people do, just mean. I watched this guy for a good 20 minutes drinking my slurpy and enjoying the summer day. As I sat there, I saw two people give him money and one guy go in and buy him a hotdog and a Sprite. All in only 20 minutes. The guy barely said thank you, he acted like he was entitled to it. I seriously wanted to sit next to this guy and when he would ask someone, "Spare some change?" I just wanted to sit there and say, "Don't give this piece of garbage your money."

The people that handed this guy money are stupid, plain and simple. Don't get me wrong, if someone has a legitimate problem and they need help, we need to help those people. If someone looks sick on the street or has kids with them that look hungry, by all means, help them out financially or buy them some food. But don't give your money to some lazy piece of shit that can easily get a job, but probably makes more money sitting outside the 7-11 taking your money. If someone can barely afford to give their money away but does so because they want to help the guy out, then they are stupid, this guy just scammed you. And if someone can easily afford to give their money away, they are stupid if they think giving their money to some bum on the street actually makes a difference, compared to what they could do.

As I got on my bike to ride away, I wanted to go up to this guy and give him a piece of my mind. I have certainly gotten into it with my fair share of bums over the years. Instead, I chose to ride right past him, look him in the eye, and shake my head in disgust at him, and I mean blatantly shake my head, like I slowed down to do it. Of course he started screaming at me, telling me to come back and say something and blah, blah, blah......Next time I go for a slurpy I might actually tell him what I think of him.

Not every person that is strapped for cash is uncool, though. Two weeks ago when I was riding my bike in Venice Beach, I came across probably the coolest person I have ever seen. If anyone is familar with Scabbies' Hero list, this guy would not only be on it, he would probably be the President. It was this Arab guy with a cloth wrapped around his head riding around on rollerblades playing the electric guitar with a mini-amp attached to his belt. This guy would skate over to random groups of people and just start wailing on his guitar. When it got awkward and the people were looking like, "Ok, we should get going now, we already gave him money," he wouldn't stop, he would just keep playing. The guy was a great guitarist and seemed totally cool and totally goofy. Now that is someone you can respect.

On a completely unrelated note, I realized this morning how the simple things in life can make the biggest difference in your day. On my drive to work there is this upholstery shop that cleans convertible tops. On the outside of their garage they have a bubble machine that continuously shoots bubbles into the street. When you are sitting in traffic ready to go to work, you would be shocked at how much better you feel watching bubbles fly through the air.

Idol

Last Wednesday I attended my first true Hollywood red carpet event. I went to the American Idol after-party above the Kodak Theatre on Hollywood Blvd. It was about what you would expect; gourmet food, open bar, entertainment executives everywhere, random celebrities (Kevin Nealon, etc). I took full advantage of the drinks, hung out on the patio overlooking Hollywood for awhile, hit the dance floor, and ended up closing the place down with one of my Fox buddies.

The best part of it is that I rode my bike to the event. "No, not a motorcycle, a mountain bike," I would tell people that asked where I parked. I don't think that there is any statement that better describes my experience thus far in LA than riding a mountain bike to a red carpet event. My department thinks it hilarious though, and I can probably get there just as fast on a bike than in a car sitting in traffic.