Tales from Hollywood

Greetings friends, we have visited Hollywood and have not lost our minds. On Thursday afternoon, the Hollywood freeway chewed us up and spit us out into a land of street musicians, impersonators, and stars stolen from the sky and cemented into the sidewalks.

There were two parallel simultaneous journeys. Tizoc jumped on a bus that traveled straight into the heart of Hollywood Ave. and saw many interesting people. There was a man playing a mean bucket. He was playful, throwing and bouncing his sticks against buses and messing with the tourists. There was also a part-man, part-instrument preparing to be showered in tips.

While Tizoc watched the street performers put on their show, the rest of the buddies were in the van singin' the parking space blues. Eventually, a vintage guitar shop was found and all was well. Dieter found out a sequential keyboard he bought months ago for $5 was worth $650 at this guitar shop! Morris and Ian found a great supply of ancient and wise effects pedals and amplifiers, paid homage to the innovations in their first models, and basked in the timewarp.

Back on Hollywood Ave, surprises kept emerging. Tizoc spent some time in a Hollywood bookstore, thumbing through a fine book of film posters from the golden age of Italian cinema. He also met a man from Germany who told him to visit Venice Beach. The friendly German said Venice Beach "vas a crazy place, lots of people on drugs".

He left the crowds and stumbled in and out of a costume and wig shop and made his way down to Sunset Boulevard, where the rest of the buddies were still hangin'. Before he left the street though, he found... what?! could it really be?! Yes.

A few blocks later, and it was Amoeba records, one of the championing music stores in the country. Everyone got together and headed down to the venue together. Falcon Buddies arrived at The Derby to play their final show for the week. Adam Bianchi opened up once again, this time with Mike on skins. We finished our set, loaded up the van, made a late-night grocery store st, and drove to our friend Kurt's apartment for some Tim and Eric Awesome Show Great Job!


We woke up Friday morning in Hollywood and got ready to see Dreamworks Studios, where our friend Kurt works on lighting (animation, not hot lamps) for their productions. He gave us a nice informal tour, complete with lunch. It was a wonderful glimpse into where he creates his art. He was filled with interesting thoughts.


We drove off to The Getty Museum and saw paintings, photographs, and exceptional landscapes. There was a garden full of opportunities, 17th century French decorative arts (furniture) galleries, and an exhibition of photography by August Sander. He was well aware of the hierarchy of the workforce in industrialized societies and docu mented all kinds of workers: lawyers, writers, actors, architects, policemen, to name a few. There were even photos of members of the National Socialist, Communist, and Nazi parties. One has to view these photos personally to grasp beyond what these words merely provide. The exact same can be said of the landscape on the grounds of the museum, though here are some photos.

There will be new routes paved on the Hollywood journey when we travel there again on Monday to play our final show on this tour. Tomorrow we will take a trip to the beach and camp out on the sand blankets with the light of the moon shining down on us. Magical nights await.