Blog Digests
July 21, 2004 by Eric Richardson
I just wanted to mention that I love what Jonah's doing over at LA Blogs with the twice daily "blog digests." He's pulling together a nice little sampling of all the updates that pass through the left side of the page. For someone who's already done so much to bring the local blogging scene together, putting these things together twice a day is definitely going above and beyond.
Music: More Anna Nalick Info
July 21, 2004 by Eric Richardson
A year ago I mentioned seeing Anna Nalick play at the Hotel Cafe. I've been away from the computer so much these last few days that I've been slow to post this, but I got an email last week from "Anna Nalick's (proud) aunt." I love getting emails from musician's families that find my site. It makes me feel important somehow.
Anyway, Anna's aunt confirmed the Columbia deal signed last October and added that it's a three album deal, of which one album is in the can as of February (to use the film terminology... it means the film's been shot. what's the music equivalent?). There's also a new official website, though it's only really a mailing list signup at the moment. The album is titled "Wreck of the Day", and the first single "Breathe" should be released in August with the album following in October. To quote a little from her Aunt again:
She writes all her own lyrics and music and, as you'll see in the next few months, she is really talented. On top of that, she is just an awesome human being. We all have great hopes for her success in the music world!!
From the little I saw a year ago I definitely agree that she's got the talent, and I too wish her the best of luck in the ever-tough music world. LA's a tough place to play, and it's always good to see someone come up and have a chance to make it.
Update (2004/07/22): Just some minor changes. Album title is "Wreck of the Day," as I had written earlier. Release date has been bumped back, with the date right now being October 26. Anna's about to embark on a three week radio tour, so hopefully the official mailing list will have some locations for that.
Final Chapter of the Play-by-Play
July 21, 2004 by Eric Richardson
As promised, here's the last installation listing all the things my mom and I did while she was out here visiting. We've already made it through Sunday night, so we'll start this chapter Monday morning. I'm still going for the bullet point approach, since it's quick and I've got a lot to catch up on today.
Monday morning we slept in a bit, then I picked her up around 11 and we made the quick drive up to JPL. I've been there a year and a half now, so we figured it was probably time for a family member to actually see where I work. My boss gave a little tour around my group, and then after eating lunch we made our way down to the auditorium and caught onto a lab tour that was just starting out from there.
After that we started out about 3pm and took a hike in the mountains behind the lab. We only went to Paul Little picnic area, but the 4.2 mile or so round trip was all we could fit in before dark.
Monday night we picked Miggles up from my apartment and made our way out to Venice for dinner at C&O Trattoria. It was a mixed-emotion visit to an old favorite, though I have to hold off judgement before I can say if it was an aberation or a trend. The food's still as great and plentiful as it ever was, but prices are up and a couple of little things just seemed a little off to me. Still a great value and great left-overs, just not quite the steal it once was.
Tuesday morning I picked my mom up and brought her back downtown. We walked over to the LA Flower District and made our way through an amazing array of plants and blooms.
Lunch was at the Angelique Cafe, which I've mentioned before. Good as always, and I've still got a half a steak sandwich sitting in my refrigerator next to the leftover pasta.
After lunch we did a little shopping, never wandering more than a block from my apartment, but still managing to find everything we were looking for. My mom bought a big piece of rolling luggage for a little under $20, and I picked up a vacuum for $50.
A little break at the apartment to watch the Cubs blow their game against the Cardinals, and then the three of us got in the car and took a little drive down Wilshire, turning north on Western and making our way into Griffith Park. We wound around hills, climbing via car to the observatory. There we exited the car to take in the view, one thing led to another, and eventually we were climbing Mt. Hollywood. While on the summit I got invited to Def Con, which would be weird anywhere but in LA. Here anything goes. I won't be heading to Vegas this week, though I might take up an offer to get comp'ed into ApacheCon later this fall.
Back to my apartment for leftovers, and then over to Kathy's (where my mom was staying) for me to get a bit of a hair cut.
Our final trip was over to Westwood to pay a stop at Diddy Reese for some ice cream sandwich goodness.
United's flight tracker shows my mom's plane to be leaving any minute now, so I think that wraps things up. It was a busy five days, but they were good ones.
WIFI: Panera Bread near LAX
July 21, 2004 by Eric Richardson
Life should get a little back to normal now. I just dropped my mom off at the airport after a fun 5-day visit, and now I'm sitting at the Panera Bread near LAX. WIFI connectivity is great and worked right away. The store has a lack of power for the most part, but there's a seat I'm eying that may well even fill that need too. Not that big of a deal, though, as the plan is to work here for a few hours and then head right down the coast to Manhattan Beach for a few of the peak sun hours.
All in all a great place to hang out for a while if you ever find yourself near LAX in the morning hours (South Bay Galleria and its Chick-fil-A would be my choice once you hit lunch).
saturday and sunday
July 20, 2004 by Eric Richardson
As I continue with the play-by-play of what my mom and I have been up to since she's been out here, I'm still holding to the short summaries. I will come back and fill in details for a few of these as I get time in the upcoming days. We pick up the tale Saturday afternoon.
Saturday afternoon included my customary trip over to the Bonaventure Hotel to ride up and down the glass elevators. It's a fun view, and it's close and free.
Saturday evening we had dinner at Border Grill in Santa Monica. Very good food, and reasonable given the $20 off coupon we had (thank you Last Remaining Seats). Afterward we walked over to the park overlooking the ocean, and were there around sunset; though the sun had already gone behind the hills to the north there was lots of color to be had.
Sunday morning we went to Bel Air Presbyterian for the 11am service, and afterward looked off the hill at the plume of smoke rising from the Santa Clarita fire.
From there we made our way down the 405 to Manhattan Beach, where we walked around for a while. Lunch was at Wahoo's, since you don't really ever see a fish taco in the midwest.
From Manhattan Beach we headed slightly north, ended up at Lickity Split in El Segundo. I had peppermint while my mom had chocolate.
Sunday evening we had dinner at Water Grill, just around the corner on Grand just north of 6th. It was everything you expect a high-class resturant to be. We started by splitting Clam Chowder and crab cake (Water Grill kindly brought the clam chowder in two bowls). The clam chowder had real clams in it. For a main course I had the Rhode Island hook and line striped bass, while my mom had the Alaskan troll caught king salmon (as you can see the menu was very descriptive of where and how each fish was caught). Both were amazing. Dessert was a chocolate truffle tart with ice cream on top.
I'll leave off here, and pick up with Monday later on today.