steve mazan on letterman video

Gage: Where have all the good times gone? you can only eat 3 things for the rest of your life, what’s it gonna be? Worst high school job?

the good times have moved to the scarier places. apple juice, chicken breasts, Oreos

John Wayne Maioriello: What are your top 5 heatwave solutions that do not include air conditioning?

since i dont have air conditioning this is easy for me. currently im in a room with the window up, the door open, and a little osculating fan, and everyones topless.

bukowski liked to soak in the tub

mookie in do the right thing not only took a shower at the beginning of the day, but when he came home to make love to his baby momma he utilized ice cubes

when i was an ice cream man guy id put ice cubes in a rolled up shirt, slide it in sombrero, and drive around in just a sombrero, hawaiian styled shorts, and flip flops.

or you can just say eff it and sweat like a pig and see how sweaty you can get.

Matt Welch: Why is the L.A. Times now the slowest-to-load website on my computer, post-redesign? Spite?

Clearly East Coast bias blinds folk quickly else you’d had realized that you’re talking about the nation’s #1 fastest growing big newspaper website. almost every month we’re breaking one record or another. back in the days when you sat in your swanky office here the blogs, for example, were getting just 3 million page views, last month we were just shy of 20 million. thats just the blogs. then theres the photo galleries and the special projects, and the breaking news and add that with a beautiful redesign you’re gonna get what the hippies in berkeley call “hella” traffic. which slows down your journey to Angels Unplugged for your vlad fix. what can i say? steal better wifi.

zona: what are the odds?

of me going to my 75th high school reunion this month: no chance

of me going to my 90th grade school reunion this month across the street and a day before the high school reunion: sure thing

of me taking this young lady to see springsteen play born to run in its entirety in chicago: excellent

of her wearing that white bikini to the show: never know

of Da Bears beating the Steelers at Soldier Field a few hours before the Boss: i think the spread will be the world champs giving 20 points.

Jetson Stamina: Who would you rather have answer the 5 most important questions ever asked. Perry Farrel or Whitney Houston while on crack? Why? Also… should Minotaurs where pants?

it’s interesting that this will be just the first of two questions this week concerning Mr. Farrel, and for that reason alone we should exclude Whitney from this competition. also, perry has aged beautifully, if not suspiciously. whereas Whitney has tragically fallen from super sweet “how will i know” to druggie diva “hell-to-the-no”. and although the trainwreck is usually more spectacular, in this case the wild genius is far more entertaining. only the girl minotaurs should wear pants.

CNN: Any comment on this breaking news?

saddest thing ever. she was our worst kept secret. my best boss ever. the main reason why we’ve been so successful so quickly and in such an honorable way. she exudes class and has the most calming spirit. meredith launched nytimes.com, then went to the internation herald tribune to do it en francais just to show off. then she came here and bingo heres a perfectly strong web site, with lots of great blogs, lots of great special bonuses, and now with a brand spanking new gorgeous design – and shes out. like a house flipper except she didnt double the price of the thing. its still free, just better because of her. i feel like the red sox just traded babe ruth to the yankees. but i guess its good for cnn, cuz now they’ll finally be on the map.

Alyson: Best food to pair with movies, video games and alcohol that ISN’T pizza?

this is an excellent dilemma because you cant have anything too messy because it will gunk up the controllers unless youre playing wii. but even still, it sounds like you might be moving around some, so you dont want anything too complicated that could either spill or get knocked over in a messy way.

so id say sushi, like the kind gage eats.

timmay!!!!!: were you at this show? how about this one? how many of you people are rubbing your crotches against the barricades?

i was at the Jane’s Addiction show because Nothings Shocking had come out and as you know it was the jam. Janes played 10 sold out shows in a row in LA and i couldnt believe that they were going to play our football stadium for free. i remember how mtv was there and they were trying to take a little ownership of the thing, but it was far too raw and punk rock and perry was swearing and being crude and the kids were throwing things and he was just so great attacking them with cutting jabs and… Janes Addiction. i did not see the Lips because i dont think i had moved up there till late 95 or 96.

g/d: wonder who what where when why? wow.

i do which is why i always wanted to work for a newspaper as it answers all those questions every day.

xtx: Where is my elephant story mothereffer?

it takes a long time to push out a baby elephant. but i think the water broke. yes IT HAS!!!

jackassjimmy: When suffering with fear and adversity, one should?

realize that some people pay a lot of money to feel the way youre feeling. either they buy expensive drugs, or date expensive women, or get themselves involved in situations they shouldnt be in to. if that doesnt make you feel superior and mellower, remember that this is the time that spirituality is yr friend. pray to whatever spaghetti monster your believe in and see if this trying time can actually be the impetus behind some spiritual growth. as the pegged legged old lady once cackled “tis hard to bake bread in a cold oven”.

looks like im not taking my truest to the pretenders cat power juliette show

From: Fun’s fancy management company in Hollywood
To: Dumbass Pierce
Subject: I know…

I know this is SUPER last minute, but we are having a party here tonight at our loft and they [fun] are playing. food, drinks – I think I even saw jello shots. Let me know if you want to come! I can even set up an interview with them if you want.

Thats sweet. I guess i have written about them a few times…

http://laist.com/2007/07/02/the_format_cont.php

http://laist.com/2006/12/20/nate_reuss_from_the_formats_top_ten_cds_of_2006.php

http://laist.com/2006/11/30/interview_time_with_nate_of_the_format.php

http://laist.com/2007/02/02/laist_editors_top_25_best_cds_of_2006.php

i just got this great news in my email box today

turns out Fun is hot!

Fun debuts in the Top 200:

AIM AND IGNITE (Nettwerk), the debut album from Nate Ruess (The Format), Andrew Dost (Anathallo) and Jack Antonoff (Steel Train)—who are fun., breaks onto the Billboard Top 200 today at #71 with over 8,000 albums sold in its first week. AIM AND IGNITE also earns the #3 spot on the Internet Album Chart, #20 spot on the Alternative Album Chart, and #24 spot on the Top Digital Album Chart. Additionally, the album debuted at #46 on the CMJ Top 200.

why is it great news?

because its so nice to see creative, uplifting music get rewarded with a modicum of popularity.

their show the other night at Spaceland had the kids waiting around the block to get in. once in, people were singing to every song – EVEN THOUGH THE CD WAS JUST 6 DAYS OLD!

it was so so so nice.

i just did a story about the Chupacabra

im pretty stoked

usually i just make a “blog sandwich” out of info from other sources, and then i present it in a funny way or attempt to add something extra. today i heard about this texas taxidermist who had ended up with the dead body of a Chupacabra and i was all eff this i gotta call this dude.

dude couldnta been nicer, and his half-brother was nicer still.

so right now im waiting on one of my favorite copy editors to finish red penning my masterpiece. i think hes run out of red. hes a pro. top notch guy and im sure i have a lot to question because its a much longer post than i planned. but such is life.

earlier today i spoke with some really cool people from our Glendale paper and few others from some of our other neighborhood papers. they all wanted to know more about blogging and social media. i brought donuts and we spent a good chunk of time talking about group blogs vs individual blogs, wordpress vs typepad, and how to fit in blogging to a reporters already busy schedule.

one thing i said to do was to blog while youre waiting for copy to get back to you or while youre waiting for a source to call you back.

like what i just busted with here. hi.

update: it’s up

hey its wednesday which is Tony Asks You day

lets say you were going to go to a concert.

lets say it was The Pretenders, Cat Power, and Juliette Lewis

lets say it was gonna happen in a really cool outdoor theatre

the same one Elvis Costello just rocked.

the question is: if you could get pit tickets for $50 would you take them?

keep in mind youd have to stand the whole show because there are no seats there

or would you pay more money and sit in the seats like a normal person?

ive been working a ton the last few days

and now im tired. of course its 143am. of course i havent just been working exclusively. but i am tired. and i dont think its the work.

i think its the damn heat!

when i first moved to hollywood from the wessssside one of my fears was that it would be so much hotter on this side of LA. and yes its about 10 degrees warmer than the beach but its not like im in the congo.

this apartment isnt meant for long term use. it doesnt have an air conditioner. ive never used the heater. it doesnt have a dishwasher or a washer dryer.

the fridge runs all the time, for no good reason.

i dont have a parking spot.

theres dog poop under the leaky hose, but none of the dog owners pick up the poop.

the store next door closed outta the blue and there hasnt been a sign on the front or any movement around the back. everythings just totally cleaned out and no one seems to be leasing or renting or buying the place. its just frozen in time.

thats the only thing that doesnt make me tired.

it makes me happy. mostly because it keeps me believing that maybe some of this will just turn into a musical at any minute and life will start making sense again.

hot babe was over this weekend. two, to be specific. after some investigation i discovered that one of em was wearing a g-string. and for several days now im still trying to understand the wonder of that piece of human invention.

no animal, if you gave them 5,000 years of making clothes would bust with the thong. giraffes? nope. monkeys? hell no. rhinos? dont be silly.

not even in 10,000 years would the hyena whip out the g-string and then sell it at target.

and its not because theyre lazy.

one of my favorite bloggers Zulieka loses a student, but gains a great post

Although she had taken piano for six years, she was playing pieces that some of my first year students play. But the miracle about her playing was that she had both a beautiful tone and a very convincing musicality. In fact, of all my students, even the very advanced, she was the most sensitive. She had an ability that had nothing to do with coordination or memory, and I am stumped to explain where that ability came from.

She could not sight-read, and she could not pick out a tune by ear. She had to learn everything by route repetition, note by note. We worked on Bach’s Prelude in C, WTC I, a piece that I picked for her because it was “real” music, not the piddly five-finger patterns from her beginner books, and although it is a very difficult piece in some respects, the left and right hand do not have more than one note to play at a time so that coordination between hands is not an issue. It took most of a year, but when she had it memorized, her personal interpretation was stunning. She created a whole different environment in the musty basement studio, and I held my breath so I could get all the juice of the sounds she made. After three hours of listening to the superficial banging and plunking of students before her on Tuesdays, she brought me music. I fell in love with her.

Shes been blogging since Dec 2003, beautifully.

Read the whole post here.

had such a good time at the Fun show last night at Spaceland

fun at spaceland

i have more photos that are about to come back from the drug store.

before the gig we ate tacos at Los Burritos in echo park and while i was asking for extra chips, my truest slipped into the liquor store next door and came out with a four pack of bartles and james. love her.

meantime, were you aware that the hills of LA are on fire?

katfran is.