the ever-lovin' buslist

a big part of my job is stocking the crew & band buses with whatever they put on their bus list--within the limits of real time & space...& more importantly within the budget i am working with. every morning, whoever is appointed "bus mom" comes to me with their wish list of goods. on this tour, i have had some creative bus lists, they will write on any & every thing but paper it seems. here are a few of my favorites, from matchbooks, to jump drives, or on cardboard boxes, one was even frozen right into the freezer, complete with banana ornament (see more detail on the www.godsmack.com):




and here is the winner of all buslist-makers with me, mister miller:

been gone so long...

i almost forgot my way home.
haven't had time to do much besides work, so i am trying to catch up a bit...my two week break from tour was a rollercoster ride, almost too much to write about...it was so good to see little Batman & he slept on me everynight, poor lonely little furball...
this leg of the tour is going very well, i have a different job title but am still looking after crew, doing this job without miss sarahfina is not the same, i miss her on a daily basis, the pretty polish princess...while i was home over the break, so much happened... went to C$'s birthday @ red rocks on sunset, haven't seen him in so long

also had my own 33rd birthday party. it turned out to be roadie central, and while lots of people were missing/out on tour, so many of my friends came out & honored my heart.

My girls took me out to sushi & treated me like a princess, then we went to the good luck bar & howled at the moon.

also during the break, i went to san diego, a city that has haunted me in the past & was able to put some ghosts to rest once & for all...went to the la brea tarpits & did some touristy hollywood blvd things when drew & sean came to visit me.
red & i went to the roger waters hollywood bowl show, they played the entire "dark side of the moon" set, it brought tears to my eyes. rabbit was in town with beck and i went to the show at the avalon, always good to see little miss rabbit...the viking got out of the hospital, i met his mom & dad all the way from iceland, he is doing much better now, there is some more surgery in his future, but he is far improved...also went to a hollywood audition with Misstress Malena, she was trying out to be miss horrorfest, an elvira-type horror hostess, she was amazing, i think the universe has big plans for our girl...
anyway, there are so many photos to post, i will borrow a bit from mimi & do a bunch of single photo posts, mini-slices from the road. that way i don't fall behind any further. here is a shot from last night's halloween show in dayton, ohio, as a police officer, i made rooster put his shoes on in the freezing venue, that nutty baby finster gangster...

salem, mass---witch city!

yeah, i have no time to write tonight. lobby call at 6:30 am, it is now late late and time to sleep, but i still have to pack and read a bit--just wanted to say today was a perfect day in the manner of the lou reed song- a bunch of us drove to salem in a rental on our day off here in mansfield, we gathered graveyard dirt & had new england clam chowder under the full moon's watch. oh yeah, even had a soundtrack of bagpipes, no kidding. i will post lots of photos soon...
and i wanted to thank all of you who have been sending me love for my sad heart, i know broken bones heal, but man, it is hard to be out here when i may be needed at home. a real post to follow soon as i can, but the next three days are going to be monumental, boston is the boys hometown show & then two NY markets, meee-ouch! union wrangling and 100 minute coffee breaks to come.
if i don't return your call or email, it is nothing personal, my timing is just sting-ray based lately. rip steve irwin, you crazy nut.

thunderstorms, blisters & bruises

it is lightning outside my hotel room window as i look down over the city of Atlanta. pouring rain...love an excuse not to leave the room...
two days off never sounded so good. just did a 98 hour work week, maybe even more, but my math skills are shot, my brain cells are on strike and my blisters have bruises.
seven in a row on tour is a difficult run and now we are only looking at 4s and 3s inna row.

My bus driver duane is adorable, looks like a cross between santa claus and greg allman, i got up this morning to make him coffee as he drove us from texas to georgia in oh-so-few hours (again, no math today, ok) we left the venue in spring, texas at 2:30 am and arrived in buckhead district at about 4 pm. amazing to me that those drivers can do that. his last tour he was out with our amazing NEK, and he told me a story of her mouse tattoo joke, remind her to tell it, cause i can't do it justice...

it is going to be a great run, so many stories already, but i gotta do my homework for the boss, and so i better get to it. there is a sushi dinner in my future and a nice long bath as well. My crew is great and i got my favorite bunk back, bottom passenger, baby! i promise photos next time, haven't downloaded yet.
as for my stars, they are a delight, a non-diva tour, nice. haven't seen much of the show, but the load-outs are going quick, our stage manager has a magic whip he uses, i guess.
also got to see the legendary Law Engalls, he was the steward for the last venue, and it is always a pleasure to see him.
Zombie is a very sweet vegetarian fellow, and his show sounds amazing (have heard it, just not seen much, except for a quick zip out to front of house), tour is called "american witch", needless to say i feel right @ home. have toured before with godsmack, and they are wonderful as well, it is very much like the first day of school, meeting everyone & reuniting with old friends...last thing, the pyro is supposedly OUTrageous, can't wait to have a field trip into the fire room. over & out, miss all my peeps....

going back to san francisco...

Nancye & i drove up to SF in June to see our good friend Hadley, who moved to New Zealand 5 years ago and was back for a visit, and i had such a great time in that fine city. I was too busy to do a entry about it, and now here i am, going back to SF for the wedding of my friends, Cheryl & Sven...they are to be married at Stinson Beach, and i am looking forward to getting out of LA for a weekend...
as we were driving into SF, we got a phone call from a friend, "oh the Bridge is closing for the month, so you'll have to go around.." !!! what!? we luckily misheard, it was only for the night, but we had a little momentary panic as we had booked a hotel in emoryville, so that we could go back and forth in the city as we pleased...it was so good to see Nancye for such a nice long weekend, and it made me realize how awfully much i have missed her...
our trip up was based on going to different places that Hadley has missed during her time in NZ, so we made a list: cafe Fanny for the coffee , Picante for the mexican food , the drugstore for a million things she can't get there in Wellington
, Cha Ya for the amazing all-vegetarian sushi , to see Jenn Jones shop "the candy store" and so on...she also brought us some NZ treats, which i completely forget the name of, something crunchy-esque.
we found our way to the big weekend flea market, and i bought all these keys you see here, a beautiful old lacquer abacus, a FEAR comic (truly beat up, but still i had to have it) & a "wink" ginger ale glass, very happy about these purchases...
i also gave Dabiday a call, he came out and met us for a little afternoon of coffee & shopping...
and we ended up the trip by seeing young Wes, who has moved into Cheryl's old artsy workshop--always love to see the Westic, gonna miss you on tour, buddy...

CAA meeting in beverly hills, baby....

oh man. again, i forgot my camera, but you probably know about the CAA building & how it is built to intimidate fledglings & bumpkins. anyway, we made it through our first pitch meeting and got some very encouraging words-- also a little slap down for my glitter folder (oop, who knew, i just grabbed the first thing off the shelf). all points well-taken and i feel like i am still a little shaky from the meeting. let's just say, we done good in the hallowed rounded walls...
and now the script is in the proper channels for processing and we will see and all will be well.
we will find out next week how it was received...stay tuned to this bat channel...

harlan ellison and the missing word

i sit in the dark typing this, trying to marshall my resources, gather my words & perhaps wear a smarter hat. it was comic-con last weekend and so i was on "dream king" duty, as he was here in town, having had a friday panel down in SD. he showed some clips from "stardust" and then headed up north for meetings and so forth. always great to spend time with mr. gaiman.
this time, however, he invited me to a dinner with the ever-brilliant and unpredictable harlan ellison of SF&F fame. we went to a mongolian BBQ in the midst of one of the hottest days on record here in LA, and we were feeling it. after dinner, as we opened the doors to leave, a haunted wind blew into the place, scattering receipt tickets and waiters alike. we stood outside, marvelling at the temperature change. it was a magic night & i am grateful to have met this legend. he was looking for a word, one that none of us could come up with, meaning "overly punitive"-- and i was sitting with a table full of writers (josh olson was there as well, he wrote the screenplay for "history of violence" & was, as harlan called him an Oscar loser--he was nominated last year)---for the life of me, i can't figure the word out...
it was an enchanted night, after as i went through the pool area of the chateau marmont & looked up at the moon, i think a spell fell over me.

confessional by the dashboard lights....

well, yesterday was a beauty as far as a typical workday could go.
i worked as production assistant on the dashboard confessional universal amphitheatre show since marguerite couldn't do it. or wouldn't do it. lalala. i got there first thing in the morning, & watched the little sleepy roadie tumble off their buses... pushed up my sleeves for a day of pitching in. Usually LA shows are packed to the rafters with industry needy types. This show, tame as a kitten. LA is not their home town, & so it was plenty of industry, and also a sold-out show...but somehow still a lovely day. Just filling out ticket requests/pass list/and tackled the job of organzing the production cases.
Tim Lamb is the PM for the tour, i have worked with Tim before & he runs a tight ship. It was easily the smoothest LA show I have ever worked. Sherri, you are right, this venue is a dream. Just great people working there, Meesh, the runner made me laugh all day.

anyway, we went out to watch some of the set, i have read quite a few interviews with Chris Carrabas, think he is an interesting artist & i do love the name of his project.
The set was much bigger than i thought it would be, especially with the small crew touring.
The lighting & video was beautfully done, with lantern-like ball lights suspended & an Asian feel to the back screens. at one point the video projected was a spot-on shooting star scene, but not what may immediately come to mind. He also incited the crowd to hold up their cellphones & have a light show for him...which may have been done before, but it worked-- it was like a bunch of fireflies in the night. I think it surprised him as well how many people were there in the nosebleeds. what i didn't know, DC fans are known for their penchant for singing along (loudly) to all the words, i mean, even to newest songs. it was a powerful show & i am glad that i got to see it.
i didn't take my camera into the show, so here is the set list as it is all i got...

"rockstar" taping @ CBS

last week miss Marguerite took me onto the set of the new show "rockstar" w/ mister tommy lee. i must preface, i am no reality tv fan. not even for a laugh. never watched survivor or had any interest in doing so. nor did i watch inxs try to find their singer, no way. but this was actually very interesting, a band looking for chemistry with a new singer. there was even a guy from iceland trying out. & everyone knows how much i love a viking...too bad his song choice was awful. tommy's comments were hilarious, also butch walker, the guy producing the band in the studio, had some excellent points about people's performances. absolutely loved gilby clarke, late of guns & roses, he looked like a modern day musketeer. the metallica guy jason was a sweet little leprachaun. anyway it was an entertaining three hours of my life, & i caught a little bit of the tv show last night as we were getting ready to go out, they really had to cut it up to fit it into an hour, with commercials... i made mimi watch my favorite performance of the night, the last guy, who looked like sonic the hedgehog, but really gave it his all. the girl from south africa too, it is a race between those two..

i feel my IQ drop even thinking about reality tv, but i will give this a watch from time to time. love that T-Lee.

fireworks, beck, metal skool & home sweet home...

since i have been touring most all the summers i have lived in LA, i never knew it got quite this hot here...this summer i am enjoying being home, going to see all my friends coming through town on tours, trying to be patient and knowing someday i will be on a bus again...

last week was so busy, i didn't have a chance to write anything, Jessica Rabbit was in town with Beck for a few days off & we went over to the rainbow to have a cocktail after a great dinner w/ C$. we were in the back bar, yik-yaking and the guys from disturbed came in & shanghai'd us over to the key club, they were going to make a stage appearance with "metal skool" the kooky metal cover band that packs the house there...it was a complete chaos scene, don't know if the photos reflect that..!

then 2 nights later, Beck played the Wiltern theatre, one of my favorite venues to see a show. The show was stellar, the team america puppetiers created a puppet for each band member, and acted out the whole show on video screen...just wonderful. the mighty Marguerite (my girl is now on myspace! finally!) came with her band of merry men & we had a great time.

the day before, Rabbit & i scoured the town looking for an appropriate place for Beck to do his after-show show, a habit they got into on the tour, just popping into a bar & playing a secret show. scott from tangier/silverlake/derby stepped up to the plate & hooked us up, the silverlake lounge was so full-on packed, they had to close off the door, and i stayed by the back, out of the fray.

today i got up early to skewer some shrimp & veggies & fake sausage to bring to a BBQ @ jerome & claire's poolside...looking forward to some fireworks, baby!

"wish you were here"

the time to doubt oneself is never a luxury to be afforded.

as virgil said "fortune favors the bold"--


shine on, you crazy diamond. i'll see you again very soon.

"worth a million in prizes"....

this week has been very iggy pop, very stooges.
can't seem to slow down & my to-do list is endless.

life is magic again and glitter dust trails are calling me.
we had a great meeting with a movie genius,
that is all i am going to say, except Eth & i both left
feeling like we were hit with star bolts. this thing is happening.
it will become a film. we are producers, and i am seeing it.

in other news, the world cup was killer today. Sweden tied in the 90th minute 2-2 UK.
i got shivers from my soccer fever. don't know what the brits were doing out there, but it was obvious they were stunned by the last minute upset. ol' becks is in the doghouse, i bet.

no time for photos, just felt it was in order to post on the solstice eve,
with grateful thanks to the universe for smiling on me and the workshop.
the spirits are holding my hand and kicking the stones from my path.
plus the lovely alex & mark decided that they want to buy 5 pieces of my art from my show.
yeah!
sometimes you dance with the devil in the pale moonlight.
and sometimes life is just love molecules and sushi.

off this mortal coil, pierre & peter

in the last weeks, two people in my life realm have stepped off this plane of existence.
Peter Zahorecz & Pierre Pollin. two very different men, in 2 very different worlds.

Peter, i met in LA long before he moved to Baltimore, he was a renegade artist, with a
silent mission. i was at his wedding to Dee Dee, presided over by john waters himself...recall Peter's deep unshakeable love for his beautiful woman. he was so happy with her. how many times was i at the bookstores that he worked, countless. i don't even remember the name of the one by the thai place, it was closed down while i still lived in rehoboth beach, hadn't even yet moved back to baltimore...memories are tricky little sprites, they mix in and out. i remember being in san diego/LA with peter & cyn & jason, and when he moved to baltimore, seeing his first apartment. the sparkly streets fascinated cyn too. the west meets the east. Peter was skateboarding in london when he hit his head, he was 41. Dee Dee, i send you my love. and little Chelsea too.
Pierre, one my earliest memories, was when he & my aunt came back to america from france, bringing my cousin Maura to stay with me. we declared it our room and our rules, we were 4. decided to speak french, french toast, that is. i saw Pierre last year for the last time, and he still had that sparkle in his eye. i will pretend he went back to France to vacation near his grandkids & live near the sea. Maura, i miss you, my cousin. Wish i was there holding your hand.
live your life, everyone. be grateful each day for the small treasure that we possess.

dreamy art opening....

well, i don't think i could have planned a better evening,
it was starry & perfect. my deep thanks to everyone who
hauled themselves out on a sunday night into hollywood.
the whole event went beautifully & there were red "sold"
dots everywhere...!

as an artist, the most you can hope for is a little recognition
for what you produce, and i was so honored by the turn-out.
friends showed up from all corners. it was a very roadie reunion as
well, and rock-star heavy, nikki sixx bought one of my pieces, bless his metal heart. brian from kix even turned up & so many more... my thanks to malena & marguerite, ellen & nicole,
with a special shout out to mr. michael G for being the money manager...
i posted a few photos, more may turn up, but
here's a look:

"high-powered assistants"

last night, Marguerite & I went to a screening of a new movie @ the writer's guild, a very hollywood thing... it was promoted as a screening for "high-powered LA assistants". So we went & let me tell you, it was a big crowd of ambitious white people. pretty funny scene. the movie was ok, "devil wears prada" with meryl streep, who is always consistently good.

tonight i am off to work the merch booth @ the knitting factory on h'wood blvd, for the Rhino Bucket show, always a treat to see this band. looks like i may be going on their little fall tour where they will open up for KiX on the east coast run, going to get some details tonight from Georg, would love to do that, if only for the great photo opportunity..

here is one of the photos (looks like very low res, sorry) from my show going up on sunday @ evidence gallery,
a shot from our visit to elvis' home graceland while on the motley crue tour...

back from NYC...

...& what a beauty queen of a city....my favorite ever.
everytime i pull up short on the streets of NY,
i am dazzled by the power & energy.
saw jozie east coast, & mimi too, miss melle came out & we all met @ dojo on st mark's & had a lovely time.
as always, thanks to Michael @ the Beauty Bar for his
hospitality. ida & i conquered the wholesale district & were
sad to see our favorite korean vendors have disappeared
without a trace...where? we do not know.
even so, it was a wonderful day.
before leaving for NYC, i attended the "Found & postsecret" talk put on by atomic books--
Davy from Found had some hilarious stories, and when i got my book signed,
i told him i was the one that sent in the big stash of porn for the last "dirty found" issue--
he said, "oh yes, we Loved that haul". (yes, go get it, i got three pages in.) "postsecret" is Frank's project, he invites people to send in their secrets on 4X6 postcards, drawn out in any way they see fit. some chilling secrets, so sad, but also very funny ones as well.
they are bringing their tour to CA, check it out if you can...

now i am in the convention hotel, waiting for the boss to arrive. damnit, where are my elf ears..?

last thing, i am sad about something tonight, a certain viking is trekking on out of my life & i just have trouble to say good bye....but a thousand tears won't change the fact that if i were a nick cave song, i would be "nobody's baby now"...i wish him well. i love him.

"don't let me down"

full disclosure, i have been on a mighty 70's music kick. somehow it calms me down & helps me to focus. a new development, to be sure. anyway, i have been hitting the ground running as of late, and to get everything done, if it must be to a soundtrack of bad company or aerosmith, well you'll understand.
heading out on my mini-tour of the east coast, new york city, baltimore & DC/virginia. not really ready, but will be. whatever i forget, it will not really matter. why? cause you can get anything you want in NYC. Balticon is going to be off the charts, i am such a comic book nerd. Neil is in Australia & heading straight there from the plane, fingers crossed for easy travels for him...
seems like all things are happening at once, and the frosting on the cake? Marguerite just announced that she bought me a ticket to Hawaii with her miles, as a thank-you for helping her move. Really, it is too much, the girl had so little to move, but i guess she is due for some mighty karma repay. maybe she felt for us when we were dodging the cars of laurel canyon, driven as if by mario andretti himself.
this week, Cheryl came down from SF & I helped her to serve a dinner party for an unnamed rock royalty. it really was a slice of history, and he was completely gracious & deserving of his good rep.
thank the rock gods for small favors, cause sometimes these people are real robots.
(and i don't mean the nexus 6 pleasure models)
so goodbye LA for a short time, take care of Batman for me & i will be reporting in from the road, running with the pack...
ps happy birthday all you geminis.

crickets & love molecules

it is quiet in the treehouse tonight, jozie has packed her bags & taken off for the east coast.
wendy was here & dabiday & cheryl & i met jozie's sister, miss Patti... it was a magic week of friends & dinners. i am really too tired to make much sense of things, but i am happy with how the photos for my show are coming out & i leave for baltimore/nyc soon, so much on the schedule...& then san francisco with nancye...
although the crickets are keeping me & batman company, i still feel a little like crying.

my new car is named GHOSTY

i have added another key to my keyring, a new little convertible. it is the smallest teeny-ist thing i have ever driven, and i adore him. not very practical for picking people up from the airport but great for zipping around town. bonus- it gets amazing gas mileage. many thanks to Malena & Miles for their kindness in offering me this wonderful little car. it even smells new.

the amazing tiger

there is nothing more beautiful on this earth to me than the tiger.
we are in serious danger of wiping out these magnificent beings.
i just "adopted" one, through the WWF, and i am going to put myself out there
in doing whatever i can to try to make the world a better place to share with
this perfect creature. any ideas, let me hear them...

https://secure.worldwildlife.org/forms/adoptionCenter_1.cfm?donorsrc=leftnav&adoption=leftnav

soldiers @ the dallas/fort worth airport

while i was travelling to Chicago recently, i had a lay-over in Dallas. I was sharing the airport lounge with a sea of soldiers, all deploying to iraq. I spoke to many of them, asking them if they were returning there or first timers. What struck me most was their youth. Of course I am aware of what is happening overseas, but only as an outside observer--and only armed with what the media is filtering through to us. these kids made it even more real & sad & they even felt it was futile...
the death toll is approaching 2400 for our guys, and countless deaths for the Iraqi civilians.
when i say countless, i know there are some spotters saying in the tens of thousands.
anyway, no matter my take on the war, i was moved to tears to see all these scared young kids on their way to the unknown. There were many people there in the airport just saying goodbye & going up and down the line hugging strangers, i imagine they had lost children or family members. a very moving and sad scene, and i was there in the safety of the airport, only going to Chicago not Baghdad. what can we do?

roadie night @ the rainbow

we drove the lil' miata to the rainbow last night after a good work out at the gym, jozie is a one-woman linda hamilton. she is whipping me arse into shape with her tricky work-out tips & the gym rats were all coming over to watch her work her magic...
anyway, we went to the rainbow to meet up with some friends & ended up seeing all Kinds of old roadie buddies, it was a perfect night on the sunset strip.
today i have to get some more work done on printing for the big art show coming up.
i know it seems like there is much time in between now & june 11th, but truly, it is going to fly by. we went yesterday to look at the space & i dropped off the announcement for the show @ the printers...here is a copy:

live theater & table read, baby!

had such a great weekend, we did our first reading aloud of the new script,
and got so much done in way of rewriting. Makes such a difference to hear the words being spoken as opposed to reading them in your head...Malena was fantastic, i was so proud.
& Ethan, he has written a gem.
after we did some work @ my house, we went to see a play over on Melrose @ Fake Gallery, a small but darling art house theatre. The play is titled "She Always Told Me". I was so inspired by this work, a collection of 12 short skits, clever as hell. Go see it if you can, they run 'til the end of May. Prod. Rebecca Johnson & writer Annie Mebane, Jen Zaborowski & Anne Gregory, each has a stand-out piece in the work, & they reminded me that we are living in a city of real live actors, not just tv & movies.

after the play, we went to check out the American Electric tattoo shop "Bully" artshow, and it was packed to the gills, people spilling over out on to Sunset. Happy to say one of my pieces sold....lalalala.
working some shows back-to-back this week, and then go to Chicago for a real Greek wedding, can't wait to see everyone, my parents are coming out too--thankful i get to spend some time with them.
Now i am getting ready to meet Sherri & Farah for sushi on this rainy LA morning..

tour swag

was at dinner this week with a bunch of my roadie friends--NEK made an amazing table of food, & we proceeded to drink a little celebratory champagne...as it was Claire's birthday.
anyway, somehow the talk turned to tour swag. while remaining discreet, i will say some tours shower you with swag, to the point of too much, while some give you nothing but a boot in the ass on the way out the door. some give you autographed photos & some give you gorgeous embroidered shirts, some give out personalized gold records & some generously give their crew big appreciation parties. i never ask for/expect much, of course, but it is very nice to have a little memento from your time spent with a tour. the crew photo is always a wonderful thing to have later on down the road.
anyway, Nicole had one of the greatest pieces of swag i have seen, here she is w/a top of the line soccer ball, something i would really use!

MOXIE Rx dinner party in the treehouse

this entry is devoted with love to my dear friend Nancye in Portland.
I am in her debt for her help via telephone in making my little dinner party a success--
i baked a pine nut/chard & greens pie from her secret recipe (she used to be personal chef to John Mellancamp) and she taught me some little tricks for easy beautiful appetizers...

If you are in the Portland area, go and check out her darling little cafe MOXIE Rx on
Shaver & Mississippi, she & her husband, Sweet Willie have converted a vintage trailer into a cure-all heaven, get there early or she will sell out of the dreamy muffins & health treats she conjures with her magic oven.


i wish i lived closer to you, Dark Phoenix.