i wish god were alive to see this

Teenage Lust.

Wayne Kramer turned 59 today.

And Follow The Step And Don't Forget.

That's a pretty big spoon.

Sunday night, pre Sopranos dinner.

I have had next to no energy this week. It's just like that sometimes.

No Voice To Broadcast Feelings With.

I have about 15 of the 36 Sads shirts left. Small and medium. Order at will.

Every Artist Needs A Tragedy.

Future Fathers of Newfoundland at the Other Scenes show at Roberts and Tilton.

Pettibon detail.

Rita Ackerman.

Gee Vaucher! She still lives on the Crass commune!

I somehow foolishly neglected to take pictures of the awesome Dan Higgs, Daido Moriyama and Jockum Nordstrum stuff..Sorry.

And there were No Age and David Scott Stone setting up in the middle of the room.

If you live in LA or nearby it would be a bad idea not to check this show out this month. Unless you've got something against being inspired. Then you should definitely not go.

The show was recorded and I wonder if it may be released as part of a special secret book project? Hmmm. I wonder.

I am really loving 2007. Imagine if I weren't wrestling with the mental illness that accompanies my interferon treatment? Then I might be TOO happy. I might explode from joy!

On another note, we are looking to move. Anyone with a line on a nice 1-2 bedroom house/apartment in LA, please, by all means, get in touch.

Banner Day!

What you see here is a victory dance, as today Betsy was accepted into UCLA and given 10k in scholarships!!

Betsy my friend, I have seen how hard you've worked for this. You deserve it and I am crazy proud of you!

Well Then You Thought That The End Was In Sight.

I'm not sure why there are a bunch of wild dogs on this mountain in Kauai, but there are, and you should really leave them alone apparently.

We took one last deep hike into jungle before our journey home began.

We had a 6 hour layover in Honolulu, so we took a bus to Pearl Harbor.

And we wrote last minute postcards. If you didn't get a postcard, it means I hate you. jk jk.

Taking the boat out to the wreck of the old Arizona.

Love at first sight.

So goodbye, Hawaii. I will be back. I would like to again thank Betsy for taking me on a real vacation. It was unforgettable!

Wilder Than The Ocean. Wilder Than Storm Clouds. Compared To This, These Things Were Tame.

Vacation flops.

Classic rainbow!

The north side of Kauai, we were told, is the rainiest spot on Earth. 400-500 inches of rain a year, and a real King Kong style jungle. You are so alone when you hike in and up, but definitely feel that you are anything but alone. Surrounded by, I don't know, the Volcano God or something.

No Place For Beginners Or Sensitive Hearts.

We drove until the road ended and then took the worlds bumpiest dirt road for another 5 miles until that ended and we wound up at the end of the world beach.

I Dreamt You Were Carried Away By The Crest Of A Wave.

Magic day on the North Shore of Oahu.

This is our hostess, Jessica. She showed us the entire island in 16 hours. She also let us stay in her room while she took the couch. I cannot thank Jessica enough!

We snorkled in Waimea Bay with all those crazy fish, and dolphins, and in the distance, a huge whale. Crazy! Then I jumped off a cliff. Totally amazing cliche Hawaiian movie moments.

This is a celebratory cone. We had moved our operation a few miles up the road to Sunset Beach and promptly crossed paths with a sea turtle and swam with him/her for 10 minutes before he went on out to the deep. Again, I ask you, classic or what? It was not even lunchtime yet.

Next we were headed to the secret Banyan trees and a cove that no one can find.

The girls had taken a break from the hectic swimming schedule, so I brought this coconut into the water with me and talked to it for awhile.

Secret beach! It's huge and there were no other people as far as the eye could see.

Lots of dying bulidings around to ooh and aah over too.

Like I said, we owe Jessica big. She is a ruling tour guide!

And in the morning we had to get up early to get our flight to Kauai.

The Man In The Mirror.

I will leave you with a picture of the painting Alexis Ross gave me today. Wow!

Please Stay Perfectly Still.

The Sads debut at Family. What an amazing night! Even Sage Vaughn and his beautiful hair made it down.

Oh hi Babel!

Pregnant Apple helmed the merch table. The shirts were drawn by Alexis Ross.

They tuned up and the room filled up fast.

Yes! I was so pumped. This night has been a long time coming.

Aaron really stepped to it. They sounded incredible!

Dave and Dan and Aska all blew my mind as well.

Miranda July played the typewriter!

Hotdog and Babel.

Congratultions!

Afterward Betsy uttered the never before heard , "I think I like L.A.".
Then of course with Cantors right across the street we went and got boxes of before bed cookies.

And now we are headed to the airport, and tonight we will be in Hawaii!

The Wind Beneath My Wings.

I know, I posted this before. But you know, I am mightily pumped for it, and it is tonight! There are going to be the last colored copies of the 12" and Sads shirts available to the faithful. There are some pretty intense suprises that I am not at liberty to discuss on the interweb, and it's just going to be one of those incredible community events where everyone is buzzing with inspiration and the possiblities seem endless..So yeah, do yourself a favor! Tonight!

Flyer made amazing by Mike Mills.

Tell Me Darling, Do You Really Want To Say Goodnight?

Raging birthday party! Five pals and one Bartle and James wine cooler for Ingo!

Ingrid and Rene got me a fancy new espresso machine and Apple gave me flowers and let me feel her pregnant belly.

And we were at Roscoe's , of course.

Hot footing it over to the mighty Arclight to see Blades Of Glory, which was absolutely mind bottling.

Yeah. That's my kind of party.

And I wished for more of the same.

Tiny Bubbles.

Well, on the first morning of my 34th year my, Betsy made me cry. It wasn't the message on the back of the card that did it..She has been so wound up and waiting for this day. It may be the first time in her life she held in a secret. Everytime she buys me a gift I wind up getting it early. The girl has little in the way of a poker face!

The gift giving begins! There is a theme. I am getting sunscreen, books to read on the beach, travel toothpaste. I had been figuring that we were going to Palm Springs or something. It's close, and I thought we were driving to this secret destination that morning..I was being tricked though!

Hold on..What airplane ride?

And as I unwrapped my hula doll holding a suitcase with my name on it, I realized that she was taking me to Hawaii! Holy crap! I was stunned, and truly suprised! We are leaving Sunday and flying to Oahu, and then Kauai! I have never been to Hawaii! I started laughing and couldn't stop for ten minutes. I started to think of how she is a full time student with a part time job and realized she probably had to save up for 5 months and I started to cry and I felt very touched. Intense! Amazing!

She made me these amazing sea themed cupcakes. That's a lifesaver painted up like a floaty!

And here she is! The worlds greatest girlfriend! Thank you for the best birthday morning of all time!

To The Old Ball Game.

OK. Last few hours of my 33rd year. David and Nina took me to the Dodger game. Did you know I can walk to Dodger Stadium from my house?

We passed the safe surrender sight. Good to know.

Whoops! Dodger Dog goo!

Sorry Nina.

Sorry David.

The loud dude trying to start the wave. Unsucessfully.

Whoa. Harsh. So then I walked home and Betsy and I watched 'Cocaine Cowboys' and she managed to keep my birthday suprise under her hat until...

To be continued.

And You Were Searching For Someway To Give.

For those of you wringing your hands and wondering just what to get me for my birthday, might I suggest something from the Family store! Or perhaps something from Ooga Booga!

You Never Come Around Anymore.

So I had to go to a John Legend show this weekend, for boring reasons that I won't bother going into here, and sat next to this fun couple. They actually kind of taught me a lesson. Whatever my predjudices are against John Legend, or being at the Universal City Walk, these two were having so much shameless fun, that I kind of loved them. By the time I left, the lady was hugging me and the dude was high fiving me and we were taking pictures of each other.They were just so pumped! It is always nice to be around people who are that psyched and happy.

On the other hand, Jeremy Piven was sitting next to me with a giant cigar, tons of Chrome Hearts jewlery and a teenage girlfriend. So my right side was stoked, but my left stuck hard to judgement..

Holy Land.

Bring Me A Song That I Can Get Right.

A walk in the park with the love of my life.

The soundtrack to these pictures should be the new Lavender Diamond record.

Speaking of which, best records of the year so far, Lavender Diamond, Sads, Barr and No Age. They also all happen to be from LA. Hmmmmmmmm.

Betsy has planned some kind of suprise for my birthday next week. She can hardly keep it in, and she actually, against my wishes, gave me a hint on this walk. She blurted out, "Bring swimming trunks!".

Swimming trunks, eh? Are we swimming in Echo Park lake or Mac Park?

We will have to wait and see. My suprise is now your suprise!

And Sage Is Staying In Cuz He Thinks It's A Sin That He Has To Leave The House At All.

Jessie Spears is painting the inside of the Smell and she asked if Betsy and I would be into coming down to help. Betsy had to work but Sage didn't!

Let's start with a simple inspirational message..

It is an awesome way to spend the day. Big empty Smell! Rollers and buckets of goo!

Sage Vaughn.

Jessie Spears.

Outline..

Now, if Betsy weren't at work, this is the point when she would say we were done.

Learn it. Live it.

Here come the hairs.

Apple and Anton came by! Apple is super pregnant with my new nephew! She looks incredible.

We finished. Look at it. So gross.

Jessie's wall. Totally awesome.

Welcome to Alison's corner.

Anton's hydrant..

Another inspiring day in Los Angeles!

The Days Run Away.

Betsy and Amra discuss the various problems that Amra has been having with her cat, 'The Bat'.

Anthony stopped by on his way back to Japan. I guess that means he will start regularly blogging his drunken misspelled ramblings again.

I made him a silly nightlight to take with him because he seems like a little kid to me, and little kids need nightlights.

There was a fire in th hills. It came close to the Hollywood sign, which would have been the best. Who wouldn't want to watch the Hollywood sign burn to the ground?

Rene's birthday dinner. Bryan and I put together a framed 45 Grave / Christian Death flyer, because that's what Rene is into. Still. Notice Anton behind him putting pooka shells around his neck? Gross.

Sewp Plantation.

Also, I don't have pictures, but the downstairs neighbor who has been accusing me of being a peeping tom for the last 3 months was evicted and finally moved out yesterday. That weird twist is over! So long lady!