12-14-08 LA CA: 2304 hrs. I just finished watching a screener of Milk. I thought it was a good film. It’s raining outside and the weekend is over. Last Monday I shot my scenes for the film Suck in Toronto Canada. It was a good time and I think it’s going to be a funny film. The producer wrote me a few hours ago and said that Iggy Pop did his scenes and was amazing and that the whole thing is looking great.
Earlier today, I read a report about president Bush getting a pair of shoes thrown at him by an angry journalist named Muntadar al-Zeidi in Iraq. Bush said that it’s an example of what happens in free societies. I guess Mr. Bush saw it as a good thing? I don’t know and really don’t care. I’m glad the shoes missed Bush, I am sure al-Zeidi is in enough hot water as it is and at the end of the day, hitting Bush with shoes wouldn’t have achieved anything.
I got a lot of work done on the new book this weekend. After I finish writing this, I am going to give the 2nd to last chapter one more read through before I print it out again and give it one last pass with the red pen before it gets sent to Carol. After that, one last chapter to proof and then the entire manuscript will be with her and her red pen and we will go through the damn thing all over again.
I put in a lot of time on the upcoming radio shows and have two in the can and ready to take down to the station. I just got a stack of local Seattle band CDs from the bass player in Seattle band Chuck Yay Grrr, Holly. I have played a few of them and there are some great bands. Skullbot is crushing, The Cops, The Root Beer Barrels, The Beltholes are great as well. Of course I had never heard of any of these bands, no surprise there. She also played me an album by Rodriguez called Cold Fact which I thought was great. Cool write up on the man here: http://www.lightintheattic.net/releases/rodriguez/.
She and I drove down to the Watts Towers. I had never been there before. The towers, built by Simon Rodia from 1921 to 1954 are incredible. I had seen pictures of the towers when I first arrived in California many years ago but had never been to visit. We took the tour and watched the 12 minute documentary, it’s a great story worth checking out. If you type in Watts Towers into your browser, you will see sites that can give you some information. Here’s a site, looks to be pretty official: http://www.wattstowers.us/.
Last Thursday night, I went to the Miles Davis 50th Anniversary of Kind Of Blue celebration as well as the Vans Icons event. Both were downtown and a few blocks away from each other. I didn’t know there was such a scene down there. There were bands playing outside, art galleries open, I had no idea there was all this happening down there.
I have to get up early in the morning to get a yellow fever vaccination. I think my previous wore out or something. Later this week, Ben Harper’s brother Peter is going to put my head in a bunch of plaster to make a bronze mask out of my face. There’s your next Halloween idea. Scarier than a Trent Lott mask any day.
Until next week, take good care of yourself and thanks for reading this. –Henry