“Hey, do you want to come with me to the Bottega Louie party tonight?”

            “I’m down behind the OC curtain…Maybe.”

            “So, you’re being noncommittal?” I said this with some boss like disgust—to make the point that not going with me was not an option.

            “I’ll go.”

            “Be at my place at four-thirty.” I hung up on Shannon (downtownster senior writer).  My girlfriend had a late class at school that she could not, not attend and the thought of walking around the Grand Opening soirée being thrown at Bottega Louie without a chaperone was a akin to teasing a tiger at the San Francisco Zoo. Meaning, that I was reasonably confident that there would be attractive members of the opposite sex at this bash and I have a particularly strong appetite for troublemakers who like to tease me.

              At this juncture let me advise you to read my blog of last week simply titled Bottega Louie. I was effusive in my praise of this game changer of a restaurant. In short the trial I was blessed enough to attend could be summarized as such: the space is a masterpiece, the food is perfection, and the prices beyond reasonable. The party was really just a formality for me to attend—I knew what to expect.

            I spent the day suited up for the occasion in my black suit and classic brown tie—I call this my Capote look. I know that I have absolutely zero resemblance to Truman Capote, but I’m referring to the era, which people still dressed with some class, in the classical sense. Bottega Louie makes all who enter want to look good. And isn’t it time we all start to dress again? So with the trusty Shannon on my arm I checked in with the polite young man at the door and entered. Continue reading Bottega Louie Very Grand Opening →

Bookmark It

I try to attend as many events at Metropolis Books as I can and you should too — starting with this one. The incredible story that follows needs no further commentary; just give it a read and see for yourself.

Emmanuel Jal has won worldwide acclaim for his unique style of hip hop with its message of peace and reconciliation born out of his experiences as a child soldier in Sudan. His music can be heard alongside Coldplay, Gorillaz, and Radiohead on the fund raising ‘Warchild – Help a Day in the Life’ album, as well as in three ER episodes, the National Geographic documentary God Grew Tired of Us, and more recently in the feature film Blood Diamond starring Leonardo DiCaprio. He also featured on John Lennon’s ‘Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur’ amongst the likes of U2, REM and Lenny Kravitz. 

Emmanuel Jal was born in war-torn Sudan, and while he doesn’t know exactly when, he believes it was in the early 1980s. He was taken from his family home Continue reading “War Child” →

Bookmark It

Last week I posted the blog LA LIVE’S SAINT PATRICK’S DAY MASSACRE – which I am now reposting as LA LIVE’S SAINT PATRICK’S DAY MASSACRE II! No, I’m not suffering from writer’s block, I have more things to write about on any given day than I can peck out on the keyboard of my Mac. I’m reposting this blog and will keep doing so until the time that AEG / LA Live comes to the conclusion that becoming the scourge of our community is not a desirable course. I will each week add developments for better or worse in this cause.

            Last week several thousand people read my post and then subsequently flooded me with emails and text messages agreeing that AEG / LA Live has completely disappointed the community thus far and was in danger of becoming a disgrace to Downtown rather than an icon. Let me make this perfectly clear; not one single member of the community disagreed with my post. I even heard from friends in West LA who had caught wind of what’s going on…One asked to come down and see for himself…I suggested Saturday day, quite sure, that as usual, the plaza would just be an empty slab of cement. But before this tour was to take place I got an interesting phone call the day after my post.

            “Hi Stan, it’s Mike Roth.”

            “Now you’re calling,” I responded to the director of communications for AEG / LA Live.” Continue reading LA LIVE’S SAINT PATRICK’S DAY MASSACRE II →

Bookmark It

Generally I think a blog should be a story but this press release caught my eye — I like worthy causes and Doctors Without Borders is a worth cause:

Banned Movie Night: First monthly film festival of its kind, premiering movies banned by our country on socio-political grounds. Proceeds benefiting Doctors Without Borders.

The Revanchist Group presents the first monthly film festival of its kind, slated for Saturday, March 28, 2009, and benefiting Doctors Without Borders. Banned Movie Night (BMN) is an event celebrating freedom of expression by influential Creatives of the international community. A once a month event held at the Downtown Independent Movie Theatre, BMN is a platform promoting dialogue and entertainment, where people of various creative communities cross-pollinate, connect, and above all celebrate the arts. Continue reading Banned Movie Night →

Bookmark It

There’s just some places you should give your business to and blu la café is one of them. After a terrible few minutes at Gen Art BoxEight’s unimportant, scam fashion show I headed over to the little place next to Cole’s to see what it was about. That’s right, if you didn’t know there’s a new little café next to Mr. Moses’ super sandwich shop and hopping bar.

No, blu la café is not a threat to other restaurants in the neighborhood. The owners, a graphic artist and an actor who just wanted a place to eat and more importantly wanted to do something for the community HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THEY ARE DOING and that’s okay. Continue reading blu la cafe →

Bookmark It

Okay, I didn’t work on the script, and didn’t raise the $500,000.00 I was supposed to in order to spin downtownster.com off from its’ parent company Lerner Wordsmith Press today… Sorry shareholders, but it was a SAINT PATRICK’S DAY MASSACRE and I had to get in the middle of it—and yes like all good downtownster.com writers (Vaughn Blake) I’ve been drinking Guinness. So as Elvis would say “My boy! My boy!”

It started simply enough; I met Carlos our programmer to go over the pictures that will soon be uploaded to the coming soon downtownster.com store. That would be right here on this very website. Our initial collection of Downtown Oliver Brown clothing will no doubt be a big hit and be an even greater distraction to my screenplay and novel writing than blogging, but enough about me and downtownster. We were working and having a coffee at The Farm at LA Live…As usual there was nothing going on in the plaza. Apparently it was crowded the day before with 450 people trying to get 45 jobs in what AEG calls a job fair and the rest of us call a publicity stunt to lure CNN into using the place as a backdrop.

It was this very quiet nothing going on for the community atmosphere that we have all become so used to that struck me as I stood in the city’s other cement bunker, albeit with trees and a fountain, Pershing Square. And yes I know that the city is working on some multi-million dollar study to determine how to spend a few hundred million in funds we don’t have to make the place feel not so Cold War Era, but I’m actually of the belief that we’re headed back into a cold war with Russia, so that the current state of Pershing Square is just fine. Anyway, I took in the fountain that poured green water and smiled. Then walked to the area where the Young Dubliner’s were rocking the house. Seriously, these guys were great, if you missed them they’re going to be on Kimmel tonight—don’t miss them again.

White people, black people, brown people, I think an Asian or two all gathered in Pershing Square in an event put on by Parks and Recreation. Continue reading LA LIVE’S SAINT PATRICK’S DAY MASSACRE →

Bookmark It