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Wine ─ To the Corps!

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The downtownster faithful have no doubt noticed the absence of “Hello Wne Lovers” of late.  Our champion of the corkscrew and wine glass, Mike Berger, has been called into even more pressing service at Ralphs downtown than his usual 60-hour workweek and apparently he has to blog on his own time.  Since he has so precious little of that, he hasn’t been able to schedule blogging.  This is not to say that the wine tastings at the famed “rolling wine bar” have slipped.  Au contraire, mes amis!  They are as wonderful as ever and still in our top three recommendations for happy hour.  
 

Tonight, the focus will be on French wines and, as this is an immense subject, I cannot predict what to expect.  Suffice it to say that France produces the crème de la crème of sparkling wine (Champagne) and dry Chardonnay (white Burgundy).  Beyond that they also make some of the finest Pinot Noir (red Burgundy), dry Sauvignon Blanc (Loire Valley wines) and blended red wines driven by Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot or Cabernet Franc (red Bordeaux).  “But, wait!  There’s more.  If you order now…”  Seriously, I could go on for hours. Continue reading Wine ─ To the Corps! →

Poetry

A Poem By Jeannine Hall Gailey

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Female Comic Book Superheroes

are always fighting evil in a thong,
pulsing techno soundtrack in the background
as their tiny ankles thwack

against the bulk of male thugs,
They have names like Buffy, Elektra, or Storm
but excel in code decryption, Egyptology, and pyrotechnics.

They pout when tortured, but always escape just in time,
still impeccable in lip gloss and pointy-toed boots,
to rescue male partners, love interests, or fathers.

Impossible chests burst out of tight leather jackets,
from which they extract the hidden scroll, antidote, or dagger,
tousled hair covering one eye.

They return to their day jobs as forensic pathologists,
wearing their hair up and donning dainty glasses.
Of all the goddesses, these pneumatic heroines most

resemble Artemis, with her miniskirts and crossbow,
or Freya, with her giant gray cats.
Each has seen this apocalypse before.

See her perfect three-point landing on top of that chariot,
riding the silver moon into the horizon,
city crumbling around her heels.
 
“Female Comic Book Superheroes” was published in the book Becoming the Villainess from Steel Toe Books. It apeared on The Writer’s Almanac with Garrison Keillor.
 
Jeannine Hall Gailey’s first book of poetry, Becoming the Villainess, was published by Steel Toe Books. Poems from the book were featured on The Writer’s Almanac and Verse Daily; two were included in 2007’s The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror. Her work has appeared in The Iowa Review, Ninth Letter, and Rattle. She lives in San Diego, where she volunteers with Crab Creek Review and teaches at National University’s MFA program. You can learn more at her web site, www.webbish6.com <http://www.webbish6.com/> .

What's happening

NO DEFENDING LA LIVE

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Funny, that hundreds of thousands of people have read my blogs either about LA Live or LA Live tenants and only two people have ever bothered to offer a comment in disagreement with the facts as I’ve presented them—that’s a pretty amazing statistic. So when the first comment of the two was submitted I had my doubts about its legitimacy, but I let it go. Yesterday, we received the second comment that disagreed with the facts as I’ve presented them with respect to LA Live, actually we received it twice, so please read both and note that the comment is referring to my blog “LA Live’s St. Patrick’s Day Massacre”.

Comment 1:

“do you really think bashing la live is going to get you anything?  we as a community should be supporting everyone and talking bad about someone on a BLOG.  you’re a jerk.”

Comment 2:

“oops, typo. 

we as a community should be supporting everyone and NOT talking bad about someone on a BLOG.  you’re a jerk.”

Now most of my readers know that I take being part of the Downtown community pretty seriously—I’ve lived Downtown for fourteen years and of course I founded downtownster. I was also a major supporter of LA Live until the time I concluded that AEG had betrayed the community and my trust. I met with Michael Roth, LA Live’s Vice President of Communications, he made promises that he did not keep—I’ve been more than fair to LA Live, I was willing to give them a second chance, and frankly for the good of the community, still would. But not by compromising on what I believe is right. And certainly not because of comments that call me a jerk.

AND WHAT ABOUT THAT COMMENT FROM THE CONCERNED MEMBER OF OUR COMMUNITY?

Here’s the problem for big corporate, corrupt, America—the Internet and blogs like downtownster have become the great equalizer. So now big corporate, corrupt, America is trying to defend itself—by lying. That’s right, companies like AEG either own their own blogs or employ people to post bogus comments in order to defend their interest around the Internet. AEG owns the examiner.com, which allows them to examine their own interest favorably. And apparently their tenant Outback Steakhouse Inc., the owner of Fleming’s at LA Live, has a bogus commenter doing their bidding—because, although the comment above was posted anonymously a trace of the IP address identified Outback Steakhouse Inc. 2202 N. Westshore Blvd. 5th Floor Tampa, Florida 33607 as the origination source. And yes we even know the name of the person whose workstation the comment came from, Patrick.

HOW DID A GUY WHO SENDS EMAIL FROM FLORIDA BECOME PART OF OUR COMMUNITY?

He’s not…And frankly, I can’t imagine what type of whore a person like this must be to throw away their integrity to defend a company from the truth…Hear this well bogus commenters…downtownster writes the truth and exemplifies why the founding fathers were such advocates and protectors of free speech.

So dear readers, to discourage corporate America from trying to interfere with the truth that we work so hard to bring to you, I’m going to repost at the bottom of this blog “LA Live’s St. Patrick’s Day Massacre”, “Three Things To Miss Downtown”, and “Why Pay To Bury MJ?” I urge you to read them, and use our share function at the bottom of each post to send this post to all of your friends—this helps to move the content way up on search engines and corporate, corrupt, America loves this.

Also, while downtownster loves getting legitimate comments, I promise the next bogus commenter that we will not only post your work address, we’ll post your full name and make sure everyone knows that you are fraud—Promise.

PLEASE TAKE A FEW MINUTES TO READ THE THREE POST’S THAT SOME VERY RICH PEOPLE DON’T WANT YOU TO READ!!!

LA LIVE’S SAINT PATRICK’S DAY MASSACRE Continue reading NO DEFENDING LA LIVE →

Arts & Culture

How New Words Are Born

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Stan Lerner is a rarity
Well known for his gregarity
 
When my friend Stan wrote “…I know gregarity isn’t a word, but it ought to be…” he inspired me to write the above iambic couplet.  You see, he coined the word in a post in this blog and, if it eventually makes into widespread usage, you will see it in dictionaries.  Although hardly immortal verse, my finding an application for it immediately is helping to get it into the lexicon.  Similarly, when I used and defined the word oenophiliac in an earlier post (a made up extension of oenophile for comedic purposes) I took the term for a wine lover and stretched it into the realm of hyperbole to mean, a lover of wine.  Like some wines, the humor was too dry for some tastes.  I also had to entertain that some of my friends might have thought I was serious, given the robust ebullience I exhibit when tasting fine wines.

The whole business of how words and phrases come into common usage has always fascinated me. I discovered, early on, that if an important enough writer makes up a word, it becomes a word as soon as they write it. Continue reading How New Words Are Born →

Good, Bad, and Ugly

MOVIE REVIEW: THE ANSWER MAN

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This time around, I just have to give you the answer before you even ask the question.   In short, the answer is “YES” to THE ANSWER MAN! I love this movie!  As soon as it was over, I wanted to see it again.  More importantly, I would love to revisit the characters in this film. First time writer/director John Hindman has certainly found the answer for a winning combination in a film with THE ANSWER MAN. From the indefatigable emotional roller coaster of Jeff Daniels as Arlen Faber to the comedic perfection of Nora Dunn to the free-spirited joy of Lauren Graham to a script that speaks with love, laughter, heart, (did I say laughter??!!), the whole package makes your heart smile and leaves you wanting more. Beautiful. Touching. Sincere. Simple. No frills. Genuine. Priceless. Continue reading MOVIE REVIEW: THE ANSWER MAN →

Thought Tools

Angel On A Motorcycle

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Have you ever been in a situation where you found yourself calling on your guardian angel?  If you’ve seen active military service, I probably know your answer. Most who have experienced danger answer in the affirmative.  This is hardly surprising.

A 2008 Baylor University study showed that more than half of all Americans claim to have been protected from harm by an angel on at least one occasion.  They could have attributed their happy escapes to luck or coincidence, but they didn’t.  They told researchers that they were helped by angels.

But what exactly is an angel? Continue reading Angel On A Motorcycle →

Dining

PROVECHO

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I was thinking about things to do Downtown on a Wednesday night—Jazz and Modern Mexican Food crossed my mind. Not as arbitrarily as it might sound given an encounter I was lucky enough to have with the lovely Lauren Brand at the June, Marketing Round Table.

“Lauren Brand, with Provecho and Remedy,” she stood and said. This introduction is part of what happens at the meeting put on by Hal Bastian and company—Downtown BID.

After the meeting I was sure to run into Lauren, and she was sure to inform me that I should take her up on an offer to visit Provecho for some Wednesday Night Jazz and Modern Mexican Cuisine. Somehow we snuck a Happy Hour in, which was more than enough to convince me to trust Lauren on her Wednesday night suggestion.

The story of Provecho really doesn’t start with all of this PR / blogging talk…It’s more of a love story that began when a young girl named Jill and a boy named Gabriel worked at a restaurant in Pasadena called Mi Piace—Jill went on to college, so did Gabriel. Jill graduated college and opened Café Citron, a tiny neighborhood place in Monrovia. Gabriel went on to become Chef Gabriel Morales…Then Jill and Gabriel got married.

It does not take a cognitive epiphany to understand that Jill and Gabriel were destined to open a restaurant—lucky for us downtownsters.

Provecho’s décor is what I call high end soothing. Yes, it has a hint of modern, which foreshadows Chef Gabriel’s take on cooking.

But before discussing the food at Provecho I must mention two of the best drinks of downtown libation lore. Continue reading PROVECHO →

Travel

THERE’S A NEW DON IN VEGAS

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My history in Vegas dates back to the “Good Old Days.” If you know what I mean? And because of this, I’ve met a few Don’s in my time. But perhaps the most interesting of them all has recently come to power in Downtown Sin City, 624 S. Las Vegas Blvd—and that would be the extraordinary Don Vicente of Don Vicente Cigar Co. A robust man, born on the Pinar Del Rio tobacco plantation in Cuba his hands can roll a cigar with the magic possessed only by those born and raised breathing Cuban air, drinking Cuban water, and learning the craft from their fathers.

The story begins with a call from my life long friend Fat Andy. “You’re coming this weekend?”

“I don’t have reservations anywhere,” I replied, feeling a little sorry for myself.

“Stay at Dave The Jew’s,” suggested Andy.

“I don’t know…” Dave is a bad influence on me. And I thought I recalled him mentioning that five or ten attractive young ladies were going to be staying at the house for the weekend…Not easy to explain to my girlfriend.

“Come on.”

“Okay…I’ll leave first thing in the morning.”

 

THE NEXT DAY

 

I pulled up to Dave The Jew’s sprawling single story—I’ve stayed there so many times, it actually feels like home. Fat Andy greeted me at the door and with the help of a couple of servants that Dave apparently traded an ipod for, I was settled in—in no time.

“My boy!” shouted Dave upon entering the living room. “Let’s go smoke some cigars.”

I nodded toward the sliding glass windows, thinking that we’d be smoking poolside.

“No…we’re going to Don Vicente’s,” insisted Dave before I could get a word out.

“Is he related to Gambino?” I asked.

“Not that kind of Don. He opened a cigar factory on Las Vegas Blvd.—Downtown.” You’re going to love this place. It’s the best cigar for the money I’ve ever had and I’ve smoked the best.”

Now Dave The Jew may not work much, but when it comes to the finer things in life, he knows what he’s talking about.

We hopped into the SL and headed for the Strip. Continue reading THERE’S A NEW DON IN VEGAS →

Sports

LA Galaxy – Beck Back in Orbit

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They’re no Dodgers. He’s no Manny. However, one can make the comparison. Powerhouse players, notable absences, timely return, teams on the rise.

David Beckham returned to the Home Depot Center Sunday to help his (new) team, the LA Galaxy overcome his (old )team, AC Milan.

Beckham signed with the Galaxy two seasons ago but has been playing with the Italian team for the past few months per contract agreement. Galaxy personnel made similar concessions with Real Madrid in 2007, Beck’s first season with the Galaxy. Last year, Beckham completed his first full MLS season, finishing with 10 assists and five goals in 25 games.

The recent “loan” has expired and Beckham, who has commented on the discrepancy of skill (said he’d rather play in Europe as competition there is greater), returns to a surging Galaxy. Thus far, his second half return to the MLS has been a good one. Continue reading LA Galaxy – Beck Back in Orbit →

Sports

Elementary, My Dear Watson

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I had decided yesterday to use this headline regardless of the result in the history-making run by Tom Watson at becoming, among other things, the oldest golfer ever to win a major championship.  The famous Sherlock Holmes quote was first used to describe Watson’s amazing skill on the links en route to claiming his first British Open Championship by the brilliant English broadcast commentator Peter Arliss.  Arliss employed a unique vocabulary for his profession quite artfully.  Back when I was a “weekend duffer”, my friends and I would take turns imitating him ─ after each of our respective shots ─ as we played our pathetically inept rounds of golf:  “Oh, that is a bold undertaking indeed.  He takes a full rip at it with a driver, right into the teeth of the wind!  That’s a treacherous little putt he has left…” and so on.  We had a lot of fun, in a juvenile way, with our British accents nearly as bad as our games.

For people in their late-thirties and, particularly past forty, athletic prowess has rarely been world-class competitive.  Especially with indisputable proof of being free of performance enhancing drugs.  The body gives out, not all at once but imperceptibly slowly to most.  This is, of course, not true of professional athletes whose performance and statistics are under microscopic scrutiny at all times. Continue reading Elementary, My Dear Watson →

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