Archive for May 2009
Across The Universe
I’ve collected four NBC Universal Visitor Passes (white, blue, yellow and purple, if you’re playing along at home) in my 96 hours on the back lot. They’ve been long hours, some chained to my computer here in the Abbott & Costello Building (a parking lot with one floor of offices, really; also, home to CSI),…
Read MoreSway & Samberg Talk Popcorn, Pimp Cups & Penises
Yup, that’s what two degrees and fourteen years in the workforce’ll get a guy: oversight of riveting headlines like “popcorn, pimp cups and penises.” It’s late (12:59 am PT), I put in a fifteen hour day and concluded it with two beers, so lemme’ explain quickly. Our job here is to cover all of the…
Read MoreLife In Technicolor
The Sheraton Universal City Hotel sits astride a great, cement-covered slab of dirt just over the hill from the Hollywood sign. My tenth-floor, corner room overlooks the San Fernando Valley: Van Nuys, Reseda, Northridge. The 101 is a stream of red and white light winding northward towards the Ventura Highway. Universal Studios — home of…
Read MoreThe Barking Crab
It seems to me that the best experiences in life come at a cost. As uber-rare, stomach churning, temple-throbbing, cold and clammy, cotton-mouthed, bloodshot and dizzy hangovers go, then, Sunday’s was well worth it. Imagine… A dull gray morning yields to a summer afternoon exploring the heron-strewn edges of the Mystic River with dear friends.…
Read MoreMy American Idols
I shuttled between mixing “Feels Like Home” in my bedroom studio and “American Idol” on my living room flat screen tonight. I caught Black Eyed Peas “performance” (freaky nails, Fergie), Cyndi Lauper and Allison Iraheta’s “Time After Time (like the pants, Cyndi, but not nearly as deep as Tiff and my version), Rod Stewart’s “Maggie…
Read MoreStreet Fair Rules
The balloons were Trojan Horses, really, or slight of hand at best; mere diversions intended to lure the children closer before handing off a pamphlet to the smiling parents gently instructing, “What do you say?” Once in Ethan and Edward’s hands, the shiny, green and orange West Side YMCA helium balloons trumped all of the…
Read MoreThings To Text In Denver When You’re Bored
I spent this afternoon tracking vocals on my cover of The Nadas “Feels Like Home” for the band’s forthcoming tribute record. I don’t know what I was thinking. Mike Butterworth hits a superhuman high note in the chorus, one I can only nail consistently in falsetto. I’ve seen him hit higher notes on a radio…
Read MoreAll Stars
I’m pretty sure it’s the oldest thing I own: a tattered, No. 80, nine-inch, horsehide-covered, cork and rubber-centered regulation baseball with with seven faded words written in capital letters: 1981 Pinto North All-Star Ben Wagner. I hit the first RBI in that all-star game, a triple. It was a scorching-hot July Fourth at Ridgeland Common…
Read MoreRun, Part II (Or, Know Your Enemy)
Who needs the self help section at Barnes & Noble? I have an iPod. I don’t need to tell you that last week was a motherf*cker. I’m sure I’m not alone in that. Ask John Edwards, Manny Ramirez, or Allison Iraheta. They all had tough weeks. Heck, ask anyone on Earth these days: economic meltdown,…
Read MoreBroken Glass
Sunday afternoon, long after the hangover recovery run, the ham, egg and cheese sandwich, the last cup of coffee and final page of The Sunday New York Times, Abbi and I sat on the couch channel surfing. In my experience, asking my wife if she wants to watch a documentary tends towards a gentle “No…
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