The Greatest..

Thursday saw the start of my infatuation with Brea, California.

The city itself? Just a bad Irvine ripoff... but they did have one thing there this weekend that made up for everything: Norm McDonald!

Norm performed Thursday thru Sunday, and I was fortunate enough to catch his first and last performance.
God I love that guy. I wish I could just recite the entire routine here verbatim, but it just wouldnt do it justice. He is getting old and ornery, but he is better then ever. My stomach still hurts.









Speaking of the greatest, Saturday saw the first ever game for Beckham in the MLS.



He only played for 12 minutes, but it wasnt about his game, it was just about his mere presence.
The other game played was pretty good as well, Suwon taking on Tigres.


And even better, The Simpsons Movie sponsored the whole thing.

Oh right, almost forgot about the madness on Friday. We did some work for the CW again, this time here in LA. Here is the grand party we attended at the Pacific Design Center.





Then it was off the the Hollywood Bowl to see Jaime Cullum. This little guy has always been one of my favorite performers. His style: Pop Standards a la the American Songbook that are modern yet classic. And now putting him in front of an orchestra... magnifico.


And when he played what has become my favorite Sinatra song, "I've Got You Under My Skin", I just... well, I could have heard it over and over.
And finally, just for the hell of it, I swung by the Grove to check out the Harry Potter madness.

Spoiler alert: Turns out this is the book he finally comes out of the closet.

Getting better...

Nothing like feeling like you are starting to get into shape. On Wednesday, what turned into an innocent ride to the Santa Monica Library turned into a 40+ mile journey.

After working on a film project I am doing over the next 6 months, I met up with my camera(wo)man at the Tavern in El Segundo for $2.75 Fat Tires (very appropriate).

Getting a lot of work accomplished and downing a few beers, it was time to head home before the sun set. Along the way, I captured these photos in Playa Del Rey/Marina Del Rey.



And just as I was, I got the call from Iwei, Lobo and Mikio (seen below) to meet them up at my favorite restaurant FuRaiBo for some food and grog.

As some of you may know, Mikio has taken over from Vinyl Richie to be project:'s resident DJ at its new location. And wouldn't fate be weird enough, Mikio now lives right next door to me. When I am on my balcony and he is on his, we can literally pass beers to each other. I stopped by his place after trekking home on bike. Nothing like speeding down Sawtelle in the summer night's breeze enjoying the intoxication of the evening...
Here is Iwei (by cameraphone) attempting to DJ with part of Mikio's massive record collection (man that guy needs Serrato).


The next day, the fellows over at the CW network invited myself and Beau to an art opening reception at their offices in Burbank that they have been planning for 6 months. They chose 5 curators from across the country to choose 5 artists to be represented in the show. This was their inaugural run, but more are planned, and project: seems to be one gallery they may use heavily.


Although not officially in project: anymore, I will still be helping out from time to time on larger projects. We have in the works a couple projects with the CW upcoming in the summer and fall, and hopefully many more in the future, so stay tuned...

mike

Big Ass Murals

Yep, that's right, the time has come... we are finally working on those big ass murals for that New York project I have been alluding to. But first...

Whiskey Tasting!

We were invited to check out Seven Grand, that new fancy-smancy bar in Downtown brought to you by the same guys who own Golden Gopher and Broadway Bar.

Free Whiskey is always lovely... but as my friend Lobo said, "this place is full of Tools." I, reluctantly, must concur. Hey, if I wanted to see a bunch of guys in suits, I'd get a job.

Then we checked out Royal Claytons in downtown. It was French Connection Night, so live swanky beats were provided by the Mad Alsacians.

Definitely check it out... but only for drinks. The food is pretty dismal.

So here we are to the mural. The CW Network asked us to provide four artist murals for a project at Madison Square Garden. We start 'em here and finish them off at a live event at MSG next week. Yoskay Yamamoto is one of LA artists, along with John Michael Gill. From the ATL, UrbanMedium and TindelMichi round out the roster.

Here, Yoskay is startin' it off...


I'll post some more pics tomorrow of the almost finished product.

And finally, with yesterday being Cinco De Mayo, what better way to celebrate then by grabbing some food from my favorite Westside Mexican joint, Cinco De Mayo.

Sure its next to Tito's Tacos, the "#1 Mexican Stand in LA", so it gets no play. Hold on, don't say that, of course I love Tito's... but man, if you want REAL dirty Mexican food, don't want to wait, and want to pay Three Bucks to get full, then this is the place for you.

So I grabbed some to go and put on old favorite, "Convoy". Ernest Borgnine, Kris Kristofferson - one of several classic 70's movies that has no real plot but still wants to show some segment of society that gets over-looked.

The difference here is, this movie wasn't based on a book or TV show... it was based on a SONG! and what a song! "We Got A Big Ol' Convoy, Ain't She A Beautiful Sight!" For full crazy lyrics, go Here. In fact, if you read the lyrics, you don't need to see the movie... its all there.

Because of this movie, as I kid, I wanted to be called Spider Mike and make Big Rigs honk their horns and force my parents to ride up behind the Kentworths so we could start our own Convoys... ahhh the memories.


mike
www.project.bz

John Gill and the CW

The CW Network contacted us about helping them with a marketing/advertising project. No need to bore you with all the inside, behind-the-scene dealings or the concept of the undertaking itself (its alot of corporate speak and marketing lingo) . So basically, we gladly accepted and after pouring over all the details about the project, went through the entire roster of artists we know and found the perfect match.

John Gill and I headed down to their offices in Burbank yesterday to get the party started. 10 hours and 15 bottles of water later, John had somehow managed to pull off a 9' by 23' mural.



Amazing work. John really worked hard on it and came through huge. CW nearly crapped their pants. They were ecstatic about it. But probably the best thing to come out of it was getting to reconnect with John Gill and Sophia Pottish, two artists that project: loves who we just have lost contact with the last year. Its good to have 'em back. Check out John and Sophia at Thinkspace next month, they are doing a window installation, and over at Alpha Cult the month after that, where they are putting on a huge show. Congrats you guys...


mike
www.project.bz

mmmm....

Friday, I was able to reunite with artist John Gill at Bob's Big Boy in Burbank (mmmm...), whom I haven't seen in about a year... he has been in hiding over in the LBC. We are working on a big project together for the CW network... but more on that on Sunday.

Speaking of Bob's Big Boy, don't you remember eating there as a kid, plowing through your Big Boy Combo, because you just could not wait to get your greasy hands on that hot fudge sundae for dessert? yeah, those were the days... mmmm...

Later on Friday evening, through a freak coincidence, Beau ended up finding the wallet of our old intern Diane Chang, who is now onto bigger and better things at Conde Nast. We celebrated its miraculous return by getting some BBQ over at JR's (mmmm...). She has a fashion blog, check it out: http://eyeprinciple.blogspot.com/


After a few drinks (mmmm...) ...


...somehow I ended up eating this mess (mmmm...) at 3 in the morning.

The great thing about this stuff is that it looks the same going in as coming out.

And finally, a big thank you and an up yours to good friend and fellow gallery owner Jensen Karp for correcting me on my vast yet limited knowledge of Hip Hop. Also a congrats and condolences must go out to Jensen... A congrats for opening a new gallery in SF Here, and a condolence on the upcoming demise of Hot Karl, classically seen Here. We are gonna miss you HK.

mike
www.project.bz