San Diego

Today Lei and I drove down to San Diego for the day. Our first stop was UC San Diego in La Jolla.  I don't think I've been there since graduating 14 years ago.  There are a lot more buildings, and Roosevelt College is now located north of Thurgood Marshall.  Lei and I wandered around campus checking out the Geisel Library and small Dr Seuss exhibit, Price Center, and a few of the art pieces in the Stuart Collection.

Next we drove around downtown La Jolla before deciding to go down to Old Town San Diego.  We stopped for a late lunch at Mexican restaurant Barra Barra and had their happy hour margaritas and yummy tacos, as well as an apple crisp burrito with vanilla ice cream to share. We then walked around Old Town and went into some of the shops. The buildings are a mix of Gold Rush era and Mission style. If we had had more time we would have checked out some of the museums there.

For the evening we went to my old college roommate Shoshana's house for dinner.  We got to meet her young daughter and chat for a while.  It's been quite a few years since we last caught up with each other in person.  Unfortunately our other roommates couldn't make it so I'll have to see them on a future trip.  It was great to finally get back down to San Diego though and Lei and I had a fun day.

Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson

Today Lei, Uncle Tom, Aunt Dulce and I went to see a taping of the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson at CBS Studios in Hollywood.  The last time I was here was when Craig Kilborn was the host of the Late Late Show.  Lei is a big fan of Craig Ferguson which is why she got us tickets. 

Although it is Tuesday they were taping Friday night's show.  Since the studio is so small they started by shooting the musical guest, county singer Justin Moore.  After rearranging the set they ran through the whole show from the start with various regular segments and an interview with actor James Woods.  The Woods interview went long so they had to bump the other scheduled guest, actress Kathryn Hahn, but they still taped her segment with us which will air next Tuesday night.  I don't watch Craig's show but he seems to play more to the cameras than the studio audience.  We were also encouraged by staff to laugh at everything, which I found a bit annoying as most other shows will play off of a joke succeeding or failing.  It was an interesting taping to attend though- certainly a bit different from the other late night shows I've seen.

Downtown Los Angeles Arts District

After getting out of the Warner Brothers parking lot Lei and I headed into downtown LA to meet up with our cousin Missy and her boyfriend for dinner at Wurstkuche on E 3rd Street.  The restaurant is located in the Arts District and I was very impressed by all the murals and stencils on the walls in the neighborhood.  It reminded me a lot of Melbourne.  For dinner we had gourmet sausages, Belgian fries and beer while sitting outside to enjoy the evening. The food tasted good and I got some sauerkraut on my bratwurst so I was happy.

Conan

Today Lei and I went to see a taping of Conan at Warner Brothers Studios in Burbank. The last time I saw a Conan taping was in 1998 in New York when he was doing Late Night with Conan O'Brien.  We got their early to make sure we could get good seats in the studio audience.  I was wondering if they would have any Conan merchandise for sale and lucky for us a guy came and opened up a stand in the waiting area.  Lei and I picked up awesome blue t-shirts of an animated owl Conan in a tv shaped bird cage that are only available for sale to audience members.

As expected there was a lot of waiting around, standing in lines and walking as we went through the Warner Brothers lot to get to Stage 15. The Conan studio is decent sized and the set looks great in person.  We had seats a few rows up in the center with a good view of everything. During the audience warm up Lei pointed me out to the comedian as someone from out of town.  Thankfully he didn't seem to question my lack of an Aussie accent.

The guests for this evening's show were comedian and tv host Howie Mandel, boxer Floyd Mayweather, and musical guest Alexander Ebert (lead singer of Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros).  We had some funny comedy bits including John Galliano's brother and his many hats, and a cow committing suicide by jumping from the studio rafters and hanging itself after listening to the Basic Cable Band.  Despite the cow incident the Basic Cable Band were awesome and it was a treat to get to hear them play full songs before the taping started and during the commercial breaks. Alexander's performance of "Truth" was amazing and had me wanting to check out his solo album. After the show finished taping we were asked to stick around for a special surprise and were treated to an additional interview with Ashton Kutcher, which will air as part of Thursday's show. It was a fun taping and Conan came up into the audience and sang to the crowd at the end.

Here is Alexander doing "Truth"

Road Trip

This afternoon my cousin Leilani came to pick me up for our drive down to Los Angeles.  We had discussed doing this little road trip around Christmas time, so it's exciting that Lei has gotten some time off work to do it.  On the drive south we spotted over 20 trucks on the I-5 transporting tomatoes (we still aren't sure where they were originating from). For dinner and a stretch break we stopped at Harris Ranch, which is what my family and I used to do when driving to and from UC San Diego each year.  When we came back outside it was sunset so I grabbed a few shots.  We made good time to Los Angeles, especially since Lei was hauling it over the Grapevine.  Our Aunt Dulce and Uncle Tom have been kind enough to let us stay with them during the week.  We have lots of little activities planned so it should be a fun trip.

Jennifer and Alex's Wedding

Today was my cousin Jennifer's wedding, which was the main reason for my trip to the States.  The ceremony took place at Saint Francis Solano church in Sonoma at noon (the mantra of the day was 9/10/11 at 12:00 pm).  The weather was warm but not too unbearably hot and it was nice to see relatives outside of church before mass started.  My nephew Logan was the ring bearer and he looked very cute in his white suit.  We were curious to see if he would make it down the aisle, and he did- but he was carried by the junior bridesmaid because he got scared at the last minute.  Jennifer looked beautiful in her dress and the ceremony went smoothly.  Once Alex and Jennifer were pronounced man and wife we all exited the church and did a big photo on the front steps of the church (with the photographers stopping traffic and standing in the middle of the street).

The reception took place at Jennifer's grandparents amazing property in Sonoma.  There was a bar in the middle of the grounds and appetizers being passed around when we arrived.  They had also set up a photobooth with props, which kept all of us cousins entertained for a while.  Once family photos were completed everyone headed into the impressive tent for our multiple course Italian meal.  The wedding party came in and the newly married couple had their first dance.  In between courses we had speeches from the maid of honor and best man.  My uncle Tony also led us all in singing "That's Amore" before getting his father/daughter dance.  We then all hit the dance floor as the live band played a wide range of songs from different eras (Montel Jordan's "This Is How We Do It" was a highlight for Missy and I).  The wedding cake was a very yummy red velvet, and we continued to dance as the sun set across the vineyards.  As the evening came to a close everyone gathered on either side of the driveway with lit sparklers in their hands as the couple walked through to their car.  It was a wonderful day and so nice to be able to spend time with my extended family.  I wish Jennifer and Alex all the best as they embark on married life together.

Shopping up a Storm

I have been busy the past couple days hitting various shopping centers in Marin County.  I bought a couple pairs of sneakers online before I arrived, and got clothes at Anthropologie, Gap, Old Navy and Macy's.  My favorite purchase though must be my fake leather bomber jacket from Target which only cost $40.  I would have spread out my shopping a bit more during this trip if not for the fact that I wanted to take advantage of all the Labor Day sales that ended today.  This doesn't mean that there may not be more purchases in the next few weeks.  It's my way of supporting the economy and bringing the US out of recession.

Leaving on a Jet Plane

Today was another one of those very long travel days when I arrive before I actually left.  I got to Melbourne airport and faced lines for check in and more lines at security and customs, but made it through in time to board my Air New Zealand flight to Auckland.  I was on the ground for a little over an hour before catching the next leg to San Francisco.  Both flights went smoothly and I didn't have anyone next to me in the middle seat, which was nice.  I watched a few episodes of Parks and Recreation and Big Fat Gypsy Weddings (does anyone else see a similarity in dress sense between the Irish Travellers and the cast of Jersey Shore?).  I also watched a New Zealand movie called Hook, Line & Sinker and read Sarah Vowell's latest book about the history of Hawaii, Unfamiliar Fishes.  Unfortunately I did not get much sleep.  However, it is nice to be home, especially since today is my Mom's birthday.

Footy in Sydney

Since I didn't have any solid plans for today, I joined Tash for the train ride out to ANZ Stadium at Olympic Park for the Sydney v. St Kilda footy match.  I'm a bit embarrassed that this was my first footy game of the year (and not even an Essendon one).  Before it started though there was an AFL International Cup match between South Africa and the USA, which the USA won!

Tash's friend Belinda joined us for the Sydney match.  We were quite amused throughout the game as the big screens were used to explain the footy rules to the crowd as things happened on the field.  I know rugby is the preferred sport outside of Victoria, but this was a bit ridiculous.  The game was close, and although St Kilda led for most of the afternoon, Sydney won in the end (despite their inaccurate kicking). 

Final Score
Sydney Swans: 10.23 (83)
St Kilda Saints: 10.8 (68)

After the game we headed back into the city for a bit before catching the train out to the airport for our flight home.  We spotted a few of the St Kilda players at the airport at Krispy Kreme of all places.  We flew Tiger Airways back to Melbourne and I thought Tash was joking when she said their terminal was in a shed.  Sadly she was telling the truth- it was comical.  You even have to walk back to the main terminal to catch a taxi!  In any case, it was a fun little weekend trip away and a brief preparation for my much longer flights to the States in a couple weeks time.

Gotye- Graphic Festival

The main reason for our trip to Sydney was to see the animated album launch of Gotye's Making Mirrors at the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall, which was part of the Graphic Festival. We had pretty incredible seats in the fourth row with a great view of the stage and screens.  The show started with Shaun Tan's Oscar winning animated short film The Lost Thing with a small group of musicians playing a live score. 

After the stage was rearranged Gotye and his 10 piece mini-orchestra came out. They were lucky to make it after also getting caught up in the flight delays/cancellations in Melbourne this morning due to the fog.  The set started with "Making Mirrors" and then launched into "Eyes Wide Open."  Wally played nearly all of Making Mirrors and many of the songs had animations to accompany them.  It made it hard to know where to look because you would get absorbed in the animations but also want to watch these songs being created live on stage by the musicians.

"State Of The Art" was my favorite clip of the show, directed and animated by Greg Sharp and Ivan Dixon at Rubber House.


Another great clip was for the song "Bronte," which was directed and animated by Ari Gibson at Mechanical Apple with background art by Jason Pamment.


The biggest reaction of the night was for the current number 1 single in Australia, "Somebody That I Used To Know."  As the song reached the verse that is sung by Kimbra, we wondered if she would be there to sing it and she was!  There were huge cheers when she walked on stage.  The video for this song has become a huge viral hit worldwide.


Besides the songs from Making Mirrors, we also got a couple of classics from Like Drawing Blood: the haunting "Hearts A Mess" and "Learnalilgivinanlovin," which was the last song of the night.  This show was amazing, and we are so happy for all the success that Wally is having at the moment.  I'm sure the album is going to debut at number 1, and all his Australian shows for the tour have sold out in record time.

Bad Fog and Sydney

Tash came and picked me up bright and early this morning to drive to the airport for our flight to Sydney.  However, I knew we would be in a bit of trouble since the fog was so thick.  As suspected our flight was delayed nearly 2 hours due to the "bad fog" (as one announcement called it) at Melbourne airport. We arrived in Sydney around noon and headed into the city to check into our secret deal hotel- The Grace Hotel with its beautiful art deco stylings and central location.

Tash headed off with her friends and I met up with Mel to hang out for the afternoon. We walked down to The Rocks where the weekend market was on and grabbed some gourmet wraps for lunch.  Since the weather was so nice we went to eat along the harbour and chatted for a bit. After lunch we wandered around The Rocks market stalls and grabbed some yummy gelato for dessert.  We then headed back into the city and checked out the Westfield Shopping Centre. Mel took me to this really awesome stationary store in there called Typo. I was good and didn't buy anything. We stopped for afternoon tea at Le Pain Quotidien (where I had an amazing fresh squeezed lemonade) and then said our goodbyes.

After resting for a bit at the hotel and watching the second half of the Essendon v. West Coast match (we lost), Tash and I walked to the harbour. We had dinner at The East Chinese Restaurant, grabbing a table outside along the water with excellent views of the Harbour Bridge.  Their Mongolian lamb dish was very good. After eating we headed for pre-show drinks at the Opera Bar, meeting up with some of Tash's friends before heading inside the Sydney Opera House to see Gotye.

Liam Finn- FOMO Tour

Tonight I headed to the Corner Hotel for Liam Finn's sold out show in support of his new album FOMO.  The opening band was Evil J & Saint Cecilia (aka EJ Barnes and Cecilia Herbert). Throughout their set they swapped playing guitar and bass, and utilized a drum machine and sampled vocal loops to build the rhythm tracks to the songs. Their harmonies were very strong and most of the songs were more mellow and had a bit of atmosphere to them. I really liked "Silver Spoons" and they finished with "Strange Beast."


The next band of the night was Big Scary, who started their set with "Autumn." They played a mix of old and new songs as they have been busy in the studio recording their debut album.  Highlights for me were "Apple Song," "Tuesday is Rent Day," "All That You've Got," "Falling Away" and "Mix Tape."

Liam Finn came out and began with an instrumental jam before launching into "I'll Be Lightning." For this tour Liam has a full band which includes his brother Elroy on drums and also EJ Barnes (who he toured with previously) on backing vocals and percussion.  They played a mix of songs from both his albums. "Second Chance" received a big audience sing along, and new songs such as "Don't Even Know Your Name" (my favorite track off FOMO) and "The Struggle" sounded great.  We even got "Plane Crash" from Liam and EJ's Champagne in Seashells EP.  They finished the main set with an epic version of "Lead Balloon" and broke some of their gear in the process.  For the encore they played "Jump Your Bones," and then Liam and EJ sang "Wide Awake on the Voyage Home."  Unfortunately I had to leave half way through the song in order to catch the last tram to the city, but it was an amazing show and so much fun to watch Liam alternate between guitar and drums on stage.

Here is Liam's video for "Cold Feet"

Confessions

Here is my confession.  What is yours?

PS: My confession won the CD prize pack contest!

Seeker Lover Keeper

Tonight Tash and I ventured to the Thornbury Theatre to see Seeker Lover Keeper, the new band project of Sarah Blasko, Sally Seltmann and Holly Throsby.  We had a good view of the stage from the balcony, as the floor area was full of tables and chairs for those who had dinner and show tickets.

Seagull opened up the evening with a half hour set.  He played electric guitar and was accompanied by a female keyboardist.  I wasn't sure how well he'd go down with the crowd, and people started talking after a couple songs.  However it was good to hear older tracks such as "Dust Storm" and "Train Tracks," and he finished with "Company" off his Council Tree album.

Seeker Lover Keeper came out and began with "Bring Me Back" before bringing out their two male touring band members on drums and bass.  This project has Sarah, Sally and Holly singing lead on songs that each other have written.  They played the entire Seeker Lover Keeper album and highlights for me included "Even Though I'm A Woman," "Light All My Lights," "We Will Know What It Is," and the moving "If The Night Is Dark."  Their harmonies were amazing and the musicianship great to watch as they switched off on piano and guitar.  For the encore they came out and did covers of each other's solo material, including Sarah's "We Won't Run," and finished off the night with a cover of Stevie Nicks' "Wild Heart."

Here's the video for "Even Though I'm A Woman"

Dan Sultan and Alexander Gow

When Dan Sultan and Alexander Gow (Oh Mercy) announced their tour together, Tash suggested we make a weekend of it and see them play in Castlemaine as she wanted to check out the Theatre Royal.  Yesterday Mary and I drove to Ballarat to meet up with Tash and Michelle for lunch at a pub (also so Tash could watch the footy).  It was good to briefly catch up with Michelle before she had to head down to Melbourne for a family dinner.  After the footy match was finished we headed back to Tash's place where her work colleague Michelle met us and then we hit the road for Castlemaine.

Central Victoria is a bit of a foodie hotbed and we had a fantastic dinner at the Public Inn.  They serve wine directly from the barrel and I had a delicious and filling potato gnocchi.  After eating we headed to the Theatre Royal for the gig, and were let into the venue once the dining service was done for those who had tickets for dinner and the show.  Both Dan and Alexander came out on stage at the start and played three songs together, including Icehouse's "Great Southern Land" and the Oh Mercy track "Keith St."

Dan left the stage and Alexander played his solo set on both acoustic and electric guitar.  He started with "On The Run" and we got a mix of tracks from both albums: "Mercy Valley," "Hold Out Your Hand," "Blue Lagoon," "Lay Everything On Me," "Get You Back" and "Stay Please Stay." We were lucky enough to hear three new songs titled "My Man," "Europa" and "Lady Eucalyptus," as well as a few covers.  Alexander was funny and charming throughout his set despite some rude, noisy people at the bar.  He was also loving his eye drops, applying them a few times during the evening.  He closed his set with Bruce Springsteen's "Racing in the Street" so that he, like Dan, would have a song about cars in his set (although he didn't understand the first two verses of the song).

After an intermission Dan came out to play his solo set starting on piano and then switching to guitar.  His grandmother was in the audience (at the table in front of us) and he told stories throughout the night about his time in Castlemaine with relatives while he was growing up.  Dan played songs from his two albums, including "Old Fitzroy," "Enemy," "Get Out While You Can," "Nyul Nyul Girl" and a very powerful rendition of "Roslyn."  He came back out for an encore of a couple of songs and then invited Alexander to rejoin him on stage.  They finished the night with covers of Tom Petty's "I Won't Back Down" and Hoodoo Gurus' "I Want You Back."  It was a really great show, and I had a brief chat with Alexander afterwards.  I thanked him for explaining the lyrics to "Mercy Valley," and since Oh Mercy will be in the States while I am there hopefully I'll be able to catch a show if the timing works out.

We headed out into the cold and hit the road to drive back to Ballarat.  Mary and I stayed the night at Tash's miner's cottage (or the igloo as we called it before the heater kicked in) and then drove back to Melbourne this morning.  It's always nice to go on a little road trip, especially when I don't have a car here.

Bridesmaids

Last night Amrita, Claire and I went for dinner at Claire's restaurant Tin Pan Alley in Seddon (very good wood-fired pizzas and even more delicious desserts) and then headed to the gorgeous art deco Sun Theatre in Yarraville to watch the movie Bridesmaids.  I had been wanting to see this film since I first heard about it, and it did not disappoint. Kristen Wiig plays Annie, a woman going through difficult times personally as her best friend Lillian (Maya Rudolph) gets engaged and asks her to be the maid of honor.  The rag-tag group of bridesmaids includes the ultra competitive Helen (Rose Byrne) who ultimately ends up taking over organizing the wedding.  There are so many hilarious moments in this film that I was laughing to the point of tears several times.  I almost think I need to go back and watch it again because I probably laughed through some of the punch lines.  If you have the chance definitely go to see this film.

Little Red- All Mine Tour

Last night I met up with Mary and her friend for dinner at HuTong Dumpling Bar (I still can't believe we managed to get a table) before heading to the Palace Theatre to see Little Red. The first act of the night was Passport for Amy, a young band that I found quite bland and boring.  They were almost a paint by numbers style of emo guitar rock- not good.  Next up was the new wave dance sounds of World's End Press.  While a lot of their beats sounded like they were slight variations of an assortment of famous 80s/90s songs, the band members were energetic with their continuous dancing and sounded good overall.

Little Red began their set with album opener "Get a Life." Most of the songs played were off the Midnight Remember album, including "Slow Motion," "Lazy Boy," and current single "All Mine." During the rarely played "Chelsworth," Taka managed to fall off his bass drum into the left side of his drum kit (the first time I've ever seen that happen).  We were privileged with two brand new songs and I was also happy to hear old favorite "Witchdoctor."  As expected, their break out single "Rock It" got the biggest audience reaction of the night.  I do wonder how the band view this song as it has been such an unlikely hit for them and has changed the type of audience they now attract.  The boys finished their set with "It's Alright," and then came out and played "Coca Cola" for an encore, which was the final song for the night.

Here's the video for "All Mine" which was shot around Melbourne (including near my work):

Commencement Addresses

It is graduation time in the United States, and universities compete with each other to get good commencement speakers.  For my graduation from UC San Diego, they created an all-campus ceremony so that then President Bill Clinton could give a policy speech on diversity in the United States.  Probably the most sought after speakers though are comedians.  There were a couple good ones this year with Conan O'Brien giving the commencement address at Dartmouth, and Stephen Colbert at Northwestern University.





I would also like to offer my congratulations to the very first class of third graders that I taught, who graduated from high school this week.  All the best for your futures.

Pajama Club

I will admit I was a bit skeptical when I heard that Neil Finn was turning late night jam sessions with his wife Sharon into an album and side project called Pajama Club.  However, when I heard a clip of their music, I got excited and feel that this could be one of the best things he's done in years.  Pajama Club played just their fourth show ever tonight at the Corner Hotel.  The opening act was young Byron Bay band Glass Towers who played a good set of catchy, indie guitar driven songs and reminded me a bit of Yves Klein Blue.

Pajama Club came out to big cheers from the nearly sold out crowd.  The majority of the set consisted of songs off their upcoming album, which have a real groove to them. They sounded great and were sort of like Neil's grittier solo material in style.  The only songs played in the set that had been previously released were the Finn Brothers track "Suffer Never", "Little by Little" off the last 7 Worlds Collide album, and "From a Friend to a Friend," which is their first single.  I really enjoyed the show and if you get a chance to see Pajama Club live, go for it.  After the gig I caught up briefly with Peter and Mark, and also saw Noel Crombie (Split Enz) and Alexander Gow (Oh Mercy) in the crowd.


The Pajama Club - 'From A Friend To A Friend' Teaser from Two Fish Out Of Water on Vimeo.

Yo Gabba Gabba! Live

When I was offered a free ticket to see children's tv show Yo Gabba Gabba! live on stage at the Palais Theatre this afternoon, how could I say no?  It was the second of three shows they were doing today, and the audience was filled with parents and their young kids.  The staging for the show was simple but effective with a large movable screen at the back and an open stage for characters to move and dance around on. DJ Lance Rock was exactly as he appears on tv (and is even like that in real life according to my friend). They did many of their well known songs, including "Name Game," "I Like to Dance," "Party in my Tummy," "Get the Sillies Out," "The Freeze Game" and "Bubbles" (complete with actual bubbles which had the kids going crazy in the aisles trying to pop them).  Another reason I went was that Little Red was the Super Music Friends guest for the Melbourne shows.  They sang their hit single "Rock It," which DJ Lance Rock liked.  They also had Biz Markie there to do Biz's Beat of the Day, and he got some kids in the audience to do some beatboxing with him.  Overall it was a very entertaining show, and Yo Gabba Gabba! is definitely one of the few tolerable children's shows on tv.