Getting to Know the Neighbors

Marina del Rey, California. This weekend, other than getting things organized on the homefront, has been about getting to know my neighbors a bit better. On Friday night, I joined Venice the Menace (VTM) Comandante Scott Braman for a performance of The Quick Six, a mean band composed largely of VTM co-conspirators. Then, last night, friend and former Conservation International (CI) colleague, Hari Balasubramanian swong over from Silverlake to the Westside and we were able to catch up for a bit. Hari has the all time sweetest job at CI. Well, it's the sweetest if your thing is being based in LA rather than DC and spending 75% of your time traveling to remote jungles and coral reefs on every continent!

Following my meet up with Hari, I swung back over the neighborhood for a party hosted by my next door neighbor, actor Andrew Keegan. Hosted in an off-the-hook penthouse condo across the street, this was my first night to really hang out with my eclectic neighbors including marine biologist, Craig Schuman; artists, Dustin Otterbach and CAIN, and holistic health and fitness guru, Sandie West. The party was, well, WOW! Just imagine the stereotypical Los Angeles high life party from the movies and you get the idea...

City of Angels

Venice Beach. Los Angeles, California. Venice the seething
dripping edge of a tragic metropolis - the concrete city of angels whose barrios ooze across the desert landscape like cracked mud. Going on endlessly - a megacity of concrete houses and hearts.

But not Venice. Washed by the cold Pacific, licked by salt, it is vibrant, alive - the bloom in the desert. And this is where Scott now lives. Scott, the Braman. My old buddy from our days living like kings high in the hills above Quito.
He is now the web mogul behind VenicetheMenace.com and fits here like a pea in pod.

I have spent four great days here in the City of Angels, bunking here by the beach in Venice but trekking into LA's underbelly each day for work. I came down originally for a run through reading with the cast of The Rains of Astoria, but ended up being cast last minute as a ghoul in the Indy horror flick Finale. Finally, I tested for and then appeared as a contestant on the NBC syndicated gameshow Crosswords. It has been a long, but fun journey through Hollywood. Tomorrow I head back to San Francisco...

A Night With The Braman

Los Angeles, California. On Saturday, I took a last minute flight to LA and had my first audition actually in Hollywood. It was for a television pilot called Run Riot and I auditioned for the part of a burnt out music magazine editor. It was loads of fun and I saw the Hollywood sign for the first time ever. In LA, I had some serious Deja Vu resulting from a dream that I had about four years ago and wrote down! I had never even been to California at that time, but had a dream that I was driving by LA through fields of oil wells. I saw the exact images from the dream driving down La Cienaga in the heart of LA.

After the audition, I headed over to Venice Beach, to hang out with my bud, Scott Braman. When not selling real estate in Costa Rica, Scott is the Comandante of a great website project called Venice the Menace - check it out! We headed over to a local Venice party, where his buddies' band - the Quick Six - were playing. Great music, great people - I am seriously considering moving there...

Also, if you haven't done so before, check out Uncontacted.com. This is a site done by a cool young explorer named David in support of the Huaorani - a people very close to both Scott and my hearts.

Oh, and today is my birthday. Thanks for remembering...