14,000 And Counting ... Milk Cartons For Missing Childhoods

The rain swept through last night and today broke bright and sunny ... just about 72 and Sunny, in fact. I went for my morning beach walk and there was a giant milk carton down in Windward Plaza, filled with 12,800 individual milk cartons representing the immigrant children in our shameful current government's custody. The sign explaining it all got messed up in the rain, I was told by a security guard, but he filled me in. This installation is brought to us by the marketing firm of 72 and Sunny and the public art organization Now Art L.A., to bring awareness to this absolute crisis, and get people involved by signing a petition at 14000andcounting.org. Please, please do.

There are over 14,000 children separated from their families as we speak, and the number is only growing. Christmas is fast approaching, and it's unfathomable to imagine that these innocent little kids will be on their own in some scary government facility, with many families not even knowing exactly where their kids are. Imagine!

I recently did some work on an upcoming documentary feature about deported families, and my assignment was to work out a ride-along with ICE agents. I had to do some Oscar worthy acting on the phone in order to make that happen, as I mainly just wanted to punch everyone in the face and wake them up to the trauma they're causing to families all over our country. Then you listen to them and realize that they really believe they are doing morally upright work, and they really are keeping America safer by ripping apart families and giving people the boot. It's such a sticky situation, because it would be great if everyone could escape tyranny the legit way and get all their paperwork in order and all of that, but when you're facing terrible situations and even death to your family for any number of reasons around the globe, and you know there's this place with a Statue of Liberty raising a lantern of welcome to refugees and immigrants from wherever they come, you probably just want to go for it, and I don't blame them. This country is entirely made up of immigrants, unless you're Native American. Some people seem to always forget that fact. And that IS what has the potential to make it great. Global ideas coming together to make a better whole ... wasn't that the idea?

There HAS to be a better solution that putting tiny children in internment camps (which they are) with no idea what is happening or where their parents are. It has to be terrifying, especially in another language. Please take a moment to reflect on this. Remember these throwback milk cartons in your face in the middle of the Venice Boardwalk (I love you, Venice) this weekend. It will be lit up at night right behind the big Venice Sign holiday lighting tomorrow night, as another reminder that these kids most likely will not be back with their families by Christmas (C'mon, Christmas miracles!). Sign the petition. Help. Remember your humanity while you're out having an awesome weekend. CARE.

Thank you to 72 and Sunny, NowArt LA, and 14000andcounting.org for this important message.

The Venice Design Series - Beautifying And Benefiting Venice

The Venice Design Series is a wonderfully unique way for one to both experience the best of our local architecture and design, and also to support the extremely important efforts of Venice Community Housing. In a time when affordable housing is increasingly rare in Venice, the good works of the VCH are more necessary than ever.

A series of events that blend art, architecture, design, cuisine, and performance make up the Venice Design Series, showcasing the artistic talents of our community from Malibu to Playa Vista. Participants get a glimpse into some of the most spectacular homes and buildings of Los Angeles, while learning and enjoying fine food and entertainment.

I was invited to this past Saturday's events by Linda Lucks, VDS Co-Founder. It included a Malibu Art and Architecture tour in the daytime that I did not make, and a tour of the gardens at Beyond Baroque and SPARC led by its designer, VDS Co-Founder, Jay Griffith. Anyone driving down Venice Boulevard over the last few months can see the wonderful progress of these beautiful free gardens being made outside of these two Venice historical institutions. Indeed, there is such an abundance of flowers and plants reaching for the skies there on Venice and Shell that, as Griffith said, "We're gonna make people get it at 40 miles per hour." You can't miss it.

The garden is maintained by the Kiss The Ground organization and countless volunteers are working out there for free to create something great. The produce is donated to the volunteers from St. Joseph Center's homeless/low-income culinary students, who also take classes on gardening at the site. SPY (Safe Place for Youth) brings homeless kids for a 12 week gardening job training program, so everything about this program is for the good of all in our Community.

Garden Manager, Matt Finkelstein told us that soil sequesters carbon, and that "the most efficient way to combat climate change is to regenerate agriculture." Basically, everyone needs to get gardening!

The gardens are open to the public, and there is plenty to do and learn about in there.

The garden beds radiate out from a central point/stage area, where tall trees have been painted turquoise as a beacon of welcome to this "Venice Arts Plaza".

There is a big compost area, and a bin for the worms that do all of the work. There is a green house, and a tool shed, and the whole area is dedicated to bringing us back to a healthy relationship with the soil that sustains us.

Volunteers work every Saturday from 9 am to 1 pm at 681 North Venice Boulevard, and any questions can be directed to garden@kisstheground.com.

After the lovely garden tour and talk, it was time to take our prosecco and stroll down the walk streets over to the spectacular home of Tiffany Rochelle and Paul Hibler (of Superba and Pitfire Pizza) for a cocktail hour and dinner, again to benefit Venice Community Housing. Hibler has a legit pizza oven out on his patio, and they were serving up their delicious creations as we sipped on some great tequila drinks.

The Hibler home is worthy of its own design tour, and it was fun to see how diverse the homes of Venice really still are, as their very modern, wide open plan home (designed by Kulapat Yantrasast) was right next door to a beautiful purple Craftsman.

The friendly faces of Venice mingled about discussing the homes and the gardens seen that day, and everyone got to know each other a little better, another perk of these intimate gatherings designed to both promote and support the citizens of Venice.

There is a great opportunity to do both coming up this weekend, when the Venice Design Series hosts THE Party at 72 And Sunny in Playa Vista. The former Howard Hughes headquarters will be the venue for "Mid Century Flight", the gala finale of the 2017 Venice Design Series. A tour of the facility, drinks, food, and dancing under the stars will all take place at this fundraiser for our Community's affordable housing, an endeavor that is more important now than ever before. Tickets are still available for this Saturday's mid-century shindig, and it's all for the most basic of human needs - our homes.

Thank you in advance for your support of Venice Community Housing and the Venice Design Series.

Ziggy Marley Is A Fly Rasta

I woke up smiling this morning because the music of Ziggy Marley was still echoing in my ears from last night. Then I realized it's April 4th, and Martin Luther King was assassinated 46 years ago today ... and that we can use the message of love and positivity as much now as we did then.

Ziggy Marley, a longtime favorite of mine, played a showcase last night at Sonos Studios in Hollywood, and my homegirl Hilary (of the always fun 72 and Sunny) hooked it up/made my day. His new album, Fly Rasta, is coming out this month, and in the Q and A preceding the tunes, he explained that Rasta to him is all about love and positivity. Fly with love, positively. I mean ... it's pretty easy, and way better, so why don't we all do that all the time? It seems so simple ... but that's how Marley's music makes you feel. You could tell just looking around the room.

I was making friends with everyone in the insanely long drink line - so long that even the classiest dames were double and triple fisting - and the positivity of people that dig this kind of music was tangibly evident from the moment we walked in the door.

A kind of stale interviewer guy from ET or something asked the usual new album questions, and all you did was wait for the answers from Marley's lilting patois that makes everyTING sound awesome. He dutifully responded to all the "Do you feel like you need to carry on reggase" type questions nicely (answering that one with "I don't need to put labels on tings, it's just music. I love music." Rad.), but really lit up when he spoke about loving to garden and grow "peas and potaytoes". He's going to show his kids how to take care of his garden while he's on tour for the new record. That new record packaging is recyclable and contains a seed packet for you to grow (I believe it's for wildflowers, not ganja, but still the coolest).

Marley and his fly band then played a short set for the packed to the acoustic cushioned ceiling crowd, that gave us the favorites like "Wild and Free" and "Dragonfly", as well as the brand new "I Don't Wanna Live On Mars" (about let's take care of our Earth so we don't have to split to other crazy planets, for Heaven's sakes! We like it here.) and "I Get Up" - about waking up every day and getting it done - positively.

A new friend next to me said, "I really want to hear "On A Beach In Hawai'i" tonight." I answered I was happy to hear all new stuff, but that all I for sure always need to hear is "Love Is My Religion". It's just so great and true. No sooner than the words were out of my mouth, the opening chords to it began, the guy nudged me, and everyone smiled and nodded at the truth ...

That is One Love.



*Fly Rasta is out April 15th ... and you should get it. You'll feel what I mean.