Venice Does Halloween '18 Right!

It feels like Halloween started like a month ago, but the real deal was last night, and it was so fun.
After all the parties and Electric Bike Parades and school Halloween events and theme parks and hay rides happening the last couple of weeks, Venice had the Halloween spirit down all over town, with yards and homes decked out with a ton of fake spider webs, lots of cemeteries, and ghosts, goblins, skeletons, and monsters of all shapes and sizes.

 

People were walking around in costume all day, at their jobs, in their cars ... folks were feeling it. It was a perfect day for trick or treating, nice and balmy even after the sun went down.

 It's always the cutest to see little ones out for their first Halloween trick or treat, and Miss Magnolia was out as a little lamb. The most darling little lamb ever, I mean, with her Chef mom brandishing a meat cleaver, for good Halloween measure (not pictured, but hilarious).

 A lot of people like to take their kids to the walk streets for trick or treating, but my favorite Halloween zone in Venice has always been Rialto Avenue.

Though a lot more sparsely decorated this year, it was still the best. Our headquarters was our longtime friends, Russ and Harry's house, where cocktails were served and we passed out candy to all the little kids out having a blast.

A highlight every years the Haunted House at Dillinger's house, and this year was the best one yet. I actually screamed a blood-curdling scream after one good jump-scare from a terrifying werewolf that jumped out at me (Hi Dillinger, if that was you!). Excellent work.

The Haunted House corner was kind of the main hub of activity for Rialto this year, as the street filled with kids and their adults in one costume better than the next. Baby Trump even made an appearance!

I didn't get a picture that turned out of the cutest little costume of the night ... a baby chick that was so tiny you couldn't stand it. That kid should wear that outfit every day, they could write their own ticket. This one little Hulk cracked me up - because look at him (or her) - but also because it had big mitts on that made it nearly impossible to get the candy out of the bowl without a little help. That kid kept on trying though!

Old friends and neighbors greeted one another up and down the block, even if sometimes you had to be told who was who, so well-costumed were many of the usually familiar faces. Like Dennis as Little Boy Peep.

Russ and Harry were kind of Eyes Wide Shut beaked creatures that were pretty scary, especially if you're a toddler. I love that they have their open house every year, keeping this Venice tradition alive. It was one friend's kid's first Halloween on Rialto, and I wanted them to see the house that turns into a big dragon every year, but I was sad to be told that they had moved away. I guess they didn't share the drill with the new people, because that whole end of Rialto closest to the post office was completely dead - and not in a Halloween way, but in a non-participating way. Lame.

Kids got so much candy that their bags were nearly bigger than them ... which soon meant meltdowns and tired parents. Once it was bedtime, the grownups got down to socializing over on the walk streets, which were also pretty decked out.  While hanging out over on Nowita, I got a call from my brother, who had an extra ticket to see Thee Oh Sees downtown at the Teragram Ballroom. I was in.

We raced downtown, in time to see Thee Oh Sees shred it up for a bunch of costumed moshers. I laughed every time I looked at the drummer (there's two) who was dressed up as Macho Man Randy Savage, fake muscles and all. The Smurf on bass was pretty good too.

Sweaty, spent, and fully rocked, we made our way back to Venice, with another excellent community Halloween celebration on the books! Good job, Venice ... you're the best.

Rock The Night - Jakob Dylan, Jim James, And Butch Walker Rock For A Cause

The Teragram Ballroom hosted a rock show to benefit finding a cure for Crohn's and Colitis, issues that 1.6 million Americans suffer from. The disease is such a bummer, that it's good to have an awesome night out in honor of all of the people that it affects - and that we did.

The festivities kicked off with a silent auction - and open bar - that got folks milling around and connecting right from the start. They had all sorts of cool things, from weekends at posh resorts to a signed Lakers basketball. There were a whole bunch of speeches, and a video explaining it all. Stacy Dylan spearheads the event every year, which is how you get Jakob Dylan to headline it every year. Stacy's son and Jakob's nephew (Bob's grandson), Lowell, suffers from the disease, and this show was for him and all the other people that share this affliction. And good people coming together to do good things with rock and roll is my favorite thing, so I was there.

The musical portion of the evening opened up with My Morning Jacket frontman Jim James and his gorgeous tunes. He's awesome. He kicked it off with the fantastic "I'm Amazed", and it's just as good solo as it is with MMJ. We also got "Throwback (When We Were Young)", also beautiful and with his nice crop of hair back-lit with the colorful lights, it was as good throwback to real Zeppelin-type rock vibes, for real.

To be honest, I was also talking to a bunch of folks during the James set, as I got there a little late and really wanted to learn more about the disability that we were there for. I learned that former Laker, Larry Nance, Jr. suffered from Crohn's, and would often visit kids in the hospital also dealing with it. It's kind of incredible that he could play at such an elite level while also having his stomach tied up in knots, but there is medication now that really helps, and that's what we were there for - help, and a cure.  Jim James ended his set with a Yim Yames tune, "Changing World", where the chorus goes, "Change the ways of this changing world" .... which is also what we were there for.



The wonderful Jakob Dylan was on next, and as excellent as expected. It's funny, it was the ten year anniversary of the Justice Tour launching (a series of shows put on by Tom Morello to benefit different charities in each city we visited), and I had met Dylan at our New York show for Road Recovery. We talked about it after the show, and he remembered playing a pink guitar for "He's Got The Whole World In His Hands" - that also featured Slash! Probably the rockingest time that Sunday School classic has ever been played. Great memories, but we were there to make more, and Dylan playing his "Three Marlenas" will definitely suffice as one. It was the first Coachella weekend, and Dylan said, "Thank you all for being here and not at Coachella. All of that money went to garbage stuff, so thank you for being here!" Agreed.

"God Don't Make Lonely Girls" was up next, and The Wallflowers jam was extra warmly received. Because Dylan and his band are awesome. Dylan said, "The next one is a song that if you knew it, and you had a gig, you'd play it on a Saturday night too.", and we got Sam Cooke's "Another Saturday Night". The whole place was up and dancing, and full of the stoke that comes from the communal singing and dancing that goes down at a fantastic live show - AND for a good cause! Guitars were extra shredded on that one, prompting Dylan to say, "Stanton Edward is playing so good tonight we have to introduce him!" Again, agreed.

The big Wallflowers hit, "One Headlight" was next, and my friend next to me told me that he'd heard that Bruce Springsteen said he'd wished he'd written this one. Mighty fine compliment for a mighty fine - and now classic - tune. It was great. As was the Dylan set closer, "The Letter", a cover of The Box Tops oldie. People didn't want Dylan to leave, but it was now time for Butch Walker.

The Awesome Butch Walker. I was friends with him back in the MySpace days, and hadn't really seen or heard him since, so this was a real treat. I'm not super familiar with his discography (yet!), but this show made me want to run out and get every last thing he's ever played on. I don't know the name of his opening song, but after it, Walker cracked, "This next song is also not 'One Headlight'". Well, it didn't need to be, because it was also mighty fine - all on its own. "Wilder In The Heart" was next and had great lyrics like, "I heard you talking in your sleep in English, even though it ain't your native tongue, I see you still got your sense of humor, left over from when you were fun." Nice!

I think the next jam was called "Bed On Fire", and by now the place was seriously rocking. At first I was wondering why Butch Walker was headlining, but at this point, I totally got it. He is, again, awesome. As is his band. I wrote in my notes, "How is Butch Walker not huger?!" underlined several times, and I ask it again now. HOW?! Maybe to that point, after that barn burner, Walker said, "We've officially gone 15 minutes without talking about Ed Sheeran. Want another song?" Yes. Yes, we did. He than cracked, "That was from Page 14 in the Audience Baiting handbook. And I don't have a tech. This is a benefit. We tech for ourselves," by way of explaining the pause for tuning. I love him.

Another great song whose name I don't know merged into "Teenage Wasteland (Baba O'Riley)", and that was so good that Dylan re-joined him on the stage to duet on Walker's "Closest Thing To You I'm Gonna Find" and it was just .... !!! All the guys were literally bending over backwards, giving their ALL to the rock. We all went crazy, and Dylan said, "I just felt like Petty in that Prince moment ... that's what that felt like." (referring to the Rock Hall of Fame gig when Prince's guitar did NOT gently weep, but nearly set the joint on fire with its fury). Walker replied, "Except I didn't smirk the whole time." Haaa. (*Editor note: Prince deserved every smirk he gave.) It really was just about that good.

"(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love & Understanding" was the Elvis Costello cover Walker and Dylan sang together for the evening's finale, and it both asked the question, and gave us the answer. There's nothing funny about any of it, and we were all there for all of it. The music was pure peace and love (and ROCK FURY!), and I think we all now had a better understanding of this medical situation that so many people live with but don't really talk about. Again, these are the kind of musical events I love best, and you always leave feeling a little better about the state of the whole world.

The Night was indeed Rocked, and money and awareness for Crohn's and Colitis was raised as we all Connected For A Cure.

Thank you to all involved!


*All photos courtesy of Rodney Bursiel

The Anti-Inaugural Ball With Prophets Of Rage!

The United States of America inaugurated the ridiculous Donald Trump as our nation's 45th President last Friday ... and the fine citizens of Los Angeles were having NONE of it. Prophets Of Rage organized an Anti-Inauguration Ball for that evening, to state loud and proudly that this is not our President. We will not stand for a racist, misogynist, hateful leader, and the gauntlet has been thrown on that now from Day One. The evening's proceeds would go to RAINN, the nation's largest anti-sexual violence organization, showing that the people will take care of each other, now that we can no longer count at all on our government to do the right thing.

Trump wasted no time in eliminating pages for Climate Change, Native Americans, LBGT, oh, and for you GOP members, also shut down was the Veteran's Families page (explain that!), and is no longer available in Spanish. This President and his cronies fail to realize that he is meant to represent ALL of us, not just the ones he agrees with. And we are here to remind him of that, every step of the way. Friday night was just the beginning. We arrived late to the Teragram Ballroom in Downtown L.A., as you do on a Friday night. We missed the opening acts of The Los Angeles Freedom Choir, Tom Morello and his Freedom Fighter Orchestra, Jackson Browne, Jack Black and Tenacious D, and words from Susan Sarandon. Bummer, as I heard we missed "The Ghost Of Tom Joad" with Tom Morello's blistering guitar solo featuring the night's message of "Not My President" written on the back of his guitar. We walked in just as two young ladies gave a spoken word poetry performance that was as hard-core as anything we'd hear the rest of the night, speaking serious truth to power.

We squeezed up into the balcony, basically to save our own lives, as it was getting pretty heavy metal down on the floor, with the entire square footage pretty much the pit. It was practically a green house in there, as the joint was packed and sweaty with people venting their rage. Prophets Of Rage took the stage to their original tune, "Prophets Of Rage" and from then on ... it was ON. The momentum never let up for a second, and as much of a nightmare as the day began, it was being wrapped up in a gigantic fist of opposition. And it was powerful. At the end of that one, the mighty Public Enemy's Chuck D said, "Make America Rage Again! Make Racists Afraid Again!" to massive applause. It really felt in there like we got this.

Rage Against The Machine's "Bombtrack" was up next, and it was pure molten lava in there. Sheesh. If we could only bottle that energy in there! "This is the Anti-Inauguration Ball with Prophets of Rage and great friends, and we're gonna continue to fuck your heads up!" shouted Cypress Hil's B Real, Co-MC for POR. Which they did next with "Guerilla Radio", and the ecstatic fans of Morello's guitar solos down front were visibly face-melted. Rightly so. That led into "Shut Em Down", another POR original, that features a crazy battle between DJ Lord and Morello on guitar, shredding back and forth. It was something else.

Morello gave a fiery speech with a five point plan to defeat the ugly injustices that are already going down ... following is the paraphrase of that incendiary moment:

Show up! Keep showing up!
Join up! Together we shape the halls of power!
Freedom - remember you have it!
Stand up! For minorities (who are now the majority anyway), LBGT's, Muslims, Women, ALL!
Rise up! Don't settle for what they spoon feed you, fight for the world you want!

"This is a No-Trump Zone! If someone tries to grab your pussy in the pit, it's your patriotic duty to break their fucking arm!" - this was met with hoots and hollers from both genders in solidarity. And it's about time.

"Take The Power Back" ruled, of course. Then B Real said the whole thing was live-streaming on Facebook (and we all shouted out to those viewers) and said, "When you tell your friends that you raged the fuck out, you know what you did, you TESTIFIED!" - and they lit into Rage's "Testify", which tested the venue's earthquake fitness. It survived, just barely.

Vic Mensa rapped his "16 Shots" and then joined Chuck D and B Real for a medley of the Cypress Hill/Public Enemy hits that made them the legends that they are. "Can't Truss It/Insane In The Membrane/Bring The Noise/Ain't Goin' Out Like That/Welcome To The Terrordome" kept the place hopping until they brought out Everlast (!) for "Jump Around" and then it was JUMPING. All around like crazy. People were so happy to be blowing off the steam of this crazy election and awful injustice happening right in front of our faces, the joy in being together in solidarity was tangible. It only got better with the Rage classic, "Sleep Now In The Fire" when we all sang along, fists raised.

There was no time for a breather, as B Real said, "You're all in for a treat now..." and Morello began the instantly recognizable guitar intro for Audioslave's "Cochise"! People went absolutely mental when Chris Cornell bounded on to the stage and jumped right into the lyrics asking us to "Take it out on me!" It was awesome, and you'd never guess that 12 years had passed since they'd shared a stage together. Cornell's voice is as virtuosic as ever. They gave us a three song set with a melodic "Like A Stone" singalong leading into a fiery "Show Me How To Live" that made us all realize how much this band - like Rage - has been missed. It was capped off with a Cornell stage dive into the audience, punctuating the point that he was back, and happy to be so. The crowd went legit wild, and I was tempted to join him from the balcony.

"Bulls On Parade" was all-time, and when we all screamed "Rally 'round the Family!" it was even cooler than ever because that's exactly what we were doing ... rallying around the American family that WE believe on ... as one, indivisible, with liberty and justice for ALL. Like we learned in Kindergarten. It's not that hard, GOP. You recited that same Pledge Of Allegiance we did. Back to basics, Everyone. Golden rule time.

Jack Black came back to bring on and thank everyone involved, and the stage was soon almost as packed as the audience. The All-Star finale was - and had to be - Rage's "Killing In The Name" that climaxed with the entire building screaming "Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me!" at the top of our collective lungs. "Now is not the time for silence, make your voices heard!" insisted Morello, and that we definitely did. This evil new administration doesn't have a chance when the People unite. And I think they know it. If any one of them had been in the place on this night, they would be quaking in their boots, because as stated at the outset above - we're NOT HAVING IT.

A hoarse Morello shouted, "Take it easy, but take it!" as Bob Marley's ultra-appropriate "Get Up, Stand Up" filled the room with even more encouragement. This was about the best way I can imagine having spent the night of one of the saddest days in our country's history. Together with fellow Freedom Fighters, knowing the power is - and has always been - in our hands. It's up to us to continue to let The Man (which it mostly always is screwing things up) know that we're here. That we fight for what's right. That we will never be silent. That this Land is made for you and me and all of us. UNITED.

May the foes of justice tremble.