Enjoy Your Venice Weekend!

Everyone has been focused all week on what's wrong with Venice, so I urge us all to take this weekend to instead really zero in on what's awesome about the real deal Venice. I've already started.

It's unseasonably warm, making for perfect beach days in October (we're not talking about climate change right now, though we should be). It's all blue skies and sunshine. Surf's up (chest high)! The Farmer's Market had an over-abundance of wonderful home-grown fruits and vegetables and flowers and friends. Strangers are smiling and saying "Good Morning!". The Boardwalk is packed with visitors from all over the globe who love being here - as well as those of us who never take the views and fun for granted. There are art shows and house parties happening all weekend. It's Venice High's Homecoming tonight, AND the annual Grease viewing/singalong, also at Venice High (in its acting role as Rydell High!) on Saturday. Things are good - great, even! - if you allow yourself to have that mindset.

So, have at it, Friends! Get the most you can out of your beautiful weekend in Venice! I'll hope to see you out there, and we'll make it even better. Solidarity forever.

Grease Was The Word!

The annual singalong screening of Grease was held at Venice High School this past Saturday night, and was great, as ever. There was a big crowd there filling most of the football field (that is soon to be renovated, and will no longer look like it did in the movie, so this was a special screening, for sure), with a whole bunch of T-Birds, Pink Ladies, and poodle skirt wearing teeny boppers representing the greaser spirit.

Booths lined the running track (also to be updated), fundraising for various school groups, selling things like fried rice and unicorn quesadillas, in addition to a bbq, and the usual high school football game fare. Everyone has seen the film so many times that you could hear the dialogue being recited along with every word, not just the songs.

My friend visiting from out of town mentioned how it felt so small town, which is pretty remarkable, considering how big L.A. is - and it did. Friends waved to neighbors, people squeezed on to the prime blanket real estate on the grass, people shared their movie snacks, and watched other peoples' kids while they went for more. It was great. As I was thinking about it all this morning, I thought how everyone was out there just to have a good time in the community with fellow fun-havers. No one thought twice about being gathered in a big group out in public. It didn't enter our minds that someone might open fire on us all. I'm sure the revelers in Las Vegas for a concert last night didn't think that either ... until it happened. The biggest mass shooting in the United States in modern times. Over 50 dead. Over 500 injured. All for nothing. All because of guns, no gun control, and yet another crazy white man. It's the worst. The fun of the weekend feels like it didn't even happen. But it did, and that's important to remember. We can't give up having fun, or give in to fear, because then we're not living while we're alive - and every breath is precious. This tragedy in Vegas only highlights that fact even more, once again.

Take care of each other. Have fun. Love. And fight for gun control with everything you've got, because something has to stop this insanity, and it's up to We, the People. As everything now has to be.

A Venice Greatest Hits Weekend - From Art To Motorcycles!

This past weekend in Venice was full of the greatest hits of all sorts of fun stuff happening around town, and it was non-stop. I had to miss the Art Crawl on Thursday to attend the supremely awesome Prophets Of Rage show at the Forum, but was happy to hear that they had left up all the Venice Afterburn installations down at the beach for everyone to enjoy for another day. This worked out great because it was all just straight up Windward Avenue from where the Venice sign was about to be lit up in the blue and gold colors of the new Los Angeles Rams. There was a pep rally held in the street on Windward, and I raced back from work to get there in time to see my friend Lacey Kay Cowden regale the sporting fans with her gorgeous songs.

I did not get there in time to hear those gorgeous songs, but I did get there in time to party with everyone. Some (gigantic) Rams were there, the Ram mascot was there, and some Rams cheerleaders too. There was a big inflatable Rams slide for the kids, and blue and gold merch for sale. There was a good crowd there, but it felt more like they were there for the fun of it all more so than that anyone was that hardcore of a Rams fan. It also felt a bit more corporate and advertising like than the emphasis placed on the COMMUNITY at other sign lightings that are for holidays, not billion dollar sports teams. There was the usual oohs and aahs for the lightbulbs changing color and you can now cruise by and see the team spirit for L.A.

Having seen that, we went down to the beach to see the immersive art pieces that had just recently returned from Burning Man. There was all kinds of lit-up attractions, and the most popular seemed to once again be the big Unicorn Trojan horse full of dancers.

I liked a big electric bird the best, especially as it was back-lit by the actual sunset and all the people walking around with glow sticks and groovy outfits.

There was a whole bunch of stuff to see, and a whole bunch of people out seeing it. This was one of those nights that it was perfect to have visitors come down, as there was a spectacle to see in all directions. Venice was really showing off, and everyone was in rare fun form. It was a blast.

Such a blast that it resulted in a later start than planned on Saturday, but once up and about, it was time to start the fun all over again. The Venice Vintage Motorcycle Club was holding its rally in the Venice Boulevard Farmer's Market parking lots again this year, and by the time we got there it was all the way jam packed. Motorcycles of all kinds (from Euro to "Rattiest"!) were lined up to check out, and the roar of bike engines could be heard throughout Venice all day long.

The bands started early and played all day, keeping the fun going. Most bikers and biker friends were squeezed into the beer garden, and it was so fun to see all the Venice faces and do some catching up.
The highlight of the rally is always the Venice Vintage Pin-Up Girl contest and this year was no different. I saw all the beautiful retro-dressed gals walking around, but alas, we had to go before I found out who won. My money was on the burlesque dancer in red ... she was not shy.

I could have stayed at the always very fun rally all day, but had to race off, because then it was time for the annual showing of Grease on the Venice High Football Field. The event seems to get bigger every year, and it's so fun to see everyone's Rydell (Venice) High school spirit. Girls were in Pink Lady jackets and poodle skirts, guys were in greased hair and leather, and they even had a vintage car show on the side of the field with one entry looking a lot like the Greased Lightning car. The whole audience sang along to the words on the screen, and it was good old fashioned family fun in the original drive-in movie kind of setting. All under a spectacular full moon! I love it.

After having big shows and things to attend every night last week, it was actually acceptable for Sunday to come up gloomy and grey. This meant that everyone could kick back and take it easy, which we didn't really do because all the Vikings in Venice got together to see our Minnesota team debut the new Vikings stadium - and WIN! I'm quite sure the team could hear us all the way back in Minneapolis when the clock ran out and they played "Let's Go Crazy"!

A great weekend in Venice, California, to be sure, and I hope yours was excellent too, wherever you may have spent it. But you should have been here.

A Grease Sing-Along At Venice High

Each time a new visitor comes to Venice, we always like to tell them that Grease was filmed at Venice High when we drive by that school. That film was beloved by so many of us (so was Grease 2, maybe even more so ...), so when I read that Venice (aka Rydell!) High was hosting a sing-along screening of the movie on the football field where it was shot last Saturday, we were in.

It was a full carnival atmosphere, with students selling raffle tickets, and the Alumni Association folks were manning the multiple concession stands (with a bbq grill right there on the field!), selling everything from homemade taco specialties to burgers, cotton candy, and popcorn for the viewing. There were pie-eating contests, and that kind of thing, making us kind of nostalgic for all the stuff you got into during school. There was even Gunther the Gondolier was strolling around taking pictures with all the little kids.

Little kids who had never seen Grease before! So that was fun, singing all the goofy Grease songs at the top of our lungs, as the kids looked at us like we were nuts. People were all in a great mood, and no one seemed to mind when our kid posse got distracted and ran in circles and threw balls all over. As kids do.

There were Pink Ladies and T-Bird greasers in the house, and I even spotted a few poodle skirts in the mix. The sun went down, the big screen lit up and we all broke into song together as the gigantic almost-Supermoon rose up above us.

Grease is classic. I saw it so many times back in the day, but I'll echo an Alumni woman I met in the bathroom who said, "This is the best time ever!" as it quickly became my favorite time I've seen it. If you haven't yet been to this landmark film location, be sure to get there for the fun next year.

Thank you to Venice High for hosting such a fun event, and for the reminder that Grease is indeed the word.

World's Record Weekend!

Phew. That was a humdinger of a weekend in Venice, to be sure.

Friday night: We head over to the Cinema Bar to catch the Matt Ellis/Paul Chesne Band gig. On the way, we sit through about a zillion red lights as the biggest bike brigade I've ever seen cruised by, accompanied on all sides by police escorts in cars, on bikes, and motorcycles. TONS of kids, all ringing their bells as we honked to cheer them along. I'm not positive, but we felt like it might have something to do with the two young Venice high kids that were shot in Penmar Park last week. We all had chills, even if it was just for fun. They were also showing Grease that night for the 100th Anniversary celebration of Venice High - on the same football field where it was shot. But we had jams to hear.

Matt Ellis, his wife, Vavine, and their band tore up the Cinema with their Aussie style Americana. It was such a treat to be out with this whole gang, and so the whiskey flowed.


Right into Paul Chesne's torrid set that featured a slew of songs of their excellent new record, PCB. A highlight for me was dancing around to Paul's breakdown of Prince's "Gett Off". Classic.

When the hangover finally wore off on Saturday, it was time for the last annual (at least in Venice - for now) - dangit - Conway Family Crawfish Boil/Going Away to move to Austin party. I can't even really talk about it yet, as I'll get emotional, but suffice it to say that we threw it down again, and sent off David, Christina, Amelia and Truman with a LOT of Venice love. Happy Trails, my darling Friends.


Sunday awoke - groggily - to the thunder roar of skateboard wheels coming down my street as Venice broke the Guiness Book of World's Records for the most Skateboarders in a parade together! Paper work is still being filed, I guess, but I'm told it was over 400 strong!


It was super cool to see skaters of all shapes, sizes, ages, genders, fitness levels, etc .. coming together to celebrate 100 years of Venice High - and show off skateboarding in the place where it really makes the most sense of all.


There was even a Gondolier skater (ok, Scooter-er)!



WOOOO's filled the air as the boards sailed down Venice Boulevard towards a place in the record books, on the most sunny gorgeous Venice day in June imaginable. As any good parade has, this one featured a few different marching bands ... and as they always do, they jammed some "YMCA" as they passed by. It was awesome.


Awesome.