A Venice Weekend - From Surfside To Moby Dick!

Another excellent weekend in Venice was just lived, and it was well-needed after all the drama of the world and California last week. The weather was lovely, and I think people were just in the mood to cut loose a little bit. To that end, there was a bunch of house parties and fun like that, and then on Saturday night there was a little book release party for Jason Hill's new second edition of his collection of Venice Stories (and I'm in it!).

I don't believe I've ever seen Harry Perry play anywhere other than the Boardwalk, but there he was shredding it up at Surfside with his band, the Karma Kosmic Krusaders. They were louder and harder than most anything I've ever seen at Surfside, but it was legendary to see Perry play an actual set with a full band.

Friends and locals were all there celebrating life, basically, and it was almost like the last day of school when everyone signs your yearbook, as those featured in this Venice Stories booklet were going around having everyone sign their copy. It was cute, and a good way for everyone to come together.

I couldn't stay as long as I would have liked because all THREE of my brother Paul's bands (The Weight Of Everything/spaceblanket/Shotshell Press) were playing the same night in San Pedro (at Harold's Place, who really need a new person that doesn't double book bands like losers - but I digress). Sunday was a lot of recovery, but we were able to get it together in time to hear a little bit of Moby Dick being read in its annual beach reading at the Breakwater, put on by the wonderful Venice Oceanarium. It's one of my favorite annual events for good reason - literature being read aloud next to the sea where the story takes place. Wonderful, picturesque ... great. I think I missed the clam chowder this year, but the view and the story was more than enough.

Then just like that, it's a new week, a new hustle, and a new opportunity for more great things to happen. My beach walk this morning was rewarded by running into the bulldozers that are building the winter sand dunes as we speak, which means today is Opening Day of Sand Sledding Season! Yay.

As we now enter the hustle and bustle of the holidays with Thanksgiving kicking off this week, let's remember the little things that make life great. Walking along and looking out at the beautiful sea, I recalled a quote a mystical lady told me one day at the beach, that I think goes great with Thanksgiving especially, but every damn day too.

"Gratitude IS the Glory." Think about that. Like, if you're feeling grateful, that IS the recognition of things being good at that moment, and that you're tangibly aware of it. Thus, that feeling IS the glory that we're all going for.  Gratitude is the Glory. Get after it! Happy Thanksgiving Week, Friends!

A Halloween 2017 Wrap-Up

Happy Halloween! - is finally over! Is it just me, or does it feel like Halloween goes on for at least a week now? And that's not even including Dia de Los Muertos! It's crrrrazy. And also really fun. Venice is an excellent place to celebrate the holiday that has come to be as big a deal for adults as it always has been for kids ... if not bigger. With all the artists and creatives that call Venice home, the decorating and Halloween spirit is in full effect here in these parts. Even the Venice Sign goes orange for the season! Settle in ... this is a long one.

The whole week kicked off with a big Halloween day party at Couer D'Alene Elementary School last Saturday (because I had to miss the big Jim Robb/Paige Petrone party the night before at The Victorian), that was both really impressive and very small town feeling. Kids and parents alike were all decked out in fun costumes, and the candy barrage had already begun. They had games and crafts and giant bounce houses and just about anything a kid could ever want in a party. Then it was time to go home to get ready for the grown up parties. This was THE night, and there were a ton of them happening, and you want to hit them all, but you just do your best to have the most fun possible.

My brother, Paul, decided to have a Halloween party this year, and worked for weeks and weeks on turning his house into a haunted one, so that's where I was going to post up. He refused all offers for help, as he had a particular vision in mind for what he wanted. And that vision was spoooooky.

You entered through a dark walkway, where a big spider jumped out at you at the exit. A kid friend of mine who all week has claimed to be unafraid of anything jumped about a mile at that one, pleasing me greatly. Right when you walked out of the dark, there was a peep hole area, where you could look inside to see photos of awful clowns ... including Trump. My little pal, Beckett, peered inside and jumped back at that one, yelling, "Scary!" He doesn't even know. There was also a hole to reach inside of that was full of guts (spaghetti, hot dogs, and if you reached far enough back ... a big dildo).

The kids only got to stay briefly, because ... nope. But they got to hang out in the scary cage and take a turn at scaring the grownups. Kids can be very creepy, after all.

There was an entirely new structure that Paul built, to house an alien that lived among bloody hands reaching out at you. Not a room you'd like to be locked in. Sound effects were equally nightmarish.

A portal to Hell had burned up hands reaching out at you that I could barely look at, and a gigantic spider that hung over the outdoor proceedings.

The garage held a bunch of dangling, plastic-wrapped bodies, making me wonder how my brother knows how to do that. Very Saw like (I say that, but I've never seen any of them. Nope.)

Inside the house, Slender Man resided, as well as a very eerie man inside of the wall.

I recently had a real life cockroach incident at La Cabaña, so when I turned on the light in my brother's bathroom to see all of these awful creatures skittering up the wall ... Ok, I really did jump. Disgusting jerks. *Health code note - they were not real.

My favorite costumes at the party were Van Gogh (complete with severed ear) ...

And I also have to give it up for the Fantasia couples costume. 

The party hosts were pretty good too ... Spacepants (I guess it's an SNL skit starring Peter Dinklage) and Yacht Rock. Good times!

Paul's band, spaceblanket, ruled it as usual, even throwing down a little Halloween theme song cover. In the middle of their set, Steve Irvin did a performance art piece that featured him fully nude, tearing liquid latex off of him like it was his skin. It was both brave and cool, and when the "skin" was left behind on the floor, appropriately creepy.

All in all, it was a complete blast and I'm so proud and impressed with Paul and all of his hard work - Oh, and I almost forgot to mention his delish vegan curry he made for everyone - it was totally worth it and THANK YOU, for providing so much fun for everyone! LOVE you!

A couple days off to recover, and then real Halloween. Venice goes off. And it starts early. I've always gone mainly to Rialto Avenue, but the people I don't see there told me that the walk streets are great, so this year I decided to check out all of it if I could.

The walk streets are great because they never have cars on them, and Rialto is great because they close down the whole wide street. Both are very decorated, and both you will see friends and neighbors ... as well as all of the people that drive in for the occasion. I dug the fresh graves at one house ... meaning I liked them, not that I physically dug them.

There were a couple of witches hanging out, stirring their cauldron of brew. They were great, and it was cute to hear a little kid say, "I remember you from last year!", all excited. He explained that he was something different last year, so they might not remember him. Adorable.

The adults were pretty dressed up to accompany their kids this year, and I especially appreciated one family that was the Von Trapp Family Singers, with all the little kids in dirndls and leiderhosen, only the mom was the captain and the dad was the singing Maria. It was great, and they win my favorite of the walk streets.

The walk streets were cool, but they're very narrow, and there is a lot of trick or treater gridlock. Everyone was having a great time, and I saw more than a few Dads looking at their phones to keep track of the Dodger Game 6 (They won! Game 7 tonight!), and more than a few Dads AND Moms holding on to their Solo cup roadies. Necessary. 

Rialto is still the best, in terms of concentrated Halloween spirit, and almost everyone getting in on the scene. One nice family again rented a giant bounce house thing for the kids to jump in if they could be torn away from the candy getting.

The Haunted House house was even more haunted this year, and though it wasn't quite dark yet when I visited, it was still scary.

The inside part that you walk through is actually scary and I made a Frida Kahlo I just met go through it with me.

Severed heads were hanging from the ceiling, along with some Day Glo worms, but it got real when a horrifying Grandma jumped out at us with a big knife. I actually jumped.

There was also a scary Cowboy in there, and ghouls and skeletons in the bushes. I think some of them are actually there all year long - they looked familiar.

The Dragon House did it up again this year, only they added a giant, kind of albino bat thing. It looked great, as did all of the houses, really. I love how everyone gets so into it!

My favorite costume award on Rialto this year is the little family that went as a recycling truck and recyclable items. Socially conscious AND adorable. I loved them.

The Frankenstein House added some stuff this year too, and really meant business.

There was an extra graveyard and smoke and all the good stuff you want in a haunted scene. I found myself wishing I lived on Rialto, so I could stay in one place all night and watch everyone come to me. There were so many cute kids I found myself looking for new adjectives better than "cute". But they really were. I met some little skater kids who grilled me for directions to the most candy that I'd seen. I sent them to Nowita, as they'd already gone up and down Rialto. I'm pretty sure they cleaned it ALL up.

I stopped to say hi to a casual banana on a porch ...

... and then headed back to the walk streets to try to find my people that I'd taken off from. The sun had set, and spooky music was playing on every street. Every house had candy on the porch and the t.v. on inside showing the Dodgers game - truly Americana at its best. People walked up and down until the either the kids dropped or the parents did, because it didn't seem like the candy ever ran out.

Then it was back to the house to count the candy, sort the candy, eat the candy, smell the candy (I love that cumulative Halloween candy smell inside the bag, everything all mixed up. It's a classic aroma.), and then, ultimately melt down - again, the kids and the parents. Drinks, scary movies, steal some kid candy for the movie candy, and it's a perfectly wonderful Halloween '17 Season wrapped up, with candy and memories to last for ages.

Good job, everyone! I think we all really needed this fun this year, and we did it up right. Love.

Oh, hang on ... It's All Saints' Day now. Have a good one, you Saints.

And Go Dodgers!

The Musical Finale Of Abbot's Habit - The True End Of An Era

This was an all-time classic Venice weekend, kicked off with the farewell to an absolute Venice treasure. It's true. Abbot's Habit is closing for good this Wednesday, June 28th. The corner of Abbot Kinney and California will never be the same ... and this is the one that hurts the most. By far.

There are so many memories tied up within the walls of this legendary coffee shop you can almost see the ghosts of Venice past with your naked eye every time you enter. Last Friday night we gathered to have one last hurrah, with a musical celebration of both the people and the place that has been so special to so many.

My brother, Paul Gronner, managed Abbot's Habit for years, and during his tenure there he and our friend, Scott Passaglia (Scotty P!) hosted a music night most Fridays (setting off what became the dread First Fridays that are now nothing like they were). Many of the musical artists from those storied days returned on Friday to serenade what seemed like ALL of Venice crammed into Abbot's for one last throw-down. Those who didn't fit (many) spilled out on to the sidewalks, in a visual display of just how much this place meant to us, and how very much it will be missed.

The evening started when it was still light out ... and so did the tears. Mikel Farber opened up the music, and got me choked up right off the bat by remembering the friends who would hang out outside every day ... Abbot's Habit was their spot. Dr. John ... Zeta ... they've passed away now, but their presence was tangibly felt through Farber's touchingly beautiful musical tribute. He sang, "He'd hang for hours because he knew it was where it was at." Abbot's Habit was always where it was at in Venice ... people left for years, and Abbot's would be their first stop back, because they knew they'd run into someone they knew and get caught up on all the latest in Venice. Now that is no more. Farber posed the question ... "What's next?!" Indeed, what? Where do we go from here, Venice? What are we going to do about it?

Hugs, laughter, stories, beers, joints, and love were all being shared along with the music, and Holly Long continued the Irish Wake of a night. A motorcycle roared by in the middle of one of her songs, and she said, "That's what I remember!" She was a young mother, and would come to Abbot's Habit to get out of the house, meet other people, and find her community. That story was told often. Once the kids grew a bit and Long wanted to explore her music more, Abbot's was the place that gave her that opportunity. It was obviously a very special place to her, as she choked up, saying, "I'm amazed I can sing!" Looking around, she noted her first guitar teacher was there among all the familiar faces, adding, "When you're up here, it's super trippy." It was very much old home night.

Tom Freund was next, giving us the appropriate "East Of Lincoln", singing, "When I moved east of Lincoln, I started drinking ... I feel my heart sinking..." echoing many thoughts in the room. Next up was "Truly Mellow" about "the smells of Venice", complete with toke breathing flourishes. The singalong at the end "La di dah!" belted out by absolutely everyone might have been my favorite part of the night, as it was the "Venice Choral Society" all singing together in solidarity for a time and place we knew was fleeting. It was emotional once again, for sure. Steve McCormick and Heather Donovan joined Freund for his "Collapsible Plans", and it was beautiful. Freund had his last Abbot's coffee and said, " I send my love to you all, may it grow in another place!" Yes, please. But where?

Paul Chesne and Dutch Suoninen were up next (there were many acts booked, so we had to keep it moving!), and gave it their Venice all. Chesne spoke about playing here with wine in his coffee cup (which many of us had in our hands that moment), and kicked off their set with the fun, "Pink Champagne", which the crowd (now equally as large outside as in) ate up. They gave us a brand new one called, "It's Called I'm In Love With You" that was swoon-worthy, and for "one more song at Abbot's Habit", they got down with "Get Myself Right". Chesne ended up with a "Who you gonna call?!" chant that had everyone yelling back "Ghostbusters" in the Snapchat dig of the night. Ugh. Looking around now, it was like the All Star Game of Venice musicians in there ... and their fans. It was like the coolest family reunion possible ... which it exactly was.

Kim Michaelowski played a gorgeous set, but I didn't hear the specifics because it was very hot inside, and like musical chairs in that some would go outside to give others a chance to hear inside. I was outside at this point to catch my breath, and Kim sounded so good that even more people wanted to cram inside.

I returned just in time to see Kim taking the crowd's photo from the stage, and thanking Abbot's Habit, and its owner, Nina Santangelo, for everything over the years.

Nina was being thanked and hugged all night, and it was hard to hold back the tears when doing so. How do you even begin to sum it all up?! I mean, I remember when 9/11 happened and my brother was working early shift at the Habit, and some stoned guy called there to ask if what he was seeing was real. Paul called me and woke me up telling me to turn on the t.v. ... and I saw that horror show live. I found out Paul Wellstone died while getting coffee at the Habit. Love stories began here. I  know a dear couple who met and had their first date at the Habit. They just happened to be back in town this weekend, and went to have coffee at their old table, and renew their vows to each other there while they were at it. Their kids got to see where Mommy and Daddy met. We had so many art shows, naked poetry open mic nights, and the wonderful music nights we were honoring on this night. It's all just too much to even process yet ...

So let's keep talking about the music! Matt Ellis and Vavine Tahapehi took over the stage, and I again got teary, because we met these two now wonderful, lifelong friends, right there at the Habit music night. They were new to town from Australia, and instantly found their people there. As Vav said, "If we'd lived anywhere else in Los Angeles, we wouldn't be here anymore. Here's to you, Venice!" And they sang their lush and gorgeous "Seven Years At Sea", which is all about finding their way here. As we sat on the wooden pews, I heard someone behind me say, "It kind of IS our church." Exactly, and the solemn reverence Abbot's Habit was receiving on this night was both appropriate and well-deserved. "Heart Of Mine" was played first ever at the Habit music night, and Ellis' last Abbot's song - "Won't Let This Die" - was about the friendships forged within those walls, that will last "'Til the day we die!" Venice friends are forever.

Steve McCormick and Stan Behrens played the blues that everyone was feeling, and "Lying On The Bottom Of The Mississippi River" is just about how we felt ... but in a good way. David Ralicke joined them to rule the trombone. It was Venice Greatest Hits in there, man, and it was good. I feel for Stan maybe the most ... he and his cronies have hung out on the sidewalk in front of Abbot's Habit ever since I've been here ... a good twenty plus years. Where will he go for his morning joe and shooting of the breeze? It's all just sad. Period.

Stan stayed up there to accompany John Vester and Marky Lennon (of the band, Venice), and they played beautifully together, with Stan's artful harmonica weaving a spell around John's acoustic guitar and Lennon's harmonies. It was the world's greatest living room concert in a coffee shop. I miss it so much already just typing about it ...

Amilia K Spicer is one of my very favorite songbirds, and we were privileged to get her back at Abbot's Habit one more time before it's gone. She had a mandolin player with her, and together they astounded everyone with the beauty of the harmonies. The reception to the music was so great that she urged, "Come on the road with me!" It was so, so beautiful, and you can hear more at Spicer's c.d. release show at Beyond Baroque on July 15th. SO good.

Music Night co-founder, Scotty P. was next, with "She Has Magic In Her Heart", where she might have been Venice, and her heart might have been Abbot's. "This place is special. It's been a really great spot in Venice for everyone, and I'm gonna make up a song right now," said an inspired Scotty P. And did just that. While he was riffing on the spot, my friend Shane leaned over and asked me, "Can you imagine not coming here anymore?" All I could say was "No." I truly can't imagine it.

And we've only got until this Wednesday now - even though last Friday felt like the real goodbye. The final made-up lyrics from Scotty P's last Abbot's gig were, "Celebrate life, making memories that will last until the end of time ... remember the good times!" He's right. That's all we can do. And must do.

Crash was up next, and I must be forgiven because I was back outside trying to breathe again during his set, but my brother said the loungey vibe was great, and that Crash even sparked up a j while singing, in true Venice fashion. I'm sorry I missed being inside for it, but it sounded fun from outside - where it was also real fun. People were feeling it, and not wanting to let it go.

Scotty P. introduced my brother, and asked for a big salute to him for starting the music nights back in the day, and everyone hooted and hollered. "We've met some of our best friends here ... and now, Ladies and Gentlemen - spaceblanket!" A shiny silver spaceblanket back-drop was unfurled and Paul's shoegaze band mesmerized the room for the remainder of the night. There are no lyrics and no singing, which I think was apt for the occasion that there really were no words for. I looked around the room as they played, and saw so much love in the eyes that it really capped off the emotional night for me. After the last song, the mics had already been put away, so Paul just shouted "I love you! I love us all! We gotta stick together! Thank you, Nina! Thank you, Abbot's Habit!"

And that was that. The last music event ever at Abbot's Habit. The crowd didn't want the fun - or the camaraderie to end there, so everyone dispersed to after-party ... and another wonderful Venice night went down in history.

I love you! I love us all! We gotta stick together! Thank you, Nina! Thank you, Noah Farrell! Thank you, Abbot's Habit!!!

From us all.

Abbot's Habit
1993-2017

*Photos by Paul Gronner Photography
**Exterior shot by Ron Geren Photography