VoyageLA Magazine Interviews The Interviewer

The very kind folks at VoyageLA Magazine posted a nice interview with me this week, and I'm re-posting it here so that you kind readers might have a better idea of what I'm trying to be about here. I was honored to be included in their "Thought Provokers" section, and hope I can manage to provoke some thoughts with each story I write. And, as ever, thank you so much for reading and caring about the stories from our Community, and our world at large. It all starts with caring. Love, CJG

Today we’d like to introduce you to CJ Gronner.

Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?

I’ve wanted to be a storyteller from my earliest days. Growing up in Minnesota, I always wrote stories and made up adventures for the neighborhood kids to play out, and as I grew up I realized that telling stories is what I wanted to do for my life and career too. I also grew up loving film and the entertainment business, so got involved with film production as soon as I could. I worked for the Minnesota Film Office and P.A.D on several films there before moving to the Big Island of Hawai’i to work in their film office. That led to a move to Los Angeles, the home of filmmaking worldwide. While trying to get multiple feature scripts I wrote on the screen, I also began working in journalism, for multiple publications, with an emphasis on music journalism. Living in and loving Venice, California led to the creation of Blogtown By CJ Gronner, a site that includes all the Venice and music stories I do. As more and more people read Blogtown, more and more writing opportunities arose, and I’m now writing and producing for television and film … while still trying to get those movies made! I love that writing is such an effective way of giving voice to the many people and issues that make up our world, in the hopes that we can have a better understanding of each other … resulting in world peace. Easy!

Please tell us about your art.

I write. I write to inspire, to provoke thought, to encourage, and to let people know that we’re all in this together. I write stories for newspapers, magazines, venues, my own Blogtown, television, ad copy, song lyrics, band bios, and feature length screenplays. The most common feedback I get about my work is that “you made me feel like I was there!” I’ve had people tell me that my stories made them laugh. Made them cry. Made them mad sometimes. Made them think. Made them get involved. Gave them goosebumps. If I’ve moved anyone in any way, I feel I’ve done a decent job.

Choosing a creative or artistic path comes with many financial challenges. Any advice for those struggling to focus on their artwork due to financial concerns?

I’ve never been motivated by the money part of things, and have struggled mightily over the years as a result. Having acknowledged the reality that activism and commerce don’t always jive, I do my best to stay true to myself and my ideals, while doing my best to also be compensated in a fair and decent way. This is the hardest part about having a writing career, in my opinion … getting paid. You HAVE to do it because you love it, and hope that others will see the fiscal value of your work while you’re at it. I’m great at promoting everyone else – not so great at promoting myself. This is a family trait that we’re all working on. Will write for pay!

How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?

You can regularly read my stories at Blogtownbycjgronner.com, or by Google searching for all of the Freelance work I’ve done, for musicians like Tom Morello, Jane’s Addiction, Shooter Jennings, and such storied venues as The Hollywood Bowl, The Grammy Museum, and KCRW (with accompanying photography by my brother, Paul Gronner). I’m currently co-producing a documentary called 90291: VENICE UNZIPPED about income inequality in America with a zoom lens on Venice, where we feel the issue is at its most glaring example. People can donate to our documentary fund here: https://www.documentary.org/project/unzipped

I’m also co-producing a television show for Viceland called “American Junkie”, which will begin airing on September 12, 2018. I’ve also co-created a television show featuring B Real from Cypress Hill that is currently in development. Tune in!

Contact Info:

• Website: BlogtownbyCJGronner.com
• Email: blogtownbycjg@yahoo.com
• Instagram: @CJGronner
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Blogtown-By-CJ-Gronner-118888908130213/
• Twitter: @Blogtownbycjg
• Other: https://www.documentary.org/project/unzipped

Image Credit:
Black and white- Paul Gronner
Blue hair – Bubba Carr
CJ and Paul Blogtown – Venice Papparazzi
At Lollapalooza – Stephanie Hobgood

Nick Miller + Urbanic = #Urbanick

There was a fun neighborhood gathering last night to celebrate the launch of Nick Miller's new line of art and cards now available at Urbanic on Abbot Kinney.

Miller is a writer living in Venice, who I became friends with when he and his now wife, Cammy, lived downstairs from me. Both Millers are deeply involved in Venice, with Cammy owning her own store on California Avenue, Show Me Your Mumu. You've also probably seen them around town walking their beloved dog, Mick Swagger. I adore the Millers, and was delighted to join in the party for Nick's new endeavor.

Urbanic (dubbed UrbaNICK for the evening) was full of friends and fans, all enjoying the libations served up on the outside patio in back by some of the lovely Mumu girls.

Miller writes his cards and art pieces on vintage typewriters, one of which was there for revelers to write their own profound thoughts.

It's almost a shame that this soirée took place after Valentine's day, as most of Miller's cards are deeply romantic, and would have been very well received on that day. Good thing Valentine's Day is every day, right? RIGHT?!

Absolutely correct, if you glanced around and saw the love all over the place last night. Family, good friends, and a community gathered to celebrate and support one of our own. That's love, and that's good times.

Miller's novel, Isn't It Pretty To Think So? was also available, and the author was present to get them signed. I think my favorite piece in the collection is one that says "Art will come from this". These days, that's some solace.

Congratulation to Nick Miller and to Urbanic, for an excellent new collaboration between community citizens and businesses ... that's the way to help keep Venice, Venice. Isn't it pretty to think so, at least?

Cheers to #Urbanick!

*Top two photos by Mark Epstein

Blogtown Is Seven Today!

WHOA. I just realized that Blogtown turned seven years old today!

That's an awful lot of stories (807 so far, to be exact), and I've loved writing every single one. Thank you to anyone who has ever read anything I've ever written ... it truly means so much to me.

CHEERS! And may the good times continue to roll ... !!

Norman Ollestad's Gravity

I'm so excited for my friend, Norman Ollestad! His new book, Gravity, came out last week on Amazon Kindle (though I'm not into those things, it's also available to read on any device, like your phone, thank goodness), and it's already the #1 best seller in Memoirs! With all that buzz going on, Ollestad still made time to sit down and chat with me about the new, kind of sequel to his last best seller, Crazy For The Storm.

More a companion piece to Crazy For The Storm than a sequel, Gravity takes place 15 years after he was last in Austria at the age of 5 (9 years after his last book), when Ollestad was 20 years old. He'd been attending UCLA and making money doing window washing when he decided to leave all that and go be a ski bum in St. Anton, Austria, a place he'd visited many times before with his late father, and the home of modern downhill skiing. The junior Ollestad left with only his skis and backpack, and went to stay at a pensione owned by a woman the senior Ollestad used to know. Soon upon arrival, the woman showed Ollestad his father's guitar, and he didn't want to touch it. It was his first indication that this trip might actually turn out to be really heavy.

His father was a bit of a legend in St. Anton, and all the while Ollestad was trying to fit in with all the other ski bums and live up to his father's shadow, he found himself also having an extra-intense emotional experience being there. The more time that passed, the more he realized that all the connection and feelings he was having for and about his father were actually the reason he went.

Ollestad stayed in St. Anton for six months (where that guitar still remains), but while he was there, he also fell in real love for the first time. With all that was going on in his head about his father, this girl also reminded him of his dad. The entire experience served to reaffirm what he'd been given by his father, who he really was, and he found love, which was something he never expected to find.

After the success of Crazy For The Storm (which is to be a feature film directed by Sean Penn!) and its incredible story (if you haven't read that one, buy both), Ollestad found himself back in St. Anton on his book tour. While there, he went out to revisit his old ski bum super back country spots, and got lost. He started to panic, thinking about his young son, Noah, and then fiancee (now wife), Jenny. Whereas previously in his life, he'd always wanted to defy gravity, he now found himself thinking (and freaking out while lost) that he now really, really wanted that gravity. The grounded feeling of family, home, and love. Hence, the new book's title.

There are so many more wonderful stories from Ollestad's life that more books will be coming. The idea is to have a few novella length ones (as Gravity is - a great, fast beach/plane/couch read!) come out as e-books, then compile them together in a great, hard copy book down the road. I love it. You may also read a new Ollestad story in this month's (May 2015) issue of Outside Magazine, out this week. Ollestad and his son, Noah, took a surf trip to Mexico, which brought back more memories of those same surf trips he'd taken with his own father, coming full circle again.

Enjoying our chat and swapping of stories of our late fathers (and the Ollestad's ridiculously darling baby girl, Camille), it occurred to me that Ollestad may have actually found the gravity that his father never did. That - coupled with all the surf and ski skills also passed down - may be the true gift he's now able to share ... with his children, and with us all.

"I see life as an adventure ... so I hope I can take you along on one with me in this book."
                                                                                                                - Norman Ollestad


I went, and it was great! You should go too.

Gravity is now available for download right here:

http://www.amazon.com/Gravity-Kindle-Single-Norman-Ollestad-ebook/dp/B00UZGZT8W

Yo Bret! Farewell To A Great Friend Of Venice

Yesterday was truly a sad day for Venice, California. We lost our friend Bret Haller, founder of Yo Venice, the website that kept you in the know all the latest about what was going on around town. Bret and I became friends when he wrote to me complimenting me on a story I wrote here on Blogtown. That began a friendship, and mutual respect, with both of us caring deeply about our Venice Community, and doing our best to bring our fellow citizens together to keep that Venice bond strong.

Bret and I would stick up for each other when someone (usually nameless, using some lame troll handle in a forum) would go after us for something we'd written, we'd re-post each others' stuff, give each other more (or correct) information, and make electronic introductions for each other with people that shared our orbit that we thought the other should know. We had different things going on with our sites, so we were never in competition, and both thought our work complimented the other's.

This was the last email I got from Bret last month, and one that is a great example of exactly who he was ... always trying to connect the Venice dots, this time between myself and Paul Chesne:


Paul, you put out a new record and you didn’t email me a copy to review for Yo?

You on a bender of epicness?

Anyway, CJ, since Paul is such a Paul, can I use your writeup of “Downright Up & Left”? I wanna help him out even tho he didn’t send me anything! No morphine for you next time we hang Paul!

HAHAHHAH

I am sure the new one is great, as yer the best boogie band in these parts!

Cool that you two are friends, I should have assumed so!

B

Of course it was cool. It always was. I texted Bret a few weeks ago to tell him I thought it was finally time for me to write a story about HIM and his Yo Venice that kept so many of us informed with what was going on up to the minute. He didn't get back to me, unusually, but I knew he was dealing with late stage cancer, so anything could be going on. He was so positive and upbeat every time we spoke or emailed - funny, even - that I thought he was probably just on a particularly rough bout of chemo, but he was for sure gonna beat that stuff.  For sure. Soon, we'd go meet up for that beer we kept talking about getting, and I'd grill him for a story. I'm sad that I'll never get to tell it now. Sad for me, and losing that supportive friend, and sad for Venice, that we have lost such an important member of our community. Someone that truly loved his home, and made it his life's work.

Rest peacefully now, Bret. You can be sure we're pouring some of that beer out all over Venice turf for you. Cheers, Brother.

A Custom Poet In Venice

I was walking down Abbot Kinney this past weekend when I came upon a woman sitting at a little table with an old school typewriter sitting on it and a sign advertising "Poems To Order". I introduced myself to Vanessa Rose, who was there to create custom poems for people that might not be so good at putting their feelings into words themselves.

With Valentine's Day fast approaching, business was picking up on that bright afternoon, with someone even asking Rose to craft a poem for him to propose with.

It reminded me a bit of the film, Central Station, where the lead character sat near the train station and wrote letters for people who didn't know how. There's something so sweet and old fashioned (especially written on a typewriter) about a poem written in the name of love - even if you have to get someone else to do it for you.

Whatever the occasion, I'm sure anyone would be thrilled to receive a "hand crafted, fresh to order, artisanal poem" written just for them.  On her business card, it reads You met a human named Vanessa Rose. You found her to be intelligent, gracious and charming. 

I surely did. You may look for her table set up weekends on Abbot Kinney, or contact Vanessa Rose for poems or events at:

Email: Rose.Vanessa@gmail.com
Twitter: @rosevanessa8
Facebook: /rose.vanessa

The Lit Show - Starring Suzy Williams!

Oh, Suzy Williams. How are you so so cool? Well, for starters. she and her husband, Gerry Fialka, put on The Lit Show every year at Beyond Baroque, where you hear the words of famous authors put to jazzy compositions by Suzy and Brad Kay. Where you wind up being not only thoroughly entertained, but smarter.

In the 7th or 8th Annual (no one was really sure which) Lit Show, Suzy and Brad were joined by Oliver Steinberg on stand up bass, Carol Chaikin on everything (well, flute, clarinet and two different saxes), Barry Zweig on guitar, and Don Allen on drums. And the entire crowd of loyal Venice fans on laughter, clapping and the opening chorus of "The Liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit Show!!!!" Everyone was down from the opening notes, that Suzy delivered in full Marilyn Monroe (who was also featured on the evening's program cover, reading Ulysses) regalia, right down to the beauty mark. That's the thing about Suzy, she really DELIVERS every single word, making her especially great at adapting such glorious words from authors that you may not have even known ever wrote song lyrics.

Like Kurt Vonnegut, Rudyard Kipling, and Ben Hecht (very upbeat number from the dude who wrote Scarface, etal!). Even Ray Bradbury, who lived exactly right across the street here in Venice for a spell, and whose song, "Bedtime Exercise" found Suzy portraying a sexy robot. A "Venusian Venetian."  To introduce Nabokov's ditty from Lolita, Suzy said, "Let's blow it all to Hell!" Which happened, particularly due to Carol Chaikin's sax blowing that was so feeling it that it reminded me of Lisa Simpson going off.

"The Great Secret", inspired by words from Hafiz, Suzy's "Spiritual Master", turned out to be that There really is no such thing as sin ... so we're off the hook, boys and girls! Suzy is the best. She reminds me a little of Bette Midler in her delivery, and her not giving a damn what anyone thinks, straight up doing her own thing, and in the vaudeville style way she interacts with the crowd. Suzy is a true mold breaker, though, and fully deserving of her title, The Venice Songbird.

After a brief intermission, Suzy returned to the stage as a sultry brunette, salting the set with funny little asides like, "Edna liked to be called 'Vincent'" about Edna St. Vincent Millay. For Vonnegut, Suzy donned a turban and hoop earrings and shook a maraca for the summery delight of "Bokomon's Calypso" from Cat's Cradle. All the Venice faces were smiling along, deeply in love with the divine Ms. W.  Nice, Nice, Very Nice!

The "G Rated Bessie Smith of Venice", introduced Brad Kay of Suzy when she sang "Little Shirley Beans". This one was inspired by Salinger's Catcher In The Rye - which she suggested everyone re-read when they're older. I'm going to.

The very bohemianly awesome evening ended with the crowd singing along "LOOOOOOOOOVE!" with Suzy to "A Song of Love" by Lewis Carroll (from Sylvie and Bruno). I loved every bit of it, and urge anyone who's never seen Suzy to get there and get charmed by our dear local treasure songbird. Especially because she shouts great things like, "Don't forget! Marilyn Monroe is always on the merry go round reading Ulysses!" to end her show.

The Liiiiiiiiiiiiit Show was about the most sweet/street, smart/tart time I've had in a while, and truly so original. Just like Suzy.