sha in LA

Elephant Theatrical Training Lab

Most States in the US have catchy little slogans, for instance I'm from Maryland and Maryland is for Crabs, neighboring state Virginia is for Lovers. If Los Angeles was a separate entity from the rest of California it's slogan would surely be Los Angeles is for Actors because you can't throw a rock in this town without hitting one upside the head. Don't get me wrong, I love 'em, they keep me employed and entertained. I'm just sayin'....

My loving Theatre company and associated producing entity, Elephant Stageworks, is launching a new Theatrical Training Laband in conjunction is having a benefit/fundraiser tomorrow night (sorry for the short notice) at Tangier Restaurant and Lounge in beautiful Los Feliz.

This event is open to the public. $10 at the door includes food and drink specials all night long, 2 free raffle tickets for some great prizes, gift certificates and other giveaways plus special musical performances by Up All Night and The Stevie Ray Vaughan Tribute Band. DJ Lady C spins through out the evening.

If you are able and available please stop by and help support the arts. Sadly I will not be in attendance as I will be donating my time to the Los Angeles Conservancy at the same time, however I just may show up at the end of the night to help wrap things up as I live in the neighborhood. No promises though. It was a loooong weekend.

If you just can't make the party but are interested in taking a class I can vouch for the all of the instructors, it's an amazing group of people that I choose to be associated with.

x

savoy searchers, i feel your pain

A few weeks ago I tried looking up info on the Savoy (previously Alexan Savoy) but found all the links to the development crashed my computer. Odd, but I thought it temporary. Maybe they were having an internal glitch. Today I decided to take another stab at it however I was getting the same results. An attempt at doing a yahoo search yielded my website as the top link. "Well that's gonna do no one good," I thought. I continuously get google searches for the development on a daily basis and I'm assuming there are lots of frustrated people out there because of this. So I kept internet searching and guess what I found?? Yup. What looks to be a live link to the development with a rather odd web address, Los Angeles Downtown Condos. Oh yeah, sure, that makes sense. Usually if one doesn't know the actual address of something you just put in something close to the name and hit enter and the magic of the computer world gets you to the corect website. Not in this instance. Maybe the web kids over there should fix this little "issue."

That being said here's my good deed for the day: Looking for more info on the Alexan Savoy or Savoy in Downtown Los Angeles? Click on the links I have provided!

...only if they can find ya'!!

x

Black Sunday

All apologies. I had every intention of going to check out The Mercury on Sunday however a mini-meltdown due to lack of sleep and other factors had me laying low instead. It took every ounce of energy I had to get motivated and leave my apartment for the 7:30 show of The Black Rider which I had already purchased tickets for. Visually stunning however difficult at times to watch due to the excessive repetition and fractured storyline. I'm on the fence about it although I'm glad I saw it for half price due to goldstarevents and the fact that they (the Ahmanson) upgraded our entire section from Front Balcony to Mezzanine.

x

it's gettin' hot in here

Lofts in Koreatown. Crazy I know but I think they're runnin' outta' space in Downtown.

Joke kids, it's a joke.

I've been wondering about the whole "Mercury is Rising" sign that's been on the big 60's(?) structure at the southwest corner of Wilshire and Western for a while. This Saturday and Sunday they are holding an open house of some sort and I plan on getting motivated enough to stop by and check things out for myself. It's been far too long since I've reported on any loft/conversion stuff and seeing as how a majority of my hits are regarding that very subject matter I feel obligated to keep it fresh and new. I still don't understand though why I get so many hits for the Savoy. Hmm, maybe next weekend I will investigate further seeing as how they are open for move-in.

Back to the subject at hand, The Mercury is the name and Forest City is the developer (most recently of Metro 417 fame; the old Subway Terminal Building). They did a lovely job on that building so the expectations are high. A real plus for this site in particular (Wilshire/Western) is that public transportation access is within spitting distance. Not that anyone moving into a $400k+ unit is the public transport type, but one can hope that with the availability so nearby maybe a few can be converted. Oh well, a girl can dream can't she?

*The website says you're supposed to register for the open house by calling a specific number; that number happens to be a fax line. Maybe things will get fixed tomorrow. Otherwise I'm crashing the party.

x

626 Reserve

Sensing a stillness in the blog I needed desperately to find some inspiration, and quick. I e-mailed Eric this afternoon saying that we needed to try 626 Reserve soon and wouldn't you know it, he and Phil were available tonight to test the waters wine with me.

I've been getting a few hits for the place and after doing a quick google search I now know why. You get me and the Downtown News and that's about it. We weren't sure if it would be open on a sleepy Tuesday in Downtown but thought we'd give it our best shot. To our surprise it was open and has a very standard web address where we would have found the hours listed had we been smart enough to try the obvious.

We were pleasantly pleased with our choices of Endive, Gorgonzola, Grapes and Candied Pecans Salad; Chicken Breast Sandwich with Carmelized Onions; Ahi Ceviche; and Spinach and Mushroom Quiche. I had a lovely red wine of some sorts (not a big wine drinker I am but the one I got was good). 626 Reserve is a Wine and Tapas Bar so be forewarned that the portions aren't huge. The prices seem to be on par with other similar restaurants and the atmosphere was lovely if not a bit sparsely populated however as I said earlier, it was a Tuesday in Downtown. We all agreed that we'd be back.

So there you have it. Go, drink, eat, enjoy!

Cheers!

x

fine art at M.J. Higgins

Last night was the monthly Downtown Art Walk. I didn’t attend in the formal sense because I had previous theatre commitments however I have recently enjoyed the new show at M.J. Higgins. The current showing is titled Figure It Out and runs until June 17th. I highly suggest popping in for a visit sometime and checking it out, especially if you’re in the neighborhood. There is one artist, and her self-portrait in particular, that I am enthralled with. Her name is Erin Currier and for some unknown reason the IT people at work won’t let me go to her website. Damn them. Her pieces are mixed medium as she “travels the world's streets collecting the discarded with which to portray the discarded... lending a voice to those who fight for human rights, social change and those who resist unjust established orders.”

The entire show is filled with work that compliments each other to create a lovely exhibit. Have a visit:

M.J. Higgins Fine Art & Furnishings
244 S. Main Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012
(213) 617-1700

x

strawberries!

Has anyone else been tempted by the banner ad on the LA Times CalendarLive website for the Strawberry Festival?

May 20 & 21 in Oxnard. Hmmm.....

x

you light up my life...or maybe not

A few months ago I reported that the Griffith Observatory was all lit up at night and urged people to go see for themselves the magnificent sight. Unfortunately that must have been the one night they decided to do a test run on exterior lighting because ever since then it’s been dark. I got a few shots but since my camera is a little point and shoot digital they weren’t as spectacular as the real deal.

Today the LA Daily News is running a story on the impending grand re-opening later this year. Iamstandingherebesidemyself, eagerly awaiting the day when we can go back and visit this stunning updated structure. I don’t look forward to the traffic and massive amounts of people but the new view and other fun stuff…hell yes.

This is my Getty.

x

Shannon eats crow and other meat byproducts

Admittedly I haven’t had many nice things to say about the Dodgers performance this season and most of that commentary has been kept to myself. To say that I went to the Dodgers-Houston game last night and was expecting a win would be a false statement. I really was only going to get my fancy-pants fleece blanket because I get a mighty chill in the winter around these parts. The night started off great, waiting for “grandpa” EA’s back to loosen up so that he could make it from the parking lot to the actual stadium was hilariously funny. I swear he’s the oldest 32-year old I know. I mean c’mon, who throws their back out vacuuming and biking? Sorry babe, I had to do it.

Once we finally made it inside the stadium we decided to visit the Top of the Park gift shop so that EA could contribute to the positive financial outlook for the Dodgers Merchandise department.

With the score 0-2 in favor of Houston all happening within the 1st inning things weren’t looking too good for our prospects of a positive outcome. Around the 3rd inning it was time to refresh our $8 domestic beer and grab some Dodger Dogs. Whilst in line for such treats the Dodgers decided to go on a little scoring run and by the time we returned to our seats a game had broken out…5-2 the Dodgers were on top. Yeah, well the party didn’t last too long and before we could digest the pork-like product the Astros were back in the lead. The only way to fix that situation was to send EA off to get more beer and cracker jacks. Our plan worked and we scored a run to tie the game. After that it was pretty uneventful until the 8th when the scoring gods looked down upon Dodger Stadium and blessed us with some offense.

Overall it was a nice little outing for the co-organizers of the Bergins Blue/Brew Crew, our next visit to the stadium will be with 28 of our closest friends for the Dodger-Mets game on June 7th. Go Blue!

X

tofu: all the cool kids are eating it

Save the date: August 12th & 13th, 2006. That is all I know. Oh, and that the tofu tostadas are AMAZING! The official website of the 2006 Tofu Festival is not up and running yet, it still links to last years' festivities.

I'll update closer to the actual date.

x