There was the most beautiful tree outside a Palm Springs area Trader Joes. We dubbed it the bee tree because all the bright yellow flowers had attracted a swarm of bees. Yellow, green and blue feel like such a positive color combination to me. After studying this tree I started noticing them all around Coachella and Palm Springs. I wish we had these in Echo Park.

Booker T

Paul McCartney

Paul McCartney

This weekend I was blessed with a free pass to Coachella music and arts festival outside Palm Springs. I had never been before and wasn’t planning on going this year but a great opportunity came up last minute. Things that come to you often come to you for a reason. The best part of the weekend was the people I was with. It was such a relaxing vacation! We stayed at a condo full of happy people super close to the festival. I also got to see all these great bands:

• Felix Da Housecat
• Franz Ferdinand
• Leonard Cohen (hallelujah!)
• Morrissey (a bit crabby but still pretty cool)
• Paul McCartney (junior high school dream realized)
• The Presets (they were great and so much fun to dance to)
• Booker T (amazing!)
• Gang Gang Dance
• Glass Candy (dance!)
• M.I.A. (like war on stage)
• TV On The Radio
• Antony and the Johnsons
• Devendra Banhart
• Etienne De Crecy (french house. awesome)
• My Bloody Valentine (i love the loud. they were great)
• Public Enemy
• The Cure
• X
• Throbbing Gristle (they cast a spell on the audience)
• Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Part of the crowd

The Presets

Fire Snake?

We also saw Abe Vigoda play at a fancy pool party. Probably one of the coolest pool parties I’ve ever been to since they were people walking around with trays of chicken fingers and french fries. I also made it through the weekend without getting a single bit of sunburn! Kim and I rocked the sun hats. 100 degrees didn’t even feel that bad.

Abe Vigoda

Palm Trees

I just returned to Los Angeles after a fun weekend at Coachella. My weather widget says it was 99 degrees today! I’ll post some pictures from the weekend soon. My dear friend Kate has started a theater blog which I set up for her (she is one of my small sites! Want one?). You can visit her site here and read excerpts from her plays as well.

I received an email announcement about a new show at one of my favorite photography stores in Hollywood:

The Gallery at the Creative Center for Photography and the Freestyle Educational Steering Committee proudly present…

“emerging (I)” 4

Our fourth annual exhibition of silver-based, fine-art photography

April 23 – June 12, 2009

Once again, members of Freestyle’s Educational Steering Committee have selected a group of outstanding traditional and alternative process student work for a new exhibition of black-and-white prints. The work demonstrates the keen vision of a new photographic generation.

ARTIST RECEPTION:

Thursday, April 23, 5:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

PARTICIPATING INSTITUTIONS:

• Cerritos College • CSU Northridge • CSU San Bernardino • Cypress College • Glendale College • Long Beach City College • LA City College • Montana State University • Mt. San Antonio College • Orange Coast College • San Diego City College • San Francisco Art Institute • Santa Monica College • Victor Valley College

The Gallery at the Creative Center for Photography

Freestyle Photographic Supplies

5124 Sunset Boulevard

Hollywood, CA 90027

323.660.3460 x121

Today I came across pictures from Lee Gainer’s Two Month Salary exhibit. The show acts on the saying that an engagement ring should cost the equivalent of the man’s salary for two months. Gainer did the math for various professions and collaged them together. Gainer’s artist statement says his art “explores culturally accepted and media supported perceptions” and I think this certainly qualifies. Perhaps I just liked it because of all the sparkely rings. I wouldn’t buy the book but perhaps this will morph into a refrence guide for engaged women everywhere. ;)

This is also another example of insanely simple web design.

Lee Gainer – Two Months Salary.

Caitlin and I went to the beach on Sunday. We also drove around Venice and Santa Monica. It was warm and beautiful. I’m looking forward to the summer.

New photo gallery up with pictures from 2008. I wish I could have been more creative organizing them but I wasn’t. Some day I will reorganize everything. Visit 08.

I harvested my first fruit of the summer today (and it’s not even summer). I have never grown strawberries before. They were very good. Now if I could just grow a few hundred more I’d have something.

flat

underwear

birthday

hide-and-seek

The Photographic Dictionary.

This is a lovely site of photos organized like a dictionary. There are many different styles of photography to be found here and I believe the project is still growing. I love the wabi sabi feel of the site. I have always favored super simple web design; especially when showcasing photographs. Lately I have been a big fan of group projects.

It is a beautiful day. Even the leak in my kitchen ceiling can’t change that. I went to the Magic Castle last night which was strange but good. Sherry Lewis’s daughter has taken over the Lambchop act and for some reason she performed (I suppose it was sort of magical). Her set was slightly offensive so I won’t go into details. I didn’t take any pictures because I wasn’t sure if you were allowed to bring cameras into the Magic Castle. In retrospect I doubt anyone would have cared. It was a slow night.

I bought a huge box of strawberries at Ralphs the other day for 99 cents and have been eating them with sugar like I did when I was young. I think that used to be one of my favorite snacks. Kim and I went to a crazy sample sale in Silverlake on Saturday. I found two tops made with sustainable materials. Clothing made with a mind towards the environment is always so soft.

A paper mache dragon and castle in Austin. This was for a festival a little outside of the city.

Lunch from Mighty Cone in Austin. I want to try to recreate these.

A living wall in Austin.

Goodwill Church in Yuma, Arizona.

My meyer lemon tree is in bloom and smells amazing. My strawberry plants are also doing well. I’m excited to be growing my own fruit this year.

Drawing on a bathroom wall at a truck stop on the 5.

A beautiful succulent garden in Oakland.

Bill Gray

The Mae Shi

Les Savy Fav

Apricot trees (?) on the way back to Los Angeles the following day.

100 artists at Sugar Salon.

Dave and I spotted these on a walk.

These globes are from two different Goodwill stores in Los Angeles. I hope to collect a few more. They were made at different times and thus are slightly different.