Not even close to acoustic

Sunday evening, we trekked across town to Universal City and the Gibson Amphitheater for KROQ's annual Almost Acoustic Christmas Concert.  First things first, this was not even close to acoustic.  The two bands that actually brought out acoustic guitars still played them alongside electric guitars, basses, and keyboards.  Let's just get that straight right off the bat.

Second, it was cold.  Really cold.  Preparing for an evening like this requires good, hearty food and drink.  Nachos, buffalo wings, and beer:

But Chris, you say, this is LA.  It couldn't be that cold, right?  Wrong!  Look at the snowman!  He's smoking a cigar to keep warm.

Once we got inside, it was a little warmer, which is good because this was a six-hour concert.  We got there while Snow Patrol was playing.  They were followed by Franz Ferdinand, who rocked the place.  Next was Scott Weiland doing a solo, drunken looking stagger around the stage, warbling incoherently in a Panama hat.  We stepped outside for a bit at this point.

Next came Death Cab for Cutie, followed by Paramore.  Oh, and somewhere in there was the super secret surprise guest.  Let's see...what rhymes with guest?  Best?  Rest?  Oh yeah.  Kanye motherf@#$#ing West!

Then came the real show.  Michelle's favorite band followed by one of my favorites.  First, The Killers:

And last up, starting around 11:30pm on a work night, The Cure:

I will note that The Cure was the only band that stuck to their favorite guitars through their entire set.  Other bands kept swapping out guitars with roadies between songs.  It was nice to finally hear a band re-tuning occasionally, as they had to do back when they were playing small clubs.

All in all, it was a good, long, long night.  Michelle's voice was gone the next day from singing along.  My 32-year-old body is still recovering and should be back in form by this weekend.

An intimate evening with Ashton Kutcher

I had another celebrity sighting last night. This makes what, two since I've been in LA? I went to a digital media mixer headlined by Ashton Kutcher and Arianna Huffington:

Ashton is pretty articulate on his views about digital media. Some people might be surprised, but when a person plays such completely moronic characters in TV and film, I usually assume he's probably much smarter in real life.

Anyway, it was a pretty dry, long event. The food was awful, and the drinks were not free (so I had none). The room was shoulder-to-shoulder, and I left early to get home to my pooches, who are way cuter than Ashton anyway.

Details about the event...

Sunday is Veterinamarian Day

Little Charlie's week got off to a big start with a trip to the vet. Annie came along for the walk, because, well let's be honest, Annie could use the walk. But today was Charlie's day; Annual Checkup Day.

And the verdict is...


Ideal poochie! Ideal weight, beautiful coat, very very handsome. But you probably already knew that.

Liam

Today we went to watch the UCLA Bruins take on the USC Trojans. It was quite one sided, but the real show was our new friend, Liam. Oh, and we hung out with our friends Tony and Dena too.

Dinner and a movie, what a cliche...

After a looong week, we decided to head to Culver City for dinner and a movie. Chris's old music teacher, Jim Garvey had given us a gift certificate to a restaurant called Fraiche. We used it months ago, but Fraiche is our one of our favorite restaurants. We started with a dozen Kumamoto oysters....yum!
After dinner we strolled over to the Pacific Theatres. I really wanted to see Four Christmases, but the idea of seeing that almost made Chris puke up all the wonderful oysters we had just eaten. I didn't want a big regurgetated mess on my hands, so we saw Role Models instead. The movie was hilarious. 3.5 out of 5 stars from me.

Thursday night at Staples

So, I know Staples is a nationwide office supply chain, so most of you, even in places like Knoxville, TN, have been to or at least seen one. It's a pretty cool store. Lots of labels, chairs, pens, and such, but not the kind of place you'd usually go for a wild night out. Well, things are different in LA. You see, downtown we have a really big Staples that's not like any other I've ever seen. It's something like 10 stories! Parking is ridiculous, but look at this:


It's HUGE!!!

Another thing they probably don't have at your local Staples is music. I mean, not just canned music piped in to make you want more office supplies, but Ryan Adams and Oasis. Live! Seriously! Is this town cool, or what? I don't know how Office Depot even gets out of bed in the morning.

Ryan Adams plays a really big guitar:


We didn't even have time to look at the newest laserjet return address labels I wanted to check out, because we got there at 7:30, and it was after 11 when the concert ended, and I guess they close the sales floor by then, because I didn't see an entrance to it anywhere.

Oasis (I think they're from Een-gu-land):


Michelle says, "I can't believe Avery makes this many labels!"

Post Thanksgiving Fun

Not much has happened since the Louie clan descended on Santa Clarita for Thanksgiving. I would have posted pictures, but our camera died. All you need to know is that Tiana was very happy...that's all that really matters.

This week has been tough. Who knew that four days off would not be enough? I've been fighting a cold, which I think is the result of eating bad food for almost a week straight without exercise. My body is angry with me, and it punishes me with a head cold. I am finally starting to feel better. I like to believe it's because I have been to Whole Foods two times in as many days. There's something about buying over priced produce that makes you feel better.

Tonight we are going to see Ryan Adams and Oasis at the Staples Center. Hopefully Liam and Noel will get into a fight on stage. That would be the best show ever!