I hope you have/are having a safe and fun New Year's Eve and will have a very prosperous and enlightening 2008.
I'd like to celebrate by posting part two of the Jacques Derrida lecture 'On Religion' recorded in 2002, continuing from part one which I had posted last month.
I was first introduced to the writings of Jacques Derrida when I was in my early twenties, and he has had a profound influence on me ever since.
My good friend Nate is getting married in February and not only has he given me the honor of being one of his groomsmen, but he is also having my band Spain perform at it. On Friday afternoon I met with Nate, along with the conductor of the big band he's hiring and the wedding DJ, at the wedding venue, an old, historic building in Downtown L.A. called the Los Angeles Athletic Club (LAAC).
According to their website LAAC was established in 1880 as "a haven for up and coming members of the Los Angeles community". Originally it was a men-only club (Nate told me during prohibition they had secret rooms where alcohol was served), but with the modernization of humankind it became co-ed and smoking is prohibited.
I could still smell the cigar smoke in the air, history just oozed off the oak walls and original art deco furnishings.
The piano looked and sounded great.
Here is Nate deep in thought, his head full of guest-to-food ratios and square-footage statistics.
The LAAC website is great and everyone should check it out, its at http://www.laac.com
The Los Angeles Athletic Club is located at 431 West Seventh Street in Los Angeles, CA 90014. It's a members-only club but free tours are available by calling (213) 625-2211.
Later that night Lisa and I went to our favorite Mexican food restaurant, Paco's Taco's, for dinner. Paco's serves without a doubt the best Mexican food in Los Angeles and we eat there at least two or three times a month (it is a little bit of a drive from where we live). Make sure you try their homemade flour tortillas which are incredible (and don't forget to tip the nice lady who makes them). I almost exclusively stick to their chile rellenos, either in a combo with a taco or enchilada or in their signature Paco's Burrito, which is actually a chile relleno burrito (without meat, as they always remind me). I always get Paco's Burrito with their green sauce, which is incredibly tasty with overtones of cinnamon and goes great with the refried beans.
The atmosphere of Paco's Taco's is festive as you can see.
The happy couple enjoying a night out a Paco's Tacos!
On our way out I bumped into my old friend, former Los Abandoned guitarist Don Verde, who was standing outside waiting for a table (I forgot to say that on weekend nights the wait for a table could be up to 45 minutes). Don Verde is an amazing musician, check out his myspace page at http://www.myspace.com/donverde.
Paco's Tacos is located at 4141 S. Centinela Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90066. Their phone number is 310-391-9616, and their website is http://www.pacoscantina.com/.
Yesterday I went to rehearse with my dad and Mark Fain for the upcoming Haden Family CD. I won't spoil the surprise by telling you which songs I'm singing on but I will say my dad and Mark sounded great and it was really inspiring to me.
Mark is an incredible country bassist (although he plays in lots of other styles too), he has worked with Ricky Skaggs, Bruce Hornsby, Dolly Parton, and many, many others. Check out his myspace page at http://www.myspace.com/fainbass.
Here's a photo of Mark and I at the rehearsal.
Last but not least, the other day I uploaded a live video to youtube of footage from a concert my solo band played last April. Here it is for your viewing pleasure.
Today we had a rehearsal for the upcoming Haden Family cd to be recorded next month in Nashville, Tennessee. We'll be performing traditional country, bluegrass, and folk songs, many of which were originally performed by the Haden Family in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s, and some incredible musicians like Ricky Skaggs and Mark Fain will be joining us in the studio.
Here is my dad and my sister Petra conferring on a song.
My dad and the Haden Triplets rehearsing vocal parts.
Merlo helped out with guitar.
All in all it was a lot of fun, even though I still haven't been able to run through my parts yet. We'll be rehearsing all the way up to the recording session which begins in early January.
Tomorrow I'm meeting with my good friend Nate at the Los Angeles Athletic Club in Downtown L.A. to scope the venue out for Nate's wedding. I'm really excited to be going inside such an historic building and I'll be sure to take lots of pictures.
Tomorrow night Lisa and I HAVE to go to our favorite Mexican food restaurant Paco's Taco's and I'll make sure to report from there as well.
I can't close today's post without saying somthing about the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, which I found out about today after I got home from the Haden Family rehearsal. I'm not an expert in politics, but there was something about her I liked, and I'm very sad for humankind tonight.
I'll be using this blog to keep everybody updated on the goings-on of my life and my various creative activities, including my band Spain, my solo music project Dead Sea Scrolls, and other music- and non-music related projects. I hope you enjoy it, please feel free to subscribe and check back often!
For those of you who don't know, I got married on Dec. 8 of this year to my long-time girlfriend Lisa, it was a beautiful wedding (or so I'm told, I was so nervous I don't remember much of it) and I'll have some pictures from it here soon.
We spent our honeymoon in Waikiki at a great hotel called the New Otani Kaimana Beach recommended by my good friend (and best man) Merlo (http://www.myspace.com/djtropikal).
This was the view of the sunset from our balcony.
The Newlyweds!
On our last night in Waikiki we had drinks at the Marriott and checked out this great band called the Waialea Hawaiian Band, featuring some heavyweights of Hawaiian music, George Kuo, Aaron Mahi, and Martin Pahinui. Highly recommended!
Tomorrow I'll be (finally!) attending a rehearsal for the new Haden Family cd, which we'll be recording the second week of January in Nashville. Check back soon for a detailed recap of events.
I play bass and sing in a band called Spain. I also play bass and sing in various other musical projects. Also, I'm an Aries, I like to cook, jog, and read.
Posts
