Quote Of The Day

Actually from yesterday (can't blame me for having trouble keeping up with my newspaper reading).

"I think it's a lot to ask of a candidate to think about not only who gave them money, but who those contributors might be doing business with," - Laura Friedman, Glendale (CA) City Councilmember. From here.

Today's update to this story is here: Lockyer, Chiang freeze money they got from developer

Read it and weep. Happy holidays and Merrrrry Christmas Los Angeles!

The Return Of The Blue Moods Of Spain

Music writer Scott Timberg did a nice write-up of my band Spain for his blog The Misread City.

Spain At Spaceland - The Photos

Thanks to everyone who came to watch my band Spain play at Spaceland in Silver Lake, California. It was our second show with new guitarist Daniel Brummel and the first time we got to play a few new songs live so we had a lot of fun.

Spain guitarist/keyboardist Randy Kirk: Setting up his keyboard

rig can be a drag...unless the keyboard happens to be a Hammond Organ!

Spain drummer Matt Mayhall at soundcheck.

Sounds good!

I didn't take this picture.

Mad Gregs opened the show.

At precisely 11pm, Spain took the stage.

I play bass and sing.

Daniel Brummel plays guitar.

Thanks to Lindsay for selling our new limited edition CD for us at the show! For more photos of our Spaceland set, check out my flickr site!

To Mayor Villaraigosa: Sell The Police Stations To Non-Profits!

Hey Mayor! If Los Angeles can't maintain its police force, why not do to police stations what you're doing to our schools?

Instead of making "fiscally responsible compromises", sell individual police stations to the highest non-profit bidders! Its a win-win situation!

Spain 7" Release Date & A Gig

Our good friends at Acuarela Discos will be releasing Spain's new 7" "I'm Still Free" b/w "Hang Your Head Down Low" on Dec. 15, 2009.

To celebrate we'll be playing at Spaceland in Los Angeles on Dec. 19. Hope you can make it!

L.A. River On Your Desktop

For those of you who are interested in learning about the L.A. River but are too frightened, lazy, or busy to visit it yourself, KCET's Departures has posted a cool interactive online map that has video/audio footage and history. Hours of fun.

Josh Haden's Guide To The California Statewide Special and Consolidated Elections, May 19, 2009

Note to Gov. Schwarzenegger:

You can't go around blaming the people for problems you helped create and not expect the people to get angry.

If the measures you support (1A - 1F) don't pass, don't blame the voters for an even more "dire" state of the state.

The voters don't trust you!!

California is at least as bad off now if not worse than when you replaced Gray Davis. All of the problems we are experiencing now happened under your watch.

You need to take responsibility and step down!

What is this b.s. about 1F?

There needs to be a measure on this ballot saying that, as a step towards balancing the budget, and as a way of admitting responsibility for the current crisis, and as a gesture towards showing the people they honestly want to change things, all California lawmakers must cut their salaries down to $1 a year for the next four years. I'm sure that would save California a lot of money.

Thus, for the State Measures, my strong recommendations are:

1A: No
1B: No
1C: No
1D: No
1E: No
1F: No

I know, for once I agree with the California Republican Party, but I don't think for the same reasons. The California Democratic Party support 1B, 1C, and 1F (on the rest they officially have "no position". Hmmm... Weren't these measures written by Schwarzenegger and the Democratic Party in the first place?)

For Los Angeles City Attorney, I endorse Carmen "Nuch" Trutanich. Not that I think he's any better than Jack Weiss, I just think Weiss is a little too friendly with Villaraigosa for my taste. 

For the Los Angeles Community College District I endorse incumbents Angela J. Reddock and Nancy Pearlman. They seem OK to me.

My recommendations hold true for my district only. Other districts will have other and additional measures/candidates to vote for.

LAist has posted a guide to the myriad of endorsements for this election, including L.A. Times, Young Progressive Majority, and others. Kudos as always to Zach Behrens and LAist.

Josh Haden's Guide To The California 26th State Senate District Special Primary Election, March 24, 2009

Last night my wife Lisa and I rented Gus Van Sant's film entitled Milk.

After it finished, for about fifteen minutes I decided to give up my music career and go into politics.

Where are the politicians today who inspire, who gather the masses under a legitimate common cause and bring them marching en masse into the streets, not just for a day-long CNN photo-op to sell advertising spots? Where are the politicians who aren't already entrenched in politics, who don't already come from a political family or a political history, where are the politicians who are so passionate about their beliefs they grab a soapbox, a megaphone and set up on a street corner, starting from a grass roots effort, until thousands of people rally around them and effect real change, not just the kind of change politicians call change.

Is Obama the closest we can get?

All I've received from the candidates in this latest L.A. election are 13 one-sheet and small pamphlet mailers and two oven mitts.

Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the oven mitts, but I was expecting a little more.

If the number of mailers I've received are any indication, Curren Price will be the clear winner of this race (I've received eight mailers from him). Robert Cole and Jonathan Friedman (two mailers each, although they did include said oven mitts with one of their mailers) will tie for a distant second.

However, I endorse Saundra Davis, for the mere fact she is endorsed by Congresswoman Diane Watson, and you can't go wrong with Diane Watson, at least not yet. Lots of politicians have been disappointing me lately.

Harvey Milk would never have disappointed me. Rest In Peace, Courageous Man.

For a full list of candidates for the 26th State Senate District Special Primary Election, see my previous post here.

Tindersticks + Spain Photos From Henry Fonda Theater 13 March 2009

Here are some photos of Tindersticks I took from the show at the Henry Fonda Theater in Hollywood 13 March 2009. The first two photos are from their soundcheck. The photos of my band Spain were taken by Andrea Morgenstern.

Tindersticks, Spain Friday the 13th

Tomorrow night, Friday, March 13, Tindersticks and my band Spain will be performing on the same stage at the Henry Fonda Theater.

This is Tindersticks' first L.A. show in over five years and one of only a handful of dates they are playing in the U.S. to support their latest CD, The Hungry Saw.

This show also marks the debut of Spain's new lead guitarist, Perry Smith.

Please come and support if you can. It would be great to see you.

Friday March 13, 2009
Tindersticks
Spain
Henry Fonda Theater
6126 Hollywood Blvd.
Hollywood, CA
All Ages - $28
323-464-0808

Spain Tomorrow Night March 7

Spain goes on at 8:30pm so get there early!

Saturday March 7, 2009
Create:Fixate Art Event
Premiere Events Center
613 Imperial St. LA, CA 90013
All Ages - $15/$20

Josh Haden's Guide To The March 3 Los Angeles Municipal Elections

I wanted to write a much longer blog entry on today's Los Angeles election, in which we Los Angeleans, amongst other things, get to vote on a new mayor, but I simply didn't have the time!

Its frustrating because this is a very important election for Los Angeles, even though probably most registered voters will be ignoring it.

An incredibly fascinating article about the corrupt and out-of-control politics of our city was published last week in the L.A. Weekly, I encourage everyone who's interested to read it.

Every city's political machine is corrupt to a certain extent and Los Angeles is no exception. Watch the movie "Chinatown" with Jack Nicholson to see how twisted it is and how far back the corruption goes.

Anyways, I love my city no matter what!

Please note this guide only applies to my voting district. There are many offices and candidates I won't be covering here, a great source to check out for other districts is the Young Progressive Majority.Org Voter's Guide.

My picks for the election, without fanfare and very little if any explanation:

Mayor: David "Zuma Dogg" Saltsburg

City Attorney: None

Controller: None, there really is no good candidate running for this important office, and that's sad because this office oversees audits of city government operations and financial disbursement programs, amongst other things. The apparent front runner, council district 2 representative and council President Pro Tempore Wendy Greuel is so much a part of the problem in L.A. city government I don't know how anybody could expect her to have a proper neutral perspective to do a good job. Her television advertisements are so disingenuous (me paraphrasing: "such and such office hired a firm to teach its employees Zen meditation! Horrible! With me in office there will be no governmental funding of Zen meditation on L.A. city property!"). I'm not sure we should trust her. I hope she proves me wrong.

Los Angeles Community College District:
Member Of The Board Of Trustees, Seat No. 2: Angela J. Reddock
Member Of The Board Of Trustees, Seat No. 4: None
Member Of The Board Of Trustees, Seat No. 6: Toss-up between Robert Nakahiro & Nancy Pearlman.
Member Of The Board Of Trustees, Seat No. 7: Miguel Santiago

Measure A: YES
Measure B: NO (A good article about this measure can be found here.)
Measure C: YES
Measure D: YES
Measure E: NO

Happy voting!

I'm going to sleep now!

Los Angeles Municipal Elections March 3, 2009

Tonight (actually last night) I was flipping through my Time Warner-supplied TV channels and thought I had tuned in to the resurrected L.A. Public Access Channel.

It was actually L.A. CityView 35 with their informative yet low budget look at the Mayoral/City Attorney/City Controller candidates for the upcoming L.A. Municipal Election.

I learned on this year's mayoral ticket there are two socialists, a pastor-pro-marijuana legalization guy, and a self-described "entertainer". Everyone's favorite L.A. watchdog and City Council superstar, Zuma Dogg, is running, he appeared minus costume, dressed in suit-and-tie and sounding quite intelligent, and only ranting a little bit. Of course there was the man himself, current defending champion Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, you know, the other politician who cheated on his wife.

Does anyone know if Zuma Dogg ever cheated on his significant other? Who cares? David Saltsburg (Zuma's real name) has my vote.

In the City Attorney category I was impressed with Michael Richard Amerian's professionalism and dedication, but rival Noel Weiss did quote D.H. Lawrence in his speech, and that counts for something.

I liked all of the candidates for Controller, although I was smitten by Nick Patsaouras' genuineness. I wonder if maybe Zuma Dogg might be better off starting his L.A. political career by running for Controller, as both he and current councilperson Wendy Greuel are using the "get rid of Waste, Fraud, and Abuse" platform.

All of the respective candidates' video statements can supposedly be seen on-demand at the L.A. CityView website, although I couldn't find them anywhere.

So, to all my L.A. friends, don't forget to vote March 3!

I CAN drive 55

There was a time in my life when I was addicted to driving fast.

I didn't feel comfortable driving on a freeway unless I was travelling at least 80 mph.

In fact, there was a time when, while attending a school that shall remain nameless, during my nightly drive home on a freeway that shall remain equally nameless, I made it a regular practice to drive almost the entire way at 100 mph.

One late night, while barreling down this aforementioned freeway at my customary high speed, something happened that changed the way I think about driving forever.

A motorcycle cop, travelling at a speed well over my 100 mph, pulled alongside me, looked me in the eyes and yelled "SLOW THE F**K DOWN!!", and then proceeded to pass me and pull over the car driving in front of me, who was going equally as fast.

I immediately slowed down to 80 mph and when I got home decided that this was a sign I needed to change my driving habits.

The solution I came up with was to reduce my freeway driving speed gradually over time. So for a few weeks I kept it at 80mph. For a few weeks after that I limited my speed to 75 mph, and so on, until eventually I was driving the speed limit, usually 65 mph on most Los Angeles-area freeways.

This change in approach to driving crossed over into other areas of my life. I was able to slow down and be more thoughtful in areas where before I had been acting impatiently, usually to my detriment.

It also completely altered the way I drive on surface streets. City streets have different posted speed limits for very good reasons: safety. They are in no way arbitrary. If a posted speed limit reads 25 mph, there's a reason for it, and that's how fast I drive. I don't complain about it.

In Los Angeles there's a freeway called the I-110 Pasadena Freeway. It was constructed in 1940 and was originally called the Arroyo Seco Parkway. The speed limit at the time (as was the speed limit on all U.S. freeways) was 45 mph. Nowadays the speed limit on this freeway is 55 mph, but most drivers insist on going much faster than that. My suggestion to any L.A. driver is, the next time you find yourself on the 110, slow down a little and check out the scenery. The 110 was the first freeway built in California and still has many scenic landmarks surrounding it. You might see something you haven't seen before, and when you eventually get out of your car, as we all must, you might walk a little more slowly, and enjoy your day a little better.

New Flickr Page

I've opened a flickr account at http://www.flickr.com/photos/joshhaden/.

Click on the link to view the photos I've taken in my "Los Angeles Religious Iconography" collection.

I'll be adding lots of photos to my page, including photos from old Spain gigs, and more.

Feel free to subscribe to my photostream and/or add me as a friend and/or contact.

I Met Tom LaBonge Today

I met L.A. City Councilmember Tom LaBonge by chance today while we were shopping at a local supermarket.

I was so tongue-tied I forgot to tell him to please save Los Angeles Public Access television!

Instead I said "I watch you on T.V." Maybe he got the message.

I love watching the penny-ante preachers, the beer-drinking guys who interview porn stars, that famous acting expert guy, and the guy who just stares back at you for half an hour. They're part of what makes our city great.

Not to mention the L.A. City Council meetings, which air in tape delay every business day. Go Zuma Dogg! And Tom LaBonge too!

And my favorite T.V. news anchorwoman, Ellen Cheng, who hosts the informative L.A. This Week.

It'll be a sad day if L.A. Public Access goes away. It doesn't seem right. The new California State law (which is supposed to go into effect Jan. 1) that allows Time Warner to pay a fee into state coffers rather than offer Public Access programming is fundamentally unfair and deprives L.A. citizens of programming that isn't homogenized and sanctified by greedy corporations (like Time Warner, sad to say) who are just trying to push their agenda on us. Public Access is commercial-free and I doubt Time Warner makes any money off it. Its probably a liability to them.

Some things are more valuable than money! At least that's my opinion.

Nice Night

Last night Spain played at the Echo. It was fun.

Beck played a "secret show" as the opening band. He has a new band and new songs and new sunglasses and he sounded great.



Alt-Country/Folk artist Daniel Ahearn played next. He was great too. Very charismatic presence. That's Heather Lockie from Listing Ship on viola!



Of course I don't have any photos of our set, but a fellow-blogger posted some he took along with a review of our set (not very favorable!) on his blog called Classical Geek Theatre. There's also some photos on the LA Underground flickr page.

Spain At The Echo Wed. 6-11-08

Spain will be playing new songs and some oldies but goodies too this Wednesday, June 11 at the Echo in Los Angeles, California. We have an unlimited $5.00 guest list for the show so if you'd like to be included on it feel free to send me an email at jhaden@mac.com and let me know.

June 11, 2008
Spain 10pm
Daniel Ahearn 9pm
Correatown 11pm
the Echo
1822 Sunset Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90026
$7 ($5 unlimited guestlist, email jhaden@mac.com to be included)
(213) 413-8200

Best Pancakes In L.A.

Lisa and I had breakfast at Green Leaves Vegan yesterday and its our new favorite restaurant in L.A., just based on the pancakes.

I think I'm gonna go there tonight and order food to go.



Some serious axes adorn the walls.

Dead Sea Scrolls Tonight

Dead Sea Scrolls will be opening for my favorite comedian Neil Hamburger tonight at Spaceland in Silver Lake. Hope to see you there!

March 30, 2008
Dead Sea Scrolls (Josh Haden Solo Project)
Spaceland
1717 Silverlake Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90027
213-985-4333
9pm/21+/$8

Also appearing: Neil Hamburger, Andy Daly (from Mad TV), and the Juggolos.