here’s my self-portrait the day after turning sixtysix! can’t believe I’ve made it this far and… I get to play in my pedro town w/bof joe baiza and chris corsano TONIGHT! crimony.
Tonight, Sunday, December 17, 2023 the annual C&C Holiday Pageant presented by Crissy Guerrero and Claudia Dolph will take place at The Lyric Theater on Hyperion. Performers include the surreal and enchanting Carnal Circus, the Roswell Sisters with Jenio from Candypants and the Wondermints, and El Vez, whose band includes Pat and Lety from the Schizophenics as well as your hostess Crissy Guererro.
* indicates that the film is also available to rent, purchase, or view on various streaming platforms. Please note that streaming versions may differ from these home video presentations.
“Five Nights at Freddy’s“* (2023, Universal Home Entertainment) Down-on-his-luck security guard Josh Hutcherson is tasked with watching over Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria, a long-shuttered Chuck E. Cheese-style eatery cursed with a history of child murders and a quintet of still-lively and homicidal animatronic mascots. Long-gestating feature film adaptation of the popular horror themed game had the unenviable task of fleshing out its rudimentary storyline (player tries to avoid being killed) and delivers a patchwork of plot threads and motivations cribbed from other horror films, including “A Nightmare on Elm Street,” “Sinister,” and other, mostly better films (“Five Nights” devotees may also take issue with the script’s revisions of accepted game canon). The cast gamely goes through the motions, though Matthew Lillard and Mary Stuart Masterson appear to enjoy their turns as cartoonishly malevolent adults, but what’s missing is the game’s steady flow of slow-boiling tension and explosivee shocks, which come too infrequently to make an impression; still, director/co-writer Emma Tammi does manage to insert some impressively creepy production design and visuals, especially in the ruined restaurant, and a surprising amount of gore for a kid-oriented, PG-13 feature. Universal’s Night Shift Edition bundles Blu-ray, DVD, and digital presentations with several short making-of featurettes.
The combination of fine dining and funky music may not yet be commonplace in LA, but at the recently-opened ADKT (Art Drinks Kitchen Tunes) in the Fairfax District, it is now possible to get your jam on while pondering the heady aroma of truffle mashed potatoes melting into a tender, beautifully grilled Chateaubriand, with a single sprig of thyme cutting through the richness. Can you get to that? We can, and did.
The house band, the Funkateers, pare down to vocals, guitar and percussion for the restaurant set, and their set of familiar classics went down easy with cocktails. It was a well-played and well-chosen group of songs, about the right level of intensity for a setting where you sometimes want to chat with your companion about the flavors that are hitting you, and sometimes are happy to get transported by sound to a happy place. Continue reading →
* indicates that this title is also available for viewing, rental, or purchase via various streaming platforms. Please note that streaming presentations may differ from these home video presentations.
“Weird: The Al Yankovic Story“* (2022, Shout! Factory) Delirious faux biopic about “Weird” Al (played with sheer bravado by Daniel Radcliffe) that refashions his rise to fame as a song parodist as a sort of Dickensian fable about finding one’s artistic voice: the young Al breaks free of his oppressive father (Toby Huss) with the help of an accordion purchased by his mother (Julianne Nicholson). Director Eric Appel, who co-wrote the film with Yankovic, has a great deal of fun skewering crucible moments in celebrity hagiographies – the spark for “My Bologna” is created by a sandwich – as well as the catalog of excesses and there-but-for-the-grace-of-God moments that are part and parcel of cautionary showbiz stories. Key to these scenes are Evan Rachel Wood as a predatory Madonna, who paves the road to fame hell for Al, and Rainn Wilson as Dr. Demento, who serves as spiritual advisor and shaman (by spiking guacamole with acid to inspire “Eat It”). A host of very funny people turn up as various historical figures (Quinta Brunson as Oprah, Jack Black as Wolfman Jack, Arturo Castro as Pablo Escobar, Yankovic himself and Will Forte as record execs the Scotti Brothers and even Emo Philips, whose Salvador Dali cements Al’s place in art and history). “Weird” is proudly, even defiantly silly, but never turns lowbrow – something of an accomplishment which folds a drug den massacre and a “Carrie” spoof into a movie about “Weird” Al. Shout! Factory’s 4K UHD/Blu-ray combo includes commentary by Yankovic and Appel, who also oversee several deleted and extended scenes; a making-of featurette and numerous promotional appearances by Yankovic, Radcliffe, and Wood round out the set.
A Santa spotted in the wilds of Downtown LA, November 23, 2023. Photo by Monique A. LeBleu.
This weekend and beyond, the winter holiday season truly begins within Greater Los Angeles when the city’s streets fill with both the most wicked and the most festive of revelers, celebrating in a style that can only be found in the imagination of that tenacious night creature–the colorfully costumed Pub Crawler.
Here’s a merely tentative listing of festive crawls and stumbles available over the next several weeks before ringing in the New Year (or before the ringing in your ears.) Note that a popular Krampus event that is currently sold out has an additional/alternate event scheduled, and there are several new pop-ups this year complete with entertainment and costume contests, as well as food and drink specials, with promises of a jolly good time.
‘Tis the season to be merry and bleary-eyed, come magical gift-giver, naughty-child punisher, or impending apocalypse. Continue reading →
I’ve had many opportunities to meet Saturday Night Live cast members. Chatted with Dan Ackroyd about roller derby at the Velvet Margarita. Listened to Chevy Chase try to impress his kids by pointing out filming locations for “Fletch” while I was escorting him and his family through the Universal backlot for Earth Walk. Met Laraine Newman a couple times because of her involvement with charity events I have produced. Had a brief relationship with Buck Henry’s phone number with no answering machine when I worked at the ACLU. I can even say that Kristen Wiig played a character who was loosely based on me in “Whip It” which was written by my roller derby carpool buddy Shauna Cross. And that while I was on set for the filming, Jimmy Fallon ran some derby announcing lines past me. Although not a cast member, I’ve even been given the death glare by Steve Martin when I had to interrupt his lunch with Martin Landau to talk to Marty. But of all the cast members thought-out all the years – there’s only one I was dying to meet and that was Sarah Sherman. Continue reading →
