End o' week musings

I almost killed myself last Saturday... No, I'm not depressed or anything like that, but I did my exercise classes and then took my mother with me to visit friends to work on their rock garden. My mom and I ended up doing all the work, while my friends drank manhattans and discussed the rest of their plans for their yard.

Actually it was fun. We used a pile of cool rocks that my friend's father collected and some leftover tiles from their bathroom redo. My mother kept asking if they wanted it to look like the Roman ruins, but none of us quite understood never having been there. I just sipped my drink and nodded and continued trying to lay out the rocks and tile artistically. Boy! was I tired when we finished.

I went to Cafe 322 on Sunday and it was very nice. They have a good selection of food and drink and the bands playing were very good too. My only beef was the music was at that weird volume- too soft for earplugs, but too loud for talking. My favorite part was petting a beautiful orange curly-haired dog on the patio.

On Wednesday I got a peek at the new Chinese garden opening at the Huntington in San Marino next week. In a word, it's gorgeous. It's also very relaxing. I could imagine spending time in one of its pavillions practicing my yoga! If you go, don't forget your camera.

Last night I went to Crash Mansion in Los Angeles. I liked the venue. First off the parking is right next to the building and well-lit. Inside is spacious and the bathrooms were clean ALL night. The security is just right and the sound was good.

I had gone for the Faster Pussycat/Beautiful Creatures concert and was treated to three additional bands- all from L.A. First up was Culture Killers, pure American rock with a good attitude. I liked their music and found myself humming along during some of the choruses as they repeated. Prowler followed. This trio is primarily guitar-driven, but their drummer and bassist did their fair share. They're older guys, but they didn't rock any less, in fact they had every cliche down, which made them fun to watch.

The all-girl band Cockpit has quite a following if last night was any indication of their fan base. The pretty quartet were all competent on their instruments and enjoyed themselves as much as the crowd did them. Their songs were well-crafted and the band was professional and had their act together, while still remaining personable and entertaining.

I'm a Beautiful Creatures fan- have been since I saw them at some little club somewhere when they were nobodies... I love their take-no-prisoners and we-ain't-whining-about-it attitude, plus their music makes me want to move. I scored a choice place right in front of the stage looking at lead guitarist Anthony Focx do his thing. Yeah, he's easy on the eyes, but I was concentrating on his playing- he is quite impressive. Needless to say, BC was awesome! And, best of all, they played some of my favorite tunes.

Focx also joined Faster Pussycat for their set. With only part of the band intact, they still pulled off their numbers with style and sass. I was very amused with their stage presence though. The group was a jumbled disorganized mess that somehow pulled it together for each tune. They made comments to and about each other, the bass player wandered off in between songs at one point and, during "House of Pain," they sat down on the stage. Weird, wacky, wild and WONDERFUL. I would definitely see them again.

I have to share something that kept happening between me and Focx during the FP set. The monitors were evenly spaced across the stage and Valerie and I were firmly planted between two of them. Every time Focx would go to the other side of stage, the girls would try to grab him and touch him, so he stood far back to solo. When he came to our side, he quickly realized that Valerie and I were there to watch. I ended up with him kneeling in front of me, holding his guitar and attacking the strings just below my face! I couldn't move back because of the crowd and Focx didn't care or was it that he wanted to share the moment with someone who would truly appreciate it, as well as his talent?? I dunno, but it was great!

Tomorrow I am planning on going to the 15th Annual Scottish Festival and Games at the Queen Mary in Long Beach during the day and in Anaheim to see the HorrorPops at night. I'll be at Rio Hondo College in Whitter Wednesday for Gilli Moon and practicing for my shows the rest of the week. You can read my previews to these events at http://www.sgvn.com/ To find out about my upcoming (free) dance performance, visit http://www.almasearabesque.com/ or scan my blog for the Shimmy Showcase listings.

Photos we got 'em! I decided to lay off my brother cuz he's such a good guy and not give anyone else any grief either, so you just get my assorted cute animal pix from the Web.

In rotation this week: Faster Pussycat, Beautiful Creatures, HorrorPops, Orange Sky, Egypt Central, Joe Walla, EuroGrooves and Josie Cotton.

Thought of the week: Don't get frustrated, be firm. I'll admit I've been trying to deal with a problem person in my life recently and I've had to stop being nice and understanding and instead get tough. Between you 'n me, this friend has a penchant for calling me and sometimes showing up at my place at weird hours and more than once (or twice) they've shown up really drunk. I finally stood my ground and said that they were not allowed to show up without calling first and, in no uncertain terms, they were not welcome to call after 10 p.m. or show up later than 7 p.m. They apologized and begged for me to let it go, but it has been too often for my taste and I'm not going to lose sleep over someone who is inconsiderate, so I stood firm.

We'll see how it goes. And, if my friend cannot respect me and my requests/rules, then I will stop the friendship completely. Yeah, I sound terrible, but one time they showed up drunk when my brother was over and said something nasty to him and twice they've called and woken me up when I had a very important and early day the next (well, technically the same) morning.

Be strong, but don't be mean and

Keep on rockin'

Mickie