nothing compares 2 u

on March 28, the original sexy MF, his purple majesty, the one and only PRINCE gave LA a wonderful gift. announced less than a week before the shows, prince did what no artist has ever done - he played three concerts back-to-back at the new LA LIVE complex in downtown los angeles. the shows were like this:

7pm at Nokia Theater (about 7000 seats)
930pm at the Conga Room (about 1000 seats)
12am at Club Nokia (about 2300 seats)

of course all three shows sold out in minutes, and you had to be in-the-know to even know to get them. since i am not as in-the-know as some, it was monday morning on my way to work when i saw one of those giant tv billboards advertising the new trio of albums and the show. breaking the law to text natalie while driving, we decided of course that we WERE GOING to the show.

after several days of wicked wheeling and dealing on craigslist, we ended up with tickets in row U of the orchestra for the first show. (thankfully, the person who sold them to us was legit and the pdf of the tickets he sent us was not phony). an additional surprise was when my old friend dan posner and his wife julie were sitting in the seats right next to us!! crazy coincidence. i hadn't spoken to them for months.


natalie outside the theater. we were so thrilled to be there.


only other photo taken with my camera, as they confiscated it inside.

here's what he played, according to some fan site. the show was an INCREDIBLE dance party old school prince blow out!!!

Main Prince set:
Ol’ Skool Company (from his new album)
Crimson and Clover
1999
I Feel for You (now that he's a Jehovah's witness, he doesn't do the overtly super creamy sexy songs - in this one he changed
the lyric from "i'm physically attracted to you" to "i'm spiritually attracted to you"
Controversy
Shhh
If I Was Your Girlfriend (total highlight)
Kiss (the ultimate moment of the show for me)
Play That Funky Music
Little Wing (instrumental - Prince band only)
Come Together (beatles song)
Purple Rain

Prince Encores:
Let’s Go Crazy
The Bird
Jungle Love
The Glamorous Life (Sheila E. came out and did this one with him!)


this man is 5 feet tall, 50 years old and so sexy it's ridiculous.


this is a photo taken with my phone of the big screen. i had to stop shreiking and dancing to take this photo.

yeah...i ate those pulkes*!!

and those polkies**!! cj and kyle took a trip out from brooklyn to visit, they rented an amazing house in the hollywood hills with a couple of friends, and they introduced their 6 month old son, theo, to in-n-out burger, silverlake hipsters, and fred segal. it was a funtastic three days, if only i could persuade them to move here permanently...

here are some pics from their visit



the good thing about having exceedingly stylish parents is you can appreciate jonathan adler before you're 1 year old




*apparently 'pulkes', 'polkies' and even 'pulkas' is acceptable. according to the internets.
**if you are not lubes, or have not been introduced to the art of pulkes eating by lubes- pulkes are thighs, specifically baby thighs.

from the LA Galaxy program

we went to the opening game of the season for the LA Galaxy yesterday - this photo was in the program and i find it hilarious.

are kittens to blame for THIS too?

(thanks to emmy for turning me on to d-listed who turned me on to this molten hot lava tranny video mess)

how to make a grand opening even grander

about two years ago, a realtor holding an open house in our building told ben and me that a trader joe's was coming to 8000 sunset - a plaza 2 blocks from us where crunch gym is located. at the time i thought he was creating rumors trying to make our neighborhood seem even better. then about a year ago, the rumors were inflated by chatter on the internets. about 8 months ago one tiny sign went up at 8000 sunset. in the past 4 months there has been visible construction. in the past 2 weeks there has been a lot of activity in the storefront.

and this morning, it happened. (well, it happened for me. the actual opening was yesterday). THE NEW TRADER JOE'S IS OPEN! it's a wonderland. wide aisles, nice sample station, even my favorite checker was there - she must have been transferred from the store on santa monica.

yes, there are now 3 trader joe's within a two mile radius of our apartment, but i can walk to this one. this one feels like mine.

to celebrate the grand opening i trotted down to BB and B in order to buy one of those granny shopping carts like the ladies in nyc have. and while the wire 2-wheeled varieties were readily available, it was this little gem that caught my eye. we also had a delightful test drive around the store.



since i had my 20% off coupon handy, i splurged and went for it. so far, the versacart has been a big hit. while walking up to TJs, two people stopped me on the street to ask where i got it. while in the store, two employees were mightily impressed. after our trip to TJs, versacart and i did the laundry.

if only versacart could be here with me visiting the family at their newport beach timeshare.


true love

Kogi - literally it means 'meat'

there's a new fad sweeping the hipsters and foodies of LA, and after reading about it on my various food sites including Eater LA and Yelp, i figured it was time to pursue the Kogi Taco Truck myself.

the Kogi Taco Truck is, in theory, like your standard Mexican taco truck which you can find parked three-deep at night most anywhere in LA east of Highland Avenue. But the Kogi Taco Truck offers something special - it's a Korean BBQ Taco Truck! That's right!! Kalbi tacos! Bulgogi tacos! Kimchee quesadillas!

when Kogi first started rolling around LA, you never knew where it would be, so if it pulled up outside the club, or maybe even in your neighborhood, you were in luck. it was like a secret concert if you found it. but lately Kogi has stepped it up - they added a second truck and they've been posting on Twitter and on their website where they will be and when. however, as i learned last night, this is not always reliable information.

my hunt for Kogi began at around 8pm Friday night - their site said they would be in the Miracle Mile section of LA, giving a specific intersection, at 6pm. then they planned to be in Venice at 10pm. ben and i packed up a couple of beers and a water bottle, having read that their drinks are super expensive, while their tacos are cheap. $2/taco. we got to the location and sadly...no taco truck! not even forlorn and disappointed taco lovers standing on the sidewalk in dismay.

i knew that the OTHER truck was planning to be at a Downtown LA bar, the Golden Gopher, at 830pm. By the time we drove all the way downtown, and arrived at the Gopher, it was almost 9pm. NO TACO TRUCK! we found a parking spot and decided to go up to the bar anyway, just to have a look-see.

what we saw when we got to the bar was the bouncer standing at the front door, and a line of approximately 40 very attractive, young, mostly asian people. however, not a single one of these people was waiting to get into the bar. they were all waiting for the taco truck to arrive! i felt for the bouncer who looked like a bozo standing guard in front of a line of people who had no interest in coming inside. about 10 minutes later, a spark of energy surged through the crowd as someone yelled out "I SEE IT! HERE IT COMES!!". and here it came. and there it went. there was not a legal parking space for the truck, so it kept driving past the bar.

we patient patrons followed it, keeping our line mostly in tact, for about a block. it parked and then the party really began. we made friends in line (we were in line about 40 minutes) with various people, a group of 4 young ladies out on the town, a pair of babes who'd been waiting for an hour for the truck to show.

when it was time to place our order, i had done my research and was ready to go. our order:
4 short rib (kalbi) tacos
2 spicy pork (bulgogi) tacos
1 SPAM taco (the night's special)
1 kimchee quesadilla (another special)

total was $19. we took our grub and tailgated in my mini. each taco was tastier than the next, they top them with (from their website - i'd never be able to tell you what it is) sesame-chili salsa roja, julienne romaine lettuce and cabbage tossed in Korean chili-soy vinaigrette, cilantro-green onion-lime relish, crushed sesame seeds, sea salt and they're garnished with lime wedge, orange wedge and red radish wedge. the toppings definitely overpower the sweet sweet korean meat, but it is oh so good. the kimchee quesadilla was hot and spicy, but those short rib tacos were simply divine. the spam was like the long lost taste of childhood, and the spicy pork was good too, but kind of drowned by the sharp flavor of the toppings.

here are some photos from the experience:


Ben and me in line, waiting with our new best friends







here's the menu


this is the kogi man - he told us that 'kogi' literally means 'meat' in Korean. YUM!


thank you kogi man


ben and his tacos


now i've got my tacos!

video response to 'Kittens inspired by Kittens'

this is a video my coworker mollie and i made in tribute to that youtube classic (see below). the cat is our office pet, greta garbo.