Los Angeles Blog

Here's how the story goes. A boy moves to L.A. from Brooklyn. Let's call him Daniel. Daniel Stessen. Why not. And let's imagine he looks something like this:

 Daniel Stessen writes book of poems called More Lonely Than Alone, all about making out with midgets in Brooklyn (among other things).

Daniel Stessen forms an artists' collective called People Food (members include an actor who wears antlers at parties and an artist notorious for posting lurid matter on MySpace). 

Daniel Stessen meets the dazzling bespoke-suited rap-indie pioneer Gray Kid, and inducts him into the People Food collective.

Daniel Stessen and Gray Kid film a comedic music video called 'Paxilback' about the joys of anti-depressant dependency, and inspired by Justin Timberlake's pop hit 'SexyBack'.

Paxilback gets mentioned on Spin.com.

Paxilback gets on the home page of YouTube.

Paxilback is mentioned in Rollingstone.com.

The New York Times runs a story on Paxilback.

There's a backlash led by a stoner kid and O Town fan who thinks Paxilback is the gayest thing he's ever seen 

Paxilback is watched by an agent at United Talent Agency.

UTA signs PeopleFood. (UTA recently created an online unit devoted to scouting out up-and-coming creators of Internet content and finding work for them).

Now with serious backing, and talk of collaborations with some major names in showbiz, Peoplefood look set to take over the world/the internet/your life.

It's just another L.A. story...who knows what the next chapter holds...

Look at these photos from Daniel Stessen's recent birthday/Halloween party at a secret spot in Echo Park. Stessen, dressed as a bear with a Marge Simpson beehive, read from his collection of poems 'More Lonely Than Alone' in an on-stage performance alongside a topless and rather hunky Gray Kid. 

A fitting end to LA Fashion Week indeed.

Photos by Sam Gezari

Sam Lanni, the owner of Safari Sams in Hollywood, has decided to let musicians see shows in his club for free. Here's an excerpt from the SS website:

And so to the policy change i opened with. It is painfully obvious that musicians in Los Angeles need to get out and see more music and more importantly, more types of music. As much as I love indie music and punk music, do we really need more of those bands? So I want to start to transpollinate music by giving musicians free entry into the club during most nights. By November 15th we will be giving out The Safari Sams Band Pass, good for 6 months and good for the artist and a guest to come in as long as its not a sold out show. So you guitar players, drummers, vocalists, violinist and other musicians don't be afraid to hear other music and i will give it to you for free and please go see Slim Cessna's Auto Club and save your soul from the daily chores of our lives.
 

It's a smart move - the musicians I know rarely, if ever, have enough money to pay for anything except alcohol and cigarettes. So all you need to do is get them in the door, then direct them toward the bar, and voila - everyone is happy. Also, once word spreads that SS's is a haven for struggling lanky musicians with skinny jeans and sensitive eyes, the club is likely to attract more actual paying customers, especially aspiring groupies. Really, I love this plan - everyone wins.

Now all I need to do is learn an instrument - Sam, does the recorder count?

The biggest party/clubbin' weekend of the year came and went, and for the first time in years, I stayed home. Yeah I would've made a great pregnant nun, as all my pals urged me to dress up and go out with them as, and for sure my belly woulda looked damn good painted as a pumpkin... but I wasn't feelin' it.
Watching horror movies and carving jack-o-lanterns is more my speed these days and that's exactly what I did. Tomorrow might I will welcome the neighborhood kids to my door and give them teeth-rotting treats sure to keep their parents up all night.
My modest decor ( a couple pumpkins, a skeleton cutout on the door) can't compete with the guy across the street who has a ghost hanging from a noose on a tree in his front yard and has been playing a spooky sounds tape since last week. Another fella just a few houses down has a graveyard on his front lawn. Sometimes some people get a bit too into it.
Though I didn't dress up this year, I did try to put a costume on my pit/boxer mix Marley. Unfortunately, she's very adept with her paws and always manages to take off the ears/wings/bowties etc. before I'm able to flash a photo! Instead, enjoy these cute shots a pal emailed me for the holiday.

Halloween hounds rule.

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Halloween is for amateurs.

If ya wanna party with the real freaks this week, don't wait for Saturday or even Tuesday…. go down to the Henry Fonda theatre tonight (Wed., Oct. 25) for Party Monster- Vol. 3, the dress-up/get down bash from local club fiends Juicy Jay and Jason Jay (who used to do one of our fave raves back in the day called Magic Wednesdays).

Remember the whole club kid craze? Daytime talk shows like Ricki Lake and Sally Jessy milked and bilked the phenom as typified by the flamboyant fashion and nightlife atmospheres coming outta NYC in the late 90s, and America couldn't get enough. Often, the parties and the people were as creepy as they were creative and nothing captured this drug-fueled wantoness better than James St. James' book about his murderous cohort Michael Alig called Disco Bloodbath, though the film it was based on, Party Monster, tried. (Sorry but Seth Green is no James St. James, and no layers of makeup or limp hand gestures could change that).

Being somewhat of a nightlife aficionado in LA, I was always so fascinated by the whimsical, decadent world Alig and co. created in the Big Apple, and though I've been to my share of wild Cali bashes, nothing ever seemed to equal the shit I heard about during the Disco 2000 era.

The Jays' parties are the closest we'll probably ever come the K-Hole- inspired depravity and though tonight's sinful soiree takes its name from the flick, expect it to be much more authentic, with original club kids (okay they aint kids anymore), St. James, LA loons Alexis Arquette, Rocky Racoon and Sham, plus Style Council fave Kelly, DJ Keoki (Wilmer Valderama played him the film) and another NYC pioneer, Larry Tee (who coined the term electroclash) on the decks.

I'll be missing this one due to my current condition, but don't be suprised if ya see a miniature makeup-swathed bundle toted around the dance floor- Juicy (that's him above the logo) told me his gal pal was 9 months preggy herself when we spoke last week and he insisted they'd be bringing the babe (if born beforehand) to the bash! Now that's a real club kid for ya!

Posted by Lina

bebe was the second high street retailer to show at LA Fashion Week and after the sheer embarrassment of WalMart's Metro 7 runway show, I must admit, I had some prior reservations. But they vanished as bebe presented some of the week's more innovative designs, sending their models teetering out like human bubble lampshades in shades of ebony and ivory. The stand-out piece was a long black trench coat with a train long enough for a goth bride, or Darth Vader. I enjoyed the eyelet see-through jumpsuits worn a-la Gwen Stefani with plenty of gold bling. Cropped jackets with square shoulder pads were worn with slim capri pants and spiky stripper heels. Bustiers and sheer mesh midriffs added some vavoom, counterbalancing the pretty puffballs that opened the show. Bravo bebe!

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Hmmm...Hmmm...I am trying to think of something nice to say, so I don't get death threats this season. But I could sum up this collection by saying I feel like I looked at most of these dresses when I was in high school searching for one to wear to the prom. Remember Zum Zum? I pretty sure I wore one of these exact dresses to my sweet sixteen. Which, if that's what he intended, isn't that bad. I'm sure there's a market for rich Palisades girls going to prom.
And there were a bunch of gaudy white eyelet gowns. I had no idea eyelet could be so tacky. It was like Quinceanera gowns designed by Bobby Trendy.
But I don't know the whole show confused me. Most shows had great music, really more and more the best part of these fashion shows is the soundtrack. But at Alan Del Rosario my ears were punished with a musak version of Boderline, then the sound of motorcycles revving ripped through the room, there were no bikes, instead beefcake dudes appeared and trudged shirtless down the runway, leaving black streaks on the snow white catwalk. They had (presumably fake) tatooes that read "I heart Alan Del Rosario." And I bet he loves you all boys. They creeped me out, but one chick kept whistling and cat calling, yelling their names, "you go Johnny." I thought she was drunk. It was none other than Janice Dickenson, former 70s model, current Model Agency Madam and reality TV star.
There were so many fishtails, the same dress basically with little variations. The crowd seemed to love it, then again like Ms. Dickenson I think they were all drunk. I did like his lacey tops paired with colorful poofy skirts. And my jury is still out on the tuxedo details on some of the gowns.

He had these gowns but...made...out of... linen? The fabric wasn't flashy enough for evening, but the style was way too much for day time. I was so confused and spent the next hour trying to come up with some place one could actually wear them to. I finally came up with it, a Great Gatsby style lawn party at a mansion in the afternoon in the Spring. Should you get invited to one of those, head straight for Alan Del Rosario.

Posted by Linda Immediato

Angela Basset sat in the front row across from me at the Dina Bar-El Show, eyeing the gowns with a cautious look. All of dresses were perfect for premieres, award shows, and trophy wife fundraising. But few I felt were really flashbulb magnets. They were the kinds of dresses you'd see on the cast of Desperate Housewives (actually Bar-El does dress them!) not the fashion forward stuff you used to see on the girls of Sex And The City (god rest its soul). One of Bar-El's lime green gowns on the right person could be striking, but a yellow number reminded me of the ones seen already on Scarlett "not promiscuous" Johansen and Cate Blanchet. (Kate Hudson already wore a yellow Dina Bar-El gown in How to Lose A Guy in 10 Days.) There were a few Jennifer Tilly-esque animal print Maffia wife type slinky dresses and some more demure safe silver and champagne gowns. I loved the colors Bar-El picked, icy blue, russet, and gunmetal, and the styles were classic, nothing too dramatic. The length varied from knee (IFC Spirit Awards) to floor (Oscars)—something for occasion. Katharine McPhee of American Idol 15 minutes walked the runway in the show, and there was a slight bit of chaos when one model appeared before she was ready, we heard a scream from backstage, the girl was pulled back only to emerge looking pissed off a few minutes later. I haven't seen her again.

Posted by Linda Immediato

Frankie B. designer Daniella Clarke was inspired by her "love affair with music" for her latest collection, not too surprising considering she married a musician— Gilby Clarke a former Guns-n-Roser. So what does a "love affair with music" look like? Smudgey morning after a night on a tour bus eye makeup, toussled hair, and of course, jeans. Sparkly jeans (glitter and metallic laced denim) skinny jeans, flared leg jeans, cropped jeans, jean shorts, and more jeans. Nothing too ground breaking here, except for a couple of bell bottom low waisted jeans, which I thought we all agreed were currently out of style. The most interesting trend this season was seen here too— high waisted jeans. That's right ladies pull up your pants, the high waist is coming back (think Falcon Crest, Sergio Valenti, and Jordache, not soccer mommy jeans). But Daniella also designed a special pair of britches, called HER2 jeans named after a specific form of breast cancer that one in four women afflicted with the illness get. The HER2 gene leads to rapid growth of the cancer and few women go into remission once the gene kicks in. Daniella created this line for the Y-ME National Breast Cancer Organization so that women could learn about the recently discovered HER2 gene. The jeans are a dark denim, straight leg with pink seams and pink pocket details. At the end of the Frankie B. show breast cancer survivors walked arm in arm down the runway with models.

Kind of made me not want to go chase Gilby Clarke or Taryn Manning down for a photo, you understand, right?

Posted by Linda Immediato

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This Fashion Week you can't seem to sit anywhere without finding a copy of October's 944 magazine under your bum. Or in your giftbag. Or in the bathroom. I must have at least 5 copies in my car.

It's a great read - you should check out the L-Word-esque Pizza Rustica ad two pages from the back. Who knew Italian food could be so sexy? And what about those lip implants five pages from the back cover...it's the blond Lisa Rinna!

There's an ad for Brent Bolthouse's awesome new club spot Area 310, and a few pages later (after a 20-page T&A lingerie spread), you'll find a story all about this great new club...called Area 310! Then there's a big piece on the "faces of Smashbox cosmetics". And a story about loft-living, just a few pages after an ad for Spalofts. Hurrah for advertorial!

The masthead is the best - Davis Factor, who co-runs Smashbox, is one of their photographers. The KROQ DJ Stryker is also a writer. Hilariously, they have a writer called Brock Landers, in honor of Dirk Diggler's porn character, perhaps? Or maybe Brock The Freelance Writer is "gifted", just like Big Man in 'Trapped in the Closet'...

In conclusion: 944 magazine is, in my opinion, a most valuable anthropoligical tool. Essential reading for anyone interested in finding out how LA really works, the secrets hidden within the pages of 944 magazine will tell you much more than any guide book ever could.

PS: On page 79 it says they are looking for new editorial talent - you think they'll give me a job?

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Last season we had Charlize. Jack Nicholson. Lara Flynn Boyle. Courtney Love. Tommy Lee. Gina Gershon. Anthony Keidis. Mena Suvari. Mike Tyson. Er...Sporty Spice. And of course there was Paris. Aahhh, we'll always have Paris...or so LA Fashion Week thought. But so far this season, and with only 1.5 days left to go, A and even B-Listers seem to be staying away from the shows in their droves.

We did see former Guns and Roses drummer Steve Adler at Frankie B, and I'm assuming Gilby Clark was there too - but then he had to be, his wife is the designer. Diana Ross was spotted on Sunday. Harold and Maude star Bud Court and Rebecca de Mornay, who we love, were at Jennifer Nicholson (no sign of her father Jack). Bobby Trendy was at KushCush, looking silly. So You Think You Can Dance presenter Cat Deeley was at Shay Todd. Jillian Barberie was around. Then throw in some reality stars. But where's the glitter? The razzle dazzle? These guys can't be expected to carry Fashion Week on their celebrity shoulders alone.

We're not sure why Hollywood seems to be snubbing the Smashbox shows this season. We wish they wouldn't, because when it comes to L.A. Fashion Week, still very much in its nascency, celebrity-spotting is (sadly) often a bigger draw than the clothes. That's not to say there aren't any good designers showing at L.A. Fashion Week - there are - but as the event continues to forge its identity and works to be taken seriously, it could really use the support of the A-List. Without celebs on the front row, all eyes must turn to what's actually on the catwalk - and sometimes that's a dangerous thing. Not always - Louis Verdad's exquisite tailoring, Sue Wong's delicate embroidery and Shay Todd's uber-sophisticated swimwear this season would have been eye-catching with or without the stars clapping on the sidelines.

But some shows could have seriously used some front row eye-candy - the most obvious example being Wal Mart's 'Metro 7' collection. Morgan Fairchild and a former Miss Universe were in the front row, doing their best to up the fabulousness. But it would have taken an appearance by Madonna or the Queen of England herself to detract from the ill-fitting anti-fabulousness being paraded in front of us. As Linda commented in her post, for what it was (ie: daywear you buy along with your tampons and flip-flops) Metro 7 was not half bad. Very OK, in fact. But L.A. Fashion Week deserves so much better - especially if its going to tempt back the A-List anytime soon.

Come back Sporty Spice, we miss you!

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