LA is actually one giant microchip
Lunchtime at Brandon’s on the last day of my SF trip; we were hanging out, having a bite, getting some work done before going to Tuesday night skate. I got a call from James down at Revolution Skate Shop in Arizona, who needed some photos of his team riders. Some of them were coming for spring break, and there was also a big Remedyz tour stop planned for the same weekend, plus the infamous TNS, (thursday night skate). I checked plane tickets, but everything was booked or insanely expensive due to spring break weekend. No trains went that route. Greyhound would take over 24 hours, something I’ve vowed never to do again. However, if I could find a way to Southern California, I could ride along with the Remedyz team on their drive to Phoenix.
I called around, and sure enough AJ, Alex, and Farmer were all staying at Haffey and Trudie’s to film for Vibralux and Chris’s “best of” video. I looked for a cheap flight to LAX, and there was just one ticket left, leaving in ….. “uh oh we gotta hurry”. A calm brunch instantly turned into a full on scramble to pack up and get out the door. Rush hour was in full effect, so Brandon gave me a crash course in the BART light rail stops, and we were out the door. After a missed train, a few connections, a guy almost hustling me for a shuttle ticket, and some brisk airport jogging, I barely made the flight, and the abrupt ending of the SF trip was opening up new unexpected travels.
10am: buy groceries
1pm: change flight reservations, pack as fast as possible, and rush to airport
6pm: flight counter pages you on the intercom and informs you that your bag is leaking and being held by tsa security…. oops
Driving through the city
Big thanks to Haffey for picking me up from the airport and letting me crash, especially after already driving the entire day, and also for letting me dry my rice milk-soaked clothes scattered around the front yard. I was only going to be in LA for about 24 hours, but the quick stop ended up being a really fun time.
We started the next day by going into Amoeba in Hollywood to music shop. Personally I prefer stealing pirated music off the internet, and haven’t done any serious music shopping since the BMG Music days of getting 20cd’s for a penny. This store was on a whole other level though. 3 times bigger than the Amoeba we stopped at in Berkley a few days before. Mike Mcmullen, a good friend from back in Atlanta, was working in Hollywood so I gave him a call, and he ended up being just a few blocks away and came over for a bit. I bought a few CDs for Yuri too, thus fully redeeming my years of downloading music on the internet.
musical mural
deceased parking meter
jimi
some new hipster band, probably won’t amount to much
With the new tunes purchased, we got down to business, roaming to skate spots around the city. All the guys proved why they’re professionals and bagged up a handful of video clips and photos in no time at all. Negrette came through and hung out for the day, and Fabiola and Becky came up from Costa Mesa or wherever they live. We passed 2 movies being filmed that day, one was a happy meal commercial who’s director was screaming at an assistant as we walked by.
a great source of daily news
we stopped in here to ask for directions, and i’m kind of fuzzy on what happened
after that. I think I blacked out but i’m sure it was nothing serious.
tarzan filming with adam johnson
first movie set we passed
the happy meal commercial with a furious director
fab and becks
brandon negrete and the mutant tree
mutant tree #2
rooooooooooooots
Since AJ had all the Vibralux Clothing samples in, we setup a shoot in a laundry mat to get the next few ads and all the product shots. AJ has a tendency to spring these loosely directed, impromptu photo shoots, but I’m glad it all worked out. While we were busy shooting, Trudie and Chris snuck out to get AJ a surprise birthday cake. The other people at the laundry mat were clearly confused about what was going on, but at the same time I guess I was too. I was supposed to be back in Kansas anyhow.
Chris and Fabiola
Alex Broskow and Kendama
Alex had one last spot he wanted to shoot, one of those “you always get kicked out unless you go Sunday night at 1am” kind of spots. Good thing it was Sunday at 1am. The trick was ridiculous, and ended up being my last shot that made the cut for photo issue. After this incredibly full day, we got to watch every video section Chris Farmer ever put out, while he did the audio commentary … (which ended up being too big to fit on the DVD afterall)
these fence things make it really annoying get inside
9 years of “pantz” controversy into 1 dvd
awesome man. i really loved reading and looking through this. hope to see more of this awesome stuff in the future.