Virtual Sound Bloggyesy

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Saturday - 3/25/06
8:44 am
Santa Monica, CA
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Goes to Hollywood

(Don't get excited Ernest, I just visited)

Hello faithful and highly ticked-off bloggers

Again I apologize for the lapse in the blog. I have been busy finding a place to live and getting to know the locals. I took a bike ride through Beverly Hills and into Hollywood hills to check out the sights the other day. I will continue the blog updates with my Hollywood visit although it was a few days ago. Not too much has happened since then that is blog-worthy. Well actually that's not true, but I haven't been taking pictures or updating as much as I've been busy. Before I start my Hollywood romp I would like to add that I think I have found a place to live at least for a couple months. It is a furnished room, complete with bed, dresser, and nightstand in west LA. It is very reasonably priced for the neighborhood, which is just east of downtown Hollywood. The guy renting the room sounds like a great guy. He has his own computer tech business and works in the entertainment/media field as well. I am finding out that just about everyone works in the entertainment field out here, as I soon will be myself hopefully, giving them all a chance to quit their jobs. The room is on the ground floor (which was important as the VSO isn't very stair-friendly) The only drawback is that I won't be able to play very loud in the apartment. After weighing the pro's and con's of this place I decided it was worth it. Thinking to myself that it would be better to live in a place that's pretty quiet as opposed to getting into a situation where there are other wanna-be musicians around playing loud 'till all hours. The monthly cost of the room (which includes all utilities) is $650 which is very reasonable for this area. The place even has laundry facilities, and as I had mentioned is furnished with the essentials. This is key as I couldn't fit my queen sized bed in my truck with the VSO. The guy renting the room also offered free computer tech support which is a plus. I am somewhat computer savvy but it's always nice to have a computer genius around to help out with the computer stuff I don't know, or more accurately, can't be bothered with knowing. One only other drawback is that the landlady has a strict policy on overnight guests. So any of you planning to come visit in the next couple months will need to find a hotel room. Before this turns into a novel I will start the Hollywood romp. Thanks again for you patience, and for keeping up with my progress via the blog.

Today I rode the bike east to Hollywood hills. I went east on Santa Monica Boulevard unknowingly into Beverly Hills before I got to Hollywood. This has to be some of the most luxurious real estate I have even seen. I started out on my trek to buy yet another inner tube for Gary's bike, which I never did the other day because to be honest I forgot where the bike shop was. I used Teresa's bike to take the ride as she was kind enough to let me use it until I fixed Gary's bike. The ride was a little farther that I thought into Hollywood but was a nice ride.

I headed out in search of the star's walk of fame, and the famed Hollywood sign. Halfway through my journey I saw the sign in the distance above the buildings and knew I was on the right track.

As I mentioned I happened on Beverly Hills.

This area was extremely luxurious.

The streets were immaculate and
the houses were unbelievable.

The center of town had high-end
retailers and numerous beauty salons.

The people in the area were lavishly dressed and driving all sorts of beautiful and expensive cars. The people in Beverly Hills were a lot friendlier than I had anticipated. I veered off Santa Monica Boulevard by accident and a few people I stopped to ask directions were more than happy to spray me with mace. Sorry, that's not true. They were very helpful in getting me back on track to my destination. After heading through Beverly Hills I continued on my quest for the walk of fame...

...the area in Hollywood where movie, television and
music stars have their names embellished in the sidewalks.

After a little bit of a ride I found it

(I didn't plan to have Richard Pryor's star in this pic)

(As some of you may recall from Pryor bloggings)

The walk of fame seemed to go on forever. It was on the sidewalks of both sides of the road and headed off down and around the corner. I didn't see the whole thing as I wanted to venture into Hollywood Hills for some star-watching. I did take a picture of the star belonging to the star John Belushi.

He's an old favorite of mine

I also took a picture of Bob Newhart's star
as I know my mom is a big fan of his. (hi mom)

(Not that he's a bigger star than John Belushi,
that's just the way the picture came out)

Moving on

You know... the lyrics in that old Kink's tune "Celluloid Heroes" is true-

"You can see all the stars as you walk down Hollywood Boulevard...
Some that you recognize, some that you've never even heard of"

There were numerous stars which I indeed hadn't heard of. Leaving their nearly forgotten legacy under the hopeful footfalls of so many others trying to follow in their footsteps.

Having seen the walk of fame I
proceeded up into Hollywood Hills.

There is a reason they call it Hollywood "hills"
as it was quite the excruciating bike ride

I went up into the hills to see the extravagant properties and hoped to
glimpse a star or two out getting the mail but I didn't end up seeing any.

I did see this house proudly embellished with
a star but I'm not sure who lived there.

This house way on top of the hill must have belonged to
someone of consequence, but again, I'm not sure who.

After an hour or so roaming the hills I headed back down and embarked on the long bike ride back to Santa Monica. I'm glad I went. Having seen the walk of fame and the lavish properties in the hills reminded me that this was just another place. Not something out of a storybook, or more appropriately Hollywood feature film. These people were just like all the rest of us, working to get by in this topsy-turvy world of ours. I left with a feeling of confidence and a reborn desire to perform.

Now Entering

Population - Whoever is still reading, my hat's off to you

The aforementioned bike ride really was excruciating. Not only did I have to ride at least 15 miles to get to Hollywood, once I arrived I had to (or chose to) traverse the immense hills up into Hollywood hills, which is aptly named. I fought the hellish traffic on the way despite the bicycle lane which I guess no one out here understands isn't the high speed passing lane. After several close calls with many Porches I managed to veer off course and wandered myself in a misguided frolic into Beverly Hills.

The grand-mama of all trendy, silicon laden, money gobbling areas in LA, and perhaps the country, if not the world. This place was ridiculous. Cash laden movie star wives wallowed and window shopped in their high heels and fake-up. All you could see was jiggling, both of protruberating gelled-up full-figures and cash jiggling within trendy multicolored pocketbooks, as far as the eye could see. These people are so trendy and hip that they aren't really hip at all. if they see a hot fudge stain on a celebrities outfit they no doubt, guy or girl, run off to the local Ben & Jerry's to duplicate the mishap in a fickle feeble fashion frenzy. The truth is this- being hip/cool in my opinion is not caring what other people think. This is why I'm not totally down on myself for wearing tan shorts with black socks and white sneakers. I don't care. Does that make me hip? You bet it does. Does it make me trendy? Only if I'm copying someone else, which I'm not. So I guess I'm not trendy. All that aside this really was a luxurious area...

Even the Burger King was extraordinary

Of course it was just as extraordinarily overpriced,
requiring a hefty bank loan for a small fries and vanilla shake

I noticed these gas prices were
pretty reasonable for glitter-town

I then stopped to help this nice
elderly couple cross the street

but was arrested for defacing public property

(Actually that never happened, but I
thought it would be funny to include)
(but what do I know)

(I do plan to go back with a jackhammer and backhoe to finish the job.
I'm bound and determined to bestow a taste of my recent
experience of Midwestern courtesy onto the LA area)

I then found Melrose place

shortly after, I found Nemo

Swimming on

Ok before I officially go on I'd like to completely rant on this FRIG*IN' stupid web hosting company I'm using now. This company has great tech support, which it better have, as everything always goes wrong. I have been dealing with this error for the longest time and it really discourages me from updating more often.

Say hello to my new best friend Mr. Server write error. This error stops by and visits all the time. Bestowing a basket of it's rotten fruit upon me several times during each blog update attempt. This hosting company used to be great until they got bought out by nasty football aliens. Their plan is a measly 150 megabytes for around $80/ year. I found another company for only $20 more that is a whopping 10,000 megabytes. As I've mentioned before this will allow for many more pictures, sounds, movies and general nonsense related to the VSO. In essence it will be like going from a tiny trash can to a dumpster to fill with all kind of digital eye-candy. I have had to delete much of my VSO audio demos to make room for the blog updates which is unfortunate to say the least. I don't know if it's my fault for having too much to say, or their fault for having a web-hosting plan that's inadequate and has space limitations based on 80's technology. Whatever the case I have a new hosting company and have to find the time to download the site and upload it again to the new server. This procedure is forthcoming and high on my priority list. Anyway thanks for you tolerance and interest in my America venture-a-highway.

My venture into Hollywood hills was surprisingly rant-free for such a high-rant area. I was mainly enjoying the views instead of thinking of things to rant on in this here blog update

On my way back home I passed capitol records, which somewhat
resembles the leaning tower of Pisa in this ill-taken photo