THURSDAY, JANUARY 31, 2008

Jamie Morris : MiLO @ Bordello : The Bordello Stage
The Bordello Stage
MiLO @ Bordello

After never going to Little Tokyo once in 9 nine years, I made my second visit there in a week tonight to go to a show. Before the show, I went to Daikokuya to try some of their famous ramen. The ramen was very good, and the gyoza dumplings were probably the best I've ever had, however, it took about 45 minutes to be seated so I don't think I'll be going there again if the wait is that long.

After dinner I went to see MiLO perform at Bordello, a new club that just opened on the site of the former Little Pedro's - the oldest bar and brothel in Downtown LA. The bar was really cool inside, but the music and the crowd didn't really seem to fit. Their website says that they're going to have burlesque shows. I think that would be more appropriate for this place, and I'd definitely come back for that.

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SATURDAY, JANUARY 26, 2008

Jamie Morris : Murakami & Little Tokyo : Takashi Murakami @ MOCA
Takashi Murakami @ MOCA
Murakami & Little Tokyo

Today I went to Little Tokyo for the first time. The main reason was to check out the Murakami exhibition at The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA. Takashi Murakami is a comtemporary artist from Japan. The exhibition features more than 90 pieces of his art including paintings, sculptures, installations, and film. The exhibition also featured an animation room showing an episode of Kaikai Kiki as well as the music video he did for Kanye West, a merchandise display room showing hundreds of Kaikai Kiki merchandise, and a Louis Vuitton boutique selling handbags and accessories featuring Murakami's designs. The artwork is pretty amazing. You should go check it out before it closes on February 11th.

After the show I went to Sushi-Gen and had some of the most amazing sushi that just melts in your mouth, and then went to Mikawaya for the best mochi ice cream ever, followed by a stop at Mitsuru Cafe for some imagawayaki. Mmmmmm. I will definitely be returning to all three of these places soon.

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TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2008

Jamie Morris : MLK Weekend : Statue of Liberty head from Cloverfield
Statue of Liberty head from Cloverfield
MLK Weekend

Three day weekends are always good. I stayed in town, but I kept busy. I saw the monster movie on Friday night. I liked it a lot. Most of the weekend was spent eating and drinking. I had many good meals... a whole crispy striped bass as Chan Dara, eggnog french toast at Uncle Bill's Pancake House, half the menu at Happi Songs, rosewater saffron ice cream with pistachios at Mashti Malone's, a godmother sandwich at Bay Cities Itailan Deli, a british BLT at the King's Head, caprese pizza at Joe's Pizza, and a flaming margarita at El Compadre.

On Saturday, I went to a few art shows. I went to the Lawrence Asher Gallery on Wilshire and saw some art by John Krawczyk and Kyoung Ha Yoo. Then I stopped by the Craft and Folk Art Museum next door. And then went to Bergamot Station in Santa Monica and attended a couple of openings: a graffiti exhibition featuring murals by Angels Will Rise of The Seventh Letter collective; and a tribute to Alex Steinweiss, the inventor of the album cover.

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SUNDAY, JANUARY 13, 2008

Jamie Morris : A Productive New Year : Which is better?
Which is better?
A Productive New Year

So far. I've stayed in for the most of the past two weekends to make good on some of my new year's resolutions and take care of some things that I've been putting off for a long time (in some cases a very long time). The biggest project was de-cluttering my apartment. I've been living in my little studio for almost nine years and I've accumulated a lot of stuff, most of which I never use. I decided to go through all of it and get rid of everything I don't need or use anymore. I tried to avoid throwing things away, so I made six trips to Goodwill last weekend. I also put a few items up on eBay and half.com and made a few bucks. It's so much nicer in my apartment now that most of the clutter is gone.

Other things that I took care of were... reupholstering my "dining room" chairs (shown above) which I've been meaning to do for about 7 years but never got around to doing it. I got some nice black suede upholstery material and a staple gun and now they're nicer than when I first got them. I also took a couple of things to get custom framed - a Belle & Sebastian concert poster I got in 2006 and a Tom & Jerry animation cel that I got on an Alaskan cruise in 2001. Both had been siting in my closet since I bought them. I also started doing some Portuguese lessons that I began two years ago and haven't touched in over a year. Hopefully I can spend a few hours every week and get through my 45 hours of CD lessons.

Besides all of that, I saw a few movies - The Savages, Atonement, and Juno. All were good, but Juno was the one I really liked. I went to a Kings game on Thursday and they beat Toronto 5-2. That's my last game until next month. Today I made some fresh juice with some fruit and veggies I got at the Farmer's Market, had a cheese plate at Monsieur Marcel which just opened on the Promenade, went for a bicycle ride at the beach, and gave my Vespa a shampoo.

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TUESDAY, JANUARY 08, 2008

Jamie Morris : Songs Of The City @ Walt Disney Concert Hall : Kyp Malone Peforms at WDCH
Kyp Malone Peforms at WDCH
Songs Of The City @ Walt Disney Concert Hall

I visited the Walt Disney Concert Hall for the first time tonight to see the Songs of the City show which was part of the Concrete Frequency series. I still don't understand why people like the building. I personally think it's the ugliest structure in downtown LA, but I decided to check it out. The inside of the building is just as ugly, but the acoustics are great and it appeared that most of the seats were pretty good. I was in the first row of the east terrace. The concert was really cool although I had trouble keeping my eyes open for the entire show after having some champagne. The show consisted of 14 indie singer/songwriters peforming 2 songs each about living in the city. Most of the artists told stories about each song. The highlights for me where John Doe of X singing "Los Angeles", Belle & Sebastian's Stevie Jackson, Husker Du's Bob Mould, and Kyp Malone of TV on the Radio. The other musicians who peformed were: Zooey Deschanel with M. Ward, Inara George with Van Dyke Parks, Sondre Lerche, Biirdie, Money Mark of the Beastie Boys, Franklin Bruno, Annie Stela, Zach Rogue of Rogue Wave, Daniel Rossen of Grizzly Bear, and Marc Bianchi of Her Space Holiday. The host was Mark Mothersbaugh of Devo.

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WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 02, 2008

Jamie Morris : Happy New Year! : Brrr... It's Cold in Maine
Brrr... It's Cold in Maine
Happy New Year!

I just got back from spending the holidays in snowy New England. I think we had 4 snow storms in the 11 days that I was there. Last Christmas it was 50 degrees and sunny. It wasn't too cold though. During the days it was in the 30s. I was very busy hanging out with my family and eating too much as well as doing a lot of traveling. I spent a day in Freeport, Maine shopping at LL Bean and the outlet stores, another day Portsmouth, New Hampshire and Kittery, Maine where I got my fancy new hat (shown above) at Kittery Trading Post, a day in Boston, Massachusettes, and a day in the Old Port in Portland, Maine where, on New Year's Eve, I saw an AHL hockey game between the Portland Pirates and Lowell Devils. Getting home on the 1st was difficult because another big snow storm was heading across the country. I had to change my flight a bunch of times and finally made it home via Boston and Houston, but my luggage arrived a couple of flights later so I had to hang around the airport for a little while. It's good to be back and I'm looking forward to 2008. Lots of New Year's resolutions to start working on. The first is a trip to Goodwill to get rid of all the crap in my apartment that I don't need.

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