Sweatshop L.A.bor

I thought we were prepared going in. Lucas is from the Bay area, I had lived in LA for over a year and John once killed a man with a knife. None of that helped. We organized what may have been the least-organized mini-tour / trip any of us have been involved in. I arrived a few days earlier and had a ride waiting, a ride i would later force into picking up the Lucas and John. It started off great - free wine, cable, and a pull-out bed reminiscent of the one I sleep on every night in NY. This was not to last! Once we had Lucas and John in tow, I was informed that this was too great a strain on her family and I was set loose from my den of comfort. What followed was a mad dash every night around 1:30 A.M. to find someone to stay with. The results were awful - sleeping on floors, sleeping with terrible human beings and existing without much food. Luckily there was plenty of alcohol to help us cope.

Another point we neglected to deal with was the fact that LA is so spread out. Our first gig was over an hour away at Detroit Bar in Costa Mesa. I had to pull some 3-year-old strings and get a friend I hadn't even spoken with in those three years to pick me up and drive me out there. Lucas and John had to get the resident DJ, Dan Sena, to leave his own party and pick them up. These troubles continued on, as none of us were really capable of driving anything more complicated than a tricycle, hence no rental car. I don't think John has ever driven a car. And we were all drunk too boot. No more DUIs!

Beyond the problems of the big, spread-out suburb that is LA, we had a ton of fun at the parties we attended. Dim Mak tuesday at Cinespace was spectacular - we met Dan Oh who proceeded to show John and I an incredible time. Coincidentally, we ran into Bronques from Lastnightsparty.com, normally a NY photographer who apparently lives in LA now. I haven't seen him here in months so I can assume as much. It was also the return of Steve Aoki, who, having never heard him play before, lives up to his fairly vast reputation.

The Heist was toned down, from what I understand, as there was a stabbing and several shootings the week before we played, so there were tons of restrictions placed upon the promoter, Mark "Rat-tail" Rodriquez, resulting in a lesser following quite smaller than the hundreds of screaming girls who normally show up to party. We found a way to make it work - tequila shots. The night was incredible as we went back to Rat-tail's house and drank more and told the best 9/11 jokes we could think of. He was mostly appalled.

The rest of the week was pretty much a blur of drunkenness, screaming and dancing. The parties were great (despite PYT as I was stranded in Koreatown without a ride and missed out so no comment on that from me). We spent a lot of time with Dan Oh, who may be the most incredible man I've met in a long time. Runner-up was Wendy City - great girl and we were really bummed that the venue her party (that we were set to do) closed at the last minute.

The next time we get out there we will do it right. A big thanks to all the people who let us crash on their floors and who drove our drunk asses around. We are glad to be back in NY where we can get hammered and crawl out onto the curb and scream until a taxi takes us home.

We have some new things in the works since our trip, so keep an eye out on the blog in the upcoming weeks. I hope we can get some LA peoples to fly east and learn them some things about drinking hard.

- Cory Spencer