Life On The Road With Augustus: Picture Time: PASADENA!

So I recovered from my party day at Disneyland...and I figured what BETTER WAY to kick off day 2 of freedom than to hop up and take another cast member to the airport! SO - on Tuesday at 8am or so, Steve and I loaded into the van for another fun run to LAX. Steve headed off to Las Vegas for a couple of days, and I headed back to the hotel to plan my next couple of days!

One of my friends from DC that lives out here now, Todd Cranney, had been in touch previously...and we had talked about doing something on this same day! But I was also trying to figure out how to get up to the Pasadena/Burbank area to see Sister Act the musical at Pasadena Playhouse AND hang out with my buddy, David Kopp. Well, LO AND BEHOLD, Todd calls and says he's driving up I-5 from San Diego on his way to Burbank for a meeting with his boss. Well, as fortune would have it, our hotel sat ON I-5, basically...and so Todd said he would stop and pick me up and I could ride up to Burbank with him so we could spend some time together catching up. The HORRIBLE part about the trip is that it was 2 days before Thanksgiving, and traffic was BRUTAL! I think it took Todd a total of 3+ hours to get to the meeting. The GREAT part about the trip is that the traffic was brutal! It gave us more time to shoot the bull and catch each other up on what is going on in life. Todd just finished working on Governor Schwarzenegger's campaign...and is trying to plot out the next step in his life. And for those of you who know Todd, let me just tell you that he is the EXACT same as he was when he was in DC with all of us. "Good hell......" is ALL Cranney - and I heard it more than once in our few hours hanging out. While Todd went to his meeting, I hung out at the Burbank shopping mall and then Todd and I went to Pasadena and had Jamba Juice and talked some more and then he dropped me at Dave's and he was gone! THANKS, Todd! It was great to see you!

As I was walking IN to Dave's house, he was walking OUT to a meeting in LA...but we were meeting back at his place after our plans...so no biggie. Dave lives about 4 blocks from the Pasadena Playhouse where I went to see SISTER ACT the musical. Here's what I have to say about the overall experience: You would THINK it was a good idea...and then somewhere in the middle of the 2 1/2 EXCRUCIATING hours, you realize EVERYONE was wrong about it being a good idea. It's painful...and of the entire show, I am going to be generous and say 20% of it was any kind of good with substance and possibility. The jokes were VERY sub-par-sit-com-ish, the music was for the most part unforgettable and EXTREMELY hokey. And half of the characters were really trying to be PEOPLE...while the other half were directed to be CARTOONS of what we think pimps and killers and nuns and priests are. It was all very strange...scoring a LOW 4 on the MASE....and I am SO happy I saw it! SERIOUSLY. I love live theater so much that seeing things on THIS level that are trainwrecks make it fun. And if it NEVER makes it to Broadway, I can always say, 'I saw it when.....'

The rest of my time in Pasadena was awesome. The next day Dave and I went to see the FIRST showing of 'For Your Consideration' at his local movie theater...and although it was my least favorite of the Christopher Guest mockumentary line of movies, I still enjoyed myself. Well worth the visit to the movie theater. At lunch, I met up with Jonathan Nessla - from the Barbie Live Tour last year. He lives in Burbank, and he came over to Pasadena to have lunch and catch up. He's doing well and said HELLO to anyone I should say HEY to.

Then instead of heading back down to my hotel, Dave and I hung around his place, watched funny videos on YouTube and then later that night, went to meet his sister, Carrie and a group of her friends at a dive bar in the Silver Lake area of LA called SMOG CUTTERS. No real way to accurately describe the bar. Um - it's tiny...and it's owned and run by these 2 ladies from Thailand. There is a pool table when you first walk in, and then straight behind it, the bar. And on the wall opposite the bar, there is a karaoke machine and TV - which is why we were here. But it's so WEIRD - because when it comes down to it, you spend your time doing karaoke to the wall! But no one seemed to mind...and I had a great time watching the local flair and talking to all of Carrie's friends. It was a lot of fun!

Pasadena ended with a bang...when Dave went COMPLETELY above and beyond his duties as a friend and drove me back down to Cerritos to the Holiday Inn Select. It was a FULL couple of days in the Pasadena area with Dave...and as always, it was a LOT of fun to hang out with him and laugh at all of the stupid things we found to laugh at.

I'll keep you posted on what I hear about the outcome of Sister Act. I'm sure you'll be waiting...wondering.....

So at one end of the bar at Smog Cutters, when we walked in, there was this dude passed OUT the entire time I was there. So of COURSE everyone started getting pictures with him. Top L: Me in the background with Carrie's friend, Elissa's arm pointing. Top R: Carrie on the Left, Elissa on the Right, Bar Dude in the middle. Bottom: Carrie's friend Hugh strikes a pose.

Later on, after Dave and I had left, Elissa got a picture with Bar Guy...awake.

Hugh and I deep in conversation about something pretty serious, probably.

Dave and Elissa rock it OUT, Thailand-style, to the karaoke HITS! The 2nd picture was taken with Elissa's camera...and it has SUCH a cool effect to it...so I included it here.