WHAT NOW?

The Sandwich Spot
(Nor-Cal sandwich franchise; Santa Monica satellite)
3101 Ocean Park
Santa Monica

WHY VISIT?

I’ve been to this joint more than a few times now, and at this point I will comfortably declare that the sandwiches are worth the slight sticker shock. I’m told the bread is flown down from upstate, on the daily. Further, very few things about the sandwich resemble the plastic mold (and taste) of a certain international chain’s $5 footlong (those are available three short blocks down Ocean Park). Westside lunchers, stop waiting in line for your MSG fix at Bay Cities Deli and get yourselves over to Ocean Park for a Roseanne’s or Sandman with Swiss, with everything. “Crunch bread” advised. If you’re doing it right, the total cost should clock in around the same as your average curbside food truck meal – aka, just under one Hamilton. Note that this is a lunchtime joint more or less, but you might ask about the advertised “comedy night” if that’s your bag. (Personally, I can’t wait to flee this part of town once work lets out.)

WHAT AMBIANCE?

Comedy LPs ranging from Joe Piscopo to Bill Cosby adorn the walls. Clearly somebody’s a fan of the live prepared routine. Drink machine is self-serve. A mysterious black curtain beneath the drink machine will draw your eye; whatever you do, don’t peek behind the curtain. »continue reading Under $10: The Sandwich Spot (Santa Monica)

»continue reading The Presets & Nosaj Thing–Pre-Coachella Show Wednesday 4/13 @ Club Nokia–On Sale Now–Win Tickets

»continue reading Madeleine Peyroux Live This Saturday 4/9 at Luckman Fine Arts–Win Tickets

Photo: Dodos, Music Box, July 20, 2010 by Sung

PICK OF THE WEEK
The Dodos w/ Reading Rainbow @ El Rey

Friday Night 9 April 2011

TUESDAY

Neil Finn w/ Matt Costa @ El Rey (Contest closed.)

Paulie Pesh and the Vitals w/ Francisco The Man @ Silverlake Lounge

WEDNESDAY

Akron/Family w/ Delicate Steve @ The Echo

Andy Clockwise @ Troubadour

Princeton @ Bootleg Theater

THURSDAY

British Sea Power @ Troubadour

FRIDAY

Papercuts @ Satellite

Sleepytime Gorilla Museum @ Troubadour

The Dodos w/ Reading Rainbow @ El Rey

Twin Sister @ Skybar (Mondrian Sessions Presented by IAMSOUND Records–rsvp to [email protected])

SATURDAY

Danielson @ Satellite (ENTER TO WIN TICKETS)

Grass Widow @ Pomona College SCC Lawn

Janet Jackson @ Santa Barbara Bowl

Madeleine Peyroux @ Luckman Fine Arts Complex (ENTER TO WIN TICKETS)

The Residents @ El Rey

SUNDAY

CicLAvia

KXSC Fest w/ Abe Vigoda, Juliana Barwick, Special Surprise Guest @ USC Campus (free)

Pete Yorn @ House of Blues Anaheim

This development just in from Fingerprints:

FOO FIGHTERS Free In-Store Performance

Saturday, April 16th – 5:00pm (Wristband required)

Pre-sale starts at 7:00pm tonight. Limit of 2 pre-orders per person, ID required.

There will be absolutely no walk-up availability day of show. If you want to come, you must have a wristband, which means you need to get down here asap.

Here’s the gist of the press release:

RECORD STORE DAY: SATURDAY, APRIL 16th

FOO FIGHTERS HEADLINE RECORD STORE DAY WITH IN-STORE ROCKSHOW AT FINGERPRINTS IN LONG BEACH, CA!

BAND TO RELEASE MEDIUM RARE, COVETED COLLECTION OF COVERS ON RSD AND EXCLUSIVE TO PARTICIPATING STORES

Long Beach, CA: On Saturday, April 16th, RECORD STORE DAY, one of the country’s most loved and integral independent music retailers, Fingerprints will play host to one the world’s most beloved rock bands, Foo Fighters.

“I’m proud to be a part of Record Store Day. I grew up discovering music that changed my life in record stores like Fingerprints and will always do everything I can to keep that experience alive for generations to come,” says head Foo Dave Grohl.

»continue reading Foo Fighters Play Fingerprints Records on Record Store Day, Saturday, April 16: Get Wristbands Today

»continue reading Neil Finn & Matt Costa @ El Rey This Tuesday 4/5–Win Tickets

Snapdragons snuggled up to a knee-high, white-washed picket fence border the front yard of a rural Los Angeles motel. Apparently, Little Miss Redhead, is quite happy to be close to glamourland where she can breathe easily as she smiles and clutches a flowerless bouquet!

This slide comes to us courtesy of “Little Miss Redhead” herself whom I had the pleasure of meeting recently in Palm Springs. No sooner did we meet than she’s telling me she has slides of the motel her grandparent’s owned in San Fernando Valley “after the war.” Without skipping a beat I politely asked to see the slides. (OK, I demanded to see them!)

My imagination was inspired and my sprit soared when I happened upon this charming image of her politely posing in front of the charming sign her grandma and grandpa posted promoting the air quality at their motel and time it took to get to Hollywood. Who knew smog was a concern in 1954?

Do YOU have vintage fun family slides to share??? If so please don’t hesitate!

Here’s to little Miss Redhead, Hollywood, clean air and YOU!

Visit Charles’ site or join his Slide of the Week Mailing List.

Live Events with Charles Phoenix

San Francisco, CA: BIG RETRO SLIDE SHOW
Roxie Theater, Thursday, April 14, 2011
Buy Tickets

Las Vegas, NV: BIG RETRO SLIDE SHOW
Viva Las Vegas – Rockabilly Fest
Fri, April 22 & Sun, April 24, 2011
Buy Tickets

Buena Park, CA: RETRO KNOTT’S BERRY FARM SLIDE SHOW
Bird Cage Theater (inside Knott’s), Sunday, May 15, 2011
Buy Tickets

APRIL MOTHER-SHITTING FOOOOOOOL’S, FOOLS! HA! Did I surprise you? No? Well, I surprised myself with all the yelling, so much so, apparently, that I lost all bladder control. Although, to be fair, continence has never been DF’s strong suit. But you know what is DF’s strong suit? I mean, besides soiling myself. Yes, you guessed it—playing awesome jokes on people to celebrate April Fool’s Day! Why, here are some of my fave-rave examples.

When I was just a wee lad, I surprised my enfeebled, elderly next-door neighbor Old Jim by jumping out of a shrubbery on April Fool’s morn and yelling “Boo” as he got his morning paper. Then Old Jim gave as good as he got, falling over and pretending to die of a heart attack. He was so committed to the joke that he even held a fake funeral and burial for himself the next week, with all his family there weeping and crying! Now that I think of it, I never really saw Old Jim after that. Oh, he was a card.

And what better time for spring pranks than the halcyon college days? I am a proud graduate of Fontana University, and in my freshman year, I established myself as a prankster extraordinaire even before April Fool’s Day rolled around when I greased up all the footballs used by the ol’ FU pigskin squad before our big rivalry game with Riverside State. Our QB didn’t complete a pass the entire time, and we lost 65-0! The football team really loved my joke, so much that I had a wedgie for more or less all of my first year. And sophomore, and junior, and senior years too, come to think of it.

And back when I worked for American Pencil Sharpener Co. for all those years, we really cut up when April Fool’s rolled around. Why, one time my co-workers arranged for a policeman to show up at work and tell me that my home had burned down and all my loved ones were dead. Turns out–they weren’t! It was all a big gag! Oh, I laughed til I cried! Or at least, I recall crying a lot. Then I pranked those zany co-workers right back by slashing the tires of their cars in the employee parking lot. The joke was that they had to get their cars towed … and then buy new tires! One of them said to me after it all went down, “I’m seriously going to kill you, DF. This is not a joke.” How I guffawed and guffawed at his light-hearted japery; truly, my stomach was sore from laughing! What a merrie time we all had.

So as you can tell, April Fool’s Day is one of DF’s most beloved, coveted days of the year, even more cherished than Arbor Day, or possibly even the day McDonald’s annually re-releases the McRib. But there is one thing happening during this season of foolishness that is dead-ass serious: it’s an old-skool throwdown between the Tough Cookies and the Varsity Brawlers this Saturday, April 2 at the Doll Factory. By now, any bout involving the Cookies is essentially a grudge match—hell, as the three-time defending champs, they’re like the Yankees of LA roller derby, except without the tight pinstriped knickers. And DF is staunchly non-partisan, but in his opinion, the Varsity Brawlers have enough fight in them that they just might make the Cookies crumble. Don’t believe me? Check out this adorable, yet hilarious video as proof:

That one really made me laugh my ass off. Seriously: I am now assless. Anyone know where I can get an ass replacement? But even more seriously, this weekend’s Brawlers/Cookies tilt is going to go off hard-core, and I am not engaging in foolishness, April or otherwise, when I say that it’s going to be epic. So get your tixes here, and be there at the Doll Fac this Saturday, mo-fos–no joke!

Corrections, emendations, et cetera may be directed to DF at Losanjealous dot com. DF sometimes remembers that he has a Twitter account. But only sometimes.

Poster art by Pushy Whipped; (C) 2011 by LA Derby Dolls. All rights reserved.