Roderick has the full text of their invite e-mail over there but here’s the generic core of it, the usual LA boilerplate:

A key element of HuffPost LA will be a group blog where some of Southern California’s most knowledgeable and creative minds weigh in on everything that makes Los Angeles such a diverse and unique city. Any subject is fair game, from state and city politics to cultural and business trends to the local sports teams. From the beaches to the desert, Michelin-starred restaurants to taco trucks, the Staples Center to Disneyland, the Lakers to the Dodgers, USC to UCLA, our bloggers will cover all aspects of life in Los Angeles.

Fishbowl LA snickers over this amusing bit: “As always, there are no deadlines or quotas.” Really? No deadlines or quotas for unpaid, free contributions? A veritable bargain!

We have a suggestion for a graphic they can use for HuffPost LA that conveys the LA radtitude they are looking for: A cartoon sun–wait for it–WEARING SUNGLASSES!

Regardless, we’re all looking forward to reading content from “the most knowledgeable and creative minds weigh(ing) in on everything that makes Los Angeles such a diverse and unique city.”

While I’m not about to throw my hat into the ring here, as a blog writer, or “blogger” if you will, I respected Shepard for offering the following quote to LAist’s Andy Sternberg back in February, 2008:

Any words of wisdom for aspiring street artists / disruptors / dissenters?
My advice is to stick to what you believe with tenacity. Don’t read snarky blogs and message boards because lazy sideline critics can bum you out, and ultimately have little effect on the outcome of things compared to those who take real action. Just follow your passion.

I should elaborate. Having spent way too much time online over the course of the last two decades, much as I respected Shep for saying that, I firmly believe that many peoples’ passion in life is in fact being snarky-as-a-motherfucker for no apparent reason. We try to be more-or-less even keel over in the (largely musical) Losanjealous waters, but it’s not always easy, and his words might be taken broader and strike some sort of nerve for anybody writing about other peoples’ projects other than their own, be it for a blog or as a profession (or, natch, for a blog as a profession). It’s unfortunate that Shep forgot to follow his own sage advice this week, and he presumably agrees: I can picture him, sitting over there at Studio One right now, refreshing “Eastsider LA” every 30 seconds, growing more and more steamed with each negative comment (whether on topic or not), becoming suddenly and briefly vindicated each time somebody posts a positive comment, et cetera, ad infinitum, ad graffitum. We’ve all been there. I personally suspect this ridiculous worldwide myotatic behavior may have originally started over at Craigslist’s legendary “rants and raves” section. So much so, in fact, that I’m headed there – right now – to see just what I’ve been missing since I stopped opening jpegs with trepidation and began following blogs all those years ago. I have a lot of catching up to do.

SPEAKING OF SHEP
» The Great Associated Press vs Shepard Fairey Obama Hope Poster Debate

A Call-Out To Los Angeles Blogs On This Day

Please pick up this story on your website. Keep the ball rolling. Let us not rest on this day of days until the LA Times ultimately has no choice but to re-post the redesign story itself, thus completing our commentary circle in some crudely beautiful, minuscule-yet-altogether-infinitesimal fashion. The logged-in user at the time of the above already-published LAist screen shot capture, one “Margot.Roosevelt@”, will no doubt be forever indebted as well. Instructions: (1) Capture this browser screen and prep for your blog of choice. (2) Your headline might read something like “Losanjealous Nods @ LAist Nod @ La Times Online Redesign”. (3) Provide instructions if need be, and get some other blog to pick up your story accordingly (you are on your own here). Look, dammit, this should be easy. I’ve even captured the next screenshot for you already – downloadable right here, 576px wide, 72dpi. Size to fit, post before noon. Don’t forget your end-of-article attribution links for our joint end-of-day paper trail! Thank you in advance; see you over at the Times website around 6pm. First round’s on me.

» The L.A. Times Gets a Nice Redesign (LAist)

The living-room of our apartment was covered in tapes and archival films that we’d begged, borrowed, and (depending on the statute of limitations) stolen. In classic DIY fashion, we did whatever we needed to do to get it done. At one point we were editing SHOTGUN FREEWAY from 10PM to morning on the Northern Exposure series Avid system, which was fun until I re-calibrated the monitors one night. For another long stretch we found ourselves hand cleaning 100’s of hours of old films that the LAPD Historical Society had discovered in a back jail cell…

Go check it out and do pose your questions and comments directly to Harry in the comment section, should you get the chance.

FROM A LONG TIME AGO (tangentially related)
» Huell Howser: The Drinking Game

Ok, people. The mighty gurgitators of the LA Metblogs are having a Hot Dog Death March to the Death on June 13 (week from Saturday). Information is here. They’ll be eating at Oki-Dog, Pink’s and Skooby’s, all during the same afternoon. Maybe you join them, let us know how you fare. Me, I’m steering clear. In fact in no way and at no time do I recommend you join this event. No, I must advise against it. For reasons to remain unblogged at present I no longer condone any sort of social experiment regarding Oki-Dog, Hollywood Toll Booth, Day-glo Bastion of Toothlessness, North Fairfax, Willoughby, Tinseltown USA. I will not be at this event; I will not be at the Oki-Dog. I will be nowhere anywhere near this event, at all. Do not let this stop you.

LA Metblogs Leads the “Los Angeles Hot Dog Death March” To Sample 3 Eateries in 1 Afternoon

Calling all hot dog lovers & pop culture fans! LA Metblogs (la.metblogs.com), obsessed with covering everything quintessentially “LA,” is gathering for a mass “meat-up” over three of LA’s best-loved hot dog stands.

Who will win this weenie smackdown?! Certainly not YOU, after you’ve had three hot dogs in as many hours. But you’re all winners in our eyes, so it’s ok.

Our destinations are Pink’s, Oki-Dog, and Skooby’s. Yes, there are many other great wieners in Los Angeles (har har har). We think these three are enough for one afternoon.

The date: Saturday June 13
The time: 3pm – time of death
The progression: Meet at Pink’s, then Oki-dog, Skooby’s, emergency room
The fun: contests, prizes, acid reflux
The why: WHY NOT? Don’t answer that.
For more info, go to the official website at http://hotdogdeathmarch.com
Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/hddmla

Looks like they even have an official logo. Much as I am trying not to sound like the little old lady in Poltergeist, Oki-Dog is not to be toyed with, this I say with certainty after years of experimentation, I have said it, I can sleep, carry on.

IN THE PAST
» The Last Oki-Dog of 2006
» Ask A Vegetarian About Oki-Dog
» DEVELOPING: OKI-DOG UPGRADED TO “A” HEALTH STATUS; WORLD AS WE KNOW IT DRAWING TO CLOSE IN NINE (9) DAYS

As records tend to do, a revisited appreciation of Paul McCartney’s 1971 solo album, RAM, had begun to see a resurgence of sorts within a number of local Eastside artists, coming up in conversations and on the turntables of various house parties.

The theme was found. Over the course of the second half of 2008 eleven Angeleno artists individually went in to various studios, rehearsal spaces and apartments to record their take on what is my favorite, and arguably, McCartney’s best solo work…. the end result is RAM On L.A.

Released as a high-quality 320kbps MP3 digital download, the not-for-profit compilation is available free via aquariumdrunkard.com. Listeners are encouraged to make donations to No More Landmines, the fantastic cause that “helps and empowers communities around the world by removing the threat of landmines and unexploded weapons.” A cause championed by Sir Paul McCartney himself. Donate here.

Around this same time, it came to the attention of our website that up near Manhattan by the water, WFMU’s Tom Scharpling was putting together a similar package as a promo giveaway for his (Jersey City) station’s pledge drive: an all-star tribute to Paul McCartney’s Ram, titled Tom. (Incidentally, Scharpling’s fundraising show took place two nights ago.) Thusly as swift as lightning did Ram Fever 2009 strike the benevolent sensibility cells of both east and west coasts, simultaneously,and the nation gave birth to an altogether new Ram re-appreciation level; one bicoastal, one indie-rock-centric; one of worthy cause donation, be it anti-mine-of-the-land or pro-freeform-radio-wave-of-the-air; one borne of a love of blogs and freeform radio alike; truly, a level of Ram re-appreciation of which the somewhat, scattershot Ram-previously-appreciating nation had to date never even seen, let alone visited; truly, a level of both Ram appreciation and re-appreciation that would be later withdrawn from the memory bank by brute force alone. To intone that one or both coasts was, or were, “Really Rrramming Rrrram” in plainsong might have been to pluck the easy joke from the nightly harvest; that fit for the stage of Leno, not Colbert.

Go thee forth, then, and get your copy of the Los Angeles version of Ram circa 2009 at AD [here], and don’t forget the landmine fund. This sturdy Los Angeles comp includes artists such as Earlimart, Parson Red Heads and Broken West.

Back on the east coast, boasting guys like Ted Leo and Death Cab, Scharpling’s compilation may already be scarce, but call or click WFMU and see if you can’t talk them into you somehow getting your hands on a copy for your generous donation today. You’ve got a few days left on that pledge drive, if you hustle.

It goes without saying: Purists and buffs, keep Paul’s original on the hi-fi and switch between all three for maximum effect.

LA’s first vegan hot dog stand, in a different location all the time. It’s so good, and you can find it outside of venues like the smell and pehrspace. Kogibbq has got nothing on this! the kids LOVE IT.

I tried to verify the tip by googling Franken’s, and was returned a bunch of HuffPo articles regarding Al Franken, so I’m assuming this phenom is relatively new. (No bullshit: Google Franken’s hot dogs and you get “Coleman has as much chance of winning as a vegan at a hot dog eating contest” …)

What I do know is that at $4, these plant-based sausages (sun-dried tomatoes!) are priced considerably cheaper than the gourmet veggie sausages at Wurstküche and the free toppings don’t appear to be numerically limited, either (glares toward 3rd & Traction). And, oh – the line’s shorter than Kogi, and the location’s trackable online? Count me doubly interested. Get the full scoop here.

In no particular order below are a few local (Los Angeles-based) music-centric blogs that I enjoy, if you haven’t already found them. Each has its merits and specialties. Feel free to add your own blog or any you feel I’ve forgotten to the comment section.

http://www.aquariumdrunkard.com/
http://buzzbands.la/
http://www.yousetthescene.blogspot.com/
http://radiofreesilverlake.blogspot.com/
http://rawkblog.blogspot.com/
http://rockinsider.com/
http://la-underground.net/
http://littleradio.com/
http://icecreamman.com/
http://www.myspace.com/fyeahfest
http://larecord.com/

UPDATE, 2/2: As of January 30, in a move Lazarus himself would have no choice but to commend, Oscar has assumed control at the helm of Scenestar, resurrected the site and will be going it alone for the time being, from the looks of things. Kudos to Oscar for getting his site back up and running; we are all glad to have your voice back and will look forward to seeing what your site brings in 2009!

THE BLOG-O-SPHERE REACTION AND FALLOUT
Local blogs picked up the story. As if people needed another reason beyond the undeniable, perfectly obvious, in-your-face, purely logical reasons not to go to El Coyote, now this had to happen. Things are just not looking good for El Coyote. Some people are threatening to boycott. Others are content to discuss, in detail, the pros and cons of such a boycott via the comment section of their preferred local blog of choice.

THE POST-DISCOVERY MARGARITA-SUFFUSED OLIVE BRANCH
El Coyote is offering a free lunch and discussion tomorrow in an attempt to alleviate the immediate, comment-worthy, potentially-boycott-worthy situation. (It is presumed that El Coyote food will be served at the lunch.)

LOCAL BLOGS SOUND OFF (AND THE COMMENTERS GO INTO A FULL-ON PASSIONATE TIZZY ACCORDINGLY. IF ONLY COMMENTS COULD REVERSE UNFORTUNATE, MISGUIDED VOTES AFTER THE FACT. IF ONLY I COULD BOTTLE AND SELL THE ENERGY IN COMMENTS! DIGRESS…)

• Eater
• Eater Again
• Metblogs
• LAist (…that photo ain’t El Coyote!)
• Losanjealous (still waiting for that first comment, guys)
• Fightin’ Mary
• Shut Up I Know

Please remit any blogs which contain emotionally charged yet often anonymous comments ASAP if they are not already on the list above, thank you in advance.