what an amazing night. me and heath got out and did so much. firstly, she came over from work and we just hung out for a bit here. she changed and i quickly remembered the article i had left in my car about the open studios at Essex Art Center. I gotta say, THIS PLACE was so amazing tonight. Before we even made it to the open studios, we spent a bunch of time in the gallery where the "Juried Art" was featured. Basically some pretentious judging going on, but nonetheless, I got to talk to some of the teachers. They offer great classes there now..Storytelling through Theater..etc. I need to spend more time there, particularly in the dark room. The place has great energy.

Heath nabbed this amazing, honey-drizzled thing that was provided by Cafe Azteca while I people-watched and read the essay on a cool mountain installation. The artist had set up these mountainous sculptures that had mirrors underneath that reflected the bottom surface of the moutains and created this cool-ass pool reflection effect (sorta have to be there).

We finally moved onto our original purpose for being there: the Open Studios. We walk a few paces away to the next mill-building and the first thing i notice is this young Latino boy greeting us "Are you here for the art" he asked firmly in his Johnny Blaze attire. We responded 'yes' and from above I could hear a mix of punk and hip hop. As soon as we got up to the fifth floor, I was like a little kid in a candy shop. There was indie rock band seated around a bunch of paintings and sculpture playing this mellow, ambient music..AND..they were all our age!?!?! I MEAN...lately, all i've been bitching about is the difficulty I'm having finding an artist community in my age group, and here, I'm surrouned by weird, eccentric ppl doing whatever it is that they do and it FELT FUCKING GREAT.

I saw some artwork out of the corner of my eye..blue..and surreal and was like this definitely has to be mi gente. Norma Esperanza Lopez's work was kick-ass and I'm trying to find her card. Another awesome thing was that most of the artists were right there to talk to you and were obviously selling their stuff, but the high-light of my evening, without a doubt was Urban Explosion. We had honestly thought we had seen everything we were gonna see and heath even had made a joke about the "break circle" kinda forming in the back. AT first we thought it was just a bunch o' kids hanging out near this pitch black installation wall. Til the music started. It was some kinda re-mix. Classic rock riff sampled into a break beat. I heard similar stuff at the club tonight..AC/DC Back n Black with Snoop Dogg..pretty funny. They're using the classics now!

Anyway, these kids, ages 12-15, had the livest dance performance I'd ever seen. Their timing was impeccable and the moves were very MJ. This one boy up front was really working it. I had to yell. I couldn't hold back. I felt so proud! And, they went on for a good 7-8 minutes. They were so happy..you could tell, ALL SMILES. I screamed again. After they finished, I told one of the lil' dancers they should be on Apollo Kids and she said "oh, we sent our tape in already.
She said they called themselves "Urban Explosion" and they practiced at the Art Center. You could tell they practice a lot and they were definitely explosive. I'll be bringing some other folks to see them.

WE met up with Lar for the Haunted Mansion. The line was not nearly as bad as it was the year before because we arrived so early. I was definitely psyched and didn't even mind standing outside for nearly two hours. We got thru the haunted forest, accompanied by a group of three little girls who asked if they could "be with us". Upon entering the forest, that "be with you" turned into "can I hold your hand" which was really sweet...until some Jason character with a knife came running across the bridge, screaming. Then the lil girl screaming started, which, If you've never heard it, resembles something like an ultra-sonic eardrum piercer. Then, there was pushing. Why are little girls such easy screamers? All these costumed-35 y.o. dudes were ONLY going up to little girls, which started to feel like this creepy, predator thing. I guess they wouldn't run up to adult men, but STILL..it was weird watching these guys getting off on breathing heavy in some little girl's face...

we got through the damn forest, and got in line for the mansion, when the power went out. in fact, that was one of the 6 or 7 times the power would go out within the next hour or so that we WAITED ..and WAITED some more. Devon assured me this was an unprecedented occurrence at Haunted Mansion, as if gave birth to the damn thing, but apparently the vertigo, 3D spinny-tunnel (RAWK!) thing motor broke. And also, I believe Devon was then delegated the job of spinning the tunnel, which is why I didn't see him.

During our wait outside the house, we amused ourselves in several ways. I was busily evading the 20 questions our newly-acquired adolescent trio were slinging my way, we recited DIO and Iron Maiden lyrics, sang "Dracula," tried to rile the crowed up my chanting "REFUND" and "WE WANNA BE SCARED...WE WANNA BE SCARED"..also, I started in with "What do we want---HAUNTED MANSION...yea, you get the hint. It was funny and obnoxious at the time. It seemed like an eon we were waiting and watching made-up, pseudo experts shuffle in and out of the house. Then, we heard the MUSIC and got in.

This house is the scariest and coolest I've even been too. You can't even visualize where you are after a while (they give you 3D glasses). There are literally times in there where you are in pitch black, unknowns and have to grope your way through or appoint a more fearless leader in which case, a ghoul will shortly pop up and scream in your face..FUN FUN FUN!

The highlight was this cool, Eddy-like Alien thing that was ENORMOUS and I don't even think my 3-D glasses betrayed me. It was OUT there..i dunno who makes these costumes, but they're skilled. I'd love to hang out in one of those rad costumes and freak ppl out all night, course I prob. do that just fine in civilian clothes.

I brought Harry and Leather to Grand China afterward (we had worked up a fierce appetite) and immediately saw Dharma and the back of Sisouk's head. I sensed something was up the way he was absorbing all of Sisouk's attention. I gave 'em a big, bear hug. He was down and out. I figured it involved some financial difficulty, but then I overheard some more retribution thingy when I went to check with Dharma about the tofu status. Trust me, in this area, finding a place that will prepare tofu is like winning the goddammn lotto--IT AIN'T EASY. We ate. Larry accidentally burped in my ear. We belly-lauged. The trinity is back! Thank god..at long last.

Me and Heather were far from done there even though it was past midnight. Lori had text me earlier. Said she'd be at RCB. We got there and I immediately saw three ppl that I either know from high school or didn't want to see, like Peter, my hot-n-cold Bartender friend who now seems to have some expensive habits and tries to sleep with everyone, including myself.

I got up to the dance floor and saw Lori grinding with some boy, which is ironic, because she's only into women. The dance-floor seemed more like a Lion's Ogle-Den, pointing to my comfort-level at "Alternative Clubs"...there's not like ten-million dudes standing around waiting for you to dance like Britney Spears. Heath and I retired to the softy-couch and which point, I experienced one of the TOP MOST EMBARRASSING MOMENTS OF MY LIFE:

We noticed these underage looking boys to the corner. They kept exchanging smiles at which point I said to heath "these boys are young enough to be our children...it was at that moment that i could see one of them in my periphery, pointing and giggling at this small, ball of something on the floor. I couldn't figure out what it was at first. It looked like maybe a scrunchy or a napkin, but I was certain something so mundane would not have elicited such laughter and fascination.

And there it was...MY personal NIGHTMARE, come true, my hair extension (aka. my fake, diva pony-tail) and somehow worked it's way out of my head on one of my earlier trips to the bathroom and it was sitting there, naked, in the light, for everyone's examination. I pretended not to notice thinking my interest would incriminate me by default. It was then, I turned to Heather and confided my intimate secret to which she blurted out laughing ..HYSTERICALLY.

I swung back to the boys who had moved onto something else..prob. enamored by some mid-rif or the fact that they were illegally drinking in a club. I said, .."ok, heather, i'm gonna grab my hair..will you put in your bag?" She easily agreed. Like a frog honing in on it's prey, I leaned forward and swooped my fake hair into safety and then gracefully pretended to not know what it was until Heather hid it's awkwardness in her bag. "I paid a lot of money for that, I said" to which we both bust out laughing. What a goof I am sometimes. The best part is that, she still have my fake hair in her purse. Maybe it will expunge itself onto the counter tomorrow when she goes to pay for her coffee. One can only hope.