I am taking pictures of symbolic architecture in Pasadena. Pasadena is crawling with it.

I am celebrating my 37th Birthday in Pasadena. I am at the Westin Hotel and it is much more dignified than last week. Fresh air, non-smoking room, open fitness center and no water pouring down from the ceiling. I bought myself a 512 MB shuffle this morning at Target. I am extremely pleased. It even comes with headphones. As I type, it is autofilling from My Top Rated playlist.

When I got back to my hotel room the message light was on. I had a package at the front desk. When I got there the woman was confused and said it was in the walk-in fridge and would it be OK if it got brought up to my room. A hotel staff member with a smirk on his face brought up a huge box from marthasflowers .

Jon Kirshbaum’s brother Chris is 1/2 of the band for the Fellowship at Met Theatre. Chris set me up with a comp ticket which gave us advanced seating. The ticket taker thought I was an industry comp. There were some very very funny moments. The opening was a video clip of the opening of the movie which i think was the best part. I also loved the balrog’s cabernet song and the eyeball on a stick.

A hilarious musical parody of the movie “The Fellowship of the Ring”. Featuring 12 original songs. You’ll see barefooted tap dancing Hobbits, an elf and human singing an 80’s power ballad, and a terrifying creature of shadow and flame performing his sequined studded cabaret number. If you are a fan of “The Lord of the Rings”, a fan of musicals, or a fan of laughing till it hurts, Fellowship! is too much fun to miss.

I am working in Pasadena California for the next three weeks. I have had nothing but bad luck as far as hotel arrangements go. For the first week I couldn’t get in the Westin. Even the people who booked after I did got rooms there. I know I chose a non-smoking room when I booked my travel. I was told that since I didn’t have a preference listed (with Hilton?) the put me in a nasty smoking room. I’ve stayed one night and I’m already coughing up chunks of yellow mucus. It is a really unpleasant hotel. The fitness center is shut down for repairs. The carpets are stained and the outlets are loose and you can see gaps around the face plates. For the record, the guys I’m traveling with are all losers. I had to walk back to my hotel room by myself in the dark last night. I flipped off their hotel this morning as I ran by.

This weekend is my last production support release. So I’m Bachelor while Paul is in Bend with Micheal Wallish and Co. I have the Shins and Cans of Devine Paint to keep me compay. We are moving our computer downstairs to its own room so I’m repainting.

My favorite band in the entire world (right now) is the The Shins, It’s been a long time since I’ve been taken with a band. I’m adopting the Shins and my personal life soundtrack. Have a listen for yourself. Apparently they’ve move to Portland/Seattle, does that make them a local band?

(Caring is Creepy)

It’s a luscious mix of words and tricks
That let us bet when you know we should fold
On rocks i dreamt of where we’d stepped
And the whole mess of roads we’re now on.

My sister Rachel got back from Spain. She picked me up in Pasadena and we toured Hollywood. Ate at Swingers Diner – Beverly Laurel Motor Hotel 8020 Beverly Blvd. And saw Grauman’s Chinese Theatre. Why would people choose to live here? It was intersting to take a peek into my little sisters life. I hadn’t seen her in a few years.