Here's Looking At You: Hollywood Style

For those of you following our LA chronicles, this week features our good times had with the lovely Josh and Aurora... Josh directed the Here's Looking At You video (which is being edited in the other room as I type this) and Aurora sort of produced the video, or at least she helped scout locations, herd the boys around, give us fun facts about the neighbourhood (Old Hollywood) and generally kept our morale up when the sun was at its hottest!  Not only are J & A great friends and lovely ambassadors for LA, but they also do this cool blog/podcast, The Weekly Dictator, see?  Get your humorous history fix here!  http://weeklydictator.com

The sunglasses are to hide the tears..

Growler and Garo get emotional at Hard Rock when they spot Axl's jacket and Izzy's guitar...





So after a long day of shooting (and I have to say it was a long day!)  We whole-heartedly deserved this megarita!

It was soooooo hot, like the desert!  And while the boys watched football in an English-themed pub (yes really?!) I was out defacing stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, posing in front of old cinemas and standing by signs on street corners.

I did have a moment of reflection in Amoeba Records and was delighted to discover The Betty Page Store.  So as hard work goes, it sure wasn't bad.

There are a few more photos here if you want to check 'em out.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/88986055@N00/sets/72157631320703138/

Keep an eye out for the finished video and the next blog, coming soon!
Cheerio....
xx
Piney

Beach House

So for those of you following our LA chronicles we stayed in a little Beach House near Venice Beach, what a luxury that was!  Okay so the Whole Foods girl said our neighbourhood was 'ghetto' but we didn't mind.  I mean, how 'ghetto' can a place be if there is a Whole Foods nearby, right?

As you can see in this loved up photo of Growler and Garo the sky is actually grey (I know, in LA!??!?), apparently this is what they call 'June Gloom' where it's a bit overcast until noon or so.  This didn't phase the Brits though, and they ran into the bracing cold sea (crazy boys!)

Mitchy burned really badly on day one and so here he's hiding from El Scorchio...

I was really delighted to see where they filmed 'White Men Can't Jump' and yes, there really were people playing basketball, isn't that cool?

It doesn't take too much to please me I guess.

There are more beach photos here if anyone wants to see Garo and Growler strip down to their pants, Growler giving Mitchy a massage, Jonesy looking pensive-like at the sea, Heather with 2 heads, or a special guest appearance from Y...

 http://www.flickr.com/photos/88986055@N00/sets/72157631209190388

xxx
Piney

The Grand Ol' Echo

So we did our first gig in LA at The Grand Ol' Echo which is famous for it's fabulous West Coast, So-Cal country music scene.  We did a few old school Piney Gir Country Roadshow numbers to please the country-loving crowd, but even the more jangle-pop stuff like 'Would You Be There' went down well.  I was so proud of us!  And what a darn friendly crowd they were... If I lived in LA, I'd go there every week.  I would have to stock up on pointy boots and plaid frocks, but that would be no bad thing.

 Mitchell was so sleepy from his trans-Atlantic flight that he had a little nap at soundcheck... at this moment when the photo was taken, the other band on the bill was playing some alt country at a loud level and I don't know how he managed to sleep.  I guess jet-lag moves in powerful and mysterious ways....

Here we are rocking on stage at the Echo, good times! 

If you want to see more Grand Ol' Echo pics, you can do!  Just follow this link for vicarious fun  : )

Maybe you can all come with me next time...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/88986055@N00/sets/72157631064400404/

xx
P
p.s. if you check the flickr set, keep your eyes peeled for Garo who was nearly eaten by a big Rock Lobster... we were nearly down a guitar player on day 1!

LA Stories - All That Driving!

I went to LA to see the sights and the sun, to do some shows and hang out for some schmoozey music bizz stuff.  

And it was great!  

(This is a slanket!)

I'm never one to bang on about the weather, usually reserving that chit chat for the guy in my local shop/post office/bakery/etc… but the UK's been sort of trapped under this grey, wet blanket.  Or maybe it's more like a slanket; harnessing the arms and legs as it weighs you down.

Anyway, LA was liberating, despite the famous 'June Gloom' that everyone spoke of, it just didn't touch the sides with us!  In fact Mitchy got so sunburned that his shoulders blistered, and my skin has gone a nice Native American brown.

One thing that struck me funny, was just how much driving we had to do.  Apparently this is a popular topic of conversation in LA (much like the British talk about weather).  And so here's a little set of photos from the car.  http://flic.kr/s/aHsjAG4wdA

The boys and I crammed in, while young Heather negotiated traffic with help from our (German-speaking) sat nav.

We were 2 hours late for our NBC/Universal showcase!  2 HOURS LATE!  For one of the most important showcases we've ever done!  Luckily they were super cool about it, because it truly was insane traffic that made a 30 min journey take 3 hours.  I think we spent about a third of our 2 week stint in LA in the car.

...And so it seems apt to report back about it; it instilled a sense of culture shock in all of us.  

It's nice to be back in Blighty where one can just walk to the local shop, or get the tube across town in 20 mins.

Would I trade that in for the sun, sea and palm trees?  Well probably = yes!

xx

P

P.S.  Stay tuned for more LA stories
in the coming weeks.

God Save the Dream

Hello London, 

How was your Jubilee?

Rest-of-world do you give a flying fig?

I like The Queen, I don't really *get* the need for a queen in these modern times, but as an American in London I am enjoying all this English-style pomp and circumstance!  Here's my top ten reasons why:

1.   I like The Queen's perfectly matching outfits

2.   I like her funny little wave

3.   The Queen has nice sparkly jewels

4.   I am a fan of The Queen's cute matching dogs

5.   I like Britain's toy-like soldiers

6.   I'm loving the brass fanfares

7.   Who doesn't enjoy days off work?

8.   I love street parties and bunting and cakes because it makes me feel like I live on Sesame Street.  

9.   I like fireworks and tofu BBQ because it reminds me of the 4th of July.  

10. I like marmite and cucumber sandwiches (unlike most Americans)

Love

xx

Piney

p.s. the USA version of God Save The Queen has totally different lyrics see?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Country,_'Tis_of_Thee

Stay Sweet - High School Yearbook Spread

Today Stay Sweet is out on general release, exciting ay?  

I think this means you can buy it from Itunes and other digital retailers; it comes with b-sides and all sorts!


If you haven't yet seen the vid please check it out 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_wI-ycCgnU


Anyhoo... I was asked to do this high-school year book feature thing for an American webzine.  It's not been posted yet, but I thought given the subject matter of Stay Sweet, it was a suitable thing to blog about on this fine day of release.


Here's a little snapshot from my high school year book and a blurb about what it was like to be in high school.

Hello readers, 


I'm Piney Gir and high school was funny for me because I didn't really fit in to any clique as such... I wasn't shunned or anything too bad - I certainly witnessed football players bullying drama students and stuff like that, but I was kind of a loaner, a drifter.  


I'd flit from debate team table to band geek table in the lunch room.  I joined student council but was the low-profile treasurer, not president or anything in the lime-light.  I was in all the school musicals usually cast as a cute kid or a crazy old lady; I wasn't the romantic lead or glorified heroine.  I was never nominated for homecoming queen or any of that nonsense, I think I was too weird to be truly 'popular'... in the Breakfast Club I would have been Ally Sheedy not Molly Ringwald.  


I was the girl that would date the tuba player in the marching band, not because he was hot but because he was nice to me.  I was the girl in the back of the class that would do a drawing depicting a scene from Wuthering Heights and turn it in for extra credit in my English Lit class.  I was the girl that excelled at creative writing, got bad grades in math, skipped out of gym class and chose tennis over cheerleading.  


I lost my class ring, I think it's around here somewhere...


xx
P

The Land of Chocolate

I went to the Land of Chocolate and it was fascinating!

I expected some scary Oompa Loompas and a chocolate waterfall, but what I got was much more clinical yet still enjoyable.

The land I speak of is the Lindt Chocolate Factory and Museum in Cologne, Germany.  I have to say the Germans do chocolate very well indeed and so it was with schoolgirlish delight that I approached the riverside building unaware of what awaited inside for me.  

Firstly, it is so educational… it shows you how a chocolate plant grows flowers then beans and what the beans have to go through to become the chocolate that we eat.  

There was a heated conservatory full of cocoa plants and butterflies, there was a series of machinery that ground, pulped, sieved, etc… and out the other side was  a golden, free-flowing, chocolate fountain in a glass room.  A woman in white from head to toe dipped cookies in the fountain and handed these out to guests.  

Next there was a machine worthy of a Raymond Scott soundtrack that churned out perfectly formed little chocolate pieces.  A lady sat at the end of the assembly line harvesting the gold-foiled little nuggets and placing them in a box.  It reminded me of this famous I Love Lucy sketch… 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnbNcQlzV-4

Upstairs was a room with mechanical arms throwing chocolate moulds around, creating chocolate footballs, hearts, bunnies and race cars.  More women in white were making hand spun truffles and specialty chocolate bars with different nuts, sprinkles and edible gold.  

This led on to the vintage packaging displays.  I love kitschy things and so for me this was inspiring.  Old chocolate boxes from the 20's featured kittens with large eyes and Kinder egg toys from yesteryear had a lot more pizzaz than Kinder eggs of today.

All in all, this was such a thrill, I might have to go for a hot chocolate right now with double marshmallow; close my eyes and think of Cologne.

xx

P