Kitsch...and a little history on the black hand side.

Today I volunteered at the annual APLA event held at the "Pink House". The home is owned by Allee Willis. The woman is phenomenally accomplished. She's written songs for Earth, Wind and Fire, Randy Crawford and a tons of other people, wrote the theme to FRIENDS (Cha-ching!) and her current project is Color Purple, the musical. She co-wrote the music with Brenda Russel and Stephen Bray.

I had heard she was an eccentric and that is no lie! But she is also a technology guru (especially when it comes to the arts), has spoken before congress, has one of the largest collections of pop culture memorabilia (a large part of it BLACK) that she rotates through her home and museum and she's got an alter-ego named Bubbles. Bubbles even went so far as to work with Real and Chance from I Love New York! The woman is a fascinating walking breathing history of entertainment and bank of genius. It is no surprise that she's also a bit mad scientist and wacky. I absolutely love her! I strongly recommend that all my entertainment minded friends spend hours on her website: http://www.alleewillis.com/. I'm going to just to learn from the woman...

Today's exhibit was art done by John Lloyd Young, who played Frankie Valley in the original Broadway cast of Jersey Boys. He took a food box and covered it in rhinestones to give to Allee as a gift, she in turn asked him to do an entire collection for sale. Her introduction of the artist included the following line, which pretty much sums up the afternoon, "I don't even mind that I lost the TONY to him...since he was so fuckin' brilliant in Jersey Boys."

Below are two slide shows of the pics I took today. The first includes the art, the second is of Ms. Willis' museum. When I tell you that she has a genuine love for black people that I've never seen before, it's an understatement. Her father wrote her a letter on his deathbed. In it, he told her to stay away from "the black people". Her embracing of the culture and working within it is a very, VERY deliberate thing. She's beyond dope!

Also, here's a REALLY GOOD LOOK AT HER FANTASTIC HOUSE!

The Happiest Place On Earth...

Yesterday, my mom and I spent the entire day at Disneyland. We had free tickets earned volunteering for AIDS Project LA. Volunteering was fun, and Disneyland was a blast! It had been about 4 years since I’d been last and this time we planned out exactly what we wanted to see. There were some great highlights and, yes, a couple low lights. But, let’s start with the good stuff, shall we?

Since I really don't care...

Disclaimer: I'm venting. Bear with me.

When I was about to turn 30, a friend told me that my “whatever” attitude was going to get worse. Way worse. I was already one of those “I don’t give a fuck, I’m doin’ me” type of people, so according to him it was going to get a lot worse. And, he was right…


Don’t get me wrong, I love people. I love observing people, I love getting to know people and I especially love spending time with people. But with that I’ve had to learn not to give anyone anything they themselves are not willing to give. If I’m there for you and you’re there for me, we are golden. I don’t care if I only have a real conversation with you twice a year. As long as we’re both actively engaged in the friendship, we are and will always be friends.

With that being said, I know I don’t have a lot of friends. I happen to think its better that way. I know a whole lot of people, but I can count my real friends on a hand and a half. My real friends are the ones who make an effort, who check on me, whose words are backed up by their actions. And I thank them for that. But you acquaintances have gotten it all wrong.

If your idea of friendship is to be inconsiderate, shallow, rude and selfish, I really don’t want you around. Everyone has their issues and a true mark of friendship is to accept others as they accept you. But in order for that to happen, you have to accept your faults. You have to be able to take personal responsibility for your actions. If you let someone down then ignore it and them, you’re basically the worst kind of asshole. You think you’re entitled to treat people however you want. And, judging by the precedent, you would probably be super hot if someone did the same shit to you.

People always give me the “she’s got an attitude” look when they get dry responses from me. But, I would ask folks to take a good long look at how they’ve treated people. That might not be my attitude you’re seeing, that look may just tell you how little I now value you as a person. Life is too short to surround yourself with people who make you feel like they don’t give a fuck about you. It just is. None of us should have people in our lives that don’t respect, value or care about us. If I’m in control of my quality of life, then I’m in control of how much bullshit I put up with.

I will ride or die for certain people in my life. They know it, I know it. They have off days just like I do, but I will never question their friendship. They’ve put up with my mess and I owe them the same. But the rest of you fuckers? I don’t owe you shit. And I’m not giving you shit. I’ve done my fair share of being there for people far longer than I should have. But after years of doing that and getting nothing in return, I finally got fed all the way up. Someone once told me that I couldn’t just cut them off. Oh, but it’s a skill I’ve gotten damn good at it. No more toxic people, no more users, no more risking my stability for folks who have none of their own, just NO MORE.

Now that I got that off my chest, I must say this…I have a small but mighty group of friends who push me to be better ,call me on my shit, sit with me when I cry, encourage me to take chances, and once in a while give me permission to be bad! LOL I love you guys very much. You know who you are…