Lou Pickney's Online Commentary
Hollywood
Friday
January 12, 2007
So far things are going great on my visit to Los Angeles. My friend Suzy knows the area pretty well, particularly for a relatively new arrival, and it's been very fun.
L.A. has a great vibe. There is a west coast "laid back" feel to it, but it's also enough big business for there to be an element of constantly networking. My flash impression: networking is more important in this city than any place I've ever been before. People who thought that I might possibly be someone were nice to be, talkative, working the game.
Oh, and I met Melrose Larry Green at the Starf*ckers show last night at the Cat Club. Green is a longtime member of the Howard Stern show's Wack Pack. He told me to wish Bubba congratulations with his wedding (which is tomorrow), since Suzy mentioned to him that I used to work for Bubba. Melrose definitely belongs in the Wack Pack, as he's not all there, but he is a self-promotion machine (in true L.A. networking style, he gave me his business card twice in one night, unsolicited.)
There is definitely a bizarro edge to Hollywood, the true Hollyweird, such as with people working for tips dressed up as characters. But I like places that have an unusual unique feel to them, and the Sunset Strip has that.
Today I went to Malibu and Santa Monica. Suzy and I had lunch literally on the Santa Monica pier, but it was windy (the "Santa Ana" winds I've been told they're called) and, worse, there were pigeons like vultures, lusting after our food. When an old man began throwing food to the pigeons, they flocked in by the dozen. It was more pigeon than I wanted to deal with.
For tomorrow, I have a ticket for two to go see Family Fued being taped. Unfortunately there was no The Price Is Right today, or else I would've gone to that. One thing to know about Hollywood is that you can come out here and get tickets for all sorts of TV show tapings. Since I'm still a TV production junky from my TV news producing days, I find the whole experience interesting (as opposed to, say, someone going to mark out to John O'Hurley.)
I already have so many great stories to tell from here, all the little nuances. I understand now why the scale for juding women here has a higher bar, especially after the rock show last night. I remember hearing Artie Lange say, "You can throw a rock and hit 10 Heather Grahams" talking about the hot women out here. An "L.A 10" is a chick who'd rank a 10 out of 10 on the hot scale in one of the most competitive areas in the world for such things. The City of Angels has an open casting call for hot women who want to be on TV/in movies, and they come here by the busload.
The Baltimore/Indy NFL game is tomorrow. While I didn't fly 4 and a half hours to watch TV, NFL playoff football is not to be trifled with in this dojo!
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