10/10/2006. USA Hostel, Hollywood.

Hello again, Last night was a blast. Saw a couple of great bands, a lot of black T-Shirts, long hair and tattoos. Did I mention that a lot of women have tattoos here? Big tatoos on the arms and back etc. Lots of Latinos there as well. Big hairy Latinos. They seem to be a pretty big market for Thrash and Death metal. Mean lookin' dudes. Favourite band of the night was Exodus. Thrashy Metal band from the 80's. I saw this big old dude (looked to be about my age, with a big gut, beard and long hair and sleeved tatts) talking to a guy on the merch desk. He was really intense and looked to be angry, arms flailing about, old long hair akimbo. It turned out that this wild old madman was the lead singer for Exodus! He was hilarious. Screaming at the crowd, pointing at us and calling us all Mother F*#kers...a lot! It was so funny, when he felt that he wasn't getting enough reaction from the crowd he kept asking if we were tired. I was laughing my head off. He kept slapping at his chest and doing periodic headbanging. It was breathtaking, I loved every minute of it. After their set, I bought their CD and two T-shirts. The lead singer was there so I got him (and the drummer) to sign the CD. I shook his hand and thanked him for a great set. He was much mellower by now and he looked genuinely pleased to hear it. What a man! Once again, I ended up a little worse for wear but not overly so. I grabbed a bite in the HOB restaurant before the the bands came on so I was well prepared for a drink. Once I got home, I didn't feel like going to bed so I wandered over to Hollywood Blvd and popped into a bar on Highland called the Powerhouse. One of those dives you see on TV and the movies. Brick wall facade and a single door. Inside though it was great. Plenty of people in there and a good friendly atmosphere. I got talking to this guy when I was sitting outside having a smoke. He told me that it was a hangout for locals and always has a good feel to it. They had these weird electronic dartboards that did the scoring automatically. Met an ex-pat aussie guy. He's been here for years and has that shitty hybrid accent. Anyway, I hung around there for about an hour or so and then made my way home, but not before stopping at a Donut place to grab a coffee and a couple of sugary custard donuts. These I pigged out on back in my room before finally passing out.
I'm now at the hostel where I'll be staying until I fly to San Francisco on the 12th. Pretty cool place, everyone's friendly and they have their own laundry...just in time too. I ran out of socks today so I did a big load (of washing) when I got here. Just got back from Amoeba Records. It's the biggest record shop I've ever seen. Used to be an old bowling alley. Thousands and thousands of CD's, records and DVD's. It was heaven! Spent a couple of hours in there and spent surprisingly little given that I bought about four albums and four CD's. Most of it was second hand so it kept the cost down. Music here is cheaper than at home although working at JB probably evens it up. There is another one in SanFrancisco so I'll be paying them a visit as well. There's still a few more things that I couldn't find in the Hollywood store. Ok, so now it's getting near dinner time so I have to think about doing that soon. They have a open-mike night in the Hostel lounge tonight so I'll probably check that out. Might even belt out a few tunes. Samo Jedno se Ljubi or some other popular Serbo Pop hit. Tomorrow I might go to Magic Mountain to rides those crazy roller coasters. Stay tuned... Love M PS I've changed the setting so you should be able now to create an account and leave comments.