Chazz hasn’t been sleeping well the past few nights.  When I asked him what was wrong, he finally admitted that he’s been a little freaked out by the recent news that Cher’s daughter, Chastity Bono is undergoing a sex change operation to become Chaz Bono.  I tried to explain to him that he is Chazz with two Z’s and that no one could ever take that away from him.  Still, his melancholy persists; to the point where I’ve had to go public just like Cher did to People magazine:

 

To which I replied:

It’s kind of funny that Chastity might actually be the lucky one if such an operation were possible!  I’m just sayin’.  In the meantime, Chazz’s summer vacation has come to and end.  I’d say it was a pretty successful month.  He met Drew Barrymore and President Obama.  He hob knobbed with Chelsea Handler and learned to solve the Rubik’s Cube.  He even celebrated Christmas in June and discovered he was as thin as a shih tzu!  And tonight at the dog park he was approached by a talent scout who gave me a card for a free screen test.  LOL

I didn’t tell the gal that Chazz was already very close with Oscar winner Dustin Lance Black,
what with the sex scandal and all! (Don’t click with kids around.)

Claudio & Ryan come back from Brazil tonight; we’re picking them up at the airport midnight.  It will be lonely around here without Chazz, but starting next weekend, I’m dog-sitting for Garbo & Ruby, so I won’t be sleeping alone long!  Here are the final photos from Chazz’s summer break.  We had a great time at the beach this weekend with Paul & Emili and a lot of fun at the dog park with Sophie!

A full moon at the dog park, and the dogs were howling!

Paul & Emili playing in the surf!

We went to see “The Proposal” at the Arclight.

Since I usually go down to the O.C. on Thursdays, Lisa has been watching Chazz and he’s been pretty good.  The last two weeks however, she was busy so I had to make alternate arrangements, as I’m usually gone 12 hours.  I called a couple of doggie day care places and they were all about the same price, $35-50/day.  On a whim, I called a new place on Santa Monica & Highland called, “The D“.  It’s like “The W Hotel” but for dogs.  I thought it would be ridiculously expensive, as that’s where all the A-List Hollywood celebrities take their dogs.  Surprisingly though it was only $35 for 8 hours and $45 for 12 hours.  Before Chazz could go though, he had to have a “temperament test”.  I felt like I was trying to get him into an elite private school!  I coached him before we went in…”No humping Chazz”, “Keep your nose where I can see it”, etc.  Needless to say, he passed the temperament test with flying colors.  Then the gal at the front desk gave me a tour of the place.  It really is like a luxury hotel for dogs.  When she told me that every room had a flat screen television (with remote), I didn’t know whether to laugh or ask the obvious question! (Do they watch it?)  Then she told me that they play a dog friendly Disney movie in the common area every night at 7:00.  They also have a spa, gym (for dogs) and a grooming salon.  I kid you not…see for yourself:

Deluxe rooms complete with queen size beds and flat screen TVs for your dog!

So that’s where Chazz went the past two Thursdays, and yes I’ve officially become one of “those” dog owners (and he’s not even MY dog!).  I’m not one to gossip, but I will say the names of the owner’s of the dogs that Chazz hob knobbed with the past two weeks, rhyme with Donny Repp and Lennifer Caniston!  So fast forward to yesterday when Lisa said she would be happy to have Chazz for the day.  She only needed to leave the house for a few minutes to pick up the boys from their last day of school.  Since we all know that Chazz doesn’t like to be left alone, she figured he’d be OK in the backyard for 20 minutes with her two dogs.  Guess again:

Who knew that Chazz could fit through a doggie door made for a shih tzu?  He can…and he destroyed Lisa’s blinds in the process!

Andy reprimanding Chazz

Poor Chazz and his abandonment issues!  Needless to say, we’ll be going shopping for new blinds soon.  In the meantime, Andy and I took him on a nature hike last night and saw all kinds of imaginary wildlife and made some new friends as this video will attest:

“Coyotes & Crocodiles…Bye blog readers!  See you later!”

After we made it to the park, Lisa & Tommy picked us up and we went to dinner.  It was a beautiful Southern California evening!

  

Best of the rest…

Oh, and speaking of flat screen TVs, I went on Best Buy’s website the other day and noticed that the new TV I bought 2 weeks ago was on sale for $200 less than what I paid for it.  So, I went to Best Buy and demanded my $200 and got it!  Time for a Blu-Ray??

 

Ever since I got this text message from Paul a couple of weeks ago, I’ve been nervous about how this week was going to go:

  

As the proprietor of a world class, luxury, fake boutique hotel, I want my guests to be comfortable.  But, needless to say, Chazz comes first…so if they don’t like the dog, they best call the aptly named Ramada Limited!  Admittedly, when you see some of the damage that Chazz has done, you might think he’s a little wild.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  He just doesn’t like to be left alone!

Well, I’m happy to report that Chazz has cured Emili’s canine phobia.   In fact, they’re becoming the best of friends.  Prior to meeting Chazz, she would never have gotten this close to a dog!

In fact, Emili has been making friends all over town!

We’ve had a few great dinners and the weather has been nice, despite June Gloom!

French Canada & Vietnam meets Guatemala, meets America!

A peaceful dinner with Chazz the Uniter

Joelle left yesterday, just in time for the next wave of visitors to the H.C.  Former Xangan Paul and his friend are here for a week from Montreal and so is the circus!  No, not Ringling Brothers, but the annual Gay Pride Festival, where the fringe of gay society descend on West Hollywood for a weekend of debacle and debauchery.  (I can’t tell you how much puke there was on the sidewalks.  I’m really “proud” of all the visitors for that!)  Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for “pride”, but the event’s organizers have turned into an all out spectacle.  Corporate sponsorships everywhere you look, ridiculous “anti terrorism” security, $25 admission fees and hideous fencing covering nearly every inch of grass in town.  Not to mention the fact that on every single corner there’s some young fresh faced activist asking you to sign a petition to support gay marriage.  Sorry folks, you were asleep at the wheel the first time.  Asking for my signature 50 times while I walk my dog isn’t going to repeal Prop. 8.  It should have never been on the ballot, and now it’s too little too late.  Why don’t the organizers of these events focus on the next phase of the fight, not the bidding war between Starbucks and Budweiser for who will sponsor Fantasia’s concert?  While the first gay pride marches were meant to commemorate The Stonewall Riots of 1969, modern Pride events have lost site of that historically significant event.  That said, it was pretty funny seeing the crazy Christian protesters clash with the leather queens and hey, Chazz got to meet Chelsea Handler and Gavin Newsom!  (Now he’s met Barack Obama, the mayor of LA and the mayor of San Francisco…and probably the next governor of California!)

Chelsea Handler and her assistant, Chuy

Ross the intern was also on the float

Gavin Newsom…might be president some day


The parade at the bottom of my street

A gay butterfly

The year was 1949.  World War II had been over for four years and America was entering the baby boom.  McCarthyism and the Second Red Scare were in full swing, and “Riders in the Sky” was the #1 song in the country.  On June 11th of that year, a pretty, doe eyed girl from Iron Mountain, Michigan named Lucille; married a dashing, brown eyed sailor named George.  60 years later my Aunty Lulu and Uncle Georgie still remember more about that unseasonably hot June day, than I remember about last night!  They even recall (and recount below, much to my shock), some of the more sordid details (at about 4:15)!  I love it when my relatives regale me with stories, and tonight, in  honor of their 60th wedding anniversary we had dinner at their favorite Mexican restaurant and they reminisced about the “good old days”.

Their love story actually spans more than 60 years.  They met in junior high school when they were about 11 years old and they’re 81 and 82 now.  The early years of the romance consisted of country drives in Model A Fords (back when American car companies were profitable), and countless letters sent overseas when my uncle sailed for the Navy.  Through mistaken love notes and broken beds, they raised 3 kids, who went on to have 8 kids of their own, who went on to have 4 kids of their own (Tommy, Andy, Cole & Tressa; my aunt and uncle’s great grandchildren, who are regularly featured here).  So Happy Anniversary Aunty & Uncle.  I hope to be listening to many more stories for years to come!

Click Play, Above Right.
“Now don’t forget, this is going on Internet.”  “That’s all right!”
My aunt called today to correct a detail about the movie they saw on their wedding night. 
It was “In a Lonely Place” starring Humphrey Bogart. 
The ticket was 50 cents.  How did she know? 
She found the ticket stub in her scrapbook!


June 11, 2009 – Lu & George’s 60th Wedding Anniversary

Happy Anniversary Aunty & Uncle!

Aunty LuLu as a baby and Uncle Georgie, still a stud back in the day.

The copious tradition of Indian theatre boasts the rich folklores of India. Indian drama is as old as the Indian convention and has its rich history deeply associated with the Vedic Era. In the ancient days drama or plays were mainly an illustration of the Vedic ritualism and were mainly manifested amidst the artistry of “mudraa”, Lasya” and Natya.  However, the change came after the gothic period;   the “larger than life” aspects of the Sanskrit dramas were rationalized. The depiction of the ancient Gods, mythological characters and celestial beings were for the first time mellowed out. That was the very beginning of the new form in the Indian theatre, which gained a marked diction during and after Indian independence. Indian theatre witnessed all the major production during this time, which not only marked the change in Indian Natya but also carved it as an art form to illustrate the naturalistic and realistic facets of daily life. The timeline of Indian theatre unfolds the verity that all the major productions in Indian theatre did occur during and after the British Rule. Theatre was then the weapon of protest against British colonialism and quite ideally therefore all the major productions in Indian theatre portrays the pain, agony and frustration of the common people during British Raj. Theatre was then just not a media for entertainment but was lot more. The Major productions in Indian theatre after independence further became the exemplifications of the socio-political and economic conditions of independent India. The leftist movement, the political scenario, the burning questions of unemployment all found an answer in the varied productions of Indian theatre after independence.

Evam Indrajit (Is Nirmal Normal?):
One of the major productions in Indian theatre, “Evam Indrajit” (“Is Nirmal Normal”) is the eloquent projection of fears, tears and frustration of the cultured bourgeoisie of the early 60s. The term “crisis” finds an articulate diction in the play where the melancholic existentialism of an individual weaves the magical plot in the play. Indian drama gained the most modish dash amidst the artistic presentation of Evam Indrajit. Although the play comes to an end yet it leaves a questions to which there are hardly any answers.  With its artistic articulation and with its burning questions Evam Indrajit is reckoned as a milestone in the history of modern theatre in India.  Source:  Indianet Zone.

Joelle and I were lucky enough to see one of only 2 performance of this masterful play in Santa Barbara this past weekend because our friend Eva was one of the stars.  She was utterly brilliant, as were all of her castmates!  Here’s the message I sent out to our “GLY” mail group Sunday:

Carey Anthony

Move over Angelina.  Head for the hills Meryl!  There’s a new actress taking Hollywood by storm and her name is Eva!  The LA Times called her performance “riveting”.  The Hollywood Reporter says, “Eva is an ingenue for the new millennium.  Her raw unbridled passion oozes through ever pore of her electrifying essence!!”  But don’t take my word for it!  See for yourself:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlFPxzHD-U8 and for those of you not on Facebook, see the spectacular stills here:
http://careygly.smugmug.com/gallery/8481606_TTJ8e/#557820789_QL7Xh

–Carey–

A sample of Eva’s breathtaking performance, with fellow actor Jason.

From the sun roof on the way to Santa Barbara.

Brunch before the show!

Manasi & Indrajit share a tender moment.

And the Academy Award for best actress goes to…

Chazz & Joelle in front of Claudio & Ryan’s house. We checked up on it while they’re in Brazil.

Best of the rest…

Yesterday, my TV in the living room died.  It was 7 years old and huge!  I bought it right before flat screens started becoming affordable, so it was about time for a new one.  So today I went to Best Buy and got a 40 inch Sony Bravia.  Chazz really likes it!  This is the second TV I’ve had to buy in a month.  The one in the bedroom went out a few weeks ago before Daniel & David arrived.  I replaced that one with a cheap used TV from craigslist. 

 
Chazz and his new flat screen…and the view of the accident from The Hotel Careyfornia Terrace!

So while I’m setting it up, all of a sudden I hear a loud screech and tires squealing.  Fearing the worst, I ran to the patio and watched as this woman backed her car into a concrete wall then plowed up the sidewalk, then backed into the wall again, and then went head first into a tree…airbag deployed!!  Sadly, this is an all too common occurrence in front of the Hotel Careyfornia.  First there was the dumb wombat who pulled the garage door off with her truck.  Then there was the Bulgarian woman who crashed into my front yard and got yelled at by her husband.  And who could forget the Porsche vs. the Garage Door?  Now this.  (There have been a few other pre-blog accidents on this street too.)  These crashes were ALL CAUSED BY WOMEN DRIVERS !!  Women do not belong behind the wheel in West Hollywood!!  Stay home women!

Had she been parked on the other side of the street, her car would be in my living room!

The paramedics carried the poor woman away.  I thing she was OK though…just in shock.

You can see how she crashed the back and the front!

At least she wasn’t this woman!

Joelle arrived tonight.  She’s left Chile for good and is back in the State for a few months before moving to Delhi.  This is her second visit to The Hotel Careyfornia this year.  She’s really hoping for that Executive Platinum card!  After I picked her up from the airport, she wanted a malt, so we walked down to Millions of Milkshakes.  There were a lot of paparazzi on Santa Monica Blvd and a red carpet event for All American Guys.  They must have heard Chazz was coming!

Chazz looks like a jack o lantern here.  LOL

 
Joelle takes in the local flavor on Santa Monica Blvd. on Saturday night…and enjoys a malt!

I have to wake up in a few hours to drive up to Santa Barbara.  Eva is in a play that we’re going to, and I’m going to take Chazz to the dog beach!