Elvis Costello Fan Forum

Blue's parents threw us a beautiful engagement party on Sunday. Unfortunately there are next to no good photos of just the two of us together, but here are a few nice shots:

Here we are with my best friend/maid of honor:


And here we are with Blue's best friend/cousin/best man:


Note how Blue has a beer in his hand in BOTH pictures.

I just hope it wasn't the same beer. Although drinking vast amounts of beer is not big or clever...

...as Mrs VG has tried to tell me many times over the years!

Here are some photos from my visit to LA, which included:

-A 3AM cheeseburger at Tommy's in Santa Monica after a hellish flight with no food.
-A Dodger-Giants game at Chavez Ravine, which the Dodgers won on a home run by Nomar Garciaparra.
-A visit to my old childhood home and lunch at Mijare's in Pasadena, my favorite Mexican restaurant.
-A taping of Craig Ferguson's show at CBS.
-A visit to the outstanding Amoeba Records.
-An outdoor screening (along with hundreds of other picnickers) of "Repo Man" at Forever Hollywood, a cemetery behind the Paramount lot in Hollywood.

Apart from the obvious signs of growth and new contruction (such as the Getty Center on the West Side and Kodak Theater on Highland) LA has not really changed much since I lived there in the 1980s. There were so many times that we would drive by old local icons (The Alex Theater in Glendale, the endless cheap motels and minimalls in Hollywood, Canter's, House of Pies in Los Feliz, etc.) and I would remark to my sister how they seemed to have been frozen in time. Silverlake is now a hipster hangout, which wasn't so much the case in the 80s, and the arts communities seem to be spreading beyond the West Side (where they have been priced out) to formerly "square" communities such as Glendale.

Despite all of the familar sights it was hard not to notice one major difference - the city is now overwhelmingly multicultural. Hispanic primarily, but also Armenian, Korean. LA was still a city run by traditional white elites in the 1980s, but that is clearly no longer the case. I thought that going back to Chavez Ravine after listening to Ry Cooder's recent album would be a little bit of a strange experience (when I went to games there as a kid I was blissfully unaware of the shady history of the site where the Stadium sits). Instead it almost seems as if hispanic (mostly Mexican-American) families have reclaimed the site as their own, so strong was their presence at the game that night.

Anyway, here are a few snapshots:

Me, ordering at Tommy's:



At the stadium:



Me and my sis (the Giant fan) at Dodger Stadium:



Having a margarita at Mijare's in Pasadena:



Getting ready for the "Repo Man" showing at Forever Hollywood (that's my Aunt Caroline, me, my cousin Carrie and my brother Zack):

Looks like you were having a hard time!

Nice pictures WSS although it was a bit worrying to see a sign that says gas.com just above your sister

Nice pics

verbal gymnastics wrote:Looks like you were having a hard time!

Indeed. Stayed up later than I had in years. Forgot to mention that I visited Silverlake's finest gay nightclub, MJ's, where my brother Zack is a doorman/bouncer. Free drinks and a friend of my bro's encouraging me to "dump the bitch, make the switch" - an offer that I politely declined.

Who Shot Sam? wrote:

verbal gymnastics wrote:Looks like you were having a hard time!

Indeed. Stayed up later than I had in years. Forgot to mention that I visited Silverlake's finest gay nightclub, MJ's, where my brother Zack is a doorman/bouncer. Free drinks and a friend of my bro's encouraging me to "dump the bitch, make the switch" - an offer that I politely declined.

Sam's not going to make that mistake twice!

Boy With A Problem wrote:Sam's not going to make that mistake twice!

Is that when you forgot which country you were in and somebody asked you if you fancied a fag?

took a few dam pictures


Austin, Josie and Hollywood Jenkins




Austin doing his Knuckles O'Rourke impersonation

A few photos of the fam from my brother's wedding yesterday...

My daughter, who was the world's best flower girl (this was taken long after she had picked at the flower basket)...



Mini dude and Mrs. Sam...

Gorgeous!

Your daughter looks like an angel and your son seems to have a little bit of mischief lurking behind those eyes...

mood swung wrote:Gorgeous!

Your daughter looks like an angel and your son seems to have a little bit of mischief lurking behind those eyes...

100% accurate. More than a little mischief. When my brother mentioned to me that he wanted him to participate in the wedding as ring-bearer, I said, "Are you sure??" Fortunately everything went off without a hitch. Here's one of my brother Sean and his gorgeous bride Elissa (my son is completely smitten with her - understandably - so much so that I asked at one point if she might be considering filing a restraining order against him):

Who Shot Sam wrote:Fortunately everything went off without a hitch.

Except for Sean and Elissa of course!

And I think we know where your son gets his mischief from

Beautiful pics, WSS - your whole family is just damn good looking.

Being a former and sometimes still occasional wedding coordinator, I have recently found guilty pleasure watching Bridezillas on tv. Makes me never want to do another wedding for anyone again.

spooky girlfriend wrote:Beautiful pics, WSS - your whole family is just damn good looking.

You'll notice I'm the only one not pictured!

My wife surprised me yesterday by bringing home a beautifully framed personally signed photo of Richard Hawley that I had won in a charity auction on his site.



Chris Saunders, one of the Hawleyboard regulars, does some incredible work. You can see his stuff here:

http://www.chrismsaunders.com/

just a couple of your average, ordinary, fun-loving elvis fans.

The one on the right looks a little sleepy. Fun-loving, yes, but sleepy.

I think you both look great!

i like the mommies.

Goody2Shoes wrote:The one on the right looks a little sleepy. Fun-loving, yes, but sleepy.

Do you mean what is known as "tired and emotional"?

mood swung wrote:just a couple of your average, ordinary, fun-loving elvis fans.

Ordinary?? never.

Well, since you asked so nicely, here's one of me



(I'm on the right)

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