dr. michael zola is a good man...

if you need a dentist in los angeles, he's the one--                                                            

i have no money and have to file for bankruptcy; (whatever, i'm dealing with it). because of this, he saw me for free today...saw me for free and took an x-ray for free just to make sure everything was going to hold up for a while--

(plus, he's got these really cool machines like the one where you can see your x-ray right after they take it...and he's very supportive if you have crappy teeth...the first time he looked in my mouth he said, "huh, maybe you could teach me a thing or two!")                          

thanks dr. zola~niki                                                                                        

the green day authority

see this guy next to me...it's andres martinez.                                                                         

andres runs the best green day site on the web, and that includes the warner bros.' (sorry, but it's true)...                                                                                             

we met for the first time this past week at the opening of john roeker's brilliant film, heart like a hand grenade. i have a soft-spot in my heart for andres because he helped me with something big time--                 

gda, as it is affectionately known, gets info about the band way before it hits the public; so much so that i asked andres once if they had a pipeline up green day's ass...                                                                                                          

thanks to the green day authority for doing whatever the hell it is you do...love~niki                                                                               

'shhhhhh...' (heart like a hand grenade)

the secrecy surrounding the premier of the new green day documentary, heart like a hand grenade, was brilliant; i'm telling you, you couldn't find anything about it anywhere, anywhere! (and i hate using exclamation points!!)                                                                     

well, that's not exactly true. but with these guys, miss one webcast and you're out on your ass!                                                                  

heart like a hand grenade is astounding in its ability to show the creative process from the raw twinkling of an idea to a polished gem. in other words, if you want to see what was going on in billie, mike and tre's minds when they were coming up with the licks you hear on the album, it's all there...you see every song on american idiot and the concept of the entire album constructed right before your eyes!!!                                                                                          

filmmaker john roecker followed the band around while they were in the process of recording american idiot and his film is funny, unassuming and visually, weird; weird good, not weird bad. for instance, the mod dance sequence to holiday (i think it was holiday, i didn't write it down, shit!)...it's a hard day's night hallucination. and that's not the only beatles' reference, which always makes me happy...                

the secrecy of the venue worked. the egyptian theater, an old hollywood movie palace, wasn't overcrowded or loud; it was beautiful and comfortable. 

and how about this, the whole show was free! free!! with t-shirts and posters, also free!!                                    

roecker shot hundreds of hours of film then, collaborating with a genius editor, dean gonzalez, morphed the images into a time-lapse symphony of the best, strangest and possibly smelliest moments of billie joe armstrong, mike dirnt and tre cool in and out of the studio as they hatched american idiot.  (also included is footage of the debut performance of the album at the henry fonda theater in 2004)              

plus, there's nudity! (!!)                                    

with the help of some green day travelin' fans, beth, diane, j'net, cheryl, andres and mark, i got into the theater--(i didn't know you had to be on a list!). my grammar is all fucked up!!!!

thank the flowers and the trees that john roecker and green day had the foreskin to know that the making of american idiot needed to be captured for the silver screen~(just wanted to see if you were paying attention!!!)              

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                                                   +

                
                                                                                                              

the ol' three stooges bait and switch...

i know...every three stooges fan has the same complaint--so what? i can still say, I'M SICK OF STOOGES COMPILATIONS THAT PROMISE CURLY AND DELIVER SHEMP!! (ah~)                                

"Dalai Lama Harshly Condemns China Over Tibet"

FREE TIBET

i'm out there and loving every minute of it...

i think i shall hit some open mics in los angeles now that i can walk and play and sing, again...                                                    

at least no one can tell me to keep my day job cause i don't have one~

peter tork

i heard peter tork has a rare form of cancer...he was my favorite--(get well soon~)                                                                                               

mistakes...

are the hardest things to admit, to learn from and to forget while waiting for the wisdom that comes~                                     

"the air is humming cause something great is coming..."*

march 25th l.a. 

*stephen sondheim                                                                                         

kindness...

it was pouring down rain in los angeles today and i was caught without an umbrella -- walking along santa monica boulevard, l.a. weekly newspaper over my head, some man stopped his car, leaned over the passenger seat and handed me an umbrella~

(thank you...)                                                                                                                               

quote...

                                                                                                                                       lenin -- mickey -- jesus                                                

"there's nothing more spiritual than rock 'n' roll..." 

                                                                                             

luck

i found this laminated four-leaf-clover when i was about 10...

walking through the grass at valley mill day-camp, i decided to see if i could find one...i did~                                                                                

the underground railroad to candyland

i love these guys because they can be silly and still rock their asses off  --                                                                                     

and what do i mean by silly? i mean, a bass player/drummer in a duck mask, a guitar player in a bright red raggedy andy wig wrapped in a blue headband and a lead singer who loves his sunglasses and the floor!                                                                                                            

since i smashed my back, it's not good for me to move too strenously...but it's impossible not to when they start playing because they just fucking rock...                                                                             

i went to see them last night at the troubador in los angeles: to make it through i held onto the wall and then did whatever spastic movement i could manage...                                                              

can't wait til the next show and thank you thank you for the free pass~                                                                                                         

a belated happy birthday, eva...

i still miss you...                                                                          

november was put on youtube by a woman who doesn't want to mentioned -- at first i thought it was a bit weird, but now i'm glad she did it and i'm more able to share --  can you believe we did this 15 years ago?

love, 

niki

(how old would you be? god, 46, right?...that's even weirder)                 

adrienne armstrong

i don't think enough has been written about the woman who, whether you like it or not, goes by the name mrs. billie joe armstrong. 

so, let's pause, shall we, and pay some respect to someone whose life is about to be turned inside-out and upside-down very very soon --

when i was in the midst of my green day/american idiot fever, i attended a show in atlantic city where billie joe armstrong was participating in a vh1 tribute featuring elvis costello.              

i know, i know i've written about that before, but not this part: i ended up sitting in the row right in front of adrienne armstrong and her friends, but i didn't realize it until i felt this heat, this presence behind me in my blue plastic aisle seat.

i turned around and there they were: a gaggle of pre-teen girls dressed from head-to-toe in green day apparel.

adorable...

that's when i saw mrs. armstrong; the girls had stalked her out and were ready to descend upon her person with cameras, autograph books and cell phones --

i relinquished my seat so they could move closer to her...

she made her way through the aisle after a woman standing next to me called her, and, as she did, i heard some man randomly ask her what she was doing at taj mahal?

she smiled and answered, "my husband is playing tonight." that's it. completely normal in her unassuming jeans and dark hoodie.

she approached the little girls and said, "i have to go talk to some people but i'll be right back, i promise."

i looked at those little girls and thought, 'oh god, i hope she does come back, i mean she promised!'

i knew that none of my adult friends could appreciate the weirdness of the moment; they were long past the point of rolling their eyes whenever i'd mention green day -- instead i turned on my cell and called one of my teenage guitar students, max -- (max has always been a good listener, even to the craziest stuff) --

a few minutes later, adrienne armstrong returned and, with honest affection, she signed the autograph books and took the cell phone pictures with every last one of those little girls...

how about that~                                                                                          

girlfriend pass (i think she tells the story best...)

Girlfriend Pass

Originally uploaded by "Shanty" Cheryl

"shanty" cheryl strikes again! (and we're all the better for it...)

Thorns of Life
Originally uploaded by "Shanty" Cheryl

talk about guts...cheryl was so sick when she took these shots of the secret "thorns of life" show this past weekend in long beach, ca, that she had to go out to the band van to to chug shots of wild turkey --      

STILL she got right up front, to the point of personal injury (a bashed-in shin...as shown above), and, she climbed some very scary scaffolding in an effort to capture the insanity of the evening from above...she's quite something, dude~                                                                                                                                                 

oh mrs. parker...

algonquin roundtabler and remarkable writer, dorothy parker, gave her entire estate to dr. martin luther king when she died in 1967. if you don't know about mrs. parker click on the link and you'll learn more than you ever wanted--          

she left him all of her copyrights and about $30 grand -- she didn't even know him...                                                                                  

parker fought against injustice most of her life and was quite outspoken on the issue of bigotry -- she was a founding member of the writer's guild, ('member when all those hollywood writers struck last winter and your t.v. scheduling got all screwed up), that was a huge part of her legacy...                                                                         

in the 50's, she was blacklisted for her leftist views and couldn't find much work...                                                      

when king was murdered in 1968, as stipulated in her will, parker's estate was transferred to the n.a.a.c.p.                                                     

oh if she could have been here the last two days--who knows, maybe she was~