Meet Nibiru

Last week, I had the tremendous pleasure of hanging out with and photographing three very talented musicians. Two of them were in the band I introduced you to last week: Evren Edler and Emir Isilay. The third musician involved in this project is none other than the gorgeous and very talented Paulette Ivory.

I won't comment on the photographs this time, I will let them speak for themselves. I can only say that it was a fantastic shoot that started at the Hollywood & Highland Metro Station, wrapped at the Union Station and topped with a lovely lunch at Los Angeles' famed Philippe's, aka the birth place of the French Dip Sandwich.

Before I let you enjoy the pictures, I just want to let you know that you can enjoy the music of Nibiru online via their MySpace Page.

Have a fun and safe Memorial Day Weekend.

Evren Edler

Paulette Ivory

Emir Isilay

Evren Edler Quintet

Last Monday night, we took the Metro to Downtown Los Angeles and found ourselves at the 2nd Street Jazz Club to enjoy a fantastic night of great jazz music and killer martinis.

The band was Evren Edler Quintet.  I have been following Evren Edler for a long time now and although I always liked his music, lately he is impressing me more and more. I had the opportunity to see him live twice in the last few months and I highly recommend you to catch him whenever he plays.

The band played some fantastic covers as well as mind-blowing originals by Evren Edler and Emir Isilay. Emir's talent on the keyboards cannot be described, you really have to see it.

Matt Starr has been collaborating with Edler for a while now, and I had an opportunity to listen the duo backing a singer/songwriter a few years back, although the music was way different, the playful improvisations were always present.

I had the pleasure to see both guitarist Andrew Campbell and sax player Nate Ketner for the first time and they were up where the other three musicians are. This was a fantastic feast of fine jazz on a lovely Monday night!

Here are a few more pictures from that night.

Last, but not the least, an audio-visual treat for my lovelies :o) This is the first time I used the video option of my camera, it gets blurry here and there, but the music is just awesome, so watch/listen to this :o)

As usual, I am always happy to hear your thoughts!

L.A. Eateries 1: Mariscos Guillen (La Playita)

A few weeks ago, via FaceBook status update, I asked my friends their favorite places to eat in Los Angeles. Not fancy restaurants, I was looking for stands and fast food places that impressed them. I got many responses, some of the places I knew, most I didn't.

The idea behind this was to start a series of blogs about the great places to eat in Los Angeles...

So, the first in the series is one of my favorite Mexican food stands in Santa Monica. It's called Mariscos Guillen (La Playita). I discovered this place the first year I moved to Los Angeles, I used to live in Santa Monica back then, and this little taco stand was one of my frequent stops...

I even remember driving there with Jen under heavy rain just to enjoy the ridiculous mixed seafood cocktail.

There isn't really any place to sit other than a few benches, but who cares? It's a taco stand! And it's delicious! And it's cheap!

The mixed seafood cocktail you see on the below picture is the medium size and it is only 6 bucks. Tacos go for a buck 50.

Even if you are not around Santa Monica, do yourself a favor and stop by this little gem and indulge yourself in a simple and great Mexican meal!

The address is 3306 Lincoln Blvd., Santa Monica between Marine and Rose, next to the parking lot of Whole Foods and CVS. In case you need it, the phone number is (310) 452-0090. Apparently there is one in Hawthorne too, but I've never tried that one.

Snuff, the short film

I was on the set of a short film last weekend. It is a violent, twisted tale of revenge starring Jennifer Fontaine and Michael Degood, directed by Peter Bruno.

The following pictures depict some of the violence as well as the action behind the scenes. I always love to hear your thoughts, you know that ;o)

Director Bruno and the rest of the crew are having a good time watching Degood getting tortured by Fontaine...

Degood plays chess online while on make-up chair.

Snuff
A Peter Bruno Film
A Less Is More Production
starring
Jennifer Fontaine
Michael Degood