Cross country / by bus

As I arrive 2 hours early for my bus, I head toward the check in counter to see what the process is.
Hurry up and wait, I'm due to leave at 8:30am. As they shuffle the lines and move people to different doors, confusion in sues.
I head back up to the counter to see what's going on with my bus, as it's creeping close to 8:30. Upon my return to the counter I'm informed my bus is going to be late and that they should have placed me on an alternate bus to Vegas , however that left 15 mins ago. Here we go.
So the supervisor jumps in and starts a mad typing spree, I imagine she checking alternate routes times etc.
Ok she says, you'll be taking the next bus to Vegas , wait at the priority door it should be boarding . I inquire as to what effect this has on my overall agenda, she assures me nothing, maybe a 2 hr delay difference.
I walk over luggage in hand and relay my message to the greyhound employee named Juan at priority. He laughs as I relay what I've been told , "that bus is going to be here In 2 hrs" he says as he looks at the ever growing line in the terminal.
I leave my gear ( not wise being in la) and head back to the counter . I relay Juan's message, the supervisor again hits the keyboard again. She comes up after 5mins, sure you have to take that bus or I don't have anything until tomorrow .
Crazy, so I wait. With a bus load of people from La destined for Vegas. This should be fun.

Ketch / Catch Up

It's been a while since my last post. Lots has happened since. Los Angeles has shown it's true colors for sure. For someone who is a stand up type of person, trustworthy ; this city of angels is not a place to call home. Everybody is guarded and rightfully so, everybody is out for something here. You always have to question people's intentions.
Luckily I have music and thus my band.
I've stayed in the coast taking in the Venice charm and moving into our rehearsal spot that my bass player and good friend Jay has found. It's not ideal but it's an ends to a means. Coming from sleeping in cars to a couch in a 24 hour noise factory , one might think it's a toss up, but it's a step up and I'm grateful for that. There's something to be said about calling a place home. I'm not sure when that time will come for me, but for now I'm going in the right direction.

Road warrior

As a kid, I'd only known a "road warrior" as one of the dynamic duo World Wrestling Federation tag team partners. The WWF as I knew it , before the Wild Life Federation sued them for copy write infringement.
Today I stand blogging In a Greyhound bus terminal in Denver. Man things have changed. I was scheduled to leave Los Angeles Tuesday @ 8:30am and arrive in Toronto @10pm Thursday night.
I did not anticipate this journey by any means.
I left the rehearsal spot after a rough sleep at about 5:30am Tuesday. Splashing cold water on your face after a screamo band has been rehearsing all night in the room beside you ;just may have disrupted my sleep enough to prepare for this journey.
As I'm walking down the street , luggage and guitar in tow. I pass a spot I walked by frequently , it's a little car inlet where a local rubi has taken refuge. I never caught his name but we always said hi in passing. In a sort of transient universal homeless way. The rehearsal spot is right in the hood, Crenshaw ave in Los Angeles. Many movies depict this hood, but I've lived here , it's the real deal. And as I walk early in the morning, the seedy'ness is just about to go to bed. Pimps are settling down, tricks are getting dropped back off. I just keep to myself and head towards the tube, across the road from Popeyes chicken. You really understand the danger of the area as the fast food places have bullet proof glass not just in the drive thru windows , but inside.
As I lug my stuff up the stairs the working class starts arriving.
Next stop ; greyhound station , downtown La.

No Goodbyes, Only Beginnings .

I was told a man is never a man, until he loses his father. This man wishes he was still a boy. Its crazy to look back and realize the first time I performed outside of my bedroom was at my fathers funeral.

I remember my mother asking me to play. She really wanted me to write a song for him, problem is I was no songwriter at the time. I didn't actually start writing music for a year after he passed. A while after he passed my mom confessed to me about playing for my dad. Not about playing at his funeral , about my "learning curve" of guitar playing.
By that I mean, she told me about him , simply put just being a father. You see when I picked up the guitar I took a run at playing it. I picked it up late in life in comparison to others. Not for any other reason then my love for music . It's an extension of my personality.
So my baby steps were to try and learn A few of my favorite songs. This is where it began , I realized the skill involved in these songs. So I put it down.
A short time after, my dad became ill with Cancer. They gave him 2 months. He gave us 2 years.
My mothers confession came as this. When my dad became sick I use to make him health shakes and my own home made concoctions by way of natural path remedies. I'll admit , none of these tasted like they were to be consumed.
So when I would visit my dad , we would drink these to appease my recommendations. All well i would strum on the guitar in the hospital with him. Im not sure what your thinking as you read this ,but my mom told me exactly what my dad was.
She says how he use to just curse when he saw me coming down the hall with my guitar on my back and bag full of natural products. He use to crack jokes about what was going to be harder to take, my health shake or guitar playing.(keep in mind I was very much at the beginning of my "learning curve" . However like clock work, when I entered the room. He always smiled, whether he could drink or not. He always had the shake and listened to me play.
To be honest until my mom mentioned it I had no clue. After she told me, we burst out laughing. If you knew my dad you would know how funny those situations would have been.
Even if you didn't know my father, I'm sure you can read between the lines. I'm sure one day I'll be a father and understand it a little deeper.
In the simplest form, putting someone you care about before yourself.
It's a bold trait, it's a lost trait. It's part of all fathers , mothers, stand up friends, brothers ,sisters , gentlemen, nice strangers . It's a genetic makeup that makes them good people.
My father was one of these people. He is the man that i size all great people to. He is missed and he is always celebrated everyday. And on this anniversary of his passing, I tell you there no goodbyes, only beginnings.

And for my mother , here is the song I finally wrote for him. You may all download it and share it with whom ever you like.

So if you choose to download the song and it hits you, think about the good people in your life. It was written about the greatest one in mine. If you like, share it with whomever you want.
If I could just ask you to send a quiet thank you to my father Wayne Buffan for suffering through my guitar learning curve and never telling me to stop, not even once. And trust me if you have ever witnessed this first hand you know how hard that would have been.
And to my mother who who waited and didn't tell me until she knew I would never stop even if I she told me.

So for all the good people out there, just keep doing what your doing. The rest of us do notice.

And for my mother , here is the song I finally wrote for him. You can download it here.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Brent-Buffan-The-Ride/107489805972019?id=107489805972019&sk=app_178091127385

If you are not on facebook, visit my website www.brentbuffan.com and go to the music section and you may stream it there the track is called ("No Goodbyes, Only Beginnings) If you would like a copy simply email me.


Thank you Dad & Mom
Love , your son
Brent

Jay Tay Live

Jason Taylor , hailing from New York. Jay is the first person I met in La. We met at a local bar in Venice and hit it off. He's an incredible musician and most importantly has become a great friend.
When I get to the next level, I want Jay to be there. He's done alot of things since meeting him for me I appreciate. Everything from jumping into my music to sleeping on his couch, even to inviting me over for Easter dinner. I was out of town, but when you think back on things it really is the thought that matters.
This post is for the good people, and Jay Tay Live is one of them.

Serotonin

Serotonin......
The neurotransmitter that controls our happiness. In Humans Serotonin levels are effected by diet.
I notice immediately if my diets off or I haven't had a meal for a while, my mood is off.

Top foods to increase sarotonin Dates, papayas @ Bananas .
My old band mate just kills the bananas and is one of the happiest guys I know.
He buys them by the carton , I think I may try this .

I want to make music with the effects of Bananas . Well see .......

TBC

Here's a dog doing a breaking bad impression ; random I know

A letter to a friend

Before I left on my musical journey , I lost a friend . I was out living and training (physically) with one my best friends Merrick . I won't forget the day , me and Merrick were working out. We were at a local gym and Merricks name came over the announcement asking him to come to the front desk . I was on the bench press and he asked me to come with him. It was because Merrick has his own training studio,and the gym had removed him once before for "recruiting customers"and we assumed they were kicking him out for training me. When we got to the front desk, the women said his wife was here and was outside waiting. This was really odd, are first thoughts were something bad. When we walked out, Carly his wife was in tears. "Russ is dead, he's dead.....he crashed his plane." Im not overly ready to write about Russ yet. I can tell you this, i was the best man in Merrick & Carly's wedding. From their wedding i met Russ who was in Merrick's wedding party as a groomsman. From that time i had become close to Russ, i spent many memorable days and nights with him. When i mentioned i was leaving on this journey , he simply said ."Do it, you only live once" The following is what i wrote upon  in the aftermath of his passing, writing is a way for me to morn.  I may turn it into a song in his honour if i can do it justice.



A letter to a friend;

There is nothing i can say, that i haven't already said. You are and were an incredible friend. The reason you left us, one day we will all get to understand. Smile on us my dear friend. Its the moments we shared that keep things moving ahead. The memories you left us are a part of life's healing hands. Our friendship we have much further extends, to your family and friends. Simply, because you are my friend. Some moments in life we have to wait to understand. And this is one of them. Until we meet again .My dear friend.


In honour of Russ Hawkins

friends & wine (better older?) debatable

Today was a creative adventure, i took a trip to Temecula wine valley, California. I've never been on a wine "tour" per-say, this wasn't what i was looking for today. I wasn't actually looking for anything, just a little time away from myself, if that makes sense. I wanted to finish a song and start working on a script i had an idea for the other day.
Temecula valley was chosen to be a wine growing region based on its location, it creates a perfect wind  tunnel from the ocean. The hills and mountains create a perfect tunnel and micro climate there. So i drove into town and bounced around afew of them , i didn't indulge in any tasting at this point. Im not into any drinking or driving, at all.
I finally landed at a beautiful serene spot, the kind of place you wish you were sharing it with someone. However there is something about comfortably enjoying your own company. The vineyard was called Callaway. I pulled up because of the name alone, i play Callaway golf clubs. Turns out, my intuition was correct. It was started by Ely Callaway (of "big betha" Callaway golf fame) this vineyard was a big stepping stone for him. So the layout is picturesque, and i jumped on a tour. It takes 2lbs of grapes to get a bottle of wine, hmmmmm. This vineyard isn't open to retail, as they only produce 15000 cases per year.
Dianne , our tour guide was super nice and filled me in with some history regarding Temecula and Callaway. Callaway did some extensive research and finally concluded that the area would be ideal for wine growing. At the time nobody believed California would be a good region to make wine. 40 years later and this area is home to 40 vineyards. Est in 1968.
So after i did some taste testing and found some incredible wines that you may only get there. I then sat outside and finished some lyrics for a song and got into the film script i'm going to take a run at. Here's some pics

I found it pretty relaxing for writing, i'm certainly looking into playing some shows in the area. As well , i'm probably headed back there when one of my best friends comes to visit soon. That brings me to the heading of this post, i noticed a sign in the gift shop that read, " Wine & Friends; the better the older. Then i noticed another sign, contradicting the first. "its not how long you know a friend , its how they prove it" This is where i place my chips, mind you i'm torn, wine is better older. I try my best to do my best as a friend and potential friend to even strangers. Sometimes i'm really good at it, sometimes im not. However one thing is certain, i always put my best foot forward; In everything i do, including friendship regardless of how long i've know someone.

no April Fools 2day.

Knowledge is developed , wisdom is obtained

I was thinking about this today, the difference between knowledge and wisdom. Upon that, i wrote out 10 words as quickly as I could, right then and there. Odd exercise I guess, i cant imagine its not a common practice in some study. I cant be bothered to look it up right now.
I've just been putting thoughts in writing as of late. I guess I've had a burst of creativity I'm riding on.

Here's my list , in the order I wrote it out.

Perspective
Health
Love
Kindness
Wisdom
Knowledge
Music
Memories
Adventure
Family & friends

After I wrote them out , I tried to figure out why I picked certain words. I don't think it mattered the order I placed them in( I guess if I looked up an exercise ) I'm sure that would be answered. In any case i guess what im saying i didn't consciously choose the order because i knew i had 10 words to choose .So the order I think means nothing . It's interesting the words I chose. #selfreflection

Ten Commandments / 60% ratio

Most people couldn't tell you what the 10 commandments are. Religious or not , the majority of us live by 60% of them anyway, or at least a few of them .If you take the 4 out that do not not apply to religion; Then you have at the root of them ,simply well thought out advice . Very old advice .

The 60% factor . Here are the 6 that I feel are just all and all good advice .

Hon-our thy father & thy mother
Thou shalt not kill
Thou shalt not commit adultery
Thou shalt not steal
Thou shalt not bear false witness
Thou shalt not covet ( this is out dated advice) however not religious . Probably the oddest one on the list as everyone yearns for something so why command people to not have needs.

In any case, I'm not stating this stuff to be debatable or negative. I just generally thought about it today . Happy Easter, If you celebrate it, enjoy it with you're family . There was a time I did, a distance time ago it seems now .When I used to fill myself with Cadbury eggs. For whatever reason you celebrate Easter , be nice to someone. It goes miles beyond religion . And try your best to carry that though life. Good people don't finish last, they are just humbler when they are on top. Be humble, kill them with kindness . Remember everyone deserves to be happy.

If your not living , your dying .

Just Afew random thoughts in this post .I've written a new track that had a natural birth lately , im excited to rehearse with the band. One day I'm hoping I can figure out a recipe for new songs.

As a troubadour , I'm trying to figure this city out. It's an odd mix of gypsies , and transient people. There should be a band from La called California Born Flakes. It's a trend with the creative types here. I've came across so many musicians and actors here and if they set up a jam on this day at this time , that doesn't mean anything really. The day/time just comes and passes and there is no regard for other people. Why would they care ? I seem to have been on the receiving end of late , 1 gtr player & 1 bass player . Pull up. I always wondered, do they garner the same "flakie" tag as I place on them when the tables are turned. It's hard to think somebody wouldn't care that you scheduled a day around them & rehearsing or meeting with them. Especially being new to this city, i dont know alot of people here . So when i make an appointment with someone , i plan my day around it. So if they suddenly disappear without warning, they just leave me hanging .Extremely rude , id rather have the excuse before or even durning then after . It only creates a very bad image ,Just a bit of a vent. I guess there are flaky people everywhere and Karma gets them equally, not just muscians. However for the stand up people of the world, good on you for sticking to your end of a schedule with regards for other people daily agendas. It speaks volumes about character . A-swell if you have to break plans or reschedule , honesty is the best policy. And whatever reason it is, let it be known before the appointment , don't have it come and pass and reach for your excuses book. The flakiness of people I hope wears off, but I'm beginning to not put faith in that. Musicians are giving the good ones a bad wrap.
On another note , after the bass player "disappeared without any phone call or email canceling our appointment (see prior rant regarding cancel before the meeting )I said fuck it , I'm checking a movie out. Since that time I've seen 4 in a row .Pure ghetto La movie style . Buy 1 ticket go to 4. I took a time out to write this post between movie 3-4 . The best part about this was running into a couple of older ladies doing the same thing. Life is funny like that . If your not living, your dying . And I have a lot of living to do before I die. Hopefully no more bowls of California Born Flakes for breakfast . I'm not into wasting time .

Lost & Found

So me and my good friend /guitar player are out and about on a random Venice Friday (random to some religious holiday to others)Good Friday. We land at a local Venice bar that is quite cool called Big Foot West. It's not to eventful , but busy nonetheless .
However we had a group we met up with and they decide to press on. We had met up with Jason's friend Nick and his local friends.

The next stop , a gem called "Lost and Found "
Open at 6am daily. Everyday .
@any given time, your mailman is in there crushing whiskey before work, teachers, cab drivers Etc, you name it , they start there day off there. I know your imagination is killing you , thoughts of this magical bar run ramped . I'll say this and this only , it's the same thing the bartender told me and Jason.
"Yep, we open at 6am. It takes 2 hrs to close this place. So technically we only close for 2 hrs , so either you guys live in this neighborhood , or someone told you we have cheap drinks. And we do, and they get even cheaper if your doing what I'm doing "he says as he's washing glasses. "I don't even work here" he follows it up by. "And they get alot cheaper. Yep it's that kinda bar guys, it's that kind of bar"

New dive bar discovery

#noloitering

Her / Me

What is it that you tune into without knowing. My old bass player had a set of numbers that would always appear, be it the time, a sign etc.
 I met her. Again if you will, but it didn't dawn on me until a conversation over a half watermelon on a beach."who would you pick to listen to the rest of your life?"hmmmmmmm Probably Elvis""im Bowie"she reminds me.(i know) she turns and says" If you could eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?" she says. "coconut" I respond. "Hmmmmm, i was going to say avocado , but i think i would pick coconut to". She says.
This re-appearing "sign," if you will. is a Movie.
She then mentions she loves the movie " Blue Lagoon" from 1980. "not my favorite, but in my top 5," she mentions.

"really?" I say
"Do you know what it is?" she replies
"Yes, yes i do" Brent .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blue_Lagoon_(1980_film)

It's some sign, what it means i have not figured out yet. one things certain i'm always drawn to women that have Blue Lagoon it their top "favourite movies". For whatever reason they enter my life, its there like clockwork.
She shares this common trait with few x-girlfriends. All have gone on to inspire me in some way good or bad. Im thinking i should watch myself with her. Maybe i should finally watch this movie.
She admits to reading this blog, so i mentioned to her she has an unpublished post of her own. What you reading is not it however, she deserves much more then a few paragraphs regarding a movie from 1980. Or even a blog for that matter. However she  shall remain unnamed at this moment. She is a private person and i respect that, but more importantly i respect her. I don't think a picture will offend her, even though she seemed worried about it when i mentioned i had a blog about her. In any case she needs boundaries and i can respect that , it is La. She is going to be in my music video, she is a great person, inspirational, intelligent and very beautiful.

Venice The Menace #2

So the majority of my days have been prepping for video shoots , getting songs together, new and old. I was visiting a friend and facilitating potential roommates as i sifted through emails 10 at a time. It was late thursday and i forwarded a bunch of emails to Les, as we potentially could be in the place as early as the following wednesday depending on the damage these former tenants had inflicted. By the time i pass out , i hadn't heard from Les by email, odd considering he is on top of his game.

 Friday morning comes and try and call him, no answer. I try and text him, no answer. I email him, no answer. Its around this point , i realize something is up. His phone was ringing to a certain point and then nothing. My mind races a-bit and i run through some scenarios, all that end with something has happened bad has happened to him. How bad would be the ultimate question, i begin to realize i don't have any close contacts of Les (ie. mom or family members that i could contact). It wasnt at the point of panic but it was borderline, ive been in afew situations like this. My list of things that would have,could have was as follows 1) accident (he may be in a hospital) 2) Arrest (don't know what for but maybe he got booked)

So as i gain my thoughts , i send him an sos email "Les if you get this , please contact me asap as if i don't hear from you by 12pm Sat, im going to start making calls. Police.Ambulance.Firefighters........that would be my hail mary as i don't have any phone numbers to contact anyone that would have anymore information then me. I type it up and hit , SEND. I sit and wait, a very anxious night , the most recent one to memory.   At approx. 11 am sat, i receive a call from him. He's ok.

The call went like this.

Brent "You ok? where you @"
Les " i was arrested '
Brent "do you need me to bail you out?"
Les "no im out, im ok.....its a long story"
Brent "do you need a ride?"
Les "yeh , if you could"
Brent " Ill be right there, where you at?"
Les "im walking to the phone store by in & out burger to charger my phone, call me when you get here"
Brent" Ill be 20 mins"

So the story goes, Les when he first relocated California he purchased a car. He sourced out a "hoop d" as he call's it, a Honda Accord via Craigslist. He took the allotted time to transfer the ownership as in the state you have up to 3 months to do so. Somewhere in that time period, the previous owner had called it in stolen. Its unsure at this point that it was done immediately or recently. In anycase he reported it stolen, im guessing to collect insurance money. fast forward 2 months and its 7 am in the morning and Les is outside the gym he works out chatting on the phone after a workout. A Cop car drives by and does a u turn and pulls up right behind him parked. At this point he is standing outside his car talking on the phone with his gym bag. The officer gets out and asks him to hang on 1 sec as Les is about to get in the car. "No problem" Les responds. At that point he notices a bird int he air (ie; Police helicopter ) Next thing he knew he was being arrested for grand theft auto, just like the video game. From this point on , his absence is explained. They take him away and they tow his car with all his belongings as he to has taken to liven in the hoop d after we got screwed over at the last apartment.
So where i pick him up, is at the in & out burger, no shoelaces style. Not a dollar on him and all his belongings are locked up with his "stolen car" Needless to say, i imagine he's hungry (a 240 pound x linebacker) so i take him in get some food for him. "lets hear it i tell him, he gives me the story i just told you. So after the dust settles as it stands the detective realizes the scam and charges are dropped. However the judge needs to sign some order to release the car, but the opposite investigation has to take place.
So they grant Les access to get his wallet and afew more things, but all of his belongings must stay with that car until released. The problem with this scam's after effects is, every day the car sits a tab runs up. Its gets to the point where a judge has to sign a paper to freeze the price totalling up. The cops fuck around with Les pretending to be busy and the car sits there way longer then necessary. It all makes sense when they stick Les with the bill and tell him he will have to go after the reimbursement from the courts. Venice Towing scams .com

So how was the Venice jail Les? "everything you would expect"
Was it a better sleep then in your hoop d? " its a coin toss"

Dougie Fresh and the drama crew

The picture. followed by the story. I love Dougie Fresh, what a beauty. Dougie my kiwi mate had purchased a car when he travelled to the Usa to drive around in. The women on the left is Kat , the right is the daughter. After leaving the Usa, Doug asked me to pick his car up and take care of it until he returned, as i had just been renting when needed .No problem, well maybe.......

yeah she resents me

we use to be friends

but that whole cat thing her stupid daughter did was wack

i told u about that right

feeding her daughters cat some meat, and she toally went mental

all that time i was bitching to my gf about how wack her daughter was and when i left she hacked my fb and read my messages

she said to me, she said it wasnt lies what i said but not the truth either. lol wtf

she couldnt deniey what i said, she just didnt like i was dissing her daughter

she dont give a fuck what u eat, neither does she really she just doesnt like meat, hasnt since she was 4, according to her mum

i fucking hated brussel sprouts but as my mogther was reesponsible she made me eat them, what the fuck do i know about nutrition at 4 years of age

know what i mean

so yeah she threatend to call the cops on me cos of me feeding her carnivorous pet meat

i told her to calm down and anyway i was just out the door when this happend, i had to go to a raiders booster club, so i wanted to know there and then if i was getting kicked out over it cos i wanted to have a good time at the bar and left wondering

when they picked me up they suddenly changed their tune, everything was suddenly sweet

it was a major turn around, like they had come to their senses, too proud to admit they over reacted they just pretended they were cool

• so later that night i wanted to get a coffee, and kat wanted me to have the keys to open myself back in (not sure why i couldnt knock, oh yeah the dogs wouldve barked as usual) so she asked her daughter if i could borrow them, her daughter gets really shitty cos kat lost her keys
• then the next morning as her daughter goes to work, i ask her if we can borrow her keys as we dont want to be house bound all day
  her daughter says "oh its ok i found kats keys in MY jacket"....
  so when kat gets up i say to her "did your daughter apologize or did she threaten to call the cops on you?"
  this bad joke did not go down well
  i went to the gym
  came back and her daugher was there
  i said, hey lets go do some xmas shopping its xmas eve
  they didnt want to
  i was thinking this is weird
  then kat spoke up about the joke
  i was thinking wtf here we go another over reaction
  they accused me of not being sincere with my apology about feeding the cat meat cos i said that joke and obviously i bare grudges....lol
  so i said it was just a bad joke (withe a message)
  but do what u gotta do, its xmas eve and if your gonna kick me out let me know now so i can make flight arrangements and ask frien ds in austin if i can stay with them

  so i did, flights were booked on xmas eve, i stayed at an airport hotel that night and caught what mustve been the most expensive flight to austin on xmas day

  so

  if u get the car before they move i will inform thei apartment office they have been containing 6 animals (when they only allowed 2) and the carpet is ruined from cat and dog shit shit and vomit, and they wont get their bond back

  but only when i get the car off them

  its not just about revenge, i want to have a decent friend using it, not them

  they have used it for 2 months from stalling

  saying this and that, not replying etc

  karma must play its part

  
  

  
  

  So as it stands we are awaiting reply, i hope it works out Doug is such a great guy and this is some bs the man shouldn't have to deal with.

  
  

  EZ

On Tour , sort of .........(mobile home)

So what a wicked web we weave if we practice to decieve. I will always remember my grandmother and mom telling me this. As-well ill remember the desert's they can whip up in the kitchen, i'm a little nostalgic at the moment i would love my moms home made cherry pie.
However im not, and its 2:30 in the morning and im eating 2.00 tacos out front of a Venice hostel as me and Ewen go in and entertain our selves until we get told to go to a bed. Another first.

At this point Adam has took off back to North Hollywood and will not lay off the constant nagging, fortunately for me im phone less & computer-less. Iv e shuffled through multiple "loner" phones and im waiting on my repair. Somewhere between me looking for places, getting my phone fixed, getting my computer fixed i receive a text. It's Adam, "ive wasted sooooo much time waiting for you, what is going on blah blah" You have to imagine here i am doing what i can to make this guys time in LA beneficial and its now become a ridiculous circus of babysitting. I simply reply, "hey brother, iv e got a-loner phone, you shouldn't be down here wasting time, im not" Silence.........

As it turns out my hard drive was fried and i regain my communications on all fronts. Ive since followed up with Keith ( a drummer i had met at Namm) it turns out he lives in Santa Monica . We set up a jam and see if we can get this project rolling, i invite a guitar player and friend from Venice to join on as lead guitar and looks like we can get things going.

On the home front , i ditched the hostel after getting screwed over at the last place. I had taken on a rental car and now have all my belongings in it and im mobile. Les had renegotiated a deal for the unit beside the one that we just got outbid. However to move into that one there we snags, the current tenants had to be evicted. This posed problem #1and problem #2 is they had been on a bender the past year and the place was tore up.
So the days of living in my car in Venice had began, i figured out a workable system. I would get towels from the gym, roll them up in the windows and then take my sleeping eye patch and put that on with ear plugs. You generally have to deep in Venice to find a quiet and dark street as the circus is always in town here. In any-case i got it down, quick. Here's a pic

 So from this command center i started work on forming my band , man i miss The Ride (my Toronto back up band. In-between, the real estate agent had got these girls evicted and it Les wanted me to do a walk through before we committed. So when we get there its a mess, the place was tore up from the floor up, so we me and Les know call a meeting. Adam is out he disappeared and bailed and now isn't returning my messages as im trying to get back the remainder of my belongings and square up the money and tab he ran up with me, but hes m.i.a. So me and Les have a sitting down, the place is ours if we take it but its beat up, the agent says the owner is up for doing minor work but not willing to give us a cheaper deal on the lease. So we go over everything and leave it at that, Les goes back to them and they evaluate the damages and come back to us with a deal. They will completely renovate it if we sign on to it, the catch they are going to need 30 days.

Oh man, im on tour , can i do 30 days in a car. well see

Venice the Menace

So the madness of Namm is followed by a deserving hangover. Met some great new friends, and i tell myself , yes it was all worth it, every last drop. Over the course of the weekend , I had to detour and sign a copy of the lease to fax back to Les as he needed to get some additional paperwork to Jackie the owner of the over the top Venice pad we are due to move into. I had talked to Les after getting the paperwork to him and he had said we from what she had told him , Monday was our move in date . So we had one more day to kill. Adam and his dad, drop me at the Venice hostel and head to The Marriot in Marina Del Ray as a relative works for the Marriot and gets them a family discount.

The next day would transpire in true Venice fashion, we got fucked over again. Somewhere inbetween me signing the deal at Namm and monday, somebody got between us in the deal. In short, somebody walked in the real estate office, offered them more money on the spot and they took it. This day was coupled by the fact that i had purchased La Kings tickets in a manipulated effort by Adam. He had worked hard to guilt me to get them for his dad, for getting us tickets to Namm. Namm ill point out i didn't have any intention of going to but Adam basically gave me the "oh, my dad got us tickets to Namm , so im not saying you have to but we should get him La Kings tickets that all he requested. By "We" Adam ment me , i should buy 3 tickets and treat everyone. Theres a good blog coming about Adam, his personality was beaming through at this point. So as the day is unfolding, me and Les are shocked at the turn of events but not to shocked, however im now homeless in Venice. Adam is staying at the Marriot and will not stop calling and texting me to see if there is any more update. Finally ive had enough and have so much on my plate , i email him the tickets and tell him to go, i dont have time to go as im trying to facilitate a place for us to live . Chatting with him at this point is like a kid asking if we are there yet, and you say no it takes this long and they ask why etc etc. So in any case he and his father depart from the Marriot to the Kings game on my tab and me and Les go to work. We need to find a place, as we have just been trumped. again

The next day would have Adam doing the same stuff, whats going? Whats the update..........(this would be every 1hr or 2,) finally i had enough of the babysitting, i told him ill let you know when i have an update.

We set up again in the hostel, as its becoming a bit of a home with our new friends. Dougie Fresh is going back to New Zealand and me and Ewen start jamming, hes a great keys player. Somewhere around this point my andriod phone kicks out and i lose all my contacts. As-well over Namm, my hardrive finally went so im officially homeless with no communication.

Oh Venice, you cruel , cruel bitch

Backdoor Bob Owens #2 (final night of Namm)

So we are walking through the Marriot at Namm in an odd strategically lost manner. Bob looks at me as we walk down this narrow hall and says to me , i only have 2 rules

1) Follow me no matter what i say or do. (bold for a first rule, but i'm rolling with it)
2) Always act like your suppose to be there.

Simple enough. Bill then looks at me and says incase you haven't noticed this is why we call him "Backdoor Bob" He can sneak in everywhere. In any-case, im down. I fall back, let Bob address the security and front table and he gives me & Bill this "look" and we walk straight into a private party. lame he says after 2 mins, he's right it's this small hall in the back corner of the Marriott where everyone is treating it like some VIP area. I guess it was a VIP party however , it was just a smaller version of the past hall we were in. So again, Bob seems to have it down , we hit the bar grab 4 more unopened beers and place them in the bag , this i now realize is our traveller bag, and we press on to the next party.

This is where we walk in directly through the back door of a huge conference hall inside the hotel. Bob walks over to the bar and starts chatting with a gentleman there. Me and Bill keep chatting away as the venue looks like its starting to fill up, maybe 1000 + people. The more i chat with Bill i get the nostalgic feeling him and Bob go way back and have not had a good night out together in a long time. Bob returns to the table and says "lets head out , well come back to this party". We walk and now Bob reaches in the bag and pulls out some fresh pints, i have noticed now the bag has a clinking sound coming from it as Bob has almost a full stock of roadies at this point. We make a quick stop at the washroom in the hotel and im beginning to get the idea Bob is Veteran to this Namm hustle.

When Bob returns from the washroom he pulls out his app and we go over some options. Bill has a friend that is doing live sound at a at a show close by and he wants to take us and introduce us. His friend has developed a program that allows wireless mixing from multiple locations. (ie this venue has a patio, so we show up and there are 4 guys mixing the show as its going on. They all are sitting down with an ipad mixing from different places in the venue, assuring the audience all gets a good mix based on there seat. Being an artist and an avid live music fan, this thing is unbelievable.

From here , we enjoy an great instrumental band and Bill gets a chance to catch up with his old friends as they demo the new toy. We just relax on the patio and drink our beers out of the Namm grab bag .It dawns on me Bob is such a veteran. 24 years in row to Namm Bob tells me to be exact. The patio show is interrupted as Bob has us dialled in to get back to one of the original parties, so we head back to the hotel. We enter back into one of the big halls where the lineup of guitars players performing is star studded. What's interesting about this show is the company putting it on is showcasing these new speakers. They are panels similar to a flat screen tv, they weigh about 50lbs and 4 of them can do a crowd of 1500 people. They have some crazy frequency response that does not allow feedback. Its crazy to think about standing in-front of a speaker the size of a flat screen and that weighs 50lbs and have 0 feedback. They were so incredible sounding, i want these on tour for sure. As the show progresses, Bob makes his way to the front . I follow, refer to rule #1. We end up side stage digging into a giant guitar cake. That naturally turns into us meeting the owner of the company putting on the showcase. We exchange cards, laughs and ideas and press on.

I forgot to mention, in-between that show we walked Bill out. His girlfriend was on her way to pick him up in the madness so we all waited outside and had one last drink. I didn't get to say enough about Bill in these Namm blogs but he will get his, such a great guy. After Bill leaves Bob says he has more beers at his hotel and we should load up, not a bad idea.

Apologies again, i forgot to mention in our travels i found out Bob was retired now but was a certified reflexologist. I found this out as were sitting in these comfortable chairs relaxing and he takes his shoes off and starts rubbing the bottom of his feet on the coffee table. He then explains the reason behind it followed by the amount of times he has been to Bonaroo. He then also tells me his old roomate has a sensory depravation business and i should go for a float on him. I looked into it, its there and im thinking about it.

So in-between this i was in touch with Angie (my potential roomate) she was back at Namm and was going to meet us for a drink. So we get to Bobs hotel and grab ice and more beer, he has a bottle of champagne he loads up to drink with Ang when we meet. Bill & Bob are shaping up to be these best guys i could have ran into on the last night of Namm. We work our way back and pull a quick he has our room key, ok enter, no wait he has our room key , just go type of trick on the door guy at the hotel as security is tight now. We just missed Stevie Wonder playing in the hotel lobby. So we get Ang and her girlfriend to meet us up 1 floor out of the securities eye and we bust out champagne and toast to Namm. We then make our way downstair to watch a performance by one of the temptations. A great moment in my life , listening to My girl in a hotel lobby. Afterwards me and bob walk up chat and jump on stage and grab a quick pic. We then move to the patio and fall into some crazy hotel room party. the rest is a blur. I do wake up with Bob lighter and give him a call to return it before we head out, it was this crazy waterproof lighter that looked like a keeper for him , so i made sure i returned it. We part ways in the hotel parking lot the next day.

Until our next adventure. Thanks Bob.

Backdoor Bob (Owens) Namm #3

So the final day of Namm was ended with some hand shakes and some good business contacts. I managed to hook up with 90% of the artist relations reps for all of the companies that i want to work with. Adam & his dad Paul are planning the last evening to catch the Vancouver Canucks vs Anaheim, well i figure ill end it where i started it, the hotel lobbies. So as the day wraps we head back to the motel to prep for a Yamaha Customer Appreciation party that goes from 6-8, free food, free drinks.

We land there right at 6pm as Adam and his dad are going to leave early for the hockey game and ill make my way to the final evenings events. Its a typical set up , a ball room, mini bars set up in the corners as servers dish up different kinds of entrees and appetizers. Yamaha had set up a piano in the middle of the room that plays itself, a nice touch for there Canadian dealers that sling there products, however a far cry from the over the top private Elton John concert that put on the evening prior. However we dig in, drinks food and start chatting with other Canadian dealers as they arrive. We had set up shop at a stand up table in good proximity to the bar and 2 of the food stations. As we finish up our food, Adam & his dad prepare to leave for the hockey game. Adam's friend "Dropping Rob" as Adam likes to call him, due to his nature of working who he met, where when etc into conversations. I'm not sure how Adam gave him the name Rob does like to drop names so i'm sure Adam doesn't say it directly to him. Nonetheless, Rob is at Namm and had made his way over to meet us, i told Adam to give his badge to him as they left so he could come and share a Corona. ( From what i gather Rob didn't show up because Adam could get the badge off his lanyard, im under the impression Adam just didn't want him to go in and instead of telling him just pretended to need the badge for some other reason.
As Adam & his dad are leaving the stand up table 2 other gentleman step up and start chatting with me Bill Thorton, who works at MI the prestigious music institute as an audio engineer teacher. I was briefly aware of MI right before i left for La durning a brief conversation in Toronto about Berkley's musical program. MI was then brought up to me by Ewen at the hostel just before i left for Namm. In any case, welcome Bob to the Yamaha party. To my right is a gentleman by the name of Bob, he's got stories written all over him, a hand full of food and a Zildjian Cymbals badge around his neck. Me and Bob kick it off straight away being an odd person out at a Yamaha party as I'm a musician from Toronto and he's an Audio teacher from MI.  So naturally i assume he pumps Yamaha products but in any case we move into a conversation regarding that and MI. I naturally would assume that most of these companies would court Bill to use their products, makes sense does it not? An Audio Engineer teacher at a prestigious school? influencing 500 plus kids into the industry workforce thinking "said" product is the best and they must use that well recording. However Bill tells me its not the case , but does tell me that they have some incredible one of stuff that is just a play ground for recording buffs. I remember chatting with him about recording abit but coming to the same notion, who cares what you use, where or how as long as the final product speaks for your labours. I feel that defines my process each time, It can start simple or big, but im always after the best final recording i can, even if the tools are not there at the beginning.
This brings me to Bob, he looks at Bill and says "lets grab a roadie and get out of here" Bill says "sure, hey Brent what are you doing , do you want to come with us?""Sure" i reply, im on an adventure at this point anyway. Me and Bob hit the bar one last time before we head out, we take 1 beer each and 1 unopened that i watch Bob throw in his black plastic bag, (think typical trade show bag) and we walk out. Bob has seemed to have everything dialled in as to what is going on at Namm, he's got an app going with underground parties, unexpected shows etc.

So here we go, the last night of Namm .......put on your seat belt and enjoy the ride.

Namm Day #2

Up at 7 am, the night before left a good vibe in the air. Great concerts in the hotel lobby, but it was short lived and i didn't watch the sun rise. I embarked on a mission to try and visit every booth and see what was going on. The day was packed, making your way through the drum section of Namm is well, loud. I passed the booth that my friend Kelly was playing at and finally watched a full set of hers, she is great. Im not a country guy by any means but i can appreciate the talent in it. Another noted band i saw play was 4 sisters by the name of SHEL , they are dixie chicks meets awesome, check them out for sure. All and all great day, i sampled a vocal pedal id researched and it was exactly what i thought it was. The company was going in the same direction as me musically and so i connected with there artist rep to see if we can build a relationship. I have to admit after doing a touring the Martin guitar factory afew years back with my good friend James, i couldn't help but stop and play my favourite guitars made by Martin, thats part if Namm for the musicians, the dreaming.Friday night i took to the hotel lobbies again, the shows were amping up and i caught some great shows. The final night was one that would become a "night to remember" the legend of Backdoor Bob would surface.

Namm 2013 & The Legend of "Backdoor" Bob Owens

Wednesday night has us land in Anaheim, another city yet to be traveled by this troubadour.  So, i'm not sure if i'm more excited for Namm or to have a bed with only 1 other person in the room. The hostel was 6.
Wednesday night I hit the pillow, hard. Thursday would bring an early morning, ”Breakfast of Champions” they call it. It’s essentially a massive buffet for all the retailers in the music industry and tradeshow visitors with sleepy pump you up and go sell type of propaganda speeches. It has come to gather a reputation for the opening morning of Namm by bringing in a surprise music industry guest. The morning comes quick and we go register and take to the buffet. We load up and are entertained by a groovy instrumental duo. The speeches are exactly what I was expecting nothing really deviating from the typical tradeshow speeches. However the special guest was worth it completely in my eyes, Adam and his dad decide to leave early and miss it. It turns out to be Randy Jackson of American Idol fame with a cameo by Sarah McLachlan. Adam and his dad sort of shook off the star power of Jackson in a way that he was under qualified to be starting Namm off, I don’t think they really know what this guys about. So I sat and listened, see if you know Randy Jackson before American Idol, you know he is one of the greatest bass players to ever slap it, playing with Whitney to Janet and the list goes on and on. However the highlight was listening to him talk about Idol, talking about becoming an A&R and getting off the road, him taking a chance on the show, being blackballed by all the labels. If you think about American Idol from a music perspective, it’s the opposite of what labels do, you see labels feed you the product and music they want. Idol puts the power back in the musicians hands and lets the quality shine through, regardless what you think of the show, you see it gives the regular broke people working 2 jobs that have a genuine love for music a chance to climb on the ledge and jump off. It was a great speech and everything you would not expect Randy “dog” Jackson to chat about, he’s is brilliant and I admire the guy more for hearing that speech.
So the speech wraps and the herd fill out, its on Namm is about to start, as you walk up there are bins filled with ear plugs. The next 4 days are about to be turned up to 11. I will now be on a tradeshow floor with the industries top manufactures big and small, seeing demos of products new and old ready to be sent in the hands of musicians, engineers, tour managers, retail stores and the list goes on and on. The weekend will have guest appearances by the who’s, whos of the industry, secret parties, schmoozing galore and most of all live music everywhere. So I head over to the main building to try and meet up with Adam as his dad has his days packed with pre-arranged meetings. We meet up briefly to check out this area that basically the magazine rack at “Chapters” or “Indigo” except its all free magazines from the music industry , just a cache of reading material. So much so that we actually have to head back to the room later in the day to drop it as caring around 15lbs of extra paper in your tradeshow bag is a bit much after afew hours on day 1. The day is a typical trade show type of day, trying to cover as much ground well minimizing  your distractions. I give my first "day a 7 out of 10. I meet a really cool Country artist by the name of Kelly McGraph, engaged to a guy in Los Angles but living in Nashville, this would be pivotal to a friend in Venice as the days would unfold. The night would round off with dinner & a solo trip to the madness off the battle of the hotel bands. This is one of the best parts of Namm, i actually meet up with another great would be friend Angie, who at the time i was meeting as a potential roommate for the big place Les was working on, i was pulling for her as she has 2 great dogs, but the other 2 roommates had a no dog policy in place. However, we met briefly at the hotel concert in some sort of potential roommate interview thing. day 1 complete.

Relax lets not get Hostel. Live fast & Die Awesome

The dogs days are not over. Im now with all my belongings in Venice Hostel. Adam is North Hollywood. Less is in the hostel. The real-estate agent has disappeared, there is no-correspondence other then a message from her to Les saying she had a heart condition and she would be in touch, its now Sunday and me and Less know its unrealistic to think anyone is working today and that the owner is signing off today, nor the agent coming to give us the keys. Adam, well he doesn't get it, crazy thoughts roll through his head but im to exhausted to try and explain it again.
So the hostel is everything you expect a Venice hostel to be, we meet 2 future allies there, Dougie Fresh, a Kiwi who has been from Austin Texas to Venice in the past 2 months, a great topshelf guy. He's a Dj back home, into drum & Bass, my kinda guy and most importantly not a Yobbo & Ewen Duffas, a brit who shares a unconditional love for music as i, aswell as incredibly talented piano/keyboard player. Ewen actually has been on stage with the late Amy Whinehouse. He was playing a gig back home 2 months before her death, (i remember reading about this when it happened) when Amy showed up and jumped on stage and they performed her hit "Valerie". Listening to him chat about it brought an eerie chill in the air, rest her soul. Im not sure it was the fact i read about it so far away , and then here i am on a balcony drinking a pint with a guy who lived the moment. I find things like this happen to me alot in my life, like the legendary night at Abby Roads where i found myself with some of my best friends singing "have a little help from my friends" by the Beatles in the same studio that it was recorded in so long ago (That night is it's own blog on its own as-well as alot more from my adventures With my brother Kieron and Jack & Neil. Again, something i couldn't make up, it just happens.

So Sunday funday in Venice. New friends, new home. Well temporary home, home is where the heart is and my home is music. The next few days are a blur as we end up stomping around Venice waiting for the real-estate agent to surface. And she does, we are officially homeless as this agent was being shady and had gotten a higher offer on the place and however it unfolded between her and the owner. Either way we were out bid and they gave us our deposit back and left us "out in the cold"they say, but its actually not that cold here. However what the fuck, Venice Real-Estate as we come to find is crazy. Wednesday doesn't come quick enough, Adam's dad Paul is flying in for Namm, he had gotten a hotel for us for Namm. Less had fired up dealings with a 2000 sqft loft in the heart of Venice, it is everything you could imagine, neighbours with Fiona Apple, right next to a house Lindsey Lohan had rented well she stomped around La landing herself in jail. It was minutes from the beach again, minutes from one of the "Top 5 rated hippest streets" in America, Abbott Kinney. Just all in all a rockstar set up, roof top patio , fireplace , 20 ft ceilings blah blah blah. So on one front, the situation sucks but the temporary future looks promising. This place is a risk for Less as he has agreed to put down the deposit on our behalf, and trust me it's alot. If we are to step into this place we will need to take on another roommate as the monthly costs will be high and thus we will be living the high life. In any case the deposit is given and we are locked in to another place, this one bigger and better then the last. I leave Venice with   my belongings for Namm, leaving everything else behind at the hostel with Less taking it out and moving it to the new place when we are gone , as we are suppose to get the keys on the up and coming friday. So here i am , outfront of a hostel , picked up late Wednesday night and off to Anaheim for Namm 2013. http://www.namm.org/events/2013-namm-show

The Dust Settles. Ola Venice hostel

So when the dust settled, here me and Adam are left in a trail of Lady Boy madness. The one time short lived majestic 123 Anchorage Street , now has a family of floppers taking it over, no room in the fridge for our food and mine and Adam's "weekly lease"was officially up. However things are different since the mirage of Shauntelle was brought to light. When all was said and done, Adam and i along with Less were on the hunt for a new place. Less and been escorted out by Police as Shauntelle had pulled some shady stuff with his contract and we had not heard from neither "Shaun" who handles accounting or "Shauntelle" who handles booking and we are a day past our own lease. This is extremely un-usual as Shauntelle would be like clockwork, 3 days before your week expired asking if you were renewing and demanding payment. Fuck, talk about living week to week not knowing if you have a place to live at the end of it.
So we find a place and commit to it, put in our deposit and start getting our exit strategy in place. Its a weird scenario, Adams dad is flying in for Namm, were headed out with him. In light of all the stuff we  have Reid flying home and were in this madness of moving once again. So its the night before we move out. We have heard nothing from the company and are 2 days into a new lease we didn't sign, keep in mind we have until the 28th , as the company doesn't know we are moving out with all the dust finally settling. So me and Adam get a knock on the door, it's Armondo ( Tim; the super intendant from when we moved in, Armando is his replacement. I forgot to say Tim quit the day after we moved in, obviously to do with Shauntelle. The only interaction ive had with Armondo was when we got a knock on our door one day randomly from him and he demanded i take beer bottles down to the trash, to which i replied Go Fuck yourself and went back to bed.
 So here we are, we owe money to for these free days we have stayed, however Shauntelle has disappeared in light of Less's "biting" incident. So the knock comes, Armondo is now demanding money. Apologies, a quick backstory, when "the biting incident" happened, Adam had sent an email to Shauntelle stating all the things that have gone wrong since we moved in and asked her to call us regarding the lease , however she then disappeared. So we owe the money, however, we never got the phone call to debate what was going on. So we tell Armondo to call Shauntelle as we were waiting to her from him, i mean her , i'm not even sure at this point. He gets on the phone with her and this weird bantering starts again (reminisant of when we moved in and her & Tim fought about moving the extra bed upstairs) so ths is going on again between her and Armondo and them pretending like we cant hear them. She claims she has been calling Adam back regarding his email when she clearly hadn't, thus setting Armondo up to come hear it from us. You would think in thses sinariors it makes sense just to pass the phone to Adam and resolve the situation , however this is La La land and so Armondo hangs up and says Shauntelle will call us right now to sort it. Nothing happens. She calls Armondo back and says we are not picking up the phone. Keep in mind , were all in the same room. He tells us were not answering, it becomes a weird situation, us just asking to pass the phone, her pretending she's calling. Finally they give and just pass the phone to Adam. The conversation jumps into everything outlined in the email ; ie the fumigation (not telling us), the cockroaches, the revolving door of employees, the 2 floors jammed into 1, the biting, the cops, the no fridge room......the list goes on. Her is where she try s to pull some bullshit with Adam saying we owe 2000 for staying past our lease term date ( all bs) she says its in the contract. ( Fuck him/her whatever. were out. ) im Hungover and would have beat the piss out of that lady boy if she was within walking distance. We have a moment after we hang up and Adam calls back and explains we are moving out the next day and can we have another night. They agree , the end of 123 Anchorage is near.  The night would have more interesting things happen as Adam and Reid played a show i hooked up for him at the local bar, Reid ends up sleeping in his car (Ala Venice style) i end up on a roof top with my friend Jess and her roommates stuck because they changed the code on us and it was on my phone that was now dead. One of the girls in jess's building is a camera operator and had a swiss army bag of chargers but none were mine, Reid makes a last ditch effort and goes to the hostel. #boom he finds one and were off to our last night @ 123 Anchorage. The night was over.

The next morning starts off as expected, were packed and out as we agreed. The real-estate agent had set our move in time to 11am. We were out @ 9am , Adam's car once again loaded with all our belongings. So we head over to Starbucks and start our day, as it progresses we start getting anxiety as the agent sends Less a messages saying the owner hasn't signed off on the deal and she is waiting to get ahold of them and thus she is now not coming to give us the keys at 11am and is going to wait to come meet us when the deal is signed on there end. To clarify , our end was done and the agent had said the deal was done. deposit in. Our end signed, however the agent had not got it signed off by the owner. I understand exactly whats going down as my brother is a real-estate agent back home, as does Less as he has a back ground in the industry. Adam however doesn't get it , and because we have some expensive equipment, its put us in a bad stale mate situation with a car loaded with all our belongings and no place to go. Oh Venice, nostalgia hits us, as we think about the battle to get here, when we finally landed what turned out to be a mirage of 123 Anchorage, this palace by the beach ran by a shady lady boy. It was pretty amazing how great life was and how upside down it is. As the day progresses it gets worse, the agent is now not answering our calls. As Less says,"Im hoping for the best, but expecting the worst". Thing is today os such a nice day, a beach day. Everybody is out in full force, and we are stuck homeless in Venice, obviously not the first people like that. As the sun goes down, me and Less agree that this lady is not answering our calls as nobody likes working on weekends. So we head to a pub to catch the Toronto Maple Leafs home opener. Everything goes into plan b, we start working on our plan b offer to a massive 2000 sqft loft with way more risk on our part and alot on Less who is going to bat for us, something i cant express to anyone reading this, Less has worked hard to help us and to maintain a good bromance we have developed. Adam at this point still doesnt understand the process and get wrap his head around whats going on so he decides to take his stuff to his old place in North Hollywood where he still has his place rented to the end of the month. I decide to hit the hostel, belongings in tow.

The Tale Of The Shady Lady (Boy) Part #2 Who is in charge Shaun, or Shauntelle?

So in light of the events, were looking at places again. With a more determined approach and wider selection now that we have Less on our side, no credit rating shouldn't be an issue. However time is not on our side, apart from us wanting to get out before the 28th, we all realize with Less having been bit and the house with a weird vibe, none of us can weather this storm until then. Less by this time is in a full blown battle with Shauntelle as it turned out she had previously tried to raise the rate on Less without notice with the intention of getting him out so she could free up one more room to accommodate her relocating the floor below us. That obviously back fired as she had already had an agreement set forth with Less to stay until the 28th at a set rate, the same as us. When this backfired, things became heated between Shauntelle and Less and she obviously ran out of time to solve the issue and the floor moved up, thus sparking the no room and hence "The Bite". All and all i dont think Less really holds it against Kim for biting him but more the company and Shauntelle for forcing that situation and living condition upon us as more like a scam . At the same time Less is fighting with Shauntelle over her trying to be shady and change the rate on him, we are all looking at places knowing full well we need out fast. Me and Adam are also receiving phone calls from Shaun at the rental company regarding our payment, as-well as getting ready for Namm 2013 in Anaheim and Adams dad coming to visit.

We start venturing deeper into the rabbit hole, The days are filled with Shauntelle leaning towards having the cops kick Less out, us trying to find a place and making it to taco tuesdays to keep our friend Reid entertained as he's been visiting right in the eye of the storm. Me and Adam and Reid , head to the roof top and watch a full blown Venice Cops take down out front of our place, the helicopter actually hovered above us flashing the light on the top of our building thinking the guy/sguys had ran up there. Goodnight Venice, send me another day.

Is it Shaun Or Shauntelle causing the trouble?

So we teach Less the game of Asshole, and since then we have played it afew times and ive had my reign as President & asshole or as Less like to call it when he gets in office "The Obama Days". During the beef with Shauntelle, Less had dug up all kinds of information regarding the real-estate company, as he has a background in the industry. Throw the shit in the air, its about to hit the fan, check it. The Real-Esatate company we have been dealing with is not legally registered ,as-well Shauntelle is refusing to give her brokers licence , and the rabbit hole just gets deeper and deeper.  So over a card game of Asshole, Less brings to light that Shauntelle, is not actually a lady but is a man. This is the part it all unravels and makes sense, the bi-polar conversations, the emails coming from Shaun, but with the signature Shauntelle. The fact she has never been to the place she rents out, the fact that the "accounting department" has another gentleman handling it out of the same office named Shaun. Its all fucked, So Shauntelles gig is up, he or her whatever she likes to be referred to is , i say that out of respect only because she pretends to be both guy and girl; confusing in its own right, The thing that bothered everyone was, her perpetrating to be 2 people. On top of not even being a legally registered Real-Estate agent and then add the way everyone had been treated as customers; Her/His stock dropped large in a short period of time. Add the fact she went and caused a good situation to go bad with the full intention to. Tiss Tiss , you Shady Lady Boy. Karma will get you . Here is a pic Less dug up, buried Deep, deep in the heart of the intraweb for nobody to see. So if you noticed my profile pic in facebook, you now know the story behind it. Let me introduce you to my fake Lady Boy real-Estate agent, one of the shadiest.

Whoever says a picture doesnt say a thousand words.

The Tale of the Shady Lady (Boy) Part1; Welcome to Venice

So after bringing in the New Year in Venice, we waited patiently to hear about our submission to a nice spacious apartment on the main street of Venice, Pacific Ave. After contacting both the realtor and contact person that showed us the place it became a little frustrating as nobody could give us and answer as to whether we got the place or not. After some email correspondence, it was clear nothing would transpire until all parties were finished holidays including extended holidays, fare play. After a week of waiting and chatting with everybody except the owner we get our answer back. Denied, due to the fact that the state of California has no way to track or get ahold of our credit from Canada. Ignorance on my part i guess, i should have done my homework. This now poses a whole different challenge, how do we get our names on a lease if everybody rents with a credit check?. Nonetheless Venice is the hottest spot in America in terms of Real-Estate and its famous street Abbott Kinney was rated in the top 5 hippest streets in America, thus making it home to most of the Hollywood eccentric, artistic and elite. After and exhausting search we come across and add for a short term rental. We call it up and speak to an easy going lady, typical salesperson, feeding us her shit. However were exhausted and go check the place out. Its a shared accommodation , a big loft with a roof top patio, fully furnished, picture a hotel that is a dorm room ala collage.
We mull it over and due to our search we decide to give it a shot, she was offering us a room with two beds on this top floor loft, sounds great right? Done we sign up. This is where the plot thickens, the sales pitch is done and we are committed and good to move in 2 days from now. Things are looking good, until it comes time to move. Are expected time to get in was 2pm , however when we call to make arrangements the lady who i should say her name is Shauntelle starts getting rude with us saying we cant go in until 8pm, why you ask? Oh the building is being fumigated , a yearly thing we are told. Flags go up, in anycase Adam is playing a show and we have a car loaded with our belongings as-well as our valuables that we cant keep in the car. We come to a compromise with Shauntelle and she is getting the building maintenance guy to meet us at 5 ( he legal time anyone is aloud back in the building after a fumigation) to check in and drop our valuables and proceed with the rest of our evening. #shady; However we have no other options at this point. So we show up on time and meet a gentleman names Tim, he takes us to the loft and shows us our room, (picture this Shauntelle has us booked in a 10x15 room , with a private bathroom and 1 bed, not 2 as booked. We over hear Tim talking to Shauntelle and him explaining this to her, frustration in his voice as she obviously is trying to get him to jam another bed in this room, that would work if we were the midget from my previous blog post. However we are not midgets and this isnt going to fly, i tell Tim its not happening and we should be in the vacent room at the back with 2 beds in it, he agrees. Then the phone rings, he gets into a passive aggressive argument with her and i request the phone. She trys to tell me that that was the room we are booked in and it has 2 beds, im shocked as she is obviously putting the hustle on. I explain to her the room we booked had 2 beds and that there is no way to get two beds in this room , as-well there is a vacent room with 2 beds and that she must be mistaken, "Can i speak to Tim," she says. Back to Tim it goes, now he is obviously frustrated as she trys to convince him to put another bed in that room and he is holding his ground with a little support from me reiterating "fuck that". After some back and forth banter we get hit with an extra 25 to be moved into the appropriate room .
Wow, welcome to Venice, we are finally here and getting settled, all in all im a little stunned at this Shauntelle lady who has booked us. Well Im over it, off to Whole foods and back into my "All i do is Pound" fitness regiment well i wait for my guitar pedals to be mailed and design my website www.brentbuffan.com and start prepping to shoot my first music video. We take in Venice pretty seamlessly, finding our local spots , happy hours etc. We land at this what appears to be a local dive bar, however thats a mirage. You walk in and there is sawdust on the floor, brilliant ! no spills and if so , easy clean up. but thats far from why im in love with this place, it has pool tabals, no big deal, look into the corner and it has a free popcorn machine, in the air , well some of the greatest oldschool hiphop and 80s tunes out there. Then on the wall i notice, The silhouette Of the great Black Bird glaring at me with the god like yellow background; It's the sign of IMPERIAL, the Costa Rican Budweiser i have searched high and low for 2 years to find with no luck, but here it is in all its glory and served at this tiny dive bar in Venice, there is obviously more to this place then first glance. On the wall sits a shrine dedicated to Dos-Esquis xx "Most Interesting Man" a poster on the wall where a candle burns below him in respect. I inquire; turns out im standing in his local bar, i must meet him, challenge him. So there it is i have my favourite hang out in Venice right there, frosted mugs with my favorite beer and oldchool hiphop, free popcorn and some dodgy pool tables. Hendos Cafe, i salute .
Back to our dwelling 123 Anchorage street. Life starts to settle, our roomates are this oldschool cat named Brian from Philly, hes chilled, likes smoking La la and by day is a part time building inspector and part time actor. Our other roomate, an X Football player named Less. More to come with Less, great guy and good friend. Life was getting good, i started running the beach daily, working out at muscle beach and getting focused on my music. It was soon joined by some Canadian friends here for a 2 week visit, that set off a little bender, and well all this going on we are now informed by Shauntelle that we can only do weekly contracts for our accomidations. She starts to become very rude in her communications and it comes across like she is bi-Polar. Since we arrived Tim is now, gone , we find out later he quite because of Shauntelle, there is now a new maintenance guy who appears and the mirage of 123 Anchorage starts to unfold. We find out Cockroaches had infested the building and thats why it was fumigated, these things are crazy, not big here in Venice but they slowly start to re-appaear in our loft. Adam names the places La Hotel Coocharocha . Apart from the obvious the circumstances become un-easy as we find ourself worrying about renewing our contract every week, crazy right?. Shauntelle becomes increasing hard to deal with and we start receiving calls from a Shaun who works out of there office. We then find out from other residence, that that is there hustle, Shauntelle rents these rooms out in slow season and they keep it on weekly contracts so that when they get a big fish to come in and rent the whole place out for big wood, then they just keck everyone out. Fuck me. We start gettiing into our escape plan and taking on Less our Roomate as an allis as he is thinking and feeling the same way in this every increasing weird living situation, all and all well entertaining our Canadian guests and trying to further our music careers.
The days of stability are short lived as we are told our floor has been rented out and we are to vacate by the 28th, here we go again. Amongst the looking for a new place to live, stomping around town with our friends, attending shows, open mics, designing websites, setting up video shoots , working out on the beach we find ourself with a late night, followed abruptly by and early morning knock on our bedroom . Its Less, he's holding his hand , blood dripping everywhere. I jump up, what the fuck? "Ive been bit, i just called the cops" . he said. "What the fuck?, i mean what the fuck? i repeated, what time is it? and what the fuck?. "There is some random women on the coach ,"Less says,"I went to tap her shoulder because the remote was next to her and i didnt want to startle her , and she turned and bit me, then jumped up and tried to spray mace at me".
Its now 7am and the house has unraveled at the seams, i forgot to mention upon Shauntelle telling us we have to relocate by the 28th she had also kicked the floor below us out early. Instead of them leaving she told them they could stay in the vacant loft above us that she tried to jam me and Adam into. However the floor below us had 3 people living there, one was this lady Kim, she is a typical Los Angeles "Publicist" Im one the red carpet with blah,blah,blah, ill make you famous, blah.....Im a big wheel and yes i rent the apartment below. So moving forward our floor is now in a full blown 4 alarm mess. Me & Adam, Less, Brian (The cat from Philly who just smokes it all away and chills, and now these 3 people from down stairs, who to this day i think the 2 guys were Kim's sons , but they said they were British artists, that did it all ,rapped,made films, performed. However i never witnessed them leave the couch  so i wouldn't doubt they were her kids as everything screamed BULLSHIT. So here we are , 7 of us and afew randoms, all on one floor, cops on there way, one girl biting another scream rape, a stoned guy from Philly , no place to put our food in the fridge and its 7am.
Lets bounce, its the 21st and im not waiting this out another 8 days, we need a place and fast. The dream is over at 123 Anchorage, im ready to leave La Hotel Coocaroacho way behind me. So we are on the hunt again, this time with a new roomate in tow (Less and his busted hand)................

Turn the fan on, shits about to hit it.   (To Be continued)