Pure Stupor Tour 2004 (West Coast Edition)
Dimitri House/Cheesecake Factory
Downtown LA/Our Lady of 121st Street
Wayne Brady/Melrose Shopping/Dimitri House Redux
Japanese Garden/Westwood Village and Getty
Shopping/Red Rock West Bar/Sunset Strip/24-Hour Dining
Clay Aiken Concert/Ruby's Diner/G'bye Sprouty
Venice Beach/Ye Olde King's Head/'Ta Aussie GD fan - G'day Boston
Pure Stupor Tour 2004 (East Coast Edition)
I met GD Fan, Sprouty, and Aussie GD Fan after about an hour delay when they got turned around on the freeway. They can tell you more about that part themselves. We met at the Our Lady of LA Cathedral (new huge structure in Downtown LA with very distinctive architecture). We explored the chapels and masuoleum on the outside of the cathedral while waiting for the Mass to end so we could see inside the cathedral itself. Aussie GD Fan, it turns out, is a fan of stained glass so the masuoleum was a hit with her, but GD Fan was a little weirded out to see a marker for the very much alive Archbishop of the diocese that was missing only the date of death. We also saw Gregory Peck's marker, but that was only a momentary distraction in our non-stop discussion of all things Eric and Dimitri.
Next we decided to walk to the historic district of downtown LA (Olvera Street) which is the oldest inhabited site and contains the oldest house (Avila Adobe). We took a picture with a stuffed burro (donkey) and walked through the stalls looking at the tchockes then - while looking for the bus stop - we stumbled back into the main courtyard where some Native dancers where drumming and dancing in regalia. I still couldn't remember where the bus stop was (I forgot to print out the map and timetable) so we walked back past the cathedral, and past the Music Center, Dorothy Chandler Pavillion, and the new Disney Concert Hall to catch another bus going on a more direct route to the Garment District. At this point, there was much ado about having exact change for bus fare and confusion over what indeed a quarter looked like and why were all the backs of those coins different. By the time we reached the Garment District (half a mile away), GD fan was looking at us like she might eat one of us for lunch.
We walked over to a fast food restaurant and sat trying to figure out what was on the menu that Sprouty and Aussie GD Fan (vegetarians) could eat. We chatted still more about Eric (of course)and spent the rest of the afternoon browsing through stalls alternately for 'something Nike' for Aussie GD Fan's oldest son and something for Sprout to wear in Boston. Btw, Sprout and Aussie GD fan are going to Boston for the preview of "Sly Fox", and Sprouty plans to be prepared. And then there was the on-going argument over whether Sprouty and Aussie GD fan were appropriately warned that they would not be returning to GD fan's home(an hour's drive) to change before the play. So Sprouty ended up wearing a lovely ensemble topped off (or in this case bottomed off) with bowling shoes. Aussie GD fan happened to be perfectly California casual. We took off for the Skirball Center (by a rather circuitous route - my fault) to get them to "Our Lady of 121st St."
We arrived a little early and had time to kill so there was more talk about Eric, his acting choices, his possible future directing project(s) which Sprouty or GD fan can go into later as they have more direct info than I. There were also more than a few references to Eric's personality/quirks and quotes from previous interviews and encounters which I will refer to in the future as "TSE's" (Thus Spake Eric ...) and a few anecdotes about his careful grooming habits (thumbs up) and tendency towards 'werewolf-ness' (i.e. fuzzy red hair on the hands) (thumbs down from GD fan and I, okay by Sprouty and Lee, and Aussie G/D fan neutral).
With the play about to start, I said my good-byes and promised to watch the tapes they had brought (Rocking Horse Winner, Our Town, ES interview in 2003, and Yoko Ono video). In return, I loaned my copies of Out of Order and Surf 2 *snicker* and headed home.
Ysabella
Dimitri House Index Wayne Brady/Dimitri House Redux