Morning Becomes Erect-ic

W0w, was I shocked when I read today's LA Times:

"KCRW-FM radio host Chris Douridas, an influential Grammy-nominated musical tastemaker who has consulted on such Hollywood films as "American Beauty" and "Shrek 2," was arrested last week outside a popular Santa Monica bar on suspicion of drugging and trying to kidnap a 14-year-old girl.

Douridas, 43, was arrested shortly after midnight Jan. 6, said Lt. Frank Fabrega of the Santa Monica Police Department. Witnesses, who reported seeing Douridas put a substance into the victim's drink and carry her out of the Circle Bar on Main Street, flagged down police, Fabrega said. A man, identified by authorities only as in his 30s, was arrested as a possible accomplice to Douridas.

The unidentified girl, who became ill, was taken to a hospital, where she was treated and released, Fabrega said. It was unclear how the girl got into the bar.

Douridas, a Pacific Palisades resident, was released by police after posting $1-million bail.

The Los Angeles district attorney's office, which is still gathering evidence in the case, is awaiting toxicology results before deciding whether to file charges, said Eva Jabber, deputy district attorney with the sex crimes division.

On Friday, KCRW-FM (89.9) stood behind the popular radio personality, who will remain on the air as host of "New Ground," a two-hour program airing Saturdays that showcases new musical talent.

"Chris has been with us for 15 years, during which he has interacted with thousands of people, men and women of all ages, and has been entirely appropriate at all times," said Jennifer Ferro, assistant general manager at KCRW. "We believe in Chris as a person, and we think he has strong character. And we also think people are innocent until proven guilty."

Douridas, who could not be reached for comment, is widely respected for his music-related projects that venture outside mainstream commercial radio.

In addition to his work at KCRW, he hosted a season of "Sessions at West 54th Street" on PBS.

Those acclaimed forums led Douridas to later work on other television programs, radio, the Internet and film.

His most notable efforts may be as the shaper of soundtracks — his work helped define the offbeat musical imprint made by shows such as "Northern Exposure" and films such as "Grosse Pointe Blank," "Shrek 2," the "Austin Powers" franchise and "As Good as It Gets."

He was a Grammy nominee for his work on the soundtrack of "American Beauty."

Apple's iTunes Music Store, an increasingly potent merchant for digital music, has been the latest to turn to Douridas.

He created the recently launched live performance and interview series known as iTunes Originals, and he is the curator of iTunes Essentials, a signature series of downloadable playlists for the online music hub.

Looks like KCRW-ers do pretty well for a place that begs its listeners for money twice a year. A place in the Palisades? Not too shabby. Too bad he's got to slip roofies to Crossroads hotties with fake IDs to get laid.

"It's not a Blackberry."

You wonder why box office receipts are down? It's because everytime I see a movie there's some goddamned interruption by stupid movie patrons. The Pacific Cinemas at the Sherman Oaks Galleria has no problem charging $8.50 for a bargain matinee or allowing parents to bring their three children 100 minutes into a screening of Domino.

Luckily that movie blew, so no big loss.

A movie that didn't blow was Hostel, and it was almost ruined by... well, you'll read in a sec.

I love horror movies.

I loved Cabin Fever, so I was eagerly anticipating Hostel. Eli Roth is like me in that he's Jewish and he's tired of lame-ass PG-13 horror movies. He grew up in the 80s, so he's used to tits and gore in such films, and he's brought them back in full force.

Now it's almost cliche to complain about people using cell phones in movie theaters, though that doesn't stop me from yelling, "Shut the fuck up!" when someone uses one. But now there is a new enemy at hand, and thy name is PDA device.

I think my first negative experience with a PDA-user was at a Beastie Boys concert at the Universal Ampitheater back in 2004. Some schmuck a few rows in front of me was constantly texting his friend. What could he possibly be writing? "Great show, they're doing 'Brass Monkey' now!" Watch the goddamn concert! I wouldn't have minded his inane actions if there wasn't a thing called peripheral vision. His constant texting was always in my sights and somehow I could not be at peace during the entire concert.

CUT TO:

Yesterday. 12:35 screening of Hostel.

The theater wasn't too crowded, it being a weekday matinee and all. I had a good seat and there were no tykes running around. It seemed to be a good audience.

Except for this asshole sitting a few rows in front of me and to the left who was texting on his device throughout the trailers. He did not appear to be a yuppie, which is the usual offender. No, he looked big. In a Hells Angels kind of way. Keep in mind it was dark, so I really couldn't tell. I just hoped he would stop when the movie started.

The Lion's Gate logo came up.

He stopped.

20-somethings smoking dope in Amsterdam.

And the bright LED blue-glow of his device began again.

Fortunately it was only for a couple minutes, but it distracted me enough that I could not fully enjoy the "Red Light District" sequence of the movie.

What followed was the best horror film I've seen in years. Shades of An American Werewolf in London plus usage of a Sneaker Pimps remake of a song from The Wicker Man. And tons of tits and gore. Brokeback Mountain, Schmokeback Mountain, this is the best thing I've seen in months!

After the movie I took a long-needed piss, then walked out to see --

The PDA user and his equally corpulent friend. Only they were not so Hells Angel-esque. In fact they were more of the Harry Knowles-type. In their 30s to 40s. One actually had a cane. They must have been diabetic or something.

I was very polite and said...

Jeremy: Excuse me, I don't mean to be rude, but were you using your Blackberry during the movie?

Fat Guy: It's not a Blackberry. It's a text device.

Jeremy: (V.O.) Well, excuuuuse me. (out loud) Well, it was kind of distracting during the movie. I was sitting a few rows behind you and could see it. Next time you may not want to do that during a movie, it's kind of rude.

I was surprisingly restrained during this exchange. Truthfully, I was shocked that he would be the type to use a text device at a movie. He looked like your typical unhealthy, virginal horror geek who would gasp at any interruption during his beloved genre picture. Apparently not.

Fortunately, I was able to enjoy the movie.

Unfortunately for him, he's probably a virgin who will die from obesity in a few years.

Que sera sera!

Another One Bites the Dust

You may have seen those ubiquitous LTN signs on everything from buses to bus shelters in L.A. -- pretty much anything bus-related. Well, now LTN is no longer, and frankly I'm pissed!

I had been freelancing as an Associate Producer on LTN's action sports show "Dialed In." While I knew even less about action sports than other (non-action?) sports, my years of writing screenplays and working at "Blind Date" had given me a fantastic sense of story. a skill I brought to the table when piling through hours of footage of tattooed, EXTREME, Mountain Dew swilling athletes skating, surfing, and motorcrossing. I could find the drama and conflict in between their constant use of such words as "sick" and "gnarly." I was often commended for a job well done. I cannot say it was my dream job, but it paid more than what I was used to (which is still a pittance compared to what most folks my age are getting paid), and I was especially excited to begin work as an Associate Producer on their local travel show "Local Explorer."

My then-future bosses at "Local Explorer" wanted me to start right away, but compromised with a Jan. 3rd start date, so the folks at "Dialed In" could replace me.

It was going to be grand! Instead of logging non-Steadicam footage of guys from the Inland Empire riding various vehicles, I was going to be setting up locations and activities to be explored -- all within a 5 hour or so drive from L.A. Having lived in San Francisco for 2 years, I was very excited to expose Angelenos to its hidden treasures, and of course to Frank Chu!

It would be a challenge. It was a weekly show, and I was afraid I would run out of places to explore. But I was also excited about the freedom and relatively generous salary. And my two bosses seemed very sweet (and were easy on the eyes!).

I spent New Year's Eve in Mammoth for my first ever snowboarding expedition (to be blogged about later). For my few readers who are not Weather Channel afficionadoes, the Sierras got dumped on during that time. Not emotionally, but with snow. Lots of it.

We were supposed to drive back on Jan 2nd, but the 395 was closed due to a couple avalanches. I e-mailed my new bosses that I was stranded in Mammoth, so I would have to start a day late. It was beyond my control, so I figured they couldn't be too mad.

I got a phone call from my new boss the evening I got back into L.A. She was very sweet and said she hoped I had a good time in Mammoth. She then said that I was going to be starting on Friday, since the CEO told all senior producers that he didn't want any new employees to start quite yet. I was a little taken aback, but she assured me that she was very excited to have me start and that she would call me on Thursday to confirm my start date on Friday.

Thursday. 5:17 pm. No phone call.

So I called her on the cell.

There was something slightly different in her voice (fear and loathing?). She said the CEO was going to give a speech to the entire company on Friday morning, and that I could attend that, but I probably wouldn't be starting that day.

Hmmm... something's rotten in Denmark.

Later that night I spoke to my boss from "Dialed In." He broke the news:

One of LTN's investors pulled out, and unless some miraculous cash infusion occurred, we would all be out of work.

I went into the office the next day, wondering why so many people were acting so happy. I remembered my DI boss told me that not many people knew the news yet. They all knew there was a company-wide monologue about to occur, but were too naive to realize that's generally not a good thing.

After the CEO dropped the bomb, there were plenty of tears in the audience. LTN was a young company. Not only was it only 6 months old, but the median employee age was 26. Many were straight out of college and thought they had long careers ahead of them at LTN. I'm 31 and have been cynical since my Bar Mitzvah, so I knew better.

After a few heartfelt speeches by employees, it was decided that everyone would get drinks at Velvet Margarita, which is right around the corner from the office.

I cleaned up my area, then hauled ass to get some drinkies.

I was the first one there.

And margaritas were 10 dollars each!

10 fucking dollars!

They were good margaritas and all, but 10 dollars for a margarita when you just got laid off is not so good.

So I left after one mango margarita, since no one showed up.

I had to meet a friend for a coffee meeting at the Karma Coffeehouse. The meeting went well and as I walked outside I saw a few former LTNers smoking outside of Big Wangs.

I ventured closer and realized that the entire LTN staff was inside. I guess Velvet Margarita was fillibustered, since everyone seemed to be getting their drink on in Wangs. I joined the party and was much more pleased with my bill this time around. Only $12.15 for 2 stellas on tap and a turkey sandwich.

I did some comiserating with my fellow LTN-ers. Although I was not there since its inception, I was still part of the family and was sorry to see it go.

After only a day of perusing the UTA job list, Craig's List, and all the other usual suspects, I realize how lucky I really was to work at a company that allowed a lot of freedom and paid more than slave wages.

LTN -- it was fun while it lasted.

Who will play Alexander?

It was announced in the trades today that Maurice Sendak's classic, "Where the Wild Things Are" is in turnaround. (Read here for details.) Now I'm not a fan of stretching slim children's books to feature length films -- they've already ruined two Dr. Seuss books that way -- but I'm curious to see what Spike Jonze and Dave Eggers will do to "Things."

I just hope that "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day" is next on the horizon, and that they don't modernize it with Alexander getting pissy because his parents won't buy him an Xbox 360.