COMING ATTRACTIONS : Torera, the fitting session

this past weekend,

gearing up for the shoot,

tim and i met connie bang,

our intrepid and dogged producer,

and dragged my father, wayne,

(poor unwitting bystander)

to meet up with

eduardo lucero,

designer divine

at his atelier to review the clothing for the shoot.

but first, lunch at mauro's

that was pretty much dad's expression all day.

a mix of "this is fun" and "what next?"

then, the gowns.

it was a fashion explosion.

(eduardo lucero, above)

eduardo prides himself on cutting for real women,

but i think his variety of inspirations and eye for detail and line

caught me most off guard.

and little did connie know,

but she was about to become a fit model.

ok, it didn't take MUCH convincing . . .

she is an ex-mo-del.

plus, my ribcage wouldn't fit in that damn 

tooled leather corset.

yes, those are hand beaded lace panties.  yeah, boy.

eduardo kept putting connie in all these insane hooded dresses. . .

not surprisingly,

connie took to the clothes like a balenciaga gladiator sandal to an olsen.

then again,

what's a girl NOT going to love?

dad, meanwhile,

passively took it all in . . .

and i?

i began dreaming.

of turning lens to these creations . . .

COMING ATTRACTIONS : an explanation

this is going to be a crazy, creative summer.

in addition to "the weapons project",

which i'll talk more about once a few more players are in place,

we're about to film the first of a series of short films

using the eduardo lucero "matador" runway as an initial inspiration.

tim has always been a huge proponent of trying new things,

but even more so of the concept that 

the only thing holding you back from doing what you want

is just DOING it.

not in a nike way.

it's actually shocking how much can happen in your life

if you just say to yourself

yes, i can.

yes, i will.

and then . . .

do it.

i'm not being simplistic here,

or even trying to go all oprah on your asses,

it's just something i have to keep reminding myself,

and whether it's the weapons project, 

or this first short film,

the only thing holding me back

turns out,

is me.

so here i am,

with the help of my friends and co-workers and partner 

starting another major undertaking.

TORERA

(a coming attraction)

this project involves the creation of a trailer 

for a film that does not exist.  

We will be filming sequences and snippets of an imaginary story, 

bit and pieces of dialog and action, 

that when strung together will comprise a compelling reason to run to the theatre . . . 

even though the film will never be released.

this film is called “Torera”, 

and is about the love affair between a woman and a matador.  

As we learn from the scenes, 

there is much more to the “boy meets girl” scenario, 

there are bits of madness, slivers of dreams, and perhaps, perhaps 

even murder.

principal filming for the first "coming attraction",

TORERA,

begins this sunday, may 17th.

when pit bulls attack -

they sneak up on you . . .

they get really close to your jugular . . .

and they nuzzle with all their might.

before retiring to their lair,

to chuckle with evil glee

messages from the past -

we've been through a lot,

this man and i.

he stumbled over this tee shirt a few weeks ago,

and asked why i never had worn it.

"because i bought it for YOU, two years ago," i replied.

"i thought you bought it for me, for you."

sometimes sentiment

is more powerful than words.

MATADOR : Eduardo Lucero at the museum of latin american art

last week,

tim and i drove to long beach.

where the hell is long beach, you ask?

i still have no idea,

but we went, in order to support a new friend,

the designer eduardo lucero,

who was being honored by the museum of latin american art.

the event required a certain polish of dress

that you can imagine tim and i were loathe to rise to:

eduardo had used the art of the museum

to inspire the whole runway,

hand crafting every outfit to reflect a modern vision of the art,

diverse and distinct.

i don't think it's going too far to say

that his show felt like an american gaultier,

or a latin galliano.

there were stunning ballet inspired moments:

beautiful languid passages of hand beaded black,

toreador fringed and lace paneled,

sexual and ecclesiastic at the same time:

a good example of the art to inspiration to runway moment:

this exit brought people to their feet.

lucero also uses a broader range of figures for his models,

which proved stunning in this red exit:

and my favorite, by far,

was his "cage" dress in gray:

click on any of the images to see them larger.

but the best part for me,

was that this modest man and new friend

has asked me to collaborate with him 

and film these pieces.

so we are off and running.

crazy fashion film on it's way, my loves.

think bulls and boys and gowns and dust and . . . 

well, you'll see.

beetlegeuse, beetlegeuse, beetle juice -

for a long time in our history,

we used to be followed by ladybugs.

no kidding.

they would swarm onto our lawn one random sunny sunday, covering us,

literally hundreds of them all at once.

they would walk across our pillows in the morning as we were waking up.

they would appear in union pier,

in the winter,

in a store where we were walking with erin and paul.

they would show up on a windshield in san francisco

just before a big shoot.

they were our harbingers of change,

for after they appeared,

our lives shifted,

noticeably.

she showed up last week, on our doorstep.

i can't wait.

bar hopping : knightlife in weho

tuesday nights,

brandon and tim dragged me out.

i am not normally a tuesday night out kinda guy.

but knightlife turned out to have amazing music,

cuter than average weho bar guys,

and strong drinks.

(dustin, brandon and i, proving the "strong drinks" part.)

(jim and tim, proving the cute guy thing.)

but for some reason, tim had trouble

gettin us in frame.

for instance, too low:

too high:

oh, wait.

maybe he wasn't TRYING to get US in frame:

pit bulls know the secret -

mostly,

it's the moments we get the attention that matter.

first, pit bulls will pin you down . . .

then,
they will relentlessly whine until you pay attention to them.

vicious.