Fact:

I can and will sleep through a 4.4 Richter scale earthquake.

Black Tie.

After all these years I’ve never worn a tuxedo. Not even for prom.

Both of them.

Never, until I was asked by my friend Chris to work for him at the biggest prom of them all: The Oscars. My duties were relatively minimal. The hardest of them, it turns out, was procuring the proper attire. 

I like to clean up, when given the opportunity. Unfortunately, unless you’re willing to drop close to a grand on a tux (which believe me, I considered) at the low end, you’re options are limited to renting or borrowing.

Los Angeles is a fashionably casual city, in nature. Most men here dress like they’re 17, well into their 40’s. Which makes finding a friend with much more than a sport coat to borrow, near to impossible. Ironically, the first person I had a chance to borrow from was my cousin, who only last year graduated from college. Like his grandfather, he is a true sartorialist. Also like his grandfather he has a 29” waist, and unless I wanted to spend 11 breathless hours on the red carpet, I was going to have to pass up his beautiful Calvin Klein tux.

Which led me to the Friar Tux rental shop. It is amazing how badly they want you to go home with a teal waistcoat and matching bow tie. As a side note why are there no rental places in all of LA that carry anything remotely tailored? Is that a dumb question? Anyway, we found passable fare, rented and returned to Chris’s to put it all together.

After a fun evening of learning to tie a bow tie, putting it all on and mirror checking I returned the rental to its hanger where it would lay in wait for the big day. As I was packing up, Chris who is my same suit size suggested I try on the tux our mutual friend had offered him earlier in the week. It belonged to her father, a classy and worldly gentleman.

"Try it on. I was swimming in it. It’ll be hilarious."

It was…

It fit. And vintage, no less.

A man should look as though he has chosen his clothes with intelligence, put them on with care and then forgotten all about them.

-Sir Hardy Amies

A lofty aim. But I tried.

As a footnote, the one purchase for the event was the tie. It is a beautiful black silk bowtie from Hugo Boss. Not one of them clip-on jammies from the costume shop that makes you feel like you’re working valet.  I am happy to report that I can now list the ability to tie a bow-tie under my special skills. Makes me feel one step closer to 007. Now I just gotta work on my water skiing.

Joanna Newsom - Sprout and The Bean 2004 (get it)

I’m not going to lie.

Most of the cool music that I’ve been listening to for the last 3+ years is thanks to C. More than introduce me to bands, she introduced me to a way of discovering new music. Remember the first time you tried explaining email or the internet to an older relative? Your determined patience, and their expression of dumbstruck awe and confusion?

Yeah.

Pitchfork? Stereogum? How do you know about all these blogs? Am I saying that right? Blogs? I thought the internet was invented for myspace and porn.  …there are so many bands…

In this way my music collection, and my ears, crept into the new century.

Over the years since, I have seen so much great live music, often with C by my side. MTV hasn’t played music videos since the 90’s. Rolling Stone is putting bimbos on the cover. And, 99% of radio sucks. A lot. This is why I’d been listening to the same songs for years…

I now have renewed faith in contemporary music and feel relevant in my tastes for the first time since high school. It’s exciting to know about bands before I hear them on KCRW.

Speaking of which, NPR is streaming Joanna Newsom’s just-released 2-hour opus Have One On Me which has been receiving all sorts of press and blog attention.

Well the song I’ve posted here was given to me on a mix by C back in 2006. Yeah.

…

Dear Bean,

Thank you.

Love,

Sprout.

Apparently I've created a monster.

From my good friend,

wacki:

Not so sure about this Tumblr thing.  Miles, this is all your fault.  Same with you Charlene.  I need to get off the internet, people can find you here and there and on the internet. The internet, I need to get off the internet.

Wack, It’s no use. Succumb.

WB&PD / St.V

C and I went to this fantastic concert, she wrote this about it, in her blog:

on tuesday, i had the delight of going to the sold out St. Vincent show at the El Rey.

but first, Swedish husband-and-wife duo, Wildbirds & Peacedrums opened up the show. love ‘em!

(you gotta see them live. check the vid below.)

St. Vincent is Annie Clark - a doe-eyed porcelain doll who can kill it on the guitar. i love how smart her music is.

(photos via M)

Some more photos from the end of the show…

They had some pretty wonderfully designed merch.

Wildbirds & Peacedrums - My Heart 2009 (get it)

My heart, slow down.

California layover

En route from NY to Australia / New Zealand my mother had a 4 hour layover at LAX. My cousin and I decided to go keep her company. It was rush hour, traffic was insane, so we drove her west, to the ocean.

The Lonely Island - I’m On A Boat 2009 (get it)

The band that brought you such timeless favorites as: “Lazy Sunday, “Dick In A Box”, “Jizz In My Pants”, and “Punch You In The Jeans” is finally receiving recognition for their work.

Nominated for a Grammy. Really.

"Fuck land, I’m on a boat muthafuckah!”

In case you still haven’t seen it…..