Random moments of Uber-Laziness
November 4th, 2005 | Posted by Shannon
I hardly made it out of the house this week. I seem to be in some kind of nesting/laziness mode. Also, it has been a little hard for me to write in my blog lately. I guess I also have a bad case of brain-freeze. It’s a good thing I am not a professional writer or I would really be freaking out.
Tomorrow I have to go back up to L.A. to drive author Kevin Zraly around to some events and tastings. It should be cool – he seems pretty chill and we get to stay at the uber-fantastic Hotel Figueroa. Of course, the famous author gets the Medina Suite and I just get a regular room. He should trade with me! Yeah, right.
After tomorrow night’s tasting and class, I might just have to drag him to Philippe’s, home of the French Dip. Have you ever been to a funky diner with sawdust on the floor and $4.00 sandwiches, but also Silver Oak Cabernet by the glass? I friggin love that place. Whenever my company has a trade show to attend in L.A. we go there, order seven different wines by the glass, and then we get them all mixed up. “Is this the Chimney Rock?” “No, that’s the Chimney Rock.” Of course after an hour or so it doesn’t really matter any more.
I don’t know why people diss on L.A. so much. I kind of love it up there. There are these little gems like Philippe’s and the Hotel Figueroa. Of course, I am the one who is always whining about the L.A. people at shows.
A few years ago, there was another author in L.A. – Tom Stevenson, a really great wine writer and a cool guy, too. This really weird paparazzi guy who loved Champagne (Tom is a Champagne expert) got Tom to have dinner with him and a bunch of his cronies at this incredibly tiny, expensive Sushi place on Rodeo Drive. Well, me and my bosses Elliott and Donna went with him, but they pretty much gave us the boot. Elliott had brought some of Tom’s books because the paparazzi guy asked him to, and then proceeded to SELL them to everyone (did the guy think we were just going to leave them there?) It was all kind of bizarre. Anyway, we left and went right down below the Sushi Place to a steakhouse for dinner. After a couple of hours, we needed to get Tom out of there, so Elliott called the Sushi place and asked for Tom (“urgent call from London” or whatever.) Then we told Tom I’d be up to get him in ten minutes. When I went up there, the paparazzi guy, all smiles now, greeting me warmly and then said, “thank god, you got rid of those AWFUL people.” Meaning Elliott and Donna. So I said, in front of the white-male between 62 and 65 crowd of ten guys, “oh, you mean my PARENTS?” Paparazzi’s guy’s jaw dropped. Tom Stevenson loved that. I hope tomorrow is as fun as that night was.
