the event of the season

my party was fabulous. many people arrived an hour early and quite a few stayed hours after... the paintings looked great and three sold. the slideshows and films got a lot of attention (there were seven different media playing on eight different monitors). the blowups of poems set a romantic tone... the house and garden looked like a dream and the luminaria made magic once the sun was set. the band was fantastic and everyone raved about them. the food was interesting and delicious and the wine flowed and flowed and flowed...

people came from all over, young and old, cool and dorky ~ it was the perfect mix and a lively communion. charlie sheen, pete seeger, and mary oliver (the great poet) made appearances.

i am still hearing from guests saying they had a wonderful time, saying they have been talking about the event since they left... if you missed it, you missed something! it got into your psyche.

i am hearing from people a second time to say they loved all the details of the gift bags, all the work it took, all the interesting items like the handmade book... they are just getting through all the stuff.

to me it was a blur, a three day blur that seemed like 45 minutes.

i want to thank everyone who helped ~ it took a huge crew to ready the house and garden, the paintings and prints, the films and slideshows, the giftbags, the food... many people pitched in before, during (alot of the "party" things like serving the food would not have happened without people just pitching in), and after the party ~ just out of love. i tried my best to invite everyone in my life ~ 75 lucky people showed up to celebrate the deliciousness of life and the exquisite perfume of my existence. i am very very blessed.

because it was such a blur, i didnt put together some connections i should have... jack should have met leslie; beto should have met charles rosenberg; martha and george should have talked; likewise little pam and cousin jeanie; and jason and johnny... and so on and so on and so on... but i did visit and mingle ~ it was a delight to see people i havent talked with in awhile. and there were some missed connections because of timing ~ one coming after another going... but a lot of guests did make new friends. and everyone had a magical time. martha and i are not quite sure how (or who!) we made it into our respective beds...

galleRoy at casa la reina was a huge success and i am so proud to have put it all together. now i need a little nap!

until galleRoy.com is completed, visit http://royanthonyshabla.com

more freewaves

well freewaves wasnt all that... but we had a nice time. dc and i met early to go to lace, the gallery sponsoring freewaves, and it was ludicrous. the two girls at the desk didnt know anything about freewaves and looked at us funny when we asked, they handed us a brochure but had never read it. we knew more about it than they did. and they didnt have the etiquette to be helpful. they were fun and cute but that only goes so far. three feet away from them was a table set up with the guy from freewaves and they had never spoken to him. we asked him about the multi-media unit you use to walk the streets and see art and info about sites along hollywood boulevard. he didnt have it. it wasnt ready. it wouldnt be until the next day (when i had to work and couldnt drive all the way out to hollywood to use it). tonight (last night) was the opening and it would be available after that (today). i said that the brochure (which he hadnt read either) said that these units were available all afternoon today (yesterday). he said he didnt finish the work until that afternoon. i said didnt your mother tell you not to wait until the last minute...

so dc and i went to eat something at california pizza kitchen.

then we went to the roosevelt hotel for the first freewaves event. around the david hockney pool, there were cocktails and monitors showing short films. a semi-beautiful crowd and semi-interesting films and semi-crappy red wine made for a semi-spectacular event. a lot of the films had the menu setting stuck on the screen, disturbing the art. the projection of films on the pool and the large balloons floating in the pool only worked part of the time. and one lesbian filmmaker was particularly obnoxious.

i ran into christie brinkley and we visited a few minutes. the whole billy joel debacle wasnt mentioned (my foot in my mouth yet again) and she kiss-kissed me before leaving.

preston digitator and carina farina met us and we went to the knitting factory for the next event.

german technology and german precision, the freewaves at the knitting factory was very german. hard, cold, loud, and discompassionate. it wasnt without merit, but was better in small doses. some of the work was lovely but we left after the second set otherwise we would have committed suicide. charlie did show and we danced a little together, preston and carina had already gone.

all-in-all, not the best la evening, not the best art scene. but it was better than the stock market.

freewaves

this afternoon dc and i will meet preston digitator and charlie sheen at freewaves, the video art festival on hollywood boulevard. we havent hung out as a group before so i dont know who will like whom... everyone seems to like hanging out with me separately but the personalities are so different i dont know how it will mix. o well i cant worry about it. drinks at the roosevelt hotel, music at the knitting factory, video art everywhere and anywhere. i will have fun.