A WEAKEND PLANNER FULL OF SUMMER THRILLS

FRIDAY 8/20

Dodgers vs. Braves in a clash of division leaders (through Sunday): This series could definitely be a playoff preview. Both these teams have been red hot since the middle of June, so something has to give. It’ll be push coming to shove, as both teams have the two premier closers in the league. Brace yourselves, this has all the makings of an amazing series.

7:30pm - Van Halen (@ Staples Center): Catch these guys rockin’ out as they hit the stage for their first tour in 8 years.

8:00pm Comedy @ M Bar (1253 N. Vine @ Fountain, 323-856-0036): Line-up includes: Jerry Minor, Eddie Pepitone, Nick Swardson & Melissa Paul. Free show w/dinner reservation, or $5 cover to just pound alcohol & watch the funny.

9:00pm - Catch Lia Fail at The Whisky with Diminished: These girls are young, good looking and rock the hizzzouse. (doors @ 8pm)

10:00pm Keaton Simons @ The Little Temple (4519 Santa Monica Blvd, 323-660-4540): Bluesy Rock w/cool Pop elements. Crazy good guitar player, insane voice and, we gotta say, smokin’ hot. But, as usual, obviously, you should go for the music.

SATURDAY 8/21

10:00am 11:00pm 24th annual Sunset Junction Street Fair (3600-4400 Sunset in Silver Lake - $10 donation): Nonstop music, cool vendors and yummy food.

Tons of great bands. Check out www.clubspaceland.com for the full music line up. Our picks include:

12:45 The Like
2:15 Giant Drag
4:00 On the Speakers
5:00 The Unicorns
7:00 Ima Robot
7:30 We Are Scientists
8:15 Ben Kweller
9:30 The Donnas

2:00 - The Olympics: Why? Men’s Volleyball USA vs. Australia- Mmmm, yummy!

4:00 Shop for C Ronson’s ipod hoodies: Cool accessory for your ipod., so f’n cute! A little sweatshirt to protect your ipod. Available at C Ronson (239 Mulberry, 212-625-9074). We saw this on Daily Candy & now we must order one.

7:00pm Sing-A-Long Wizard of Oz (Greek Theater, 2700 N. Vermont, 323-665-1927): Interactive film experience where audience members can dress up like their favorite characters & win prizes. Then, sing along with the flick, boo and hiss the Wicked Witch of the West, blow mystic bubbles (provided in your free Perform Along fun pack) whenever Glinda the Good Witch floats onto the screen.

8:00pm - Catch Red Tape (on Roadrunner) at the Troubadour.

9:00 - Tiki Ti (4427 Sunset): Looking for a place to hit up after a long day wandering the Sunset Junction fair? How about heading over to Tiki Ti for an exotic cocktail? This tiny shack is full of the unassuming. Attn: CASH ONLY!

10:45 - Good Luck Bar (1514 Hillhurst): One to many drinks at the Tiki Ti? Whooha… then you’d best keep the party going by heading over to the Good Luck Bar. This Chinese-inspired lounge is right around the corner, so you can keep the drinks coming.

SUNDAY 8/22

10:00am - 10:00pm 24th annual Sunset Junction Street Fair: Our pics for today include:

12:45 Dirty Little Secret
1:30 The Vacation
2:15 Your Enimies Friends
7:15 Camper Van Beethoven
8:30 X

11:00am - Eat Well: Get to Sunset junction early enough and you best be hitting up Eat Well for some yummy breakfast grub. Our pics include the bagel plate and huevos rancheros, but we’ve never seen one shady thing come out of that kitchen.

5:00pm - El Cid (4212 Sunset): Right by the main music stage, give your feet a rest. Bitch’n patio and a clean bathroom (Ahhhh…). Sip on a margarita or some homemade sangria and chomp on some chips and salsa.

6:00pm - Early evening beers (Stella!) & burgers etc @ Birds (5925 Franklin Ave): Good food, good beer, good sidewalk dining, good indoor dining & good neighborhood bar. It’s all good at Birds. Oh, and the L. Ron Hubbard Celebrity Center is right across the street. Which makes it even good-er.

8:00pm - Without a Paddle: Seth Green, Matthew Lillard, Dax Shepard: http://www.apple.com/trailers/paramount/without_a_paddle/

10:00pm - Entourage (HBO): This series gets better every week with awesome guest spots like Val Kilmer as a pot dealing Sherpa living in Bel Air. Is it based on Executive Producer Mark Wahlberg? Is it based on Leo? It doesn’t matter, because the series is holding its own & is much fun to watch.

UPCOMING EVENT

Tues. 8/24 8pm All-Ivy Night @ The Improv (8162 Melrose): Strong show made up of mostly comics who went to Ivy League schools & special guests. Jake Johannsen, Nick Swardson & Maria Bamford are just some of the comics going up. Reservations: (323) 651-2583 / www.hollywoodimprov.com Group discounts & industry comps available, through Lesley (310) 927-4125.

IVANA'S PMS-FUELED BUZZ KILL

Ivana’s new weekly segment where she ruins the ends of movies. **Consider yourself warned***SPOILER ALERT***

*Open Water - They die
*Manchurian Candidate - Liev Schrieber & Meryl Streep’s characters die
*Garden State - He stays
*Fahrenheit 9/11 - Bush is roundly defeated in 2004 election
*We Don’t Live Here Anymore - Naomi leaves & Ruffalo and Dern stay together
*The Village - It takes place in present day & the monsters are actually the dressed up elders
*Alien vs. Predator - It’s a tie
*Napolean Dynamite - Rodel gets married
*Little Black Book - Who cares
*Hero - They die.
*Collateral - Jada Pinkett is the final target & Tom Cruise dies on the train.

DIARY OF A HARDCORE PHISH FAN
(My cousin Maxine sent this to my father and I thought it was very funny—Je-c)

I'm back from the final Phish concert. It was quite intense, to say the least. I'm glad I went and I'm glad I'm back. Mike and I spent 20 hours in the car driving over to Vermont, and then (which was actually fortunate) 12 hours in traffic waiting to get into the campgrounds. We arrived at Coventry at approximately 12:30 p.m. on Thursday (gates opened at 11:00 a.m.).

My experience at Coventry Vermont was the dirtiest of my life. On Friday night, my friends and I decided to explore our surrounding campgrounds, so we stumbled, wasted, from one end of the airport grounds to the other. It just so happened that Phish was doing their sound check at that very moment, on the opposite end of the grounds. When we reached the area where you could start to hear them playing, we all stood mesmerized (and wasted) as the sweet melodies bounced across the land. Determined to get closer, we entered an area of land fondly referred to by those camping there as "Muddville." I took three steps into Muddville and my foot, complete with flip flop, sunk 1 foot into the ground. "Oh shit," I giggled, close to tears with laughter, "my shoe is stuck." As three of my friends surrounded me and began to tug on my leg, a Rasta chick off to my left yelled out, "Welcome to Muddville!!! No shoes allowed." Still laughing and determined to get closer to sound check, I removed my shoes and began to tread along bare foot through the mud. Little did I know, that was the last time I would wear shoes for three days. The mud continued to get worse, especially after it rained, almost non-stop, for 48 hours before the first set on Saturday. Unless you had boots up to your knees (which I did not), you were shit out of luck.

As for the six sets of music, I can sum that up as follows: Saturday absolutely rocked; they never sounded so good. The songs they picked were diverse and fun and the mood was upbeat and chaotic. As for Sunday, after Page lost it during "Wading in the Velvet Sea" (one of my personal favorites), I just felt sad for the rest of the night. Sad, sad, sad.

Oh, well. I went, I saw, I returned (after another 16 hours before we could exit the grounds and 20 more hours on the road, but we in stopped in Massachusetts on the
way back and crashed in a Motel 8, which felt like the Ritz, comparatively).

Next stop... pedicure!