THIS WEAKEND PLANNER BITES... ACTUALLY, IT BITES DRYWALL

I know, there’s a lotta cool stuff happening in L.A. this weakend, but nothing like this. See, there’s a chick eating a wall in New York—and that’s not a euphemism for something. Artist Emily Katrencik, is eating the wall that separates a gallery’s exhibition from the bedroom of the gallery’s director. Five days a week, Emily eats a section of the wall, 1.956 square inches and three sheets of drywall thick, working towards consuming a total of roughly 8.5 cubic inches of wall. Each of these li’l meals takes around a half-hour. I told my mother about Emily. She said, “That’s an artist?” I’m liking this girl. Her plan is to gnaw a hole big enough to stick your head through by the time the exhibit opens on Feb. 28. Video of her eating will be a part of the exhibition, and much to the joy of those of you who are working up an appetite, she also takes some of the plaster and bakes loaves of bread, which will be available for visitors to the gallery to eat. South Beach freaks might want to sit this one out. @ Chelsea Gallery LMAKprojects satellite location in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

CALENDAR
Friday (Feb 11⁾
8:00 p.m.
Vine Street Lounge: New trendy bar alert, dawgs. Like a place where you can have some reserve-bottle service? This place even has the somehow obligatory large bed in the VIP lounge. That’s right, we frequent VIP areas, bitch. Monday nights are a weekly jam of L.A.’s best studio musicians, usually with a secret celebrity performer. 1708 Vine St. @ Hollywood Blvd.

8:30 p.m.
Tsunami Benefit Concert: The Black Eyed Peas’ Will.I.Am launches his label with Earth, Wind & Fire, Macy Gray and more. 100% of sales benefit UNICEF. There truly cannot be enough of these events. If you haven’t gone to one, go. If you haven’t given, give. Or go and give again. @ Avalon (1735 N. Vine St.) For Info: [email protected]

9:00 p.m.
HelloGoodbye at the Roxy. Come watch these lovely OC indie rockers shake up the Sunset strip this Friday night.

Saturday (Feb 12)
10:00 a.m. 5:00 p.m.
Free Make-up Sessions At Palmetto: Go out, girl, and get mad make-up skillz at one of the cooler stores in town. They’re showcasing the new IQ Beauty line. Insert smart & pretty joke here. Will also be going on Sunday from 12-5. @ Palmetto 8321 Third St. (between Flores & Sweetzer Aves.)

1:00 p.m.
Beautiful losers: Contemporary Art and Street Culture: A retrospect on how music, fashion and film have been inspired by urban youth culture. Orange County Museum of Art. 850 San Clemente Drive, Newport Beach. Hours: 11 a.m.-5 p.m. (949) 759-1122

8:00 p.m.
Inside Deep Throat: Go see the documentary that just rocked Sundance. It opens in L.A., N.Y., San Fran & Boston this weekend. Sorry, everybody else, you’ll have to get your porn analysis elsewhere. Here’s better news the re-release of the original Deep Throat will be Feb. 18. The original flick was made in six days for $25k and allegedly has grossed $600 million-plus! That’s deep, bro.

9:00 p.m.
Bright Eyes, Feb. 12, 13 and 14, Orpheum theater, 842 S. Broadway, L.A. I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning and Digital Ash in a Digital Urn (produced by Mike Mogis) reached combined sales of over 100,000 in the first week of release.

Sunday (Feb. 13)
2:00 p.m.
Hustler Hollywood: 8920 Sunset Blvd West Hollywood. Valentine’s Day is Monday—spread the LOVE.

3:00 p.m.
THING: New Sculpture from Los Angeles: UCLA Hammer Museum, 10899 Wilshire Blvd., Westwood. Through June 5 (open 11-5).

4:30 p.m.
The last game of the NFL post-season: The best of the best meet up in Hawaii for the Pro Bowl. Yawn.

8:00 p.m.
The Grammys: The 47^th annual Grammy Awards, hosted by Queen Latifah, live (on the East Coast, at least) from the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Opening performance by Gwen Stefani, Franz Ferdinand, Maroon 5, the Black Eyed Peas and Los Lonely Boys. Also performing are U2, Green Day, Kanye West and many more, as well as a special Ray Charles tribute. CBS, 8 p.m.

9:00 p.m.
Keaton Simons at the Viper Room.

Upcoming:

Feb. 17-18
Interpol at the Grand Olympic Auditorium

Feb. 20
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists at the El Rey

Feb. 22
Jill being all kinds of funny @ The Improv (Hollywood)

JE-C’S NEW-MOVIE RUNDOWN
Hitch
Starring: Will Smith, Kevin James, Eva Mendes and Michael Rapaport
Synopsis: Will Smith plays a "date doctor" who claims to be able to find customers their perfect romantic match in three dates or fewer. A female journalist doubts his claim and pretends to be looking for love to expose the fraud.
Remarks: I’ve been wanting to see this movie since I first saw the preview for it. First off, Will Smith is always good, Eva Mendes is beautiful and I'm a huge fan of Kevin James (star of King of Queens). For those who haven’t seen this series, I highly recommend that you check it out—it’s like a new-generation Honeymooners. It’s on Wednesdays @ 9 p.m. on CBS. I’m actually hoping to pick up some pointers on dating from this film.

Imaginary Heroes
Starring: Sigourney Weaver, Emile Hirsch, Jeff Daniels, Michelle Williams, Kip Pardue and Deirdre O'Connell
Synopsis: The Travis family seems to have an ideal life—until a tragic event shatters their façade and forces them to face some difficult truths.
Remarks: Haven’t heard much about this movie but it has a pretty good cast and an interesting storyline. There aren’t many good movies to see this weekend, so this might be one worth checking out. Usually the ones that are little-known turn out to be really good.

HOLLY’S CORNER
Remembering Keith Knudsen
Open Ragtop… "Reno Bound"
A Girl Companion to the Boys of the Road Loses a Friend
Goodbye, Keith Knudsen, Goodbye
The e-mail was just THERE, with his name in the subject line. Figured it was a new e-mail address or phone number, being passed on by a mutual friend. Passing on was definitely the subject—but not contact information, unless "care of his eternal reward" was the return address. My dear friend—and mostly long-lost companion—Keith Knudsen had died of pneumonia at 56. Keith Knudsen, the wiry spider monkey drummer from the Doobie Brothers who propelled "Taking It to the Streets" and "China Grove," left the Doobies Farewell Tour and started a country-rock demi-supergroup called Southern Pacific with fellow Doobie John McFee, Creedence Clearwater Revivalist Stu Cook and a hot-as-asphalt singer named Tim Goodman. When Elvis/Emmylou Harris veteran Glenn D Hardin bowed out, they brought in a young turk keyboard player named Kurt Howell, and they took to the road with a vengeance. Somewhere in the transition, when the hype was boiling and the music was settling, they came to Fan Fair. Big buzz—the big rock stars. And somehow they ended up with a baby girl rock critic with stars in her eyes for a dinner at this seafood buffet that reeked of wharf, looked of faded and failing antebellum mansion and hosted major tables. And so it was, this tiny girl made friends—with the rock stars. The very thing Lester Bangs warns William Miller about in Cameron Crowe's not-so-veiled autobiography, Almost Famous. They were, all five, smart, urbane, deeply witty. And they could connect both on the surface and deep. Life is precious. It sparkles. It is an opportunity to sow depth and reason and meaning amongst the laughter and the tears. You can love the music, feel the rush of it—and you can know you're in an amazing place. All you have to do is love people with all your heart, whether they're here or not, remember the lessons they taught you and celebrate the moments you shared. Perhaps Keith Knudsen never knew what he meant to me, one more kid they were being nice to. But something tells me he probably did—and that may be the greatest lesson of them all.