Minutes

Opening at Hauser & Wirth and Swedish Midsummer party at the Highlight Room. Photographed - Paul Mccarthy, Joseph Dushey, Olga Cerpita, Alona Korzun.

Mark Houston invited Julia and I to join his family at Diana Ross' concert Hollywood Bowl. Diana was great, performing all her best songs except for her most known song, I'm Coming Out. We went with the Houstons to Madame Siam, watching the illusionist sideshow for which the bar is known. I met one of the featured dancers Emily, who I thought a very talented entertainer. We finished the night with Break Room 86.

Went to the Galore Magazine event at Mouche Gallery with Julia. The theme of the event was early 2000's - even though it seemed that we were the only ones who bothered to dress for the occasion. But then I wasn't even getting my outfit right. I looked more like a 1980's Lacoste advertisement. I should have watched an episode of Friends before trying out things to wear. I met a photographer, Norbert Baeres, who spoke with me for about an hour (maybe not an hour, but it was right when we got there and all I wanted to do is see who else is there). He took some pictures of me and Julia and was the first of the evening to refer to me as 'Andy Warhol' (but not the last). I don't usually mind when people make that connection, it is just a reminder that I have big shoes to fill. We spoke with some other girls that are all signed with Hollywood Model Management; Olga, Alona, Kamilla, Noemie. I ran into Brendon Melton, too. I was unaware that he was affiliated with the gallery until last night. After the show, we went to the Galore after-party at Madame Siam which was packed. Julia excitedly spotted Jeremy Renner, who I recognized but whose name I couldn't seem to recall or anything he's been in.

Photographed: Noemie Gaidies, Kamilla Halasz, Alona Korzun, Olga Cerpita, Brandon Lee Melton, Maddie McDonough, Julia Dunstall, Bobi Andonov, Savannah Hudson, Morgan Jensen.

Yesterday Julia suggested that we go to the Melrose flea market, and I agreed. Julia needed new old jeans, and needed new old shoes. I told Morgan Jensen about it, and she also agreed. She needed birthday presents. I took Sunset with us and we met Morgan at the Market. Neither of them had any cash, so every time they had gotten something I paid and we added up the sum. Julia and Morgan bought all kinds of patches, then Morgan bought a vintage red floppy hat. Or was it a cowboy hat? I didn't find shoes, but I found a pair of sunglasses that I thought looked more modern than my current ones but still retro enough to be considered 1960's. After the market we went to Paramount Coffee Project, an Australian Cafe, for lunch. This time it was the girls' time to pay the bill. I had a slow cooked lamb sandwich with dandelion - which I pronounced dandi-leeeon and it became the subject of a 10-minute conversation. At lunch a friend of Julia's, Paris, joined us and then Morgan left, and we all left and I left and Julia and Paris went back to the market to see if she can still find a pair of jeans. I went home to drop off Sunset and then went to SkyBar at the Mondrian Hotel for Julifer Day's birthday day-party. I didn't know anyone there except for Claire Felske but the table we were seated (or standing around) at had a vast amount of bottles coming, so that was comforting enough, especially since I had to battle with the worst music I heard in decades.

Photographed: Morgan Jensen, Julia Dunstall and Julifer Day.

Cherish Waters' Birthday at The Highlight Room in Hollywood. Photographed: Elle Evans, Cherish Waters, DJ Wenzday. Polaroids - two self portraits, and one of Cherish Waters.

At Rosy Oyster at the Roosevelt. Photographed: Aana Stly, Max Zab, Nicholas Routzen, Julia Dunstall, Lisa Reider, Jasmine Poulton, Laetitia Ray, Jason Lee Parry, BJ Panda Bear, Sunset the Husky. 

Came back home after a long drive from Coachella. In two separate occasions people have mentioned and recommended the movie Victoria (2015), so that became Jules' and my pick for an unwinding movie night. The movie was indeed different in the way it was made, captured entirely in one take. You could sense something was unique about it, even subconsciously. And then consciously I was trying to analyze the technique used for this really great execution. The plot itself, however, was pretty mundane in hindsight, although it wasn't boring to watch. It was just very conventional and typical when you thought of European movies. It was my 9th Coachella, if I had to guess, and I have been going every year since I started. I think once you partake in a certain function for several times, then it becomes more interesting - and I like how overall the feeling of Coachella stays the same, but many aspects change - like the people you're with or some of the events you attend. I even try to go to the same Chinese restaurant, called Wangs at the Desert, every year, but this year we didn't make it. On Friday, when I arrived in Palm Springs, it seemed like I was going to be a third wheel, since the only people who were in my group were Charan and Kyla. But then last minute, my friend Sierra Plowden said she was coming with two other friends, and suddenly we turned into a pretty big group. Later on, on Saturday, a couple of other friends joined and we turned into an even bigger group. Sierra and her friends stayed till Monday and she really made things great this year - even though it was her very first Coachella. On Sunday we went to the actual Festival. I didn't have a wristband, so Charan had to walk in with Kyla and then take hers off and walk all the way back with her wristband and put it on me. The wristband barely fit through my hand, but with a little bit of squeezing, it went through. We later tried to take it off, so that Kyla could have it back, so she could go in the VIP area, but my hand was too swollen and we couldn't get it off. Sierra and her friends didn't have wristbands either, but after I left them and went in, she managed to find three people walking out and get their wristbands for $70 each. I did this before, and instructed her how to do it, but this year it seemed much tougher than usual since security was much tighter and there was not much of a gap between the parked cars in the lot and the first security checkpoint. She managed to do it anyways, and it was her first Coachella. I was really proud of her. 

Photographed: Charan Andreas, Skylar Benton, Markus Molinari, Sierra Plowden, Zane Mende, Cherish Waters, India Gants, Caroline Vreeland, Mark Houston, Johnny Houston, Kyla Burke, Johnny Valenti. 

Went to Madam Siam with Milena Ilima and Dagmara Novak and later went home with a lot of people I don't really know. At 5:30am Milena kicked everyone out and I went to sleep.

Photographed: Morgan Jensen, Brandon Hudson, Matty Tae, Greg Auerbach, Dagmara Novak, DJCJ, Milena Ilima, Mark Houston.

JH: Are you out tonight, or just relaxing?

TJ: Neither. Working.

JH: Oh man, don't work too hard.

TJ: Work isn't hard. It's hard when work isn't being done.

Went with Julia to Melody Schuster's birthday party at her house in Silver Lake Heights. In the invitation it said "Casamigos themed party" and I didn't really know what to think of it - other than the probability that there would be plenty of tequila there. So I figured I'd bring a bottle of whisky with me, so there would be at least one bottle of whisky there. Dogs where also invited, so I brought Sunset with me. I didn't know dogs can ride in Ubers, but Julia said that they have to accept dogs, so this was Sunset's first Uber ride. We brought a towel for her to sit on, but she insisted to sit anywhere else, but on the towel. Once we arrived at the house, there was a life-size George Clooney Cardboard perched by the entrance and a couple of smaller versions in the living room / kitchen area. So then I figured out what the Casamigos theme was all about - the one-billion dollar sale of the tequila company, owned by George Clooney. It was just a better name choice than 'George Clooney themed party', but that's really what it was. Sunset was the only big dog among a bunch of suspicious little ones but she just did her own thing as usual - and in a rare moment she just next to me. After an hour or so we went to a party at a house in Los Feliz, for a birthday of a friend of Julia's. They had a big pool area with a big wooden Hollywood sign leaning against the fence. They heated up the large pool to a hot-tub temperature and everyone got in, including myself.  

Went with Lauren to David Hockney's opening at LA Louver. We parked next to two bohemian-chic sofa chairs, wrapped in plastic and just sitting on the curb. Since we got there a bit early I figured we'll try to find a way to take possession of these chairs before anyone else does. I didn't drive my truck to Venice, and these were pretty large size chairs, so we needed to find either someone with a truck or - which what ended happening, someone who lives right next door, who will store those until I could come with a truck. Somehow Lauren knew a guy from Highland Park who happened to have an AirBnB house for the night right on the canals some 30 yards away from where we parked for his birthday party. She called him up and we ended up carrying the chairs to the house's front yard. But then we stayed for a bit since a few people we there for the party and everyone wanted to talk to Lauren. We ended going to LA Louver about 25 minutes after the official opening started and it turned out we had just missed Hockney, who left a few minutes before we arrived. This disappointed me a little and I began to hate those sofa chairs. We stayed for an hour or probably less, and then returned to the party house for a drink. From there we drove downtown to Staples Center to see Lauren's friend, Erika, who is seeing one of the player from the Dallas Mavericks. The game ended soon after we got there and once the players left the arena, a group of us went to eat dinner at Wolfgang Puck. Aside from Erika's boy, Salah Mejri, who is the first and only Arabic player in the NBA, we were joined by another player, Nerlens Noel, and a couple of staff members. Later we all went to Madam Siam in Hollywood for some drinks and dancing and everyone was having a really good time - including myself. I danced with Lauren and her vintage jumpsuit and it was just great. 

Photographed: Lauren Peggy Doyle, Salah Mejri, and Erika Saxon.

Meena came over for dinner and to sing. I ordered Chinese and the food arrived one minute before Meena had arrived. But I thought that the food was meena, so when I opened the door when the bell rang I had a smile on my face and was ready to hug the bold rusty delivery man hello. We opened a bottle of wine and Meena was ecstatic about my choice for food. After dinner Meena went upstairs to my temporary karaoke stage and sang Lady Gaga and some excerpts from musicals. She really gives me the chills every time she sings and it was just wonderful. I joined later and mediocrely sang some 2000's punk rock songs. Around 11 we left to Jazz night at Delilah's where we joined Nick Simmons at his table. He was accompanied by Cooper Hefner and some other Playboy affiliates. I, however, was sitting next to a waitress at a cafe he often writes at. She was really interested in archiving, which is the career she is pursuing - and that was really interesting for me to hear and explore. Later Johnny Houston came and a group of us ended up at the Line Hotel for some more Karaoke.

Photographed: Meena, Sofia Arevalo, Sierra Plowden, Carli Glubok, Cameron Rose, Gulliver Oldman, and Taylor Snook.

Went with Dagmara Novak to an opening at Nicodim Gallery in Downtown LA. I heard about it from another artist friend, Kat Poteet, who also went. When we saw Kat she was accompanies by her boyfriend and some other friends, and they all looked really artisan / European. Many of the people at that show looked like that, with their late 70's movement fashion - like the students that took down the Iranian Shah. Needless to say, I felt really out of place. The art was also pretty nonsensical, but some elements were amusing, like the big plastic cartoon duck on the ceiling and his red poop sprayed on the floor. I was really tired after the show and we couldn't find a dinner to join, so I just dropped D off and went and made dinner at home.

Went to a screening of 'Hondros' (a documentary about the life of photojournalist Chris Hondros) with Julia. Julia was invited by her agency and I happened to know the producer, Gary Michael Walters, so our plans just aligned with each other. The screening was hosted by Gary, at a private theater in Beverly Hills, for his friends. Everyone took their drinks into the theater, even though it was really hard to avoid  or ignore the five or six signs that explicitly asked not to enter with food or drinks. I was hesitant at first, but took my beer in as well. As expected Gary gave a brief opening speech and then the movie started. I really didn't know what to expect, because I never heard of Hondros before, but anything involving news and photography has me hooked already. Regardless, it was a very profound look into the man and the profession in way that emphasizes passion above all. It is really hard to fake true passion, and true passion is very hard to conceal. It really makes all the difference in the world. Unlike many other people, I don't watch a lot of documentaries. Not because I don't like them, but I guess I just don't crave them. This, however, was a great dose of a fine documentary. It really plays with your head and once the film was over, it was hard to step out of it. We had one more drink at the reception and later went to La Descarga. Johnny Houston wrangled all his gang because he was taking his business partners from MGM to a night out. We later continued to Break Room 86. 

Photographed: Isidora De Solminihac, Valerija Sestic, Mariana Beltrame, Johnny Houston, Julia Dunstall, Kyla, Mark Houston, Matthew Stith, and Tasha Alexa.