Day 7 - I Gotta Say It Was a Good Day

I didn't even have to use my AC.

Wednesday, June 13 is the day I've been most looking forward to. It began with a visit to the Paley Center for Media (formerly the Museum of Television & Radio and the Museum of Broadcasting). I heard about the exhibit they are showing from Jorge Garcia's blog (formerly Hurley from Lost and Doc Soto from Alcatraz). I read about it in Tacoma and it immediately went on my itinerary.

The exhibit is called "Television Outside the Box" and features costumes, props, and sets from Warner Brothers television shows. I drove to Beverly Hills again, parked, and went to buy my ticket. The lovely woman who sold it to me asked how I'd heard about the exhibit and I told her I'd read about it on Jorge Garcia's blog then had a moment of worrying that she wouldn't know who I was talking about. "Oh yeah," she said, "I remember Jorge was at the opening." I love Beverly Hills. I'm finally around people who give television the respect it deserves : )

Photographs of and interaction with the displays are encouraged and I eagerly took them up on the offer.

The museum begins with a timeline of Warner Brothers shows. I had no idea how many shows they've been involved in. Each show includes a fun fact beside it. This is one of my favorite shows and fun facts:

Even a show called Sisters with pictures of all women,
it's impossible not to talk about George Clooney.

I totally remember him on the show. He gets blown up in his car and Sela Ward goes blind with grief.

As the WB is home to Bugs Bunny and friends, animation cels and sketches are a core feature of the show. 

This cel is from one of my favorite cartoons ever from Tiny Toon Adventures (which was ever so much cooler than Animaniacs).

I want to flush it again!

They have a nice selection of memorabilia from each one of the Friends.

Now with authentic cat smell

Even though Buffy began on the WB, it was not included in this collection (although a guard says they will be rotating selections every six months). This was as close as I could get: 

Starring Lisa as Ursula as Phoebe as Buffay as Buffy

This is the turkey Monica wore to cheer up Chandler before he professed his love to her:

Fez not included

The stethoscope worn by the dashing Dr. Ross (as played by Mr. George Clooney):

And now that I know something about medicine,
I know this is a really crappy stethoscope

So, they were very clear about it being okay to touch the sets, but the weren't as clear about whether it was okay to touch the costumes. They weren't behind glass and there wasn't a sign that I could see prohibiting me, but I wasn't outwardly invited either. Still, wanting to have a more intimate experience with these outfits once worn by beloved celebrities, I would wait until the guards were looking elsewhere and quickly brush against a sleeve. Now when I'm watching an episode featuring one of these outfits, I can say, "I touched that!"

One of Ms. Murphy Brown's suits.
I touched that!

One of the guards was particularly friendly, chatting and offering to take my picture. I said this couldn't be an all together horrible job -- getting to meet celebrities, see famous items, meet giddy fans, etc. He said other than the looping theme songs they play, it wasn't half bad gig. It was then I noticed that there was a soundtrack going of several famous theme songs. And a wall with them written out. The problem, though, is there are only eight of them on the playlist and they repeat over and over. Poor guard guy.

Well . . . 

. . . it probably beats working at It's a Small World

When I was ten years old, my mom woke me up and got me out of bed to watch what was one of the funniest episodes of television she'd ever seen. This outfit is from that episode: The Pez Dispenser.

Touched this, too!

Here I am sitting at the actual Monk's, also where Jorge Garcia sat, across from a big salad:

Notice Kramer's pimp coat in the background

Also notice that the guards don't know how to zoom.

George's Gore-Tex coat
(Touched it)

The guard and I agreed that the West Wing is one of the best television shows ever.

Oh, Leo, we miss you!

And you remember Gail:

Gail's scenery changed regularly,
these are some of the items that joined her in her fishbowl

And, of course, the podium:

Note the outfits in the background.
From left to right, CJ's, Leo's, and President Bartlet's.
(Touched 'em.)

The guard let me in on the secret that the podium was built to fit Martin Sheen, who is 5'7", and jacked up on apple crates when it was needed for Allison Janney, who is 6'0". (Also note the handprint flag in the background. It was made by one of the crew's two kids.)

I was surprised to learn that True Blood is part of the WB family.

This is the cage where Queen Sophie-Anne was kept.

Cage sans Sophie-Anne

Cage mit Sophie-Anne

(Below will be some links to YouTube videos of True Blood featuring items from the exhibit. If you have not seen the show or are not caught up, please be aware that it is on HBO which means it full of profanity and violence. And it's about vampires and sometimes is enormously bizarre. Enjoy!)

This is the couch that Queen Sophie-Anne exploded on. There is a note to the side of it letting us know that some of her guts and blood are still on it.

The guard apparently hadn't read the note before sitting down
and was surprised to find himself sitting on gore

These are various items from the seasons:

Sophie-Anne's fangs, MaryAnn's Maenad mask,
bottles of Tru Blood, vials of V, etc.

This is the crystal urn that contained the remains of Talbot, Russell Edgington Vampire King of Mississippi's lover, after Eric Northman used the above scrolls to deliver the true death.

The urn is empty thanks to Sookie

Some of you will recognize Russell Edgington as Denis O'Hare who also plays an affable judge on the Good Wife.

Not Russell Edgington

Here is is being decidedly ungood in one of his greatest scenes after he discovers that Talbot is dead.

Below is the doll involved in one of the most absurd storylines True Blood has ever concocted. In summary: Sookie's best friend's cousin Lafayette is possessed by the ghost of a woman who is looking for her baby and kidnaps the child of Sookie's coworker who is rearing the child with Terry, her husband, even though the child's father is actually Renee who is dead and a serial killer from season one. Anyway, this all is connected with the doll.

Precious moments

My favorite scene from the show is when the ghost possessing the cousin of Sookie's best friend understands her mistake in taking the baby of Sookie's coworker and her husband and apologizes. Terry's reaction is priceless.

This is the handcuffed and police-taped gnome used as a murder weapon in an episode of the Closer:

Handcuffs and police tape placed after arrest

And, of course, no museum visit would be complete without a stop at Central Perk.

Seriously, the zoom is, like, right there

Best museum trip ever.
_________________________________________________________________________________

After the museum, I headed south to Santa Ana to prepare for the concert that was the anchor to my whole trip. I knew the band was touring, but they were heading south to north while I was heading north to south. And while they are stopping in San Francisco and Los Angeles, I chose Santa Ana because it would allow my trip to begin sooner and my guess was that it would be a more intimate and less crowded show.

Several people have asked me whom I was seeing, and I found it hard to explain. The band is called Walk Off the Earth and anyone who is tapped into the meme scene will recognize them from this:

It now has more than 119 million views on YouTube. 

I heard about them here through Jen, of Cake Wrecks and Epbot fame, and fell in love with the band after this video:

I arrived at the venue about half an hour before doors opened and parked close to a side exit (more on that later). I was probably one of the first 20 people in line.

The girls in front of me were huge fans as proven
by their homemade puffy painted t-shirts

The line got much longer later.

At least it was a nice day

There were two opening bands, the Mowgli's (with the superfluous apostrophe) and Avalanche City. The former is a band of eight or so people who sing very peppy songs. The latter a group of three who have a more realistic outlook on life.

My favorite part of both of their sets was the mogen david lights.

Funny, they didn't look Jewish

Walk the Earth took the stage in an appropriately dramatic way. They became famous for a cover song, but they have their own, too. They are also known for throwing their instruments (and catching them) as well as for the ability to seamlessly exchange one instrument for another.

Their showpersonship is fantastic. They are choreographed without looking stiff and they came out into the audience several times.

Dance, dance, revolution!

Here's Sarah standing on a pillar right next to my head

There were sing-a-longs, balloons, and little plastic flowers given to favorite audience members (one of whom was a little girl thrilled to be there and be given so much attention).

Sing-a-long

Balloon 

Little girl

Their encore was, of course, the song that made them famous and they played it in the way that made them famous, all five of them on one guitar.

And yes, Gianni is that intense all the time

One thing I did notice during the show is that there was only one woman in each band and that there was always a tambourine and it was always the woman with the tambourine.

Band #1

Band #2

Band #3

I thought it was Mr. Tambourine man. Huh.

After the show I dawdled a bit, waited for most of the crowd to dissipate, bought a CD, and headed to the side exit. Outside there was a big group of people bunched together. The band was outside signing autographs and taking pictures with the fans. 

I've never been one to take pictures with celebrities, I'm much happier taking pictures of them and being happy with the memories. But they did one better for me:

Hey, I know that car!

I wasn't able to get a shot with my license plate showing, but that's my car and the band and that's good enough for me. I hung around for a while (as I couldn't quite leave with security and fans surrounding my vehicle) and I got the autographs of all the band members on my new CD -- even from the unappreciated band members Ryan, Mike, and Joel.

On the way back to the hotel, I stopped by what has to be the best rated Subway sandwich shop in the US. They were very nice and I got a free cookie for being a student.

Next stop, the City of Sin!


Odometer Start: 35464
Odometer End: 35552
Miles Driven Today: 88
Miles Driven Total: 1732
Today In/Around: Santa Ana, CA
Tomorrow: Las Vegas, NV
States Visited: 3 (Washington, Oregon, California)
Outfits Surreptitiously Touched: 6
People Surreptitiously Touched: 1 (I realized it was creepy)