Fall Playlists: Music to Watch the Economy Collapse By

Actually, there's no theme to my latest two mixes, other than the usual: Compile a bunch of songs I dig, and can get my hands on. Stay tuned: The "Choice Cuts" end of year compilation will come out soon!

November 2008
Green Light -- John Legend feat. Andre 3000 (3:54)
Bow To The Middle -- The Rosebuds (2:26)
Fools -- The Dodos (4:43)
Parisian Goldfish -- Flying Lotus (3:01)
Rocky Took A Lover -- Bell X1 (4:07)
Love Hangover -- Kidz In The Hall feat. Estelle (3:51)
Be A Star -- Oh No! Oh My! (3:03)
The Gospel of Goro Adachi -- The Boxer Rebellion (3:40)
Universal Mind Control -- Common feat. Pharrell (3:25)
Ruthless City - Original Mix -- Morgan Geist (5:56)
Boys With Girlfriends -- Meiko (4:07)
Don't Believe in Love -- Dido (3:54)
So Long -- Hearts Of Palm (3:09)
Big Jumps -- Emiliana Torrini (3:02)
On My Knees -- Aqualung (4:37)
Hero -- NaS (4:01)
Midnight Coward -- Stars (3:42)
Just Dance -- Lady Gaga (4:01)
Nothing Ever Happened -- Deerhunter (5:51)
Deserter -- Matthew Dear (3:56)

September 2008
Black & Gold (Marcussen Album Version) -- Sam Sparro (4:34)
Rows of Homes -- The Western States Model (3:38)
Nine Ships -- The Voom Blooms (3:19)
Moving To New York -- The Wombats (3:35)
Finer Feelings -- Spoon (4:57)
Magic (Remix) -- Robin Thicke feat. Mary J Blige (3:32)
Heart Heart Heart Out -- The Seabellies (3:24)
Will You Tell Me Then (Domer Remix) -- Faunts (4:35)
Play -- Chop Chop (3:04)
Walking -- The Dodos (2:09)
Please Don't -- Bears (2:13)
Dangerous -- Kardinal Offishall feat. Akon (3:55)
Exhausted -- Joseph Arthur (4:46)
Gun -- Emiliana Torrini (5:46)
Paris -- Friendly Fires (4:00)
Resurrection Fern -- Iron and Wine (4:29)
Count To Ten -- Tina Dico (4:41)
Can You Tell -- Ra Ra Riot (3:07)
Skinny Love -- Bon Iver (3:59)
Machine Gun -- Portishead (4:52)

(For a list of our playlists going back to 2001, check out our companion Choice Cuts site.)

FRANKLIN AVENUE'S LIST: Newish Entertainment Center for Sale, Cheap

Here it is, the entertainment unit I always wanted, and finally bought two years ago: Perfect size; straight lines; modern look; real wood (no pressed wood here!); rich, deep brown color; doors for the TV; glass doors for your DVD, VCR, TiVo, cable box and stereo; drawers for your DVDs, etc. Better yet, make this your official gaming station.

The unit is only two years old, but we're downsizing and have got to (sadly) let it go. We originally bought this unit two years ago for more than $700, but we're now asking for just $200. We're taking a big loss just to move it out soon.



What's more, we'll throw the 32" TV in for just $50 more.

Interested? Contact us at our email address: franklin_avenue(at)yahoo(dot)com.

Retro Friday: "Miracle Mile"

As Will mentioned below in the Variety sign post, our new offices here at 5900 Wilshire play a big part in the 1988 cult classic thriller "Miracle Mile."

Plot aside, I just love watching these clips to get a glimpse of the Mid-Wilshire area 20 years ago. Check out Johnie's in full, light bulb glory -- complete with the old Johnie's Fat Boy sign (whatever happened to that?). There's the old May Co. building at Fairfax and Wilshire -- now a part of LACMA -- back when it was still operating as a department store. Check out the boarded-up Pan-Pacific Auditorium, before its mysterious destruction by fire.

And then there's the 5900 Wilshire building, here in its days as the Mutual Benefit Life building.

Meanwhile, speaking of the Pan-Pacific, here's a home video of the structure, taken in 1987 by Dean Mardon:

Busy Holiday Weekend: Mark Your Calendars

-- Pershing Square's Winter Holiday Festival -- located adjacent to the Downtown on Ice skating rink -- takes place this weekend, both days, from noon to 8 p.m.

The Saturday and Sunday event includes real snow, outdoor ice skating, festive arts and crafts, tree decorating contests, music and puppet shows.

Pershing Square, Downtown Los Angeles

-- "Save the Puppets: A Fundraiser to Benefit the Bob Baker Marionettes" takes place Saturday, Dec. 13 from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. As you've probably heard, Baker's famed downtown Marionette Theater is in a financial bind, and needs some help. The day-long event will include:

Bob's famous puppet shows all day long, musical acts and special guests, arts & crafts, celebrity silent auction and raffle, art auction including works by many well-known artists, circus performers, food and drinks, etc.

The Bob Baker Marionette Theater, 1345 W. 1st Street, Los Angeles

-- Silver Lake Art, Craft & Vintage: Art, crafts and vintage vendors, selling their wares Dec. 13 and 14 (as well as the 20th and 21st). Ghettogloss and Citibank sponsor; portion of the proceeds go to the new Silver Lake library.

Corner of Silverlake Blvd. & Glendale Blvd., 2450 Glendale Blvd., Los Angeles

-- MOMS Club Glendale West holds its 3rd Annual Holiday Boutique on Saturday, Dec. 13 at 10 a.m.; entrance is $2 (children are free). Holiday gifts such as toddler/children's clothing, jewelry, gift baskets, chocolate, etc.

Grandview Presbyterian Church -- 1130 Ruberta Ave., Glendale

Variety Lights Up

I took a momentary break from my all-Jay-Leno-all-the-time coverage to join in the Wednesday night festivities formally welcoming Variety to its new 5900 Wilshire home.

City Councilman Tom LaBonge said a few words -- and handed a loaf of pumpkin bread from Hollywood's Monastery of the Angels (it's famously LaBonge's calling card) to 5900 Wilshire developer Wayne Ratkovich.

Ratkovich spent $34 million renovating the skyscraper, which as of last night now features a fully-lit Variety logo on the top, facing north and south.



Also attending the sign lighting: L.A. County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, Variety editor-in-chief Peter Bart and Variety publisher Neil Stiles.

Variety has more here. The building, meanwhile, noted a few facts about the sign:

Size of the Variety Sign: Overall layout is 11.6 ft. x 44.2 ft. with the ‘V’ being 11.6 ft. and the remaining letters at approx 8 ft. in height.

Weighing the Variety Sign Letters: The ‘V’ is the heaviest letter at approximately 300 lbs, not including the ‘V’ swoosh that was fabricated in sections and assembled on the building. Letters were kept as light as possible using all aluminum construction and no steel framing. Also, LED lights were used to illuminate the sign, which is much lighter than neon components.

Hanging the Variety Sign: It took three crew workers two weeks to haul the fourteen sign letters for the north and south side signs to the top of the 31-story tower, install them and complete wiring and test illumination.

Lighting the Variety Sign: Signs are illuminated with red mini LEDs from SloanLED, Inc. Each set of letters utilizes approximately 1400 LEDs and 15 power 60 watt power supplies, or about 900watts (7.5 amps at 120v). In comparison, neon illumination would have required approximately eight and a half times the power or about 64-70 amps. LEDs are also more energy efficient than neon lighting.

The building had previously sported a sign for People's Bank on the west and east sides; those letters came down a year or so ago.