Something Like Purgatory – Antonio Banderas and Julia Roberts

Too much happens in one week.

Sometimes I think about posting in the middle of the week because so much happened in two days that I know I am going to forget about it. But then I remember I have to hook-up the hard drive and edit pics, and I get lazy. So lazy that I am posting three days late.

I was in San Diego most of the weekend until Monday afternoon. My band, Donkichow, played the first show outside Tijuana at the Kensington Club. Here’s some videos:

Peppa Pig Teaches Us About Knife Safety:

French Maid Cleaning My House on Meth (Bonaficio Yaris Soncuatro):

Donkichow will be playing again Friday, August 28th in Tijuana and possible on September 3rd in San Diego.

The band stayed in a tiny studio apartment in gay San Diego, Hillcrest, with two dogs that we nicknamed Julia Roberts and Antonio Banderas (real names Zeta and Zorro).

I stayed an extra night on Sunday (it was horrible) because I needed to pick up my check from the Reader’s offices on Monday morning. They paid me for a story that hasn’t been publish, but will be a feature.

I sent the story in two weeks ago and never heard back. I assumed it got rejected and that was the end of it. Suddenly on Thursday morning, as I was working, I got an email telling me about my payment.

I jumped up like crazy and started running around like I just won the lottery. I made a fatty paycheck with what I thought was lost. It was like finding a $20 on your pocket, except times thirty. And since then, I’ve been in purgatory. Waiting for the story to get published, not working on anything else, not even wanting to work on my blog.

Sorry this entry is a bit uninspired, that’s how I feel. Neither down on the dumps, nor up high. Just purgatory. Summer intense heat purgatory.

Anyway.

I never saw Julia Roberts. Everyone always says she’s a major bitch and I believe them. Unlike Antonio Banderas… WHO IS FUCKING AWESOME and a really nice guy. Spoke to him several times, mostly in Spanish. He was a really likable guy, down to earth and didn’t seem to mind the attention. Unlike some other Spaniard asshole (Javier Bardem).

The first time I saw Antonio was on May 22nd, 2009. I actually have little memory of this day and just remember that I had no idea who Melanie Griffith was, or that Banderas was married. Anyway, they arrived together from who knows where, but they were cool.

Then I saw him again on November 29th, 2009. Again, not many memories of this day. It seemed to be late and he was arriving with his whole family. All I remember from this picture is that it sold to Hola! the magazine, the Spanish and Mexican version (I remember reading it on my sales report, more about that someday).

The next few times I saw him were solo. This one time on January 14th, 2010, he arrived sporting a beard. I remember he was super cool with everyone, there were a lot of graphers waiting for him and he signed a lot of posters.

I guess I saw him a couple months later on March 2nd, 2010. Again sporting a beard and late at night. Do not remember this shoot.

And finally, on May 13th, 2010. Beard gone, sporting a hat and judging from the pictures, he did not want to be seen. Still, the frames reveal that he stopped and gave a cigarette to a woman that asked as he was leaving the elevator.

Speaking of beards. I shaved.

Until next time. Which should be in a few days, because I am posting way too late and I still want to post every Monday. Maybe I’ll start posting more often. I seriously have a hard drive filled with celebrities I saw in LAX and other places. There is easily over 500 different celebrities… maybe even a 1,000. It used to shoot 7-10 celebrities a day on average, more than 200 pictures per day… Sometimes I miss work.