On my way back from L.A. I did 4-day layover in Honolulu...one of the busiest weekends ever in town. Regional NCAA Women's Volleyball at the Stan Sheriff (UCLA won), Rip Curl Pipeline Masters, North Shore, Honolulu Marathon AND U2 concert at Aloha Stadium.

It's been about 15 years since I last saw U2 in concert - Zoo TV Tour. U2 wrapped its Vertigo tour in front of a packed house at Aloha Stadium. In a rare opening slot, Pearl Jam, rocked the stadium with a 13-song set, including Erosurfer's favs, "Even Flow" and "Alive."

Eddie Vedder sporting a Quiksilver "Eddie Would Go" tee, in homage to the late Hawaiian big wave surfer and waterman Eddie Aikau. Vedder should be sporting an Erosurfer tee.

U2 began its 24-song, 2 1/2 hour set with "City of Blinding Lights" and ended with "All I Want Is You" (Second Encore). Highlights: A guy was pulled from the audience and got to play piano with the band during "Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses." Billie Joe Armstrong, Green Day frontman, showed up on stage to play for "The Saints Are Coming." Bono did a pretty cool taiko drum intro to "Sunday Bloody Sunday." During the second encore, Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder and Mike McCready joined U2 for Neil Young's "Rockin' in a Free World."

U2 during "(Pride) In the Name of Love"

Our seats were pretty far away, but the music sounded really good. Thankfully, the stage had those jumbotron video screens so you could see all the action, otherwise, we could have listened to the concert from the parking lot and been just as well off.
An incredible show! Can't wait until their next album due sometime in 2008. Got to catch U2 in an arena next time.

Here's the set list from the concert:
City of Blinding Lights
Vertigo
Elevation
I Will Follow
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
Beautiful Day
Angel of Harlem
Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses
The First Time
Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own
Love & Peace or Else
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Bullet the Blue Sky
Miss Saravejo
(Pride) In the Name of Love
Where the Streets Have No Name
One

Encore 1:
The Fly
Mysterious Ways
With or Without You

Encore 2:
Window in the Skies
The Saints Are Coming
Rockin' in the Free World
All I Want Is You

They should have played "Bad" in the first encore...solid song, probably one of their best songs and my all-time favorite.

Our spirits in a material world...

Kentaro, Maeda and ES in front of Furaibo, izakaya on Sawtelle.
It's been 6 years since we met in Paris and stayed at Kentaro's crib in Bastille. Images of that trip - Black baby dolls, Pulp Fiction poster, introduction to Bebel Gilberto, black wardrobe - A.P.C. and Agnes B., Club Asia, and handy wipes to wipe off the dog crap from the bottoms of our shoes and wheels of our suitcases before entering his humble abode...unaware of the magnitude of the dog crap that litters the streets of Paris. At that time, K was editing a music video and had just completed his work on his short, Secret Asiant. Since then, solid part in Luc Besson's "Kiss of the Dragon" and now he's in L.A. to film a part in the upcoming Jackie Chan flick,"Rush Hour 3." Best of luck, K. Represent Erosurfer in Paris!
Bri, Mr. Softie, where's my XBOX 360?!

Rounding up my L.A. visit I had a chance to meet up with a bro from the UCLA days, Sproul Hall 5N, to be exact.

ES with Martin, co-founder of Giant Robot, sporting black ES tee.

Giant Robot - Asian Pop Culture and Beyond... A couple of UCLA grads, Martin and Eric, have turned a publication, Giant Robot, into a mini Empire. I picked up the latest issue and was given a bunch of back issues and I tell ya, I haven't been able to put them down. Reviews on world travel, art, books, movies, anime, music and more...
Five Giant Robot concept stores selling toys, clothing, art, books, vids and more...
3 stores in L.A., 1 store in S.F. and 1 store in N.Y.
I also was treated to lunch at gr/eats by Martin. I had a solid angus burger with shoestring potatoes mixed in with fried banana shavings and sweet potato fries and a generous bowl of non-diary cookies n' cream ice cream...Mahalos, Martin and "Gochisosamadeshita" to Nakamurasan. I'll be back in the Spring!
Much continued success.

L.A. Clippers vs. Orlando Magic, Dec. 3, Monday night

To finish out my L.A. sports viewing tour...
UCLA vs. CSULB, men's basketball, Tuesday @ Pauley Pavillion
Univ. of Hawaii vs. Oregon, women's volleyball, Friday @ The Pyramid
UCLA/USC football, Saturday @ The Rose Bowl

My good friend, Jean, season ticket holder for the L.A. Clippers, took me to the game tonight. Coming off a beating last night against the other L.A. team, The Lakers, The Clippers have lost 6 of their last 7 games. However, tonight they were on fire! Must be the presence of The Erosurfer??
Clipper's Elton Brand drains a jumper...he had 21 pts. in the first quarter and finished with 31 pts. in route to a 116-91 win over The Magic as The Clippers improve to 8-8 on the season. The Magic's 20-year-old phenom, Dwight Howard, did not disappoint. For such a big man, 6' 11", he moves well, moves people out of the way, and can score. Clipper's Center, Chris Kaman, part-surfer, part-caveman, with a little Beetle Juice thrown in, defended well.

Mahalos to Jean for the primo seats just two rows from the floor...my first time at an NBA game that close to the action (I wonder if Ralls can get me this close at a Mavericks game, hint, hint). Happy Birthday, Jean!

It's always nice to be back in L.A. to keep up with the local sports, and, of course, UCLA Athletics.

UCLA Men's Soccer will play UC Santa Barbara in the National Championship game tomorrow.
AND #4 ranked UCLA Women's Volleyball team will be coming to Honolulu to play in the National Championship Regionals, 3rd round, Dec. 8-9.

Go Bruins!!

Saturday, December 2, 1:30pm
It's the L.A. Rivalry Game - For Angelenos and students and fans of UCLA and USC Football, The L.A. City Championship.

It hasn't been much of a rivalry game since 1999 with USC beating UCLA seven consecutive years, most notably, last year's 66-19 humiliating loss. Except this year was different...#2 ranked USC had to win this game to play against #1 Ohio State University for the National Championship game on Jan. 8. And who was in their way? The Bruins. The team that the media had written off this week. All the talk was about USC playing in the National Championship game, not about this game.

Kickoff at 1:30pm

Over 90,000 in attendence to witness one of the greatest upsets in college football this year AND one of the greatest upsets in the UCLA-USC rivalry. In the end, the Bruins prevailed 13-9 in an impressive defensive effort against a very strong USC team. USC forgot to show up for this game.

I had the pleasure of sitting in the middle of the USC section throughout the entire game and it sure got quiet after the game ended. USC fans talk about the USC-Notre Dame game being their "Big Game" each season...not so fast my friends! Don't forget about your cross-town rival who just kicked your ass. The Game - The Rivalry is Back!!

Special Mahalos to my bro, HEEGAN, for flying back from Hungary to take me to the game with his crew and setting me up with his season tix for the game. Someone had to lose and I'm glad it was SC (Egan is an SC alumnus), sorry, bro...not really.