Liberace’s Piano

I’m not a big party person. Sure I throw them, and attend them aplenty, but I don’t think I’ve had a party, for myself, since that awkward sleepover in junior high.

So L.A. by Bridget Hoida
signed on Liberace’s piano

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I prefer small things… dinner parties or brunch with Turkish coffee and pastries that proof. So when my “dream maker” (the fabulous Karen Mulholland Angelus) said we should go big, I needed a bit of convincing. Thank the mother of all rhinestones Karen is exceptionally good at convincing because, as I learned on the September 27th Los Angeles Launch of So L.A., sometimes all that glitters really is gold!

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For the Los Angeles launch party of So L.A. we took over the Gibson Guitar Showroom and mixed words with rock. Which means I (deep gasp of joy) signed books on Liberace‘s bedazzled piano and, later in the evening, with many thanks to LA Roc Events, The Gibson Guitar Showroom and Chivas Regal, had the insanely rare pleasure of introducing Franky Perez & the Truth with special guests Steve Stevens & Billy Morrison.

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So L.A. by Bridget Hoida, Los Angeles Book Launch
Gibson Guitar Showroom

Not many people know this, but shortly after I moved to L.A. (and was still starstruck and crushing on Hollywood) I was in Franky Perez’s first music video “Something Crazy.” It was modeled after a Mardi Gras funeral and I had an insanely beautiful and insanely delicate costume made almost entirely of crushed velvet and violet feathers (I’m at 1.46, purple umbrella). I also wore three inch tall leather boots and walked, for hours (feathers falling all around me) on the grounds of the church where the “magic” happened. It was exhausting, and as such was also my only brush with film fame. But in addition to the blisters, I remember Franky Perez –who, although he was a Rock Star (capital “R” capital “S”) who had just released his first album, Poor Man’s Son — was still the most genuine and open hearted person on the set. And when we created a calamity (as street closures and boom mics in the middle of Handcock Park often do) he signed autographs for anyone who asked. So when he agreed to fly in from Vegas to play at the So L.A. book launch I was thrilled. And when he and The Truth (which features Valerie Franco kick-ass drummer) covered “Blackbird” I just about swooned… because, if truth be told, “All [my] life, [I was] only waiting for this moment to arise…

: So L.A. by Bridget Hoida signed on Liberace’s piano

: Gibson Guitar Showroom

: Bridget Hoida at the So L.A. Los Angeles Book Launch; Gibson Guitar Showroom

: Gibson Guitars adorn the So L.A. Los Angeles Book Launch

: The L.A. Women with Bridget Hoida, Amy Jordan, Karen Mulholland Angelus, Jane Mulholland, Mia Zhao, & Pauline Kroeger

: Bridget Hoida & the amazing Jennifer Tully Browne

: The poet and insanely talented artist Santa Perversa (and her mother the chef) with Bridget Hoida.

: Fabio is So L.A. with Bridget Hoida

: Peter Leinheiser, Bridget Hoida & Narada Michael Walden (Narada knows how to rock a scarf).

: Portrait of An Apple with Bridget Hoida

: Bridget Hoida with the lovely poet and musician PB Rippey

: Vahe -the Godfather- Jordan with his striking wife, Amy who like me, believes in sequins.

: Jeff Fahey once told me (almost 15 years ago) it’s one thing to write, it’s another thing entirely to read out loud. (L.A. Book launch with Bridget Hoida & So L.A.)

: Bridget Hoida reads from So L.A. at the Gibson Guitar Showroom

: Bridget Hoida with Karen Mulholland Angelus at the So L.A. Los Angeles Book Launch at the Gibson Guitar Showroom.

: So L.A. Book Launch

: Franky Perez & the Truth rock the So L.A. Los Angeles Book Launch at the Gibson Guitar Showroom.

: Franky Perez & The Truth

: Franky Perez & the Truth rock the So L.A. Los Angeles Book Launch at the Gibson Guitar Showroom (unbeknownst to most I was in Franky’s first video “Something Crazy” in 2003. He has always been generous and exceptionally awesome but I was thrilled when he agreed to play at my book launch.)