The Audible Best
The buzz on Buzz: Buzz magazine’s re-debut this month comes with something extra: “The Best of Buzz,” a cassette tape featuring seven stories read aloud by their authors, including Harlan Ellison’s “The Dedication of the Nixon Memorial Library” and Holly Palance on “The Golden Days of Rodeo Drive.”
The tape represents the “best of the first three issues,” according to magazine president and CEO Eden Collinsworth, who brainstormed the idea when Buzz was still a twinkle in her eye.
“Several years ago, when I had the notion for the magazine and was sharing it with whoever would listen, so many people who didn’t live in L.A. insisted that no one reads magazines because everybody’s driving. It was typical of people who don’t live here, but it gave me the idea of putting the magazine on cassette if it ever launched. We were never in a financial position to do so until recently.”
Scraping Bottom . . .
Barnacles are about to attach themselves to the local food scene. Among the hits at a recent charity fund-raiser were the gooseneck barnacles from Vancouver donated by the Marinelli Shellfish Co.
The thumb-sized, vaguely obscene looking crustaceans have what general manager Jeff Daniels calls “a taste somewhere between lobster and crab.” (This seems to be the generic description for any exotic shellfish. Much the way snake is always said to taste “just like chicken.”) We thought the barnacles tasted like slightly chewy lox. Or maybe it was snake.
Daniels predicts that barnacles, which retail for $15 a pound, will be the next hot item at local oyster bars. “They’re about where live pink scallops were five years ago,” he says. “Now we sell 1,000 pounds of them a week. Back then I couldn’t give them away.”
On the Go-Go
Looking for the New Hot Thing to have at your party? L.A.-based dancer Jeff Adkins may have the solution: “Go-go to Go,” essentially a go-go dancer rental company.
“I did a big benefit about a year ago and pulled together some friends who are professional dancers,” he says, “and then I thought this would be a really good idea to do at other parties.” Adkins has about 20 dancers for events, dressing them in “outrageous” costumes and letting them loose to liven things up. “I think people want dancers at their parties because they just want to have more fun. It makes such a difference in the energy at a party.”
What do the dancers get out of it? “We make our living from having people tell us what to do, and as a go-go dancer you can do whatever you want,” Adkins said. “Plus, it’s a great way to spend a Saturday night.”