chase the light

I kid you not. Good morning. Yeah, didn’t get the helicopter memo. I think the video gives a good idea of what it seemed like in my head.

So, I’m laying there, ya know, sleeping in a bit. Helicopter man shows up and really won’t disappear even though I’m trying to ignore it. But it sounds like it’s in my bedroom. I finally peer out the window and I see a bunch of people staring up and Oh Lordy look at that! A helicopter is landing on that building! First thing I think of is a hostage situation! Ha! I mean, why else would a helicopter be landing on a building roof on Saturday morning at 8:00am? And five feet from my head. And carrying things that look like gurneys to my sleepy eyes??

Hmmm… lets go investigate. The whole neighborhood is blocked off and they’re moving equipment to and from the roof with a giant Sikorsky helicopter that was made in 1960 with parts from the lowest bidder. In a bit of self preservation I decided being in the windy path of a helicopter is bad news.

Fortunately it only went on for about an hour… he said sarcastically. SERENITY NOW YOU GIANT FLYING LAWNMOWER!!

In a remarkable bit of kindness I was given the day off work on Friday. Which coincided nicely with the parents arrival in Los Angeles with their boat! They’ve been cruising up the coast the last few days and pulled into the marina yesterday. I went down and hung out a bit, lazed around and went for a cruise around the harbor with them. Then we headed out to sea for a quick look around. It was pretty choppy and the weather was a little grey at times but it was nice to be doing nothing. Better than the alternative of sitting in the office. Beware, potentially boring video of pelicans, seagulls and random atmosphere.

It’s always good to know someone with a boat or horses.

Halloween Party at Carlos and Renee’s. I didn’t even know who half the people were until I started talking to them for a few minutes. Get out! That’s you Steve?! I also have to point out right now that I did an awesome face plant at the party! Ha ha ha! We’re talking straight down face meets ground! No catching yourself with your hands on this one! It was awesome! No wait, …I was awesome! Ha ha ha… Good thing I had a couple Margarita’s in me. I couldn’t see anything with all that hair. Sheryl, my crow, survived and cawed the remainder of the night.

How’d a cemetery become the cool place to hang out in L.A. They’re reinventing the cemetery experience over there at Hollywood Forever. Movies, festivals, actual burials. It’s crazy! Anyway, the Day of the Dead Festival the weekend before the actual event is totally amazing! And really beautiful when the sun goes down. Alters, skeletons, arts and crafts, food, dancers… it’s total Mexican mayhem. It wasn’t overly crowded where it would be a pain to see everything. I did look at the map later and realized I missed a whole section of alters. I’m all about it next year and Hollywood Forever has only been hosting it for 7 years. They always do a good job hosting events there. Kudos to them for using the cemetery in new ways!

Go next year you stay at home on a Saturday night kinda kids. A little background…

“The historical roots of this celebration date back to the pre-Hispanic cultures of Meso-America of the indigenous people, Aztecs, Mayans, Toltecas, Tlaxcaltec, Chichimec, Tecpanec, and others native to Mexico more than 3,000 years. When the Spaniards conquered the country, this indigenous custom was rooted so deeply that, after five centuries of colonization, it has continued to survive and remain as celebrated as in its first days.

Indigenous people believed that souls did not die, that they continued living in Mictl?ɬ°n (Place of Death) a special place for them to finally rest. On Dia De Los Muertos, tradition holds that the dead return to earth to visit their living relatives. It is believed that although these relatives can’t see them, they can surely feel them.”

West Los Angeles, Brentwood, Westwood, & Sunset Blvd.

One of the most amazing sights is flying into Los Angeles on a crystal clear night. So many times I’ve been coming into land and as soon as they turn the lights off inside the plane it gets dead silent. Everybody that has a window seat has their head stuck into the little alcove gazing out looking at the sparkling show slowly going by below them. It’s really weird but it happens almost everytime. That is if you’re lucky enough to have that window seat that lines up to a window. The airport is located within the city so you fly quite low over the main portion which sometimes includes a bank turn around the downtown area. It’s amazing how absolutely massive Los Angeles is and how it’s accentuated by the the giant grid of lights. My favorite are the street lamps that you can only see the glow on the ground. Little soft pools of light on the asphalt. There are lots of beautiful places to fly into during the day, such as Hawaii, or Bora Bora, but on a clear night L.A. is a spectatcular landing.

Of course then you land, wait in traffic, stay at that crappy hotel, the sun comes up, it’s dull and brown, and all the shopping centers look the same. But at least for that 30 minutes you’re above the vast expanse of L.A. it’s a million diamonds.

And on a side note… friends Len & Sue have taken up residence in Fes, Morocco. He for leisurely bohemian activites and she for studying arabic. All the fun is just beginning here… [Runaway Squid]

I’ve been so stinking busy at work that all things personal have come to a halt. Even hygeine (Hi Gene!) took a turn towards homelessness this past week. I wore shorts to work one day and everybody asked why, and I said it’s the only clean thing lying on the floor. The clue being that even those were lying on the floor. I should have just told all my clothes we’re going to the laundromat because they could have just up and walked themseleves. Anyway, everything’s washed and daily showers are back on the schedule. I smell like french soap at the moment so get your sniffs in now.

Parental Units came to the city today and we went down to Marina Del Rey for lunch. Afterwards we took a stroll down the breakwater in Venice and looked around. Later in the day I hopped in the car, put the top down and raced up the Angeles Crest Highway because I thought the views of the city might be nice, and they were, just different than I expected. I took up my 70-200mm with the 2x extender. With the 1.6 crop of my camera I have a 640mm lens which was way cool to be able to look at downtown from probably 20-30 miles away. After the sunset I came home and grabbed a little bite to eat and here I sit. Hmmm… now what? Maybe I’ll go to the movies.

By the way… it’s not smog. It was a beautiful clear day out. Sometimes the white balance on the camera will decide it’s smoggy for you.

Somehow I found myself in Woodland Hills at a Sport’s Bar at 10:00am on Sunday morning watching the Rams play football. That couldn’t have been me? The pod people must have come over and stole my brain or something and forced me over the hill to meet up with my college roommate Julyan. I got a call at 8:50am Sunday morning. Who knew phones even ring Sunday mornings at 8:50am? But there it was sitting by my bed dinging, dinging, and dinging. Wow, that’s amazing. Look at it! 8:50 on a Sunday morning and it’s ringing. Don’t get me wrong, I was awake and staring at the ceiling, but the phone was also ringing. At 8:50 Sunday morning! The strangest thing? I thought it was cool. Because it would mean I actually get up and have a full day. Unlike Saturday where I slept in until 3:30pm. Yes, 3:30 PM. Work was late Friday night.

On the phone was Julyan who I had made plans to have brunch with this morning. Her husband Lance wanted to watch the Rams game and sister Leah was also in tow so we all hopped in the truck and headed over to BJ’s Restaurant/Brewery/Brewhouse or whatever it is. Anyway, Rams won, I watched a Roomba clean their house for awhile, and hit a Halloween store on the way out. I also drove by a ghost town of a minimall on Ventura Blvd. Including a ghost car.

Woodland Hills is a funny name. Wood. Land. Hills. It’s all the same really. Oh yeah, and Tarzana. It’s named after Tarzan. I kid you not. Lake Forest also has that funny name. Oh and the cities Claremont and Montclair being next to each other. That’s an oldie but a goodie. City of Industry is good too. You don’t call it Industry, it’s called The City of Industry. How funny.

Santa Monica Blvd – 11:21pm

I headed over to the Nuart Theater after being down at the beach and caught the 8:30 screening of [49 Up]. It was so great and fun to see where the people were currently in their lives. It’s weird to think the next one won’t be done until 2012. It’s also weird how personalities settle in at such an early age. The most interesting thing is how the more privileged kids seem to make the greatest change. Mainly because they had the most growing to do. Of course they left the heartbreaking Neil for the last segment. It was amazing to see someone who was near mental and homeless is now a local politician and doing quite well and living modestly on a small stipend. I’m not sure just going out and watching “49 Up” on it’s own would be all that interesting but when you’ve seen the whole series it’s a fascinating episode.

The downside? I totally picked the wonkiest chair in the theater to sit in. Hello?! It was like sitting on one of those horses at the playground that has that spring under it and you bounce and rock all over the place! How does a theatre seat even do that?

After I got out a line was forming for the midnight showing of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show”. Now that’s just a terrible movie. Yet it’s still going after all these years. Everybody was between 16 to 22. The music’s pretty good and all, but really…

Santa Monica Pier – 6:30pm

One of my favorite songs is by Lucinda Williams and it’s called Ventura. She’s captured a moment in lyrics of driving up the coast from L.A. that I think is brilliant. Now anytime the sun splashes down into the water and does that little bend I think of that wistful song. Love it.

Take the long way home, so I can ride around. Put Neil Young on and turn up the sound.
Drive up the coastline, maybe to Ventura. Watch the waves make signs out on the water.
I wanna watch the ocean bend the edges of the sun. Then I wanna get swallowed up in an ocean of love.

The weather right now is beautiful and the remnants of one the largest California brush fires in history is still reddening the sky. A month long blaze, 162,702 acres, 250 sq miles, and 73 million dollars later it’s contained. Bloody hell. All because someone set their trash on fire. Smokey the Bear has got to be pissed.

Local animals. Nicky the neighbor cat recently moved but I used to have fun with her when she’d come around. She didn’t move that far so she actually comes by occasionally and hangs out. I haven’t seen her in few weeks. All that’s left is old black cat Eddie and annoying Boubou who after about three pets on the head will bite you. Cutie the long hair moved awhile ago and Grey Cat, that seemed like it was forever in heat, either moved or a neighbor made her disappear. Yellow cat doesn’t come out of the house anymore but I see him in the window across the way. Girl neighbor has a dog that is smaller than all the cats. The rest of the wildlife is either squirrels, opossums, and the once every two or three years sighting of raccoons. Oh, and the crows that go nuts about sundown. But the worst is that damn nightingale that perches itself outside my window and sings all night long. Ugh. SHUT. UP!!!

MUSIC: The Oct. 10th DVD release of Neko Case’s peformance on Austin City Limits from 2003. I’m going to play it over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over. And over and over and over and over and over and over. Then play it over and over and over and over…

Then play it over and over and over and over and over and over and over. It might be the last DVD I ever buy because I’ll be stuck watching it over and over and over and over and over and over and over.

PEOPLE: Annie Leibovitz doing an instore at the Borders book store in Westwood. Do photographers get more famous than her?

FILM: 49 Up! The next installment of the “Up” series. It’s a year old but “49 Up” finally comes out here Friday and only plays for one week at the NuArt theater. I HAVE to make the time to see it. I don’t capitalize many words, but I HAVE to go. I’m dying to see what Neil, Tony & Bruce have been up to since 1998. It’s sort of the original reality TV. It’s just the episodes are 7 years apart. Speaking of which, if you have Netflix throw the whole series in your queue. And while you’re at it add me to your list. email @ chasethelight . com Ya know, because I really need the love that social networking websites provide me.

EVENTS: Dia de los Muertos! Color, lights, dancing, skeletons, graveyards, alters, music, food, etc. What more can you want? Photo ops galore.

WEATHER: The clouds have been rolling in. Mornings and evenings have started to feel like Fall. Loving the change over.

NEKO CASE: Did I mention the DVD thing…?

ONE MORE THING…: Austin City Limits is releasing the Neko Case show on DVD Oct. 10th. Just making sure. Don’t you dare call me Tuesday evening.

Hey! Let’s go to a premiere! Come on everybody! Join me in a walk down the red carpet, um green carpet, and get blinded by flashes and rub elbows with Martin Lawrence, Aston Kutcher and Demi Moore, Gary Sinise and the furry stars of Open Season! It’s total mayhem like a big time movie premiere should be and we’re all invited! So lets go! And just what the hell am I doing here? Who let the riff raff in??!

Ha ha! Open Season had it’s premiere tonight at the Greek Theater with a big old fashioned party and screening under the stars. Lot’s of food was eaten, games were played and gifts handed out. Paul Westerberg put on a 3 song mini concert and Demi Moore is as small as you might have heard. We all got Open Season blankets as gifts which is pretty much the ideal party gift for an outdoor event. The food was salads, chicken, mini corn dogs, stuffed mac & cheese balls, etc. The desserts were lot of chocolate things. The games section included ring tosses, shooting galleries and knock stuff over booths. Pretty much by the time the screening was to start they were just handing out the stuffed animal stars from the movie to anyone who wanted one. Enter the party above and check out the red carpet mayhem with the video.

Ok, where do I begin…

Guns ‘n Roses, Alice in Chains, Muse, Avenged Sevenfold, Papa Roach, Rise Against, Atreyu, Buckberry, 30 Seconds to Mars

It took FOREVER to get out there. The Glen Helen Pavilion out in Devore. Am I in Nevada yet? On Friday, Blaine came by my desk and asked if I’d like some tickets to the KROQ Inland Invasion show out in Devore. Well, yeah! Wife Erin got the VIP’s through work and they couldn’t use them and I fall under the spontaneous category so I’m in! Sweet, thanks! Of course I had to ditch out on a party I was expected at! Doh, sorry Chris. Anyway, the first few bands I didn’t really care about so I left at my leisure. The only bands I would like to see were Muse, Alice, and G ‘N R. It took a few hours to get out in the area because the traffic was gridlocked. Where is everybody going? I arrive at the Ontario Hilton where there are KROQ courtesy shuttles to the party. So I get parked and hop on a bus and wait. Wait a little more. Then a little more, then finally we head out with a semi full load. It’s about 20-25 minutes until we wade through the concert traffic and get dropped off near the backstage area. I get out the credentials and go through the little entry and boom, there’s free food, drinks, games to play and lots of black clothes. I milled around a bit and the band Avenged Sevenfold were on stage. Don’t care about them so I hung out a bit. The tickets were general admission lawn seats so I just headed straight up to the top of the bowl to get an overview. Glen Helen’s lawn seating is absolutely massive. I can’t imagine this place ever selling out because it’s just so huge.

Muse came on and just tore through their set. They were amazing and even opened with Knights of Cydonia which just has the greatest video. [LINK] Next up was Alice in Chains and they were surprisingly good. Minus the dead original singer their sound is so massive. They played every song I’d want to hear so probably seeing them on their own wouldn’t be any better than the hour set they played.

So then… Guns n’ Roses are scheduled for 10:00pm. On the drive out I made a pledge to myself that if G n’ R wasn’t onstage by 10:30, I’d leave. Since Axl is notorius for being completely late for his own concerts you never know when he might arrive. One show they didn’t start until 3 in the morning. I’m not the biggest G n’ R fan anymore, I have a hard time even calling this G n’ R, but this is the first time Axl has played in the area in more than 12 years. After Alice in Chains left the stage they started setting up and all was on time. About 10:00 it looked like they we’re ready. No band though. Videos played. And played. And played. And played. And played. Nothing. People started booing. More videos. More booing. Now bon fires are breaking out up in the lawn area. 7 of them. It smells like burning plastic. Toxic. Then a food war broke out as people started getting pissed that the band wasn’t there. Then water bottles started flying and craziness ensued. A couple fights broke out and the whole situation was getting really dodgy. When people around me started peeing into the bottles and then throwing those down into the crowd I decided it was time to leave. It was getting too dangerous and there was no band in sight.

I headed for the exit and much to my surprise thousands of people were pouring out of the exits all mad about Guns n’ Roses not showing up. I was on the shuttle and ready to leave when we all heard that Axl just arrived. Over an hour after the scheduled time. Who knows how long he was going to take to get on stage? Not a single person on that shuttle cared. Nobody got off and everybody got on their cell phones and called friends to tell them what a jerk they thought Axl Rose is. Too funny. Surprisingly everybody was in a pretty good mood and were talking about it like it was actually cooler to get stood up by Axl than to actually see him in concert. As we got back to the Hilton I hopped in the car and headed home. Didn’t take long to get back as the road was wide open.

Ahhhhh… the trials of concert going. Dude, let’s say you woke up at noon. You still had 10 hours not to be late to your show! So, The Axl Rose Band did end up playing but I could care less. I’ll never open my wallet for anything Guns n’ Roses related because he’s a jerk.

Hey, but none of this really matters because it was free! Thanks to Erin! Muse was lovely and worth the whole trip.

Who has a birth”day” anymore? It usually lasts a week or more now. On top of that is the extraordinary amount of people that have birthday’s in September. Lot’s of sex during the holidays in December create a baby boom of Virgos and Libras in late summer and fall. Off the top of my head there have been ten I’ve personally been to, not counting the ones where I just found out people had birthdays and didn’t do anything.

Sunday, birthday No.1 with family and family friends down at the harbor in Dana Point. Good to see some people I grew up with and there was a cupcake cake on hand. Seriously the best cake to get, because no one bickers over the size of the piece. “No, no, no… that cupcake just way too big…” And if you want more, there’s another cupcake to be had. I got a gift from my parents that kind of choked me up because it was a book that my grandmother gave my sister and I when we were kids. She had written a little note in it so it was like a gift from beyond the grave. I remember the book well as it was a hardback compilation of news stories from the Associated Press.

Birthday No.2 is the lump of lunches people took me out to all week. Perfect timing as I left my credit card in a cash machine and was waiting on a replacement. What? Free lunch? Where are we going?!

Then on my actual birthday on Wednesday it was down to Baja Cantina in Venice for some swimming pool sized Margaritas. Attended by work and outside of work friends. Sometime during the evening over the intercom was the frightening sounding “Would the owner on an s2000 please see the hostess…” Oh no, now what? She tells me someone backed into my car, so I go out and take a look. Not to bad but I’m not all that interested in analysing the damage at the moment. The girl that backed into my car and was so ungracious in their dealing with the matter I wish them tremendously bad karma. She wanted to write the information down because I was taking too long and they were in a hurry. Um, hello?! I asked her is that the reason she ran into my car, and she said, “Yes”. Crazy. Anyway, about an hour later the valet guys who had been extremely helpful came and got me to show me that they had buffed the car out and it looked like nothing had happened. No wau, that’s awesome! So, Baja Cantina, valet dudes, you rule! Thanks! The girl that hit me? No worries, it’ll catch up to you.

The hurricane season for birthdays is winding down and not soon enough. Too much cake lately.

Went out hunting for food and walked by a bookstore that was having a discussion and signing by the writer [James Ellroy]. Oooo that could be interesting. It was starting in just a few minutes so I picked up a copy of his book, ‘The Black Dahlia” and grabbed a seat. He came out and started spewing forth a great fragmented flow of words and thoughts that for some reason all made sense. I wished I caught the first three minutes of what he said on tape but he settled in and came around to how he wrote “The Black Dahlia”. A snippet of audio starts with a list of his books and ends with him referring to his parents living near the murder scene… [JAMES ELLROY AUDIO CLIP]

Funny thing is that on my commute home from work I pass by a little theater called “The Black Dahlia”. For a split second I think about the murder. This happens almost every night and has for the past 5 years. So, it’s been on my mind in the oh so smallest way. But it’s there. The Black Dahlia, the Black Dahlia, the Black Dahlia…. Unfortunatley the crime scene photos pop into my head too. So we’re now on the verge of a little Black Dahlia hype as Brian De Palma has directed the film version of the book and it comes out Friday. It will probably revive a bit of interest in what was probably the first sensational tabloid covered murder. I actually don’t think the movie will do well because of the subject matter. But, it’s De Palma and it’s 1940’s Los Angeles. Could be a reeeeal purdy film.

Ellroy will probably forever be remembered as the writer of the sparkling “L.A. Confidential”. He said he will never write a contemporary novel and all his future masterpieces (books) will always be about Los Angeles. He constantly referred to his next book as a masterpiece and the one after that even more of a masterpiece. Ha ha, cocky bastard. He also doesn’t own a computer, a TV, a microwave, a cell phone, and a whole range of modern conveniences. He even writes his novels out long hand. All that and his mother was murdered, which he also wrote a book about. He’s a bit of and odd bird actually, but perfectly so. So Ellroy read about fifteen minutes of the prologue and it was pretty fascinating to hear how he would read his own words. I had read the same passages while I was waiting for the event to begin and will probably now read it in my mind more like he read it. It actually made more sense in his fragmented writing and speaking style as I was trying to read it more linearly.

I doubt I’ll make it through the book before I see the film, but now I’m kinda looking forward to it. James Ellroy yes, but I’ll probably skip next week’s Tracey Ullman event that’s going on at the book store.

[Kokomo Cafe]: Swiss and provolone cheese with pureed chipotle chilies, grilled on sourdough, served with fire roasted tomato soup. $8.95. Ask for an extra little side of the chilies and dip the edges of the sandwich in while eating. On a cold blustery night it’s cheese-a-rific. Head on over to the Farmer’s Market and pull up a stool at the counter. Maybe you’ll see me with my soup and cheese sandwich. Look for the guy taking pictures of his food.

Big party day today. Hit an early one then headed over to Brigitte’s for her baby shower and then ended up at Andrea’s 40th birthday hoedown. Hadn’t seen any of this group of friends in ages so it was great to see everybody. Jenny and Craig threw a big hoedown at their new house which is just insanely nice and tailor made for hosting parties. There was even a bison! I’m not even sure where you get a bison, but there was one there. Along with a teepee, a covered wagon, hay bales, catered bar-b-que, a shooting gallery. Out of control and total fun! They totally out did themselves and I couldn’t have been happier to be there. It seems like most of the parties I go to these days I’ll only know a handful of people. Mostly because there are a lot of friends of friends and it’s a know who know kinda thing. I knew everyone at this party because it was all close friends! And a bison.

For some reason no one seemed to think I was going to show up?! Am I that aloof? Ha ha! If the party’s within a 20 mile radius I’m there. Try to get me down to Orange County though and you’re going to have to pull some teeth.

(Hi Jen, you made it on the website.)

Setlist: Stinkfist – The Pot – 46 & 2 – Jambi – Schism – Rosetta Stoned – Right in Two – Wings for Marie – 10,000 Days – Lateralus – (interlude) – Vicarious – Aenema

So, where to begin. I like Tool. Like the band, like the music, like the whole vibe around them… But jeez the blind rabidness of some of its fans has left me hard pressed to find anyone giving a somewhat even handed review of the show. All sorts of blogs, journals, Flickr posts and such are so overwhelmingly effusive of the show something’s just not right. Someone, somewhere had to dislike the show??? Where could they be? Oh wait… it’s me this time! I’m the dissenting voter!

So hey, guess what? Tool sucked! One of the most boring live bands I’ve ever seen. If you want to see Tool just perform their music live, go have fun. But if you want to see a show, a performance, an all out entertaining night at a concert. Just say no to Tool. (God, my Show Bros. are going to kill me. They’ll never invite me with them again.) Anyway, they suffer the same thing a lot of musicians musicians bands suffer from. A boring stage presence. Rush… boring. Yes… boring. They’re too busy performing the music, which is great, but it doesn’t make it a great show. Maynard, the singer, never left a 10×10 square ft area of the stage all night. He said 5 words the whole time, “Hello Los Angeles” and “Thank You”. From song one until song eight it could have been a giant billboard of the band and I wouldn’t have even noticed it there were live people on the stage. They just stood there. Hey Tool guys? Anyone up there, hello?? Finally about 2/3 of the way through a real light show kicked in but really it was mediocre too. So many people call Tool a heavy Pink Floyd, but come on, you want to see a light show and trippy graphics, just go see Pink Floyd. They’re boring in concert too, but that light show… wow. Tool just needs to really Bon Jovi it up a bit. Ha ha! Come on rock out a bit!

The opening band was called Isis. Lame and crappy sounding. I’m sorry, but I grew up in the seventies and there was a show called The Shazam and Isis hour on TV and you probably shouldn’t call your band Isis for that very reason. The sound in Staples is absolutely horrible. A muddled mess and I have to seriously reconsider any more live shows there. I’ve seen three there and the sound at each was mediocre. The Pond in Anaheim, awesome. Even the Forum is pretty damn good. Staples… what? What? I can’t understand you?? Sorry, the sound is bouncing off all those sky boxes 100’s of times so I can’t hear what your saying. Stupid Staples Center, not liking you. I gave up on Isis and walked around Staples Center for awhile. Since I rarely get there I just sort of people watched and grabbed a bite to eat. I came to another conclusion, there’s a high asshole quotient at a Tool concert. I’ve never seen so many people that just looked liked they were assholes. Weird observation, but very noticable. I also picked up some ear plugs from guest services. If you’re not wearing earplugs at a concert like Tool, you’re freaking insane. Hear that ringing in your ears for the next 24 hours? Think it’s funny and you’re all studly… That’s your hearing slowing dying. You don’t get it back. I’m serious. Earplugs and sunblock. Your two best friends.

Ok, so, I cut my losses at the little interlude before the last two songs and said goodbye to my friends. I headed out to my car only to discover it was blocked in!!! You idiots!! The reason I parked in your lot was you had spaces! It’s not like the Hollywood Bowl or something! Oooo, I was pissed. Forunately all the cars that were blocking me were the cars of all the workers from the parking lot. So they scrambled around, collected their keys and I was on my way. Ok, cool, thanks, whew. Beat all the traffic and got home by 11:30.

Fired up iTunes and listened to a little Tool before falling asleep.

I got nothing. So here’s my dog. She would have been 28 this year had she been immortal. I still occasionally have dreams about her. She was named Chestnut because we got her for Christmas in 1978. She was born in October during the World Series between the Yankees and the Dodgers. In 1979 I took her through training but had to miss her finals because my Dad took me to see the original King Tut exhibit at the L.A. County Museum. My friend John took her through the finals and she still came in first place in all the obedience tests. I came home and she had a little gold trophy. She was a pure bred Samoyed but had no papers and she cost $75 from a Samoyed breeder in Orange County. She didn’t bark, but talked like most Sammys. She once caught a bee and her mouth swelled up so much she looked like a duck. One time at the beach she was playing along the waters edge and was facing inland looking at me. A huge shore break wiped her out and she never again went anywhere near the ocean. I felt bad at first but then had to laugh later when she still seemed all confused at what had happened. Since she came from the husky type of dog she loved to pull. I’d put her long leash on and grab my skateboard and she’d pull me around the neighborhood until she pooped out. I have video of her over the years but it’s really hard for me to watch.