So this is my bike and me and my minimouse RIP. She was recently eaten by a Coyote which is still killing me. I’ll post some more pics and stories about her later when I am over it a bit more. The bike is my new love though. I love this bike like crazy and I ride it everywhere. I know fixed gears are trendy now but I am not going to give mine up just because they are popular. There is nothing like riding this bike. It is soooo smooothe and soooo quiet. It’s like gliding and this and my Euro Micro Fridge make my carbon footprint like the size of an ant. That’s right I am 100% green. I wear used clothes and never buy anything new. I barely use freaking electricity. My sole transportation is a bike and I have a canvas shopping bag. So Al Gore and everyone else can go fuck themselves.

 Buy my book here…     

Due to the heroic and tireless efforts of the men and women of the Los Angeles Fire Department we have some very promising news to report to you,” Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said.

Enormous thanks to the Los Angeles Fire Department for the heroic effort Tuesday night! In case you don’t know I live across the street from Griffith Park. Tuesday evening my neighbors and I sat on our balcony and watched as the LAFD fought the Griffith Park fire all night long. What you couldn’t get from watching the news was the tremendous heat and the close proximity to the town of Los Feliz. If you’re not from LA then this is comparable to a forest fire in Central Park, New York. We watched in disbelief as the fire spread all over the park and climbed up over the ridge towards populated areas. The fire fighters were amazing and physically put themselves in between the city and the fire. At about eight or nine the fire to the West was just getting enormous and when the winds shifted pushing the fire south we started collecting our important documents and rounding up the cats. I called my friend Peter who lives a few blocks north of us to see if he needed help and he was already on his way down the hill. I could here the police in the background on megaphones; the whole scene was a bit frantic. Meanwhile it appeared as if the eastern fire and the flare up to the west were turning into one enormous horseshoe shaped fire moving steadily south. The LAFD was right there in the middle of the horseshoe surrounded by fire on three sides with their backs to the town of Los Feliz. Then at about ten o’clock, we heard the reassuring sound of more fire trucks coming. I was expecting two or three but when we looked down Vermont we saw an entire fleet of red trucks headed our way. Pause… Camera pulls back and we see literally hundreds of fire trucks driving into the area from all directions. Zoom back into Matty Lee setting down his cat carrier and raising his beer in salute to the passing trucks. In the background we see Lucia batting her eyelashes and making the “call me” sign to the passing firemen. Sorry…Hollywood moment. But no shit those firemen are hot and fucking for real super heroes. So thank you LAFD from my building and the entire Los Feliz. Next payday I’ll be dropping off a case of beer at the LF station.

ps: I think I saw Viaragosa riding an elephant through the zoo and leading all the animals to safety. And whoever was flying Choper Two… You fucking rock!
Below are some pics from the scene and off the tv.

Is that picture amazing or what?

She also did a whole series of these “school photo” type of pictures of hustlers and kids from the street and they are all of course also my favorites. I’m not sure what it is about this kid but I’m just captivated by his innocence. Eve broke my heart a few years after I first saw the photo by telling me he was dead. I really wanted to put a happy ending on his story like lving in Jersey with a little wife and a couple of kids. Like Humbert Humbert’s little Lo. So now I find this photo even more haunting.

I’ve seen Eve’s photos several times in galleries with other photographers and there is just something about her work that just “pops”. That’s weird… I’ve never used that word before but that is certainly the best word. You really have to see her work in person to appreciate it fully. It’s like she just grabs a piece of the gritty day to day and freezes it forever which somehow makes it more real. So that’s it. I just love Eve Fowler and like I said her work speaks for itself so here is some more. Be sure to check out her website and get out to a gallery she’s showing at. Her website is here:

 http://www.evefowler.com/

“He caught a quick glance of a white flutter at the
attic window, a sheer curtain borne on a sudden rage
of air. He ducked, startled, tucked his head and
stared at water-stained corrugated boxes: Christmas or
kitchen. He didn’t see her so much as he understood
her features, they just came to mind: the glassy grey
skin of her face sucked tightly around a decaying
musculature. And when he was ready to rise, to
confront tormenting eyes, there were no curtains or
window, just the dismal frame of the family home. ”

I ran into Christopher Saturday night and remembered what an amazing and encouraging person he is. So I decided to check out his website which looks great.

http://www.thechristopherrussellarchive.com/

Here is some of his work that I picked out of is galleries…

This novel is so rich and so full of beauty I don’t even know where to begin. I’ll start by saying that Raymond has mastered the English language. I found myself reading and re-reading the same line over and over again sometimes not being able to continue the book until the poetry of a certain line would sink in. Raymond uses even the simplest phrases in the most elegant ways and I found myself recalling his exact words days and even weeks after reading them.

OK, three words… location, location, location! Raymond uses such incredibly beautiful descriptions. The setting comes alive in this novel like no other book I’ve ever read. As a reader you feel it, you hear it, you smell it and you taste it as if you’re there. I am in awe that this is a debut novel. After reading the first few chapters I had to look Raymond up to see if he wasn’t some famous naturalist. I felt as if I was reading the journal of an early scientist exploring the Northwest Territory. It seems that Mr. Raymond knows every bird, plant, weed and stone in Oregon by name and yet he describes them to the reader in almost childlike simplicity. My theory has always been that if someone really knows something well, then they can describe it and make it understood even to a child. To me, Raymond knows Oregon like the back of his hand and I used to live there. They should make this novel mandatory reading for all Pacific Northwesterners so they can appreciate the beauty and the mystery of the region.

Then there’s the cooking… Did you ever see the movie “Like Water for Chocolate”? I felt like I was reading a written sequel. I must have gained five pounds just reading it. The cooking scenes are fantastic and made my mouth water and my eyes burn.

Besides all that, the novel is haunting. I have no idea what the reviewers below are talking about by “lack of character development”. Did we read the same book? Did you get through the first two pages or did your short little attention span get the better of you again? This novel is packed full of the most incredible characters. Simple, yet profound Neil, volatile Trixie Voltera, Tina the lost girl, the young romantic dreamer Henry, the serious and mysterious King Lu and Cookie! What about Cookie? Seriously, were you reading the same book as me? Cookie is the first time since reading “Giovann’s Room” that I absolutely fell in love with a character! This is possibly the gentlest and most Zen character ever written!

OK, then the ending. First let me say that I love David Mitchell, but I get down on him for always wrapping his books into neat little packages in the end. Sorry David, but that’s not doing it for me. Life is complex and so is “The Half Life”. It always seems to me like Mitchell is trying to be Murakami in a way but with happy endings. Raymond perfectly captures the complexities of life and the struggle we all share for closeness and contact but to me it appears as if he wasn’t even trying which is a sure sign that he was. The book and the ending definitely have a Eastern feel which brings Murakami to mind but the comparisons stop there. “The Half Life” is to me a completely unique book which stands by itself. Raymond fuses what must be an incredibly diverse background in history, natural sciences, English, film making and a little partying in the Northwest with a deceptively simple style and the heart of a poet and naturalist.

If you like:
Murakami
David Mitchell
Thoreau
James Baldwin
Jack London
Jared Diamond
Nature
Film Making
or if you live in the Pacific Northwest or if you like incredibly rich love stories that aren’t what they appear,
THEN BUY THIS BOOK!

Them…

It’s true. I know you know that a lot of white dudes love so called “Gangsta Rap’, but did you know they account for 75% of total record sales. And why…

“White America has always had a perverse fascination with the idea of black males as violent and sexually insatiable animals. A prime source of racism’s emotional energy was an obsession with protecting white women from black brutes. Since the days of Birth of a Nation up through Native Son and now with gangsta rap, whites have always been loyal patrons of such imagery, drawn to the visceral fear factor and antisocial fantasies generated by black men. Less appreciated is the extent to which African Americans have bought into this idea. At least since the era of blaxploitation, the African American male has taken pride in his depiction as the quintessential man in the black hat. It is a desperate gambit by a group deprived of real power—even on our worst days, we can still scare the shit of white suburbanites.”

That was taken from an article here by  Ta-Nehisi Coates.

Frankly the first picture of the frat boy assholes is incredibly offensive. Wha’ts more offensive is that my white friends have been teasing me for years for listening to so called “white guy rap” like Tribe called Quest, De la  Soul, Del La Funky Homosapiens etc…

They all need to check out the “Independent Lens” documentary “Hip Hop: Beyond Beats & Rymes” by Byron Hurt. His film expores the myths behind hip hop and you can listen to Chuck D. tell you how much he digs De La Soul. So fuck you cracker!

This is where hip hop started in case you thought Eminem was the founder.

Check out a brief bio and some lyrics here.

OK, well a hot woman. Shirley Chisholm was one of the hottest women ever! When I watch her speak or read her writing I am forced to wonder what happened to politicians like her? It’s so disheartening to turn on the TV or pick up a paper and see Condoleeza Rice where there used to be a Shirley Chisholm. Anyway, there are tons of sites out there so I won’t go into it here. Search for her on google and check out the documentary at: 

http://chisholm72.net/