people ask, tony, do you have a girlfriend? and i say LA is my lady
shes always warm. so warm i havent used my heater in the 8 years that ive lived in hollywood. shes never cold unless i deserve it .
la is like 17 girlfriends all in one. drive from venice to south central to koreatown to east la and you'll see some of it. truck up through the valley and westwood and little armenia and thai town and you'll see that maybe its more like 42 girlfriends all in one.
the cars are great. the art is great. the food is beyond delicious. f paris. f italy. f vegas. theres so much music here that its not unusual for there to be Bob Dylan, Lee "Scratch" Perry, Three 6 Mafia, and Louden Wainright III all in different locales on a Wednesday night.
the houses are beautiful, the mountains are right there, the beach is right here, the desert is right over there. skateboards, snowboards, boogie boards, and surfboards fill each of our closets.
i also hear theres good shopping here. i know that theres Santee Alley and the venice board walk and their are outlet stores a short drive out of the county.
people talk about our schools being so so. i say YOUR schools are so so! the times just launched our huge Schools database which is more than so so.
but mostly i love LA for the people. i know thats weird to say cuz lots of people say that there are only shallow evil materialistic people out here. but the joke is, those are only the transplants from new york. i love all the transplants cuz theyre from everywhere. but i also love the natives. typically the most mellow people you'll meet cuz theyve seen it all.
combined you get one of the best examples of melting pot anywhere in the world. which is why i celebrate LA's 227th birthday... with the theme song of 227:
Yesterday, hardest hike and distance of my life: nine or so miles of the treacherous Kalalau trail along the Na’pali coast (google for more info–if you ever brave it, it it will be the hardest thing you ever do, I promise). On our way back after about 5.5 miles of single track seriously hard, muddy, move-2 inches-off-the-trail-and-you-plummet-to-a-horrible-horrible-death-among-the paradise-cliffs, N started running far ahead of me, leaving me panting and frustrated and slipping over muddy rocks and roots to catch up.
I finally caught up to chew him out along one of the switchbacks on the trail, overlooking the aquamarine jewel waters washing onto Hanakapiai beach. He was fiddling with his Camelbak and I was prepping myself to rip him a new one. He spun around and in his hands was a silver little box. Sweaty, muddy, and grinning nervously ear to ear, N knelt on a slippery, red rock, opened the box, and said, “So, you think this wait was worth it?” At that point I burst into tears and he had to hold me until I regained verbal capability. About three or four minutes later, N said, “I didn’t get your answer!” To which I hiccuped, “You didn’t ask the Question!”
He got on his knee again, and asked, “Will you marry me?”
two years ago this month i met the lovely maeko after reading her beautifully designed blog for a while, and not only was she a super hot tamale but she was really funny and very smart. we only had an hour to lunch because she had a crazy job, but it was really cool and she was one of the most interesting people i met on my trip around america.
and definitely the brightest moment in my little stop in the motor city.
"whats the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull? lipstick."
nice
update: Gloria Steinem writes an Op-Ed in the LAT and doesnt think Palin is the right woman for the job. Drudge links to it, comments flood our system.
rage against the machine accapella at the rnc convention in minnesnota
apparently the band was denied access to the Ripple Effect stage (yes to Matisyahu, no Rage - that doesnt sound kosher), so they picked up a megaphone and the worlds greatest guitarist mouthed his famous riff and zach and the crowd sang Bulls on Parade:
Come wit it now! Come wit it now! The microphone explodes, shattering the molds Ya either drop tha hits like de la O or get tha f off tha commode Wit tha sure shot, sure ta make tha bodies drop Drop an don't copy yo, don't call this a co-opt Terror rains drenchin', quenchin' tha thirst of tha power dons That five sided fist-a-gon Tha rotten sore on tha face of mother earth gets bigger Tha triggers cold now empty ya purse
they rally round tha family! With a pocket full of shells They rally round tha family! With a pocket full of shells They rally round tha family! With a pocket full of shells They rally round tha family! With a pocket full of shells
Weapons not food, not homes, not shoes Not need, just feed the war cannibal animal I walk tha corner to tha rubble that used to be a library Linin' to the mind cemetery now What we don't know keeps tha contracts alive an movin' They don't gotta burn tha books they just remove 'em While arms warehouses fill as quick as tha cells Rally round tha family, pockets full of shells
todd has been a talented artist, cartoonist, harmonica player, and subtle comedian for as long as ive known him. he was my assistant arts editor at the daily nexus for a little while and then he became illustration editor and i got to work with the video guy.
what todd brought to the arts section and to the nexus was a truly creative mind that was rooted in possibilities. you only had to talk with him for a few minutes to have his mind juices start flowing. youd say, i want a Spike Lee thing, or i just wrote about this or that and how everythings Wack and todd would quietly get to work and have something great in a very short time. after a while i just said, todd every week i want you to have a huge image on the front cover and your drawings will be the center of arts week. of course i was fired before we could do too many of those covers but each one was terrific and weird and, now, collectors items.
todd has always been funny, always been amazingly talented, and has always drawn in a style that is equal parts tragic and dark and funny. usually all at the same time.
when i first moved to frisco after being transferred there by philips magnavox todd and i lived together in a pretty cool 2bdr apt on folsom near 23rd street. todd had a snake. somehow there was a hole in our apartment and mice made themsleves at home. for about two weeks that snake was fed lots of freshly trapped mice. meanwhile todd was (and maybe still is) a vegetarian. which was always interesting when he offered to cook dinner. believe it or not but for a long time i had never had a meal without some meat. todd taught me how silly that concept was.
for the longest mr francis has been designing skateboards and tshirts and graphics for element skateboards. the other day, fellow santa barbara mafioso joel brand posted a link to the video above on facebook and i couldnt stop laughing because todd hasnt changed one iota, not even in video. its beautiful. please enjoy.
