i got pinged about 7 minutes away. i was in venice. i forget why. who knows.
it was surging almost double the normal price so i accepted it.
youd think if you ping an uber and 7 minutes later youd be ready, but think again. life isnt like that. youre gonna wait. the pin was dropped on a lifeguard station on the beach so as i went down as far as i could on the street i called.
hey this is uber
hi yeah, can you wait just a minute, im in the candy store on the boardwalk.
did this piss me off? of course. it’s my fatal flaw. it’s the thing that will probably kill me one day. it’ll give me a heart attack. for some reason i believe that if when you order your uber and it says he will be there in 7 minutes, you should be outside waiting when it says he will arrive.
NOT omg i have 7 minutes, lets browse and then BUY THINGS at the candy store.
so as i waited in an alley right near the beach i took a snapchat of the scene – which was beautiful – the sun had set – the seagulls had descended – the shops were closing up – the tourists were strolling
the palm trees were saying just enjoy where youre at, tony,
last night a pretty girl came over and said lets make crazy love.
i said omg lets watch this movie about Tower Records first.
this is what happens when you get super olde, btw
so she was just happy to be there so she said fine and we turned on the tv and she made popcorn and we watched the movie
just as i thought, she fell asleep about 20 minutes into it because she was too young to remember when record stores mattered, you know when they were the center of the universe and if you really loved music youd know where they all were in every part of town and which ones were great at used records and which ones were great at singles and which ones were cheap and which ones were perfect for imports
the tower records story was fascinating. i didnt know anything about it. it pretty much mirrored the trajectory of records in general. the dude started by getting a part of his dads drug store and he bought 45s in frisco and drove them to Sacto and sold them and drove back and bought twice as many and sold twice as many
then one day he was all fuckit, let me get a big ass location in frisco and make “the biggest record store in the world” and he did and it was a success and every time he built a record store it was pretty much a success. and everything went well until the industry a) stepped away from singles and got greedy and tried to shove albums down everyones throats for $16.99
and b) didnt pay close enough attention to napster and itunes and the ipod.
but one magical thing happened: Japan. tower figured out how to make it happen in Japan early on and there are still Tower Records stores there to this day.
which is something no one would have predicted (none in the US and tons there) which tells me its ok not to know things. its ok to rise and fall. its ok to live life filled with love and wonder.
and rock n roll may die, but all those great tunes never will.
and on this journey i have seen a million beautiful images. these eyes. oh boy. what theyve seen.
ive gone to museums, rock shows, wonders of the world.
some of the most amazing women have said hi busblog and stripped down and hugged me.
ive read amazing books, been taught by some of the brightest teachers.
and living in california most of my life ive seen more than my fair share of gorgeous landscapes, sunsets, and skateboard tricks.
most of the time i say, why have you given me this, Lord, why me? who am i?
and every now and then a little voice will whisper: because you will write it down.
im reading Acts right now which is one of my favorite books of the bible because shit gets cray in there. some weird magical stuff goes down and people are all wtf! after all of that i went to the movies with a pretty girl who in the middle of the movie asked me to squeeze her bare leg, so i did. it was the best part of the film.
i get disappointed easily because i have high hopes. especially for movies. especially for movies directed by ppl who rarely make bad movies.
but perhaps one reason i am so thankful for when i get to see or experience something super good
is because i sit through so much crud.
Everybody Wants Some was crud.
if bro wanted to make a gay movie, he should have. but maybe he thought it would be ok. it’s ok bro.
because i’m the luckiest man alive, i got to see the Back in Black tour when i was in high school.
i was blown away.
duh.
ive followed them ever since, ive seen them maybe 10 times since and loved them with all of my heart.
the band has an amazing history and part of their uniqueness is, for whatever reason, they don’t play with other bands.
angus has never laid down a solo for any other band.
and brian johnson, only once, sang with another band live after he joined ac/dc, and that was with Billy Joel (!) onstage because billy wanted to do Shook Me All Night Long with the singer during one of his Madison Square Garden shows.
brian also was on a Sting song once but that was so bizarre that even in a blog that says “nothing in here is true” dare i even mention it since the reader might think this whole thing is farcical.
sadly it is not.
yesterday AC/DC put out a cold-hearted press release wishing Johnson farewell. they said that it was due to doctors orders. they claim medical professionals said Brian could permanently lose his hearing if he continued to tour with the hard rock group that he has fronted since he did the impossible: fill the shoes of Bon Scott in 1980.
not only did Brian take over for Bon, but his debut with AC/DC was Back in Black, one of the best selling records in the history of records which sold over 50 million units world wide.
my interns are telling me Back in Black is the 2nd biggest record of all time next to Thriller.
and then he fronted the group for 36 years, every record they made with brian sold millions of copies, every tour was a mammoth world wide arena filling moneymaker
how do you say goodbye to your singer with a short press release after all of that?
if angus wanted to do something he’d never done before (play with a new singer for a few gigs) did he really need to fire Brian to do it?
granted, things are tough for Angus right now, his brother and long time co-writer and BFF malcolm has slipped into dementia and is close to death.
AC/DC’s latest record Rock or Bust is the lowest selling album the band ever released. barely a half million units were sold in the US despite headlining Coachella last year and filling baseball stadiums around the nation.
at 61 years old he doesnt fly around the stage as fast as he once did
which must be depressing.
but could it be as depressing as being kicked out of the band and replaced by a screeching Axl Rose who is clearly only doing it to a) bring attention to the Guns n Roses “reunion” tour b) avoid Slash c) distract himself from making the Guns show the best it can be.
meanwhile Brian is saying he was kicked out. that as soon as he told the band what the doc said that they didn’t even listen to him when he told them that the doc wanted to figure out a way to work with the issue. all his stuff was shipped to his door and it was over.
bye felicia.
so i have mixed feelings about last night at coachella when during the guns n roses headlining performance they brought out angus for two songs.
of course it’s great to see him and hear him and have him back in the desert where they rocked two, two-hour sets last year. and despite the fact that axl didn’t know parts of Whole Lotta Rosie, he did sound good.
but it all felt like a royal F-U to loveable brian
how am i supposed to like this, let a lone love it?
and why wasn’t Slash allowed a solo?
is angus losing his mind too?
is angus not a nice guy?
did malcolm balance him out and thats why we never heard or saw any of this?
now i gotta buy Brians book from 2009 and see if there are any clues.
i’ll have plenty of money because now i wont be buying any tickets to see ACDC with Axl fronting it
this is what happens when you try to use the xbi insurance.
they want you only to see xbi doctors and
its not because they care about you
they just wanna keep an eye on their investment
even if you are just a shell of who you used to be
i havent been a solid xbi agent in years
they swear they can get me back in shape if i had the desire to get there but
as you get older the things you care about substantially changes
when youre little you want candy
then you want a bike
then you want a girlfriend
then you want a car
then you want a plane
then you want a mythical black helicopter that barely makes a sound but ironically can stabilize large groups of terrible people through audio technology that can bring them to their knees with nausea.
then you want two cars.
all i want right now is to see the cubs win the world series and it looks like theyre on their way.
then i want some ice cream.
then i want to help people.
the other day someone asked me what i wanna be when i grow up
one day i want to make a tv series, a sit com, about angels in heaven and how they look down and comment and futz around with this or that to make things better
in one of the episodes i want to explain why wrigley field in chicago was clearly aided by Someone Above
in part because there isn’t a bad seat in the house
other than those behind poles
and how the best seats in the joint are probably the humble backless benches in the bleachers
i like to sit there because, and no disrespect, but i believe the best fans are there
in the olden days they used to also be the most frugal, but due to the secret getting out that the bleachers are so unique at wrigley, the same bleacher seats that i used to pay $3 for in high school now go for $64 and can cost three times the price of sitting in the upper deck ($21).
at dodger stadium the secret isnt out yet so theyve converted the right field bleachers into an all you can eat gorgefest. for as low as $33, but your ticket includes unlimited Dodger Dogs, nachos, popcorn, peanuts, Coke products and bottled water. if i ran the joint id also have people guessing your weight, giving you back scratches, and doling out investment advice, but
at Wrigley you feel right on top of the players when youre in the bleachers.
at Dodger Stadium, they dont want you that close. theyre nervous. maybe they should be nervous. everyones trying to be a star in LA.
in Chicago we already know we’re stars. if youre trying to prove something to people, youre probably an out of towner.
theres some good seats at Dodger Stadium, but not many, which is why i prefer the bleachers there. at least its fun, theres free food, and you get to meet some colorful fans from the IE