ive been addicted to mid journey

some nights ill just try to make the weirdest things i can

figuring out how creative and deep and dark and random the computer is

then other nights i try to see how pretty it can be 

i am not a minimalist.

i like lots of crazy things happening all at the same time.

and i like things slightly evil

which midjourney excels at.

more precisely, it seems to love any sort of human sadness or horror.

anger, sorrow, mayhem – that AI gets it

it also loves skeletons

skulls

and darkness

i mean i love that so much.

and in so many ways midjourney is an extension of our imagination

but trust me, not even my imagination is that solid.

ive been writing a lot – here’s a summary

A former colleague from the LA Times recommended that I reach out to a friend of his who runs a Green website about electric vehicles. The pay was fine but I don’t have an EV!

No problem for the first story I borrowed my brother’s Kia EV (pictured above) and went hotel hopping around Santa Monica

Cruising in a Kia Niro in Santa Monica

For the next piece I rented a low price LA EV car and tooled around Hollywood including the cemetery and brought along the best Hollywood tour guide Brian Donnelly.

Hollywood Sight-Seeing without the Carbon Footprint

My friend Bree hires me a few times a week to write about concerts and rock history for Setlist.FM. Here’s a few I’ve done for her over the last lil while

Foo Fighters hire former Replacements drummer for replacement for their drummer
https://www.setlist.fm/news/05-23/foo-fighters-announce-new-drummer-before-tour-7bd6aaec

34 years ago Metallica rocked the Troubadour in preperation for Monsters of Rock
https://www.setlist.fm/news/05-23/setlist-history-metallica-warms-up-at-la-club-before-monsters-73d6aaed

Beyonce earned $230,000 a minute for this performance in Dubai
https://www.setlist.fm/news/05-23/beyonce-kicks-off-renaissance-tour-with-debuts-covers-tude-63d6aaf7

The Cure kick off their tour with rarely-played gems
https://www.setlist.fm/news/05-23/the-cure-kick-off-north-american-tour-w-rarely-played-gems-7bd6aafc

AC/DC hasn’t played their biggest charting single since last century, they should at Power Trip
https://www.setlist.fm/news/05-23/powertrip-could-make-news-if-acdc-plays-some-of-these-hits-63d6aaff

Janet Jackson starts off tour with a 40-song set
https://www.setlist.fm/news/04-23/janet-jackson-kicks-off-together-again-tour-with-40-song-set-7bd6aa10

 

 

im not feeling myself

ive waited six months to get on some ADHD pills and now that im on them i hate them

they make me jittery and they dont even have speed in them

i am waking up in the middle of the night, im mad at everything

i feel like im on drugs

not fun, happy, natural things that come from the earth

but something sketchy that im forcing myself to tolerate bc i read on reddit they can take up to two months to get used to

it’s been like day three. ive tried them in the day and at night. both are bad.

not sure what to do.

suffer?

for the win

his name was Win and he was crying.

i wasn’t doing so well myself because earlier in the day i had picked up some ADHD meds they finally decided to give me and it was not making me feel 100%, let’s say.
i was nauseous, out of sorts, and oddly horny.
i like to be at peak performance when i drive, and absolutely alert when im driving other people. even if they are crying in my backseat, which i rarely allow.

Win was a student at an art school studying Toy Making which i never knew was a thing, but i guess if George Lucas made more money off the Star Wars toys than he did the movie, someone figured ah, let’s join the cash grab.
he was crying because his teachers hated all of his concepts. he had to look up the phrase Basic Bitch after one of them put that in the notes of his most recent idea.
“i’m going to get kicked out of school. my mother is going to be so disappointed. the shame our family will endure will be too much,” he said between sniffles.
no one gets kicked out of art school i assured him, they want your money.
Win told me several of his classmates had been kicked out.
were they really booted or did they quit? i asked. people love to quit shit, i said.
he just cried and told me how his mother carried the whole family on her back after his father went to jail.
ok look, before i start crying, what do these teachers want, i asked.
they keep saying they want us to think Outside Box. they say they want Edge. they say they want New.
fuck. i sighed.
what happened, Win asked startled, probably concerned about the traffic or the Benz.
im Mr. Outside Box, i said quietly. but he heard.
YOU ARE? Please help me Anthony. Please.
here’s the problem bro I am the wrong person to help you. I am incredibly dark. I’m Black but im lightskinned because all the darkness is inside me. cut me, my blood looks like ink. any idea i give you will be great, but very few teachers ever gave me good grades. IT TOOK ME SIX YEARS TO GRADUATE COLLEGE!
please Mr. Anthony. Please!
Uber refuses to change my name to Tony, so trust me, it’s just as weird for me to hear that name as i’m sure it is for you.
Win, my heart is so dark im probably gonna go to Hell bc God judges us by our hearts and theres no faking that. also ive done bad things that im trying to make up for, but inside it’s borderline evil.
if I get kicked out, I have to return to China.
fine, Win, you wore me down. if you use this idea please do not mention me. if you end up making it and becoming rich, say it just dawned on you while you were in the back of an Uber driving around LA. do with it what you want.
he was all ears.
first when you pitch this, tell your teachers that once this becomes successful all of the profits needs to go to a homeless nonprofit like Invisible People.
ok ok but what is it.
In a way it’s a parody of Barbie, but it’s hyper realistic versions of homeless people. tents, shopping carts, half broken bicycles, weirdly healthy dogs, rickety structures covered with blue tarps, street lights that have been tapped into so the people can “steal” the electricity to run generators and little tvs.
and of course you have the figurines of the people. that should be the easy part. young people with face tattoos. dudes with giant coats on in the summer. a guy who’s mostly naked sleeping on a bus bench that has an armrest in the middle of the seat so people cant sleep on it, a guy with an almost new Kobe jersey, and a guy dressed up in his army fatigues.
Win gasped. so dark, he whispered.
and edgy, and Outside that fucking Box. i said as we drove through an overpass lined with tents, old RVs and port-a-potties.
very.
but here’s what i want you to do, i want you to either pee on it or figure out a way you can make them smell bad.
then Win said something that worried me. he said, we have chemicals that can make things smell like fruit or happiness.
do you have anything that smells like sadness?
yes.
sell the extra jars of bad smells separately.
Win was so quiet looking out the window. as if he had just been offered the opportunity to sell his soul to the devil for a really great slice of pizza.
each homeless person and two accessories like a tent or a skateboard is bundled in a pair of clean new athletic socks rolled in a ball the size of your fist. when someone buys the toys they should give the socks to the first homeless person they see.
you will not go to hell, Anthony, Win finally told me. you are very nice.
Nice? I said surprised. Now let me tell you about the second series of homeless toys. There will be a garbage truck, 5 cops, and 3 guys in yellow vests who roll by and put all the tents and things into the back of the garbage truck and make the homeless people leave.

then Win went back to crying.

i have like my 4th adhd consultation tomorrow

they make you fill out  a little questionaire the day before the deal.

are you suicidal? do you wanna kill anyone? are you having trouble concentrating?

some wild questions before getting to the matter at hand.

anyways i am a peaceful man i just have a hard time concentrating when i need to do it the most.

so when i was filling it out today i started thinking i dont need any pills. im fine. i get a lot of things done.

but then tonight i realized im really cutting it close with one assignment i have. i just offered up an idea about another piece – much smaller – for bree. and then every monday and tuesday i have issues doing my dumb blog post.

so yes i do need pills because i just wanna be a normal guy who does his work, knocks it out, takes a dump and goes to sleep.

but since when have i ever been normal?

i told a pretty girl the other day that i have her pics all around my apartment. am i insane? how creepy does that sound?

told another i had her picture in my medicine cabinet. i thought that would disturb her. instead she told me about her memory of that day and how she did a lot of new things with me for the first time.

i said what?

she said, getting out of my comfort zone in order to grow as a person.

then she said, having my picture taken and believe I was beautiful.

the devil is working over time in our heads.

convincing knockouts they arent pretty

tricking writers like me into not writing.

then trying to talk my brain out of not pursing the meds they need.

this week is screwed because I LOVE DRIVING SO MUCH and today i couldnt do it bc of the podcast and tomorrow i cant do it because of the writing thing ive gotta do all day

which means i only have three days to make money at driving.

so heres the plan. my goal for those three days is $250 a day. and hit the $230 bonus, so thats not a bad week. plus the writing will get me $600 bc they owe me from last month.

ok whew im glad i wrote that all out. that means i can write tomorrow, take the dr call at noon. then go to the movies, get home, fall asleep early and be up at the crack of the day on friday and knock out 30 rides.

almost every week i get to write about rock shows

thanks to my pal Bree, once or twice a week I get to write about either upcoming rock shows, recent gigs, or in today’s case, a classic show.

Joy Division / New Order were not bands I loved because they were post punk, dreary, with drum machines. But over time I have warmed to them.

Today I was asked to write about their final show which happened on this day in 1980.

One reason I like to write about these shows is because I learn so much. Also because Bree is encouraging and so nice to work with.

Looking at the stats, I’ve done 50 pieces for her.

Recently I did stories about Metallica in Holland, Weezer in Pomona, and Janet Jackson in Florida.

someone told rembrandt the hardest thing to paint are hands

so he made sure those were the best parts of his paintings.

uber dares us every weekend to take 80 trips.

they bribe us with $200 or $170.

this week it was $170, which is a rip off but i look at it as reimbursement for the gas i use.

i did 28 trips on friday, 30 yesterday, so i had to do the rest today.

started off STRONG. 15 trips in 2 1/2 hours. but then they refused to give me any short rides for a long ass time. i went an hour with zero trips as i slunk around highland park, echo park, and silver lake.

when i arrived in hollywood the only trips they gave me were little ones from the hotels to the Hollywood Bowl. Willie Nelson is celebrating his 90th birthday there this weekend with two shows and tons of guests.

typically drivers avoid the Bowl bc traffic is like quicksand over there.

but i needed 5 trips so i said fuckit, since it was still 2 hours before showtime.

these fans were so sweet. mostly southerners who flew out here for the weekend. older. kind.

i did three trips and then the traffic started getting gnarly so i stopped taking them.

ended up driving the prettiest half black girl ive ever seen to a “day party” at the Penthouse club, which it turns out is the old Club Lingerie. damn she was pretty.

final ride was two Black women going to Lucky Strike becuase it was open mic for singing.

got home, did some work on the podcast and if Jordan has this week’s episode ready for me i’ll do that tomorrow, otherwise i may go see a movie. its been a while.

i had such a good weekend driving

but i was sooooo tired yesterday

was it the celebratory burrito i ate? was it im getting old and moldy?

who know, but yesterday i just sat in my bed and tried to relax but i cant relax im always moving

last night i wrote about weezer for bree and that will be up on setlist.fm shortly

now im getting ready to rent an electric car so i can review it for this EV website i already wrote one piece for and now they want more. so thats nice.

my hands are still a little numb. i really need to take another day off of driving but i have to interview Glen at the food bank after i do this EV thing – which is also a tour around Hollywood for an hour with my man Brian.

then i have to get my real car smog checked and get a new registration.

SO MUCH TO DO ON ONES DAY OFF.

i really should take tomorrow off and maybe i will because my hands really need rest.

drove smartly today

8 hours, $250. only did a few longish rides and those were all under 30 minutes each

and i only drove 100 miles.

could be going to the airport be for the birds?

for the last two days ive been trying to get short rides in order to get this bonus

i need to do 32 rides tomorrow to get it, i feel good bc today i did 28 and the day before i did 29. i just need to get out there by 10am and focus on the shorties. maybe a long one at the end. and stop looking for surges.

i caught a few today. one was worth $14. in the valley. if they continue to reward drivers in the val, you’ll see me out there more. roads are bigger. tons of cut throughs. easier to pick up.

bonded with these columbians

peed at a little league

ate one and a half impossible burgers.

damnit the other half is in the glove box.

picked up a black lady who was 66

she told me that she went to high school near the beach instead of in her local high school out there in the hood

i was driving her from the airport to her home on 60th street in south LA

i love driving these people so much it’s insane.

she told me about going to school by the airport in the 1970s

sock hops, football games, always eating lunch outside.

i was so excited when i became a senior because i could sit on the Senior Lawn and eat. she was beaming like she had just been blessed with this honor yesterday.

dont let them catch you sitting there if you werent a senior she said cackling

i asked everyone knew what year everyone was

oh yes. don’t let em catch you on that lawn, ya hear?

driving from near where her high school was to the house she grew up in near the 110 freeway would take us exactly 39 minutes so i asked her how long it took to take the bus to school every day

bus-ES she clarified, i took three busses. one to inglewood at market street, one to westchester and one to the school. it took about two hours each way, she said but she loved that school.

what was your mascot i asked and she searched her memory banks.

the comets.

on good conversations like the one we had i just turn the stereo down to one. kc and the sunshine band was playing when i caught her looking out the window as we zipped past dulans soul food on crenshaw

we would play crenshaw all the time. back then they were good. they hated us.

why?

because we were a white school. i was one of the few colored girls. they would wait for all us Black kids to get off the bus at Market to walk across the street to catch the next bus. they wanted to fight. i looked away. but i heard. i heard them call us all the most disgusting names just because we wanted to go to that school.

once we were beating them badly in basketball. my friend saw people were whispering. the whispering got to us.

get on the bus.

before the fourth quarter we were on a school bus

out of there.

$10 tip.