every time i take this adhd pill

i wanna write her the most inappropriate email

why her?

who knows?

why anything.

sometimes the body just goes where it shouldnt be

sometimes a body doesnt wanna be where it should.

if Should ran my life id be as boring as those who i lash out at

i lash because i know thats my fate one day

i know i will become fat and happy because running from that world is hopeless

its coming for me.

it’ll get me like it got the others

but imma fight before it does

and think about her for 40 minutes until the pill wears off

and think about how i should just write what i want and tuck it away somewhere

and leave it for the college boys of the future to discover

and say omg really?

this blog rarely lets me in to type so hi!

ive been super busy with so many things: uber, podcasting, and writing for Setlist.FM

here’s the Setlist things I’ve done lately.

Taylor Swift’s ‘Cruel Summer’ Is The Hit That Wouldn’t Die 

MTV’s Best Gift May Have Been MTV Unplugged

Setlist History: Prince Begins 21 Sold Out Nights in London’s O2

Setlist History: White Stripes’ Last Full Concert

Artists We’d Love To See Touring Right Now

Adele’s Best Cover Songs We Hope She Brings Back to Vegas

Setlist History: Billy Joel Rocks Russia

Sinéad O’Connor Dies at 56, Music World Mourns

Lollapalooza ’91: Where Are They Playing Now

Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up” Dropped This Week in 1987 

Setlist History: Bob Dylan Booed For Playing Electric

Setlist History: Kiss’ First Show Without Peter Criss

Setlist History: Pat Benatar Debuts “Hell is for Children” in NYC

Harry Styles Ends Two-Year Love Tour Emotionally In Italy

Setlist History: The Police Kick Off of the Synchronicity Tour 

It’s been an absolute joy to do these, and i am learning tons about these shows while doing the research.

ok gotta go drive for 8 hours byeeee

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

 

 

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.

a few times a year i suck it up and my housekeeper comes

so i skedaddle

today i went to venice beach, which has been near and dear to me since i first moved here in the early 1700s.

it’s weird, im weird, we get each other.

i haven’t smoked weed in a while so smelling the second hand smoke was so nice.

there were a lot of aromas i smelt, but did not dealt.

one was the scent of da club. not sure how that wafted, but it did.

on the way over i stopped off at this japanese market place called Mitsuwa and picked up a Bento Box

ate it while i watched 5×5 street ball on the venice courts

they were so bad i was thinking about going out there but ive had my day

these seagulls were hovering around me because someone left a half a plate of french fries but i was too near them so they hovered, squawking at each other

be cool, hes leaving, I SAID BE COOL

but i wasnt leaving.

drank my water, watched them play. there was a young lady out there. she wasnt bad. they didnt talk trash to her. but they did put their worst guy on her.

so many mistakes.

one guy could dunk.

gave $5 to this dude who plays the piano. he smelled of piss. like real bad. hes homeless.

tunes his piano and plays really fast, missing lots of notes, adding a few to even it out.

hes half deaf.

hung out with this south american dude who sells dollar cokes

we bumped fists. somehow he remembered me from the last time i was there, months ago.

had this awesome flashback when i passed the post office that it used to be a safeway in the ’80s.

LA has been so good to me, you have no idea.

me.

stranger in a strange land.

me. fucking nobody with three cents to my name.

driving home took forever. west side. like what are people doing?

ohio, santa monica, wilshire. all jammed even at 4pm. no way around it. nearly got on the 10. next time i’ll try my luck with olympic. west siders dont wanna go through the hood so maybe Adams.

on the way in i had to write a piece for Los Angeleno.

they hit me up last night about a piece about Angelenos nominated for the Oscars.

right up my alley. i was honored theyd even think of me.

so i drove to Culver City and asked Waze where the nearest public library was.

turned out it was 3 blocks away. such a nice little library. everything was clean and nice.

but then one little girl kept repeating the same phrase over and over in the childrens section.

i was trying to do my magic AND I WAS SOMEHOW but this lil angel kept with her bullshit

i turned around to give her the evil eye but neither her hot mom nor she picked up on it.

how am i gonna fertilize an egg if i cant put up with that, i thought?

she soon left and i got back to my masterpiece.

then a different little girl ran over to this wooden kitchen and opened and slammed the doors over and over and over

why is there a kitchen in a library? i wanted to say as loud as humanly possible.

but childhood is precious so i kept my trap shut as this 2 year old banged away as her mom browsed her phone.

the old man sleeping in the chair next to me did not wake up.

the librarians, of which there were far too many for this little place did not shush her.

i was clearly the asshole, once again.

but heres the crazy thing, i got my work done.

i wanted out of there, i wanted to be at the beach, i wanted this assignment behind me, i wanted food, i wanted the boardwalk.

it was a great motivation. and im telling you i knocked that article out faster than i have done in a very very long time.

maybe ever.

weed is not the reason im a professional writer.

the angels who whisper funny jokes in my ears are.

and they wanted to go soak in the 75 degree temps on 2/10/22 too.

i finished my thing about Coke today

and now im having a rabbi look it over and give me his blessing.

i could write about coke and religion all day.

in fact i did for two weeks and it was fascinating and heartbreaking and frustrating.

true story: last night i was getting sleepy and went to the fridge to get a Mexicoke. upon realizing i was out, i thought of ways to get one in the wee hours.

if the grocery store was closed perhaps get overcharged at a 7-11?

since i dont drink coffee, it’s pretty much the only way i stay awake.

then i realized i have like 3, 2-liter bottles of kosher coke, which is what my story is about.

they are warm but i dont care. i opened one up, poured myself a cup in one of ambers many unused coffee cups.

and it did the trick.

i am really hoping this story will do well tomorrow. i even asked my old boss if he would give it a good headline.

broke out of my writers block because of Rob

he was all, what are you writing? i said this thing about kosher food.

he said im a jew!

i said get outta dodge

he said already did and im still a jew.

i was all perfect.

then he said the magic words. he said i look forward to reading what you have to write about my people

i said you would?

and thats it. because i finally had someone to write to, i was back on track.

the big problem is, in order to not give a shit what people think, i often convince myself that absolutely no one is going to read it.

and sometimes im too good at convincing myself that, so my brain is like, whats the use of writing this thing if no ones gonna read it?

so now imma write it for rob, a solid man, a long time friend who ive known since he was a teenager.

i even went to his wedding.

finished this thing

the feeling of relief is real.

lessons i learned:

  • no social media for 90 minutes if im not making progress.
  • no walks, showers, or “cleaning” if i havent added even one sentence to the Thing yet that day
  • the devil doesnt want you to do it and will do everything to stop you
  • the Lord does want you to do it but He just chillin seeing if you the real deal
  • white castle fries only come in one size.

when i was done i sent it a boss i had 21 years ago!

i figured that since she has kids, it was late, and my thing was over 50 pages she would blow off even skimming it until tomorrow.

but in no time she had written me this:

Tony, this is AMAZING! I absolutely enjoyed every page of it, and I learned a lot!

I have a couple of (super minor) editorial suggestions for you, but it’s just little stuff.  We can chat tomorrow morning if you like, but this is a fantastic, creative, informative, entertaining piece, and I think that it will be very well received!

that is what i needed!

so then i looked back at it to see if it had transformed into something incredible and boom right at the top i see a mistake. so hopefully that was one of the things she was talking about.

but wow. i have a huge weight lifted off my shoulders and i got positive reinforcement from someone who is an expert in the field and whose advice i totally value.

what was it?

i wrote a thing about social media, brand building and recruiting in a global industry with lots of competitors.

i kept it real because who cares any more.

like really.

lou reed’s birthday was yesterday and arent we happy that he kept it real?

i need to learn why he was so angry so often even though he was always surrounded by great artists, musicians, music, and life

but whatever. maybe people will ask why was i so happy when so many things didnt turn out for me.

BECAUSE SO MANY DID, future people!