the chick has finally left and im just keeping my fingers crossed that my tivo gave me a nice rendition of tonights sopranos.

today i drove to get her some chinese and the sign at the bank said 96 degrees. i almost took a picture for you but then i was all, theyre gonna have to take my word on some of this shit.

it was a dry 96.

i hate the air conditioner. the air conditioner tells you that youve fucked up somewhere and you cant enjoy the summer heat while listening to classic rock.

kroq used to be my summer jamz but theyve blown it. im back to the good tunes.

the ones that meant something.

not all chinatown expresses are equal. they all have dishes of chinese food under heatlamps. but some of them are so busy that they have to keep getting fresh food made.

so the one ive been going to lately is on the corner of sunset and highland. right across from hollywood high, which is the reason why its so busy there. where else are you going to get food and a drink for $5? and good food too. and if you get the broccoli beef and carrots youre eating two vegetables right there, so bam youre eating healthy all of a sudden. karisa.

the cubs lost but i just made an incredible trade in one of my fantasy leagues. dude im trading vernon wells and brad lidge and tim wakefield for alphonso sorriano and prior.

ok the sopranos was great. especially the use of the stones classic “moonlight mile”, the last track of the masterpiece Sticky Fingers.

because im a freak when i think of moonlight mile i think of mick taylor.

everyone remembers the blond mop topped brian jones and everyone recognizes the walking skeletor ron wood. but inbetween those two was mick taylor, who many say was the best guitarist the stones ever had

and i would agree.

legend has it that when mick jagger saw that brian jones was dipping into drugs and drink too much the singer went to blues great john mayall to ask him what guitarist out there he thought the stones should replace jones with.

mayall knew guitarists and suggested taylor. not soon after that sitdown jones was found mysteriously dead in his pool and taylor was in.

heres what mick taylor was part of

Sticky Fingers (1971)
Exile on Main Street (1972)
Goats Head Soup (1973)
It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll (1974)

and he was on the classic track “Waiting on a Friend” which was later released on Tattoo You.

apparently keefe felt intimidated that taylor could do things like infuse the blues that we hear in Moonlight Mile that breaks away from that basic rock formula that even the stones could find themselves in sometimes.

the amount of pure blues in those four records is just beautiful, “100 years ago”, “can’t you hear me knockin'”, “casino boogie”…

when taylor split the group he hid out for a while and resurfaced with bob dylan to play guitar on two of my favorite albums of his, Infidels (1983) and Empire Burlesque (1985).

coop + kat + trent + carmen

now i can finally say
some of my best friends are gay

so she asked me to write a post about riding the bus since she says its her favorite part of reading the busblog.

its funny she had such a request because today was a fascinating day on the los angeles metro rapid transit system.

since i spent the night at clipper girl’s house i walked over to the los feliz metro station and waited for the elevator to take me down to the subway. the mexican lady kept the elevator button mashed in as if it would speed things along. now you know why the elevators are always broken i hissed in spanish.

que?

nada.

two things that irritate me when i ride the subway. one is dudes with bikes during rush hour in the subway, the other are people with suitcases. they clog up any open space. if youre taking the la subway to the airport youre a loser. and as sk smith would say, i hope you get the clap. and if youre riding your bicycle after you get off the subway during rushour youre a double loser. a loser squared. i hope your bike seat racks you in front of a park bench full of hotties.

sat on the cement bench and waited for the train to arrive. i cracked open a book i just got off ebay, mooch by dan fante. hes awesome. i should bake a pie for my neighbor for turning me on to him.

train finally arrives and a woman runs down to the far end of the train to get a seat. baby theres lots of seats on the subway, no need to run to the less-crowded cars. cant avoid the minorites anyway, but good try.

“what book are you reading,” this kid asks me. probably 17.

i tell him.

“mooch. is that a bad word?” he asks.

there are no bad words i tell him.

“sure there are, nigger, spic, fucker…” he says. hes got a white undershirt on. big, baggy, xxxl black pants. shaved head. gangster 101 outfit. wifebeater underneath his undershirt. huge gold crucifix around his neck. tattoo of the virgin mary under his left ear.

those arent bad words, i tell him. those are great words.

now everyone is listening.

i continue: theyre good words because theyre descriptive and powerful. if three white guys are playing bridge with a black dude and someone says, hey wheres juan, and someone says, oh my nigga is right over there with those jagoffs, then you know immediately which one juan is.

the train stopped at wilshire and western and i got off to a car full of gaping mouths.

but i was right and my new friend and i touched knuckles and took on the day.

a year ago today i bought a car and posted a hot picture + negro please + congrats jamie!