SWEET DANGO

sweetdango@hotmail.com #442 starplane.blogspot.com

...and leaving St. Anthony's - "Tony's Diner" - the other day - up through what might be called "Pill Alley", that stretch of Jones, the west side of the street, going north...solicited for Klonopins, Oxycontins, and morphine in the course of about 30 seconds...even Ecstasy, but that mighta not been true...and across the street, the Chez Paree strip club - never been, but I believe it's twenty dollars to just get in the door - could be worth it to see some real female flesh close up..."Live Nude Showgirls" says the sign...some performances featuring "the Black Widow Girls" coming up - yes, wholesome Tenderloin fare - but perhaps I should make that "some hole" fair, and foul...but, now, my digital voice recorder has run out of juice, and I must resort to other content...how about a run-down of some of the books I've currently got out from the library? I'm sure the Chez Paree ladies wouldn't mind...got the very excellent, now-in-classic-status Led Zeppelin biography by Stephen Davis, 'Hammer of the God' (keep forgetting to return that - it's due tomorrow)...also, a recent collection of Charles Bukowski poems called 'Come On In!' - surely the publishers are nearing the end of that man's output...and have a CD with Woody Allen stand-up from the Sixties, originally on vinyl - again, really classic material that has withstood time's test...and a book from, actually, the 19th century, later 1800s publication date, poetical works by Lord Byron...and also Philip Jose Farmer's science fiction novel 'To Your Scattered Bodies Go' on audio cassette...and something called 'The Dragon and the Tiger', by a guy who knew Bruce Lee, talking about that one's earlier years, including the ones spent in Oakland...and from the editors of 'Black Belt' magazine, 'The Legendary Bruce Lee' - this one is currently missing in the hotel - someone has it that I don't know about - it's hoped I can track it down and avoid paying the library for it...and also have out 'Counterculture Through the Ages' by R.U. Sirius, basically, with some assist from another guy...and Tim Leary's 'Chaos & Cyber Culture'...and a volume called 'Weird Like Us: My Bohemian America', by a lady named Ann Powers - not gonna get to this one much - there was an included little note by a previous borrower who had precious little good to say about it - in fact, the note said it was "a total waste of time" - about as harsh a criticism as one could level...and also in my possession, 'Last Words: the Final Journals of William Burroughs'...along with about four other Burroughs-related books...and, well, time is up for now...more on this later...or back to the usual programming when I have fresh batteries...money's coming in before morning, so that'll be one of the first purchases of the new month...

posted by Velcro # 7:09 PM

sweetdango@hotmail.com #441 starplane.blogspot.com

...and recently enjoyed a decent bargain at the Burger King across from the Grove Street library entrance - an eleven cent cup of ice - hadda talk the counter lady down from the original twenty-two...and they gave me water for free...and also got a half-and-half tiny container - but, dig this: it contained milk and cream and something called sodium citrate - so it might more accurately be called third-and-third-and-third...and my right nostril was running for some reason - please don't tell me this blog is not exhaustive in its details about my particularities...well, as a teen used to have more problems of this kind - mighta been the milk I used to drink in fairly large quantities - have since all but given up all dairy foods...and once in the library, glanced through the fairly extensive audio book section on the first floor for a new one...the unabridged 'The Three Musketeers' still there - Dumas wrote fat, fat novels - I believe he himself physically was a fairly fat, fat man - if this correspondence holds imagine the slimness of a novel good ol' Gandhi woulda produced...but, I am still not sure just how much I wanna immerse myself in that 17th or 18th century world of France...and for some reason that Sunday had that Wham! song "Wake Me Up Before You Go Go" on the so-called mind, repeating itself...and had fruit samples - a slice of grapefruit that wasn't sweet - for some reason I thought it might be, but, by nature, that fruit's tart...and found adorable the little dachsund that a woman had cradled on her shoulder - not a beast I'd care for myself at all - I'm strictly a cat person, as I keep saying - but I can adore at least for brief periods the pooches of others...and as I was leaving the farmers' market area, a rent-a-cop was escorting an irate woman out in the same direction - not sure what her problem was - just disturbing the peace with some words or demeanor...then another usual move, headnig to St. Anthony's for the free lunch...paused at the gentle spectacle of pigeons using the former Hibernia Bank building as their personal sanctuary. And I tell you, the specimens of that avian flock there are among the sorriest, scrawniest, most disheveled I've seen...

posted by Velcro # 6:13 PM

sweetdango@hotmail.com #440 starplane.blogspot.com

...and on sale at the Fence at Turk and Hyde recently, a copy of a comic book the size of a graphic novel based on Grateful Dead songs - had seen this before a few years ago...the version of "Dire Wolf" is particularly effective - Jerry Garcia himself featured as the set-on hero of the song, threatened by the title being - the setting is a snowed-in cabin in the woods, and Garcia's shown playing cards...written around the time of the Zodiac killings in San Francisco. "Rapped" a bit to the seller about some of what I know about the Dead...told him there was a Grateful Dead cyclops drawing at the Brown Jug...Garcia must've gone to the Jug in days gone by, in the early Seventies, when he and a lotta other popular bands of the time recorded at the Wally Heider facility, currently the Hyde Street Studios - I know a guy, Jayson, who's interning there, recording his own music there as well - I've said I'd like a tour of the place, and that might happen...and found a recently-deceased pigeon on the street and, feeling some compassion for the poor bird, took it upstairs to decide how to properly dispose of the body...there was a refrigerator on the fifth floor that someone had discarded...I put the thing into the unplugged-in freezer unit. The entire thing had been removed a bit later...and a usual scene on a Sunday morning, me waiting for the noon opening of the library - tarried awhile at the farmers' market, enjoyed fruit samples, and the general pleasantness and wholesomeness of the gathered folk there buying the fresh product of the Earth...one seller specialized in root vegetables - radishes, turnips, carrots, potatoes, onions - in macrobiotic theory these possess a particular vibe and chararcter and nutritional value, different than those of the sweet fruits like apples and oranges that grow high up in a tree...and the Strand theater, now vacant, is for sale there at its Market Street location - came in from the suburbs as a teen to see porn films there on occasion. Someone should rent it out and have a, like, Annette Haven Film Festival...and also for sale at the farmers' market, the fish and seafood sellers - live conch-type animals for sale there - pretty weird looking...not something I'd seek out...but something I 'would' buy are the cage free brown egg, a dozen for three dollars - cruelty free, basically - until the birds are slaughtered...and good is the family farm honey at eight dollars for three pounds...

posted by Velcro # 5:56 PM

sweetdango@hotmail.com #439 starplane.blogspot.com

...created a small piece of impromptu street art the other day - had found a jacket for a tiny child and put it, buttoning the little buttons, around the top of an broken parking meter - "EXPIRED" kept flashing on the readout, and that comprised the face and head...and street friend P. had a bottle of something called "Skinny Dip" beer out of Fort Collins, Colorado, and we shared it - liked the label much - in the foreground, flip flops, and a small pile of clothes - in the back, the concentric rings around where someone had dived in, nude. The slogan for the drink was "A most revealing beverage."...and sometimes in the mood for the sound of a group called Technotronic, from 1990 - seem to remember they were fairly big back then - just acquired, from same street friend P., a cassete of their's called 'Trip on This' - relentless electronic dance music that fits the emotional and physical bill at times...and recently in newspaper headline news, claims of a massacre by Marines in Iraq in revenge for the bomb killing of a lance corporal...witnesses say that Marines killed 24 men, women, and children - this in a place called Haditha...and during a recent visit to Union Square, managed to secure several small packets of hot sauce, mustard, ketchup...and a big knob of meat...and a Hare Krishna book called 'The Reservoir of Pleasure'...and a Ripley's Believe It Or Not brochure for hotel acquaintance D., and a 'Parade' light information section from the Sunday paper...

posted by Velcro # 5:38 PM

sweetdango@hotmail.com #438 (1 of 2) starplane.blogspot.com

…at “the Fence” at Turk and Hyde, where unlicensed streets sales are conducted, paused to look at unusual little sculptures a fella was offering. Wasn’t gonna buy, but I’d not seen anything quite like them before…told the seller I was just looking – he said he wasn’t a gangster and that, well, I had the privilege of looking even if not purchasing…I told him I wasn’t a gangster either – except, perhaps, in the manner of the Steve Miller Band’s “The Joker”, I’m “a gangster of love”…

…and, well, generally at the Fence – a literal chain link fence around a parking area – generally I only buy books and CDs and cassettes and not, like, stuff…today, saw a disc I wanted, one from an Eighties hit collection series featuring “Der Kommissar”, by Falco, whose “Rock Me Amadeus” was also a hit…probably coulda got that for a buck, which is what I standardly pay for music discs, even if they aren’t in a jewel box and even if they don’t have the liner notes…

…and really loved a ‘New Yorker’ cartoon from a copy I’d found somewhere – showed the front of a tabloid magazine called ‘Average Joes’, a publication created for celebrities to read about people who ‘weren’t’ rich and famous. So an inside story blurbed on the cover was, like, “See a guy walk down the street without an entourage! See ‘no’ paparazzi approach to take his picture!” – like that…the original had funnier words but you get the idea…

And I that day was outside sitting on a milk carton, enjoying the mild San Francisco early summer-ish sun, with a coupla issues of ‘New Yorker’ I’d found somewhere, and a ‘Rolling Stone’ from about half a year ago…have to place that carton in a spot where there are no pigeon droppings, ‘cause there are certain perches above certain spots of ground where they tend to congregate and excrete with no respect for anyone below…

And had two cans of beer, Natural Ice – called “Natty Ice” by a friend, which name I like – kinda Rastafarian, tho’ the Rastas avoid alcohol – traded one for a big bag priced at about two-and-a-half bucks of Tostitos “Southwestern Ranch” style chips – guy in the hotel is always wheeling and dealing like this…tomorrow is pay day, and he’ll be hustling more than usual ‘cause of the download of money into the neighborhood that happens every first of the month…thought it was a good trade – he only wanted a dollar for two bags of the Tostitos, and that beer sells for 65 to 75 cents a can at local markets…surely he could find a taker in this area more readily for a can of beer quicker than for those chips. And a salty snack goes well with a can of suds, of course.

And liked the text on those Tostitos – “spicy notes of cumin” was a phrase…and “the true taste of the Southwest”…out of Plano, in Texas…also contains, Red 40, always an ingredient in those real down home Southwest foods…

sweetdango@hotmail.com #438 (2 of 2) starplane.blogspot.com

And, well, sipping my beer, eating those chips, sitting on that milk carton, browsing through those magazines, felt a good role for me would be the Village Idiot – I’m a natural for that part…

…and a guy who once stole a cell phone from me – subsequently got that back, and I’m now “a good man” in his still-feloniously-minded eyes – this guy asked about me with some concern for some reason – perhaps for what he thinks might be drinking too much. Well, y’know, there was a guy around there that day in a purple Santa-like hat that was ‘really’ incoherent, babbling to himself without any attempt at communication…frankly, his verbiage had some method to its madness, but it was really a one-way broadcast, in no way a dialogue…

And thought of a good line related to drinking alcohol and literariness: “It’s Miller time! ‘Henry’ Miller time, that is…” (Good flick, watchable number one for the cinematic presence of Uma Thurman, and two for the bookish content, is ‘Henry & June’, from 1990…I’m not a big fan of Miller’s…I might like his later, California-based ones more than his scandalous early work…)

…and a good line I recorded, said by someone I didn’t know about a guy we both knew: “Even a fool can be considered a wise man until he opens his mouth.” Said about a dude who reportedly earlier that day had been taken away by the police for being homeless on someone’s sidewalk – and also for being guilty of existing while being black. Which rumor subsequently turned out to be false. The line sounds like something Obi Wan Kenobi would say…

And glanced through that ‘Rolling Stone’…after going upstairs for two more cans of beer…the “Charts” last page with the music information – number one at the time, November of last year, Ashlee Simpson’s ‘I Am Me’…on Geffen – she’s a cutie with a killer bod…and new on the chart then, a new Depeche Mode – typified as “Goth godfathers”, said to have originated in 1980. And a new Stevie Wonder…

And friend P. gave me a book around that time – ‘Take It Back’, a Democratic political commentary by James Carville and Paul Begala…glanced through it, marked some things in it, but left it…seemed to have a whole lotta good ideas, tho’. But I’d rather be reading, like, the letters of William Burroughs, like that…and there’s Soul Food City, recently re-opened, across from the hotel – might hafta buy a red snapper or catfish meal tomorrow, when I have the seven necessary bucks…but y’know, with money I’m generally buying that Carlo Rossi Sangria and leaving the cooking to St. Anthony’s or Glide…and there was something about ‘The Devil’s Rejects’ in that ‘RS’ as well…mention of “hot blonde” co-star Sherri Moon Zombie – memorable – very hot body…thought of a joke to ask her: “Oh, Sherri Moon Zombie, yes…of the Westchester Zombies?” Great flick, intense, but not for everyone…

posted by Velcro # 2:04 PM

sweetdango@hotmail.com #437 (1 of 2) starplane.blogspot.com …and another usual scene for me – nearly two hours on a Saturday morning until the library opened so I could post a blog, me outside the hotel, sitting on a blue plastic milk crate, reading a book – Tim Leary’s ‘Chaos & Cyber Culture’, from the early Nineties… And that day also, putting his head out of his door, a neighbor – he’d heard me leaving – said if I went to a corner store and got a “rack” of cans of beer – that is, a twelve-pack – I could keep half – I’d fly, he’d buy…so this sounded like a good deal to me – got a rack of “Natty Ice” – that is, Natural Ice…brought it back up, and was happy with that transaction… And in less than 24 hours I’ll have some money in my account – gonna treat myself to ‘The Notorious Bettie Page’ at the Opera Plaza, this with neighbor S. – very rarely these days see a movie at the theater…don’t even recall what I’ve seen recently apart from when I had Comcast…also probably gonna see ‘A Scanner Darkly’ when it’s released in early July… …and was waiting outside the library for it to open – guys comes up with a magazine for sale, three bucks – European porn, maybe Swedish. Unusual item – usually it’s just the American stuff. Didn’t have the money but I mighta bought it had I had, for the novelty… And guy panhandling for money there as well…started talking to him – he needed about 13 bucks to get his Ibanez Cutaway guitar out of the pawn shop…asked him about what music he played…said he used to do Top 40 hits in the Seventies. Asked him if he did any America, one of my absolutely favorite bands of that decade – he said “A Horse with No Name”. That made me think of the strumming guitar opening that indeed sounds like, perhaps, the rhythm of a running horse…and I had used “hocking” and “pawning” as if to mean the same thing, and he corrected me – guess hocking is when you sell it – in pawning, they hold whatever for you and you can get it back, paying a bit extra for the time they’ve got it in their possession… …and more about “A Horse With No Name”…recall a guy I worked with in L.A. in the Nineties – name of Bill Connelly, if I recall – who commented on the “the heat was hot” line in the song…guess he figured that was lyrically lazy or something…or it ‘could’ indicate that sun exposure after days riding in the sun was getting to the singer. And some think the “horse”

sweetdango@hotmail.com #437 (2 of 2) starplane.blogspot.com refers to heroin use, and the whole tune’s a metaphor for drug addiction. I believe I read, in the liner notes for the box set of America that a friend had, that the songwriter says that this is not the intended meaning at all… …and good article recently in one of the free spirituality magazines, ‘Open Exchange’, entitled: “Sexual Health: Just Love, No Agenda”. She quotes the Annie Lennox song “Money Can’t Buy It”… …and, moving around topics…my friend cathead700 and I have certain differences of opinion or taste about some things, many things, but we both agree on the excellence of ‘Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure’, which I saw recently and was much impressed by. Cathead700 thought a good thing was how the historical characters, like Napoleon and Socrates, weren’t somehow able to speak perfect modern English, as happens in some movies – I added that they are often speaking in a ‘British’ accent, too…no, in this one, there are subtitles…and I think Socrates doesn’t say anything at all – maybe ancient Greek would’ve been very difficult to portray accurately… …and, wanted to request some Rajneesh books from the library – there are many, but they are for library use only. Meaning, these are among those that are very likely to get ripped off…and speaking of the tantric philosopher, see ‘Wild Ducks Flying Backwards’ for the excellent short piece by Tom Robbins on Rajneesh… …and am using Classmates.com well to send e-mails to high school friends – this is proceeding nicely…last night got messages to Anthony Vicino, and Lorie Mayo, who indeed favored short skirts that showed off her nice legs…she mighta turned by now overweight, but maybe not…I mean, many of these people I haven’t seen in ‘decades’…one lady lives in Pacifica and says she’ll call me when she’s in San Francisco… …and another usual for me, waving to those on a sightseeing bus – it was a double-decker one – a guy waved back in a friendly enough manner, and some woman waved back but in, I must say, a manner that was most perfunctory – that is, “casual, cursory, passing”…but that’s not the precise word either…it was that, but also with an air of condescension – meaning, “patronizingly superior behavior or attitude” – yeah, like that…but more like a ‘slight’ condescension…but I had no problem with that…

posted by Velcro # 2:02 PM

sweetdango@hotmail.com #436 (1 of 2) starplane.blogspot.com …and wanna mention again a very recommended destination in this town for any with a rock ‘n’ roll interest whatsoever, the great San Francisco Art Exchange on Geary, across from A.C.T. – continually changing exhibits of rock-related material from a certain era to be enjoyed there…mainly photos of the musicians, but, for example, there are original Vargas paintings there now – those scantily-clad women I first saw in ‘Playboy’ as a horny teen…and, like, original Roger Dean paintings – the guy who did those fantastic Yes album covers like for ‘Relayer’… And there are many Rolling Stone items on display now – like from the ’72 U.S. tour, Mick and Keith posing and smiling – and Keith sure has some bad teeth…and there’s a photo inside a plane, Mick sitting there with Truman Capote, who musta been along to write some journalism about the tour…just Googled on this – there’s a ‘Rolling Stone’ magazine from ’73 with Capote on the cover…and that reminds me, see the collection of Terry Southern pieces called ‘Now Dig This’ that features his take on traveling with the Stones that’s worth it if yer into that sorta thing at all…Southern’s the co-writer of ‘Easy Rider’, if you didn’t know that, as well as many other worthy movies…been enjoying a book by Victor Bokris called ‘With William Burroughs’ lately which has the transcript of a time that Burroughs and Southern were hanging out examining a collection of prescription drugs, sorting out the ones that possibly had potential for recreational painkilling use… …and there was Vic, to change the subject, a front desk guy at the hotel I’m in, performing pelvic motions on some woman with him, and smiling at me – not sure why he did this, why towards me…well…loaned him two books about Bruce Lee from the library, and now one is missing…he maintains he gave ‘em back to me but I don’t remember this – had a lotta wine that evening…the one I ‘do’ have was in a friend’s room…Vic says this friend let someone in the hotel borrow the missing one…geez, that’s about 15 bucks I’d owe the library if I don’t get it back. Gotta put up notices on the hotel bulletin boards and hope for the best…serves me right – I sometimes let people borrow library books I take out - not smart practice… …and the other night, was out on the street hanging out…maybe I’d brought my homeless friend P. a Carlo Rossi wine jug full of tea…well, he’s got stuff on the ground for sale on Leavenworth and wants me to watch it for, he says, four minutes. Yeah, I do that, but it’s the longest four minutes I’ve ever spent – more like ten…but he’s not the best at time tracking, what with all the alcohol and crack and pot he does at every opportunity…but I got a chance to check out the women’s and children’s services office there that hadn’t really registered before – a lotta women and kids in the Tenderloin need help…liked it that the San Francisco Ballet was affiliated with this place, involved in some kids’ dance program… …and thought of a line for, like, a t-shirt: “Jim Morrison died for your sins.”

sweetdango@hotmail.com #436 (2 of 2) starplane.blogspot.com …and there was a recent miscommunication like the one previously noted from the recent time I was with friend cathead700 at Vesuvio – that time he’d said, or I ‘thought’ he’d said, that actor John Carradine, father of actor David, was in Vietnam – he’d meant or I’d not heard John ‘Kerry’…well, I was in hotel friend D.’s room and he said he’d been watching some movie with Bruce Lee set in Africa…yeah, right…finally got it clear that he meant Bruce ‘Willis’, and the movie was one I’d seen on cable a few months ago, ‘Tears of the Sun’… …and have been listening again and again to the very excellent Frank Muller reading of William Gibson’s great science fiction novel ‘Virtual Light’ – Muller really does a super job with the various voices, very…good details of San Francisco city streets, since heroine Chevette Washington is a messenger…her dispatcher Bunny Malatesta has her go from Masonic and Fulton to a place on Alabama, which is way across town, a long ride – Bunny tells her “tone those thighs!” Relevant to me of late since I’m seriously back on a bicycle again for the first time since the early Nineties in Los Angeles – doing a world of wonder for my body and mind, the cycling is… And excitement at the hotel recently: someone pulled a fire alarm and several members of the S.F.F.D. showed up to deal with the false call…unique was one of the women – it’s still a mostly male organization…she had some sorta huge tank on her back – perhaps overcompensating? I’m no stranger to that… …and, more about William Gibson…he’s got some sorta thing for “loden”, apparently, since he mentions it in ‘Virtual Light’ and also in his earlier short story “New Rose Hotel”, as follows: “He’d found a German girl with a taste for conservative loden and riding boots polished the shade of a fresh chestnut.” Thanks to Google for that quote. And also for this definition of what it is: “water-resistant material for clothing made from sheep wool.” (Found a copy of the paperback which contains “New Rose Hotel” on the street recently – of interest to me since this German girl with the taste for conservative loden was portrayed by fetchin’ Gretchen Mol, currently starring in ‘The Notorious Bettie Page’, basically the only movie currently out there that I’d actually go to a theater to see…and this might very well happen, finally, after weeks and weeks, since my hotel neighbor S. and I have made tentative plans to do this very thing together – last time I checked it was at the Opera Plaza on Van Ness, a short walk from the hotel we’re in…gotta get to seeing it soon, ‘cause I doubt it’ll be in town very much longer.) And even more about Mr. Gibson, from Tim Leary’s recommended ‘Chaos & Cyber Culture’ – there’s an interview with the science fiction writer wherein he says he was originally gonna call his first novel, ‘Neuromancer’, ‘Jacked In’ – but his publisher thought it sounded too much like ‘Jacked Off’…and they have a point there, don’t you think?

posted by Velcro # 2:00 PM

sweetdango@hotmail.com #435 (1 of 2) starplane.blogspot.com …and back to Vesuvio a few days ago…this is, uh, Tuesday, and my friend and I went to the North Beach classic watering hole last Friday, I believe it was…the bartender actually let me take my bicycle inside since I didn’t have a lock – mighty nice of the dude…so my friend and I sat there, had Bohemian coffees – that’s, if you didn’t read the last posting, amaretto, brandy, and the caffeine, and a lemon twist…and noted that the jukebox was gone for some reason I’m not sure of. Been to the place many a time in years gone by…but never really thought all that much of the box, which was kinda a lot stuck in the Fifties, with only a few nods to more current sounds…there was a live Jefferson Starship at the House of Blues in L.A., circa about the year two-thousand, which I liked…don’t think Grace Slick did the vocals on that one, tho’…Paul Kanter, of that band, is known to frequent the joint, so that may have been a tip of the cap to him… And before I’d been 86’d from Vesuvio – for bringing in my own cheap whiskey and adding it to the buck coffee – a reasonable reason for dismissing my sorry ass from the esteemed premises, I admit – before that, I’d been getting into a great Leon Russell disc on the now-disappeared box…mentioned this to my buddy that night, who’s a good musician, knows all the chords…he said he liked Russell’s “A Song for You”…couldn’t place the title at first but then it came to me…just Googled on the lyrics and like ‘em so much I now present them for you, as poetry on the page, great even without the music: “…I've been so many places in my life and time I've sung a lot of songs I've made some bad rhyme I've acted out my love in stages With ten thousand people watching But we're alone now and I'm singing this song for you I know your image of me is what I hope to be I've treated you unkindly but darlin' can't you see There's no one more important to me Darlin' can't you please see through me Cause we're alone now and I'm singing this song for you You taught me precious secrets of the truth withholding nothing You came out in front and I was hiding But now I'm so much better and if my words don't come together Listen to the melody cause my love is in there hiding I love you in a place where there's no space or time I love you for in my life you are a friend of mine And when my life is over

sweetdango@hotmail.com #435 (2 of 2) starplane.blogspot.com Remember when we were together We were alone and I was singing this song for you You taught me precious secrets of the truth withholding nothing You came out in front and I was hiding But now I'm so much better and if my words don't come together Listen to the melody cause my love is in there hiding I love you in a place where there's no space or time I love you for in my life you are a friend of mine And when my life is over Remember when we were together We were alone and I was singing this song for you We were alone and I was singing this song for you…” …and my Vesuvio drinking buddy was getting a bit plastered by this time, and he started in to talking about John Carradine in Vietnam – or at least that’s what I heard. Geez, didn’t think David Carradine’s father ever served in that conflict…turns out he said, or meant, John ‘Kerry’...well, he maintains that that’s what he said, but I think otherwise – a few pints of Brewing Company beer plus some Vesuvio Bohemian coffee’ll do that to ya, bro’… And got up a coupla times to look at the excellent mementoes on the wall of Vesuvio…good group photo of Jerry Kamstra and friends from 1971…he wrote ‘The Frisco Kid’ – haven’t read it…just Googled…one reviewer says this: “…rivals the best of Kerouac in its uninhibited portrayal of the joyous excesses of the Beat Generation…” Sounds pretty good…and also: “…the book rises to a wonderful bacchanalian crescendo in North Beach…” Gotta see if the library has it… …and read something about Ashley Judd filming scenes for a coupla movies in Vesuvio…she also has some sorta connection with Jerry Garcia…I believe she was in one of his music videos when she was a teenager, in the Eighties – she was born in ’68 - before she got so much into cinema…and there was that movie ‘Twisted’ filmed in San Francisco – saw that on cable a few months ago – she’s a police officer who is suspected of being a serial killer when she has her frequent black-outs…lovely, wholesome family fare, that one…but she’s a real cutie, that’s for sure… …and about this time, in the newspaper, story of the punishment for Kenneth Lay due to the Enron criminality…my buddy there that night, cathead700, felt this was a very important story, that the guy was getting his comeuppance for gross hubris, taking money away from, like, defrauded investors …the ‘Chron’ headline read: “For California, Poetic Justice”…

posted by Velcro # 1:57 PM

Tuesday, May 30, 2006

sweetdango@hotmail.com #434 (1 of 2) starplane.blogspot.com

…and was at the U.N. Plaza artisan market recently, as usually…the wind chill factor, gentle Frisco style, was happening that day, tho’ it was sunny…well, now Memorial Day has passed, the unofficial start of summer, so it’ll be getting warmer and warmer, and that’s peachy with me…

And at the market, a Little Willies CD was for sale – Norah Jones is in it, and I know someone who knows Jim Campilongo, who plays guitar in the band…would probably like their sound…the last song is called “Lou Reed”, the Velvet Underground guy, and that’s good…and: been listening lately to a cassette of the classic album, ‘The Genius of Ravi Shankar’ – the connection to what I said before is that Shankar is the father of Norah Jones, and also of Anoushka Shankar, who is a real whiz on the sitar, daddy’s little girl…

And met hotel acquaintance Taz at the artisan market – he was just looking around…we walked for a bit, checking the stuff out…we both admired the many insects and scorpions in plastic – a good deal for a three buck necklace featuring a real, little scorpion…and he is apparently into knives, ‘cause he inspected the ones for sale with interest and comments…he indicated one in a locked glass case that he said was a switchblade, but I told him that I thought it was illegal to sell those…and when we parted, I turned to look at the receding ass of some woman…yeah, I like a nice ass on a lady…

And a recent drinking mistake was to purchase Cisco – the “Red” one…had a headache some hours after drinking it, and that doesn’t happen with the Carlo Rossi Sangria I’m partial to…not going there again…hadda do the thing I do when I get like that, take a long, hot shower, let the water hit the parts that ache…

And recalled feeling uneasy about giving the finger to various large vehicles the other late afternoon…just not worth it…it’s been a few days as of this blogging and I think the danger zone has passed wherein someone I did this to would find me and pound me into dog meat. Been on my bicycle a lot lately around town, and that in itself is a statement against the motorized vehicles…no problem for me navigating the two wheels through heavy traffic – it’s fun…

And was walking down the street the other day and a guy walking towards me grabbed his crotch, looking at me…but he mighta just been scratching himself…or could been making a homosexual overture. Whatever…as I said, tho’ male same sex behavior is pretty big in this town, it’s nothing I would care to indulge in, ever…I mean, I’ve got my hands full with my ‘own’ equipment. Well, not ‘full’, exactly, but it’ll get “the job” done well enough for any ladies out there that might

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fancy me in that way. And there’s always my ‘tongue’…

And at “the fence” at Turk and Hyde the other day, paused to check out music discs for sale, even tho’ my own CD player is not working just now…guy was selling the liner notes to some Eighties Bowie, no disc…and the dude was standing some yards away from the goods, distancing himself in case the police came ‘round to bust up the street sales operation. Had three pennies on me, only, and offered these to the guy…he said he wanted to eat. He could always go to Glide or St. Anthony’s, if that’s not too much of a personal come down…

And cute the other day near the hotel, an indentation in the gutter where water had collected, several pigeons using it as a swimming pool…these birds seem to favor the water…a true part of San Francisco, those winged ones. And their excrement, which oft lands upon the unwitting, myself not apart from that number…

And got a recent call from a friend I’d planned to meet at the San Francisco Brewing Company in North Beach…he got up there earlier than expected, got off work way early, so I hadda get on my bike and ride up…

And around this time, guy in the hotel said there was “killer hash” around, and would I want some…might go for this when I get money in a coupla days…haven’t smoked much pot since my days and nights in Berkeley in the late Seventies, but I wouldn’t mind this, I spoze, in small quantities, but not enough to really get me fucked up. And another lady I know has Vicodins for sale, so this might be a good combination, the hash and the painkillers…and the cheap, red, sweet wine, of course, a total staple of my existence…

And got myself up to the Brewing Company post haste – can make it from the Tenderloin to the Pacific and Columbus location in about 15 minutes, easy…and hadda great time sitting with my friend outside, chatting, having a coupla pints of a porter, the dark kinda brew I prefer – tho’ their barleywine is most welcome. And out came owner Allan Paul…said hello to him…I’ve sent him blog portions wherein I mentioned him and his establishment, and he e-mailed back, and he remembered these. He was leaving to get on his “crotch rocket” motorcycle, parked right outside – I mean, the thing had what looked like two afterburners mounted in back, a serious machine…then my pal says we might go to Vesuvio to get an Irish coffee, since the Brewing Company didn’t have the requisite cream portion…so up there we went, and we had, instead, ‘Bohemian’ coffee, a speciality of that Beatnik era house, made with amaretto, brandy, the java, and a twist of lemon…recommended…

posted by Velcro # 2:56 PM

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…and met the other day in the Odd Fellow lodge building Club Room two friends of Brother P.’s named Travis and Charlie…they recently did jail time together for some reason I didn’t inquire about…shared some of the champagne that P. had given me with ‘em, and P. made hot dogs for all of us – didn’t eat mine, wasn’t hungry, but gave it to someone outside…they sounded like they might wanna join the lodge…

And Travis and Charlie and I walked around a bit…had a 15 buck check from P. for work done to cash, and we went to the Bank of America at Powell to transact this. And I gave ‘em each a buck, tho’ they were after more expensive stuff, heroin – never did that myself, not into the white powders – which would also include cocaine and speed - but if that’s their thing…and they were both very good singers, and they demonstrated their vocal talents to me ‘a capella’…lotta time in “the Big House” to work on whatever one is into, I spoze…I myself was in the market for Carlo Rossi cheap, red, and sweet wine, and offered the two dudes that, but, as I said, that was not what they were wanting…walked a bit into the Tenderloin with ‘em but we parted company at some soon point…

And sometimes when drinking I get a little…funny. For example, was walking two fellas from the hotel, D. and H., to the lodge building for the pre-meeting food and drink…they might become members, and I take it upon myself to bring people down there to see the main man, P., to see if they wanna join, and enjoy conviviality…well, this particular late afternoon, was walking ahead of those two and had begun flipping off, giving the bird, to passing large vehicle, a little pet peeve of mine. Yeah, I know this is the United States, where people are free to drive gas-guzzling polluting monstrosities, but I just feel like giving the drivers of these the middle one…

…not a good thing, in retrospect – a driver could take offense, get out of his vehicle, and proceed to teach me a little lesson in manners…nothing has come of this in intervening days, tho’…whoever’s in a big ass, expensive vehicle probably isn’t a local to the Tenderloin and most likely won’t be seeing me again…well, at least got D. and H. to the lodge, and they sound like they might join…oh, and that day P. didn’t let me up, since I seem to have begun arguing with some guy in the lobby while waiting for the elevator. Now, I maintain that I didn’t start this over just nothing, tho’ I don’t recall just what the guy did that set me off. It never gets to violence…just a matter of some, like, silly principle I have, perhaps…

And recently picked up the new ‘Common Ground’ at the Faithful Fools copy
shop near the hotel…a good publication, New Age-y, with much excellent

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material therein…this can also be checked online through, like, Google…just used
that search engine to find words to typify the mag: “…health, wellness, ecology, personal growth and spirituality.” Yeah, that above covers it…

And transgender friend Raechell called me from across Hyde recently, near Turk – was selling stuff…she, he had a bottle of white wine that she wanted five bucks for…didn’t have that kinda money then…and she said she’d be around to the hotel to share it with me if she didn’t manage to get money for it…eye shadow around her eyes…guy came up and began talking to her, calling her “my queen” – a male into the mode she, he was offering…met her when we both did volunteer work for the Salvation Army a few years ago…she’s been up to my room a few times and we just sat around talking and drinking. Now, I tell you, I’m straight as hell, have no use sexually for men, but I must say Raechell is generally more fun than the hetero people I know, knows how to just kick back and have simple fun. Being from Hawaii is perhaps part of it…

And as said before, blew a job that a friend, C., had for me up at a bed and breakfast in the Haight, the Red Victorian…showed up not properly attired, not “business casual” enough, with some glitter on – C. said it was a drag queen thing, for one thing – didn’t know that – don’t wanna send out the wrong message…and my jeans were pretty ratty…heck, thought I’d just be in the back typing names and numbers into an Excel database…woulda meant maybe 300 bucks, which I could use…oh well…sent him an e-mail offering my services again, with a more conservative look, but he wasn’t having any of that…shucks…

And, more successfully, have begun contacting people from junior high school and high school for a reunion this October…first one was a Lydia, now living with her husband in Colorado…and she got me in touch with a Carmen, living in Pacifica…so this is a good development…still got months to make further connections through Classmates.com, get something bigger happening…it’ll be a fun thing…Carmen says she’s in San Francisco often, and she’d call me when she is…I’m curious to see how she’s doing and being…her youngest son was in a motorcycle accident recently, so that’s pretty distressing…gotta get to more names on the Classmates.com list and get a real reunion together…

And at the library the other day, done with a blog posting, on to the elevators…pushed a down button even tho’ a guy was already standing there. Now, I find this annoying when someone does that when it’s ‘me’ standing there – like, it’s obvious that I pushed already and am waiting – why does someone need to push again? But, like, there are other things to get peeved about…

posted by Velcro # 2:12 PM

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…well, had several good e-mails to respond to this morning, so this will have to be a single page, having used up a significant portion of the hour allotted here at the library in a single day for reserved computers, unless I really get rolling…got one from my former junior high school English teacher, praising the content provided by this, and also one from a classmate from that school as well who wants to get involved with helping with a class reunion set for October. Kinda had the hots for her back then…

…so: liked the Van Gogh painting used for an olive grower’s product brochure at the U.N. Plaza farmers’ market…a lot of good art there – one guy sells posters, has hundreds of them, with pop culture images (like Marilyn Monroe, Johnny Depp) and also straight artwork…there was a Hendrix-as-Beethoven one from the Sixties that caught my eye…

…and was handwriting notes at the library the other day and across from me, a possibly very cute woman, long black hair, and possibly a very cute face and figure. But didn’t wanna stare. Seems like the library would be an okay place to meet women…well, my sexual life remains the same – “quality time” spent this morning with a pictorial in a ‘Penthouse’ featuring the antics of “Bobbi and Cain”. What particularly got to me was the text that accompanied the several pages of photographs – really added a lot in terms of arousing my libido…no, not proud of this behavior, but, like, heck…can’t seem to find any agreeable woman…was up at the San Francisco Brewing Company with a friend a few days ago, and found myself subsequently entertaining thoughts of the cute British server woman…not sure if that’s realistic. But realism isn’t necessarily something I cleave to overmuch…

…and wanna mention the always-good Rob Brezsny astrology column in the ‘Weekly’, a Wednesday regular for me…the last one said something along the lines of how a true warrior prevents violence before it happens…

And want to thank Odd Fellow brother P. for recent work…on the day in question, he had me bring a handcart over to the Costco South of Market and meet him there – once there, he selected several platters of meat and cheese and the like for a meeting that night, plus two cases of Pelligrino water…and was glad to have added one of the elevator operator fellas at the lodge building to my Hotmail contact list…he seemed to have liked a sample page of this blog. It’s always good to get someone new onto the list…

posted by Velcro # 9:08 AM

Sunday, May 28, 2006

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…in line for the meal at St. Anthony’s…down the street, toward Market, from my perspective, the sign for the HOTEL BOYD…but I could just see the first letters, which made it HOT BOY…and also a bit down the line, in front of me, a guy with a very colorful tie-dyed shirt with prominent green, blue and yellow. And thought of a memorable commercial on the tube from a few years ago with a lotta women standing in line…maybe this was for some fragrance…well, the St. Anthony’s line is, like, sorta like that. But with, generally, ugly, rarely kempt dudes…

And around this time, saw an older gent from the hotel I’m in, named Don…see him an awful lot. Well, at ‘his’ age, it’s enough to get around a bit on his cane. Good bloke - I always have a smile and a happy word for him…

And inside St. A.’s, a notice for apartments soon available at Ellis and Leavenworth…hotel friend Edward showed me this a while ago – he wants to move there, move into a ‘real’ place, not just some hotel room. But a hotel room works okay for me…but glad I know some folks who live in more commodious situations, tho’…these had their own bathrooms, kitchens, refrigerators, stoves, the works…most of my life for the past, oh, nearly twenty years I’ve lived in cheap hotel rooms, in San Francisco and L.A. – tho’ for a few months during the end of my time in Los Angeles I had a regular little studio apartment in the decent Los Feliz area – had a kitchenette, my own bath tub, my own front entrance key – luxury living…

And in that St. Anthony’s line – there’s a speaker near the food serving part that has music coming out sometimes – that day, it was a tune from, like, the late Seventies, Sister Sledge’s “We Are Family”. Lived in a shared house in Berkeley when that song was popular…I recalled a woman who was in the house, Diana, who liked that one, related to it, and liked to dance a bit…

And a St. Anthony’s line that day: “Today’s meal contains olive pits!” And it sure did, a lotta olives with the pits intact…seemed, from looking around, not to be popular, many left uneaten. But ‘I’ like olives, a healthy food…

And the main thing that day was chicken cacciatore…just Googled on that Italian word – literally means “hunter”, from, it says, a “vulgar Latin” word…recall in the very entertaining ‘Alien Vs. Predator’ that a moon down there in the Antarctic was called a ‘cacciatore’ moon, a hunter’s moon…and

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also with that poultry dish, boiled cabbage, which I like well enough, and
under-ripe nectarine or nectarine-like thingies, that needed a few days to be sweet and ready, really, so I left those…

And along comes, while I’m sitting eating, a guy I know named Scott Free – ‘my’ name for him, as a joke…he doesn’t see me at first…he’s with some lady – they were bickering like an old married couple…well, he comes ‘round to the empty seat next to me and I tell him that it’s taken. He says, joking back, yeah, ‘I’m’ taking it…good enough bloke, tho’ he can get a little weird when drinking too much. And he really ‘needs’ to drink, or else he gets the delirium tremens and feels pretty bad…

And Scott is a real pro at the St. Anthony’s food deal, ‘cause he’s got his own baggies to get food to go, and he proceeds to fill several up, going through the line repeatedly. You can take as much as you want there…

And he left before ‘I’ did, and left a decent stainless steel thermos, with an unusual collapsible handle…I took this…he had water in it, nice and cold…used it yesterday for wine…got a liter-and-a-half of Carlo Rossi and poured a good half of it in the thermos, an excellent way to disguise the public drinking of the ‘vino’…and I’m now wondering as I type this, do I still have that thing? Or did I give it away, like I do so many things? Would be good to have for wine drinking to come…

And back to the area of the hotel…there’s hotel friends D. and K., and case worker Priscilla, and Monica Randolph, who’s working in the hotel on behalf of tenants – can’t quite think of her job title – she’s doing a great job, looks like…they’re in front of the Cadillac Hotel for a food giveaway thing…and K. had a bag of stuff, but not as much as he was expecting…some granola bars, like…joked to Priscilla that after she had called ‘me’ “cutie” one day, K. says that she called ‘him’ that as well, and, like, hey, Priscilla, I thought ‘I’ was the only one you called that. But no…

Then about this time, to the Odd Fellows lodge – Brother P. had a job for me…at 7th and Market, police had a guy in handcuffs. And there was Odd Fellow sister Wendy in front of her store, talking on a cell phone…and upstairs, Brother P. wanted me to go around seeking a replacement for a broken light fixture. Great to get a little cash occasionally…

posted by Velcro # 12:13 PM

Saturday, May 27, 2006

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…my reply to Lydia, who is living in Colorado with her husband, Dennis…the dude grew up in the East Bay – me, I lived there in Berkeley from ’77 to about ’81…and they married after college…I recall her as a junior high school cheerleader…quite the wholesome suburban one, such as myself…she remembered my real full name…tho’ now I am, like, Dr. Agon Fly, or Mr. Whatever…and Lydia says that her husband and I are “the best of friends now”…which is a very good thing indeed…and, please, Lydia and Dennis, you must if possible go to the October reunion – there is plenty of time to make accommodations…and for sure you will be sure and Big Sur, ha ha ha, to find me, ‘cause I’ll be there…and it is very, very fine that you find that I have a sense of humor – heck, I have known many for years and years that don’t pick up on that simple fact…

…and…me on a bicycle, west on Geary…final slight gradient uphill, which I need for my cardiovascularity…enough for exercise at ‘my’ level...and then to the hotel, on the elevator with one of the Iranian brothers, who I am on good terms with…he gave me a cookie…ironically, humorously, he says the cookies are “toxic”…and he then complained about a lady who works the hotel front desk…he said she called his brother an alcoholic and a drug addict…they might take some legal action on that accusation…

…and found an Evian bottle in the Financial District of Frisco, unopened – a welcome find…and glad, very, that Soul Food City is open again at the Leavenworth and Eddy intersection…red snapper is a good choice, as is catfish…six or seven bucks…plus rice for the same price, plus two sides…

…an outside man Patrick – put his hand on my shoulder – he’s quite Biblical…asking for tea, which he provided – I just boil the water…and our mutual friend Allen had silver that he wanted me to check out – silver cutlery – I told him I didn’t have much of a clue about that…the stuff was probably at least ‘partly’ silver, by ‘my’ uninformed estimation…

…and at that point there was something in my eye…maybe too much wine…reminded of the Jim Croce song, “Operator”, which I now quote, verbatim: the number also has these words in the title: “That’s Not the Way It Feels”…good lines, as follows: “…"...but, check this out, just had a new idea…here are the ‘complete’ lyrics to the song…from ‘Photographs and Memories’…I know at least one dude who didn’t particularly find this guy’s

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lyrics and songs relevant, but ‘I’ do…

“Operator, well could you help me place this call? See, the number on the matchbook is old and faded. She's living in L. A. with my best old ex-friend Ray, a guy she said she knew well and sometimes hated. Isn't that the way they say it goes? Well, let's forget all that and give me the number if you can find it, so I can call just to tell 'em I’m fine and to show I've overcome the blow, I’ve learned to take it well -- I only wish my words could just convince myself that it just wasn't real, but that's not the way it feels. Operator, well could you help me place this call? Well, I can't read the number that you just gave me. There's something in my eyes, you know it happens every time -- I think about a love that I thought would save me.

"Isn't that the way they say it goes? Well, let's forget all that and give me the number if you can find it, so I can call just to tell 'em I’m fine and to show I've overcome the blow, I’ve learned to take it well -- I only wish my words could just convince myself that it just wasn't real, but that's not the way it feels. No, no, no, no -- that's not the way it feels. Operator, well let's forget about this call -- there's no one there I really wanted to talk to. Thank you for your time, ah, you've been so much more than kind. And you can keep the dime. Isn't that the way they say it goes? Well, let's forget all that and give me the number if you can find it, so I can call just to tell 'em I’m fine and to show I've overcome the blow, I’ve learned to take it well --I only wish my words could just convince myself that it just wasn't real, but that's not the way it feels. No, no, no, no -- that's not the way it feels.”

posted by Velcro # 3:57 PM

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…and…here’s an e-mail to the husband of a contact from my high school (or junior high), back when the dinosaurs (of rock) ruled th’ Earth…am connecting back to that time…how ya like me now? I sure enough need to clarify that portion of my so-called life…

...well, bro', there's a whole lot I 'don't' remember, but some specific details I do - like about your cat, Zorba...didn't know the name...well, Dennis, I am a cat person pure and simple, tho' I 'do' like the dogs of others, for at least a few minutes at a time, perhaps...and much thanks for getting the Seventies reunion information to me...I am currently looking through lists at Classmates.com for names of people I remember - including Lydia's - tho' I haven't seen her for lo! these 30 years and more...I recall she was a cheerleader at Westborough Junior High...and was "going with" some football player of Italianate descent, if memory serves...me, didn't do diddly squat in any P.E. class. But that's me...I'm a bit more on the metaphysical side, if you catch my drift...I see that I've got another e-mail from you, so I'll get to that...also, Dennis, I have been doing a blog for over two years, so if you have any time to waste - "waste" in a good sense, that is - you and Lydia might look it over, have a few laughs over some beer or wine or whatever you might like to do...

…and here’s my reply to the second e-mail from Dennis, husband of a good lady named Lydia that I remembered from junior high…if any of you are into seeking back into times past, Classmates.com is very excellent indeed:

...okay, Dennis, ya done reak good...this is exactly the info I wanted...I sure recall Carmen, that's for sure...the other name doesn't ring a bell, but I'm glad to know it...I believe Carmen was involved in the Colt Society in reunions past...if you can forward my name and e-mail address to her and Steve then it might help me get more in contact...I'm glad this thing is in October, so that gives me plenty of time to make further contacts...really make it a fun event, y'know? Millbrae is cool - can get there on BART...took down the snail mail of Keith, who seems to be the mastermind of this...thanks again...check that blog, like I said, if you wanna waste some time in a pleasant enough manner...hey, love the name of that cat! Zorba! Was just reading a bit about Anthony Quinn, who portrayed the Nikos Kazantzakis character on film...see ya later...at least in October in Millbrae, if not sooner!

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And to make it easier on myself this posting, here’s my Hotmail’d reply to my man C., who had offered me work up in the Haight, entering data into a computer…but, like, he didn’t care for my appearance the day I showed up…too “freaky”…not “business casual” enough…heck, thought I was just gonna sit in a corner and type names and numbers into a computer…anyway…

...you'd make a good comedian with a bit of work, perhaps...my mind? Heck, I discarded that quite a while ago, ha ha ha...anyway, thanks for the attempt to hire me...just wasn't quite clear enough on the "business casual" concept of attire...I 'can' go there well enough, bro'...maybe in days to come you'll feel differently about me...I appreciate much that you considered me, anyway...and, yeah..."process" is a good word...as in a "work in process"...

…and now, back to regularly-scheduled blog programming:

,,,was riding my bicycle up in North Beach the other day and noted, sadly, that the Truly Mediterranean fast food outlet had closed up there…it’s to be hoped the one in the Mission on 16th near Valencia is still in operation – bet it is, tho’ I haven’t been back there for a while…great food there, and cheap…the hummus is to die for…and plenty o’ lamb for those of a carnivorous predilection – as am I, tho’ I tend towards the vegan…

…and this was around noon-ish, lunch time, in that area…called the copy shop on Sansome where my long-time friend cathead700 works…he wasn’t there…so I swung the bike around to a Thai place on the same street he seems to always go to…didn’t see him there, either…

…then skirted the western side of the Embarcadero Center…there was Victoria’s Secret…they currently have a “Sexy Sport” campaign – ultra foxy models in sexy sports bras and, like, pink boxing gloves…

And have to note that there around the Financial District, into Union Square, was a young blonde clomping along in shoes that really made a lotta noise – virtually ‘wooden’ shoes they were, like in old-time Holland, geez…and also wanted to relate, the sighting of two horse-mounted, San Francisco’s finest – approached from behind – really got a sense of the “horse’s ass” concept…but I’m not saying that like it’s a bad thing…

posted by Velcro # 10:16 AM

Friday, May 26, 2006

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...visited the San Francisco Art Exchange on Geary near Union Square with hotel friend P. the other evening…liked a 1997 Stanley Mouse painting with a Grateful Dead theme, a skeleton with a crown of roses. And very good, impressive, the pencils by Roger Dean for some Yes album – very strong, authoritative lines, preliminary work for a full-on painting, I guess…and there are currently several of the excellent Alberto Vargas girlie paintings on display there as well, for those who fancy such images…

And riding around on my bicycle the other day, saw a sign for the latest Adam Sandler movie, this time with Kate Beckinsale as the female lead…geez, these actors all seem interchangeable, eventually recombining with each other in all possible configurations. Sandler seems to have been paired with just about all the Hollywood ladies by now, one of the more successful of the ‘Saturday Night Live’ graduates…

And was riding north on Polk the other day and deciding, after looking west, to go over to the Presidio…in the Marina area, had memories of me and my Former Lady Roommate – she had worked at lot at the Fort Mason art center and I’d very often meet her there after she was done…looking north, the Marin portion of the Golden Gate Bridge…and pretty as a picture, a small black dog romping as happy as could be in a green, grassy field full of little yellow flowers…

And pedaled up the wide asphalt path designed for bicyclists and runners, along the edge of the water – to the north, Sausalito visible…been meaning to get over there again, maybe take the bicycle over on the ferry…once, memorably, a few years ago, I rode over across the Golden Gate Bridge and came back via ferry…

And towards me, two mommies pushing their little ones in strollers, side-by-side…then past the Exploratorium – a whole lotta grade school kids on a field trip there…then into what remains of the Palace of Fine Arts, with the swans in the surrounding water…kinduv a powerful effect being there under the dome…

Then past the Lucas digital arts facility…I remember when for the longest time the site was nothing but a big pile of dirt…and I liked the eucalyptus trees, the birdsong – a place to experience pleasant aromatic encounters with

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the flora…and there was a young lady runner I’d seen earlier, walking a
whole lot, so she might not have been in the best of shape…took note of her for a while before heading back east, into the part of town known as Cow Hollow. Guess it used to be pasturing ground for the bovines…

And kept pedaling on, barely stopping at the red lights. Now, I know bicyclists have to obey the same rules as those in cars, but…

…and took notice of the Matrixfillmore night club, formerly, in the Sixties, a rock and roll venue created by Jefferson Airplane members…then slightly uphill to Union – at this point, even a short incline can require a lot of effort…there was a familiar Muni stop there for the 22 line – my Former Lady Roommate and I would wait there often for the ride back to where we were living in the Mission…

…and there are a lot of cute little shops along Union…an upholstery store, even…and an outlet of the Lush body supplies venue – one of my favorite places on Powell…and there’s the Metro one-screen movie theater playing ‘The Da Vinci Code’…and Sixties topless sex icon Carol Doda has her store along this street, too.

And moving east towards Van Ness…liked the screams of playfulness from an elementary school recess…and to Aquatic Park…passed Ana Mandara, owned by actor Don Johnson – the last day of work at a job I once had, co-workers and I went there for appetizers, cocktails…

And noted one of the metal Barbary Coast Trail markers in the ground…and liked the sound of waves…a flock of seagulls…the wooden antique boats at the end of Hyde Street where I played as a child…a little baby in a cute pink outfit crawling on the sand…and a Hyde Street cable car began making its way towards the Powell Street turnabout…

And up Columbus on the bicycle path…guy in apron, standing outside a restaurant, asked me: “How you doing, young man?” So I’m maintaining a presence of youth…

And past the Kennedy’s pub – would not have minded stopping for a pint or two…and there was an all-you-can-eat sushi sign – 22-95 for that deal…

posted by Velcro # 12:15 PM

Tuesday, May 23, 2006

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…and later that same Sunday, took my bicycle out for a spin…skirted the edge of the farmers’ market – no riding allowed through the center…headed down Market – the Arctic Monkeys are coming to the Warfield, with We Are Scientists, a band I’m not familiar with at all, opening…the hotel day desk man, Walter, recommended that first band to me – haven’t heard a thing they’ve done, but they’ve been compared to the likes of the Beatles, so I’d probably like the sound, which I figure is a pop/rock variant. And they have a song with San Francisco in the title, so that’s good…

And headed north…got to the Grant and Bush intersection, the Chinatown gate there, and pedaled up that slight incline, which at this point is still a good exertion for me and my heart and leg muscles – lactic acid in force…and the excess adipose tissue around my waistline is disappearing as well, a very desired thing…

And this and then that…didn’t take notes…until back at “the fence” street seller location at Turk and Hyde, on foot – had I the buck woulda bought three comic book for a dollar, including a recent reissue of a very classic Sixties ‘Dr. Strange’ featuring the remarkable Steve Ditko’s pencils. Didn’t know Marvel was putting out those classic comics in new editions. My Former Lady Roommate once bought me one volume featuring a very long run of Dr. Strange comics, but in black and white – this one was in color, and that adds a lot…Strange vs. the evil Dormammu in this one…

And then to the library – the bag of half oranges from St. Anthony’s was still where I’d left it near the guards’ office – but the 24 hours unrefrigerated hadn’t been kind to that fruit, and hadda toss it…did my blog thing, then to St. A.’s again, then back to the library to handwrite notes since the day’s allotted computer hour was used…

And that day had also witnessed the Bay to Breakers race…missed seeing any of this almost entirely – there were a few folks on Powell with the numbered signs on, but that was it – missed it all, missed the nude runners, missed the wacky costumes…

And on the way back to the library from the chipotle pork black bean free lunch at St. Anthony’s, passed through the farmers’ market – raindrops had begun falling, and the wind was picking up…but the vendors each had their own tents to protect them and their goodies against the elements…and passed the egg sellers – wouldn’t have minded a dozen of those tasty babies, but my pocket wouldn’t allow it then…

And eventually back to the hotel – into D.’s room for a while – he recently got hooked back into premium cable, and was enjoying viewing for the many-eth time ‘Dirty Harry’. Watched this classic a bit, I know it pretty well…but remember the scene where Callahan’s at a diner, eating a foot long hot dog, when the bank robbery happens nearby? Well, I thought for sure when he went out to deal with this, huge gun in hand, he had that hot dog in his other hand. But no…he’s just chewing…and

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recalled that the “I gots to know.” line said by the downed bank robber was parodied
in one of the Leslie Nielsen movies…

…and, about that day’s library visit – put an apple from St. Anthony’s atop the book return box on the way in…and actually went to get a book from the upstairs stacks – usually I just order ‘em via computer and wait for ‘em to be put in the first floor holding shelves – actually went up to get a ‘Dreamweaver’ software how-to text – friend C. wanted me to look at this in order to perhaps design my own Websites, or help him do this for his business. Well, glanced through the thing but gotta say my mind’s not too inclined to follow through on this…got my head full with this blog and the consciousness required to put it out on a daily basis. But if it means more money I might apply myself in this regard…for this blog, I don’t even want color and movement – the plain text is just fine, no pictures, even…

And the author of that software text mentions the Seventies song by Gary Wright…but that one is “Dream Weaver”, two words…talked with Odd Fellow brother P. about this today, about whether the usage by the software program makers violates copyright laws. I didn’t think so, but I’m no lawyer…

And leaving the library after handwriting a few pages of notes to clear out my voice recorder, enjoyed the walk in the gentle rain back to the hotel, even without an umbrella…on the way, picked up a free Frisco rental guide to wrap around and protect my notes from the wetness…and had to hide my cell phone away as well, moving it from an exposed breast shirt pocket to the safety of a front jeans pocket – the electronics and water don’t mix…

…then back alone in the hotel room…noted at about 3 that Sunday afternoon that I had two more hours til the library closed…wanted a new audio book…many of the ones I have out now, like ‘I, Claudius’ and ‘Moll Flanders’, aren’t quite doing it for me…and had on a cassette tape with music, made by my friend Keith – recorded from Boston radio. A good song from that: Coven’s Seventies one-hit wonder “One Tin Soldier”, which was used in Billy Jack…pretty powerful emotional impact for me at the end of that one, actually had me teary a bit – the treasure that the people of the valley killed the mountain people for was but a sign that said “Peace on Earth.”…

And about 4pm that Sunday afternoon, had been dozing, listening to the reading of ‘I, Claudius’…decided to go back to the library…no wine that day, no women…but at least I had some songs, on cassette…back past the farmers’ market – only three vendors left – wouldn’t have minded a few of the small potatoes to be had, but my cash flow, the non-existence thereof, didn’t allow even that…to the library, audio book scanning – took William Gibson’s ‘Virtual Light’, and ‘Stranger in a Strange Land’…on the way back found a discarded piece of bread, and enjoyed that…

posted by Velcro # 6:47 PM

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…back at the Borders on Union Square a few days ago…was out for a little walk out of the Tenderloin after eating a bit at Glide…not much at the place I’d buy even if I had the money…glanced through the latest issue of ‘Morbid Curiosity’. And looked at the cover of ‘A Writer’s Life’ by Gay Talese…the library and whatever I find free generally satisfy my reading needs…tho’ I’m there to at least ‘think’ of buying when anything new by William Gibson or Tom Robbins is out…

Then upstairs to the second floor magazines…British music mag ’Mojo’ had an Elvis tribute, including a music disc with songs by several, including, notably for me, the Jeff Beck Group. And there was the special ‘Rolling Stone’ thousandth issue with the 3D cover (the subscription to this publication given me by a friend hasn’t kicked in yet)…and there was a mag devoted exclusively to the San Francisco witchy TV series ‘Charmed’ – Alyssa Milano has been an iconic I’ve found watchable…and there was the British edition of ‘Maxim’…

And a magazine called ‘Classic Rock’ had a free disc called “Sons of Guns” – thought it was a CD with bands doing covers of Guns ‘N’ Roses, but it appeared to feature fifteen new bands with new songs – I guess inspired by Axl and his group. Woulda been easy enough to take the disc – the jewel case wasn’t even sealed in plastic. And I thought about it for a few seconds. But decided against…I very, very rarely steal anything, and I’m not very good at it…same goes for lying, not a thing I do well…

Then the escalator down to ground level…passed the seats near the coffee bar – flashed back to sitting there with Odd Fellow brother Milton some months ago, same evening I’d found Camille Paglia’s poetry analysis book ‘Break, Burn, Blow’ on the shelves and taken it to a comfy chair to browse through after I’d parted from Milton…

Then down Powell, heading back to the hotel…saw a shirt at a store that my Former Lady Roommate might like – it said: “Pirate for Hire – Specializing in Madness & Mayhem”…

And there was the store with the overpriced sports caps where the classic San Francisco’s smoke shop Marquard’s formerly was…the “ANYBODY WELCOME” sign is still there above the front door…

And there was a sparechanger holding out his hand, with a quarter in the palm. Told him he had more than ‘I’ did, at least at that moment…

And there was spirit tap dancer Edward Jackson at his usual location at the cable car turn…glad to see him, chatted with him a bit – he was back from a trip to New

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York…one of the best things about San Francisco, his daily performances. He was
adjusting something on his laptop, probably selecting music for his moves, to be pumped out of the huge speaker he had next to him…

And had picked up along the way a discarded Jack in the Box cup of soda…on the way east up Eddy balanced this atop one of the new parking meters. Flashed back to something else about my Former Lady Roommate – her first husband, a veritable fount of humor, had, she’d told me more than once, sometimes said “Jack Off in the Box” when mentioning the fast food franchise…

And a line for some fiction I am considering: “Here,” she said, handing him a card. Ten thousand on the plastic. “And take this too.” A brown paper bag containing a thousand ten dollar bills… (As you can see, it’s fantastically sheer science fiction…)

And had picked up the latest ‘Papercity’ along the way on the walk to Union Square and back…good candid photo of Mayor Newsom, taken for some Saks Fifth Avenue event…nice looking guy captured in a casual situation…

And one of the features of that ‘Papercity’, the travels of the Frisco wealthy – including Katya Sorokko, daughter of Serge, who’s got a gallery that, notably for me, features a lot of Warhol work…she went to Capri, Italy recently, and stayed at a certain luxurious hotel…she said: “I always stay in Room 501, which has a private deck overlooking the Mediterranean.” Heck, must be nice…oddly enough, my own hotel room has that very same number…but no private deck…yet it certainly overlooks the wonders of Tenderloin’s Eddy Street…

And up on my hotel room wall, as said, a full page – and the pages of ‘Papercity’ are fairly large – full page ad for Missoni, a women’s fragrance, with a beautiful brown-haired, brown-eyed model…moved, in fact, a Pink Section full-page photo of Gretchen Mol as Bettie Page to put this up, her looking wicked (or as wicked as Bettie Page got, which wasn’t very, apparently) with a riding crop brandished…

…and added Edward Jackson’s number to my phone, and have since put him on my Hotmail contact list…I have skills in keeping databases tidy enough…

And alone in my room, attended again to the yoga book I’m reading – the chapter was on the postures of hatha yoga, the ‘asanas’…gotta do more of the spinal twist, which I picked up on as a teenager reading another yoga book back then. A move that feels great, really releases a lotta tension…

And visited a hotel toilet about that time…thought of the water-saving line “if it’s yellow, let it mellow – if it’s brown, flush it down…”

posted by Velcro # 6:12 PM

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…and back to a usual location and usual activity, waiting in line for a Glide meal. Saw the Coronado Hotel across Ellis and called the front desk to see if my friend Keith was on…nope…tried his home phone as well and he wasn’t there either, or wasn’t answering. Was at his place once and he gave me many things – like a European underarm deodorant I use at least twice a day, and a pretty throw rug that adds a lot to my hotel room, visually-speaking…

And saw a guy riding up the street on a bicycle outfitted with “chopper” style handlebars…reminded me of friend Bob in L.A., who bought a two-wheeler about the time I did back in the early Nineties and got a similar modification due to back problems that didn’t allow him to bend his back forward too much…

And deleted the name “Aaben” from my cell phone’s registry – it’s a long gone very good independent bookstore on California near Polk, hard by the Landmark Lumiere movie theater location. Miss the place…I used to work near there and always passed by the window even when it was closed to look at their very excellent selection of books chosen to be displayed. They had a close-out sale where I bought the paperback of Ed Sanders Yuppie novel ‘Shards of God’ cheap…just Googled on the store’s name and got an excellent tribute that expresses my feelings: “Neighbors defied themselves to pass in front of the shop without stopping to see which art book, Socialist manifesto, obscure novel, or film noir guide was on display here.” Totally! It was taken over by some dumb shit tuxedo store or something – a real loss…

And the Glide breakfast, it being a Sunday – traded a packaged cottage cheese with fruit pack for more of the powdered scrambled eggs…I can eat most things but cottage cheese is not among them. Had a few spoons of the grits – also not one of my favorite foods…the guy across from me was the one who traded for his eggs…I mentioned to him that Richard Nixon reportedly loved his cottage cheese and ketchup – another thing not to like about Tricky Dick…and on the way out, found a cup of discarded coffee which I picked up.

And also picked up around then, a ‘San Jose Mercury News’ article about a Rembrandt exhibit somewhere…not really big on that Dutch master but I don’t mind reading about gallery or museum exhibits sometimes…back in my Berkeley days I saw the 1936 version of the painter’s life starring Charles Laughton, I believe at the old U.C. Theatre on University Avenue…don’t remember much about the flick…there was a scene where he takes some homeless guy off the street and poses him for a picture as, like, some Biblical epic personage – the irony of that selection has remained with me these years…

And then, after that magnificent breakfast at Chez Cecil, headed west to check out the scene of Union Square and Powell Street…had the coffee in hand…coulda been a dressed-down patron of the gigantic Hilton, which is directly across the street from Glide…checked myself out in the street level mirrors of the hotel…liking my appearance more these days since I’ve been dropping a bit of weight due to the bicycle riding I’m doing every day these days, for at least an hour a day – not hard riding continuously, but it’s good enough exercise for me where my

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cardiovascular system is now…

And paused in front of the New Delhi Restaurant at a picture of Bill Clinton taking a phone order…there’s also a picture of the very young and bearded and Boho-looking Bill, maybe during his college years, on a page of that ‘Illegal Drugs’ book by Paul Gahlinger – not sure why – perhaps to illustrate the section on pot…not gonna read the entire text, but should really go through it for the many pictures and captions and pick up a lotta info that way…

And more about that Indian restaurant…there’s a good selection of wines, and a few cocktails, such as “Madras Madness”, which features light and dark rums, mango juice, and grenadine. Kinduv too mixed for me – don’t like my drinks too complicated…and further down the street toward Powell, paused very briefly at another menu – just too commonplace to attract my attention for more than a coupla seconds, if that…

But not too commonplace are the window displays at the FCUK store on Powell…like how they dress up the mannequins, in a very Bohemian dressed down style…big photos there of two young women fighting, one in a bikini, both in high heels – kinda “edgy” stuff, as is the very name of the store itself. But, geez, stressed jeans there that are probably, like, a 100 bucks…

And on Powell, glanced passingly at the Walgreen’s window – intrigued by a “radio pen”, 2 for 5 bucks – writing device with an FM receiver built-in…and the new Betty Boop’s Diner is open for biz…gotta get a new Brita water filter there for my unit soon…

And passed the Gold Dust…recalled, when I had some cash a coupla three months ago, buying a guy named Roger Patton, a Texas-based Mason, several Irish coffees…they make ‘em there with Tullamore Dew, which is one of the better brands of whiskey…and coming out of the place, good music: Brewer & Shipley’s “One Toke Over the Line”…and next door, at the corner artwork store, Chagall in the window, a 1961 lithograph…then north on Powell – there’s the Victoria’s Secret – latest ad campaign is “Sexy Sport” – sports bras with a hint of the boudoir about them…and the lovely model had on pink boxing gloves. A real bruiser, she…

And picked up two copies of ‘Papercity’, the glossy free mag about high society soirees and lifestyle in Frisco – one for hotel friend D. – have got on my hotel room wall a big color ad for the Missoni fragrance line featuring a beautiful, and I mean ‘really’ beautiful woman…her image doesn’t necessarily excite the sexual in me, tho’ – I’ve got it up there for the simply just about transfixing good looks of her…then up to the Borders – a thousand piece ‘Mona Lisa’ jigsaw puzzle on sale in the window, capitalizing on ‘The Da Vinci Code’, and next to it, a Darth Maul light saber…and stood outside leaning against the store next to the doors, drinking my coffee…felt like I coulda been a barker enticing the marks in to buy books: “Hu-rry, hu-rry, hu-rry, step right up!” And read some of that Rembrandt article…400th anniversary of the man’s birth this year…writer talked about the intense conversation with the painter that still continues, remarking, and well: “It has to do with the inner light in him and in oneself.”

posted by Velcro # 2:22 PM

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…and four recent items checked out at the same time from the S.F. Public Library: Charles Bukowski on compact disc reading his poems, a text called ‘Illegal Drugs’ (title self-explanatory), a Carlos Castaneda compilation of quotes from several of his books with new commentary called ‘The Wheel of Time’, and the Tim Leary autobiography, ‘Flashbacks’…

…and saw hotel daytime front desk man Walter walking his cute and nice dog Astro the other day. Got a little devil in me then and called the man a Philistine…this because he called me that a few months ago for some reason, and I hadn’t forgotten it. Geez, I don’t deserve that appellation. Well, I’ve called ‘myself’ that in a self-deprecating manner, but I don’t think I ‘am’ one…it’s defined as “a smug, ignorant, especially middle-class person who is regarded as being indifferent or antagonistic to artistic and cultural values”. Originally an Aegean people from the Old Testament who had values opposed to Biblical ones…but, y’know, don’t wanna antagonize Walter…and it mighta made a difference when he recently saw me on the street with a buncha library books in my hand – heck, at the least I’m a ‘literate’ Philistine, bro’…

And a short piece of writing I much enjoyed the other day, a 1967 review from ‘The Helix’ – I guess an underground rock-oriented newspaper of the time – by Tom Robbins, detailing a Seattle Doors concert, this included in the much-recommended collection of the man’s, ‘Wild Ducks Flying Backwards’. Here’s a quote about the musical riders on the storm: “…histrionic tricksters making hard cider from the apples of Eden while petting the head of the snake.” Great work, done a few years before the publication of his fantastic first novel, ‘Another Roadside Attraction’…

…and guy I know on the street, Patrick, wanted my help in pawning something down on 6th Street – he needed me to show my I.D. in order to make this transaction. Wasn’t really into it, even tho’ it woulda meant a buck or two to me for the trouble, and didn’t make much of an effort to find him after I first went to do something else…saw him later and couldn’t really tell if he was mad that this hadn’t happened – hard to read the guy sometimes…

And in diamond news, Barry finally tied the Ruth record the other day…some kid, I think, caught the ball, and so that could fetch a goodly price if he cares to sell it…read in the paper that for some reason number

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seven-15 might not be worth much to whoever buys such things…

And was really jonesing for a plate of ‘huevos rancheros y una cerveza’
when passing a taqueria on Golden Gate near Leavenworth the other day…had money yesterday due to three little jobs done for Odd Fellow brother P., but that went for jugs of Carlo Rossi Sangria…but to put something on my stomach before starting in on the fermented blood of the grape, paid less than two bucks and a half for an excellent and plentifully-filled chicken taco at the Cabbies Burgers fast food place near the hotel…

And failing the delish egg dish at that taqueria, on to St. Anthony’s – went straight in that day, no line, no meal ticket that one usually must have…the offering that day was orzo chicken with rosemary…orzo, says an online dictionary, is “pasta shaped like pearls of barley”…and when I was leaving, there was a guy I knew from maybe four years ago, Jerome, looking through the free bread bin…told him I’d add him to my Hotmail contact list…

And took out of there a bag full of orange halves, and a salt shaker, which I have subsequently misplaced. Kinduv felt bad about swiping that salt, but I’m needing it…and, wanna mention one of the best things about “Tony’s” – namely, the many cute teen Christian girl volunteer servers. That day an adorable blonde one caught my eye – geez, she mighta been 16, if that…well, I didn’t necessarily have ‘sexual’ feelings about her, but she was just very cute and seemed like a really good and kind girl with good Christian values. Nice little ass, too…but her t-shirt didn’t have the Bible citation that I’ve seen on a lot of ‘em…like, oh, Timothy 8:23: “…thou shalt turn on, tune in, drop out…” – oh, er, wrong Timothy…

And then about that time, to the library…a guy at the Project Read adult literacy program offices gave me ‘two’ of the purple triangularly-shaped pens they give out ‘cause the one I had had run outta ink – was glad to score those. Had once asked a lady there for one and she wouldn’t give it to me, but this guy gives me ‘two’…it’s a great writing instrument – the three-sided shape fits well in th’ hand…

…and passing the Civic Center plaza in front of City Hall the other day, tents up for a reason I couldn’t figure, and music which I couldn’t place – sounded a bit klezmer-ish – that is, Eastern European Jewish folky…

posted by Velcro # 9:16 AM

Monday, May 22, 2006

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...KFRC FM has, often, songs I can listen to – like “Share the Land” by the Guess Who, followed by “Year of the Cat” by Al Stewart...I like the hippie sentiment of that first song, exemplified in lyrics such as: “...have you done your share of coming down?” (an excellent musical question), and “...you’ve got brothers and sisters who care/about what’s gonna happen to you/in a year from now...” ...had a live version on CD, before selling it – I guess that was at Rasputin’s on Powell...have taken to recording onto cassette some of what’s on KFRC – but even “I’m’ not so stuck in the Sixties and Seventies, geez...

...and the third song in a row I could listen to on KFRC, Tower of Power’s “So Very Hard to Go”...had ‘that’ in a live version as well, on the disc ‘Soul With a Capital S”...and that one I sold as well...

...and an Eighties tune on KFRC recently I liked, Hall & Oates, “Sara Smile”...I like a lot of their material, more so than most group’s...and about the same time, hotel friend K. anted up a 70 cents towards, I believe, toward a half pint of rum...had a similar amount, tho’ not the two bucks the New Princess corner market wanted – the nighttime guy there didn’t accept the less-than-total amount...went to the Cadillac after that – same no deal...

...then to the Empire at Leavenworth and Eddy – wouldn’t give me the rum, but got a half pint of vodka. Which I took upstairs after a friend on the street took a big hit...he gave me some low-grade pot in exchange...then took the remainder of the drink up to friend K. in his room and gave him most of it...

And then there are the BNE stickers all around lately...Googling: first result was the Board of Nursing Examiners...no, not likely...there’s an electronic music site with this designation – went to it – ‘Body Shaker’ by Future Prophecy is one title and group – sounds good...this could be it in terms of determining the source of the stickers...saw ‘em South of Market also, today, when Odd Fellow brother P. had me go there for a job...the graphics on the site are very happening and very moving, literally, on the screen...asked to be added to their e-mailing list...’course I love, like Joan Jett, rock ‘n’ roll, but I’m into some trance very quite often...

...but back to the rum...the day guy at the New Princess, Wa’il, is very fine
with the credit – got four Carlo Rossi Sangrias from him this month, to be

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paid for around the first of the month...the night guy is, I guess, not allowed
to give much credit, if any...it’s Wa’il’s joint...

And also on KFRC, Sixties Stones: “Get Off My Cloud” – a song I can listen to...most especially when I’ve had some cheap sangria...and gotta thank the lady at the Empire – she’s given me credit in the past, and the vodka half pint given me for under the two bucks she charges...but she’s stopped with the credit, for all, since too many took advantage of that...

And must mention a front page satirical news story in ‘The Onion’ – seems oil company executives marched in Washington, D.C. for their rights...photo with the guys in suits holding up signs like “Blood for Oil” and “Stockholders are People Too”...smart humor – might fool the novice to ‘The Onion’...and happily found that it’s available at the Indian food place on the northeast corner of the Leavenworth/Eddy intersection...had been picking it up in the Powell Street area, which is a distance away...

...and recorded Santana’s “Oye Como Va” onto a cassette from off KFRC...friend cathead700 noted a while back a humorous take on the untranslated ‘espanol’ in the tune: “...oye como va/burritos – get ‘em while their hot...” – try it, the meter works...

...and mentioning again offering that vodka to guy outside, Patrick – took nearly a third of it in a big swig...but he gave me some pot in exchange...some of which I gave to another Patrick, who lives in the hotel...he’d given me a large amount he’d found at a homeless encampment he was clearing out in Golden Gate Park for city pay...

And also worth seeking out, at the San Francisco Public Library, Camille Paglia’s analsyis of Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s “Kubla Khan”...this when I get this text back, of course...available also at the Borders Union Square...

And also enjoyed recently, in D.’s hotel room, on cable, ‘Autumn in New York’, with Winona Ryder and some dude...I prefer her contemporary works to her many period pieces, in general...and more about her: AskMen.com has some good text about the lady...some rock guy said to have slept with her and told – about her quote “enormous” unquote breasts. And her sexual insatiability...not really into huge tits, me, but I’ll overlook that about her...

posted by Velcro # 2:31 PM