#1198 (1 of 2) www.starplane.blogspot.com sweetdango@hotmail.com
…then to the Union Square Borders. Noted David Hajdu’s The Ten-Cent Plague, a history of comic books. I’d just glance at this one myself, but it’d make a good gift for a buddy of mine.
And also there, for forty bucks, Common Wealth, by Jeffrey D. Sachs. For another friend – we’d seen Mr. (or Professor) Sachs on the Jon Stewart program and she expressed an interest.
…and my next note, about a reeking – in a pleasant sense – clump of marijuana buds given me by a guy I’d just met at the Gold Dust Lounge on Powell. I was drinking Irish coffees that morning, I believe. Well, got to talking with the fella, we had a good rapport, and he just up and discreetly passes me this bit of the herb. He said it was “Jack Herer” variety, named after the pot activist. So you’d figure it would be top-of-the-line in terms of potency. (I don’t think I had any of it – not in that habit just now – but passed parts along to two or three – and – well, yes, I did have some, mixed in with loose tobacco I had. The next day, my throat was irritated at the smoke – a reason I don’t indulge in the burning leaf thing…)
And was admiring the music in the Gold Dust – turns out it’s some satellite radio, and I was impressed with the quality of programming…
And…noted to myself that maybe should I buy a Mountain Dew stash can I saw at a shop on 7th near Market? (Meaning, a soda can that looks like the real thing but is in actually hollowed out, with a screw-on top, to store such things as an amount of fragrant marijuana that someone just hands you. Fifteen bucks. Could’ve done it then, not just now…but decided against that buy. Just because I have the cash doesn’t necessarily mean I’ll spend it.)
And noted then the recent purchase of a six dollar bottle of patchouli oil. Had been wanting a forty-to-fifty buck Aramis cologne from Macy’s, but this was a retro and cheaper choice that I could live with. From the Underground Shop on Market at 6th, well worth your patronage.
And noted the Ghirardelli store on Stockton – the upcoming May 11th Mother’s Day noted. San Francisco chocolate always a nice gift for that special lady…
#1198 (2 of 2) www.starplane.blogspot.com sweetdango@hotmail.com
Then to the Virgin Megastore – bought Steely Dan’s Live in America, from the mid-Nineties, and it’s been on just about daily since then…
And…that day met a nice young man at the Gold Dust, said he was in the solar panel business. We exchanged e-mails, I gave him my phone number, and I took the time to put him onto my e-mail list, send him a message, but he never got back to me. Wanted some connection into that solar thing, and he seemed like a good guy, absolutely like a son to me. Also handed him a part of that marijuana gift, since he said he smoked it. Well, I tried. He was on his way to Berkeley, so maybe he got distracted.
Then to the Lush boutique on Powell. “Lady Marmalade” on the sound system. They’ve got expensive and very organic lotions and soaps. Got for a friend a ten dollar bottle of “Happy Hippy Mellow Yellow” hair and body gel, with a grapefruit fragrance. For “centralizing your aura”, it said, and that it was “Made by Audrey” on a certain specific date. Contains sodium laureth sulfate, which sounds like an awful lotta chemical syllables to me. My friend used to be a professional hair stylist, so I felt the gift was appropriate.
Then the next note, from the Lafayette diner on Hyde near Eddy, near the hotel I’m on – other things might’ve happened in between Lush and there, but I may have ran out of recording room. Or more likely, nothing of any moment happened. Paid two dollars for a can of Coke and a tip.
…and, also somewhat noteworthy, turned off Comcast cable. I get it for a few months, then stop, then start up again. Focusing now and happily so on audio books on CD from the library, and music. A DVD player could be obtained, but I may not go there either. So few movies I want to see…although there’s non-movie material out there as well. Just deemphasizing the visuals and looking out into the world, and not so much into the creations of the tube. But I’ll be back there at some time…
…and…random notes…speaking of audio books…highly recommended for at least some of you is the Stephen Davis biography of Jim Morrison – a monster at fifteen discs! I can hardly think a more ultimate statement about the man can be made. Gets into Jimbo’s infamous UCLA student film. He said it was “less a film than an essay on film.” He had ambitions to make flicks but it’s best for the universe he stuck to the poet thing…
