A place to enjoy good music, drink in some knowledge, and watch a little sports. Where there is always food for thought, topped with choice grillings of right wing talking points.
I finally received my disabled bus pass in the mail. It now costs me $14 a month instead of $75! With that in mind, I took the bus out for a trial run today.
First off, given my new situation of not being employed, I have a lot of time on my hands on a daily basis. I have been getting out of the house every day, and embarking on a journey, whether it is just to the Farmer's Market (and the Grove), or it's to Baja Fresh for a salad.
Speaking of Baja Fresh, I have a pet peeve. Why is it that a lot of "Mexican" eateries play "salsa" music instead of traditional Mexican music? There is a vast difference from say, Celia Cruz and Ana Barbara.
I found myself today in Westwood, having started out going to the beach in Santa Monica, but stopping after traffic made me realize I would not get there until 5 p.m. So, I walked around and found this Mexican restaurant, and went in for a late lunch.
I ordered soup and salad.
I didn't like either of them too much. The salsa for the chips was better tasting.
However, the music playing was salsa, and not Mexican. Sheesh.
I've been busy lately, which is good. No posts, but I have been reading. Shout out to Rix, hope he has gotten his situation under control.
I have had a change of fortune in my life. Hard to explain. Seems the powers that be are still shining a light on me. I will expand at greater length later.
I don't call Tim Leiweke "Lies Weekly" and "Lies Weakly" for nothing! I also don't call Phillip Anschutz "An Shits" for nothing! I do find it noteworthy that after they bought the Kings franchise back when I was a seasoned season ticket holder at the Forum (before they even built Staples, and when I had six seats for every fucking game, which I went to religiously, especially during the Gretzky era), I was LIED to by Lies Weekly and Anshits on a regular basis, both personally and overall as a "ticket" holder. They lied through their teeth about how they were going to build a Stanley Cup contender team, how they were going to build the team around franchise rock, Rob Blake (drafted by the Kings), and honor the fans with the most fabulous arena possible IF ... if ... we only would keep our season tickets for another season so they could get the financing in place to build IT so WE WOULD COME.
Flash forward several years later, after Staples was built, after they traded Rob Blake the MINUTE he became a free agent (where he eventually landed with the Colorado Avalanche AND won a Stanley Cup), and the Kings went cupless (even after the FUCKING DUCKS WON A CUP before them). I turned my tickets in to Mr. Lies Weekly before the 2000-2001 season ended, and was told not to let the door hit me on the way out.
Now, after the Kings actually DO WIN The Cup, what do they do? Oh, and let's not forget that AEG (and the boys) got everyone on the L.A. City Council to take the bite at building a football stadium next to Staples in order to bring football back to Los Angeles ... well guess what Los Angeles? You just got screwed over!
Ha ha ha ha ha ... I knew L.A. was never going to get football back, and quite frankly, I really don't give a crap. I love football, but I've loved not having a team here, because I don't have to deal with blacked out games, AND get to see the Chargers more often on the Tube. But, to dump the current Stanley Cup champions? Well, in any other city, that would probably be unheard of. But here in La La land, it's par for the course.
According to the mayor:
"I have worked with both Phil Anschutz and Tim Leiweke for years to bring a football team to Los Angeles. I speak to both of them on a regular basis and I have known about this potential sale for some time," the mayor said in a statement Tuesday night. "I have the commitment from both of them that this won't affect plans for an NFL team to return to Los Angeles in the near future and so will not affect my support for moving ahead with Farmers Field."
(Still laughing). And you believe that? Well, I have a stadium I could sell you!
Zaire and I will be attending the free portion of the day long festivities, with thousands of other Angelenos. This is the second year of this dance festival, and last year appeared to be so much fun, based on the news reports and stuff I read about, such that since it will happen on a Saturday that I will have Zaire, we WILL be going!
Zumba, hip hop and other forms of dance! Expect shitty photos from my cell phone, but at least I'll have some to share!!!!
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times / July 13, 2012)
So, apparently chalk drawing on the street is now a matter of terrorist security such that the LAPD had to come out in full riot gear during the monthly L.A. Artwalk.
Occupy L.A. activists and their supporters accused Los Angeles police of overreacting Thursday to chalk protesters during downtown's monthly ArtWalk, which set the stage for the violent run-in that resulted in 17 arrests.
Cheryl Aichele, 34, an informal leader of Occupy L.A., said police were aggressive early and made their first arrest shortly after 7 p.m. "within 10 minutes of getting where we wanted to be."
"Police were pushing us -- I got pushed into a garbage can -- then we were being pushed into the street," Aichele said. "They would do all these intimidation tactics -- all before 9. They would come in and snatch somebody and pull them away. Or they'd push us. Or yell at us."
One of the guys she saw got arrested "was just walking by, took some chalk and drew a heart and wrote 'police' in it."
"We were being peaceful," she said. "In our meeting beforehand, we said our goals were: Have fun. Stay safe. Speak out. Stand up. Reach out. Make friends. Chalk."
Peter White of the Los Angeles Community Action Network said he was present at 5th and Spring streets as a legal observer and believed the heavy police presence played a role in the conflict.
"I firmly believe it was an over-saturation of the police earlier in the evening, the sort of aggressive behavior earlier, that bled into things that happened later in the night," White said. On Thursday night, people began amassing and drawing and writing with chalk at 6th and Spring streets.
I was one of the millions of viewers that watched this last show, May 21, 1992, twenty years ago.
Johnny was a part of my daily night life. I don't recall ever not watching him growing up, especially back before there was cable and all we had on television in Los Angeles were our 7 stations (KCBS, KNBC, KABC, KTTV, KTLA, KHJ and whatever the call letters were for channel 13). I cried like a baby when Johnny went off the air. Jay Leno sucked for me, as I had already become a fan of David Letterman in the 1980's, and we all know he was Johnny's choice for heir apparent to the Tonight Show. Leno is a stale comic. Letterman will still outlast Leno.
Kings up one in their first semi's since 1993 and only second time in HISTORY of franchise ... what's up with that? Rangers shot down the Devils in game one. Dodgers at least in better shape than fucking Orange County Angels of ORANGE COUNTY.
Walking the damn dog ... (metaphorically)
Ok, so let's SUPPOSE there is real love ...
Clippers, Lakers AND Kings ... the support staff better be ready for those changes of surfaces (of course, are they UNION ... )
Today marks the 27th annual Los Angeles Marathon. I was here when the very first one was run. It zig-zagged through Hollywood, where I lived, so it was easy to just gout a few blocks, brink along some coffee, and watch.
Years later, the route changed, as did my address, but the run route was right down my main street such that I would simply go outside in the morning, sometimes still in my pajamas, and open up a lawn chair, have my coffee, and watch the runners.
When my grandson was about two years old, he was skittish and wanted to run all the time. It was usually hard for me to take him for walks and stuff because at that age, he did not understand "STOP" when I would yell, and I was always afraid he'd run into the big street and get hit by a car. But one thing was for certain, we could not stop him from running in the marathon!
Zaire, at age 2:
Zaire at age 3:
A snippet of Zaire at age 4:
At age 5, with me running behind him (at age 56) - it was just a mile, but I was close to death at the end of that mile. Again, only a snippet:
I did a post a while back about true angelenos that included a bit about the nonchalance with respect to famous stars. True angelenos would not go all Lucy Ricardo on the star, and at best, they would just say ... "I love your work."
So tonight, it was like older ladies at the bar, and this tall blonde dude at the end, very unassuming. We were having a great discussion about Vegas, when two women of my age sat in between us, and at some point, one of them said to the blonde dude, "I love your work." I was like ... who is that? I thought he was just some business dude, who I see all the time at my watering hole.
Lo and behold, it was Ken Howard! Once I realized that (noticing that tonight we were watching basketball on the big screen at the bar and he made some comment about the white players on the team which to him, meant the teams were from the midwest, and he was right ... and still I did not make the connect) he was THE Ken Howard from The White Shadow, which I have to admit, I watched religiously ... I was so impressed by his charisma and his lack of "look at me, I am a famous person" while we still traded "name dropping" in our respective stories about entertainment.
And this man is the president of the Screen Actors Guild. Damn ... ya never know who is sitting next to you in Hollywood!
================================================ For you out-of-towners, find a deal on Orbitz, come to Hollywood, and rub shoulders with the famous. ================================================
It appears that the Los Angeles City Council and Mayor Villaraigosa have gone back on their word to the Occuply LA group, and now plan to evict them within the next 72 hours.
Los Angeles officials want Occupy L.A. protesters to ditch their City Hall encampment by next week so the city can begin restoring the 1.7-acre park where the group has been living for nearly two months.
An aide to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa would not say what day the city plans to close the park — or exactly how much warning protesters will be given. But during a meeting Wednesday with several protesters, the aide, Deputy Chief of Staff Matt Szabo, said they would receive "ample notice."
[snip]
Officials earlier this week offered the protesters work space in a city building, along with a package of other incentives to encourage them to peacefully abandon their camp, according to [Jim] Lafferty. But he said city officials wavered on that offer Tuesday.
LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa ran virtually unopposed for his second term and still only got 55 percent of the vote. Between a sex scandal involving a member of the press - to wide reports of his all around hesitancy to do actual work - he's not well liked in Los Angeles. In fact, just the most basic tiny improvements to the city like planting a million trees or making a major thoroughfare a one-way during rush hour have failed during his tenure. Politically it's the end for Mayor V, he's not going to run for higher office. He's done.
So now as he's really accomplished little in his two terms to help a city whose unemployment is 12.2 percent - whose crumbling infrastructure is highlighted in car commercials as an obstacle course - Villaraigosa's next move is to give the boot to Occupy LA.
Yeah, as an aside, that "iconic" bridge that is featured in just about every car commercial made, is to be no longer. They are not even going to attempt to create a structure that resembles this bridge. It is simply going to be torn down and replaced with a 21st century designed bridge. Sad.
We don’t hear a whole lot about #OccupyLA because the City Council has been so cool about it. But now, after nearly two months of the City Hall lawn being used as a campground, the city leaders would like to politely move the protest off the grounds while also supporting its continued work.
The solution, which has yet to be accepted but which we think is genius for all involved, is to “rent” some downtown office space the city has (10,000 square feet) to #OccupyLA for a ceremonial $1 per year. (The huge commercial space is in something called the “Los Angeles Mall” literally next door to City Hall.) And all the homeless who have come to the camp recently? They will be provided with housing. Oh yeah, and farmland will be provided to the group, so that it can be self-sufficient as far as growing food.
With an office space connected to public transit and near to City Hall, the protest movement can become a full-time revolutionary council. It can advocate for the homeless, for the people facing eviction, for those being pushed out by property speculators, for the unemployed and underemployed, for the whole 99%. Actions can be arranged against the corporations, against the military, against all the evildoers.
Read the rest here. And for all you OTHER Occupy cities contemplating what to do, take note of how Los Angeles is treating this movement.
Using my cell phone comes in handy, but it most certainly is not the real professional way, and does not do justice to what I actually SAW live! I can't believe it was in the 70's and it rained, and we got this beautiful rainbow! Below is a still shot. WOW, is all I can say!
I can't believe that me, a music person, and one who passes the Wiltern Theater on a daily basis (to and from work) did NOT see on the marquee "Buffalo Springfield" this Saturday and Sunday. Man, it pisses me off that I had no clue this band was playing. I am all things Springfield ... hell I was at a taping of Shindig back in 1968 where they played as well as Herman's Hermits, and I had (I lost them) autographs from both bands!
My first husband bears a strong resemblance to Stills.
I checked for tickets. Shit, $1,000 for an orchestra seat and you can't buy a single ticket it has to be a du0. I may still just show up Saturday, and see if there are any decent scalpers or whatever.
Enjoy the set.
I was a follower of all things Buffalo Springfield, from Richie Furay and his incarnations to Poco and then Souther, Hilman & Furay band, to obviously, CSN&Y, but also Manassas and then, of course, just being Neil Young! Unfortunately, Jim Messina is not participating (of Loggins & Messina fame AFTER Buffalo Springfield).
Enjoy their most famous album.
Kind Woman Bluebird Broken Arrow Expecting To Fly For What It's Worth Go And Say Good Bye I Am A Child Mr. Soul Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing On The Way Home Rock And Roll Woman Sit Down, I Think I Love You
All of these songs affected my life. Those that can even "get" Neil Young's style, lyrics and musicality, well, high five to them. The groove of Loggins and Messina, even though Kenny came out ahead of Jimmy, hey, their blend would not have started any further career for both of them, although at the time, one has to remember, Loggins was the newbie, and Jimmy was, duh, from Buffalo Springfield!
The incarnation of Crosby, Stills, Nash (and then) Young, there really isn't anything to say about that phenomena! But, for me, I went further following Stills into his Manassas days and thereafter.
I did see a few concerts in the 1970's of CSN&Y, but I never saw Buffalo Springfield, except for that TV taping. Saw Manassas live once, never saw Neil, alone. Saw many Loggins and Messina concerts, though! Although, in reality, my favorite in Buffalo Springfield has always been Richie.
Damn, a 59 year old trolling a concert venue for a scalped ticket to a concert! Not quite the image I would usually portray, ha ha.
I ran across this piece in the L.A. Times by Hector Tobar, about what makes and what represents a "true Angeleno," and I have to say, after reading it, I am in complete and total agreement.
So fucking true! I can't tell you how many times I've witnessed the "Lucy Ricardo" reaction to stars in this town. Real Angelenos slightly acknowledge the person, and generally let them go about his or her business. If I added up the number of times I've run into "stars," or sat next to one at a diner, or had one sit next to me while our kids were having hockey practice, I could drop names like a mofo! But, such is life living in Los Angeles, and you can clearly tell those from here by their nonchalance around stars.
2. Use your turn signals. This is a city designed for fast, powerful vehicles. Many Angelenos seem to think that the rules of driving in the rest of the world don't apply here. They're wrong. To me, a real Angeleno is someone who may drive aggressively but who always takes the one minimal precaution that helps avoid a pileup. Unfortunately, there aren't enough real Angelenos on the roads these days. And while we're at it, real Angelenos stop for pedestrians in crosswalks too.
Spot on in my book. If you're going to cross into my lane quickly and cut me off, at least have the courtesy to signal, and maybe even a small hand wave that says "sorry, but I have to do this."
5. Know your shortcuts. We avoid turning on the GPS because we know more about our traffic patterns than any computer. We know that the usual rules of geography and geometry don't always apply in L.A., and the quickest route between two points is not necessarily a straight line. We know that at certain times of the day, a sinewy canyon road moves faster than the freeway next to it.
This is very true! Congestion is the hallmark of this city, especially if you tend to rely mostly on conventional methods of getting from point A to point B. Knowing all the little alleys, and side streets that cross large streets, but have a stoplight for traffic, is MAJOR knowledge of how to get around town without actually moving in parking lot style! Just on the insane side, I once drove from Los Angeles to North County San Diego (Cardiff/Encinitas/Leucadia) by just taking surface streets, and while it took only one hour more than just driving on the freeway, it was one hell of a way to drive south! (The only part that you cannot access is San Onofre, where you are forced onto the freeway for a few miles).
6. Appreciate Vin Scully. I'm sorry, but if you don't know who Vin Scully is, you can't pass your L.A. citizenship test. The legendary L.A. Dodgers announcer, still going at age 83, was born in the Bronx, but he's as Angeleno as they come. Drop Scully's name into a conversation, and it will instantly identify you as a real Angeleno.
No doubt about that one. Anyone and everyone who has listened to Dodger baseball on the radio as a kid (and on tv as an adult) knows the voice of Scully. If you have to even ask who he is, you are not from these parts!
Go read the rest of the article and the remainder of the top ten. You're also invited to add your own to the list, but I think he did a great job of describing us Angelenos!
It was a good day today. First off, Santa's Elves has been offered a FREE warehouse and office, Yippee!!!!!
Second, I went to my regular watering hole. It's fun to be greeted like Norm at the Cheers bar, where everyone knows your name! (Laughing). The Rangers/Capitals game was on, and I eventually moved from my regular table to the bar where a New Yorker was watching the game on the bar TV. It was fun talking with him (he was in town on vacation with his wife, but he was at the bar because he was trying to find someplace to watch the "game.") We had fun exchanging hockey stories, but clearly, I was the dominant one with respect to knowledge of players and the game. Yeah, just in case some of you don't remember, I still have my two hockey player autograph tats on my left ankle! And you all know I am the sports pig, so I can talk about just anything sports, whether baseball, football, hockey, basketball, etc. I gave him advice as to where to go have dinner with his wife (the Grove/Farmer's Market) where there are plenty of regular and upscale places to eat. He actually went to a Kings playoff game and was surprised at how many empty seats there were (yeah, don't get me started on my Kings rant!), and he wanted to buy a Kings jersey but he felt the roughly $150 was a bit high. Shit, I've paid more for some of my jerseys ... but then I have paid less when I've ordered them from Canada. Anyway, the game went into overtime, and I had to leave because I needed to get home to watch my reality show, Survivor (ha ha). Caps won in overtime. I gave him my blog business card. Hope he checks it out, and if he and his wife come back again, I will most assuredly help him out with the "tour" of our gracious city!
Third, my regular bartender, who is always generous in her "pour" of my rum/cokes, and sometimes comps me with a drink, bought me a lotto ticket. I still haven't figured out how to check what numbers won ... I never play the lotto, but I did tell her if we won, it's a shared ticket! UPDATE: I got 3 of the 5 numbers and won $15 bucks LOL!
Then, of course, because I have all the tattoos, especially the hockey player autographs (Kelly Hrudey and Corey Millen) the next topic was tatts, so I gave information to one of the servers that was interested in getting a tatt regarding Greg at Sunset Strip Tattoo (who usually has a nine month waiting list, he's that good).
Opening the state's dependency courts is an idea that has been gaining momentum in recent years. Michael Nash, the presiding judge of Los Angeles County Juvenile Court, is a stalwart supporter, and the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services, which once opposed it, now favors it as well. Public employee unions, whose members might be subjected to greater scrutiny, remain wary, but they should come to see that public proceedings will help instill public confidence. Witness the case of police officers who once flinched at putting cameras in patrol cars: Today, those cameras are widely regarded as protecting good officers from false accusations. So too would open proceedings protect those social workers who deserve it.
Feuer has devoted himself to finding solutions to problems that can be addressed without new spending; the state's finances make that imperative. He's succeeded with this bill, which involves no cost to taxpayers. "Opening these proceedings to public scrutiny," he said this week, "will promote needed reforms and help safeguard children by making everyone in the system more accountable." That is true and overdue.
He gets my vote on this issue. As someone who has recently been subjected to the "dependency courts" and how they operate, it is a conundrum when compared to other aspects of the legal profession. Everything is out in the open, except in dependency courts, where shrouding everything in secrecy prohibits even cursory reviews of the propriety of DCFS' actions! My case alone has so many mistakes it makes my head spin. And as for accountability, there is none, unless (as many have urged me to do) I file suit against the agency for the poor management of the case.
From my own experience, Los Angeles County DCFS workers are not held accountable in any fashion, rightly or wrongly. The autonomy afforded these workers makes many of the ones I came into contact with act like lords over a kingdom, and we are their serfs. They even go so far as to prod you to just lie and admit to an abuse that did not occur, they try to force you to take their appointed attorney (kind of like a public defender in a criminal action), and in my case I was actually told by one social worker that it would go a long way in my daughter's case if I just simply convinced her to accept the charges. When we said no, and told them we had our own lawyers, their prejudice against me was obvious. I was denied, without proper cause, the ability to take my grandson home, even though the eventual family (after they placed the kid into a non-English speaking foster home for a week) that was appointed as the temporary home pending trial, was in a weaker position than I with regard to the requirements for such placement. Even with regard to visitation, I have been thwarted at every angle from being allowed to have visits. It is as if my grandson dropped off the face of the earth because the host family has refused to allow me to even call my grandson to talk with him. And here, I'm not even the accused! I've not been charged with anything! On the other hand, the presumptive father who has had very little to do with the child in question, was given "temporary custody" in order to make decisions on behalf of the child, and this despite the fact that HE is also an accused in this action. It boggles the mind how these people can get away with such atrocities, and I applaud assemblyman Feuer in his quest to open up dependency court hearings to the public.
Read the article in full. It's short, but to the point.
I took these pictures with my new droid cell phone. Love the new phone! I could not believe there was a double rainbow. That is rare. It was all thunder and lightening today, with the thunder so loud at one point a lot of car alarms in the parking lot went off! But, we do need the rain here in California, except it would be nice if it were normal, like not severe hot in the summer and fires, and fierce cold and rain in the winters causing floods and mudslides where the fires burned earlier. (Yeah, there's no global warming, cough cough).
As you can see, the view from my office window is pretty expansive, and even with raindrops on the window, getting a picture of a rainbow, let alone a double one, is not too shabby!
Today in Los Angeles, we hit the hottest day EVER since recording the weather started in 1877. It was 113 degrees in Los Angeles (apparently it hit 112 in June 1990, but I'm not having any recollection of that heat wave). In all my life, I've never had to deal with that kind of weather in Los Angeles. Sure, in Vegas, in Palm Springs, and other places in say New Mexico and Airzona. Even in the Valley it's been that hot, but NOT in the city of Los Angeles, proper. Right now, as I am post this at about 4:15 p.m., it's still 105 degrees! I need to go to the market and I just can't stomach the idea of actually stepping out at this time. I can't even imagine that at the late time of 7 or 8 p.m. it will be under 100. Who knows ...
It seems that some of my photos (as well as some of my copies of photos, with proper credit of course) draw a lot of hits on my blog as well as on my grandson's blog.
I've noted an uptake this weekend and today, and I realized that all searches were about the new school opening in Los Angeles, which I blogged about here. Much like how I get a lot of hits whenever the CSI episode about the Chateau Rouge airs. But, I was surprised at the various locations that have an interest in this new school, named for Robert F. Kennedy, and built on the site where he was killed after he had won the California primary in June of 1968. The old Ambassador Hotel remained unused except for movie production shooting, and finally, the city of Los Angeles, after countless lawsuits, obtained the rights to the property and demolished most of the hotel and built a K-12 school on the grounds. Today was the first day it opened for full attendance (it had opened earlier for the elementary school portion, but I can't say right at the moment just when, only "remember" that it was at least a year ago) of all grades K-12.
I noticed that most of the search links were via Google for "RFK school."
As for my grandson, his damn effin fracking mohawk is the top search that brings people to HIS blog!
