Alley In Venice (Midnight)

Scary. On the other hand, it makes it nice to be home with bbq chicken with pineapples mixed in and am listening to Chet Baker playing West Coast jazz with Gerry Mulligan. You can find it on Amazon (I'm too lazy to link it).

"Johnny's"

Movie Review: "The Proposition"

Within the first five violent minutes the terms of the proposition are clear and in motion. Not unlike Captain Willard in "Apocalypse Now", Guy Pearce sets out into an Australian Heart of Darkness (more brutal than any river in Africa or Asia) to terminate a former compatriot who has gone insane.

I'm a big fan of Nick Cave's music and his screenplay has many of his recognizable characters and themes - madmen, drunkards and violence of Biblical proportions.

There's also a vain, George Bush-like popinjay who is quite out of his depth as a leader and completely unable to control the violence he has foolishly put into motion. I like to think the resemblance was intentional.

The actors are great but they are almost overshadowed by several of the extremely weathered extras who seemed to have spent their entire lives in blast furnace of the Australian outback.

"We're Open"

A diner on Echo Park, just north of Sunset.

Echo Park/Sunset Junction & Back

This evening, in keeping with my "I'm photographing L.A., all of it" credo, I walked through both the Echo Park and Sunset Junction sections of Sunset Blvd. For you out-of-towners, these are the semi skanky, semi hip parts of Sunset Blvd., east of East Hollywood. Yep, it was a helluva lot of walking.

Car Wash (Alvarado & Sunset)

Lunch Room

Browsing At The Circus of Books

Welcome To Silver Lake

Parking Lot In The San Fernando Valley

Last night a strong wind knocked over my tripod and broke the camera that took this photo*. I don't know how soon I can get it fixed or replaced so the quality and subject matter on the J-Weed might be up for grabs.

Could this be true? 2.5 percent of U.S. income goes to charitable giving today. During the Great Depression, that number was 2.9 percent.

*I think it looks better in a larger format; click on to it to make it bigger.

Champion

It might look like Yazoo, Mississippi in 1925 but I took this photo at eight o'clock this morning just east of Alameda, near the 4th Street Bridge.

Get Off The Grid

A cold rain is falling in Los Angeles. (I had the unusual sensation of rain dripping down the backs of both my ears as I took this shot.) But if the North Pole is really gonna melt "as the mystics and statistics say it will" (Warren Zevon), it might be your last chance to plant something in the ground and then eat it. In some small way, it might also helps things.

These, by the way, are sugar snap peas, picked three minutes ago. The pods are edible and delicious.

Song of the Morning: "One More Cup of Coffee" (Bob Dylan)

Quote of the Morning: - there is no Quote of the Morning, I have to be at work in thirty minutes.

Dress Shop

It may look like a time capsule from 1968 but this is a real store, whether it's a recreation or just lost in time, I don't know.

Speaking of 1968, I'm watching "The Velvet Underground: Under Review." It's worth watching if just for the Mo Tucker interview. Right now she's talking about how much she loves "Sister Ray."

Soon I'll be looking at a book of photos by Louis Stettner and having more cherry cobbler.

Cherry Cobbler In A Cast Iron Skillet

- and it's damn good.

Table And Chair

Win A Shiny New Dime!

Be the Jimson Weed's 10,000th visitor* and win this shiny new dime.

Meantime, let's put on Horace Silver ("Retrospective") and have some seafood pasta with garlic butter.

Thursday a.m. - As many a careful reader has pointed out, The J-Weed has already passed the 10,000 mark. How I received 175 hits/visitors/readers in twelve hours (it usually takes days) was briefly a mystery to me. But last night it was again mentioned in LA Observed ("A Piece of History") which I guess accounts for the upsurge.

The shiny new dime has been placed in escrow.

_________
* Yes, its been explained to me that this will be ten thousand "hits", not "visitors" but I just don't care.

Urgent Care

A Bottle Of Jolt At Little Caesars

...adjacent to K-Mart at Third and Fairfax. Is there a better way to spend a Sunday afternoon?

Well, maybe and maybe I might have put these together for "effect" but I'm home now and listening to "Gerry Mulligan Meets Ben Webster" and watching some acrobat movie with Burt Lancaster and Tony Curtis but - primairly - Gina Lollobrigida.

Mr. Electricity of Echo Park

"Half a million volts. Probably more like two million."
"Where?"
"Right here in this parking lot. It's killed everybody here. They just don't know it."
"Mind if I take your picture?"
"Go ahead, brother. You're dead too."

Orchids

Franklin Canyon Reservoir

By the way, Franklin Canyon Reservoir is located near the center of Los Angeles. Hard to believe, no? Just go north on Coldwater Canyon to Mulholland, take a left for about a mile. There's a fire station on the left as you come near the entrance. Take a hard left at the light. Look for the hawks perched at the top of the tallest pine trees.

Franklin Canyon

Late Night Parking

Quote Of The Evening

"Be nice to your wife,

if you got one."

Things I'm Liking Today:

1.) Los Angeles Times Festival of Books on C-SPAN. Just now there was a panel discussion which included Robert Scheer and Scott Ritter. Although they were invited, pro-war journalists did not show up. The highpoint was towards the end when Scott Ritter had a brief moment of "Don't you get it?" exasperation. "We are going to Iran. In 2006. We're already in the run-up. It'll be like this: Baghdad to Tehran to Damascus to Riyadh." End of story.
2.) "Ben Webster For Lovers" on Napster
3.) Teeccino, a coffee substitute, with just a tablespoon of coffee.
4.) Oh, yeah, what I'm really liking to day is that this is maybe a full week of no kidney stone pain.

Things I'm Not Liking Today:

1.) The City of Santa Monica. Is there any reason for issuing a parking ticket at 8:57 on a Sunday morning other than to generate money for the city?
2.) Most, if not all (with the exception of "From Here To Eternity") Frank Sinatra movies. That boozy, Rat Pack life has not aged well.
3.) I may be in the minority on this but I hate to see Steven Colbert doing his stand-up at the Washington press corp dinner. Sure, this year he zings Bush for Iraq, but next year he's sitting in the audience eating the best damn veal he's ever had in his life and laughing with the rest of the co-opted press when Bush does something akin to his sickening "Can't find the WMD in the Oval Office" video.

"Repairs"

Homelessness On Sunset Blvd.

I think its time for me to stop writing about me for a while.

Blogger, Blog Thyself

Why the sudden interest in a dirty, antiquated and convoluted plumbing system?

It's a self-portrait, of sorts.

This weekend I drank more water than I have ever drunk in my life. Yesterday I tried visualization and this morning I again got a 5:00 a.m. wake-up call. (My stones are early risers.)An hour ago I got the possibly bright idea to put my neck massager over the afflicted area.

This afternoon I see The Specialist to tell him that the stones feel lower but that's about it.

Western Union (Hollywood Blvd.)

Bad News/Better News

I've never had a doctor say "I'm sorry I don't have better news for you" to me until this morning. Yesterday's CAT-Scan indicated a good sized stone in the exact wrong place and it was necessary for me to see a specialist-immediately. It was possible that he would today go in (or, rather, "up") and remove the obstructing stone. It would involve general anesthesia as it would not be a pretty procedure.

After a small battery of tests the specialist could find nothing.

Maybe the stone moved, maybe there was a ghost in the CAT-Scan or maybe it was Susan's Reiki (look it up) but I left with the doctor saying he won't be doing anything, at least for now.

So now I'm home, watching a movie with Jack Carson (a personal favorite) in it. The cinematographer is James Wong Howe as it's "James Wong Howe Month" on TCM. I'm eating spaghetti, I'm drinking a tumbler of cranberry juice and listening to "Music For Films" by Brian Eno.

No Pain

For some reason, the vicodin started working again. Even though I was pretty sure it was pointless, I took two at about nine fifteen and it started working within minutes. Lots of drama between six and nine, although I think I was out for part of that time. I'm in a semi-euphoric state.

But I know it won't last.

***Late Breaking (and probably wildly optimistic) News***I finally remembered that Susan, an ex-girlfriend and nurse, made a casual suggestion a few days ago that Advil might help in that the kidney stone is creating an inflammation and Advil is an anti-inflammatory. I took two tablets an hour ago (noon) and have been more pain-free than I ever was from the vicodin.

4:45 pm I've been pain-free for a record breaking four and a half hours.

No change.

Two more vicodin forty five minutes ago, I would really appreciate it if they would kick in. The pain is disorienting. I just forgot the name of my cat.

"Better living through chemsisty", my ass.

Dilemma

It's been just two hours since taking two vicodin. They worked for a while but now the pain is back to almost full throttle. Should I take more? But the good news is that its defintely much lower, maybe the end is near. Probably so, my teeth are chattering. I'm drinking as much water as I can stand. Stay tuned.

The Kidney Stone Gazette

In case you haven't heard, kidney stones hurt. So unless you want something that feels like a three hour Glenn Branca concert playing throughout your midsection, be sure to drink plenty of water each and every day and go easy on spinach, nuts, chocolate, tea, bran, almonds, peanuts, and strawberries.
7:40 am (Saturday): Call me optimistic or delusional but I think I feel the stone moving. Even under the effects of two vicodin, the pain seems to be lower than before and tearing through new territory. This will be the first Saturday in months that I haven't gone out to shoot photos and that's almost as bad as the pain itself (what am I saying?). This will also be the first Saturday in two years that I won't be tutoring as my student, who wishes to remain anonymous, is now taking a painting class. This is good news as he also has had to deal with an illness, and it indicates how much progress he is making. Everything I've learned about being free of self-pity I learned from him.

2:38 am (Sunday) Can you develop a tolerance for vicodin after going through half a bottle? Or does the pain just get worse (hard to imagine) as the stone travels further down? Or am I having a lapsed Catholic psychosomatically induced Easter Sunday experience (whatever that means)?

Please Start Feeling Sorry For Me

"A kidney stone attack has classic symptoms: the most agonizing pain in the lower back just below the ribs spreading around to the front of the abdomen and often extending into the groin area. The pain may come in waves as the stone tries to move through the tube between the kidney and the bladder. Often there is nausea, fever and chills, and vomiting. The abdomen or lower back may be painful to touch."

Couldn't have said it better myself.

Rooster On Wilshire Blvd.

There's a wild rooster on Wilshire Blvd., next to the Los Altos Apartments, a few blocks east of Crenshaw. (For you out-of-towners, this is close to downtown but also adjacent to the old-money section of Hancock Park.) He was there yesterday and again at seven this morning. There's also an empty ten pound bag of chicken feed which tells me he's been there a while, if you're interested in a field trip.

Maybe I'll post another photo later but right now I have to deal with a kidney stone problem. It hit me as I was taking pictures in Koreatown, ten long blocks from my car. Very painful and the drive home was no fun either. But now I'm flying high on vicodin and eating a Twix candy bar. I'm listening to Gabrielle Faure but The Velvet Underground would be much more appropriate.

***Now that the vicodin wooziness has worn off I can tell you that The Los Altos Apartments are an example of Spanish Revival architecture. It was built in 1925. Bette Davis, Charlie Chaplin and William Randoplh Hearst lived there and its still a pretty swell looking place. 4121 Wilshire Blvd.***

Webster. Is. Mad.

I just explained to him that today's e-mail from Netflix told me I will not be receiving another DVD from them until Tuesday - a full seven days after mailing "The Sopranos" last Wednesday afternoon.

At My Desk With Coffee (#7)

1.) I met this individual in East Hollywood on a Saturday morning. Having just gotten out of jail for "falling asleep on a bus", he asked for money to get back to Van Nuys; I went across the street and gave him food. As he tucked into his sausage and egg sandwich, he tried to explain the difference between being a Hollywood bum and a Van Nuys bum. He was very decidedly the latter. The next day we crossed paths on Hollywood Blvd. He's one mile west of where I left him with absolutely no memory of having met me.

2.) Altho at the moment I am listening to "Downpresser Man" by Peter Tosh, "Have Love Will Travel" is the name of the pretty great blues song on the Land Rover commercial. I learned this (indirectly) from an always amusing blog "Un Bel Niente (A Little Nothing)". http://belniente.blogspot.com/ (Someday I'm gonna learn the more sophisticated way of incorporating the link with the text.)

3.) Now its time to watch the very first episode of "The Sopranos" (with fettucine and walnut pesto). I've never seen it.

4.) "Remember that everyone you meet is afraid of something, loves something and has lost something." H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

Glenn Branca: Better Than Woodstock?

Well, maybe not but Glenn Branca's Symphony no. 13, “Hallucination City,” last night at the Walt Disney Music Hall was certainly a memorable experience. 100 electric guitars and one excellent drummer creating an effect of something like a hurricane that had studied nothing but Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring."

I don't think I've ever experienced music or any other sonic event to have traveled up so many rungs of my spinal column and to have stayed there for so long. When they passed out the earplugs, it wasn't a joke.

But the music itself was audacious from the first chord of the specially tuned guitars with brief moments of melody moving through the can't-stress-it-enough loudness.

(If you'd like to read a nice review and explanation of "Hallucination City", check out http://wishiwerethere.typepad.com/pgwp/ )

Fence Post In The City

Woke up this morning at six to take photos, fed the cat and went and back to sleep until seven thirty. Got dressed and drove three blocks to the closest Starbucks (doppio con panna), walked south on Robertson, half a block, to take this picture.

Happy birthday, Frank O'Hara (1926-1966).

"Don't Think, Look"

No In and Out

Quote of the Week: According to Bush, the question of whether U.S. troops will ever leave Iraq will be one for “future presidents.”

Garage

The Carrot Turnip Casserole Gazette

I bought a box of stuffing, boiled three homegrown carrots (below) and half a homegrown turnip, mashed them and mixed them with brown sugar and butter, added cheddar cheese to the stuffing, mixed them all together and then baked it.

Homegrown

Three Years Into The War

Yesterday there was a memorial in MacArthur Park for the 240 California soldiers who have died thus far in Iraq. Combat boots laid out in a grid with the name of a killed soldier attached. Interspersed with the boots were civilian shoes to acknowledge the Iraqi casualties. I'd have to say that it seemed too understated, it was not attracting much attention from anyone who passed by.

Much more powerful was the smaller memorial early yesterday morning outside of La Placita Church next to Olivera Street. It was for Jesus Suarez del Solar, killed in Iraq in March of 2003. A woman who I took to be his mother held a bouquet of roses and said just a few words. I don't understand Spanish but his father spoke very passionately without once raising his voice. I learned later that its been alleged that Jesus died after stepping on an illegal US cluster bomb and that his father is now active in the peace movement.

Hollywood Ladder

Cesar E Chavez Ave

- looking south, west of Mission. 7:30 this morning.

Colder and wetter than it looks.

Hoover St.

Billboard Eyes

This might not be the most original photo I've ever posted but I'm sick with a cough and a cold, reading "Tibet, Tibet" ( which is really grim), first drinking coffee and now tea and I guarantee I'll still be asleep before noon.

Painted Wall

Hollywood Office Lobby

Rain On the Roof, Rain In The Alley

Ed's

Wall in West Hollywood