Flower (Culver City)

Larry (Culver City)

I'm Trying Not To Say This

As we know, Bob Dylan is the greatest musican of the 20th Century. But it pains me to say that I cannot listen to his last three albums - Time Out of Mind, Love and Theft and Modern Times. I seem to be in the minority on this but to me, they comprise one long, dirge-like song set off by a voice that is grating to an unrelenting degree.

Peanut Butter Smoothie (w/ Self Portrait)

Peanut Butter Smoothie

2-3 tablespoons of peanut butter
2 bananas
6 0z's vanilla yogurt
6 oz's (soy) milk
honey
Optional: wheat germ / protein powder

["I Threw It All Away" - Bob Dylan]

Ray From Brooklyn

80 years old and pushing a shopping cart down Sunset Blvd., Ray made it clear he's not a bum. He's got "bad claustrophobia" from his thirteen years in Brazil and can't stay in any one place for more than two hours at a time. Working as some sort of animal exporter, he was quite proud of the the fact that he "Never touched an animal. Thirteen years. Never touched an animal."

Nathanael West Was Right

I spent too much time this weekend walking through Hollywood.

An ugly town full of ugly people.

Quote of the Night:
Money is the only thing that sets you free.

Paraphrase of the Night:
'Bush is remarkable.'

Tammy Bruce
Sept. 3, 2006
CSAPN 2

Lock With String

Bus Stop

Barnsdall Art Park (August 27, 2006)

Before it was an art park, it was an olive grove.

But that was nearly 95 years ago.

Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright for heiress Aline Barnsdall, it was envisioned by her to be an arts center for the people of Los Angeles. Somehow, this is what it still manages to be, deep in the skanky heart of East Hollywood.

Synchronicity Of The Day

Yesterday, I read about 100 pages of "2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl" by Daniel Pinchbeck. It's a book-length essay about some decidedly non-Western beliefs about the nature of time, reality and the spiritual forces that may control this world, using such examples as the extremely complex Mayan calendar. Unlike our Gregorian calendar, which was more or less arbitrairly imposed on our lives by the Catholic Church, the Mayan calendar is based on natural cycles. Its thirteen months, for example, is based on the moon circling the earth thirteen times a year. Additionally and don't ask me how, the Mayan calendar also functions as an oracle. It has prophesised that the end of the world will occur on December 21, 2012.

But you can only read so much of this at one time so I shut the book and turned on the tv to hear "...the Mayans believed the end of the world will happen on the winter solstice of 2012". (The History Channel was doing a documentary on the Mayans.)

*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***

Soon, when I'm not feeling so lazy, I'll be posting some, believe it or not, non-black & white photos. Meantime, you can read two short pieces I had accepted today on other blogshere here and here.

Brian Jonestown Massacre

Saw "Dig!" (via Netflix) this weekend and am now listening to Tepid Peppermints by The Brian Jonestown Massacre (via Napster). Never heard anything by them (or The Dandy Warhols, also profiled in "Dig!") but I haven't stopped listening to them for the past several days.

Sweeping The Beach

"Pay Attention To Nothing"

City Hall (and Bail Bonds)

Santa Monica

Mozilla Firefox -If you ever have problems posting photos, change your browser to Mozilla. (I have no idea why.)

Also, it's beginning to look like the J-Weed will have 15,000 visitors by the end of the month, more than I ever expected. Wow. Or is it 15,000 hits? I'm told a "hit" is different than a "visitor." (I have no idea why.)

At My Desk With Coffee (#10)

I had several rants written up but I just deleted them 'cause it's Monday and that's not how I want to start the week. But don't worry, I haven't forgotten them.

Cold Pasta Salad of the Day: To a bowl of cooked pasta twirls add a pound of cooked , bite-sized sausage, fresh onions and green peppers, Italian dressing and a can of drained kidney beans. Chill.

.....No more photos until Blogger gets fixed....

..... (Thursday p.m.) Still unable to post photos. No idea what the problem could be.....

[The above photo was taken last night at Crenshaw and Adams.]

Alvarado Staircase

On The Waterfront

This picture, "On The Waterfront", was not taken on the waterfront*. You get to do stuff like this when you have your own blog.

I'm listening to "Scratch", an online reggae radio station out of Vancouver. Nothing but dub.

* It was taken last night around 14th and Olympic in Santa Monica. It's posted "as is", not cropped, not photoshopped.

Self Service In Santa Monica

No, It Isn't Fair...It Isn't Fair...

As many of you know, I've been blessed with a startling resembalance to Burgress Meredith. But as of this morning, on my last day of vacation, with both my reading glasses broken, the resembalance has been catapulted into The Twilight Zone [Season 1, Episode 8].

Nautical Twilight In West Hollywood

...Q: Is it true that our thoughts affect our outer world?
A: You can say that but you have to stretch a little. In ordinary states of consciousness our thoughts have no effect on reality. But through meditation and creative processes we can reach non-ordinary states of consciousness in which our thoughts affect our reality.
Q: What's the first thing we need to change?
A: It is imperative that people shift their worldview -- that is the very first step.
Q: To what?
A: From the materialistic worldview that "matter is everything," to the worldview that "consciousness is everything." This materialistic world makes almost everything that we covet seem impossible: impossible to love, impossible to be just, impossible to appreciate beauty. Right thinking enables us to recognize that the world is full of possibilities.
Q: So is it our materialistic thinking that makes us unhappy?
A: There are two things that make us unhappy: one is this materialistic worldview. We're separate. Not experiencing wholeness. The second one is that we have not dealt with our negative feelings. No matter how much right thinking we have it all goes down the drain and we become negative.

- Dr. Amit Goswami
as reported by Leslie Dunn

L.A. Parking Lot

Drink of the Week: Iced coffee with a shot of espresso.

Century City

Stairs

3:28 a.m.

there was too much
way
way
too much

caffeine

in that green tea.

Wheatgrass Juice

It may or may not be a detoxifier or a cancer-killer but it is a complete food, with 90 different minerals, 19 amino acids, all the B vitamins, plus C, E and K. 'More iron than spinach, more protein than meat.' And the slice of orange knocks out the bitter aftertaste. I drank two ounces at ten o'clock this morning.

And that was the last non-lazy thing I did all day.

(Not true. I did laundry, went to Trader Joes and the Post Office, made BBQ chicken in my crockpot, watered my tomato plants, got my taxes straightened out (screwed up by H&R Block) and made a big pitcher of green tea because its 100 goddam degrees in Los Angeles today.)

At My Desk With Coffee (#9)

The new Leonard Cohen documentary I'm Your Man is not great but there was one performer who I had never heard before - Antony - and I can't get his voice or performance out of my head. A little bit more fey than Bryan Ferry but in this film he seemed absolutely genuine. I'm learning (from Napster) that Antony and The Johnsons have been around for almost five years. An entire cd of that voice might be too much, however. The other bright spot to the movie was Rufus Wainwright singing "Hallelujah". The late Jeff Buckely also does a great version which, as you may recall, was used to great effect in West Wing several seasons ago.

Sunset Over Pacific Coast Highway

Sunrise On Hollywood Blvd.

The Four Barbies

Goat cheese. Sounds awful, tastes delicious. Who knew?

I think I made a mistake watching Be Here To Love Me, a documentary on the very messy life of Townes Van Zandt, before becoming more familiar with his music directly.

The other night I saw God Of Hell by Sam Sheppard. Sam's really pissed that Americans have restorted to torture and he gives you a very graphic lesson in what it looks like. In fact, a handful of people walked out.

I've been too lazy to post my very own Ken Lay joke but here it is:

Enron Corp. founder and former Chief Executive Ken Lay, who was convicted in May for his role in the Houston-based company's downfall, died on Wednesday at his vacation home in Colorado.

His family said he had been complaining of not having enough energy but, tragically, they didn't believe him.

Fair At MacArthur Park

If you sent sent me a birthday card or called me or stopped by my desk or took me to breakfast or lunch or dinner or gave me a cd or dvd or book or magazine or if anytime this year you helped me with my photos or my blog or gave me any kind of good advice about anything or called me when I was sick with those damn kidney stones, thanks.

My 15 Gigabytes Of Fame

Yesterday The Jimson Weed Gazette was chosen to be profiled on KNBC News Digital as an example of what blogging in LA is all about. It consisted of a live (live) telephone interview with "House At Midnight" as an example of my work and, by extension, what a blog is capable of. Although I haven't seen it yet (does KNBC Digital turn itself off on the weekends?), my friends tell me I'm wise, witty and wonderful, incorporating many salient points, both personal and universal, regarding the past, present and future of blogging in Los Angeles. How I managed this in a thirty second interview is beyond me.

House At Midnight

It might look like a drawing but it's a photo,
taken just a few blocks from my house.

Happy Summer Soltice Day

It's the first day of summer. And remember, it's the tilt of the earth, only 23 and 1/2 degrees, that makes the difference between winter and summer, not that we're any closer to the sun. The tilt is what gives us more direct radiation and this is what makes the seeds germinate.


"Beware the leader who bangs the drums of war in order to whip the citizenry into a patriotic fervor, for patriotism is indeed a double-edgedsword. It both emboldens the blood, just as it narrows the mind...And when the drums of war have reached a fever pitch and the blood boilswith hate and the mind has closed, the leader will have no need in seizingthe rights of the citizenry. Rather, the citizenry, infused with fear and blinded with patriotism, will offer up all of their rights unto the leader, and gladly so.How do I know? For this is what I have done.
And I am Caesar."

-William Shakespeare

"A Place In The Sun"/Hollywood Forever

Hollywood Forever has come a long way since they first showed "Blood and Sand" for Rudolph Valentino's 100th(?) birthday. I showed up forty five minutes early and this was thirty minutes too late for a good seat. It's located on Santa Monica Blvd, just east of Gower. Small, insignificant coincidence: Paramount Studios, producer of "A Place In The Sun" was to the audience's immediate right.

Coming soon: Dr. Strangelove

What The Hell Happened?

This is not what I expected to see. I attribute this to the weirdness of the movie I'm watching - "Cisco Pike". It's not what I expected to see either. It isn't a lively time capsule of Los Angeles in the early 70's. For the most part its a listless, meandering, stoner talkfest. Kris Kristoferson is in every scene and he (under)plays them all as the brooding hippie loner, pissed off at the evil hypocrisy of The Man. Harry Dean Stanton arrives to liven things up but that lasts for about five minutes.

Now its off to Hollywood Forever, the cemetery that screens movies on the wall of Rudolph Valentino's mausoleum. Tonight it's "A Place In The Sun."

One Legged Pigeon

Hardest Working Man in LA

Literally digging ditches for a less than thriving church near downtown, this man was covered in sweat at nine in the morning. I asked to take his photo and in a heavy African accent he very politely explained that I couldn't for fear of losing his spirit. But then with a laugh he compromised by allowing me to take a shot from the back.

Homeless Feet and Shoes

Quote of the Night:

Mr. Shannon: You weren't disgusted?
Hannah: Nothing human disgusts me, Mr. Shannon, unless it's unkind or violent.

I'm watching just the last third of "Night of the Iguana" and while it's easy to be distracted by Ava Gardner, it's a genuinely interesting movie. I'm sure most of the story and dialogue are straight from Tennessee Williams' play.

Meal of the Night: Trader Joe's pre-packaged salad: Spinach and mushrooms with blueberries, cranberries, toasted almonds and white Dijon vinaigrette.

Music of the Night: My Life in the Bush of Ghosts. Brian Eno and David Byrne

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