busblog

with world famous record producer Taavi Mote.

even though it was just a night out to leave business behind for a few hours

i brought two cassettes in hopes he would love them: The Wonderfuls and The Sean White Band

but the only tape deck Taavi had in his little alfa romero was a DAT player.

so we watched the game, talked about girls, ate hotdogs and seriously left the

real world behind.

because those were the days before cell phones, no one knew that not far away LA was beginning to burn

and the PA announcer at Dodger Stadium seemed perfectly content not telling us

it was only as i was driving back home to Santa Barbara did i remember the verdict was

going to be announced early in the day

and about 15 minutes south of Isla Vista i turned on a news station and heard what i had missed

so the biggest memory i have of the rodney king rioting

was one of the most tranquil trips to a ball game ive ever had.

not so sure i can do anything about that.

im a thousand years old, i live in a shoe

the people <3 me and i <3 them too.

this guy was totally lying to me today

and it reminded me of the time i saw nirvana at the forum

its punk rock to throw a shoe at the singer at a punk rock show

no matter how big and fancy youve made it, so someone threw a shoe at kurdt

right when he was doing a tiny acoustic set sitting on a chair.

kurt didnt flinch.

maybe for reasons not super punk rock

or maybe because

since when do slackers care.

our job is simply to tear the roof off the joint.

and then go back to mope

in ironic elegance.

the thing about being a weirdo is if you actually listen to your parents

and all the books and all the movies and all the things that say

be yourself,

it almost becomes a dare.

what i <3 about the kids today is they have a saying: Challenge Accepted.

tomorrow im going to accept an offer to be on a fancy board.

ten bucks no one throws a shoe at me,

slackers.

shes a really sweet young woman who works super hard

and is one of the main reasons why Blogdowntown is as good as it is.

shes also the secret weapon to our South LA blog, On Central and found the oldest man in town.

her name is Hayley, shes a native californian and even though, to me, that usually means she’d be super mellow (she is) and has seen it all (well…), i was nervous how Dov would react to her

because i had heard stories about that man.

apparently he was on his best behavior because he was talking about something very near and dear to his heart: Immigration.

but also because Hayley is a solid young reporter who knows how to interview.

anyways tomorrow is May Day and Dov and all of his employees are going to march down Broadway

you can get your coverage of the event, by Hayley, on blogdowntown and at kpcc

it should look something like this:

ive had girlfriends who dont understand sports. and dude co-workers.

and they’d ask whats the point? these are all humans with gene mutations.

these are all roided up jocks who you would have hated to be friends with.

these are all freaks of nature who are benefiting from over excited pituitary glands.

but id say this isnt anything like that. yes some of these people are taller or bigger or faster,

but at the heart of sports just like the heart of anything are people who

simply want to win.

indeed, at the heart of sports is heart.

something we can all relate to. something we can definitely learn from.

this weekend several things happened that on paper should never have happened.

The Clippers came back from an insurmountable deficit to beat the Memphis Grizzlies in Tennessee.

The lowly Chicago Cubs went into Philadelphia to beat a team expected to make it into postseason play.

and Albert Puljos of the Anaheim Angels, a man paid tens of millions a year, mostly to hit homers,

could not hit the ball out of the infield, again.

life has never been predictable.

not the interesting moments, at least.

keep playing.

not all christian music sucks

the entire thing was top secret.

still is.

international. undercover. so natural.

so wrong. so sweet.

such a rip off.

once etienne learned spanish while on a long busride in south america

then taught her dog, Uva.

Uva sends me text messages but i dont read em.

they dog me.

most of the time i think the things in my life have some sort of rhyme or reason.

its then i remember that dylans most of the time is so underrated.

just like todays birthday grrrrl

etienne, which rhymes with

i’ll never see again.

saw the monstrosity at the end of the loop

listened to the kids not give a crap

theres two bars now in IV. the study hall and what was once Pizza Bobs

Pizza Bobs is way better, but i didnt drink at neither.

i drank at the Nexus with the former and current college journalists

then hung out at the radio station.

every time i go to santa barbara i wanna stay there forever.

went to the park and saw a band. went to the beach and saw the waves.

went to Javans and saw the nice husband and wife.

ive been to the vatican,

all i know is theres no more holy place

than IV

ali came back from japan this week and she was all i think i got radiation out there

i said no prob, i can poke my head into the xbi and grab you a remedy

but it might get you drunk, and its best paired with delicious sushi

with karisa and i.

ali was like dude im so sick of sushi and to be honest i think i got poisoned off that crap in osaka

i was all baby who do you think youre talking to. next to esp my special skill is poisons

ive got the cure, but seriously sushi is the best thing to drink it with. sorry.

got to the joint, plopped the magic bottle on the table and bro was all, weve gotta charge you a corkage fee

i went what? he was like dude you cant just bring your own booze in this classy place, $10 corkage.

i was all, this isnt any normal saki, this is an antidote for radiation

dude looked at the bottle, looked at my dining mates, said $20.

i was all

karisa said stop talking tony.

i shut up and i paid the man the money.

the best interent story of the month was the little 9 year old boy and his cardboard arcade

Caine’s Arcade went viral the day the filmmaker Nirvan put it up on the web.

a heartwarming tale of a little kid who busied himself at his dad’s auto parts store

by making Chuck E. Cheese type amusements out of throw aways.

ironically since his dad owns a junkyard and sells parts online its almost exactly

EXACTLY WHAT HIS POPS DOES – but more creative – plus hes nine so its adorbs.

a few weeks ago i got to go to Caine’s Arcade and i met everyone and i got a tshirt

and a few Fun Passes and yes indeed my heart was warmed.

this weekend Caine is back from getting his First Communion and appearing at the SF Exploratorium

and he is where it all started: in East LA at his dad’s store.

and the arcade is open, so if youre in LA and near Downtown GO GO GO

538 N. Mission Rd
Boyle Heights, CA 90033

busblog recommendation: get a Fun Pass

id been interviewed before, but this was a really good one.

the guy had done his homework and knew who i was pretty much.

and asked about “nothing in this is true”. i said it was there to allow for some freedom.

some breathing room.

they say wines have to breathe a little after you open them. (who knows why)

but in this case lies have to breathe too.

creativity needs some oxygen to dilute the fantastical

and lord knows the more interviews i do, the more diluted i get.

but one thing im sure about is theres a replacement for me.

the guy asked if there were any other blogs like the busblog and i thought about during its heyday when there were some blogs that sure looked and sounded like this bad boy.

of course they didnt have the tales of hollywood and vegas and anna kournikova but

they had the ee no caps and the broken lines and the wispy thisnthat.

the great thing about the internet is it mirrors lifes mortality. nothing lasts forever.

first theres dogpile then alta vista then yahoo then google

just like there was friendster and myspace and facebook and there will be another thing.

once upon a time we all thought microsoft was gonna be in our fridgerators and brain chips and wrist watches

but people get leapfrogged because once you get on top you get fat and lazy

and worse: you think what got you there will keep you there and no one will ketchup.

as someone who has caught up with the uncatchupables year after year after year

and who have listened to fools say omg that goal is impossible we can never get way up there

i simply remind them of that part in the good book where folk working together made the tower of babel

where normal people said we can build a stairway to heaven

and after a while the angels were all, omg theyre doing it.

when yr hungry you can do anything.

so stay hungry my friends

cuz theres always someone hungrier behind you

and your overly confident ass looks so tasty to them.