The fourth...eggs and sausage.

Well then: am back from what seemed like a vacation but was really just two weekends slapped together...no more traveling for me for about 6 weeks, other than the local kind. And as I drove the freeways first to Compton, then to Long Beach, and then to Hollywood, I realized just how much travel that really is. In good traffic, it takes twenty minutes to get to Compton from Torrance driving about 70mph. Compton to Long Beach is, oh-hhh maybe 20-25 minutes. Long Beach to Hollywood is a whopping 40 minutes or so...then back to Torrance again another 25-30. I listened to nearly four full albums in my car.

Because, of course in LA, the traffic is NEVER good.

Never having quite come to terms with the massive time consumption created by LA traffic, I invariably get very cross. I hear that some people make a 3-hour commute each day, and that's utter madness to me. What could possibly be so important that you spend your entire free day in your car? But it does start to explain the phenomenal car culture in the area. Everyone wants swank cars because, hell, that's where they spend all their damned time! Tonight, there was some of the typical 5mph traffic on the 101, caused by the usual rubbernecking at someone else's misfortune.

The Hollywood trip tonight was specifically Amoeba-bound...looking for original Black Randy vinyl, which I did not find. The woman helping me hadn't heard of him; not a good sign. I also didn't locate Lady Snowblood Pts. I or II, the one eX-Girl album I'm missing nor any Veloso cds that interested me. My shopping list was a complete dud today. My Boris/OM gatefold lp (never opened), a Luis Bunuel Criterion (never opened), a Nick Cave collection of B-sides and some Diamanda Galas cds were turned into a hefty credit of $100. I purchased two more lovely dvds with said credit. The newest Criterion versions of Lang's M and Kurosawa's Red Beard. Took my treasures a few miles around the bend to the ever-lovin' Canter's Deli on Fairfax and tore them open whilst munching on greek olives and pita bread. There are so many good restaurants about, but for some reason the NY-style diner atmosphere keeps me warm at night.

Daphne's favorite day in Los Angeles usually goes this way: take the 405N to the 710N to the 5N to the 101N. Get off on Sunset. Stay in the right lane. Merge onto Sunset. Get in the left lane. Look for ArcLight Cinemas...Amoeba Music is on the next block. ArcLight has special AFI presentations during the week, so best to keep on top of those before leaving the house. Amoeba has special musical guests...good to be aware of those as well! After these two potential pit stops, farther west down Sunset takes you to Meltdown Comics (on the left after the brightly neon-lit strip clubs, "Seventh Veil" and such). They too may have a special guest or two, but great for window-shopping regardless. Even further down Sunset, you come to Fairfax, where I ALWAYS take a left. Drive a mile or so down, and there is the Silent Movie Theatre. They have something great on the burner every damned night, and their present pamphlet pretty much depicts how I picture myself every time I'm hiking in the desert. Oooo, Saturday is "Fucked-Up Kids' Movies" night! Past the Silent Movie Theatre, heading south, we finally get to Canter's. Invariably there is the same very sociable guy panhandling next to the parking lot...dollar dropped. Once inside Canter's, more dollars dropped. And after the hot cuppa joe and some huge sculpture of a diner sandwich, it is time to get the poppyseed rugalah for the drive home. A little banter with the waitress (imported straight from Jersey, I'm positive), and it's time to go.

Sometime I'll regale you with my museum and gallery crawl.

But for now:

A song for the handsome Japanese musician who dropped his guitar accidentally on the corner outside Amoeba, to the perpetually nice transient who confuses me and makes me slightly sad, to the surly overtired waitress at Canter's, the 8-year old girl who told me she liked my hair A LOT, to a very bored-looking man standing at a traffic light, and a milling crowd outside a theater....I'm in love with love and life and a little of the urban tonight.

"Eggs and Sausage (In a Cadillac With Susan Michaelson)" by Tom Waits