Sunday, October 1, 2017

THE AUTO WALK


I know that a lot of walkers think it’s their duty to hate automobiles, but I’m not one of them.  I like looking at cars when I'm walking.  Ten years or so ago when I first started living and walking in Los Angeles it seemed there was an amazing classic car, or piece of wonderful automotive junk, on every block, and I found them incredibly cheering.  I took a few photographs at the time, but now I wish I’d taken more.


The situation’s changed a lot while I’ve been here. Cool cars are much rarer.  I assume many of them have been scrapped because they’re just not up to the rigors of  L.A. driving anymore.  A few endure but they’re part of a dying breed, although all the more attractive for that reason.


I’ve always been skeptical about this whole “the car you drive expresses your personality” thing, but in the end, one way or another, I guess it does, whether you want it to or not.  And of course one way you can further express your personality, if you have one, is to put a sticker on the bumper or the back window of your car.  Religion, sports teams, political affiliations, are the obvious things to announce to the world, but some are more enigmatic than that.


This one’s suitably literary:


This shows a love for country, though not America:


This one shows a possibly, though not necessarily, ironic love for both Benjamin Franklin and Kiss.



And I think this one is great, though I could be wrong:


Tuesday, September 26, 2017

THE HOLLYWOOD MIDDLE

Some of you may still have enough short term memory to recall the little video I did a few years back with Anthony Miller to promote my novel The City Under the Skin, done under the auspices of the Los Angeles Review of Books and Los Angeles magazine.  The director was Jerry Gorin.  It looked like this, and still does:



Basically I walk around bits of LA, point at things and say something about them in a rather self-conscious way, not least about this onramp to the Hollywood freeway which I think is a wonderful zesty piece of engineering if not strictly speaking architecture. 


I seem to think that in the video Mr. Miller and I agree that it looks Ballardian.  The shot in the video looks like this:


And now, blow me down, I discover this album Do Hollywood by a band named Lemon Twigs, and they’re doing pretty much the same shot.  The NME website says of the Lemon Twigs, “Their greatest talent is their ability to pick the pockets of rock’s dinosaurs without making it seem passé or pastiche.” 


Hollywood – so many options, so few genuinely original ideas – although of course that applies to the whole world, not just to Hollywood.

Monday, September 25, 2017

Sunday, September 24, 2017

DE QUINCEYEAN SENSORY DERANGEMENT - TO AN EXTENT

THIS JUST IN FROM THE BBC:


Lake District mountains: 'Drugged' walkers rescued




Scafell Pike from WasdaleImage copyrightCUMBRIA TOURISM
Image captionThe walkers were said to be too "stoned" to get themselves off the mountain

A group of hikers who became unable to walk after taking drugs sparked a major mountain rescue.
Officers from the Cumbria force tweeted: "words fail us" after being called by four men at Hardrigg Gill on Scafell in the Lake District.
The police tweet said: "Persons phoning Cumbria Police because they are stuck on a mountain, after taking cannabis."
Wasdale and Duddon mountain rescue teams were called out just after 18:30 BST on Saturday. 
The group was eventually brought down to safety at 21:45 BST.
Supt Justin Bibby of Cumbria Police said: "Taking alcohol or any other substance that could impair your judgement significantly increases your risk of getting into trouble. It has no place on a mountain."

Friday, September 22, 2017

FONTS

Walking on Sunset Boulevard this morning:

Tuesday, September 19, 2017

BEYOND THE PAIL

Seen while walking in the 'hood.




Drive like your kids live where?  In the garbage?  In the tree?  And are the kids living somewhere that you don’t?  

Oddly enough, wisdom seems not always to be found on trees.


Monday, September 18, 2017

BB GUNS

There's a very nice line in William Burroughs’, Last Words, The Final Journals of William S Burroughs  - he writes of "A long time ago but not too far to walk.”  
          This sent me digging around for other mentions of walking in the 
journals.  I found this one: “I carry a .38 snubbie on my premises, at my belt at all times.  I leave the door open.  Someone walks in with something in mind, he won’t walk away.”

The stuff of good noir fiction, right?  And how very different Bill’s life might have been if he’d kept his taste for gunplay inside the covers of a book.


And I did I find the above photograph of Burroughs walking with Kurt Cobain - I bet there was some sparkling conversation that day – perhaps some talk of guns.  For what it’s worth, I think the Burroughs/Cobain collaboration The “Priest” They Called Him - Burroughs reads, Cobain makes glorious guitar noise - is about as good as “spoken word with music” ever gets.