I AM SO DONE WITH COMPACT DISCS
I'm really ready to get out of that loop. What a fucking sham those things are! Including hardware, I've probably spent $2500 on CD shit since the mid-90s, and half of them won't play without skipping. They're basically trash now.
I could rant about the music industry, the distributors... Even the damn artists.They're all pretty much the same in that if they're getting paid they don't give a fuck about the end-user. It's my problem for buying into it whole-heartedly. Vinyl is better. I've got antique vinyl i listen to regularly... I have old sides of which belonged to my pop.
I am going to get clean from CD technology. Fuck those guys.
Yesterday matt and I walked by the Silverlake music conservatory. It's a not for profit music center which Flea (chili peppers) founded a couple years ago. It's mission is to fund music lessons for neigbhourhood kids, as well as provide employment for music instructors in L.A.. It's $20 for a one hour lesson, and I'm told they have a great trumpet instructor. I could buy four trumpets for the cost of my piece of shit CD burner.
Gotta make the changes ourselves
Thursday, May 08, 2003
I was reading this morning that Bush is coming out in support of the Assault Weapons ban - to the chagrin of the N.R.A., and much of his heartland constituency. The guy just keeps you guessing doesn't he? I actually have a pretty good understanding of the assault weapons ban, and I'm pretty mch in favor of it as well - I only wish I'd bought an AR-15 lower receiver before Dec. 31 2000.
I was flipping through the California handgun safety manual (skimming it really) and I was struck by how intelligent most of the laws concerning firearms purchase and handling are. This is in contrast with the views of most gun-freaks that I talk to, who see ANY control over the acquisition of weapons to be an affront to their constitutional rights...
Though I do see their position as well. There are individuals and groups in the gun control debate which want nothing more than the outright banning of all firearms in the hands of private Americans - and they go about it one frustrating and complicated law at a time. The 9th circuit court of appeals has recently ruled that individuals have NO RIGHT to keep and bear firearms. I wonder what they would do with freedom of expresiion and freedom of the press (pesky constitution!!!)
"The Right of Individuals to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."
Where, in that sentence, is there any room for interpretation? I'm asking myself this, because I do support the assault weapons ban. It just seems so obvious. Know what defines an assault rifle? It's a semi-automatic rifle which has two or more of the following:
magazine fed receiver
pistol grip
flash suppressor
threaded barrel end
So you can still get some pretty bad-ass shit, and be correct under the assault weapons ban. The thing is, in 22 years living in the states, I've never seen a gun in the street. I hear them go off a lot, but no one has ever threatened me with one. The only instance in which I've seen a gun brandished in a threatening way was when I was in Brazil in 1998. A 16 year old kid walked up to our table in a bar, and leaned back in an exaggerated stretch. This caused his shirt to ride up on his stomach, which revealed a small automatic pistol in his waste-band. He then sat down at our table and preceded to smoke all our cigarettes. I will note that handguns are banned in Brazil.
In upholding the assault weapons ban, Bush is reaching out to women, inner-city poor... I don't know? Who else comes out strongly against assault weapons? I mean, besides everyone; who cares enough to campaign about it?
Michael Moore stumbled on the finding that there is no correlation between the amount guns in a society, and the amount of violence that ensues...
At least that was the crux of his argument that America's hyper-violence is a result of race-based fear. In BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE, Moore cited Canada as having more guns per person than the U.S.A. I found that statistic to be dubious, but I felt no great urge to double-check it (it's easier to grumble). Moore also failed to mention the massacre at University of Montreal, in which 14 people (all female) were killed by a self-styled Rambo named Marc Lepin.
I think the real value of a constitutional amendment which allows the average citizen to possess firearm, is that it trusts the individual with such a grave responsibility. Guns are serious, and learning to handle them, to understand them, and to make the correct decisions about their use - well, I guess it means were not just children, and the government is not just our parent. They work for us, not the other way around.
As Americans, are we ready to rise to ourcivic responsibilities in this great democratic society? Nah, I think we get a fucking F most of the time.
I was flipping through the California handgun safety manual (skimming it really) and I was struck by how intelligent most of the laws concerning firearms purchase and handling are. This is in contrast with the views of most gun-freaks that I talk to, who see ANY control over the acquisition of weapons to be an affront to their constitutional rights...
Though I do see their position as well. There are individuals and groups in the gun control debate which want nothing more than the outright banning of all firearms in the hands of private Americans - and they go about it one frustrating and complicated law at a time. The 9th circuit court of appeals has recently ruled that individuals have NO RIGHT to keep and bear firearms. I wonder what they would do with freedom of expresiion and freedom of the press (pesky constitution!!!)
"The Right of Individuals to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."
Where, in that sentence, is there any room for interpretation? I'm asking myself this, because I do support the assault weapons ban. It just seems so obvious. Know what defines an assault rifle? It's a semi-automatic rifle which has two or more of the following:
magazine fed receiver
pistol grip
flash suppressor
threaded barrel end
So you can still get some pretty bad-ass shit, and be correct under the assault weapons ban. The thing is, in 22 years living in the states, I've never seen a gun in the street. I hear them go off a lot, but no one has ever threatened me with one. The only instance in which I've seen a gun brandished in a threatening way was when I was in Brazil in 1998. A 16 year old kid walked up to our table in a bar, and leaned back in an exaggerated stretch. This caused his shirt to ride up on his stomach, which revealed a small automatic pistol in his waste-band. He then sat down at our table and preceded to smoke all our cigarettes. I will note that handguns are banned in Brazil.
In upholding the assault weapons ban, Bush is reaching out to women, inner-city poor... I don't know? Who else comes out strongly against assault weapons? I mean, besides everyone; who cares enough to campaign about it?
Michael Moore stumbled on the finding that there is no correlation between the amount guns in a society, and the amount of violence that ensues...
At least that was the crux of his argument that America's hyper-violence is a result of race-based fear. In BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE, Moore cited Canada as having more guns per person than the U.S.A. I found that statistic to be dubious, but I felt no great urge to double-check it (it's easier to grumble). Moore also failed to mention the massacre at University of Montreal, in which 14 people (all female) were killed by a self-styled Rambo named Marc Lepin.
I think the real value of a constitutional amendment which allows the average citizen to possess firearm, is that it trusts the individual with such a grave responsibility. Guns are serious, and learning to handle them, to understand them, and to make the correct decisions about their use - well, I guess it means were not just children, and the government is not just our parent. They work for us, not the other way around.
As Americans, are we ready to rise to ourcivic responsibilities in this great democratic society? Nah, I think we get a fucking F most of the time.
Wednesday, May 07, 2003
I think I will be writing a lot more about the problem of crime in Los Angeles.
Just now, listening to KPCC, I heard it announced that L.A. led the nation in homicides. I'm nort sure how they measure that kind of thing, becasue the title of *murder capital* seems to move around the country like a wild west show. East St. Louis, Detroit and New Orleans are usually the other contenders for the title.
What's troubling about it here is that no one really seems to care. Southern Californians will just buy bigger SUVs, and invest in ever greater security systems. No one has faith in the system. It's like they've already given up on the public life. Every debate about crime here descends into a polemic about race, class, root causes...
And the prediction is we are going to see it all get worse, as a result of the budget cutbacks, fewer cops, fewer treatment beds - Less in the way of resources over all. So that image of me the other night, watching someone get beat up in front of my house by a gang through the spyglass, holding a loaded gun, afraid to go outside... while a woman with a baby in her arms is screaming outside. What the fuck is wrong with people?
Taking a loaded gun out in public will get you sent to jail - not that I would anyway. So I'm sorry neigbhour, but I can't help you.
Do we enjoy too much freedom in this country? As Americans we are very quick to sign away those freedoms. If there are half a dozen hardcore gang guys chillin' and selling drugs in front of a liquor store, should the cops roll up and start hassling them? If you're a scumbag, are you entitled to constitutional protection? And if we treat every piece of shit killer like a sacred member of our great democracy, can we live with the consequences?
No. Society will split like an amoeba. Districts that don't have such issues will simply break off from the metropolis (L.A.) and become neat little incorporated cities like Glendale and Burbank. Hollywood tried to break off from Los Angeles last year, but L.A. wouldn't let them go. Hollywood is like the youngest child of a large fucked-up family, whose brothers and sisters have already moved out and made good on themselves.
As L.A.'s problems grow, Hollywood will keep trying to get out. Eventually all that will remain of the city of Los Angeles are the super-ghettos: Pico Union, South Central, Boyle Heights...
It's not a racist thing you know. The proponents of separation are very quick to point this out. Hey, we're diverse down here! We have all the trendy euphemisms of tolerance. I'm against the separation thing, because I think Los Angeles is a great city, but I'm aware of my growing alienation towards the so-called process here. It's a bunch of fucking political bullshit. And if Hollywood does break apart from L.A., I already know my that my house will fall into the new Hollywood. My street is actually the eastern border of the proposed new city. Across the street begins L.A., where my neigbhour got beat up two nights ago, while his wife screamed for help.
Just now, listening to KPCC, I heard it announced that L.A. led the nation in homicides. I'm nort sure how they measure that kind of thing, becasue the title of *murder capital* seems to move around the country like a wild west show. East St. Louis, Detroit and New Orleans are usually the other contenders for the title.
What's troubling about it here is that no one really seems to care. Southern Californians will just buy bigger SUVs, and invest in ever greater security systems. No one has faith in the system. It's like they've already given up on the public life. Every debate about crime here descends into a polemic about race, class, root causes...
And the prediction is we are going to see it all get worse, as a result of the budget cutbacks, fewer cops, fewer treatment beds - Less in the way of resources over all. So that image of me the other night, watching someone get beat up in front of my house by a gang through the spyglass, holding a loaded gun, afraid to go outside... while a woman with a baby in her arms is screaming outside. What the fuck is wrong with people?
Taking a loaded gun out in public will get you sent to jail - not that I would anyway. So I'm sorry neigbhour, but I can't help you.
Do we enjoy too much freedom in this country? As Americans we are very quick to sign away those freedoms. If there are half a dozen hardcore gang guys chillin' and selling drugs in front of a liquor store, should the cops roll up and start hassling them? If you're a scumbag, are you entitled to constitutional protection? And if we treat every piece of shit killer like a sacred member of our great democracy, can we live with the consequences?
No. Society will split like an amoeba. Districts that don't have such issues will simply break off from the metropolis (L.A.) and become neat little incorporated cities like Glendale and Burbank. Hollywood tried to break off from Los Angeles last year, but L.A. wouldn't let them go. Hollywood is like the youngest child of a large fucked-up family, whose brothers and sisters have already moved out and made good on themselves.
As L.A.'s problems grow, Hollywood will keep trying to get out. Eventually all that will remain of the city of Los Angeles are the super-ghettos: Pico Union, South Central, Boyle Heights...
It's not a racist thing you know. The proponents of separation are very quick to point this out. Hey, we're diverse down here! We have all the trendy euphemisms of tolerance. I'm against the separation thing, because I think Los Angeles is a great city, but I'm aware of my growing alienation towards the so-called process here. It's a bunch of fucking political bullshit. And if Hollywood does break apart from L.A., I already know my that my house will fall into the new Hollywood. My street is actually the eastern border of the proposed new city. Across the street begins L.A., where my neigbhour got beat up two nights ago, while his wife screamed for help.
Monday, May 05, 2003
I CALLED THE COPS LAST NIGHT, which is a first for me in Los Angeles. I had hoped to do that less once I moved out of the Mission Dist. But this was really weird.
About 10:30pm, The dog awoke on the floor, and began to bark, albeit low and hesitatingly. At the same moment I heard voices from outside, across the street. Two or three men were talking - swearing, though it did nothave a threatening. They sounded more like bums on a late night street corner - having a dispute over??? The dog didn't seem too upset about it, but I peered for awhile out the window, only making out the faint movemeny of figures.
I'd gone into the back yard to feed Raf's cat *Li'l Mao*, when the voices from Sanborn St. suddenly were yelling - and swearing. I darted back into the house through the back door and hurried to the street side to try and see what was going on.
There were five or six figures crouched atop someone who was clearly being pinned on the ground. The actors I could make out were not bums arguing over a fifth of thunderbird: A couple of them were wearing flannels, and from the age I put it together they were gangsters.I looked frantically for the telephone, and finally got my hands on the cordless set, i was dialing 9-1-1 when a woman's voice started screaming - howling really - to "GET HIM OFF ME - GET HIM OFF ME." She was literally screaming for help.
My adrenaline was pumping and my hands shook. As I waited for the operator to pick up, I unlocked the closet in my bedroom and removed the 12ga. pump shotgun I keep there. With the phone in my righthand and the riotgun in my left, I walked back to the spyglass on the frontdoor and tried to describe what was taking place to the 9-1-1 operator. My mouth was dry... My eyes must have been dinnerplates.
Oddly the dog took no notice of any of this. That, or he simply opted out. I'm usually the one who brings courage to our relationship and adventures together p and I wasn't feeling any.
I talked on the phone, and a new dimension began to unfold in the street hassle out front. A brand new, silver PT Cruiser had pulled up, and was parking right across the street from where I'd originally scene the the gang holding someone down. One or two of the assailants broke away and walked up the hill towards Sunset. A couple was getting out of the Chrysler - the woman carrying a child in her arms, wrapped in a white blanket. To my disbelief the couple then preceded to engage - angrily - with the gang guys.
I was conveying all this to the 9-1-1 operator, when the woman with the kid yelled angrily - almost in a sob: "THIS IS MY FUCKING KID HERE YOU GUYS - YOU FUCKING ASSHOLES!!"
I could not see her boyfriend for an overgrown bush on the sidewalk in front of my place, but she was walking with the kid towards the apartment building on the corner. I was off the phone with the cops by that point, and it appeared that the assailants had left. I couldn't believe there was still no sight of the cops - no L.A.P.D. air unit... Just crickets and birds.
I leaned the shotgun next to the front door, and walked gingerly out to the driveway. The couple was still outside.
As I slowly made my way out to the driveway, I made a mental note to order some non-lethal rubber loads to keep in the gun's side-saddle. I realized in that moment there was no way I'd ever be able to shoot someone with 00 buck.
"Are you guys alright?" I yelled out to the couple with the baby across the street.
The guy looked over my way and shrugged his shoulders. He had peeled his T-shirt off - which struck me as odd.
"Yeah, we're - " He began
"NO, WE'RE NOT ALRIGHT!" The girl finished for him.
Just then a cop car came rolling up Fernwood, and I retreated back to the front porch.From there I watched as the couple interacted with the two officers for a few minutes: the guy appeared to be showing them a cut on his knuckle. Then he broke away, and climbed into a Humongous white 1985 Chev Suburban parked near the corner.
He started up the truck with a great VAROOM, as the headlights came on in the same motion. As a series of movements, it was very angry young man. The woman he was with, still clutching the baby in her arms, continued speaking to the cops.
Then, to my disbelief, the shirtless neigbhour, with his cut knuckles, preceded to back the Chevy up Fernwood St. at 40mph. The cops seemed to take no notice.
I think today I am going to try and find out what happened. I don't know if my neigbhorhood falls under Hollywood or Rampart Division, but suddenly I'm interested in finding out.
NEXT WEEK: THE GYPSY FAMILY ON THE CORNER OF FOUNTAIN ST.
About 10:30pm, The dog awoke on the floor, and began to bark, albeit low and hesitatingly. At the same moment I heard voices from outside, across the street. Two or three men were talking - swearing, though it did nothave a threatening. They sounded more like bums on a late night street corner - having a dispute over??? The dog didn't seem too upset about it, but I peered for awhile out the window, only making out the faint movemeny of figures.
I'd gone into the back yard to feed Raf's cat *Li'l Mao*, when the voices from Sanborn St. suddenly were yelling - and swearing. I darted back into the house through the back door and hurried to the street side to try and see what was going on.
There were five or six figures crouched atop someone who was clearly being pinned on the ground. The actors I could make out were not bums arguing over a fifth of thunderbird: A couple of them were wearing flannels, and from the age I put it together they were gangsters.I looked frantically for the telephone, and finally got my hands on the cordless set, i was dialing 9-1-1 when a woman's voice started screaming - howling really - to "GET HIM OFF ME - GET HIM OFF ME." She was literally screaming for help.
My adrenaline was pumping and my hands shook. As I waited for the operator to pick up, I unlocked the closet in my bedroom and removed the 12ga. pump shotgun I keep there. With the phone in my righthand and the riotgun in my left, I walked back to the spyglass on the frontdoor and tried to describe what was taking place to the 9-1-1 operator. My mouth was dry... My eyes must have been dinnerplates.
Oddly the dog took no notice of any of this. That, or he simply opted out. I'm usually the one who brings courage to our relationship and adventures together p and I wasn't feeling any.
I talked on the phone, and a new dimension began to unfold in the street hassle out front. A brand new, silver PT Cruiser had pulled up, and was parking right across the street from where I'd originally scene the the gang holding someone down. One or two of the assailants broke away and walked up the hill towards Sunset. A couple was getting out of the Chrysler - the woman carrying a child in her arms, wrapped in a white blanket. To my disbelief the couple then preceded to engage - angrily - with the gang guys.
I was conveying all this to the 9-1-1 operator, when the woman with the kid yelled angrily - almost in a sob: "THIS IS MY FUCKING KID HERE YOU GUYS - YOU FUCKING ASSHOLES!!"
I could not see her boyfriend for an overgrown bush on the sidewalk in front of my place, but she was walking with the kid towards the apartment building on the corner. I was off the phone with the cops by that point, and it appeared that the assailants had left. I couldn't believe there was still no sight of the cops - no L.A.P.D. air unit... Just crickets and birds.
I leaned the shotgun next to the front door, and walked gingerly out to the driveway. The couple was still outside.
As I slowly made my way out to the driveway, I made a mental note to order some non-lethal rubber loads to keep in the gun's side-saddle. I realized in that moment there was no way I'd ever be able to shoot someone with 00 buck.
"Are you guys alright?" I yelled out to the couple with the baby across the street.
The guy looked over my way and shrugged his shoulders. He had peeled his T-shirt off - which struck me as odd.
"Yeah, we're - " He began
"NO, WE'RE NOT ALRIGHT!" The girl finished for him.
Just then a cop car came rolling up Fernwood, and I retreated back to the front porch.From there I watched as the couple interacted with the two officers for a few minutes: the guy appeared to be showing them a cut on his knuckle. Then he broke away, and climbed into a Humongous white 1985 Chev Suburban parked near the corner.
He started up the truck with a great VAROOM, as the headlights came on in the same motion. As a series of movements, it was very angry young man. The woman he was with, still clutching the baby in her arms, continued speaking to the cops.
Then, to my disbelief, the shirtless neigbhour, with his cut knuckles, preceded to back the Chevy up Fernwood St. at 40mph. The cops seemed to take no notice.
I think today I am going to try and find out what happened. I don't know if my neigbhorhood falls under Hollywood or Rampart Division, but suddenly I'm interested in finding out.
NEXT WEEK: THE GYPSY FAMILY ON THE CORNER OF FOUNTAIN ST.
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