Not Doing So Hot

I just want to relay this tid bit of information, and I quote:

"The Natural Resource Defense Council notes that the Model T (pictured above) got about 25 miles to the gallon when it started out [in 1908!]; in 2002, the fleet of American-made cars averaged 24.6 miles to the gallon"

Holy shit. That's the progress we have made ay? It's been about 100 years and it's still at the status quo. This is only one of the many annoying factors about car companies in the US. Electric Cars have existed since 1897 when the Pope Manufacturing Company made the Columbia Electric Phaeton, Mark III. In the 90s California forced car manufacturers to make electric cars. When car manufacturers were able to get around this they effectively took back all the Electric Cars they made and destroyed them. And don't get me started on the Pacific Electric Railway which was electric powered trolleys in the greater Los Angeles area that went from Downtown to Newport to Riverside to San Bernadino to Mount Wilson to Pacific Palisades and everything in between. GM along with the tire and oil companies created a front company that bought and subsequently dismantled the line. This was kind of what Who Framed Roger Rabbit? is based on, which is sort of the Chinatown of live action, cartoon, film noir, kids movies..

I mention this because we are either ignoring our history and our abilities to reap from past information or stifling progress. Almost every country in the world has higher MPG standards than ours, but we are supposed to be the best! That means that all the companies that make cars have the ability to raise the gas mileage, they just don't want to. That coupled with the fact that we are lagging scientifically, mainly because we have a President who isn't all that interested in science, and as a nation there is a distrust to science in the face of "magic" (religion).

The other viable option they are touting is Hydrogen, which anyone who knows anything about the technology knows that it is at least 15 years down the road as well as being more expensive and not very probable solution. It should be developed but it is being used as a distraction to things like electric cars or at least meeting the MPG standards of China or other developing nations and not be 100 years in the past might help me feel a little bit better about what is going on.

Wigwam Motel - Rialto, CA

Located in Rialto, CA off of the famous Route 66, this motel is one of three Tee-Pee motels that is operating today. One is in Holbrook, Arizona near the Petrified Forest and the other in Cave City, Kentucky (woo wee). I got these pics on the way to AZ but I really want to stay here for a night even though it isn't the most exciting of areas and isn't that far from home. That being said I wish they still had this lovely catch phrase on their sign, "Do it in a Tee-Pee." YES! Okay. You can still do it but they just don't encourage it anymore.

There is also an amazing Bowling sign next door which I am saving for my huge "Blowing Vernacular" post. The doors are slightly suggestive in my opinion which is maybe why they took down the old sign because maybe people where actually doing it with the Tee-Pee as oppossed to in.

Wigwam Motel Website - all kinds of info on the history and rates and reservations.

Top 40 Albums of the 90s (and the Top 11(?) EPs)

Every time a list for the best albums of a certain decade or an end of the year “best of” list, I am always up in arms over the results. There is generally always something I agree with but the rest of the time I am picking things apart and thinking about how many other records, films, or sandwiches would be better on the list than the ones picked. I seem to think I have such discerning and discretionary taste that I could make a list that is Holier than Thou. That being said there is one thing I noticed is that it isn’t as broad as I thought it would be. The 90s, unlike other periods of music was dominated strongly by what was then called “Alternative” music. Under this banner bands like Collective Soul, Ween, Nirvana, and Better than Ezra are considered part of a singular movement in a general sense. Although I grew up and my interest in music was formed during this period , as well as the fact many of my favorite albums ever come from this time, I realized my list does lack, to a certain degree, a broad sense of diversity and may be fairly redundant in some of the choices. Is it perfect? Well, no. For me this is the best I could do as I learned that list are almost impossible for me to make as I feel such a wide range of things for so many different records.

One thing this list is not is unbiased. These are the albums I feel are the best to my listening ear over that 10 year period. Are these the most defining records? Some unequivocally are that. Pavement’s Slanted and Enchanted, My Bloody Valentine’s Loveless, and Slint’s Spiderland each single handedly brought to fruition entire movements of music; Lo-Fi 4 track recordings, Shoegaze, and Post-Rock, respectively. Are these all the defining albums according to a broad spectrum of music? Absolutely not. Nirvana’s Nevermind, Radiohead’s OK Computer, Dr. Dre’s The Chronic, Public Enemy’s Fear of a Black Planet among others are examples of albums that define this period but do I listen to them? Eh.

The 90s was the decade of Alternative Rock, and it’s respective genres, and Rap and its. It’s easy to tell what camp I am in but my bias comes from a stronger interest in music in it’s production as opposed to lyric based songwriting. There is an interesting drop of point in 97-98 most of the great bands of the time had died out, sans the ones that were just getting their bearings, and a new form musical abomination was taking over the airwaves and dumbing down an entire generation of youths. Rap-rock and Boy-Band style pop music became the dominant sound and with it came a new generation of a music that was a reaction to what was the dark ages of music. This list I hope is something that you can at least understand, I am sad about the collateral damage that occured in the act of making a list like this (Bjork, Aerial M, Beastie Boys, Beck, For Carnation, Sam Prekop, Weezer Blue Album, Giant Sand, Heavy Vegetable and Thingy, David Grubbs, Lovechild, Mogwai, Boards of Canada, John Zorn, Pixies, Talk Talk, Notwist, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Ween, Fly Ashtray, Don Caballero, etc) but it came down to what I really listen to and respond to as a whole album. Most of these choices are deeply personal, some in ways, especially with Gastr Del Sol and Tortoise, are where they are at because of new sense of enlightenment they brought me to musically. Some of these like Polvo’s Today’s Active Lifestyles or Jim O’Rourke’s solo work, are criminally overlooked and I feel as though time will finally catch up with these albums if it hasn’t already. Hopefully…

That being said I will be making other list for the 80s, 70s, 60s, and from 2000-06 as I get to them. For now I give you my Top 40 Albums of the 90s and as well as the Top 11(?) EPs of the 90s. Enjoy.


1. Pavement - Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain
2. Tortoise - Millions Now Living Will Never Die
3. Boredoms - Super Are
4. Flaming Lips - Zaireeka
5. Gastr Del Sol - Upgrade & Afterlife
6. DJ Shadow - …Entroducing
7. Guided by Voices - Bee Thousand
8. Polvo - Today’s Active Lifestyles
9. Slint - Spiderland
10. Modest Mouse - This is a Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to Think About
11. Pavement - Slanted and Enchanted
12. Boredoms - Vision Creation Newsun
13. Flaming Lips - The Soft Bulletin
14. Built to Spill - Ultimate Alternative Wavers
15. Jim O’Rourke - Bad Timing
16. My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
17. Godspeed You Black Emperor! - F# A# Infinity
18. Sun City Girls - Torch of the Mystics
19. The KLF - Chill Out
20. Sonic Youth - Goo
21. Squarepusher - Music is Rotted One Note
22. Grifters - Crappin’ You Negative
23. Neutral Milk Hotel - In an Aeroplane Over the Sea
24. Tortoise - TNT
25. Pavement - Wowee Zowee
26. Gastr Del Sol - Camofleur
27. Faust - You Know Faust
28. Archers of Loaf - Icky Mettle
29. Chavez - Ride the Fader
30. Bugskull - Phantasies and Sensations
31. Mercury Rev - Yerself is Steam
32. Guided by Voices - Alien Lanes
33. Unrest - Imperial F.F.R.R.
34. Halo Benders - God Don’t Make No Junk
35. Silver Jews - American Water
36. Storm & Stress - S/T
37. Modest Mouse - Lonesome Crowded West
38. Built to Spill - Perfect From Now On
39. Brainiac - Hissing Prigs in Static Couture
40. Barry Black - Tragic Animal Kingdom


EPs:

1. Godspeed You Black Emperor! - Slow Riot For New Zero Kanada
2. Gastr Del Sol - Mirror Repair
3. Jim O’Rourke - Halfway to a Threeway
4. Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 - Admonishing the Bishops
5. Polvo - Celebrate the New Dark Age
6. Brainiac - Electro-Shock for President
7. The Sweet Things - Deliver
8. Pavement - Watery, Domestic
9. Helium - Pirate Prude
10. Slint - S/T
11. Modest Mouse - The Fruit That Ate Itself

Watts Tower

Los Angeles is home to an innumerable amount of monuments. Although not neglected this is probably the most rarely visited because of it's location, Watts home of the 1965's Watts Riots. Built by Simon Rodia, working solo, this Gaudi like piece of folk art was constructed with nothing but found objects. It is truly stunning in person even though it was fenced off (only open on the weekend, who knew).

Watts Tower is located on 1765 East 107th St. Los Angeles, CA

More info can be found here.

Phoenix Trotting Park: A Photo Essay

Since leaving Arizona in July of 2003 I have made the trek back and forth for holidays and various reasons. Every time I have made the drive I also notice, off the I-10 near Goodyear an amazing horse track about 20 miles on the outskirts of Phoenix. It's the first building other than Snyder's Pretzel's that tells me I am almost done with the drive. Last time I took the drive, after three years of driving by the thing, I finally decided to pull over and see it for myself. I always thought it was interesting as a piece of abandoned architecture but over the years as my palate for architecture has developed I realized what a stunning piece of Mid-Century Modernism it really was.

I pulled up on a No Tresspassing dirt road and hopped the fence. The first structure I came across was the building with the folded plate roof. It overlooked where the track must have been but now a grouping of abandoned trailers. My thoery was this was for the press or for private members. The track itself, which I was later to learn as called Phoenix Trotting Park, was a wonder in poured concrete and space age design. I entered the building and began walking up a long flight of stairs, I think I went up about six stories before I got too freaked out for my safety being alone as I was. With all the really tough Cypress Hill graffiti I didn't want to encounter some gang initiation or a scene out of The Birds. Many of the structual elements remain intact but almost everything apart from that is either destroyed or covered in bird shit.

I did some research and this is a compilation of the the information (word) I have found:

"The Phoenix Trotting Park, a horse racing track, was originally built in 1964 in Goodyear, Arizona. It opened in 1965 and was run for about two and a half seasons. The large, futuristically designed structure gave an optimistic look for the 1960s. It was originally supposed to be built for $3 million, but after Italian architects and contractors were brought in it wound up closer to $10 million, essentially bankrupting its builder, James Dunnigan, who had operated Buffalo Raceway. It was built of reinforced concrete, and could have withstood a direct hit by a hydrogen bomb... It is still standing, and some future travelers from space probably will regard it in the same way Stonehenge in Britain is regarded today... a monument built in the desert by sun worshipers. Sad story from start to finish." -Stan Bergstein

In 1998, movie crews chose the site to film an explosion for the movie "No Code of Conduct." No Code of Conduct is an action film involving cops and drug dealers. American Humane Association had been informed by production that there were no animals being used in the filming. Therefore, AHA was not on set and was not involved in the monitoring of any animals involved in the production.

The script called for the explosion of a drug warehouse at the end of the film and production chose to use an abandoned building at Phoenix Trotting Park in Goodyear, AZ. During the filming of the special effects explosion, hundreds of birds that were indigenous to the location were injured and killed. Although AHA was told by a production spokesperson that the company had attempted to clear the area and the building of the birds, there were several hundred birds still in the building at the time the explosives were detonated. According to a media source at the time of the incident, a representative from Arizona Department of Fish and Game approved the explosion. -ahafilm.info

Burbank Through a Hole in the Poll

Took this while hiking through Griffith Park

John Stossel's Freeloaders: Creating a Dependency System 20/20

Save your change. There will always be exceptions to the rule, as is shown by the guy who shows up for work, but this is the reality of it. Living in Los Angeles, it's easy to see how the dependency system helps enable an area like the Skid Row to thrive in the most negative ways possible.

John Stossel's Stupid in America for 20/20

Those of you who are not familiar with John Stossel's reporting need to get with it.

I am the most manly man ever. Tough. Total MAN.

People who know me or meet me are always like, How are you so manly? First of all it's testosterone, judging by the amount of body hair I have, I got a lot of it. Secondly, it's my ability to kick serious ass. I never back down, I don''t let foolish things like reason or communication get in the way of looking way tough to people by beating them up because that solves problems. Physical Violence works and when you are a super tough man you look cool and hot to ladies that have very sordid past.

When you see me walking down the street, you will say to yourself "Don't fuck with that guy, he looks like a killer." When I look in the mirror that's what I say. I put on my Chuck Norris action jeans (shown above) and shave "Watch out" into my chest and repeat my mantra "Man equals You." That being said I have to admit something to you. I wasn't born this manly, I learned from the master of intelligent fighting techniques, Bas Rutten. You have to have a hero and an idol, and although I promise to limit showing things you can find on other web sites like silly... I mean tough bad ass videos like this one, I want to reveal myself to you as I know you are wondering, how did Phil get so f'ing tough. Here is your answer - Okay i'm sorry bang bang no I'm not.

BAS RUTTEN IS DANGEROUS

Johnnie's Broiler

This is the site of Johnnie's Broiler located in Downey, CA. This icon of the 50's Drive in's, as well as a location in numerous films (scroll down) , is now a lovely car dealership. At least they have kept the signs and structure. More info and pictures of it in it's heyday can be found here.

The Getty Villa

After months of the free advance timed tickets being sold out, I was finally able to go to The Getty Villa. It's been closed for years and I am not completely keen on how much was improved upon with the renovation, but as you could see it is rather stunning. I must admit a bias though as I am not really blown away by Roman era scupltures and what have you but the presentation and the lay out of the place was really amazing.

I did learn something extremely interesting though. In Roman times they had plays called Phlyax Plays, "...These plays were popular in the 300s and 200s B.C. in the Greek colonies in Italy. The term phlyax probably derives from the Greek verb "to swell" and finds its meaning in the actor's costume of a mask, tights, a padded tunic, and a large artificial phallus." Yes you are reading that right, part of their costume in these plays was having a gigatic penis, that's funny.

They Getty Villa was beautiful though, and the food was pleasantly suprising in how good it was, I recommend the pizza if you go. They have amazing views and even an herb garden. Ooo. Michael Simpson (star of Behind Enemy Lines 2 and The OC who will soon be starring in Phil Donohue's stunning feature film Venice) and his father accompanied me to the villa.

His father relayed maybe one the funniest thing I have ever heard. Talking about vaginas for some reason... he mentioned that a shaved vagina has "Lips that hang down like a blacksmith's apron". See a blacksmith works on steal. heating it and bending it, and at the end of the day, his work apron gets really heavy. Oh lord that's funny.

Later in the evening we sat on the boardwalk in Venice where our ears here talked off by the screenwriter of Hackers who wants to put Michael's dad in his new film. Then we went to Houston's in Santa Monica. I would be hard pressed to find a better restaurant than Houston's. Even the fact that it is a huge chain does not diminsh the quality of the food in the slightest. Is there anything better than the Spinach and Artichoke dip or the Prime Rib French Dip (contender for best sandwich of all time (fuck you Michael!))? I think not. That being said it was a lovely day. Check out The Villa, you finally can now.

More information of the The Getty Villa and the Getty Center in Brentwood can be found at www.getty.edu

Phoenix from the Air

Surprised these even came out, you can see your house from here.

The Roadside Signs of Tucson

As you may or not know, there isn't a hell of a lot to do it Tucson. Go to 4th ave. Check. Foothills, sleepy. Check. Um, the mall. Check. Apart from the fact that Tucson has probably the best Mexican food on earth, namely El Charro, Mi Nidtio (without any doubt the best margarita in existence and Bill Clinton ate there!), and Cafe Poca Cosa (menu changes twice a day!) it is pretty spare on things to do. Luckily I have been down there with my woman as well as being there during the TV on the Radio concert, the AIA Architecture Home Tour, Asobi Seksu concert (Jared Bell's fantastic band Lymbyc System opened up for them. Check 'em out.) Apart from that, we couldn't find much else to do and we really did try. I think we have been over every inch of the city, going insofar as to drive to Bisbee (which is truly one the most interesting places to visit in AZ but that is for some other time.) Not to mention that while being in Tucson I witnessed my first person who had been shot, laying on the ground in front of a liquor store, which was not a very pleasant experience to put it lightly.

That being said there is one thing Tucson does have and that is potential. There are not many places left that have these relics of America's roadside culture. The signs above were meant to lure travelers in from the road trips which accelerated after 1956's National System of Interstate and Defense Highways Act was passed and people all over the country were hitting the road. This also took away business from places that were no longer visible from the new highways. The signs represent a bygone era but are also made with great care and art, something lacking from almost all signs today. For example my favorite photo above is the Tucson Inn, which is not only bold but fun to look at and shows that flare and design are missing in the signs o' the times (like Prince).

When I was taking the photo of the Arizonan sign an old man was sitting on his porch. I got out to take the photo and he yelled at me, “ What are you doing there?” I replied that I was just taking a picture of the sign. “What for?” Again me being horrible at small talk I said something to the affect of, Oh just for fun. “Fun? Doesn’t sound like fun to me.”

Most of these are found around Stone, Main, or Oracle which used to be some of the main roads coming into Tucson even before the highways were built. I would hope that the artistic or architectural community in Tucson would pay more attention to what is around them. The big danger to Tucson is the Rio Nuevo. Although there have been great preservations like the Fox and Hotel Congress downtown, the Rio Nuevo is an attempt to make Tucson another gentrified Scottsdale or any other place in this country. The focus should be on what is already there and how to make that better, I am not against the development but there is so much classic and under appreciated architecture and signage in Tucson that it would be a shame just to build without incorporating it into the landscape. Each generation should be preserved for what it represents, we are a nation of false progress and in an era of hit and run developments we should collectively realize that the United States is one of those rare places that does not care about its History and we have to fight to preserve important history in the face of developers and businesses with Government subsides.

There are a lot a nice things around if you took the time to look.

R.I.P Tower of Wooden Pallets

About 5 months ago I was looking up historic sites in the area when I came across something called The Tower of Wooden Pallets, which was just down the street from me in Van Nuys on Sepulveda and Magnolia. I didn’t have any information on it, other than the fact that it was a LA Cultural Heritage Monument (No. 184) and it was down the street so I decided to take a look. I didn't even know what to look for, I pulled onto Magnolia and saw nothing but a fenced off lot near the 405, guessing that might be it I got out to take a photo but all I could see was what looked like a stack of wood and some old dilapidated homes in this lot. But the lot was HUGE and I couldn’t see shit through the amount of over grown weeds and various wooden pallets blocking my view. I noticed a huge wire-cut hole in the fence but I also noticed some tire tracks, a path, and some orange cones among other things that led me to believe someone might be back there and I might be shot if I were to trespass. I will tell you something if you don’t make fun of me. Thanks. I waited around for about 15 minutes trying to get the balls to get in there but once I convinced myself there wasn’t anybody working back there I become paranoid about an imagined delusional squatter-schizophrenic-junky that lived back there and would stab me with his hypodermic needles when I invaded his “home”. I said don’t make fun!

Frightened for my life I left and came back about 3 weeks later no longer scared of the imagined maniac (there are a lot of crazy maniacs in this city though) and decided to check it out, two cameras in hand. When I got there the hole in the fence had been conspicuously closed up. I found another smaller hole further down and entered the property. Truly an amazing site, right in the city was what looked like an abandoned estate in rural Oklahoma. Two homes caved in on themselves, one of which was two stories but it was not structurally sound enough to go to the second floor, 3 to 4 sheds filled with books and cans of food literally from the 1950s. There was a bus and about 5 cars on the lot. I spent hours taking photos here but the center piece (although not the most interesting thing there) was The Tower of Wooden Pallets. Shown above it was made of pallets from Schlitz Brewing and was around 20 feet tall. I got an amazing roll of about 25 pictures from the site but I don’t have them loaded onto the computer yet I will post them when I do. I took some old film strips, a Christmas card, some photo negatives, magazines, and books from the property as mementos. In one of the sheds, the floor was about a foot high in old records, books, and magazines.

Unbeknownst to me, this site was in the planning phase of being torn down for an apartment building, and although it’s status as a historic cultural landmark was questionable at best, as it was basically a heap of shit, as I took the photos I knew I had no reason to ever come back, but just to document the existence of something that you “Don‘t see everyday“. Within the past couple of months I heard it was torn down and it made me a wee bit sad, only because I experienced it in it‘s lonely neglected state but I did capture its last moments. A time warp, a representation of the existence of an obvious eccentric, but it was it’s time. R.I.P.

More information about The Tower of Wooden Pallets.

The Unknown Artist

I used to stop by a news stand on the corner of Moorpark and Laurel Canyon. The one next to a this Neutra that is for sale. From the street as I would park I would always notice these drawings plastered all over the walls. One day decided to take a look at them. The works consist of various crudely drawn portraits on line paper that are plaster all over the walls in the surrounding area. It's either the work of a crazy madman person, which judging by the line paper and the "venue" in which they are displayed, I am guessing that it is probably the case, or some sort of real "artist" who is displaying his work in a public form, the act being the art. Either way they constantly get torn down and then new ones are put back up again, giving the work a quality unto itself. For me the art of it is people's reaction. Most people pay no mind to the fact that there are these creepy portraits slapped all over the walls and those that do just want to tear them down, which lends a very mysterious quality to the intentions of the individual but also, in my opinion, makes the individual and the act of taking it down part of it's mystique. I don't know who he is or whether he was caught but there has not been any new portraits of late.

LA in Black and White

Me Vs. The Media: The Oscars and its Press

I can go on forever about numerous issues I have with the Academy in general but I want to start my attack on the news media themselves. I was at the Barnes and Noble, sifting through the lukewarm publications of Entertainment Weekly and Premiere magazine when I noticed that both magazines made similar statements in terms of their Oscar nomination predictions. There are all kinds of issues, the main one being it was a pretty lackluster year for film, so far I have what is called a top 4...

1. Little Miss Sunshine (which wins by default)
2. The Departed
3. Babel
4. Borat. (It was funny)

Yup. Wow. That's it. There have been some good Docs but they are generally consistent by nature. There are also some coming up. Hoping big for Inland Empire.

This isn't the issue I want to discuss though. The magazines picks for Best Supporting Actor are my target. It's a pretty non-controversial category but it's the principle of the thing and it's specific to one film, The Departed. Both publications state that Jack Nicholson is the front runner for the nomination in this Category. Let me state first that I thought he was great in the film, there is no doubt about that. But this is the third time that one of the performances of the year is going to be ignored by one of this generations greatest talents, Mark Wahlberg. Can someone give me a fucking break here. I would like to note that his performance in Boogie Nights is unparalleled, and his performance in I Heart Huckabees was criminally overlooked. Now here it will probably happen again. Let me also say that Alec Baldwin deserves the nomination over Nicholson. Nicholson is great because he is doing the Jack Nicholson shtick, and doing it well, but you shouldn’t award consistency of persona over fantastic performances.

I will say this again as to not seem like I am bashing him, he was great, but this was an ensemble cast, and everyone was great, including that girl no one knows. That being said I am going to be a lone ranger campaigning for Wahlberg. The fact that he wasn't nominated for I Heart Huckabees, or Ziyi Zhang for 2046 shows that these nominations aren't based on performance, but some other mitigating factors. Of course, we all know that Julia Roberts did not give a better performance than Ellen Burstyn in Requiem for a Dream, that's an insult to anyone’s intelligence. I know it's a lost cause as this is the body that gave last years Best Picture to Crash, a conveniently plotted superficial film.

The other obvious thing to mention is poor Scorsese. Is The Departed the film he should win for Best Director? No. But it's a hell of a lot better than the last two he was supposed to win for. But Taxi Driver? Raging Bull? Goodfellas? The vastly underrated Casino? It's really a joke, and that's why he'd be better off without it. The man lost to KEVIN COSTNER. If he lost again he would join the ranks of people who represent how off base the Academy is when determining what is the best. He should join the ranks of Hitchcock, Altman, Welles, Lumet, Fellini ,and Kubrick. Not to claim there is a conspiracy or anything but there seems to be a disproportionate amount of actors who have won for Best Director . Redford, Beatty, Howard, Gibson, and Eastwood. Hmm. The greatest directors of all time loosing to some of acting’s heavyweights. Perplexing.

Crying on the inside.

Would I kill a man to live here? Already did. Despite it's fairly super boring location, I killed a man just in hopes that I could live here. Wrong guy. Such is life. Look at that built in toaster!

The Boardwalk

Kate is shown here modeling her fucking ass off at Al Beadle's The Boardwalk in Phoenix. When two hot items like the combo above combine, a rift in the universe may occur and open a portal to ... uh ... It's just dangerous!

It's here, on Earth.

Black and White

there is a double meaning to this one ...

People take things Seriously.

I know I am late on this one, as Halloween is long since over, but for those who haven't seen or heard of this, a gentleman in the San Fernando Valley, thought up this lovely decorative idea for the Halloween. I stopped by this while I was in the area for the LA Conservancy's Spectacular Vernacular which was a Mid-Century Modern home tour in the Valley (some homes on the tour: Adams House, Jonn Coolidge Residence, Edward Fickett, FAIA). As I was taking these photos, a man pulled up in his car with his wife and kid. He got out with his camera in hand and I, horrible at small talk, said something to the affect of "Don't see this everyday". He replied, "My friend in Tennesse says we are crazy over here, now I think he might be right."

What is "The Itinerant"?

In attempting to come up with a name, all I had to do was look in front of me.

When I was living in Scottsdale, Az I stopped at a garage sale off of Shea Blvd. This was a sort of life changing event, albeit only in a small way. One tends to realize as they go through life, that many little events make up a great part of you, which as I write this I can't help to think of the Chicago song "If You Leave Me Now" ...you'll take away the biggest part of me, ooohh wooo ooo... (cough). Moving on. For about 3 dollars I got a mother load of items. I got these signs, which I based a character around for a short film I did when I was 18 titled "Yo Como Mis Primos". The person who had the garage sale must have been something of a salesman, one of those intense ones who wear short sleeve dress shirts with a square tie, and a buzz cut. The signs, I imagine where made to put in your cubicle or work station, were positive affirmations such as, "Fatigue Makes Cowards of Us All" and "Control the Ball".

I also bought Ecstasy II: A Board Game for Lovers. Which is self-explanatory, and I only attempted to play it once (this was recently as I purchased the game roughly 5 years ago) and it only lasted a few roles of the die before we decided to bypass the activities and create our own "ecstasy". That hot item only cost me 25 cents.

But what you are dying to know is, what is The Itinerant? I’m getting there. I also purchased a "trophy" that fine day, seems like a trophy although I am not really sure what it is to be perfectly honest. The "trophy", or plaque, is a 8 x 6 piece of wood that has what looks like an I with a basketball looking globe shooting through the middle of it, below that it says Amsterdam 86. Hmm Okay. This is a silver design that is encased in a plastic square which is similar to the plastic protective cases in which you put your valuable baseball cards (right?). Below this, on a thin strip of metal it says, "International Conference For Itinerant Evangelists July 12-21" Best item ever! An Evangelists ... Thing. I thought it was the funniest and has hung on various walls at various apartments ever since.

I did try to look up this conference, this is all I came up with in terms of useful info: http://www.wheaton.edu/bgc/archives/GUIDES/560.htm#3 , maybe someone knows more? Being staunchly against the principles of the Evangelical movement, the irony of having the plaque commemorating my participation in this event, 3 years after my birth, is something I cherish deeply.

But why The Itinerant?

Like I said, in trying to think up a name, and all these damn things do need a name, all I did was look up from my computer to the plaque on the wall. I looked up the word to see what it means and it fit, to a degree, the purpose of this "blog" (side note: worst name for anything ever, how do these things catch on? Academics or individuals who lend credence to movements by giving them horrible names such as blog should really be ashamed of themselves, shame on you!) from the stand point of who I am. I will now supply you the definition that applies:

I-tin-er-ant - noun. a person who alternates between working and wandering.

That would be me. The working part is considerably spare in comparison to the wandering which will be the focus of the blog. The act of discovering and uncovering. Whether it is Film, Music, Architecture, Food, Art, Events, Photography, Books, Sexy things, Found Art (which is different from art) anything that is worth finding will be found and discussed at a moderate length. I will also include pictures of various things discovered while wandering. Think of this web site like an umbrella policy with your insurance company. Covers everything it can, but this isn’t a waste of your money as it is free, the information is free.

Welcome fellow Itinerants.