The Bus Bench

Will Detour be Detoured?

UPDATE: I spoke this afternoon with Goldenvoice event producer Phil Blaine—a downtown resident, I might add—and he stated that with the coöperation of the Secret Service, LAPD, LAFD and Clinton's people, the two events should pose no problems to the attendees. Clinton's fund-raiser will take place from 6 p.m. until 7:30 p.m. and will have reserved parking as well as offer egress in Harlem Place (the alley between the Edison and the cigar/art shoppe) whereas the main gate of Detour—half a block away—will not interfere with the Edison soiree. The security perimeter for Clinton will not intrude on Detour.

The Detour Fest will be this weekend, and Browne and I will once again be marching proudly and unpaid through the gates because, well, it's a street festival and we already paid when the taxman had his hand out.

Or so we hope. . .

Who are you calling a Bitch? Sexist Transit Person Bart Reed gives the LA Weekly some opinions.

“Molina is leading the charge in demanding more transit spending for the aging, working-class Eastside suburbs and so-called Gateway Cities she represents....

Bart Reed, executive director of the Transit Coalition, who wants priority given to the Expo Line, between downtown and Culver City, and the Crenshaw line — the “line to nowhere” roughly between El Segundo and the Crenshaw District — says scornfully of the scrappy, longtime Eastside pol, “She is ... a shrill, shrieking shrew, who’s very vindictive.” LA Weekly, Taves and Stewart.

Ok, I think this is a little sexist. No I think that's ALOT sexist. Whatever you think on this issue of the fake transportation bill. Damn you Fred Camino for going on hiatus right now. This is really a bad time for me, I demand you come back to work right now.

I was at the board meeting yesterday. It was pretty entertaining. Nice to put the name to some of the many friendly faces in the world of transit, yet it was also horrifying.

Easier to criticize people you don’t know…lol…

To me Bart Reeds comments are completely unacceptable. As I’ve pointed out several times an opinion that a woman has, has absolutely nothing to do with her vagina. Just like a guy's opinion has nothing to do with his penis, at least in regards to public transit issues.

And I was at the meeting. How was she vindictive? She was fighting for the interests of her constituency. Lots of her constituency takes the bus. She pretty much was the only board member fighting for her constituency.

(Sans Antonovich who was making commentary for a completely different reason, but why no comments on him going on and on, he was just as annoying if you take the valid reasons completely out of it. No comments about his sex or race. His wife is a person of color, maybe you would like to make some comments about her Bart…real progressive Mr. "I'm the head of a transit organization" man.)

Molina’s constituency takes the bus. In AB2321 there isn’t any exact language in regards to busses, so what the fuck Bart? She was doing her job. She was the only one from the minority and working class communities to do so. She was the only one who had the brass ovaries to ask the tough questions.

Questions Bernard Parks and Yvonne Burke should have been asking. Molina wouldn't have looked so aggressive if the two other minorities on the board hadn't just been sitting there  "behaving".

For some reason I have the feeling that Burke and Parks are in some business dudes' pockets.

Stick with the issue Bart. You aren't a damn blog. If you want some respect you don't refer to people as slurs.

Molina isn’t a shrew. If you are going to call her shrew you could call her an “illegal” for giving her opinion, but that wouldn’t be ok would it? (But I’d bet my favorite pair of sunglasses that he has some choice words for the African-American Damien Goodman, email me in private, don't worry I'll protect you I have brass ovaries.)

I’m waiting for feminists to step up to the plate to defend Molina.

Remember women of color are women too.

Besides you have an office up the street.

by Browne Molyneux

Danny Weizmann

The brilliant Danny Weizmann was back in Los Angeles after who knows how many years after not really being in Los Angeles.

He was for many years in New York, and now he lives in Israel. And if you have any knowledge of punk rock, fanzines, early alternative literature and Los Angeles spoken word, then you should know Danny Weizmann.

Here is a quick run-down: one of the first L.A. Weekly writers, one of the first punk fanzine publishers in Los Angeles (a few years after Flipside started in 1977, but 1981 was only the beginning of the end, anyhow), an early writer for Flipside (R.I.P. 1977-1999) one of the first to break away from the Beats bullshit (a boys' club of inheritance-enriched mama's boys, to be sure) and a writer whose work continues to impress.

If you are fortunate enough to possess—or at least have heard—one or both of his New Alliance albums (one of three record labels owned by former Black Flag founder, song-writer and guitarist Gregg Ginn), then surely you know what I mean. If not, I urge you to get a copy of at least one of them: "The Wet Dog Shakes" and "Hollywoodland."

In the meantime, enjoy this brief excerpt from the Golden River Concrete Gothic's inaugural event, where Mr. Weizmann did a rare performance. (Sorry for the dark video; the lighting was rather poor.)

 

 

Friends of the River my ass. Boyle Heights (via Williamsburg, Brooklyn). 12/27

FoLAR (and their friends) are confused as to why Gloria Molina is angry that some kids drew all over the LA River.

Here are some photos of the disrespectful artless posturing.

Let’s see, Gloria Molina represents a good portion of Latino LA and instead of going to Self Help Graphics or El Nopal, FoLAR goes to Crewest. A gallery that popped up yesterday and gets Man One (who is of what stature exactly in the art world, oh he works in advertising, that’s pretty much the same thing as art)  to organize scribbling all over the LA River, because FoLAR thought it would be cool.

Where was Leo Limon? Where was Gronk? Where either of them asked? Did they not want to participate? WE WOULD REALLY LIKE TO KNOW (PRIVATELY browne@shametrainla.com or publicly, comments.)

If they weren’t asked, what the fuck? If they were asked and didn’t want to do it, probably a red flag this was a bad idea.

FoLAR's now confused as to what’s the problem?

I just told you in seven sentences what the fuck went wrong and why Gloria is probably a little annoyed. You know she probably didn’t want to have to get mad, but how exactly is she going to explain to the muralists of East LA who have been fighting for legitimacy for decades that they just have been usurped by a guy in advertising from the San Gabriel Valley who has a “gallery” that sells spray cans, because now it’s cool to do graffiti.

She has had FoLAR’s back for YEARS. She was an ardent supporters and she just got FUCKED by FoLAR. FoLAR should have thought. FoLAR should have thought as to the repercussions of choosing who you chose to work with when you are a guest in someone else’s neighborhood.

Of course LA belongs to everyone, but when men of color stop getting pulled over for just being dark, then you can call me on that properly. Until then, fuck off in regards to that kumbaya shit.

They couldn’t even get the flyer right. The flyer said the event was in Highland Park when I could have sworn that section of the river (by Avenue 19) that was being scribbled over was Lincoln Heights? When I take the Gold Line the stop to get off says Lincoln Heights. When I take the MTA 90, 94, 294 according to the MTA it says its Lincoln Heights. I guess things look differently from your car as you are speeding out on the i5, 2, or i110 before dark to the neighborhoods that have been properly gentrified.

People say no one lives there, well to me with the amount of graffiti (some very artful) someone is living there and if you've ever gone over the railroad tracks, scaled the wall after dark, and through the holes in the chain linked fences, those somebodies care an awful freakin lot about that section of the river, maybe not the way you or I would care, but they do care.

Who did FoLAR consult? (you can email me FoLAR browne@shametrainla.com) Did FoLAR consult any artists in the LA area about that. Did FoLAR consult their former outreach coordinator Joe Linton? Joe’s an artist, possibly he may have been a better person to organize this allegededly community event.

Did FoLAR consult any people in the community that they were painting in? The adults in the area, not just the kids? Consult the homeowners? Did they consult the leaders of the community.

How about if I plan an event at your house, ask your kids in regards to if it’s cool and then spray paint your living room FoLAR?

Would that be cool with you?

Oh and then after I spray painted your living room how about I use the pictures of the event, not to help the enviroment, but to gain pseudo "street" cred, so that the urban divisions of corporations that I want to pay me money know that I am "hardcore."

See the Swedish headliner of the events extra-curricular activities: commerical crap.

Yeah-yeah, they had the permits, but say your kid asked to go to the party at the good kid's house and you were real busy. You say yeah, because in general your kid is responsible and then later on you see your kid in an orgy on you-tube. You’d be like what the fuck, right?

That’s what a graffiti party along the LA River is. An orgy of art. I’m not saying I have a problem with graffiti (or orgies), but FoLAR doesn’t have a right to force "art" into districts that I doubt any of the staff members of FoLAR live in.

Another problem is that the people who participated in this event, didn’t seem like they were from the neighborhood. The headliner seemed to have been some guy from Sweden? Why is a guy from Sweden headlining and Eastside graffiti/mural event? Why is a group that started in 2002 in Germany scribbling on my river?

They seemed to just have viewed the LA River as a canvas for their personal project?

I'm not going to even ask if there were any chicks there. To me from the photos it looks like the old boy's club 2007 style. I know I saw two women in the photos, but being a woman of color I know how organizations make a real effort to "appear" diverse. Often I'm the only woman of color at events and people always want to take my picture to show how "colorful" they are. Such bullshit. That's why I don't allow people to take my picture anymore.

Nothing pisses off ethnic people more than outsiders planning "art" projects in their neighborhood.

They have been segregated, disrespected, and now then when you think their culture is cool you co-op and use it for your own shameless self promotion and take everything that they built without even a symbolic gesture of respect by asking them directly can you take it.

You do that permit bullshit. That’s the “mans” way of fucking you. How many people of color have gotten their homes taken away because of some damn permit? Lost  a job? Been fined for some bullshit, because of a damn permit? How many working class white people, Armenian-Americans, Italian-Americans have gotten scrwed over because of a damn permit?

You can all put your hands down now. Fuck permits.

Organizations run by ethnic people have to spray paint in the middle of the night and you get to do it in public during daylight, because you got a permit? A guy from Sweden gets to paint on the Eastside and he doesn't even get community service because you got a permit, yeah whatever.

I can't even get the cops to not bother me on the Blue Line and I always have a permit.

And what about the environment? Why would using aerosol paint seem like a good idea around the LA River? That’s pretty toxic and lets not go into the amount of cars and no mention of public transport anywhere on the flyer. I guess if you're flying in from Europe you don't have to be concerned about the enviroment in LA, because you don't live here.

I’m not saying FoLAR is racist, just very, very ignorant to think that graffiti was going to be greeted with open arms by Gloria.

Latina moms don’t like graffiti, just like African-American moms don’t like rap. I know that’s hard for white people who now think that hooliganism is cool, because it’s been commercialized and made safe, but that kind of thing still brings chills to older people of color. They remember what it used to mean.

Someone getting killed.

I don’t think FoLAR was insincere in its intentions, just disturbingly ignorant. You should have asked. You should have asked for real, not in that upper middle class suit way.

FoLAR is an excellent organization and it has done a lot, but it was a bit naïve in it’s calculations.

Let me make clear that Gloria Molina was one of FoLAR’s biggest supporter, in fact she was the biggest.

In 2006 she was awarded a Rivie by FoLAR for her years of support, so this isn’t some out of the blue thing. She doesn't have PMS. She felt disrespected and rightfully so.

FoLAR, Gloria’s got your nuts in a steel vice and I suggest you say uncle, because in LA there is definitely a new sheriff in town and I think she has a skirt.

________________________________

On to the media, you so-called journalists are gutless. You are gutless asskissers. I know FoLAR has friends in high places in journalism (which is why writers should cease being friends with nonprofits, corporations, and politicians and learn to be objective in the background observers, so the truth can get out) in the LA print media, but seriously, you’re dumbasses. The fucked upness of this situation is obvious on so many fucking levels. Letting people talk shit about Gloria without defending her, after all she’s done.

Gloria Molina is old school LA. One of the few people of color in politics that doesn't view her people as a stepping stone to get some cushy bullshit business job. Born in Pico Rivera the eldest of ten children. She had done countless things that have helped not just the Latino community, but working class people in general. She's been in politics since the 1970s. She's hardcore and the liberal media are going to sit by an let a hatchet job get done on her by people who plan an event on the Eastside and they don't even know the neighborhood that they are painting in. That's some sadness right there.

You suck, seriously. I hope you’re getting paid nicely to lick the “right” people’s asses.

Nice how the pr machine worked in overdrive to get this bullshit covered in favor of FoLAR or some pretend bullshit “objectivity,” not one person can see Gloria's side on this? Yeah that's the sad state of the "independent" "green" media in the city of Lost Angeles.

by Browne

What about Wanda Coleman? Watts. 12/20

What about Wanda Coleman?

What about Wanda Coleman. The literary community of LA has forgotten a very valuable person in it’s community. A person who actually sells books to people who aren’t her students.

I don’t think she has any students.

And let us be honest, most poets that are alive sell because they teach and have their students buy their books.

Especially the poets in LA.

Most poets in LA want to be actors.

Nothing worse than an out of work actor type trying to write…

Even Hollywood won’t let that breed type for them and the bar in regards to artfulness is pretty low in La-La Land.

Wanda Coleman a LA poet who actually is from LA. She didn’t move here as a child. She is traditional urban LA.  Her mom didn’t go to Spelman. She’s not a middle class black person stealing the poor black person’s experience for fame and glory. She writes about what LA is like. She actually worked as a writer, not a model or in advertising or as an actress and happened upon it after failing at everything else. She is a writer through and through.  She is a poet that understands LA.

A Los Angeles poet who is now living in Lancaster.

Fucking Lancaster.

They throw her a bone every once in a while at the LA Times and various small events, but they throw people who haven’t dedicated their life to writing bigger bones. Why doesn’t Wanda have a column somewhere? At the LA Times, the LA Weekly, City Beat?

Everyone else from her time period has been given a mercy steady gig. Wanda is still hustling.

I assume because she didn’t play the game and kiss enough asses. Now she has been relegated to Lancaster.

I remember hearing things about Wanda before I met her.

I heard things like “She has a bad attitude. She shouldn’t demand to be called 'Dr. Coleman' since her doctorate was only honorary…” all kinds of not so nice things about her. By people who claim to be her friend. Not so nice things by people who were pretty well established in the LA poetry "community" and I use that term loosely.

If she’s a piece of shit and you’re published, why are you going out of your way to tell me fucked up things about her?

But as soon as these same people would see her when she would randomly come down to LA to pick up mail, they would kiss her ass.

No I shouldn’t say kiss her ass, but try to suck the life out of her through her ass.

Using her to say, “See we have a person of color.”

Using her to say, “We have Wanda Coleman in our crappy chapbook, she was on the same press as Bukowski.”

Using her to sell crappy poorly produced DVDs.

I’m going to bet none of these assholes paid her what she was worth, if they paid her at all.

Wanda was raised in Watts and lived for a long time in the area that is now being rechristened East Hollywood (hipster types can't live in a section of LA that is just called LA unless it's prefixed with a west or downtown, because living in LA, just LA, equals scary minorities, which isn't very hip at all) and then she moved to the Westside.

Every time people talk about LA writers, they seem to forget to bring up Wanda. At least forget to bring her up as much as they should. People outside of LA actually know who Wanda Coleman is. That is something that no other LA poet other than Bukwoski can say.

But Wanda suffers from having a reputation of being difficult, but why should she be easy? She grew up poor. In very segregated pre civil rights Los Angeles. Yes Virginia LA has and had racism. She has accomplished a lot writing wise, yet she still has to deal with jerks who feel that they are better than her. Why? Because they have a degree and she doesn't. Not understading that 45 years ago it was very hard for people of color to get degrees, jobs, lots of things, hell, it's not that easy now. I work for myself, because no one will hire me, even with a degree. So I guess in some ways racism and sexism has worked for me - insert smiley face.

• Do you know that Wanda Coleman as a little kid wouldn’t have been allowed to go to Disneyland?
• Her parents wouldn’t have been allowed to buy a house in Santa Monica. Yes liberal Santa Monica.
• That up until the 1960s people who looked like Wanda Coleman weren’t allowed to have drinks at the Biltmore’s Gallery Bar.

Her honorary degree is real and is valid, because I doubt that the average 25 plus year teaching tenured upper middle class white professor at USC, UCLA, or Stanford would have survived what Wanda has survived.

Considering everything, she's actually rather pleasant.

Maybe she should republish her work as an upper middle class white person.  It’s odd how if you are ethnic your recounting of an event is viewed as suspect by publishers.

It’s viewed as suspect by everyone.

"Browne, I think possibly you are viewing that refusal of entry into a free event as way more than what it was, it could have been a variety of things. Did you cover up that 666 tattoo on your forehead?" Browne's suspecting 'friend'.

They would probably think Wanda Coleman was trailblazing or groundbreaking if she were white or a man.

I remember the head of a writer’s organization that is run from New York (but has a LA office) who is not Latina wrote a book that seemed to be a biography about a lesbian Latina. Her CalArts ass got that thing published (and I think an award too) with a quickness and got a bunch of readings around town. Everyone thought that was ok, or at least pretended as if it were, because she is the head of an important literary organization.

We all have to pretend that mediocre people with power don’t suck in the arts, especially the literary arts.

I thought that was kind of not ok, because that’s kind of stealing someone else’s experience because their cultural experience happens to currently be popular to the mainstream media.

I think that is kind of artless. No, I’m sure that is artless.

If the book had been very good, then I wouldn’t bring it up, but it wasn’t good. It was just right place, right time, but that should have been a break for a Latina writer. Not an artless rich person, who knows how to market themselves and a product.

Maybe Wanda Coleman isn’t full of shit enough to be recognized. She needs to develop an addiction to crack and die on skid row and then maybe people will recognize her.

They would use her as “don’t let this happen to you” tale for cocky people of color types.

People like Frank Chin, who lives in Echo Park. Who for some reason is also forgotten when people say the only LA writer is Charles Bukowski.

An “acceptable” stereotype back story in writing seems to be very important, especially if you are working class or poor.

I think if you’re working class you have to have a flaw (an accepted flaw) that people can point and laugh at in order to “make it”.

We can’t let the secret out that talent has nothing to do with the crappy university system in the states. If that secret leaked out people would stop wasting money there. Fake artists who make their living teaching, stealing other people’s identities, and living off grants would have to do something, like work at the phone company or the grocery store.

By Browne

Did someone cut off your fingers? Downtown. 11/24

167 people got their cars impounded on Thanksgiving. Two got arrested for drunk driving. The Sheriff had a check point up in Moreno Valley at 3pm.

Yes at three fucking pm in the afternoon.

Cops know where to find drunk people. Cops know where to find people who are going to visit their families, so asshole cops decided that Thanksgiving would be a good time to enforce the “you must have a driver’s license to drive a car” rule, because driving without a license sober is going to kill someone.

I shouldn't just call cops the assholes, because this wasn't their idea. They take orders from a higher authority.

Business and policians that fuck them.

The government thinks catching people on a national holiday on their way to visit family is an ok thing to do. I wonder how are they going to blame China for this?

On CBS no one is saying what the ethnicity of the people were who got their cars impounded, but I’m going to take a guess. Who would drive around completely sober without a valid driver’s license? You can’t get a license unless you can prove that you’re a citizen, so I’m guessing probably a Latino person.

Any comment from the peanut gallery of the blogosphere on this, hell NO!!!

Rather complain about bullshit that doesn’t matter like TV shows, striking assholes, things that happened forty years ago, and where does Filipinotown begin and end.

There was a time when the LA Weekly was thought to be the worse thing to happen to the LA indy media. The LA Weekly being bought by New Times not the worse thing that has happened to the LA indy media.

At least the people at the LA Weekly have an opinion and they get paid money. Writing is an actual job morons in the blogosphere who don’t use punctuation and happily write for free because some exploiting asshole linked you.

The irony is that the blogsphere going on and on about the WGA strike when they are half of the reason that writers in the print media are getting paid less and less and less.

Oh, but print media doesn't write for TV.

Blogs are way in front of the corporate media in regards to the worse thing to happen to the LA indy media. A bunch of morons who stand in a circle jerk and try to be positive all the fucking time. And no one steps on anyone else’s toes. One group covers the purple people, one group covers the grey people, one group covers the marside, one group covers the venusside and no one talks bad about anyone else. Segregated bullshit. That's what the blogsphere is. The black bloggers, the latino bloggers, the white bloggers, the gay bloggers, the working class bloggers, the rich bloggers, the asian bloggers the straight bloggers, it's fucking sickening. It's like South Africa in 1990. Every group has their section and no one has a problem with it and everyone stays pretty much in their own section.

Yeah then it's the big gigantic toilet of a blog that links all the little pieces of turds together.

No one calls anyone on their bullshit, because that’s bad form. That’s being a troll.

Having an opinion is not being a team player and goddmanit don’t talk about a blogger’s post, because they aren’t getting paid, though their words are surrounded by ads.

Why should I listen to an idiot who will write for free for someone else who is getting money?

So now what we have in the electronic media is a bunch of gigantic (and mini) electronic adwells that focus on happy talk or maybe some serious talk, but not too serious, because we don’t want to be a downer.

Also by talking shit you might risk confrontation.

Don't want to be too immigrant rights or too much of a feminist or too ethnic or too white or too conservative or too liberal or too anything, that might turn someone off.

What if you talk about a gallery and then you see that gallery owner at the art walk or make a complaint about a government official and you see that person at the Aloud series or you bump into the businessman you complained about at the Old Bank DVD movie rental place.

That might be uncomfortable. You might not get invited to that very cool party next week.

You’re just writing for fun. Fuck the people.

Bloggers are like a wetdream has come to life for advertising agencies, because most bloggers (the ones in particular who have no editorial credentials) have no integrity. All you have to do is send them a press release and some swag and they will write about you.

If you're a gov't agency just send them a plaque and you'll never have to worry about bad blog press again on any agenda items you may have.

What happened to journalists? What happened to the editorial media? What happened to the people who had opinions on fucked up stuff that’s happening right NOW? Are they dead? Are they in Paris?

Have they been bought by the marketing companies that own these blogs, so they are no longer allowed to speak?

167 people got their lives taken away from them because they happened to be born Latino and not in the US. Is that a crime? How can you be born the wrong thing? And how can no one have a problem with it? All you have to do is type about it.

How can you take away someone’s life, because they don’t have the proper paperwork? The paperwork they would have had until in 1993 Pete Wilson the biggest dick Governor of  California since Reagan (who closed all the public mental health hospitals and made skidrow the lovely place it is today)  took away the right of people to have driver’s licenses who didn’t have the “proper” paperwork to be in this country.

Notice Reagan’s building on the NW corner of skidrow. At least it is ugly.

People don’t seem to remember to reference history and to apply it to right now. The past impacts people’s lives right now in a real way.  Segregation, the internment camps, the Bracero program and other mistakes in California history still have great impacts on what happens today, but you know people used to say something about inequities.

There used to be a liberal media, a liberal media that didn’t fuck politicians and party with business men, but  now we just have underpaid and (NONPAID) publicists.

Browne

_________________________________________________________________________
All of those who think that “They aren’t citizens, so blah, blah, blah…” Keep this in mind, when the police gets rid of all of the “undesirables” they are going to have to pick a new group of undesirables and that new group of undesirable may be you.

Speaking up only for people who “look” like you is dangerous to your Civil Rights.

Killing Pudding

KillPuddingCOLOUR03
Video sent by shametrainla

Why I'm not a pet detective...

The Brewery to the Detour. Downtown LA. 10/09

Part II

After I drank a Black Dahlia, fiancé got a Jack and Coke and BusTard had a double scotch and we all had our fill of nuts we finally got on the 76 and was on our way to the Art Walk (to go to Kevin Flint’s party,) but we were pretty drunk by that point. Somewhere about five minutes into the bus ride BusTard says, “we have to get off, because we’re going to miss it…”

The Department of General Services, what the hell does that mean...

Now I know this particular projects (just for your info a projects is a place where the economically disadvantage live all together like a big happy family, its like a co-op, sort of like eco-village but everyone qualifies for section 8 and there are no white people or daddy to make it go away when you’re done with slumming, it takes a long time to get in, sort of like eco-village, but it’s still pretty shitty, sort of like eco-village, but it’s cheap, sort of like eco-village…) which are on Main we hadn’t even passed yet, which is before the tenth block, which would be about ten blocks away from the Brewery which was at the 20th block, but BusTard was adamant about us getting off.

We get off and start walking and then I say, “You’re such a fucking dumb ass, we had a good three stops to go.”

So 20 minutes later and after passing the Department of General Services we finally arrive at the Brewery Art Walk to attend Kevin Flint’s party, but on our way trying to find it we run into Mat Gleason.

I think Mat Gleason is the best thing since sliced bread, but Mat and BusTard are contemporaries, so I don’t know if BusTard thinks he’s as neat as I do.

“So do you think it’s a conflict of interest that you work for Gallery C and running Coagula,” BusTard.

Then Mat tells us about a bigger conflict of interest. I tell Mat I’m happy that’s he’s all legit now and things.

For god sake BusTard this isn’t New York.

No one ever gives their real opinion out here.

Everything is a conflict of interest.

Then Mat, BusTard and I walk to this other gallery and then we lose him (or he ditches us,) but fuck, I’ve forgotten to ask where Kevin Flint’s loft is.

At this time the fiancé gets a bit tired and decides to take a cab home….I should have gone with him, but I was determined to find this party and BusTard was determined to find a fight.

After 30 minutes of going in circles we finally get to Kevin’s place and we run into Adrian and Richard a photographer and sculptor respectively.

Richard tells us that there is something better going on at the 410 Boyd Grill, so we decide to hitch a ride with Adrian, but first Richard asks what the fuck is up with us not having a car.

I explain cops are bastards and I explain that BusTard thinks this is New York and won’t let that dream go.

Richard finishes his drink.

They tell us to come along.

We hop in Adrian’s very sensible Honda Civic and follow our drunk friend Richard in his vintage diesel Mercedes (which I’m in the market for,) he tells us not to worry about him getting arrested, because they don’t arrest white people in LA.

I guess that’s true, unless you have a vagina and then they make you spend weeks in jail for something most people spend a night in jail for tops, but whatever..

We get to 410 Boyd and we see some art and I get asked if I’m a call girl, because BusTard looks way older than me and people always wonder what the hell, but he’s not that old and I’m not that young.

We see some art with people I know in it.

A person that makes paper dolls, named Steven.

“Hi Steven,” me.
“Hi Browne,” Steven.

Later I’m told by Paige Wery that Steven is the artist Suzan’s boyfriend….I love gossip….

As we were leaving we were going to catch a cab, but decided to walk by some homeless people and heard Turbonegro playing.

TurboTVatDetour2007
Video sent by shametrainla

“Hey that’s Turbonegro,” BusTard.

So we walk towards the sound and we’ve run into LA Weekly's Detour where we let a guard know that we didn’t have to pay.

It was pretty much that easy. You just tell the guard, this is a public street and unless you are going to arrest me, be gone rent-a-cop.

So we walk in. I was about to get a churro, but it costs four dollars. Now it’s not as if I didn’t have four dollars, but I wasn’t going to pay for a dried pastry of fried bread with sugar at the tail-end of a music festival.

We hear this Depeche Mode (BusTard says Cure) like band, I don’t know what the hell it is, but it has a way more huge crowd than Turbonegro. Obvious to me that Turbonegro got the bitch stage…hey I guess playing for an LA Weekly event is worth being on the shitty stage.

But I remember in the ads they were going on about all of the local LA band. I guess that was to make the old timers feel good.

Popular British MTV band with huge crowd plays and me and BusTard find a seat on the balcony lay back and drink and wonder who do they sound more like? Depeche Mode or Cure, then the band leader says, “Hey you kids on the balcony be careful.” And the crowd of 7,000 or so turn around and look at us.

Creepy that British guys still have that kind of power over the teeny bopper set.

After crashing a party that was taking place in City Hall that had nothing to do with Detour and being thrown out and then being told off by some assholes in suits after chatting with security and trying to figure out who the heck would rent City Hall to have a party and hire such a crappy band, singing the very bad songs from the late 80s, which everyone knows was the worse part of the 80s.

“Do you know who I am? Do you know who I am?” asshole in a tacky overpriced suit.
“Why don’t you mind your own fucking business,” BusTard.

We left Detour.

I would have never thought that I would have ever gone to Detour, not because I’m one of those losers who hate the LA Weekly. I couldn’t give a rat’s ass about the Weekly. I for one think they do a good job at what they do. Wouldn’t want to work for them or hang out with the people who read it, but I respect their art.

I think to really hate the LA Weekly you have had to have gotten fired by them, which 75% of the writers over forty who live in LA and didn’t make it to the LA Times can proudly state.

Don't run into them at a bar. They will go and on and on and on about it like that fat chick in HR that keeps going on about how no one asked her to prom.

“I hate the LA Weekly, sure they fired a bunch of people to hire my New York bred ass, but still, they weren’t supposed to fire me,” disgruntled former LA Weekly employee.

Yeah, but it didn’t suck that much, but I think if you paid to get in or paid four dollar for a churro, that you’re a tool.

That doesn’t mean you’re a bad person, but you aren’t very punk rock that’s all.

by Browne

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How to get into LA Weekly's Detour for free.

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