The excitement of the day had my heart racing like an Indy
car. I quickly hit the pavement of the Boulevard and
headed toward the café lined streets of the Santa Monica Promenade for a bite
to eat. I found a little pizza place
about two blocks up and bought a slice of pizza. I thought back to other times in my life when
things were bad and when I was angry at the world, due to circumstance and I became grateful. No sooner did I finish my
pizza did the phone ring once again it was “Standing Room Only”, the girl on
the phone asked is I was available to be an audience member again
tomorrow. I said “Sure” and asked her
for details. She told me that it was for
a TV game show called “Bingo America” starring Richard Karn, from HOME IMPROVEMENT, as the host. Ecstatic I
said “Yes” and I was to report by 9 AM in The San Fernando Valley. Feeling like I had just hit the game winning
homerun I gathered my things and wandered towards the Pier to meet the boys and
watch the Music On The Pier.
As I walked away I noticed
a man on the side of the road in nothing but shorts and chains. His body was black with a grime which resembled
soot and he was bound from head to toe with giant chains. He reached his bound hands to the sky and shook
his chains, looking up and cursing God. I
watched for a while as chills went down my spine as this man cried out to the
Heavens in what appeared to be utter turmoil.
A couple walked by and handed him his doggy bag left over from their dinner,
without even acknowledging them he stopped and disappeared into a doorway with
his supper. I wondered to myself what
made this man so angry? Why did he stand
there in filth moaning and shaking his hands and cursing God? He was so busy being miserable that he did
not even notice, that it was the Earth which was feeding him. I scurried away
and couldn’t help but remember a time, when that man in chains was I.
They call them “Twilight Concerts” and once a week in the
summer all of the beach residents ride their bikes and their skateboards and bring
their picnic baskets and dogs and set out on the Beach on the South side of the
Pier to enjoy some free music and enjoy each other’s company. As the sun sets the beach is littered with
paper lunch bags with candles in their belly’s and music fills the air. I instantly found my spot when I saw Apache
and his orange BMX gathered around a small crowd. As the night went on some of
the friends I had made so far arrived and we laughed made friends with tourists
and partied down on the beach.
After a time, the music stopped and off on the little
boardwalk I could see some people gathering, someone was setting up a
microphone and speakers. Instantly I
realized who it was setting up on the beach, it was the crew I had seen playing by
the volleyball courts the other night, it was John Rushton and his friends, “ContentLife”. Within minutes Maricio began pounding the bongo and Cowboy the tambourine as John spit out the lyrics of what would later
become my L.A. anthem “City of the Night”.
The music lasted into the wee hours of the night with people dancing
like they were at the Grateful Dead in '72. A 15
ft man danced around the crowd (he was on stilts) and the night aged under the
full moon. As the evening progressed
into morning the crowd dispersed and only a few of us were left and a few ones
arrived. A beautiful young girl began
playing a giant accordion looking thing and chanting.
There were spirits in the air that night. I sat down on the beach mesmerized at the
young lady making music. I looked around
me and there was fire, there were muses and mimes basking under the moons
headlight shining through the fog. A
woman tapped on my shoulder, she had no face or not one that I could see, she
opened up her bag and pointed inside “These are my cards she said” as she
selected a deck from many. “These are
yours” and she began to shuffle a deck of playing cards with pictures of
Marilyn Monroe on them. She asked me to
select some cards without looking and she flipped my cards out onto the
sand. “Never before has someone drawn
all face cards in this particular order” she said and she delivered me my
fortune. Moments later the chants faded
away and I was on the beach alone, “charisma” was the last thing I heard the
wind whisper as I strolled to my hotel on the sand, my lifeguard tower. Off in the distance I saw Sam and Carlos, Sam
was playing his guitar while 3 girls sat on and admired. In the words of Ice Cube “Today was a good
day.”
Thanks for reading about my
Adventures! Please enjoy the links
scattered throughout the story which lead to actual events, music and
history. I hope you come back often and
that you are enjoying my saga.
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