Last Glance: Pre-Crash L.A.

99 cent store and the classic can't remember what thee hell i'm doing here but neverless both arms become filled with these odds and ends and this is how the wizards programmed the place to be the multi-monetary success it is -- making dough from the naive consumer who thinks he'll go grab one thing while walking out with 10 things, none of which are the original one thing which now is long forgotten until remembered and then its for another trip where hence the cycle repeats...

IN MY CASE i have five items stuffed in my motorcycle helmet walking down aisle shaking head in disgust knowin full well i took the bait and by damn i cants remember what the hell the 'one thing' i came there for was...
NEVERLESS I'M rewarded..reminded of Venice beauty--and confronted with the 'goddamn this place sure gonna be hard to leave, come crash time'-- ah the characters, the ONES specific unique to HERE--and hence therein lies, the beauty..

MAN IN GAS mask walking down the aisle and no perhaps not full regalia toxic wasteland type a gas mask but certainly no kerchief round face or even white little painters mask, this things a decent size air filtration system strapped around most of face like say you'd imagine would be the common thing in thick smog ground air Blade Runner times (in not so dis future)..tho anyways no one bats an eye and its that beauty of being able to gas mask it around a dollar store or walk in as say court jester cause you are a court jester and its a look and a grin but not a major deal whereas in midwest such would be a story handed down for generations..'member when uncle coyote saw gas mask man at jebediahs dolla store'.. And oh its just a reminder---

AND reminded also i am of how such are all around and ever present and you turn away from the mad jester only to see a black tarzan in g-string riding a unicycle and...

AND MY turnaround walking out of said 99 and now with helmet on and older lady heading in 99 taking along her hand made marionette puppet with strings and all and it appears..yes it is, doll of michael jackson who she holds up to me and says ''seeeee'' and i look and see and on the jacket of marionette michael is little pin which reads "NOT GUILTY" and then i smile and am posed a question by lady "DO YOU AGREE?" Oh geeez i really dug the puppet with strings and didn't expect to have to be jury all of sudden, so naturally, not wanting to give in yet not wanting to disagree i mumble and stumble (and in fact lie) uhhh i uh really haven't uh been.. you know.... following the case... Oh brother but she accepts and responds ''i hope not'' as in she hopes michael aint guilty revealing that, despite string doll and button, she has a doubt...but nevertheless she feels the mum of the boy should be brought up on charges of parental neglect for allowing her son, a 13 year old "who's hormones are already raging", to sleep in the sack with Mike and his porno rag collection...

She and michael walk in the 99 and i depart long the parking lot passing the rest of sunday night characters along the way; clever homeless pushin carts, a prostitute pretending to be on pay phone, and a security guard bundled up in uniform standing stiff observing more than any the endless beauty always constant...

LAST GLANCE

LAST GLANCE: Pre-Crash Los Angeles
New series i'll give an 8week run; observations on los angeles landscape; a last glance before peak oil takes on the s.u.v.'s and the biz as usual L.A.