leftovers

As I was walking to work, I passed by a house on a corner which had a couple of "Yes on S" signs. For those who don't know, Measure S is a terribly misguided ballot initiative to curb what some people perceive as "overdevelopment." While most anyone involved in city planning here in Los Angeles will agree that the planning and zoning process needs to be updated and fixed, this reactionary and excessive measure is "a childish middle finger to city hall" - those are the LA Times words. After I passed the house and groaned to myself, I saw a lady walking two dogs. Normally, I would have smiled and said hi. But today, paranoid that the lady might be the Measure S supporting resident of the house, I simply ignored her and kept walking. Immediately it struck me how not nice I was being - regardless of what her political beliefs are, she is kind of my neighbor. But this is what politics in this country have come to. Things are so black and white now, that t...

The year was 2002. My favorite band, The Human League, was part of a retro concert package in the UK (the Here and Now Tour) which included many other 80s bands. One of them I had never heard of, but was getting rave reviews from my overseas friends who were able to attend. The band was Altered Images and they were best known for a song called "Happy Birthday," which I didn't think I had ever heard before. I was record shopping at Aron's in Hollywood one weekend while they were having a parking lot sale. At this time, I was DJing two nights a week at Gold 9, so I was buying a lot of albums, especially when I could find them for cheap! I found Altered Images "Bite" at this sale and shortly thereafter began to play it quite a bit in my apartment, where I had my turntables set up as kind of my own little nightclub. I was immediately drawn to lead singer Clare Grogan's voice, and the lush pop of "Don't Talk To Me About Love." From...