Spent the evening walking nowhere streets
dodging horns and sirens of hungry motorbike taxis.
It was a parade of street-food vendors,
security guards half asleep by bottles of whiskey.
Every woman I passed was beautiful,
laid their *** on the numbered tables
as off-hand as their mobile phone, their purse;
their bored men. Each one had their toenails painted,
wore short skirts and vest tops in the stifling heat.
The best of them wore tight dresses of black or red
and ate their food in the same studious manner
I imagined they would take to the zip of my jeans.

Could feel the sweat roll down my back
kicking gravel out my sandals every ten strides.
The playboys rev their motorbikes
as if it were a talent they had been working on,
a kind of siren song to tempt the free women.
Each one is on the lookout for a bargain.
Each one streaks past to some indiscernible point
where they will bury themselves amongst
the massage parlours, karaoke bars, and short-stay hotels;
Each one a straight-up brothel once you make it through the doors.
I feel too awkward in this ******* town to order a sandwich
let alone try out my second language to ask for a cheap *******.

Every foreigner here had some kind of breakdown.
Some kind of complex that drew them like a moth to flame
to some place where white skin is enough to feign riches,
stimulate desire and place you amongst better men.
We steal a living for a year or two of forever blue skies.
We eat good food and toast ourselves every evening
with cold lager and palm leaf cigarettes.
We cannot read a word in these humid streets
where every single building holds a portrait of the King.
Spent the evening with my shadow, both alive in the night
beneath the heady aroma of cooking oil and street-food spice,
both hurting to become, both slipping out of sight.

It was a warm summer night in LA, August ’69,
A single night of infamy and psychic darkness for mankind.
Sharon Tate was close to fulfilling her empty outcries,
when the night burned its cloak in the sunrise.

Earlier before dawn, a quiet eerie breeze came alive
and kept blowin’ down the canyon to 10050 Cielo Drive.
A night so quiet, you could almost hear the sound of ice,
rattling in cocktail shakers in the homes of celebrity paradise.

The canyon walls came alive with eerie echoes.
Blood-curdling screams and cries of “Please don’t, Oh, God No”
Several were listening, no one saw a thing.
It happened so suddenly, so sudden without warning.

Red sky in the morning, Shepherds beware,
Bad news at the front door, “Blood, bodies everywhere”
Sharon Tate and four others tangled in a pig-slaughtering spree.
Spilled blood staining the walls with words for all to see.

Fear and panic swept through Hollywood
from the seaside bungalows to the canyon neighborhoods.
Oh, Mercy Mercy, “whats going on”?
Talk to me Marvin, C'mon talk to me, tell me what's going on.

A devil in disguise, in the city of angels, where did it go?
Ask Dennis, a beach boy, he should know.
Business is business, death to that scoundrel,
Psychotic revenge is psychotic revenge, and it’s ****** so brutal.

Charles Manson a.k.a. the devil found hiding in plain sight,
posing as a peace-loving hippie with a thousand faces.
The day they captured him, he said to me, Boy, I am the Devil
and the End-Times have just only begun.

The flower-power-Era, once eight-miles high, now in a slide.
The sacred store lost its soul when love and peace died.
The soul of a nation slowly eroding, torn away with evil.
Lennon could only imagine, living in a world safe and peaceful,

Manson flashes the Jury the LATimes,
front page headlines,“Manson Guilty, Nixon Declares,”
Hold on Mr President, tell me no lies,
take me back to My Lai to the scene of that massacre.

Casey Kasem, Kiss FM, fills the airwaves with passion,
sending psychic vibes to all God’s children.
play me some songs, Casey Kasem,
Play me the Beatles White album,
Play me “Revolution” and play me ”Helter -Skelter”

I remember when we used to received free samples of new food and other free products to sample in the mail.

I remember three TV channels and only one black and white in the living room, with no remote. We didn't have an antenna. We'd have to call the TV repairman to come to the home put a new tube in the TV when it went out.

I remember TV Guide, when everyone looked forward to the new one every week.

I remember party lines on the telephone

I remember when we had to run to the bakery, the deli, the butcher, the greeting card, hardware store and the  grocery when we were getting ready for a birthday party. It took all day to prepare.

I remember Christmas parties in school and we had an aluminum tree with a color wheel.

The Lennon Sisters, I listened to all their Christmas Music and watched them on the Lawrence Welk Show.

Lawrence Welk

Guy Lombardo's New Years count down.

I remember when the girls had to wear dresses and the boys had to wear a dress shirt  and pants  to school.

I remember when the boys and girls were not allowed to play together on the playground.

The schools used to supply green and white striped one piece zip up gym uniforms.

We always used to wear gloves, we always went out looking our very best.

On our report card we used to be graded  in citizenship, (being nice to your fellow man)

I used to know the number to call our own phone to test it to see if it would ring. You'd call the number, hang up and it would ring you'd pick it up and you knew your phone worked.

Used to be able to use five numbers to call on the phone with in your own city.

I remember when you could hang up the phone on someone and the phone would not disconnect if they didn't also hang up.

I remember when we didn't have to use zip codes

I remember Ice Cream socials and chili Suppers.

I remember Mamie Eisenhower's signature color pink washer and dryers that we had in our home. I also remember the pink tile
that was all over our bathroom walls.

I remember having milk delivered in glass bottles to an insulated square metal box with a lid on our front steps.

I remember listening to CBS Mystery Radio theater on Sunday nights.

I remember School lunches being read on the radio before school every day.

I remember Casey Kasem Sunday music countdowns.

and .10 ice cream cones from the Dairy Queen.

My mother used to make all my clothes.

I remember  8 Track Tape players, Transistor radios and Reel to Reels, Super 8 movie cameras, and movie projectors, and my first polaroid camera.

Dropping off a roll of film, or a movie reel and wait for several weeks before we got it back in the mail.

I remember S&H Green Stamps and going to buy furniture or TV's at the store.

I remember when all the stores were closed on Sundays and every holiday.
I remember when TV went off and midnight and came back on at 6 am.
I remember when drivers ed was in school.

Christmas Clubs that the bank offered so you could save your money throughout the year for Christmas.

There were no malls, you'd have to walk up and down the sidewalks to buy what you wanted.

Cigarette Machines in the hotel lobby

25 cent telephone calls from a telephone booth

.45 pack of cigarettes

Danner's 5 and Dime, real fresh and hot thinly sliced roast beef sandwiches served with a bowl of chili.

Tin star Restaurant that served the best roast beef sandwiches, before Arby's

Used to watch Popeye The Sailor man, Mr. Magoo, Felix the Cat, Road Runner.

Jack LaLane's exercise program
Julia Child's cooking program

I remember when there were automatic horse rides outside of the grocery store. You'd put a quarter in and your child could sit on it and ride for a minute.

Betamax and VHS machines
Reel to Reels
Howard Cosell
Jackie Gleason (and away we go) To the moon alice! bang zoom
wing dings

Bob Hope, Milton Burle (Uncle Milte) Jack Lemon, Danny Thomas, Jack Benny, Lucille Ball, Carol Burnett

The Rat Pack