For the first time in a long time, a rant. -- FMZ Message Board

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Date Posted: 16:27:14 05/31/04 Mon
Author: Charlie
Subject: For the first time in a long time, a rant.

Strange thoughts and observations plague my mind like a thousand STD's on this humid Los Angeles afternoon. Tomorrow morning I return to the land of Judy Martz and cattle ranches, and for the first time in my life I almost look forward to coming home. Not to say that I hate this city I've been staying in; no one can really figure out what this nation is about until they've spent time in the greater LA area. Perhaps that's the irony.
In the little time I've spent here I've seen contrasting shades of rich and poor, and the latter hue seems to cover most of the canvas of southern California. Everyone who comes here owes it to themself to walk down the Hollywood Walk of Fame, not to read the names of celebrities past and present, but to take notice of the beggars beside them. The homeless line the sides of Hollywood Boulevard and the Sunset strip, asking for nickels from the massive crowds of tourists holding their standard issue thousand-dollar camcorders (these individuals always claim not to have any spare change). The destitute now sleep where the red carpet once was rolled out for Hudson, Monroe and Gable. See how excess takes its toll.
Thirty-nine years ago, Jim Morrison and Ray Manzarek stood on the sands of Venice Beach and there decided to make some of the most interesting music of the sixties era. Now, the boardwalk has been turned into a beachline strip-mall with two head-shops per block. Despite this ratio, finding marijuana is impossible. The police station is right on the beach, and if you look on its concrete exterior, you will find the words of Morrison and Exene Cervenka engraved on the side. I won't elaborate on the idiocy of this.
Away from Venice is Long Beach, where I'm told my Great-Grandfather went fishing on the weekends back in the 1920s. Driving into Long Beach is like taking a tour of American social structure. The exit off of the 405 Freeway goes directly into the Mexican barrio and if you stare out the window you'll see trash on the streets, graffiti on the walls, and again, the homeless on the sidewalk. After this you pass through some of the black ghetto and be amazed at how segregation, while no longer state-sanctioned, seems to live on through dog-eat-dog economics. Finally, after passing through the areas the touristers don't photograph, you reach the ocean and its sizable estates. Upscale apartments and lavish semi-mansions sprout up from the edge of the beach, almost as if to give foreign vessels the impression that Long Beach is a community doing quite well. This area is known as "South Long Beach" and it is the makeup that an aging and hideous America applies to herself to cover up wrinkles and scars. Sanity for South Long Beach is the midnight showing of the Rocky Horror Picture show, an assembly of gays, lesbians, tranvestites, goths and punk rockers all trying to find some way to entertain themselves and escape the various tensions of their community. These are the least plastic people on this coastline, and it's easy to enjoy their company.
And now I wait for tomorrow morning and the plane that will take me out of the place where the American nightmare cannibalizes itself. If the American dream means turning the whole world into Beverly Hills and Rodeo drive, count me out. I'll be content to live out in the boondocks, with my simple pleasures, guitar and a keyboard, laughing as the whole damn shithouse burns down.

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Replies:

Re: For the first time in a long time, a rant. -- Derek, 22:04:14 06/02/04 Wed
- Re: For the first time in a long time, a rant. -- Dave, 22:58:14 06/02/04 Wed