maybe you wont get it

but here goes

praise herbiethe never weres

that now drag their feet

on the california pahways

are insignificant proportionally to their predecessors

every invader from Jed smith on has a tale to tell

that fed us every one.

children of the california

living in the shadow of the mission culture 's

historic injustices . the gold rush boom,and every subsequent

Boom rattled the conciousness.

brett harte gave way to Jauquin murietta>ambrose bierce>dashell hammett >has given way to john steinbeck>tom wolfe>and on it goes.

My dad told the story differently

all his friends died off on the circa 2nd world war street bikes

his recomendation to avoid the street bike fix drove me to aquatic

alternatives.I believe I was his success.

his psycic starvation has provided access to my Idylic life.

Our cousins in the urban core are our 21st century counterparts

adaptive feeding on availiable stimulae.

the survivors will be somewhat affected with the guilt flash

but the outer reaches of the urban depravity ripple outward

the pond is changing I heard it finally today…

my neighborhood has gone to the gentry…?

I’ll believe it when I see it.

but wouldn’t it be nice to see

the guy with the pony

like in the fifties

taking pictures of 5 year olds

in chaps and cowboy hats

sitting in front of the neighbors garage door

smiling the nieve delight only a safe neighborhood could give.

in my childhood the junk man bought scrap metal

the bakery man delivered doughnuts

playing a melody with his multi truck horn.

not til I was 17

not to know the guy up the street was dealing junk till you were 17

to hitchhike to the beach and surf

and avoid the

whirlpool

sympatico circumstance

praise the pacific for saving us one and all.

arthur godfrey gave the clues

hawaii calls and harry owens

was as important an influence as william boyd’s

hoppalong cassidy,duncan renaldo’s

cisco kid

the new californians are so jaded.

if there is a real one in a thousand . …

the FNG buldge is saddening.

from border to border

to border to ocean

two weeks and the think they own it.

god save california

hollywood aint california

arnolt aint californian

the clampets wern’t californian

the californians …are saddened by this present future

be quiet hear their tears fall upon the ground

Ive been tuned to it from before birth.

my california child saddness

““THEY DUNNO””

I can only lok away

and say

maybe someday

my recurring reverie

to stand on the stage

at my innercity high school

and confess my sins

for survival by ditching

the neighborhood Dope

the social spiral

I mostly stayed home after school and listened

to"“the genius of ray charles”"

““Bringing it back home”” dylan

sam cooke live at the copa

all stacked

eating Italian food from the corner store

owned by raymond Chang honolulu chinese

the teddy grocery was a haven

the Mc Claren pool was an anointing pool

there but for fortune.

yes the slow of wittness

are not worth confronting with our

confoundments.

My dad told me,

there’s only one thing you can tell a damned fool,

…nuthin…

god bless us all

aloha from waipouli

…ambrose…

may the some day feel what it’s like to be real

Wow

when I saw the poster and I saw the title, I thought no way will I “get it”

I mean I don’t get a tenth of what you write

but then I read it

and I get something. maybe not all

Left California what seems like a hell of a long time ago

Maybe you can’t ever go home again

but then again maybe you can’t ever really leave

hiya Amby !

California …

no place on earth I would least like to visit .

Thank God there’s more to the world than that ego-centric hell-hole , and [hopefully!] more to california than the clueless post-pissing of pretendersOriginal Message: hiya Amby !

California …

no place on earth I would least like to visit .

Thank God there’s more to the world than that ego-centric hell-hole , and [hopefully!] more to california than the clueless post-pissing of pretender LeeDD …

the whole “duuude” mentality thoroughly gives me the shits , gotta say it . [“image” is crap]

I said

dont get it wrong

california is the garden of eden

the physical beauty and the

fertility of the soil has attracted

the world for two centuries if not three

but just like the photo of brigite bardot

it has become worn and threadbare

in advancing age as well as disuse

the pockets of beauty and sublime

still exist.as well as herb spitzer 's

higher self.his concern for the inner city

kids and environs are based on a respect

of the environs and people that used to be his peers

and idylic nieve childhood

that ends ever more quickly

the population buldge as such

means but one thing///watch closely as it

closes in on all of us.

the world growth

will show its signs in every town

YOUR TOWN

yes town

los angeles was a town.

they invented the term metroplex

to discribe L.A first.

…ambrose…

no substitute for experience

the old guy at the end of the bar always used to say

ow do you know ?

you wernt even there…

he was surely talking about the san francisco general strike of 1935

Howzit Brother Brose, The bottom line is some of us were not meant to be inner city people and we saw the writing on the wall at a young age and left without looking back. It was a quality of life quest that we decided to embark on. I think we did a good job.Aloha,Kokua

The Explorers begat the Missionaries…

The Missionaries begat the WAY and the NEED for…

Slave labor, canned food and convenience productos (the one’s that we just can’t live without). Prescription drugs, canabis-sativa, hard liquor and barely there existence…

There’s just no way we can hold back those inspired and sired by the Stussy/Jet Ski/Quicksilver money hoarders. The me-so-horny for your soul - generation.

The answer is no longer in any book, DVD or internet connection. It will spontaneously spring forth from the frustrations of the om generation’s un-begat wishes stillborn and floating face down in the stagnant pool of unresolved happenstance. The last of the hopeful few who wait for wings.

I still wish for the days that I would fall asleep with that salty shoulder, burning muscle, deep and peaceful om resonance.

ZZZZZZZZ

Like a splinter in your brain…

I don’t have the prose of amby

or the dialectic genius

but I get it

I’m in the thick of this hell (w)hole

running on empty toward another light that I think is the end of the tunnell

…is my mind playing tricks on me?

I came to this land of milk and honey (read: CA) from the baby blue skies

and the chrystal clear water of the land that was stolen from the Hopis and the Navajos

to pursue a degree in science

an idea

instilled by monkeys

that graded my essays and kept me late for drawing pictures on my desk

I wish I was home schooled past fifth grade

I’ll homeschool my seed

but wait, could it be that some of us could save this place

remember the weather underground?

where have the intellectuals gone?

Have we forgotten the power of the mind?

I feel defeated everyday that I pull a sample from soil

enriched, wait, how does it make the soil any richer…

depleted

by MTBE, Benzene, TPH-g and C12-22

stormwater samples full of PCE and dry cleaning solvents, VOCs

so do I say FUCK IT and move on to New Zealand?

or Tonga?

to surf clean waves and wait for the day that the oil disappears and these

fuckingignorantassbackwardsshardsofafragmentedme

kill each other off?

Or do I make it my mission in life to find out where the sewage spills are coming from?

to take it to the big corporations and say enough is enough

to find a way to hang a banner from the oil island (hidden under the guise of a resort facade and pretty lights at night) proclaiming that “I AM AN OIL ISLAND”

and finda way to get rid of the breakwater

is it too much for me to take on alone

and if so then who the fuck is gonna stand up with me

raise our closed fists to the air

and make a stand

are you in or

are you (with)out

he said that he was in, but he couldn’t make the rally becasue work wouldn’t give him the time off

she said that she needed the hours to make the car payment

what’s your excuse?

Wow woah - Did I miss someting? For me it’s a been there done that… and with a winter like this, I would mind it again… Would sure beat a month of 12’-22’+ howling side/on shores… Peace to you amcIII - hope all is well, don’t let us get you down. Taylor

Ah - hope may spring eternal, but my spring is only a week long… W/my $$$ the plane tickets gotta last a month at least… then again, hope springs eternal…

Nice, ambrose.

I’ve bookmarked it… And printed it.

-doug

Blue,

Sounds like you’re in the same business as me. I just got back to my desk after spending the morning looking for some TPHg on a vacant lot that used to be a gas station.

California - yes, people have been wanting to come here for a couple of centuries now and as a result our state has a lot of problems. However, there still is a lot of amazing beauty in this state and more diversity in topography, geology, biology, meteorology and a few other ologies than just about anywhere in the world. If you think of California as just LA or SD or the Bay Area then you’ve got a pretty narrow view.

Jim

Quote:

California - yes, people have been wanting to come here for a couple of centuries now and as a result our state has a lot of problems. However, there still is a lot of amazing beauty in this state and more diversity in topography, geology, biology, meteorology and a few other ologies than just about anywhere in the world. If you think of California as just LA or SD or the Bay Area then you’ve got a pretty narrow view.

Incredibly concentrated vibrant variety in California…it’s better the farther away from other people you get…the problem with major urban areas is just that - they are major urban areas and pretty much like any other lab rat cage the world over…a vacant buildable lot in the high Eastern Sierra that sold for $29,000 in 1999 is $349,000 today…the orchards of so many different youths are now the offices of Home Mortgage companies…

Living in California is like jogging in front of a steamroller…media streams in your face and strange things dart out at you from the corners of your eyes and that steamroller is back behind you somewhere but you don’t have time to turn around and look…better not to anyway, it’ll still be there for you when you stumble and fall as we all must…

The certified Joseph Campbell-quality mythology of the U.S. springs forth from The Cowboy…not the Cattleman…one who took pride in craft and independence in all it’s glory and sometimes misguided self-image (sound familar?)…now to see a Cowboy on the silver screen you go see “BrokeButt Mountain”, which the ads assure me will change everything about my life from now on. For only $10 a ticket, how can I go wrong? Or I could take that $10 and buy a bottle of tequila and a dozen donuts and go sit on the beach until the cops come take me away - which way lies freedom?

I had this thought the other day: Some celebrity bootlicker must know Someone in High Places in the entertainment industry well enough to convince them to hire Gene Hackman to star in a biopic about Dale Velzy. Among the last couple of Western movies are “The Horse Whisperer” and the aforementioned “BrokeButt Mountain”…I’m getting tired of living in the future. The wandering neighborhood pony riders of decades ago would be jailed for unsanctioned emissions, jailed for various lifestyle violations, their horses roasted at environmentalist fund-raisers.

Jim,

Yep, same business, read Amrose’s remarks when I returned from running 418.1’s on soil that (surprise!) held a (surprise!!) UST that a backhoe ran into when grading for a (surprise!!!) building project. Looks like somebody decided it would benefit their bottom line to just leave it in the ground and deconstruct. Monday I go to the EPA office in Glendale to review files on the Chevron Refinery in El Segundo, can’t wait t’see what I find there.

I agree with your narrow view of CA remark and I agree. CA is an amazing state that is rivaled by few other states (I happened to be raised in one that comes pretty dog-gone close, CO) and I suppose that I get jaded by living in LB (read: the shit hole created of the Los Angeles River and stayed by the breakwater). Doesn’t mean I can’t strive for change, Photojournalism Masters? I can think of a few places that I’d love to expose.

I love living in California. But I’m not much of a grey-area guy. I’m equally comfortable in the woods or the city - but lose my chicken within hours in a suburb.

Its very yin/yang.

I live half a block from a bus line.

I surf dawn patrols alone.

Helicopters fly over my house.

I can hike in the hills behind my house with my dog & kids and only see a couple of other people.

I hear sirens & car alarms at night.

My son finds treasures for show & tell at low tide on the same unsoiled reef I’d surfed 5 hours earlier.

I drive in heavy traffic on highways 10 lanes wide.

My kids walk home from school (how many kids still do that in the US?).

I like activity. I like action. The sirens remind me that, despite all the prpblems, my tax dollars really do go to something good. Buses remind me that we have infrastructure that much of the world does not. I work hard, my work is competitive, I put in long hours…and then I can go stare out to sea, sitting in the cold water, taking my yin time and thinking about nothing.

I love California. Its still here, you just have to get up a little earlier in the morning to see it.

hey amby

cool poem !

i get it dude !

right on !

Another funny thing about Cal, too, is the politics. Everyone thinks of Cal as a “blue state”, but in fact outside of the coastal developed areas it about as red as you can get. I guess that makes it more of a purple state.

Benny, you’re right. We have wilderness juxtaposed to all of our metro areas. Where you live is a prime example. And there’s a reason we have 8 flippin’ National Parks not to mention the National Seashores, Monuments and Rec areas.

So there.

Hi Benny1,

We live half a state away and are still lucky enough to live in similar circumstances. I live in East Ventura just below the foothills and not far from the beach. I can drive an hour south into that hell hole called L.A. or an hour north to some of the most beautiful land/ocean country in the world. My son and I watch hawks, falcons and owls hunt everyday/night. I hike mountain trails and surf with pods of dolphin the same day before noon. But, I can still drive 5 minutes to the all night drug store when he has a fever or pickup a bottle of wine for the mrs. Comfort and convenience, we have it all.

To whom it may concern,

I’ve lived in four of these United States and always come HOME to California, where I was born and raised. Fortunately, very little of this great state is like the Hollyweird, LA, San Diego, San Francisco hustle and bustle of city life and death.

Every state has it’s own beauty and flaws. It’s up to us to choose which we see (live in) most.

" I Love this state."

Now for the surf:

“Hey, anyone else catch those fun little lines this morning?”

A friend of mine and I were taliking one day and we surmised that where we were at the time (OC) we could leave in the morning for a snowboard session in some pretty good powder and then drive back in the afternoon for a surf session in not too cold water and world class breaks and then drive to LA for the night for some good food and hobnobbing with the movie stars…not that we would hobnob with them but you could if you wanted…

But eh… to each his/her own I guess.

Despite the bleekness of ultra urban areas, I’ve seen some real culture thrive and sometimes become one of the most beautiful things I’ve seen. Its a testament to the goodness of people I guess…you can find beauty everywhere if you just stop and take notice.

But i’m not knocking HI…they don’t call it paradise for nothing.

Rio

Ain’t just that coast, these days it’s any coast.

Today on my back lot, clearing out old vines around blown-down trees, some wash-ashore birdwatcher walks by and goes on about “I hope I don’t see an old refrigerator down here someday or I am gonna come and talk to you”, as if I was somehow desecrating the wild and unspoiled and making it into a dumping yard for random stuff.

Retired Yuppie Scum got here last year from suburbia and suddenly he’s Mister Natural, Protector of the Wild with his $1000 binoculars and his big V8 car. Me, I’m from here, nobody local is gonna dare play that sort of game on me.

Bit my tongue, as i was thinking about saying 'hey, clown, you know what was here 100 years ago? it was a railroad station. You planning on bringing back trains, there, bub? " and patting him on the head…with one of the genuine 135 year old bricks that the blown down tree roots pulled up.

Nice old bricks too. In good shape . Planning on putting apple trees there, now that the junk trees ( not native species anyhow, some wash-ashore a hundred years back thought they would be a good idea and now they are a pest species) have all blown down. Wondering how many more bricks I’ll find?

Before that, it was corn fields and commercially grown vegetables for the city markets, that went by train to Boston, shore to shore there were farms, all flat ground, no trees. The woods hereabouts are mostly pines, the first thing that takes over in old farm fields.

Nope…me and mine have been here for what’s coming up on 375 years…I’d leave for someplace with less clowns, but that solution to my pain would be becoming a clown and a pain to somebody else… so I’ll just have to put up with Birdwatcher Boy and get to sea when I can.

Still relatively good, at sea. It tends to winnow out the self-anointed people with $1000 binoculars.

doc…

…A stone is thrown in a pool of deep water…

…Does the stone end ?

,Or is it a new beginning ?

…If you move a grain of sand on the beach…you have changed the face of time forever,