Update 19: The Return To L.A. (6/3/02)

Hi everyone. I believe my last update was at the end of March, so I have a LOT to ramble on about...

Thanks to my `91 Integra, I was able to drive far, far away from my lumpy twin bed from high school. Paying rent each month for an L.A. apartment that was left vacant for a year turned out to be worth it because I had a destination that I could call mine. I of course returned to plenty of dirt, dust and cobwebs, but I'll take that over the twin bed and Ghostbusters poster any day. Anyway, I finally did it. I finally left the Chicago suburbs and hit The Road. In case I didn't mention this in my September Update, I love The Road. For some reason, a 36-hour drive doesn't bore me. In fact, I want to do it more often. At any given time, there is either incredible scenery, a funny billboard on the side of the road, great music to focus on (assuming you bring along a good collection) or any combination of the above. For those of you with a US Road Map in your hands, or plans for a road trip: I took the 294 North to the 55 South, which took me to St. Louis. After St. Louis, I switched to the 44. I had lunch in Springfield, Missouri at a McDonalds where every single employee was white and spoke English. Odd feeling - it was like jumping back 20 years. This, by the way, was The NASCAR McDonalds. I don't know a thing about NASCAR, but I guess this is exciting to some people. I spent the night in Rolla, Missoui at the same Super 8 I visited in September. Penelope's Cafe and Buffet was not so special for dinner, but it was better than eating at McAmerica. If you haven't road tripped in a while, every highway town pretty much has the same American chains killing the local culture. You gotta search to find a non-McMeal. Penelope's was what I found in my search. Maybe I should have searched longer and harder, but I was damn hungry. Since I always like to check out the local radio station for a taste of the area (since it's so hard to find any local food to taste), I caught some fine Rolla radio programming. I learned that if you call 1-800-36-JESUS, you can get your very own Jesus Video. Like most Rolla radio programs, this one ended with "Praise the Lord".

In the morning, I continued on the 44 toward Oklahoma City. On the border of Missouri and Oklahoma is the Gun Museum. I had a feeling if I visited that place I'd see Ashcroft and Charlton Heston hanging out...despite my pride in my NRA target shooting awards from overnight camp (ha...yes, for real), I kept driving. At Oklahoma City, I switched to the 40. Beginning in Oklahoma, there were frequent billboards for 713-REVERSE: REVERSE YOUR VASECTOMY IN HOUSTON, TEXAS. I hit Tulsa, Oklahoma and decided it was time for lunch. I hit the city's finest: IHOP. Remind me NOT to do that next time. I felt like having a healthy meal...or at least semi-healthy. Everything on the menu has cheddar cheese, mayo and butter...and lots of it. The healthiest item I could find was a plain burger. My waitresses, Sabrina and Genesis, were both shocked that I didn't want cheese on my sandwich. In fact, they looked at me like I was from another planet. I just wanted to scream LOOK - I'M ONE OF MANY LACTOSE INTOLERANT JEWS, OK??? Something told me I was a minority there in Tulsa! Anyway, as fat white American after fat white American waddled into IHOP, I thought about how sick our culture is that we have such awful food products shoved in our faces...you really have to struggle to find anything that's healthy or good for you. Given menus like this IHOP tragedy, of course every customer will be a sloth that comes waddling in...and of course Six Flags will be filled with scary looking, artery-clogged waddlers wearing US Flags on their undersized t-shirts. Rather than focusing on that while eating my burger, I buried my face in Rolling Stone and read about Ozzy Osbourne and his freaky kids. Sabrina or Genesis (I can't remember which one) asked me if there were enough grilled onions on my burger. There actually weren't...I think they chopped up a tiny piece of one onion strand. She went to get me more...ten minutes later, as I'm finishing my burger, she explained in her southern drawl that she can't get me more grilled onions because the cook only speaks Spanish and he couldn't understand her. As I left IHOP, I saw a great bumper sticker in the parking lot. It said REAL MEN LOVE JESUS. Afer lunch, I continued on the 40 to Amarillo, Texas. That's in the Texas panhandle. Unlike last September, Verizon Wireless cell phones with Los Angeles area codes now work in Amarillo. FM 89.9 is an excellent radio station...I believe it's a college station, but their playlist was filled with a great mix of rock that should serve as a model for all of the McRadio stations we now have across the country. Be sure to check it out next time you pass through Amarillo. I stayed at the Super 8 in Amarillo. Yes, this was a Super 8 road trip. Prices ranged from $39-$53 for a night, depending on the city. Oh - I should mention that that comes with a "Free Breakfast". That is of course if you consider a glass of Tang and a bite-sized, dry sweet roll to be "Breakfast". I was determined to drive around town until I found a cool place to eat. After all, in September the best thing I found there was Red Lobster. This time I found The Place. Seriously. Tacos Garcia. Great restaurant. 1100 S. Ross Street at 806-371-0411. It was packed on a random weekday night and could have been in any major city. I have their card which says "We're talkin' more than just tacos" and says to call Mando if you have questions. He's the Assistant Manager and "Sergeant Major".

In the morning, I continued on the 40. Early in the morning I passed a billboard that said NEED A FIX? LET JESUS FIX IT. Later I drove by what billboards were billing as THE LARGEST CROSS IN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE. It was pretty cool. I'm not sure what it was doing in the middle of nowhere, but thanks to FM 89.9's quality music, I didn't think about it too long. Soon I was in New Mexico, where the scenery really got beautiful. I love that state. Timing worked out great for me to have lunch in Albuquerque. Great town. If you stay there, I recommend the La Quinta Inn at 2424 San Mateo Blvd. I also recommend stopping in Santa Fe, just 45 minutes off the road...and have lunch at the Coyote Cafe. In Albuquerque, I recommend 2 places for food: Kelly's for lunch or dinner and Frontier Grill for breakfast or lunch. That's where I stopped this time: Frontier. Both places are on the main road, and Frontier is right across the street from the University of New Mexico. The radio station here is 95.9 Radio Free Santa Fe. Great stuff. I stopped in the cool record store by the Univeristy, 2 blocks from Frontier, but I'm blanking on the name - worth visiting if you're looking for music or want to absorb some hipness. I then continued on the 40 to Flagstaff, Arizona, another of my 2 favorite places from September. I checked in to the Super 8 next to a Barnes & Noble. This is a great little town, home of Northern Arizona University. Like September, I ate at San Felipe's Coastal Cantina at 103 N. Leroux Street 928-779-6000. Definietly recommend it. Good Mexican food. Most everyone there is 20-35 years old...it's always full...TVs on, music playing, and live bands on weekends. I returned to the Super 8 where I saw a TV commercial for motor oil featuring Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top. It was one of the cheesier commercials I've seen...and had to laugh as a freaky guy with cheap sunglasses and a red beard down to his ribcage told me to trust him for motor oil. I guess he always drove that cool car in those ZZ Top videos, so maybe he DOES know what he's talking about.

Speaking of beards, I now have one from not shaving for a couple weeks of road life...but it ain't red and it ain't down to my ribcage. Anyway, the next day brought an end to the road trip as the 40 led me to the 15 in Barstow, California which led me to the 10 around San Bernadino, which led me to my dusty apartment in Los Angeles.

I droped off my stuff and headed to Andy/JoLynn Jacobson's place in San Francisco. In the middle of the desert between the 2 major cities, I saw several billboards that simply said FOOD GROWS WHERE WATER FLOWS. Whoa, that's deep. I challenge Snoop Dog to top that. It was great to see many of the San Francisco circle of friends. There wasn't time to see everyone, but it was a fun trip. Crazy to think that just a 12 minute drive from Haight Street takes you to incredible hiking in the Marin Headlands, right along the ocean. If it weren't for the thick fog that hangs over San Fran in the summertime, keeping it cold and gloomy, I might have gone apartment hunting right after that hike. Amazing how the weather changes in that 12 minute drive and you escape the fog to blue skies, sunshine and heat. Maybe Berkeley is the place to be - or Marin after winning the lottery...much sunnier there. (I was told I just happened to be there on the one foggy week, but I spent a summer living there and remember how it can seem like November in July when you're in the city). We had people over for dinner, hung in Tilden Park in Berkeley, played Sony Playstation's awesome Jack & Dackster game, hiked, went to a winery, went siteseeing and got to see Michael Bizar perform in his element once again at the Boom Boom Room's Bizar Bazaar. The 4 piece jazz-funk band was great...the special guest was a horn player from KC and the Sunshine Band. Murph, the bass player from Citrus, was also in the band. It was a trip to see Michael and Murph play together once again. They were meant to play together. Lots of friends were at the show and it was really fun.

From San Fran, made it back to LA to catch Trey from Phish with his new band at the Greek Theater. It was fun...horn section, funky music to bounce around to. But I'm ready for the return of Phish - hopefully by next summer. The cool news for this summer is the "Grateful Dead Reunion" at Alpine Valley in August. I'm psyched about that, even if the Fat Man won't be there. The crowd will be as fun as the music and it's an event I don't want to miss. After seing Trey, it was off to a resort near Palm Springs for the wedding of my friends Cindy and Nicole. It was a really special event...beautiful, outdoor wedding in the desert, surrounded by mountains and run by a rabbi that included speeches from family and friends via microphones that were passed around the crowd. I met them through Michael Bizar, who was there, as were many suburban Chicagoans and other inspirational friends...several of whom I've become friends with over the past couple years. It was a great 3 day event...due to roadtripping, I made it to 2 days...and was psyched to be there.

Now I'm officially back in Los Angeles. Leaving the Chicago suburbs was a combination of the easiest/best thing to do and the hardest thing to do all at once. The tough part was the fact that I was leaving my dad all alone in the house for the first time. It'll be a challenge for him...It was also tough because it really was closing a chapter - when I returned home from my brief California visit in September, my mom was doing pretty well considering what she was going through. She was ill, but very much alive. This time I was leaving a house where she no longer physically existed...and from now on, each time I return, she won't be there to give the excited, Welcome Home greeting. So I cried and said a final goodbye to all her stuff before I walked out the door...picture the closing scene in a long-running sitcom's final episode where they say farewell to their cheesy apartment. It was something like that. Her closet is still filled with everything as if she's about to walk in from an aerobics class...weird feeling. Three wigs and some baggy clothing remain the only trace of the illness chapter...other than her disappearance.

As I write this, I'm realizing that on this exact day last year, I learned that the dot com I was working for was going under and it was my final week of employment. One week after my last day of work was when my mom got diagnosed. So we're about to hit the anniversary of The Day That Everything Changed. It's a strange feeling to return to L.A. at basically the same time of year when the shit hit the fan. The Lakers in the playoffs, the sun being out long hours, that Beginning of Summer feeling, etc...It's almost like the year didn't exist for me and I jumped a year forward in a time machine...while everyone around me has continued to live through their normal routines.

What's next? I dunno. I'm done cleaning but still have to organize my place. Lots of stuff to go through, file, throw away, etc. My dad is actually coming out here this weekend for our cousin's Surprise 80th Birthday party. This cousin is the leader of the California branch of the family and seems more like 60 than 80. It will be great to see everyone there. My dad's sister is driving in from Arizona, and I think that's what convinced him to leave the house. So that's a good thing. The music business education project I was working on through my mom's ordeal will be launched on June 28. It kept my mind occupied during the whole Hell Chapter and will hopefully survive the 3 month test period that will take it through September. Many of you in Chicago and California helped me with this and I greatly appreciate it. My mom really wanted to see it become a reality, so I'm looking forward to that happening. I will fill you in on the project after that date. I still have some work to do before that date, so I'll be focused on that as well as unwinding from the past year, which definitely took a mental and physical toll. I obviously have to do important things like choose a city and a job, but that will happen in time. Although I need money and want to get things moving along, I'll add that stress when I'm ready for it. In the meantime, my eyes and ears are open to anything.....Hope you're all well.