I Thought I Heard It All

Then this kindergarten teacher comes along, screaming Tiger did her dirty, that he’s lying, that its ruined most aspects of her life, Christ, give me a break! she wants an apology, she’s got the best lawyer for this kind of crap, talk about senseless, taking a stand on what a kindergarten kid remembers. I know Gloria, your taking a stand, for Truth, Justice, and the American Way, Christ Gloria, Give Me A Break! This is just the kind of crap that has driven the AMERICAN UPBEAT, underground, I’m changing the subject, I’m gonna write about LOVE IN’s, about the spring of 69. The city was green, it had rained hard through the winter, I had waited in DC for the skies to clear out west, hillsides were sliding, my cousin would try talking me out of taking off, while watching news of crumbling Hollywood Hillsides, at his Georgetown dorm. So is it too much to ask, is it too big of a wish, wanting to be struck by White Lightning again, guess for now, puffing on this Purple Dragon, is gonna have to do. Getting back out here on the west coast, I took the long way in, if I’m correct, this trip took five days, I rode the back roads from Baltimore to St Louis, caught a ride, with a long haul trucker all the way. The man was pulling a trailer full of coffins, we traveled town to town, through two nights and a day, dropping off these boxes, in mortuary basements. So I was working, this first part of my trek, ended up with a few bucks in my pocket, that little bit of cash, would save my ass later, stuck in Dallas, Ft. Worth. Later on I may come back, talk some later, about the road St. Louis to LA, right now, I want to talk about Wild Man Fisher, you’d find this guy anywhere, his hair, always a mess, he’d be standing on some street corner selling his records. DC was a hard town, a lot harder than Philly, not one of my smarter calls, me heading south, looking back, I was lucky, I got out alive, I’m speaking about my soul. So I pick up a ride, with an old cowboy west of Phoenix, in an old 63 Falcon sedan, he’s going all the way to San Bernadino, I guess about 8pm he drops me off. I decided to take a bus, the rest of the way to LA, It was a Saturday Night, I got on a local, that bus took forever. Los Angeles was almost overwhelming for me, downtown seemed like one big clusterfuck to me, I remember it being difficult finding my way out of that maze. I’d be up, I’d feel myself getting knocked back down, I was a little scared, sorta got the feeling of, what have I done, maybe, what do I do now, I was scared, remember, I’m only16. Back in DC, when it rained, my cousin would sneak me into the Georgetown dorm, if it was dry, I was on my own, he was breaking rules for me, going out on the ledge for me, I haven’t seen or talked with him, I guess now, 42 years, he took off for Canada. For a while there was a crash pad at 2121 N Street, right around the corner from DuPont Circle, It was a different crowd, pretty hard core I remember, I knew what junkies were all about by then, I found myself in situations, found myself around people, who had me feeling pretty nervous, it didn’t take me long, I figured it out, I didn’t hang around. Night time in Georgetown, was happening back then, lots of hippies hanging out late. About 1 or 2am, the crowds would thin, I’d start heading for the White House. I had made a friend at the White House, an old guard at the front gate, I’m lucky, for me, a safe place in a hard city, that old guard told me some stories, he’d worked that post a while, he looked after me.