Good Morning, Dave: Mon, 10/6/80

We're getting in to rough-quality Beta love here, but our feature guest is Bill Murray, so I shall do my best to share the gold.  I can't confirm this just yet, but I believe this to be Bill's first appearance on a Dave-hosted talk show.

The audience isn't letting this cancellation go without a fight:

If your audience takes the time to make a banner they'd hang at a stadium for a TV taping, I'd like to think the future is safe.  It makes Dave smile and laugh...

Monday is "bad phone call" day, where Dave will make a phone call an audience member wouldn't want to make for one reason or another.  He decides on a recent college graduate whose Father, Charles Lafurno, does not know that he's on the hook to a bank for a loan for college: $7,000.  

Dave makes the call and asks for the father.  "Uh, Dave?"  Guess this isn't a surprise.

Dave: "You knew nothing about this loan for $7,000?"

Dad: "Oh my god."

Other item just added: the loan is due TOMORROW.  Everyone but the Father laughs.

We return from commercial to Bill.

Bill: "I'm in a real ugly mood.  I've been drinking all night long.  I haven't slept, and I had a gyro at 3:30 in the morning."

Bill's ire is actually at Phil Donahue, and his popularity, lamenting that Dave has to take part-time jobs due to his own show's performance.  "I've got some information that I think and hope will damage this man's career.  I'm not sure of this, but there's a very real possibility, that Phil Donahue is seeing my Grandmother."

After the commercial, Bill concedes to take questions from the audience.  One, on a good interest rate for a home loan, is agreed on at 22%!  None of these questions are regarding the entertainment field, which makes this all the more gold.  The final question is tough, coming from Alex Jullian of Toronto.

"I'd like to know how you feel about strip mining, and what are the viable alternatives."

Bill: "It's kind of a John Anderson question."  Could we get more 1980?  As a gentle reminder, all those asking questions receive a can of Winky's Cow Paste, "The Finest Name in Cow Paste":

Dave's next guest is the author of "Sound Sleep," Dr....uh...

Dr. Regestein is still at Harvard all these years later, and is still practicing as well.  As he's covering those who suffer insomnia, he says that there's no solid number of those who drink themselves to sleep.  "Legions of people who take their nightly brandy to seek unconsciousness."  This leads to some happy responses from the audience.

The show wraps up completely on schedule, which allows Dave to thank everyone involved, and get more shots of the crowd:

Good Morning, Dave: Wed, 10/1/80

Over the years as I've searched for more Morning Dave episodes, I've found that nearly all of the surviving tapes cover the end (or near end) of his run.  There was a sneaking suspicion that a show of this kind may never be on TV again, so the effort to record for history's sake was well worth the effort.

Today's Beta transfer might not be pristine, but what the fuck do you want, it's 35 years old!

The applause this morning seems to last extra long, which in hindsight I took to mean (and possibly fear) as "don't cancel this show!"  Mary Stuart from Search for Tomorrow is the lead guest, as well as a survivalist Tom Brown, who is introduced as someone who "spent 14 months nude in New Jersey.  (Laughs)  I know you're saying sure, we've all done a little of that."

The plan in prep for today's show was for a courtroom sketch artist to draw different segments of the show.  But the person backed out at the last minute, so Dave heads to the audience to find a replacement.  Dave impresses that the drawings don't have to be great ("It won't be" she claims) but Dave won't take no for an answer at this point, and she's selected.

Barbara Jean Lloyd is now seated near the stage and almost laments that now she'd better pay attention to the show.  All Dave can do is laugh.

Mary Stuart covers her career on the show and tells how glad she is that the show isn't live as it was in the old days.  "David, you're too young to remember live television."  Dave looks around nervously to tell her that, indeed, the show she's on NOW is live.  "Nobody told me!"

Next, being a daytime show, it's time for some jogging tips, all labeled as a "public service announcement."  Items such as making your own shoes, cooking food inside pants while you run, and running alongside an accordion player (so you hear "the real thing") are included, but I must admit the tape is starting to get a little rough at this point.

Next is another audience member, Betty Brown, who is at the show because her daughter dragged her along.  Dave has a sample of foods from a Health Food store, and after some easy jokes at the absurdity of 1980 good living, they get to the meat of the segment: cooking freeze-dried egg product.

After the break with some typical commercials for Daytime, 1980, ("Some job - I'm standing all day, and now I've got hemmoroids!") we return to see the finished product.

Betty says "it tastes better than it looks."  The audience doesn't seemed interested in enjoying the freeze dried egg product.  Next, Tom Brown comes out for another visit.  (Tom's still at it in 2015)  Tom speaks of living in the woods of New Jersey to live off the land there, and most of his calm claims are met with stunned silence by the audience.

The other side of the break is Tom covering his job in tracking for missing or lost people in the woods, and to survive in such a situation, he and Dave do a demonstration.  After going over what plants are edible in the wild (and Tom's quick fact that the % of poisonous plants are high), Dave attempts to make fire using wood, a bow, and the side of his shoe.

The audience chants, and band plays along and...nothing.  A big "awwww!" from the audience.  After Edwin Newman's news update, we review the court sketches.  The glare and 35 years take much away from the artist's intention, but still, an accurate drawing.

Good Morning, Dave: Tue, 9/30/80

One of the earliest clips on YouTube of the morning show still exists all these years later.  Steve Martin is the lead guest, there to promote the special "All Commercials" (which is on Steve's box set from Shout Factory).

Items of note: We've got people sitting in the aisles, now.  There's a groundswell of fandom, no doubt.  And yes, that's John Tesh in the audience.

Dave also calls Floyd Stiles for a reason: in his small town paper in Collins, MO, it was reported that Dave had invited Floyd and his wife Zola Mae to visit the show in New York all expenses paid.  This was not true, but what the hell, let's make it happen.  They set the date of Friday, October 10th.  Floyd admits that he hasn't been to New York, but he wants to "look it over."  

And now, for a very relaxed Steve...

Part 2, with Steve out of bed:

Dave visits Tom: The Tomorrow Show, September 1980

As The David Letterman Show seemed to continue to gain creative steam and teeter on the brink of cancellation, Dave was featured as the lead guest on the new Tomorrow Show.  As part of Johnny Carson's new contract in 1980, the Tonight Show was cut back to 60 minutes.  NBC, not yet content to give that 30 minutes back to stations, stretched Tomorrow to 90 minutes, and added a studio audience (among other things).  This was week 2, and the early reviews from fans were not kind.  Nevertheless...

Tom welcomes everyone, acknowledges the applause, and then begins to read some of the viewer mail that has "poured in" (3 or 4 letters).  All uniformly negative.

If there was a thought that spending a few minutes seeing if the audience has any questions would break up that sentiment, he finds it's more of the same.  A man looking like a friendly serial killer asks if he misses the old format.

Tom: "I will tell you, it's uncomfortable here.  Audiences come to television shows to do 2 things: win a washing machine, or laugh uproariously, and we don't have that going on the whole time here."

After a 3rd question (making 2 of the 3 wanting a return of the old format) Tom figures it's best to move along...and maybe light up a new cigarette.

After the break, here's Dave, and the audience gives him a highly enthusiastic welcome.

Whether it's because of the new format, or the immediate audience feedback, the audience seems to be mostly made up of Dave's own staff.  Dave acknowledges this and considers this group a loyal one, and Tom states how he knew it was them: "I can tell, I see all the help wanted signs."

Since Tom brought it up, he mentions a recent New York Times story which stated that the future of his show is in jeopardy.  Could he address this issue?  Dave says that, as of a phone call with an executive today, the show has NOT been cancelled.  

This leads to a hearty round of applause, but an almost apprehensive smile by Dave at the response.  

Tom: "Probably means it's going to be picked up again."   

Dave: "I didn't say that, nor did the person I talked to say that."

After some more chat, Tom references that of the many bits Dave does in the building, one was a tour of Tom Snyder's dressing room.  In the bit, you see Tom's bartender, a piano player, singer, and tanning bed.

Even on a replay it gets laughs, but Tom wants to set the record straight of how things are at the new Tomorrow show, so they un-clip their microphones and go wandering through the 3rd floor.  Amidst the piles of studio equipment is a guy playing a grand piano.  Tom introduces him to Dave, who states the whole area reminds him of a Muncie cathouse.

The big moment: Tom's actual dressing room, which looks like the return counter at Macy's:

The above screen-grab looks like something out of underground video, yet it was broadcast coast to coast on NBC.  Wandering back, Tom invites Dave to visit anytime and take use of the facilities.  Dave, gamely going with Tom, can only thank him.  As they return to the set, Tom gives him a quick pep talk.

Tom: "In spite of all the nonsense that goes on in the background, stay with it.  Don't give up.  And stay with us in New York."

Dave: "I like being here.  Thank you very much."

They two seemed to get along well in Dave's 2nd visit to the show...if only the two of them knew how their professional lives would cross in the future...

Hillbilly blues way back on the ridge

Smile everyone, we're back!

(straightens tie, sucks in gut)

She just keeps going around, doesn't she?  Like a fine sazerac, we find the Old Gold getting better with age.  Or, at the least, it isn't vinegar.  Yet.

The freak party rages on, of course, and there have been some major league softballs toss'd in the direction of the Great White this past year (or 10, whatever).  We got a few Chick Fil A's.  You can find frosting on a stick if you look hard enough (every major outdoor gathering).  Finally found that quarterback for the next decade.  So, because of these and many more, you can see things are turning around.

That's all we can ask for, right?  To build up little victories as we stumble to the middle of the road?  I used to sit in front of a computer at work and write fictional back stories to a rap group from Edina.  I can't say it wasn't a blast.  We were wired into the main breaker then, circuits all popping regardless of life events.  Now things just take time.

If you really want to see the other side of that, get into Bukowski.  Specifically, The Captain is Out To Lunch.  Hey, did you like the horse track?  Have you ever gambled?  What about the worthiness of life?  Too much of that though, is like too much sazerac.  It burns the palate so the cheap stuff doesn't taste as good.

Ah hell, I'm off the tracks again.  I suppose we should pay homage to Old Bess and what she has done.  Well, personally, she saw spoutings from west of the Pacific for quite some time, then from right smack the christ in the middle of it.  I always liked to think of her as an empty chalkboard to just douse in theory of life.  Hell, most of it made no sense.  The stuff that was coherent was still a jumbled mess.  There are nuggets of truth, but they're buried in babble, from me anyway.  Hell though, that's the point, right?  We never said this was going to be easy.  "Well for breakfast today, I fired up the breakfast sandwich maker and I....... burrrrrrrrrrrrrrr".  Life isn't like that.  If you want meaning, you have to find it.  You can't camp out in front of someone's compound and hope they tell you what cards to play.  John Lennon just served that guy tea and biscuits.  Notice he did not allow him inside.

So, keep on.  Lord knows we're not going anywhere - in fact, we're just settling down for a long winter's nap.  (ed. note - by "nap", he means, a "season-long brandy and apple cider chugging contest")  In ten more years, we might not have moved the needle, but we damn sure will have done the revolutions.  And really, as we bang off the walls, name me a better place than the middle?

I'll see you there.

Ten Years of Gold

Ten years ago, the need for uncluttered thought and substance-addled prose ignited us enough to start this blog and run free. The volume has ebbed and flowed, and to be sure Trip is alone now, but it's worth celebrating the staying power and evolution.

Within this decade, we've reported from the front-lines of culture, good and bad, around the world.  Some thoughts have been clear (even with libations), others, well, less than so.  But that's the whole nature of this place.  Trip has even dipped into his old columns from the LA Reader newspaper, though it still has yet to be determined if that's to highlight changing times, or pure laziness.

When you're on the gold hunt, life can get in the way.  10 years will do that to you, and perhaps that's why the prose, while no doubt continuing to ignite Jake and Drew's brains, remains untapped.  Jake began to write over 5 years ago "Is Success Measured in Degrees?"  It's a question that can lead to an easy answer, but as this blog also speaks of the strife in Dealville, it's not a clear-cut answer.  Drew's last post a few years ago was of a Las Vegas hunt that seemed to appear like a Vietnam flashback.  There was pictures and documentation, but the sudden rush comes and goes on its own.  While those days aren't gone for anyone, days like THAT are, and it leaves the reader to decide if it's good, bad, or somewhere in-between.

And yet, the spirit lives on.  Maybe not in the same way, or as often as it used to, but there are moments.  We raise our glass and salute the 10th birthday.  Anytime those moments are detailed here, well, that's gold.

Good Morning, Dave: Fri, 9/12/80

This episode, mere days after the Christmas episode, seems as close to a "typical" episode as anything.  But things seem a bit askew in the beginning when Dave maybe walks out a beat too early, considers doing it again, realizes he can't, and then walks out anyway.

The audience does or doesn't recognize this, and gives him an enthusiastic welcome.

"We have a keen show for you this morning.  Do you know anyone who uses the word keen?"  (The audience applauds)  "No, you don't, you're hoping to win prizes."  These are his people.  Edwin Newman will saunter down from the news department to discuss the '80 election, book authors on the 2 paycheck family (this is daytime, remember), and Dave teases a musical surprise for later in the show.

Dave also mentions that next week begins a contest: have The David Letterman Show in your own home.  (You'll see this in later dates).  But the end of the week (as it was on Late Night) is time for viewer mail.  Among the letters: a request of a replay of a Stupid Pet Trick of a dog playing piano, and a replay of what might be the most famous moment: the end of Sam & Betty Cottonoff's anniversary party, where the sparklers set the confetti on fire.

This clip also made it to the last episode of Jon Stewart's talk show. and to be honest not only was I surprised on the lack of morning show clips up to Dave's retirement, I was especially surprised this didn't make it in somewhere.

By mid-September, there were no scheduled debates for president in what, at the time, was very much a 3 man race of Reagan/Carter/Anderson.  Edwin and Dave talk on why it's a big deal, and what's delaying it.  It's interesting to see this segment after comedy, especially since it comes across as 2 people talking politics, and with dry wit to match.

Next, Dave takes a tour of street food vendors, "A restaurant row for people who like to eat dangerously."  As the camera tilts down from the top of the skyscrapers Dave says, to an ice cream vendor's face "That's one of the high points along 6th avenue, and one of the low points of 6th avenue...so to speak."  Next, a visit to a man selling "perfect lemonade" who is, essentially, shirtless.

Further down the road, knishes (which Dave calls "a wallet filled with mashed potatoes"), and "a man is selling what he euphemistically refers to as 'hamburgers."  He then stops along Rich Hall, one of the regulars, selling "generic meat, for people who know they need meat in their diet, but aren't particular about what kind."

After a brief segment on  how to get to Willard Scott's house (with some family photos that shows how tough it was before Photoshop), Dave interviews Margorie & Morton Shaevitz on the 2 paycheck family.  While it might seem typical for 1980, many folks had grown up in the "traditional" structure.  It's a fairly standard interview except for this moment:

Margorie: Mothers stayed home, and they took care of the kinds of things like washing, cleaning, ironing, kids, the grocery man who didn't show up, or the linoleum man who did, but now...
(audience holding back laughter)
Dave: I think you rang a bell with linoleum there.
(audience free to laugh now)
Margorie: I wonder what the significance of that is?
Dave: I don't know, I think there's an old, cheap, ugly joke involved.

But after Edwin's news update, we're on to the main event: the big musical surprise.  The late Paul Raley, one of the writers and original member of "The David Letterman Family of the Air" comes out and, well...

This video comes from Harve Mann's own page.  Thank you, Harve!  What a pleasant way to start a weekend!

Good Morning, Dave: 9/9/80, Christmas in September

For Dave's followers, those minding the kids at home or back to school, they might have missed the announcement at the end of the Monday episode.  The promo later in the day left no doubt: it will be Christmas tomorrow, just to get the "special" episode over-with.

The opening remained the same, but true to all those whimsical holiday cards of yore, Dave enters framed in a wreath.

The audience, of course, is already in the holiday spirit.

The reasons explained were simple: you're tired of Christmas by December what with all the specials, shopping, so on.  Get it out of the way, and you don't have to go shopping afterward.  This would also be rerun on December 24th or 25th (sadly, this wouldn't be an issue).

First, comes a look at predictions of the hot gifts for Christmas '80, including a shirt stained with fancy foods (to give the impression of high dining), a couch-sized whoopee cushion, and Mr. Mashed Potato Head.

The end result gets a mixture of laughs and uncomfortable groans, which leaves Dave to remind the audience that these are just a few and not all of the hot gifts for this Christmas.

First guest, Susan Powell (Miss America 1981), gives Dave insight on the pageant.  When she says that regardless of how large of a group are competing for a crown or not, you really compete with yourself, Dave asks "You don't mean to say you were the only entry in the pageant."  Though the audience laughs, Dave reminds her it's a joke, which leads to fake laughter by the guest and a host caught a bit off guard.

If anything, it shows Powell is more than game to play on Dave's level.

Dave: Thank you for having the courage for being on the show.
Susan: You know, I was just thinking that...

In the next segment, Powell sings "White Christmas" while Dave reminds viewers "is there anything more American than Miss America singing White Christmas, even in September..."

After a view of folks doing their last minute shopping for the holidays (on a day considered "unseasonably warm")...Dave brings up a recent article in Small Town News.  This usually showed headlines and brief snippets of local color (it's where Jay Leno "thought of" Headlines on his shows).  This segment is the "Men & Their Vegetables Hall of Fame"

He then calls the farmer of a squash that weighs 337 lbs., John Ritz of Canton, OH.  John answers the phone "Morning, Dave!"  How did it happen?  Good seed, good soil, and a lot of tea.  He spreads out this tea each August on the fields.  "Now this sounds kind of crazy, but it's not the kind of tea you're gonna drink.  It's a tea made of sheep manure and cow manure."  Dave's response "And you say people don't drink that, huh?"  The squash will keep for another month, and will likely feed most of it to his sheep.

Next is guest Tom Feltenstein, a fast food psychologist, specifically on what makes these restaurants work and how they create turnover.  He states it as "Fast Service," a phrase commonly used today.  He mentions that kids decide so much of the visits, that if they know there is a playground or games there, that leads to where a family ends up visiting a high majority of occasions.  Tom also talks about the key of drive-thru, specifically for those customers who don't want the "hassle" of going inside.  Dave seems interested in this topic and you hear him on the mic say as they go to break "I'd like you to come back."

But what Christmas special would be complete without a visit from Santa!  (Sadly, Santa has some trouble getting out of the sled)

Dave later admits that this is not the real Santa Claus ("The real Santa is vacationing in Las Vegas") but Today show weatherman Willard Scott.  The program closes with all of the kids in the audience joining Dave, Susan and Tom, and everyone gets a Christmas gift.

Was it a can of Winky's Cow Paste?  Part of the giant squash?  We may never know.
  

Good Morning, Dave: Thu, 8/14/80

The clip below is one of the best (and earliest) quality clips of the show.  It was saved by one of that episode's guests, Suzanne Ciani.

A lot of the sounds and effects we take for granted now Suzanne shows Dave, who tries to make sense of it all.  Needless to say, he can't, but the audience can't get enough of funny Dave voices.  Despite it, Suzanne is a complete pro.

"Ya need the jumper cables?"
-Dave, in his "dumb guy" voice

As with most to-break moments, a fun fact:

Good Morning, Dave: The New Format

While the initial reviews for The David Letterman Show were kind, the ratings, well...they weren't good.  Affiliates, seeing a problem in the summer (one they wanted solved, one way or another by the fall) were nervous.  Let Fred Silverman, the man who made the move, tell it (as he does in the e-book "And Now..." by Brian Abrams):

"The affiliates were very impatient with the morning show.  The numbers, my God, when you got out of New York and in a couple other big cities, they were minuscule.  That forced us to shorten the show to 60 minutes."

The changes in the first week of August to the show were more than just the show's length and NBC's daytime line-up (viewers could now enjoy Wheel of Fortune, Password Plus, and Card Sharks after Dave.)  It also meant new producer Barry Sand turned the focus of the show entirely to Dave, and less of the "family of characters" that had previously joined Dave each morning.  With 30 fewer minutes to fill, this seems to make sense.

"...and so what I did was, and it was very painful, I had to ask a lot of very talented people to leave.  And a lot of 'em didn't come back for Late Night."
-Producer Barry Sand in "And Now..."

NBC staff announcer Bill Wendell joined the show (a recognizable voice that lasted with Dave until early in the CBS run), and a new opening montage (but same theme) were all part of the face lift.  While this wouldn't make much of a difference in terms of this show's performance, it did set the foundation for what would be much of the tone of Late Night with David Letterman.

Later this month - clips, pictures, and other artifacts begin to surface...

Summer Rain

Do you hear that?  Look outside!  Wow, it's still coming down out there.  Hope it clears up before we go.  I'm glad we're in here.  I think the movers are about to leave, though, so we should go.  Sure, I'll meet you outside in a little bit.

This place looks so empty inside now.  Well...it's...what?  No, I'm just looking around one last time.  

No, you're right.  It's a fresh start for us.  I know - everyone is a short drive away.  We're not going into another state or anything like that.  I'll call you when we get there, the phone is already set up.

(chuckles) All I can think of is how everyone grew up and I'm...I'm changing, too.  Wait - I'm just going to check upstairs one last time.

They're tears of joy, but it's...I don't know...OK, I'm coming downstairs.

It's nice how clear things are after the summer rain.  

(takes a deep breath) Are you ready?

Good Morning, Dave

It's not much fun living in this Dave-less world.  There are forever memories, and plenty o clips, but if the final Late Show montage with the Foo Fighters hit you like it did me, it was as final as anything else: all these comedy moments of your life, and now we're done.

Wait, who's "we?"  Dave might be done, but I'm not.  Why not use this space to explore that early oddity that rarely gets a mention, The David Letterman Show.

Footage of these episodes is relatively rare, but myself and other video collectors did our best then and now to preserve these gems until Dave wants to leave some extra cash behind and calls Shout Factory to put episodes on DVD.  

The 60 minute episodes are easier to find (perhaps due to impending cancellation) but the 90 minute episodes at the start are impossible.  Or are they?

Last year, the 2014 calendar matched 1980, so I watched what episodes were available as they happened.  For the 35th anniversary, I want to do the same...maybe not on the exact dates, but enough for you to get a feel of what was happening.

June 23rd, 1980: Gary Will might not have a VHS or Betamax available, but he has an audio cassette recorder.  And here we go:

Bob Sarlatte announces.  Notice that the audience is live for the voice over: probably a mistake.  Also notice that Edwin Newman reads the news in front of the audience.  That goes exactly as you'd think.  Even cooler to hear Gary himself laugh in the background.

Rough as it might be, enjoy.  As the Summer turns to Fall, I'll post more content to see how the show survives.

In The City

New York City, you ebb and flow.  You go from grimy to gritty to funky to artsy to gentrified to now...sleek.  There is good and bad in it all, and there are only, oh, a dozen cities on this Earth that have "it all" and you are one.  Springtime in New York, even better, yeah?  Of course, this view (or review, I guess) could have been created and judged in the dead of Winter...and I'm glad that's not the case.

It's been nearly 15 years since I've hit Fun City, and I don't have to get into the changes during that stretch: we're all familiar; we lived through it.  And, being an outsider from Dealville, who am I to say if what's new is better?

Discussions had, New York insisted suit removed, I walked.

Everyone was soaking it in, and why not?  Even more so, if you survive the winter, it's their rotation of life.  Dealville, it's a constant.  And admittedly it seemed difficult to not be an outsider, even Central Park.  Groups, couples were in their spots, dogs on their walk, overly-competitive softball games occurring for public entertainment.

This setting occurred during the first half of my trip, and then Mama Earth blustered and got grey enough for the attitude one from Goldland attributes to NYC...only I was wrong.  If there was an attitude, it would have confronted me one way or another, but it never did.  Consistantly: friendly or at least not negative, a lack of accosting attitudes, and general...well, fuck, what is the word?  Normal?  Is something even normal if you don't know what it is, or what to expect?  It sure seemed that way...and yet, I wanted a glimpse of the past.

So, remembering a subway stop is near the hotel, I looked at a map, randomly aimed at an area away from midtown, and got on the train.  Holy Shit - this one goes to Coney Island?  This is the train from The Warriors...

...except the subway was clean, and there was no graffiti, and there's no remnant of that era.  It's completely vanished.  Is it really, I thought?  Is there nowhere else left?  I felt utterly amazed that a city so large had so few windows back into that time.

I started to feel I made a mistake in my stop as I was roughly 6 or 7 blocks up on land and hadn't found a decent restaurant in the walk.  I was about to turn around when, after reading a happy hour menu, the hostess and I look (inadvertantly) at each other, square in the eyes.  Well, hello, I,,,you know what, yes, I'll stop here.  That, and I'd feel like a jerk if I kept walking.  And shit, the Happy Hour special was "Hamburger Taco and Beer, $5"  Sorry, anyone who really knows me knows I have to make that deal.

In all my solo meals on the trip, I was usually left to conversations with a friendly bartender.  If there was live music, that helped, but meals go at a quick clip in that plan.  Finally, and just my luck, the final night of my trip, was talk of a free comedy show.  And - it's right nearby!  Well I have time to kill, why not?

Saints be praised - there it was.  First good sign: I walk downstairs to the bar.  Immediately: an unidentifiable smell.  Mostly worn beer and booze.  It's just loud and rough in there, and they're blasting Gang of Four...YES.  YES!  It took days, and it might have even been accidental, but I found a slice of old New York.

The drinks were, well, they were weak.  And to be honest, they didn't taste good.  How anyone can make a drink taste bad is a lot of work, but what was I expecting in this place?  Had someone in there called themselves a "mixologist" I'd have left immediately.  Alas, the comedy show was delayed 30 minutes, and then delayed again, right to the point I was about to leave.  That's the moment I was told to go down to the basement: it's about to start.

That picture was my view from row 2.  I'm sitting in what appears to be re-purposed church pews.  They should have been tossed, but what's the difference?  I sit, and I sit...and, what, am I supposed to be here forever?  Is this a test?  Are all the "comedians" getting drunk?  High?  I had to break away.

On the train trip home, I slowly began to realize that what I wanted from NYC was what I got.  It was also all that was left: a taste.  A taste of those nutty times when life there was fast and cheap.  It's all that's left anymore, and riding that Coney Island train, my future fit perfectly with Joe Walsh's words, as The Warriors made it home:

But somewhere out on that horizon
Far away from the neon sky
I know there must be something better
I can't stay another night

A storm brewing on the strip

Maybe it could rain water...or maybe it's just a love storm.

The Good Fear

Of all the fear that the human psyche can handle, a lot of it is compartmentalized.  Do I fear the big one coming to tear down LA?  Of course, as much as I do Ol' Bess just up and disappearing when I'm ready to go somewhere.  There are greater fears, of course, but those are easily swatted down in usual methods.  "Yeah, but what are you gonna do?" and the moment dies.  "Well, I hope not." you say, and on to the next topic.

Then, ever rare...not the kind of thing you chase, but just comes up, is the good fear.  There's enough unknown out there to make one complacent, or even simply satisfied.  Being complacent isn't bad if you aren't harming anyone, and satisfaction is a good thing.  Trying major new things in a life, like a new job, can be such a thing.  We glide from one to the next and it all seems easy to everyone else, but it's a personal battle.  

Looking out for No. 1 in today's America is an unfortunate reality, and I'm not above it.  Watch that number grow, however, and it's hard not to up the energy.  We have wants, it's only natural.  Well, what if?  What if you did it?  What if you campaigned and strove, and dealed and there you are?  If you say what you mean, then isn't this the achieved goal?  It is.  Now...jump!

The good fear almost comes over like buyer's remorse.  Oh, things are fine.  Look at the bright side: there's plenty happening, and it's true.  But what of the call-up?  The sign that you're moving on up, a la George Jefferson, climbing the ladder of success rung by rung?  The patience to wait, hope against hope, "see what happens."  Anyone can do that with life, and in a lot of instances, that's the less-stress way to live.  You won't hear any argument from me.  So many of us here in Pacific Gold have to do it ourselves.  That's the thrill of the gold hunt: you find some.  You hope it isn't Fool's Gold.  You believe the bartender and don't expect him to pour you a Reno Gold (a kid's version of the cocktail for those reading at home).  

Sure, I'm afraid.  But it's good, because it's wonder.  A look to the future and saying "This."  Only one way to find out...