AISOTB – An Occasional Story or Magazine

Sunday Magazine ===== July 27, 2014

This week’s Bumbastories Sunday Magazine features

A News Analysis

An As I Sat On The Bus article (AISOTB is back by popular demand….Well, I like ’em)

A Music section on the Blues

Part III of a short story about a Los Angeles private investigator similar to Raymond Chandler except his name is Ted Morris

News Analysis

The Israeli-Palestinian War continues senselessly. Nobody wants it. But yet, each side, compelled by disgraceful internal political pressures, keeps the fighting and the killing going. The right wing in Israel aspires to destroy Hamas. Futile, but they try anyway. Again. Again. When will they stop repeating the same mistakes? The 1982 war in Lebanon purportedly aspired to destroy the PLO – Ariel Sharon’s solution to the conflict. Thousands died, Lebanon was further destabilized – if that was possible. The PLO was indeed driven out of Lebanon. So then the Hezbollah moved in. And the PLO is now Israel’s negotiating partner. Some partner! OK, they’re better than Hamas. Hamas subjects it’s own people to genocide in order to score political points and to stay alive politically. The people have no voice as Hamas uses Gaza’s sparse resources to buy rockets and to build tunnels – instead of bomb shelters. Israel is constantly attacked and caught in a no-win situation. The only response is to unleash the Army, try out new weapons, and kill more people. We hope and pray for peace. For the beginning of a peace. May people come to their senses.

As I Sat On The Bus

Every cloud has a silver lining

Oh no! I was going to miss the bus. As I stood waiting for the light to change I could see the #20 bus only a block away. Not to worry! I patiently waited for the light, strolled acoss the street, sung a song, counted to ten….. and….Hey, here comes the bus! Every cloud has a silver lining. The bus is slow, but we don’t have to hurry.

As I sat on the bus I recalled my childhood friend David H. who, at age 13, was two years older than I, and a veritable fount of wisdom. At age 13 David H. was already a confirmed pessimist. He liked to console us with: “You can’t win ’em all. But you can lose ’em all”.

One of David’s favorites was: “Every silver lining has a cloud”.

What wisdom!

The Blues – They’re sad, but we love ’em.

The Blues. The 12 -bar blues. I wrote a new blues song! Of course there’s nothing ever new about the blues, but it’s fun to work on it. I used two tracks, which is also fun. And now that I do the math, that’s to say count, I’d have to call it an 8-bar blues. Depends on how you measure the measures. Anyway, after the third or fourth bar I lose count. Too much drinking. It’s called Gonna Sing Away These Blues

Staggering right along (after a couple more bars) the second song here is definitely not a new blues. It’s one ot the oldest! Easy Rider, also called CC Rider, which is no relation to the CC IND local or to the A Train for that matter (pardon the New York mass transportation references). Easy Rider is played here with the sparse use of just two chords – which is how Leadbelly did it. Leadbelly is the great master of the blues so I would check him out if you’ve never heard him. Meanwhile you can click on Bumba doing Easy Rider on two tracks (sorry, no train)

Pt III of Ted Morris, L.A. private eye from the 1950’s. Click for for Part I and Part II. (Bumbastories promises to finish it up in Part IV).

“You decide too easily, too quickly.”

“Yes it’s true. I guess that’s how I am,” she said, as she looked out the window of the coffee shop and took in the busy scene out on Wilshire Blvd.

Turning back Angelina Despaigne looked Morris straight in the eyes. She paused for a moment, smiling,

“Like that’s why I fall for you, Mister Morris?”

Ted Morris leaned forward in their booth at Johnnie’s Restaurant.

“Yes,” he said. “That would be a fine example of it.”

He took her hands in his, and stated: “Angeline. You are one fine, beautiful woman. You make me decide quick, too.”

Angeline smiled broadly. She raised an eyebrow as she commented, “Sometimes when you decide quick, it’s the correct choice.”

Sunday Magazine —–July 6, 2014.

This week’s Bumbastories Sunday Magazine Section begins with a candid (not!) admission from the Editor.

Admission from the Editor

As editor of Bumbastories Sunday Magazine I would like to state that in my long and distinguished career (a good couple of months already) as editor of Bumbastories, and also including all the many newspapers and newscasts I’ve seen and heard over the years, that I have I never seen or heard a news anchor or editor to openly declare, ” Well folks, nothing much happened yesterday. It’s been pretty uneventful”.

This modicum of honesty is ne’er to be found in the entire history of print, video, or electronic news coverage to the best of my (admittedly limited) knowledge!

So in a first-of-its-kind journalistic breakthrough, Bumbastories hereby announces that it’s been a quiet weekend so far here in Los Angeles. Nothing much has happened. But nonetheless and all the same Bumbastories would like to present this week’s

Sunday Magazine.

Featured this quiet week are an As I Sat On The Bus just to keep you on your toes.

An update on the Carls’ construction (I told you nothing was new)

A song just recorded earlier by Bumba and Maybank.

As I Sat On The Bus (AISOTB #38?)

As I sat on the bus I was seized this time by a sudden urge to….

Hold on a second, Keep this clean! …….

….to ponder the fate of humankind and the far reaches of the universe, its underpinnings…..

…..Well, maybe a little spice…. a bit of flash….

…I pondered the principle of sex….

……Now you’re talking!…..

……a principle or a practice (practice makes perfect!) that might well be a local Earthly phenomenon, not a universal. But in any case, on earth at least, sex is the evolutionary wrinkle that splits the organism into slightly different reproducing pairs which can then re-unite over generations to produce increased genetic variety, thus accelerating the pace of evolution. ….

……Huh?…..

……Our pleasure in sex would then be another evolved, hard-wired, transmitted-through-the-generations set of behaviors and organ systems that insures the continuation of the species and accelerates the pace of evolution. A definite icing on the cake.

….Now you’re talking again. Tell me more about the icing….

I thought you said to keepit clean. OK, here are some dirty pictures…….

“Sects, sects, sects!” complained one Franciscan monk to the other, “That’s all you ever talk about!”

Here’s a song of longing and OK, I’ll keep it clean. It’s Sam Cooke’s Bring It On Home To Me, recorded a few weeks ago by a Bumba and Maybank.

Follow-Up to George Packard’s coverage of the Carl’s construction

As indicated earlier, nothing much happening here in L.A. Our roving reporter can report only modest progress made in the Carls’ construction, although the keen observer can now discern the beginnings of the Drive-Thru lane.

Wishing everyone a pleasant week…….

Sitting on the bus and the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books

Sitting on the bus…..

“Whatt? Is this going to be another of those As I Sat On The Bus things?

Whatt? Are we to suffer through yet another of those ridiculous AISOTB diatribes about public transportation, and writing on the bus, and how the buses are always late, and what this country needs…..”

…on the way to the train

…..on the way to the annual L.A. Times Book Festival at the USC campus……

Actually, it’s just a George Packard piece about…..

“Oh. OK. We don’t mind George Packard too much….”

Well then. With your kind permission, George Packard, retired schoolteacher and roving reporter for Bumbastories, was down at the USC Book Fair.

It was jam-packed with all kinds of people, crowding all kinds of booths selling all kinds of books, courses, club memberships, and even some snake oil. But mostly books.

George checked out some of the publishers, publicists, printers, and some of the other writers at the Festival. George had some lovely conversations with some lovely people, It was a pleasant day at the Book Fair.

George Packard wondered whether he’d ever get to sell the two books he had written and self-published. George thought he might try to sell them on the Bumbastories blog. After all, he noticed that Bumba’s buddy, Stephen Baum, had done that with his two books. Both of Baum’s novels were up for sale on the Bumbastories blog.

That Bumba is a genuine supporter of the arts, thought George. Either that or genuinely stupid. It’s hard to tell sometimes.

AISOTB #32: As George Packard Sat On The Bus

As George Packard, roving reporter for Bumbastories, sat on the bus he thought back fondly to when he was a young man in his 20’s. He recalled how startled and upset he had been when he first observed that many people in America lived their lives and modelled their behavior after television characters. These people seemed to impersonate television actors; they were modelling their behavior based on TV characters they saw on television. It just looked very false and very weird to young George.

Back in the seventies, on a trip to Florida to visit relatives, George had been almost horrified. His uncles and aunts and their friends reminded him of the way people acted on the Johnny Carson Show. His uncle was doing an imitation of Don Rickles. someone else was playing Ed Mc Mahon. Of course, today the influence of the electronic media was even stronger. This dominance of television over people’s lives bothered George. It’s Nature imitating Art. The process is being reversed, thought George. And George did not like what he saw. Where were their souls? he asked. How could they lose sense of themselves so easily? Perhaps this new America is not for me. I’ll never fit in here, thought young George.

So George left America. He joined the Peace Corps. George was out of the United States for seven years. He returned with a clearer idea of who he was. He accepted the fact that he might never fit in. However, he was no longer worried about that fact. He felt it was too difficult for him to lead a false life. He had to be honest. He had to be himself.

And George Packard, retired schoolteacher, looking back on his life could see that he had lived a genuine life after all. He still did in fact. He found that not fitting in and not belonging he could fit in everywhere.

“A certain freedom in that,” he thought to himself as he sat on the bus.

George Packard, roving reporter for Bumbastories, roved on.

AISOTB#31 Beverly Hills Expose

George Packard had drawn the Bumbastories AISOTB assignment this week. George Packard, retired schoolteacher and roving reporter for the Bumbastories Blog roved extensively and widely within a three mile radius of his Los Angeles apartment.

As George was sitting on the bus he thought about the nature of awareness. George asked what the difference was between awareness and consciousness. George had perused the Phantom’s ruminations on this very subject on the Bumbastories blog the week before and had thought it interesting, but silly in the end. One needs to define these words! That’s the problem! People use them left and right and each person has a bit of a different idea of what the words mean. Hence all the confusion, the discussion, the eternal quibbling. The word “soul” also had many meanings. George needed to clarify the definition of that one too.

As George Packard sat on the #720 bus he looked out at the proud city of Beverly Hills. George’s friend Calvin had mentioned that real estate values in Beverly Hills had peaked and could be expected to decline relative to L.A. prices. Could be, thought George. Beverly Hills was indeed losing some of its luster. George considered some of Beverly Hill’s recent public projects. He got off the bus opposite one of the city’s new public sculptures. “Jeez,” thought George to himself, “What an ugly piece”

George Packard, roving reporter, walked on. He came to the brand new Beverly Hills Performing Arts Center – another piece of less-than-sterling architecture.

The new auditorium sits up the block from BH City Hall and police department. The fire department and public library are also part of the city center complex – also not an architectural gem.
“Gee whiz,” thought George Packard, roving reporter, “the city fathers are bringing down the real estate values!”
Perhaps Bumbastories could use this piece in his Real Estate section.

George Packard made his escape from Beverly Hills on the #20.