I digress within the digression. I’ve been trying to get up at 8:30, but its been more like 9:00 or 9:30. What I’m trying to get away from is the 10:00 wake-up, which is what I let myself go until today. I’ve also resumed walking, now a bit in the afternoon, to get a break from the computer and get some sunshine/exercise in and to listen to my audiobook/This American Life because I’m not in the car much these days.

ANYWAYS (finally, woof! Sometimes the tangents within the tangents are a little taxing, aren’t they?) I awoke and grabbed my handy-dandy, don’t-know-how-we-existed-without-them iPhone, as I do now every morning, and checked my email before pulling myself up for some apple-cinnamon Cheerios and toast (Hey, I’m out of English Muffins, which reminds me….) with some iced coffee. So, I turn off my alarm – which is on my iPhone, too. (I mean everything’s on that thing!) and lo and behold if there isn’t an email there that goes a little something like this:

Hey Guys,

I got your emails from **** (Ed note: Jason & Doc’s Agent) It was so great meeting you a few weeks back.  I just wanted to reach out and tell you how much **** ( Ed note: Her Boss the Producer) and I enjoy your writing and that we’d love to find something to work on with you in the future so definitely expect me to be bothering you guys with projects.  Thanks again for coming in!

Talk to you soon.

This being from one of the Execs and her Boss whom we pitched to recently with our latest TV idea. And though they passed, we had heard they loved us and the door would be open, but that was it. Until the email today. Which was a nice boost. Which meant we had taken a nice little step forward. This was further emphasized when the above message sparked an email conversation between the Exec, Jason (as he was moving, nonetheless!) and myself (before I could have any breakfast or iced coffee, but not from bed) that seemed to go on for an hour and a half maybe? The Exec asked what we were interested in working on in the future. We asked what her company mandate (the types of scripts they’re interested in doing most of all/are actively hunting around for)  is on the feature side. We chatted on that a bit which evolved into her asking us to return to their office for a meeting to discuss features this coming Monday @ 4.

Which is exactly what we had hoped would occur, reasonably speaking, from our meetings. We hoped , and tasked ourselves, with making fans – which we apparently did with this Exec. Now we’ll go in and have more of a general meeting where we’ll pitch some feature ideas, but they’ll also talk about what they’ve got optioned or purchased (books, magazine articles, ideas they have themselves) and we’ll discuss possible fits for an assignment hopefully of some kind, or they’ll spark to one of our existing ideas and we’ll go across the studio lot and pitch it to the Studio Brass.

BOO-YA!  GO. TEAM!

Yes, a lovely way to start the day. We figure this should please everyone @ UTA as it shows (again as Jason reminded me) a) progress under their guidance, and b) demonstrates value in our pitching skills along with our material, which means that when they do send us out there are benefits – like making fans – who may open the door to unseen assignments, business/creative opportunities.

More and more I am mesmerized by the education in how Hollywood really operates, since I left school! Sure, UCLA really prepared me to take advantage of the PHD program Jason and I find ourselves in right now. It’s amazing. There is no way on GOD’S GREEN EARTH that you could do this – start a career – from anywhere but here. NO WAY. If you were able to accomplish that, I would wager my last dime that it was a result of sheer dumb luck, or the person had been here previously (This is the untold portion of the GRAN TORINO screenwriter’s legend. He actually worked and lived here for quite some time, before leaving for Minnesota where he wrote and then sold his script through his CONTACTS here.)

Why do I say this? Because, there’s so much misinformation swirling around this aspect of the journey and the more and more that we take each gradual step these days, the fact that there’s such a deep schism between hard reality and The fantasy that’s sold in the many books, screenwriter’s conferences, et. all which I used to look to for facts like countless others out there. This isn’t a Mike Tyson fight people. There’s no thirty second, first round knockout. This is Muhammad Ali, Rumble In The Jungle, gotta last the whole fight type of fight. Which means you gotta be there every step of the way. In the ring. Taking your shots as you deal some out, bit by bit, too.

As I look about, read the trades, and pay attention to what’s going on as best as I can, I witness this reality in all of its myriad guises. I love it. And am frustrated by it. As well as depressed some days and just bewildered other days. Or exhilarated. But there’s no sense in railing against how it is. You may not want it to be that way, but it just is – and has been long before you came along.

Best bet is to learn those rules, master them, before you start even having the slightest glimmer of the thought that they should not apply to you. Because guess what? Even then, they still do.

I think as long as their are emails like the one above every know and again, I can make my peace with that and work (though I’m not perfect!) towards setting aside any thoughts otherwise.

If you’re out there, on this crazy journey, too, do yourself a favor. One I wish I would’ve done years ago, and put aside the delusions, see it for what it is and approach it accordingly. The headaches and heartaches from pounding your head against it just isn’t worth it.

Hizzoner, Mayor Richard M. Daley, “The Son, “(as he is sometimes referred to), as well as “Daley the Second” will not seek re-election at the end of his current term early next year.

He will step down after outlasting his father’s run as Mayor of Chicago by only several months when he does. The important note is that he will have served longer than his father – a stated goal back in the fourth or fifth term when asked how long he would like to go. If Richard M. had run, it would’ve been for a historic seventh term. He was referred to as “Mayor for Life” by most of Chicago’s citizens, some with a sneer, but most in all honesty with a sense of relief. In the City That Works many tax payers slept much easier knowing that a Daley was manning the Fifth Floor, term after term. There really hadn’t been much true opposition to Daley’s re-election campaigns in quite some time. No one in their right mind wanted to tangle with the family name.

That has some to do with the good things that Richard M. did for the city since he took over the reigns back in 1989. But, when you get down to it, the family name stems more from the legacy of  his father – Richard J. Daley, a.k.a. “Daley The First,” or “Boss Daley” and possibly the sudden death of Richard J. while still in office. Richard J. was Richard J. Daley, an American Pharaoh who shaped late twentieth century Chicago in his image by sheer force of will and the unrivaled power of the Democratic Machine. Many believe Richard J. literally put JFK in office, his power within the Democratic National Party was so strong at the time and the legend so entrenched of Richard J. delivering Democratic victories by means both above-board and nefarious.

Father and Son shared many similarities and took the same tack for shaping Chicago with their vision – construction. Never-ending public works, incentives for developers, gentrification – especially with Richard M., the Son, that would run wild through the Windy City’s neighborhoods. Their rule over the city lasted forty-two years out of the past fifty-five. That’s nearly a half-century between father and son leading one of the largest and most powerful cities in all of America. That’s an epic familial legacy. In those shared similarities were both good and bad qualities, traits, and ambitions. Neither man liked to lose a political battle and were willing to hit below the belt to get their way. Both had a clear-cut vision for what the city needed to evolve and grow, both succeeded in implementing these plans and transforming the city into a Chicago on the rise. The Father did so twice – once in the post-World War II boom period of the 50s and again through the Urban Collapse of rust-belt cities in the 70s (Detroit, St. Louis, Cleveland.) Then the Son at the turn of the century, bringing Chicago to the international stage, promoting Arts, the Restaurant Industry, Tourism, and public works (Millennium Park.)

There’s the darker side. Was their graft, cronyism, and other hallmarks of the Machine – even in the Son’s tenure when he claimed the Machine was dead and gone? Most certainly. Chicagoans have seen it everyday of their lives. They expect that behavior. It’s a part of the City and how things are done.  Is some of that behind Daley stepping down now, even though many believed he would at least seek another term? We’ll see. That’s possible. Always possible in Illinois politics. The Feds sniffed around Daley a few times, but the Feds never serve an indictment unless it is a lock and so nothing was brought against the current Hizzoner, just like his father. There are other, personal reasons (anything nefarious is pure speculation.) His wife’s long and difficult battle against breast cancer, the failure to get the Olympics to come to Chicago, and, of course, the spectre of his father’s sudden death in office and a desire to write a different ending for himself.

I would guess Bar Owners throughout the city are rejoicing right now. Daley the second was tough on them and different points in his career. He hated the old school, neighborhood network of street corner taverns and waged war on those establishments often. He froze liquor licenses in the city a long ways back, so that you couldn’t open a new bar. If it didn’t serve food and was a proven restaurant, or was a tavern/bar/club with an existing liquor license, then there was no amount of money you could pour into city hall to make them approve your establishment.

All in all, the news today makes me turn my attention back to THE SCRIPT and stokes my desire to see it come to life some day. It baffles me that, seemingly, everyone’s afraid of making that show right now. Will things change with this sudden shift? I doubt it, but one can dream – can’t they?

It will be interesting to see who steps up to the plate. Many say Rahm Emmanuel will resign from his Chief of Staff post and announce shortly after mid-term elections. He’s openly coveted the job. Either way, Chicago will see its first truly competitive, wide-open Mayoral campaign in over two decades early next year. Now, that will be a race to watch.

Let’s be clear here. I’m not, nor have I ever been, even remotely finicky when it comes to all things sugar. I don’t have a sweet tooth. I have sweet teeth. All of them. If my life is, as I am known to joke to close friends, a series of developing addictions and realizing/endeavoring to quit them (Recent ones include iced coffee, cookies, and writing) then sugar will be the last one standing, because it was the first and it is the deepest. Writing comes very, very close. But Sugar predates my writing habit by a decade at least. Sorry, writing. So, what I’m saying, ostensibly, is that you could throw sugar on just about anything – bake it at 350 degrees and I’m going to probably love it. Even if I don’t. I’m not going to dis it. I’ll eat it and wish it were, say, a molasses cookie or chocolate chip even. So, you can maybe extrapolate from there the arugula cookie. I know we want to be forward thinking in our culinary imagination (Mr. David Murphy, are you reading this? Mr. David Murphy – former roommate, good friend, one half of the legendary Americana outfit COLD MOUNTAIN, dangerous poet, tuba player, and one of the world’s most dazzling, inventive, and talented chefs – could back me up on “forward thinking in our culinary imagination.” As a chef, David Murphy is straight up from the future, that’s how forward thinking he is when it comes to taste architecture) but sometimes don’t we go too far?

And so, what started as a review on walks, has quickly turned into our first negative review, here at Guided By Wire’s new Saturday Review, on Arugula Cookies.

- Been watching THE WIRE a lot lately. I had taken a break after season two. A break that lasted almost a year. Not because I didn’t like it, but because I was so blown away and wanted to savor the experience of watching it the first time. I hope to some day write and produce a television show that is a tenth as brilliant, real, incisive, brave, and chilling. The layers of it and its ability to introduce new characters while slowly expanding the reach of the narrative is unbelievable. I’m at the start of season four and I can honestly say that no show has ever touched THE WIRE’s level of complexity and feeling of unflinching reality.

-On the flip side of that, looks like BOSS is, for all intents and purposes, dead in the water with HWY 61 and PH. His agency, the biggest and most powerful in all of Hollywood, sent it to four heads of cable networks and they all passed – unwilling supposedly to do anything with politics with or without PH attached. It appears that we won’t be getting it back any time soon, either; which is baffling and frustrating – though it didn’t get us to where we are for now. We haven’t reached the end of the road completely, but we’re just about there. I’ve been told that unless someone comes to HWY 61 and PH and says: “Yes, we absolutely want to do BOSS” it won’t get pushed anymore and PH has definitely decided that he doesn’t want to go out and knock on doors/pitch it, which is ultimately what the “no’s” thus far are telling us what the project needs to get off the ground. It’s a tough spot as we share representation now. Apparently, they’re going to push it to the backburner for now and consider what else they may want to do with it. Which will mean nothing, in the end. Hopefully, down the road, it will be like a MAD MEN which was rejected and then filed away by Matt Weiner for eight years, until he had success and could do it.

- Looks like I may be getting some good copywright freelance work coming up (Thanks Artichoke Artisans!) Along with a few other things hear and there, I feel like – thanks to move – I’ll be able to tread water and maybe even break into copywrighting a bit more as I search for a teaching gig of some kind. I may do some extra work here and there to fill in the gaps, or maybe look for a Writer’s Assistant gig on a show.

-Very excited about the newer, cheaper AppleTV (is it ITV now?) and that it will be capable of streaming Netflix as well. Let the movie streaming revolution begin! Say good-bye to DVD’s!

- My niece Ellen was at her first Fighting Irish football game today as she’s at Saint Mary’s of Notre Dame, her mother’s alma matter, for her freshman year. The last time I was there was in college for a game with the Keefe’s. But I watched part of the game today, thinking back to my visit to see Claire there, when I believe I was in junior high. Here and her friends tried to sneak me in the student section, but I got bounced. Luckily, once I got in on my regular ticket, they found me and walked me into the section, which was packed with students. I still think of that visit and being in autumnal South Bend as the iconic collegiate experience. I remember we went to the pep rally and it all seemed as College should be.  I hope Ellen had a blast and is finding her place in the new community she’s in as well as her older sister, Emily, has at Villanova in Philly.

- Caught part of an episode of House Hunters International today. Saw a couple buy a COMPOUND with four small homes on it for two million in FIJI. Compound hopefuls be ready – we may forego Malibu/No Cal and decamp to Fiji. They had a private beach. It was slick. I’m thinking one hit TV show and five million and we might be able to buy a town.

- Been having very in-depth dreams lately. Like I’m almost conscious in them. But, I’m not remembering them when I wake up. What’s up with that? At least let me remember them. Their might be good material in there.

- My beloved Redbirds are imploding as I type. It’s pretty painful to watch. It’s like a NASCAR accident, not some mere stumble. A full on metal and fire, blown tires, hitting the wall implosion. I have long been a fan of Tony LaRussa’s hard charging (i think) brilliant managerial style. He is one of the greatest in-game generals and strategists ever in the game; but it may be time to give The Secret Weapon the chair and see what he can do with it. I think the team is not responding. We definitely have to 86 Mark McGwire as hitting coach and suck it up on the ownership side and raise the payroll to $120 million a year.

- New Arcade Fire album The Suburbs? Brilliant! Check it out. Now. No, I’m serious. Check. It. Out. You won’t regret it.

- Need to get back to work on my play and start in on my new one.

- Best meeting of the week – in terms of wow, we’re in a Hollywood office? Definitely Gran Via Productions, which was in Century City, near CAA. It was on the 16th floor of this office building located within the larger company WALDEN MEDIA (they did The Narnia Films, among many others.) When we walked up to the reception desk, it was hard to not notice to the right an enormous prop from the latest Narnia movie, THE VOYAGE OF THE DAWN TREADER – the mammoth, ornately carved wooden Ship’s Helm. It was rather impressive. Then we sat in their lovely lobby, where they had a large flat screen (naturally) playing their various films on a loop. Great way to wait for the meeting to start.

- And the best water award goes to….Brillstein Entertainment Partners. When we sat in the lobby and were asked by the receptionist if we wanted anything, shortly after the expected reply of “water” out came a lovely lady with a silver butler’s tray, polished to a high sheen. She set the waters down on lilac colored leather coasters. The water proved to be a cut above the rest – crisp, cold with ample ice in the glass. (Jason promptly awarded it the best water award after the meeting.)

I think that’s all for now, folks. Have an excellent and safe Labor Day!

- Been watching THE WIRE a lot lately. I had taken a break after season two. A break that lasted almost a year. Not because I didn’t like it, but because I was so blown away and wanted to savor the experience of watching it the first time. I hope to some day write and produce a television show that is a tenth as brilliant, real, incisive, brave, and chilling. The layers of it and its ability to introduce new characters while slowly expanding the reach of the narrative is unbelievable. I’m at the start of season four and I can honestly say that no show has ever touched THE WIRE’s level of complexity and feeling of unflinching reality.

-On the flip side of that, looks like BOSS is, for all intents and purposes, dead in the water with HWY 61 and PH. His agency, the biggest and most powerful in all of Hollywood, sent it to four heads of cable networks and they all passed – unwilling supposedly to do anything with politics with or without PH attached. It appears that we won’t be getting it back any time soon, either; which is baffling and frustrating – though it didn’t get us to where we are for now. We haven’t reached the end of the road completely, but we’re just about there. I’ve been told that unless someone comes to HWY 61 and PH and says: “Yes, we absolutely want to do BOSS” it won’t get pushed anymore and PH has definitely decided that he doesn’t want to go out and knock on doors/pitch it, which is ultimately what the “no’s” thus far are telling us what the project needs to get off the ground. It’s a tough spot as we share representation now. Apparently, they’re going to push it to the backburner for now and consider what else they may want to do with it. Which will mean nothing, in the end. Hopefully, down the road, it will be like a MAD MEN which was rejected and then filed away by Matt Weiner for eight years, until he had success and could do it.

- Looks like I may be getting some good copywright freelance work coming up (Thanks Artichoke Artisans!) Along with a few other things hear and there, I feel like – thanks to move – I’ll be able to tread water and maybe even break into copywrighting a bit more as I search for a teaching gig of some kind. I may do some extra work here and there to fill in the gaps, or maybe look for a Writer’s Assistant gig on a show.

-Very excited about the newer, cheaper AppleTV (is it ITV now?) and that it will be capable of streaming Netflix as well. Let the movie streaming revolution begin! Say good-bye to DVD’s!

- My niece Ellen was at her first Fighting Irish football game today as she’s at Saint Mary’s of Notre Dame, her mother’s alma matter, for her freshman year. The last time I was there was in college for a game with the Keefe’s. But I watched part of the game today, thinking back to my visit to see Claire there, when I believe I was in junior high. Here and her friends tried to sneak me in the student section, but I got bounced. Luckily, once I got in on my regular ticket, they found me and walked me into the section, which was packed with students. I still think of that visit and being in autumnal South Bend as the iconic collegiate experience. I remember we went to the pep rally and it all seemed as College should be.  I hope Ellen had a blast and is finding her place in the new community she’s in as well as her older sister, Emily, has at Villanova in Philly.

- Caught part of an episode of House Hunters International today. Saw a couple buy a COMPOUND with four small homes on it for two million in FIJI. Compound hopefuls be ready – we may forego Malibu/No Cal and decamp to Fiji. They had a private beach. It was slick. I’m thinking one hit TV show and five million and we might be able to buy a town.

- Been having very in-depth dreams lately. Like I’m almost conscious in them. But, I’m not remembering them when I wake up. What’s up with that? At least let me remember them. Their might be good material in there.

- My beloved Redbirds are imploding as I type. It’s pretty painful to watch. It’s like a NASCAR accident, not some mere stumble. A full on metal and fire, blown tires, hitting the wall implosion. I have long been a fan of Tony LaRussa’s hard charging (i think) brilliant managerial style. He is one of the greatest in-game generals and strategists ever in the game; but it may be time to give The Secret Weapon the chair and see what he can do with it. I think the team is not responding. We definitely have to 86 Mark McGwire as hitting coach and suck it up on the ownership side and raise the payroll to $120 million a year.

- New Arcade Fire album The Suburbs? Brilliant! Check it out. Now. No, I’m serious. Check. It. Out. You won’t regret it.

- Need to get back to work on my play and start in on my new one.

- Best meeting of the week – in terms of wow, we’re in a Hollywood office? Definitely Gran Via Productions, which was in Century City, near CAA. It was on the 16th floor of this office building located within the larger company WALDEN MEDIA (they did The Narnia Films, among many others.) When we walked up to the reception desk, it was hard to not notice to the right an enormous prop from the latest Narnia movie, THE VOYAGE OF THE DAWN TREADER – the mammoth, ornately carved wooden Ship’s Helm. It was rather impressive. Then we sat in their lovely lobby, where they had a large flat screen (naturally) playing their various films on a loop. Great way to wait for the meeting to start.

- And the best water award goes to….Brillstein Entertainment Partners. When we sat in the lobby and were asked by the receptionist if we wanted anything, shortly after the expected reply of “water” out came a lovely lady with a silver butler’s tray, polished to a high sheen. She set the waters down on lilac colored leather coasters. The water proved to be a cut above the rest – crisp, cold with ample ice in the glass. (Jason promptly awarded it the best water award after the meeting.)

I think that’s all for now, folks. Have an excellent and safe Labor Day!

We did indeed have our second to last pitch for TV pitching season today @ Parkes/MacDonald as I mentioned. To recap, because it was a great week for who we were pitching to, the companies we pitched were Brillstein, Gran Via (Mark Johnson’s company,) and Parkes-MacDonald. All are good companies with lots of muscle who responded to our reps presentation of us and our sample (BOSS.) We pitched well this week. Better than last week for sure. We thought we did pretty good last week, but in retrospect and after our conference call with our TV team the other day, which was kind of a halftime review of how things were progressing so far, it’s clear the adjustments that Jason and I made really tightened and elevated our pitch.  We’re still waiting to hear from everyone this week as to there initial reactions and if there’s interest to pursue our idea further. That being said, and I think I covered this last night a bit (without looking back ) Everyone last week passed. Which isn’t unusual. There are hundreds of pitches on the TV side at this time of the year and a very select few get ordered to script. We’re not completely out, but the genral tone of the conference call seemed to indicate that we were not going to get this pitch across on this round. Which if this does indeed turn out to be the case, because its healthy, I’ll admit is pretty damn disappointing. But, about par for the course being that we’re new, unknown writers and our pitch is on the edgier side of things.

That isn’t to say that the pitches weren’t success’ in what they needed, ultimately, to accomplish which was get our name out there and get us some experience walking into those major league rooms and presenting our idea and our talents in a fun and entertaining way. The idea being that what we did was plant seeds with each person we met with. And that these seeds will bloom in assignments or other pitches or whatever down the road. According to our team, we were shone in every room we went into. With one producer going so far as to say he could tell “that we will be major stars.” Every door is without a doubt still left open, according to our agents, who set the meetings and do the check in to get the “meeting behind the meeting” after it’s over. We made a bunch of fans and that’s what it takes. Ultimately, I feel as we walked out of the pitch today, both Jason and I could look back over the two weeks and see just how much we had learned.

We do still have word on the three to come in from this week and one more pitch to go; but from there it looks like the TV side will quiet down for a bit. On the feature side, though, it appears (hopefully) they are finally ready to rev up to full speed and get us out there. We also have one of the three screenplays that we started for young producers or directors at our level before we signed with the agency, that is believed to be ready to go out to possible actors, production companies, and directors in an effort to get it into production. So, hopefully, in September we’ll have a bunch of generals with feature people and then this script will go out and one or the other or both will make headway. The big thing that Jason and I are fighting – beside the obvious material concerns of finances – is the psychological of wanting that first break to come in. Not so much for the money it may bring, but more so to cement our representation team in place. To justify all their hardwork and time spent on us. Because even though there are those tough times of silence, when we’re out there like we have been the past two weeks we are in near constant contact with them – especially our manager, but also the agents, and when we contacted our feature guys they got back to us within a couple of hours – which is not typical for those of us who haven’t made them money yet and established themselves with an assignment or sale yet. Part of this psychological pressure stems from the horror stories we’ve heard through school about peers signing with a major agency right out of the gate, but because something didn’t happen for them the first time out with an idea or script, they weren’t dropped so much as they were set adrift, with phone calls not returned and material not read, that sort of thing. Kind of dropped, without being told they were dropped and their careers started to stall because of it. It’s something you definitely feel some concern over. You’ve got to produce or there isn’t room for you.

So, here we are at the end of round two, a lot of lessons learned. Our work cut out for us. Still in the game. Still feeling extremely fortunate.

Onward and upward, right? Right! (At least that’s what I’m trying to focus on right now.)

If you’re so inclined (and I do recommend it) check out this post at Jason’s blog, Chasing Mist, here for his take on today’s meeting.

So how’s it gone this week, a.k.a. round 2?  Not bad. We do continue to learn and refine on each pitch in a very organic and productive way. To say we’ve been gaining invaluable experience as we’ve gone through this process would be an understatement. We’ll have had three more pitches which brings our total thus far to six. With each one it’s been pretty darn intriguing to watch the pitch gain shape and clarity, largely from Jason and I learning how to pitch the idea with succinct excitement, together as a team. Kind of like: one voice, one idea, two guys. It’s just now dawning on me that, yes, that would take some amount of practice that could only come from simply doing it, for real.

Tomorrow’s meeting is @ this . husband & wife duo’s company in Santa Monica. The company is called Parkes/Macdonald and apparently they have a TV Development deal with NBC.  The person we’ll be pitching to, is a former network exec – one time head of hour-long scripted drama at Fox. Not bad for a Friday on a holiday weekend.

Sad to say good-bye to Stagger. He’s my dear, dear four-legged pal. Always sleeps right by the door to the room I stay in, so he knows when I go to bed at night. Usually he’s there when I wake up, if I’m late getting going in the morning.

Had a fabulous dinner with Polly, Will, and J.P. before heading back. It was the perfect cap to my stay. We had a grand time at Gulfstream catching up. It’s always so wonderful to see them. Before, J.P. and I had an in-depth conversation about the first grade, how much he likes to not go to school, and how he tries to fool his mother into thinking he’s sick. We covered all the bases. (I refrained from getting into the “Doc” story.) He was not too thrilled with the prospect of homework every night. And at dinner, Will and I talked movies a bit. Mainly Harry Potter, but we also dipped into Toy Story 3 (which he hadn’t seen yet, but I recommended highly) and Despicable Me which got a thumbs down, despite the Henchmen. Will is quite the young man these days, too! The only bummer was that Joe and Matt weren’t back yet. I always love my time with Polly, but when the rest of the clan is added to the mix, it’s a special treat.

After dinner, I made my way up U.S. 1, the PCH, through the coastal towns – all quiet on a Monday night for the most part. The last few shades of dusk heavy in the sky against a thin band of faraway autumnal burnt orange on my left, streaking what was left of the Pacific’s horizon, lingering out past the endless beaches and white-tipped waves rolling over the deep blue. The last few beats of sunset fading in the cool night air. Window down all the way rolling up the coastline, alone with my thoughts, all the way back to L.A.

I’ve discussed how much I absolutely love and am drawn to the still photograph. How it represents a diving board for my imagination, one rooted in reality. A hair trigger to a story or a scene or an emotion that often spins into something else. So, today, rather than do some work or read, as I told myself I would do on what is probably my last day of vacation in a long, long time, I instead meander through the stacks and stacks of photo streams on Flickr, searching for images of Wicker Park, the neighborhood I lived in for nearly fifteen years in Chicago. Wicker Park has its history and I won’t quite get into here, yet. I’m sure I’ll wade into that hot button topic (in the years that I lived there, Wicker Park became ground zero/an international case study for the effects, both positive and negative, of Urban Gentrification) at some point when I do begin work on this project. (To be clear, it’s not a TV or Film project, so it’s clock is strictly my clock, so who knows when exactly that will be.) Simply what I mean to say before I roll out the photos is that in seeing these streets, where I not only lived, but also worked for so long. Spending my time locked up in this one stretch of Chicago, maybe one half of a square mile at best, twenty-four seven, at all hours of the day and night. That I’m struck by the grittiness of Chicago, compared with Los Angeles. That’s not to say L.A. doesn’t have it’s truly rough parts. Maybe it’s the constant sun, or the way the landscape breaks – whatever it is, L.A. doesn’t strike me as so compact and constructed and old. It doesn’t have the same rawness I see in these photos. Anyways. Here is Wicker Park, circa early 21st Century, about three years past the apex of the gentrification battle.

That's the Six Corners, formed by the intersection of Milwaukee, North, and Damen Ave. It's the heart of Westown, which is Wicker Park, Bucktown, and the Ukrainian Village. The road, North Ave, on the left, is a border between Bucktown and Wicker Park. I lived and worked within two-three blocks of this intersection for nearly a decade. That's downtown in the distance behind the Flat Iron Building.

The Coyote Building which is where the previous picture was taken from. The neighborhood's internationally acclaimed art walk takes its name from this building. The art walk is simply known as "Around The Coyote."

This is taken of the corners from the Flat Iron building. It also captures the Chicago, I recall most - overcast, rainy.

The main alleyway, off of Damen Ave. I can tell this is taken right at the mouth of the alley, which means if you look at the previous photo and locate the North Community Bank sign, next to the Blue Line El Platform, the photographer was just around the corner from there, a quarter of a block. I lived in an apartment that was two buildings down on the right and another one that was five buildings down on the left.

The Damen Ave El stop, which I lived several doors down, right across the park when I first moved to the neighborhood. Three stops and you're in the Loop. This is directly opposite the mouth of the alley in the photo above.

Outside the Double Door, a rock club next to the mouth of the alley. The Rolling Stones played here. Among many other big, small, unknown and friends bands. It's called Double Door because it has this door on Damen and another door on Milwaukee, just around the corner. That's big June, the longtime doorman. Whenever he was working I had an all-access pass. I used to raid there ice machine when ours down the street at Nick's would break down in the summer.

Some folks hanging on Milwaukee Ave, a couple of doors down from the corners. Looks like just outside Earwax Cafe.

This is inside Earwax Cafe. I knew Nick the own, through my fellow Wicker Park Ex-Pat, Brett. Earwax started out as a used CD/eclectic video rental/cafe/hangout spot. Fifteen years later is would evolve into an eclectic cafe with a progressive menu written up favorably in the NY TImes Sunday Section. Which was pretty cool to see.

Night time in the six corners. There are somewhere, or were, in the order of fifty or so bars, taverns, clubs, and dives - some of which saty open until 2 a.m., others until 4 a.m. in a fifteen block radius (if that) around the corners. This looks like an early week night. Pretty slow. I worked right in the heart of this for most of my doorman/bartending career.

Heilman Cold Beer signs. They're all over the place. Along with Pabst. Many, because of the Polish Heritage of the neighborhood, don't say "Cold Beer" they say "Zimne Piwo" which is cold beer in polish. Don't let the door hit you in the dupa on the way out!

The Pontiac Cafe, after my time there, which was the most infamous of bars and dives that I tended bar at. This is also the bar where I had my last drink. Served by Johnny Angel, who also got me sober. How do you like that for irony? In my time, we didn't have that plank/boundary thing - that was city mandated after it was discovered Buddy, the owner, didn't have the proper permits for it. in my day anything that was concrete was patio, so the patio was twice that area. Man, this place....It still defies words (not in a good way.) It's closed now. Which is as it should be. This is one building over, and on the other side of the El Tracks, from the Double Door picture above

Inside the Pontiac Cafe, at the corner of the bar, which was the place that you wanted to be. Guess who is standing, just to the left here? That's right. That's me. Beardless. Looking sharp. Must've been on my way out to dinner or something. It's almost ten years ago. I've definitely stopped drinking and all that, based on the people around me. I'm talking to Gina Black of The Blacks, a country-punk band and a Pontiac waitress. Crazy isn't it? I found this photo by accident on Flickr. I was startled to notice myself standing there. Seems like forever and a day.

HOT TUBS!!!!

How could you NOT love one of these?!?!

Yes, hot tubs. Or, as they’re known when they’re in ground and part of the pool/backyard design – pool spas. I actually like the sound of that better – “pool spa.”

What prompted this switch from the topical to the indulgent?! Well, I have to be honest – I’m about to climb in one and I won’t lie to you, it is one of my most favorite things. Why? There is just something inherently relaxing, therapeutic and decidedly end-of-the-day signifying for me when I climb in one.

I wish there was a bit more to it than that, but honestly it comes down to simply that end-of-the-dayness for me. Here at Casa De Uebe it’s often quite tranquil, of course, being more of a town, rather than a big sprawling city. But also the sky is clear, away from the heavy smog, and when the moon is out, it’s bright and wonderful to gaze up at it as one of the jets works over my aching shoulders after a hard day grinding pages. (Okay, there aren’t many hard days for me when I come down to the Mar. I promise, though, the memory of them haunt me when I’m down here and the pool spa is just the right remedy to chase them away.)

If you’re near one in the not-too-distant-future, I’m telling you: ultimately, it’s therapeutic. That means it’s good for you. Climb right in, without hesitation. And let the tension melt away.

Looks like it’s time for me to climb in…..