Windy City

The wind storm yesterday ripped palm plumes from their trees, downed power cables, sparked brush fires and with winds pushing 70 mph in the valley’s, made for an exciting day all around. Dust, dirt and microorganisms had every asthmatic in the region running for their inhalers.

I, on the other hand, sat naked in the back yard smoking a cigar, reading a Genii Magazine and learning a couple new tricks.

The other day I went to Hollywood Magic to pick up a few magazines. Manny was working behind the counter and greeted me with a big smile. I’d met him a couple of times. He’s a friend of Omar’s.

While driving in, I noticed the heavy foot traffic around Hollywood and Highland. I had an hour on the meter, so I decided to see what was going on. During my walk, I saw a street magician who I had never met before. His name was Arturo and I think he said he was from Columbia or Bogota. He didn’t look like a magician. . . whatever that means. His hands were large with big bruised knuckles that looked like he was either a brawler or did some sort of manual labor. He was pitching the magic worm and seemed to be doing pretty good. After one of his pitches, I introduced myself to him. We had a bit of a chat, he recently got back in town and said he had been working in South Central LA, where he lives. I told him that I didn’t realize that people street performed there. He said that was why he liked it there, no competition. Interesting.