Woke up Friday and took an early walk on the beach. it was cloudy but the breeze felt nice. I needed to buy some room furniture (like a desk and a nightstand) but i wanted something funky so i drove to a few places. couldn’t find anything and I was walking down Mainstreet and decided to stop in and say hello to The Mrs. New Guy (They own a hip shoe store on Mainstreet in Santa Monica, “Berrylee Shoes”)…funny, we call it Mainstreet but Londoners would call it the “High Street” but High street to us would be Sunset Bl, as everyone is pretty much “high” that’s walking down the street there! So, she steered me to Jimmy Z’s surf shop so i could buy a pair of comfy sandals (which I did)…and this really cute surfer girl helped me find a pair, which was her job so she did a good job. she told me there were surf classes every Friday morning right down the street at the beach. i said i’d think about taking a few classes. so i left SM and drove to Hollywood to pick up Julian from School. Then we drove near the airport to my Mums. since i was to be in SF this weekend i gave her her gift (a book) and roses (red, a dozen), dropped off Julian, kissed them both adn then picked up Rusty. this was about 5pm. we then drove to Sam’s new house at the top of Topanga canyon (Sam is the leader of THE SPOILERS…and – get this- next tusday is MY debut as the SPOILERS’ new addition on electric piano…)… So we fought thru some PCH traffic (Pacific Coast Highway, for those of you keeping score at home) and then went up this insanely steep road that was dangerous and exciting. got to Sam’s and the view was gorgeous! you could see the Palos Verdes coast and even Catalina Island. Sam met us with Pacifico Lagers and we chilled by the pool. Sam then put on (Vinyl only!) a bunch of great records, from Neil Youngs ON THE BEACH to KIND OF BLUE. then Sam and i went swimming. and then some of his friends showed up. and then i went in the jacuzzi and more of his friends showed up, including this nice couple with a 14 year old boy. Sam then BBQ steaks and ahi tuna and soon we were eating dinner. afterwards we gathered round the piano and it turned out the 14-year-old (Austin), was a F*CKING JAZZ PIANO PRODIGY!!!! i am not exagerrating when i say this kid was about 47 times better than anyone i have ever seen play in my life. so we busted out the Beatles songbook and he played everything note for note! and we jammed like that till 1 am. and then Rusty and I took off down the canyon and were soon back in SM by 1:30 am. I had a good phone laugh with a really good friend and then I showered and hit the hay. tomorrow I have to drive to long beach and fly to SF, where I shall meet up with Scottish Keith and his wife for pints and grub at TOMMY’S JOYNT. wish me luck.

Mike Randle