Question: what do people do right before they off themselves? Answer: they go to the park. i spent a few hours at the park today, just to think and also to relax. it was very nice out as far as weather goes, and the park was quiet. there were people jogging and there were people playing with children. there were also people rehearsing karate moves in slow motion and some people doing yoga. those were the things i noticed first. then i looked about and noticed, in patches here and there, people who were alone who looked very sad. and i wondered why they came to the park if they were so sad. but then i thought about it, that’s it’s a perfect place to think. about anything. whether it’s a good thing or a bad thing i guess depends on what you’re thinking about. i know it’s snowing in Boston and stuff but, like most people, i don’t really think about that because i don’t live there. i live here, where the weather is very nice. for at least 1 more week. then i am in the freezing cold arms of England. now, even though the day was picture perfect ( 75F/ no clouds/ a light breeze), i saw some somber faces sitting on benches, down and out. i wanted to tell them to go and buy Forever Changes but i didn’t. Cause maybe, i thought, they were having troubles with money. you shouldn’t buy CDs when you are broke. or should you? ah screw it. do what makes you happy, right? so last night i bumped into an old friend, DJ T-BIRD. if you live in LA and want to check something fun out, go to the BRIG in Venice (on Abbot Kinney street) and listen to T-Bird spin records every Monday night after 10pm. he’s great, although i’m not an export on deejays. him, rusty and i used to work at an indie record shop. rusty was the manager, i was the assistant mgr and t-bird was the import and singles buyer. we had fun working there. when LOVE got put back together (DEC 21, 2001), i was working there and going to UCLA studying film scoring. by May 2002 we could no longer work there, as we toured too much. then the record store went out of business. we were lucky. but i always felt bad for the bird. but he landed on his feet just fine. and it was good to see an old friend on the street and not at the park. so i was thinking about that while i was at the park today.

Mike Randle