Road Blogger

Driving down Morena Boulevard, you have a mix of single story, flat roof buildings. The air is filled with vehicle exhaust fumes. Morena Boulevard was once old Pacific Hwy. In the early 60's it was even more industrialized. Running parallell is Hwy 5 the main freeway now. Along the way there’s Nico’s Taco shop, a Valero gas station, Toys R Us and a Lamps r Us-light store. These non descript businesses dot the landscape with their garish lights and odd motifs. Telephone lines also run parallel with the street as does the railroad tracks. Still in business, my father once bought a Chinese dining table and chairs at Genghis’ Khan Furniture store. Off Morena next to Genghis Khan is Buenos Avenue. I pulled off Buenos into an alley with its broken concrete jutting randomly. I bounced up and down before I settled onto the blacktop parking lot. My destination was there ahead of me-the music venue, Brick by Brick.

Standing on the corner waiting for me are three bachelors who have legitimate grievances with women. Two are aware of this and the other has no clue. When I walk up to meet them, there are three who are aware now. It’s ironic that the one with no clue is in the business of awareness-he is a News personality. Inside, we played pool drank beer and listened to music. It’s the kind of music you listen to using ear plugs. I love the name of the bands that play here-Nashville Pussy, This Fiend Kills and on this night-Dada. Mr. News personality claimed that, “DaDa is the best band you’ve never heard of.” Curious, I Googled DaDa:

“…A movement in art and literature, founded in Switzerland in the early twentieth century, which ridiculed contemporary culture and conventional art. The Dadaists shared an antimilitaristic and antiaesthetic attitude, generated in part by the horrors of World War I and in part by a rejection of accepted canons of morality and taste. The anarchic spirit of Dada can be seen in the works of Duchamp, Man Ray, Hoch, Miro, and Picasso. Many Dadaists later explored Surrealism…”

I wasn’t sure the band was congruent with this idea until I saw a “Fuck Bush” sticker on his guitar. All that to say I was close enough to see the stickers on his guitar when I leaned my belly against the stage. I chuckled when the lead guitarist walked off the stage to ice his elbow. It was clear to me that he had a repetitive motion injury from playing the guitar using three chords and moving his fingers up and down the frets to attain a musical dissonance.

Taking some time from the throbbing and pounding music, the smell of night air filled our lungs with exhaust. It was refreshing! My pool partner and I settled in on a discussion on how women objectify men. “It’s not our butts or the size of our dicks-it’s the expectation that we men can soothe their fears” my pal offered, “Remember Barbara and Billy? Barbara admitted to Billy that she married him because she needed to feel close. She used sex to feel close.” My buddy animatedly pointed his finger and chopped the night, “There not a chance in hell Billy could soothe this need and Barbara made him pay. She had an affair with some guy from Napa after a dream where Billy left their bed in the middle of sex to play pool with us.” I couldn't wait to wager my thoughts on this one, “Man, I can see why he’s pissed-numbnuts was trumped by a dream.” I continued, “Well if you think that’s fucked, here’s another example of women using their rosebuds. There’s this extraordinary woman, competent and powerful. Felicia unwittingly used the “damsel in dis-dress” gig to get Mac her next door neighbor to fix her home! She got her nice house. Mac got “blue balls” and a wife who was pissed off! To make matters worse, she made him pay by forgetting her health. She lost a leg and died with the complications of a diabetic. Mac continues to pay for it. He pays for it when he helped her convalesce and he continues to pay for it after she passed. The currency he pays with is guilt! Even worse, Mac is unaware he's been dumped on by two women. ” My pal shook his head and said, “That’s the shits, dumb fucker thought he was going to get some from Felicia and was fucked by wifey. I take it they did this naturally without awareness of their needs and regardless of the damage to him? With a wry smile I said, "Dude! Rhetorical question. Damn, women are emotional but they’re completely clueless on the subject of how they objectify men to meet their specific needs. In these cases, they expected their men to provide for their security.” We walked through the door and headed toward the bar to get us a couple of beers. We both reflected on the idea of women somewhere who would understand their dehumanization or objectification of men to meet their needs what ever their needs may be.