Weekend

  

As the police vans rolled in one by one across the Venice Boardwalk, the fella above with electric guitar in hand yelled out "Here they come! Homeland IN-security!" Then he hit us all with a barrage of electric sounds that spoke volumes to those passing by. Most would agree that this brotha needs to learn him some chords!!! His heart was in it and he posed real good...

That's how my weekend began and it's been a hot one in Southern Cali. The energy out here is a mixture of positive and negative. The heat brings out the worst in folks, especially those behind the wheel of an automobile. People honking for no reason or speeding to get around you-for no reason. Just people generally acting a fool.

I had a fabulous booksigning on Saturday at Zahras Books & Thangs located in LA on La Brea. I had a good time. Again feeling the heat. Sweating and greeting folks that came in the door. Most that came in already had my book or had seen it advertised around town and thought about getting it. Everybody promised to get it in the future, meaning that despite my fun-filled two hours chatting with the friendly customers and enjoying my visit with beautiful Trisha behind the counter and the beautiful owner Renee, I sold zero books! lol.. That's the hazards of booksignings.. Sometimes you do great and other times you do nothing at all but it can still be fun.

As always whenever I do a signing there's one person that comes in and takes up at least fifteen to thirty minutes of your time talking typically about a desire to write a book or questioning why black folks dont buy and/or support black product. I had one of those moments but I appreciated it and went with the flow. Killed some time and bonded with the brotha for a few minutes. He was there looking for some mystery books so I told him about a few that he promised to come back and buy along with my book.

Sunday, I went to the annual African American Marketplace festival. People were walking around with umbrellas or knocking each over trying to find some shade. It was funny. The vibe at the festival was really nice and positive. Great music filled the air. I heard over a loud speaker that Fantasia was moments away from performing onstage so I went over to the stage area. I took a look thinking I would hear some singing but instead it was a dance troupe of about eight little girls dressed in purple, doing their thang. It was cute. I enjoyed it. Then I got a request of a donation by some Dorsey Highschool cheerleaders. They looked like what I used to always term "future foxes" on their way to becoming serious heartbreakers. I donated some money and gave a poster card to them about my book since Dorsey High is featured in the story. My battery was low in the camera so I didn't bring it into the festival. I missed a lot of moments this weekend by not having the camera ready but just like that signing, you win some, ya lose some but you can always have a great time! :-)

After the festival I headed to my favorite Starbucks in the Ladera Center. You can always find several things there.. great gossip, beautiful ladies, cool cars and motorcycles... This time the air was filled with talk about a shooting that happened on Crenshaw Blvd. The fellas were all taken back by the lawlessness and disregard for life. One fella made an interesting comment that is also a sad reality... He said "one good thing about these dudes pulling the trigger lately is that they dont just spray a crowd with bullets. Now they walk right up on the muh-fukka and shoot him!" Everybody chimed in as another fella described what he heard about the shooting... "They said motorcycles was passing by so nobody really heard the shots eventhough it happened at 4:30 in broad daylight. Homeboy just walked up to the car and shot that dude six times, they said... Defintely on some retaliation tip. It dont matter how long it take. They'll wait to find you." After that, there was a little bit of silence for a moment and then a change of subject as a lovely lady walked inside Starbucks putting a smile back on everyone's face...

It's been a good weekend and now that the actual holiday is here, I'm planning to just chill, burn some food on the grill and relax.. It's still burning hot outside but eating good food makes it a lot more bearable... :-)