WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.150 align:middle line:90% 00:00:02.150 --> 00:00:03.530 align:middle line:90% That's all true. 00:00:03.530 --> 00:00:08.570 align:middle line:84% But in writing that book, I was talking with Richard and Lois 00:00:08.570 --> 00:00:10.670 align:middle line:90% Shelton at dinner. 00:00:10.670 --> 00:00:13.610 align:middle line:84% We were talking about nailing down things in your past. 00:00:13.610 --> 00:00:16.740 align:middle line:84% When you write autobiography, you find out how, in many ways, 00:00:16.740 --> 00:00:19.010 align:middle line:84% it's the perfect fiction in the same way 00:00:19.010 --> 00:00:23.180 align:middle line:84% that somebody like Henry Steele Commager or Arnold Toynbee 00:00:23.180 --> 00:00:24.267 align:middle line:90% are great novelists. 00:00:24.267 --> 00:00:26.100 align:middle line:84% They take all this stuff and scramble it up. 00:00:26.100 --> 00:00:28.805 align:middle line:84% And I was having a little fun with history in there. 00:00:28.805 --> 00:00:30.680 align:middle line:84% You can make it say whatever you want to say, 00:00:30.680 --> 00:00:32.967 align:middle line:84% it depends upon how good a storyteller you are. 00:00:32.967 --> 00:00:34.550 align:middle line:84% But when you're writing autobiography, 00:00:34.550 --> 00:00:36.440 align:middle line:84% there inevitably comes that moment when you stop and you 00:00:36.440 --> 00:00:37.520 align:middle line:90% say, no, wait a minute. 00:00:37.520 --> 00:00:40.910 align:middle line:84% Did that happen or am I making that up? 00:00:40.910 --> 00:00:43.460 align:middle line:84% And sometimes you can't tell because things 00:00:43.460 --> 00:00:44.750 align:middle line:90% are happening inside of you. 00:00:44.750 --> 00:00:47.240 align:middle line:84% There's a piece I wrote in that book about my mother. 00:00:47.240 --> 00:00:52.310 align:middle line:84% And she read it last year before she passed away. 00:00:52.310 --> 00:00:54.150 align:middle line:84% And I ask her about it, say, what did you 00:00:54.150 --> 00:00:55.400 align:middle line:90% think of that piece about you? 00:00:55.400 --> 00:00:56.570 align:middle line:84% She said there was a period when she 00:00:56.570 --> 00:00:58.010 align:middle line:90% was trying to be Sarah Vaughan. 00:00:58.010 --> 00:00:59.218 align:middle line:90% I mean, she really practiced. 00:00:59.218 --> 00:01:01.700 align:middle line:84% She'd listen to Sarah's records and she'd rehearse 00:01:01.700 --> 00:01:03.645 align:middle line:84% and she was really trying to do that. 00:01:03.645 --> 00:01:06.020 align:middle line:84% And I said, how'd you like that because I really strained 00:01:06.020 --> 00:01:07.190 align:middle line:90% to get everything right. 00:01:07.190 --> 00:01:08.732 align:middle line:84% She said, was that supposed to be me? 00:01:08.732 --> 00:01:09.274 align:middle line:90% I said, yeah. 00:01:09.274 --> 00:01:10.774 align:middle line:84% She says, well, the only way I could 00:01:10.774 --> 00:01:13.100 align:middle line:84% deal with that is-- she said, in Al's profession, 00:01:13.100 --> 00:01:16.340 align:middle line:84% he has to have a lot of imagination. 00:01:16.340 --> 00:01:19.130 align:middle line:90% Can't win. 00:01:19.130 --> 00:01:22.040 align:middle line:90% I should have lied. 00:01:22.040 --> 00:01:27.200 align:middle line:84% Sitting Pretty is a novel that some reviewer called a blues 00:01:27.200 --> 00:01:28.688 align:middle line:90% novel, and I kind of like that. 00:01:28.688 --> 00:01:30.230 align:middle line:84% So when it comes out again, I'm going 00:01:30.230 --> 00:01:33.230 align:middle line:84% to have them put on there, a blues novel by Al Young. 00:01:33.230 --> 00:01:34.820 align:middle line:84% You know how Richard Brautigan does? 00:01:34.820 --> 00:01:38.480 align:middle line:90% A Japanese novel, all that. 00:01:38.480 --> 00:01:40.370 align:middle line:84% People like to get a handle on things. 00:01:40.370 --> 00:01:43.272 align:middle line:90% 00:01:43.272 --> 00:01:45.230 align:middle line:84% I'm going to read a short passage from it which 00:01:45.230 --> 00:01:48.710 align:middle line:90% is chapter 16. 00:01:48.710 --> 00:01:51.242 align:middle line:90% The story is this. 00:01:51.242 --> 00:01:55.340 align:middle line:84% This is one year in the life of a sort of likeable ne'er 00:01:55.340 --> 00:01:58.280 align:middle line:84% do well named Sydney J. Prettyman, whose nickname is 00:01:58.280 --> 00:01:59.780 align:middle line:90% sitting pretty. 00:01:59.780 --> 00:02:03.800 align:middle line:84% He lives in a place called the Blue Jay 00:02:03.800 --> 00:02:05.840 align:middle line:84% Hotel on the California Peninsula 00:02:05.840 --> 00:02:08.180 align:middle line:84% with a lot of other strange people. 00:02:08.180 --> 00:02:11.960 align:middle line:84% Broadway, Willie G, Miss Duchess, 00:02:11.960 --> 00:02:15.050 align:middle line:90% all very offbeat types. 00:02:15.050 --> 00:02:20.060 align:middle line:84% And Syd is in his late 50s, has been 00:02:20.060 --> 00:02:23.187 align:middle line:84% divorced from his family for about 18 years. 00:02:23.187 --> 00:02:25.520 align:middle line:84% He really didn't get divorced, he just ran away from it. 00:02:25.520 --> 00:02:27.770 align:middle line:84% He had a job driving a Muni bus up in San Francisco. 00:02:27.770 --> 00:02:29.330 align:middle line:84% And got up one day, he just couldn't 00:02:29.330 --> 00:02:30.800 align:middle line:90% deal with married life. 00:02:30.800 --> 00:02:35.810 align:middle line:84% Has a wife named Sequoia, everybody calls her squirrel, 00:02:35.810 --> 00:02:39.590 align:middle line:84% a son named Aristotle, deliberately named that, 00:02:39.590 --> 00:02:43.220 align:middle line:90% and a daughter named Cornelia. 00:02:43.220 --> 00:02:44.480 align:middle line:90% And they've all grown up. 00:02:44.480 --> 00:02:49.040 align:middle line:84% His son's become a prominent East Bay, Oakland, California 00:02:49.040 --> 00:02:49.940 align:middle line:90% lawyer. 00:02:49.940 --> 00:02:52.850 align:middle line:84% His daughter has done pretty well as a schoolteacher. 00:02:52.850 --> 00:02:55.610 align:middle line:84% She calls herself an educator, and has married a man 00:02:55.610 --> 00:02:57.020 align:middle line:90% who works in a think tank. 00:02:57.020 --> 00:03:00.200 align:middle line:84% His wife is dying of cancer in this book. 00:03:00.200 --> 00:03:03.440 align:middle line:84% And he's chronically addicted to radio call-in talk 00:03:03.440 --> 00:03:08.308 align:middle line:84% shows, so much so that whenever he calls in 00:03:08.308 --> 00:03:10.350 align:middle line:84% on this particular station, they clear the lines. 00:03:10.350 --> 00:03:12.830 align:middle line:84% They say sitting pretty is on, put him on. 00:03:12.830 --> 00:03:15.770 align:middle line:84% And he's invited in the wake of this notoriety 00:03:15.770 --> 00:03:18.920 align:middle line:84% to make a television commercial, which he figures is 00:03:18.920 --> 00:03:20.000 align:middle line:90% going to make him rich. 00:03:20.000 --> 00:03:21.920 align:middle line:84% He's an American, we all figure that it's 00:03:21.920 --> 00:03:24.290 align:middle line:84% our birthright to get on Newsweek once, 00:03:24.290 --> 00:03:26.057 align:middle line:90% the cover before we die. 00:03:26.057 --> 00:03:27.140 align:middle line:90% So he figures, this is it. 00:03:27.140 --> 00:03:28.020 align:middle line:90% They're all going to love me. 00:03:28.020 --> 00:03:29.270 align:middle line:90% My family is going to love me. 00:03:29.270 --> 00:03:32.070 align:middle line:84% And he's trying to re endear himself to his family. 00:03:32.070 --> 00:03:37.100 align:middle line:84% He reads books like 90 Days to a More Powerful Vocabulary, 00:03:37.100 --> 00:03:41.330 align:middle line:84% so that you never know what's going to come out of his mouth. 00:03:41.330 --> 00:03:43.310 align:middle line:90% And in this particular section-- 00:03:43.310 --> 00:03:48.440 align:middle line:84% in it, I tried to capture some of the poetry of-- 00:03:48.440 --> 00:03:51.890 align:middle line:84% you say everyday speech, but it's not really that way. 00:03:51.890 --> 00:03:53.960 align:middle line:84% Whenever you work in the vernacular, 00:03:53.960 --> 00:03:55.940 align:middle line:90% you're really working hard. 00:03:55.940 --> 00:03:59.060 align:middle line:84% Mark Twain taught me that, because 00:03:59.060 --> 00:04:01.707 align:middle line:84% in actual everyday speech, people say the same things 00:04:01.707 --> 00:04:02.540 align:middle line:90% over and over again. 00:04:02.540 --> 00:04:04.130 align:middle line:84% It gets monotonous, and as an artist, 00:04:04.130 --> 00:04:08.510 align:middle line:84% you have to figure out ways around that. 00:04:08.510 --> 00:04:10.370 align:middle line:84% So this is Sydney J Prettyman talking. 00:04:10.370 --> 00:04:12.200 align:middle line:84% He's with his friend, Willie G. Willie G 00:04:12.200 --> 00:04:14.780 align:middle line:84% has quit a job in a wrecking yard 00:04:14.780 --> 00:04:17.959 align:middle line:84% because he's tired of grease under his fingernails. 00:04:17.959 --> 00:04:20.209 align:middle line:84% Whenever he eats cheeseburger lunches and grease 00:04:20.209 --> 00:04:21.545 align:middle line:90% seeps all into the bun. 00:04:21.545 --> 00:04:24.170 align:middle line:84% One day, he's watching this and he decides to get a better job. 00:04:24.170 --> 00:04:28.280 align:middle line:84% So he's going up to San Francisco from East Palo Alto 00:04:28.280 --> 00:04:29.900 align:middle line:90% to get a job-- 00:04:29.900 --> 00:04:32.120 align:middle line:84% to apply for a job as a security officer 00:04:32.120 --> 00:04:33.650 align:middle line:84% at the San Francisco Museum of Art. 00:04:33.650 --> 00:04:37.850 align:middle line:84% He later gets the job, becomes unbearably pretentious. 00:04:37.850 --> 00:04:41.378 align:middle line:84% Syd is going up to see somebody at this radio station. 00:04:41.378 --> 00:04:42.920 align:middle line:84% He doesn't know that he's going to be 00:04:42.920 --> 00:04:44.420 align:middle line:90% asked to do a TV commercial. 00:04:44.420 --> 00:04:46.190 align:middle line:90% And this is how it goes. 00:04:46.190 --> 00:04:49.650 align:middle line:90% 00:04:49.650 --> 00:04:52.110 align:middle line:84% Willie G might know all about cars, 00:04:52.110 --> 00:04:54.700 align:middle line:84% how to rip them apart and put them back together, 00:04:54.700 --> 00:04:56.520 align:middle line:84% but he one of the scariest drivers 00:04:56.520 --> 00:04:59.070 align:middle line:84% I ever had the displeasure of riding with. 00:04:59.070 --> 00:05:02.490 align:middle line:84% He slouch all down in his seat, use his left hand to steer, 00:05:02.490 --> 00:05:04.440 align:middle line:84% while he'd be steady twisting the radio knob 00:05:04.440 --> 00:05:05.970 align:middle line:90% and smoking with his right. 00:05:05.970 --> 00:05:07.770 align:middle line:84% He don't signal when he changed lanes, 00:05:07.770 --> 00:05:09.690 align:middle line:90% and he keep changing lanes. 00:05:09.690 --> 00:05:11.190 align:middle line:84% It ain't nothing for him to just all 00:05:11.190 --> 00:05:13.980 align:middle line:84% of a sudden shoot from the slow lane over to the fast lane. 00:05:13.980 --> 00:05:16.380 align:middle line:84% No turn signal, no hand out to window, nothing. 00:05:16.380 --> 00:05:19.560 align:middle line:84% Just zip right over there in front of some big monster truck 00:05:19.560 --> 00:05:22.290 align:middle line:84% then speed up till he right on top of the car in front of him 00:05:22.290 --> 00:05:25.110 align:middle line:84% and tailgate the hell out of it and honk his horn, 00:05:25.110 --> 00:05:27.990 align:middle line:84% really mash on it so that either the lead car got 00:05:27.990 --> 00:05:30.210 align:middle line:84% to get out his way or else he going to zoom back 00:05:30.210 --> 00:05:33.000 align:middle line:84% into the lane to the right and try to overtake the sucker 00:05:33.000 --> 00:05:36.180 align:middle line:84% just so he can feel like he the leader of the pack or some fool 00:05:36.180 --> 00:05:38.460 align:middle line:90% nonsense. 00:05:38.460 --> 00:05:40.710 align:middle line:84% And all the time this mess is going on, 00:05:40.710 --> 00:05:42.040 align:middle line:90% he got the radio blasting. 00:05:42.040 --> 00:05:45.030 align:middle line:84% Either he reaching and feeling around the top of the dashboard 00:05:45.030 --> 00:05:47.070 align:middle line:84% or up under a background behind the seat 00:05:47.070 --> 00:05:49.980 align:middle line:84% trying to find some particular eight-track cassette 00:05:49.980 --> 00:05:51.900 align:middle line:84% to shove in this new tape doo hickey 00:05:51.900 --> 00:05:54.180 align:middle line:90% he then just had installed. 00:05:54.180 --> 00:05:57.060 align:middle line:84% It's tape cartridges scattered all over the front 00:05:57.060 --> 00:06:00.750 align:middle line:84% and back seats along with girly magazines, old racing 00:06:00.750 --> 00:06:05.250 align:middle line:84% foams, newspaper, rags, rusty car parts, tools, Coke bottles, 00:06:05.250 --> 00:06:08.700 align:middle line:84% Dr. Pepper and Slits cans, cigarette and candy wrappers, 00:06:08.700 --> 00:06:09.960 align:middle line:90% potato chip bags. 00:06:09.960 --> 00:06:12.060 align:middle line:84% Old Colonel Sanders take out boxes 00:06:12.060 --> 00:06:14.370 align:middle line:84% with dried up chicken bones sticking up 00:06:14.370 --> 00:06:19.140 align:middle line:84% out of them, mitch match socks and shoes, spare neckties, 00:06:19.140 --> 00:06:21.180 align:middle line:84% shirts and breeches, all crumpled up. 00:06:21.180 --> 00:06:24.870 align:middle line:84% Cans of Maine sardines unopened, half-eaten ice cream 00:06:24.870 --> 00:06:29.340 align:middle line:84% cones, orange peels, LP albums with no jackets all warped out 00:06:29.340 --> 00:06:32.430 align:middle line:90% of shape by the sun. 00:06:32.430 --> 00:06:34.830 align:middle line:84% Vicks and Halos, Christmas tree branches, 00:06:34.830 --> 00:06:37.560 align:middle line:84% a pair of psychedelic women's underpants. 00:06:37.560 --> 00:06:39.750 align:middle line:84% And ain't no telling what all else is buried down 00:06:39.750 --> 00:06:40.860 align:middle line:90% underneath all that. 00:06:40.860 --> 00:06:44.370 align:middle line:84% There's stuff I can't even make heads or tails out of. 00:06:44.370 --> 00:06:47.220 align:middle line:84% What it is is a miniature version 00:06:47.220 --> 00:06:52.440 align:middle line:84% of the city dump, a traveling nuthouse on radio tires. 00:06:52.440 --> 00:06:55.530 align:middle line:84% This rebuilt Chrysler jacked up so high off the ground 00:06:55.530 --> 00:06:58.260 align:middle line:84% with the shocks he put in until if you wasn't careful to check 00:06:58.260 --> 00:07:00.780 align:middle line:84% yourself right close when you open the door to step out, 00:07:00.780 --> 00:07:03.090 align:middle line:84% you were subject to fall to your death. 00:07:03.090 --> 00:07:06.300 align:middle line:84% I mean-- I mean sail right to the pavement 00:07:06.300 --> 00:07:09.630 align:middle line:90% and dash your silly brains out. 00:07:09.630 --> 00:07:11.280 align:middle line:84% The racket from the radio and tape 00:07:11.280 --> 00:07:13.980 align:middle line:84% so damn loud, you got to holler and shout and even 00:07:13.980 --> 00:07:16.200 align:middle line:90% scream just to be heard. 00:07:16.200 --> 00:07:17.940 align:middle line:84% Just a minute now, Willie G's shrieked 00:07:17.940 --> 00:07:20.580 align:middle line:84% while I'm trying to tell him about Marguerite and squirrel 00:07:20.580 --> 00:07:22.890 align:middle line:84% and how much it means to me to be riding up 00:07:22.890 --> 00:07:26.340 align:middle line:84% to talk over this deal, whatever it was, with my, Ed Jason. 00:07:26.340 --> 00:07:27.600 align:middle line:90% Hold on, Syd. 00:07:27.600 --> 00:07:29.620 align:middle line:84% I got something you just gots to listen to, 00:07:29.620 --> 00:07:32.160 align:middle line:84% if I can just locate the darn tape. 00:07:32.160 --> 00:07:34.410 align:middle line:84% Now here you go feeling and fumbling around the floor 00:07:34.410 --> 00:07:35.520 align:middle line:90% again. 00:07:35.520 --> 00:07:37.290 align:middle line:84% Ain't looking at the road or nothing, 00:07:37.290 --> 00:07:40.230 align:middle line:84% swerving all in and out the lane. 00:07:40.230 --> 00:07:41.730 align:middle line:90% My throat sore from shouting. 00:07:41.730 --> 00:07:43.410 align:middle line:84% My nerves, every single one of them, 00:07:43.410 --> 00:07:46.140 align:middle line:90% then shriveled up and collapsed. 00:07:46.140 --> 00:07:48.083 align:middle line:90% I just flat out give up. 00:07:48.083 --> 00:07:49.500 align:middle line:84% For some reason, don't ask me why, 00:07:49.500 --> 00:07:51.400 align:middle line:84% I got up that morning feeling like, 00:07:51.400 --> 00:07:53.325 align:middle line:84% well, Marguerite she good looking. 00:07:53.325 --> 00:07:55.950 align:middle line:84% And Marguerite is someone he met in a liquor store, 00:07:55.950 --> 00:07:57.120 align:middle line:90% but she's very wealthy. 00:07:57.120 --> 00:08:00.380 align:middle line:84% And one thing has led to another. 00:08:00.380 --> 00:08:02.130 align:middle line:84% Marguerite, she good looking and educated, 00:08:02.130 --> 00:08:04.890 align:middle line:84% and even sensitive when she lightened up on that bourbon. 00:08:04.890 --> 00:08:08.190 align:middle line:84% Plus she consider herself some kind of soul sister 00:08:08.190 --> 00:08:11.550 align:middle line:84% and love to whip on me all at well-aged exquisite what 00:08:11.550 --> 00:08:15.980 align:middle line:84% the late Mr Ian Fleming referred to as pussy galore. 00:08:15.980 --> 00:08:18.060 align:middle line:84% You ever see that picture, Goldfinger? 00:08:18.060 --> 00:08:20.190 align:middle line:84% Yet and still behind all that, I still 00:08:20.190 --> 00:08:21.930 align:middle line:84% find it hard to fill her in on what's 00:08:21.930 --> 00:08:23.430 align:middle line:84% been happening with me all this time 00:08:23.430 --> 00:08:25.290 align:middle line:90% I've been away from my family. 00:08:25.290 --> 00:08:27.930 align:middle line:84% [AUDIO OUT] joker, called herself Black --Buddha. 00:08:27.930 --> 00:08:31.170 align:middle line:84% Jack leg bartender and with a pistol close by at a joint 00:08:31.170 --> 00:08:35.070 align:middle line:84% called Booker's T club up there around Marin City. 00:08:35.070 --> 00:08:37.140 align:middle line:84% Being the janitor for a television station 00:08:37.140 --> 00:08:40.919 align:middle line:84% in San Jose, which combined with being round clubs and bars, 00:08:40.919 --> 00:08:42.960 align:middle line:84% I learned a little something about showbiz. 00:08:42.960 --> 00:08:46.800 align:middle line:84% Not to mention short term gigs such as substitute Mayo can, 00:08:46.800 --> 00:08:49.050 align:middle line:84% short order cooking, and dishwashing 00:08:49.050 --> 00:08:52.020 align:middle line:84% at places like Wing Lee's Ocean Cafe. 00:08:52.020 --> 00:08:54.300 align:middle line:84% Plus, working for people like Sam. 00:08:54.300 --> 00:08:55.800 align:middle line:90% Damn. 00:08:55.800 --> 00:08:57.960 align:middle line:84% That's what make time go by so quick. 00:08:57.960 --> 00:09:00.150 align:middle line:84% Just to tell about that and take more on the book. 00:09:00.150 --> 00:09:02.670 align:middle line:84% And that don't include all the women I got messed up with, 00:09:02.670 --> 00:09:04.710 align:middle line:84% the hassles with people, the drinking too much, 00:09:04.710 --> 00:09:06.660 align:middle line:84% the times I spent throwing the shopping news 00:09:06.660 --> 00:09:09.990 align:middle line:84% and putting junk advertisements up on people's poachers just 00:09:09.990 --> 00:09:12.180 align:middle line:84% to keep up my room rent and wine habit 00:09:12.180 --> 00:09:15.180 align:middle line:84% which, as you might guess, got out of control from time 00:09:15.180 --> 00:09:18.000 align:middle line:84% to time, though it's really a pretty regulated now. 00:09:18.000 --> 00:09:20.730 align:middle line:84% All in times, I was ready to give up, but didn't. 00:09:20.730 --> 00:09:22.823 align:middle line:90% Them evil dons and afternoons. 00:09:22.823 --> 00:09:24.240 align:middle line:84% How are you going to tell somebody 00:09:24.240 --> 00:09:27.360 align:middle line:84% was raised by professors, the shit you've been through? 00:09:27.360 --> 00:09:28.830 align:middle line:90% How are you going to explain it? 00:09:28.830 --> 00:09:30.150 align:middle line:90% On what basis? 00:09:30.150 --> 00:09:31.800 align:middle line:84% Ain't no way they can comprehend it. 00:09:31.800 --> 00:09:33.640 align:middle line:84% Don't care how many library books 00:09:33.640 --> 00:09:38.010 align:middle line:84% they then laid up in and pondered and empathized with. 00:09:38.010 --> 00:09:39.030 align:middle line:90% Willie G. grinning. 00:09:39.030 --> 00:09:42.120 align:middle line:84% And I can see his mouth moving as he jammed another cartridge 00:09:42.120 --> 00:09:43.260 align:middle line:90% in the tape mechanism. 00:09:43.260 --> 00:09:46.740 align:middle line:84% But I can't make out what he's saying to save my life. 00:09:46.740 --> 00:09:48.990 align:middle line:84% What I really need now is for Miss Duchess 00:09:48.990 --> 00:09:49.870 align:middle line:90% to be there with us. 00:09:49.870 --> 00:09:53.100 align:middle line:84% She claims she can read lips when she feels like it. 00:09:53.100 --> 00:09:54.900 align:middle line:84% Luckily, it's a slow tune he put on. 00:09:54.900 --> 00:09:58.050 align:middle line:84% A ballad and got soft violins and stuff in the background 00:09:58.050 --> 00:10:01.200 align:middle line:84% and plays all that car shaking bamity blam boom, 00:10:01.200 --> 00:10:04.080 align:middle line:90% give a deaf mute a headache. 00:10:04.080 --> 00:10:05.160 align:middle line:90% He still play it loud. 00:10:05.160 --> 00:10:08.040 align:middle line:84% But I can kind of hear myself think for a change. 00:10:08.040 --> 00:10:08.910 align:middle line:90% What's this? 00:10:08.910 --> 00:10:09.990 align:middle line:90% Roberta Flack, man. 00:10:09.990 --> 00:10:11.910 align:middle line:90% She sure can't sing, can't she? 00:10:11.910 --> 00:10:14.370 align:middle line:84% Say, Willie, I know it ain't none of my business, 00:10:14.370 --> 00:10:17.710 align:middle line:84% but don't you ever throw nothing away? 00:10:17.710 --> 00:10:19.440 align:middle line:90% Be with you in a second, Sid. 00:10:19.440 --> 00:10:21.060 align:middle line:84% He cut over two lanes to the right 00:10:21.060 --> 00:10:23.880 align:middle line:84% and almost got smashed by a Greyhound bus. 00:10:23.880 --> 00:10:26.910 align:middle line:84% I'm about to lose every bit of my breakfast. 00:10:26.910 --> 00:10:28.380 align:middle line:90% What was that all about? 00:10:28.380 --> 00:10:29.100 align:middle line:90% Sorry, man. 00:10:29.100 --> 00:10:30.808 align:middle line:84% But I had to get out of that lane or else 00:10:30.808 --> 00:10:33.090 align:middle line:84% we'd have ended up way over on Van Ness Avenue. 00:10:33.090 --> 00:10:34.410 align:middle line:90% But that's where I want to go. 00:10:34.410 --> 00:10:36.510 align:middle line:84% The station is not too far from there. 00:10:36.510 --> 00:10:38.100 align:middle line:90% Oh, is that right? 00:10:38.100 --> 00:10:40.445 align:middle line:84% I thought you told me it was downtown. 00:10:40.445 --> 00:10:41.820 align:middle line:84% Well, actually, you can get there 00:10:41.820 --> 00:10:43.110 align:middle line:90% from downtown pretty quick. 00:10:43.110 --> 00:10:45.030 align:middle line:84% At least you got me to San Francisco. 00:10:45.030 --> 00:10:46.080 align:middle line:90% Oh, just relax, Sid. 00:10:46.080 --> 00:10:48.372 align:middle line:84% A few minutes ain't going to make that much difference. 00:10:48.372 --> 00:10:50.640 align:middle line:84% Now what was you saying to me back there? 00:10:50.640 --> 00:10:52.000 align:middle line:90% Oh, it wasn't nothing important. 00:10:52.000 --> 00:10:53.670 align:middle line:90% But would you tell me this. 00:10:53.670 --> 00:10:55.560 align:middle line:84% Well, it's two things I want to know, really. 00:10:55.560 --> 00:10:57.285 align:middle line:84% First off-- what's the significance 00:10:57.285 --> 00:11:01.680 align:middle line:84% of all them neckties you keep in the back seat? 00:11:01.680 --> 00:11:02.550 align:middle line:90% No big thing. 00:11:02.550 --> 00:11:05.880 align:middle line:84% I just like to change ties whenever the mood hits me. 00:11:05.880 --> 00:11:07.770 align:middle line:84% I know it's strange, but that's just me. 00:11:07.770 --> 00:11:09.360 align:middle line:90% I'll be driving someplace. 00:11:09.360 --> 00:11:13.650 align:middle line:84% Suddenly, I pull over and put on a fresh tie. 00:11:13.650 --> 00:11:15.720 align:middle line:90% Spruce up my image. 00:11:15.720 --> 00:11:17.520 align:middle line:90% Ties is it. 00:11:17.520 --> 00:11:19.440 align:middle line:84% I see a broad I want to impress and shoom! 00:11:19.440 --> 00:11:23.670 align:middle line:84% I whip my dark towel and throw on my bright multicolored 00:11:23.670 --> 00:11:25.890 align:middle line:90% can-you-dig-it tie. 00:11:25.890 --> 00:11:28.200 align:middle line:84% You know, it was one time a tie saved my life. 00:11:28.200 --> 00:11:31.290 align:middle line:84% Way back in the '60s when the Watts riot broke out, 00:11:31.290 --> 00:11:34.170 align:middle line:84% I was tooling around down there in LA, looking for a job, 00:11:34.170 --> 00:11:36.960 align:middle line:84% had my sharkskin suit on, beautiful shirt 00:11:36.960 --> 00:11:39.120 align:middle line:84% and this respectable tie, looking like I'm really 00:11:39.120 --> 00:11:40.800 align:middle line:90% together, you see. 00:11:40.800 --> 00:11:42.460 align:middle line:84% I didn't know the riot was going on. 00:11:42.460 --> 00:11:45.000 align:middle line:84% But look like the closer I got toward Watts, 00:11:45.000 --> 00:11:48.120 align:middle line:84% I started noticing how hostile the Negros on the streets 00:11:48.120 --> 00:11:50.280 align:middle line:84% is looking at me at them stoplights. 00:11:50.280 --> 00:11:53.425 align:middle line:84% So finally, I pulled into a Texaco station, black owned, 00:11:53.425 --> 00:11:53.925 align:middle line:90% you know. 00:11:53.925 --> 00:11:55.770 align:middle line:84% And while I'm getting a fill up, I 00:11:55.770 --> 00:11:57.780 align:middle line:84% asked the dude, how come people acting 00:11:57.780 --> 00:11:59.460 align:middle line:90% so funny when they see me? 00:11:59.460 --> 00:12:00.570 align:middle line:90% They say, oh, that's easy. 00:12:00.570 --> 00:12:02.430 align:middle line:84% You must ain't heard about the riots yet. 00:12:02.430 --> 00:12:04.597 align:middle line:84% These kids probably think you with the establishment 00:12:04.597 --> 00:12:07.290 align:middle line:84% because you are dressed rather clean and bougie, 00:12:07.290 --> 00:12:09.390 align:middle line:90% if you don't mind my saying so. 00:12:09.390 --> 00:12:10.920 align:middle line:90% That's all I need to hear, Sid. 00:12:10.920 --> 00:12:14.640 align:middle line:84% Shoot, I took my jacket off, my shoes, unbuttoned my shirt 00:12:14.640 --> 00:12:16.290 align:middle line:84% and let it hang over to my navel, 00:12:16.290 --> 00:12:19.500 align:middle line:84% found some old plastic thongs in the back of the shop, 00:12:19.500 --> 00:12:22.260 align:middle line:84% put them on, comb my hair all every which 00:12:22.260 --> 00:12:24.990 align:middle line:84% way until it looked all nappy and messed up, 00:12:24.990 --> 00:12:27.540 align:middle line:84% took the purplest tie I could find and wounded round 00:12:27.540 --> 00:12:28.890 align:middle line:90% and round my forehead. 00:12:28.890 --> 00:12:31.770 align:middle line:84% Shoot, after that, I drove clean through Watts. 00:12:31.770 --> 00:12:34.410 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:12:34.410 --> 00:12:37.230 align:middle line:84% Fast flaming buildings, fire trucks, 00:12:37.230 --> 00:12:39.330 align:middle line:84% people busting windows to get them a leather coat. 00:12:39.330 --> 00:12:41.670 align:middle line:84% And not one of them clowns ever even looked at me 00:12:41.670 --> 00:12:44.730 align:middle line:84% except to flash me the victory sign or something. 00:12:44.730 --> 00:12:46.320 align:middle line:90% Yeah. 00:12:46.320 --> 00:12:48.840 align:middle line:84% I couldn't really see the main point of Willie G's story. 00:12:48.840 --> 00:12:50.850 align:middle line:90% But that didn't matter neither. 00:12:50.850 --> 00:12:54.740 align:middle line:84% I went on anyway and popped number two on him. 00:12:54.740 --> 00:13:00.060 align:middle line:84% What's them damn technicolor drawers doing back there? 00:13:00.060 --> 00:13:01.620 align:middle line:90% We rolling off the freeway now. 00:13:01.620 --> 00:13:03.030 align:middle line:90% And Willie really cracking up. 00:13:03.030 --> 00:13:06.060 align:middle line:84% He laugh and snort and bang on the dashboard until his tears 00:13:06.060 --> 00:13:08.130 align:middle line:84% seeping out the corners of his eyes. 00:13:08.130 --> 00:13:12.330 align:middle line:84% I'm still wishing he would look at where he's going some. 00:13:12.330 --> 00:13:14.730 align:middle line:84% Roberta Flack singing about how she tastes just 00:13:14.730 --> 00:13:17.400 align:middle line:84% like a woman and a light rain starting to come down. 00:13:17.400 --> 00:13:20.010 align:middle line:84% I sort of laugh a little myself just to keep Willie company. 00:13:20.010 --> 00:13:21.510 align:middle line:84% But I'm still waiting on his butt 00:13:21.510 --> 00:13:24.340 align:middle line:84% to straighten up and answer my question. 00:13:24.340 --> 00:13:26.160 align:middle line:90% Woe, me, say [INAUDIBLE]. 00:13:26.160 --> 00:13:28.050 align:middle line:90% You sure nosy dude, ain't you? 00:13:28.050 --> 00:13:30.867 align:middle line:84% What's so funny is I ain't sure myself whose drawers they is. 00:13:30.867 --> 00:13:33.450 align:middle line:84% But I think they belong to this little girl I picked up, works 00:13:33.450 --> 00:13:35.700 align:middle line:90% at the ANW over in Cupertino. 00:13:35.700 --> 00:13:37.920 align:middle line:84% I took it to the drive in to see this vampire flick. 00:13:37.920 --> 00:13:39.840 align:middle line:84% And it hadn't been on 15 minutes before she 00:13:39.840 --> 00:13:41.550 align:middle line:90% comes snuggling up next to me. 00:13:41.550 --> 00:13:43.230 align:middle line:90% You know what she say? 00:13:43.230 --> 00:13:44.790 align:middle line:90% No, what she said, Willie? 00:13:44.790 --> 00:13:46.860 align:middle line:90% She say, he cracked me up. 00:13:46.860 --> 00:13:50.190 align:middle line:84% She'd say, oh, man, this is too freaky and scary for me. 00:13:50.190 --> 00:13:52.740 align:middle line:84% I haven't been this grossed out since The Exorcist. 00:13:52.740 --> 00:13:56.008 align:middle line:84% Then she leaned back, reach down, and slide her trous off. 00:13:56.008 --> 00:13:58.300 align:middle line:84% I thought at the time that she stuffed them in a purse. 00:13:58.300 --> 00:13:59.932 align:middle line:84% But, well, whosoever they belong to, 00:13:59.932 --> 00:14:01.390 align:middle line:84% I left them back there where people 00:14:01.390 --> 00:14:02.320 align:middle line:90% could get a look at them. 00:14:02.320 --> 00:14:04.403 align:middle line:84% They really are a conversation piece, aren't they? 00:14:04.403 --> 00:14:07.350 align:middle line:90% 00:14:07.350 --> 00:14:10.170 align:middle line:84% He go to having another laughing fit and keep it up 00:14:10.170 --> 00:14:13.170 align:middle line:84% till we pull up in front of the KRZY Studios. 00:14:13.170 --> 00:14:16.350 align:middle line:84% I keep on forgetting how crazy Willy G really is. 00:14:16.350 --> 00:14:17.460 align:middle line:90% Here you go, Sid. 00:14:17.460 --> 00:14:18.600 align:middle line:90% Hope you get back OK. 00:14:18.600 --> 00:14:21.060 align:middle line:84% I'm running over here to check on the security guard job. 00:14:21.060 --> 00:14:23.190 align:middle line:84% But I won't be heading back for a good day or two. 00:14:23.190 --> 00:14:25.320 align:middle line:84% As this chicks stay over there in Twin Peaks, 00:14:25.320 --> 00:14:27.120 align:middle line:84% I used to fix cars for her mother. 00:14:27.120 --> 00:14:29.190 align:middle line:90% Watch your step coming out now. 00:14:29.190 --> 00:14:31.680 align:middle line:84% I kick some calcified French fries 00:14:31.680 --> 00:14:35.280 align:middle line:84% and well gnawed barbecue, spare rib bones out the way, 00:14:35.280 --> 00:14:36.990 align:middle line:84% and open the door and take a deep breath 00:14:36.990 --> 00:14:40.140 align:middle line:90% before I make the big leap. 00:14:40.140 --> 00:14:43.432 align:middle line:84% Hey, Willy G come shouting at me as he pulling off, telling 00:14:43.432 --> 00:14:44.640 align:middle line:90% people you got a good friend. 00:14:44.640 --> 00:14:47.370 align:middle line:84% I wouldn't mind being on the radio too, yeah? 00:14:47.370 --> 00:14:49.350 align:middle line:84% Two old ladies hobbling down the sidewalk, 00:14:49.350 --> 00:14:51.850 align:middle line:84% leaning up against one another, stop and turn around 00:14:51.850 --> 00:14:54.390 align:middle line:84% and look at him like he got to be tripped out. 00:14:54.390 --> 00:14:58.320 align:middle line:84% I'm cool and pretend like I don't even know the fool. 00:14:58.320 --> 00:15:00.600 align:middle line:84% If it hadn't been for me concentrating 00:15:00.600 --> 00:15:02.880 align:middle line:84% on circling that damn car with white light 00:15:02.880 --> 00:15:05.310 align:middle line:84% before getting in it, I might not be here today 00:15:05.310 --> 00:15:07.050 align:middle line:90% to tell you all this. 00:15:07.050 --> 00:15:08.638 align:middle line:90% Thank you. 00:15:08.638 --> 00:15:12.096 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE] 00:15:12.096 --> 00:15:28.930 align:middle line:90% 00:15:28.930 --> 00:15:30.707 align:middle line:90% Should I mention tomorrow? 00:15:30.707 --> 00:15:31.900 align:middle line:90% [INAUDIBLE] please. 00:15:31.900 --> 00:15:32.980 align:middle line:90% OK, I'll be 00:15:32.980 --> 00:15:37.000 align:middle line:84% He'll be in the junior ballroom at 11 o'clock. 00:15:37.000 --> 00:15:38.770 align:middle line:90% Junior ball room, 11 o'clock. 00:15:38.770 --> 00:15:41.800 align:middle line:90% And it's open to everyone. 00:15:41.800 --> 00:15:45.178 align:middle line:84% And I'll be over at Black Studies in the afternoon. 00:15:45.178 --> 00:15:46.720 align:middle line:84% Yeah, well, that's the Black Studies. 00:15:46.720 --> 00:15:47.590 align:middle line:90% Oh, that's the Black Studies. 00:15:47.590 --> 00:15:48.640 align:middle line:90% What's the other one? 00:15:48.640 --> 00:15:49.450 align:middle line:90% That's Friday. 00:15:49.450 --> 00:15:50.020 align:middle line:90% Oh, OK. 00:15:50.020 --> 00:15:51.040 align:middle line:90% That has no bearing. 00:15:51.040 --> 00:15:51.610 align:middle line:90% OK. 00:15:51.610 --> 00:15:53.080 align:middle line:90% Listen to her, not me. 00:15:53.080 --> 00:15:54.370 align:middle line:90% Thank you again. 00:15:54.370 --> 00:15:57.720 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE] 00:15:57.720 --> 00:16:08.000 align:middle line:90%