Hitchin' with Einstein

Well, this dates back to the strawberry patch girl and beyond. I can't recall the year, maybe '83. My sister, Sissy roonie, gave me a poster of Al, and the caption/quote of his was "Great Spirits Often Encounter Violent Opposition From Mediocre Minds". That holds true to this day. Say something about illegal immigrants or elitist politicians and you'll have some white boy with dread locks talking about the harsh realities of urban life while strapped to a tree reeking of cologne (regrettably not German), with his cell phone ringing. Oh yeah, his beautician is standing close by. His parents bought those "dreads" for him.

Well, it was Sun. the 19th of Apr. '87. The weekend had been crazy. Dale and I drove down to Irvine (whiteyville amidst browntown). We saw two acid freak outs and the death of a nation.
That was when the Touch of Grey crowd lent a hint of blackness. After the Sat show all cars had to leave the lot and reenter if you had tickets. I had my Sunday tic and it was a great show. Then time to head north.

We hit the 5 and headed north. Maybe 15 miles later something happened. I pulled my '72 Olds 98 onto the off ramp. It was dead. I told Dale to get behind the wheel. To this day I don't know how, but I pushed this boat UP an off ramp and across an intersection, into a cul de sac. A peaceful place to sleep. The next a.m. there was a tap tap tap. I knew who it was. Dale was sleeping in the front seat.
"Paul, its the cops".
The covers went over my head. I knew they weren't going anywhere, but don't give up hope. These Irvine pigs did everything they could do to mess with us. They sat us on the curb and searched the car inside and out.
"Do you have any drugs?" they asked.
No man.
One hopped out and said "I thought you said you had no drugs?"
I looked at Dale, "You been holding out on me?!"
HE hadn't. The pigs were just hoping for an "Oh yeah...."

"Well, you got to go."
"Everything I own is in this car."
"24 hours".
We took a walk to a garage. Tow it please! Just give me time to
recover my worldly possessions. We took a walk back to my car.
Dale and I grabbed what we could. Some of my clothes, a steal your
face sticker, and the aforementioned Einstein poster.

At an on ramp in OC we stood for a while. The Einstein poster now had a peel away Steal Your Face sticker on his fore head. The first ride was bitchin ' van.
TV's and microwaves. In '87 that was wild. He dropped us off in downtown LA.
I mean, skid row. Los Angeles and 5th. It was alright, but would have been better
if we were trippin. Around the block was where the Manson girls held vigil. We still had
some where to get to but no reason.

We got back to the valley and there we were. He had a home and I didn't. It didn't bother me. I don't even recall where I slept that night. Probably at his moms house, and then back under the eucalyptus tree. There I stood with what little I owned. All that We could carry. Within a month I would have even less. Stay tuned.