Alice The Wonder Bus ~ Henry Lipkis ~ (310) 570-3895 ~ 135th St. ~ Gardena

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Kid’s Castle Child Care Center ~ 745 N. La Brea Ave. ~ Inglewood

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JULY 22, 23, 24 AT ROY & EDNA DISNEY CAL ARTS THEATER

Los Angeles – Killsonic, a 30-piece musician’s collective, will be performing a 35-minute scene from their original opera Tongues Bloody Tongues as part of the New Original Works festival on July 22, 23 and 24 at REDCAT, a contemporary performance space that is part of the Disney Concert Hall in downtown Los Angeles.

The three performances will take place at 8:30 pm on Thursday, July 22nd; Friday, July 23rd and Saturday, July 24th at the Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater in downtown Los Angeles. 631 West 2nd St Los Angeles, CA 90012. Admission: $14.

www.tonguesbloodytongues.com |   www.killsonic.org

For more information, please contact killsonicband@gmail.com

East Branch Library ~ 3680 Atlantic Ave. ~ Long Beach ~ CA

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Equator Books ~ Venice

“There’s a boy who fogs his world and now he’s getting lazy
There’s no motivation and frustration makes him crazy
He makes a plan to take a stand but always ends up sitting.
Someone help him up or he’s gonna end up quitting.” ~ Green Day

CORAZON DEL PUEBLO presents…
Flowers of Fire: Poesia de Lucha y Amor

Join Boyle Heights Bards:
BUS STOP PROPHET, KRISTY LOVICH & JOHN CARLOS DE LUNA
for a FREE Bi-Monthly Poetry, Performance, & Open Mic Event

January 13th
8:00pm-Midnight
Early Sign-Ups for Open Mic: 7:30pm-8:00pm

@ Corazon del Pueblo
2003 E. 1st St.
Los Angeles 90033

JANUARY 13th
Featured Poets:
Matt Sedillo
John Carlos de Luna
Luluminous

Featured Musician:
Calix Reneau

JANUARY 27th
Featured Poets:
Abel Salas
Christy Ramirez
Dora Magaña

Featured Musicians:
City Terrace’s own Original Rock Sons
I.A.M.U.
Willie Herron lll (Los Illegals)
Sid Medina (The Brat)

FLOWERS OF FIRE scheduled for January 13th & 27th
EVERY 2ND & 4TH WEDNESDAY OF THE MONTH @ CORAZON DEL PUEBLO

Pico Blvd. & Highland Ave. ~ Mid City

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www.skylightbooks.com

www.myspace.com/milomartin

www.mrshobbs.com

Jim Marquez. Photo by Rick Mendoza.

WAITING

by Jim Marquez

The silence of it all is the thing that first gets you. So fucking quiet at 2:37am on a Thursday or Friday or Saturday morning in Downtown Los Angeles.

The men wait at a corner, huddled in twos and threes and fours, the truly adventurous man waits alone. Dressed in white T-shirts with oil-stains, jeans, and trucking caps. Some are drunk, red eyes glisten under dull street lights; they waver in place, trying to remain upright, while others are wide awake, jittery, hands shoved in pockets, rocking back and forth on their heels, taking quick glances at their buddies, wordlessly asking each other in Spanish if they should leave or make their move.

It’s cold out this night, unusual for this time of year, but that does not deter them; they gather here on this corner and wait for the taxi dancers to come streaming out of their place of business on this and every other night and I know this because I’m the only drunk that bothers to look at them rather than push past as the amateurs do when they stumble out of a bar in their own groups of 17-30 deep, sloppy and loud and obnoxious, catching the ears of all the pigs that increasingly patrol the downtown streets now.

I’ve been to whorehouses and strip clubs and swingers clubs all over the world, but, I have never seen the inside of a taxi hall. Talk about old school. Buy tickets, pick a girl, actually slow dance, be close, pretend you’ve taken her out on a real, old fashioned date, then, if the friction is right, or not, retire to a back sofa, in the dark, and hope for a hand job or, for the truly adventurous woman, a blow job.

So I’ve been told.

But after is when the real money is made. When the real action takes place. And it’s all for the asking, apparently.

The women gather under the awning of their building. Wrapped in bad coats, holding big purses, teetering in cheap platform sandals, whispering in Spanish to each other about this guy or that guy that is standing across from them on the sidewalk. They don’t smile. They don’t wave or encourage. But they do await the first moves.

Christ, it’s like being at a junior high school dance.

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Bertrand Smith’s Acres of Books ~ 240 Long Beach Blvd. ~ Long Beach

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