Where angels fear to fly

Present: Jim, Will, Edgar, Mary, Ian & Regina, Bill & Lynne, Bobb & Barbara, Steve & Jeanette, Sue, Bob, Ray and - after most had gone home - Gloria.

Sadly, we were without the wonderful Javier to keep us in order tonight - and were informed that he will be gone for as long as two months, on a trip home to Mexico. This was nothing short of a minor disaster, as he does so much to keep the rattling train on the rails on a Monday night. But his replacement, the balding Juan, rose to the occasion in a way that suggests we might actually get through the next month or two without tearing our hair out in frustration.
Just as the celebrations for Ian's recent birthday went on far beyond the day itself, so last night we had the beginning of what promise to be a lengthy launch of Jim's eagerly awaited definitive account of Angel's Flight - the first book of his in some years where the title has not contained an obscenity. Official publication date is August 11, and a major promotion is planned downtown for September 12. After that, any visitor to LA who cannot produce a SoCal gas bill will have to buy one. So I hear. Anyway, it's a masterly volume that will be essential reading for anyone pretending to know anything about the history of LA.
It was a busy, buzzy evening, with far more discussion threads than I could keep up with, from the plight of West Virginia miners at one end of the table to the iniquities of Altadena Town Council at the other - it's their loss, Steve, but I think you've reached that conclusion already.
Sue Dadd made one of her all-too-rare appearances. She and Steve had what he described as "a lovely discussion" on Louis B. Easton and a restoration she and James did to one of his very significant homes, and how since his methods of construction were unique, the restoration required significant flexibility of thought. They also spoke at length about a commission she is consulting on, to restore the ceilings at the Arizona Biltmore.
Barbara's pack of Pentel retractable pencils caused a small but significant flurry, for the simple reason that the lead, once exposed, in all cases refused to retract, like toothpaste coming out of a tube and other similes of a similar nature. Several of us tried, We all failed. I would hate to be the person in Pentel's customer service department who takes Barbara's call.
But even the non-retractable pencils were but a fleabite compared to the main topic of the evening: Ian's underpants. To general consternation, Regina revealed that they must be Calvin Klein, and must be bought from Macy's - or better, presumably, but it is a sad comment on the state of Pasadena retailing that that is about as good as it gets these days.
Counter-suggestions of going to Target or JC Penney, from Lynne and Bobb respectively, were dismissed with a regal wave of Regina's hand, while also telling the world where that pair go shopping. At least no one admitted to patronizing the 99cents or Out of the Closet (yuk!) underwear departments. Don't get ideas, you two.
But have we stumbled on the secret of Ian's musical success - a money-no-object attitude to girding his nether regions? Does he, like the girl in the ad, feel like a million dollars when he goes on stage with Ck emblazoned on his bum, or elsewhere?
And no one thought to ask the zillion-dollar question: boxers or Y-fronts? Maybe I ought to hang around the men's changing rooms at Caltech, purely in the interests of objective reporting, naturally.
While Ian's tackle is not in doubt, some weird cross-gender revelations came out of a little test Lynne had plucked from the LA Times: what words do we see in BE_A_E and LO_AL? The Times was adamant that men saw BECAME and LOCAL, while women saw BEWARE and LOYAL. You can't do much more with LO_AL other than LORAL (pertaining to lore, knowledge, learning, etc, in case you are wondering). But Regina and Barbara also saw BEHAVE as well as the other two permutations in the first word, and Bobb picked out LOYAL. Another fine mess courtesy of the Times.
Such weighty issues put into their proper context subsequent discussion about the impact of education on democracy, whether we have a democracy at all, gun laws, thuggery in Altadena and the length of time Ray had to wait to get a plane back from England (or was it to England?0 Either way, he played to the usual crowd of 70,000 in Nottinghamshire, presumably the same 70,000 as hung on his every note last year. And I bet he doesn't wear Calvin Klein underpants.

CAUGHT ON THE BREEZE
Have you had a haircut? No I just combed it, that's all
You're fired from the human race - give me that gun
I can read the back of Barbara's t-shirt without embarrassment
What is a Texan doing getting sunburnt?
That Pasadena Star News reporter is such an asshole
He doesn't usually slap himself
Oh, Regina's here! I haven't seen her all night
I have to say that Bush is quite good-looking - and, besides, who was the last ugly President?
They won't pay me, so I may as well write a letter