Had a great Fourth of July. Movie-date with "A" went very well. We saw this new Native American film "Smoke Signals," (preview she liked: "Passion In The Desert") and then had bowls of the famous red pepper soup at 'Fresco'. In Shoreline Park we were eventually treated to fireworks (with some interesting designs and new purple and magenta colors). She has two cats and chews gum, although very discretely.

In the hardware store today I observed a jolly man playing with his purchase. He had a lot of salt-n-pepper hair and was wearing a purple shirt. He was buying a mesh strainer, a big, silvery one about the size of a baseball cap, idea which he had too, standing in an aisle at the checkout near to my own. So he put it on and was wearing the thing, tapered black handle protruding directly from the center of his forehead, all the while chuckling with his companions. He "wore it out", as one does with a new pair of shoes. This was one of those public situations where you'd like to laugh, but people would hear, turn & look in your direction, (maybe even the guy with the strainer on his head) so instead you stifle.

I was holding out, waiting for "Mothermania" to appear on CD, but it hasn't happened yet and probably won't - the Zappa digital canon is now established on Rykodisc. This LP was a condensation of the first three albums by the Mothers of Invention. Last year I got "We're Only In It For The Money" on CD, the third if those three. I remember Ronnie Oshima had a copy of the first, "Freak Out", with its luridly tinted cover, at Camp Hull Springs in the summer of '67. All we ever played from the 2-record-set was "Suzie Creamcheese" and I've never had a copy myself but I do like its song "Who Are The Brain Police?". Yesterday at Big Al's I got the second of those three records, "Absolutely Free". From its liner notes:

SEND money
as much as you can get	$ 1 MINIMUM
ALL THE WORDS ON THIS RECORD...EVEN THE LITTLE SNEAKY ONES! MERELY SEND MONEY...AS MUCH AS YOU CAN...HOW YOU GET IT WE COULD CARE LESS (make sure it's at least $1.00) FOR YOUR VERY OWN LIBRETTO. A FEW FREAK MAPS ARE STILL AVAILABLE...SAME DEAL. DUMP MONEY INTO A SHOE BOX & TIE SECURELY. SHIP IMMEDIATELY TO: PO BOX 36399 Los Angeles, Calif. 90036 THE MOTHERS' IDEA FUND BE SURE TO SPECIFY LIBRETTO OR FREAK MAP... if you don't we will probably send you a brown paper bag or something equally psychedelic...NO C.O.D.'s

...and also the slogan:

KILL
UGLY
RADIO

Pedaled into the setting sun, up el Camino to Tower Records, then back through the evening twilight. I wanted to get something by Man Or Astro-Man, of the four CDs available there I chose "Your Weight On The Moon". They're a non-vocal Cramps-style, intermixed with vintage science-fictioney vocal snippets kinda like KROQ at its best. Laika & the Kosmonauts are less frantic, but more surfy - waves are important.