or the sky begins in Venice–there’s so much smoke downwind from Malibu. The horizon looks like a huge gray minimalist canvas. The Southland is ablaze again– as expected after a winter of no rain. The devastation is on a catastrophic level. I can’t understand the sick pleasure that motivates pyromaniacs. Like pervs & murderers, they are beyond my comprehension!!! 1 arsonist was already shot & killed & more remain at large!!! Some years ago, several major fires here were set by an arsonist who had been a firefighter!!!

Amazingly, Pavarotti died with massive debt– around $25,000,000, they say. Assets,pls?

The Santa Ana devil winds were blowing in the nite. No rain last winter–never rain in the summer–the parched chaparral in the hills along PCH is tinder.

1. WOW–the bombing & riots in Pakistan! Benazir Bhutto has real guts-you know her father & brother were assassinated. A big majority supports this WOMAN & her pro-Western, anti-terrorist views!!!!

2. A RECENT TEST AT LAX: 75% of the screeners involved PASSED DECOYS thru security–carrying faux bomb-making materials. THIS DOESN’T SHOCK ME !!!!

3.Went to the great Paul Smith store on Melrose (down the street from TOMMY PERSE’S notable emporium!) where talented Bryan Rabin transformed the parking lot into a deluxe tree-lined screening room. We couldn’t resist shopping. JL picked a beautiful velvet jacket & I got this giant green plastic cactus, an art piece created forGufram from 1971 (I had been dreaming of it for years & about a blue Yves Klein, too). I love the delicious Paul Smith Rose scent–my new fave.
The movie was the outrageous Brit cult fick, Withnail & I, (1987). I had never seen it, but heard about the legendary performance of Richard E. Grant. It was really something & so was Bruce Robinson’s terrific work as writer & director. Many thanks, Paul Smith!

took my car for a spin on Sat. There was almost no traffic on the winding mountain road.The day was perfect for me: 66 degrees, dull blue sky w/ patches of storm clouds. Sealed in the tiny cockpit-like cabin w/ the incredible Mark Levinson sound system blaring the late, great Luciano Pavarotti was, ah, sublime.

…this country.
Our once great nation has sunk to unprecedented lows. Under the “guidance” of Geo. W : we have a tanking $; upcoming space missions will be ON A RUSSIAN SPACECRAFT (we can’t afford our own: we are at war, remember); & a television character–Hannah Montana–played by Miley Cyrus, (cute young daughter of King of the Mullet, achy-breaky Billy Ray Cyrus) is the nation’s top concert draw. GET REAL.

Carol Anne Gotbaum, 45, is the woman who died at the Phoenix airport–after being detained by authorities. She was on her way to rehab for alcohol abuse. When they approached her, she screamed: “I am not a terrorist!” She was eventually left alone in a holding room, cuffed from behind and shackled to a table. Next thing you know she was dead….WHAT HAPPENED HERE??