A city of Contrast. A center of entertainment. A center of music. A center of cool trendy things and wealth? The city with the highest homeless population in the United States of America.
A little more information
The two main activities in my life: Helping the hungry in the late hours of the night and helping guitar players sound better one amp at a time.
I always try to remember that in order to do good one has to take action and actually do something.
I was born and raised in Los Angeles. I have watched the city and Southern California change for well over half a century.
As of late 2019 the music related links and prints noted on this page which had their links to by GAB (Guitar Amplifier Blueprinting) website are no longer accessible. I grew weary of updating my GAB website and let it go away. You can contact me on Facebook. Saunders Stewart Models continues full operation but we are not accepting new clients without a referral.
Los Angeles Architectural History
1935 Art Deco at some of its finest: No. 168 - Griffith Observatory- (click on the photo for information)
Last week I received my seventh paramedic call slip for the year. Not too bad considering the crime in the area I walk many evenings each week.
Four of the seven days of last week's crimes are shown in the above map. There will be one more violent crime to the list released next week. Thankfully that particular crime was interrupted and things ended up better than they might have.
This morning I went to Smart and Final to pick up a few items. They are close to my home.
Over the last few months I had been looking at the expiration dates on items in the Smart and Final refrigerated items. Milk, butter, orange juice and yogurt (Yoplait). Their dates seemed much more narrow in date scope than the same items from Ralphs, Vons or Target.
We keep hearing that we are in a recession rather than a depression.
We are a nation of no direction.
The above chart shows that financially our nation has been in the same place for the last six months. This chart is not the Dow, NASDAQ or S&P. It is a mix of stocks, bonds, mutual funds and a cross section of our economy. What is not shown on the chart is the rise on unemployment, rise in home forclosures, the increased number of people on the street. Union Rescue Mission is the oldest and largest mission in Los Angeles and the largest in the nation. In the last year their services have risen over 40% while their donations have fallen over 20%. The vertical scale on this chart spans such a small range that it is insignificant. We have not moved. The only reason we have not come crashing downward as a nation is that for every event reported which is bad news our Government can reply in moments with an explanation or proposed plan to limit the possible effects of the bad news.
Last month I turned to my friends and asked them for help to make Thanksgiving dinners for many of the homeless of Los Angeles possible.
Below is the November 2010 end of the month update from Andy Bales of Union Rescue Mission.
Many of you who are reading this helped make these Thanksgiving dinners possible. Thousands of dinners were served on two days. Just under 7,000 meals were served on the Saturday before Thanksgiving day and on Thanksgiving day itself. 4,500 meals were served on the Saturday Thanksgiving event which was quite amazing considering it was raining and the event which was set up outside on the street had to be moved inside at the last moment.
I would like to take a moment to thank my friends and my friends in the music industry who donated money to Union Rescue Mission and who passed on the word and asked their friends to help. We raised close to 1,500 meals for people that do not have much to give thanks for and would not have had a meal of this kind.
We now have Christmas on the horizon. I am asking for help again.
This is from Union Rescue Mission: As for Christmas, we are serving Christmas Day meals (on the 25th) and hosting our annual Christmas Store on Dec. 16th and 17th. You may want to let your readers know that Christmas Day is already booked with volunteers, meaning we have all the help needed for that day.
Comment on the above from URM from me - they are saying they have volunteer help in the form of people. Please do not confuse this with thinking they do not need financial help and donations which are critically needed.
The economy continues to take a toll. Compared to just one year ago the services at http://www.urm.org/ have increased by over 40% while their donations have dropped over 20%. Things are critical to say the least and the end of the year is going to be very difficult.
If you have been watching the news you know that in this month of December unemployment benefits will be cut off for more than 2 million more Americans. Just one more wrench tossed into the machine of an already difficult holiday season for so many.
My thanks to the volunteers and staff at Union Rescue Mission. It is an honor to be associated with you people. Looking at the 450,000 people in California alone who will lose their unemployment benefits this month; either by having them expire or have them cut off before the 99 week period due to our government ending them prematurely, it looks like Union Rescue Mission may be a lifeboat to an even larger population.
I am reaching out to my friends, to my associates in the music industry and to others that would like to help those less fortunate during this holiday season once again.
This year, more people than ever before in our nation's history are facing a difficult holiday season.
The economy continues to take a toll on the population. I personally see the numbers of homeless increase month after month on the streets of Los Angeles.
Homeless is not a label which is reserved for people who have mental problems, drug or alcohol problems or have personality disorders. There are people on the streets like you and me. People who were a productive part of society who have lost their jobs due to the economy. People who have lost their homes. People who have made a transition from a home to a car to the street.
Union Rescue Mission is the oldest and largest of the Los Angeles missions. They are highly organized, very efficient and have a track record of long term recovery that goes back over 100 years. The stretch a dollar farther than anybody I have seen stretch a dollar. URM provides a full meal for about $1.84.
I am asking my friends for help once again.
There are a number of ways you can help. The bullet points below hit the high points. Further down in this piece there are additional details.
You may contribute in ANY amount. Even a few dollars helps. $10 will feed five people.
All contributions are 100% tax deductible
All credit cards are accepted on a secure site. Paypal is also an accepted form of payment.
You may donate $10 (feed a family of five people) via a text message from your cell phone. To donate $10 to Union Rescue Mission, text the letters URM to 85944. You will receive a confirmation text message. Reply with the word YES to complete the transaction. Takes seconds to make huge impact on somebodies life.
Do you have a few dollars in your paypal account that is not enough for your next desired purchase? Even a few dollars helps. Many of you have spare change sitting in your paypal account. That $8.43 that may not enough to buy a book off Amazon or a cool effects pedal off of Ebay. On the URM page you can donate in any amount and they will put it together with other donations to provide a holiday meal that will make a difference in a life.
There are many additional ways to help those in need who are served by the folks at Union Rescue Mission.
In reference to unemployment benefits running out for so many more people today AND the fact that the cold weather is upon us:
The Union Rescue Mission Winter Shelters open tomorrow. www.urm.org receives funding to run four winter shelters throughout the area in West Los Angeles, Glendale, Culver City and at URM. In essence URM gets paid for a certain number of cots per location and we receive a certain number of hotel vouchers for families. They serve many more more people than they get paid for. Winter dives up their meals and shelter per night number up dramatically.
This is from Union Rescue Mission: As for Christmas, we are serving Christmas Day meals (on the 25th) and hosting our annual Christmas Store on Dec. 16th and 17th. You may want to let your readers know that Christmas Day is already booked with volunteers, meaning we have all the help needed for that day.
Comment on the above from URM from me - they are saying they have volunteer help in the form of people. Please do not confuse this with thinking they do not need financial help and donations which are critically needed.
Below are a few of my cell phone shots of the Thanksgiving dinners at Union Rescue Mission. Nicer shots are available at www.flickr.com/urmmedia that show more of the events. Once again, thank you to so many of you reading this for your help in donating close to 1,500 dinners for these events.
Myles Rose is the founder of Guitar Amplifier Blueprinting which provides support services and training for touring bands and individuals as well as blueprinting services. You may contact me from the link. My direct contact information is provided as well as links to two of the Internet forums where I answer technical questions. You may also ask questions in any post in this blog by using the comment application on each post.
When I am not doing something related to music I do what I can to support the homeless of Los Angeles either directly on the streets at night or through my good friends at Union Rescue Mission.
It is Sunday evening after Thanksgiving Thursday 2010.
I spent the day with my boys.
As I was driving home a song came on the radio on a country station. I have one country station preset and three rock station presets that range from classic rock to today's rock.
The song was "All I want for Christmas is you" came on the air. It was being sung by a country singer who did a good job but could not hold a candle to the original artist, Mariah Carey.
When I arrived home I turned on my PC.
I was in luck. My Uverse was operational which has not been the case much in the last week.
I looked up the song by Mariah Carey. There were many versions from the past years.
I found one version that caught my attention which I posted to facebook.
My comment on the post was: For the holiday season. A bit old, a bit dated, grainy video. But a great crossover of so many music periods from the Phil Spector's wall of sound days, backup harmonies of the sixties that set standards used today, video style of the sixties, a great voice, a great piece of writing from Mariah that has been covered by so many other folks today.
The production and video reminded me of TV shows of the era; Whisky a-go-go, 9th Street West, Lloyd Thanxton, Shindig! and other music shows decades before MTV was even a dream.
Comments started to be written to my facebook wall. I commented back to some of the comments: When I was 17 I had a girlfriend, Kathleen B. Henn who was a dancer on Whisky-a-go-go and Shindig TV shows. She later became a stewardess for Eastern Air Lines and told me their motto was ... "when the birds won't fly Eastern will". She lived on Calneva in Encino. If anybody knows where she is let me know as she was very cool and I would bet she would still be cool today.
I thought back on what I had done in my life to this point and was somewhat amazed I made it this far.
I have often remarked that photographs are for people who can not remember things in their life. Photographs are nice to share with others though. I have been taking photographs since I was about 13 years old. I rhought of the photos I had in storage where my boys live. Many of them going back to about Junior High School. Most folks reading this might not even know what I am talking about when I say Junior High School.
The sixties and all that come to the minds of many when they think about this era. I was in the middle of it all.
Over my life I have been asked; "if you could pick when you were born what would be your choice?" My reply has never changed. I would want to be born when I was born.
Psycedelics, concerts, The Fillmore, Haight-Ashbury, The Cheetah, Sunset Strip, driving my 1957 MGA on Sunset Blvd from the sea to the end of the strip, Vietnam was probably the only downside to the era.
The Shangri La's who were a part of my life prior to the British Invasion. I posted a video set of them and wrote this to my boys as I shared the link with them on facebook: To my two boys - go into your mom's cabinet where my photos are and look at the pictures of my car with the girl checking the oil, on the roof, under the car and in the trunk and then look at the lead singer in these videos.
I posted a video link to the Ronettes with a comment: Check out the backup dancers. Things have come further with dance than they have even progressed with audio and video advances :-)
I look back on the path I walked to get where I stand today. My most recent status update on facebook prior to writing this blog entry was: I heard a song on the radio when I was driving home which made me look up the original song on youtube. Looking at some of those videos I recalled the past and wondered how I ever made it to my current age and makes me realize that if I died tonight, as one song lyric from the past says ... " long time comin' " and I would not think I left all that much uncovered or not experienced.
In the Mariah video some of the things I like:
1 - the backup singers and their harmony arrangement
2 - Mariah's mini-dress being even shorter than the dresses on the dancers
3 - Recalling how Carol Norman in High School used to be sent home at least once a week for her mini-shirt being too short.
Myles Rose is the founder of Guitar Amplifier Blueprinting which provides support services and training for touring bands and individuals as well as blueprinting services. You may contact me from the link. My direct contact information is provided as well as links to two of the Internet forums where I answer technical questions. You may also ask questions in any post in this blog by using the comment application on each post.
When I am not doing something related to music I do what I can to support the homeless of Los Angeles either directly on the streets at night or through my good friends at Union Rescue Mission.
November 2010 end of the month update from Andy Bales of Union Rescue Mission http://www.urm.org/
In the video Andy mentions the Thanksgiving event of 11/20/10. There is another Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow on 11/25/10 on actual Thanksgiving day as well.
Many of you who are reading this helped make these Thanksgiving dinners possible. Thousands of dinners were served on two days. I would not be surprised if the number was somewhere near 10,000 meals.
We now have Christmas on the horizon and I will be posting this once again. I will be asking for help again. The economy continues to take a toll. Compared to just one year ago the services at http://www.urm.org/ have increased by over 40% while their donations have dropped over 20%. Things are critical to say the least and the end of the year is going to be very difficult.
I would like to take a moment to thank my friends and my friends in the music industry who donated money to Union Rescue Mission and who passed on the word and asked their friends to help. We raised close to 1,500 meals for people that do not have much to give thanks for and would not have had a meal of this kind.
My thanks to the volunteers and staff at Union Rescue Mission. It is an honor to be associated with you people.
Myles Rose is the founder of Guitar Amplifier Blueprinting which provides support services and training for touring bands and individuals as well as blueprinting services. You may contact me from the link. My direct contact information is provided as well as links to two of the Internet forums where I answer technical questions. You may also ask questions in any post in this blog by using the comment application on each post.
When I am not doing something related to music I do what I can to support the homeless of Los Angeles either directly on the streets at night or through my good friends at Union Rescue Mission.
Over on the Dr. Z amp forum I have a column in their Ask the Experts area. Yesterday I was in one of the other areas and came across a post on the Doc's new Z Wreck amp.
For a year or more this amp was not a product offered in the Z lineup. The amp was only in the hands of Brad Paisley. The amp is now available to all.
This morning KABC television in Los Angeles broadcast a 30 minute show on the subject of the homeless in the homeless capitol of the nation, Los Angeles.
I started this blog on December 13, 2009 to raise awareness on the homeless situation which is growing due to the current economic situation in this country. Two priorities at this period in my life are helping the homeless on the streets of Los Angeles and helping musicians sound better one amp at a time.
It is said that a picture is speaks a thousand words. Here are over three thousand random photos in a slide show. This is what I do, who I know, where I go.
An emotionally draining slideshow which mixes art, whimsy, low production values, a general lack of composition, sexual tension, nausea and the feeling of foolishness you have if you can watch the entire show from beginning to end.
What could be better than an album of nothing but low resolution shots taken with my cellphone (and a few from friends cellphones as well) ... and then, take these low resolution photos and upload them in real time to facebook where the quality and size is reduced even more?
Why I do what I do
To the folks who ask why I do what I do.
For many decades I worked in the corporate sector for very large companies. I worked many hours each week.
On some occasions I actually felt as if I made a change in a life. I could help somebody in their career. I could teach somebody something technical. Those sorts of things.
40-60 hours a week or more was generally not all that rewarding other than the friends I made along the way and the occasional change as I was able to make a difference.
I worked hard to make changes in my own life as most of us do. I made money to buy a house, raise a family. Family and friends are one side of our lives. The outside world is another.
I now have two main "jobs" each day. One is to help guitarists sound better, one amp at a time. I help folks in the music business and pass on what I have learned over decades walking this planet. I also try to help other people who are building their own career. That is one of the joys of being my age. You can help those on their path of building their own lives.
My second "job" is helping the homeless on the streets on Los Angeles. Five or ten hours on the street each week helping people makes more of a direct impact on more people than a month of work in my old life. Whether I feed people a snack, listen to what they have to say, give them a card from http://www.urm.org/ or walk them down to Union Rescue Mission I feel I am making life a little better for somebody.
In order to do something good one generally has to do something as in perform some sort of action. Los Angeles has the highest homeless population in the nation. Perhaps I feel as if I needed to do something.
Union Rescue Mission - What they do.
I talk a lot about Union Rescue Mission on this blog. I also talk a lot about them on facebook. I talk about them on my GAB website.
Many of my friends have become friends with Union Rescue Mission and members of their staff. I am sure many of you feel the same way I do about what they do and are a little bit better for knowing them. videos you may learn a bit more about the work these folks do.
This blog was created in December 2009. Statistics were enabled on July 1, 2010. From July 1, 2010 to July 1, 2013 there were more than 12 million reads of this blog.
As of 9/14/2018 there has been 36,395,500 reads. There were 189,708 visitors last month, August 2018.
Posts are also seen on facebook, twitter, google buzz, blogger, digg it, atom and many other services that have opted to distribute my antics for reasons that are at times a mystery to me.
Thanks for following, thanks for reading and thank you for sending the link of this site to your friends.
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