Randy and I walked to punk night at Kelly's - the DJ not only played my request ("Search and Destroy") but was very kind about it. Probably because he hadn't 'gone pro' yet.

On the walk home, Friendship was shut down - police cars with flashing lights everywhere, blocking all the roads. Policemen in the streets. Civilians being held as eyewitnesses ("Two witnesses," Randy said. "Someone got shot or there's a drug bust. Two witnesses?!"). Naturally, being the nebby neighbors we are, we decided to walk through the madness of the police cars and lights and cops because we wanted to know what was happening.

I kicked over one of those evidence marker things - I didn't even see that the ground was covered with them until I heard the plink-plink-plink of it bouncing down the sidewalk.

The cop was not pleased.

"WHAT. THE FUCK. ARE YOU DOING. GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE. WHAT ARE YOU THINKING! CHRIST!!!! I MEAN, GOD!!!!! THESE PEOPLE!!"

"I'm sorry, I didn't see it."

"RAHARAWRGAAAAHHHDAGO AROUND!"


My scrappier side wanted to play back, argue my case (I'm smiling thinking about it now). But I'm young and foolish, with a cleared criminal record. Randy was silent and grabbed my hand and lead me back down the street, on the long way home.

"That cop was drunker than we are."

-----

Holy. Shit.
The version of "I Break Horses" that's on Accumulation: None is MINDBLOWING.
I don't know how it has escaped me for this long, but it is one of Bill Callahan's more rocking moments. Some people have Yeats or Whitman or Goethe and they wax on and on about their canons. I have Callahan. How can you say no to this man?

---









I'm a street walkin' cheetah with a heart full of napalm.