I wake up super early. Early enough to have my breakfast and hot cup of tea. Pierre, my 'driver' of Haitian descent shows up at my house right on time. 5:45am. It's pouring down raining. I'm getting wet as I drag my suitcase out of the house and right into a large peddle of water. I am stoned quiet on the ride to JFK . This trip to LA has been a long time coming. I've waited so so long for this but for some reason I can't get excited.
California. Burbank Airport. Having enough money to get by in my pocket and my hotel stay tucked in my checking account. Oh yes, its not just the fact that I'm going to be flying out in the rain but it's the news of the LA fires that's dampening my spirit. Just a few days ago my mom called me telling me about the fires. I also remember seeing something about it on TV but I was told by my buds out West that, 'oh no, those fires are so far away from LA. It's no where near us. No need to worry."
But last night they were singing a different tune. DAC had told me that, 'Uh, I think it's kinda bad. I dunno. It's never been this bad". What's ticked me off the most is that Derek is not answering his phone. I call and call and call and I'm not getting a call back. Even if he was on a film set, he still would have snuck and picked up the phone, but I'm not hearing from him. I'm getting worried. I really would like him to pick me up at the airport. WANNA READ MORE? GO TO
morePANIC IN KOREATOWN
Aside from Derek the other person I'm anxious to see is DAC. I'm staying at the Koreatown Ramada Inn, which is down the street from him. Derek waits while I grab breakfast from, uh, Denny's and then has to break out. Like he just leaves cause he has to go back to the set. We agree to see each other later. I haul ass and go down the street to see DAC.
DAC talk and talk and catch up on Old Times and he tells me stories of New Times. He tells me what's going on with him and how the industry has changed since the last time I've been told. Our reunion is cut when he tells me he has to meet Jandi. I say OK, but we agree that we would meet again later to grab a bite to eat at one of the local spots.
I take several naps cause there's hardly anything on TV. Just round-the-clock news about the fires. Channel 4, Channel 7 and 10. Everything is the fires. I go back outside and as instructed, wait for the bus to go down the several blocks to meet DAC and Jandi. They're at a Korean BBQ nestled in a restaurant plaza that also houses a Karioki bar and Vietnamese restaurant, that I'm sure I'm going to go back to soon.
I do Thai, Chinese, Vietnamese, Japanese. But never have done Korean. I say, "I Don't Do Korean" and I think I said it kinda loud cause DAC shoots me this weird look. I try some of the food, and I like what I've eaten so far. Jandi shares me some of her dish and that's not bad either. I can't get over the fact that my nose is suddenly burning & itching. I'm now coughing. I look up and some of the servers are doing the same, 'rubbing nose' movements that I'm doing.
"David, do you notice that we're coughing?"
He starts to cough. Jandi says 'yeah'.
I get up when I see everyone coughing. I mean, EVERYONE. Some people are leaving. I dart outside and look around. My throat feels like its closing in more. I panic. Living in New York and having been on the streets during 9/11 and trapped on a smoking subway train just this year, has made me very panicky—especially of any kind of smell. Add the fact that I have a serious respiratory problem and problematic heart. I notice that the fumes are just as bad inside the restaurant. I hear from one of the street urchins that someone sprayed some kind of gas in the air and he tried to stop him, I break right out and run the hell out of the restaurant and onto the streets far away and as far as I can, as far as I can to reach some fresh air. I'm running while not breathing in, so I only make it around a whole block. I call DAC on the cell and tell him where I ran off too. It nerves me a bit that he's so calm. He didn't break out in panic the way I did, but he sounds understanding. He knows my situation. Have sat by me through some of my sick days.
He tells me that he and Jandi will meet me at the lobby of his place. I sit and wait while looking at the cars pass on Wilshire. I think to myself, that boy, I haven't yet gotten excited about being in LA. And, uh, I still smell smoke!!!