GRAY IN L.A.

Cat 1 - The Lucky One I love animals and housesitting. That is a very lucky combination that gets me into friends' and sometimes strangers' homes. Which I think is perfect since I don't have any animals and only a smallish apartment. And I just love different places; they make me feel like an explorer - for a writer a very creative feeling. Los Angelenos like animals - of course, there are so many around: mountain lions, lizards, huge hairy spiders, coyotes, raccoons, foxes, opossums, hummingbirds, pelicans, sea lions, to name only a few - but these would be mostly outside the house (if you're lucky - if we are talking about the pesky raccoons). Inside, it's mostly cats and dogs. And that is my territory. May I in troduce myself? Here is the KKK - NOT that one! The KittyKatKaretaker Cat 2 So, co-incidence or just life's way of reminding me that grayness, aging and ailments happen in the animal world as well, here I am, ...

Me (on the right) and a friend in NYC in 1980 wearing 40s vintage For a week now there is FASHION HELL going on in New York City, although they call it FASHION WEEK. I want to ignore it all because it sucks the energy out of me. So I'm trying, really. On one level it is easy because of what I see - which makes my eyes pop out and my jaw drop. Not because it's so overwhelmingly beautiful or inspiring or breathtaking, and how could it be if even someone as frighteningly untalented as Kanye West is wielding scissors - no, I'm pained and feel assaulted. But I'm still a little bit of a style-addict and a fashion plate. So, here I am sitting at my desk peeking into the huge fashion sections of the New York Times. Especially the men's fashion pages hold a special fascination for me.  http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/17/fashion/kanye-wests-line-yeezy-causes-a-stir.html?ref=fashion&_r=0 What the f#ck is going on? I don't get it. What is it with these yo...

Before this event, which I'd already put on FB, goes down in LA art-party-history as another evening of sweat, beer and tattoos, I want to mention something about what I think I will call the "Gray Hair Mystery" of this city . Part of this blog, not necessarily always the most important one - that would be boring - is life amongst the mostly non-gray Angelenos, being brought to you by either  Nature or L'Oreal . But at this 95-degree heat-event at the very nice TASCHEN Gallery ( www.taschen.com/gallery ) showing truly spectacular David Bowie (who I totally love!) photos (by Mick Rock) I officially started my personal gray-head-countdown I will occasionally do. What can I say? Mostly, there were  some strange, ill-fitting outfits, too much naked skin , too many ugly high heels, a lot of big egos, and lots and lots of young people (between 20 and 35). OK , this is what I'm driving at. How many gray-haired people did I see? About 8 at the most (...