Some Solstice 1996

If embroiled once again in the minueta of "As The Town Turns,” and it is by oversaturation or self imposed mutiny that I bid adieu, It is only a matter of time before I get jonesing for a good Long Beach summer night .

Many a year can pass, but I can close my eyes and recall the names of who’s in line to play pool at The Reno Room on a Thursday night. Lean to the left and I can hear music and recognize the voices as if a decade and a handful hadn’t passed. Still waiting for mine on the jukebox, so crammed full of dollars that it wails Tom Jones’ again and again until the whole building is quaking in chorus for Delilah’s response. A handful of regulars remain, ignoring the bouncers as they herd off the patrons. They finish their drink as the girls count their tips, and its around 2:42 am.

By then, the tweekers have locked up at one of a dozen dens, flipping glances through the blinds as they wait for no one to crash through the door. The die hard race and slalom for afterbeers while some head straight home. The night ticks away as many await the 6 a.m. Bloody Mary, and the booty calls slow with the compromising of standards in the early a.m. The taxis slow, the streets settle, and the town quiets down to couple, snuggle, and sire what will be fodder and fact for the masses to meander over the next week.