Vice and junkyard dogs.

I'm still acclimating to the weather. I feel sticky from when I wake up till about ten at night. There is a subtle blanket of heat that makes it hard for me to concentrate on anything and Sunday was excellent proof of that.

I intended to finish the poster mock up and start in on my zine, but instead the day was spent reading and meeting the colorful folks of West Bottoms.

Uriah and his girlfriend Jenny came home and I briefly talked to them before they went back to Jenny's place, I don't think I'll be seeing a lot of them around.

The warehouse where the Pistol is located, also houses a variety of other occupants. One is "The Ship" - an old bar that has been dismantled and rebuilt downstairs to form a modern sort of speak easy. The aesthetic are 1940's dive and resemble an old galley, thus the name "The Ship". It is used from time to time as a practice space for bands. Joe took me downstairs to meet a Cajun inspired group and we got to talking about St. Maximo.

Joe has an intricate shine in his living room that houses a Guatemalan figure of St. Maximo - the patron saint of vice. It is surrounded by liquor bottles, cigarettes, money, and a wide assortment of other things. The Ship houses a similar one. A Latin mix of Mayan mythology and catholic dogma; the purpose of Maximo is to take one's vices away. It used to be, and in some places still is, for a week in February a man would dress up as Maximo, and while sitting still like a statue, people offer him their vices. Over time, Maximo has somewhat become the patron of the West Bottoms.

Since the day was somewhat cloudy, I took a walk and explored more of the area than I was able the other day. During the day there isn't anyone to bother me and so I feel safe wandering around, so long as I don't go on certain streets. The buildings looked abandoned, but as I found out later, they're not.

Old warehouses tower like a science fiction city that has been emptied. I know I've said it before, but I'll say it again, the whole area is surreal. Looking back, it is the sort of landscape a video game would have. The men in combat suits should have been dropping out the windows. In October a few of the warehouses are opened as giant Haunted Houses with names like "The Beast" and "The Chambers of Edgar Allen Poe". I'm told tickets run from 25 to 30 dollars and the only amazing thing about them is the size.

West Bottoms also has a Graffiti gallery. Some of the professionals of Kansas City have taken one of the walls and made a large mural of their work. Kansas City has a fair amount of artistic graffiti on it's walls, not just on warehouses, but all throughout.

The sun came out and I had to go home for a while, but later as the evening came, Joe and I went for a bike ride tour of the Bottoms. Uriah is a bike master and collects bikes to rebuild, then sell. Alas he sold a my-size bike just before I arrived so I rode around on a little BMX bike with no breaks. Since there are no people or no hills in West Bottoms, this is not a problem, my foot worked fine, well it did until I biffed it. Stupidly I tried riding down a gravel road and totally ate it. I scraped up my arm and possibly broke my little toe.

Joe and I walked over to one of the seemingly empty warehouses and went inside to find a bathroom to clean up my arm. Instead of empty, the warehouse has apartments, artist studios, and even a print collaborative. I met a few of the residents and sat for a bit then we rode on.

We ended the night at Vic's, a nice, older man who runs a woodshop/junkyard. He had a first aid kit to patch me up and we ended up spending a few hours talking to him. Vic is the type of guy people don't mess with. He talked a small amount amount the past, but I can only guess the rest, and what I can say is Vic has seen parts of the street I hope I never see. Before we left, Vic introduced me to Rosie, his junkyard/guard dog. Vic says she won't eat my face off once he introduces me to her. I believe him, both on the fact that now Rosie knows me and the fact that she'd eat my face if she didn't.

West Bottoms gets a bit rougher at night, so I didn't stay out too late. Instead I came home and watched Terminator on Netflix. Man have movie effects changed...