Restaurants Cut Busboys to Save a Buck

Here are today's links to my posts at NBC:

- Is Bart Simpson promoting Scientology? ...

- Flights out of LA kinda, sorta cheaper ...

- Restaurants cut busboys to save a buck ...








— TJ Sullivan in LA

LA's Small Town Managers Paid 200K+

Here are today's links to my posts at NBC:

- Long Beach Campus Awash in Bunnies...

- City Managers Making $200,000 a Year and Up ...

- LA Bunny Party Nixed , Inland Hooters Gone ...








— TJ Sullivan in LA

LA Area Official Given $18,000 Pay Raise!

Here are today's links to my posts at NBC:

- At least one city's still giving pay raises ...

- Signs of Indie 103.1 start to show online...

- Print writers bolster new movie biz site ...








— TJ Sullivan in LA

Pickup Trucks Beware in Long Beach

Here are today's links to my posts at NBC:

- Bratton to talk policing with King Abdullah II ...

- Don't park your pickup in Long Beach...

- Dodger Trolley drops into money pit< ...








— TJ Sullivan in LA

Peacocks Run Amok in Affluent LA Suburb

Here are today's links to my posts at NBC:

- Peacocks run amok in La Cañada Flintridge ...

- Strawberries up, cream down ...

- Does Two-Buck Chuck have to end ...








— TJ Sullivan in LA

Billy the Elephant is Billboard Bound

Here are today's links to my posts at NBC:

- Newsstands selling out inaugural issues ...

- Billy the elephant is billboard bound ...

- New city north of LA still in the works ...









— TJ Sullivan in LA

Billboard Wraps Have Office Workers Miffed

Here are today's links to my posts at NBC:

- Car buyer law stalled for lack of action ...

- Lingerie Bowl players concerned about rep ...

- Office workers miffed at billboard wraps ...








— TJ Sullivan in LA

Quincy Jones as Secretary of Arts?

Here are today's links to my posts at NBC:

- E-waste is not time wasted online ...

- Should Quincy Jones be Secretary of Arts ...

- Film critic David Denby doesn't like snark ...








— TJ Sullivan in LA

When Will 103.1 FM Be Resurrected Online?

Here are today's links to my posts at NBC:

- Indie 103.1 is dead air, but what's online ...

- LA foodies can eat prix-fixe at a discount ...

- Raising cain over cops without helmets...








— TJ Sullivan in LA

LA Truckers vs. Urban Sprawl in Desert

Here are today's links to my posts at NBC:

- Embattled truckers in LA's desert ...

- Pasadena loves roses; maybe not the trees ...

- To live and gloat in LA...








— TJ Sullivan in LA

Slash ... The Hat Has Got To Go

Here are today's links to my posts at NBC:

- Slash speaks for elephant, but, about that hat ...

- Ex LA SWAT cop a comfort-food cook ...

- LA Angels of Anaheim keep the preposition ...









— TJ Sullivan in LA

LA Times Increases Price, Few Notice

Here are today's links to my posts at NBC:

- Temporary ban on signs a hard sell ...

- LA Times ups price, few notice ...

- Sportsmen's Lodge gone, or not, maybe ...








— TJ Sullivan in LA

Golden Globes Stars Trapped in Vehicles

Here are today's links to my posts at NBC:

- Stars trapped in limousines ...

- Unlicensed joes plumbing new depths...

- Procrastinator! What's with the Christmas tree ...








— TJ Sullivan in LA

Fitness Buffs Rebuffed in Santa Monica

Here are today's links to my posts at NBC:

- Sam Zell receives a dubious award from blog readers ...

- Fitness buffs rubbing some the wrong way ...

- Affordable housing plan presented to LA ...








— TJ Sullivan in LA

The Case of the Mysterious Fire Truck

As I was researching one of my posts this morning at NBC, I couldn't help but speculate on where this story might go from here.

The Setup: Rangers find an unlicensed, unregistered fire truck parked in the desert darkness at the edge of Joshua Tree National Park and among its occupants are three living people, including a hitchhiker, as well as a dead owl, an elk's head, and a baby skunk.

The details appeared this morning at the bottom of A-1 in the San Bernardino County Sun [see inset], which said the vehicle was destined for the Burning Man festival in Nevada, a ridiculous notion to say the least considering that Burning Man doesn't start until Aug. 31.

The whole thing bumped my brain to the start of David Lynch's film Blue Velvet, in which a button-down college kid played by Kyle MacLachlan discovers a severed human ear in a field and, upon realizing that the cops couldn't care less about what was obviously the heinous act of a monster, sets off on an investigation of his own that leads to the seedy underbelly of this seemingly faultless American town.

The late Hunter S. Thompson, I expect, would have sent the fire truck on a savage journey to the heart of the American dream.

In Denis Johnson's hands, I imagine, the animals might have entered the truck alive and intact, only to expire in some strange sleep-related accident.

Of course, wherever Lynch might take it would surely be interesting.

But me? ... I'm still thinking, but it'll probably involve a journey to the desert outpost of broadcaster Art Bell in Pahrump, Nevada.

— TJ Sullivan in LA