Here are a couple of downtown Davis sketches from the little area of E Street between 4th and 3rd, because I’m checking off every building in Davis now, check check check. One thing I am doing actually, after eleven years in this town, is going through all of my sketches and finding one Davis sketch for each day of the year. The sketch has to have been done on that particular date. So far I’ve gone through ten months of dates and the average is 2-3 dates per month that I never sketched Davis (sketches of Lego or things at home, or other places like Sacramento do not count, has to be Davis). That isn’t bad going. Now then I have a list of dates I need to sketch Davis on, and then I will come out with a big calendar showing what Davis looks like on each day of the year, it’s quite an idea. Problem is, I had the idea in February so the three missing days in January are going to have to be sketched next year, or perhaps I just “alternative-fact” them. So the top one is Chase Bank, I remember when this used to be Washington Mutual, remember them eh, the old WaMu. Funny, nobody says ChaBa. Except Shabba Ranks. Oh now that brings me back to the early 90s! Actually can I come back, I kinda hated the early 90s. Well, love-hate. At least I was young. The one below it is Swanson’s Cleaners, which is closer to F Street so has an F Street address. It’s important to get things right, in this day and age. I drew this because I needed to sketch on my birthday. Aging, slowly aging. Actually can I go back to the early 90s again, at least I was young, I’ll put up with Shabba Ranks and Apache Indian and Ace of Bass, even Spin Doctors (actually, not them). I used to watch that late night show with Terry Christian, The Word, that was how the yoof got their yoof cultcha. Actually I did like watching Gary Crowley on The Beat, that was a good show. Oh nothing against The Word, I enjoyed that too, but The Beat was better. Jools Holland was always great but featured a lot of stuff beyond my musical comprehension, clever music with more than four chords. The ITV Chart Show was alright, for catching up on music videos, i remember seeing Pulp on there for the first time, that song “Lipgloss” which features my favourite lyric ever: “And your stomach looks bigger and your hair is a mess and your eyes are just holes in your face.” Yep, that is me, now. I also recall getting into St. Etienne after seeing one of their videos on TV one Friday night. Fell utterly in love with Sarah Cracknell. I went to Loppylugs, local record shop in Edgware, and bought the 12″ of “Who Do you Think You Are?” I got it home and it was scratched so I took it back. Same thing happened. I took it back again and the third one was ok, though it did jump a little. I still have it. That was the big risk with buying vinyl. But every time I hear the opening of that song I still anticipate the scratch, and I still think of Friday nights watching music shows on telly when I was sixteen or seventeen.
What the bloody-hell all of this has to do with a drawing of a bank and a dry-cleaners though is beyond me, but thanks for listening…
petescully 
I thought it was “yoot” – remember “My cousin Vinnie”?
I don’t get any of your musical references – I’m much too old!
But I love your sketches. Your 365 day idea is terrific.
Nah, “yoot” is American. I’m from London, where it is “yoof”.
I do enjoy your stream of consciousness. The Word was such a mess of a show, wasn’t it? I think the amateurish unpredictability was the only thing that made it compelling though I do think it introduced me to some music I hadn’t encountered yet.
It was like “Why Don’t You” but with occasionally better music. Thinking about it, it had a massive influence over me.
Oh my goodness. “Why Don’t You”. That’s another blast from the past. I wonder what my kids would make of that show.
Yeah, mine too…I feel some trawling of YouTube coming on!
Joolz Holland still going strong. His live show is the best!
Yeah, I still love Jools Holland, even more now (now I understand music with more than four chords, ahem…). I do miss it. I remember he did a ‘Prisoner’ themed show years ago, I taped it, used to watch it loads.
He’s why we stay in on New Year’s Eve 😀
Jools can be hit and miss, but usually good for a watch alright. But are you saying you don’t like the Spin Doctors? Can’t be true! As for vinyl… I seem to recall returning a Police LP a couple of times, just like you did, but I think in my case, it was just a funny timing in the song; our unsophisticated ears just couldn’t pick it up. There were no scratches. Apologies Gordon Sumner et al… young Irish kids weren’t ready for syncopation in the early 80s…
It’s that one Spin Doctors song, that was played over and over and over and over in 1993 I think it was. Just toooo much. I only heard one other song of theirs and didn’t like it. Plus, I really liked the Saw Doctors at the time and hated that when I would talk about them, people assumed I was talking about the Spin Doctors. Interestingly, I think the Saw Doctors was the only band whose album I owned on cassette, actual cassette album as opposed to taped onto one. And also ironically I had that Spin Doctors single on cassette too (one of only about three cassette singles I ever owned). See, I hated the early 90s. Bit too late for all my vinyl, bit too early for all my CDs (got my first CD player in 92/93, and mostly for the double tape deck), and people were still releasing their albums on cassette. Jeez, these music memories.
Ah yes, ‘Two Princes’. It was rather played to death. Try and find their other stuff; they were a great live act too – very funky but with sort of Led Zep guitar, if that makes sense. Now the Saw Doctors… whole different kettle of fish. Their hit song “Used to Love Her’ (or ‘useta’ as they would say themselves) was also murdered on the airwaves, but then I thought the actual song was a crime against music in the first place ;-) Moi? Snob? Mais non! But overall, early nineties was a real bad patch for music. I feel for ya there bro!
Oh god yeah, “Used to Love Her”…I forgot about that one, that one got on my nerves. Totally overplayed (but not as much as 2 princes was). I liked the key change though. I really liked “N17”, I played that one a lot back then. I know it’s about a road, but I used to pretend it was about Tottenham…
Ha ha, splendid! We only got our post-codes here last year, so we wouldn’t have made the connection
No idea who you’re talking about, but I like your doodles and calendar idea. 🙋👌
Calendar idea is brilliant, can’t wait to see it :) Please don’t ‘alternative-facts’ any of it – January 18 will soon come round, the older you get, the faster it goes IMO!
I just had a brilliant idea – for the gaps, use British dates. so if I’m missing January 7, I’ll just include a sketch from July 1! Sure, the trees suddenly got green and bushy very early that year, it’s California, it happens. I love it!