Ben In LA
Latest Update: August 8, 2004

11:00 AM MT, SUNDAY THE 8TH OF AUGUST, 2004 THE LOBBY OF THE PROSPECTOR

My battery is dead. Burned it out last night listening to the Giants game. I think temperature had something to do with it.. I almost missed breakfast, which is a shame. Might have to go across the street. I used their bathroom this morning so I owe them that,

I am in the lobby of the Prospector, using their Wi Fi and power, applying for jobs and chatting with famous surfers.

This is part of a conversation with the World Famous Chris Malloy

Cmalloy[*]: honestly, ive watched you buzzing around hollywwod and thought to myself. "jesus, heres another super talented person being eaten up by the big lights " i conciously thought to myself "if ben went up into the hills for ahwile and forgot about all this LA shit he'd probably do some amazing stuff. and be twice as relaxed and happy ."

TheBenM: I like LA, actually, I like surfing Malibu. I liek that drive from Hollywood to LA every day. I didn;t mind it.
TheBenM: See the email I just sent you.

TheBenM: And I was in LA for a reason. I am going to write that murder mystery I have been talking abotu for so long. It's called Strangers Playing Hearts.

TheBenM: One of the characters "Washed out of Hollywood" and I wanted to know what that meant. Now I know. I spent a year there.

TheBenM: I really like Malibu, I just wish it got more swell,

This morning I sent an email to Russell Chatham and Thomas Mosser.

Russell Chatham
Thomas Mosser

August 8, 2004
Gentlemen

I have two books to write, and I need a place to write them and something to do while I am writing them.

Livingston is the place, I think, because as Ernest Hemingway and a lot of other writers no, there is no better mind catalyst than trout-fishing (surfing is good, too).

I have a surfing book due October 1 for Voyageur Press in Minnesota, and then I am going to write that murder mystery that has been banging around in my head for so long.

It's called Strangers Playing Hearts. You can see a synopsis at:

www.cinemasanfrancisco.com/
synopsis.html

What would be ideal is part-time work at the Guest House and/or the Livingston Bar and Grille in exchange for not much money, and perhaps a room in the motel when they aren't full.

Russell: Fishing is good brain cataylst, but so is washing dishes, believe it or not. I wonder if you need a part-time dishwasher? I'd be glad to do it and be a part of your establishment.

Also if you need a proofreader or other editing help on any of your projects, I'm the guy.

I never make misteaks.

www.cinemasanfrancisco.com/
resume.html

Thomas: I'd be glad to work behind the desk full or part time and be a part of brining the Guest House up to speed. I still say you need a website just for the hotel, and I would be glad to write it. I'd get a haircut and make myself look presentable, and I think I would be good as a concierge, because I have traveled a lot and know some languages and can be personable and helpful when I try.

I have watched that job from the lobby. There is a lot of slow time in between customers, and that would give me time to write. Lots of time.

And I could stay in a room when you are not full, and take to the van when you are.

Or maybe I will rent a room in town.

How long would this last? I could start in two weeks and it might go through the winter.

I have income from writing, although it flows inconsistently.

I just need a place to write and something to clean out the brain.

Livingston is the place.

Please let me know if you are interested.

I will be back in Livingston tonight or tomorrow. I am fishing Soda Butte Creek and the Lamar River all today,with Doc Knoll.

Ben Marcus
310-270-7500

Well that is what I would like to do. Live in Livingston, write a book or two, work on the side and fish Yellowstone. There are worse fates.

And I mean that about fishing being a great brain catalysrt. The first time I went to Sun Valley I knew instantly how Ernest Hemingway lived: Wake up and write. Small breakfast. Go out and fish for a few hours. Come back and write. Take a nap. Lunch. Write some more. Fish the evening. Write. Go to the Sun Valley Lodge and pick up chicks.

Surfing is good brain catalyst too, but if I get into this place I will start drifting rivers on my longboard, fishing and paddling.

So I applied for that job and also a bunch of things on Craig’s List, few of which ever an out.

I am too late for breakfast and I need to get to the river. I already missed the morning action, but I will live.

And I have to jump the van.

Maybe the place across the street is still serving breakfast.

Time to get moving. I hope the Livingston thing works out.

I want to take one more run to California and surf Malibu and then I will come back up here, hopefully.

Oh and this place is crawling with bikers, all heading to Sturgis. It looks like an S/M convention.

I wonder if John and Leonard are still going to make that biker movie in New Mexico this September? I would like to be in on that.

I just sent a pitch to Montana Magazine about Doc Knoll. Now I’d better go find the guy.

Need a jumpstart. Where is that one-legged guy on Lost Creek when I need him?

NOON MT, SUNDAY THE 8TH OF AUGUST, 2004 OUTSIDE THE TRADING POST, COOKE CITY, MONTANA

Got a jump from a nice guy from Nebraska. Missed breakfast but had lunch. A BLT.

Time to go find Doc Knoll.

At the café where I had lunch I saw a sign:

“Montana is what kids think Texas is from hearing Texans talk about Texas.”

He’s right, which backs up my idea to rewrite that Australian comes to American high school football movie and set it in Montana. Angus Ross would love Montana and he would love Livingston-especially the bar called The Stockman.

That’s it for now. It would be funny if one of those bikers turned out to be Bula Bob, the guy I met in Fiji who is my spy for NYP. He is a biker and he is going to Sturgis.

12:18 AM MT, MONDAY THE 9TH OF AUGUST, 2004 BACK AT THE GUEST HOUSE.

I’m pooped. I guess you could say I am “fished out.” I just got back to the Guest House after fishing Yellowstone since noon. A lot happened. Too much to remember. Stream of consciousness: Fished Soda Butte Creek with Doc Knoll and the Englishman who is not Tom Cruise’s dad in Top Gun. Doc got a nice fish, I got a lot of small ones. Drove off without my fishing pole but when I got back it was there. Fished the Lamar River in the evening and caught one nice one, but I need a net.

I am too tired to do this. I’ll keep going.

It was hot and sunny and I put in a lot of miles walking up and down Soda Butte Creek and the Lamar. Almost hit buffalo while driving back at night. Saw a River Otter, an elk, a coyote or two, a lot of ducks.

Funniest fish today was a little bugger who got on my line when I didn’t know it. I stripped my line back to cast and that fish came flying through the air, straight at me, with its eyes bugging out. He missed me and smacked the ground behind me, hook still in its mouth. I apologized and got the hook out and sent that poor little fish on its way.

Bless the beasts and the children and all like that there.

I caught quite a few little guys and a few bigger guys on Soda Butte Creek. I found Doc Knoll there this morning around noon. He said he had a green pickup and that is what I saw.

He was fishing a nice flat area with lots of overhanging meadow with an Englishman named Pete Mitchell-which was Tom Cruise’s father’s name in Top Gun. They weren’t having much luck with dries when I got there, and I stayed with nymphs. As I worked a very promising section that produced nothing, all day, Doc Knoll caught a beautiful 16-inch trout on a nymph.

Then the Englishman caught a three-incher soon after that and it was off to the races.

They walked upstream. I walked downstream. Soda Butte Creek is a great little trout stream. It is about perfect. I found a couple of holes that had little cadres of fish and I caught quite a few through the morning. I stopped walking downstream when I came upon another fisherman.

I am falling asleep on the couch at the Guest House. Need to finish this.

I walked back up the road to the van, had a big cookie and then fished some more. At some point a Park Ranger was parked nose to nose with the van and I worried what was going on. I walked up to see Mr. Ranger and it was Ms. Ranger. She was talking on a cell phone because she got good reception in that parking lot.

So I fished upstream a little and I don’t think I caught anything. Eventually Doc and the Englishman came back. They had had a so so day and then they drove back to Livingston.

I followed them to the car and leaned my pole against the van. Doc offered me a Coke and we shot the breeze and I left without putting the flyrod in the van. I drove several miles up Soda Butte Creek and stopped to fish a lovely spot. That was where I realized my flyrod was missing, so I drove all the way back, fearing that someone had kiped my rod, abut also knowing that Yellowstone even on a busy day is not so bad.

I found the flyrod where it should have been and then drove down to the Lamar River, hoping for a repeat of yesterday.

I didn’t really get it, proving that flyshing is kind of like surfing;’ No two days are ever the same.

I fished the same logjam but it wasn’t as active. Caught a couple but it was slow, and got a lot of bites. The sun went down and I switched from nymphs to dries and back to nymphs and just as I was going to leave I got a big strike.

I tried to play this one correctly. I let the fish go where it wanted and swim itself tired. I couldn’t moose the thing in because I would have broken the fly. So I played with the fish for about 5 minutes, which meant it was a decent sized fish. I was careful but as I got the fish to those, it jumped and spat the hook.

I think this was a decent fish. It was heavy and strong. Oh well, Next time.

This was the first time I needed a net.

What else? Oh lots else but I am tired and need to get to sleep. That was a long day but my face was in the sun and my feet were in the cool water and it was nice.

I almost hit a buffalo while driving out and at some point an elk crossed Lamar River and ran behind me. I also saw a River Otter and a lot of ducks.

Time for sleep. I guess I didn’t have to come back to Livingston. No money coming for me tomorrow. I will leave here in the morning and head for Boise.

All the black fellers are gone, apparently. I hope one of them doesn’t have my coat. But some of them were shifty.

Good night. I’ll try to fill in the rest tomorrow.

HERE IS AN IM WITH C MALLOY

TheBenM: I'm actually fished out. That's a first.

Cmalloy[*]: you gutted the trouser trout enough ben. just chill!

TheBenM: It's fun. I guess I am heading back to Cal-e-for-neea.

Cmalloy[*]: dont do it to yourself... i implore you. crowds, fogs, fags! the horror!

TheBenM: California briefly, then back here I think. Yellowstone is great and then you drive back into civilization: crowds, fogs, fags is right.

TheBenM: There are bikers everywhere right not. Thousands of wannabe tough guys. Humans are annoying, no?

Cmalloy[*]: humans are annoying YA!

TheBenM: Why we think we can live on top of each other the way we do is beyond me.

TheBenM: We think we are sophisticated, but it goes against our animal nature. Humans, like all animals, need space.

Cmalloy[*]: bikers arent what bikers used to be, cowboys arent what cowboys used to be and for heavens sake surfers have become a new species altogether .

TheBenM: Yes the whole damned world has changed, which is why I want toget away from it. I had my fun.

TheBenM: The reason we love nature is that there is no bullshit in nature.

TheBenM: I almost hit a buffalo today.

Cmalloy[*]: being on nemail sucks. i got in two email fights today.

TheBenM: With whom? I am always getting in trouble with email.

TheBenM: You can say things with email you would be too polite to say in person.

TheBenM: I am going to write that murder mystery. It is all about email, and hiding behind email.

Cmalloy[*]: email saves me from driving to peoples homes. i actually and oddly enough can spin a pretty fiscious email.

TheBenM: Fiscious? Me too. I am infamous, I think.

Cmalloy[*]: Oh you are ben......... you are.

TheBenM: Should I be embarassed?

TheBenM: I only go after people who are ning nongs, I think.

TheBenM: I just dont like what happened to the world, but I dont think I am alone in that.

Cmalloy[*]: no not really maybe just a little more selective.

TheBenM: Selevtive in who I insult or who I send them too? now I insulted Alex Dick-Read at The Surfer's Path.

TheBenM: But I dont care anymore, really.

TheBenM: Who did you get into it with?

Cmalloy[*]: ben honestly. when i get into a scrape and plow someone verbally or physically and come away saying i dont care, i always do down deep dont you?

TheBenM: Sometimes yes, sometimes no. I behave toward people the way they behave toward me.

TheBenM: With The Surfer's Path, i busted my ass to get a story done, rounded up the photos, proofed it and now they dont pay until September. To me that is disrespectful and rude, so I am that way back.

TheBenM: So who out there really hates me? Im not even aware. Im hoping its Bill Sharp/

Cmalloy[*]: what story

Cmalloy[*]: ricky??he he

TheBenM: On Malibu. They owe me $2500 but dont pay until the magazine is off the stands.

TheBenM: Who cares about Ricky.

TheBenM: When I started at SURFER, it was like the Journal is now.

TheBenM: Its gone from The New Yorker to Details.

Cmalloy[*]: i agree

TheBenM: I wonder why I get so pissed sometimes and then I will hear a song or see a magazine from all those years ago and remember how I was at the start of all this. It was an honor to work at SURFER. Not any more.

TheBenM: Aqnd part of it is just age.

TheBenM: I wasn't always this burned out.

Cmalloy[*]: i agree with this 150%. life'll get as good or bad as we let it. thats why im so stoked to see you making it good.

TheBenM: Its just a different world. It happens to everyone. Imagine how Greg and them feel, since the 50s?

TheBenM: I just want to get out of the world's way but to get out of the world's way you have to get in the world's way first.

TheBenM: Man I am beat. Fished out. Feels good.

TheBenM: This was all fun about 20 years ago. Age and burn out are not fun.

TheBenM: Good night. I am pooped.

8:34 AM MT AUGUST 9, 2004 THE GUEST HOUSE

Good morning! Up bright and happy and cheery! There is an elderly woman in the lobby complaining non-stop about her medicine and everything else. Her son just showed up. “I need my medicine. I need some help. You have to go with me to the clinic.”

There are lots of bikers in the lobby, all heading for Sturgis. Thomas Mosser just walked by but he didn’t mention anything about a job. I wouldn’t mind working at the desk here. It would give me lots of time to write.

I could write a book about yesterday but I won’t. Basically I fished Soda Butte Creek and the Lamar River from noon to sunset. I fished Soda Butte Creek with Doc Knoll and the Englishman, and had a little luck. No big fish, but Doc got a nice one on a nymph.

At one point I was fishing and I saw a Park Ranger put her vehicle nose to nose with mine. I thought, “Uh oh.” But she was nice. She was just using the space because it had good cell phone reception.

What else? I drove off without my fishing rod, made a big 20-mile loop to find it and then fished Soda Butte Creek in front of the Soda Butte. I think I caught one fish, but it sure is a nice river.

Then I ended up at the Lamar River logjam as the sun was setting. It wasn’t as good as the night before, but I hooked a couple and had trouble landing them. They always shook off. I tried nymphs and dries and went back to nymphs and just as I was leaving I hooked a nice fish. I had to play it and it took me close to 10 minutes to walk it to the beach. You can’t moose in a fish with a 6X tippet. But as I got close it shook the hook.

That was a nice fish. Probably 16 inches and a couple of pounds.

Then I drove back and almost hit a buffalo or two.

Now it is Monday morning and time to scoot to the Lower 48. I have about $100 but that will get me to Sun Valley tonight for a Grumpy’s cheeseburger and then Boise by tomorrow morning for the Bank of the West.

And then I will probably take Highway 20 to Bend, Oregon, go see Greg and Laura and then git to Santa Cruz. I have to go to Los Angeles one more time to take care of things and then from there, who knows?

Hopefully back up here with something to do and somewhere to go.

Looks like no one responded to my Reward for Lost Jacket.

I might check the print shop where I left the business card but I think it is gone.

I got a bad feeling one of those blackfellers took it. Some were nice but some were suss.

They all cleared out and now it is bikers.

I just sent an email to Mia at Malibu Monthly.

This could be funny.

Subj: ELECTION 2004 COMES TO MALIBU Date: 8/9/2004 8:10:05 AM Pacific Standard Time From: TheBenM To: MalibuMonthly

Mia Dinelli
Malibu Monthly

August 9, 2004

Mia

What do you need for this month?

Is there a theme?

Crosssword?

I am in Livingston, Montana right now but heading your way by Friday.

I will be in Los Angeles for a couple of days, and then I won't.

I think Ariel should do this cartoon:

ELECTION 2004 COMES TO MALIBU

This will show Bush/Cheney and Kerry/Edwards having a tandem contest at Malibu.

They are neck and neck and racing down the line with dangers ahead.

Michael Moore is paddling out and getting in the way of Bush/'Cheney.

Ralph Nader is dropping in on Kerry/Edwards.

Cheney is holding up Bush and Bush is wearing a military helmet that is a play on that photo of Michael Dukakis, the one that made him a laughing stock.

Maybe there could be an oil slick spreading out behind Bush/Cheney.

Their board should have the presidential seal.

Michael Moore is paddling out in front of them on a huge surfboard, getting in their way, and Cheney is reacting.

Bush is oblivious to any danger.

Or maybe Bush is holding a harpoon. That might work.

Should there be Secret Servicemen in SCUBA gear watching the president?

Or a Secret Serviceman about to harpoon Michael Moore?

The two tandem teams should be neck and neck, because that is how this race is going to be.

As for Kerry/Edwards. They have been teased a lot lately for being too lovey/dovey so their pose should have a hint of that.

Kerry is holding Edwards up lovingly, and maybe there could be some kind of joke on Kerry's military service: He turned the Swift Boat around.

The label on the board should be Swift Boards.

And in front of Kerry/Edwards, Ralph Nader is taking off on the wave and blocking their path.

At the bottom of the cartoon it should say:

THEY'RE ALL A BUNCH OF KOOKS, BUT IT'S STILL IMPORTANT TO VOTE.

This sounds complicated but it isn't, really.

How does this sound?

Ariel? This will be a fair bit of work but I will send it to everyone I can think of and hopefully make it worth your while.

I think SURFER Magazine wants to use it.

This could be very funny.

Ben

It is now 9:14 and I guess it is time to go. Sun Valley by tonight, by way of Yellowstone.

I have one day left on my Yellowstone fishing license. Might as well use it, I guess.

Bikers, bikers everywhere.

9:27 Just looked on Craig’s List for Writing Jobs. I apply for a lot of them, but none ever come through.

The bikers are all firing up and moving on. I guess that I should, too.

9:40 Bye bye. .