Some good news to report from earlier this morning. I managed to catch the bus right as it pulled into the stop this morning. Normally such an accomplishment would require a huge outlay of effort and stress. You can spy from the skyway that spans both the Interstate and International Boulevard the southbound 'A' as it lumbers down the many-laned, broad-backed black Macadam of Pacific Highway; and when you see it, you immediately break into a sprint, rampaging down four flights of stairs, usually with several other transit riders in tow, before risking life and limb by hurling yourself headlong into hurtling, morning-commute Pac Highway traffic.
But this morning for some reason I didn't really look too hard to see if the bus was coming when I walked across the skyway. When I got to the stairs at the eastern end of the skyway, I took them with some pepper in my step but nothing out of the ordinary. Then when I got to street level and saw the 'A' pull into the bus stop across the highway, miraculously there was no traffic. So I had a clear sprint across all six lanes. Still, even given a clear path, I thought the bus was going to pull out. It doesn't take long to board four to five riders, which is usually the number that get on that stop at 8:15 AM. But when I made it across the highway and got to the passenger side of the bus, I saw that there was a line eight-people deep waiting to board. I tapped my electronic pass at the card reader to the north side of the bus shelter and entered the 'A' through open doors at the rear. If you're a commuter, you'll understand; it's like a hole-in-one or a bullseye.
Listen to the track above, "Agboju Logun," by Shina Williams & His African Percussionists -- it can be found on Nigeria 70: The Definitive Story of 1970’s Funky Lagos (2001/2009). Originally, I thought that Talking Heads' "I Zimbra" was a total rip off of "Agboju Logun." But then I realized that Talking Heads recorded "I Zimbra" five years earlier. ("I Zimbra" is recorded in 1979; "Agboju Logun," 1984.) So much for that theory. Anyhow, I do think it is safe to say that Fear of Music (1979) owes a lot to African rock of the 1970s.
