I Think I'm Gonna Bomb A Town

Lately, I've been encountering a fair amount of synchronicity. But when you're a writer working on a story you're excited about, a little morphic resonance is perfectly normal.

A couple nights ago, I was walking into the local bookstore, when I noticed a sign trumpeting the announcement that LL Cool J was signing books on the third floor. Gone was the obligatory muzak - instead, the store was bumping some classic LL joints. Softly, of course; there's something very incongruous about spinning thug beats at cocktail party volume.

Ignoring the fact that the man who was at one time the toughest man in hip-hop was now signing copies of an exercise book in Barnes and Noble, I took the escalators up, and there he was. This was my very first LL sighting, and just a little underwhelming, especially considering how ardent a fan I was when I was, say, twelve.

But I couldn't help but find the event just a little auspicious, as I've been thinking about Mr. Todd Smith. A lot.

As a screenwriter, I have to endure a fair amount of slights and rejections. So many that lately, I've often hoped that my next script makes as large a splash as LL's early forays into hip-hop. In fact, I've had the recurring thought hoping that this next script hits like Mama Said Knock You Out, one of the finest examples of the classic braggadocio form in all of hip-hop.

Ordinarily, I'd dismiss this event as just another sighting of a b-lister in a city filled with them. But it's my very first LL sighting ever, and it comes at a moment when I happen to be invoking his spirit often.

I'll take what I can get.

Download: Sly & The Family Stone - Trip To Your Heart (MP3)