An Internationally Known and Locally Respected Fotographer

Last summer/fall while I was on the waiting list to get into St.Vinny's to partake of their so called RESIDENTIAL REHAB PROGRAM**  (remember,I'm court ordered to go into residential rehab),I was living downtown at the world famous Baltic Inn. Perhaps you've driven by it and took some pics from the outside or maybe you heard that one of your fav hiphop/gangsta-rap celebrity idols was staying there. Well, I was there too. They let me stay there because I'm the Popular Hobo.

One night I was walking around downtown and  I saw a young guy shooting photos.He looked like a tourist to me (I'm not sure why since I myself do the same thing and I damn sure ain't no tourist.) and so I walked over to him and started talking to him about photography. His name is Mike and he's from Germany and yes he was a "tourist" staying downtown for a few days and heavy into his photography. I gave him some tips on places to go to snap some classic postcard-quality photos of San Diego's downtown scenes etc. We exchanged contact info and then went our separate ways.

You know how that goes when you meet some nice friendly person from out of town (overseas) whom you share a common interest with but then later, due to the daily grind of your job/school/life's bullshit etc. etc., you just never seem to find the time to maintain a long distance friendship.

Well, I'm not too busy to spend some of my quality hobo time with anyone whom loves photography as much as my friend Mike from Germany does. We swapped email a few times and he sent me some of his stuff he shot while he was here in San Diego. He's an avid student of the craft and an amateur who would like to make money with his artwork.The shots he sent to me were absolutely stunning. While I enjoy shooting San Diego's downtown scenes from an architectural perspective, Mike shot the pedestrians/people…emotions…their very thoughts it seems …the beauty as well as the anguish…and also the raw heart wrenching despair of those filthy downtown hobos. He stopped some of the most amazing expressions/emotions and situations that you always see while you walk around in any city which occur in the blink of an eye. Expressions that cannot be posed nor replicated by models. Surreal artwork…true urban scenic art that is, IMO, gallery quality.

Apparently there's a lot of politics within the print publishing industry in Germany and Mike tells me that his stuff would be rejected out of hand simply because he doesn't have a college degree or some other prerequisite certification to be qualified to have the talent to shoot such compelling quality artwork as he has demonstrated to me. (I thought their socialist system has free market capitalism built into it...I dunno.)


Anyway, if you enjoy urban scenic photo-artwork then take a look at Mikes stuff on flickr.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/metal_mike/
 
Be friendly, say 'Hi' and tell him that Scott sent ya! ; )



 **I waited for 8 weeks to get into Vinny's only to discover that they LIED through their teeth about having a real rehab program.Of course all that they told me verball;y was not in writing.

The Big Big Big New Car Sales Event...where were YOU!?

I met a long haul trucker a couple of years ago in Mira Mesa when I was living in my car behind the Lucky Seafood store. He rolled up behind my car in his 18 wheeler loaded with new cars. As I recall,
I got out of my car to investigate the situation as I never knew that Gemini was a truck stop/rest area.
So I met the driver. His name is Lou and he's a really nice/cool guy. We talked for a while and  before his wife came to pick him up, I jokingly offered to guard his load of new cars while he went home to sleep. The next day when he arrived back to his truck, I told him that he needs to wait until at least 10am before leaving to deliver his load of cars. He smiled and asked why. I told him why.
"Lou after you left, I made some signs, blew up some party balloons and had me a MIDNIGHT MADNESS NEW CAR BLOWOUT SALE!!! I sold all 8 of your cars...I blew 'em out for $800/each!
I took cash deposits and the owners are coming here any time now to pay me the balance and take their new cars home. But don't worry, Lou, I'll pay you a little something afterward since they were on your truck... would $400 be sufficient?" :)

He got a chuckle out of that one not really considering that there ARE customers out here who would JUMP at the chance to snatch a brand freakin new car for 1/25th of its market value from a hobo if they thought they could get away with it. Of course, if I started selling his cars, I'd need to have an escape plan...those po-leece would be all over my white trash from here to Kittery, Maine! I'd be on the 12 o'clock, the 6 o'clock and the 11 o'clock news. ("Look, Ma, I'm on Tee Vee!") . I saw Lou very seldom...only a few times a year and we always had friendly conversation. Nice guy!

Well, this past Sunday, while I was in Kearny Mesa next to Walmart flying my hobo sign, I thought I saw Lou's truck rolling down the street. But its been so long since I last saw him that I wasn't 100% certain it was him. So I walked down the street where he parked and I'll be damned, sure enough, it was my friend Lou!

We talked for a while and he said he needed to run into Walmart to get a few things. As soon as he jumped down from his cab to go shoppin', I got busy with my biggest Sharpie marker and made myself a sign! You guessed it--its time for another INSANE  SCOTTY'S CURBSIDE CAR SALES EVENT!! As I've mentioned and have shown you in some of my previous posts, I have lots of jiffy sign making materials to create BIG loud bright and enticing signs. A good sign with the right words can be very compelling especially when the words are "NEW CARZ  4 SALE...$500/EA CASH ONLY"! But there I was in Kearny Mesa, equipped with nothing more than a fat Sharpie marker but nothing good to write on. :<.

Because time was of the essence, I was trying to BLOW OUT his new Audi 's for only $500 cash money!!Imagine driving home in a new 2013 $23,000 Audi for a little more than the cost of a cart full of groceries!!!Imagine trying to convince the cops that you didn't steal the car-- you bought 

it from an honest looking fast talking hobo. 

:)

Free Resources for Hobos? Yes! Great for lifestyle deadbeats, drunks, pregnant females and HIV patients.

Since I first became homeless, I learned about the numerous projects/programs/orgs. etc. whom comprise the "homeless industry". Make no mistake about it, just as the housing/real estate services and construction industries thrive following a major earthquake, flood or wildfire, there's a ton of money changing hands, railroad car loads of cash (state and federal tax funds and charity donations) are being allocated and spent and paychecks being issued to well-paid, full time professionals whom specialize in (or who's work tends to hobo problems) such as  alcohol/drug counselors, mental health workers, security guards at shopping malls, paramedics/ER hospital personnel.

If every hobo in San Diego suddenly disappeared tomorrow---Phoooof! like that, there would be lots of skid marks on the crowded highway of economic recovery due to layoffs/terminations, rescinded funding and reshuffling of market sectors. Drug rehab places which are currently overcrowded and have 6 month long waiting lists to enter, would shut down and reopen as new Asian grocery stores, Mexican car wash/Taco stands and liquor stores. Don't hold your breath for hobos to go away anytime soon.

The hobo industry is a thriving one which runs in a reciprocal order to our capitalistic economy which is why its currently thriving (as the recession lingers on). Its an industry that's driven by charities and federal/state funds but what does it produce? Not sure how one can measure output or productivity of this economy (it may be the # of clients served / $ spent).

I've always believed that my homeless situation is a temporary one and that what ever problems I'm experiencing are due to my lack of a purpose/occupation and that the remedy is a damn job... some responsibility and program to manage....employees to supervise etc. These homeless-assist resources,from what I've heard and seen, can be very useful for someone who needs their GED and their first ever job. 

There's a program run by the SDPD to deal with chronic drunks whom the cops get fed up arresting every few days for public intoxication. The program is called SIP (Serial Inebriate Program) and what it does is take the drunken folks of the street anbd put them into a sober living apartment along with others in the program. Once they're in the program they follow a daily routine of group meetings and light chores and they must attend 5 AA mtgs per week. The program is far better IMO than just living in a shelter like St.Vinny's because its goal oriented. It seeks to transition the person from the homeless streets drinking all day into either employment and or gov.assisted housing etc. while remaining committed and focused upon maintaining sobriety.

Its difficult for me to sing praises about any particular resource org. but I could rant and bitch all day long about the way some of them are run. I liked the VOA's residential detox facility in Nat'l City but its work is almost pointless without the availability of beds in the county for residential treatment.