Issue No. 13 - Heat Wave. Welcome to Issue No. 13 of The Small Hours. August is usually the beginning of brutal heat in Los Angeles, and this year was no exception. As hot as it was in L.A., it felt moderate compared to the intense humidity in Savannah, where I spent a couple of days dropping my son off for SCAD orientation. As I type this, he’s putting the final touches on his packing as he prepares for his cross-country move later this week. It’s both exciting and devastating. Where have the last 18 years gone? I can vividly remember driving from St. Luke’s in Manhattan back to Brooklyn with the newborn version of him in the backseat. In the blink of an eye, he’s leaving home. I couldn’t be more proud of him or thrilled for what awaits him in college, but the emptiness of him not being here is inescapable.

We’ve spent so much time together over the years, and we’ve tried to make the most of this last month together, going to a handful of shows and soccer matches, watching loads of movies, and making too many trips to the taco truck. He’s my concert buddy, and I’ll miss seeing shows with him. We spent an eventful night watching the first half of LAFC vs. Portland (because I double-booked) and then Waymo’d over to see Rival Consoles, who I’d wanted to see for years. We finished the night with al pastor and carne asada tacos at Angel’s Tijuana Tacos. This past weekend, three-quarters of our family saw David Byrne at the Bowl, followed by Jack and me going to see Bill Callahan at the awesome Sid the Cat venue in South Pasadena. Callahan was fantastic live, and seeing him crossed another longtime favorite off my list. My show photos are getting progressively worse.

This past month also saw the lengthy celebration of my younger son Arlo’s 15th birthday. We’ve been playing a lot of disc golf, his new obsession. I am terrible. He is good. But walking around for 90 minutes, talking and throwing discs, is a nice way to spend time. I am fascinated by the psychedelic nature of the disc designs. We’ve also tried to beat the heat with several beach days out in Malibu, where the water has been unusually warm and amazingly refreshing.

I managed to track down a used Contax TVS in great condition, which I used to shoot all the photos this month. I like it, but I don’t love it. I am not great at using it and, although I thought having more manual functions would be more fun, it’s actually making things unnecessarily complicated. I’ll see how I get on with it before returning to the very automatic Yashica.

That’s it for this month. Hug your kids. They’ll leave you soon. Jack, if you’re reading this, I love you. You’re amazing. Enjoy all that SCAD has to offer, and call me once in a while.