Fillmore Black Ghetto by Al Robles from rappin' with ten thousand carabaos in the dark

"I was there..."

by Al Robles

Al Robles Nancy Wong.jpg

Al Robles, during his days at the I-Hotel.

Photo: Nancy Wong, via Wikimedia Commons

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Al Robles and Sakura Takamane, 1960
Photo: Louis Brian Smith


fillmore black ghetto

jackson's nook

dark shades

ghetto loneliness

three black cats

splitting sounds

breaking horns

"everything i have is yours"

cleanhead smith

wailing

funky blues

jack's

on sutter street

cousin jimbo's bop city

after hours

flip nuez

cool brown fingers

blowing

"how high the moon"

ghetto riff

tight skins

ramie

blowing

"stars fell on alabama"

malis

"take the a train"

jamming

all the way

no time to stop

bebop express

armando rendon's

brown magic

finger tips

flaming

the congo soul

fillmore black ghetto

abraham lincoln

fucked on

japanese sake

ginza

red lights

runnin' after

young geishas

yoshiwara nightmares

ridin'

the toraya winds

chasin' after

lady murasaki shikibu

in the "tale of the genji" dreams

shirasagi bar

musashi's five-inch getas

kyoto sounds

ancient-drunk

sake-nights

empty zen jive

stoned buddha-heads

swallowing

rinzai-zeros

smashing

t'ang dynasty koans

with sapporo beer bottles

two-bit

southern white

witch doctors

jivin'

black magic

cheap-ass

love potion

rattling bones

35 cents

voodoo dolls

5 & 10 cents

needles

fillmore black ghetto

dirty dozen

mustard green sky

afro-red moon

sweet potato pie

hickory pit

charcoal-red hot links

barbecue spareribs

seven days a week

hamilton

crystal pool

rusti's

young bloods

floating high

lee's

black-japanese

tearoom

stoned cockroaches

sitting around cross-legged

on lacquered

goza mats

wooden getas

slidin' by

bush street

chop suey palace

sakurai's

99 cents

junk special

heavy spread

two ghetto pork chops

mashed potatoes

string beans

apple sauce

white bread

dessert & coffee

chinese meat market

tinted meat

stacked shit--high

salt pork blues

45 cents a pound

primalon ballroom

shufflin' time

round trip excursion

rampley's

24 hours

jango basement blues

red's

thick

slick

processed

cordovan brown

shoe shine

parlor

50 cents a shine

eddy street

dark safari hunt

pacific heights

limousines

cruisin'

up and down

honking down

young whores

fillmore station

blue moon cafe

blood

"i saw you standing alone

without a dream in your eyes"

molotov cocktail summer

cool jaimo

bustin'

night into day

like lightning

runnin' the Mo

leadin'

a hundred black dragons

with a steel fist

gray chicks

stoned high

tellin' lies

to cousin jimbo

gettin' down

playin' games

with twenty-dollar tricks

fillmore black ghetto

number 22 line

texas stomp

konked express

flyin' high

cocaine jive

weed pie

cozy corner

preacher john

laying down

the gospel

"get down on your knees

for jesus, you black sinners"

next stop

mcallister

soul food cookin'

grits

chittlin hog intestines

stuffed with sausages

ham hocks

beans and rice

muslim center

ellis & webster

brother nathaniel

rapping heavy

"whatcha name?

you ain't got no name

the white man gave you

your name.

the white man

was crawlin' around on his

hands and knees, yeah, brother

while the black man was walkin'

around upright"

louisiana fish market

dark meat

big bone

louisiana

buffalo fish

melrose junction

hampton hawes

got it down

no other sound

"all the things you are"

misty

erroll garner

runnin'

up and down

the keyboard

black over white

"i only have eyes for you"

nothin' else will do

when you feelin' blue

black prince

sellin'

jive hot dogs

pushin' time

makin' a dime

talkin' fine

usin' that jive line

nylon stockings

wrapped tight

round black heads

sharp blades

sharkskin rags

alligator shoes

cool bloods

midnight

kinky ghetto head

todavo's

glass eyes

swallowing

african orchids

in mojo dreams

fillmore long bar

shufflin' back

black memories

dinah washington

singing

"september in the rain" o lady day

what you got to say

don't do me that way

don't do me wrong

baby, sing me your song

"i got you under my skin"

denny's

barrelhouse bar

boogie woogie

all night long

chapel hill

baptist church

sunday morning stylin'

mo street blues

baby, baby, baby

i feelin' so bad

wake up this mornin'

feelin' so sad

cryin' so bad

baby, baby, baby

i ain't got nothin' to eat

wake up this mornin'

feelin' so sad

cryin' so bad

cadillac slim

midnight pimp

stompin'

ten-dollar tricks

for gray chicks

at the blue mirror

brown hands

unfolding

black flesh

dyin' pimps

laid out cold

on piss streets

up on cathedral hill

seven million dollars

st. mary's cathedral

mama of raving whores

two young bloods

holdin' onto

the archbishop's cape

daddy of ghetto nightmares

anointed pimp

walkin' down

the main aisle

down below

fillmore black ghetto

jivin' whores

hustlers

drivin' pimps

hip & slick hog snout

hot-water

corn bread

blackeyed peas

ain't all there is

soulsville

baby

what it is

starvin'

black children

jingle jangle

thru dark alleys

young bloods

poor blacks

reachin' & crawlin'

screamin' & hollerin'

at the white lies & promises

of holy men & politicians

--Al Robles

from rappin' with ten thousand caraboas in the dark

Filipin1$fillmore-black-ghetto$book-title itm$bookcover.jpg

rappin' with ten thousand carabaos in the dark

UCLA Asian American Studies Center,

3230 Campbell Hall, L.A., CA 90095

$12 postpaid

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