Fillmore Black Ghetto by Al Robles from rappin' with ten thousand carabaos in the dark
"I was there..."
by Al Robles
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
rappin' with ten thousand carabaos in the dark
UCLA Asian American Studies Center,
3230 Campbell Hall, L.A., CA 90095
$12 postpaid