L.A. was engulfed in a wall of water and at one point I thought hmmm… perhaps this is the weekend that I do not go out… but the opportunity to see Chris Mars in Person at Billy Shire Gallery loomed large, as he had been in the band the Replacements and that was a wow factor enough for this punk rock fossil.

So it is maximum windshield wiper power on the 10 freeway heading over there and the best part is traffic is light and we get a bite to eat without waiting. The gallery is half-crowded and publicist-to-the-art-and-rock-stars Lee Joseph informs me that not only is Chris Mars in Minnesota, not coming to the show, he also does not discuss the Replacements at all. Talk about three strikes you are out - no wait, there is also a show of Tony Fitzpatrick collages.

Billy Shire has published a three volume set of Fitzpatrick’s artfully crammed collages relaying the magic of a bygone era: mid-century Chicago in all it’s splendor. I forgot to ask Tony if he was a southsider or a northsider, or who he thought would win Sunday’s game with the Packers and Da Bears (the Pack won by the way), but he was a gregarious chatty guy who greeted well-wishers non-stop and passed out small buttons with samples of his artwork on them.

We made it home pretty dry, driving empty washed streets ahead of an even bigger cloudburst. Sunday was all about picking up the soggy debris that the rain and wind dropped in the front yard. What a mess, but it did not soak the L.A. art world.

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