All Fried Up In The Big Smoke

Less political. More fictional.

Of Reyner Banham and Charlie Mingus

Posted on August 13, 2026 by Day Walker

(We here at All Fried Up in the Big Smoke are doing our damnedest to adhere to a very strict American boycott policy. Since we don’t pay anyone for contributing to this site, technically speaking, we’re not purchasing a U.S. product with today’s post. And besides, our Los Angeles correspondent, Ned Teitelbaum, is one of the good ones. With the subject matter being public transit, a favourite topic of ours, look at it as endeavouring to build a bridge between two beefing allies, no tolls applied.)

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Charles Mingus gave free concerts on the Red Car. Reyner Banham missed it. Continue reading →

In Name Only

Posted on July 7, 2025 by "Brother" of Cityslikr

Now that the centre&right political class machine has kicked into high gear in its collective attempt to ensure that Zohran Mamdani does not become mayor of New York City in November, the excitement of his upset victory in the Democratic primary a couple weeks ago over the tattered and tatty disgraced former governor, Andrew Cuomo, has lost some of its pep if not luster. Continue reading →

Training It II

Posted on July 3, 2025 by "Brother" of Cityslikr

Ten days ago or thereabouts, I wrote a prequel to this post, Training It. In it, I suggested that folks like me yours truly (because I don’t know the proper I/me grammar with that), North Americans raised with little hands-on exposure to the wider world around them, couldn’t fully appreciate an optimally functioning transit system. Continue reading →