(June 14, 2007) — “No.” My mother was finally able to spit out. “No way, absolutely not,” she said, managing to pull her lower jaw up from the direction of the floor. This swift response to my suggestion that just maaaybe it would be cool if I got a tattoo of a lighting bolt on my lower hip – in homage to my favorite band of all time ever – was destroyed immediately. Any hope I had lingered to that I would get the tattoo with her consent went with it. Walking away sadly, I sighed inwardly, realizing that permanently staining my skin under the influence of peer pressure and a blood stream full of alcohol would have to wait until college. Speaking of college, as the number of days of my senior year dwindles down until I can count them on my fingers, it comes time for a reflection upon the past year in music and a foretelling of what my future at UC San Diego will hold. How great can I expect the underground hip-hop music scene to be at La Jolla, a place where the average annual household income exceeds $75,000? Why it is that the 6 th street warehouse in Downtown Los Angeles, an obscure warehouse in an area where the cops are never to be seen, which doesn’t even have a name, is the best “venue” I’ve ever been to? And will my insistence on bumping a potentially lethal combination of techno and 80s while in my car continue to impair my driving abilities and put my newly acquired license (and all of Glendale) in jeopardy? I’m not sure, but the time has come for me to bring my inane ramblings to a close. So what are my last words to you, my loyal readers (all ten of you)? I guess the final message with which I depart from you all would be this: Listen to country. Listen to rap. Listen to techno. Listen to indie. Read the LA Weekly . Don’t listen to the radio. GO TO SHOWS. And whatever it is you do with your lives, class of 2007, whether it’s joining a monastery, getting people to vote for you, selling doors door-to-door, doing shrooms in a field, getting up on stage every night to rock faces off, teaching kindergarteners or doing math problems – do it with some passion, do it with some love. And remember to always, always, stay funky.