Hey Checks, too bad about Charlie. I occasionally enjoyed his show. I am happy as fuck you linked this Nina Simone video to this article.

For a brief spell in the 1980s I drove for City Cab of San Francisco. A good friend and fellow driver there, Star Haze (RIP) picked up a black woman downtown who wanted a ride to Stockton, California. At the time it was a $225 dollar fare. The black woman was Nina Simone.

He drove her to Stockton, a good hour and a half drive, and Nina directed him to a beauty parlor. She said she'd have to dash inside and get the fare money. Star waited about twenty minutes and then went inside, pretty much instantly noticing the back door to the alley. The saucer lips behind the counter said no one had entered the salon. It's an hour and a half to two hours each way. Nice lady. Star had been beat out of a half day's pay.

He still had to pay for his gas and his daily "gates" of $67. Later in the week Star picked up two unarmed urban youth, which he probably wouldn't have done if Twatsy hadn't ripped him off to begin with, and they wanted a ride to Richmond, a $75 dollar fare. They found Star's cab by the trainyard, out on the tracks, in Richmond. Star had been shot multiple times in the face and anything of value was gone.

So, fuck Nina Simone and the hoodrat executioners.