Weekends in the OC
Yeah, the past two weekends I was down in the land of my youth. I'm not sure I'm not getting too personal in these blogs, but I haven't been journaling much lately so it's good for me. I helps to keep the words flowing. And if it helps get people interested in the music, then that's really what I want. Anyway, back to OC. Right before New Year's I went to a party at my friend Linda's. I know her from UCLA, but we're the same generation and grew up just couple miles from each other. I sang at her wedding a few years ago. Anyway, it takes a good friend with two toddlers and a cooking husband to get me down there! But it was another magical day of friends that feel like family. And it pretty much confounded the image of the OC that I carry around and the media probably encourages. I mean, I grew up with a bunch of accented voices coming 'round for parties, men dancing with men, women with women, leftist thinkers, and, yes, a lot of people who owned boats and ostentatious automobiles...(Yeah, I know it's pretentious for a suburban boy to toss out ostentatious though most of my heroes have had strong associations with pretense...) I guess I had stronger love/hate relationship with the latter, but the past couple weekends were a realization of how beautiful it is there. I thought often why couldn't the rest of the world be as clean an enchanted as the Coast Highway drive from Balboa to Laguna.
Great minds discuss ideas; Average minds discuss events; Small minds discuss people.
- Eleanor Roosevelt
This quote was on the wall of my mother's friend, M's family room. (So now do I have to leave the names out?)
My mother is in town from New Hampshire which is why I made the second trip. Mom and I met M and J at the Crab Cooker in Newport around the corner from where my high school classical guitar ensemble recorded a tape. All these places look so much the same. I think the CC's menu hasn't changed in 50 years. And the drive down was like a tour of my beach hangouts. 32nd Street in junior high, Perry's Pizza and the Spaghetti Factory (sorry Bro-in-Law), the alley where the Clues shot their single's cover, the day I was busted for minor in possession of beer (which I threw in the car when I saw the cops coming, to make matters worse!), 17th Street in high school and ending up at the Wedge where I remember walking on the Jetty one of the only times I was ever really drunk in the daytime when I was probably 15.
It's strange to think that I have quite a few drinking stories from when I was way too young. I'm glad I made it out. Though I guess it's not too hard to make it out of a land of privilege even if you think you are the only one who has to wear the faux designer duds.
I guess that's what I wanted to talk about really. Not the faux duds, but the ease of motion. J & M are this wonderful new couple 77 and 82 and have been dating 6 months. They adore each other like teenagers with all the quirks and reassurances of infatuation and discovery. They're the kind of people that make you feel like you could definitely be in love in your elder years, that you can move through life with discovery, even unintentionally, if you keep your soul open.
After hanging on the beach for a while and another meal out, we ended up at the Balboa Beach Club in this room full of old 60s-ish dancers and an incredible jazz quartet doing standards. I was in my Wrangler (faux Levis?) and I felt right at home. I guess it's just where I grew up with these old wealthy folks having a good time. I do wonder if they felt as home with me, a younger long haired brown guy. But then confessing my love for Sunday Morning with Charles Osgood made a woman come up to me after my performance at the more bohemian World Stage and tell me that made her feel at home. So the truth is you never know who or where your homeys are. I'm just so thankful that I walk with a spirit that is comfortable in many rooms. And I feel like being able to talk about them all opens me up even more and maybe smashes the old partitions.
Though speaking of other rooms, The World Stage has been incredible the past few weeks. You all should check it out. An I should stop typing. I'm beat. (And, yes, I started writing around 11 on Thursday and now it's just past midnight. So I wasn't officially late again!)
Good night for me, hello to you.
- J
Culver City, CA
Great minds discuss ideas; Average minds discuss events; Small minds discuss people.
- Eleanor Roosevelt
This quote was on the wall of my mother's friend, M's family room. (So now do I have to leave the names out?)
My mother is in town from New Hampshire which is why I made the second trip. Mom and I met M and J at the Crab Cooker in Newport around the corner from where my high school classical guitar ensemble recorded a tape. All these places look so much the same. I think the CC's menu hasn't changed in 50 years. And the drive down was like a tour of my beach hangouts. 32nd Street in junior high, Perry's Pizza and the Spaghetti Factory (sorry Bro-in-Law), the alley where the Clues shot their single's cover, the day I was busted for minor in possession of beer (which I threw in the car when I saw the cops coming, to make matters worse!), 17th Street in high school and ending up at the Wedge where I remember walking on the Jetty one of the only times I was ever really drunk in the daytime when I was probably 15.
It's strange to think that I have quite a few drinking stories from when I was way too young. I'm glad I made it out. Though I guess it's not too hard to make it out of a land of privilege even if you think you are the only one who has to wear the faux designer duds.
I guess that's what I wanted to talk about really. Not the faux duds, but the ease of motion. J & M are this wonderful new couple 77 and 82 and have been dating 6 months. They adore each other like teenagers with all the quirks and reassurances of infatuation and discovery. They're the kind of people that make you feel like you could definitely be in love in your elder years, that you can move through life with discovery, even unintentionally, if you keep your soul open.
After hanging on the beach for a while and another meal out, we ended up at the Balboa Beach Club in this room full of old 60s-ish dancers and an incredible jazz quartet doing standards. I was in my Wrangler (faux Levis?) and I felt right at home. I guess it's just where I grew up with these old wealthy folks having a good time. I do wonder if they felt as home with me, a younger long haired brown guy. But then confessing my love for Sunday Morning with Charles Osgood made a woman come up to me after my performance at the more bohemian World Stage and tell me that made her feel at home. So the truth is you never know who or where your homeys are. I'm just so thankful that I walk with a spirit that is comfortable in many rooms. And I feel like being able to talk about them all opens me up even more and maybe smashes the old partitions.
Though speaking of other rooms, The World Stage has been incredible the past few weeks. You all should check it out. An I should stop typing. I'm beat. (And, yes, I started writing around 11 on Thursday and now it's just past midnight. So I wasn't officially late again!)
Good night for me, hello to you.
- J
Culver City, CA
posted by groovyacousticsoul at 1/11/2007
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