I am operating on four hours sleep, but I’m feeling such love that I wanted to capture it before I drift off. And I want to do it publicly, because the feeling is so externally driven. Good word, actually, driven, because it was as I was driving home that I was almost in tears. I’d just left this beautiful, spirit centered gathering celebrating the love of one friend and her love, whom she’ll join on his walk from Los Angeles to Brazil (http://iamwalking.org/). And it was just around the corner from the spiritual center of my boozy early 20s, Al’s Bar. I’d try to tame that place with just my acoustic guitar, or play nasty blues in this band called “Victor’s Sister” that once got to pay with Big Jay McNeely.
I’d just received a glowing e-mail review of my new album from one of my favorite supporters, as I left Traction Ave to head by Olvera Street as I got on the 101 heading back home. I was thinking how great LA would be if we had some infrastructure investment somewhere before that horrible Melrose exit off the freeway. (Why is the gas at the “Petrol” station always so cheap?) I passed the old Anti-Club, Paramount Studios…. And that’s when I started to well up. I guess it’s just the diversity of experience from my organic spiritual type scene, to my DIY punk-ish life, to the silly Hollywood stuff I’ve done. Maybe it’s because I’ve been able to make music in all these places and I’ve just put my new album up for sale on my site?
But then it got even better, reaching the heart of Melrose where I worked at the Gap and the fancy Gelati per Tutti across the street. I used to play my demos and watch how the hipsters would react as they came in, bopping their heads to the guy scooping their cappuccino cones. As much as I loved living in the Los Feliz/Silverlake area, I kind of think I love WeHo even more. It’s definitely not as groovy, but I’m so beat today because I went up to a friend’s last night, ten minutes away up Laurel Canyon to share new music, finished and unfinished, over wine and pasta, then I got woken up early this morning to meet a friend of 20 years a block away from my house at Urth for breakfast. And this is the neighborhood where during college I lived down the hall from the bass player from Cheap Trick in a rent controlled apartment. And the next thing I knew Warren Zevon moved in across the hall.
But, really, it’s all of LA. So many good people and landmarks that are the healthy roots that allow me to grow. And I’ve been away for periods of time now, so I appreciate it even more. And now I’m blessed to be living in the most wonderful home, a home which still carries the creative vibe of the couple who lived here for 70 years just before I moved in. I’m not sure if I’ve said anything you don’t already know tonight. But I just wanted to share my love letter to the city.
Leave a Reply