Somebody Put King James In The Backseat (Reno - L.A.)
Los Angeles. I feel like I'm back in Greece enjoying another apéritif with Chloe or Sean, driving around looking for the brightest patch of sky to die behind. Is the weather and temperature REALLY like this year round? I keep getting nervous and at least once every hour or two find myself counting the bodies around me....one, two, three, four, five, six...oh yeah, me, seven, we're all here, Canada still endures. It makes me feel a bit crazy while making me feel a bit secure.
We were riding the tram car up the mountainside today to the Getty Center and I marveled at the surrounding hills with their mile high palm trees and secluded private sanctuaries behind who's pillared halls my deepest thoughts could hardly guess what took place, and I thought about how earthquakes happen here. Like real earthquakes. I imagined Canada tumbling down the mountainside to the 405 below, our bodies glistening red and broken in the afternoon light, cracks in the earth cradling our bodies, our final embraces. We made it up to the museum though and we parted ways with eachother, and our good friend Pat whom we are staying with for four days, whom Amy has been friends with for 15 years and who no longer has a beard, though it is now starting to grow back. I fell in love with the architecture, designed by Richard Meier, whos cold white Le Corbusier style I really didn't dig when I first learned about him and his work in school, but now that I've seen the Getty, I truly am seeing it in a new light. It is very gorgeous, made of rough cut travertine with whispers of fossils, and when the Californian light hits it it looks like heaven. The gardens are some of the most beautiful I have ever seen. The zig zagging path that leads you down to the circular labyrinthine hedges almost made me faint. I know I am bordering on boring, so let me just say that the only other thing worth mentioning from my experience at the Getty was falling in love with the photographer Peter Henry Emerson. He blew my mind. It was some of the most beautiful photography I have ever seen. I bought his book.
We did some touristy things and had a great meal at Souplantation. Back at Pat's we watched a disturbing documentary on LA gangs. Drank some beers. But I see I forgot to mention Reno.
Reno was a sad and crazy place. We were stunned by the beaten citizens of this city, chipped teeth and whiskey breaths, violent atmosphere. We traversed a maze of slot machines in one casino to the back of the top floor where a secret hidden diner was located and had a very greasy but very satisfying meal. No money was won.
Our dear and lovely old cellist Eileen, who is from Reno, was in town and made it out to our show. We even managed to get her on stage for two songs, Record Function and Asleep In Leaves. It was so incredible and so fun and so nice to play with her again, even if for two songs. Thank you Kaylan for the fabulous idea! It was a very sweet moment for us all.
Other than driving through the desert and having some of the best laughs of our lives, the rest must remain secret. Some things cannot be explained or even attempted as justice cannot be done to them. We are definitely closer as friends and as bandmates than ever before and this fact fills me with white hot love. One last thing though, we all have nicknames now. I am Steve Z The Squirrel, Joe is Pokey Joe, Saul is Pappa Saul, Ryan is Baby, Shaul is Buddha, Amy is Freddie the Face, and Kaylan is Cupcake, or Cuppy.
My hands hurt from typing. All of this has been so beautiful....it reminds me of that moment when you take off your sunglasses after a long drive and realize it's earlier and lighter out than you had accounted for.
S
We were riding the tram car up the mountainside today to the Getty Center and I marveled at the surrounding hills with their mile high palm trees and secluded private sanctuaries behind who's pillared halls my deepest thoughts could hardly guess what took place, and I thought about how earthquakes happen here. Like real earthquakes. I imagined Canada tumbling down the mountainside to the 405 below, our bodies glistening red and broken in the afternoon light, cracks in the earth cradling our bodies, our final embraces. We made it up to the museum though and we parted ways with eachother, and our good friend Pat whom we are staying with for four days, whom Amy has been friends with for 15 years and who no longer has a beard, though it is now starting to grow back. I fell in love with the architecture, designed by Richard Meier, whos cold white Le Corbusier style I really didn't dig when I first learned about him and his work in school, but now that I've seen the Getty, I truly am seeing it in a new light. It is very gorgeous, made of rough cut travertine with whispers of fossils, and when the Californian light hits it it looks like heaven. The gardens are some of the most beautiful I have ever seen. The zig zagging path that leads you down to the circular labyrinthine hedges almost made me faint. I know I am bordering on boring, so let me just say that the only other thing worth mentioning from my experience at the Getty was falling in love with the photographer Peter Henry Emerson. He blew my mind. It was some of the most beautiful photography I have ever seen. I bought his book.
We did some touristy things and had a great meal at Souplantation. Back at Pat's we watched a disturbing documentary on LA gangs. Drank some beers. But I see I forgot to mention Reno.
Reno was a sad and crazy place. We were stunned by the beaten citizens of this city, chipped teeth and whiskey breaths, violent atmosphere. We traversed a maze of slot machines in one casino to the back of the top floor where a secret hidden diner was located and had a very greasy but very satisfying meal. No money was won.
Our dear and lovely old cellist Eileen, who is from Reno, was in town and made it out to our show. We even managed to get her on stage for two songs, Record Function and Asleep In Leaves. It was so incredible and so fun and so nice to play with her again, even if for two songs. Thank you Kaylan for the fabulous idea! It was a very sweet moment for us all.
Other than driving through the desert and having some of the best laughs of our lives, the rest must remain secret. Some things cannot be explained or even attempted as justice cannot be done to them. We are definitely closer as friends and as bandmates than ever before and this fact fills me with white hot love. One last thing though, we all have nicknames now. I am Steve Z The Squirrel, Joe is Pokey Joe, Saul is Pappa Saul, Ryan is Baby, Shaul is Buddha, Amy is Freddie the Face, and Kaylan is Cupcake, or Cuppy.
My hands hurt from typing. All of this has been so beautiful....it reminds me of that moment when you take off your sunglasses after a long drive and realize it's earlier and lighter out than you had accounted for.
S
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