Letter from Los Angeles
Letter from LA – well, well, well. It has been quite a while since my last blog, and there is good reason for that. The past 2 months have been increasingly hectic, including relocating our entire family, including two dogs, down to LA for the summer. Rattling through the halls of the Albany house prior to the move was the silly and catchy ditty “I’m considering a move to LA”, and we did. Why? Really, the fundamental reason was to do a production of my wife’s show, wedding singer blues, at the coronet theater in West Hollywood. Carla’s show is astonishing, and I continue to be confirmed in the belief that I have never met a more talented person than her. She wrote the show, plays 25 characters, sings in a variety of styles amazingly well, and even got a rave LA Times review, apparently unheard of for a 1 woman show on a small stage in LALALAND. She also did improv with Robin Williams, so very exciting times for her. Here’s a link to the review:
http://www.calendarlive.com/stage/cl-et-wedding16jun16,0,5849789.story?coll=cl-stage-util
So I have a big role in this, too. I am the music director and am playing keyboard, sax and guitar in the production. Overall, the audience response has been outstanding, but of course there are bumps and bruises along the way, but we are adjusting surprisingly well as a family.
We are staying in a leafy, artist-heavy community called Silverlake, next to Echo Park and Los Feliz, three very cool, hilly and not too LA-ed out communities. We have a nice 2 bedroom at the end of a quiet street, with a terraced multi-level patio, from which we can see a lot of downtown LA and I can see the Hollywood sign from our window. Two things jump out about this community: The plethora of dogs (we are 5 minutes from the dog park) and the plethora of artists. I have heard earnest and quite good rendition of the Waldstein sonata, pretty good jazz sax and other musical waftings from our neighbors. The dogs are mucho contento, what with the almost daily romps in the park, and Duke, the big black lab, is stretched out against me on the sofa as I type this. We have seen a few coyotes, so it is good to keep an eye out when walking the dogs at night, though my hounds are big enough to deter these urban feral ones. I think I did hear a sad sound in the distance tonight, that of a small dog being attacked by a coyote. By the time I got out, the yapping had stopped, so hopefully nothing too serious.
Our son Mac is thriving. He loves the Hollywood Y, where he is part of the Junior Lakers basketball and is very impressed with the coach. He is also running 4 miles almost every day and has come up with a ridiculously complex algorithm for determining results of basketball games. He is helpful, fun and handling the transition extremely well. Just a very very cool young man
Musically, I have been making some connections. Have heard Scott Kinsey with my old friend Jimmy Earl, Gary Novak and Steve Tavaglione doing interesting fusion at LaVeLee’s, the big LA fusion hang, and the next week, Scott Henderson working his maniacal magic on standards, swung fusion-style with the same trio. Have made a good acquaintance in drummer Michael Barsimanto, who is Lieb’s favorite drummer here, and tomorrow will go to hear Tim Hagans with Kinsey at the Baked Potato. So far, it feels like LA has less in common with NYC than does the Bay Area, jazzwise, as this seems like a very fusion-heavy town, but I guess there is a very edgy avant contingent coming out of Cal Arts.
My take on LA is mixed so far, but surprisingly positive. (WARNING – MASSIVE AND SWEEPING GENERALIZATION ABOUT TO OCCUR) It kind of makes sense that I would be skeptical, since I lived in 3 of the most virulently anti-LA towns around in NYC, Boston and SF. However, there are absolutely some truly sharp and talented folks here. My sense is that, per capita, there is less culture and education here than in SF, NYC or Boston, and this is partly borne out by observing the audience response to Carla’s show. The audiences love it, but there are a lot of references they just don’t seem to get that were understood in the Bay, such as Carla’s Latin puns on the fast food Japanese restaurant tempura fugit, which offers sushi generis and the cogito ergo sumaki…in the Bay, guaranteed the large majority of the audience would get it – here that one usually gets only a smattering, with the exception of one night. Carla joked to me we should get the classics department at UCLA to come, just so someone will get those
That is just one example and I think it makes sense. Face it. LA is the epicenter of disposable culture. From bad TV to bad movies to bad music, you find a lot of it produced in LA, and it does seem like a pretty surfacey town. That said, even if there is a lower percentage of aware and sensitive folks here, because of the huge numbers of people living in the area, there is still a larger pool to draw from than in any place other than NYC. As well, there are fascinating pockets of intellect and culture, and the place is so vast that you can explore for while and still find a lot to surprise you, I think.
The other side of the coin is that there is an incredible amount of cynicism and the old price of everything value of nothing saw here. There is a line in Carla’s show about how folks come to NYC for one of two reasons: to make art or to make money – you can’t do both. Interestingly, LA seems to be one of those places where they are considered one and the same. It was understood in Boston, NYC and SF that there isn’t any necessary connection between art and external recognition. Sometimes it happens, more often it doesn’t. In LA, the subtext seems to be, if it is good it is going to make money, or to put it in simple terms, making money IS making art.
Still there is an inordinate number of ex-New Yorkers here, and so that leavens the town with a nice dose of reality from time to time. As well, there is a very healthy Jewish, Black and Gay contingent, which also makes for a more progressive and expressive city. Bottom line though, this is the land of leno, facelifts and truly bad sitcoms, so that zeitgeist seems supreme.
The blog can’t finish without an observation on the exceptional number of head-turning young women, all tanned, revealing and pretty damn vacant. The blond LA bimbo was never my cup of Peet's, whether or not I was married. I prefer a more subtle and thoughtful look, if you catch my drift. I believe I am in a minority here. It is pretty clear, what with all the tall, pulchritudinous eye candy that the LA starlet dream is alive and well, and that left to their own devices, young LA women love high heels but no longer prefer Hanes. (Too bad.) Gotta run…will try to write more often, but it has been wall to wall with the show.
http://www.calendarlive.com/stage/cl-et-wedding16jun16,0,5849789.story?coll=cl-stage-util
So I have a big role in this, too. I am the music director and am playing keyboard, sax and guitar in the production. Overall, the audience response has been outstanding, but of course there are bumps and bruises along the way, but we are adjusting surprisingly well as a family.
We are staying in a leafy, artist-heavy community called Silverlake, next to Echo Park and Los Feliz, three very cool, hilly and not too LA-ed out communities. We have a nice 2 bedroom at the end of a quiet street, with a terraced multi-level patio, from which we can see a lot of downtown LA and I can see the Hollywood sign from our window. Two things jump out about this community: The plethora of dogs (we are 5 minutes from the dog park) and the plethora of artists. I have heard earnest and quite good rendition of the Waldstein sonata, pretty good jazz sax and other musical waftings from our neighbors. The dogs are mucho contento, what with the almost daily romps in the park, and Duke, the big black lab, is stretched out against me on the sofa as I type this. We have seen a few coyotes, so it is good to keep an eye out when walking the dogs at night, though my hounds are big enough to deter these urban feral ones. I think I did hear a sad sound in the distance tonight, that of a small dog being attacked by a coyote. By the time I got out, the yapping had stopped, so hopefully nothing too serious.
Our son Mac is thriving. He loves the Hollywood Y, where he is part of the Junior Lakers basketball and is very impressed with the coach. He is also running 4 miles almost every day and has come up with a ridiculously complex algorithm for determining results of basketball games. He is helpful, fun and handling the transition extremely well. Just a very very cool young man
Musically, I have been making some connections. Have heard Scott Kinsey with my old friend Jimmy Earl, Gary Novak and Steve Tavaglione doing interesting fusion at LaVeLee’s, the big LA fusion hang, and the next week, Scott Henderson working his maniacal magic on standards, swung fusion-style with the same trio. Have made a good acquaintance in drummer Michael Barsimanto, who is Lieb’s favorite drummer here, and tomorrow will go to hear Tim Hagans with Kinsey at the Baked Potato. So far, it feels like LA has less in common with NYC than does the Bay Area, jazzwise, as this seems like a very fusion-heavy town, but I guess there is a very edgy avant contingent coming out of Cal Arts.
My take on LA is mixed so far, but surprisingly positive. (WARNING – MASSIVE AND SWEEPING GENERALIZATION ABOUT TO OCCUR) It kind of makes sense that I would be skeptical, since I lived in 3 of the most virulently anti-LA towns around in NYC, Boston and SF. However, there are absolutely some truly sharp and talented folks here. My sense is that, per capita, there is less culture and education here than in SF, NYC or Boston, and this is partly borne out by observing the audience response to Carla’s show. The audiences love it, but there are a lot of references they just don’t seem to get that were understood in the Bay, such as Carla’s Latin puns on the fast food Japanese restaurant tempura fugit, which offers sushi generis and the cogito ergo sumaki…in the Bay, guaranteed the large majority of the audience would get it – here that one usually gets only a smattering, with the exception of one night. Carla joked to me we should get the classics department at UCLA to come, just so someone will get those
That is just one example and I think it makes sense. Face it. LA is the epicenter of disposable culture. From bad TV to bad movies to bad music, you find a lot of it produced in LA, and it does seem like a pretty surfacey town. That said, even if there is a lower percentage of aware and sensitive folks here, because of the huge numbers of people living in the area, there is still a larger pool to draw from than in any place other than NYC. As well, there are fascinating pockets of intellect and culture, and the place is so vast that you can explore for while and still find a lot to surprise you, I think.
The other side of the coin is that there is an incredible amount of cynicism and the old price of everything value of nothing saw here. There is a line in Carla’s show about how folks come to NYC for one of two reasons: to make art or to make money – you can’t do both. Interestingly, LA seems to be one of those places where they are considered one and the same. It was understood in Boston, NYC and SF that there isn’t any necessary connection between art and external recognition. Sometimes it happens, more often it doesn’t. In LA, the subtext seems to be, if it is good it is going to make money, or to put it in simple terms, making money IS making art.
Still there is an inordinate number of ex-New Yorkers here, and so that leavens the town with a nice dose of reality from time to time. As well, there is a very healthy Jewish, Black and Gay contingent, which also makes for a more progressive and expressive city. Bottom line though, this is the land of leno, facelifts and truly bad sitcoms, so that zeitgeist seems supreme.
The blog can’t finish without an observation on the exceptional number of head-turning young women, all tanned, revealing and pretty damn vacant. The blond LA bimbo was never my cup of Peet's, whether or not I was married. I prefer a more subtle and thoughtful look, if you catch my drift. I believe I am in a minority here. It is pretty clear, what with all the tall, pulchritudinous eye candy that the LA starlet dream is alive and well, and that left to their own devices, young LA women love high heels but no longer prefer Hanes. (Too bad.) Gotta run…will try to write more often, but it has been wall to wall with the show.
posted by Michael Zilber at 12:54 AM
