Venice Beach, etc...

There's something I love about finding my way about in an unfamiliar city. Not that Los Angeles is that unfamiliar to me, I've been here dozens of time throughout my life. But I never really get to know it. It's both familiar and unfamiliar. And I see it differently each time I come here, no doubt because I'm a little older each time and I see and appreciate things differently as I age. When I arrived I was shuttled to my hotel by an aging Iranian immigrant who told me I had an intelligent face and that he loved classical music. He had it tuned to LA's classical station which played Schubert first then Ravel, a good soundtrack to enter the city to if I do say so myself.

Last night I walked three and a half miles along the beach from my hotel to the 3rd St Promenade on Santa Monica Blvd to eat dinner at a vegan place (Real Food Daily) with my sister and her friend Paul Ill, a wonderful human being, who regaled us with tales of James Hatfield on Ozzy's tour bus, Billy Corgan circa 1997, Juliette Lewis and the Licks, and Courtney Love from when he was helping write one of her albums. He later played us a track from his friend Farley's latest recording, which was excellent and whose voice is shockingly similar in quality to Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth, and who also happened to join us for dinner (so I guess he's my friend now too!).

En route to dinner I passed through the remnants of the outdoor vendors on the Venice Beach promenade as they put away their wares and was solicited by several medical marijuana dispensaries in various humorous ways (my fave was "The dr. is single and ready to mingle!"). Ten years ago I would have taken them up on the offer, but my pot-head days are behind me and instead I spent my money this afternoon at Titanic Boutique, one of the top ten hat shops in the country (presumably, though I totally believe it). Owned by a charming middle-aged man from Queens who really really knows his hats and spent a good 45 minutes with me helping me pick out just the right one. I ended up with two of what are now the best hats in my collection and got a good deal on them as well.

On my way back to the hotel I met the iconic Sikh and psychedelic guitar player Harry Perry, who I first remember seeing in Perry Farrel's "Gift". He's still playing the white guitar with the red swirls. Our eyes met in a friendly greeting and he turned around to talk to me. To be fair he did want to sell me one of his shirts, which has a much more psychedelic design on it than anything I'd ever wear but I bought it anyway because I want to support him and we chatted about music and yoga (he's a yogi too and teaches a class in Venice). And then a little further down the way (or was it before, now I don't remember) I chatted with a Reggae artist and hip hop guy, listened to their CDs and bought one of each. Both had lyrics with a positive message and personalities to match. We talked about Austin and SXSW but when the hip hop guy asked me what I was doing later I took my leave.

I ended my two hour walk-about on the pier, not sure of the name but it's the one the ends Washington Blvd, and just listened the sounds of the ocean noticing the very distinct effects it had on my nervous system. And I wondered how it came to be that I loved that sound so much and why it makes me feel the way that it does. I didn't come up with an answer but I felt much more like myself when I got back to my hotel. Yesterday after my flight I was on edge, discombobulated a bit due to air travel (which I loath).

Tonight I plan to hit a speakeasy in downtown LA with my good friend Josh. Apparently they have an excellent jazz band that plays all the standards. Can't wait!

Tomorrow, Disneyland.

I would post up some pics but for some reason my apps are not recognizing that my iPhone has any... not sure what's up with that.