Well, not really (but i always think of that Randy Newman tune when I am writing about being there). I am generally not very fond of Los Angeles and the surrounding suburban zones; its color-coded smog, its plastic and metropolitan character (as opposed to organic and cosmopolitan), its freeway system that appears designed by Helen Keller, its staggering disorienting sprawl and even the now generally accepted kitschy vacuousness of collective consciousness there. It is in many ways exactly as Cintra Wilson1. once wrote of it.
I was by some act of grace selected to be one of the artists featured in a pre-show projection display at the House of Blues in Anaheim for the BT/Thomas Dolby double bill. To say I was deeply flattered would be understatement, particularly given that I had an open liking for the music of Dolby2., and the invitation gave me an excuse to take a quick detour down to see the DevArt corporate offices in Hollywood, and to have lunch with my friend Erika and her new husband in their new home in Temple City, as well as catch the show and bask in some vanity fuel.
I decided to do things as efficiently (read: insanely) as possible; I left the Bay Area at around 2:15AM and hurtled down 101 to 152 to finally California’s very own Autobahn, Interstate 5. Driving down that largely barren space, occasionally punctuated by little places like Lemoore (most famous for Journey vocalist Steve Perry), Coalinga (most famous for getting curb-stomped by an earthquake) and Gustine (famous for…well, nothing. Although I did know a girl from there who was famous for…well, nothing) in the dark of night is like a scene from a David Lynch movie. I was making great time until just past what is called the vines (a tangle of roadways colliding into each other and focusing several small tributaries of traffic into one giant torrent of road rage). I eventually found my hotel, but since I could not check in until 4PM, I booked back up a bit into Hollywood to go to the DevArt corporate offices.
DA HQ is a cozy, modern space near the Virgin Megastore, and quietly tucked into an office building of non-descript description. I got in around 11AM and immediately met up with sp0t and Richard, with my greeting to them being a short but searing burst of invective about LA traffic. From there things improved markedly; sp0t saved my life with some much needed coffee, Richard proved to be his typically even-keeled and likable self3., and I finally got a chance to meet Robert, who has made the Print/Shop system move several generational leaps –at least compared to previous rates of evolution– in one short cycle comparatively. Of course I greeted him with a hello and a minor bug report.
Eventually I took temporary residence in the conference room, where I took a consulting call, checked through email, and looked at a few dozen feature suggestions (most of which I happily ignored and a few potential standouts) 4. while I waited for lunch time to roll around.
Lunch was eventually myself, sp0t, Richard, and DA CEO Angelo Sotira where conversation meandered casually until we all went back and I then packed up and once again slogged through LA traffic back to the Doubletree Hotel.
The Doubletree, like everthing else in the area, seems to exist solely to deal with people wishing to go to Disneyland. This of course brings me untold amounts of annoyance, as I find all things Disney to be bland, dull, boring, insipid, vacuous, lowest common denominator or lower drivel designed to feed a shopping fetish more than provide anything of lasting value (sentimental or otherwise). Frankly I would have pause just based on their attempts to corrupt IP law, but in fact since childhood I have detested all the has to do with the Mouse-on-Lithium company. I was a kid who loathed Disney and Mr. Rogers, and loved Looney Toons and the Muppet Show. Unfortunately, even the venue for the show was part of a Disney corporate convention-center meets kitsch mall. The House of Blues was in this, and the entire layout of the parking lots seem designed to corral you into having to be bombarded by shopping opportunities; even the Rainforest Cafe touts its shop before its eatery,which may be an indicator of what the food is worth.
After picking up my ticket at will call and being searched for such nefarious things as my non-camera-having phone, I had to send my actual camera into their check-in system and then you seem to get scrutinized for every door you pass through in the building short of the restrooms. Needless to say, I was a bit irritated that even the artists were not allowed to take photos of the presentation area prior to showtime, which like most things that went awry or were irritating that night, the incompetance seems to reside squarely with the venue and its lack of communication.
Which gets me to the fact that the pre-show presentation ended up being a partially completed mid-concert presentation (between Dolby and BT’s sets), which was hurried, and then completed as the concert are was being cleared out. The whole thing was graciously held together by Marit, DA’s rep on the tour, and so thanks to her for saving what could have been potentially a very bad situation with a better than expected result.
To that end the overall showcase and concert was in my opinion quite successful; the artists did get eyeball time, the performers sounded good, and the jambalaya served was not entirely bland (still overpriced, but at least not bland). The show itself I will probably end up writing about over at the music blog, but needless to say both Dolby and BT performed well. It is a good mix of material.
Apparently my work was also shown at the San Diego stop of the tour, so if you were there, so was I, if only by proxy.
The next day I sped over to Temple City for lunch at Malagueta. Erika and Matt have a nice little place tucked just out of the way of the hellish concrete urbania of L.A. proper, and it was good to see them looking relaxed and settling in after their just happened wedding and honeymoon.
And then came the drive back, which was just slightly more enervating than the drive in, if only because by then I was burnt out from all the running and driving around. At one point I even started listening to the radio (which I never do) and found that NPR (a station I never listen to) was rebroadcasting an interview with jazz singer Anita O’Day, who had passed on recently. So at least that was good, even if Amy Goodman was the one doing the interview (I find her style school-marmish and narcolepsy inducing).
By the time I made it home I was pretty much burnt super-crispy. I still had a good time though.
1. Cintra Wilson, besides being one of the best social satirists since H.L. Mencken, has done theater, film, and even the Winter Steele puppet insanity shorts formerly on MTVs Liquid Television show. The book I mention is A Massive Swelling: Celebrity Re-Examined as a Grotesque, Crippling Disease and Other Cultural Revelations.
2. Dolby is most remembered here in the U.S. with She Blinded Me With Science, but he actually scored a string of minor and major hits across the Atlantic, as well as production and session work with everyone from Def Leppard to Joni Mitchell, and he gets the short-shrift far too much.
3. Contrary to his public persona as a one man Lunatic Circus Clown Brigade, Richard is a disarmingly grounded and very sane human being with an impeccable sense of the absurd mixed with a lurid LA by way of Green Bay sense of humor. To anyone who wonders how I got to be a Gallery Director, the path was paved largely by Richard (with kudos to Eric and Scott).
4. DevArt Gallery Directors (GD) pick submissions for a feature called the Daily Dev (DD), which while chosen at the GDs discretion, user input is generally solicited. As a result, many of us have very heavily stuffed inboxes. Many also fail to bother researching even well placed public guidelines about DD requirements, and often blanketly engage in suggesting out of span or otherwise horrid items to feature. After a while you approach these with a mix of amusement and misanthropic chagrin.