Greetings from Laurel Canyon!
On my own I faced a gang of jeering in strange streets, oh oh / When my nerves were pumping and I / Fought my fear in, I didn’t run / I was not done
I’ve been beat up, I’ve been thrown out / But I’m not down, no, I’m not down / I’ve been shown up, but I’ve grown up / And I’m not down, no, I’m not down
One thing about quarantine, there’s plenty of time for thought. These last couple of weeks we’ve been socked in by smoke and “gloomy environmental prospects.” I’m “new-normally” in our backyard, mediating in my little corner of our grove in the canyon.
Prior to the fires, the coming of September had me thinking of my LA roots. It’s pretty much a mind blower to think I showed in LA forty years ago with a duffle bag of clothes and a surfboard. With school being back in session, I often look at my kid and think back to my arrival in LA, who I was, and the path I’ve traveled to become a Los Angeleno. As I’ve said time and time again, mine has been first and foremost a rock ‘n’ roll journey.
This week’s Idelic Hour is a simple musical salute to the fall of 1980—the vinyl and cassettes I played, the bands I saw, the friends I made, and the experience of the my early years at 18 in LA and on my own.
Props to fellow Sagittarian Rodney Bingenheimer. Even though I came to town believing only real punks came from from NYC, hearing punk rock on the radio changed the course of my life.
Stay safe, connected, compassionate—and vote no matter what.
The Idelic Single of the Week:
Paper Idol – Miss You (Rolling Stones Cover)
The Idelic kid at the beginning.
