This week, I have really focused on creating musical pieces to capture my experience in Los Angeles. My previous blog posts already do a pretty good job of summarizing my experiences and learning, therefore for my songs I will be continuing to showcase my learning but through an expressive means. While in Los Angeles, I played a lot of music in my room. I brought a practice amplifier, a guitar, a pedal, and a keyboard along with me. On nights that I did not go out, I spent quite a lot of time reading my self-assigned books, listening to music from Los Angeles, and playing music in my room. One thing that artistically struck me about L.A. was how eclectic the ‘sounds’ are that come out of this city. While many cities are known for being the birthplace of a particular sound (and make it quite apparent), the nature of Los Angeles’s decentralized and immigrant/transplant population creates such a diversity of ideas that there really is not one concrete sound that defines the L.A. music scene, which is something I really enjoyed about the area. However, the themes I will be playing upon in my music will not be as “sunshine-y” as the famed ‘California sound’ that I discussed.

One major theme I will be focusing on is Alienation. As I talked about previously, I felt an extreme sense of alienation while traveling by foot around the city. The sidewalk was a barren place. In many places that I walked, the only other people I would see on foot were usually homeless. When I told one of my interviewees that I had walked to Studio City from Sherman Oaks (about 4 miles) he said “NOBODY I’ve ever known would do that!”. He further told me that when people see you walking down a street such as Ventura Blvd. at night alone, they assume either you’re mentally ill or homeless. I remember one night when I was walking from Encino to Sherman Oaks and I was literally the only person on the sidewalk the entire time, while many cars were just whizzing by. I felt very alone. I found the situation almost comical and began laughing really loudly, only to realize how weird I must look to cars passing me. I was not alone, I was constantly surrounded.

Another big theme was waste. It is a wild and completely 21st century notion that civilization in the middle of the desert is even possible. With increasing population and decreasing resources comes many issues. One that I have been focusing on is the water crisis, being one that is effecting the entire west coast as well as the entire world. Having grown up in Minnesota, one of my first encounters with the idea of California (besides television and almost every movie) was when I was younger and many Minnesotans were up in arms about how California lobbyists were lobbying for the taking water from Minnesota lakes and using it for Los Angeles. In fact, a third of the water that comes to Los Angeles is sourced from Lake Superior, as well as Lake Michigan. I remember hearing people complain as a child about how unfair it was that a state could just take another states water because it had more money and was more powerful. Being in the state, it was wild to see how wasteful people were still being with water. One woman I talked to (a friend of the daughter whose house I was staying at), told me that she didn’t believe in the water shortage at all. Because the water crisis isn’t effecting many people in the United States (especially Los Angeles due to shipped/piped in water), it can give people a level of comfort. Water comes out of the sink, and it always has and will in their mind. People are constantly going to the car wash as well. Living across the street from a car wash, I was always surrounded by traffic going in and out from the business. I don’t know how so many people are able to keep their cars clean, seeing as my car was constantly dirty (even after I washed it) from the dust and bugs. One thing that I learned about water legislation in L.A. that I found interesting was how water laws affect different communities within the city. For instance, most sub-cities have laws as to when/how much water can be used weekly. The exception is Beverly Hills. There are no restrictions to watering lawns there, and the result is extremely visible. Green, large fields. And at the end of the property line, the desert continues, creating quite an unnatural sight.

As I began working on my project in Los Angeles, I realized just how much work it would take to chronicle every single thing that I was trying to. To study the real estate alone of the city is not enough, for L.A. is not just one city. Before arriving, I had no idea just how spread out and divided this city was, and how widely distributed power within the city truly was. To go about this task would take much longer than the time allotted in this project. Therefore, in an effort to make my work more manageable I have decided to do a more local effort, studying the neighborhood that I resided in during my stay, which was off of Woodman Avenue by Highway 101.

The neighborhood that I stayed in was off of Woodman on a street called Valleyheart Drive.   Stylistically, the house appeared to be an L.A. take on the American Colonial Revival architectural style, with half brick/half white wood walls, symmetrical windows, and ivy on the walls. What made it seem more L.A. was the car port in front of the house, as well as spots of unsymmetrical aspects, such as the garage jutting out of the side and the fact that the house was a one-story. Although it was a smaller, one story home, any house that close to Ventura Blvd sells for around 1 million dollars, this particular one selling for 1.2 million. But in Los Angeles, you’re not paying for size, you are paying for location (location, location, location, as they say). With easy access to Studio City, Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Laurel Canyon and downtown, this neighborhood has the location to bulk up the price of living.

Back when these suburbs were first built in the 50’s, they were largely white. as the white population began to leave the metro area due to fear of minorities and crime. This phenomenon, called ‘white flight’, occurred in almost every major U.S. city during this time frame. In the 1980’s, white flight occurred again in Los Angeles, and many moved even further north, into the Santa Clarita Valley (Valencia, Newhall, Stevenson Ranch). And even today, white flight has continued to push. With a large Filipino population moving to Valencia, many have resorted to moving as far north as Bakersfield and Lancaster (central California), which is known to be an extremely racially segregated area. However, in the past ten years the white population of Sherman Oaks has jumped nearly 10% in the past ten years (73.8-82% increase) due to the sharp rise of housing prices skyrocketed, as well as the recession happening in 2007. However, historically this area has been mostly white throughout history. As well as this, many in the area work or have worked in the entertainment industry.

For instance, in the house that I was staying in, there was quite a history of entertainment. It was first owned by the Porcaro family. Joe Porcaro was a jazz session musician, who worked on soundtracks for movies, such as Enter the Dragon (1973) and Kelly’s Heroes (1971), as well as with artists such as Pink Floyd, Gladys Knight, Frank Sinatra, The Monkees, and Madonna. His sons Steve, Mike, and the late Jeff Porcaro were also session musicians, but were more popularly known as the band Toto. In fact, the room that I stayed in was the drummer’s bedroom when he was a kid, and apparently, because the room is so far from the master bedroom, he would sneak out of his window at night and go to parties. The studio that they practiced in is still intact (a garage converted into a studio with a vocal booth and many instruments) and is still used for recording.

(the video above was filmed on a rooftop somewhere in downtown L.A………) :))))

The house is now owned by Olivier Ferrand, who I briefly discussed earlier. An immigrant from Switzerland, Olivier moved to L.A. to be a photographer, where he worked for modeling agencies, Penthouse, and shot for some larger concerts. He eventually became a recording engineer, working with artists such as Iggy Pop, Steve Jones (Sex Pistols), Keith Strickland (B-52’s), as well as many other artists. He was also an actor, featured in many films as an extra (most notably the 80’s sic-fi cult classic Xanadu (1980), where he met Olivia Newton John. Although he is retired, he still does recording sessions for various lesser known artists, such as Gary Allen, who had a session while I was staying there. I showed the class a video of his before I departed.

The house has had quite a rich history of Los Angeles entertainment. I found that staying here gave me a perspective that I most certainly wouldn’t have gotten if I had been in a more isolated living quarters, and really helped me begin to and further my engagement with the city.

My journey has come to an end. After two days of driving, I have finally made it back to Olympia. What a journey it has been. It was extremely surreal driving back to Olympia. As I began driving on the highway, the urban sprawl almost immediately dissipated into rolling green hills and snow-capped mountains in the distance. As I ventured on, the landscape became more familiar and temperate. The desert was gone, and I was once again surrounded by forests and mountains. What a big difference just a day of driving can do to the scenery.

There was something really comforting about it. I started to notice how living in Los Angeles was effecting me and my habits. I noticed while in Oregon how impatient my driving had become. In California, 15 miles over the speed limit is standard. I felt like I was constantly in a rush. I quickly realized that this attitude towards driving was unhealthy and stressful, and I began to acclimate to my old habits. Los Angeles is built on stress; every time I left my house it was impossible not to see people getting road rage. While the projection of the culture of Southern California through media in my life has typically been relaxation and sunshine,

As I approach the end of my time in Los Angeles, I reflect on just how much I have witnessed and learned over the course of three weeks. While studying the city prior to arriving was helpful, there was nothing like driving for 16 hours and arriving in an entirely new scenery. One element that has really thrown me off is the weather. It has been so sunny and warm practically every day since I’ve been here that I have begun to feel like time isn’t moving at all. After a week it began to feel like every day was the exact same day, and that time wasn’t really moving at all. Along with this, the nights here never get completely dark, which really stretches time out further for me, making the days feel endless. But as the final days are approaching, the reality of time passing as quickly as it has began to kick in.

On Wednesday, I saw Black Slate at The Echoplex.

Black Slate is a 1980’s dub/reggae band from London that regrouped within the last few years and has been touring the United States. While there sound is very easy listening and relaxed, their messages were piercing and politically charged throughout the set. They spoke of police brutality and the adverse effect that drug laws have on people of color. In between songs, he spoke of how drug laws targeted them as a whole religiously as well; being Rastafarians, they view marijuana as an essential medicine for freeing the body and mind, and spoke of their experiences with police brutality in their own lives. While they approached very heavy topics and focused the night on oppression, they constantly displayed positivity, laughing and thanking the crowd constantly. Repeatedly they talked about how much they loved playing in the United States, and how Los Angeles was one of their favorite stops. The crowd was extremely receptive, and was definitely the most active crowd I have seen in Los Angeles thus far. It was also the most diverse crowd as well; having gone to shows with a majority white crowd, this was a complete mix. Because the show was free before 10 PM, this allowed for a very socio-economically diverse crowd as well. Unlike many of the other shows where I felt like the crowd was more cohesive, the subject matter and accessibility of the show allowed for it to really reflect the diversity of Los Angeles in a way that I have not seen in shows prior.

As I mentioned in my last blog post, an interesting thing that I learned from the book Musical Metropolis was how the city of Los Angeles was built with the idea of satellite cities, in order to give local governments more power and to reduce corruption in the city. This, however, was definitely not the case. In the book that I’ve been focusing on this week, Sins of the City: The Real Los Angeles Noir by Jim Heimann, depicts the opposite picture from what the city projected to the world. This book displays a city historically known for murder, crime rings and corrupt police. In fact, the first time that Los Angeles made national news headlines was when race-fueled massacre of Chinese immigrants occurred in the Calle de los Negros, located on what is now Los Angeles Street and Union Station. While a forgotten piece of history, it is considered to be the largest incident of mass lynching in American history. This was an area known to be the seediest part of town, which at the time was described by Morrow Mayo in his 1933 book Los Angeles as, “a dreadful thoroughfare, forty feet wide, running one whole block, filled entirely with saloons, gambling houses, dance halls, and cribs… was a madhouse, filled with a mass of drunken, crazy Indians, of all ages, fighting, dancing, killing each other off with knives and clubs, falling paralyzed drunk in the street. Every weekend three or four were murdered” (Heimann, 5). The book then goes into the history of corruption within the city. Prohibition played a huge role, as gangs and bootleggers paid off the police to create speakeasy and casinos. This harboring of criminals made the city a hotbed of crime, where east coast mobsters found a safe haven to continue their dealings. Police arrested people for ‘appearing’ gay, as well as targeting minorities. In the 50’s during the Red Scare, the police began to question artists who were ‘suspicious’ of communism. Musicians, poets, painters, and hollywood stars all became under fire.

Today, there is still a history of crime and racial oppression that is evident in Los Angeles. I talked to a woman on Ventura Blvd, who discussed with me how corrupt she has seen the LAPD act and treat people of color within the city. She told me that she would never call the police if she was in danger, and that she was raised to think that even in the most dire situations it is best to handle things privately, because the police will escalate the situation. In a city still reeling from the Rodney King riots of 1992, this makes nothing but sense.

After seeing Black Slate, I felt like I got to see a very different perspective of Los Angeles than I had seen at previous shows. Hardship is a universal struggle, and the theme that rang through the set was not just specific to their experiences in London. I found it very powerful to listen to them openly speak against systems of oppression, engaging the crowd and fostering a good time. While this is not an issue that will go away any time soon, music is crucial to uniting communities.

As I approach the middle portion of my time in Los Angeles, I reflect on how quickly my trip has gone by. It feels like just yesterday I arrived, eager to explore the environment as well as the literature that I picked to read while I am here. It’s such a difficult city to explore, due to the decentralized nature of the city itself. While this aspect makes being a tourist/newcomer to the city, it has also greatly benefited the city. In Kenneth H. Marcus’s book, Musical Metropolis: Los Angeles and the Creation of a Music Culture, he brings up a point that one of the keys of the creation of Los Angeles’s music culture was the decentralization of the city, which occurred between 1880 and 1940. While Los Angeles has a vast metropolitan area, it extends much further, into what is known as Los Angeles county, spanning a whopping 4,083 square miles (larger than Connecticut). When two intercontinental rail lines were built in the early 19th century, the urbanization of Los Angeles began, and real estate boomed. In 1880, there was a population of 11,000 people, while a decade later there were over 50,000. As of 2000, there is around 16.37 million people that reside in the greater Los Angeles area. The dispersion of power in Los Angeles occurred not by accident; the Charter of 1889 provided citizens more power over their locales, attempting to avoid the giant endemic corruption that existed in cities such as New York and Chicago. This balancing of power into the outer cities of Los Angeles transformed Los Angeles into not just a collection of suburbs, but “a city surrounded by many satellite sub-center cities and communities” (Marcus, 3). Unlike other major cities in the United States, Los Angeles did not have all of it’s culture focused into one downtown sector. This allowed for a greater diversification of music scenes, and created different musical communities as well. And with all of the immigrants moving into the city from different parts of the world, the diversity of sounds was overflowing.

This development of the city as a spread out collection of cities was made possible by the technology of the time. In fact, Los Angeles was the first modern metropolis to be built around the idea of the car. The car culture in Los Angeles allowed people to not only live far away from each other, but they could also travel across the city, allowing musical communities to intersect. The car culture in L.A. boomed in the 40’s and 50’s, and became much a part of the music scene as well. A blossoming genre at the time was ‘sunshine pop’, lead by artists such as The Beach Boys, Gary Usher, Jakc Nitzche, Jan and Dan, The Pyramids, etc. These artists painted an image of L.A. that had been at the base of the city for far beyond their times. It displayed a mythical land of sun, surfing and women, with a tinge of innocence within. The car was an object of fun, where one rode down the ‘drag’ to be noticed by walking passer-bys (much like what people do on 4th avenue in downtown Olympia still) as well as it being viewed as an object of leisure and relaxation. While this view of the city was predominately held by the white, upper-class population of the city, it became world famous, and represented the city to the rest of the country and the world. Cars not only moved through the city, but they became an integral part in the identity and image of the city.

Walking down Venture Blvd, I can see that the car culture is still heavily dominant here. As one of the few actually walking down the sidewalk, a feeling of alienation kicks in. While the restaurants and shops are lit up and filled with people, the sidewalks are empty. But the way that the city is designed, this in inevitable. If you want to get around beyond your satellite community, you need to have a vehicle.But even then, parking is an even bigger issue. On many of the side streets, one has to have a permit to park, and the only places that I have found in the area for parking have ranged in the $20-30 area. Thus, I have begun to utilize the public transportation systems.

On Friday night, I went to The Roxy on the Sunset Strip, where I was Panda Bear and Ducktails.

(above is the album that he is touring on, entitled Panda Bear Versus The Grim Reaper)

The show was phenomenal. Panda Bear played fevered, textured pop music, with many vocal overlays and harmonies. His style reminds me of The Beach Boys; progressive pop structure, vocal arrangements, and vocal tone-wise. The crowd was very active, and the night was filled with dancing and a feeling of happiness and content. Ducktails also gave the same vibe. A California native, I could begin to see how the concept of ‘sunshine pop’ still remains While more driving and formulaic, the music was light, beachy, and happy. While at times the lyrics became depressing in both sets, the overall vibe of the sound was positive. The lyrical content had a similar focus as well; an idyllic view of life in the sunshine, where bad things can happen, but the sun continues to shine.

After quite the extravaganza, I arrived in Los Angeles on Wednesday afternoon! Unfortunately, I ran into some issues along the way. Although I left Saturday afternoon, my car broke down around Yreka, California, and I had to wait a few days for it to get fixed. I stayed at the nearby Motel 6, where I was able to read my books and try to relax. However I was on edge the whole time, waiting for m car to hopefully let me finish my trip that I intended. Yreka seemed to be a dying town, with the few historic buildings being the main attraction to the city itself, as well as trout fishing. However, most of the business seemed to be centered around the highway, with bright fast food and gas station signs lining the sky. However there were many god nature trails where I could sit and enjoy my surroundings. Once I was able to hit the road again on Monday, I didn’t have much time before it got late and I had to find a place to sleep. I spent a night sleeping on a friend of a friend’s couch in San Fransisco at an apartment near San Fransisco State. We didn’t talk much (due to the fact that I came in at around 1 AM and he had work the next day), but I thanked him for his hospitality and left him some treats (a bag of beef jerky). In the morning when I got to my car, I was greeted by quite the surprise; my ancient GPS that I have been using for years had finally called it quits and stopped working. With no map, smartphone or slightest sense of direction, I began to try to retrace my steps from the night before to try and find the highway again. This did not work, and I ended up getting pulled over by the police for talking on my phone (talking to my dad as he was trying to help me find the highway vie Google Maps) and getting let off with a warning (phew), as well as directions to the highway entrance. Who knew you couldn’t talk on the phone while driving in California? I didn’t!

After around six hours of driving, I began to approach the greater Los Angeles area. Although I was close, this did not mean that I had any idea what I was doing. The highway system took quite a bit of patience, as I had to pull over multiple times and call people for extra directional assistance. But it was no big deal, as I eventually managed to find the house in the late afternoon. While all of these setbacks were quite stressful, I remembered to enjoy myself. While I didn’t have control over many of these situations, I did have control over how I reacted, and how easy it would have been for me to become fed up, and to let these problems manifest themselves into my time here. But once I pulled into the right driveway, an instant feeling of relief came over me. It was great to be able to sit in my car with m mission complete, watching the palm trees sway in the wind. The heat made me feel as if I was sinking into my seat, and I was able to rest my shoulders from the stress of travel.

Right when I walked into the house, I knew I had found the right place for me to be. Olivier, a 69 year old man from France, answered the door and helped me with my things. He immediately gave me so much information about the house, as well as his experiences working as a producer in the music industry when he was younger. The house that I’m staying at was originally owned by the drummer for Toto, and after getting a tour of it, I fell in love. It has a very 50′s vintage look to it, but the garage was turned into a music studio complete with analog recording devices, synthesizers, guitars, basses, fancy microphones, and a vocal booth for recording. After settling in, I was already out the door and going to a show. I drove through Laurel Canyon to go see Arca at Hollywood Forever’s Masonic Lodge.

Arca is a Venezuelan producer based out of London, who plays experimental industrial music. His songs ride a fine line between beautiful and horrific, as they barrage you with alien sounds and bass, and move frantically through themselves. On my way down to Los Angeles, I had been listening to Arca a lot, and didn’t even know he was playing until I arrived! I felt like Arca was a really good choice to listen to while driving through California, giving the intense highway driving an edge to it, matching the overstimulation of my surroundings. The show was very powerful, as the songs screamed at high volumes, paired with intense visuals by Jesse Kanda. It was a very 21st century experience; the vibe of the set changed dramatically many times, and it felt like  could really see the beauty and grime of being a human in the 21st century portrayed through song. After the show, I walked around Hollywood and pondered my experience. It reminded me of last weeks blog post, where I discussed the importance of being present in life and critical thought. I felt like the set did a great job of this, as it ranged from absolute beauty to pounding bass and chaos. Much like the world we live in today, Arca’s music is at times abrasive, and suddenly can become relaxed and peaceful, and fluctuate between the two. I found it to be very powerful, and it was a great kickoff to my project.

There are in our existence spots of time. When time slows down, and pure beauty takes over the mind. For instance, when driving through Yosemite National Park a few years back, I could not really focus on any one thought in particular. Elation filled my chest, and I had never felt as truly centered. To this day, I can look back on my memory and recount the blissful experience. Moments like these remind us that we are more than just drones going about our daily lives; we are human beings. But these moments should not be put aside just for grandiose and wild experiences. If we allow ourselves the ability to actively observe and take in our surroundings, we will be happier, more active people. Observing ones surroundings should not just be a hobby, but a constant practice, building neurological pathways within the brain that will allow your brain to work in new ways that you did not realize it could.

In class on Tuesday morning, we took a class from Ratna Roy on Orissi Rhythms. She discussed with us how integral dance is to developing the mind, and how children in India have a dance class in school as well, which has shown to improve math and science test scores across the board. The reasoning for this is that working the brain in a creative form such as dance, one is using parts of the brain that they have never worked before, building new ways of thinking and interpreting information. When we were dancing, I tripped over myself constantly. There were so many different patterns that we had to learn, and by the time that I felt that I had the hang of the footwork, she would introduce the arm movements and I would look like a flailing blow-up character outside of a used car lot. I really couldn’t keep up.

Another interesting point she brought up was about people thinking that you have to be born a  musician or an artist to be able to create art, as well as being able to spend most of your time doing this. She said that much of this ideology stems from British imperialism, where in India they made dancing illegal. They use the dance to communicate ideas between each other, and this threatened western power. By outlawing dance, they took away other art forms too, for art in India is all interconnected. Singing does not come before dance or vis versa; they commune hand in hand.

Being able to create adds a special place in ones life. It shows them that they are capable of becoming more than their own earthly body, and that they can transcend into sound, images, and stories. Not only is this important for an individual, but it is important for a community to thrive. This is how imperialism came to despise the arts, for they were something that was not straight forward, however it gave people enough power for them to feel threatened.

As humans, it is healthy for us to view the world as De Bottons’ artist, one who takes life i. In order to get the most out of life, we must pay close attention to everything. We let too many beautiful things pass by without any notice, due to stress and the fast paced environment of the twenty first century. By focusing on our environment, we can see our world in different ways than we have before, and when we create with our own hands, we can really notice the subtleties within concepts and landscapes, and we can come to understand how truly beautiful yet fleeting the world around us is. While this can be viewed as a morbid balancing act, I would say that it is quite the contrary. Death is a beautiful force, one that all  living beings must face, and without it life would be a complete bore. Our daily tasks would become pointless in the grand scheme of things. But some people do view life in this way. They fall into complacency, and don’t want their mental walls that they have built around what life is, what social standards have set them to believe, or what to expect next to come toppling down. Because, at the end of the day, life is a complete mystery, and to act like it isn’t is just a ploy to fool oneself. Not to say that I have any answers to how to live ones life. Everyone has their own path. But, how much life are you truly living if you let preconceived notions control you?

Journeys are the midwives of thought, and yet seldom is the act of journeying reflected upon. Reading The Art of Travel by Alain de Botton has given me a very unique perspective to travel itself, yet I find most if not all of what it says to be true. Typically, people are so excited to reach a destination that they overlook the introspective aspect of the journey itself. Whether you are travelling by car, plane, train, or what have you, the scenery rolling by you creates a constant barrage of visual stimulation, which keeps your brain much more active than any other time that you will find yourself sitting down. When sitting in a plane, I have often thought about how small all of my problems as well as my physical being are when I look at entire cities or large expanses of land below me. In the car, I watch scenes whiz by me. One moment you are looking at a group of businessmen casually chatting while walking down the street, and the next block you are witnessing a fistfight.

Even though you are constantly stimulated with new outside imagery, it isn’t an over stimulation.  Watching the landscape moving past you not only allows you to think about the physical realm of the outside, but it gives one space to self reflect and think about who we truly are. We are able to disconnect ourselves from any geographic or social influences, and become one with who we are and what we want. As De Botton explains it, “The furniture insists that we cannot change because it does not; the domestice setting keeps us tethered to the person we are in ordinary life, but who may not be who we essentially are.” This isolation creates an othering between us and our world that we function in day to day. We are not at home where we are used to are surroundings, yet we have not yet arrived at any destination to give ourselves a sense of place. We are in a state of limbo, where we can become one with our true thoughts and get a sense of place not rooted in the external, but within ourselves.

When I prepare for my trip to Los Angeles, it is necessary for me to keep in mind that I am not only just going to be in the Greater Los Angeles area, but I will be travelling by car from Olympia. Having done this trip before, I know what to expect visually; the change in climate, the drying out of the landscape, the cultural differences between the Pacific Northwest and SoCal, and the vast amount of open space between the large cities that I will pass through as I journey down the spine of the American West coast. However, it will be in much different context. When I traveled to Los Angeles previously, I was on my way to Texas, and I had found a ride there with someone that I barely knew who had family that we could crash with along the way, which took us through Oregon, California, Arizona, New Mexico and then finally to Texas. Almost from the get go, our personalities did not work well together, as well as the fact that we were crammed in a completely packed vehicle, altogether creating a very difficult environment to enjoy the act of travelling. We disagreed on almost everything, and that made the overall experience tainted with a shadow of annoyance.

This trip, I will be alone. I will have the mental and physical space to critically think about not only my journey, but myself as well. I eagerly await the day that I start my car, pull out of my driveway, and begin to drive down I-5, passing familiar landmarks until I hit a point where I am a tourist, foreign to the land around me. I want to lose myself physically so that I can better attune to my true self, where I can reflect on all of the time, research and effort I put into this trip and how I can make my goals reality. Further, I will be able to reflect on my life in a much larger sense. Where am I going? Who am I? By removing yourself from your comfort zone(s), you can truly probe these questions in an objective sense, and figure out what you want most not only out of your travels but out of your life.

Before I leave this spring…

After much debate as to whether or not I would be able to go on this trip, I have in the last few weeks pulled together a plan to be able to go to my initial city; Los Angeles! I will be renting a room from a man named Olivier Ferrand, who is a music producer and has an in-home studio. Having recorded for artists such as Iggy Pop, he will have a vast knowledge of the history of the Los Angeles music scene, as well as a cheap room to rent out.

My experiences with Los Angeles have not been the most cherished. I remember leaving with a feeling of artificiality, and found the city to be very hard to connect to. However, having been to Los Angeles only twice, and for extremely short periods of time (a culmination of two days), I am really looking forward to spending more time in the city. I have never traveled to a city to academically study it, and I really hope to break my pre-conceived notions as well as the ones that I quickly conceived on my own. Before I embark on my trip, I plan on reading a few select chapters from both City of Quartz and Musical Metropolis to give me a layout of what I am going to see when I arrive, and to give me more context on locations and history. Musical Metropolis also comes with a CD, so that I can listen to the songs discussed in the book before hand as well as while I am reading. I will also be conducting internet research to learn about the history of real estate, tracking the movement of money through the city. Being one of the biggest cities for entertainment industry, the arts have played a crucial role in the creative and monetary capital that the city holds. This has given Los Angeles the   illusion of the “City of Dreams”, where musicians, actors, and anyone trying to become famous, migrate to reach their dreams. However, this is not the case for many who live in the city.

As of March 2014, the unemployment rate in the city is marked at 8.0% (where 6.8% is the national average). Along with this, the percentage of people living below the poverty line is 21.2% (14.9% being the national average). With these figures in mind, it is mind-boggling to read that the cost of living is 30.4 percent above the U.S. average. The wealth is extremely high concentrated, and thus has raised the prices of everything in the city.

This type of extreme wealth gap doesn’t happen overnight, and took decades to get to the state that it is in now. To understand how such a thing happens to a city, one must examine where power lies and how the forces that be have shaped the city into the image that we see today; a bustling metropolis built on a fault line surrounded by desert and no fresh water whatsoever. Not only is the city a biological anomaly, but it is also a cultural one as well.

I am also very excited to see live performances when I’m there and talk to musicians about the current scene and their opinions on Los Angeles. There are a plethora of free shows happening every night in the city, which is something that is very new to me. Back home, most shows at venues cost at least 10-20 dollars, not including coat check. To get the most eclectic results, I  will go to free shows, as well as a few paid shows, of any genre, and observe. I hope to be able to talk to some of the performers after their sets, and get their opinions on the current music scene and how thy view themselves in the context of L.A. and how the price of living has effected music production within the city.

My Itinerary: