I love/loathe Los Angeles
I’m back from a week in LA which has gone like most of my weeks in LA - lots of time running around a convention center, attending meetings, and writing like crazy. The city itself gets lost in the mix, save for a haze of never-ending traffic jams and receipts for taxis. (I managed to avoid the things all week, but spent a sufficiently inordinate amount of money on taxis this Friday to make up to make up for it.) Of the cities I hit in the convention circuit, I enjoy Los Angeles the least. Sure, it seems to be a mild 70 degrees and sunny all year ’round (save this past week, of course), but getting from anywhere to anywhere is at least an hour-long affair. The city is such a sprawl, pockets of interest far separated from each other with walls of slowly moving cars in-between. Driving through LA is a reasonably close proximity to my idea of hell and I puzzle endlessly as to why anyone lives there… much less so many people.
It is a quandary.
However, inordinate amount of money on taxis aside, I may have finally grasped part of the puzzle. E3 (for which I was in town) officially ended on Thursday. I stayed an extra night to catch Prairie Home Companion. For those of you not in the know, PHC is an old-fashioned weekly radio show. There’s singing and skits and monologue and entertainment of all sorts. (And the host, Garrison Keillor, is someone whom I could blissfully listen to no matter what he had to say. He’s just got a voice. He could read the phone book and it would be good entertainment.) It may sound silly and outdated, but don’t knock it ’til you’ve tried it!
Anyway, PHC doesn’t come as far south as Austin often. I’ve seen it in person once before, but they tend to tour through the north, not often venturing into Texas at all. With it happening during E3 week, it was too much to pass up - while it carries quite well over the radio, there’s an extra dimension to see them all performing (and jump in for audience participation time, obviously!). So an extra night in LA and a few taxis later - I’m sitting in the Greek Theatre and developing a whole new opinion of Los Angeles.
The Greek is located in Griffith Park, which doesn’t even feel like part of LA - all greenery and tall trees. You can’t see the city past the treeline. It’s lovely and peaceful. As the show started, the sun set, twilight dawned, and the moon rose overhead. All concerts should be like this, surrounded by sky and tall trees, lit in brilliant shades of green and orange by the stage lighting. Of course, we have outdoor events in Austin - the Austin City Limits music festival in Zilker Park every year is lovely, but it more open field than secluded, tree-rimmed stage. Plus instead of a pleasant 70 degrees, it’s pushing 100 until the sun sets. You need a good hat, a solid layer of sunscreen, and plenty of cool drinks to survive a day of the ACL festival. But in Los Angeles, it works, and beautifully.
So, maybe - just maybe - there is a reason to put up with all the hassle of Los Angeles. I’m still not entirely sold all of the idea, but I may be coming around. At least enough not to think all of my LA friends are completely insane.