THE VIEW FROM THE WEST - VOL. 3

Charles Manson, David Letterman, Michael Jackson, Axl Rose.

All four, as young men, fled Indiana and headed West.

As did I.

Los Angeles, California.

Doves on power lines.  Rats in palm trees.

One of my all-time favorite Letterman jokes:  Autumn is my favorite season in LA, watching the birds change color and fall from the trees.

In my youth, I didn’t really have an urge to drive East.  It was always South or West.

Now?  I think about New York a lot.   And Buenos Aires.

I’ve never been to Buenos Aires.

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THE VIEW FROM THE WEST - VOL. 2

A few words about readings.

Authors and poets standing up in front of people and reading from their work.

I have it in my head that a good reading should take on the character of its town.  Meaning:  a New York reading should be different than a New Orleans reading.  A Seattle reading should be different than a Portland reading.  A Chicago reading should be different than an Austin reading.

And so on.

Here in LA, it seems like a reading has to be entertaining.  Meaning:  It can’t just be a reading; it also must be a show.  I don’t mean this in a bad way, either.  It’s a natural extension of LA culture.  The Entertainment Capital of the World.  “A reading with jazz hands,” I like to say.   People in Hollywood seem to expect jazz hands.  They want some pyrotechnics, some musical theater, some weirdness, some special effects.

Maybe even some fake blood.

Or, on a lucky night, some nudity.

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