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Published: December 22nd 2007
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Hi there folks.
Long time, no blog. We know. We also know there are many months and many countries to catch up on but we’ve just been inspired by an amazing week in LA that we have to tell you about. Hence, the other backlog of travel experiences will have to be revealed at a later date.
So we flew into the states from Mexico City and from Dallas, Texas, jumped straight on the old grey dog (the greyhound bus) and trekked it cross country to Los Angeles. Now we had been warned before that not many Americans travel by bus and we would be sure to come across some interesting characters aboard, but nothing had prepared us for the journey to come. A live version of the Jerry Springer show broke out at the back of the bus as a group of black guys and girls started dissin each other, the performance ending with a chick screaming and crying and getting kicked off the bus. Then there was the freaky dude who willingly told us he had been on meth the past 10 years and spoke and acted rapidly and sketchily enough for us to believe him.
Then there was the chick who just got out of jail, the girl who was travelling around because the state had taken her kids away and the classy couple who got busted having sex in the toilet on the bus! They almost got kicked off as well and most of the bus got a great view of the white trash sheila with no clothes on!! So our 30+ hour bus ride was anything but dull!
In LA, we stayed in a hostel right in Hollywood which sounds fancy and cool, but the neighbourhood is really quite seedy. The crazy characters continued to cross our paths as we walked down Hollywood Blv, where all the stars are embedded on the pavement. We took a few cliché tourist photos and felt like we were in the movies as we walked along streets such as Sunset Blv, Melrose Blv and Santa Monica Blv. We also had a vintage clothing shopping extravaganza on Melrose where Abby purchased a few too many radical pieces of new clothing, but was in heaven doing so.
Our first day was a mission to secure tickets to the Tool concert, which was sold out. After
hours of phone calls and internet searching we decided to head down to the venue, armed with a bottle of Havana Club rum from Cuba and a whole heap of hope. After lining up for about half an hour with some other radical chicks we met, they opened the precious little window and released some more tickets. Not only were they half the price of the scalpers’, the seats were absolutely amazing, the closest we’ve ever seen Tool before. Needless to say we thoroughly enjoyed the gig, dancing our arses off and being mesmerised by the lights and power and attitude of the show. But there was still sooooo much music to come.
We spent the next night drinking $1 beers in the hostel and enjoying the open mike night where mostly talented musicians jumped up and impressed the pants off us. For some reason we stayed up until about 6am with hostel staff and new friends from Melbourne, smoking Cuban cigars and talking shit.
Next night was Bjork, another impressive gig. She is so amazing and cute and cool. Watching her skip and dance and stumble and pace around the stage was a captivating experience
and the sound of her voice live is even more mystifying than on her albums. The sound was incredible with the electronic ambience filling the small arena perfectly. Her stage show was wicked and she played every song I wanted to hear.
We also managed to get some tickets to an LA Lakers game which was really fun. We couldn’t be further away from the court, in seats at the very back, but we could still see Kobe Bryant kick arse and lead his team to a 5 point victory over the San Antonio Spurs, the leading champions.
After 4 nights in the hostel we transferred to a gorgeous apartment in Santa Monica, owned by a lovely lady called Rachel. We met Rachel and her boyfriend Brandon in Buenos Aires at the very start of our trip and they were gracious enough to put us up for our last few nights in LA. I don’t think two nicer people exist on this planet. Rach and Brandon showed us such an unreal time in LA and it was so nice to see if from the perspective of people that live there, rather than just being a tourist.
They drove us around the extravagant and fancy houses of Beverly Hills, we walked down Rodeo Drive, went down to Venice Beach and watched some dudes play ball where they filmed White Men Cant Jump, they cooked us breakfast and let us use their washing machine (small things become such a treat after travelling for 5 months!)
While cruising the streets of Beverly Hills we saw a film crew taping something and after asking a paparazzi dude we discovered it was the Sex and the City movie!!! Then, sure enough, we see Samantha all dolled up across the street shooting a scene. We managed to cross over after they cut and walked right past her. I even got a sneaky picture. It was such a thrill.
Rachel and Brandon also took us to a small live music venue that they often visit called the Hotel Café in Hollywood. Here, up and coming bands often perform, only to hit the spotlight a few months down the track. The night we went, they put on a Christmas special with the most exciting act being The Nightwatchman, otherwise known as Tom Morello, guitarist from Rage Against the Machine and
Audioslave. Nina Gordon, the singer from the Bangles also came out of retirement to play some beautiful songs with her band and one of the guys from Matchbox 20 also performed along with a few other cool bands. Tom was unreal. He played several acoustic originals including a trippy version of Guerilla Radio. He mastered the harmonica/guitar/vocal trio of performance and graciously let me take his set list home with me. After the show we end up at the bar hanging out with Tom. He buys me drinks and we chat about the Big Day Out and how Audioslave is dead because Chris Cornell quit the band. Totally surreal experience. So after seeing Bjork and hanging out with Tom Morello, we are no longer all that jealous about missing the Aussie Big Day Out!
Our last night in LA was pure magic. We spent it with Tori Amos. The first thrill was that we successfully and sneakily moved into better seats which we think were reserved for the press. With my pen and paper out and a rehearsed speech about how I was writing a review for the LA Weekly, we pulled it off without a question asked.
We were in the very front row of the first elevated section with not a soul to obstruct our view. It was brilliant. Tori blew us both away, reducing us to tears on several occasions because her songs were just soooo beautiful. On her latest album she performs under 5 different personalities or characters. We got to see 3 of them that night, each incredible in her own right. The lighting on stage was absolutely gorgeous and constantly changing. She played several old faithfuls, a few off the new album and even a couple of songs I didn’t know. About 20 songs in total. We left the stadium filled with emotion and contentment.
Many people, including the members of Tool, totally bag out LA as being a seedy hole in the planet filled with fake and egotistical human beings. While we definitely didn’t find it an aesthetically pleasing city, and we certainly witnessed the ugly underbelly of society, we also had a super terrific time, experienced some of the best gigs of our lives and hung out with many genuine and lovely people. So we don’t care what people say, LA rocked our world!
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