Dogs of L.A.

The canyon air is like a breath of fresh L.A.
Liz Phair: "Dogs of L.A."

It is sunny and 77 degrees with 44% humidity. I woke up around 7:15, listened to a few songs from Rumours as I dressed and stretched. I ran along the waterfront in an oversized Harvard t-shirt from a Goodwill in downtown Brooklyn, listening to Lil' Kim sing about Fulton Street. I can now run far, pain-free, with my newfound lung capacity.

I continued my faux L.A. morning post-shower in some weird extreme outfit I decided to inhabit. Black jersey, plunging neckline, strappy sandals, Forever 21 amulet. A red tie-dyed fringed suede bag. Chipped manicured nails, iced coffee, sunglasses. Rachel Zoe Courtney Love Mary-Kate Stevie Nicks Grey Gardens Italian funeral + witchy. I liked it. I looked like I did voodoo or something. For the first time this morning I realized that maybe one day I'll become one of those crazy old Patti Smith type women. There is a certain comfort in looking a little crazy. Based on the looks I was getting, I had to remove most of my accessories by the time I got to my work neighborhood.

In L.A. none of this would seem strange. Hippies, celebrities, Santa Ana winds, Scientologists and cults in general, the piercing sound of perpetual traffic, Chinatown. When I was last there, I saw people walking around Silverlake wearing those hair bands years before they made any appearance whatsoever on our Eastern shores. I once read the book Ask the Dust and I've never thought about L.A. the same way since. A city that had always seemed plastic, past-less, was now grounded in a Depression-era historical reality. It had, in effect, become a real place.

Liz Phair: "Go West"

Liz Phair is from Chicago, but for a period of time she lived in L.A. She won't talk about what she did out there (maybe by now she has). I like the songs on Whip-Smart about L.A. — hazy, sinister, broken, and vaguely lazy-sounding. "Go West" is the best one — about leaving her life and moving to L.A., I think. I highly relate to this song re: my life 2 years ago:

"Take off the parking brake
Go coasting into a different state
And I'm not looking forward to missing you
But I must have something better to do
I've got to tear my life apart
And go west, young man"

When I learned about Manifest Destiny in high school I finally started to understand this song, why people have been starting over ever westward for as long as we can remember. Looking back after my own "Go West" experience — although "west" was just south 2 hours to Philadelphia — I think this is one of my favorite songs of all time. In Escape from New York mode, "Go West," nestled between "Going to California" and "Midnight Train to Georgia," let me believe for a little while that when shit gets rough, maybe fleeing is a viable solution.