Earthquakes, People!
Will it ever stop?
Just when the news keeps getting worse the Earth decides to rattle and shake. A reminder. We are small and vulnerable and kind of meaningless. I guess we need to be reminded. I’m not always sure to what end other than terror. We are okay out here though, today.
I actually missed the minor quake by the time it reached LA. I was in Ojai. I felt the second one a bit. Reality shifting. The wobble of the frame. The horizon line undulating. When the point of view from the ground where you stand starts to buckle you realize that anything you can manufacture in your mind, with or without drugs, is no comparison to seeing the asphalt on the road ripple. It didn’t get there today.
I was here for the Northridge quake in ’94. That was a shaker. I never felt more helpless and amazed.
On another note, Sword of Trust opens this week in New York City. Thursday night, there's a screening and Q&A at the 92nd Street Y. Then, starting Friday, it's playing at the IFC Center and Landmark 57 with Q&As Friday and Saturday night at both theaters and Sunday afternoon at Landmark. Next week it opens in Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Berkeley, CA, Washington, DC, Toronto, Cambridge, MA, and Westchester, NY. You can go to swordoftrust.com to see where it’s playing.
I hope you had a safe a good long weekend and did what you wanted to do as an American on a day for all Americans. I didn’t engage at all, really. I was up in Ojai trying to achieve some r & r. I didn’t go see any fireworks. I didn’t go to a BBQ. I just laid low. Went on a hike. Ate some pretty good food. Got a massage.
I honestly don’t love SoCal. No matter how much I try to there’s something about the dry dusty haze that hangs over almost all things pretty here that just make me edgy and uncomfortable. That and the fires and quakes and the parade of the entitled. Like individual cities built on vanity moving through the dust.
I’ve even gotten a little less tolerant of old hippies. Maybe I’m just getting old and cranky.
I had a kind of amazing talk with David Lee Roth that you can hear today. He’s a real stream of consciousness warrior. He almost speaks in his own language. I loved it. I remember when the first Van Halen record came out. I was a freshman in high school and it changed everything about rock music. Everything. Talk about a ripple in the fabric of reality. Almost every car door was open in the parking lot blaring Eddie’s Eruption. It was like something had been pulled down from the guitar gods and delivered. It wasn’t like I was a huge fan but how can you not love that first record.
I remember going to see them at the Pit in Albuquerque. We had great seats down on the floor of the arena. I feel like the opening band was called The Cats. I don’t know. I don’t know what Van Halen played either. Some kid who was in my graphics class who generally creeped me out came up to me with a pipe and asked me if I had ever smoked hash. I said no. Took two hits and passed out on the floor. There might have been puke involved. I’m sure I was drinking before and I’m sure I have no recollection of the show. Ah, high school. Good times.
On Thursday I talk to Nahnatchka Kahn about her journey as the daughter of Iranian immigrants to achieving amazing success as the creator and showrunner of Fresh of the Boat. Good story. Good talks.
Enjoy!
Boomer lives!
Love,
Maron