People!
Did you make it through round one of this holiday season? Are you okay? Ish? Did you get what you wanted, what you needed, what you asked for? Is there anything that will make it okay ever again? If you didn’t get a time machine, probably not.
I hope the holiday was ok. I know a lot of us were spending it alone but it seems that many of us have adapted to using the tech at our fingertips to stay connected to other humans as best we can or, at the very least, engaged in distractions that enable us not to lose our fucking minds.
I think one thing we all have learned during the Trump years and into this pandemic is exactly who we are as a country and who our fellow Americans are. If there is a deep state of anything it’s a deep state of doofus-ness. What a bunch of morons live here. Truly inspired idiots all around. Some people I thought were smart are dumb and shallow. Some people I always knew were fucking dumb dumbs turned out to be quite profound in their stupidity. Self-importance abounds on both sides.
I’ve been to the mountain and I’ve been to the desert. It’s odd. I had a true moment of love for Los Angeles. As so many people leave for less populated destinations in a dramatic flurry of panic and bullshit I found myself at the top of a hill on Christmas Day with X’s ‘Los Angeles’ blaring in my buds. I was looking all the way out to the ocean after the winds and short rains of the days before had washed and blown all the garbage out of the air. I had a moment where LA was not just okay but great. I like my house. I like the city.
I have fantasies of going other places. New Mexico, Ireland, the desert.
I spent a day out in Joshua Tree with Dean Delray at a house he was renting. I’ve always loved the desert but for some reason I really got it that day. It was the day after Christmas. There is a space that comes with the desert that if you have the mind for it will easily spread your consciousness out. I’ve been meditating a bit recently and the work you put into pushing thoughts aside to just be in the loop of the breath happens almost effortlessly sitting on a porch in Joshua Tree. It slows it all down. The quiet is pristine. All you can hear is the wind and the cooing quails and Dean’s French bulldog Gertie snoring. Good day.
I don’t think I could live there, in the desert. A few days would be good.
Today I talk to Patty Jenkins about Wonder Woman, Monster and her father, among other things. On Thursday I talk to David Ritz about writing with and about Ray Charles, Marvin Gaye, Aretha Franklin and Jerry Wexler, and about music and life. Great talks!
Enjoy!
Boomer, Monkey and LaFonda live!
Love,
Maron