Famous Places

At night even famous places look just like anywhere else. LAX looks just like any other big international airport. Sunset Boulevard and Melrose Avenue were surprisingly quiet after 11pm on a Tuesday night, we did a drive-by of the strip clubs and fashion boutiques. Places you've never been are never as you imagine them to be. People you've never met are never as you imagine them to be.

LA's suburban architecture is distinct and different from the endless red brick of Georgia. White, boxey, wooden and plasterconcrete, almost flimsy. Very California, at least the California of the movie in my head. The houses feel transient to me. 'LA Woman' by The Doors keeps rolling through my brain.

"Are you a lucky little lady in the city of light
Or just another lost angel...
city of night, city of night..."

Staying with Hazey and his flatmates Carrie and Evan, who are gracious enough to put up with an antipodean stranger invading their space. The cat is Moses (a she) and the couch is comfortable. Carrie has a cool website. Hazey took me to the poetry lounge, a weekly hip-hop- influenced informal poetry night. VERY impressed with the talent expressed here. And afterwards to Denny's for a late night meal. Chicken steaks and "2 truths and a lie" at 3 in the morning, lovely intelligent people, the world is a nice place.

Discovered Blue Like Jazz by David Miller at the house here. So far I like it a lot. Good to see there is a postmodern chr1sti@n worldview being expressed in writing now, being nailed down to concreteness. The experience of our lives is authenticated by the publication of books. I wish I'd written some of it myself, but then I always do.

(later edit: some of the book is great, some i didn't like at all - too religious)

Listening to The Doors | LA Woman (in my head)

More on Athens, Original Blaspheming

I like Athens a lot. I could live here. It's a college town, so the average intellect is probably slightly higher than in surrounding counties. All the women have tattoos. I mean, ALL of them. Most of them are ugly (the tattoos, not the women). There are good places to eat, and good wine. I even bought a T-shirt from the Globe (an irish pub), mainly because i wanted a black T-shirt so I could go see Deicide in Atlanta without feeling a social reject. I could have seen Autechre too on the same night, but I didn't end up going to anything. I did catch Annaray and two other bands at the 40 Watt Club in Athens though. Annaray were good, reminded me a lot of Fugazi.

I've been reading bits of Original Blessing by Matthew Fox. The intro is good. I can agree with lots of what he says, and he's certainly got lots of useful quotes, links to writers i haven't come across and thought-provokation. It's possible that what he characterises as fall/redemption theology can embrace more of his theme issues than he gives it credit for. I mustn't forget that he comes out of what could be regarded as a rather repressive tradition - like most of churchianity. I don't think the book is well written, I keep thinking "yes, but what is your POINT?". It keeps skating over the surface and appears like a wish list rather than a coherent and well defended theology; perhaps intentional as I don't think Fox likes that sort of approach. I do like anything that makes me think afresh, even though it's now 20 years old.

I bought Mindphaser by Front Line Assembly, and XTORT by KMFDM on CD. Those are hard to get in New Zealand, so I was chuffed.



listening to KMFDM | Power