To live (and hopefully not die) in LA

To live (and hopefully not die) in LA

So I’ve gone and done it. I’ve moved to Los Angeles.

Okay, so it’s not permanent. Not necessarily. I’m here for the summer. Maybe longer.

I had to step back and take an honest look at the industries I cover, and I realized that SoCal was the ideal place to cover them from. iPod universe? Check. Music industry? Check. Podcasting community? Check. Yeah, there are plenty of other places where those things exist. But in my travels I’ve found that LA represents the combined epicenter of all three. And so here I am.

In the week I’ve been here I’ve been working my tail off and I’ve already been to too many meetings to recount here, but the most beautiful fringe benefit of being here in LA is that the music scene is just overflowing. I’ve already seen the Black Crowes (who were introduced by Billy Bob Thornton and Cheech from Cheech and Chong), the Goo Goo Dolls, and Lifehouse (twice).

So what, you say? Didn’t these bands come to your old neck of the woods? Yeah, sure. Sort of. I mean they came and played, but it was just a stop on the road for them. Here, these guys are home. They’re doing shows in their own backyards and they just drive to the venues. At the Lifehouse concert, the drummer was just sort of hanging out in front of the venue before the show, giving me a chance to stop and talk with him. Opening for the Goo Goo Dolls was a newcomer by the name of Colbie Caillat, who then proceeded to hang out in front of the venue after her set in order to meet people:

Stupid me only had my cell phone and its crappy built-in camera at my disposal.

Today, Lifehouse was doing an in-store performance at Best Buy, so I went to see them again and this time met all three band members. The drummer thanks me for coming out to the show the other day. Apparently he remembered meeting me. Even remembered my name. That’s just weird.

As you can see, I got smart enough to carry an actual camera with me.

Six years I’ve been trying to see this band perform. I’m in Los Angeles for a week and I’ve seen them perform twice, met all three band members, and the drummer knows my name.

And yeah, I bought my first physical CD in years just so I could get them to sign it. I’m not ashamed of it. I’ve been saying for awhile now that physical CDs are still fully relevant – as collector’s items.

Tomorrow, Rocco DeLuca is performing at the Starbucks in Santa Monica. I saw him perform a few months ago in Charlotte, just before I climbed onto his tour bus and interviewed him, but I had to travel about eight hundred miles to make that happen. Now, he’s playing down the street. How can you not go?

Last year I saw Pete Yorn perform in Fort Lauderdale and I distinctly recall him apologizing for the fact that it had been four years since he’d last performed in the area. When I chose June 11th as my fly-out date, I was bummed by the fact that I was going to miss Pete’s June 10th concert in LA by just one day. But that’s alright, he’ll be back here performing in two months according to his website. So much for waiting another four years back home.

I went over to Hotel Cafe the other night and took in a few indie bands. None of them grabbed me, but there are so many indie bands playing at so many local venues on any given night that it’s just a matter of time before I hit on something new that I really like, and then proceed to book them on iProng Radio. I mean, when the music venues are overflowing to the point that bands are performing at the electronics store and the coffee store just for something different, a die-hard music fan is in the right place.

I’m here in LA for professional reasons, I swear. The iPhone launches in what, eight days? This is the coast to be on for that. And we’ve already taped our first LA-based episode of iProng Radio in a real recording studio, which is rather nice upgrade over our previous “studio” which was also known as my living room. But I’ll be darned if I’m not going to take advantage of the music scene while I’m here.

I’ve learned a few other things in the week I’ve been here. The OC is anywhere from 0.75 to 2.25 hours away, depending on what time of day I’m attempting to travel there. And no one called it “The OC” until the television show hit. There are plenty of left turn lanes here in LA but no left turn signals. There’s something called parallel parking which is akin to taking your driver’s test over and over again on a daily basis. Traffic is bad enough at certain times of day that if you’re traveling less than a mile, you’re better off walking; you’ll get there quicker. They say there’s no place to park in this city, but I’ve found a number of spacious parking lots; they’re known as Highway 101, the 405, and I-10. I’ve spent hours parked on each.

But that’s alright. I figure the roads are clogged for good reason. I’ve lived in places where the roads are empty and it’s because there’s nowhere to go and nothing to do. This isn’t one of those places.

So how long will I stay? That’s what everyone keeps asking. I honestly haven’t thought about it much yet. I’ve been coming out here for about a week once every few months for the past year out of professional necessity, and right about now I keep looking at my watch and instinctively wondering how many days or hours I have left here before I have to reluctantly head home…and then I come to the realization that at least for the time being, this is home.