L.A. Shuffle: It's All in the Algorhythms
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The night-blooming jasmine is in its glory outside my shack in the Hollywood Hills. Throughout the past week, its heady fragrance has rendered me woozy whenever I've returned to the pad at the end of my evening rounds. I get out of the car and - bam! It's an olfactory assault that I welcome with open nostrils - and another of those little things that make part-time life in Los Angeles more than tolerable for a devout San Franciscan. (Yes, I do love S.F. with an almost religious fervor, but living in L.A. has its perks.) And the memorable music created here continues to be a plus.
Before I can exit the vehicle, I have to go through my post-parking process of powering off the iPod, and popping out the cassette adapter that allows me to listen to my mp3s while tooling around the byways and freeways of the sprawling metroplex. The Knifemobile is fully-equipped with a CD player, an AM-FM radio, and a bad-ass speaker system. To be fair, L.A. radio - encumbered by one too many classic-rock stations - does have the awesomeness of listener-supported KCRW where you can hear avant garde sounds from the primitive to the electronic, a good and varied selection of American and international indie-rock, and a tasteful playlist of rising local artists that I fancy, such as The Bird and The Bee (new album, an anthology of Hall & Oates covers, about to be released) and Leslie & the Badgers (set to rampage through SXSW with no less than six Austin appearances scheduled).
It seems like every third song on most of the other frequencies is by the Eagles or Tom Petty - not a terrible thing by any means. There's something to be said for going 60 on the 101 towards the trendiest of the new downtown cocktail bars while KLOS plays "Life in the Fast Lane," and there's a certain poignancy to riding past the Whiskey, the Rainbow and the Viper Room on Sunset as "Mary Jane's Last Dance" comes over the airwaves. At those times, the radio is my buddy. Still, the audio component that has served me best is the one you'd think I didn't need: the cassette player.
The truth is that I don't play cassettes. I doubt if many people do any more. Instead, I benefit from whatever genius invented the cassette adapter for mp3 players. I plug a wire attached to the adapter into one of my iPods, hit the "Shuffle" mode, then push the adapter into the cassette player. Voila! Radio Mikey! All of my favorite tunes by my favorite artists, as programmed for me by iPod algorhythms as I ramble behind the wheel. And the odd thing is how much the iPod seems to sense that I'm in Los Angeles. For some reason, tracks by Petty, Joni Mitchell, the Doors, Buffalo Springfield, Love, Frank Zappa, the Byrds, Tim Buckley, Little Feat, X, the Go-Go's, the Plimsouls, Jane's Addiction, Beck, and the Chili Peppers get far more play than others when I'm listening in the car. The same goes for numbers by latter-day Angeleno acts such as the Neighborhood Bullys, Old Californio, Paul Chesne, Sonos, and the aforementioned Bird and Bee, and Badgers.
Granted, I have a real affection for L.A.-spawned music, or that stuff wouldn't be on the players. Nonetheless, the frequency with which it airs when on "Shuffle" is freaky. I'm starting to think that it's as much a coincidence as me absentmindedly singing "Mary Jane's Last Dance" as I walked into Dukes West Hollywood diner - the longtime L.A. rocker destination for bleary-eyed day-after-the-show nourishment - at noon yesterday for a business lunch. In other words, it's not.
Comments (15)
I here I was expecting to see a vid of our former vice president (and internets inventor) having his way with some bongos. Those Al Gore rhythms can rock your world. :-)
I'm reading and nodding, although my scent is that smell of concrete and rain and my stereo is all pimped out with ipod adaptor in the glove box and touch screen. The biggest similarity and the biggest difference between your story and mine is that my soundtrack is heavily PNW....The Long Winters, Blind Pilot, Harvey Danger, The Blakes, The Sonics, Nirvana, Death Cab, The Decemberists...
ipods are taking over. Mine knows I'm in Seattle.
inrumford: Soul is where you find it. (And that would eliminate Tipper.)
amber: Don't get me wrong. I have Nirvana, the Decemberists, Harvey Danger, Death Cab and even some Pearl Jam on my 'pod. It just doesn't choose to play them as much as, well, you know...
as I have some of your Californian bands...still, somehow, shuffle knows. ;)
Pay no attention to the genius behind the bar! [says the over sized iPod, flashing it's lights and bringing you the perfect fitting song to your day]
Mike- I enjoyed your travelogue.
You referenced TP's "MJ's Last Dance"- what about "The Last DJ?" I'd have guessed that would have particular relevance for you, no?
Also, you mentioned Harvey Danger. I was thinking this post reads almost like one by Nick Danger. Just one question: what's a cassette?
I have mix cd's that guide me through the highways. Now I just want that first day where I can drive with my windows down, and it is coming soon. Rain has made almost all the snow go away, and all we need is two good days of sun and spring will be here.
Shuffle can be freaky. Once I got a perfect history of the blues, starting with acoustic Muddy, then early BB King, sliding through Paul Butterfield and then Jimi (Red House) and into the 70s with a Muddy - Johnny Winters jam on 'Mannish Boy'....how did it do that?!?
You're making me feel homesick for the Hills....It's been the worst winter in 40 years....I'm so sick of "cold".
amber: Spooky!
c.b.w.: Wizardly!
Fasted: A little cass. Raymond Chandler slept here. I do relate to "The Last DJ," but I'd rather watch Mary Jane do her tragic dance.
Rawk: Spring came early here - like late December. But your time is coming, so hang in there.
Jonh: I guess we should expect the sophisticated programming to be able to put two songs written by the same composer back to back, and to string together material of similar tone, key or style. But ... Geographically?!? (Speaking of geography, I was under the impression that we're gonna see you in these parts soon-ish. Si? No?)
April 21 - May 1. Unlock your daughters and chill the cocktail glasses! Is the cosplay cafe still serving afternoon tea?
Mike- I was kidding about the cassette. Hey, I even remember 8-tracks.
....Ouch!
Jonh: Why, yes, it is! Those Goth-Lolita maids are at your service.
Fasted: Really? Kidding? Well, I still contend that a cassette is little cass. But what's an 8-track?
gender: Where does it hurt?
Knifey, I love this post on a highly personal level. Thank you for taking me someplace else, and giving a piece of your everyday in the process. I agree that the cassette adapter is a brilliant thingy, and I've long enjoyed the spoils of KCRW online.
Like you and Jonh, the freakiness of shuffle has not escaped me. Other times, what comes on is the one song you either needed to hear or could use hearing at just the right moment. Again with the little green men manning the machine unseen. (8
Awww, poeby. I'll bet you say that to all the minutiae-spewing bloggers. Sweet that the web brings you KCRW at a cursor-click. As for the elves or gremlins in charge of "Shuffle," they sure have good taste. I wish they were programming most of the terrestrial radio stations out there.