october 11, 2016

“I wouldn’t want to be 20 now. I know so much more,
and I’m much more comfortable in my skin, saggy as it is.” ~ Susan Sarandon

This photo says so much about Venice Beach. All that’s really missing is a guy on skates with a boa constrictor around his neck, but of course, skating on sand would be hard. In addition to seeing Callie and Eric, I wanted to do only one thing in SoCal, and that was to go back to my old haunt, Venice Beach. When we were making our first record I used to come here to relax, especially when it was a bad day at the studio (there were a lot of those). There’s no other place like it. All the weirdos are here, and normal people, too, naturally, but you’d be hard pressed to find a better place for people watching. Today didn’t disappoint, save for the dude with the snake who was no where to be found.

We got to the beach early as the marine fog lifted slowly. I don’t remember hanging out by the water back in the day, probably because I was so enthralled with the people on the boardwalk. In any case, I certainly didn’t have the camera rig I have now. In fact, I have no pictures from Venice Beach and very few at all from my time in California. That’s partly why today was so grand. I had a slow meditative walk along the water’s edge and considered how lucky I am to be able to look back on that time with a smile. Things are exactly as they should be. I used to buy a pair of sunglasses every time I came to Venice Beach. I bought a pair today for old time sake. The woman took my tenner, rubbed the lenses as if to clean them, and summarily scratched the left lens. It was a fitting metaphor for my 1980’s California life. I had to laugh. I’m grateful for every scratch. What’s life without a few scratches?

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