DIARY ENTRY, Los Angeles, 8/13/04
Genghis Cohen, and being carless in LA:

Last night I played my first show in Los Angeles (and my first show at a Chinese restaurant), at Genghis Cohen. Well, ok, the venue/restaurant are attached. While this place is sort of odd, with its churchlike pews and garish neon Asian-font logo outside, and it's in some sort of strip mall, apparently it's an LA standard for singer/songwriters. The food at Genghis Cohen is supposed to be quite good, though I've not had a chance to sample it. Maybe next time I pass through.

Anyway, Bob was there with me, which is always a lot of fun--we don't do the duo thing often and I've forgotten how much I enjoy it since we played Cafe 111 back in April. Despite the frenzy of many up-in-the air travel plans and some last-minute guitar issues that needed to be resolved (I ended up not bringing mine, and I won't divulge how/where I got the one I've been using--not here, anyway), the show came off pretty well, I believe. We acoustified some of the To the Quick standards, and did our interpretation of the great Elvis Costello's "All the Rage" (which we may need to take a break from soon--as much as we love it). We also debuted a new song of mine called "Bitter Pill," which I'm not even sure I've finished yet, another cover, and a slightly different version of another newer one, "Siren Song," which we've been messing with since its unveiling back in July at Arlene's.

Thanks to the folks who my good friend Stacey brought along, there was much hootin' and hollerin' and even some heckling, which I always enjoy. Talked to the sound guy for a long while after the show was over, and I feel really bad that I've now (already) forgotten his name. But he seemed to really dig the set, and we bonded over our love for Dinosaur Jr. The guy even looked a little like J. Mascis. We've now got a CD that was done off the board, and I'm eager to see what it sounds like. Perhaps there's something usable on there for the next release--who knows? I'll at least try to throw something up on the site, so the New York folks can be there in spirit, retroactively. The night ended with a starchy meal (and more Guinness for me) at the famous Canter's deli with Bob and a bunch of friends. Seems I've seen a lot of these "famous" spots while I've been here. Maybe everything here is "famous."

Anyway, I'm back in my room in Hollywood now, feeling somewhat stranded here without a vehicle, bumming rides off my friends. I head up to San Francisco tomorrow, where I hear you can actually walk from place to place, or, get this, take public transportation. I guess this is my main complaint about LA--the difficulty of getting around. But other than that, I'm not missing New York too much right now, I have to say. It's nice to get away.