Author Archives: Jon Sidel

Greetings from Laurel Canyon!

I met a girl who sang the blues / And I asked her for some happy news / But she just smiled and turned away / I went down to the sacred store / Where I’d heard the music years before / But the man there said the music wouldn’t play

And in the streets, the children screamed / The lovers cried and the poets dreamed / But not a word was spoken / The church bells all were broken

And the three men I admire most / The Father, Son and the Holy Ghost / They caught the last train for the coast / The day the music died

I guess one could say, “Any day is a good day to release a new song.”

Honestly, I’m a bit stumped on what to report this week. I did give a nod and a wink at this week’s stack of new vinyl. This Idelic Hour set shows that even in dark times, music thrives.

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Greetings from Laurel Canyon!

You picked me up / Oh, yes you did / When nobody else would / I know you did / And you did things / For me, my baby / That nobody else could / I know you did

It’s another hot one here in LA. Actually at 90 degrees, we’re on a cooling trend. After two short weeks it’s like…I’m getting my pencils sharped and notebooks organized for a busy, busy fall. The trick is to be happily working away. Honestly those summer cucumbers and watermelon help.

Per tradition, September marks the beginning of school and triggers the time for young bands to release new songs. So, with that in mind…

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Greetings from Laurel Canyon!

On the path with my restless curiosity / Beyond life, before me / A passenger on no ordinary journey / It’s one of a kind, won’t get left behind

I’m floating on a moment, don’t know how long / No one knows, no one can stay / All going to nowhere (nowhere) / All going, make no mistake

I think this week’s Idelic Hour may have melted. Maybe it was just the DJ?

I’m a bit scared to check the garage. My crates of vinyl might resemble the wicked witch after a dip in the pool.

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Greetings from Laurel Canyon!

And instead of saying all of your goodbyes / Let them know you realize that life goes fast / It’s hard to make the good things last / You realize the sun doesn’t go down / It’s just an illusion caused by the world spinning round

On Tuesday, we dropped our youngest off at college—a new chapter for the Sidel family. I don’t know if I have a soundtrack for my thoughts and feelings this week. Excited, emotional, grateful, proud, and anxious as any parent would be. File under: Mindblower.

When I started playing records last night, the song that came to mind was “Rock On,” but I believe I dropped “Thunderwing” instead.

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Greetings from Laurel Canyon!

I got a baby’s brain and an old man’s heart / Took eighteen years to get this far / Don’t always know what I’m talkin’ about / Feels like I’m livin’ in the middle of doubt

‘Cause I’m eighteen / I get confused every day / Eighteen, I just don’t know what to say / Eighteen, I gotta get away

It’s Friday, late morning, and I’m sitting in the dining area of our groovy pad in the canyon, having a late breakfast with my son Jonah. Last week, the kid turned 18. On Tuesday, he went off to college for his freshman year.

I’m not saying this is the last breakfast we’ll have together, but I was up late last night alone with my turntable and crate of old records, memories of turning 18, and dropping a needle on my worn copy Alice Cooper’s Greatest Hits.

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Greetings from Laurel Canyon!

Well, I got up feeling so down / I got off being sold out / I’ve kept the movie rolling / But the story’s getting old now / Oh yeah

Well I just looked in the mirror / And things aren’t looking so good / I’m looking California / And feeling Minnesota / Oh yeah

So now you know / Who gets mystified / So now you know / Who gets mystified

Show me the power child, I’d like to say / That I’m down on my knees today / Yeah it gives me the butterflies, gives me away / ‘Til I’m up on my feet again

Our summer heatwave is here and so are my “summer lazies.” Last week I was so knocked around I couldn’t even spit an Idelic minute, let alone an hour.

Ultimately, LA is the coolest city to spend the summer in. The humidity is low, making summer nights relatively comfortable. As I flipped through my crates of melting vinyl, I felt urges for grunge, ’70s punk, oddballs, and a few new bits.

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Greetings from Laurel Canyon!

Sous aucun prétexte / Je ne veux / Avoir de réflexes / Malheureux / Il faut que tu m’expliques / Un peu mieux / Comment te dire adieu

Mon cœur de silex / Vite prend feu / Ton cœur de pyrex / Résiste au feu / Je suis bien perplexe / Je ne veux / Me résoudre aux adieux

Je sais bien qu’un ex-amour n’a pas de chance, ou si peu / Mais pour moi un explication vaudrait mieux

Can you guess where I am?

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Greetings from Laurel Canyon!

I’ll make you a deal, like any other candidate / We’ll pretend we’re walking home ’cause your future’s at stake / My set is amazing, it even smells like a street

There’s a bar at the end where I can meet you and your friend / Someone scrawled on the wall “I smell the blood of les tricoteuses” / Who wrote up scandals in other bars / I’m having so much fun with the poisonous people / Spreading rumours and lies and stories they made up

Some make you sing and some make you scream / One makes you wish that you’d never been seen / But there’s a shop on the corner that’s selling papier mache / Making bullet-proof faces, Charlie Manson, Cassius Clay / If you want it, boys, get it here, thing

This year’s summer heatwave finally made it to LA this week—it’s too hot to do much more than work and watch the World Cup. Tip of the hat to my poor Brit pals. I was pulling for them and knew that so many old friends were holding fast.

Luckily for me, I’m a UCLA grad and fan. Unlike most big universities, at least in my day, Bruin fans always took sports in stride. If we made it to a match, we enjoyed the sunshine more than the beer. A loss would be easily forgotten with a ride, pretty friends, and the top down on the way to the beach.

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Greetings from Laurel Canyon!

Glow worms show the path we have to tread / Dreamers, we should be asleep in bed / Moving slowly through the springtime air / Holding moments in the depth of care / Holding moments in the depth of care

Whisper fairy stories ’til they’re real, / Wonder how the night can make us feel / Loving living more with love to stay / Long past sadness that was in our way / Long past sadness that was in our way

This week’s Idelic Hour starts with an acid folk whimper. I saw an old photo a friend posted. A bunch of us as young kids, doing what kids do on summer afternoons. With our Jonah flying the coop to college, I’ve been getting way sentimental. I gotta say, I get the vibe. Am I the only one?

All in all, my listening over “The 250” was as red, white, and blue as I could muster. For me, that meant Chuck Berry. Fuck, for me, Chuck is like Apple Pie.

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Greetings from Laurel Canyon!

Oh, the dirty of it ripped the label / You were chosen, man holy / Party people, they all wanna start at me / All I want’s an office in the country

Wanted to see me, what you gonna do? / Now that you see me / Ticktock / Wanted to see me, what you gonna do? / Now that you see me / Ticktock

Oh, the dirty of it ripped the label / I believe him, holy / All I want’s an office in the country / All I want’s an office in the country

Tick tock, tick tock, the clock has begun on summer days. For a second week in a row, here’s an attempt to communicate the passage of time through an “Idelic Hour playlist” of songs.

Where did these years run off to? Where did it all run off to? Yep, it’s a strange brew.

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Greetings from Laurel Canyon!

And I lost a fight with the future / I want the moment, the moment is here / With rattled bones and a lighter can / I will shake with glass and dirty plans

But you gotta, yeah you gotta / Gotta grow up sometime / Yeah, now everybody’s sayin’ / Ya gotta get there sometime / But I go outta my mind / I try and I try / I try and I try / I try / But girl, you know I’m just a full growin’ man

Still rocking and reeling with the growing pains of our teenage Jonah’s ascension to manhood, I attempted to communicate through this hour’s “playlist” of songs. Where did these last ten years run off to?

I thought I would create an Idelic Hour of songs I was listening to a decade ago. It’s fair to say these last 10 years have been much more complicated than anticipated. Throw the pandemic into the mix, and what comes up is a strange brew.

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Greetings from Laurel Canyon!

If ever you think about the happiest days of your life / Cast back your mind for a while / And remember the time when you were a child / Don’t think of things that make you sad / Just remember all the good times that you had

Do you remember only happy days / Full of flaming Junes and summer holidays? / Or do you remember those stormy Novembers / As we walked in the wind and the rain? / Schooldays were such happy days / Now they seem so far away / I remember and I’ll always treasure / Schooldays were the happiest days of your life / But we never appreciate the good times we have / Until it’s too late

Sarcastically, I’ve titled my life’s journey, “A funny thing happened on the way to the Great Western Forum!” And while the Idelic Hour was on a pause for an extended Memorial Day week, something big happened. Our guy Jonah graduated from High School!

I’ve often compared raising Jonah as rolling a boulder over a mountain top. Well, we made it, and looking back at the kid’s high school years it’s been a crazy, surreal ride. Not sure where time flies too, but for the last 50+ years, every June I’ve dropped “School’s Out” on my turntable and felt free as a bird.

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Greetings from Laurel Canyon!

Blue / Songs are like tattoos / You know I’ve been to sea before / Crown and anchor me / Or let me sail away

Hey, blue / There is a song for you / Ink on a pin / Underneath the skin / An empty space to fill in

Well, there’s so many sinking now / You gotta keep thinking / You can make it through these waves / Acid, booze, and ass / Needles, guns, and grass / Lots of laughs / Lots of laughs

Everybody’s saying that / Hell’s the hippest way to go / Well, I don’t think so / But I’m gonna take a look around it, though / Blue, I love you

I guess I’m on a roll with Idelic muses. This week, it’s my enchanting daughter, Zoe Blue. Her mother always told her (and Joni) she was named after the title track from the Mitchell classic. I claim to be the first punk rocker obsessed with Joni, and honestly, the words could not be more fitting.

This said, Zoe was named after Blue, a tough, skinny kid from the schoolyards of New York City. Dude was kinda like a mini George Girvin on the asphalt playgrounds of 1970s NYC hoop lore.

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Greetings from Laurel Canyon!

The water’s wide / And I cannot cross over / Nor do I / Have wings to fly / Build me a boat / That could carry two / And both shall row / My love & I

There is a ship / And she sails the sea / She’s burdened deep / As deep can be / But not as deep / As the love I’m in / And I know not if / I sink or swim

But love is gentle / And love is kind / As to a jewel / When first it’s new / But love grows old / And it fades with time / And it fades away / Like morning dew

Build me a boat / That could carry two / And both shall row / My love & I

“The Water is Wide” is my kind of soulful lyric. The song points to the challenges of love. At first glance, it’s a simple metaphor, but the longer you sing the tune, the deeper the meaning can go.

I gather that the song has been around for well over 100 years. It’s even older than my dear mom, who is visiting us this week for Jonah’s high school graduation.

Mom turned 90 last year. Elly, like all our family, seemed to get older this year. She likely doesn’t remember taking me to see a legendary Cat Stevens concert at Philharmonic Hall or the Sly & The Family Stone concert at Forrest Hills Tennis Stadium when I fell asleep in the bleachers and Sly pulled a no-show.

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Greetings from Laurel Canyon!

I see walls / But these walls aren’t in my way / And I read words / But they don’t have much to say / I don’t listen to the cops / I wish they all were dead / Listen to the planes flying over head / Listen to the sound of the loss and gain / I just listen to the sounds of the rain

Growing up on the East Coast, I assume April will have its rainy moments—rain, hail, thunder, lightning, and being caught in a storm, dripping wet.

Now, living in Southern California, I reexperience those springtime memories of wind and rain through song. I don’t think there’s much debate, like most things in the Trump era, that many things like the weather—or even a passport—are creepy.

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