Greetings from Laurel Canyon!
Wow, this week really flew by. Life and “stuff” are coming and going, seemingly at the speed of light. April showers and the taxman have replaced butterflies and sunshine.
Hopefully the sun will shine and butterflies will flutter back through the canyon. In the meantime, it’s madness. March Madness! To be honest, it’s hard enough to come up with time to dig into a couple of crates of records let alone predict who is gonna win in the first round of the NCAAs.
Greetings from Laurel Canyon!
There is a happy land where only children live / They don’t have the time to learn the ways / Of you sir, Mr. Grownup / There’s a special place in the rhubarb fields underneath the leaves / It’s a secret place and adults aren’t allowed there, Mr. Grownup / Go away, sir
Yes, there is a “happy place” somewhere around here. From gloom to “super bloom!”
On Wednesday the sun finally came out. I could almost feel the plants and flowers in our canyon pushing toward the sky as if to say, “Hello sun…please stay for a bit!”
Greetings from Laurel Canyon!
I was a fool before I met you / Only fools find it hard to believe / You just might be my only savior / If you are, then come and save me / If that’s true, come back and save me / You take me back there / Take me back home, please / No, I can’t go in there / Just take me back home, home
Greetings from LA. It’s incredible to believe winter might actually be giving way to spring soon.
No one around these canyons can remember rain and cold like the winter of 2019. Daylight savings time tomorrow is bringing our house rays of hope, so with that in mind we’re going to celebrate saving our own fucking souls.
Greetings from Laurel Canyon!
I’m gonna make a mistake / I’m gonna do it on purpose / I’m gonna waste my time / Cuz I’m full as a tick / And I’m scratching at the surface / And what I find is mine / And when the day is done, and I look back / And the fact is I had fun, fumbling around / All the advice I shunned, and I ran / Where they told me not to run, but I sure / Had fun, so / I’m gonna fuck it up again / I’m gonna do another detour / Unpave my path / And if you wanna make sense / Whatcha looking at me for / I’m no good at math
We all make mistakes. This said, when I hear the name Pricewaterhouse, “fuck ups” don’t come to mind. Aren’t they paid specifically to NOT to fuck up? Recently, I thought we’d seen everything… guess again.
As they say behind Donald’s wall, “Oscar no bueno.”
It’s unlikely anyone can shed a warm light on last weekend’s Oscar debacle. All said and done, I must admit the idea of a “mistake” or “mistaken identity” has a Shakespearean tragic twist…
Greetings from Laurel Canyon!
Fruit tree, fruit tree / No one knows you but the rain and the air. / Don’t you worry / They’ll stand and stare when you’re gone. / Fruit tree, fruit tree / Open your eyes to another year. / They’ll all know / That you were here when you’re gone.
This has likely been the coldest winter week in the thirty some odd years I’ve lived in LA. Twice this week I’ve found myself in a morning traffic jam on top of a crisp and scenic Mulholland Drive. It came clear as the morning—to be stuck on Mulholland is certainly nothing to complain about. In fact, the top of our canyon still carries the magic of plants and native Americans.
I found myself staring at trees and enjoying the simplicity of their company. Indeed, since moving to our pad in the canyon, I’ve always regarded the trees as neighborhood and friends. It’s as though this week’s cold has grown whiskers for us all.
Greetings from Laurel Canyon!
Onde eu nasci passa um rio / Que passa no igual sem fim / Igual, sem fim, minha terra / Passava dentro de mim / Passava como se o tempo / Nada pudesse mudar / Passava como se o rio / Não desaguasse no mar / O rio deságua no mar / Já tanta coisa aprendi / Mas o que é mais meu cantar / É isso que eu canto aqui
Valentine’s Day week has me drained. I hate to admit it, but I’m a romantic with needs.
All through a hectic week I was digging around for a clever set of records that would slightly cover my desire for “love music” and beyond. However yesterday’s rainstorm in the canyon spontaneously turned our street into a river. I had to put on fishing boots and a rain slicker to fish out a few floating garbage cans.
Greetings from Laurel Canyon!
Turn me on to phantoms / I follow to the edge of the earth / And fall off / Everybody leaves / If they get the chance / And this is my chance / I get eaten by the worms / Weird fishes
Last week I was talking about the weather, and this week?
Not much has really changed. Well some shit has happened. Our LA Rams lost in a boring Super Bowl, and LA music fans took it out on poor Maroon 5. Fuck, the Maroon boys do their best to be an LA band, make loot, and slay chicks.
This has pretty much nothing to do with the songs I play on the Idelic Hour. In my mind we are at the dawn of a second “medieval time.” The Idelic Hour is meant to share music that lifts the spirit and the soul. It’s my small way of helping—and this week’s playlist is filled with meat, onions, chicken, and fish. I got turned on to this new Sleaford Mods record and loved the idea of making a playlist of songs about food that make up a “kebab.”
Greetings from Laurel Canyon!
Well I dove into that river / To see what I could find / And the water it rolled on top of me / And the stars refused to shine
Yeah I swam until I could not swim / Then I swam a little more / And the current held me like a lover’s arms / And then it left me on the shore
Well I stood and looked to from where I came / To the place where I was born / But it seemed to me only half as real / Like a dark and a distant storm
I come from a family that likes to talk about the weather. I believe that I’ve mentioned this before, and yes here I am again talking about it again.
I talked to my folks this morning. They actually asked, “How’s the weather?” and reported Miami is a pleasant 70 degrees. Here in the canyon it’s a clear, beautiful winter morning around 50. It’s the kind of a day that only happens after a hard rain.
Greetings from Laurel Canyon!
This is the happy house–we’re happy here in the happy house oh it’s such fun / We’ve come to play in the happy house / And waste a day in the happy house-it never rains
We’ve come to scream in the happy house / We’re in a dream in the happy house / We’re all quite sane
This is the happy house–we’re happy here / There’s room for you if you say “I do” / But don’t say no or you’ll have to go / We’ve done no wrong with our blinkers on / It’s safe and calm if you sing along
This is the happy house–we’re happy here in the happy house / To forget ourselves-and pretend all’s well / There is no hell
Since the holidays I’ve been collecting ideas for a playlist of new chicks. Woman in music, specifically female rock ‘n’ rollers who have made the last half century a treat. Maybe it’s because “the man” has never really let up on “his oppression.” Women just seem tell it like it is. Thank fucking god for that.
Greetings from Laurel Canyon!
I don’t mind stealin’ bread from the mouths of decadence / But I can’t feed on the powerless when my cup’s already overfilled, yeah / But it’s on the table, the fire’s cookin’ / And they’re farmin’ babies, while the slaves are all workin’ / Blood is on the table and the mouths are all chokin’ / But I’m goin’ hungry, yeah
I hope you enjoy my second mix of 2019—and speaking of mixed, I had quite a few feelings this week. At the top of the week, I heard about this all-star Chris Cornell tribute show. Right from my first glance at the line-up I had an eerie feeling. Not that I was a good friend of Cornell, but I’m an “OG grunge dude” and I did know Chris well enough to imagine the look on the dude’s face seeing teenyboppers playing dress up and singing karaoke on his behalf.
The photos on Instagram and Facebook reminded me of seeing Lorde performing “Kurt songs” with the Nirvana guys at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It’s likely just me, but these days I’m constantly asking who is “smacked out” of their minds here? Well, props to Alice in Chains for keep Layne Staley’s spirit off the red carpet.
Greetings from Laurel Canyon!
And if you turn up the dream to cure yourself free from searching for a new afterlife / The purpose of life, you know there’s still time to tune into the right side / Well I assumed that we were lovers yesterday / The turning tide that that love us to pray / You know what I would do if I were you
As The Idelic Hour says hello to 2019, I’m blasting into the year like a rocket to Russia. ’18 is gone and I haven’t met a soul who’s missed those recent days.—although it’s fairly pathetic how much Mr. Donald is trying ruin everyone’s new year.
Fuck it, fuck him, and anyone with a sour word or note. If it’s cold, let’s turn the heat up, swing and shake it up until the punch is sweet.
Greetings from Laurel Canyon!
I played “hooky” from the Idelic Hour last week. That feeling of coming out of the train station in Times Square, knowing I had just ditched school and was headed to Playland to look for trouble—that feeling still lives inside these “idelic” bones.
To be young and “free.” Oh, how aging makes us cherish that vibe of freedom.
This week’s Idelic Hour is an hour of music celebrating how lucky I am. On Monday lil Jonah turned 7! Wow, what a wild age. What a wild little Sidel this kid is. Free from responsibility and the stress of a modern world. What a lucky world 7 can be.
Greetings from Laurel Canyon!
I was so tired of being upset / Always wanting something I never could get / Life’s an illusion, love is a dream / But I don’t know what it is / ‘Cause everybody’s happy nowadays / Everybody’s happy nowadays
RIP Pete Shelley. We’re gonna miss you and bunch of good friends we lost in the turmoil of 2018. God, what a ride.
This Idelic Hour makes 2018 a wrap. It’s what us “Hollywood homies” call a “shut down.” It’s really just a final episode for the year which happens to always coincide with my birthday and a bunch of kids and music biz Christmas stuff. Now it’s time to rest…well, almost ha!
I want to thank Jon and The Vinyl District for just “being.” I’m truly grateful that The Vinyl District allows me to express myself each Friday.
Greetings from Laurel Canyon!
Arms never get on top / You heed that notion and you’ll drop / I will not be one of the watchers / I will not disappear / Time gets to me and I / Wonder how to simplify / You know you should be blushin’ / To a hue of Robitussin / Flow / Men are scum, I won’t deny / May you be shitfaced the day you die / And be successful in all your lies / In the winter time (in the winter time) / When you get down to it / You wanted to / Do you think you got the nerve? / It doesn’t take much nerve / Just kiss yourself metaphorically / And open the door and piss if you need to
I’ve always joked that bloggers have the Devine Right to make best of lists. For my second to final show of the year, I spin my best of—and declare an “Idelic Hit” of the year.
Although it’s often both a group and a song, I define these “IH’s” more of an “act of rock ‘n’ roll cool” than a best of. For 2018, I’m giving it to Steven Malkmus. It’s not that “Middle America” is just a great and timely song, but it’s the kind of song that has “lines” for the ages. In a year of catch and phone screens, thank god we still have a master of the songwriting who is still writing and singing brilliant words. I mean read ’em.
Greetings from Laurel Canyon!
Let’s face it, as a year, 2018 fucking sucked. Even music felt shadowed by dark politicians, mobile devices, video games, and apps. What’s an Idelic dude gonna do?
Well, basically rock the fuck on!
Over these next two weeks I’ll be playing 50 of my favorite songs of 2018. Compiling and listening my annual list has put a smile on my week. My hope is that it will do the same for you.
