Cosmo

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I guess it's time I put something in about me... I guess. I never followed my dreams and ended up a computer geek that is basically a pinion gear in the corporate machinery. I live behind the Orange Curtain in a nice little suburban community. Pretty boring, ain't I? That's where you end up when you fail to follow your dreams... and are not blessed to any talent.
I should have taken up the guitar when I was a kid, but just never got around to it til a couple of years ago. I really love music and always have. The first concert I went to was to see The Kinks at the Hollywood Palladium. I saw Sly and The Family Stone after I won a free pair of tickets on K-DAY 1600 AM, when AM Radio was Rock 'N Roll, instead of the horrible spew hole of right wing bullshit it is today.
I was one of the only people at my High School that liked... or even heard of David Bowie. This was 1972, when everyone was into Carly Simon and James Taylor... not that they are bad... but, I needed to rock. That Ziggy Stardust gig was amazing and life altering. I fear that kids today will never know the thrill of hearing or seeing something like a David Bowie or Ramones or Nirvana because everything is so pre-packaged and manufactured. And we get force fed American Idol shit like Ashlee Simpson when there are tremendous talents like Beth Hart, Jill Sobule and Tristian Prettyman out there.
In High School, I remember getting a copy of 'Quadrophenia' and playing it over and over again. I'd listen to it beginning to end... reading the liner notes and looking at the pictures. I felt like I was Jimmy... except my parents weren't drunks and I wasn't hooked on speed and I didn't live in London. But, I did sleep on the beach and followed a false idol that turned out to be a real dick. That was probably the last time I followed anyone and headed out on my own path. I didn't end up dead on the Rock, like Jimmy... I went on.
I used to spend the weekends on the Sunset Strip when bands like Blondie, The Ramones and the B-52s used to play at Gizzaris, The Roxy and the Whiskey... and the Starwood. Punk Rock was such a great thing to be a part of. I think I loved Punk Rock because it was a refuge for the misfits. Now, it seems like it is more like something you do to fit in, instead of something for those of us that don't fit in to do. The clothes we used to wear because it is easy to sleep on a bus stop bench in, is now some sort of uniform.
I got through the 80s because of people like Elvis Costello, Talking Heads, Black Flag, The Dead Kennedys and the likes. The later 80s kinda sucked, in my opinion. I think MTV really fucked things up because image was beginning to become the forefront and substance and talent was a side note.
Thank God for Nirvana. Whoda thunk that a place like Seattle, WA. would produce such an amazing music scene? Maybe it's the rain that makes the kids see things differently. The flashy, tinsel coated imagery that the rest of the country was covered in was destroyed when Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden and Alice In Chains emerged. I'm hoping that there is a region... someplace in the world... where the kids are in their garage saying, "Fuck you, Clear Channel... we don't want your vanilla pudding any more!!!". Not that I don't like vanilla pudding... it's just that I don't want it every fucking day.
Today... I am into the small clubs that showcase independent singer-songwriters. There are a lot of talented people making amazing music that most people don't get to hear. There are still great bands out there, such as The Foo Fighters, Pearl Jam, The Queens Of The Mother Fucking Stone Age!!! and the White Stripes. But, radio people don't seem to have the same tastes as me. I think they are so focused on trying to manufacture the next Nirvana, that they are missing some real talent. You cannot create a Beatles or Bowie or Ramones or Nirvana... they just happen.
... I guess I got off track because this is supposed to be some sort of autobiography or something... but turned out to be a history of L.A. music from my point of view. But, I guess it's sort of a soundtrack that has played during my life. If you ever heard that Neil Young song, 'Thrasher'... it is something i wish I had done. Instead, I did the 'sensible' thing and got a 'sensible' job and ended up a 'normal' working Joe. I suppose that happens to most of us because most of us do not possess the talent to write a great song... but, it doesn't mean we can't recognize one when we hear it.