LOOK, PEOPLE
After I told you I wouldn’t do it at all, I said I sure can’t do it alone.
I’m talking about the chart for that tangled web of influence in Santa Monica, that only a few insiders are aware of. Making that information available to all of us.
Events and timelines here that make most shake their heads in disbelief and confusion, prompt others to nod knowingly. What? -- versus -- Oh yeah, I expected that.
It’s like a soccer game where all the players wear the exact same uniform, without letters or numbers, and a handful of fans can follow and even predict the action because they know the players and their teams by sight, but the rest of the crowd is confused until the results are in.
Maybe when everyone can know more about the connections it won’t change things much. But it could. Knowledge is power. Feeling powerless fighting insiders sucks.
But I need your collective knowledge, to put something together. Your known info on whose husband is on what committee, whose wife used to be on Council, which other committees and commissions that player is on, whose law firm handles what, whose housemate, cousin, lover, cousin-lover is perhaps influenced by a relationship. Not
getting into gossip, but influence and power comes from relationships and may explain
better what’s going on than just the votes recorded.
I’ve met with a few people to work out how this can be presented. It’s tricky, and has stalled a few others who started this same project. If anyone has some good ideas about that, please contact me. But what’s also needed is the data, the info. You may not think you know much but you probably know something. Send it to me (email always at the bottom of the column). We have to be accurate about this information, and the more input the better. C’mon, people, even the Lone Ranger had Tonto.
PRINCELY MUSIC
Once upon a time there was a lovely princess at Samohi. Oh, she didn’t think of herself as a princess, nor act like one in any unseemly way. But those who knew her held her in high regard.
One day whilst traversing the campus she spied a sign for Homecoming Queen Election: last day to submit papers. She walked inside the Administration Building and asked, what is required? Five bucks and a 2.0 average, she was told.
I have both of those, she thought, and wouldn’t that be a great goof to try, it’s so unlike me. That’s a lot of entertainment for only $5. And so she signed up, and her only electioneering was to record a song and post it online. She rewrote the words to Dylan’s “Rock Me Mama.” It was a low key appeal: “if you're gonna choose, choose Nicole Andrews/it's her last year here, she's got nothing to fear.”
She had made an arrangement with a dear friend, that if neither of them were asked to
the Prom they would go together and have a great time. Since this is a 21st
Century fairy tale, it mattered not that they both liked boys. Evan was extremely handsome, smart, talented, funny, and they had been good friends for years.
Lo and behold, as often happens in fairy tales, when they counted votes the night of the Prom, she won! They placed the tiara on her head and led her to center stage to dance, as is tradition, with the Homecoming King. But the new Queen was immediately faced with a crisis of leadership. The new King Cody was in a wheelchair, severely injured earlier on the football field. Dance?!
“Don’t worry,” whispered King Cody’s wise Privvy Councillor from behind the wheelchair, “you just dance and I’ll lean his chair back and move around and he’ll be dancing with you.”
And so it was indeed a night to remember. King Cody is still struggling with his injury, with royal pluck and determination but could still use words of encouragement or other assistance, no doubt — Cody Williams’ gofundme page is at: https://www.gofundme.com/helpcodydrive.
Queen for a night Nicole went on to SMC and UCLA, graduated summa in Ethnomusicology and soon became employed and valued in her field. So far, so good. But what of the handsome Evan?
I’M GLAD YOU ASKED
He was from a young age a most talented player of the cello, and pursued his studies to
great success from coast to coast. It is clear from whence his talent arose: his mother is a
gifted vocal teacher and performs with the LA Master Chorale, and his father is a talented
jazz pianist and composer, and that’s really what all this tale is leading up to —
Entirely on the basis of his own prodigious talent, not at all dependent on the rising star of his son, George Kahn will be performing this Saturday at Herb Alpert’s gorgeous Vibrato Grill jazz club on Beverly Glen Circle, no cover charge (they’re supposed to get $25 pp food and drink but usually don’t insist if you sit at the bar), 9 p.m. (but you should get there earlier to catch the great Pat Senatore and his trio). It may not be quite as dramatic as that Prom night, but I guarantee you will feel like royalty yourself, surrounded by great music, ambiance and food and libations.
DENIM TODAY! & JONI
Also highly recommended. Denim Day at the Promenade, get there at 4 p.m., live performance at 6 p.m. by Aloe Blacc and Maya Jupiter. Wear denim to support SAAM (Sexual Assault Awareness Month). Our Precedent, unfortunately, decided to cancel his appearance. Guess something else grabbed his attention.
So glad to read photographer Sherry Rayn Barnett’s account of spotting Joni Mitchell at McCabe’s recently, sipping wine with headliner Eric Andersen. We almost lost her to a stroke recently, and she’s been mending close to home.
QUESTION OF THE WEEK: Have you driven or walked up Stewart lately, from Olympic to Colorado? O.My.Gosh. Too familiar, heartbreaking example of City Council granting excessive development few in Santa Monica would approve of, but most didn’t know about until the buildings are halfway up. SMC is building like crazy on the west side of Stewart, no limits. So sad.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: "Most people don't care if you're telling them the truth or if you're telling them a lie, as long as they're entertained by it.” -- Tom Waits
Charles Andrews has lived in Santa Monica for 31 years and wouldn’t live anywhere else
in the world. Really. Send love and/or rebuke to him at
therealmrmusic@gmail.com
