jfb | (no subject)

I'm sitting in cafes and restaurants and public libraries alternating between two books: The X President, by Philip Baruth, and A. M. Homes's Los Angeles. A little too on the nose, as they say.

I habitually read multiple books at once because, well, short attention span, but also because I like finding unanticipated connections between them. But this week is getting weird, and I'm constantly forgetting which of these multiple worlds I'm inhabiting.

So I look up from Homes's exploration of the character of this city, and it takes me a moment to figure out that, yes, I'm in Los Angeles, but I'm not in A. M. Homes's Los Angeles. I have never seen the La Brea tar pits or the Chateau Marmont. These are all things that happened to someone else, not me.

Baruth's book is a dystopian satire about the aftermath of an American president who is almost, but not quite, Bill Clinton. The gradual militarization of society, the exchange of freedom and openness for the promise of security, have been going on for another fifty years in the novel, but I can still see them when I look around.

And yesterday afternoon I got to the part where it's disclosed (but only to characters with top secret clearance) that the train crash early in the novel might have been an enemy attack, not an accident as previously claimed on the news. A little while later I listened to NPR tell me the North Korean government's explanation of the strange railroad malfunction that caused tremendous damage shortly after an important official passed through on a different train.

I keep expecting Homes's interviews of L.A. residents to be interrupted by shadowy government agents who draft her in the name of national security.

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this is an A.M. Homes book that i've yet to read. I became a fan of hers with In a country of mothers.

I'll want to check out Los Angeles. I like Homes' vision.

I've heard some fabulous things about Chateau Marmont.

have you ever been to the Hollywood Forever Cemetery? I like that place. I don't know much about LA, but I will be there in a few weeks to see My Morning Jacket at Avalon in Hollywood. I'm so excited to be going to the city.

"I like finding unanticipated connections between them"... I feel the same way. I love discovering patterns that way.

Sometimes, when I become aware of a new term or concept, it seems I start to see/ hear it everywhere, in the media, in my convesations and reading.

I haven't read anything else by Homes, but I read a lot of LA books. So far this is a pretty good one.

Be sure to get there early for the MMJ show--if I recall correctly, their opening act is M. Ward, who I love, and MMJ will actually be acting as his backing band before they take the stage as themselves.

Cool! I didn't know M. Ward was playing too, that's great news. Will you be going to this show? If so, we should meet up and say hi and all that.

Hey, do you know what time shows usually start there? I haven't been to a rock club here yet. Back East, at leat in the ATL, bands didn't play until Midnight at the earliest.

I see that doors are at 6 PM for this MMJ show... so ya think I should really get there at 6? if so that would be cool, get started early.

Thanks for your advice!

No, I'm going to try to catch the show up in San Francisco. I saw M. do the same thing with Rilo Kiley, that was pretty great.

If the doors open at 6, the bands will start a ways after six but long before midnight. No need to get there right at 6, unless there are tables and you want one and you think MMJ will draw a real crowd. Where are they playing?

They're playing at Avalon, in Hollywood.