From wiki:
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the most populous city in the U.S. state of California. With roughly 3.9 million residents within the city limits as of 2020, Los Angeles is the second-most populous city in the United States, behind only New York City; it is also the commercial, financial and cultural centre of Southern California. Los Angeles has a Mediterranean climate, an ethnically and culturally diverse population, and is the principal city of a metropolitan area of 13.2 million people. Greater Los Angeles, which includes the Los Angeles and Riverside–San Bernardino metropolitan areas, is a sprawling metropolis of over 18 million residents.
And, all being well, soon to be the temporary home of this blog for the next 10 days.
This is our myself and Rachel’s third attempt at visiting LA as the guests of Jonny the Friendly Lawyer and his wife, Goldie the Friendly Therapist, at their family home in Santa Monica. The first was supposed to be as long ago as 2020 but was postponed due to the travel/lockdown restrictions imposed by COVID. The second was last year, but it was called off at less than 24 hours notice after I took ill and ended up in hospital with a kidney infection.
As I said last year, I’d never have imagined back in 2007 when I got the blog up and running that so many new and wonderful people would come into my orbit. I’ve been incredibly lucky to have met many of them over the years. We hooked up with Jonny and Goldie in Barcelona a few years back when they took a trip to Europe. We all promised one another that we’d meet up again. It is finally happening (fingers crossed) and I can’t say enough about the generosity of Jonny and Goldie for inviting us into their home for such an extended period of time.
There are a couple of gigs in the schedule, including The Wedding Present‘s final show on their current USA tour. Makes perfect sense, therefore to have this as tune of the day:-
mp3: The Wedding Present – Santa Monica
The six-plus minute of the 20th and closing track on the 2016 album Going Going…
Oh, and any excuse to post the 19th track from the same album:-
mp3: The Wedding Present – Rachel
There may well be a couple of holiday postcards coming your way over the next week and a bit alongside the usual features. Oh, and keep your eyes peeled for a superbly-conceived guest ICA. I’m off to jump in a taxi to the airport.
JC
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 
Enjoy!
FFF
Have a great time.
Safe travels JC
Darren 157
Don’t forget to hit Amoeba Hollywood! I was born in Santa Monica but lost my ability to enjoy the area after living in very different areas with far fewer population density. The weather is too temperate and drought-like for me. Give me four distinct seasons. When it does rain in L.A. the drivers FREAK OUT.
The last time I went to Los Angeles, for the memorial concert for my record pal Ron Kane, I told myself that with Ron gone, there’s no more reason to ever visit Los Angeles ever again. But if I were to find myself there, I would make certain to spend a few hours in Amoeba. There’s not much like it left in North America. As you still have friends there how could you not have a good time?
Last year we linked up with blog pals abroad we’ve known for years via PPM and had a wonderful meetup for a concert in Amsterdam that drove the whole trip before spending time with them back in Wales and Liverpool. It’s gratifying to have cyber pals you can meet up with in real life! That’s one of the fine perks of having a blog community. I’m happy that you are finally making this happen! I myself was poised to trek to London and Wales in March of 2020, but we all know how that went!
Have a great time!
Best wishes for a smooth journey and an unforgettable holiday, JC – it’ll have been worth the wait!