In California you watch the shadow dancer, floating gently, gently on the sea (America)

Wie geht's?

Excitement is building for our trip to the land of the free and the home of the brave for Samantha and Andrew's wedding in Colorado.

Jacky and I head to California this weekend.  Of course, I'm looking forward to the best of American food - donuts and pancakes. Jacky's thing, we've decided, is more Mexican delights like tacos, and burritos. I am also a fan.

Along the way to our ultimate destination (Denver in May) we'll be visiting classic cultural totems like the happiest place on Earth, Amoeba Records, IHOP, and some of those iconic surfing beaches made famous by The Beach Boys. 

Packing decisions will be a tad tricky as it's springtime in America but temperatures on the Pacific Coast will be very different to mile high Denver (they had three days of snow last week).

Your next Wozza's Place edition should provide an update on our journey, inshallah. You might even get some pics.

Love and peace - Wozza

There's a world where I can go and tell my secrets to (The Beach Boys)

Wie geht's?

I'm enjoying this weighty tome, and I mean weighty - feels like it's about 7kg. 

I love The Beach Boys' music and I love California (the actual place and the mythic place of eternal youth and endless summer). The two go hand in glove.

Jacky and I have loved our Californian adventures with Samantha; traveling the Pacific Coast Highway between Monterey and LA.

Heading up the coast last time was during a freak storm - lots of rain and rocks hitting Fanfa's car in dramatic fashion. That was very unlike the sunshine of our first trip down the 101 from San Francisco.

Have you ever been south of Monterey?
Barrancas carve the coastline
And the chaparral flows to the sea
'Neath waves of golden sunshine
And have you ever been north of Morro Bay?
The south coast plows the sea... 

(From California Saga by The Beach Boys)

The Beach Boys book is made up of pictures and interviews with the key players and they are clear about the mythic California created by Brian Wilson and his lyrical collaborators in their songs. But it's not like mythic California didn't exist before the Beach Boys sang about surfing and cruising in cars. Like the Okies trying to escape the dust bowl, that mythic ideal has lured the people for a long time.

Travelling that coastline (and those falling rocks reminded me) is important for the soul. From time to time, it's great to reconnect with important stuff and realise how insignificant we are.

As The Beach Boys' California Saga reminds us - the eagles continue through their generations and the land endures (and puts up with us) but 'The world has changed in [the she-eagle's] time; humanity has multiplied, but not here'.

Getting a glimpse of that from time to time is good for me. That's partly why I'm drawn towards the Pacific Coastal Highway and those California myths. 

As Rumi says: When you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy.

And after all, the best coffee and donuts on the planet are at Big Sur.

Fun, fun, fun. Love and peace - Wozza

Eggs and sausage and a side of toast, coffee and a roll, hash browns over easy, chile in a bowl with burgers and fries (Tom Waits)

Breakfast in America: Rae's Diner, Santa Monica, Saturday Jan 9, 2023

Wie geht's?

As we've been travelling around over the last four weeks I've noticed some stark differences between countries.

We started off our adventures in Dubai - things were pretty much as they were the last time we were here, ten years ago, while we were living in Al Ain. Adjectives like flashy, superficial, and bubble still apply - maybe even more so. This time the prices were an eye opener - it's no longer a place to get a bargain compared with home.

I bought some books from my favourite bookshop in the Dubai Mall and they were about the same price I'd expect to pay in Nu Zild (if I could find them). For instance, a hardback copy of Steven Wilson's 'Limited Edition Of One' cost 150 dirham - about $64.

From there we headed to the UK.

Basically, Britain is broken. 

Christmas holidays are a prime time for industrial action in England. This time around: nurses strike action, ambulance worker strikes, border staff strikes, massive train disruptions because of strikes, service industry shortages, breakdown assistance strikes meant lengthy delays on arterial routes. Infrastructure is limping along in Britain. It was a bit sad to see. 

Luckily, we didn't book any train journeys, if we had done, we'd still be trying to get out of London. Instead, we hired a car and toured around places we'd not been before. That proved a good move in the circumstances (Tintagel Castle and visiting my family in Bury were absolute highlights) but each journey time expanded with unforeseen circumstances - break downs unattended or too many cars on narrow roads because of the rail disruption. So a 3 hour trip became a 4 or 5 hour struggle to get where we were going.

Having said that, as I remarked to Jacky as we enjoyed lunch in Oxford Street's Marks And Spencer's. we just fit in here!

After Christmas, we headed to California. Santa Monica to be precise.

In stark contrast, the more laid back, friendly, warm Cali-vibe was again a factor. In fact, apart from a moody poe-faced receptionist at The Madonna Inn (San Luis Obispo), we found the people we came across on our travels to be more personable, friendly and helpful than we find in similar Nu Zild contexts. 

'You got it', became a familiar response in America.

The tipping culture is a huge adjustment for me, but apart from that our stay was made extremely pleasurable thanks to all the various burgers, pancakes and donuts I consumed (the Big Sur Roadhouse for donuts and the San Luis Obispo IHOP for pancakes were my favs).  

Given all those exotic foods, mysteriously, I managed to return to NZ the same weight as when I left.  

To summarise - three countries that are vastly different in feel and approach: UAE - all fur coat no knickers; Britain - home and broken; California - a cool world apart.

Love and peace - Wozza

Orange crate art was a place to start. Orange crate art was a world apart (Van Dyke Parks)

Wie geht's?

Recently, Meg Gallagher asked her Facebook friends to reply to her post with something that brings them joy - could have been a quote, a line of verse, a photo - anything.

Without a second's reflection, I instantly posted the picture above. 

Not only does music bring me great joy, but records in particular bring me constant joy, and even more specifically this album by Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks is just a joyful collection of sounds.

Brian is freed up - he was employed by Parks as a singer only - not a songwriter or a producer ( both of which he is phenomenally talented at, btw).

I've loved this album since I bought a CD of it when it was released back in 1995. Having just returned from Palmerston North and a visit to JB Hi-Fi, I'm delighted to now be the possessor of a vinyl copy (it's finally now been released in that format).

In his sleeve notes Van Dyke Parks calls it a 'paeon' (sic) to California. He means a paean - as in - enthusiastic praise for California. A mythical, or at best, a long lost California that is: Sun dappled orange groves,  gorgeous music like Lullaby filling the air, as beautiful ladies (some called Jeanine) in bonnets frolick amongst the wild flowers. He really does conjure up those sensual delights in this album.

It's a gorgeous collection of music.

A paean to California? Oh, yes!

Love and peace - Wozza