I wrote a song of hope and restoration for my brothers and sisters in LA
And set up a fundraiser with World Central Kitchen (which you can donate directly too from https://donate.wck.org/
or goto
Josepharthur.com (link up top) / the song is also on my Bandcamp and all proceeds from it will go there)
All of my dreams really came true in LA
A nerdy kid from Ohio winding up on Sunset Strip at The Rainbow chatting with Sam Kinison and John Entwistle
With my fake id that said i lived in New York
I was 17 and so when the waitress told me she was from New York too and asked me what street I lived on. I was stuck cause I had never been. I threw a dart through the air and took a guess. “Main Street I said
She looked me funny and said “Main Street?”
I was there for the NAMM show and to try and slap and pop my bass to the height of fortune and fame.
I wouldn’t taste anything resembling that until I came years later to record my second record with T Bone Burnett
And other LA wonders
Locking down Sound City and some of the other famous studios in Hollywood
Living sometimes at a hotel
Or the Oak Woods
I ended up in LA six months out of the year sometimes
And inspite of the battle between NY and LA
East coast West coast nonsense
I always loved LA
Dark times on the streets
Hollywood parties (and I never saw anything all too weird)
High times low times
Great times
Playing with Fistful Of Mercy
the Rami crew
Those nights at the speakeasy in Venice
Staying with Mandy and her family in the Hollywood hills
Her letting me move into the pool house and paint all over the place
Until she had to hand me off the Donnie and Donna
I never met kinder people anywhere else
And LA has a shadow for sure
But that shadow is overrated
Mills put me up and Joey, as did many others.
so many great people with generous spirits and artistic talent
It is one of the most creative places on earth
T Bone would tell me about why the energies aligned there
I think it had something to do with the wind
Maybe the very wind helping to light it ablaze now?
It’s funny how creation and destruction are often kissing cousins
And there’s no more creative place arguably across the board than LA
Ok relax New Yorkers. (I still love you most)
But LA has my heart
And is the home of my dream
It just has that thing. Whatever that thing is
We know it’s the thing. That sense of wonder on Sunset Strip
Gods front porch out there in Malibu
Hollywood Blvd and the stars you get to dance on amongst homeless people dressed up as superheroes
Silver lake and the alt LA scene
Cowboy hipsters
With models for girlfriends
Staying at the Bevonshire for a month with the Lonely Astronauts
There’s been too many seasons of my life to count in LA
Not to mention some of the best gigs of my life at The Troubadour
I count it a home.
And so when news of the fires hit I felt compelled to make a song of hope and restoration for the good people struggling out there.
I am with you. We are with you.
And we must believe always that
We will rise again.
Joseph
(and thank you for your help!)