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After a week in New England and Cape Cod there is something comforting in returning to the gentle surrealism of Southern California, and Hollywood.
Those of a certain age remember the soft-rock group America – Gerry Beckley, Dewey Bunnell, and Dan Peek doing a poor man's version of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. It worked for them in the seventies. God knows what "A Horse with No Name" was about, but you might remember "Ventura Highway." If not, there is this video clip from 1974 to jog your memory, and the odd lyrics –
And the days surround your daylight there
Seasons crying no despair
Alligator lizards in the air, in the air…
Harmless and pleasant Southern California surrealism took them quite a way, even if they were from the UK – their fathers were military, stationed at the US Air Force installation at RAF West Ruislip, London, and married to Brits. All three attended London Central High School, and the Beatles producer, George Martin, produced seven of their albums. But everyone thought they were from LA – they got the place down cold.
As for "Ventura highway in the sunshine, where the days are longer, the nights are stronger than moonshine" – well, it is still surreal after all these years, in that harmless and pleasant Southern California way. There's this carwash on Ventura Boulevard in Studio City – that's where "Ventura Highway" starts on its way up the coast.
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