ROGER PARK – North Hollywood – 2008

I woke up, showered and eat organic oatmeal, bananas and water.  I drove to the Studio City farmer’s market and bought me vegetables and fruit while drinking my coffee. The sun was bright.  I went back to my crib and broke down my new axe: 1970s MSA Classic pedal steel guitar.  It produces some really beautiful sounds but it’s heavy.  It took a while but I was able to fix the steel guitar in the back seat of my car.  I got the direction and hit the highway.  The 5 north went to the 118 West and deep into the North West part of Los.  The wind was strong and pushed the green grasses over the Simi Valley mountain range; craggy rock peaks, cows and campers.  Santa Susana, Califas.  I pulled up to my new teacher’s house and he showed me to his wood shed in the back as two large dogs barked and jumped on me.  Jimmy has been around for years and played with some heavy country cats like Hank Williams Jr. and also toured with Emmylou.  The lesson was meant to be an hour but I was there for over three.  He taught me scales, exercises, theory, harmonic scales, licks, swells and tricks. Jimmy talked about some of the cats he played with and how he started on steel.  Outside the wind pushed the branches of live oak tree like a slow metronome. He kept telling me, “Man, try this lick. It’s a classic Mooney Bakersfield run” or “Here’s another run you should learn too!” Finally, I told him I couldn’t retain anymore information and he laughed.  We packed up the gear and I was off on the highway.  I saw horses on the top of the hills.  I got back to my crib and it took a while to unpack the car and set up the steel again.  It was a hot day in Los.  I had to shower again and get ready.  I took the 101 and got off on Western and drove in K-town.  I was early so I walked around the front of the restaurant and watched all the fancy, black sedans drive up.  Finally, my family arrived and I kissed my beautiful niece and held her in my arms.  I said hello to my sister’s parents’ in-law who were headed back to Morocco the next couple of days.  At the table, I sat next to my niece and drank a beer while Korean, English, French and Arabic flew around me. The kalbi was wonderfully marinated and cooked to smoky perfection.  My dad gave me a present from Jamaica after I told him via email that I needed some rasta religious icons. It was a hand carved rasta mask he got from the island.  My beautiful niece Sabrina and I walked to the fish pond after dinner.  We looked at the fish and the stars. She pointed out a plane that was crossing over Orion’s belt.  We said our good byes.  I got in my car and drove to East Los to visit some friends.  I had a herbal tea and listened to some of the tracks we had recorded the previous week.  They sounded okay but needed another go at it.  Outside we talked on the patio while the sun went down.  I heard some chickens and a dog barking.  A neighbour was blasting some oldies from his back yard while cooking bbq.  I love East Los, Califas.  Later, I drove home and took Sunset all the way to the 101 on ramp near Hollywood Blvd.  When I got to my crib, I kicked off my shoes and got into my slippers.  I called my new lady friend and talked to her for a bit.  We made plans to have dinner on Wednesday. I sat down at the pedal steel and thought about the lesson. I played for a little bit and figured out some minor chord changes.  It’s going to take years for me to master the instrument but I’m looking forward to the journey.  I didn’t go running that day but I felt exhausted.  I prepared myself for sleep and washed up.  I sat on the floor and listened to some Buck Owens, Merle Haggard, Ranking Toyan reggae and then some Ravi Shankar.  My eyelids grew heavy.  I was going to check my work computer for some emails because I knew that the upcoming week was going to be hectic and crazy.  We were planning on some big launches and I had a few projects I had to manage.  I took out my laptop then put it back into my backpack.  I cracked the window a bit and turned off the lights.  As I fell asleep, I could see and feel the chord changes and scales I learned, the different bending of the strings and swell of the notes.  I eventually dipped back into the day, into sleep, into void and into nothingness.


Roger ParkLos, Califas