Hermosita

I board the surf-liner headed south ..hop in my sister’s lexus ..zip through the streets of Irvine to Woodbridge .. where there are no corner-malls ..only town centers and village squares, which I believe were planned by the same group of students who did the Hobbit-land dormitories at UCI. We have wine and dinner ..then watch women’s half-pipe and men’s figure skating.

The next morning we go out for bagels and coffee ..and watch school kids walk past the shop and wave. We wave back and a tune comes to mind “.. where the children go to summer camp/and then to the university/where they’re put in little boxes/and they come out all the same.” Wicked of me.

We take the 405 to the 91 to Pier Street to Hermosa Beach ..a funky little town with lotsa’ clubs and great places to eat and hang-out. We cruise the strand before the show and I talk incessantly about boring shit.

We’re standing in line talking with some girls from 7th and Redondo ..then we’re seated in a small dinner theater, two tables away from the stage .. listening to a pianist, who was conceived during an affair, and consequently raised by his mother and father/step-father, who remain married. I know this because he wrote a song about it called ‘greatest mistake’ ..which turns out to mean ‘best mistake’.

Sarah Bettens, who we came to see, has been sitting at the table next to us for I don’t know how long. On stage she plays: ‘can’t get out’ ‘..not an addict’ ‘..shine’ ..and somewhere along the line she goes into ‘damage done’ by Neil Young ..and for a moment I’m transported. After the show, I see a chance to chat with her ..and take it. She’s attentive and responsive ..making me feel like there’s nowhere else she’d rather be ..and I can’t help but think, what a great musician ..and lovely person she is.