I was in a ride share on the way to the Hollywood Bowl when the driver asked me why I moved to Los Angeles. My initial response was for the culture. Most places just don’t have the diverse art scene. This weekend was a pretty good example of what I meant.
Jimmy Eat World
Leila Bordreuil
Twig Harper
Carissa’s Wierd
The show at the Bowl was for Jimmy Eat World and their Bleed American tour—the venue being the biggest the band had ever headlined. The night before was a noise show featuring Leila Bordreuil and Twig Harper at the single-room art space Human Resources. Last night was Carissa’s Wierd at the general music venue Echoplex. (This one was particularly strange because I’ve been listening to that band for 20 years, most of which they’ve been broken up for, but apparently has had a resurgence in popularity among the TikTok kids, and I was easily one of the oldest people in the crowd—by decades.)
So in three consecutive nights I saw three wildly different concerts at venues of all sizes, and that’s just the norm here. And this was just music. I didn’t go to any movies or galleries. And most places in the United States—much to their detriment—simply don’t offer that kind of consistent experience. I often think that opportunity for exposure to the arts is one of the most broken parts of American society (albeit admittedly less important than like, the housing crisis or decaying infrastructure).
The powerful and their news outlets consistently seek to divide people, and the arts are a way to fight back against that. It’s probably one of the reasons as to why they’re so under-funded here. Sometimes weekends like this make me kick myself for not moving to LA sooner in life, but for now I’m just glad I did at all.
