Gah. This video makes me homesick. Pacific Division’s “Mayor” has been on the “most played” (played in a good way, lol) list in my itunes for a while now, but this video damn near brought a tear to my temporary Atlantan, bout to be Iowan eyes.  The Forum, the Roscoes t-shirt, the beach, the palm trees, even the random shooting noise that causes everybody to duck down for a second, it truly captures the essence of LA. The real LA, not the one that out-of-towners paint as superficial and label-obsessed. Most of the superficial “hollywood-types” aren’t from LA at all; they’re from the East Coast, the Midwest, the South and wherever else you’re from and they moved to Hollywood (or more likely, the Valley) to “be a star.” Don’t blame us for their ridiculousness.

I also think people make the tragic mistake of coming to LA and keeping their visit north of Olympic and West of La Brea. Los Angeles is a sprawl, and if you are not willing to explore a wider section of the metro area, then you’re going to be ill-equipped to talk about it. It wasn’t until I read Charles Mingus’ autobiography Beneath the Underdog — in which the Watts-bred bassist travels the greater metroplitain area making music and getting into trouble as a teen — that I got a sense of just how nuanced and steeped-in-history various LA areas are. Having lived in New York while relying completely on public transit, I can say people in Los Angeles are far more accustomed to travelling farther distances for pleasure/business than folks in NY (e.g. I lived in Harlem but worked on Long Island and this made people’s head’s explode– I had to beg friends in Brooklyn to make the “trek” via subway uptown for weekend visits). Sure, our carbon footprints are larger, but our daily struggles with (and ultimate aqueiscence to) the sprawl help give the city and its residents unique character.

I don’t know when I will live in Los Angeles again, but I do know that if I end up there in the future it’ll be more than fine by me. LA is much more than good great weather. I only wish I was there more often to see more of these emerging artists do their things. If you have ears you’ll be able to tell that this song knocks. Now if anyone could find it in their hearts to bottle me up some premuim middle-of-summer LA smog and fedex it to the A I’d be much obliged.

Tags: Beneath the Underdog, Charles Mingus, Los Angeles, Pacific Division, Proper Song of the Day, Public Transportation, The Mayor