Love the song #4: Vacation

The Go Go's at The Greek ampitheatre in Griffith Park, Los Angeles in
1984, exemplifying the carefree, fun music that was their hallmark.

While the 1980s was a diverse decade musically, there are some songs that can be described as capturing the zeitgeist - at least in part. The Go Go's Vacation is one.

A number of the Go Go's other hits, and indeed the band themselves, could equally be declared as defining the mood and spirit of the first half of the 1980s.

They are one of the most successful all-female groups in history that wrote their own songs and played their own instruments. Although it is also true that their success was overwhelmingly American-centric, and less all-conquering in other countries. Britain is a prime example, for while the Go Go's cut their musical teeth in the country's rough and ready punk and ska scene of the late 70s and early 1980s, in the history of British pop culture they are largely a minor footnote. Their biggest global hit Our Lips Are Sealed is generally not associated with them in the UK, but rather with the Fun Boy Three who took their version into the British Top 10, and whose Terry Hall co-wrote the song with Go Go Jane Wiedlin.

The caveat to the above is that after launching a solo career, lead singer Belinda Carlisle became an undisputed global star with hits including Heaven Is A Place On Earth.

But back to the Go Go's. Our Lips Are Sealed, Head Over Heels, and We Got The Beat, could all easily have been my choice for this "Love the Song" post, the fourth in a occasional series where I highlight a song that particularly inspires, uplifts or simply grabs me.

However, I chose Vacation. For me it captures the carefree essence of this brand of 80s pop, which the Go Go's peerlessly produced. It was written on a plane journey by bassist Kathy Valentine as she flew to Los Angeles to join her bandmates. While it has its own little story of holiday romance, it also evokes in words and tone the joy and adventure of a vacation, and the uplift that comes from breaking away from routine and being somewhere different.

From 1981 to 1985, the Go Go's perfectly captured the spirit and feeling of the moment. Sure, it was mostly a slice of Americana, but it was a time when the imagery of 80s Americana was, through music and movies, a driving force far beyond the shores of the US. If you had any doubts about whether or not life was good, you had only to tune into the Go Go's music to get an unambiguous, reassuring "yes."

And the zenith moment for the band was captured in glorious, colour-saturated 80s fashion at an outdoor show at The Greek ampitheatre in Griffith Park, Los Angeles. It was August 1984, the band were at their peak and still a few months away from the first fractures appearing. The Go Go's split the following year, and while they have undergone sporadic reunions throughout the past three decades (Valentine left for good in 2012) - it is this concert, fortuitously filmed in full, that best captures the joy and fun of the Go Go's and their music.



It is hard to pick a single song and concert moment, so I've included two clips from the concert. The first, above, is Vacation - including a moment when an inflatable beach ball hits songwriter and bassist Kathy Valentine as she sings, and Belinda Carlisle misses a line as she laughs. The second video, below, is We Got The Beat - because it rocks.

All American High Revisited

Earlier this month I came across a touching documentary about the lives of young Americans growing up in the early 1980s.

It offered a glimpse back to a time and a place that no longer exists, but one that many would recognise either because they lived through that era, or have seen it portrayed in movies and TV shows.

When the original documentary All American High was made, there was no internet or social media, no cell phones, and no reality TV.

For one year, documentary-maker Keva Rosenfeld turned his camera on the Class of 1984 at the school, capturing the lives and times of young students at a typical US high school (in this instance Torrance High, in the southern reaches of Los Angeles).

Now, 30-odd years later All American High Revisited is the original documentary updated with some of the former students reflecting on the school experience and their adult lives.

There is nothing startling to be seen - no great or shocking revelations to be found, but it is precisely this ordinariness that gives the documentary its beauty. It is a time capsule showing how things used to be, in what now seems like a quaint and simpler era. We see students in the classroom discussing the pros and cons of nuclear deterrents, learning about home-making and married life, we see them preparing for the Home Coming Queen parade, dating, and attending keg parties. There are the punkers, metallers, preppies and cheerleaders, and even a social dancing event after-hours in a shopping mall.

Choosing exchange student Riikkamari Rauhala, from Finland, as the narrator was an inspired decision. She was attending the school for a year and we get to see much of the activities through her outsider eyes, with insights and perspectives that might not have been possible from a homegrown student already versed in the culture of being a young American in the 1980s.

Most of the documentary is footage from the original film, but the "revisited" segment comes towards the end when we meet Riikkamari as she is today, in her 50s, along with a few of the other students who are now grown up. Narrator Riikkamari had intended to go to the five-year reunion after leaving Torrance High in 1984, but didn't. Like many of us, she soon found herself pre-occupied with living her life. The schooldays and friends faded away.

All American High Revisited is fun. For Riikkamari and the others it was a chance to stop the clock for a moment and look back at where they once where, and where they are today. For viewers it is perhaps an opportunity to do the same, while also enjoying a reminder of the music, the hairstyles and the ambiance of the early-to-mid 1980s.

The documentary has been released digitally in the UK and a number of other countries. It can be viewed through digital download on popular sites (iTunes, Amazon, Virgin Media, etc).
All American High Revisited is due to be released in the US during September.

Giving thanks to old friends

This is one of my favourite college days photographs. It was taken 19 years ago at LA Pierce College and shows myself and nine fellow students from England's Barnsley College who studied at the California institution for a semester.

I came across it today. It was one of the images I scanned from an old negative. For an hour or so I worked my way through a dozen negatives, turning them into digital files. I was doing this both for prosperity and to make it easier to save them in places where they will, hopefully, never be lost.

So it was saving history in a way, although more a personal history than anything of historic value to the wider world. But important to me.

These old pictures remind me of the younger version of myself, and of those I shared those far-flung days with. We were a tight-knit group. We studied at Barnsley College and so knew one another from classes there and from socialising. When we were chosen as the group of ten to pioneer a link-up with the Los Angeles college, we became closer still. Our lodgings were two adjacent apartments at a nearby university complex, so in a way it was our own mini-fraternity set-up, or as close as ten UK students would ever get to one.

This picture was taken on the football field at the college, and we are smiling and relaxed. That's what I like most. It instantly brings back emotions and feelings from that day, and from those months under the California sun.

I believe I may have said this before, but when I gaze upon these pictures I am overcome by a desire to be able to step into them and live the moment again. Or to be a casual observer walking up to the group to meet them.

Would it be that time could twist or rabbit-hole in such a way to make that possible. A flight of fancy, I know.

I look upon the younger me, and the younger others, and I consider myself fortunate to have experienced those moments.

Time moves quickly and it can be all too easy to forget to stop and appreciate what we have here and now. Then, one day, we end up looking at pictures that are 19 years old and only then truly appreciate those friendships and experiences. Life is, indeed, what happens to you while you are busy making other plans.

As I look at my college friends I remember Beryl, who is no longer here, and I honour her endearing friendship. To the others, I wish them well wherever they are.

Take the time today to look around at all that you are doing, and all the friends in your life and give thanks. For before you know it they will be fondly recalled images in the scrapbook of your life.

Hostel California closes

As I drove along Lincoln Boulevard in Los Angeles earlier this month I was looking forward to catching a glimpse of my favourite hostel 'Hostel California' which, from 1997 to 2008, was a yearly vacation destination for me during many stays in the west coast metropolis.

It was a shock to see it clad in wooden hoardings (and a little bit of graffiti), and the shock was compounded when I discovered on closer inspection that the villa-style building was being gutted and renovated into offices. Originally built to house international athletes for the 1984 Olympic Games, the property went on to become a two-floor hostel. In the many years that I stayed there - and sometimes it was more than once a year - it was run by Klaus, of German descent. Hostel California was a second home for me - an escape from my everyday life back home where I could unwind and enjoy the freedom of mixing with strangers and travellers as I had when I was younger and exploring Australia.

And I made many friends at the hostel - some who, like me, made return visits that allowed us to reunite unexpectedly.

The easy-going, unstressed atmosphere of the hostel was what made it so appealing. It also had great retro decor, including old Beatles posters, a white, funky bass guitar hanging on a wall, a small fish tank, full size billards table and the biggest picture of a space shuttle I've ever seen.

I wrote about the the hostel and what it meant to me in a chapter about LA in my 2008 book Eating Clouds:

HOSTEL CALIFORNIA

As a seasoned backpacker and making a living in the relatively poorly paid world of journalism (at the time earning little more than £10,000 – or $20,000 – on a provincial English newspaper), such hotel luxury was out of the question. Seated on a plane from London to LA and flicking through a guide book, I came across a bargain price establishment, the Hostel California, and decided to head for it. It was an on-the-hoof decision which would shape, in a remarkable way, my enjoyment of the city for the next decade and beyond.

The social environment that comes from staying in a hostel is a world away from that of a hotel. A hotel offers protective sterility and the feeling of being a transient visitor, whereas a hostel dweller enters the local environment at street level – quite literally stepping onto the sidewalk without a doorman in sight to instantly blend in as an anonymous identity amongst the background ‘static’ of the locale.

This unheralded hostel on Lincoln Boulevard, very near to the junction with Venice Boulevard has, over the space of more than a decade of regular vacations, become a personal touchstone place. If LA is like a home-from-home – a bolt hole to escape from the other world of my life – then Hostel California is the cosy fireplace armchair within that home-from-home. Like an old glove or sock, its worn but comfy familiarity seeps through. Some of the mainstay staff at the hostel, including the owner Klaus, have been welcoming old friends across all those years.

There is no soluberant luxury here, but it is adequately maintained. The sound of traffic from the six-lanes of Lincoln Boulevard outside is only slightly muffled by the balcony terrace. The rise and fall of the traffic noise acts as a comforting reminder of the city beyond, from the relative peace of night to the wakening hum of the morning rush hour. Fading posters of The Beatles still stare out from above the purple-clothed pool table in the common area today as they did almost a decade-and-a-half ago on my very first visit. And then there is the location; a mere mile or so walk from the arty, unusual streets of Venice Main Street and Abbott Kinney.

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So, it is hard to put into words how I feel now that I see my favourite hostel is no longer. At least the distinctive building will remain, albeit with a new interior and usage. The happy memories of sunny vacations stretching out for more than a decade will stay with me, as too will the images of some of the good people I meet there - Klaus and Swedish Karen to name two.

The Eagles' song 'Hotel California' could quite easily be applied to the Hostel California ... "You can check-out any time you like, but you can never leave".

All things must pass, as George Harrison once sang, and so it is that I say farewell and thank you for all the good times, Hostel California.