No. 272 – Halo of Ashes

Performer: Screaming Trees

Songwriters: Gary Lee Connor, Van Connor, Mark Lanegan, Barrett Martin

Original Release: Dust

Year: 1996

Definitive Version: None.

When I went to Los Angeles for the National in 1996—giving Dust its maiden spin on my Discman—the purpose also was to visit Jin in L.A. for the first time and square our account for not seeing her when I went to California in 1995.

The first day of tourist activity, as I mentioned, was spent around the ocean. The next day we concentrated on landlubbers’ delights, mostly in and around Hollywood. The first order of business, after satisfying the In-and-Out urge (almost as good as Steak-n-Shake), was the former Grauman’s Chinese Theater, which was actually Mann’s Chinese Theater at the time and now is the Your Corporate Name Here Chinese Theater, I think.

Well, wondering how Douglas Fairbanks could do all those fantastic stunts with such little feet is all well and good, but it’s a movie theater, right? Let’s see a movie.

It’s worth doing if you’ve never seen a movie there. It’s huge and awesome, and fortunately, an Arnold Schwarzenegger blow-em-up was on the marquee. That’s perfect for Grauman’s/Mann’s/Whatever’s. Unfortunately, it was Eraser, which was pretty brutal, like a poor man’s True Lies except Vanessa Williams never stripped down to her underwear like Jamie Lee Curtis, alas.

The movie biz was the theme of most of the day’s activities as you might suspect. We took in a bit of the Walk of Fame, and later Jin showed me the Disney Headquarters, which Jin liked to call the Unhappiest Place on Earth based on interactions she had with people who actually worked there. Mousechwitz, I believe, was another less-than-flattering name. Somehow a quick tour of the La Brea Tar Pits got mixed in there.

The highlight of the day was the tour of the Universal movie lot. My tour didn’t consist of being stuffed onto a bus with other malodorous and poorly dressed gawkers. Derek, Jin’s roommate (and platonic friend) at the time who worked at Universal, had procured a golf cart and was waiting for us when we arrived. As Jin hung out around the main entrance, Derek took me in a golf cart for my own special tour. (Jin had seen it already.)

He took me all over the lot, which allowed me to see things that you couldn’t from the official tourbus, such as a fountain featured in Dracula and a gigantic hand holding a coffee mug from Attack of the 50 Foot Woman.

I spotted the Welcome to Amity sign from Jaws, which the tourbus passed, and got a good look at the Bates house from Psycho—complete with “mother” rocking up in her window--which the tourbus most certainly passed. What the folks on the tourbus didn’t get, however, was the ability to stop and get out.

Derek wheeled the golf cart right up to the front of the Bates Motel, in front of THE room, which was open. I didn’t bother to ask Derek whether it was OK to go inside. I didn’t have to. He just said, “Come on.”

I did, and I got to look around THE bathroom, which looked as though nothing had been changed or cleaned in the 35 years since Janet Leigh famously, shockingly got hacked to bits in that very selfsame shower. It was cool and not the least bit creepy like you might think it would’ve been.

As I mentioned, the National in Anaheim that year had been sensational in terms of buying, and when combined with all the various sights, my 1996 trip to L.A. remains one of the best vacations I ever took. It was particularly great because it built a rock-solid bridge between me and Jin.

I promised Jin when I left that it wouldn’t be as long before I was back, and I made good on that promise. Debbie and I went to L.A. during the World Series the next year, but that’s a story for another time.