Los Angeles Forever (Part 2: The 90s)

Shocking weather, death, and tropical plants

Life and death are always close, vibrating each other like guitar strings, a song we pretend not to hear until the very end. In January of 1999 I flew from my home in Seattle to LA, to attend a month-long songwriting workshop led by Jackson Browne and Michelle Shocked. The workshop was elite and prestigious, and although I was barely making a living, I …