Dodger Blues
Ducking the Midwest Winter and Staying Busy in the City of Angels
Little Things, Big Screen
For over 20 years, Los Angeles has been part of my life. My aunt and uncle moved there in the early 2000s and soon invited my mom and me to visit. For the next decade, LA regularly appeared on our calendar, usually around Easter and sometimes in the summer when I was out of school.
As a kid, I fell in love with the city. I was captivated by its canyons, beaches, architecture, songs, food, and even the MLB team logo. For a time I saw LA through the eyes of a teenage skateboarder chasing freedom, spending hours pushing around Venice or visiting the famous spots I read about in Skateboarder (RIP) and Thrasher.
Skateboarding faded a bit when I started making music during my senior year of high school. In 2009, I flew out alone to stay with my aunt and tour colleges, bringing a playlist of instrumentals on my iPod with plans to write. I don’t remember how much I wrote, but it was the first time LA consciously made me feel creative.
At 17, I told myself I would live in LA full-time as a musician one day. That never fully happened. My wife and I lived in the Bay Area and later Irvine briefly, but I never called southern California "home.” That said, these days I find myself in LA more, still as a visitor, but one that is there because of my music. The universe has a weird way of turning your dreams into reality.
Anyway, I told myself I wouldn’t make this post about LA. Before I go too far down that road, just know I love this city and have come to appreciate it even more as a place to recharge during brutal Cleveland winters.
This particular post is about my recent trip out west to celebrate Josh Chamberlain’s second film, Little Things, which was screened last month in Hollywood at the historic Grauman's Chinese Theatre for the Golden State Film Festival. I feel honored to have been able to provide a bit of music for it.
I’ve known Josh for almost as long as I’ve been making music, so it’s cool to think about how far we’ve come as artists. He’s been an Angeleno now for almost a decade and I am so proud to work alongside him. The main title theme for the film is available on all streaming platforms here.
Film stuff aside, this recent trip to LA proved to be a very productive one in many areas. It was great to meet up with some old friends and make some new ones. Be on the lookout for some new material I cooked up during my time there.
That’s all for now. If you got this far, thank you for reading!
Stay safe, be kind, and take care of yourself.
-DZ