The Land of Milk and Honey

As we drive from Los Angeles to San Francisco, we take Pacific Highway up the coast, Highway 1. People have only told me good things about the ride, and it's sure worth the drive!
What a coastline!
You drive on tiny windy roads, pass beautiful view points and see the fog blanket unfold itself throughout the day. This is a must see for any person traveling up the west coast.
On our way we pass many villages that have a spanish feel to it, San Simeon with the big and strange Hirst Castle, Big Sur, and the beautiful Carmel-by-the-sea, a little town that seems to be painted on the setting canvas; it feels spanish, italian and french at the same time, with a little touch of Californian spirit. Beautiful organic roads lead you towards small cafés, restaurants and shops, that are well hidden between long, leafy trees.


After Carmel we stop by Monterey, a place you sixties music addicts LOVE I'm sure - in 1967, this was the place where the famous Monterey Festival took place. Standing on the stage, I felt like Janis Joplin, without the bottle of Southern Comfort maybe ;), singing my soul out - watching these people relishing and flowers whirling down the sky...
Of course, I would be on the first row to see Jimi Hendrix burn his guitar on stage, after he played on it with his teeth and blew everybody away with his raw, rocking performance and beautiful appearance ;). After that, I would go and dance on hypnotic drums, with a scarf lashed up on my head, tight like a string, while I would chant with the songs of Jefferson Airplane.... this must be california dreamin'...

The City of Angels *

Thanks to Stephen Harlow, we have found a great place to stay in Venice Beach, CA. We crashed at the studio of an Artist, Cameron Gray. His work can be found here.


For me to be able to stay here in Venice, is very special. Jim Morrison lived here on a rooftop, wrote poetry, and met Ray Manzarek on the beach. Places that I've read so much about, are now in walking distance. Very weird. We also visited his house (picture) in Laurel Canyon.


Living at this place and seeing all these things is very inspiring to me; I started writing again, after some years of holding back and muddling along, I find it very easy to put words on paper again; ink in the little red book, that I got from my father. Yesterday I just went to Venice Beach, sat in the sand, head in the wind, looking out over the ocean. If there is one thing I have learned on this trip, it's that you walk into yourself a couple of times; you are confronted with what you want, what you need, the important things in life, and life itself. This may all sound very heavy and philosophical, but it's actually a beautiful thing; very hard to describe.




Los Angeles is to me not the busy, driven, crowded city without feelings that some people might describe it to be. It is spread out, it has a lot of life going on, and a lot of cars with many lanes - and - musically it has a lot to offer. We met Chris Darrow from Kaleidoscope, who has the most amusing Juke Box ever, and also Canned Heat, an encounter that's slightly difficult to forget. There are some other people we met too, but I guess you will have to see that on the show... I would like to express my thanks to David Carr, who has made some miracles happen for us here in LA.

Everything in LA, all the Doors-stuff (I am a huge fan) has made me kind of emotional. I can't really put it into words, it's like a very intense feeling. Everything I ever read and dreamed of is coming to life in this wonderful journey, it's hard to apprehend - it feels so .. intense. Passionate. It's like a whirl, caused by all these people that I've got the chance to meet, talk to, look in the eyes.. People that have shared stories you can't read in books, gave me things I will never come across again, memories that will be captured for sure. L.A. was very important in the sixties, and you can feel the vibe is still here. What a trip.