The Modernist Era Starts Now

Friday, April 8, 2022

Last night, I decided to become a professional writer instead of the amateur writer of the past. This means I will now be paid in the currency for my services for writing these pieces. I have informed Facebook that they are now permitted to offer me a salary as a professional writer for Facebook. I have just heard back from them that they will hire me as their official Facebook columnist. Therefore we agreed on a salary, including health insurance and paid vacation time. I also request that they supply me with an assistant and that it needs to be a she. Of course, she alone will work for me, with Facebook paying for her wages, health insurance, and paid vacation leave. Once that was agreed upon, my new assistant showed up this morning at my home around 9:00 A.M.

When we met, she asked me where the office would be. I told her that was an excellent question. I was thinking of maybe having a nice outdoor workspace outside the Richard Neutra office building on 2379 Glendale Blvd. There is a parking lot there, and close by is the Silverlake Coffee as well as the Whole Foods market down the street. Once we agreed, we got two fold-up card tables, one for me to sit and write with my laptop and one for her to use for business, as she is about to be sitting directly across from me.

The location was ideal because I often write about music. Rockaway Records is located on the same lot they share with the Silverlake Wine shop. Site is crucial when you set yourself up for work. In fact, it can make the day for you if you place all the right ingredients in, the magic works, and the writing comes quite naturally. I also brought a huge beach umbrella to protect us from the harsh California sun.

There is a perception of discipline when you work outside in a parking lot. For instance, we don’t have any power, so I have to depend on the battery on my computer, which lasts precisely six hours. So the work is equally using the computer to write for those six hours. Still, during the additional two hours, I am working my thoughts on a series of MUJI notebooks that I brought on my recent trip to Japan.

So now I have my assistant, my work, and our two card tables, and the first thought of the day is that we wished we had space in the Neutra Office Building. That was obviously not going to happen due to the angry looks from the residents of that specific space. This is totally understandable because even though I wear a suit, my assistant is wearing an office skirt and blouse designed by Vivienne Westwood. I have to admit that the make-shift office is rather an eccentric set-up. Nevertheless, I started to work on my first column for Facebook.

My first thought of the day was the great Belgium songwriter and performer Jacques Brel. He would surely be a great subject matter for my initial official column for Facebook. The thing is, I know little of Brel and his work. Mainly through the music of Scott Walker and the great “Seasons of the Sun” by Terry Jacks, which is music by Brel, with his lyrics translated into English by the poet (and singer) Rod McKuen. I asked my assistant to bring me any images of Brel she could find in Rockaway Records. She came back within one hour with a 10” French album of his songs performed by the great man himself. The album is Jacques Brel - No. 4. The only problem is that I couldn’t read the French liner notes because I don’t read French, and two, we didn’t have a portable turntable in our make-shift office space. It will seem I would have to improvise my thoughts and feelings for M. Brel’s work by the end of this workday. I was looking at the front cover and imagining what the record sounded like. I guess it was a tad dirty, perhaps even romantic, but not in the conventional way of romance, but more about the passion itself and all of its murky after-effects. I looked across from my card table, noticing that my assistant was quite attractive. I went back to work, dated the column as April 8, 2022, and went to work.