The Elliott Smith Wall

The other highlight of seeing LA was seeing the Elliott Smith Figure Eight wall. After visiting the Walk of Fame and the Hollywood sign, we drove to the wall.

It had been defaced with a bunch of pedestrian ugliness that had nothing to do with Elliott. I had recently read that Roger Waters was taking some heat because posters advertising an upcoming appearance by him in LA were plastered on it. He ordered them taken down.

The wall is not in a glamorous part of town - it's in a seedy area of Sunset Strip, across the street from a strip mall. It was a little hard to feel comforted there. Such a public place, and the Elliott connection is so personal, visceral and private.

My wife suggested signing it. Great idea! No pen. No marker. I went into a nearby Mexican restaurant and asked if they either had a marker or knew where to get one. No luck. Where else to go? How much time should I allow for this? I decided it wasn't worth the effort, and walked back outside to look at the wall again.

Now a woman, about my age, possibly five years younger, was in front of the wall. She wasn't really looking at it though, she was standing on the curb by her car, looking at one of her sons, of which she had two - one about 14, one maybe 16. I turned to her and said "It's a shame what they've done to this, isn't it?". She didn't acknowledge me. At all. Maybe an LA thing, I thought. Maybe here you don't acknowledge strangers. But that's odd, not what you would expect from a fellow Elliott fan. I turned to look at her sons. The oldest was looking around aimlessly. The youngest was right up near the wall, staring at it. It was then I realized it was her SON who had wanted to stop and look at the wall, not her.

I stole another look at her face, and saw impatience. Unacceptance. The woman and her sons got back into their car and drove away. I posed for the obligatory "I was there" snapshots, none of which turned out. I looked horrible. Something had changed. I felt fulfilled, ashamed, immature and old at the same time. My brain was telling my heart to grow up.....and my heart was telling my brain to fuck off.

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