Los Angeles Stories [paperback]

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DescriptionExcerpt

The first-ever stand-alone written work from Ry Cooder, Los Angeles Stories is a collection of loosely linked tales that evoke a bygone era in one of America's most iconic cities. Rich with the essence and character of the times, suffused with patois of the city's underclass, these are stories about the common people of post-WW II LA and the strange things that happen to them.

Description

The first-ever stand-alone written work from Ry Cooder, Los Angeles Stories is a collection of loosely linked tales that evoke a bygone era in one of America's most iconic cities. In post-World War II Los Angeles, as power was concentrating and fortunes were being made, a do-it-yourself culture of cool cats, outsiders and oddballs populated the old downtown neighborhoods of Bunker Hill and Chávez Ravine. Ordinary working folks rubbed elbows with petty criminals, grifters and all sorts of women at foggy end-of-the-line outposts in Venice Beach and Santa Monica. Los Angeles Stories is published by City Lights Publishers.

Rich with the essence and character of the times, suffused with patois of the city's underclass, these are stories about the common people of Los Angeles, "a sunny place for shady people," and the strange things that happen to them. Musicians, gun shop owners, streetwalkers, tailors, door-to-door salesmen, drifters, housewives, dentists and pornographers, new arrivals and hard-bitten denizens all intersect in cleverly plotted stories that center around some kind of shadowy activity. This quirky love letter to a lost way of life will appeal to fans of hard-boiled fiction and anyone interested in the city itself.

Ry Cooder's previous literary endeavor came in the form of a 95-page novella in the deluxe version of his 2008 album I, Flathead, the tale of Kash Buk, a hard-living, car-racing, guitar-playing man with a space-alien sidekick.

ProductionCredits

Written by Ry Cooder
Published by City Lights Publishers
Paperback: 224 pages

Nonesuch Selection Number

MH8-529127

Number of Discs in Set
1disc
Album Status
Artist Name
Ry Cooder
Cover Art
UPC/Price
Label
Paperback
UPC
075597963274
  • Los Angeles Stories [paperback]
    by

  • MH8-529127

Track Listing

News & Reviews

  • Congratulations to all the winners at tonight's Grammy Awards, including Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway, whose debut album, Crooked Tree, won Best Bluegrass Album; Wilco, Best Historical Album (compilation producers Cheryl Pawelski & Jeff Tweedy and mastering engineer Bob Ludwig) and Best Album Notes (Bob Mehr) for the 20th anniversary super deluxe edition of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot; Taj Mahal & Ry Cooder, Best Traditional Blues Album for GET ON BOARD: The Songs of Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee, with Joachim Cooder; and Caroline Shaw & Attacca Quartet, Best Chamber Music / Small Ensemble Performance for Evergreen.

  • Congratulations to all of the Nonesuch nominees for the 65th Grammy Awards: Molly Tuttle for Best New Artist and Best Bluegrass Album for Crooked Tree with Golden Highway; The Black Keys for Best Rock Album for Dropout Boogie and Best Rock Performance for "Wild Child"; Dan Auerbach for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical; Cécile McLorin Salvant for Best Jazz Vocal Album for Ghost Song and Best Arrangement, Instrumental and Vocals for "Optimistic Voices / No Love Dying"; Joshua Redman, Brad Mehldau, Christian McBride, and Brian Blade's LongGone for Best Instrumental Album; Brad Mehldau's Jacob's Ladder for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album; Punch Brothers' Hell on Church Street for Best Folk Album; Caroline Shaw & Attacca Quartet's Evergreen for Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance; Taj Mahal & Ry Cooder's GET ON BOARD for Best Traditional Blues Album; Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (20th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition) for Best Historical Album and Best Album Notes for Bob Mehr; and Astor Piazzolla: The American Clavé Recordings. for Best Album Notes for Fernando González. 

  • About This Album

    The first-ever stand-alone written work from Ry Cooder, Los Angeles Stories is a collection of loosely linked tales that evoke a bygone era in one of America's most iconic cities. In post-World War II Los Angeles, as power was concentrating and fortunes were being made, a do-it-yourself culture of cool cats, outsiders and oddballs populated the old downtown neighborhoods of Bunker Hill and Chávez Ravine. Ordinary working folks rubbed elbows with petty criminals, grifters and all sorts of women at foggy end-of-the-line outposts in Venice Beach and Santa Monica. Los Angeles Stories is published by City Lights Publishers.

    Rich with the essence and character of the times, suffused with patois of the city's underclass, these are stories about the common people of Los Angeles, "a sunny place for shady people," and the strange things that happen to them. Musicians, gun shop owners, streetwalkers, tailors, door-to-door salesmen, drifters, housewives, dentists and pornographers, new arrivals and hard-bitten denizens all intersect in cleverly plotted stories that center around some kind of shadowy activity. This quirky love letter to a lost way of life will appeal to fans of hard-boiled fiction and anyone interested in the city itself.

    Ry Cooder's previous literary endeavor came in the form of a 95-page novella in the deluxe version of his 2008 album I, Flathead, the tale of Kash Buk, a hard-living, car-racing, guitar-playing man with a space-alien sidekick.