Himiko Kikuchi -- Hollywood Illusion

peter boy12qq12 via Wikimedia Commons

My one and only time in Hollywood was in the summer of 1989 when our plane, due to technical issues, was stuck at LAX for the night so we actually got to spend an accidental night in Los Angeles. Our hotel's manager took pity on us JET teachers and he got us a tour through the LA area including Hollywood and Beverly Hills, so we got to see how people in a higher income tax bracket got to live. In some parts, it really did feel like an illusion worthy of a holodeck.

And this gets me to segue over to "Hollywood Illusion" by jazz pianist Himiko Kikuchi（菊池ひみこ）. A track from her 1984 album "Reverse It", it really does sound like our whirlwind tour through Los Angeles...seeing those familiar landmarks in person and not through television such as Grauman's Chinese Theatre, Venice Beach, the Hollywood sign and even a few celebrity mansions including the one belonging to Elizabeth Taylor.

Yes, that not-quite-5-minute "Hollywood Illusion" manages to smash in disco, jazz, funk and even some of that Golden Age melodic sophistication to illustrate the craziness of life in the Hollywood area. The intro even sounds like the beginning of the Oscars ceremony from decades ago, and at the same time, I got those eerie reminders of Hibari Misora's（美空ひばり）classic "Kawa no nagare no youni" (川の流れのように), five years before the song was even released. It's a long way from 1989 to 2025 but I wonder how much Hollywood has changed.

Completely off-topic here but from a humorous interview with Sir Patrick Stewart on The Graham Norton Show, I learned about the swanky Tower Bar & Restaurant in LA which is part of the Sunset Tower Hotel. I can only wonder what going there would be like. By the way, I first posted about Kikuchi back in 2020, so you can also check out her "Sevilla Breeze" which sounds like the name of a cocktail that could be served at the Tower Bar.