Observations from a Trip to the Left Coast

By whom or by what had I been impelled to disrupt the normal course of my existence?” asked French anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss in 1955 as he struggled to understand cultures in the Amazon rainforests. I asked myself a similar question last week when my wife and I flew to Los Angeles to spend a few days with our son, daughter-in-law, and two-year-old granddaughter. Their house is thirty miles (seventy minutes by car) north of the Los Angeles airport—LAX in airport code, though anything but reLAXing. For a person from the Lowcountry, California can feel as foreign as the upper reaches of the Amazon did to Lévi-Strauss. Being there, even over a long weekend, requires adjustment.

My first afternoon, needing some air, I took a walk around the neighborhood. Our kids’ house is on a hill steeper than any natural or man-made elevation east of the Appalachians. Take a right out the front door, walk a few dozen steps, and you’ll be breathing like you just completed a 5-K personal best; go left and be careful not to trip and fall or you’ll roll half a block downhill, ending up in a yard of stone, cacti, and other fat succulents. Grass doesn’t do well here; those who insist on a green lawn install Astroturf, which they sweep rather than mow. It’s a quiet walk except for the occasional squawk of a magpie or the constant, low background hum, which is not the existential “ohm” but the ever-present noise from the nearby freeway.

We drove one afternoon through impressive, rocky hills to a park at Malibu Beach, where our granddaughter likes to climb and slide on playground equipment. While there I watched a shirtless guy, maybe eighty years old, doing pullups on a bar erected for that purpose. Around us in a long, asphalt loop whizzed younger men on electric scooters, seeming to imagine they were getting exercise. Later, down the beach at the busy Malibu pier, we mingled among people speaking half a dozen languages –I made out English, Spanish, Japanese, Vietnamese, either German or Dutch (the guy mumbled), and one or two others. Prices frequently caught my attention. Parking for an hour at the pier cost fifteen dollars; the lowest-grade gasoline was five dollars a gallon; and a bottle of “Two-Buck Chuck,” the wine known since 2002 for costing two dollars a bottle, was $3.99. Our son says that for his house, which is a bit larger than ours but has a smaller yard, he pays one and one-half times more in property taxes in a month than we pay in a year. Of course, the nearby public school is top-notch. As for coming and going, flying is different from what I remember from my youth, not to mention from what cousin Orville experienced back in 1903, when he remained in the air all of twelve seconds. Dress for flying is more casual than it used to be. No longer does one see high heels and wingtips; now, it’s lots of uncared-for feet in flip-flops. Jeans and sweatpants are the norm, too. One maybe-eighteenyear-old woman had on shorts so brief that I could view parts of her anatomy that I had no wish to see. I got a sense that whatever money women under forty were saving on attire for the flight they were spending on dark eye shadow and fake lashes so long they had to wear their eyeglasses at the ends of their noses.

And haven’t cell phones blurred the long-respected line between public and private information? In the Los Angeles airport, as we awaited our (delayed) flight home, a man sitting next to me held long and loud conversations with medical personnel and family members about his brother, who the day before had suffered heart failure during a pickleball contest. I didn’t know whether to express my sympathy, which would have been civil, or to keep my mouth shut so as not to divulge that I’d heard every word of his conversation, as had a dozen others sitting around us.

Conversations differed as we awaited a connecting flight (also delayed) at the Denver Airport—DEN in the code, though not resembling anything I remember from Cub Scouts—where across from me a balding guy wearing slick gray pants, thin-soled loafers, Blue Tooth in ear, showed everyone nearby that he could mix metaphors better than good bartenders mix daiquiris:

“Bobby, it’s the whole nine yards. None of this half-a-loaf stuff.”

(Pause)

“Gino’s on board. I said he had to get with the program, take care of the nuts and bolts. He read my lips.”

(Pause)

“Nope. Not taking that route again. We do it cost-plus or we don’t do it.”

(Pause)

“Barry needs to massage the numbers, but it’ll fit. He’s all over Accounting,”

(Pause)

“Yeah, Jeremy’s interview was golden. I need to run him by Barry and Chuck, but he’s the real thing. A self-starter. Brings a lot to the table.”

(Pause)

“No, Bobby, no. Now, hey, let me share this with you. Your ears only. Kleinbeard’s over the hill. On his way out. Productivity’s down, alcohol consumption up. He was clueless at the Phoenix show. Didn’t have his samples; didn’t know the product. Having him on the road isn’t worth the Marriott points.”

(Pause)

Suddenly, an announcement about another flight delay, this one related to “thunderstorms at your intended destination,” jarred me loose from the

By Donald Wright

conversation. My situation of not arriving in Charleston until after midnight and having to drive on to Beaufort in the wee morning hours paled in comparison to poor Kleinbeard’s. Wherever he was, I was hoping somebody might buy him a drink. We got home at 3:45 a.m. and, ignoring the crackling serenade of tree frogs, slept like babies.

Donald Wright retired from SUNY-Cortland after 31 years as a professor of African history. He has authored of half a dozen books, held Fulbright, Rockefeller Foundation, and NEH Fellowships, and lectured in South Africa, China, and cruises along Africa's Atlantic coast. He lives with his wife, Doris, in Beaufort.

Tues - Sun: 11am-9pm

- Slim & Friends; Tuesdays - Fusion Jonez, Wednesdays - Grateful Dead Wednesday with The Reckoning; Thursdays - iLLA ZiLLA. 7/7 Check

Your Head - Beastie Boys tribute, 7/8 The Grateful Brothers - Grateful Dead, Allman Brothers tribute, 7/9 Oh He Dead, 7/12 Maxwell's Silver Jammer

- Beatles tribute, 7/13 Son Volt, 7/14 Sexbruise?, 7/15 Interstellar Echoes - Pink Floyd tribute, 7/16

Brent Cobb, 7/18 Duane Betts; Palmetto Motel, 7/21 Womz & Cartez of Futurebirds; Spencer Thomas, 7/22 Same As It Ever Was - Talking Heads tribute, 7/23 Mountain Grass Unit.

(843) 571-4343 or www.charlestonpourhouse.com

Windjammer, 1008 Ocean Blvd, Isle of Palms. 7/6 Flatland Cavalry; Pony Bradshaw, 7/7 The 502s; Under the Rug, 7/8 Doom Flamingo, Mat Kearney Acoustic Trio; Marc Scibilia, 7/9 Mat

Kearney Acoustic Trio, 7/14 & 7/15 Midnight City, 7/16 Randy Houser; Elizabeth Covington, 7/20 Moe, 7/21 Muscadine Bloodline. (843) 8868596 or www.the-windjammer.com

BEAUFORT/PORT ROYAL

Foolish Frog, 846 Sea Island Pkwy, St. Helena Island. (843) 838-9300 or on Facebook

Luther’s Rare & Well Done, 910 Bay Street. (843) 5211888 or www.luthersrareandwelldone.com

Q on Bay, 822 Bay St, Beaufort. (843) 524-7771 or www.qonbay.com

Rosie O’Gradys Irish Pub, in Beaufort Town Center. Irish American Sports Pub & Eatery. C'mon down! Rock & Roll Lunch. Wednesday, Friday & SaturdayKaraoke. (843) 379-7676 or Rosie's on Facebook

Saltus River Grill, 802 Bay St, Beaufort. (843) 379-3474 or www.saltusrivergrill.com

BLUFFTON/HILTON HEAD

Big Bamboo, Coligny Plaza. (843) 686-3443 or www.bigbamboocafe.com

Captain Woody’s, 6 Target Rd., Hilton Head or 17 State of Mind St., Bluffton. www.captainwoodys.com

The Jazz Corner, Village at Wexf1ord, Hilton Head. Sundays - Deas Guyz; Mondays - A Journey Through Jazz with The Martin Lesch Band; Tuesdays - Fat Tuesdays: A Swingin' Celebration of New Orleans and Beyond; Thursdays - Lavon Stevens with Louise Spencer. 7/5 Marlena Smalls with The Lavon Stevens Trio, 7/7 & 7/8 John Lumpkin Quartet with Kristen Warren honor Women of Jazz, 7/12 Bobby Ryder, 7/14 & 7/15 Hilton Head Jazz Camp Faculty All-Stars, 7/19 Marlena Smalls with The Lavon Stevens Trio, 7/21 & 7/22 N0el Freidline & Maria Howell: Motown Reimagined. (843) 842-8620 or www.TheJazzCorner.com

Omni Hilton Head Ocean Front in Palmetto Dunes. Buoy Bar - HH Prime - (843) 842-8000 or www. omnihotels.com

Out Of Town

The Music Farm, 32 Ann Street, Charleston. 7/7 Memphis May Fire; Norma Jean; Secrets & Paul, 7/8 Lo Monaco & the Talbott Brothers; Emily Curtis, 7/11 Crown the Empire; Varials, 7/13 Yung Pinch, 7/14 Charleston Metal Night with Metalraven; Smargle; Julia Legare; Severed by Dawn, 7/15 K-Pop Mixtape, 7/17 Del Amitri; Young Mister, 7/21 Reyes: Muestra Fiesta Dedicada a la Realeza de la Musica Latina, 7/22 Gamer Rave. (843) 408-1599 or www.musicfarm.com

The Pour House, 1977 Maybank Hwy, Charleston. Sundays - The Motown Throwdown, Mondays

Editors Note: Events listed here may be subject to postponement or cancellation. Please check for further information.

THEATER/FILM/DANCE

Now – 8/20, Jersey Boys: The Story of Frankie Vallie & The Four Seasons. The Tony Award winning musical sensation comes to the Arts Center of Coastal Carolina, 14 Shelter Cove, Hilton Head. For more information and tickets, visit www.artshhi.com

Mon 7/17, Comic Melissa Villasenor at the Arts Center of Coastal Carolina. A comedic impressions expert, she got her start on America’s Got Talent. Two shows: 4 pm & 7:30 pm. Tickets available at www.artshhi.com

GALLERIES/ART

Now – 7/22, Come to the Table, an exhibit of classical still life paintings by Denise Liotta DeMarzo at Art League Gallery. Located mid-island inside Arts Center of Coastal Carolina, 14 Shelter Cove Lane, Hilton Head, 843-681-5060. www.artleaguehhi.org

Now – 7/30, From My Imagination to Yours, an exhibit of work by Virginia Cassidy at the Society of Bluffton Artists gallery in Old Town Bluffton. For more information, visit https://www.facebook. com/ZenDenArtistry

Now – 8/20. A Stunning World Seen Through the Microscope, an exhibition of the 20 prize-winning images from the 2022 Nikon Small World Competition. Free and open to the public at Coastal Discovery Museum, 70 Honey Horn Dr, Hilton Head. www.coastaldiscovery.org

7/7 – 8/30, Simply Sea Islands, an exhibit of work by John Kenney at the Beaufort Art Association Gallery. Opening reception on Friday, July 7 from 5-8pm. www.beaufortartassociation.com

7/18 – 7/20, Halfway Home, an exhibit of Sea Turtle art at the Art League Academy. Closing reception on 7/20, 5-7pm. 106 Cordillo Parkway, Hilton Head. The exhibit and reception are free and open to the public.

BOOKS & WRITERS

Fri 7/7, Ruth Watson, author of A Right Worthy Woman, in conversation with Rebecca Bruff and Marilyn Harris at the Black Chamber of Commerce, 711 Bladen St, Beaufort, from 5-7pm. To register, visit https://anevening-withruthpwatson.eventbrite.com

Sun 7/9, NYT bestselling novelist Beatriz Williams at the Pat Conroy Literary Center at 2 pm. Williams will discuss her newest book, The Beach at Summerly. Books will be available for sale and signing. Seating is limited; call 843-379-7025 to reserve in advance.

Wed 7/19, Evening with novelist Kerry Peresta at the Beaufort Bookstore, in partnership with Pat Conroy Literary Center. Peresta will discuss The Torching (book 3 in the Olivia Callahan series) at 5 pm. 2127 Boundary St #15, Beaufort). Free and open to the public. Books will be available for sale and signing. Seating is limited; please call to reserve your spot: 843-525-1066.

Music

Sat 7/8, Window of Hope Concert, Live inspiration and jazz music. Featuring Bessie Bates, Terry Herron, Mammies Band, Cool John Ferguson, Bam Bam, and the Bountiful World Choir. 5 – 7pm at USCB Center for the Arts. Admission: $25 for single ticket; $15 per ticket for groups of six or more. For tickets call 843-359-3407 or 843-476-2165.

Tuesdays, 7/11, 7/25, 8/8, 8/22, 9/5. Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra’s Jazz in the Park series. At 7:30 pm in Lowcountry Celebration Park. These concerts are free and open to the public. For more information, visit hhso.org or call 843-842-2055.

Other Events

Sat 7/8, Maye River Quilters will meet at 10 am at Palmetto Electric Cooperative, 1Cooperative Way in Hardeeville. Social time begins at 9:30. To attend as a guest, email RSVP to mayeriverquilters@ gmail.com. For more information and for membership forms, call 843-705-9590.

7/14 – 7/23, 67th Annual Beaufort Water Festival in Waterfront Park. For a full schedule of events, visit www.bftwaterfestival.com

First Saturday of the Month, Teddy Bear Picnic Read-Aloud at Port Royal Farmers Market. DAYLO students and other volunteers will read to young children between 9am and noon. Children are encouraged to bring their favorite stuffed animal.

Tuesdays, Tours of Hunting Island sponsored by Friends of Hunting Island Keeper Ted and his team. For info call the Nature Center at 843-838-7437. Tours free are and park entry fees apply.

Second Friday, Beaufort Drum Circle 2nd Friday of every month. No experience necessary. All are wel- come. Bring a chair and drum or other percussive device. If you don't have one, we have a bunch of extras. Facilitator Eric Roy will lead us in traditional rhythms and others 6:30 – 8pm, under the Gazebo in Waterfront Park. For more information visit beaufortscdrumcircle@gmail.com and check our Facebook page.

Third Thursday, TECHconnect is a monthly networking event for professionals working in and around technology. Come and join on the for the conversation at BASEcamp 500 Carteret 5:307:30pm. 843-470-3506. www.beaufortdigital.com

Thursdays, History Tours of Fort Mitchell by the Heritage Library, 10am. $12/Adult $7/Child. 843-686-6560

Ongoing, Beaufort Tree Walk sponsored by the Lady’s Island Garden Club. Meander through the historic Old Point neighborhood, enjoying some unique and noteworthy trees. The “walk” takes about an hour and is a little over a mile, starting at the corner of Craven & Carteret Streets and ending in Waterfront Park. Booklets with a map and info about each tree available FREE at the Visitors Center in the historic Arsenal on Craven Street.