GOING TO CALIFORNIA

I'm working on the ultimate playlist for my move to LA. I plan on driving out with a buddy and need to feel a few days (!) worth of tunes. So far I've added the Stones "Winter," Neil Young "Out on the Weekend," Billy Bragg "California Stars," Social Distortion "California (Hustle & Flow)," and, of course, Led Zeppelin "Going to California." What would you add?

While we're on the topic, I've received more than a few mails from people who have read BLACK DOGS and want to know if I hate Led Zeppelin. Not at all! I love Zeppelin but when I sat down to write BLACK DOGS it only made sense that Patrick, as the organizer of this little heist, not like Zeppelin. What teenage rock fan would rob he band he loved, right? (Of course, he manages to get poor Frenchy wrapped up in his plot!)

To get to this point in my plotting of the book we need to back up a bit. The genesis of BLACK DOGS started with a magazine article about the release of "The Song Remains the Same" on DVD. The article mentioned that the movie was delayed after Zeppelin were robbed of $203,00 at the end of their '73 tour, money that was supposed to be used to fund the filming. No one was ever arrested. How did I not know this? I spent most of my teen years and all of my college years working at record stores. (And I'm old enough to still refer to them as record stores. Hell, I'm old enough to still remember hanging out record stores!) Spend enough time working in music stores and you hear every album, every bit of music folklore and partake in every stupid argument from Beatles vs Stones (it's Stones) to Metallica vs Megadeth (it's Metallica). I didn't know that the biggest rock band on the planet was robbed of almost a quarter of a million dollars?

It occurred to me that somewhere a group of guys could be sitting at a bar talking about how they robbed Led Zeppelin and got away with it. My mind started spinning around, making up back stories for these guys. They wouldn't be big-time burglars because those kinds of movie stereotypes go after massive scores of diamonds and bank vaults. This was too small-time for them. Besides, who would know that Zeppelin always got paid in cash except some young rock 'n' roll fans? From there I could see them, a ragtag bunch of stoners and dropouts who decide to rob the world's biggest rock band.

I put them in Baltimore because the image of that city in the 70s seemed gritty and dirty, the kind of place where some delinquents up to no good could easily get sucked into something bigger and meaner than them. I'd never been to Baltimore and poured over maps and books trying to place landmarks. When I did a BLACK DOGS reading in Baltimore I braced for a few questions about the authenticity of my made-up Baltimore. I only received on: That I should have included Natty Bo beer, which they then provided me with a six-pack of (It's delicious!)

I'll talk more about BLACK DOGS later and in the mean time hit me up with any questions!