For my twelfth grade honors English project, which involved creating a ‘Literary Atlas’, I chose to research Los Angeles in the 1960’s. The first book I read for this assignment was Johnny Otis’s ‘Listen to the Lambs’, as a look into the Watts Riots that took place in Los Angeles in 1965. Not only did Otis’ novel give me a glimpse back to that time period, but it also served as an interesting read about one man’s experiences in dealing with racism in America.
Commonly known as the “Godfather of Rhythm and Blues”, Johnny Otis was, among many things, an American singer, songwriter, and musician. And, in 1969, with his publication of ‘Listen to the Lambs’, he became an author. Despite being the child of Greek immigrants, Johnny always considered himself to be black – ‘environmentally, psychologically, culturally, emotionally, and intellectually’. There wasn’t one contributing factor to this, but rather the culmination of his life’s experiences. In the book’s preface, Otis writes, “As a kid I decided that if our society dictated that one had to be either black or white, I would be black.” He continues on life, as outlined in this book, feeling this way – he goes on to marry a black woman, plays with other black musicians, and lives in black neighborhoods. And, when the Watts Riots come about, you can guess who he sides with.
This novel evolved from a letter that Johnny Otis wrote about the riots to a friend. Within the book, this letter, along with a second one, is included, and you can feel the stark difference to his regular writing. The structure is all over the place, and dotted with ellipses, but the message gets through and is a very real and natural from of his expression. I feel that the inclusion of these personal notes made the book a stronger one. The rest of the book is a mixture of feelings and ideas – from outside accounts of the riots, to stories from his past, to his take on everything that has happened thus far.
To me, the most interesting (and relevant) parts of this book were those pertaining to the Watts Riots. Otis conducted interviews of those who took part in the riots, and put them – word-for-word – into this book. By sharing the telling of such a large and significant story, I think that you were really able to get a better understanding of the entire picture. He provided the interviews of five different individuals that experienced these riots, and each had a unique perspective on the incident. One segment told of a shop-owner who got arrested for no particular reason, while dropping of a mother at her home, while another tells of a reporter feeling conflicted. Read together, in conjunction to Otis’ writing, I found this section to be one of the more powerful and interesting ones. In addition, I really enjoyed Johnny’s description of Watts –
“Like any other spot on earth whose inhabitants are perpetually locked in mortal combat with poverty and affliction, Watts is shot through with visual evidence of its plight. And even when the blemishes and the squalor cannot be readily picked up by the eye, they can be felt. You can almost cut with a knife the rage that this imposed ugliness generates. In the more densely populated and consequently shabbier neighborhoods, this grim and unlovely emotion pervades the atmosphere like a noxious gas. But, on the other hand, in Watts, as in any other spot on the earth where the human spirit refuses to yield, there is a deep and startling beauty.”
Although the section about the Watts riots piqued my interest the most, I enjoyed the rest of the book, as well. Some of the parts fell a little flat, however – mostly where Otis is trying to be poignant and reflective. It just didn’t seem to fit his style of writing, necessarily. You can tell that he is a storyteller, and when he gets into his life experience, that’s when you really get involved. A good portion of his book contained his retelling of things that happened to him in the past, from his upbringing, to the discrimination he experienced and witnessed, to the music he created, to the life he lived. And all of it really captured and held my attention.
For my third honors novel, I chose to read “Blue Jean Baby”, an autobiographical work by Sally Parmer. Subtitled ‘One Girl’s Trip Through the 1960s L.A. Music Scene’, I figured that this book would give me insight into the time period I was looking into for this assignment. Luckily, I was right – of the three books I have read so far, this one most definitely gives the most feeling of what it was like to be in Los Angeles in the 60’s. While “Listen to the Lambs” was built upon events prior to and after the sixties, and “Helter Skelter” focused on a specific crime, “Blue Jean Baby” gave more of an overarching view on what life was like at that time.
This book follows Sally Parmer - from a first-person perspective – as she becomes a part of the L.A. music scene. In reference to the term ‘groupie’, she states:
“In reality, the original music fans, those of us who hooked up with the musicians in the early 1960s, were wide-eyed kids overwhelmed by a style of music so intensely life-affirming we longed to attach ourselves to the people who created the sound.”
She and her friends, at the ripe age of fourteen, begin their pursuit of this musical lifestyle just as the Beatles began their rise to popularity. Music was changing from beachy to rock, and they all wanted a part in it.
“The Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and nameless groups we’d soon grow to worship caused the ground to rumble in the West Coast pre-earthquake way. Something big was finally happening, and the emotionally weary among us vowed to be involved.”
Sally exploited her visual similarity to Cher to initially make connections, and from there just expanded her circle. At school, she socialized with like-minded teens, and even became a folk singer with a friend, as a way to make money to fund their pursuits. They got into drugs, sex, and rock-and-roll – a stark contrast from what previous generations lived by.
“My generation carried the banner that transitioned western culture from conservative, post-war blandness to open-minded pro-activity. That transition included a free-spirited attitude toward speech, style, and behavior, and made the world cool for the first time since the 1920s.”
Sally used this world to somewhat escape from her family – her mother was a drunk, and when Sally got pregnant at sixteen, she was completely locked up and treated horribly, resulting in a near-death experience after giving up her newborn.
The story continues with expected outcomes – unwanted pregnancies in the music community, her different encounters with various musicians, her changing relationships, and a never-steady or calm lifestyle. Even the ending doesn’t really give resolution – in her seemingly early twenties (I don’t believe a specific age is ever stated) she takes her daughter and leaves an abusive relationship to continue on with her life. While the afterword tells the current lives of her friends, and other characters from the book, you never really learn what her final fate was.
I ended up enjoying both of these books, and felt that they both gave me a good understanding of the time period. The books actually ended up feeling and reading similarly – both are based in reality and are told as stories. Because of this, they both read as interesting and easy to follow – it wasn’t all facts and figures, but rather the feelings and experiences of the 1960’s. Both books gave context that tied them, as well as the time period, together. The books referenced events from the time period, such as the Watts Riots, that gave you an idea of how the time felt. Overall, these novels really painted a clear picture of what Los Angeles was like in the 1960’s, and reading them will have given me a greater understanding for my final project.
