Kunihiko Murai's LA Diary

2019/01/18

As a composer and producer, since 1969, I have lived a life flying around Paris, London, New York, and Los Angeles (LA).

In the late 1980s, I established a music publishing company in LA that handled songs by artists such as B.B. King and Fleetwood Mac, and in 1992, I moved to LA with my family. I have lived in LA for 26 years since then.

When we moved, my eldest son was nine and my eldest daughter was seven. My children were able to transfer into a famous elementary school called the Center for Early Education, which I call the "Yochisha of Hollywood." Every morning, when Jack Nicholson, looking as if he had just chewed a bitter bug, would drop his children off at the school gate by car, Rob Friedman, then vice chairman of Paramount Pictures, would volunteer to open the doors. It was a very Hollywood-style elementary school.

At the golf club I joined, there was the famous bandleader Les Brown, and we had lively conversations about jazz. Composer John Williams became a member around the same time, and since rock star Stephen Stills also wanted to join, I acted as his sponsor for him to enter the club.

For someone like me who does music, LA is an enjoyable place. Since the 1920s, when movies became talkies and music was required, musicians from all over the world have gathered there. It also became the center of the world's rock and pop music in the 1960s and 70s. It is a city like Vienna, the musical capital of the 18th and 19th centuries.

However, LA has many other facets, and I am always wondering, "What kind of city is LA, exactly?" LA is a mysterious city where traditions are destroyed, new traditions are created, and different races and cultures coexist. No one can truly know its depths.

So, I wrote everything I could know every month from 2011 to 2018 in the dōjinshi magazine "Monthly Territory." This book is a compilation of those writings. I would be very happy if you enjoy reading it.

Kunihiko Murai's LA Diary

Kunihiko Murai (Author)

Rittor Music

344 pages, 2,200 yen (excluding tax)

*Affiliations, titles, etc., are as of the time of publication.