My husband and I just got back from a two-week vacation.  We rarely go away for that long at a stretch, which is a good thing; my brain hasn't come back from vacation mode yet.  And, trust me, that's already caused problems.  But I digress… two-week vacation…  We spent ten of the 15 days in Southern California – five days in San Diego and five days in LA.  We spent the other five days on the All Star Smooth Jazz Cruise.  

All of this led me to inevitable conclusion that smooth jazz and Southern California fit like that proverbial hand in a glove,  I think that maybe that's why those of us in the rest of the country don't quite get it.  We like it, but we don't totally get it. 

I've visited Southern California about a dozen times in the last ten years.  People in Southern California are typically very pleasant and laid back.  I think it's because of all that sunshine.  I know, I know, Florida has lots of sunshine too, but they also have heat and humidity.  They don't do the heat and humidity combo in Southern California.  All of that wonderful bright sunshine about 11 months out of the year just makes people happy, I think.  Smooth jazz is happy music – kind of pleasant and laid back. 

And speaking of all that sunshine… January is that one month out of the year when it gets a little cool and actually rains, and I'm talking serious rain too.  It's kind of funny.  Southern Californians seem to feel responsible for the weather somehow.  They kept apologizing to us about it.  In Virginia, we never apologize for the weather to visitors.  It is what it is, and if you don't like it, just wait a couple of hours and it will be different.  But in Southern California, people seem to want the weather to be nice for you while you are there.  Smooth Jazz is like that too.  It wants to be nice for you all of the time, and when it isn't, there are apologies.  Who hasn't heard, "Do you mind if we get a little funky for you?" at a smooth jazz concert?  We don't mind.  And we really don't mind all that much when it's in the mid-sixties and mostly cloudy in mid-January either.  That would be a "hit the beach day" back home.

Southern Californians are interesting.  Probably nowhere in the US do you meet more "green-minded" people.  Yet the streets and freeways are clogged with cars with only one person in them.  They have HOV lanes for cars with TWO people in them.  TWO!  Try getting away with that on I-95 heading into DC. 

There are probably more "smoke-free" buildings in California than anywhere else.  I'm not a smoker, so I like that, but I've discovered something about that in my visits.  When you don't have places indoors for people to smoke, they just smoke in places indoors where they aren't supposed to smoke… like in the hotel room next to yours. 

Smooth jazz reflects this too.  Smooth Jazz knows what it is supposed to be.  Consultants spell that out really well.  Radio stations won't play it if it doesn't comply.  But you know what?  Check out some of those deeper tracks on a smooth jazz CD, and go catch a live show… They get around it, no doubt about it.

And back to traffic a minute.  You remember those really nice, laid-back people I mentioned that live in sunny Southern California?  Put those same people behind the wheel of a car and you'd better not get in their way!  They really get crazy.  It's truly a Jeckle and Hyde thing.  So the next time you are driving down your average crazy, road-raged filled highway, think about our Southern California brothers and sisters, and maybe you won't gag as many times when you hear that announcer on the radio saying they are "smoooothing out your ride home."  Lord knows someone needs to smoooooth out their ride.

Southern California… smooooth and relaxing… except when it isn't, and then you can take something for that… or just listen to the radio for a while.