Holywood Parks & Colorado Highways
A review and reflection on the Airborne Toxic Event's album, Holywood Park
Most people know Mikel Jollett as a political commentator popular for making acute observations via his Twitter account, @Mikel_Jollett, but I know him as the lead singer of one of my favorite bands, the Airborne Toxic Event. When I was in 6th grade, I used to wake up at 6 a.m. every Saturday morning to watch the Vh1 Top 20 Countdown. It was one of these mornings that the music video for their song “Sometime Around Midnight” made the list. I was immediately hooked. They were a band with a sound unlike anything I had heard, somewhat reminiscent of the Bruce Springsteen albums I grew up with, lyrics similar to the folk songs and protest songs my dad wrote, and most importantly to my young nerdy self, a rock and roll VIOLA player. I immediately dove into their album, falling in love with the way Jollett called on the English language to bring people together, songs covering subjects from young love to the mistreatment of veterans.
Year after year, I devoured every album they put out. I’d make a habit of driving down the highway with my windows down, blaring these songs to think about the way I saw myself through the context of these words I loved so much, but also the way they made me feel so much closer to everyone else in the world. Their last album came out in 2015. The final track was a song called “The Fall of Rome”. A song that is a favorite of mine, my dad’s, and my grandpa’s. A beautifully written song that transcends generations of my family even to this day. But then there was nothing. For years, they have not put out any new music. Band members got married, and some, including Jollett, had kids. They clearly had other things to take care of besides creating a new album. But still, I held onto hope. As the election of 2016 took place, Jollett got more and more recognition for using his gift of wordsmithing to go viral on Twitter. I saw his face more and more and every time it just reminded me that I needed new ATE music to make me feel connected to everyone else again. Music that would help me navigate my fear and anger and hope and passion in a way that could help me cope. Four more years passed. The world fell apart in chaos. A pandemic shook everyone’s lives. I began to feel more alone than I ever had before.
One morning, I rolled over in bed and opened my Twitter app on my phone. A familiar face greeted me, but this time he was not sharing a comment about politics, he had an announcement. It turns out Jollett had been working on a memoir of his life, Hollywood Park. A memoir about growing up with his father’s addiction, involvement in the violent cult, the Church of Synanon (a fact I had no idea about), and the chaos that had affected his life since then. But even more exciting was the announcement that a new album was coming of the same name. The Airborne Toxic Event had reconvened to create a soundtrack to the book, bringing their individual experiences over the last years to make a symphony of life through the lens of a little boy who did not understand the complexity of the situation he was living in. Due to the fact that many of us feel this way right now...small and helpless and immersed in chaos...they decided to release the title track early. A link was right there in the tweet. I grabbed my shoes and ran to my car, still in my mermaid pajamas. I rolled my windows down and headed towards Golden. As the first riffs tore through my speakers and flew out the window, I couldn’t help but smile. Hearing Mikel’s familiar voice immediately calmed me, bringing back that same sense of hope that all the other songs had given me before. As I tore down I-70 heading towards the mountains, reminiscing about all the times I had driven down other highways listening to that same voice and thinking about all the other people listening to the same song, I felt connected to the world once again.
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