May 25,2019
…I still can’t feel my face.The music, man, the music in this place just rises until it rolls through you and gets under your skin…
September 4,2019
…Saw a girl get loaded buck ass naked into the back of an Uber by Chris Mulroney, from that show on the thing?Like, for real.The man glows.
The concert was great, too…
January 17,2021
…First time I’ve been out of the house in ages and thank $#^% the Agora is open.Everyone was cool, kept their distance, but the minute they started singing, I think ninety percent of the place fell silent.It was magic, just pure magic.I know I wasn’t the only one in tears.There was this sense of, like, this can only happen here, this can only happen now.I’ve been to thousands of concerts, but I’ll remember this one forever…
August 22,2021
…Hot af but it’s summer in LA and the drinks here slay.And when the sun set, the temperature dropped like fifteen degrees, and it’s like all the shitwe’ve all been dealing with melted away with the heat…
March 23,2022
…Was this place built on some ancient lucky hot spot?Because I swear there’s something here.My sister and her girlfriend got engaged here three years ago after only two dates, and they’re the happiest people I know.My coworker and her husband were on the brink of divorce, and they saw Josh Groban here, and now they’re having another baby.It’s weird, that’s all I’m saying…
September 29,2022
…Elvie and Dante Baker?The Vendetta was back at last.Best.Night.Ever….
* * *
Excerpt,Rolling Stone
…The Agora sitsinside Los Angeles’s largest green space, and they’ve done everything they can to preserve its OG, ancient acropolis vibe.All of the greats have played here, Aretha Franklin, Sir Elton John.You name them, and they’ve rocked this house.
Almost one hundred years old, this natural amphitheater is an LA icon.Those who have been to Red Rocks in Denver or the Hollywood Bowl maintain that at the Agora, something magical happens.Some say it’s the ghosts of the World War II soldiers who used it as barracks, or the summer stock performers from the 1950s, maybe the buried rage from the punk and Motown bands that dominated in the ’60s and ’70s.
I say, who cares?There’s something about this intimate setting, being out in the fresh air, and seeing some exceedingly talented people creating music on this stage.
It feels like hope.It feels like possibility.
Some say it’s the secondhand marijuana smoke, but I say it’s just the Agora…
CHAPTER2
Seven years ago—Ellery
Legendary Jo’sDive in North Hollywood, a tiny, ancient bar that violated a thousand health codes, stayed open thanks to the loyalty of its clientele.The open mic was packed with UCLA students on a Thursday night, the ones who knew how to arrange their schedules properly so they didn’t have Friday classes.Ellery had never had that luxury, but she sat there anyway, at one of the few coveted tables, Jasper at her side.She’d sleep after her early morning Irish history class.
The lineup that night was fairly typical: posers whose parents/family/friends were in the industry, drunken juniors pretending it was karaoke or a bad poetry slam, and the genuinely, enviably talented.
Ellery didn’t know where she fit in the lineup, but she had to try.Again and again and again, she had to try.When you wanted something as badly as she did, you didn’t give up, not for anything.
Her phone beeped with a text message from her mom.How’s it going?
“Your mom again?”Her roommate Sarai sipped her diet cola.“She calls a lot.”
Ellery flushed and shoved the phone back into the pocket of her jeans.Sarai was a little jealous since her own mom had moved to Brazil once she was in college.Ellery loved that her mom checked in frequently.Los Angeles was about as far from Milwaukee as a girl could go, but her family had never been anything but supportive.Even on the nights when Ellery was sure she could not do it any longer, her mom and dad were there for her.Pesky little sister, not so much, but she didn’t have lofty expectations.They wanted her to pursue her dream.
And maybe also didn’t mind her being out of the way.It could be difficult to stand out in a family where everyone excelled.
Sarai looked impossibly bored.Her roommate had come to these things with her religiously the previous year, but over the summer she had clearly developed other tastes.Ellery followed the path of her gaze to a group of senior guys, pumping up one of their own before he took his turn onstage.
