Summer.

My favorite friend of nature.

The smell of red hot warmth wafting through green grass.

The feel of sparkling yellow sundrops falling onto my face.

The songs of tiny birds relishing the longer days of light from the break of dawn until the edge of night.

The taste of roasted sweet corn on the cob and juicy tender barbequed ribs or burgers fresh off the grill, sips of tall cool gin and tonics and ice cream consumed in every form imaginable.

The sight of easy things that make all things possible.

Pacific ocean waters that manage to rise up to a tepid 70 degrees for afternoon swim sessions, bike rides along paths of lazy trees and blooming flowers, farmer’s markets brimming with an abundance of vegetables and impromptu gatherings with friends all make the hot months feel like one giant holiday.

And citywide arts events.

I happen to live in Los Angeles now, but no matter where I have called home, summer seems to be the time that every music and performance venue, museum, art gallery and outdoor amphitheater is trying to lure me in with some cultural delight.

Recently the City of Santa Monica (in Los Angeles County) debuted a free arts festival called Glow, based on a similar event in Paris called Nuit Blanche which translates into “white night” or “all-nighter.”  Natives and tourists were encouraged to see art installations, watch films and live performances and listen to music from Saturday night to the following Sunday morning, a celebration of dusk until dawn.

I attended to check out friend and artist Matt Sheridan’s graphics and images projected above the carousel on the Santa Monica Pier. Along with other visual artists, live musicians and DJs spinning ambient music, this Dublab/SASSAS produced project was called Tonalism, a saturnine and yet visually stimulating event.

Glow itself was an ambitious festival that attracted 100,000 people. Crowd control issues and parking nightmares aside, while I thought there should have been more art and less people, it did feel like a perfect fit for a warm July evening by the shore.

The next Glow is scheduled for the summer of 2010. In the meantime, I have a couple of more months of stellar hot days and warm nights to prowl the arts scene in Los Angeles. The summer wind will be blowing in from the across the sea and I will heed its call.

Photo by Stefano Paltera