...or, if not righteous, perhaps one could take a slightly cynical look at one of the next lines of lyrics from "Righteous Life" (found on Sergio Mendes and Brasil '66's LP "Stillness"): but no one else notices destiny except the free. And as I walked the beach once again today, I could only but acknowledge that I'm crazy-free at the moment, up to my ass in freedom; but destiny? Not so sure I could see that if it poked me with a sharp stick.
The beach had a different aspect today; it looked as though a garbage skip had turned over offshore. All manner of things moving along the shoreline, from used (or unused? who can tell after a while?) condoms to styrofoam pieces (do people still use that stuff?) to hairspray cans (again, huh?). A few empty bottles that once contained guarana and caffeine energy drinks rolled about. And look at that, an old fishline complete with hook whispering past my ankle, creepy as hell. But the condition of the beach ddn't get me down too much - I made a silent resolution to contact the city about it and mentally moved on. Doesn't seem to have stopped many other people either: lots of kids playing in the mucked-up water, and fit-types jogging the sand away. An oh-so urban feel today, like "what can you do when you can't get out of the city on a hot sunny day" - you make due with what you have, and enjoy yourself.
And so, today's soundtrack was a little different.
The Funky 16 Corners, which I purchased from emusic, is a grand compilation of little-known funk songs, all excellent. My personal favorite is "What About You (In The World Today)":
"How'd you get that hole in your shoe?" "By looking for a job that you know wasn't there."
The funk comp was followed by one of my more subtle favorites, the aforementioned "Stillness" by Sergio Mendes and Brasil '66. I agree with allmusic's review, which states it's the "great sleeper album of Sergio Mendes' first A&M period". Lani Hall really captured me here, even if she left the album mid-production. I went on to acquire her "Sundown Lady" lp - it didn't please me as much, but is still thoroughly anjoyable. Mendes rendition of "For What It's Worth" is still one of my favorite covers (please check out the link for a quick listen)...I originally heard it on the Mojo Cub Dancefloor Jazz compilations, and that in turn prompted me to get this full album. Comps have been very good to me.
I suppose if I'd walked a little further, I might have started listening to the Mojo mixes or Roots of Chicha...but hey, we have a whole summer ahead of us!
Today I took a walk. A silly walk. One that was surely too long...but the clouds were out and it's such a rarity in Los Angeles, I felt I should take advantage. For the last 11 years, I've thought that sooner or later I'd head on the sandy journey from Long Beach to Seal Beach, and today seemed an excellent time. Out of work and out of patience...a long stroll would do me fine. And I can't help feeling that I'm saying goodbye to the LA area soon. No maudlin feeling to it, but suddenly think it's time to do a few things I've always meant to do. A little naive as it turns out, as you can't walk from Long Beach to Seal Beach...at least not via the shore! Any map might have told me this, but I'm fond of flying by the seat of my pants. So I walked to the very end of Ocean Blvd., which unhappily ends in a huge marina. Suppose I could have taken a swim to the other shore, while dodging yachts and sailboats. About this time, the clouds became fickle and Catalina-bound...and left me in the harsh sun. And for the first time ever, I cared not a whit what people thought of me - sun umbrella out and proudly carried! Good thing too. As it is I'm burned; can't imagine the blistered mess that might have occurred otherwise. Funny how a pleasant stroll can turn into a test of endurance.
At any rate, beside the mild irritation at not reaching my goal, and the concern for my skin's health, I listened to some fabulous summer music. For sunny days, for walking along shorelines, for drinking margaritas under an umbrella, for reading a book in the backyard, for having friends over in the hazy mosquito-filled twilight...I recommend:
Thievery Corporation's "Babylon Rewound" , a remix album of "The Richest Man In Babylon". This was acquired from emusic - a curiosity pick - and am quite happy with it. I still feel emusic is under-accessed. Start with the editors' picks and then lose control from there. Last time I visited the site, it was for a Slim Gaillard fix.
And by various artists, the "Achilifunk - Gypsy Soul 1969-1979" comp . Amazing! This was referred to me by another great friend, and the blog upon which I found it is one of those, "Where the hell did the day go?!?" sites. The music-curious could get lost in the spiraling snowball effect.
Believe me, great music to get sunburned to ^^ And these blogs/sites are ALL stunning. Please check them out.
I've wanted to write a post about some favorite films from my wasted youth and now seems as good a time as any. Taking a wee break from the London trip, but will get back to it over the weekend.
My parents were (and are) quite intelligent and maybe a little too open about things. They were interested in my brothers and I having our own experiences, and were fine with parties and staying out, as long as I was safe and called them to let them know where I was. They didn't fret about boys I brought home (not openly anyway). And at one point I seem to remember my mother encouraging me to try LSD "at least once, it's like a conversation with God". I mention all this because they were also pretty laid back about what we watched. It was pretty varied, but there was a love of goofy cult film in our household, including things like Crimewave (the first Coen Bros. sally) and The Forbidden Zone, written and directed by Richard Elfman and starring his younger brother as Satan. I recently tried to get some friends to watch Crimewave, thinking it would be great fun...but, well...I may be its only fan ;) Much like some of the movies I'm about to bring up below!
Favorite films of youth include but are certainly not limited to, the following...and I think I can come up with reasons to watch all of them. My reasons, anyway.
Dot and the Kangaroo: this film came out in 1977, and I was watching it soon after...probably up through my teen years, as it became a rather staple-ish thing on HBO. I can still sing the utterly frantic "Clickety-click" song...and I'm sure if you caught my brother after a few glasses of wine, he could (and would) as well. It's based on a book from 1899, which is news to me (read the wiki last night). The book looks charming. The movie is probably less so...but I've pulled two clips from YouTube: the Bunyip and Clickety-Click songs. The creator of the latter clip points out that the manically cheery song is placed right after the parents have finally allowed that Dot might be dead. Must say I didn't notice that as a kid. Nor as a teen. But then, as a teen things like this start to morph into something else, something with which to annoy others. Which will lead me to the next film in just a moment.
Here is the Bunyip song (written by John Palmer and performed by Maurie Wilmore):
Clickety-clickety-clickety click!!!!! (with spoiler alert, and this song also written by John Palmer and performed by Maurie Wilmore)
Unico has to be the most obnoxious thing I have EVER seen. I love it. I forced many friends in college to watch it, which resulted in people imitating the high-pitched whiny American voices for days (I gather only the dubbed versions are quite this terrifying). Both "The Fantastic Adventures of Unico", 1981, and "Unico in the Island of Magic", 1983, are to be re-released on dvd. Beware! Early Sanrio at its most terrifying. These films include very odd and disturbing elements, which may be why they continue to float around in my head rather than being swept away with the other dustbunnies. Cribbed from wikipedia: "In this film, Unico meets a kind-hearted young girl named Cheri (also spelled "Cherry", voiced by Sumi Shimamoto). Cheri's older brother, Toby (in Japanese, "Torubi", voiced by Shuichi Ikeda), is working for the evil Lord Kuruku (in Japanese, "Kukuruku"), who plans to turn all living creatures, animals and people alike, into zombie-like beings called "Living Puppets" to be his slaves; Toby's job is to change people into Living Puppets and then lure the Living Puppets to Kuruku's island castle. Toby also takes on Melvin the Magnificat ("Yamaneko" in Japanese) - who hates Unico because Unico "intruded" in "his" forest (the forest in which the West Wind left Unico) - as his assistant. After Cheri's parents and neighbors all get turned into Living Puppets, she and Unico team up to stop Kuruku." See? Scary!!
Below is a (link to) clip from Fantastic Adventures (I love this song): its Chao's cat song, which is why I sing this song of mow-meow-meow. For some reason the YouTube member has disabled embedding (frown).
And here is a clip from The Island of Magic. Unico meets Toby the devil. You don't need to watch more than maybe, oh, up through the demon statue being destroyed to get a very clear idea of the rest of the film.
Animalympics: this film really caught the spirit of things, Lake Placid Olympics and all that. It is spot-on. Was created in 1978-79, and features several full-length musical segments by 10cc's Graham Gouldman (I've included several below). The film stars many great voice talents, including Gilda Radner, Billy Crystal and Harry Shearer. And may I add that Lisberger Studios had the coolest logo ever. It does not surprise me one tiny bit that he and his crew went on to create Tron. Nor that this film is played at sci fi cons.
I never stopped enjoying this, and don't know if it has to do with memories of the time (we were lurking about Lake Placid constantly at that point and I had a crush on a blond boy named Tad) or maybe my friend's memories, as he's from Placid. We once in a while sit down and watch it...has become a bit comfort food-ish.
The Noah's Ark "Go For It" scene (which is mildly brilliant for showing all the bored patrons):
"WE Made It To the Top" (I always over-empathize with that tiger):
And, finally, "Love's Not For Me" - which, oddly, is actually a very pretty song.
And now, Rock & Rule,. I heart this film. A campy friend of mine has the sound mind to love it as well, and we were both a little overly excited about the release on dvd. I don't know how many times I saw this as a kid, but of the four films presented here, might be the one deemed least "appropriate" for a kid. I adored it, but then again, I was 13. And since I started reading my parents' collection of Heavy Metals by age 9 and had already been introduced to drug culture, this suited me fine. It had great music (Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, Deborah Harry and Cheap Trick) and the animation, in my opinion, is outstanding. And some of the best secondary characters in film. Cindy Zip is my hero.
Here's Cindy at the club, getting down to "Hot Dogs and Sushi" by Melleny Brown, preceded by Earth, Wind and Fire's "Dance Dance Dance":
Here's Omar's rendition of "Born to Raise Hell" (Cheap Trick):
And, on an end note, the gloriously self-involved dragged out cock-rocker Mok (musically played by Lou Reed and Iggy, natch):
My younger life was somewhat transitory. It is only recently, as my brother pointed out one night in a rather pompous wine bar (redundant), that I realized when my parents said we were "going camping" it might well mean something else! The fact that I never noticed nor cared is a loving wave to my folks. But it must be admitted that we were fairly gypsy-ish. From this early lifestyle I gained a love for travel, a fear of settling down, a tendency to cut ties and a lack of responsibility. There were flush times and hard times...times when we were so broke other poor people were stealing food for us, and times when all seemed dandy. Again, as a kid, it's hard to relate....I was very intuitive in some ways, noticing every degree of fluctuation in my parents' emotional relationship, and yet not understanding the ramifications of having Spam for Thanksgiving.
We traveled from home to home...I have also gained a very selective memory. Part of the "cutting ties" bit, I think. I couldn't begin to describe most of the houses I lived in. There was one that had a late 60's motif in the bathroom with purple floral wallpaper and bright green shag carpeting....I remember the "haunted house" in Whitesboro, which deserves a blog entry all its own....the various terrible college apartments, but then we're past the beginning and into the middle.
I lived with my grandparents quite often, and now assume this was during times of separation between my parents, or when we simply could not afford to live elsewhere. I still have bad dreams about my grandparents' home, which is a shame. I loved that house, and remember it down to nearly every detail. Another segment that deserves its own telling.
But mainly what it comes down to is an early life that formed the later; a need to keep on the move, to feel slightly displaced, and to easily meet others and just as easily lose them again. It has been a marvel to me that many old friends have recently reinstated contact of a sort.
So now you have the building blocks, the Lincoln Log framework - and we can move forward.
Before I forget, here are two songs that I must have heard 5000 times as a kid. One terrified me as I lay at night under the covers while my parents were in the living room smoking pot with friends....the other remains a fond memory of many bluegrass concerts with the smell of cut grass and beer on the air, blankets on the ground and gnats hanging around our heads. They've stuck with me all these years and still send shivers up my spine. Perhaps no one else's...but mine.
So. It is the year 2009. I already have a sickly blog out there, blindly groping its way around the internet, occasionally entering my friends' homes and begging for attention...and for some reason I've decided to begin another, perhaps hoping it will be a heartier waif than the last.
I adore music, but there are so many glorious music-filled blogs out there already...I can (and will) certainly point them out to you. This batch of typed folderol may include music, but what it really will be (supposedly) is a travelogue. Not of the usual kind, maybe, but hopefully informative and entertaining...and if my navel-gazing once in a while assists you in some way, do let me know! Am always keen to help.
Meandering has been a part of my life for, well...forever, really. If by "forever" we understand it to mean "since my birth". But recently it has hit a fever pitch, and it occurs to me that someone else doesn't need to make the same mistakes if I've made them already! These mistakes could relate to any facet of life. This may be about traveling, but will incorporate all things (i.e., I get to write about whatever the hell I like and you will have to cope). And this exercise won't be entirely about mistakes; it will be about choices and experience, life-love-laughter-tears, all that jazz. So in two paragraphs we've gone from music to travel to mistakes to life. Some of my favorite things! Wondering if Julie Andrews would sing that song?
Finally, the blog's title comes from my favorite decadent snack I usually enjoy when writing romantic notes about where I've been and what I've been doing...so expect a plum wine flavored kiss to be blown on the air to you shortly.
The Funky 16 Corners, which I purchased from emusic, is a grand compilation of little-known funk songs, all excellent. My personal favorite is "What About You (In The World Today)": 
The funk comp was followed by one of my more subtle favorites, the aforementioned "Stillness" by Sergio Mendes and Brasil '66. I agree with allmusic's review, which states it's the "great sleeper album of Sergio Mendes' first A&M period". Lani Hall really captured me here, even if she left the album mid-production. I went on to acquire her "Sundown Lady" lp - it didn't please me as much, but is still thoroughly anjoyable. Mendes rendition of "For What It's Worth" is still one of my favorite covers (please check out the link for a quick listen)...I originally heard it on the Mojo Cub Dancefloor Jazz compilations, and that in turn prompted me to get this full album. Comps have been very good to me.
