I am so completely blown away by the civil rights movement. This was a small group of young men and women who changed the way the world they lived in would have to think about and deal with them. It’s also about truth and right overcoming lies and meanness and they did it.
I guess I should really try to find a copy of this entire show cuz here’s another one which I think turned out pretty sweet considering its live and all.
Lately I have been confused and troubled about some basic things like: who I am. What I’m doing. What I’m not doing. What I should be doing, etc. etc. ad nauseum. When I get like this I like to read Paulo Coelho, and in case anyone else is feeling that way, here’s why… he writes things like this:
“There is no tragedy, only the unavoidable. Everything hath its reason for being: thou needest only distinguish what is temporary from what is lasting.”
“What is temporary?” Asked Elijah.
“The unavoidable”
“And what is lasting?”
“The lessons of the unavoidable.”
This is from “The Fifth Mountain”.
He also throws around a lot of archaic words I don’t understand like “god” and “warrior” but his books hold a lot of wisdom and are generally a short, easy read if you’re in a place where you need that kind of thing.
Did anyone else happen to notice these incredible lyrics:
When I look back on the best days of my life
I think I watched them all on tv
I am so homesick now for people that I never knew
I am so homesick now for places I can never be
I might have a couple words wrong but wow what a heavy sentiment and so clearly expressed. I am humbled.
That’s by Sam Endicott from the Bravery. It’s called “Time Won’t Let Me Go.”
Some gals at dinner the other night were saying how bangs are back. Naturally this got me thinking about Louise Brooks. Also about a book I used to flip through at Powell’s back when I hadn’t the dough to buy new books. It’s called KiKi’s Paris and it’s about the Paris scene in the twenties when Hemingway and Picasso ruled the roost.
But about the bangs…We used to call this haircut “The Louise Brooks” or “The Lulu” and here’s why:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9AsN_jAxaE
And you probably noticed a few other currently trendy looks in there too. The nerdy guy with round glasses plays in every indie band that ever comes out of Glasgow. There’s surely a picture of him in an attic somewhere that he must look pretty bad in by now cuz he looked just fine last year in that Vampire Weekend video.
There seemed to be a lot of movies being made in the twenties and thirties about young, pretty, working class girls hooking up with horrible old rich men. International travel by cruise ships had maybe spread the new American classless society to London, Berlin and Paris where a shiteload of films were being produced. The great depression probably fueled the fire.
Here’s a video Gothman made from my favorite movie about a poor girl getting destroyed by a rich pig. Of Human Bondage, starring Bette Davis and my periodically favorite actor of all time Leslie Howard:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqjTMJYdZ2k
I will be making a whole section on Leslie Howard, arguably the coolest man who ever lived.
I’ve got a record called The Best of Chet Baker Plays. Well I believe it. One of the best records I own. It’s all hits pretty much. What a guy.
He lived in Portland for a while. Guess he liked to shoot dope and be left alone. Played gigs with the local cats out on NE Vancouver. He left his saxaphone with the only white jazz cat, Billy Hood. Oh, actually I guess it was the pawn shop ticket for the sax. Not the sax itself. Apparently his daughter or grandkid still has it.
(If anyone can verify that story, would be nice to know. Thanks.)
“Anything big and dead serious is perfect for comedy. The bigger the target and the more it takes itself seriously the better.” – Bill Coker (retired director)
My neighbor was the 1st asst director on the Smokey and the Bandit movies and we were discussing the personal nature of what people think is brilliant comedy when that gem came out of his mouth.
Alright I know how to solve this problem of Autotune® that is tearing this great nation apart. How about we do some songs with autotune and some without? Go ahead, call me crazy, because this is the same jibber jabber that comes from the same part of my brain that believes Dallas and Guadalajara are both cities in Texico. Like Austin. Which as soon as we have the technology will be transplanted to Eastern Oregon where it belongs.
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9JB2ETgatI
This is one of the greatest songs without autotune. Ever.
