trouble at the Twin Oaks Tavern

 

[excerpt from James M. Cain's novel] ---------------------- When they got done, all that the whole bunch had proved was that the Greek was dead, and as I knew that anyway, I didn't pay much attention.  Katz never asked any of them anything.  Every time the magistrate would look at him, he would wave his hand and the guy would step aside.

        After they had the Greek dead enough to suit them, Sackett really straightened out, and put some stuff in that meant something.  He called a guy that said he represented the Pacific States Accident Assurance Corporation of America, and he told how the Greek had taken out a policy just five days before.  

He told what it covered, how the Greek would get $25 a week for 52 weeks if he got sick, and the same if he got hurt in an accident so he couldn't work, and how he would get $5,000 if he lost one limb, and $10,000 if he lost two limbs, and how his widow would get $10,000 if he was killed in an accident, and $20,000 if the accident was on a railroad train.  

When he got that far it began to sound like a sales talk, and the magistrate held up his hand.

        "I've got all the insurance I need."

        Everybody laughed at the magistrate's gag.  Even I laughed.  You'd be surprised how funny it sounded.

        Sackett asked a few more questions, and then the magistrate turned to Katz.  Katz thought a minute, and when he talked to the guy, he did it slow, like he wanted to make sure he had every word straight.

        "You are an interested party to this proceeding?"

        "In a sense I am, Mr. Katz."

        "You wish to escape payment of this indemnity, on the ground that a crime has been committed, is that correct?"

        "That is correct."

        "You really believe that a crime has been committed, that this woman killed her husband to obtain this indemnity, and either tried to kill this man, or else deliberately placed him in jeopardy that might cause his death, all as part of a plan to obtain this indemnity?"

        The guy kind of smiled, and thought a minute, like he would return the compliment and get every word straight too. ---------------------- 

[end, excerpt - The Postman Always Rings Twice, by James M. Cain.  Copyright 1934.  Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.]

    Notice how the word "straight" or a form of it appears three times in this passage.  In the second paragraph, 

"...Sackett really straightened out, and put some stuff in that meant something."

In paragraph 5 -- "...when he talked to the guy, he did it slow, like he wanted to make sure he had every word straight."

And then in the last line:

"...he would return the compliment and get every word straight too."

___________________

Having every word straight, and then getting every word straight describes for us the adversarial process of the courtroom hearing, and the inherent power and drama of clarity and precision in the presentation of facts.

        Earlier, however, when Sackett "really straightened out" the word straightened conveys moving forward in a decided and confident way -- like, OK, now we've got this narrative rolling....

-30-

Clint Eastwood every night

 

The Bridges of Madison County is on Netflix, so I had that on the other night, and then last night rented Play Misty for Me from Amazon Prime Video.

Madison County - 1995

Play Misty - 1971

Both movies star Clint Eastwood, and were directed by him, too.

Play Misty for Me is a juggernaut of a film essay about personal boundaries and what can really be going on if someone is messing with them.  Holy cow.  Crazy stuff in this movie.  Wonderful music, and beautiful photography and scenery...the ocean....

I had barely heard of this movie when I was working at a radio station, doing the morning show.  A friend called me at work one day -- I was in the control room, and the call was transferred in -- I answered and his voice came through the line:  "Play Misty for me."

I didn't understand the reference.  He explained -- that movie with Clint Eastwood where he's a radio disc jockey and the listener calls in and asks him to "play Misty for me."  

        Once I had the info, I thought it was a good joke.

In the movie Clint's character Dave plays "smooth" music -- jazz.  Another DJ at the station promises his listeners "a bowl of soul."

Jump scares and all, it's a beautiful film, with some terrific music.  1971 zeitgeist on-the-money.  (Or should I say, right on?)  An actress named Clarice Taylor is in it -- I saw that name in the opening credits and thought, Isn't that the lady who played Cliff Huxtable's mother in The Cosby Show?

        Yes, yes.

___________________________________

The Bridges of Madison County is also a beautiful-looking movie:  scenery, lovely landscape and moods.  It's a gentle story, told with sensitivity, realism, and spirit.

-30-

repelling evil with words

 

"Look at the world with the child's eye -- it is very beautiful."

~ Kailash Satyarthi

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Donald Trump

"I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn't lose any voters, OK?"

Kanye West

"I can say anti-Semitic things, and Adidas can't drop me.  Now what?"

__________________________________________

I was thinking about these types of statements -- to me, they seem like a form of the sentiment, "I can get away with stuff!  Woo - hoo!"

Your basic "Nyah - nyah-nyah NYAH Nyah!"

When I heard Mr. Trump's statement, I didn't take it literally, I guess.  I didn't start getting scared to take a trip to New York City because Donald Trump might shoot me on Fifth Avenue.

A lot of people are reading Kanye W's words as being literal anti-Semitism and encouraging that attitude in his fans and audience.  I see it a little differently -- and I'm not defending Kanye W, at all, but what I hear is "nyah-nyah-nyah"... a person who believes if he says "things" that many people will be outraged by, then that makes him tough.

        It made me think of a memory from childhood -- in Rootstown, Ohio, we lived next door to a family where there were two older sisters and one boy, who was a year or two older than me.  One day he said to me, "I'm cruel-to-animals."  I didn't have the language to express, even to myself, what I thought about this, but I remember the feeling I had -- that he was saying that to me, in order for me to be outraged.  For me to give him what we now call "negative attention."  And I sensed that he thought his words made him look "tough" in front of me.

        (The mom and dad of that family had one last name, and the three children had a different last name.  That was the first time I had ever heard of that, in my life experience up to that point.)

One of the reasons our society does not enjoy anti-Semitic remarks is because of the Holocaust.  When a leader in society, whether it's Adolf Hitler or Kanye West, riles up people to hate another group of people, it can lead to extremely evil consequences.

        Another childhood memory (God, it wasn't exactly 'Mr. Rogers neighborhood,' was it?!) -- we lived in Akron, Ohio, and the neighbor girl taught me a rhyme to sing (or -- chant, sort of) -- it began and ended with "eeny-meny-miny-mo" and in between, contained a racial epithet.  

        I was not yet in kindergarten and had never heard that word and did not know what it meant or that it could be offensive.

        Going in the house for supper, I went to the kitchen and cheerfully recited the new rhyme for my mom, who promptly hit the roof.

        ("We never say that word, it's a very bad word")

I explained to the neighbor girl next day, that we don't say that word.  And by "we" I didn't mean me and my parents, I meant me and her and Everyone Else In The World.

------------------------------ We can imagine every parent has that horrifying moment the first time their innocent little tot says words that they "didn't learn here at home"....

-30-

the half-a-million the Bulgarian was carryin'

 

Sept. 28, 1984

The New York Times

TV WEEKEND; A SPRIGHTLY WHODUNIT IN 'MURDER, SHE WROTE'

By John J. O'Connor

LIGHT mystery stories, the traditional sort of whodunits, were once a television staple, but they somehow fell out of favor in recent years.  CBS will try to change that situation with "Murder, She Wrote," a series getting under way on Channel 2 Sunday evening at 8 with a special two-hour premiere.

The vital signs are good.  The creators and executive producers are Peter S. Fischer and two quality-television veterans, Richard Levinson and William Link ("Columbo").  And the star is Angela Lansbury, who made her movie debut in the 1944 movie "Gaslight" and has since won four Tony Awards as best actress in a Broadway musical.

Miss Lansbury plays Jessica Fletcher, a widowed substitute teacher living in a coastal village in Maine.  Mrs. Fletcher is a tweedy, commonsensical woman with a talent for writing fictional mysteries and solving real ones.  She jogs, fishes and charms New York taxi drivers with such practical ploys as a folk cure for foot callouses.  She probably would not be too upset if, at a quick glance, she were taken for Agatha Christie's Miss Marple.

Sunday's "Murder of Sherlock Holmes" seems to be a television movie that turned out so nicely the network decided to commission a weekly series.  When Mrs. Fletcher's nephew, Grady (Michael Horton), finds a story she has been fiddling with in her spare time and brings it to a Manhattan publishing company, she is at first embarrassed, but then delighted by the book's becoming a best seller.  

        Invited to New York to do the usual publicity tour with snide or bored television interviewers, she is asked by the publisher (Arthur Hill) to spend a weekend at his Connecticut home.  He promises to introduce her to "real people - not those self-important media types."  His friends, however, turn out to be far more unreal than any media types I know.

In any event, a costume party ends with a body floating in the family pool.  The victim is wearing a Sherlock Holmes costume, and it is assumed that he is the rather nasty tycoon from the party (Brian Keith).  But it seems that there was a costume change some time during the evening and things soon get more complicated.  

        When her nephew ends up as a chief suspect, Mrs. Fletcher goes into action, action that includes following somebody on a city bus and getting mugged in a dark alley.

Mrs. Fletcher's zest occasionally becomes overly cute, but Miss Lansbury keeps the character on a remarkably attractive course.  At one point, she even manages to get in a few moments of touching romance.

Not taking itself very seriously, "Murder, She Wrote" is a pleasant, almost old-fashioned entertainment, and it does not require a single screeching car chase.  It deserves best wishes.  Mr. Fischer's teleplay, based on a story he devised with Mr. Levinson and Mr. Link, was directed by Corey Allen.  The supporting cast includes Ned Beatty, Bert Convy, Herb Edelman, Tricia O'Neil and Raymond St. Jacques.

-30-

the skills to spot red flags

 

Clint Eastwood in Play Misty for Me

On You Tube I saw a video where the narrator listed and described "red flags" to look for in a person you are thinking about dating -- when you see the red flags, you stop thinking about dating them.

        The idea seemed to be -- spot the danger, or potential problems and cut off the relationship early, or before it starts, so that they don't wind up going through some horrific insane-abusive-divorce-child-custody-hellscape.

I think this would be a difficult skill to learn, for a lot of people, because when people meet, they are not looking for negatives, or "red flags."  They are typically looking for the opposite of that -- they're tuned in to notice things about the other person that they like.

        There's music playing; other people are around; it's a festive atmosphere... it isn't conducive to meticulous scanning for -- selfishness, lack of hobbies or interest in the world... sociopathy...

-------------------------- comments under the video:

AJ Roy

The problem is that 99% of women I meet have at least 6-7 of those red flags.  I feel like it's impossible to be with someone totally sane nowadays.

Mario Rodriguez

Nobody's perfect bro, especially us as guys.

AJ Roy

Never said I was perfect but I sure have less mental issues than 99% of girls I saw on dating apps.

RedGibsonsRock

86)  She tries to run you over in a parking lot, three or more times.  You got to take that seriously.  It could be a sign.

-30-

"I'm afraid you've lost me"

 

On You Tube there's a video titled:

Bewitched - Samantha Explains Baseball

uploader / channel:  Cria56

In a conversation with her mother, Samantha uses the expression, "first time at bat" -- Endora (being from the Witch World) doesn't understand this, so Samantha describes the game of baseball, from which the expression originates.

SAMANTHA

It's a game, that people play.  Haven't you ever seen it?

ENDORA

(looks perplexed)

SAMANTHA

Well, it's very exciting.  They play it -- with a ball.  And a big stick called a bat.  One man throws it -- to the man holding the bat who tries to hit it!  

Then everybody chases the ball, and the man who hits it runs around in a circle on a field called a diamond before anyone else can tag him!

ENDORA (with deep skepticism)

You're not serious.

SAMANTHA

Oh, yes!  Darrin took me, once.

ENDORA

I don't believe it.

SAMANTHA

And the one who runs around the most wins the series!

ENDORA

Series of what?

SAMANTHA (considers for a moment)

Nothing.  Just a series.

ENDORA

It's typical -- typical!  That's a human being for you.  Spend most of their lives running around in circles for a series of nothing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

        Samantha is played by Elizabeth Montgomery, Endora by Agnes Moorehead.

        Agnes Moorehead had a small part in Citizen Kane.

        After the "explains baseball" video, You Tube offers the viewer some related videos -- one of those was a 1970 Coffee-mate ad, featuring Miss Moorehead.  Several viewer comments said how elegant and refined she seemed.  Then they got onto the topic of her "accent" --

~ She was born in America but has a British accent??  [puzzlement emoji]

~ They used to call it a "Transatlantic" accent.  The old movie stars cultivated it.

~ Also, "Broadway British."

-30-

rule, Britannia - ?

 

NYT headline today:

Frustrated Britons Have Little Sympathy for Truss

        Prime Minister Liz Truss's resignation, yet another episode of political instability, only added to concerns over galloping inflation and a looming economic crisis.

reader comment from

Mather

Atlanta, Georgia

        Liz Truss has been one of the loudest and most demagogic cheerleaders for Brexit, a move that its supporters promised would restore Britain's sovereignty by freeing the country from the "tyranny" of all those faceless technocrats in Brussels.

So her having to resign after just 45 days in office because the faceless bond trading technocrats in Frankfurt and Paris thought her economic plan was nonsense is both deliciously ironic and the type of exit this profoundly incompetent politician deserves.

So it seems like Brexit isn't allowing Britain to run and hide from the world after all.  It's a pity it didn't learn that lesson sooner.

-30-

"Karens"

 

Yesterday the New York Times had a story about fencing and sort of debating whether doing this sport helps students get into college.

        The comments section got a little heated -- usually in the NYT it's relatively sedate.

I mentioned the back-and-forth on this subject to a co-worker, who seemed to grasp the whole picture immediately -- he analyzed:  "It's because they're all Karens!"

[Disclaimer:  In this context, Karens does not refer to people from Thailand or Myanmar, but rather to ladies who are vociferous (and sometimes unexpected) in demanding their own way -- and "now, if not sooner!"]

It's -- when people start saying How Things Are which affect their children's education and future, there's some facts, and some wishful-thinking mixed in there -- and some just plain "urban legends" -- stuff that some people say which just probably isn't really true, but it becomes sort of a "ghost story" to scare people about their future, or the future of their offspring.

I.e., "Education isn't necessarily the answer!  There are a lot of PhDs driving taxicabs!"  That's one we used to hear back in the '70s.

Remember the college admissions scandal, a few years ago?  When the two daughters of the actress in Full House were made to pose in a photograph to look like they were rowing a boat, even though they were not really on a rowing team.  And this was supposed to help these girls get into the University of Southern California?

        I was thinking, "What?!"  It was inexplicable, to me.  It seemed like -- elaborate futzing-about to try and "trick" a college into letting your kid in.

Not necessary, and a waste of time, I thought.  Total misfire.

But they had some reason for doing it -- copying what their friends are doing?  But then why are the friends doing it...?  V. weird.

------------------- The reader comments under the Times article -- one says his son does fencing and is in great physical shape.

The commenter underneath replies,

~ I bet your teenager who's in "great physical shape" couldn't last an hour playing fullcourt pickup basketball, or tennis.

             (OK -- don't let these people get near any mud....)

MJ G

San Francisco

But do they have enough common sense not to bring a fencing sword to a gun fight?  Everyone in my neighborhood did.

Maciek

Poland, EU

USA is messed up.  In my country (Poland) all youth sports are state funded (at least the Olympic ones).  Like, fencing was obligatory instead of PE in a public primary school in my poor, downtown neighborhood nicknamed Bermuda Triangle*.

        And I did 4 years of rowing in a municipal club in high school, for free.  And squash here is considered a cheap alternative for tennis, for junior office workers.

        And we make on average like $2,000 a month, so no, we're no Luxembourg nor Gulf state.

* cause things like bikes or wallets tend to disappear there.

Arli

Connecticut

Oh dear.  As a result of this article some not-poor kids are going to be dragged to yet another after-school lesson by hyper competitive parents.

___________________________

"Hyper competitive parents."

This is kind of what I was thinking, as I read through the comments -- 2 things.

1.  It's generational, this attitude -- many parents of today's college students may be more "helicopter-y" than our parents were.

2.  (Some of these folks are crazy.)

------------------------------------------------------

Tim Bradley

NY, NY

There has been and always will be a 'back door' to elite colleges.  Legacy applications, donors and athletes are three big ones.  Thankfully you do not need to graduate from a top school to be successful.  There are plenty of opportunities for folks from solid state universities and other private colleges.  It is a big tent.

TeeVla

Tacoma

I have yet to see an article of this sort, and there are many, connect the final dot:  society needs to stop worshipping these institutions.  We should be suspicious of their membership, not impressed by them.  Instead of calling them elite, we should vociferously point out their lack of imagination.

-30-

you'd better detour around my town

 

Loretta Lynn, Sissy Spacek

In remembrance of Loretta Lynn, I checked You Tube for clips from the 1980 film, Coal Miner's Daughter:

COAL MINER'S DAUGHTER (1980) FULL LENGTH TRAILER

uploader / channel:  FIVEMINUTEFILMS

some of the comments

Sachin Rahul

RIP country Queen you will be missed, Love from India

mkeogh76

It doesn't matter if you're a country music fan or not, this is one of the greatest biopics ever done.  It's powered by one of the truly great acting performances in American cinematic history.

animal61066

Have to agree with this.  I'm a rock and metal fan, but this is one of the greatest biopics ever....

justess martin

...I saw the movie in theaters at least 13 times when it was released....

Austin Teutsch

The reason this movie is better than other biopics is because it's told in chronological order.

Rich J

Absolutely love this movie, everything about it.  The performances are just outstanding, the music, the directing.  Such a wonderful movie.

Amy Fisher

I saw Coal Miner's Daughter in a second run theater on a double bill with Melvin And Howard.  This was one of the best afternoons of my life.

Jeffrey Turner

Spacek is INSANE in this movie .... This is what you call a "tour-de-force"

TiannaTheGreat

I love this movie!!  I remember seeing this as a teenager on lifetime.  It kind of reminded me of Teena Turner's movie.

Mark P.

I never was a big country music fan growing up although many of my family and friends were.  However, I loved this movie!  I mean I loved it so much my wife will say "oh no you watching that again!?"  It's a classic!!!

WECOOK

A damn good movie

Ahmad Mazhar hj Hassan

I just remembering this story of life..  I just too much different culture..  but I am really sad to hear Loretta pass away...  Rip

___________________________________________

On You Tube it's getting to be a trend where young people make videos of themselves listening to a song, and they "react" to it.  It's called a reaction video.

I found this one, for everyone's viewing and listening pleasure:

Loretta Lynn - Fist City Reaction | SAVAGE!!!

channel / uploader:  Gracie Reacts

♫ ♫♪

If you don't wanna go to fist city,

You better detour around my town...

-30-

Murder, she wrote; Sweeney Todd, she sang

 

"The pellet with the poison's in the vessel with the pestle.  The chalice from the palace has the brew that is true."

This quote and variations upon it weave through the 1955 movie, The Court Jester, in which Angela Lansbury played a central role.

________________________________

reader comments from the N.Y. Times Angela Lansbury obit.:

Randy

Wisconsin

I had recently moved to New York when Sweeney Todd opened....Of course I knew / understood that the lyrics were by Stephen Sondheim, but when Angela Lansbury performed "The Worst Pies in London" and "A Little Priest," it was as though she was creating those ultra-clever lyrics on the spot.

Annie

Boston

Our elderly neighbor who babysat us sometimes would always be watching Murder She Wrote if it happened to be on the nights she came over.  I was never allowed to watch!  But it provided a great memory for me of her and how much she loved the show.

Chris 

Spain

As a child I used to love watching Murder She Wrote on a Sunday evening.  Such a peaceful style of film making.

Ney Fonseca

Brazil

As a dance major at SUNY Purchase, whenever possible, I'd take the train to Grand Central and see as many shows as I could.  One weekend, I scored a half-price center orchestra seat for "Sweeney Todd".  Little did I know it was Ms. Lansbury's last performance on the show.  

A marvelous performance by a great artist.  And to top it off, I saw it seated next to Gene Hackman!  

NY in the 80's:  gritty, complicated and, for me at least, magical.

__________________________________

Starting about two weeks ago, I had been playing episodes of the TV series Hart to Hart (1979 - 1984), from Amazon Prime.  Watching it made me think about Murder, She Wrote too, because both are shows where the protagonist happens across mysteries, and solves them, on a regular basis.

Just think how much easier it would be to get audiences to believe the characters have to solve mysteries, if the main character is a police officer, or a private detective.

        But the Harts are just a married couple -- he owns businesses, she's a journalist -- and Jessica Fletcher was a mystery novelist -- which would not naturally result in murders "following you around" everywhere you go, right?  

A series featuring a non-detective who solves mysteries seems to ask powerful suspension-of-disbelief, on the part of the audience.

-30-

"the chalice from the palace"

 

Last week Loretta Lynn, and then today Angela Lansbury.

A reader comment in The Guardian last week:

~ She strikes me as almost comparable to Chuck Berry in how offhandedly clever and fun her writing can be -- 'I'm not sayin' my baby's a saint/ cause he ain't/ and that he won't cat around with a kitty/ I'm here to tell you gal to lay off of my man/ if you don't wanna go to fist city!'  Great stuff...

a reader comment under today's New York Times Lansbury article:

~ Sold her a gold compact at Bonwit Teller in the late 70's (!)  I had seen her stunning performance of Mame and we had a memorable conversation.  A funny, insightful, gracious person, a real giant of film, Broadway and TV.

___________________________

When my mind scans for Angela Lansbury, it brings up her youthful performance in Gaslight, in the company of Charles Boyer and Ingrid Bergman, and of course Murder, She Wrote.  

Comment sections show high-trending mentions of her Broadway performances in Mame, and Sweeney Todd, as well as a 1962 feature film called The Manchurian Candidate.  Apparently she's quite a villain in that -- can probably You Tube it and see a clip....

_______________________________

I looked for a poem about death and could not find anything I wanted to put on here.

my poem about death:

Death is boring

Life is the thing

__________________________

-30-

mindful Monday

 

reader comments under Opinion article in the New York Times

Rebecca

Maine

There's a headline about Biden's pardon of federal weed offenders (and re-scheduling pot) to attract voters; the text below indicates younger voters.

But I think, if it's political at all, it's for older voters.  I live in the 2nd district in rural Maine.  And let me tell you now, Trump supporters are def. a bunch of stoners in these parts.

        I think his pardon and re-scheduling are as much a draw to seniors who use a little CBD and some edibles to combat pain, and maybe smoke a bowl with their friends socially.  And you know what, those folk are way more connected to their weed than they are to Trump.

beaujames

Portland Oregon

If one looks at those who disapprove of Biden as one group, one makes a serious error.  On the one hand, there are all of the Republicans, from the paltry few moderates to the plurality of advocates for autocracy.

On the other, there are people so far to the left of Biden that they can't deal with his deliberate pace, and so say they don't approve.  While I agree with the ultimate objectives of this latter group, I caution them not to let the ideal be the enemy of deliberate progress.

Realpolitik

Elite Coastal USA

What Joe Biden has going for him is a strong sense of quiet human decency and a reasonably high level of competence.

-30-

just trying to make some sense

 

---------------- [excerpt - Keith Richards' autobiography] ---------------

        Ian Stewart was the only one in the room....He's playing an upright piano and he's got his back to me because he's looking out of the window where he's got his bike chained to a meter, making sure it's not nicked.  

At the same time he's watching all the strippers going from one club to another with their little round hatboxes and wigs on.  "Phoar, look at that."  

        All the while this Leroy Carr stuff is rumbling off his fingers.  And I walk in with this brown plastic guitar case.  And just stand there.  It was like meeting the headmaster.  All I could hope for was that my amp would work.

        Stu had gone down to the Ealing Club because he'd seen an ad Brian Jones had placed in Jazz News in the spring of '62 for players wanting to start an R&B band.  Brian and Stu started rehearsing with a bunch of different musicians; everybody would chip in two quid for an upstairs room in a pub.  He'd seen Mick and me at the Ealing Club doing a couple of numbers and invited us along.  

        In fact, to give Mick his due, Stu remembered that Mick had been coming already to his rehearsals, and Mick said, "I'm not doin' it if Keith's not doin' it."  

"Oh, you made it, did you?"  And I started with him and he says, "You're not gonna play that rock-and-roll shit, are ya?"  Stu had massive reservations and he was suspicious of rock and roll.  I'm "Yeah," and then I start to play some Chuck Berry.  And he's "Oh, you know Johnnie Johnson?" who was Chuck's piano player, and we started to sling the hash, boogie-woogie.  That's all we did.  

        And then the other guys slowly started to turn up.  It wasn't just Mick and Brian.  Geoff Bradford, a lovely slide blues guitar player who used to play with Cyril Davies.  Brian Knight, a blues fan and his big number was "Walk On, Walk On."  He had that down and that was it.  So Stu could have played with all these other cats, and actually we were third in line for this setup.  Mick and I were brought in as maybes, tryouts.  

These cats were playing clubs with Alexis Korner; they knew shit.  We were brand-new in town in those terms.  

And I realized that Stu had to make up his mind whether he was going to go for these real traditional folk blues players.  Because by then I'd played some hot boogie-woogie and some Chuck Berry.  My equipment had worked.  And by the end of the evening I knew there was a band in the making....Somehow a deal had been made without anything being said.  We just hit a chord together. ---- [end / excerpt]

________________________________

♫ ♫♪  a song to listen to:

on You Tube

The Rolling Stones - Waiting On A Friend

uploader / channel:  The Rolling Stones

Watching girls go passing by

It ain't the latest thing

I'm just standing in a doorway

I'm just trying to make some sense...

________________________________________

{Life, written by Keith Richards with James Fox.  Copyright 2010, Back Bay Books.}

{"Waiting on a Friend" -- song by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.  Released November 1981.  Album:  Tattoo You.}

-30-

never and always

 

"The Hebrew language was too guttural for my taste.  Plus it was written backwards.  Who needed that?"

~ Woody Allen

        This is a week of autobiographies.

        Monday it was Tina Turner's book; Tuesday, Jerry Hall's, and yesterday Bob Dylan's Chronicles.

Today, looking at Woody Allen's autobiography Apropos Of Nothing, I noticed a couple of things in common with the Dylan book:  in both, they describe leaving New York City's noise outside by going in someplace -- in Bob Dylan's case a phone booth, and for Woody Allen, a movie theater.

[Dylan] --------------- "The phone booths were like sanctuaries, step inside of them, shut the accordion type doors and you locked yourself into a private world free of dirt, the noise of the city blocked out."

[Woody Allen] ----------------- "You sweat your way down Coney Island Avenue, an ugly avenue replete with used car lots, funeral homes, hardware stores, till the exciting marquee comes into view.  The sun is now high and brutal.  

The trolley makes noise, cars are honking, two men are locked in the moronic choreography of road rage and are screaming and starting to swing at each other.  The shorter, weaker one is running to secure his tire iron.  

You buy your ticket, walk in, and suddenly the harsh heat and sunlight vanished and you are in a cool, dark, alternate reality....And now you look up at the screen and to the music of Cole Porter or Irving Berlin's unspeakably beautiful melodies, there appears the Manhattan skyline."

____________________________

        -- Woody Allen as a child (Allan Stewart Konigsberg), going inside a movie theater, out of the heat and noise of New York City, to see a movie that takes place in -- New York City.... --

----------------------- The other similarity between the two books was their parents' advice.

Bob Dylan's dad:  "Even if you don't have all the things you want, be grateful for the things you don't have that you don't want."

Woody Allen's dad:  "When buying a newspaper from a newsstand, never take the top one."

Woody Allen's mom:  "The label always goes in the back."

--------------------- [excerpt from Apropos Of Nothing] ------------ The price in the classy cinemas was twenty cents, then a quarter, than thirty-five cents.  When it hit fifty-five cents, the neighborhood rose up like the crew of the Potemkin.  Someone told me a ticket now can be twenty dollars.  You know how many deposit bottles I would have had to return to get twenty dollars?

        There were movie houses around every corner and not a day passed when there wasn't something worth going to -- if you're okay with Crime Doctor or The Whistler.  I loved them all.  And one day my life changed when my father took me to Manhattan for what today would be called some quality time, although he was probably going into the city to pay off some bookies.  I was about seven years old and till then had only seen Brooklyn.

        We rode the subway, got off at Times Square, and walked upstairs, emerging at Broadway and Forty-Second Street.

I was flabbergasted. --------------------- [end / excerpt]

________________________________

♫

a song to listen to (accompanied by some narration)

on You Tube

Manhattan Opening (Woody Allen)

uploader / channel:  Justin Luey

(The song is "Rhapsody in Blue.")

-30-

party lines and random songs

 

Roger Maris, President Kennedy

Recently I noticed headlines that said someone had surpassed a home-run record formerly set by Roger Maris.

        That name is familiar in my memory, somehow, even though I have never followed baseball closely.  Some of those names just sink into your memory and stay there, like antique china that you have but don't use.

Looking him up online, we find that he was born in the same hometown where Bob Dylan grew up:  Hibbing, Minnesota.  Seven years apart -- Maris born in 1934, Dylan in 1941.

Hibbing is 90 miles south of the Canadian border, 208 miles north of Minneapolis / St. Paul, 522 miles distant from Pierre, South Dakota, and 1,331 miles from New York City where Bob went in January of 1961, to play music and visit Woody Guthrie.

____________________________

-------------- [excerpt from Chronicles, by Bob Dylan.  Copyright 2004, Simon & Schuster.] --------------- 

The moon was rising behind the Chrysler Building, it was late in the day, street lighting coming on, the low rumble of heavy cars inching along in the narrow streets below -- sleet tapping against the office window.  

Lou Levy was starting and stopping his big tape machine -- diamond ring gleaming off his pinky finger -- cigar smoke hanging in the blue air.  

The place was like a room used for interrogation, a fixture like a fruit bowl hanging overhead and a couple of lamps, some brass ones on floor stands.  Below my feet a patterned wood floor.  

        It was a drab room and cluttered with trade magazines -- Cashbox, Billboard, radio survey charts -- an ancient filing cabinet in the corner.  Besides Lou's old metal desk, there were a couple of wood chairs and I sat forward in one of them strumming songs off the guitar.

        Recently I had called home.  I did that at least a couple of times a month from one of the many public pay phones around town.  The phone booths were like sanctuaries, step inside of them, shut the accordion type doors and you locked yourself into a private world free of dirt, the noise of the city blocked out.  

The phone booths were private, but the lines back home weren't.  

Back there every household had a party line.  About eight or ten different houses all used the same line, only with different numbers.  If you'd pick up the phone receiver, seldom would the line ever be clear.  There were always other voices.  Nobody ever said anything important over the phone and you didn't ramble on long.  

        If you wanted to talk to people, you'd usually talk to them in the street, in vacant lots, fields or in cafes, never on the phone.

        On the corner I put the dime in the slot and dialed the operator for long distance, called collect and the call went right through.  I wanted everyone to know I was all right.  My mother would usually give me the latest run of the mill stuff.  

My father had his own way of looking at things.  To him life was hard work.  He'd come from a generation of different values, heroes and music, and wasn't so sure that the truth would set anybody free.  He was pragmatic and always had a word of cryptic advice.  

        "Remember, Robert, in life anything can happen.  Even if you don't have all the things you want, be grateful for the things you don't have that you don't want."

_______________________________

♫♫ ♪  a song to listen to:

on You Tube

Bob Dylan - Simple Twist of Fate

uploader / channel:  Bob Dylan

They sat together in the park

As the evening sky grew dark

She looked at him and he felt a spark --

    tingle to his bones

'Twas then he felt alone, and wished -

    that he'd gone straight

And watched out -- for a simple twist of fate

They walked along by the old canal

A little confused, I remember well

And stopped into a strange hotel,

    with a neon burnin' bright

He felt the heat of the night --

    hit him - like a freight -- train,

Moving with a simple twist of fate

A saxophone someplace far off played

As she was walkin' on by the arcade

As the light burst through a beat-up shade,

    where he was wakin' up,

She dropped a coin into the cup --

    of a blind man, at the gate --

And forgot about -- a simple twist of fate

He woke up, the room was bare

He didn't see her anywhere

He told himself he didn't care, 

    pushed the window open wide

Felt an emptiness inside,

    to which he just -- could not relate --

Brought on, by a simple twist of fate

He hears the ticking of the clocks

And walks along with a parrot that talks

Hunts her down by the waterfront docks --

    where the sailors all come in

Maybe she'll pick him out again,

    how long -- must he wait

One more time -- for a simple twist of fate

People tell me -- it's a sin

To know and feel - too much within

I still believe she was my twin,

    but I lost the ring

She was born in spring,

    but I was born too late --

Blame it on - a simple twist of fate

-30-

walking Central Park, singin' after dark

 

a photograph by George Hurrell

------------- [excerpt from Jerry Hall:  My life in pictures] ---------------------

Morocco

We felt so free.  

We stayed in hotels where the rooms were full of sweet-scented bowls of roses and lit by candles, and we sat by the open fire while Mick played his guitar and sang to me.  I loved the way Mick didn't complain and he laughed at all the mad things that kept happening....

I was still phoning Bryan and telling him that I was on a modelling job.  Finally he said, 'stop lying, I read about you and Mick in Morocco in the papers'.  I guess the fashion team must have spilled the beans.  Bryan said, 'just come home and we'll talk about it'.  

        But I couldn't, I knew he was not the forgiving type and I was already too much in love with Mick.  Bryan and I talked and cried for hours.  I felt really bad for breaking off our engagement and running off the way I did.  It never occurred to me to complain about the affair he had had in Japan.

        Bryan took me leaving him very badly.  He kept all my clothes and things and wouldn't let me have any of them back.  I had left a book by the bed called The Mists of Avalon, about druids.  Bryan wrote a beautiful album called Avalon that was a huge success.  But he never spoke to me again....

*               *               *               *

George Hurrell

George Hurrell was almost 80 when we worked together.  He had been a great Hollywood photographer who took pictures of almost every star over several decades.  His striking black-and-white images were everywhere.  He had retired in the seventies, but still worked when a project interested him.  So I was flattered to be asked to pose for him for a series of photos in French Vogue.

        George was extraordinary.  He would style the picture, getting every fold perfect and then take one photograph with a big old-fashioned plate camera.  Then he would say 'thank you' and help you down from the set.  In one day he took 16 pages of photos -- I had never seen that done before.  

While I was working with George and doing the Paris collections, Mick was shooting a film in the Amazon.  When he wrote me the most wonderful love letter saying he was missing me, I knew I had to go and see him. -------------------------- [end / excerpt]

♪ ♫ ♪  a song to listen to:

on You Tube

Miss You (remastered)

uploader / channel:  The Rolling Stones

~                  ~                  ~                  ~

...Well, I've been haunted in my sleep

You've been starrin' in my dreams

Lord, I miss you, child

I've been waitin' in the hall

Been waitin' on your call

Your phone rings

It's just some friends of mine that say

"Hey, what's the matter with you, man?...

Ooh ooh OOH ooh oo-oo-ooh

Ooh ooh OOH ooh oo-oo-ooh...

____________________________________

{"Miss You" - written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.  Single release May 1978.  B-side:  "Far Away Eyes".  Album:  Some Girls.

-30-