#321 Musings Beyond the Bunker (Saturday April 9)
Good morning and happy weekend!
MUSIC
A couple of weeks ago I made a list of my favorite “California” songs. It looks like I missed a few!
I really can’t believe I missed “Free Fallin’” by the great Tom Petty, pointed out by Jon Vogel. How could I forget that Reseda and Ventura Boulevard are mentioned in that classic?! Both Tony Canzoneri and Mark DiMaria noted my “Joni Mitchell blindspot” by failing to mention her “California.” Here’s Joni, accompanied only by a dulcimer she is playing:
Mark and Russ Chittenden note that the best Beach Boys representation of the California ethos of the time is “California Girls” (and not “Good Vibrations,” which was my pick).
Here are some more:
Mark adds Under the “Bridge” by Red Hot Chili Peppers, which he and his wife Pam listened to during their Canadian vacation during the Rodney King disturbances.
Russ adds “Mendocino,” by the Sir Douglas Quintet and
“California Uber Alles,” by the Dead Kennedys.
Phil Frengs adds “California Gurls,” by Katy Perry.
Cliff Jenkins adds Credence’s “Lodi.” Carolyn Hinderberger adds
Carolyn Hinderberger adds “You and Tequila Make me Crazy,” by Kenny Chesney and Grace Potter
Carolyn also notes “Country Again,” by Thomas Rhett.
Finally, Mark Shpall and Ed Weiss note two that are of a different genre, “Going Back to Cali” by LL Cool J and “California Love” by Tupac Shakur.
Andrea Levick Feiner adds “26 Miles,” by the Four Preps (“…26 miles across the sea, Santa Catalina is waiting for me; Santa Catalina, the island of romance, romance, romance, romance…”
Debbie Stiles-Smith observes much of “Route 66” by Bobby Troup, takes place in California (“…Kingman, Barstow, San Bernardino…”). The Troup original is better than all the covers (including the Rolling Stones).
For obscurity, Jonathan Klein notes “San Bern’dino” by Frank Zappa, “Los Angeles” by X and “Barstow,” by Harry Patch
Here is Tupac and “California Love”:
POETRY
We found our soul in questioning,
Questioning the origin of humanity...
The opinions of our knowledge keepers,
The ordinances of institutions,
The experiences and realities of joining the majority...
The explosion that made everything apart of I,
And I apart of everything
Something so relatively small turned into infinity and beyond,
The never-ending abyss of what is above, below, and everything in between..
This is what we shall seek and question.
What lies beneath our feet? And above our heads?
Is it all who have come and gone?
Or is it one pair of eyes watching, listening, and protecting us all?
A blade of grass growing from Alexander, Aristotle, and Cleopatra.
Green strings woven from the lives of ancient and recent.
All of being, woven from the same cloth,
No one less and no one more,
So why is it that we clash heads?
Why is it that we are so consumed by differences,
Even though our similarities are far greater?
The crisp and pure particles of the abyss, the evergreen landscape,
One shall seek their own truths from this place,
Not from another man's ink.
Nothing created nor destroyed,
We are the past and the future is us.
It is our duty to challenge and question,
For if we didn't, our minds would be uniform in thought and belief,
We indeed found our soul in questioning
-Grant Werdesheim
PS: Grant is 17 years old…
Have a great weekend, Glenn