"History is a wonderful thing, if only it was true"
-Tolstoy

Saturday, March 19, 2005

Cross Country skiing to Cactus Time

Changes in climate, from skiing on the frozen lake to conference in the desert

Travel day (Friday), good thing that :
1) we chose first class ( cash in those depreciating "points" )
2) Shirley spotted the ½ price book stall (return books within 6 months and you get 50% of the cover back.
I got a copy of Elmo Leonard’s “Be Cool” (sequel to “Get Shorty”

Read it cover to cover between Detroit and Phoenix

Hour plus delay in Milwaukee as first the intended aircraft for the Phoenix leg was still on the ground (bird hit on inbound the night before took out a blade) then wait for a fresh plane to be brought in from Minneapolis, which was being closed due to Blizzard.

Milwaukee may make Lansing look good, the only eartery was Pizza Hut / Brats in the concourse. Dreaded prospect of being stuck there. Apparently the damaged plane was to have headed to Ft.Myers. The plane bound for Phoenix was re-routed to Ft.Myers, I gather that many ( and many familes) were stuck for 4-6hrs. Terminal was beginning to show it.

“Be Cool” Chili Palmer learns the music game.
Amazon.com: Books: Be Cool
On screenwriting :
P159-60:
“I thought you were going to write it,. You said you could go directly to script, skip the treatment.”
“Actually, I think I could. A guy that ran a limo service told me one time there’s nothing to writing a screenplay. You just put down what you to say, then you get somebody to add the commas an shit, fix up the spelling if it needs it. The way this one’s going I think I’ll write it myself.”

“You know, “ Elaine said, “if it doesn’t work you can always make something up,. It’s what writers do. When they’re not lifting ideas from other movies.”

Substitute other blogs for movies

Later, on music and rock categories :

Chili said, “I ask people, what’s alternative? They don’t answer the question, they tell me what radio station to listen to. So what’s alternative?”
“Almost anything now, “Curtis said, “that isn’t hard rock.”
“See? Nobody’ll give me a straight answer.”
“Okay,: Curtis said, “what it is essentially is watered-down rock. Or it could be ballady kind of punk.”
“And what’s punk?”
“Three chords and a scream”
“Come on,” Tiffany said, “it’s way deeper’n that. It started out hardcore, like Bad Religion, then you got straight-edge like Minor Threat and surf punk like agent Orange.”
“It’s all derivative,” Curtis said, “even Seattle. Without Iggy and the Stooges, going back thirty years, you wouldn’t have any of them. You had the MC5 and the Velvet Underground, but Iggy kicked it off with ‘Raw Power’ and that’s what’s still happening. Without Iggy you wouldn’t have the Ramones, Blondie, Talking Heads, the Sex Pistols. What’d Bowie do? He covered Iggy. Then and only then you come to Nirvana and Pearl Jam and what passes for rock they now call alternative.”

Chili said, “What about the Rolling Stones?”
And Curtis said, “ that what so much of this stuff today is alternative of, real rock’n roll, the Stones, Aerosmith, Jimi Hendrix, Clapton, Jeff Beck, Neil Young.
Tiffany said she forgot Hendirx
Chili, staying with them, said, “What about Janis Joplin?”
Tiffany said, “That chick, now you’re going way back, ...

Flashbacks to the Grandee Ballroom
(link to Northern Express piece)

I recall Janis from the front row, and Cream on a night it was so hot they were tossing cold water on the crowd, Ginger Baker at the drums with a tub of ice and beers.

Went down to see Paul Butterfield, and the program had changed, Ginger, Jack Bruce and Eric.

Hendrix at Cobo, but nothing like the Grandee.

All in all, made for a long day, left home around 8:30AM, arrived at the room 9:00 PM with 2hr time zone change.

Before Detroit, buzzed through a chapter or so of We Blog, but want to be able to take notes or play online while reading – not something for on an aircraft.

Will recommend the book to Earthy, Paul, PFoods, GTRCF etc.

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