far too much writing, far too many photos

runswithscissors


Monday, February 10, 2003

Seen on a Simpsons episode:
The legend on the arch over the entrance to the local cemetery:
"Springfield Cemetery -- Come For The Funeral, Stay For The Pie"

Copy used in an what appeared to be a genuine trailer for The Incredible Hulk, seen tonight on Spanish TV:
"He turns into a green monster when he becomes angry.
No, it's not Bush. It's the Hulk."

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

Something that has surprised me over and over here in Madrid is the quantity of American and British music I hear on the radio and elsewhere. It's logical, I know, considering the volume of product that gets pumped out by the American/British industries and its dominance in western culture, but it surprises me nevertheless. I avoid it, to the extent that I can, preferring Spanish fare -- flamenco, rock and roll, other latin stylings ("stylings"!! the pretentious word of the day -- yee-ha!!) -- but now and then I hear something from back in the States that feels just right.

I've had the radio on for the last hour or two, listening to different stuff. A short time ago I switched to a college station that lurks all the way down at the bottom of the dial -- the only college station I'm aware of here, a major deficiency in local radio -- and found myself listening to bluegrass, then further southern fare, more down and dirty. And then they played someone I've never heard before (and who remains unidentified), doing a fairly hard, countrified version of the Beatles tune "I'm Looking Through You," followed by a surprisingly nasty version of "In The Jailhouse." After which they started up Steve Earle's "Copperhead Road," a tune I haven't heard in years, and I found myself turning the volume up, stopping all over activity.

Man, that hit the spot.

Same kind of thing happened several days back. One of the Spanish national stations, Radio 3, plays adventurous, unpredictable music, stuff from all over the map. I turned it on one afternoon, found myself listening to "Continental Kind of Girl" by Elliot Murphy, a tune I hadn't heard in years ‘n' years ‘n' years. (And I swear as I wrote that I had the urge to call it "a jumping little number" instead of a tune -- do I need psychological help? Or a beating? Or maybe I'm spending too much time alone. Or maybe I'm just a pretentious twit and we're all just now seeing it clearly.)

Last Thursday night I went out with two people from my evening language class -- a Dutch woman and a Japanese guy, Sandra and Takeshi, both smart, interesting, enjoyable folks -- along with Patricia, the woman who had been our instructor up until a week and a half ago. Patricia ferried us through many lovely narrow, winding streets in a couple of Madrid's older neighborhoods, taking us first to a great little bar for a caña or two and some food. We walk in, they've got something playing on the sound system that sounded like some of the cleaner, more countrified of the Grateful Dead's material. Only in Spanish. Good stuff. Real good. I ask the barkeep who we were listening to, he tells me it's Jorge Drexler. A name I've heard before, someone I'm going to have to check out.

So we're sitting there talking, eating, etc., there's artwork arrayed around the place, collages of ads/clippings/images having to do with films from the 30s and 40s. Then something off in a rear corner of the joint catches my eye, something I haven't seen since I was embarrassingly young: a poster of Frank Zappa, preserved under plastic, in close to perfect condition. But not just any Zappa poster -- one that was genuinely notorious in its day: a shot of him on the toilet, staring at the camera, in all his grubby, insolent late-60s splendor.

Bless his skanky ass -- just thinking about that gets me smiling.

I've had a serious music addiction since I was about four years old, a habit that led me to accumulate far, far too many records, tapes, CDS. Here in Madrid, life has been much more austere -- less than 20 CDs made the trip over with me, all in a compact nylon pouch. I've picked up a few CDs, but not too many. I've received various tapes from sources back in the States, different stuff. And that's it. An absurdly modest pile of music, which has worked just fine. I find here that most of the time I tend to stay away from stuff in English. If I put on some music, it's mostly in Spanish, or it's the radio. Or it's not music, it's the TV. Lately, I've been watching loads of movies, dubbed and otherwise, ‘cause I'm finding that my comprehension has taken a leap forward and I'm understanding most of what I hear, an experience I get a serious charge out of.

Something I've discovered here is how nice it is to have minimal possessions -- a realization that comes as near-heresy when considered against the way I was brought up. But there it is. There's a lightness to it that feels just fine.

But I blabber. So I'll stop.


rws 12:47 PM [+]
Comments: Post a Comment

Links to this post:

<\$BlogItemBacklinkCreate\$>
BLATHERINGS

August 2001
September 2001
October 2001
November 2001
December 2001
January 2002
February 2002
March 2002
April 2002
May 2002
June 2002
July 2002
August 2002
September 2002
October 2002
November 2002
December 2002
January 2003
February 2003
March 2003
April 2003
May 2003
June 2003
July 2003
August 2003
September 2003
October 2003
November 2003
December 2003
January 2004
February 2004
March 2004
April 2004
May 2004
June 2004
July 2004
August 2004
September 2004
October 2004
November 2004
December 2004
January 2005
February 2005
March 2005
April 2005
May 2005
June 2005
July 2005
August 2005
September 2005
October 2005
November 2005
December 2005
January 2006
February 2006
March 2006
April 2006
May 2006
June 2006
July 2006
August 2006
September 2006
October 2006
November 2006
December 2006
January 2007
February 2007
March 2007
April 2007
May 2007
June 2007
July 2007
August 2007
September 2007
October 2007
November 2007
December 2007
January 2008
February 2008
March 2008
April 2008
May 2008
June 2008
July 2008
August 2008
September 2008
October 2008
November 2008
December 2008
January 2009
February 2009
March 2009
April 2009
June 2009
July 2009

.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .


MORE FOCUSED BLATHERINGS


Travels:
London '01
Pamplona
Italy '03
U.K. '03
Sevilla
Casablanca
Stoke-on-Trent
Barcelona
Québec/Ottawa
Boston/Lisbon/Madrid
Italy '04
Montréal
La Sierra

Events:
Madrid -- arrival
9/11
Emergency Room I
Holidays 2001
Holidays 2002
Holidays 2003
Holidays 2004
Holidays 2005
A neighbor's passing
Madrid -- March 11 bombings
  and aftermath
Emergency Room II
Israeli friend/Madrid Marathon
Madrid -- Royal Wedding
The DELE exam

GONE, a novel:
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10

THE BASTARD CHILDREN OF
JOE ROCCO, a novella:
-- Part 1
-- Part 2
-- Part 3

BURBANK SHRUGGED,
a screenplay:
-- Part 1
-- Part 2
-- Part 3
-- Part 4

Short stories:
Murphy's Wife
Another Autumn
La Queja de Una
  Hermanastra Muy Conocida

Autobiography
-- Personal History
-- Hormones On Parade
-- Accidents, Random Mishaps,
    Personal Problems

.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .


OTHER SOURCES OF WHOLESOME ENTERTAINMENT

People/Weblogs:
dooce
foxvox
fudge it
fear not
rebekka
bookslut
802online
idle words
madhaiku
wockerjabby
grow-a-brain
rebel market
letting me be
out and about
kung fu grippe
fanatical apathy
baghdad burning
wfuv's music blog
kexp's music blog
mimi smartypants
between the miles
just a hippie gypsy
the impossible cool
tomato can brushes
vermont homestead
sugar mountain farm

Good Clean Fun:
gizmodo
futurismic
postsecret
dave barry
human clock
mcsweeney's
spaceweather
book-a-minute
internet archive
self-portrait day
my cat hates you
out of context quotes
surrealist compliment
  generator
strindberg and helium

Makin' Musical Whoopee:
last fm
stereo8
pandora
soma fm

.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .


ABOUT RWS/CONTACT





This page and all its contents copyright © 2001-2011 by runswithscissors unless otherwise noted.


runswithscissors would like to thank everyone who's ever lived for everything they've ever done.



Syndicate This Site

Blogarama

BlogCatalog

Bloggapedia, Blog Directory - Find It!



technorati profile

Subscribe with Bloglines

www.flickr.com
runswithscissors' photos More of runswithscissors' photos