Gosh, what was it? The long lost '02 trip to Cali to look for work? It was that long drive I made from Sacramento to LA in that wee little rental, knowing that I would have to make that long hot drive back there again in a few days, that made the trip to Whittier that night so memorable. The in-laws didn't know I left behind a good paying Seattle job, they didn't know that the lad, the husband of their daughter, the one with the two kids and a newborn, the one that sleeping on their couch, sipping their brews, eating at the trough, was unemployed. Big secret and it's been kept that way.
No matter. On that trip, down the San Jaguin valley, up the back side of the Sierras, I was listening to Abba Gold. Something about that music was infectiously peppy, upbeat, cheery, something completely different than the soundtrack to Oh Brother Where Art Thou? I was hauling along, much more clearheaded, emotionally sound than the strange but edgy electronic Christian music I found at St Vinnies in Ridgecrest. Abba took me to new heights in the mountain passes, took me to places outside of Vegas and in the backwaters of LA that I never expected, and that was to a place where I really and truly learned to appreciate their harmonious world beat pop. It was good.
Try as I might I couldn't get anyone else to see that. Played that same disk at a bbq one weekend and was roundly booed, made to change the happy upbeat tunes for another, more wild and raccous rock and roll album. Left it behind for awhile, set it aside, thought it to be an aberation. Maybe it was just the road, the lack of work, the need for speed, that made Abba sound so good that trip.
Then Jane changed it all again. She went to go see Mama Mia! with her boon companion downtown Seattle winter of '05. She came for supper one night not too long afterwards and I played the Gold album for her on my deck. Then the musical went away, only to surface here and there around the states, Las Vegas, NY. I thought it, too, to be another abberation, a long lost musical flashback, another strange bitg of Abba madness. Low and behold it took off again, this time capturing hearts and minds and musical tastes of America on the big screen.
Finally caught up with that musical tonight with Punkin, a borrowed copy from the Peninsula library. I had already passed along Abba Gold to her months back, so we both knew the music if not the lyrics. We bounced along to the soundtrack, happily humming and kinda dancing to the tunes. The movie made use of the music in a way that Dark Side of the Moon, side 1, has made use of the Wizard of Oz for oh so many years. Pure fun, lots of laughs, nothing but conjecture and happenstance and merrymaking. Happy happenstance.
Watching that movie tonight I was taken back to that moment when I got off the plane that afternoon in Sacramento and smelled the "green" coming off the fields near the airport. I was also taken back to that dinner I made for Jane close in to the time she had to head off to Arizona, right on the heels of my first Christmas trip to Boise. I heard Abba's music tonight and listened to the lyrics for the first time, truly, and know, that if I had the chance I would spin that record for M once more time, sit in happy bouyancy and, if given the chance, would happily watch this movie with her, too, side by side on that worn leather love seat of mine.
But, hey, life moves on and I loved it for what it was worth, and that was a chance to share some very happy music and very happy times with my daughter.
Mama Mia! Bout time!
Action!
No matter. On that trip, down the San Jaguin valley, up the back side of the Sierras, I was listening to Abba Gold. Something about that music was infectiously peppy, upbeat, cheery, something completely different than the soundtrack to Oh Brother Where Art Thou? I was hauling along, much more clearheaded, emotionally sound than the strange but edgy electronic Christian music I found at St Vinnies in Ridgecrest. Abba took me to new heights in the mountain passes, took me to places outside of Vegas and in the backwaters of LA that I never expected, and that was to a place where I really and truly learned to appreciate their harmonious world beat pop. It was good.
Try as I might I couldn't get anyone else to see that. Played that same disk at a bbq one weekend and was roundly booed, made to change the happy upbeat tunes for another, more wild and raccous rock and roll album. Left it behind for awhile, set it aside, thought it to be an aberation. Maybe it was just the road, the lack of work, the need for speed, that made Abba sound so good that trip.
Then Jane changed it all again. She went to go see Mama Mia! with her boon companion downtown Seattle winter of '05. She came for supper one night not too long afterwards and I played the Gold album for her on my deck. Then the musical went away, only to surface here and there around the states, Las Vegas, NY. I thought it, too, to be another abberation, a long lost musical flashback, another strange bitg of Abba madness. Low and behold it took off again, this time capturing hearts and minds and musical tastes of America on the big screen.
Finally caught up with that musical tonight with Punkin, a borrowed copy from the Peninsula library. I had already passed along Abba Gold to her months back, so we both knew the music if not the lyrics. We bounced along to the soundtrack, happily humming and kinda dancing to the tunes. The movie made use of the music in a way that Dark Side of the Moon, side 1, has made use of the Wizard of Oz for oh so many years. Pure fun, lots of laughs, nothing but conjecture and happenstance and merrymaking. Happy happenstance.
Watching that movie tonight I was taken back to that moment when I got off the plane that afternoon in Sacramento and smelled the "green" coming off the fields near the airport. I was also taken back to that dinner I made for Jane close in to the time she had to head off to Arizona, right on the heels of my first Christmas trip to Boise. I heard Abba's music tonight and listened to the lyrics for the first time, truly, and know, that if I had the chance I would spin that record for M once more time, sit in happy bouyancy and, if given the chance, would happily watch this movie with her, too, side by side on that worn leather love seat of mine.
But, hey, life moves on and I loved it for what it was worth, and that was a chance to share some very happy music and very happy times with my daughter.
Mama Mia! Bout time!
Action!
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