Saturday Night Soup for the Soul (29)

he summer is here, and this weekly column (but not the entire blog) goes on summer break. I started a long string of summer tasks today (a complete head to toe physical) and had good news: negative on one of two big "C" tests (the up-the-butt periscope). Good now for ten years (or so they say). Now I am waiting for the PSA test. Prostate cancer does run in the family so that is the more worrisome. Blood chemestry was off on a few key indicators (not bad, but not good). I will deal with that this summer. Open your heart, open your mind A train is leaving all day A wonderful trip through our time And laughter is all U pay Around the world in a day Around the world in a day Around the world in a day I will be in classes all summer (computer stuff) so that will be sucking a lot of my brain out. I have TONS of cleaning and tossing to do here and a whole series of landscaping chores to tend to. Putting on a new roof. Want to get new rugs but doubt I'll have the energy for that. Now dig Loneliness already knows U There ain't no reason 2 stay Come here and take my hand, I'll show U I think I know a better way, y'all Around the world in a day (listen 2 me, babe) Around the world in a day (all the babies sing it now) The little 1 will escort U 2 places within your mind The former is red, white, and blue The ladder is purple, come on and climb Around the world in a dayAround the world in a day come on, sing Around the world in a day Say papa, I think I wanna dance I will be building a monster PC this summer (4 gig, quad processor). I will be answering my backlog of 150 emails. If you want to contact me, email me (addr is on my profile) and I will answer. Until September, Tony will keep this blog alive by posting his paintings. Here is the last bowl of soup until September (or until a guest chef, or myself if time allows, cooks up another). Yes, this pot like most is loaded with a subcurrent of deep personal meaning. 1. Bookends Theme is the opening track of Simon and Garfunkle’s LP of the same name. My placing this bit here as an overture will make thematic sense about 20 bowls of soup from now. Benjamin Levi Rides again. Take it Tony. Calling all cryptographers. 2. Around the World in a Day is title track from this Prince LP of the same name. Think psychedelic meets James Brown. Very underrated. I love the lyrics, and what they speak of. A journey around the world as a metaphor for an inner journey of change, and of transition. This describes what I am also doing with my summer in the non-material realm. This piece brings back a lot of memories of living in San Francisco in the mid 1980's. Last night I had a pleasent dream about Kelly and his cat Butch, someone I knew back then. 3. Underture is from the Who's wonderful "rock opera" Tommy. This is a soaring instrumental which fits into the "astral journey" theme I am striking. When you try to breach the gravitational pull of earth, you must reach a sufficiently high velocity to enter space. This music closes in on that escape velocity. 4. Mumbo and 5. Higher Mumbo occupy special places in my heart. The first is from Paul McCartney's first Wings LP: Wildlife. Having recovered from his Beatles breakup breakdown, he decided to rebuild his career from the ground floor: from a band of relative unknowns (as opposed to a pack of bloated so called superstars resting on their laurels), and to gig at randomly picked pubs and student union buildings by funky bus and van with the kids and the dogs. They would arrive unannounced and with zero fanfare. Mumbo starts with Paul yelling "take it Tony" just as the engineer engages the record button on the tape. The song as such is little more than a live rehearsal jam, with Paul screaming nonsensical bits of syllables that occasionally sound like mumbled words. A funky beginning to his band that followed the Beatles. The “start from scratch” aspect appeals to my own artistic instincts. In 2005 he authorized The Freelance Hellraiser to remix some of his back catalog into a potent mash up. It was released as Twin Freaks. Mumbo is one of the standouts of this project for me. This is hyper high energy cardo workout material in free of earth’s gravitational chains and in orbit. Hell yes! All of this makes it's way into this week's soup. You can get your bowl of Saturday Night Soul for the Soul by clicking the jukebox.