Saturday Night Soup For The Soul (35)

he older I get, the less I want any confusion, conflict, or artificial drama in my life. Conversely, as I age, I increasingly seek clarity, peace, and harmony in all things. As I make my way down the road of life, everything that I bump up against is evaluated against that scale, and is either embraced or left by the side of the road. It is quite simple, really. Been working deadly hours (again). After a lovely respite spent in the south western end of the world (La La La San Diego), it is now back to the treadmill drill of hauling in a paycheck. Such is life. There was one surprise this week: on a web site where you look up money that is looking for it’s rightful owner, I found and investment and a life insurance policy connected to my late father. My brother is the one dealing with the paperwork – I was barely able to get my income taxes filed this year – and I had a big ass refund. He said one of the two amounts might be sizable. We’ll see. If I end up getting $’s, I will buy a nice new desk/work station and wall unit for down stairs. Before I get into this week’s music, some pix from my trip south. I think I was standing on an overlook at the convention center. I like the light in the conversion center. Very pleasing public interiors., with a seafoam greenish tint to the light. . L:ight. Great light almost everywhere I went. Above is more morning convention center light, and below is a super hot (they were having record April heat) evening light. The view from outside room 1735: a glimpse into next world. I walked out on a private performance by the Eagles to wander the night with my camera. I fell in love with this stairway. These pictures could go on and on. But now we must dive into the soup for the soul, Saturday recipe. This week's soup spans many decades and genres of music. The theme, much like the photographs above, is morning, evening, and nighttime light. The opening is a collage, made up of several elements that I shall identify at the end of this Soup, and in the next Soup. It represents evening fading into the night. First off is 1950’s gay icon, Johnny Mathis. His debut LP, titled “Johnny Mathis” is one of the great debut albums of all time. Sophisticated and raw all at once, it casts a deep and passionate emotional spell. His biracial background, his surprising teenage athletic ability, and his San Francisco roots makes him one of the memorable 20th century gay American hero’s. Angel Eyes, from the LP, shows off his soaring trademark vocal delivery. The song dwells in the depths of night where passion and sexuality grows in the shadows into a wild human animal. He must have been quite the intensely passionate lover in his prime. "We're Open Tonight" is the second track from the 1979 Wings swan song "Back to the Egg". I have loved this piece of music from the first time I heard it. This is deeply wistful music, and possessing the duality that is such a part of my own personality. The words speak of “throwing open the doors for fun” – preparation for a party, but the music is oddly detached and melancholic. The song has an almost haunting ethereal quality. A great bit of work by Paul McCartney, as he closed yet another phase of his career, ending Wings. Next comes "Rugia Sui Ranocchi" by italian film score composer Nino Rota. This composition comes from the Federico Fellini film "Juliet of the Spirits". Rota was a genius. His film music is in a class by itself. This piece dredges up strong abstract images and emotions every time I hear it. Pain and futility giving way to the magical spirits that lift you out of the pain and into the arms of ethereal bliss. If you are familiar with the film, then you willl instantly recognize that Nino absolutely nailed what this film is all about. English composer (and another gay icon) Benjamin Brittin changes the mood with "Sunday Morning" from his Four Sea Interludes, Op.33A. This music is filled with the lifeblood of all things powerfully optimistic. This is the spirit of Sunday morning rolling back and vanquishing the doom and the gloom, and the magnified sexuality of the previous Saturday Night. It is openly majestic, and yet again dualistically mysterious. Duality I like; duality I know; duality that is at the core of my own being. We garnish the soup with "In the Evening", which opened up the soup, from Led Zeppelin's swan song LP "In Through the Out Door” There appears to be a hidden "swan song" theme running in the subterranean depths of the Soup this week. Not sure why. Both occurred in 1979. I listened to this song about 30 times this week. It brings back memories from a very specific time and place in my life: Casablanca. And that is all that I am going to say. Anyway, for those elect few who possess the keys to the kingdom, the music says it all, making all of my words words trite and unnecessary. Love you all, one and all. Really and truly. The end. All of this makes it's way into this week's soup. You can get your 34.5 Mb bowl of Saturday Night Soup by clicking the jukebox.